More Artwork in Secondary to Share

Posting more great Secondary artwork. This artwork is currently on display (along with much more) at the entrance at Emerald Hill Road. My simple photography does not do the artwork credit. 

Teacher Professional Development Days

At the start of the school year, we spend 5 days on professional development with all staff, getting ready for the school year / enhancing our professional knowledge and writing curriculum, assessments etc.

Throughout the year, in addition to weekly staff meetings on Wednesday afternoons, where we focus on teaching and learning, and enhancing our knowledge (mostly on MYP this year, as we continue towards implementation), we also spend 3 days a year, throughout the year, on Professional Development as well.

Pictured is one of the many sessions that Mark Williams, our MYP Coordinator, led, helping develop and deepen our understanding of the MYP.

Pictured above is our Head of Student Services, Ms Favaro, leading Secondary Staff through various team-building and mindfulness activities.

Pictured above are the leaders of this year's United Nations Day, led by Ms Horan and many other hard working teachers. Our students did an amazing job of presenting to our staff about what their duties and responsibilities would be for the day. It is not an easy job speaking to teachers, and our students did exceptionally.

Secondary Visual Art on Display

I love looking at student artwork. It really is amazing how very talented our students are, and with great teaching and guidance, they come up with amazing projects.

Mr Unger's art classes recently displayed their work at the Emerald Hill Road entrance to school. Students spent weeks creating various cellophane displays of themselves (walking to school, on a swing, playing ...). The detail on these mannequins was really amazing, and the overall display was terrific.

Congratulations to our Head, Tyler Sherwood

Tyler Sherwood, Head of Chatsworth International School, has been awarded a fully-funded fellowship to the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership’s 2015 Heads of Schools program at Teachers College, Columbia University. This distinguished honor established in 1991, is granted to just twenty heads of school annually. The award provides independent school leaders with an opportunity for focused professional enrichment, renewal and reflection.

For two weeks in January, visiting heads from around the world gather together at the Columbia
University Campus for intensive study to examine educational issues and policies facing independent
school educators. The Center attracts and selects educators who have demonstrated outstanding
accomplishment or potential for excellence and equips them with the knowledge, skills and values
necessary for informed and effective practice. Participants will focus on philosophy, research,
technology and governance. The 2015 cohort includes Heads from all areas of the United States in
addition to participants from Australia, Cayman Islands, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Singapore.

Columbia University Fellowship - Tyler Sherwood

Great quote from Facebook

While I normally scan through my Facebook feeds at a mile-a-minute, this little quote stopped me in my tracks. How powerful. How true.

Today's Secondary Pastoral Assembly on Sharpen the Saw (by Louise Favaro, Head of Student Services)

Today's Secondary Pastoral Assembly on Sharpen the Saw

by Louise Favaro, Head of Student Services

This morning we had a Secondary assembly during our Pastoral Lesson on one of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits: Sharpen the Saw. The metaphor for Sharpen the Saw is that the woodcutter has so many trees to cut down, he feels he does't have time to sharpen his saw. However if he would just take the time to sharpen his saw, he would be much more productive.

Heading into our break, we felt this was a good message for our students: use this time for renewal and to take care of yourself so that you come back refreshed and more productive. 

We had different examples of Sharpen the Saw including a quick look at dietary habits with a shocking demonstration of the effects of soda/fizzy drinks (ask your kids!). We also had a look at the importance of sleep. Research now suggests that even if we eat well and exercise regularly, if we don't sleep well, our health could be compromised.

If sleep is in fact even more important than diet and exercise, there is something that is even more essential to our well-being: the ability to quiet the mind. For our students we used the term 'press pause' and gave them lots of examples of ways to do this, including breathing, relaxation, mindfulness, meditation, yoga, practicing gratitude, and practicing acceptance (not wanting things in this moment to be different than what they are). To illustrate the importance of practicing acceptance, we showed this short video to illustrate what happens when you are in resistance to what is.

We thought you might enjoy it as well... 

Wednesday Afternoon Teacher Development

Teachers in Secondary meet every Wednesday after school to learn and study about our curriculum, assessment, educational trends, pedagogy, learning, and best practice. Below, Bret Deitre, our new Special Educational Needs specialist, led us in a rocking presentation on working with students with educational differences. 

Mr Reid teaching an English class ... with colleagues Mr Morley and Mr Hudson in the back observing. The English Department, led by Mr Reid, took the lead this year in creating time for peer observation of teaching practices. In this way, we can mentor each other in "what works for us" and in new teaching practices / ideas / approaches to lessons. This is great learning! 

The New Chatsworth Parent Group

Mr Sherwood, our Principal, addressing the new Chatsworth Parent Group. It is wonderful to have such great parents supporting us, and the enthusiasm in the room was measurable. Thanks Chatsworth Parents! 

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Introduction to the MYP ... with parents

Mark Williams, our MYP Coordinator, leading a mini workshop with parents about the MYP. We hold numerous "information" evenings all year long, about various aspects of school life, from curriculum to assessment to pastoral to university life. 

Mr Williams even had parents "working" during the evening ... like being back at school again. 

When It Rains, It Pours.

A great mini clip showing the amazing rain storms that we can get here in Singapore. This view is taken from just outside the Secondary Office, top floor of Block 5. 

Curriculum Enhancement Week - November 2014

Curriculum Enhancement Week (CEW) is one of the highlights of the school year at Chatsworth.

On Monday this week, we released the October 2014 CEW Program Guide for Parents and Students, and we followed up this week with CEW meetings for parents/students on Thursday evening, and also CEW Presentations for all Secondary students on Friday morning.

The registration system is open now for parents / guardians to ensure that they all have access to the system, so when the registration window opens tomorrow for CEW program registration, you are all ready to go and there are no last minute glitches.

The CEW Program Guide and various registration presentation slides are available on our website.

Just a reminder that on-line program registration opens on Saturday August 30th at 9am, and programs are first come - first served!

Thanks very much for all the parents who came out last night. We appreciate your support of our programs.

Introduction to Secondary Night (Parent Evening)

We hold numerous parent evenings all through the year, the first of which is the Introduction to Secondary Night (Parent Evening).

We nearly packed out our hall with parents this year, which was great to see such support.

A copy of our presentation can be viewed here for parents who missed the event.

The first 45 minutes was spent as a big group, in the hall. 

Then we broke into smaller Year-level groups for more interaction and more relevant questions and answers to parent questions. 

Welcome Back Student Council BBQ

One of the highlights of the year, which happens at the start of every school year, is our Annual Welcome Back Student Council BBQ. With nearly 100% attendance, after school on Friday, this was a huge success.

Our students council arranges a massive BBQ, and with the generous support of parents who supply drinks and snacks, we have a huge feast of satay and sausages.

It is always nice to see graduates every year as our BBQ as well.

Great job, Student Council!

IB Diploma Student Orientation

We start each year with various orientation programs within Secondary, during the first weeks of school.

An important orientation is the Orientation to the IB Diploma for Year 12 (Grade 11) students. Through multiple “pull out” periods over a few weeks, we bond them together as a group (this helps bring the new students into our culture), go through all components of the IB Diploma (CAS, Extended Essay, TOK, study skills, organization management etc) and more.

Talking with IB Diploma Coordinator Mrs Saxena.

New Student Orientation

Each year, Chatsworth Secondary students host “new students to Chatsworth” in the New Student Orientation. 

I think this is fantastic for a few reasons 

(1) who better than our existing Chatsworth students to tell new Chatsworth students all about what “life is really like” at Chatsworth, and 

(2) what a great way for our own students to extend their leadership, teamwork, interpersonal and communication skills in a real life experience. 

This is so much better for everyone than teachers doing it :-).

Name games

Processing questions in small groups

Teacher Orientation Week

Students don’t often know what happens before the school year starts … but as any teacher will know it is lot of work getting ready for the first day of school. In many ways, the comparison is like that of a plane using a huge percentage of its fuel just on take off, to get itself into the air. 

As of August 2014, the MYP has changed (and improved!) and much of our work was in rewriting MYP curriculum, as well as using student data to assist teachers in planning.

Secondary teachers also did our own team bonding activities, just like students do!

Paper Rock Scissors!

Using data to inform instruction

Unlocking the secret code.