In this issue
Principal's Message
Hello parents. The days are shorter and colder, winter is coming! On the positive side however, the colours are coming alive in the gardens and streets to brighten up Japan. For a comparative newcomer used to the tropics, the vibrancy is something to behold. The term is a busy one with Field Studies, sports, social, community service and music and drama activities. This month we highlight just some of the activities happening around middle school.
Best Regards,
John Snowball
Middle School Principal
Announcements and Upcoming Events
Visiting Musician
Later this month, we will be having a guest artist ? Ed Durbrow - perform and discuss Renaissance music with the MS HKC grade 8 students. He will also perform and be a guest clinician for the IB Music students. He will be performing several Renaissance Lute compositions as well as leading a discussion on what it was like to live and work as a musician in the Renaissance. Ed is an American musician who studied at the University of California and then studied lute at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland.
He lived in London and played in the progressive rock group 'Listen', which won the Melody Maker's first rock music contest. He also appeared on BBC radio and television and released a single on EMI recorded in Abbey Road Studio. From 1983 to the present, he has composed music and lyrics for TV commercials and recording artists, formed several bands to play original music and engineered and produced clients at Studio Edo. Ed has performed all over Japan playing Renaissance lute and one-man band. Thanks to Brad Johnston for this report and for organizing the visit.
High School Musical: Thoroughly Modern Millie
Tickets go on sale for the HS Musical from next Monday (Nov 16) and can be purchased from the school store. This time the musical is being performed in cabaret style, so there will be table seating; if you wish to be seated together with your family or friends you will need to block book a table.
Based on the 1967 Universal Pictures film starring Julie Andrews and set in 1922, this is a Broadway musical of a young girl who moves to NYC to become a 'modern' - a hip new style of bobbed hair and liberated fashion and in her search for Mr. Right finds true love and uncovers an evil gang of kidnappers.
Dates and times:
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7.30pm - Friday, November 27
7.30pm - Saturday, November 28
2.30pm - Sunday, November 29 |
Location: |
Tanner Auditorium |
Admissions:
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1,000 yen Adults
500 yen Students
Reserved table seating, only 110 seats per performance. |
Drinks and snacks on sale.
Not suitable for children under six years old.
International Award for Gr. 8s
This year we have opened up the ‘International Award’ to our grade 8s. For those who haven’t heard of this award, I have included this quote from the website (http://www.intaward.org). The award is an “exciting self-development programme available to all 14 to 25 year olds. Over 6 million young people worldwide have taken up the Award challenge. The Award is tough but it is about individual challenge, not about reaching specific standards set by someone else. Young people design their own Award Programme, set their own goals, and record their own progress. The only person they compete against is themselves, by challenging their own beliefs about what they can achieve.” If students are interested in joining, they can contact either Mr Rayne or Mr Snowball.
Youth Club & Student Council
Under the enthusiastic energy of Mrs Cowan, the students have already organized a movie night, a dance and several assemblies. The assemblies continue to get better and better and this month’s was a terrific showcase of our students' commitment to their middle school and wider community. We have also added a ‘talent spot’ so that the students can perform in front of their peers and the “Three Drummers” were a hit. Parents are more than welcome to come and have a look; our next one is on December 4.
Community Service
The team has been busy and we are running our school-wide Rice Week again to help the homeless shelter down at Ishikawacho. Once again, the plan is to send a group of students down one Friday to help prepare the lunches. Our current grade 6 students planted rice last year as part of their PYP program and that rice has now been milled and the group has decided to donate the 15 kgs to Rice Week.
We have a grade level competition with our One Yen Drive in aid of Adopt-a-Minefield, again a school-wide project. Our grade 7 team is busy planning a different type of “famine” for later in the year. More on that in later editions. Our grade 8 representatives raised Y14, 500 at a recent movie night to support their special focus, Global Nuclear Disarmament. Several members have presented at middle school assemblies and it is wonderful to see both their commitment and their leadership. We are also assisting the high school student council with their Sanagitachi Clothes Drive, particularly with winter coming on. We are looking for donations of men’s clothes: coats, shirts, socks, blankets, shoes or boots. All should be in good condition.
Van der Poel Community Service Project
We are concentrating our efforts towards the annual Orphanage Christmas Party scheduled on Saturday December 5 in the YIS cafeteria. No doubt we will see again a huge interest on behalf of our students to strengthen the ties we have made with the two homes over the years. Over the next few weeks, the students will be busy preparing decorations, wrapping presents and of course they will help out on the day.
As part of our support towards the event, we will again this year launch our annual fundraising campaign to fill the stockings of the children. The starting date will be Monday, November 16 and it will end on Friday, November 27. If you would like to contribute, please send any monetary donations through your child during those two weeks or they may be left directly in a collection box in the school office.
We would like to thank the YIS community for responding generously each year to make this event a memorable one for those children and we look forward to keeping everyone updated on the success of this event.
Do you have a tutor you can recommend?
We often get asked for advice about after-school tutoring for students, and we would like to compile a list based on parent recommendations.
If your child has extra tutoring and you would like to recommend the tutor, please get in touch. It would help if you include details of the subject and grade level of tutoring offered.
(Thanks to those of you who responded to this request in the last newsletter. Unfortunately, we did not hear from nearly enough people to make a list!
If you know of good tutors, please get in touch!)
Please e-mail details to Eddy Jones, Director of Student Support Services (jonese@yis.ac.jp)
Grade parents
Thank you to the following parents for putting their names forward. You are a valuable resource, particularly for new families.
6 - Jane Buckley
6 - Jodi Jensen
6 - Lucy Barrett
7 - Fabienne Bruhat
7 - Mika Shiraishi
7 - Sally Davidson
7 - Helen Bee
8 - Kay Lafitte
8 - Liezette van der Maarel
News
Field Studies
 The annual Field Studies to the Japan Alps and notwithstanding the appearance of H1N1 at the grade 8 trip to NorthStar, all were successful. This is my second year of visiting the camps and in all three that I’ve seen, what has been a standout is the level of co-operation that our students exhibit: towards each other, to the teachers and to the team leaders. It is not only impressive to observe, but it says volumes for our students and their families. While it was disappointing for those students who had to return early, perhaps it was fortunate that we had the week’s holiday for all to recover. Having said that, as we have seen from our Health Office, the numbers are fluctuating and teachers are ready with plans should we need to close any of the grades.
Grade 8 Field Studies to Northstar 2009
 After months of anticipation, we were finally off to an action packed week at North Star. Six hours later we finally reached Nagano.
We arrived at a cozy little sports lodge that is located in the middle of Norikura, Nagano. Our instructors were very accommodating and helped us adjust to the unfamiliar environment. Everyone got very excited after seeing the huge rock climbing wall and trampoline and we couldn’t wait until we could try them out.
One night we went night hiking and lay down in a car park. Everyone lay on their backs and watched the shooting stars shining above us. Looking up at the stars, I forgot that I was in somewhere as ordinary as a car park because there were billions of beautiful shiny stars.
As it was autumn the leaves were very colourful and when we went hiking in Kamikochi on our fourth day we took many pictures of the reddish yellow leaves. I also enjoyed mountain biking and in the future I will remember the steep slopes of Nagano-ken.
On the last day we had a campfire outside Northstar cabin and we watched talented people sing and dance. It was an extremely action-packed and memorable week that we will all remember for the rest of our school years at YIS (and the rest of our lives!).
Kouka Webb 8A
MS Play: Things Fall
Congratulations to director Tim Evans and the talented cast of actors who staged the intriguing play in October. It was imaginatively staged and assisted by the atmospheric sound. Thought provoking and the actors did themselves proud. Many thanks also to the high school students who assisted with sound and lighting.
PTSA grant
On behalf of all the teachers and students at YIS, Donna Saito and I would like to thank the PTSA for sponsoring the teacher proposals put forward this year. Your contribution and support for the teacher initiatives makes a difference for the entire YIS community. I am looking forward to listening to all of you sing a Beatles song for Food Fair in the spring. Thank-you again for all of your hard work and commitment to making YIS a better place.
Brad Johnston, Donna Saito
PTSA representatives
 MS House Cross Country
As I look out of the window at the pouring rain, I reflected on how lucky we were with the weather for the cross country day. It was a beautiful day; the students were enthusiastic and supportive of each other and ran well. A big thank you to Mr Reynolds, Mr Noon, Mr Kosaka and Mrs Buchannan for the smoothly run event.
Sports Roundup
Volleyball
The middle school girls’ volleyball teams had a fun-filled and skill-building season this fall. The A team had a winning regular season record and were the number one seed in the A team tourney before meeting stiff competition at the tourney and not getting into the finals rounds.
The B team learned many skills throughout the season and enjoyed all of their time on court against some stiff competition throughout the year.
The C team concentrated on the basics all season and made much progress throughout the season with each individual reaching personal goals in a big way.
Great job girls!!
Dean Faught
Middle School Boys Soccer
The middle school boys soccer team finished what has been an excellent season with a difficult tournament at the American School. The boys have played some very exciting football throughout this season, showing wonderful improvement, the highlight being a particularly impressive 2-2 draw with the powerhouse of middle school soccer, ASIJ. However, the tournament proved to be a frustrating event for the boys. The first game was a tough encounter with local rivals St Maur. Despite dominating the game, the boys could only draw 2-2. Next up was Aoba and a narrow 4-3 victory gave the boys a chance of qualification. The final game came against a very determined ASIJ, still hurting from the earlier 2-2 draw. Unfortunately, the boys went down 3-1 despite some close chances and a rallying last ten minutes. This signalled the end of a very encouraging year for middle school boys’ soccer. I would like to thank all the boys for a great season, Mr Goddard for his assistance and all the parents who made sure we had great support, tasty bacon sandwiches and cheesecake to keep us going.
David Noon
Cross Country
The Cross-Country season came to an end on Saturday 17th October and once more our team headed to Tama Hills. The level of competition has been very high this year, and it was a pleasure to see so many students from many schools, enjoying a run on a beautiful Saturday morning. First off were the Middle School boys and some excellent performances meant that our team came in 4th place out of 9 schools. An excellent performance by Brendan Delany saw him lead the way in for the Dragons with a personal best time and 19th place finish out of 99 runners!
The Middle School girls were next and with only 3 runners, we were not able to compete as a team, however individually they have been great runners throughout the season. The finishing places went to Kouka Webb, Ellen Brown and Tami Miki.
The coaches would like to thank all the runners and spectators for a very enjoyable season!
Russel Brown, James Mdigely
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