For Chinese New Year activities we made a colouring competition for Years 2 and 3 and the other primary children practiced writing spring couplets such as ” 恭喜发财”，“万事如意“etc. Our secondary students made clay models of New Year foods including spring roll, noodle and dumplings. Many students wore traditional clothes to celebrate the year of the rooster.
On Wednesday 11th of Jaunary seventeen secondary pupils participated in a morning training session led by SOS International to learn some essential first aid skills. Most of the students are completing their bronze Duke of Edinburgh award so the training will come in handy when they are completing the expedition aspect of the award, and others came along because they were interested in learning some useful skills.
The morning was jam packed with theory, quizzes and practical sessions that taught students CPR; how to use a defibrillator; what to do in a chocking situation and the recovery position.
Students worked together to understand how to cope with an emergency situation and not panic, but take control and do their best to help while keeping safe themselves. These skills were then tested in a practical examination, which everyone passed with flying colours.
Overall it was a very enjoyable experience and one that the students found challenging and useful.
This year our Christmas Show was outstanding and we received many positive comments from all those who attended this event. We had a range of acts which involved all the primary and secondary students and included music, dance, hip hop, singing, magic, drama and sketches.
Year 2 gave a great performance of an Australian version of Jingle Bells and then played Jingle Bells on the reorder.
Year 3 & 4 sang ‘The 12 Days of SES’ which was amusing and enjoyable. A fantastic square dance was done by Years 5 & 6. All the primary children sang ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’.
The Year 7s and Mr Lawrie Christmas Café (Stomp) presented a dramatic and musical piece which was very well received. Our Year 8s performed a rhyming Cinderella pantomime which was funny and entertaining. The Year 9 students amused us with some Christmas-themed offbeat short sketches throughout the show. We concluded with everyone singing ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’. A fantastic festive event that was a great end to the term. An enjoyable evening that concluded with food and drinks.
Movember 2016 was our first Movember in Surabaya European school. Despite having only a few male staff, we decided to give it a go and make a target of £500. So we looked at various styles of moustache on the Movember website and made a start. The first job was to explain exactly what the aims of the charity were. Once that was achieved, the team all contributed to get things started. Having convinced various people that it was for a good cause; Mr Nick, Mr Neil, Mr Phillip and myself began the task of cultivating our facial hair. For some it was a challenge, for others it was difficult!
However, the bristles soon began to appear and the team were well on the way. At first we were greeted with curiosity, disbelief until finally acceptance. The money from charitable parents and children began to build up. As the month drew to a close, we had reached our target!! Thank you all for all your donations and to the team for their perseverance. We plan to do this again next November with lots more fun events to participate in.
Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, was brought to SES during the week of October 3-7. Students had the opportunity to join in the celebrations by having their hands painted with intricate hennah patterns and by sampling delicious Indian treats brought in by mums throughout the week.
Primary students thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Maths Week entitled, Maths Magic! Playing cards were used throughout the week to teach various mathematical concepts, including number and colour patterns, greater than and less than, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing and place value. Each year group learned a variety of games that were specifically geared toward student understanding at that age level. After morning break, Mr. Nick entertained students with fun Mathematics based magic tricks. Mr. Lawrie from secondary also stopped by primary classrooms in order to teach a fun Mathematics lesson. Each class designed a building project made of cards that incorporated Maths concepts. Year 2 created an amazing clock to correspond to their unit about time, Year 3 designed several buildings in small groups, Year 4 created a strong triangular tower, Year 5 built three famous towers of Europe and Year 6 made the Taipei 101 building. On Friday, to end this year’s Maths week, students enjoyed popcorn while playing some of the Maths games they learned during the week.
In secondary, Mr Lawrie ran an online stock market competition which was great fun and gave them a real taste of trading stocks and shares. http://stockwatch.com.au/
Students and staff took time to remember all of those who have lost their lives in war and conflict across the world. At 11.00 am we had a one-minute silence to pay respect. It is also a time of silent reflection, meditation or prayer for those who were killed in World War I and all other conflicts. We wore poppies as sign of remembrance. Many thanks to Mrs Gemma Cook for organising this memorial event.
We celebrated the first days of school with some team building games to provide a warm welcome to all our new students and teachers and welcome back to our students and teachers at Surabaya European School. More photos are available in our portal.
Holi, the Hindu celebration signifying the victory of good over evil was celebrated by all at SES. Laughter abounded while colored powder and water was thrown amidst loud Indian music and cheerful play. More photos are available in our school portal.
Another exciting and entertaining theme week organised by Miss Chris and Mr Neil and able assisted by many of our talented Teaching Assistants. As part of this celebration of language, novels and books students made board games, swapped books and participated in daily quizzes including solving word puzzles. Primary and secondary students took part in ‘buddy reading’ and it was great to see old and younger students sharing their love of reading.
Students dressed up as fictional characters from books and films on Friday 26. During a special literacy week assembly students did some performance poetry and awards were issued from competitions which were held throughout the week.
Mr Seraya organised activities for students to celebrate the year of the monkey which included making a Chinese opera mask, cooking spring rolls and making a greetings card. Our generous parents provided a range of festive foods for students to enjoy at both break and lunch times we had noodles, chocolate, tangerines, cookies and Chinese tea. Students also dressed up in Chinese clothes.
Our Christmas Show this year included a wonderful mix of singing, dancing, acting, acrobatics, and magic. The theme was ‘Christmas around the world’ and our performances from primary included a play about Antarctica, salsa dancing from Latin America and Scottish Highland dancing. Secondary and primary students performed plays, sang and danced. We also had hip-hop dancing and Christmas carols sung in French!
We had celebration of cultures and countries from around the world by sharing different foods kindly supplied by the parents and families, speaking different languages and children wore clothes / costumes from their countries of heritage. Students also did a project on recycled materials.
Health and Well-being is one of the 17 Global Goals which world leaders have signed up to and so SES had a morning aerobics session on the football field lead by Mrs Petra Schurr. For more information about Globval Goals see: http://www.globalgoals.org/
We also had a presentation from Mr Roni from the green local organisation ‘Tunas Hijau’ concerning environmental issues such as recycling and making compost. Students asked questions following the video and slideshow and we discussed various environmental matters.
Our sports day was held at UNISA Stadium on a very warm and sunny day. The level of competition from all houses was high and a close-fought thing. Our sincere thanks to parents who came to support the children and for very kindly donating food and drinks. Also, we would like to thank parents who assisted with some of the events. It was an enjoyable and warm day! We would also like to thanks Mrs Cecile, teaching assistants, office staff, teachers and other members of the SES community who made everything run smoothly.
Results
1st Baya 423
2nd Garuda 414
3rd Sura 394
4th Komodo 382
Montessori, Primary and Secondary students dressed up in their spooky costumes to celebrate this day. Prizes were awarded to the best-dressed child in each year group. Our kind parents donated some wonderful treats that the students enjoyed during break and lunch times. Montessori children had a Halloween parade and collected some treats in their pumpkin-shaped bags.
Mr Sherring, Miss Lexi and the Teaching Assistants organized an excellent Maths Week which included daily quizzes, making a model city using scale and geometric shapes and culminated in a special assembly where awards were presented and we had a Maths House Quiz. It was a very enjoyable week showcasing mathematics and its application in the real world.
On the first Friday of the academic year new and existing staff had a chance to meet with parents and enjoy some drinks and snacks in the Gazebo. This was a very enjoyable evening. Earlier in the day we had our first assembly of the year where students and parents were introduced to the new teachers, considered their goals for the year and our new Principal did a magic show!