School News

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. 

 

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

 

It has been a mixed week for us at Gorki this week. On one hand we had the opportunity to meet with parents across the school on Monday and Wednesday afterschool, enabling us to show how well our students are doing. We are able to welcome some more additions to the Gorki staff which will complete our staffing requirements allowing us to provide an even more effective experience for our students. On the other, we are saying goodbye to three more of our fantastic team – we wish them all the best in their future endeavors and thank them for all their help, support and professionalism over the years. We will miss you very much.  

A reminder to our year 11’s - it is almost mock exam time so please ensure you have discussed revision plans with your teachers and make time in the break to keep up with your revision. As requested, we will be providing some additional work for students to complete at home and over the holidays to ensure they are in the best possible place when the term recommences on the 9th January. 

Please ensure students are attending school right until the end of term as there are end of topic tests, revision sessions and information events relating to the exams that should not be missed. It is also the time for end of term reports to be written and we need as much data as possible to give the best picture of each students’ progress and attainment levels. Have a great weekend and enjoy the group of 16 for the world cup. 

 

Key Dates 

 

Wc 5th December – charity week 

Wc 12th December – school winter concert week 

Term 2 ends – 16th December at 1200 

Term 3 begins - 09th January at 0830 

Mock exams begin 16th January 

  

Primary 

 

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

 

Dear parents, 

We reach the final month of the calendar year, and the main focus of our attention is now on our Winter concerts and events.  In the Upper building, Ms Amanda and class teachers have been hard at work rehearsing their roles in the ‘Elf’ production, whilst in the Lower building our teachers and assistants have been helping the children learn their songs and dances for our ‘New Year Party’-themed presentation.  Positive collaboration is key to making these events a success, and that is why it is our latest monthly theme – people young and not-so-young working together for the benefit of everyone. 

Our classrooms, and school in general, are looking very festive now as we look forward to the Christmas and New Year holidays.  Lower building had a lot of fun decorating their rooms, with help from parents, and Year 2 took time out to decorate the tree in the reception area.  May I remind Lower building parents that we have four Christmas trees on school grounds allocates to each House, and you are all invited to bring in decorations and make each tree shiny and beautiful.  The best one will win that House Event competition. I have noticed two things, however: Year 1’s classroom is not as festive as the others, and Pushkin’s Christmas tree is the same. In the spirit of collaboration, it would be wonderful if the children from other classes and houses, with assistance from parents, could help out Year 1 and Pushkin’s children to decorate these areas.  

New staff joined our team this week, too.  Ms Alexandra became the new Learning Assistant for Year 2, replacing Ms Marina who left us recently due to relocation.  In addition, Ms Elizaveta became the new nanny for Nursery, replacing Ms Anastasiya.  We look forward to making further staffing announcements shortly, and we hope you get the opportunity to meet and welcome our new staff when dropping off or collecting your children.  Just to remind you too, that Mr Arno – our new Year 2 class teacher – will be absent for the final two weeks of term as he needs to return to South Africa and collect a new work visa.  He will be back for the start of Term 3, and I will be taking Year 2 lessons until December 16.  I look forward to spending more quality time with the class. 

Finally, mid-year reports will be issued in the last week of term and, to get the best comments and results, coming to school every day and on time is essential.  So please continue doing that until December 16! 

Have a great weekend, and be careful on all that ice underfoot! 

Mr Paul  

 

Message from the Year 2 Teacher (Mr. Arno Greyling) 

 

Dear parents, 

I would like to introduce myself as the new teacher of the Year 2 class. I have had an amazing two weeks teaching at CIS Gorki and getting to know the students and my colleagues. 

During my short time teaching Year 2, we spent a great deal of time on English and Maths. We studied digraphs such as ‘sh’, ‘ph’, ‘ch’, and ‘wh’ during the English lessons and the students were extremely motivated to make sentences with words starting or ending with the new digraphs that they had learnt.  

During the Maths lessons, we focused on telling the time. I was amazed by the fact that the students not only quickly learnt how to read and write time digitally, but they had the ability to tell time using English vocabulary as well. They understood time phrases such as “o’clock” and “half past one” in no time! 

We had exciting lessons such as ICT and Art as well. The students studied different parts of a computer, typed full sentences in English, and made an educational craft based on a functional laptop. 

The students were especially verbally engaged during Science lessons when we discussed different types of materials and what we use them for.  We spoke a lot about recycling and the benefits of reusing everyday items. 

I wish you all a pleasant weekend! 

Mr Arno Greyling and the Year 2 Team. 

 

Secondary 

 

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

 

Dear Parents and Guardians,   

With the holiday season upon us, it is important to remember this as a time for family as well as a good time for giving. Whilst, we might take the privaledge of a warm coat for granted, there are some that cannot afford.  Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to be running a number of charity inititives. We are going to be fulfilling the Christmas wishes of students with less than privaledged circumstances around the local area.  We will also continue to support the dog shelter and continue collecting clothes for others.  This weekend, some of our Year 10 and Year 11 students are going to be volunteering at a sports festival for children with disabilities. Well done to them, and I am sure that there support will be appreciated.  

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.   

 

Message from Joshua Levy (Computer Science Teacher) 

 

Dear parents and guardians, 

It has been a great start to this academic year, with positive results and significant improvements across the learning years. I for myself being a computer science teacher been pleasantly surprised by the rapid progression of students’ interest within this subject. However, one thing which lies at the core of learning progression are handwriting skills, which not only define a student’s personality but develop critical thinking skills along with perfection of linguistics. Whilst, computer science might not be a core subject intrinsically linked, nevertheless, iGCSE exams are explicitly based on writing and explanation skill and technique. 

How can parents encourage handwriting in children? 

One way is to encourage your child to make a note of any ideas that come to mind. No idea is a bad idea at this stage! Some techniques to help idea inspiration include. 

1. Mind maps 

2. Cut out pictures to make collages and storylines 

3. Category lists 

Note down interesting things they have seen or experienced during school times or writing about an interesting holiday. 

Another way to encourage your child to write is by describing a picture in words. There are so many resources children could use that are lying around the house! In the case of computing, you could ask your child to describe their ideal mobile or computer device. 

There are several outstanding resources for handwriting development, which include: Nelson handwriting course (Nelson Handwriting (oup.com) and Teach Handwriting 

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Nursery Learning Assistant (Ms. Anna Amelina) 

 

Подготовка детей к обучению грамоте занимает особое место в развитии детской речи. Грамота-это владение умением читать и писать тексты, излагать свои мысли в письменной форме, понимать при чтении не только значение отдельных слов и предложений, но и смысл текста, т.е. овладение письменной речью. От того, как ребенок будет введен в грамоту ,во многом зависят его успехи не только в чтении и письме, но и в усвоении русского языка в целом. 

В начале учебного года в своей работе с группой Nursery я проводила следующие занятия: знакомство с гласными звуками, уточняла, что звуки, при образовании которых воздух проходит свободно, этим звукам ничего «не мешает»-ни зубы, ни губы, ни язык, называются гласными. В своей работе я использую пальчиковые игры, которые не только развлекают малышей, а еще и помогают взрослым развивать у ребенка координацию движений ,стимулировать развитие речевых навыков, активизировать память, мышление, развивать творческое мышление и внимание. 

Дети в процессе обучения с удовольствием изучают народные песенки,потешки ,пестушки -которые также представляют собой прекрасный речевой материал.Занятия носят комбинированный характер ,каждое из которых включает в себя несколько программных задач .На занятии я предлагаю детям как новый материал ,так и материал для повторения и закрепления усвоенных знаний. Во время занятий широко применяю игровые методы, которые направлены на повторение, уточнение и расширение знаний, умений и навыков детей в области грамоты.Так как дошкольный возраст-это возраст игры, то и обучение проводится в игровой форме. 

На прошлой неделе в пятницу,25 ноября Ассамблея была посвящена теме «Животные».В наших занятиях с группой Nursery мы очень часто разговариваем и читаем о животных. Животные также встречаются на страницах наших учебников. Они нам помогают изучать много нового и интересного. Например:делаем пальчиковую гимнастику.  

Игра-один из тех видов детской деятельности,которая используется взрослыми в целях обучения,что позволяет создать ситуации успеха для каждого ребенка,доброжелательную,творческую атмосферу на занятиях.По итогам обучения на данный момент я вижу,что у детей появился стимул и желание получать новые знания, делать новые открытия,покорять новые вершины в обучении! 

 

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

Wow, we have had dogs, dinosaurs and driving as our key moments this week.  

As you have seen we are no longer able to use the gate opposite kindergarden as an access point to the school. This is to meet the requirement placed on us by the local authority in regard to parking , traffic obstruction and noise reduction for our neighbours. Please help us to meet these requirements by parking in the main car park by the tower, parent badges have been disables at the rear gate (by the lower building) so you will not be able to gain access anyway. If you have children in both schools we will be communicating with you on monday how you will be able to access the upper building through this gate. I will be there to help and assist where possible this week. 

Well done Primary team, what a fantastic set of trip we had this week to see the dinosaurs and work through a brilliant I-spy sheet. The students did us proud and were a joy to take away – this means we can do it again and hopefully again (elsewhere though). Please give us some suggestions of places you think we might be able to take our students (of all ages) for an educational experience we may not know about. 

The house dogs went down a treat in the snow and even though a few managed to escape the lower school pitch, fun was had by all. A huge thank you to the dogs team and the school staff for all the help, support and effort that went into making both events really special.  

Please remember we are almost at the business end of the year – reports are due soon, exams will be early in the new term and all our new staff will be in place by the start of the new term. Students must continue to push themselves to achieve the best progress they can for the reports, our older students need to prepare for mock exams in January and our lower school students should be read for their winter rehearsal. 

 

Key Dates 

 

28th December – PTC parent teacher conference – sign up on edupage   

30th December – PTC parent teacher conference – sign up on edupage, plus Year 11 meeting 

1st/2nd December – Eyfs & Lower primary trip (if we can) 

5th December – Winter event rehearsal and charity week (whole school) 

12th December – Winter events week and reports 

16th January – 27th January – Mock exams, more to follow in the coming weeks. 

 

Primary 

 

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

Good day everyone! 

We have crammed a lot into life in Primary at Gorki this week, and the students have really enjoyed themselves.  Firstly, on Thursday and Friday we took Upper Primary to the Orlov Paleontological museum in southern Moscow to take part in an I-Spy challenge – students had to find all manner of interesting exhibits in and around the museum, make comments on what they saw, and draw pictures in order to win points for their House.  I was really pleased with their enthusiasm and genuine interest in the dinosaur skeletons and fossils.  Really well done to everyone, and I look forward to the next excursion in the new year. 

Also, on Friday, the House dogs made a return to Lower Primary and our youngest students had a lovely time meeting a selection of the smaller dogs housed at the shelter.  The dogs seemed to be having as much fun as the children, playing in the snow together.  We will welcome them back again next year. 

Rehearsals have also begun in the lower building for the Winter Celebration event named ‘New Year Party’, with each class performing two winter-themed song and dance performances.  Working with enthusiastic and talented youngsters is such rewarding fun! 

December is just around the corner – how time flies!  Have a lovely weekend! 

Mr Paul 

 

Message from the Reception class teacher (Mr. Joshua Prinsloo) 

Dear Parents and Guardians,   

We have successfully completed the third week of this term. This week was indeed busy and eventful as it concluded with high emotions and joy.    

For English this week in Reception, we have completed Phase 2 Phonics. We are very happy with everyone’s achievements and progress. In the Early Years Framework, Phase 2 Phonics consists of twenty-three phonemes (sounds) which are used to decode and create simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. With phonics blending, the children fluently join together the individual sounds in a word to read or construct a word such as “sit”. Next, the children will focus on blending and writing the words using the sounds they have learnt. When they are confident reading and writing, they will continue to learn the next twenty-seven phonics sounds, which form part of Phase 3 Phonics.    

Our Mathematics lessons continued on the topic of measurements. We have learnt that things can be long/tall and short. We have discovered that objects can be measured in different ways, such as by using blocks, pens or a ruler.    

In Understanding The World, we have come to understand how important it is to take care of animals. To everyone’s joy, the House Dogs visited the Lower Building. It was really exciting and tremendous fun to interact and play with the dogs.    

To add to all the excitement and joy, the weather suddenly turned colder and snowy. A kind reminder to our Parents and Caregivers to ensure that everybody comes dressed warmly to brace the cold. An additional pair of socks/tights could be kept at school, as these may get wet during outside play.   

As always, we thank you all for your continuous support in providing your child with the best education.   

Have a great weekend, and see you on Monday!  

Mr. Joshua   

 

Secondary 

 

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

Dear Parents and Guardians,  I hope that you are all well.   This week has been a busy one as teachers and students are busy preparing for the end of term. Such things happening include our preparations for the end of year performance, reports and mid-year assessments. We are also planning a charity week so that we can prepare gifts for Special Educational Needs schools in the area along with other charities that we work with.  

Monday and Wednesday next week we are holding our first Parent, Teacher, and Student meetings. It would be great to meet as many of you as possible. This is a great opportunity to align home and school, so that we are all working towards the same thing. The education and well-being of the children. If everybody works together, the chances of success are much higher.  I hope that you all have a relaxing weekend. 

Regards 

 

Message from the Judit Sarkozi (English and Humanities Teacher) 

We have begun another exciting term and I am delighted to be part of the CIS team as a Teacher of English Language and Literature. 

There is some outstanding teaching going on in our practical subjects around school and all members of staff and students are looking forward to the upcoming Christmas concert.  

One of the priorities as teachers is to ensure students’ work is accurate and presented neatly. One top strategy for this is the ‘50 Word Challenge’. The students have to write 50 words about a topic, no more! When I use this method, the pupils are engaged by the focus on making sure they do not ‘waffle’ to improve accurate, concise writing.  

As an English specialist, I am passionate about teaching different literacy strategies the students can use in the upcoming IGCSE exams. One of these strategies is the ‘rolling glossary test’. Every week I will give my IGCSE students 5 key words and then test the pupils on their understanding of the words. The week after I will give 10 words comprising of 5 new and the original 5. This will be repeated up to 30. This exercise helps the students develop mastery of key terms and will help them use the key words accurately.  

I aim to help my students achieve ‘beyond outstanding’ by using the ‘Talk, Model, Write…’ technique. This is how I was taught during my teacher training in the UK to structure all my written tasks. 

I pose a question on the board, ask the students to talk for 30 seconds about what they would write, ask questions about what a good answer needs whilst I create a success criterion on the board and then get the students to write it up.  

Simple and effective way to ensure the success of my IGCSE students.  

In our Literature lessons we have been focusing on poems and analysis. You just need to remember to SMILE when you see a poem and talk about S-tructure, M-eaning, I-magery, L-anguage, E-ffect. 

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Russian Language and Russian Literature teacher (Ms. Vera Dubinina) 

Наша работа день за днём 

   Дни учебного года мчатся неумолимо. Прошёл уже первый учебный модуль и осенние каникулы. Хорошо отдохнувшие на каникулах, мы готовимся новыми успехами встретить Рождественские праздники. Школьная жизнь не даёт нам расслабляться: ежедневные репетиции, уроки, ассамблеи, классные часы, олимпиады и конкурсы – всё это составляет её содержание.  

    На прошлой неделе проходила Международная игра-конкурс «Русский медвежонок -2022». Участвовали ребята с 1 по 8 класс. Первоклашки – впервые. И хотя результаты конкурса будут известны только 5 февраля, все остались довольны, потому что задания были занимательными, весёлыми и интересными, выполняя их, можно было узнать и что-то новое. Например: 

1. Кто нередко использует в работе ЗУБИЛО?

а) ветеринар; б) слесарь;  в) зубной врач;  г) менеджер по кадрам;  д) полицейский 

или 

1. Раньше в слове СЕРЧАТЬ писалась ещё одна буква, которая теперь не пишется. Какая? 

а) П;  б) Т;   в) Д;   г) Б 

      3.   Вставьте пропущенное слово в этот анекдот: 

ПОКУПАТЕЛЬ: - Мне хотелось бы купить какую-нибудь книжку. 

ПРОДАВЕЦ: - Вам что-нибудь   _____________  ? 

ПОКУПАТЕЛЬ: - Это не имеет значения, я на машине! 

             а) новенькое;  б) интересное; в) страшное; г) лёгкое;  д) красивое 

   Международная игра-конкурс «Русский медвежонок – языкознание для всех» проводится с 2000 года. Она привлекает каждый год около полутора миллионов участников из России и десятка зарубежных стран. По результатам игры все участники получают сертификаты с указанием набранных баллов, а лучшие – призы. 

     В декабре нас ждут итоговые контрольные работы, а в феврале - у девятиклассников УСТНОЕ СОБЕСЕДОВАНИЕ.  

  Устное собеседование проверяет по ФГОС развитие устной речи и уровень коммуникативной компетенции выпускников основной школы . 

Собеседование состоит из 4 заданий:  

- выразительного чтения предложенного текста,  

- его пересказа с использованием небольшого дополнительного материала,  

- небольшого монолога по одной из предложенных тем и  

- диалога с экзаменатором по выбранной теме.  

    Успешное прохождение собеседования является допуском к сдаче основного государственного экзамена (ОГЭ).  

   Далее нам предстоит подготовиться и 6 июня сдать ОГЭ по русскому языку, который состоит из изложения, тестовых заданий, проверяющих знания русского языка за курс 5-9 классов, и сочинения. В настоящее время подготовка к данному испытанию ведётся на уроках русского языка и после уроков по четвергам с  15:30 до 16:30 в кабинете 324. 

   Конечно, результат любой работы зависит от вложенного в неё труда и наши учащиеся прекрасно знают, что «Без труда не выловишь и рыбку из пруда», а ещё – «Воля и труд дивные всходы дают»! 

 

 

 

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

 

Yet another fantastic week in Gorki where we continue to go from strength to strength. The children have been engaged and challenged this week culminating in our anti-bullying session and a visit from the house dogs.  

I finally got my snow, which was amazing, but now it comes with a plea – please ensure your children come to school suitably dressed and equipped for the snow and that they are made aware of their responsibilities regarding ‘joining in’ with snowball fights and snow angels.  I must also remind parents that it may take a little longer to get to school now so please leave a little earlier so the students get to campus on time - I would hate to start sending students home for being incorrectly dressed or for being late too often. 

We have welcomed some new members of staff to the primary team this week and I am sure you will find out from the students just exactly who they are. The new secondary teachers will be joining us in the next few weeks. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our current staff for all the help and support they have given our students where their regular teachers have been away or unable to complete their duties – we are stronger as a team. 

Thank you to those parents who attended the edupage training and please remember Edupage assistance is available tue-fri mornings at main school reception. 

 

Key Dates 

23rd November – Online “zoom” session for parents on “eating disorders in Children” hosted by our psychology team. (Invitation sent separately).  

24th November – Primary school educational trip 

25th November – House dogs visit to lower building 

1st/2nd December – Eyfs & Lower primary trip 

5th December – Winter event rehersal week (whole school) 

12th December – Winter events week  

 

Primary 

 

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

 

Dear parents and students, 

I can’t believe we are already two weeks into Term 2. Time really does fly when you are having fun, and this has been a fun term so far for our students. This week’s ‘funny socks’ event has seen some really amusing views, and the visit of the House Dogs is always something that the children enjoy. Next week, Upper Primary will be visiting the Dinosaur Museum, which should also be a lot of fun! 

Overcoming unexpected problems is a challenge, but one we should all hit head on. This week, it was a real pleasure to meet with Year 2 parents and discuss educational matters. Having parents who understand and support what everyone at CIS Gorki are striving to achieve for our families is tremendously reassuring, and underlines the shared importance between all who are involved in the development of our students.  

So, a month to go until the winter vacation, and a lot to cram in during that time! I hope we have as many students as possible coming to school every day, because I don’t want them missing out on lots more fun! 

Have a wintry weekend! 

 

Message from the Year 4 teacher (John Veshi) 

 

Hello parents and carers of CIS, 

It has been quite an eventful week here in Year 4. Here’s all the fun we’ve been up to: 

In our English lessons, we have focused on improving our phonics skills with long ‘o’ sounds this term. We incorporate these lessons into our grammar skills that focus on verbs using -Int, following a story about Kit and Jake and their desire to do well on a Spelling Test. We have also spoken about non chronological reports and will be completing them by the end of term. 

Our Maths lessons continued on our new topic for this term: fractions! We have learned the previous week that a fraction is “part of a whole”. We were able to use two different methods to show understanding of this new topic. A great strategy we've begun using is fraction bars and how they can be similar to other fractions, or equivalent. 

In our Project Lessons, both Year 3 and Year 4 are working together to present selected countries during the next few weeks as the FIFA World Cup begins Monday in Qatar! Students are working together to research information and produce a PowerPoint presentation on their country. It is great to see how actively engaged they are in this collaborative project with Year 3. 

I hope to see you all soon on campus! 

Warm regards, 

Mr. V 

 

Secondary 

 

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

 

Dear Parents and Guardians,  

I hope that you are all well.  This week has been excellent, and our core focus has been anti-bullying week. Students have been wearing odd socks, and have also rocked funky hairstyles. This is to help promote that people are different and that is ok. All children have different voices in our school and everyone learns and behaves differently, which is integral to education. 

We have also had a visit from our house dogs, and it was great to see all of the fun had by the students. In the future, we have planned to collaborate a lot more with the animal shelter, and I will be making a separate post on this next week. 

 I wish you all a wonderful weekend.  

 

Message from Alina Zavalnaya (Spanish Teacher) 

 

Dear Parents and Guardians,  

My name is Ms. Alina Zavalnaya and I am Spanish teacher. I am really happy to be part of Gorki team and teach Spanish for Primary and Secondary students. 

To my opinion, It is excellent beginning of the academic year. Both Primary and Secondary students show magnificent power in learning foreign language.  

Year 3 students show bright interest for learning something brand new and they already have got big steps of it. We have learnt a lot of basic vocabulary, questions and also  we are study classroom objects, counting and colors names. I observe every lesson how hard they try and also happy for their first steps. 

Year 4 class is very excited about chants and warming- up activities where teacher can see how their progress and motivation are growing up. Students love cutting and pasting activity, especially making masks regarding to Dia de los Muertos where they could be get into the Spanish and Latin- American culture and traditions deeply.  

Year 5 pupils are very enthusiastic and have already got a big power in Spanish. So than we transform their knowledge into making their vocabulary bigger and bigger, and I enjoy to see how they implement grammar rules with vocabulary and trying to make full sentences, well done! This term we study pets topic where students enjoyed talking about their pets in Spanish. 

Year 6 has one big step before joining secondary and students try all their best. They are best in making dialogues, searching the words in word search and giving out the interview in Spanish from each other. The most exciting things that I notice that they never give up when something goes wrong and so it is very inspiring to watch. 

Secondary school students show their great interest in learning Spanish. For example, Year 7 students with their background from Primary starts their academic year with Viva 1 book where we wide out our grammar knowledge. Also, we are starting to conjugate regular verbs and using them into oral speech. Making projects and presentations are the best part of the class. 

Year 8 has shown their strength in grammar and vocabulary building sentences and doing writing tasks in excellent way. Students can talk in Spanish using basic things but they already know how to talk about ourselves more and interesting.  

Year 9 are trying their best in learning Spanish. Students like doing group task, showing great interest about Spanish culture and music. Additionaly, we practice making dialogues, wordsearches and practice verbs in present tense. 

Year 10 and Year 11 are excited about their IGCSE exam and we preparing a lot than. We challenge students with their reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. Additionally, we often make some projects in the classroom to develop their learning skills. 

I wish all students good luck in learning Spanish and hope that you like an amazing world of this beautiful language. 

Regards, 

Alina Zavalnaya 

Spanish teacher.  

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Russian Curriculum Coordinator (Ms Anastasia Marcheva) 

 

Добрый день, уважаемые родители! 

На этой неделе через платформу EduPage был отправлен опрос, который связан с одной из частей нашего учебного плана – российской образовательной программы. Пожалуйста пройдите опрос если ещё не удалось этого сделать. Нам очень важна ваша обратная связь.   Ссылка для прохождения опроса: https://forms.office.com/r/2ZGZA8Dsy4  Хочется, чтобы ученикам было комфортно, качественно и эффективно взаимодействовать с учителями, получать отличные результаты и возможность развиваться. Благодарим за участие!  

Также на этой неделе мне бы очень хотелось поделиться результатами Всероссийской олимпиады школьников. У нас уже есть призёры и победители! 

Поздравляем Полупанову Анастасию, ученицу Y7 (5 класса), ставшую победителем школьного этапа олимпиады по английскогому языку и математике, а также призёром по биологии и экологии. Молодец, так держать!  

Поздравляем Трошанову Алису, ученицу Y10 (8 класс), ставшую победителем школьного этапа олимпиады по английскому языку. Уже на этой неделе Алиса примет участие в муниципальном этапе олимпиады. Желаем удачи и дальнейших побед! 

 

Message from the Learning Assistant Y1 (Ms Yulia Shevchenko) 

 

Добрый день, уважаемые родители и ученики! 

Я с радостью и легким трепетом предвкушаю то, как будет проходить вторая четверть в CIS Gorki! Ученики заметно выросли с начала года, стали более ответственно подходить к выполнению работ в классе, делают свои первые успехи в умении быть дружным классом.  

Вторую четверть мы начали с «Odd Socks Week» – Недели Разных Носков. Мы все разные, у нас могут отличаться взгляды, культура, поведение, но нам нужно уметь находить общий язык друг с другом. Ученики Year 1 радостно подхватили эту инициативу, и вот уже почти неделю мы ходим в школу в разных носках, показывая, что отличаться друг от друга – это естественно. Удивительно, как эта простая идея сплотила класс. Ребята делятся идеями и вещами, помогают друг другу на игровой площадке, а также приходят на помощь в раздевалке.  

Естественно, это отражается и на учёбе. Во время уроков я часто замечаю, как те ученики, которые закончили задание первыми, приходят на помощь тем, кто еще не завершил работу, помогают и поддерживают, дают советы. На уроках обучения грамоте и развития речи скорость выполнения заданий увеличилась вдвое с начала года. Теперь мы не только успеваем выучить букву за урок, но и определить, где стоит звук в слове, обозначающий эту букву, выполняем задания на логику и мышление, буквенные и обычные лабиринты, развиваем внимательность. Дети воспринимают подобные упражнения как поощрение своего труда, что дает им дополнительную мотивацию на аккуратное и быстрое выполнение основного задания.  

Спасибо вам, дорогие родители, за вашу заботу, поддержку и помощь нам в создании теплой атмосферы взаимопонимания. Ребята спешат в класс, не боятся обратиться к взрослому за помощью, слушают учителя, а также умеют дружить и принимать дружбу в ответ! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Welcome back. It has been great to see most of you back at school this week. The snow that I was promised has yet to appear, but I am sure it will before long! In the meantime, please try to remember that the students really benefit from some outdoor time to burn off their excess energy, platy with their friends and hopefully gain new ones. 

It will not be long until we will be showcasing some of our students amazing abilities with our “winter event’ - this is in the last week of term which ends on. The 16th of December, not before. Please remember that we are still catching up in many subjects as an after effect of the past 2 years disruption, so every day in school is important especially for our senior students. 

The senior years will soon be given an additional responsibility during the school week with access to their own student study space. This will be available for the students on a trial basis allowing us to reward fantastic effort and behaviour further in the future. 

We have had to move the St Petersburg trip to term 3 for logistical reasons but this trip will be going ahead. In the meantime, we will be continuing with curriculum trips which will be used as part of the final assessment and end of term reports. 

One of our staff decided to leave us without notice this week but we assure you the class impacted have not been unduly affected and we will continue to provide the same excellence in education. More details will follow to those most effected. 

Anti-bullying week begins next week, and we encourage all of our students and staff to “dare to be different’ by wearing odd socks (or funny ones) and or funky hair styles Monday to Thursday. Friday 18th will be a non-uniform day and we will be having a visit from our dogs at lunchtime. There will be an anti-bullying event Friday after lunch for students to attend. 

I look forward to seeing some of you for our next parents' coffee morning on the 30th of November, if not sooner at the front door. Have a fantastic weekend. 

 

Key Dates 

 

14th – 18th November Anti Bullying week (see above) 

17th November – Edupage training for parents 

18th November – non-uniform day and visit from ‘our ‘dogs 

30th November – parents coffee morning 

 

Primary 

 

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

 

Dear parents and students,  

Welcome back to school and to the first winter term of the year, though thankfully we don’t seem to have any wintry weather so far! 

I have spent most of the week in the lower building, working with the youngest of our children, which is always a lot of fun and highly entertaining. Engaging with children still fascinated with many of the small things in life is always a reminder to ourselves to be open-minded to everything. My own children, now teenagers, and with the usual teenage attitudes, remain constantly curious about my adventures across Russia, which keeps me entertained! Being adventurous is a wonderful thing. As a friend of mine once said: You don’t build a boat to sit in a harbour. We are all boats ready to explore the world. 

This leads me on to the topic of this month’s value: Globally-Minded. Our world is a rich and varied place, full of diversity and cultural differences. We look forward to seeing our students engaging with different ideas and experiences over the next few weeks. 

Have a lovely weekend! 

 

Secondary 

 

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

 

Dear Parents and Guardians,   

I hope that you are all well and rested after the holidays. 

It is great to see so many of our community using Edupage, with all teachers, students and parents having accounts. Please remember it is our primary method of communication, and if you are having problems accessing, it is necessary to contact myself.  Next Thursday, I will be running a session for Parents on Edupage, so that I can show some of the new and old features that we have implemented into the system. It will run from 3:40 until 16:25. I am also available to help via emails or every morning at the reception between 08:10 and 08:50, if you are having technical issues with the application. Thank you to those that attended the last meeting.  

Next week is anti-bullying week, and there will be activities taking place to help raise awareness and prevent. Students can wear odd socks and different hair for the week, which will be linked into our activities. Uniform must still be worn, except for Friday, which will be a non-uniform day.  I hope that you all have a restful weekend.  Regards 

 

Message from the Mr. John Pedersen (Humanities Teacher and Phase Leader) 

 

Dear CIS Community,  

On behalf of all the teachers and staff I would like to welcome you all back for Term 2! 

I hope you are all well-rested as we are jumping right back in this week as this is quite a short term. For example, this week we had our house table tennis competition, with the finals to be contested later today! 

Next week will be the first of this term’s charity events when our House Dogs will again visit the school. For our new students this will be the first opportunity to meet the dogs and permission slips will be sent home shortly. 

Our next two house events were voted on by students this week and we will see a Quiz Gameshow hosted by Mr Chris R, and the term will end with the Great Gorki Bake Off, hosted by Mr Brad P, when our students will compete to produce the best gourmet pizzas in the school! Instructions and guidelines for these events will be sent out over the coming weeks. 

In other charity news, the winter clothing drive for the Constanta Charity will be taking place over the course of this term also. In the next week the Charity boxes will again be placed near the theatre, and we would like to ask that if you have winter clothing in good condition (or any other items!) that you may have outgrown and would like to give a second life, then please be generous and donate them to our charity.  We have held this event the last two years and have been extremely proud of our families and the help they have provided to those less fortunate. 

Last year I accompanied the delivery of the charitable donations and can safely assure you that your donations were thankfully received by the families we help. 

I am sorry to inform you that the planned trip to St Petersburg for the Secondary students has had to be postponed due to logistical reasons. We hope to sort this out quite quickly and plan to be able to do a similar extended excursion in the Spring when the weather warms up a bit. 

As always, we are here for you, so please feel free to contact us with any questions or queries you have on any aspect of the school experience. 

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Russian Maths teacher Y7-Y11 (Mr. Arthur Sibgatullin) 

 

Рад приветствовать вас, уважаемые родители и ученики СIS!  

Очень быстро пролетела первая четверть. Кажется, только недавно мы вернулись с летних каникул, но вот уже пролетели первые месяцы осени и мы уже начали следующую четверть. За это время в школьной жизни произошло немало событий.  

Но самыми главными достижениями для меня являются интерес ребят к математике и успехи в ее изучении. С первых уроков я стараюсь привить интерес к своему предмету, показать значимость математики для жизни и окружающего мира. В Y7 и Y8 проводились уроки с элементами игровой формы: онлайн игры на тему логики и действий с дробями. Для учащихся Y9 - Y11 более интересны уроки с применением технологии проблемного обучения. Проблемная ситуация поднятая в течение урока и решенная учениками собственными силами под руководством учителя, с помощью анализа проблемы, обработки изучаемой информации ведет к возникновению у них внутренней мотивации, развитию учебных умений и, самое главное, приобретению навыков самостоятельного достижения правильных выводов и результатов. С учащимися Y10 и Y11 всю четверть мы вели подготовку к ОГЭ, решая тренировочные тесты.  

У проделанной нами работы за эту четверть отличный результат. Почти все ученики успешно справились с аттестационными работами! Желаю всем ученикам и родителям удачи во второй четверти! Надеюсь, что осенние каникулы у ребят прошли весело и интересно, и они вернулись к занятиям в ноябре с новыми силами и в хорошем настроении, крепкими, здоровыми, красивыми, готовыми к новым вызовам. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

A slightly wetter and windier week here at Gorky campus but there were still many opportunities for some excellent learning throughout the school, from ICT using models to Science “Cellular cakes” it has been very productive. 

Mr Marius has been hard at work preparing the school football teams for our first ever inter-campus tournament, we are looking pretty good so far just don’t tell Skolkovo. Ms Amanda is also getting busy with preparations for our ‘Winter concert” event at the end of December, first call for auditions went out this week.  

Thank you to those parents that attended the coffee morning on the 28th it was lovely to see you and to hear your suggestions. There will be some changes in upper primary next week which are being taken to reflect suggestions and improvements that we can facilitate throughout the year groups. We are sorry to say that we have to say goodbye to one of our teachers already due to personal issues – we wish them all the best and will be contacting the year group directly to introduce the new teacher replacing them. 

I wish you all the best for the weekend and look forward to seeing many of you next week or in the upcoming “parent teacher consultations”. 

 

Key Dates 

Wednesday October 5th – “Heads up” coffee morning 0900 - 1000 

Wednesday October 5th - Teachers' appreciation day 

Friday 7th October – International Space Day 

 

Primary 

 

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

 

We have reached the halfway point of Term 1 – the longest term of the year, but also for many reasons the most important, as students, teachers and indeed parents all get used to being back in school and forging new routines and relationships.  I have been delighted with the positive vibes I get from walking around both buildings and diving into lessons that are full of variety and enthusiasm.  I’ve taught a few lessons of English myself this week, and there really is nothing better than engaging with our students in educationally exciting topics, such as writing fantasy stories with Year 5. 

 

We start our Monthly Value 2 from Monday, which is ‘Innovation’.  For the first month of the year, we were focused on ‘ambition’, with students setting out on the long year ahead with hopefully ambitious ideas of what they want to achieve both in and out of school.  One way of showing ambition is to be innovative, and I look forward to seeing our young people displaying and developing their innovative skills across many lessons. 

 

Next week, we will have our second Primary House Event, linked with ‘innovation’.  The challenge will be to create a new invention that will change the world!  Credit will be given to imagination and unique ideas – no flying cars and no robot helpers because that’s what everyone usually comes up with!!  In House Event 1, Tchaikovsky enjoyed the greatest success and claimed the 4 points across school, with Pushkin second, Yashin third, and Gagarin fourth.  Better luck to Gagarin next week! 

 

Finally, most of our students are wearing their uniforms with pride on a daily basis, but I am still seeing too many trainers (especially of non-dark colours) being worn by older children.  Black or brown smart shoes is what we expect – our school looks great, so we want our children to look just as great too! 

 

I wish you all a lovely Autumnal weekend! 

 

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

 

After the first month in Year 6 it seems that the children are starting to settle down. They are starting to get used to the new environment and to their new teacher. The academic standards in Year 6 are high due to the fact that they will be writing the Primary Progression Tests at the end of the year. We have nine months to prepare them for these tests, and for Secondary School.   

We started to use 20 minutes in the beginning of each day with D.E.A.R. time – Drop.Everything.And.Read. Although the children didn’t like it at the beginning, I can see a remarkable improvement in their reading skills. Well done everyone!   

During our English lessons we started to read the exciting book “Friend or Foe” by Michael Morpurgo. This is the delightful story of the adventures of two boys during WW2. I place a lot of emphasis on Spelling and Grammar as the children need to read and write well in order to excel in the Cambridge system. Therefor we will be writing a Spelling Test every Friday, and will complete many written tasks. During our Grammar lessons we are currently focusing on Punctuation and Past Tense. We write a lot, and we are slowly upgrading from pencil to pen.   

Although the Math is more difficult than it was last year, in reality it is merely an extension of the work covered in Year 5. Having said that, all the children love Math and some of them show a real talent for the subject.    

Science in Year 6 is an exciting journey where we will explore the Human Body, Electricity, Light, Magnetism and many other interesting topics. I will incorporate as many practical sessions as possible – I agree with the children that Science is the best subject in school! During this week we downloaded a Cellphone App to measure our Heartbeats, and the excitement ran high as we saw how fast our hearts were beating after jumping up and down for 2 minutes.  

I believe that school offers so much more that academics. School shapes children’s personalities in a way that no amount of homeschooling or tutoring can achieve. School is the platform where they learn how to interact with peers, how to accept norms, and how to be tolerant to members of all groups. I love to see how my Year 6’s formed friendships in class as well as on the playground. They are beginning to show empathy towards others, and I watch with amazement how they develop into the socially responsible persons they are meant to be. 

 

Secondary 

 

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

 

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students 

I hope that you are all well,   Walking around the school, it has been great to see our walls in the classrooms and corridors of Secondary school taking shape. Teachers and students have been working tirelessly to make sure that the best of what our children have produced is displayed for everyone to see. It also helps makes our school environment a pleasant place to be. Some photos are attached. 

 

I have been teaching some Mathematics this year to Year 8 and Year 9, and I just want to say what a pleasure it is to teach them, and I really commend them in terms of their eagerness to learn and overcome and solve problems. With the general dedication that they are showing currently, they can do anything.  I wish you all a pleasant weekend. 

 

 Message from the Humanities and Science Teacher (Mr. Bradley Parker) 

 

This week in class:  

Global perspectives year 10 we are exploring culture. How do we define this word? What is culture? Is it the food we eat, the music we listen to? How about the clothes we wear? In short, YES it is all of those things. We will explore what this word means in detail and various types of culture. What does it mean to be Russian? Or Canadian? Do we have cultural differences? In this class we will dive into these topics and find out. 

 

• Year 11: We will be finishing our religion studies and presenting our findings with our slide presentations. So far the work I have seen has been nothing short of brilliant! After that we will be moving onto the subject of Power, Authority, & Governance. What is the difference between these three positions? Would a teacher be in a governance position? Perhaps one of authority? This class will break down what all three of these roles mean and how they fit into the world around us. We will finish this unit with a Ted-talk, looking forward to learning from my students! 

In all science classes we will be preparing for international space day on October 7th. 

 

Year 7- Posters and clay models on celestial objects. With a special presentation on the Parker Solar Probe. 

Year 8- 3D map of the surface of Mars with a fully operational Mars Rover, additional posters and slides on Space-X. 

Year 9- Two slide presentations. The first will be on the “Dear-moon project”...... What is it? You will find out! The second will be on the future of space travel, the space-X “starship and falcon 9 heavy rocket”.... These vehicles will be the future of mankind and you will have an opportunity to get an inside look and learn all about them in this presentation. 

 

I am excited to show off all the amazing work my classes have been doing. I hope everyone has a great week! 

#ITTAKESALLOFUS 

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Primary Russian Curriculum teacher (Ms.Alyona Sherbakova) 

 

Осень глазами учащихся Y4 (2 класса) 

 

Здравствуйте, уважаемые родители! 

 

Много образовательных событий и открытий происходит в школьной жизни наших учеников , и в математике и в литературе, но сегодня особенно хочется поделиться успехами и талантом наших учащихся в русском языке.  

 

На минувшей неделе у учеников Y4 случилась проба пера, учились писать сочинение по картине. Прорабатывали литературные приемы, продумывали как исключить повторение и подобрать синонимы, обсуждали, что можно написать о полотнах художников, которые так трепетно и реалистично преподнесли своё видение осеннего мира природы.  

 

Описывать творения живописцев, несомненно, всегда сложно, а особенно юному писателю, но результат превзошел все ожидания. Ребята составляли текст-описание по холсту Ильи Семёновича Остроухова «Золотая осень», а также  составляли свободный текст об осенней природе.  

 

Искренность созданных учениками строк вдохновляет, ниже представлены цитаты из детских работ, отрывки о «Золотой осени» И.С. Остроухова: 

     «У нас перед глазами золотой, изумрудный, рубиновый, шоколадный листопад. Листья мягкие и теплые, как ковёр с длинным ворсом.» 

     «У меня было предчувствие, что я попаду в рай, так спокойно и тихо в золотом осеннем лесу.» 

      «Стоит дуб. Какие на нём драгоценные листья: золотые, жёлтые, зелёные, коричневые. Сороки идут по дорожке и болтают.» 

      «Позади тропинки стоят сиротливые дубы. Они почернели от дождей и ветров. На переднем плане, усыпанный листьями, стоит высокий клён. Он склонил свои ветви, потому что на них много золота. А оно же тяжёлое.» 

      «Передо мной картина И.С. Остроухова «Золотая осень». На картине изображена осень. На лесной поляне стоят ярко-жёлтые деревья. Разноцветный ковёр из сухих листьев. На поляне царит тишина. Только белобокие сороки тараторят на дороге. Мне понравилось на этой картине то, что там очень много разноцветных красок и красиво всё показано.» 

       «На картине я вижу призрака, он смотрит на меня, он чёрный, ой, мне страшно!» — это о могучих богатырях-дубах)   

     А вот и свободные тексты, с личными впечатлениями. Все мы видим осень по-разному, по-своему. Вот несколько авторских, интересных вариантов детей : 

    «Осень – ужасное времяпрепровождение. Кататься на скейте невозможно, перила и бордюры мокрые, как и дороги. Всё завалено листьями. Скейт-парки все мокрые. Все болеют.» 

     «Чем сильней ветер, тем больше резных листочков опускаются нам на плечи, дружелюбно обнимая нас.» 

 

Сегодня поделилась драгоценным опытом наших детей. Надеюсь вы впечатлены. Этот месяц выдался по-настоящему осенний и у нас получилось прочувствовать и описать осень во всей её красе. Планов до конца первой четверти у нас много: попробовать на зубок тексты-рассуждения , описывать события, опираясь на факты, учитывая все детали и понемногу изучать эпистолярный жанр (письменный способ общения на расстоянии). 

 

Хотелось бы пожелать вам хороших выходных и завершить письмо строками стихотворения Фёдора Ивановича Тютчева: 

«Есть в осени первоначальной 

Короткая, но дивная пора – 

Весь день стоит как бы хрустальный, 

И лучезарны вечера… .» 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Parents / Guardians,

As we reach the end of the first term, and I thought it prudent to write to you and highlight some of the changes that have happened so far and to identify some that are still in development.

The school campus is undergoing a transformation to try and soften it, the hope is that by term 3 we will be able to make more use of the outdoor space and will be encouraging students and staff to make best use of all facilities in their learning journeys.

Students are being encouraged to be more accountable within the school for their attitude to learning and this will develop hand in hand with the rewards and sanction system which is a vital part of the students lifelong learning skills.

The progress reports will be issued very soon, please remember that these reports are the start point for conversations about how to improve and move towards the attainment each student id individually capable of. We will have a parent teacher meeting in November to discuss these and other issues.

I would like to say a big thank you to all the students, staff and parents that regularly make every effort to be in school, on time, fully equipped and ready for an academic day. There are, however, a few that are causing some concern with their lack of punctuality and/or readiness for the day.  May I take this time to remind parents that the signed Educational Agreement clearly sets out all expectations on the school and of the students not least of all is drop of and pick up of students in accordance with school timings (3.1.10), There are also clear obligations to ensure that school is informed of any absence (3.1.8), all students are to wear proper school uniform (6.9), students are required to attend all lessons in full (6.17) and if a student needs to be absent permission must be sought in writing (6.18). 

To assist us in creating a ‘safe and productive’ environment, (part of our core values), we will be looking to improve our entry and exit procedures at school so please bear with us when we bring these into effect from next term. We will focus on students leaving the campus during the school day at first and ask you try to support your children’s education by not taking them out of school unless there is a real emergency or significant issue. Every lesson missed impacts student's progress, and ultimately their attainment. We have systems in place within the school to support, nurture and care for students that might need such – they do not need to leave because of incidents in school nor should they be contacting home to request such. 

From the 6^th November we would like to put a more robust system in place ensuring students are more easily accounted for and to help us identify significant patterns of absence. As such please be aware that parents will be required to email the school reception requesting time off for their children with a stated reason. A pass will then be issued by reception to allow the student (s) to leave – without this pass our security team will not allow the student to leave unless the parent is physically present. This process requires several hours to enact so please do so first thing in the morning, for an afternoon time, or the day before for other times. It will be very difficult to release any student at short notice without a parent reporting to reception. We hope you understand that this is in the student's best interest and is not designed to cause unnecessary frustration or delay, rather to ensure that we are doing the ‘best by each student’. 

There are still a few staff changes that need to happen and each of the classes directly impacted will be informed of the changes in order to ensure transparency. There are many reasons for these changes and not least of all current situations around the world.

We are rapidly approaching our Winter Concert / Play and I would like to remind parents that the end of the school year is the 16^th December 2022, if students are removed from school prior to this it can affect not only their attainment but also their socialising skills.

The representation of parents in the school is still quite poor and I would strongly encourage you to please contact us and look to take a more pro-active part in the development of the school and the learning environment for your children. There will also be more opportunities to become better acquainted with our edupage system.

As always, we are extremely proud of our school community as a whole and we want to thank you all for your support, trust and involvement in our student’s education as well as our campuses continual development. We look forward to seeing you all in term 2, have a great holiday and enjoy the time off.

 

Gorki campus team

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

 

Almost the final newsletter of the term and I would like to thank everyone in our school community for their effort, hard work, support, commitment and dedication to the continual improvement of Gorki campus. It has been truly heartening to hear many positive comments from parents and stakeholders over the past few days and I hope these messages are also being received by our group and the students themselves.  

There has been, and will continue to be, some landscaping work carried out to soften our school environment as well as efforts to try and improve activities for the students in and around the campuses. 

There has been a slow uptake for the “Parents council” and I would strongly encourage anyone wishing to have a voice or to help deliver actual change across the school community, to become part of the council by letting myself, your child or Mr Pederson know. There are a number of programs and changes I would like to enact within the school but these are very difficult without support from the wider school community. Currently our student and staff councils have had a number of successes within the school and it is a shame that our parents have not yet had the feelings of success with projects. 

Please remember there are a number of different activities and events next week designed to help us see out term 1 on a high note. There are opportunities for students to dress up for Halloween, for parents (and other relatives) to visit the school, opportunities for students to show off their baking skills as well as the publication of the term 1 progress reports.  

Term 2 will begin with changes to the student entry and exit process so as to ensure improved awareness of the need for ALL students to be in school for the WHOLE day in order to receive the best chances at academic, and social, success. We will also be clamping down on poor uniform standards as well as poor punctuality. It is very important that we are supported in this from home as well as through conversations with the form, (homeroom), teachers and senior staff. 

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to remind the school community as a whole that we communicate best when we communicate often. To that end remember to be using EDUPAGE effectively and if further training, or pointers are required we are here to help every morning (except Mondays). We will also run a special training event on edupage for parents, Monday 7th November at the end of the school day. Please let us know if you wish to attend. 

Have a great break and I look forward to seeing you all in term 2, if not before. 

  

Key Dates 

24th October - Bake sale (Secondary) - Pumpkin carving displays begin 

26th October - Pumpkin Carving Judging / Parents Coffee morning 

27th October – Costume Day and bake sale (Primary) 

28th October – Costume Day (Secondary), Relatives Day (Primary) - Progress reports due 

7th November – Edupage parent training (15:00 – 1530), New entry/exit policy and uniform checks in place. 

 

Primary 

 

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

 

Term 1 is always the longest, strangest and hardest term in schools.  We are nearing the end of it, with some fun and interesting activities planned for next week to celebrate our many successes, but before that, let me explain what I mean: Longest – over eight weeks is a long time for our students to attend every day and concentrate to the best of their abilities throughout, but many of our young people have been hugely successful at both elements; Strangest – each year is a new experience and it has to start somewhere, and for children this is often a scary or nervous thing to deal with – meeting new people, having new lessons, doing new things.  Adapting to new things and changing what you have been used to takes time, but our community always does this in the right way; Hardest – coupling together long and strange is a hard challenge, but once you have been successful in Term 1, following terms simply build upon those successes!   

It has been a pleasure to formally visit a lot of lessons this week and observe the teaching and learning taking place across both buildings.  A lesson observation is much more than watching the teacher – it is the interaction between teacher and student, student and teaching objectives, and student and student, among a lot of other things.  The best lessons are the ones that flow quickly with high levels of engagement and obvious educational progress that can be accurately measured.  It has been very pleasing to see much of that taking place this week, and I look forward to seeing a lot more over the coming months. 

Enjoy your weekend, and we look forward to lots of activities of a celebratory nature next week! 

 

Message from the Year 1 Teacher (Ms. Jeanelle Greyling) 

  

The Year 1s have learned a ton of new things this week. Since they know most of their Jolly Phonics sounds already, we have started focusing on our grammar. They can read and write personal pronouns and even know when to use each pronoun. The Year 1s also enjoy the challenge of unscrambling simple sentences. The group still finds the articles “a”, “an” and “the” a bit abstract, but we know that they will get the hang of it through lots of practice.   

All of the pupils love Maths, which makes presenting the lessons much easier. We have learned about estimation, comparing numbers, and reading and writing number words recently. They can use key words like “estimate”, “equal”, “fewer”, “less”, “more” and “same” confidently. They also have no problems with counting backwards and forwards to 20. 

In Science, we are learning about humans, specifically our senses. The pupils enjoyed experimenting with activities such as being blindfolded and trying to put body parts on the correct place, smelling experiments and listening walks. In ICT, we are learning about the parts of a computer / laptop and where these parts go. We have already made our own cut and pasted paper laptops and drawn our own computers consisting of all the key parts. We have also started using the school tablets. 

In Global Perspectives, we have been learning about this month’s topic: Innovation. The pupils know several inventors and inventions that changed the world and have even designed some of their own interesting inventions. Some of the memorable invention ideas were robot doctors, cellphones that can walk, robot soldiers, and space robots. You can take a look at these drawings in the reception area. 

Next week, we look forward to learning all about Halloween and decorating the classroom with all our self-made Halloween crafts! On that note, please don’t forget to dress up as your favourite Halloween character for our Autumn Festival next Thursday, 27 October. 

  

Kind regards, 

Ms. Jeanelle 

 

 

 

Secondary 

 

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

Dear Parents and Guardians and Students, 

I hope that you are all well. 

This week we have had our Spanish day where students were able to come into school wearing Spanish traditional dress. Although not all were able to do this, I did see some impressive costumes around the school. There was also a house competition consisting of a quiz related to the event. Today, we will have a Spanish concert, during our final period of the week, which should be great. 

Next week is the final week of our longest term. It has been incredibly busy but also incredibly rewarding, continuing to see our school, develop. I am extremely excited about eating some delicious cakes during Monday’s Bakesale, and seeing everybody's costumes for the Autmn festival.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend. 

 

 

Message from the Aleksei Sinkevich (Art Teacher and Year 11 Form Tutor) 

 

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

In year 8 students research, experiment, produce and reflect upon a portrait or image of a friend with the intention of conveying a particular mood. They will explore the proportions of the face and the figure. They will look at the work of artists from a variety of historical periods and cultures for inspiration. They will also consider the expression of their subject, the inclusion periphery objects and the backdrop to their portrait, as well as selecting their own materials and processes. 

  

Year 9 take the theme title ‘Identity’. Students looking at examples of work from a range of artists that relate to the theme in different ways such as portraiture, still life, landscape, and sculpture. Students may refer to their previous work on still life and how objects can reflect an identity. Alternatively, they may explore another aspect that make up an identity, such as heritage, family, interests or take a more literal response and create a self-portrait. When gathering images to explore the theme, learners encouraged to use photography as well as at least one other media, such as pencil, to record their observations. Students have time to reflect on past work, decide which media they would like to use, and experiment with these in order to develop their initial images. 

  

In year 7 learners develop their understanding of how to use line and shading to create form, shape and pattern using a variety of tools such as pencil, pen and charcoal and drawing from a range of still life objects. Learners are introduced to drawing techniques that encourage them to consider how to approach drawing a range of objects, including those that are man-made and natural. As examples, they may draw an object with a decorative surface, a three-dimensional object with few surface qualities, or a flat object with a rough, textured surface as well as exploring multi-viewpoint compositions and positive and negative space. 

 

 

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Russian Primary Teacher (Ms. Marina Shuraeva) 

 

Добрый день, уважаемые родители! 

Вот и подходит к концу второй учебный месяц в школе. Одним из самых ярких событий этой недели стал «День испанской культуры». В этот понедельник все дети были очень яркие, красивые и даже успели попробовать традиционное блюдо "тако" на обед. Маракасы, кастаньеты и широкополые сомбреро, вот что стало антуражем для наших учеников на этой неделе. Однако, мне как учителю, приятно отметить, что восторг в глазах детей вызывают не только яркие костюмы, но и собственные успехи в учебе, в частности, по российской программе. 

В течение сентября для учеников Y3 (1 класс) проходил адаптационный период. На уроках обучения грамоте ребята наблюдали за особенностями устной и письменной речи. Составляли схемы простых предложений. Придумывали предложения с опорой на рисунки и схемы. И уже на этой неделе писали свои первые рукописные предложения и абсолютно каждый из ребят написал успешно! Это наша общая победа. Привычный шаг для человечества, но огромный для маленького человека. Мы читаем слоги и слова, а еще юными первооткрывателями успешно покоряются звуковые схемы и схемы предложений, наклонные, повороты и крючки. Мы сравниваем фигуры, группируем их, расставляем в нужном порядке, знаем сложение и вычитание, разницу и взаимосвязь между ними. А теперь все это начинаем делать еще и с цифрами. 

В то же время, наши, уже бывалые и отважные путешественники - Y5 (3 класс) сражаются с безударными гласными, бороздят лексические значения, ориентируясь в синонимах, антонимах и даже омонимах. Мы работаем с текстами, составляем планы и анализируем поэтические произведения. И даже собираем досье на знаменитых писателей! А по математике наши ребята уже стали настоящими экспертами в работе с множествами и подмножествами, а также с их элементами. На этой неделе учащиеся так же познакомились с новым видом задач "на приведение к единице", так что, если вам нужно узнать "сколько ткани нужно использовать для пошива 15 школьных форм, если на пошив 5 форм уходит 15 метров ткани" - милости просим в Y5 ( 3 класс). 

Мы налаживаем учебный процесс. Очень приятно видеть, как учащиеся CIS с каждым днем становятся взрослее, серьезнее и отвественнее. У нас всё получится, вместе! 

 

 

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

At the end of yet another fantastic week in Gorki we find ourselves rapidly approaching the end of term assessments and progress report deadline. These will be completed by the 28th October ready for parents to access, through Edupage, over the end of term break.  

It is important to recognise the amazing impact staff, that are unfortunately moving on, have had on their classes as well as taking the time to welcome our newest team members. All impacted classes will be notified as usual and we hope you will make the staff feel at home.  

I would like to say a big thank you to all the students, staff and parents that regularly make every effort to be in school, on time, fully equipped and ready for an academic day. There are, however, a few that are causing some concern with their lack of punctuality and/or readiness for the day.  

May I take this time to remind parents that the signed Educational Agreement clearly sets out all expectations on the school and of the students not least of all is drop of and pick up of students in accordance with school timings (3.1.10), There are also clear obligations to ensure that school is informed of any absence (3.1.8), all students are to wear proper school uniform (6.9), students are required to attend all lessons in full (6.17) and if a student needs to be absent permission must be sought in writing (6.18). 

To assist us in creating a ‘safe and productive’ environment, (part of our core values) we will be looking to improve our entry and exit procedures at school so please bear with us when we bring these into effect from next term. In particular we will focus on students leaving the campus during the school day.  

Please try to support your children’s education by not taking them out of school unless there is a real emergency or significant issue. Every lesson missed impacts student's progress, and ultimately their attainment. We have systems in place within the school to support, nurture and care for students that might need such – they do not need to leave because of incidents in school nor should they be contacting home to request such. 

From the 6th November we would like to put a more robust system in place ensuring students are more easily accounted for and to help us identify significant patterns of absence. As such please be aware that parents will be required to email the school reception requesting time off for their children with a stated reason. A pass will then be issued by reception to allow the student (s) to leave – without this pass our security team will not allow the student to leave unless the parent is physically present. This process requires several hours to enact so please do so first thing in the morning, for an afternoon time, or the day before for other times. It will be very difficult to release any student at short notice without a parent reporting to reception. 

We hope you understand that this is in the student's best interest and is not designed to cause unnecessary frustration or delay, rather to ensure that we are doing the ‘best by each student’. 

 

Key Dates 

17th October – Spanish cultural day (21st – concert) 

19th October – Gor v Sko football  

27th October – Autumn festival, opportunity for students to ‘dress up’ 

28th October – Parent & Relatives Day 

28th October – Progress reports ready 

6th November – Welcome back to school – the new exit/entry procedures will be in place 

November – Our FIRST school excursions this school year – more details will follow 

 

Primary 

 

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

Hello parents!   

Our House System is really starting to grip the interest of our students across both buildings.  Event 2 ended this week, with many weird and wonderful inventions in the challenge centred on our monthly value of ‘innovation’, titled ‘I Want to Change the World!’.  These events challenge our students to use different skills in order to gain the most points in helping their house to be the best – healthy competition, independent and collaborative skills development, and enhanced creativity are all positively encouraged throughout all classes.  Next week, Event 3 will be a photography-based challenge, and one that parents can be actively involved with – Mr Joshua (Reception teacher) will send full details. 

We are planning our first excursion of the year, to take place in November (after the vacation).  Excursions are a valuable way to take children away from the traditional classroom/school-based setting, and experience a hands-on or real-life approach to education.  Once we have finalised our location and planned activities, we will inform you all, but a pleasing mix of interesting learning opportunities, active participation, and a lot of fun is the idea! 

The autumnal colours of the trees in and around our campus are beautiful and – for me – this is always the most naturally visually striking time of the year.  However, the falling leaves on the ground also remind us that winter is just around the corner, and the need for appropriate clothing is becoming a necessity – we don’t want out children coming down with weather-based ailments.  Wrap them up warm! 

Have a lovely weekend! 

 

Message from the Year 5 teacher (Ms. Fiona Hodson) 

My name is Ms Fiona, and I am the new year 5 teacher. I have been in Russia for 5 years and have taught mainly Year 4 and 5 in the Cambridge curriculum for English, Math and Science. Before coming to Moscow, I had a teaching post in South Korea, working at various Elementary schools. I am from Cape Town, South Africa, a beautiful coastal city on the Southern tip of the African continent. Our educational heritage is British. Long ago, many top-class schools were established that are still in existence today - schools like Bishops, St Andrews, Michael House and the like.  There is a rich history of excellent education in my home country, which I am enjoying transferring to Russia and CIS Gorki! 

This week I am spending time getting to know the students, and them to get to know me. I’m happy to say that they are a lovely group of children and we are looking forward to a productive year ahead. 

In Maths we completed rounding decimal numbers, triangles and symmetry.  In English we practised writing, the simple present tense and a task about our solar system.  In Science we planted seeds to grow plants and discuss the anatomy and life cycle of flowering plants. 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to message me on EduPage. 

Many thanks – Ms Fiona. 

 

Secondary 

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

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

I hope that you are all well.  

At Secondary we have been studying the relationships between completing homework tasks with full effort, and attainment scores. My year 9 Mathematics is a good example of this, as I can track the students time spent on homework. The individual who spent the most time studying at home, also received the highest grade in their most recent assessment. If you truly put effort into something, your chances of success become increasingly likely. Whilst a small percentage may succeed without effort, most will not reach what they are truly capable of. At our school, we want to inspire children to take control of their learning and do the right things to achieve the best possible results.  Next Monday, we have Spanish day, which I am thoroughly looking forward too, along with a small Spanish concert on Friday. For Monday, students can wear red and yellow colours and/or traditional Spanish and Latin American costumes. I hope you all have a great weekend.  

 

 

Message from the English teacher and Year 10 form tutor (Mr. Christopher Riordan) 

Dear CIS Community,  

My name is Chris Riordan. I’ve been living and teaching English in Russia for over 10 years, but this is my first at CIS Gorki. I must say it’s been an amazing experience so far. I’ve been so impressed with the level of English that is spoken here and the talent of the children I teach English to in secondary school.  

 While English as a Second Language focuses on building a foundation and improving the level of communication, years 7 – 11 are focusing on improving their reading and writing skills above all else.  

Year 7 has been involved in analysing elements of various fiction genres. They’ve already written several short stories featuring elements of fantasy, sci-fi and fairy tales. They are now delving into horror, soon to be followed by a deeper look into non-fiction. We’ve got some excellent creative writers there.  

Year 9 has also been improving their skills transferring thoughts and ideas into words on the page. The latest topic has been dealing with using dialogue effectively to enhance their creative writing. I’ve been very impressed with the effort given forth.  

Year 10 has been taking a closer look at various types of texts (narrative, descriptive, argumentative, persuasive, etc.). We have some excellent writers in this class and it’s been a joy building rapport with them. They have recently written a persuasive text, trying to convince readers of something they should try or a change they ought to make.  

Year 10 also has an upcoming assembly on the Day of the Dead. They have done a really good job of putting together an interesting, informative and interactive event for Secondary to join. They not only have an educational presentation that highlights this tradition in Mexican culture, but a version of the classic game-show Jeopardy, testing what the audience learned.  

Year 11 has been working on responses to summary questions, transcript writing and proper letter writing. Recently, they “interviewed” Harry Potter and Voldemort to make a Q & A transcript. Knowing this is their last year here, makes me a bit sad as we always have interesting discussions and debates.  

Coming to this school has greatly improved the joy in my day-to-day life and has provided a boon to my sense of purpose. The students have been fantastic to work with and I look forward to continuing our English journey together.  

 

Russian Curriculum 

 

Message from the Russian and Literature teacher (Ms. Elena Silnikova) 

Здравствуйте, уважаемые родители!  

 

Подходит к завершению первый учебный период в школе. Время пролетает быстро и продуктивно. Что же успели освоить наши ученики за это время? Y7 (5 класс) – это переходный класс, ученики повторяют материал, освоенный в начальной школе и знакомятся со следующей ступенью. Закрепляют знания по морфемике, морфологии и орфографии, а именно: вспоминают, как разбирать слово по составу, повторяют грамматические признаки частей речи, практикуют правильное написание слов. Учащиеся подробнее вникают в тонкости синтаксиса, пунктуации и культуры речи. Ученики пробуют свои силы в написании подробного изложения, в сочинении – описание картины и других творческих работах. Все это помогает создать базу для дальнейшего освоения русского языка для устойчивого формирования системы мышления. В Y8 (6 класс) мы уделяем много внимания значению слов (лексикологии), тексту, умению оформить мысль красиво (фразеологии и культуре речи).  

 

На уроках литературы и Y7 (5класс), и Y8 (6 класс) с начала учебного года узнали больше о русском фольклоре, заглянули в волшебный мир славянской мифологии, пробовали писать свои сказки и рисовать иллюстрации к ним. Ученики расширяют свой кругозор, проявляя заинтересованность в поиске новых произведений. Великие русские классики А.А.Фет, А.С.Пушкин, Ф.И.Тютчев, М.Ю.Лермонтов щедро делятся с учениками описанием ярких, красочных, печальных картин осени, что вдохновляет детей на написание творческих работ! Сочинения становятся самостоятельнее и интереснее с каждым годом.  

 

Важно помнить, что дети приходят в школу, чтобы учиться, умение анализировать свои недочеты и ошибки – это часть учебного процесса. И если сегодня получилось не так, как хотелось, то это повод, чтобы продолжить работать в данном направлении, но не повод расстраиваться и опускать руки! Системный и каждодневный труд обязательно имеет положительный результат! «Нужно любить то, что делаешь, и тогда труд – даже самый грубый – возвышается до творчества.» - писал Максим Горький. 

 

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

What a week! We have experienced the inter house debate competition with themes ranging from “social media makes us less social” to “Giving is better than receiving”. I must thank all of the students that took part, it was a fantastic event with some incredible energy and support from the onlookers. Tchaikovsky took the title but with strong performances from the rest I am not sure they will hold the title for long? Space week has also been a focus for learning this week with some amazing coding in computer science, fantastic design and research in Primary as well as some incredible art works in lower primary. The culmination is our joint assembly today featuring our very own ‘Mars Rover”. It promises to be a magnificent event - I hope the pictures do it justice. A huge thank you to Mr Cooper and Mr Curry for organising the events and to all the staff supporting, this will be the first of many special events and we can’t do them without you.  

There are also a number of changes occurring around school to continue our drive to improve the learning experience and environment for students throughout the year. This will see some staff changes (those classes will be notified of the changes as they happen). The school is getting greener with more plants, trees & flowers around to soften the environment and there are moves planned for the library and sports equipment to improve student activity during their non-contact times.  

I would like to thank all the parents and students that made our “Teachers Day” so special on Wednesday and those that managed to join me for coffee that morning. School councils have been busy and there will be changes to the canteen and some exciting news on trips / excursions soon. We wish you a fantastic weekend and look forward to seeing you back on Monday, on-time and in the correct uniform (with water bottles). Thank you. 

NB – the science day presentations were absolutely fantastic – a huge well done to all the students that presented or helped with the presentations you did yourselves, and us, proud. Thank you. 

 

Key Dates 

Space day – 7th October 

Inter campus football tournament – 19th October (postponed from 5th due to weather) 

Autumn festival - 27th & 28th October 

Last day of term 1 – 28th October 

 

Primary 

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

 

This week we have enjoyed our first ‘special’ week of the term – International Space Week.  During the week, all classes took part in a number of different activities designed to educate and entertain in equal measure, all centred on discovering more about planets, the sun and the moon, and all other celestial bodies that float above us in the night sky.  Presentations to other classes took place in special Friday assemblies, and everyone has a very enjoyable week! 

I have had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with Year 5 this week, teaching English and indulging in interesting conversations with many of the students.  What I have really enjoyed is seeing the enthusiasm and friendliness between students, and I know this is being reflected all around the school and in every lesson.  Our young people enjoy coming to CIS Gorki, and there really is nothing better than motivated, happy students doing their very best. 

I have also been communicating with many parents, usually sending home messages of congratulation for the good work from their son or daughter, and occasionally to highlight a current area of weakness that a student should focus upon.  We like to be as transparent as possible with everything in and around school, and we always welcome your feedback.  On that note, the first termly reports of the year will be with parents soon, and this will give more precise information on early academic performance. 

Have a great weekend and wrap up warm as winter edges nearer! 

 

Message from the Year 2 classroom teacher (Mr Peter Reynolds) 

Dear all parents,   

The students have had a busy week this week. In Mathematics we have been learning about number squares and partitioning of numbers. In English we have been learning about stories, in particular, about the Chen family and their power cuts. In science we have been looking at the topic of habitats, we investigated the difference between a habitat and the environment. This linked well with the topic in English about the use of energy when speaking about the environment.   

Overall, it has been a positive start to the new term for Year 2. They have settled well into class and they are beginning to get to grips with the workload placed on them. They have begun to develop the necessary 21st century skills of communication and collaboration when working in class with each other. They have all demonstrated that they are enjoying school and learning every day.   

Warm regards,  

Mr Peter   

Year 2 Teacher 

 

Secondary 

 

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

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,  What a fun week we have had. 

Throughout the school several events have been taking place.  

The first main event was our debating competition where houses competed against each other in structured debates. I have just been a judge for the final, where Pushkin house and Tchaikovsky house debated whether giving is better than receiving. By a narrow margin Tchaikovsky was victorious. Congratulations to them! 

Friday was our international space day, with exciting events going on across the school that the students had prepared. Thank you very much to all those that put in so much work to make the events a success.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend.   

 

Message from the P.E. Teacher and Year 8 Form Tutor (Marius Harmse) 

We started this year with a bang in PE. 

Year 5 to year 9 did their first of two-bleep tests for this year. Some students reached a very high level and in year 9 one student even reached level 15.5!  

The primary and secondary classes started their year with some gymnastics. They learned how to do rolls, front flips, wall stands, cartwheels and in-flight motions. Primary also started to learn how to dribble a basketball and we will focus more on that for the second part of term 1 

Term 1 will also see the year 7 to 11 take part in their very first football match against the Skolkovo campus. The teams are almost ready and we look forward to make this a regular event. Hopefully this will be the start, where CIS Gorki can participate in sporting events and competitions against other schools and campuses.  

With only three weeks left of term one, students can start to look forward to a well-deserved break.  

 

Russian Curriculum 

Message from the Learning Assistant Y2 (Ms. Marina Yakunicheva) 

 

Рада приветствовать вас, уважаемые родители, ученики, коллеги! 

Как же насыщенно и весело проходят дни учёбы в школе! Ребята успевают учиться, общаться, играть со сверстниками, гулять и веселиться. 

На одном из уроков развития речи ребята Year 2 отправились в Математическую страну. Жители этой страны приготовили для них разные задания. Путешествие было далеким и трудным, но наши смелые и сообразительные математики справились со всеми заданиями. Мы отгадали загадки про числа, повторили понятия десяток и нумерацию до 20, посчитали примеры с помощью счетных палочек.  

На остальных уроках ребята из Year 2 также занимаются правописанием букв, чтением слогов и слов, продолжают работать над вниманием и зрительной памятью. С каждым днём мы узнаём больше новых слов, определений, терминов. Иногда нам бывает трудно, но большинство справляется с учебной задачей. От этого очень радостно всем участникам процесса. Ведь всегда приятно когда ты или твой одноклассник справился и, конечно, получать похвалу от учителя на уроке.