IB Asia Pacific Newsletter

Quarter Three, 2007

Japan and Korea

Many thanks to Ms Karin Caffin, Head of Osaka International School, Mr Peter Heimer, Co-Chair of the AIBSJK and DP Coordinator, and Mr Gwyn Underwood, Chair of the AIBSJK and High School Principal at OIS who kindly hosted the Diploma Coordinators Meeting of the Association of the IB Schools in Japan and Korea (AIBSJK) on Monday 4 June.

Karin Caffin and Peter Heimer

The DP Coordinators of the AISSJK were delighted to welcome Stuart Redden, DP Coordinator at Taipei European School to our meeting. It was our pleasure to have Stuart even though Joe Earley, DP Coordinator at Taipei American School was unable to attend this meeting. The AIBSJK DP coordinators’ meeting on 4 June was, thus, attended by coordinators from Japan, Korea and Taiwan.　We were also happy to welcome such new coordinators as Robert Stern (Seisen IS) and Craig Sutton (Katoh Gakuen) who have taken over from their predecessors as well as Paul Moody from Nagoya International School which obtained a candidate status in May 2007.

While it was nice to see the expansion of the AIBSJK, Ulrich Nicholai, former DP Coordinator at Seisen International School, who was one of the founding members of the Association of IB Schools in Japan was absent from the meeting. Ulrich has become the Director of RBK International Academy in Mumbai. I would like to thank Rich for all his contribution and his kind support and insight that he gave to the AIBSJK and to new IB coordinators and newly authorized schools.

Those who were present on 4 June at OIS were as follows:

Front row from left to right: Tim Matsumoto (St Maur IS), Lynn Gaylord (Seoul Foreign School), Melanie Vrba (Canadian Academy), Kyoko Bernard (IB Rep for Japan and Korea), Peter Heimer (OIS/Co-Chair of the AIBSJK), Craig Sutton (Katoh Gakuen)

Back row from left to right: Stephen McIlroy (Yokohama IS), Robert Stern (Seisen IS),

Ashish Trivedi (K. IS Tokyo), Peter Hauet (St Mary’s IS), Ken Gunther (Taejon Christian IS), Paul Moody (Nagoya IS), Stuart Redden (Taipei European School)

Peter Heimer not only chaired the meeting but he also had been busy organizing the transportation and accommodation for coordinators who were unfamiliar with Osaka.

The meeting was very productive and informative as there is a wealth of expertise. The coordinators not only exchanged the comments pertaining to May 2007 examinations, but they also discussed issues pertaining to examiners, the student placement in language couses, the format of the future AIBSJK meetings such as the AGM and the DP Coordinators’ meetings.

From left to right: Lynn Gaylord (Seoul Foreign School), Ken Gunther (Taejon Christian IS) Tim Matsumoto (St. Maur IS), Stephen McIlroy (YIS), Melanie Vrba (Canadian Academy)

From left to right: Ashish Trivedi (K. IS Tokyo), Peter Heimer(OIS), Craig Sutton (Katoh Gakuen), Stuart Redden(Taipei European School), Paul Moody (Nagoya IS)

Because of the fact that the Ministry of Education and Technology agreed to publish a revised IB Guide in the fall, Gwyn Underwood and Peter Heimer (Chair and Co-chair of the AIBSJK) kindly agreed to solicit school specific data from the IB World Schools in August so that Kyoko Bernard will be able to write the revised Guide for the Ministry.

Upcoming events

Tamagawa University Research Institute will host the second IB Symposium on Saturday 17 November.
Tokyo International School will host MYP Community Induction from 30 November to 2 December,.
Yokohama International School will host IBAP PYP Regional workshops from 30 November to 2 December.

Have a nice holiday and see you all in the fall!

Kyoko Bernard, Regional Representative Japan and Korea

Email: japan@ibo.org

Snapshot

This photo was taken in Singapore just two days before the AIBSJK meeting as Rich was one of the members of the Five-Year Review Panel May Session 2007. Rich in the center is flanked by Nigel Forbes-Harper, DP Regional Manager on the left and Trevor Gale, DP Coordinator at British International School Shanghai on the right.