Shave or wax, for Global Relay For Life!

Staff and students sold raffle tickets over the past couple of weeks all for a good cause. This year’s Global Relay For Life promises to be bigger and better than last year. With the help of this year’s students and teachers, it will be! The prize, drawn last Wednesday lunchtime, was to either wax or shave volunteer teachers! As you can see the lunchtime entertainment was great fun. Mr Turner and Mr Wilson endured painful waxing at the hands of the winners, while Mr Johnson and Mr Gysbers, had their hair shaved. It wasn’t your typical shave, with Diego and Allen using the clippers to great effect as they sculptured both teacher’s locks! They managed to raise won 550,000 – a sensational effort.

College/University Information Session

HERE is the link to the College Information Session presented this morning at the Parent Coffee. It was well attended by many parents. Mrs Johnson(GJ) did a wonderful job informing those in attendance of what the school is currently doing to support students with the application process – from information sessions for students in grades 10 and 11, training on successful interview techniques, letter writing and the all-important process of choosing their top 10 universities.

Final Grade 12 Assembly and Walk Through

Last Wednesday was the last official class for students in grade 12. They have now left the comfort and structure of scheduled classes to prepare for their final move – the IB DP World Exams. We certainly wished them well on Wednesday as the Dux and Salutatorian were announced. Chaeri Yoo was the most outstanding academic student this year while Eric Kim was the second most outstanding academic student for the 2018 cohort. A fitting finale to official time with us was the traditional ‘walk through’ of the school. Students from the Elementary School all the way up to the High School lined the Hallways of the school to applaud and cheer the grade 12 students. It was an emotional walk for some, others viewed it as a wonderful and fitting conclusion their time with us. We wish them well with final exams beginning on Monday 30 April.

Girls High School Football

The BIFS Bear Girls HS football team were in action this past weekend in Jeju at the annual KISAC meeting. The team was hoping to build on a successful performance at AISA the previous week.

Friday

In their first game against NLCS, they played expansive football controlling the game from start to finish. Unfortunately, the NLCS goalkeeper was in inspired form and blocked shot after shot. The game eventually finished 1-1.

In the next game, the team faced the previous year’s winner in KIS. The Bears were dealt a big blow losing their captain Justine through a bad ankle injury. Maybe, this played on the player’s minds as they went down 4-1 in a game that didn’t really settle into a football match with lots of stoppages and breaks.

The team then faced the hosts and produced the best football of the tournament routing BHA 5-1 with each goal a great example of team play and individual skills. Elle, Emily, and Ali H combined time and time again to put BHA to the sword. This would set a rematch up with NLCS in the Semi-Finals.

Saturday

The BIFS Bears faced a tough semi-final draw against a hard working NLCS team. This game was very different to the first meeting between the teams with NLCS being a lot more involved in the attacking side of things. They took the lead after being awarded a soft penalty. The second goal from NLCS then made it an uphill battle for BIFS. However, the Bears kept going forward and were rewarded with a goal after a thunderous free kick from Elle. As Bears pushed forward to try score a second goal they were eventually undone on the counter-attack. It was a keenly fought game and it could have gone either way.

In the 3rd/4th playoff game, the Bears took on BHA again and once again they were given the time and space to express themselves. The Bears were 3-0 ahead at half time with goals from Emily and Ali Z. The game finished 4-1 in favour of the Bears to cap off a great weekend for the team. A special mention must go to Elle who was voted player of the tournament and received a huge cheer from all of the teams, who were chanting her number. Next week the team will play the futsal finals in Handong.

Grade 7 R Concert

After weeks and weeks of practice, the afternoon had finally come around – grade 7R was going to perform. It didn’t take long, but the nerves of playing in front of fellow students quickly disappeared. All who performed did so with great aplomb. All were confident and expressive in both music and verse. The singing and instrumental support was tremendous to hear. I am sure they are all looking forward to the next time they are called on to perform.

Assembly Friday – Grade 9-10 & 6-8

The grade 7 students performed a series of skits in front of their peers – a difficult task. Their effort was absolutely superb. They had practised for weeks to get it right – and that they did. They delivered their lines with confidence and clarity. Well done to Ms Sandberg for producing such a wonderful series of performances.