MS HS NEWS

MSHS
Written by Mr. Alex Nenes

Happy 2023!

The new year always brings us several positive thoughts and hopes for a better year. New year is the time for resolutions for improvement and to make plans for the year ahead. With the arrival of January, we enter the “23” part of the 22-23 academic year. We can look back and celebrate our achievements, reflect on the things we can do better and improve the things we did well.

At SWA the second semester of the academic year is full of activities, competitions and events. Our calendar presents us with several dates in which we will compete, celebrate, gather together for several reasons, and this reassures us that we are a dynamic learning community. January will present us with Chinese New Year celebrations, MYP IDU, and IB Diploma Mocks while February will involve students in MYP PP Exhibition, revision of mocks for Grade 8 Checkpoint and Grade 10 IGCSE and much more. On this note, I would like to wish good luck and safe travels to G10 student Jae Yi Kim, who will participate in the Yale Model United Nations from January 19 to 22 at Yale University.

Welcome to the second semester of this academic year and to 2023.

Date: Friday, January 27th, 2023

Time: 8:30 am to 12:00 pm

Location: Design and Technology Building & Trini Dewi Theatre

Career day is back on campus!

Career Day at SWA aims to provide our 9 -11 grade students with presentations from a wide variety of careers. We want students to know that there is a world of possibilities out there and that there are many different paths to take.

Guest speakers will give presentations on their careers for the first three morning sessions. The Session will be divided into 30 to 40 minute presentations followed by a 20 minute Q&A.

Want to help? We still have slots available for speakers on Career Day and welcome your participation!

We know that several parents work in exciting careers in many different areas, from doctors to engineers, artists and more! We would like to invite parents to identify possible speakers for Career day. Nominated speakers can be from among the SWA parent community or external friends as well. If you, or someone you know would like to be a guest speaker and share their careers with our students, please contact MSHS Admin: Ms. Erica (mshs_admin@swa-jkt.com).

MYP UPDATE

Written by Mr. Haoken

Dear MYP Parents & Guardians,

It is delightful to be back at the start of a new term and a new year. The students are clearly well-rested, have enjoyed excellent Christmas holidays, and are now enthusiastically involving themselves once again in their IB MYP courses. It is an exciting term ahead to look forward to, with Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU) showcase, Personal Project exhibition, Career Day, Spring festival, TedxYouth, World Book day and Pi Day.

Please see the notices and reminders for the coming few weeks of Term 3:

1. Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU): 4 - 25 January 2023

Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU) presentation: 26 January 2023 @Trini Dewi Theatre

Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU) presentation will take place on Thursday 26 January 2023 being open to the parents from 2:00 - 3:00 PM.

One of the key features of the MYP is its emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Grades 6 - 10 will be completing their interdisciplinary units during the first three weeks of Term 3 (4 - 26 January 2023). Below are the unit titles by grade level:

• Grade 6 "Utopias"

• Grade 7 "My Green School/ Sustainable School"

• Grade 8 "Financial Planning - Money Math"

• Grade 9 "Adventures in Cartography"

• Grade 10 "Raising awareness regarding global issues linked to the use of antibiotics through the production of accessible video clips"

Our MYP teachers have been planning and reflecting collaboratively to consider connections and relationships between different areas, and reinforce shared concepts, content and skills.

2. Personal Project Exhibition: Friday, 17 February 2023

The Grade 10 personal project provides an opportunity for students to undertake an independent and age-appropriate exploration into an area of personal interest. Through the process of inquiry, action, and reflection, students are encouraged to demonstrate and strengthen their approaches to learning (ATL) skills. The Grade 10 MYP Personal Project exhibition will take place on Friday, 17th Feb 2023 being open to the public from 1:00 - 3:00 PM. All members of the SWA community and beyond are welcome to attend the exhibition in the Dance Room area of the Arts Lobby.

3. Service as Action (SA)

Service as Action continues into Terms 3 and 4 and we are excited to see student project work that is developing. Please take a moment to review the SA Handbook for guidelines and regulations.

MYP Unit Planning Workshop

On January 3, 2022, MYP teachers worked collaboratively in their respective groups to construct statements of inquiry and they presented their completed SOIs to their colleagues. The primary aim of the workshop was to support teachers in continuously developing their capacity to implement IB programmes in order to have a greater impact on our student outcomes. It has been a promising start to the year, so let me close by wishing you all the best for 2023!

DP UPDATE

Written by Ms. Andrea

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Written by Mr. Daniele

Students proved once again how adaptable they are by transitioning smoothly from winter break to Term 3. In grade 7, they were welcomed back with the task of writing and performing a skit on the exciting elements of the English programme. The students showcased their skills with a satirical piece performed on stage which proved to be an excellent introduction to the next unit on Shakespeare. In preparation for The Tempest, students were asked to share their favorite quotes from the Bard while working on the important elements of public speaking. In grade 10, with IGCSE exams around the corner, students sharpened their speech writing skills by producing a persuasive text that made effective use of rhetorical devices.

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

Written by Ms Michelle

How much pressure do you exert on the floor when you stand?

The MYP 3 students collected measurements that will enable them to calculate the pressure exerted by each foot when standing normally. Through this activity, students were able to use graph paper to measure the area presented by each foot when standing normally. They also converted measured body mass from kilograms into body weight in Newtons (N). Finally, they wrapped up the discussion by applying the knowledge gained to other footwear such as heels and snowshoes.

How to use extrapolation graphing techniques to take into account heat loss during chemical reactions involving heat/enthalpy change?

DP1 chemistry students compare two different techniques to measure heat and enthalpy change of reactions involving the displacement method between zinc and copper(II) sulfate as part of their practical scheme of work. One technique involves measuring temperature every 30 seconds to extrapolate the dip trendline in temperature when the reaction ceased. The other technique measured the highest temperature of the exothermic reaction directly without graphing. Students found that the extrapolation technique obtained the closest value for the enthalpy change of displacement to the literature. Hence, they can alleviate some of the issues with heat loss to the surrounding via graphical methods approach.

(From the right) Matthew, Gary, and Dhruv measured temperature changes for reaction every 30 seconds. Erwin recorded the data in his macbook for graphing and extrapolation.

How to Make an Acid-Base Indicator from Purple Cabbage?

MYP1 students performed an experiment about extraction of anthocyanin from purple cabbage to learn about pH values and its scale. On the right, Darvin, Marco, Justin, and Yusuf extracted the indicator (blue) that can be seen from the picture by boiling the purple cabbage, stirring via glass rod, and filtering via filter funnel. Gizellyn, Jansie, and Milton extracted the purple cabbage pigments and used it to test on baking soda, liquid soap and vinegar which consists of different household acids and bases. They managed to mix baking soda and vinegar to see bubbling and neutralisation. The color change of the indicator was observed. Students did not wear gloves because all the items used were household items which did not pose any hazards except for boiling water where heat-resistant gloves were used for protection.

(From the right) Darvin, Marco, Justin, Yusuf, Gizellyn, Jansie and Milton performing the extraction of anthocyanins to make an acid-base indicator.

How do we identify the identity of different salts of the same colour?

MYP5 chemistry students will undergo global context explorations on scientific method under scientific and technical innovations this term with key concepts - system and related concepts - evidence and functions. The first week of school kick started with their explorations on methods to analyse unknown analyte’s negative ions presence. Each student was given a salt with known identity but the twist will be requesting other students to identify the salt’s anion accurately. They were equipped with a series of chemical reagents to test out the identities based on the methodology laid out by the syllabus

(From the right) Connia was separating the salts into 3 portions to conduct 3 different tests, Yeong Ju, Jing, and Yu Ju were carefully observing the results to indicate any colour change, absence/presence of precipitate and absence/presence of effervescence.

G8 Additional Mathematics

Written by Ms. Elma

Last semester, the G8 Additional Maths students were learning about the cubic, reciprocal and exponential functions. They paired up to collaboratively discover patterns and explore the relationships between the variables by figuring out the effects of each of the elements on the shape and behaviour of the functions. The students shared the findings and summarised their investigation in succinct tutorials using Desmos. The samples below are only some of the videos the students produced, Please check them out. We have come to know some talented future maths Youtubers in the process!

G6 Additional Mathematics

Written by Elma Moeloek

For the last topic of Semester 1, the G6 Additional Maths students solidified their understanding of linear functions by completing a differentiated activity on Desmos where the aim was to collect all the stars by creating paths that are made up of functions for a marble to slide through. Everyone used their creativity in choosing the number of lines, slope, domain, and range, while discovering that in mathematics, there can be different ways of achieving the same goal for a particular problem.

CHINESE DEPARTMENT

Written by Ms. Yuan

DP2 Chinese B students were learning about the theme “Experience”. As the Chinese New Year is coming very soon, students explored how to make Chinese dumplings for celebrating Chinese New Year.

Students prepared their own ingredients for making the Chinese dumplings by themselves. They cut vegetables, rolled dough, made dumplings, cooked dumplings, and finally cleaned the stove and kitchen. This experience provided the students with multiple skills developing as they needed to communicate with each other for grocery shopping and finish making dumplings in teamwork. Their positivity and enthusiasm made this experience a lot of fun and meaningful.

INDONESIAN/KOREAN DEPARTMENT

Written by Ms. Evi Eriana

G7 ILA students have been doing formative assessments which provide them with the skills for the summatives. They have been learning about the jobs/ profession in Bahasa, the working places, the working hours etc..Thus, one of their formative assessments is to do interviews about the job or profession. They got to interview the people at the school such as security/teachers or cleaners. To do this task, they have to compose questions to generate a conversation to show off their oral skills

INDIVIDUALS & SOCIETIES DEPARTMENT

Written by Mr. Aleksandar Marchev

The Individuals & Societies and English Departments are excited to announce an interdisciplinary unit collaboration (IDU) on the topic of Utopias for Grade 6 students. Through this project, students will gain a better understanding of how literature can inform our understanding of society and its potential future. They will also explore the implications that different utopian visions have for individuals, communities, and societies more broadly. This is an excellent opportunity for students to think critically about their own values while engaging in meaningful dialogue with peers from other disciplines within the school. We believe this collaborative project will be a great learning experience for all involved!

In I&S class the IDU started with a presentation of the different types of governments and their merits and drawbacks and the students engaged in a discussion about democracy by participating in an interactive activity.

Music: MSHS Holiday Concert 2022

Written by Mr. Freddy

All the Music students working together with Timbre Music CAS Group joyfully presented the MSHS Holiday Concert with the title “Christmas Odyssey: The Youth of Hope” on 15 December 2022 in Trini Dewi Theatre from 12:50 until 15:20 PM. This event also cooperated with Visual Arts Department for the decoration, fashion show, and art exhibition. We also cooperated with all the CAS Groups in celebrating World Children’s Day. Working together with Ms. Elma and STUCO, we also collect donations from the MSHS Community for the children in Sekolah Kami, Bekasi. We were delighted that the children from Sekolah Kami came and joined the performance too. They joined the football performance and percussion ensemble. This charity concert focus on the impactful activities that our students have initiated to benefit various communities and to help provide solutions to global youth issues.

The concert was started with solo guitar by James, and hosted by Dhruv and Antonia from G10. The opening performance was a big ensemble performance from Grades 6 and 7 featuring the Strings Club and Maxi from G8 as the soloist in the “Christmas Overture”. It was followed by several solo performances like a solo piano from Christopher G8 and a solo guitar from Erwin Chen G10. The main show of the concert was the original musical drama written and directed by Timbre, entitled Christmas Odyssey. The feedback from the audience was very positive and most of them were touched by the story of the drama and the act of the cast. During the drama performance, not only the Timbre students but the MSHS Choir and Band also participated. All the performances were the product of the MYP Music summative of Term 2. They were all very happy with their performance and developed more confidence in Music. After the musical drama, we also had a Fashion Show contest and followed by a presentation about World Children's Day from the CAS Groups.

Visual Arts

Written by Mr. Alan

This last assembly of semester one was a warmth heart fells Christmas musical performances by the STUCO, MSHS Visual Art were once again contributing the stage decoration with a theme ‘LET IT SNOW’ transforming the school stage into a magical winter wonderland and also a spectacular fashion show with two special guests and judges, Ms. Veronica and Ms. Renata from Esmod Jakarta Fashion. Congrats to the winner who will be the SWA Ambassador of 2022/2023 (the sash ceremony will be informed)

SA/CAS Trip to Sekolah Kami

Written by

Grade 9 students and various SA/CAS groups immersed themselves during an educational visit to Sekolah Kami, an informal school for scavengers and underprivileged children situated outside Jakarta.

Ryan Wong (Grade 9):

During this experience, our SWA students developed a better understanding of the lives of the children in Sekolah Kami and the profound impact that our SA and CAS initiatives have on them. Our students also organised numerous meaningful activities that were centred around the children in Sekolah Kami, including but not limited to cooking, conducting science experiments, hand painting, football, distributing goody bags, music and teaching subjects such as math and English. There were many opportunities to interact, work and make friends with students in Sekolah Kami, allowing our SWA students to demonstrate their strong communication and collaboration skills. Overall, this activity was very eye-opening and helped improve our students’ core values as lifelong learners.