School News

Message from the Head of School (Mr. Daniel Brace) 

Despite being a challenging week we have been able to finish our year 11 mock exams and look forward to seeing all of our parents at one of the PTC evenings this week (30th and 1st), please see edupage for booking details. On friday we welcomed our secondary parents into classrooms to see our students learning in action, a huge thank you to the science, ICT, English and Maths teams for allowing us to join in with your fantastic lessons.  

A kind reminder that we are still looking for ways to improve our communication with parents and are still trying to identify those parents who are willing to represent the parent body in meetings and at events to enable greater transparency in our decision-making processes. If you are willing to represent yourself and others, please let our administration team know. 

 

Key Dates 

 

30th January – PTC 1530 – 1700 

1st February – PTC 1530 – 1700 

30th January – mock checkpoint exam week 

 

Primary 

 

Message from Anna Zaremba-Pike (Nursery Teacher) 

Dear Parents, 

As our third week of this term ends, we are now halfway through the English alphabet in Literacy with the letter ‘m’ coming up next! We have enjoyed learning all the Jolly Phonics songs so far, and have begun to learn another ‘alphabet sounds’ song to help us keep recapping all those previous letters. It is also great how well the children are starting to progress with their writing of these letters, and to build upon their vocabulary with our new set of words each week. Then, in Numeracy, in addition to now constantly recapping and building upon topics introduced in the first two terms, we have now started ‘positional language’. This involves learning lots of new vocabulary with words such as ‘above’, ‘below’, ‘in front’ and ‘behind’. With topics becoming more challenging, it is good to see how much the children have grown in confidence to fully participate and engage in each day’s class activities.  

In Understanding The World, we continue with our term’s topic on ‘Animals’, using this topic as a way to look at our Early Years goals such understanding how there are different places and environments around the world, and ‘the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things’. The children also participated in the School House recycling challenge last week, and did very well sorting out all the different materials they were presented with! Also, last week, in Creative Expression, everyone had great fun on Friday painting and colour mixing with different coloured ice cubes and watercolour paints! 

Finally, I am so happy the children seemed to have enjoyed the first set of books handed out with last week’s homework. I hope this continues to go well, helping to grow their interest in- not long before- learning to read themselves.  

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend! 

Ms. Anna 

(Nursery teacher) 

 

Now a message from Ms. Lara (Year 4 Learning Assistant) 

Эмоджи на математике?🧐🤓 

Почему бы и нет! 🙃🤗🤪😇 

На уроке математики мы решали примеры, а цифры заменили смайлами и картинками, которые дети сами выдумали и нарисовали. Y4 любит математику, а ещё они у нас очень творческие. Все ребята с большим энтузиазмом придумывали примеры, свои собственные! Например, были такие, где из сердца нужно вычесть мороженое, чтобы узнать значение стакана чая с пузырьками👀Если научился это делать, то можно уже и перейти к умножению облака на полумесяц! 🌨🌜 

Мы сначала это всё придумали, а потом вместе решили. Дети попробовали себя в роли учителей и получили большое удовольствие. Было весело и полезно!  

Хотите попробовать?  

🛟+🛟=26 

🛟-🧋=9 

🧋+🛟×❤️‍🔥=34 

 

Secondary 

 

Message from Judit Sarkozi (English Teacher, Year 11 Form Tutor, Leader for the House System and Student Council) 

Dear Parents,  

I am delighted to take charge in leading our House System and Student Council at CIS Gorki.   

Providing students with the opportunity to take a fully inclusive part in a whole school House System is an important part of our ethos. It is designed to encourage students to extend their learning in a range of curriculum areas and develop a sense of belonging. It is hoped that students will also develop a sense of community cohesion and responsibility within their Houses. 

Regular Student Council meetings will ensure to share our students’ ideas, interests and concerns. The overall intention is to promote the development of our school and the welfare of its students.  

I am excited about keeping you informed with the upcoming competitions and new ideas we have in line for our House System. On the 20th of January students can show their talent in a basketball competition lead by Mr Marius. On the 6th of February we have a Bake Sale competition led by Miss Tamara and on the 20th of February School Promotional Challenge with Mr Joshua.  

As teachers, professional educators, we encourage hard work and good manners through healthy competition. The House System aims to facilitate more mixing between the different year groups, increase community spirit, peer mentoring, boost the existing reward system, encourage students to get involved in competitions and develop leadership opportunities.  

Please encourage and support the students to take part in the upcoming competitions and let’s continue our term in high spirit!  

 

Message from the Head of School (Mr. Daniel Brace) 

It is the end of the first week of mock exams and our senior year has demonstrated a fantastic attitude and maturity toward them. I hope this continues and that they begin to understand how close to the final IGCSE exams they really are. It is worth reminding people that this summer is the final set of Cambridge external exams at present, for our year 10’s we have several options in the works and will be sharing with parents in the coming weeks. 

Our year 6’s and 9’s are about to begin their preparations for the mock checkpoint exams in the very last week of January. These exams are to give the students a taste of real exam protocol and the difference an exam room makes! The data derived from these exams is useful for our excellent staff as it enables them to identify any gaps in student knowledge or areas which may require additional work. The checkpoint exams are, overall, not exams that can be revised for, rather they are generic, skills-based tests to identify areas of strength as well as improvement.  All other year groups will undertake progress tests in the coming weeks to ensure that we can give up to date, accurate progress reporting at the end of this term. 

Several of our fantastic teaching team have been selected to become learning ambassadors here at Gorki which means that they are visiting, working with and sharing best practice across our group with staff from each of the Russian campuses. The idea is to ensure that all our staff have access to the best ideas and newest innovations in education that have been tried and tested across our amazing group of schools. This also has the effect of drawing our international and local staff together to create a stronger, more supportive community during these uncertain times. 

We would like to welcome Mr. Adriaan Stander, the latest of our international recruits, to Gorki and are looking forward to seeing his impact across humanities and in improving the uptake of business-related courses at our campus. 

Finally, I would like to remind parents that it will soon be time for parent teacher conferences (PTC) again and we will be using the same successful method as last time – booking times through Edupage, more details will follow closer to the time. I look forward to seeing you all over the coming weeks and hope we can get our parent committee/council off the ground this term. Have a fabulous weekend.  

 

Key Dates 

 

30th – 3rd checkpoint and progress testing 

30th January – PTC 

1st February – PTC 

20th - 22nd February – Russia week 

23rd & 24th February – school holidays 

 

Primary 

 

Message from the Lower Primary Phase Leader, Reception Class Teacher (Mr. Joshua) 

Dear Parents, 

Lower Primary have had a busy, yet fun week. Our monthly value this month is positivity, and I am really glad to see that all the children are happy and express high levels of positivity throughout the day!  

We have concluded our first House Event, which was ‘Recycling’. The new points will be published in due course. Next week we will start a new event, ‘Winter Scene Picture’, which will be delivered by Ms. Anna (nursery). Let us support our children through these activities to explore and develop different areas of learning.  

Learning is supplemented and often based on reading. Reading books are a crucial part of any person’s knowledge and development. It is important to encourage reading from Early Years, and turn reading into a long-term habit. Here in Lower Primary, we are going to start a new initiative of sending books home for reading. Each child can choose one book to take home to read, whereafter the book should be brought back to school or exchanged for a new book. More information about this will be shared next week. 

We are happy to announce that Mr. Arno will be back in Year 2 next week. We would like to thank Mr. Paul for coming in this week to help us out.  

For English this week in Reception, we started to learn Phonics Phase 3 Set 6, which includes the sounds: j, v, w, and x. The children have learned to identify, read and write these sounds, in addition to reading and writing words containing these sounds: wax, van, fox, etc. Everybody put in great effort and demonstrated excellent motivation to learn all the new sounds and words.  

This week in Mathematics, Reception have learned more about Place Value. The children have mastered the skill to identify tens and ones from a number. Once again, the children showed amazing effort and eagerness to develop their mathematical skills.  

Thank you for your continuous support in providing your child with a safe and happy learning environment!  

Have a great weekend! 

Mr. Joshua 

 

Message from Mr. Mariano’s class (Year 3) 

Year 3 has been jumping right in to things. We are very happy that our students have arrived back from break and have started on new material for English, Science, and Math. 

In English we are concentrating on reading comprehension. To do this we are focusing on short texts and developing the ability to read and understand them. Through this we are also expanding our vocabulary. We are using texts that include some advanced words so that we can either develop the ability to deduce the meaning of a word through context or create the habit of using dictionaries. Fun is insured as the texts correspond to legends and myths. Kids have specially enjoyed the activates related to Greek Mythology and legends such as King Arthur and Robin Hood.   

Math has also been full dynamic activities, one of the games we have been using for this is called “Line Up”. The game consists of each student getting a card with a random number and un related multiplication. They have to line up so that the number that they have is the answer to the multiplication of the person in front of them.   

Science has been specially eye catching to students as we are discovering lots of interesting things about different animal groups. 

We expect great things for this term from our students and cannot wait to help them reach their potential.  

Warm regards, 

Mr. M 

 

Secondary 

 

Message from Adriaan Stander (Humanities Teacher, University and Careers Guidance) 

Dear all,  

I am the new humanities teacher for the high school, Mr Stander. I am a South African with a love for teaching abroad. I have taught IB Business Managment and Humanities in an international school in the Kingdom of Bahrain for four years. I was also the BTEC and IB Careers Program coordinator. I then moved on to an international school in Ethiopia where I taught IGCSE Business, Social Sciences for lower secondary and worked as the Key Stage 4 coordinator. I will be teaching Humanities as well as IGCSE Geography at CIS Gorki. I will also be teaching Careers, which will focus on planning for subject choices and eventually university options.  

I am grateful to be part of the CIS Gorki community and look forward to meeting everyone. Thank you for the warm welcome to your beautiful country.  

Adriaan Stander 

 

 

Message from the Head of School (Mr. Daniel Brace) 

Happy new year and welcome back. It is great to see so many smiling faces back at school after the winter break. This term is quite short but is very busy so students will need to be prepared to work hard and to do their best in the assessments and exams.  

We will start the term with year 11 mock exams, checkpoint tests for year 6 & 9 as well as progress tests across the school in preparation for the end of term reports. 

Two of our staff have yet to arrive due to visa issues over the winter break but they will return by the end of next week to ensure that our students have the best opportunity to shine throughout the coming term. 

There will be many events and excursions in the coming months so we urge our parents to ensure their contact details are up to date to allow us to keep in regular communication.  

 

Key Dates 

 

16 - 27th January – Mock exams  

30 – 3rd Feb – progress check 

30th Jan & 1st Feb – Parents evening – book online via edupage 

 

Primary 

 

Message from the Jeanelle Greyling (Year 1 Teacher) 

Dear parents, 

It is always fascinating to see the Year 1s after the December holidays. After months of pushing a rock up a proverbial hill, we see the breakthrough in the young learners upon their return to school in January. This year was no different. Not only did the Year 1s arrive at school speaking English in full sentences, but we saw an improvement in handwriting, spelling, mathematical skills, and even their discipline.  

In English, we revised digraphs, tricky words, and writing in full sentences. We are slowly moving away from using the whiteboards and printing out worksheets and instead focus on writing neatly in our copy books. The pupils are learning to write the date and the learning objectives before the lesson starts, they are practicing to write between the lines, write capital letters, use the correct punctuation, and even underline headings by using their rulers. The Year 1s are trying hard to formulate and write their own sentences and we are pleasantly surprised at the results every time. We have also spent a lot of time on conversing and the pupils can mostly express themselves in any given situation.  

In Mathematics, we revised shapes. In their copy books, each Year 1 pupil drew a table to distinguish between 2D and 3D shapes. They also practiced drawing 3D shapes. In addition, we learned about time. The pupils learned how to read the hour and the half-hour by looking at the long and short hands. They could also read the written time and draw hands on empty clocks. The biggest hit, however, was the interactive games they played on the SmartScreen. 

In Science, we learned about animals and their habitats. The pupils matched animals to their habitats and enjoyed drawing their favourite animals in their habitats. They are also becoming pro’s at typing simple sentences on their iPads, and we will soon move on to exploring Microsoft PowerPoint on laptops. We look forward to many more pleasant surprises from our bright little stars. 

Warm regards, 

Jeanelle Greyling 

Year 1 teacher 

 

Secondary 

 

Message from the Marius Harmse (P.E. Teacher) 

After a long winter break we enter 2023 with new energy and excitement for term 3. 

Primary classes will start the term by focusing on their ball skills. This means that we will play a lot of games to develop their hand eye coordination e.g. basketball, dodgeball, catch and throw games. Playing team sports with their friends will also help develop good sportsmanship and how to work together. 

In secondary classes, students will take part in team games. They will learn the rules and develop necessary skills to compete in games like handball and volleyball. We will also have new challenges for them to compete in. Term 3 will see them take part in push up and high jump challenges where they can win house points.  

The year 11 IGCSE PE class will start with their mock examinations soon and we wish them all the best. They also have a busy term ahead of them, with exams and personal exercise programs that they will have to write.  

Students will have very busy schedules in a relatively short term 3, but I am sure they will respond by completing all their tasks with determination and persistence as they have done throughout the year.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message from the Head of School (Mr. Daniel Brace) 

Welcome to the final newsletter of 2022! How time has flown. Next week is still a regular school week but we will have extended rehearsal time for the winter event “ELF” - please look out for the tickets that will be made available early next week for you to attend during the final part of the school day.  

Students have been completing their final assessments and progress tests to ensure that our end-of-year reports are as up to date and useful as possible. These will be made available for you on Edupage from the 16th and by email later in the school holidays.  

There have been a number of small incidents in the school this week with students being silly and spiteful at times. Please remind them that there will be consequences for these actions as per the school rules and that any unwanted attention from other students should be reported to staff at the earliest possible time to allow us to intervene and deal with the issues. I would also like to remind parents that the students are expected to have some outdoor time throughout the school day as this is beneficial for their health and academic well-being, please ensure they are adequately dressed and motivated to go out at break/lunch. 

Next term starts on the 9th December and will be a revision week with students in year 11 getting ready for their mock exams starting on the 16th. Please re-assure your children that it is ok to fail when we are testing and assessing during the school year – failure and incorrect answers allow us to see gaps in knowledge and understanding  This allows us to better prepare lessons and support plans for our students to ensure they are as ready as they can be for the final exams. 

A huge thank ypu for all the effort, time and support parents, students and staff have given throughout the course of this term for our charities and community projects, your help has been invaluable, and we have achieved so much. 4 of our year 11 students attended a voluntary SEN Olympiad last weekend and we will be attending ‘Nadezda’ school on Wednesday to deliver the gifts you have so graciously donated. Thank you so much. I am really looking forward to seeing you in term 3. Have a fantastic weekend, last week of school and holiday. 

 

Key Dates 

Wc 5th December – charity week, finishing on Wednesday 14th December 

Wc 12th December – school winter concert week 

16th December - end of year reports on edupage 

Term 2 ends – 16th December at 1200 for 1230 collection. 

Term 3 begins - 09th January at 0830 

Mock exams begin 16th January – 27th January 

 

Primary 

Message from the Head of Primary (Mr. Paul Curry) 

Dear parents, 

This penultimate week of school has been dominated by rehearsals for our two Winter Events - “Elf: The Musical” in the upper building, and “New Year Party” in the lower building.  All the children have been working really hard to learn songs, dances and – just as importantly – timings and logistics of everything.  Being collaboratively organised is vitally important and it is great to see our youngest children understanding this! 

I have spent most of the week in Year 2, teaching English and having lots of fun with craft-based lessons.  We made Christmas cards, 3D Christmas trees, New Year resolution posters, and much more.  What has always been my biggest love in this profession – and always will be – is being in the classroom with students, helping them, educating them, reassuring them.  I look forward to doing much more of that in the future.   

I look forward to seeing as many students as possible in school the whole of next week, especially on Thursday for the winter shows, because we always have a lot of fun and excitement during the final week of the calendar year! 

Have a super weekend! 

 

Message from the Year 6 Teacher (Ms. Marna Greyling) 

Dear parents, 

Christmas - that lovely time of year when excitement and spirits run high. Even Mother Earth joins in the festive spirit by covering herself in a white blanket of beautiful snow. Excited children are rehearsing for the Christmas concert whilst dreaming of the upcoming holidays and the magic of Christmas.   

Time in school slows down during this time of year – academic work is put on the back burner whilst we are learning about the equally important traditions of Christmas and New Year. Children learn important skills - Christmas songs, gift wrapping, the art of giving…  

A big thank you goes out to all our children and parents who opened their hearts and purses to our number of charities. Thanks to you guys there will be warm and happy children and animals somewhere in Moscow. Thanks for spreading the Christmas spirit in a wider community – this is a selfless act for people and animals we might never meet, but who will enter the New Year with a sparkle in their eyes.   

And that is magical! 

Kind regards,  

Ms Marna 

 

Secondary 

 

Message from the Head of Secondary (Mr. Christopher Kingshott)  

Dear Parents and Guardians,   One more week to go until the holiday period. I hope that you all use this period to rest up ready for all of the new things that we have planned for Term 3. Although rest is important, Year 11 should also be busy preparing for their mock examinations, which will take place upon their return. I will be\ sharing details on these in the last week. 

Next week we have our Christmas Performance along with a school trip for some students to deliver Christmas Wishes in the form of presents. Reports will also be going out.   Have a great weekend.   Regards 

 

Message from the new secondary teachers (Mr Fillip and Mr Edwin)

Thank you for welcoming us to CIS Gorki and the school community. We look forward to meeting with many of you in term 3 and hope that we will be able to formally introduce ourselves in person soon. 

Kind regard for the holidays 

Mr Edwin – Secondary Maths 

Mr Fillip – Secondary Humanities 

 

Message from the Performing Arts Teacher  (Ms. Amanda Paiva) 

Hello CIS Community, 

This is an exciting week for me and the vibrant cast of the ELF Musical! After weeks of practice, it is almost Showtime! I have watched the cast develop their Dramatic skills, Vocal skills and most of all their confidence! 

The rehearsing process has resulted in the cast developing self-discipline and a great sense of commitment. Most of the actors didn’t have trouble memorising their lines as they worked on Improvising them which in turn allowed them to develop quick thinking skills while improving their language. Furthermore, performing on stage requires concentration and mental focus which will be beneficial to help students achieve their future goals. 

From Primary to secondary students have contributed toward the success of the production. Props were designed and created by the cast, costumes were improvised and students contributed ideas to choreograph the dances. I have been amazed with their creativity, enthusiasm and ability to grasp routines with ease. The Production crew have taken up an enormous task to work on sound, lighting movement of props and managing the cast, well done for your efforts! 

I am convinced the kids had a great time on stage and off stage and built new relationships that would last a lifetime! I will miss our afternoon rehearsals and the fun sessions we had in the theatre. Performing arts helps students develop a range of skills transferable to real life and is an avenue to cope with anxiety and stress. I hope the success of this production will encourage more students at CIS Gorki to gain the confidence to take center stage next time and parents will support our efforts to cultivate the skills of your extremely talented children. 

The staff, management and cast have together been amazing, I can’t wait to see the final work of our artistic efforts! Break a leg, and have fun! 

Amanda Paiva 

Drama Teacher 

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Year 4 and Year 6 Russian Curriculum Teacher (Ms. Marina Shuraeva) 

 

Начался декабрь и это значит, что учебные трудности отступают на второй план, отдавая детские и взрослые сердца новогоднему настроению.  

Особенно это чувствуется в начальной школе, что первый класс, что третий посреди урока вместо ответа на вопрос запросто могут похвастаться тем, что уже отправили письмо для Дедушки Мороза и Санты (именно обоим, чтобы точно получить желаемое), приобрели новогодний костюм или спланировали каждый день зимних каникул.  

В каждом классе сияют новогодние огни, на стенах сверкают бумажные снежинки, а под ногами то и дело встречаются бумажные обрезки, ведь творческий процесс не прекращался. 

Вносит свою лепту и репетиция рождественского концерта, которая с каждым разом становится более трепетной для ребят. Скажу как очевидец, у них уже отлично получается, и все студенты искренне переживают за результат - мисс Аманда, педагоги и ассистенты проделывают колоссальную работу, это будет что-то по-настоящему феерическое.  

За окном начинают набирать свою силу морозы и на уроках российской программы мы знакомим ребят с настоящей русской красавицей-зимой на основе народных сказок, загадок и, конечно же, стихотворений. Весёлые, складные и простые - они поднимают настроение и учат чувствовать не только красоту природы, но и красоту мысли, которая удачно обличается в слова.