Island School Newsletter - 23rd September 2011

We are benefitting yet again from extensive building and renovation works completed this summer. The old staff work rooms and washrooms have been converted into a stunning new Textiles Technology room. This room is dedicated to the memory of Amy Coxall and was officially opened on Tuesday 21st September. Like the senior common room before it, the design is an excellent example of retrofitting. Bobby Lin from Studio One has worked with Claire Tait to ensure that the new space is supremely fit for purpose with some incredibly creative storage solutions. The room is subdivided up into different areas with dedicated functions. This room surely has to set a new standard for our accommodation and will be a benchmark as we move forward with our vision for school redevelopment.

We have also refurbished the old textiles room and installed some exciting pieces of new furniture that aim to provide flexibility for student learning. The new Node chair (designed by IDEO and manufactured in the USA by SteelCase) enable students to reconfigure into collaborative groups very quickly and take us away from the fixed idea of tables and chairs all facing the front. Mediascape is a “space age” piece of furniture which aims to promote small group collaboration and encourages students to share their findings and outcomes via their laptops on a large LCD (see photograph).

Block 7 (the old squash club) has had a major face-lift. Purpose designed staff work rooms, meeting areas, student common rooms and many other features have really made a difference to the whole campus and freed up space in the older buildings. The photographs featured in a previous newsletter from last years 8D have been framed and have really made a difference to the communal areas over there.

I am pleased to report that the increased focus on Island School redevelopment has not taken away from our commitment to make the most out of our current accommodation. More than that we are actively trying to prototype new approaches to planning spaces for learning so that when the redevelopment becomes a reality we can move forward with experience and research based findings to ensure that the new design reflects the school’s essential ethos, reflect its values and meets the needs of our students.

There will be further articles and features regarding new attitudes to the design of learning spaces in future newsletters.

Gareth Stevens - Vice Principal

Dear Parents,

The ESF council elections are taking place and it is important to have an Island School parent on the board. This is particularly important as the ESF board will be discussing the redevelopment of Island School at various times during the coming year and we need to have some representation.
There is one IS parent on the slate for re-election, who is Mark Clifford, and I would urge you support his candidacy.

Thanks!
Chris Binge - Principal

How many calories in total does the whole school’s population eat per day? Even weirder, how many “calories” does the school – yes, the buildings – take? Evergreen Power Limited seems to have the answer!

Yesterday - on the 14th of September - Mrs. Vittachi, along with three Y12 students (Jonathan Leung, Michael Hui and Natalie Au), went to the ESF center to attend the Twilight meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to all get together and discuss environmental issues within the ESF community, and there were representatives from both secondary and primary ESF schools. The topics we talked about ranged from how to raise Wanbo awareness in schools, to growing our own strawberries on the walls, and to comparing our energy consumption with eating pineapple buns and sushi.

How does that work? At the meeting, two representatives from Evergreen Power Limited (EPL) talked about a web-based programme that is designed to track energy consumption and hence reduce consumption levels. The programme is able to display energy level changes by minute – so if you turn off the lights in one room, you will be able to see a decrease in energy consumption in just 60 seconds! We can immediately see how we just made a difference. The programme also translates all the scientific and technical language about energy to terms we can understand – for example, “you have saved the energy equivalent to 5 bus rides”.

A more interesting translation would relate to us eating pineapple buns and sushi! We can usually estimate how many pineapple buns we can eat – and so this programme uniquely measures energy consumption by eating. The more energy we use up, the more pineapple buns the school has “eaten”. EPL representative Tyler Holland even said we could measure the calorie intake of everybody in Island School, then compare it to the “calorie intake” of the school itself! I think this innovative programme would raise awareness to be environmentally friendly, as well as encourage students to save energy using creative methods. Students would be able to see the immediate effects of their efforts to save energy, and I think this is really motivating. As a student, I think Island School should install this programme!

Natalie Au - 12E

In the light of the desperate nature of the plea here is a copy of the article from the Tech-Know Blog…

The Tech-Know! Blog is a student written, teacher moderated blog that is trying to bring tips and tools to students to help with their learning.  A team of tech savvy students actively research and test websites, web based services and apps and evaluate how they could be applied to learning situations.   However, it is not only important to understand about the technological landscape and to look at recommendations from it, it is just as important to be aware of how these tools can affect our personal security and privacy issues.  Consequently, another regular feature of the blog will be articles relating to digital citizenship, internet safety and personal security.

The full blog can be accessed…here and the latest article appears on the front page of ISLE...here.   Parents are also free to make comments on the blog and suggestions for tools that they find useful. 

Here is the latest article written by Michael Kang of 9F.

Website…here   

We've all typed up a piece of writing for school homework or for some other reason and as we're writing it, everything seems to fit into place.
But then, there's the editing.

There are not many people would get their work grammatically correct at the first try, and even when you've read over your work and hand it in, your teacher gives it back with one or two correction markings that you overlooked.

With PaperRater, you can solve these little mishaps of your own subconscious. PaperRater is a free, online program that finds the mistakes in your work and makes them noticeable to you without having to consult anyone. What's more is that an artificial intelligence also marks it to a teacher's standard, giving you a grade and a score on your writing just like a teacher would.

• Auto-Grader
• Readability Statistics
• Style and Word Choice
• Spelling and Grammar Check
• Plagiarism Check
• Title Validation
• Vocabulary Builder

What it also does is that it rates your work based on the type of Year that you're in and the type of work that you are writing. Simply enter your grade, type of paper, title and text to get your editing feedback. It also can detect plagiarism in your work from your research sites, which you can post into the "Work Cited" section.

Uses in Learning and Reasons for Recommendations:

PaperRater is a great program to use when you can't seem to find anymore problems in your work. The difference from an average word processor is that it not only points out the problems that you miss, but it forces you to change those problems yourself rather than auto-correcting it for you. Therefore, you learn to identify more problems and change it yourself. It also suggests using different words and phrases that you may have never thought of using, opening your mind to more ideas.

For those who are extremely lazy and are tempted to plagiarize, or perhaps are hard-working but have unintentionally plagiarized, PaperRater detects it and points it out. It's probably what your teacher would find out anyway. So basically, it's your online teacher/marker.
Of course, if you are confident with your skills in editing or don't want to take advice from a computer, you can always ignore what it says.

Michael Kang - 9F

The Drama and Music departments present an arts festival piece based on the time period

Between the Wars

Each Drama teacher has taken this brief and created a performance based on the period between WW1 & WWII

Spanning the globe, the pieces include:

• Broken Dreams - featuring Curley's Wife from Of Mice and Men, using Steinbeck's script and novella and a Hollywood song and dance number : Cheek to Cheek:

• The World According to Brecht- Brecht's Poetry focusing upon capitalism and communism; the haves and the have nots during the Weimar Republic using a Brecht and cabaret performance style

• Cabaret songs and physical theatre pieces centered on the Song Sisters and the exile of the last emporer of China

Featuring students from Yrs 9 - 13
Thursday 6th & Friday 7th October 7pm School Hall 

Poster...here

Thanks on behalf of the Drama Dept

Lowanna Dunn - Head of House Wilberforce

Fleming Charity Week

Fleming’s proud association with Katja house is long standing. For those of you new to the House this is an orphanage in Nepal that was set up and run by Island School. It has provided shelter for about 60 children whose ages range from 4-18. We have had a fun filled week without forgetting that we are raising money for a charity close to our hearts.

Under the guidance of our Heads of House, Mrs. Worthington and Mr. Tudor and with the support of the Fleming form tutors, the help of 12F charity prefects and with everyone in the house pitching in, this has been a very successful week. The 2011 charity week has been one of our best ever. It kicked off with a Dress Red Day, followed by the entire House forming a giant letter ‘F’ for Fleming on the green area. 7F took part in a Sponsored Silence for a whole school day, which was challenging but also created a quieter environment around school. 8F really enjoyed sponging the teachers. Mrs. Worthington, Mr. Tudor, Mrs. Boag, Mr. Nicholls, Mr. Rutter and Mr. Reed all kindly volunteered to be hit with soggy sponges to raise money. 9F treated the school to a delicious bake sale; we could have some budding Jamie Olivers or Nigella Lawsons there! 10F cooled down in the pool for their Sponsored Swim whilst 11F baked in the sun for their Sponsored Run with Mrs. Worthington. The grand finale of the week was the Fleming Carnival which involved 12F and 13F working collaboratively to put together a fun and lively afternoon which included balloon drops, tie dyeing, pizza sales and rousing vocals from Fleming students.

In the weeks to come we look forward to our Fleming prefects, who are travelling to Katja House during CAS week, reporting back on their experiences and hearing how the money will be utilized. Mrs. Worthington and Mr. Tudor would like to thank all Fleming students and staff for their energy, enthusiasm and support with the Fleming charity week. The week has so far raised an amazing HK$28,000. Well done Fleming!!!!

Please see photograph album…here

Nigvi Tam & Michelle Kung - 12F

Fast approaching is Island School’s annual sixth form event, the Rainbow Trek, with the first training walk taking place this weekend. All sixth form students are encouraged to walk the full length of the 50km Hong Kong Trail; if not at all possible, then just 25km. In the case of either distance, it is a phenomenal accomplishment. In addition, this provides students with the opportunity to take a break from studying and embrace some of Hong Kong’s beautiful scenery which is often forgotten.

Sixth form students take part in the trek with the intention of raising money for a Hong Kong-based non-profit organisation known as The Rainbow Project (The Rainbow Project website…here). The Project was started by parents and childcare professionals in 1999 to not only provide autistic children from poorer families with the care, attention, educational facilities and equipment that they would not get a mainstream school, but also to raise awareness of autism throughout Hong Kong; autism is a disorder that affects the brain, causing the individual’s behaviour and communication skills to differ from those of other individuals. The Project depends entirely upon private donations and fundraising events as, unfortunately, they are not large enough to be supported by the government.

Every year, we appeal to Island School sixth form students and parents to raise money for this cause; during the last six years over which the trek has been running, we have raised over HKD 2 million, with one exceptional year of sixth form students raising HKD 800,000. Absolutely any money that you can donate to this great cause will have a life-changing effect on the children. We are also seeking corporate sponsorships from companies that have money that they are willing to spare. The company will be guaranteed widespread publicity in a charitable cause; their logo will be advertised on our trek t-shirts, posters and charity banner, as well as in public media, if they are able to get in touch with us on time. With this money, the Rainbow Project will have the capacity to expand and hopefully gain support from the government. Any donations at all will be much appreciated.

We ask that, if possible, you spread the word to your company or friends who may be working at companies that are able to donate. If so, please contact myself (teena.alimchandani@online.island.edu.hk) or Mr. Pak Chan, the teacher in charge (phc@mail.island.edu.hk). Individual donations can be paid by cash or cheque, with the cheque made out to “Island School Amalgamated Charities”. Any further questions can be directed to either of the email addresses given above.

Teena  Alimchandani– 13W

apX Teen Leadership Camp - October 18-20 2011

Students today are preparing for an increasingly competitive global environment and need to be better equipped to excel in university, employment, and social settings.  Yet most Fortune 500 companies complain that their new hires are increasingly ineffective and need more training than ever.  Around the world, schools like Island School are recognizing that traditional classroom learning can only do so much.

Our youth programs give students the tools to take more responsibility for their own learning, and equip them with leadership and social skills crucial for success in secondary school and beyond.  Click...here for information about an exciting Student Leadership training opportunity for October half term break at Island School organized by 'The Edge' and 'Seeds Training'.

Please see more information ... here

Matt Sears - The Edge

See the pdf document…here for information on the British Council Roadshow, the Ivy College fair and the Linden Tour here at Island School next week. We look forward to welcoming all interested students and parents to these events.

For information on important dates and reminders please visit the parents’ notices page on the school website…here 

家長通訊
有關本校重要資訊, 請查看港島中網站的家長通訊頁…按此

Congratulations to Nicole Fung 7F who’s the 1st Year 7 to gain a bronze certificate

恭喜7F的Nicole Fung，成為首個Year 7獲獎銅獎的學生

Fleming與Katja house有長久的合作關係。希望新的Fleming社成員都能致力協助本校為Katja house籌款。Katja house是一家為超過60名4至18歲孤兒提供服務的尼泊爾孤兒院。為Katja house籌款已成為Fleming社的重點事項。

在Fleming社主管Mrs. Worthington和 Mr. Tudor的帶領及12F慈善長的協助下，今年的Fleming社慈善週非常成功，更是有史以來本社最成功的慈善週之一。從開幕的紅色衣服日，green area的人肉大字圖，7座的沉默日等活動都令Fleming社慈善週充滿色彩，Mrs. Worthington, Mr. Tudor, Mrs. Boag, Mr. Nicholls, Mr. Rutter和Mr. Reed都十分支持我們於慈善週的活動。9F的同學作蛋糕義賣，10F及11F的同學在泳池協助Mrs. Worthington進行慈善泳賽。12F及13F的同學在午飯時段提供各色各樣的活動, 例如pizza義賣。各Fleming社的同學都全程投入慈善週。在未來的幾個星期，Fleming社長們將於CAS week前往Katja House匯報慈善週詳情，及商談善款用途。Mrs. Worthington and Mr. Tudor希望在此感謝Fleming社同學及各同事對Fleming社慈善週的支持。Fleming社慈善週共籌得28,000港元。我們為此感到十分自豪!

活動照片集…按此

Nigvi Tam & Michelle Kung - 12F

暑假過後，本校重修工程得已順利完成，舊教員室和洗手間己轉成新紡織技術室。新紡織技術室的成立日是9月21日星期二，用已紀念Amy Coxall。Studio One 的Bobby Lin和Claire Tait用心安排新紡織技術室的設計，以確保有足夠的空間及設備，引發同學更多創意。新紡織技術室分成不同的專用領域，我們將仿照此技術室的設計為標準，作為日後本校重建的藍圖。

我們亦將舊紡織室翻新及安裝新家具，務求為學生提供更有靈 活性的學習環境。舊紡織室的新椅子是由IDEO設計，並生產於美國的Steelcase公司。希望同學盡快適應新的學習環境。Mediascape是“space age”的家具，用意增強小組的合作性和鼓勵同學分享透過電腦和LCD熒幕分享學習成果。

7座（舊壁球部）經已改頭換面。不論是多功能教員室，會議室，學生休息室等地方已從舊的7座建築物演變成新天地。我們亦把前8D同學的攝影作品安裝在7座大樓內，以供大家觀賞。

我很高興向大家報告本校的重修情況，意味著我們十分重視對港島中學重建計劃的承諾。務求提供更優質教育，增添更多資源及空間，我們積極努力，規劃及擴展學習資源。7座的重修工程令我們有更充足的經驗去迎接本校的重建計劃，令我們不斷進步己迎合學生的的需要。

Gareth Stevens - 副校長

親愛的家長，

英基學校協會正進行投票選舉，現誠邀各港島中學家長積極支持。英基選舉委員會將於來年討論本校重建事項，我們需要各家長的支持，選出本校代表，在委員會上為港島中學重建事項發表重要意見。

Mark Clifford先生將再次角逐港島中學家長代表，請支持他連任成功。

謝謝!

Chris Binge – 校長

全校師生及工作人員每天究竟需要消耗多少熱量和“卡路里”呢? Evergreen Power Limited似乎已經有了答案！

9月14日Mrs. Vittachi，以及三名 Y12的學生（Jonathan Leung, Michael Hui 和Natalie Au），往英基總部出席Twilight會議。這次會議的目的是聚集大家討論在英基社區內的環境問題，是次會議有來自英基中，小學的學校代表。我們談論的主題範圍包括，如何提高學校內的環保意識，如何種植自家草莓，並比較吃菠蘿包和壽司所取得的能量。

究竟是如何運作的？在這次會議上，兩名來自Evergreen Power Limited (EPL)的代表談到如何運用電腦程式準確地預測能量消耗，以減低及有效地平衡能量供應的水平。該電腦程式能夠顯示每分鐘的能量水平變化，當關閉房燈時，電腦程式可顯示在短短60秒內，關閉房燈後的能量水平變化！讓我們可以立即看到能量水平變化的情況。

該電腦程式已把全部科學和技術專有名詞演化成普及詞語，易於我們理解，例如，“你已節省了相等於乘坐5次公共汽車的能量”。

電腦程式將我們吃菠蘿包和壽司所得的能量作更有趣的翻譯！一般來說，我們估計能夠吃完的菠蘿包數量，電腦程式卻計算出我們吃下菠蘿包後所得的能量。我們需要越多的能量，學校便需要 “吃 掉”相等能量值的菠蘿包數量。EPL的代表提出，我們可以比較港島中學各學生每天所攝取的卡路里，和港島中學每天所消耗的卡路里！我認為這個創新的電腦程式可提高同學對環境保護的認識，以及鼓勵同學採用各種節約能源的方法。同學能即時透過電腦程式看到他們為節約能源而努力的成果，我認為這是一個鼓勵性十分強的電腦程式。作為一名學生，我希望港島中學能安裝此電腦程式！

Natalie Au - 12E

主題為: Between the Wars

每位戲劇老師將參照第一次世界大戰和第二次世界大戰時期背景，創造不同的藝術表演。

Spanning the globe，作品包括：

• Broken Dreams - featuring Curley's Wife from Of Mice and Men, using Steinbeck's script and novella and a Hollywood song and dance number : Cheek to Cheek:

• The World According to Brecht- Brecht's Poetry focusing upon capitalism and communism; the haves and the have nots during the Weimar Republic using a Brecht and cabaret performance style

• Cabaret songs and physical theatre pieces centered on the Song Sisters and the exile of the last emporer of China

YR 9 – 13的學生將參與演出

10月6日星期4和10月7日星期5下午7時於學校禮堂公演

海報...按此

在此代表戲劇部感謝各位

Lowanna Dunn -  Wilberforce社主管

Tech-Know日誌是一個在老師帶領下，由學生編制的學習日誌。各成員都積極搜尋各種有助學習的資訊科技及應用程式。本日誌的學習重點不單在於理解更多資訊科技，更重要的，是如何將資訊科技應用於網路保安及個人電腦私隱防護上。學習日誌中的一項專題文章是有關模擬身份，互聯網安全及個人電腦私隱防護。

查看日誌…按此

日誌最新的文章將刊登於ISLE的頭版…按此。家長可以自由地在日誌上提供意見供同學參考。

以下是由9F的Michael Kang在日誌上寫的最新文章。
網站…按此   

我們已把學校功課或有關資訊上載到網站

接下來，便是編輯的工作。
 
大部份同學都不會在擬寫草稿甚至在程交功課前修正文法上的錯誤，並忽視老師在功課上給予的改正建議。
大家可以透過PaperRater解決以上提及到的問題。 PaperRater是一個免費的網上程式幫你找尋文字上的錯處，而不需請教他人。更重要的是，人工智能科技已仿效達老師的標準，PaperRater網上程式可仿效老師，將用家的文章給予分數及評級。

PaperRater網上程式的特點（在PaperRater網站上寫的）：
•自動評級
•可讀性統 計資料
•文章風格和詞彙選擇
•拼字和文法檢查
•抄襲檢查
•標題驗證
•詞彙建議

PaperRater還可以跟據你的年齡級別和文章類別給予評級及修正建議。你只需輸入你的年齡級別，文章類別，標題和內文，PaperRater網上程式便會作出評級及修正建議。你還可透過"Work Cited"頁面對你搜尋資料的網站來源作抄襲檢查，確保資料來源沒有抄襲成份。 

學習和使用建議：

PaperRater是一個很好的網上程式，協助大家找尋文字上的錯處，給予評級及修正建議。它和一般文字處理程式不同的是，它只會給用家提供修正建議，而不會自動修正錯處。因此，用家能清楚了解問題所在，針對問題以作出修正。它亦會提供不同詞彙及句法選擇，給予用家更多啟發。
PaperRater就像是大家的網上老師，給予大家評級及修正建議，抄襲檢查。 

Michael Kang - 9F

急步行是港島中學彩虹步行的6週年活動，本週末將舉行第一次急步行訓練。我們鼓勵全體同學參加50公里全程的步行活動，如未能挑戰全程步行活動，可參加較短程的25公里。

步行活動除了是體能上的挑戰，更是個人心智的成長訓練。此外，步行活動更為學生從學習中提供休息的機會，去欣賞久被遺忘的香港景色。

步行活動致力為非牟利組織 - “彩虹計劃”籌集資金。彩虹計劃網站…按此 該計劃由一群熱心家長及兒科專家於 1999年成立，不僅提供關懷，教育設施和各種設備予來自貧困家庭而未能入讀主流學校的自閉証兒童，更提高香港人對自閉症的認識。自閉症一種由於神經系統失調導致的發育障礙，其病徵包括不正常的社交能力、溝通能力、興趣和行為模式。“彩虹計劃”屬小規模非牟利組織，故未能擭政府支持，他們只靠私人捐款和慈善籌款得以維持。過去6年，本校同學和家長每年都為“彩虹計劃” 籌務經費，籌得超過20萬港元。今年，我們希望能為“彩虹計劃” 籌港幣80萬，以支援更多有需要的孩子。我們正積極尋求企業贊助，務求增大“彩虹計劃”的規模，並得到政府的支持，希望大家能慷慨解囊。

希望大家可向各界的企業朋友宣傳“彩虹計劃”。請聯繫本人（teena.alimchandani@ online.island.edu.hk）或Mr. Pak Chan老師（phc@mail.island.edu.hk）。個人捐款可以現金或支票支付，支票台頭請填上，“Island School Amalgamated Charities”。如有任何進一步的問題，請發電子郵件給我們。

Teena  Alimchandani– 13W

今天的學生正準備在日益激烈的全球環境下競爭，需要更好的裝備，卓越的大學，就業和社會環境。然而， 眾多500強公司都在抱怨，新一代員工的工作效率日益下跌，需要比以往更多的培訓。在世界各地，像港島中學的學校都認識到，傳統課堂的學習成效有限。我們 的青年計劃，讓學生承擔更多的責任，使他們更有領導能力去迎接各項競爭。

'Seeds' and 'The Edge' 將於來年十月中在本校舉辦學生領袖培訓，詳情…按此。

活動資訊...按此

Matt Sears - The Edge