Kontak

VOL. 82 September 1, 2023

HEAD OF SCHOOL CORNER

Dear Community Members,

The 2023 -2024 school year has taken off like a rocket, and we find ourselves coming to the end of our first full month of engagement. Activities inside classrooms and across the Global Jaya School campus are heating up as learning, community service and leadership activities, athletics, after-school activities, as well as Week Without Walls and class trip preparations, are being finalized for Secondary while being initiated in Primary, as well as student, parent and faculty workshops being conducted. Our weekly assemblies have allowed opportunities for our learners to reacquaint themselves with proper assembly etiquette and decorum as we launch this new year.

I kindly invite all to check out the Athletics and Activities Google site kept up-to-date by Pak Jon, our Athletics and Activities Director. Our Global Jaya School teams have started the year on an absolute tear...knock on wood...that continues with this weekend's matches. For details on dates, times and locations of upcoming events, scores and information on past matches, please check out the Athletics and ASA site for further details.

World Scholars Cup - Global Round Korea:

We celebrate and thank all our Global Round competitors who journeyed to Korea and participated in this competition. In speaking with Ibu Windy, one of the Korea trip chaperones, she indicated, "It should be known that actually 36 of our Global Jaya School Scholars received Tournament of Champion invitations." She went on to say, " Our students competed against schools from all over the world with almost 2000 students both in Junior and Senior rounds. We admired their commitment to attend extra practices during the holiday and their ability and willingness to adapt when facing challenges. We would also like to thank their parents for their continuous support”.

Juniors: Alana, Kinar, Ayla, Jaeyden, Katherine, Emery, Nazwa, Vienna, Elia, Fidel, Bhtari, Olivia

Seniors: Nicole, Ivanka, Hawra, Nataya, Sophia, Akbar, Pippa, Nadine, Sean, Jenny, Ariel, Bagas, Aliyyah, Seva, Queena, Naima, Rania S, Jana, Davina, Lea, Rania Dhira, Anika, Aimee, Kayla

Below are a selection of team photos from their journey to Seoul, Korea:

World Scholars Cup - Next Stop Tournament of Champions:

We are very excited to share that we have fourteen Global Jaya School Scholars who have qualified, accepted and are now preparing to travel to the Tournament of Champions (ToC), to be held November 1 - 7, 2023, on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut. Our students will be using the coming weeks to prepare their writing skills and speaking and debate skills as well as reinforcing their chosen content areas, which will be assessed and quizzed during the ToC. Pak David, Ibu Windy, and I will be working with the students in preparation for the competition. We are Looking forward to great things from our lively, energetic and talented team of Junior and Senior Scholars:

Juniors: Akbar, Fidel, Btari, Katherine, Jaeyden, Nazwa, Emery, Elia, Vienna

Seniors: Sean, Bagas, Nadine, Jennie, Pippa

Air Quality:

With recent and seemingly ongoing poor air quality, we have undertaken a data and policy review exercise to formalize a Global Jaya School Air Quality Response Policy. We are working with local data providers to identify reliable and accurate information for the Bintaro area that would allow us as a school to formulate decisions. We are surveying sample policies from other international schools in the DKI Jakarta area and internationally to craft a policy that can guide us with clear responses and actions dependent upon air quality readings. We hope to finalise our policy draft and share it at our next Morning Coffee with Pak Cory, which will be held on Wednesday, September 13 at 08:30 in the Dance Room, 2nd floor of the GJS Gym.

In the meantime, we do encourage those who wish to wear a mask to please do so. Health authorities indicate that KN95, N95 and KF94 masks can filter the PM 2.5 particles we are most concerned about, with N99 masks being encouraged for those with respiratory sensitivities.

Parents Association:

GJS Leadership has been working closely with the Parents Association (PA) Elections Committee as we prepare for new leadership to guide the PA for the 2023 - 2025 school years.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ibu Adhisty Kampono, our Parents Association Chairperson, for the 2021 - 2022 and 2022 - 2023 school years. Ibu Adhisty approached the association's role with a vision far different than that of her predecessors, focusing on social media and communications. We appreciate her efforts to redefine aspects of PA operation in seeking to modernize and streamline the PA as an organization. I thank Ibu Adhisty, our outgoing PTA Chair, for her hard work, dedication, creativity and ingenuity in leading during the trying times of the recent pandemic.

Upon completion of a final interview with GJS Leadership and our Yayasan, a new Parents Association Chairperson can be named. This process is underway. Please stay tuned to this space for more details in the next edition of the Kontak.

GJS Admissions:

Our Admissions team continues to accept and process applications for the 2023-2024 academic year and now has started with the 2024-2025 as well.

To this point in time, we have accepted 135 new students representing 119 new families into the GJS community and are still processing new current-year applications weekly. Projecting forward, our recent Open House event was extremely well received, with over 80 students and their families in attendance. For the 2024-2025 school year, we are currently processing over 55 applications for admissions. These strong signs indicate a healthy future for our school and our community.

If you have colleagues, friends and/or family interested in learning more about joining our community, please encourage them to contact Ibu Kania, our GJS Admissions officer, at admission@globaljaya.com or by phone at +62 21 745 7562 Ext.154 for further details.

Warm regards,

Cory Carson

Head of School

headofschool@globaljaya.com