Ningbo International School

No. 1188 Yangfan Road,

Ningbo National Hi-Tech Zone

Tel: 86 574 87611005

E-mail: nbis.admin@nbis.net.cn

Website: www.nbis.net.cn

NBIS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 4

2019-20

Ningbo International School

A Community of Learners

Dates to Remember

10th September Early Years Curriculum Evening

11th September Primary Curriculum Evening

13th September Mid-Autumn Festival

17th September Secondary Curriculum Evening

19th September SAC Annual General Meeting

20th September First PTA Meeting

Aiming Higher: In Mandarin

Sometimes it’s difficult … because you’re already at the top!

Congratulations to NBIS Chinese Foreign Language students who sat the Cambridge

IGCSE examination in June, and to their dedicated Teachers!

The results speak for themselves:

There were 11 Candidates: All 11 Candidates scored A*!

While it might be normal for a couple of students to score

A* or A, it really is quite exceptional that a full cohort of

candidates should score nothing lower than A*.

The lowest score was 95% and one student achieved the

perfect mark: 100% who is the Global Outstanding

Learner. In any foreign language examination, that is an

extraordinary result.

As a school and community, we are proud of our students

and grateful to our teachers.

Su Jin Kim NBIS Global Outstanding Learner

The Mandarin Chinese programme at NBIS, since its

inception in 2005, has evolved into a coherent

articulated curriculum for all the students from EYFS

to Secondary. Mandarin as a Foreign Language (MFL)

is designed for non-native students, and places a

greater emphasis on aural and oral skills. Mandarin

as a Native Language (MNL) is designed for the

students acquired Mandarin as their first language in

schools. Our curriculum ensures that students

develop aural, oral, reading and writing skills

essential to achieve the performance standards as

required by or comparable to the IGCSE, A Level and

HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi). Head of Chinese Emily Zhang

Speed Kills

If a car hits a child, the car will win.

The Speed Limit on our campus is 5km.

Parents and other visitors are driving FAR TOO

FAST on the campus. This is dangerous.

Please keep within the speed limit on the

campus roads and in the underground car park.

No-one wants to visit their child in hospital

because someone else has not driven with

sufficient caution, care and respect.

Accidents happen when we least expect them.

Drive with CAUTION. 5km limit.

We’ve had 3 nominations for the vacant positions on SAC for 2019-20.

More needed! Let’s make it fun!

The deadline of September 4th was nominal … to meet publication deadlines for the

Newsletter!

Still time to step forward to help!

Please fill out the form sent to you by SMS and email it to the Principal at

philip.billing@nbis.net.cn

Find below, our first 3 Nominations:

Bergit Jusko

Germany 1 child at NBIS: Pre-School

Living in Ningbo since 2012

‘I would like to build a bridge between parents and the school …

especially in the Early Years Section. The more you share, work

together and participate; the more and better everyone involved

can participate … and the smoother school life can be! I would

love to help smooth this process.’

Emily Vokins

Chinese

1 daughter in year 2

Born and lived in China till 2014

I am Chinese and have a daughter in year 2. This is our first

year in NBIS and we are planning to stay till she goes to

uni. We lived in Ningbo for few years before went abroad

and now we are here again!

We lived in a few different countries and joined different

international schools; I have experience of working with

parents supporting/advisory team. I worked in one of the international schools as an

early years teacher and understand what the students and parents need from both

sides. I love making new friends and I love to give suggestions and ideas to the new

international families to explore this young beautiful city.

Nominations

Pratibha Birajdar

Indian

2 Children: Sanchi – Year 8, Sarth – Year 5

5 Years in China

(3 Years in Shanghai & 2 Years in Ningbo)

I have worked in parent teacher communication group

member in SUIS Shanghai and worked as volunteer to

organize school internal fairs and exhibition.

Year 2A Counting

Year 2A has spent the first few days this week practicing counting. Counting by

2’s .5’s, 10’s and Counting 1 more/less and 10 more/less.

Where is Mr. Tate

Today, we went on an adventure to different classes to find our lost teddy bear,

Mr. Tate! The kids were doing such a good job asking questions and describing what

Mr. Tate looks like to the other teachers. With all the kids working together, we found

Mr. Tate at the end! Hooray! 😊

You Won’t be-leaf our Art Work!

At the end of last week 3B collected lots of different leaves from around the NBIS

campus. We were looking for lots or different colours, shapes and sizes to make

scientific observations about. However, rather than simply put the dried leaves in the

bin when we were done, Mrs. Zhang suggested we use them for a traditional Chinese

Art activity – so she helped us to create some wonderful pictures using our natural

resources! Thank you, Mrs. Zhang!

Travel and Tourism

The Year 10 and 11 Travel and Tourism students welcomed a guest speaker this

Tuesday. Ms. Ranniekit Mae Reyes visited the class to speak about her experiences

working as a team leader for Singapore Airlines Call Centre and as a Consultant and

Trainer for Aspire Lifestyle in Singapore. The students got a glimpse into what it takes

to provide travel products and services to high-end clientele. We are thankful for

volunteers that give up their time to share their professional experiences with our

students.

School Buses!!!

It’s my privilege to be the new

Bus Coordinator this year and

this means I get to welcome

everyone each morning as they

arrive to school and see

everyone off at the end of the

day.

Thank you for a great start with

the buses. The first couple of

weeks have run very smoothly

and that’s down to a great team

of Bus Teachers and Bus

Drivers.

Safety is of course, our biggest priority and making sure that each student arrives to

and from school safely when using the buses is of utmost importance. All students,

from our youngest in pre-school to our oldest in Years 12 & 13, are doing really well

following the bus safety rules which include wearing seat belts at all times and

waiting for the bus to stop before getting up out of the seat.

Please can I remind parents, that as part of ensuring that each student arrives and

departs safely from school, to let us know if your child will not be using the bus in the

morning or after school. Please inform the bus teacher and/or the homeroom/

classroom teacher 24 hours in advance.

Many Thanks, Jo Hardwidge.

Welcome to the new Chair of the PTA

Juan Diao… Diana!

Diana is Chinese with one child at NBIS … in Y5.

She describes herself like this:

1. Love kids and want to do things for kids

2. Work for an American company so English and inter-cultural

environment is not a problem

3. Got Master’s Degree of Psychology and National Certificate of

Psychological Counseling, so can help others when needed

4. Passionate, open-minded and a good communicator

5. Used to be a parent leader in my kid’s previous school and really enjoyed making a

positive contribution

Then please get involved in the PTA! How?

Offer to be a PTA Class Representative. We’re looking for at least one rep for each class

in the school … That’s 26 reps! Look out for more info on Curriculum Evenings over the

next two weeks! Or if you simply can’t wait … get in touch with Diana, Chair of the PTA.

Come along to the first meeting on Friday September 20th, 0915 in the Conference

Room at school. Lots to talk about … including one of our flag-ship events: UN Day,

coming up soon … October 24th!

New Culture takes hold in Secondary

Sit in the Canteen around 1pm and you will see NBIS Secondary Students enjoying

smartphone-free interaction over lunch. Walk out onto the field after lunch, and you will see them playing football or

basketball, hanging on the high bars, chasing around the climbing frames, engaging

in chat together, enjoying the sunshine and the company of their friends.

We are so impressed by the response of our Secondary Students to the new ‘rules’ …

no smartphones to be used in school, and students must go outside at lunch. Very

positive and respectful attitude. A real credit to them! They are creating a better

future for themselves and for our school.

The long-term benefits are obvious … a more active lifestyle, improved general

awareness and interpersonal skills, increased creativity, greater interest in real rather

than virtual experience.

Great News, Scholastic Books are back!

At NBIS we promote a culture of reading to support academic success.

We know that having access and opportunity to reading a range of books is

important for your child’s development and that is why we are inviting you to join us

Order your books

by Friday 13th

September

and Scholastic Books in choosing and buying books for your child to read at home.

If you have already bought books from the Scholastic Books range, you will notice

that the system has slightly changed. Everything is now made simpler through

Wechat.

How to buy your books

1. Please follow the attached Step-by-step guide to create an account for your

child, if you already have an account this can be reactivated through EioBook

2. Select the books you would like to buy

3. Make payment through Wechat

4. Books will be delivered to the school and given to your child. This can take 8

weeks.

5. Place your order before 3pm on Friday 13th September

How we can help you

Please contact the Inclusion Department: karen.killeen@nbis.net.cn

laura.perez@nbis.net.cn or joanne.hardwidge@nbis.net.cn

Welcome to Michael Bosley Year 1 Teacher

Hello, my name is Michael Bosley. I grew up in three

different states in the USA with my mom, dad, and

younger sister and brother. I have lived in Costa Rica,

where my lovely wife is from, for the last ten years. I

treasure taking our two amazing daughters to the park

and ballet lessons, reading bedtime stories together, and

playing “Chopped Champion”. I enjoy running and soccer,

music, movies, and reading, and cooking, especially

barbecue. My degrees are in Early Childhood and

Educational Leadership and I have been teaching

elementary school for almost twenty years.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.

Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” –Dr. Martin Luther

King, Jr.

Peony Painting

"To celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the founding of New China, artist Jack Jiang has

been commissioned to paint a mural of the national flower, the peony. Jack's idea is

to have the international community of Ningbo joining with the local community to

paint this beautiful mural. He invited teachers from NBIS to the Red Peony Chinese

Painting and Calligraphy Studio to be instructed in a traditional technique to paint

the peony. The teachers truly enjoyed this unique Chinese experience and look

forward to attending the mural painting on Sunday September 22, 2019 which will be

covered by China Regional TV."

NBIS Food