Kids4Kids

Last year 3 year 12 students, Charles Yau, Ted Clifford and Kimmy Piedmont got together to form the Island School branch of Kids 4 Kids, a completely student led charity focused on helping other young people around the world, with the mission ‘For kids, by kids’. We participated in Books For a Cause, a massive effort to collect and donate educational and junior books to students and schools in need around Asia, but particularly in disadvantaged parts of Hong Kong and China where students lack appropriate reading and reference material.

Island School alone collected and shipped over 500 books to Kids 4 Kids. As a group we just wanted to thank everyone who contributed by donating books, in particular the Island School English department for their generous donations, and everyone who showed up to help us pack them. We’re all looking forward to participating in the event again next year and furthering Island School’s involvement with this great cause.

Ted Clifford – 13F

Dr Willie Smits Visits Island School

On Friday 26th December Dr Willie Smits of the Masarang Foundation will be visiting Island School. The aim of the Masarang Foundation is “to save the environment through the active participation of local people. Through its projects, the foundation works on solutions for the most pressing problems the world currently faces: climate change, extinction of plants and animals, destruction of ecosystems, poverty and underdevelopment.”

One of the Foundation’s projects is the Tasikoki Animal Rescue Centre in Sulawesi. This November a team of Island School students will be working at Tasikoki for their CAS week. Together with WAMBO (the school’s environment group) and other members of the Island School community, the Taskikoki students will be helping to raise funds to support the Masarang Foundation. We hope that this is the start of a long association between the school and the foundation.
For more information on the Masarang Foundation please look up their website Masarang…here. You can also look up the Masarang Hong Kong which has been set up in HK to raise awareness of the work of the foundation Masarang HK. It is also worth watching Dr Smits TED talk to find out more about his reforestation projects TED Talk.

Mathew Rappel - Advanced Diploma Co-ordinator/ Teacher of Business Studies

Island School Mela for Future Hope

What will HK$30 get you?

A cappuccino … a panini … a taxi fare?

Island School Mela for Future Hope

Tuesday 28^th June 2011 1pm -3.15pm

As we approach the end of term we are looking forward to an important event that will provide an entertaining afternoon for the whole school community and also serve the needs of another community that is close to our hearts.

Chris Binge has communicated with you recently about the student led fundraising for Future Hope, Kolkata. This initiative is now gathering momentum and will culminate on Tuesday 28^th June with the Island School Mela (fair) for Future Hope.

Throughout the afternoon there will be live sponsored performances from junior and senior students, ranging from cup dancing, to break dancing, to beat boxing. House Stalls, organized by Year 10 students, will provide further entertainment and supply tasty home-made refreshments. What’s more, leading up to and on the day of the Mela, second hand books, T-shirts (designed by five children at Future Hope) and wristbands will be on sale.

But perhaps what is most exciting about this event is that we are now 99% sure that we will be joined by six girls from Future Hope who will perform Bengali dance within the programme of entertainment. Thanks to very generous donations from parents, we are now in a position to help pay for flights for them to come to Hong Kong. Tim Grandage (Founder of Future Hope) has assured us of his years of experience in dealing with the administrative powers in Kolkata and is extremely confident of securing their passports within the next few days. This is unprecedented: it will be the first time that any girls from Future Hope have had the chance to travel.

So, if you’re keen to get involved and support us in reaching the $80000 target, here are just a few ways:
• Encourage your child to buy a T-shirt ($80) and a wristband ($10)
• Encourage your child to donate a book and buy a book ($20-50)

And perhaps most importantly:
• JOIN US AT THE MELA!

Tickets - $100 – will go on sale the week before and will be sold on the day
And let’s think again … what will HK$30 get you?
A book at the second hand book sale …
And that will help feed two children for a day at Future Hope

Thank you for your support
Jenny Hodson – Vice Principal

Chairman's Trophy won by Island School fundraisers

In November we celebrated the continued success of our Sedan Chair race team. Behind the scenes however worked a dedicated small group of year 12 students and their aim was to win the “Best School Fund Raising” award. In Pacific Place One on the 14th March they were awarded the “Chairman’s Trophy”. Different team: same result! Once again we became the most successful fund raising school for the event that collectively raises over 3.5 million dollars for local charities. Emeline SANDT, helped by Saniya MEHRA and Tarini MEHROTRA worked hard throughout the first term selling pizzas and plastic strap sports watches (amongst other things!) to raise $30,000. Well done, an excellent CAS effort!

Derek Irwin - Leading Teacher Mathematics / Sedan Chair Team Coach

Inter-House Athletics Final 2011

Please click here to visit our school website for photos.

Island School Solar Panel Group

Date: 22nd January 2011
Press: SCMP

Shining example of power-saving

Jonathan Kong Chun-ho sits in an Island School science laboratory and peers into this monitor. A series of cleanly laid out figures and a bar graph pop up, but he is not in a conventional science lesson.

"What you can see here is a calculation of how much electricity we have saved at school today." he says.

the figures he was looking at link directly to a one-storey-high turbine and nearly 15 square metres of solar panels on the roof of the science block. Together, they supply about 10 per cent of all the power going into the block, every kilowatt of which is measured and recorded for any of the school's 1,100 students to access online.

The figures for that the rooftop systems should produce about 5 kilowatts of power, but they can produce up to about 10kW depending on weather conditions.

nearly 275kW of electricity has been produced, avoiding the burning of fossil fuels that would have sent 200 kilograms of carbon into the atmosphere, in the three weeks the project has been running.

The system also tells Jonathan that HK$280 has been saved in electricity costs in the past month - more than 10 per cent of the roughly HK$2,000 electricity bill the science block usually pays.

It is also an educational tool. Island School launched an International Baccalaureate course in environmental systems this year, which will take advantage of the raw data recorded 24 hours a day. But the benefits extend to geography, maths and science classes of all years. Physics pupils will carry out practical experiments in the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. The carbon involved in setting up the system should be neutralised in 1.5 years and the equipment has a lifespan of 50 years, with little maintenance.

Jonathan, one of the founders of the team of 10 pupils and a teacher, is in his final year of secondary school and came up with the idea in 2009. After 15 months, 700 student signatures on a petition and HK$320,000 from the government's Environmental and Conservation Fund and Environmental Capaign Committee, the system was up and running.

Howard Chow, another pupil involved in the project, said:" When the solar panels were first launched last year, the student body were a little bit doubtful of the efficiency of how it was going to work.

"When we finally saw the wind turbine starting to spin faster and faster our group was basically standing on the playground staring at it in relief. Our hard work had not gone into the rubbish bin."

Chris Ip
SCMP

Gui Vezzaro

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that our much loved maths teacher and Head of Nansen House, Gui Vezzaro, passed away on the evening of Tuesday 30th November. As you know he has been in a precarious position between life and death since his heart attack in August. While there were signs of improvement in some aspects of his status, he was always very open to the damage an infection can cause. This danger arose in the last few days and he succumbed eventually to pneumonia.

The school is in a state of mourning as we remember our lively, vibrant friend, colleague and teacher. It will be very difficult for some of our staff and students, who were particularly close to Gui, to deal with this untimely loss. Some of your children will be deeply affected, and may well need the counselling help that we are setting up. Please do not hesitate to contact us, whether it is to set up some support, or just to let us know that your child is upset and that we should watch out for them. While allowing for those most affected, we will carry on school life as normally as possible.

The way in which the community has supported Gui over the last three months shows our love for him and the esteem in which he is held. The shock of his departure will be felt well beyond the confines of the school, and we all need to pull together and support each other, as well as Gui’s family and closest friends.

Gui joined Island School as a Maths Teacher in 1995. In 2004, while continuing to teach Maths, he joined the Guidance Staff, first in Fleming House, and then as Head of Nansen House. When Island School adopted the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, Gui used his experience to greatly add to our teaching of Theory of Knowledge. He has been much sought after by the IB Organisation as a workshop leader in TOK, around the world, to help teach less experienced teachers. Alongside his curriculum teaching has been Gui’s enthusiasm and tireless support for the wider aspects of school life. Whether it was Inter House Sports, School Volleyball, Maths Competitions of the Award for Young People, Gui was always ready to give his time for his students.

Those who were taught by Gui remember a committed and talented teacher, always prepared to spend that bit of extra time to explain the complex ideas. Those in his house have always commented on his care for those in need and his easy communication with children and parents. As a colleague, Gui will be greatly missed as a supportive friend who brought his sense of fun to the staffroom.

A Celebration of Gui's Life

On Thursday 9th December at 2.00pm Island School will hold a memorial celebration of the life of Guillermo Vezzaro. This will take place in the school hall. There will be music and readings from students and his colleagues in the staff, and we hope to capture some of the memories that Gui has left us. We look forward to many people joining us for this event and the doors of the hall and the hall balcony will be open from 1.00pm. There will be refreshments after the event provided by the Island School community with the support of many sponsors.

We hope to video this event and make it available as a live stream on the internet for those who would like to watch but are unable to attend. Please watch the Island School website for the link to be posted.

Fund raising for Gui

Many of you have donated to a fund that was initially set up for Gui’s long term care here and in Argentina, and I would like to express my gratitude to all of those who have contributed so generously. The purpose of this fund going forward has been the subject of much discussion among those at school who were closest to Gui. While the conclusion is not yet completely firm, we have decided that there are two aims that Gui would have appreciated and supported.

In the first place we know that Gui supported his extended family in Argentina, sending money back to support the further education of family members. We feel it is entirely appropriate that that commitment is honoured by this fund. In the second place we would like to set up a trust in Gui’s name that will be designed to support, in some way, families in the ESF community who are struggling with the financial commitment to education due to a bereavement. Gui was a man of tremendous humility and social conscience and believed in the power and value of education. We know he would support this aim.

If anyone has contributed to the fund by cheque, under the original aim, and feels uncomfortable with the new targets, we would like to give you the opportunity to withdraw your donation. If you would like to do this, please contact Betty Tsu at Island School.

Yours sincerely

Chris Binge
Principal