Letter from the Director
Hello again!
It’s an overused cliché but gosh, time does fly! Seems like only yesterday when we were welcoming students into Term 1/2018 but before you know it, we are already in the midst of Term 2!
We’ve had a great start to the year and expect things to be busier as we progress. You would have seen a couple of changes eg the “Ask a Teacher” corner (which has proven to be immensely popular !) , a new queue system and of course a few new teachers. Moving forward, we will be looking at how we can enhance your child’s learning journey at the British Council. Apart from just lessons in class, we hope to offer at least one competition per term along with more exciting activities in the classroom.
As always, we are happy to receive any feedback. If we’ve done well, please let us know so staff continue their good work. If there’s any area we can improve on, then we would definitely like to know as well !
Warm regards
Peggy L
Meet our new teacher!
We are very happy to introduce a new teacher, Stuart, who has been with us since the start of term.
Hi, I’m Stuart from Liverpool in the UK. Prior to coming to Penang I taught at the British Council centres in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bulgaria. I have the DELTA and CELTYL qualifications and have been teaching English for over 10 years. In my free time I enjoy sports, arts and shopping.
Make up classes
Starting Term 3, we will be introducing a system that accords a credit to your child if he/she misses a class due to illness or replacement classes at school. A medical certificate must be produced for sickness while a letter from the school will be necessary in the case of replacement class.
The credit (valid for a year) can then be used to redeem workshops which we will run during term breaks in the year. Schedules for these workshops will be released once the classes for the term are decided. Please see our Customer Advisors for more information on this.
Value-added changes to Secondary classes
We are making some changes to our Secondary classes next term which will include some more focus on exam/academic skills. More information about these changes will be released before the start of Term 3.
Story Writing Competition 2018
This term we are running a Story Writing competition. Judged by an external panel comprising 1) The British Honorary Consul, HE Mr Rob Hawkins, 2) Mr Tim Lamb, Head of Juniors, St Christopher’s International School and 3) Ms Marina Emmanuel, former news editor of NST Business Times, this year’s theme is ‘Friendship’ and we are looking forward to some amazing stories. Pick up a flyer at reception or speak to your child’s teacher for more information.
We will have more competitions as the year progresses so keep an eye out for these at reception!
How can you support your child?
There are many ways you can support your child in their language learning journey. Take a look at our Padlet page for tips (and feel free to leave a comment!). We also have tips for you to take home. You can find these near the computers in the front office.
Padlet
https://padlet.com/BritishCouncilPenang/2bhqz1y785f0
‘Ask a teacher’
Introducing our Ask a teacher question box in reception. Do you have specific questions about how to help your child to improve their English at home? Then use our Ask a teacher question form to ask your question and place it in the question box. You can look out for an answer from one of our teachers on our Padlet page: https://padlet.com/BritishCouncilPenang/2bhqz1y785f0. You can also read our Teacher’s Top Tip, this week we have a top tip from Teacher Stuart about reading English.
What is our Child Protection Policy?
A child is defined in the British Council as anyone who has not reached their 18th birthday (UNCRC 1989) irrespective of the age of majority in the country where a child is, or their home country.
The British Council is committed to:
- valuing, respecting and listening to children
- ensuring all necessary checks are made when recruiting staff
- maintaining strong child protection systems and procedures for staff
- training its staff and providing a common understanding of child protection issues
- to inform planning and practice
- sharing information about child protection and good practice
- maintaining open communication between staff and parents
- providing effective management for staff through clear processes, supervision, and support.
We believe that Child Protection is everyone’s responsibility and we work very hard to ensure that all children feel safe, valued and included.
2018 Registration dates
Re-registration for Term 3 will start on 28th and 29th of April
If you have any friends who want to register their children for the first time, they can do so from the 16th May 2018.