School News

From Primary School:

Information letter from Mr. Paul, Head of Primary School

Dear parents and guardians, We are now smoothly into the new academic year, with our Primary classes all working hard on their core and specialist subjects in both English and Russian.  From observing classes in action, the bonds that are being formed by new and returning students are really pleasing to see, and just as importantly our teachers and assistants are forging positive relationships with their students, many of whom are new to each other.  It is always an important time of the year, and creating a happy and productive classroom environment works wonders for the rest of the year.  

This month's value that students are trying to follow in and out of lessons is RESPONSIBILITY.  Being responsible is a key trait that we want our students to develop throughout their education and into adult life.  Taking responsibility for your actions means understanding what you do and say can have impacts in many different ways, so choosing the correct words and actions are vital in being a positive young person.  Congratulations to those students who received assembly awards for clearly showing a responsible attitude this week.  

Clubs successfully got underway this week too, with many of our students taking advantage of the wide selection of activities provided by teachers and assistants.  Once again, it is great to see positive students choosing to do extra-curricular sessions on topics that interest them.

From now on in these bulletins, we will be hearing from one of the Primary class teachers, who will say a little about what has been happening in their classes in recent weeks.  The first dispatch comes from Mr Paul, the Head of Primary and also the interim Year 5 class teacher as we await the imminent arrival of Mr Ian from the UK.  

Paul Curry

Head of Primary

Mr Paul (Year 5):  It has been a positive and entertaining start to the year with this small but select band of students.  After a week of 'getting to know you' activities and baseline assessments across a broad range of topics, we are now working with textbooks on the core subjects of English, Maths and Science.  The standards of knowledge and understanding in all subjects are very pleasing, and I am really enjoying having discussion activities with these interesting and thoughtful young people.  Focus and concentration is good and they all clearly want to succeed in their education.  It is my task in these early weeks to get them not only speaking and writing in English but also thinking in English too - this means performing as if they are first-language speakers fully immersed in a second language, which is obviously challenging but something in which I believe passionately.  The more young people use English as their thinking and social language, the more natural it will become, and obviously, the more fluent everyone will become too.  I think they are all up to the challenge!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and Week 3 at school will build upon the successes enjoyed across Primary so far.

From Secondary School:

 

Information letter from Mr. Christopher, Head of Secondary School

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

I hope that you're all well.

During our recent Secondary school assembly, we shared our vision for the house system and the student council in Secondary school. With these two bodies, several student leadership opportunities have opened up to the students. Such roles include Student Head of House and Class Council representative, where students can voice their ideas and suggestions for improvement to their teachers and school leaders. With such, our students can influence their learning, atmosphere and development for the better.  Not only do these roles provide valuable leadership experience, holding such a position is seen as beneficial when applying to universities. If students want to apply for one of these roles, they should complete an application through their form tutor.

It is a common misconception that grades and marks are the only things of importance when applying to University. However, the reality is that the world's top universities are looking for individuals with a wealth of experience in different areas. Such areas may include charity work, sporting achievements, extra-curricular activity and leadership experience. At CIS Gorki, many opportunities will exist for students to do this, and we would like to encourage all to take them throughout the academic year. Extra-curricular after school clubs have started this week, providing one such opportunity to develop, and we would like to encourage more of our Secondary school to attend.

I hope you all have a restful weekend, and I look forward to sharing more of our exciting news within the school next week.

Mr Christopher Kingshott

Head of Secondary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Primary School:

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

We have reached the end of the first full week of the academic year, and I am pleased to see all the hard work from our dedicated staff is paying off with consistency successful lessons right across the school.  As I am teaching the Year 5 class for the opening weeks, I am getting first-hand knowledge of life in the classroom, as well as dipping into everyone else's lessons, and it is wonderful to see happy students enjoying enthusiastic teaching.  I can already sense a clear, positive connection between students and their teachers even at this early stage in the year, which bodes extremely well for the months ahead.

The first achievement awards of the term will be given out in Friday's assembly, and I look forward to seeing the pride in many young faces as they receive recognition from their teachers for making the most positive of impressions in just a few days of schooling.  One of the regular awards will be 'English Star Award' for students making impressive or improved use of the English language - and this extends beyond the classroom and into social areas too.  I am extremely keen to develop English as the language of social communication at our school as much as possible, as creating an English-speaking culture at break and lunch will go a long way to aiding our young people reach high standards of bilingual communication.  

From next week, this newsletter will feature contributions from class teachers, who will detail positive and praiseworthy events from their classes.  I am sure yourselves, as well as I, will look forward to hearing about the excellent progress being made by your children direct from their teachers.  

Thank you for your positive support in these early days at CIS Gorki Primary in 2021/22, and we as a team will always look at ways of making the school even better for the benefit of everyone concerned.

 

Paul Curry 

Head of Primary

 

From Secondary School:

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

This week has been our first complete week of the academic year, and it has been a pleasure. During this mornings registration period, I observed many Secondary classes, getting a feel for the learning happening in our school. It was great to see so many of our students actively engaged in learning during this time, exercising their minds before their day of lessons. With students arriving at school on time, this valuable time is at its most useful.

Our Key Stage 3 students have received their homework timetable detailing when and what homework they will be receiving each night. They have also received their Edupage logins, where they can view all of their homework.

Our Year 10 students have been making choices in regards to their subjects taken for the IGCSE examinations, meaning that they have already begun to shape their futures. Some of Year 11 have volunteered to assist our Art teacher with his lessons for the Early Years students, which is an experience that will look great on the personal applications to university. 

I am very excited in regards to what the future holds for us at CIS Gorki.

 

Christopher Kingshott

Head of Secondary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Primary School:

Dear parents and guardians, 

Firstly, and once again, a very warm welcome back to yourselves and your children to CIS Gorki Primary School.  As is the case with all schools, there have been a number of changes in personnel and the structure of the school day all designed to make the educational experience for everybody even better than ever.  Therefore, I am very pleased and encouraged with how this first week has gone, and this bodes well for the academic year ahead. 

Next, may I issue a couple of thank yous: to parents for attending our ‘Meet the Teachers’ day, and understanding all the objectives of the year ahead from our talented members of staff, and also to parents and children for attending another successful ‘Knowledge Day’ filled with education, conversation and fun. 

Today, we had our first assembly of the year.  In it, we outlined a number of key expectations we have as staff from our children.  These included: 

• Communication in English: it is vitally important that our children use English as their language of social interaction as well as during lessons with international teachers.  The more our students communicate in English at break, at lunch, and in corridors, the greater their expertise in the language will become. 
• Uniform: looking smart makes you not only look good, but it makes you feel good too.  Having a pride in your appearance reflects on how you conduct yourself around school, so we are taking our students’ uniform very seriously this year. 
• Being a team: everyone working together makes CIS Gorki one huge, successful team, so it is important that everyone holds the same values throughout the school day 

Many thanks once again for your support at this week’s events, and you can be assured that the entire staff at CIS Gorki Primary are working exceptionally hard to make this the best year yet for everyone. 

Mr Paul Curry,
Head of Primary, and the staff of CIS Gorki Primary 

 

From Secondary School:

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

I want to start by saying thank you to all those that attended our Meet the Teacher day and our Knowledge day. I felt that it was an excellent start to our year, and it was a privilege to meet parents and students for the first time. 

Today we have had our first whole school assembly where we have discussed our expectations for our students. We hope that as parents you will support us on these. For example, our uniform policy is integral to our learning process, and we expect all students to adhere to it. We would also like hair to be of natural colour, along with having natural fingernails.  

School officially begins at 8:30, and we encourage students to be prompt, as D.E.A.R time in the morning is an integral part of the learning experience. Through collaboration as a community with sufficient focus, we can develop together and foster an educational atmosphere ready for developing success. 

Thank you for your understanding, and I look forward to meeting more of you shortly. 

Regards

Christopher Kingshott

Head of Secondary