Boost to International School of the TCI

Many thanks to our PTA & Waterloo Investment Holdings Ltd, for all of their support over the summer break. We are so grateful for the improvements in our school grounds and all of the wonderful new equipment. New Musical Garden As a result of the range of PTA fundraising activities last school year, we have been able to purchase a brand new ‘Music Garden’ from The Chimes Company will now be able to play with the new outdoor instruments together in a quiet, sheltered garden within the playground. The all-weather drums and the large metallophones, with interchangeable song panels, are actual automatic teaching tools as well as instruments that can be played and enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age. Learning new skill through music and play With this exciting concept of matching the colours associated with the instrument tone and tubes with the colours of the song notes in the music score; children can immediately play the displayed song without any prior music training. The music garden provides an introduction to music and a rewarding, gratifying and entertaining experience. In addition to fine and gross motor skill development that you would expect to find on any playground, the instruments provide opportunities to address cognitive skills such as colour matching and sequencing. What is a metallophone?  This is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars or tubes which are struck to make a sound, usually with a mallet. Metallophones have been used in music for thousands of years. The drum heads are all mounted at a 10 degree angle to allow easy access, to keep individuals from climbing on them and are intended to be played by hand. Percussion instruments have great emotional connections to humans, most are subliminal but some physical and emotional reactions are quite noticeable to the individual or other participants in the music experience. Exciting New Technology Boost The PTA has also been able to donate $500 to the school in order to purchase additional educational apps for the fleet of iPads currently used for each class. Using iPads is an exciting new growth area for the International School as it embraces the scope of apps written specifically for teaching and learning. Essentially the iPad is a tactile and engaging mobile device which is transforming the way children learn. This new funding keeps the school up to date. In addition, each class teacher from Senior Kindergarten to Grade 6 will receive a laptop. Waterloo Investment Holdings Ltd has been incredible generous and have donated the following:

 1. New iPads 2. Wireless Internet throughout school 3. Major renovation work around the school building, and maintenance items, including : • an entire new roof for our Preschool/JK block • a shade structure for our outdoor area • full servicing of all of our current ICT resources • reconstruction of the Play House in the large playground

Many thanks for all of your support! It is going to be an exciting and productive year!