PRINCIPALLY SPEAKING
Aaron Wise, Principal
At the Australian International School Malaysia, we deeply value the role that fathers and father figures play in the lives of our students. Whether it’s offering guidance, providing a listening ear, or setting an example through actions, fathers and father figures have a profound impact on shaping the lives of young people. Their presence and support are vital to fostering resilience, confidence, and emotional well-being in children.
To celebrate and acknowledge the importance of these relationships, I am excited to invite all members of our school community—especially our fathers—to join us for a special event: Dads and Doughnuts, taking place on Tuesday, 19 November from 8:00 am to 9:00 am.
This event will be a wonderful opportunity for fathers to enjoy some delicious doughnuts, and meet other dads from our AISM community. Whether you are a father, stepfather, grandfather, or a mentor in a fatherly role, your involvement in the lives of our students is invaluable. We also know that some mothers love doughnuts too - so you are invited to the event as well.
We look forward to seeing many of you there! More details about the event will be sent out soon, but for now, please mark the date in your calendars and get ready for a fun and meaningful morning. Thank you for your continued support and for being such an integral part of our AISM family.
JUNIOR SCHOOL
Michelle Chaplin, Head of Junior School
Exciting times in the Junior School as we look forward to celebrating Deepavali next week.
On Wednesday the Junior School will all dress in their best Deepavali gear and Year 1 have organised an incredible Assembly for 9 am. We will have a wonderful dance with all the teachers involved and would welcome any parents to join us.
Come along to our Wednesday Deepavali celebrations from 9 am!
Year 1
Ms. McNarn and Mr. Baxter, Year 1 Teachers
What a fantastic year we’ve had in Year 1 at AISM. Our students have made amazing progress, creating wonderful memories along the way.
In English and Math, they’ve grown so much. Our daily reading groups helped strengthen their fluency, comprehension, spelling, and punctuation. Writing lessons let them explore different types of texts, like recounts, information reports, and narratives, all while becoming more confident 'Visible Learners.'
The Math groups were all about exploring number concepts and measurement through hands-on activities. These interactive lessons helped students apply their skills in real-world situations, boosting both their understanding and confidence.
In Inquiry, we explored topics like family and celebrations, forces (pushes and pulls), the features of different environments, and what living things need to survive. These lessons helped students understand more about themselves, others, and the world around them, in line with the AISM Care:Mvmt.
We also enjoyed some memorable events this year. Our Mother's Day assembly was a touching celebration with performances and artwork. We are looking forward to the upcoming Year 1 Deepavali assembly in Week 4. Our sports carnivals were another highlight, giving students the chance to work together and have fun.
It’s been a great year of growth, learning, and celebration. We’re so proud of everything Year 1 has achieved!
JuniorX Malaysia Super League
Ivan Yoong, Whole School CCA & Sports Coordinator
One of our Year 2 students, Kantaro, represented the FC Japan Malaysia U8 soccer team in the JuniorX Malaysia Super League. He contributed significantly to his team’s success, helping them finish third as a defender. Well done, Kantaro!
MIDDLE & SENIOR SCHOOL
Mathematics at AISM in 2024: A Year in Review
Mrs Tanya Fisher, Mathematics Head of Faculty
At the Australian International School Malaysia (AISM), 2024 has been an exciting year for Mathematics.
Mathematics Competitions
AISM students participated in various prestigious competitions, SASMO, KLJMC (and now Senior: KLSMC), Kangaroo Mathematics Competition, APSMO, AIMO, and several offered by the Australian Mathematics Trust. Many have received top awards, including Lucas Yip and Derek Han, who both earned Gold Medals in KMC and SASMO. Lucas has also advanced to the second round of KMC—best of luck to him! Special thanks to Ms. Azra and Ms. Rashina for their support.
Acceleration and Extension Programs
Our Acceleration Program enables students to complete the Mathematics Advanced Higher School Certificate one year early, while the Extension Program offers enrichment for selected students in Years 6 & 7. Interested Year 8 and 9 students are encouraged to apply for Acceleration, though it's important to consider the demands of the program and not advised for all students.
Number Ninja Program
Running for over a year, the Number Ninja program supports Middle School students in strengthening their foundational mathematics skills. With the guidance of Ms. Wood and Ms. Azra, students have gained confidence and improved their numeracy.
Study Hub
Due to the success of our programs, AISM has introduced an after-school Peer Tutoring initiative through the Study Hub, where students help others with homework and assignments. We’ve also renewed access to digital learning platforms like MathsOnline for 2025. Ms Rashina and Ms Malini are also on hand to help.
Highly Trained Staff
Ms. Malini and Mr. Pollock attended the MANSW conference in Australia to stay updated on the latest tools, including the newest CASIO calculators. Our Mathematics team will present at conferences throughout the year, with Ms. Malini and Ms. Rashina set to speak at the Asian Technology Conference https://atcm.mathandtech.org/index.html in Mathematics in Indonesia this December. AISM will also host the first KLMT Network conference https://klmtnetwork.weebly.com/resources.html, featuring Mrs. Bunn’s session on Practical Maths.
Humanities at AISM
Chris Broadbent, Head of Humanities
The Humanities is a complex and diverse field that encompasses the study of human culture, thought, and experience. Subjects like history, geography, literature, religion, and ethics all explore how people understand, interpret, and express the human condition.
At AISM, the study of the Humanities is a core part of the curriculum, with all students studying History and Geography from Year 6 to Year 10. In Years 9 and 10, we offer Commerce as an additional elective, focusing on equipping students with practical knowledge in consumer, financial, business, legal, and economic matters, helping them make informed decisions in real-world contexts.
For the HSC, AISM offers five subjects that provide students with a broad understanding of society, history, business, economics, and law. Society and Culture explores the interactions between individuals, societies, and cultures, fostering critical examination of social structures and diversity. Modern History investigates key events and figures from the late 19th century onwards, encouraging analytical skills. Business Studies delves into business management and decision-making, while Economics focuses on economic theories and issues. Legal Studies examines the Australian legal system, equipping students with an understanding of justice, human rights, and law.
A key aspect of our approach at AISM is inquiry-based learning. Students are encouraged to ask questions about the world, use research skills to gather primary and secondary information and make informed suggestions on how to resolve societal and environmental issues. From the Year 7 History Mystery project to the Year 10 Pantai Morib Coastal Management project, students are challenged to think critically, apply knowledge, and develop practical solutions to real-world problems.
Empathy is also central to the Humanities at AISM. It enables students to connect with the perspectives and emotions of people from different cultures and times. Projects like the Year 8 Medieval Artifact project, the Year 10 ‘Echoes of the Vietnam War’ exhibition, and the Society and Culture Personal Interest Projects promote critical thinking and ethical awareness, encouraging a deeper understanding of history, global issues, and diversity.
Through our inquiry-based learning and our emphasis on developing empathy and critical thinking, students at AISM are developing the skills necessary to become responsible and informed global citizens in an ever-changing world.
Exploring Medieval Europe: Year 8 Students Bring History to Life
Emilee Anderson and Elizabeth Broadbent, Year 8 Students
The Year 8 students have recently completed their Humanities assessment, where they demonstrated their knowledge of cultural developments in Medieval Europe. As part of the task, they created artefacts to illustrate these developments, supported by written analysis outlining their research findings and creative process. Current Year 8 students, Emilee Anderson and Elizabeth Broadbent, offer their unique insights into the task and the learning it inspired.
Emilee Anderson
In my Year 8 Humanities class through terms three and four we have been studying the Medieval period. More specifically, Medieval times in Europe. We have covered the black death which originated in Central Asia, and the plague travelled to Europe through the Silk Road which was the main trading route at the time and it connected Asia to Europe. We’ve studied about the cathedrals and churches and the daily lives of the medieval community. Although something that I discovered during these studies, was my personal interest in crime and punishments. The punishments for crimes as little as lying or drinking can be; public shame and mutilation. This is just one of the many ways we can see, clearly just how much society has evolved in terms of lifestyle, culture, medical advances and environment.
For my term three assignment task we were instructed to demonstrate our knowledge of a cultural development (art, architecture, manuscripts, literature, music, technology and engineering) and create an artefact to illustrate the development. We also were required to provide a written explanation that discussed the significance of the development and its influence on the modern world. However, we couldn’t copy an artefact. We had to challenge our creative skills and create our own artefact based on real artefacts during the Medieval time period. For me, my cultural development was architecture and from that I decided to create a medieval church because the medieval community’s daily lives revolved around the churches and it was very important to society at that time. I was drawn to Norman church architecture because it held a very unique and simplistic style. Norman architecture is characterised by its semicircular arches and cylindrical pillars and they are rapidly smaller than gothic cathedrals. Durham Cathedral is a famous example of Norman architecture that is in our modern world.
Although I did a Norman style church all my classmates created different artefacts. Stained glass windows, ceiling boss and military helmets are just some of the outstanding ideas created by fellow classmates. All these artefacts held significance during the medieval period. Stained glass windows were used in churches for educational purposes and communicating stories with visitors. A ceiling boss was used in churches to provide a junction for interconnecting ‘ribs’ on the ceiling. Finally, a military helmet was used for protection on the face and head and sometimes the neck from projectiles and swords.
Throughout this experience, I have learned many new creative skills and I have broadened my knowledge about the medieval times. Reflecting back on my previous knowledge about the medieval times I only knew that this was the time period in which the black death occurred. Now I know, not only did the black death occur but, how the daily life for a peasant differed from the daily life of a king, churches weren’t only used for connecting with god but also they were a place for celebration, the coronation of the king, town meetings, etc. Without the medieval times, our modern world would not be half as developed as it is today. The black death impacted our day majorly as, after the death ended medical research was improved and so was society.
Emilee’s Norman style church creation process:
Elizabeth Broadbent
Last term in HSIE, Year 8 explored a Medieval Europe course. It was really interesting as we learnt about topics such as the plague and medieval life during that era. For our assessment we researched an element of medieval cultural development such as architecture, art, literature and military developments.
To start off we completed a series of Cornell notes to give us an idea of what we were investigating. Then students created an original artefact based on a bunch of primary sources that demonstrated their chosen cultural development. We then used our Cornell notes to write an essay explanation during class that discussed the significance of our chosen cultural development and how it changed the world.
Some students made really beautiful artefacts such as a church wall by Emilee or a castle by Collin or perhaps the chess piece by Sharon.
Creating the artefact was an exciting experience and I was really surprised and impressed on how well our year level did. Overall, it was a really fun and unique assignment and gave students a chance to be creative.
(Left to right) Kanza Suksawat, Toby Taylor, Oliver Kho, Elizabeth Broadbent and Sharon Ng
Students displaying their creations:
Social Science Smackdown
Chris Broadbent, Head of Humanities
In Term 2 this year, the Humanities department launched its first-ever ‘Social Science Smackdown’ competition for Years 6-10. Using the Education Perfect learning platform, students were assigned a series of online lessons and resources linked to the topics they had studied in Humanities throughout the year. The more questions students answered on Education Perfect, the more points they scored. Fabulous prizes were on offer, including shiny medals, vouchers for breakout rooms, cinema tickets, and ice cream. 8G also won a pizza party for scoring the highest number of points overall.
The competition gave students the opportunity to consolidate their learning and extend their knowledge beyond the classroom. By completing the activities, students were also able to support their preparation for the Semester 1 examinations.
The competition proved to be an enormous success, with very high student participation across all the Year groups. We very much look forward to having the Social Science Smackdown become a new tradition here at AISM.
Here are the winners in each Year group:
Year 6
Third place - Kyle Lim
Second place - Nathan Ooi
First place - Felicia Shao
Year 7
Third place - Hui Jie Sam
Second place - Antonia Chaves
First place - Ru Qian How
Year 8
Third place - Elizabeth Broadbent
Second place - Fiza Gupta
First place - Lachlan Teo
Year 9
Third place - Hong Kah Tan
Second place - Jin Ishizaka
First place - Cherish Le Yi Wang
Year 10
Third place - Hyuna Oh
Second place - Jasmin Unsworth
First place - Lukas Teo
Echoes of Vietnam War - Year 10 Museum Exhibition
Grace Boam, Year 10G Student
The Echoes of the Vietnam War was an enlightening and creatively challenging project. We were tasked with creating a personal artefact from the Vietnam War then designing a museum exhibition to display our creations. This project allowed us to immerse ourselves in a crucial period of history and as we further studied the Vietnam War, we moved beyond the facts and figures and began empathising with the emotional and human elements of the war coming up with wild creative ways to bring this controversial war to life.
Initially, we began by researching the various perspectives and aspects of the war, gaining a thorough and broad understanding of this tragic period of time. We then translated our knowledge into the creation of our artefacts. Our goal was to communicate a specific narrative of the Vietnam War. The outcome was a variety of meaningful artefacts, ranging from soldier’s letters, video documentaries, to replicas of real war-time objects.
The second step to success was the exhibition aspect of this project where we transformed the black-box to our very own mini-museum. Collaborating in our groups our artefacts were thoughtfully displayed to create an immersive experience that allowed our audience to engage with the museum on an educational and emotional level. Our exhibition was opened to the school community after months of hard work and we were ready to proudly display our carefully crafted exhibitions. Visitors praised us for our incredible job at balancing historical accuracy with creativity and empathy.
For many of us, this project brought us closer to the Vietnam War than a textbook ever could. This project highlighted our innovative skills, creativity and collaboration and together we created an immersive and engaging exhibition accurately showcasing the harsh realities of the Vietnam War.
WHOLE SCHOOL
AIMS Cross Country Carnival
Ivan Yoong, Whole School CCA & Sports Coordinator
The AIMS Cross Country Carnival concluded recently, with AISM represented by a total of 68 enthusiastic runners from both Junior and Middle & Senior School.
The first event saw the O15 runners complete their 5km run in the rain. Despite the unexpected challenges, all our students finished their races without any issues. It is always inspiring to witness the resilience of our students and their remarkable adaptability in various situations. This year, AISM achieved great success by winning the Overall Champion titles for both the Primary and Secondary Schools categories.
A special thanks to Mr. Wells, Coach Hussein, and Ms. Taran for their unwavering support of the team. Well done, AISM! We are stronger together!
Individual Winners
| Age Group | Name | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Under 9 Boys | Belvan Lee | 2nd Place |
| Under 9 Girls | Mizuki Tsukamoto | 3rd Place |
| Under 11 Boys | Edward Broadbent | 2nd Place |
| Under 11 Girls | Sara Inagaki | 2nd Place |
| Under 13 Boys | Alexander Mukhidinov | 2nd Place |
| O15 Girls | Yen Kei Ooi | 3rd Place |
XC Participants
| MSS Cross Country | |
|---|---|
| Yen Kei | Jason |
| Grace | Lucas |
| Wakana | Kai Ter |
| Hyuna | Jun Jie |
| Miyabi | Yi Kheng |
| Yua | Osuke |
| Cherish | Iggy |
| Sharon | So |
| Elizabeth | Toby |
| Emilee Anderson | Lap Yin |
| Antonia | Henry Yap |
| Ru Qian | Colin |
| Ayra | Hans |
| Emily Babkina | Jin |
| Jing Rou | Anson |
| Alexandra | Ethan Selvindoss |
| Jen Yi | Alexander Mukhidinov |
| Neil Pan | Alex Furlan |
| Kyle Lim | Xing Yu |
| Edwin Ng | Hiroki |
| JS Cross Country | |
|---|---|
| Sara Inagaki | Yi Chen |
| Seshu | Dan Aoyama |
| Halle | Edward |
| Charmayne | Keisuke Kuriyama |
| Miyabi | Yi Kheng |
| Yua | Osuke |
| Cherish | Iggy |
| Sharon | So |
| Elizabeth | Toby |
| Emilee Anderson | Lap Yin |
| Antonia | Henry Yap |
| Ru Qian | Colin |
| Haru | Yukitaka |
| Carrie Bu | Belvan |
| Manuela | Isaac Mclyntre |
| Iroha | Reo |
| Grace Wang | Ryosuke |
| Mizuki | Ryusei |
| Rayanne | Kei Kirihara |
| Rin | Yu |
| Rachelle | Giovanni |
| Baxter | Noah |
Save The Date
Ivan Yoong, Whole School CCA & Sports Coordinator
MSS Athletics Carnival
Date: Wednesday, 6 November
Time: 8:45am - 3:00pm (CCAs will proceed as scheduled)
Venue: UNITEN Mini Stadium, 43000 Kajang, Selangor
MSS Athletics Carnival - Parents Letter
MSS Athletics Carnival - Students Information
Reminders:
The Preliminary for high jump and long jump events will run at school, see the times below. You must come to these Preliminary Sessions in order to be considered for the Finals. Six finalists from each age group will compete in a final at Uniten.
Week 4
Monday, 28 October - Long Jump
Recess - U12, U13, U14, U15
Lunchtime - U11, U16, Opens
Tuesday, 29 October - High Jump
Recess - U12, U13, U14, U15
Lunchtime- U11, U16, Opens
Applications for Hall of Fame & Andrew Colbey Sportsperson 2024
Ivan Yoong, Whole School CCA & Sports Coordinator
Please review the criteria below for the Hall of Fame (Sporting) and the Andrew Colbey Award. If you would like to apply, please send your application to ivany@aism.edu.my by 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 30th October.
Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame is to promote sporting excellence within the school and recognise high achievers in our sporting community.
Criteria for Hall of Fame (sporting)
Application Example
Andrew Colby Award
At the end of each year the Andrew Colbey award is presented to one male and female from Junior School, Middle School and Senior School to recognise the best all-round sporting male and female talent in AISM, based on set criteria.
Just15
Leigh Janett, Deputy Head of Junior School
15 minutes is all it takes to care for yourself and strengthen your mental fitness.
Calling all Parents & Carers!
Starting on Monday 28 October, we will be launching Just 15 for Parents and Carers. We are hoping this will be a regular Monday morning practice. Please join us at Gate D for our very first session - walking around the lake. See you at 8.45am for a 15 minute mindful walk and chat. What a great way to start your day!
AISM HSC Graduate - Zara Yap
At AISM, developing your child's ability to think and communicate critically and creatively is at the core of our educational approach. This is proven by our students' top global recognition and college acceptance to prestigious higher education institutions.
AISM HSC Graduate - Ishwarya
AISM is committed to nurturing talent and providing students with opportunities to excel, proudly serving as a launch pad for aspiring artists and thinkers alike!
Our standout graduate, Ishwarya Krishna, who is now set to pursue filmmaking at Emerson College in the U.S., has distinguished herself as one of the top young composers studying the Australian curriculum. Her composition ‘Township,’ created for the New South Wales Higher School Certificate (NSW HSC), was nominated for ‘Encore,’ a prestigious showcase of the top musicians and composers undertaking the Australian pre-university program.
Parent Referral Program
Tuition Fee Rebate For You. Admissions Fee Waiver for Your Friend.
Know a friend who is on the fence about enrolling their child at AISM? Nothing beats an endorsement from you! Share with them our well-balanced teaching & learning approach that constantly aspires to build global leaders and earn your reward.
How to get started?
- Refer a friend and earn RM3,000 rebate on your child’s tuition fee.
- Refer a family (2 or more students) and earn RM5,000 rebate on your child's tuition fee.
- Your friends will be entitled to 75% admissions fee waiver (worth RM15,000).
Interested to find out more? Submit your details by clicking the button below or drop our Admissions Team an email at enquiry@aism.edu.my.
