The 2015-16 French International School annual sports’ award was a night to remember. Throughout the award ceremony, the atmosphere was jubilant and supportive with many athletes showing their appreciation for everyone's efforts throughout the year. There were many sports presented on the night including basketball, netball, rugby, football, handball, tennis, fencing, field hockey and many other sports on the evening. Each sport had an awardee for the MVP (most valuable player) and MIP (most improved player) for their respective sport and age categories.
This year, we had Mr. James Hood, the current captain of the Hong Kong National Rugby Team, as a guest speaker. He described his journey of being a professional athlete and how he has become the athlete he is today. He told a story of one time being asked by one of his teammates if he had to choose to either never play sports again or lose every game, what would he do? He explained in an emphatic way that sports is more than just winning and losing. It is about resiliency, friendship and goal setting and that his answer would be simple. Can you guess which one? This was a very powerful message for all the athletes.
Personally, winning the Junior Girl Sportsperson of the Year Award is the most important and rewarding sporting award I have ever won. I am sure that all of the other awardees have the same feeling.
On behalf of all the FIS athletes and the award winners this year, I would like to say thank you to all of our coaches and teachers for the training and support they have given throughout this season and indeed throughout the year(s). Kayleigh Bogart 9A                                                                                                                                            
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Junior Sports Girl of the Year : Kayleigh Bogart Year 9
Junior Sports Boy of the Year : Lachlan Peters Year 8
Senior Sports Girl of the Year : Ella Cairns Year 12
Senior Sports Boy of the Year Killian Midena

The Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards programme celebrates the success of learners taking Cambridge examinations in over 40 countries around the world. As an international school known for all-round academic excellence as well as exceptional language learning opportunities, FIS is delighted that its students succeeded once again in achieving the highest marks worldwide and in Hong Kong for Cambridge IGCSEs as follows:

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​Top in the World Debasmita Bhattacharya Mathematics (Without Coursework)
Top in Hong Kong Lola Josephine Bezancon Foreign Language French
Top in Hong Kong Debasmita Bhattacharya Foreign Language Spanish
High Achievement Chi Hang Emma Lai Latin
Best Across 8 Cambridge IGCSEs - June 2015 Debasmita Bhattacharya First place​                                                                          
 “I was overwhelmed and incredibly happy when I heard the news. These awards really mean a lot to me and motivate me to keep working hard but I wouldn't have been able to achieve them without the support, guidance, and encouragement of my teachers and parents over the years. “ Debasmita
 
​Ian Clayton, Head of the International Stream at FIS, said that the awards recognised the talent, dedication and commitment of both students and staff. “As always we are delighted by the achievements of our students which reflect not only their hard work, but also the hard work, support and dedication of the teachers and parents, all of whom can be justifiably proud.“ 
The achievements of these students will be celebrated during the final assembly of the year on 30th June when they will be presented with their Outstanding Cambridge Learners Awards.
Source: www.consulfrance-hongkong.org/French-International-School-Students-Awarded-Outstanding-Cambridge-Learner

I believe playing sports is good. It makes you fitter, smarter and more social. My passion is tennis.
Recently, I played a national level tennis tournament (HKTA Comp 1, 12/under singles age group) and I won the tournament by beating the number 5 in Hong Kong in the 12/u category, 6-1 6-0. It was my first victory in a national level tournament and it was a fantastic experience. I felt like I was on the top of the world!
As the first seed in this tournament, though, I felt like I had to win, you could say that I felt somewhat pressurized, but that’s the great thing about playing sports! You will always get better at developing and learning new essential life skills also known as the IPROMISE skills.
As an athlete myself, I would definitely encourage everybody to play at least 1 sport, for 3 reasons:
1. Sports will make you healthier, fitter
2. You never know whether you can excel at something without trying (trying something new never hurts)!
3. According to a Harvard Study, exercise/sport will relax your mind!
What are you waiting for? Go play a sport now! + Don’t forget to have fun!
By Malhar Rajpal, Y7A

 On the 3rd of May, Year 7 and 8 FIS students had a lovely guest come in during their morning; Blair Reeve, the author of “Hogart The Hedgehog Turns Nink” was going from school to school, telling us about his book and doing a reading. He read the story amazingly, with the right tone and different voices every time a new character appeared.
“Hogart The Hedgehog Turns Nink” is a beautifully rythmed and well rhymed book for readers 5 and above. The illustrations are funny, comical and yet stunning. Blair Reeve also mentioned that he had been writing poetry for 25 years and when his brother-in-law challenged him to write a children’s book as he just had a baby girl, Astral, he accepted the tricky yet tempting challenge.  He started writing his book in February 2015 and managed to publish it himself by December 2015. He decided to do so as he wanted his good friend, Chris Stapp, to illustrate it for him (in the writing industry, the authors do not get to choose their illustrator unless publishing the book yourself).
Although the book is aimed at younger children, all of us enjoyed this experience much more than we expected. First of all, we had a stunning “reading” of Blair’s book (in fact, he has memorized his whole entire story and acted it for us). Secondly, it showed us that where there is a will there is a way: if we truly want to achieve or do something, even if it’s out of our comfort zone, we should always go for it. Maybe something magical will happen out of it.
Thank you Blair Reeve for coming to our school and talking to us all about your adventure that led you to writing such a wonderful story with an inspiring moral to it. We hope to see you again soon with your next book!
Marta Huntees (Year 7)

 Students of Years 8, 9, 10 and certain students of Year 7(based on teacher recommendation) have written six contests run by the American Scholastic Mathematics Association (ASMA) over this academic year.  Each contest was made up of 7 questions to be completed in 35 minutes. The contest papers were marked at school. ASMA has compared the cumulative scores worldwide and based on their ranking we have been awarded the First Place with Lukas Peng, year 10, being the Highest scorer. Attached in a file below is the list of the students, in alphabetical order, who performed well, getting at least 4 questions correct out of 7. 
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 The Top ten performers of this year ASMA are : Lukas Peng, Matthew Scholar, Hadrian Wong, Edward Williams. Klaus Peng, Martin Francony, Esme Seaver, Joseph Guillon, Jasper Plowman and Daniel Ciesla. They together added a score of 285 which gave our school the First Place.  

ASMA contest in the words of one of the youngest participant :
​As one of the youngest participants of the ASMA tests, at first I was quite intimidated, I knew that even students 4 years older than me are having problems with the test but then it hit me, I just knew why I was doing this test, to learn something! ASMA math tests included one of the most challenging and fun problems that I have ever done. In fact I was always looking forward to the next test. Filled with very challenging puzzles, from questions that quizzes you about complicated arithmetic to your common sense, you learn a great amount just by doing the problems! I think that ASMA has a great thing going on and I would definitely encourage everyone to try these challenges. 
Malhar Rajpal,  Year 7

About two weeks ago, Mr. Burt brought a group of 16 students, including myself, to this year’s ISTA (International School Theatre Association) that was in Penang, Malaysia. It was hosted by the International School of Penang or otherwise known as Uplands.  We had more than 20 teachers and ISTA artists and more than 100 students from across Asia with us. There were schools from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpur and of course, Hong Kong!  
 This year’s theme for the festival was: the unknown, so during the festival we talked about what the unknown sounded like or felt like and our reactions to it.  The first day we all took the time to familiarize ourselves with our ensembles (groups). The first day was also the longest, as we had different workshops and then a disco later on. On the second day, we had an outing to Georgetown to look at the street art, and then all the groups worked on our final performances that we shared on the last day.  
 In the end, my friends and I thought ISTA was an amazing experience (of course!) that honed our drama skills and gave us the opportunity to meet people from different countries that shared our passion! The instructors really let us be creative and let our imagination go with everything that we did! You always end up hoping that you’ll relive it somehow, and you do if you go again the following year. But the people that you meet and the memories that you make are unforgettable. 
 Anna-Capri Do  
Year 8 B ​

Choose one question.
1 From your studies of discarded, piled up or hanging clothing, develop a design such as the shop sign, advertising, storage, display or clothing item for a shop called Wardrobe.
2 From your own first-hand observations of local trees, plants, crops or flowers, create a design for a den or treehouse made of natural materials, for young people to escape to, or for children to play in.
3 Using your own studies of different shoes as a starting point, develop a design for a footwear company called Millipede.
​4 Use your observations of fresh food to create a design for a healthy eating campaign called Grow Cook Eat!
5 Use all or part of the following as a stimulus for a design brief of your choice. You may produce your work in any appropriate medium. Here at the fountain’s sliding foot, Or at some fruit-tree’s mossy root, Casting the body’s vest aside, My soul into the boughs does glide. Andrew Marvell’s The Garden (c1660)
6 Using electronic items or components such as bulbs, batteries, fuses, sockets, or circuit boards as a starting point, create a design for the site of a modern art show called Electric. Designs could include logos or advertising, fashion or textiles, large-scale mural, installation or free-standing sculpture.
7 Develop surface pattern designs for a range of cookware or fabrics, based on your first-hand study of pots, pans, cutlery, kitchen implements or gadgets.
8 Based on your studies of paper aeroplanes that you have made, dev elop a design for a 3D form with the theme of flight.
​9 From your own studies of local buildings, design an outfit for a street entertainer.