AUSTSWIM Comes to Lincoln School

Ten Lincoln School students and staff engaged in a fantastic professional development program from March 20-24, when AUSTSWIM presenter of the year, Ceri Weeks, flew into Kathmandu from Australia to certify some of our students and PE staff with Australia's national accreditation for the teaching of swimming and water safety. 

Mrs. Weeks was extremely impressed with the program we already have in place at Lincoln School and made recommendations on how we could build on the good work that has already been done. She was very complimentary of our students, teachers and teaching assistants and, upon completion of the course, stated: "It was really great to see the system that was already in place, as well as the communication and support that occurs between teachers, teaching assistants and students in and out of the pool. There has clearly been a lot of thought into the design of the pool and, even more importantly, the design of the Aquatics curriculum that allows all consistent quality feedback and instruction." 

Aquatics Director, Luke Davis said "It was a joy to see all our newly accredited AUSTSWIM teachers working alongside each other in the pool in such a synchronized manner. I am extremely pleased with the program outcomes and the fact that all our Swim teachers are on exactly the same page when it comes to the teaching of swimming and water safety. Because of the success of this program, I am inclined to become an AUSTSWIM presenter myself, which would allow me to lead such training programs in the future."  

Lincoln School now has the 2nd largest amount of AUSTSWIM certified teachers in South Asia and can potentially become an AUSTSWIM learning centre in the future for other candidates. A special mention must also go to Rahab, Shreetika, Niharika, Elisa and Oshina for being such fantastic "student-teachers" and they will soon all qualify to come AUSTSWIM licensed teachers. 

SAISA Sports Update

SAISA Season 3 is in full effect.

The girls' football and boys' basketball teams have been playing various matches over the last couple of weeks.

LS Snow Leopards have played a total of six matches between them. The girls have played three and the boys have played three.

The girls won their first two matches (3 - 0 and 6 - 0) but lost their third match (0 - 2). These were all friendly games in order to prepare for the SAISA tournament.

Our LS Boys' Basketball team has been participating in the Lincoln School organized Nepal Inter-School Sports Association (NISSA) basketball tournament. 

After practicing for only three weeks, they faced KISC, a school that plays basketball all year round. Unfortunately they lost both games against them but it was a great learning experience.

Yesterday, Thursday March 17th 2016, our boys took this experience with them as they faced Ullens School. After a thrilling match, LS emerged victorious by 1 point. The final score was 34 - 33. 

Saturday, April 9 is the date set for the FINAL FOUR tournament which will be contested at Lincoln School between GEMS, Rato Bangala, TBS, Ullens, KISC, and the Snow Leopards. Please come to support the home team! 

Jerry Karg

Athletics & Activities Intern

​The 1st Lincoln School Aquathon

On Sunday March 13, Lincoln School hosted its first ever Aquathon. The event was put together to raise funds for the Lincoln School Athletics Department and to donate some of these funds towards the earthquake recovery efforts in Nepal. The Aquathon consisted of a 1km swim and a 5km run, and most of our participants accomplished the course with flying colors.

The event was for the participants to enjoy their time and help out the community while doing so. It was not a race and swimmers and runners could choose to do one or both of the disciplines. Also, they did not have to complete all the swimming and running laps, but whatever the felt comfortable with. The Lincoln School students and parents jumped into our pristine pool to begin the event and swam up to 40 laps, followed by 10, 500 meter laps of the school, which had runners zooming through the hallways, across rooftops and gyms and the back down to the field.

All in all, the event was a huge success and great fun! The Lincoln School Athletics Director, Luke Davis said, “I was so happy to over 50 participants with smiles on their faces while completing the gruelling course. Thanks to everyone who came out to participate or cheer on the Aquathletes, and contribute to this worthy cause.” We hope that this is the first of many such events.

Suryansh Vaidya

AUSTSWIM Training for Staff & Students

Dear Lincoln School Families,

The Physical Education department at Lincoln School has been very pleased with our new Aquatics facility and the learning that has taken place this year. We have a world-class facility on our campus and the plan is to now get all PE teachers and a select group of student-teachers/lifeguards the AUSTSWIM accreditation for the Teaching of Swimming and Water Safety. Swimming is a lifelong skill and our primary objective is that all Lincoln School students will possess the necessary skills and knowledge to be both safe and competent in and around the water. As such, we will be bringing an AUSTSWIM instructor in from Australia for the week of March 21-25 to train and certify our PE staff and some students.

Program

The swimming and water safety program, as well as our pool rules at Lincoln School have been designed to promote these lifelong values and can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eMDeEyJIsMrD2bKe2Hy-uhqmYYFq0JGHJhEb_mgYRGA/edit

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0ByiZR2nvX29JfkVNdGl1d240OEZ5bnNmc1hzR3lZSFpxaXVMcGRQdS1FTlF4SjN4eUk5TVE

Equipment

Although we will be providing the leveled, color-coded swim caps, each swimmer must bring the following:

• A one piece swimsuit (we do have a range of suits available for purchase)
• Towel (we have Lincoln School towels available to purchase for $30)
• Goggles (we have some available to purchase)

Length of Unit

March 21-25

Supervision and Medical Issues

The aquatics facility will be supervised at all times while students are in and around the pool area. It is expected that each individual participates in every swimming class. If a student suffers from any short or long term medical condition that may impact their ability to participate in swimming classes (i.e. asthma, heart conditions, strains or sprains, etc.), the teacher must have knowledge and written documentation of the condition signed by a parent. We need this information for our own records, so we can understand a student's given condition. Appropriate alternative plans will be created for students with health concerns or injury.

Again, we are excited about this upcoming opportunity for our teachers and students. The pool temperature is 29 to 30 degrees celsius - a perfect temperature for this instruction. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Luke Davis at ldavis@lsnepal.com.

See you at the pool!

Lincoln School Physical Education Department

Mr. Binayak Visits Third Grade

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Third graders have recently started a science unit on Inheritance and Variation of Traits. Students are learning how to classify living things. On March 10, Mr. Binayak visited third grade to help students learn about scientific classification. He taught students about the five kingdoms and then focused on the some of the phylums. Students examined specimen models arthropods, mollusks, platyhelminths, porifera and more. Students were very excited to study the specimen models and ask Mr. Binayak questions.

International Day Women's Fun Run

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On Saturday, Mrs. Sunderman, Pawita, Mallika Bhiroonjitt, and Esmeralda Gaba of the third grade community and Raina Guan (Mr. G.'s wife) met at the Zoo to complete the Women's 5k race. It was a fun community event for Nepali women and the international community. Racers were cheered on by supportive friends, husbands, and sons. 

1st Lincoln School Aquathon & AUSTSWIM course

We are excited about hosting the 1st Lincoln School Aquathon this Sunday, March 13th from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon. Registration will take place upon arrival and all participants can get their gear together in the transition area. Swimmers and runners will need to bring their swimsuit, a towel, goggles, running shoes, and running apparel. Participants are welcome to take as much time as they need to complete a maximum of 40 lengths in the pool and 10 laps of the school running circuit that has been mapped out for this event. Snacks, drinks and medical support will be available on-site. If you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to get in touch: ldavis@lsnepal.com

Next month - April 21, 22, 23 - Lincoln School will be hosting the SAISA Boys' Basketball tournament. We are looking forward to putting on this event in our community, but do need your help to make it happen! Here is a letter and sign-up link encouraging you to host incoming participants. Please do help us out with this. 

Our sports teams are training hard and engaging in local opportunities to prepare for these culminating SAISA events. Our girls' football team will be playing a match at the ANFA ground in Satdobato this Saturday at 4.00pm. Additionally, our boys' basketball team has a series of fixtures lined up before they play in a local tournament on April 9th:

- On Saturday, March 12th, we play at 10.00 am vs KISC@LS

- On Thursday, March 17th, we play at 4.00 pm vs ULLENS@LS

- On Saturday, March 19th, we play at 9.00 am vs ULLENS@LS

Finally, on March 20-24, Lincoln School PE and coaching staff, as well as a few students, will be participating in an AUSTSWIM course. All candidates will receive Australia's National Certification for the Teaching of Swimming and Water Safety. Not only will this provide our students and staff with valuable swimming and water safety knowledge and skills, but it will also mean that our entire department will have the same training to impart onto all our students from the Learn-to-Swim Program all the way through to our Competitive Swimming program. 

I hope to see you at the Aquathon on Sunday!

Luke Davis

Explore Nepal 11/12

Paul Simon and Black Mambazo play to a backdrop of banana trees and steep mountain peaks—an unusual contrast for the village of Tupche in the Newakot district. A small iPhone and a portable speaker are the only modern conveniences at the site, and the most useful technology is a pick and shovel, a few handsaws and a pair of tape measures. For many of the 11th and 12th grade students who wield them, the tools are surprisingly foreign objects despite their primitive nature. What the students are experiencing is work in the purest form—sore muscles and blistered hands, a bit of gritty sweat and dirty clothes. But there was more to be discovered than just the rewards of labor on their Explore Nepal trip, as the upper grades combined their efforts with the “All Hands” organization to begin the process of building a brand new school for the 270 students from the surrounding villages who lost their school in last year’s 7.8 earthquake.

The Bachchhala School suffered much damage, as their main two-level structure broke at the pillars and completely sandwiched the first floor. With divine luck, as many of the local villages will recount, the ground shaking event that happened on that Saturday and brought the building down could have been even worse. Had it been on any other day, the weakly designed building that came crashing down on itself would have contained much more than just desks and broken chalkboards.

Other school buildings were damaged as well and will require retrofitting before they can be considered earthquake safe. Children have lost their areas of learning and are now crammed into a series of temporary lean-tos made of bamboo sheathing, plastic sheets and corrugated aluminum to separate the inside from the elements. The structures work for their daily classes but offer tight accommodations for the numerous students. They are not satisfactory as a long-term solution.

The collaborative efforts of Lincoln and Bachchhala students under the guidance of “All Hands” are on track to change this. As a means of cultural exchange and service learning, Lincoln students spent five days on site experiencing life in the mountain village and beginning the process of constructing a new school. A new site has been allocated for a brand new school that has been purchased with funds from the Lincoln School Earthquake Relief Fund. The site was bought in part by the local village along with a six ropani area of land that was donated by local village elder Netra Kumari Sapkota. Truly, this is a collaboration of many hands on many fronts.

As Lincoln students bent rebar for cement pillars and dug postholes for the bamboo tool shed, magic was happening. Not only were Lincoln students making stronger relationships among themselves and rediscovering old friendships, new acquaintances were being made with local students as they worked side by side towards a common mission. The deeper value of the work slowly became apparent.
In addition to working on the new school, Lincoln students also prepared classroom lessons for various grade levels at the Bachchhala School. There were science classes, essay writing and grammar instruction and general health workshops for both boys and girls. The students performed excellently in their role as teacher and demonstrated high levels of confidence and maturity.

The 11th and 12th graders also found out much about themselves over the week and dealt with some adverse situations, like learning to use the bathroom in the middle of the rice fields. The dust was plenty and they finished the day tired, but all of this was easily placated with good food, the beauty of a full moon and the calmness of village life. And, more importantly, their work began a journey of recovery for the many students of the Tupche village who have been left without a place of learning.

Grade 10 Explore Nepal Returns from Nuwakot

The Grade 10 students were an absolute delight to work with over Explore Nepal. They embraced the new program in the Nuwakot region with excellent attitudes and open minds. From the physical challenges of biking and hiking up and across hills, to the energy they gave students at the three different schools we worked with, the students left a positive and lasting impression upon the communities with which they interacted. Grade 10 also benefited from their firsthand experiences with rural life through shared stories and observations of the resilient Nepali spirit.

The work with "All Hands" provided an element of choice, and students focused their efforts on creating a mural for the school, carpentry, sifting sand, chiseling and essentially reinforcing a school building. At another school, the entire building was painted, while students led lessons on first aid, hygiene and earthquake preparedness, as well as "life lessons". Their energy and humor was a joy to behold.

The final day of the trip included a mixed activities morning with a local secondary school that included biking, football, volleyball and badminton. In sum, the experience encompassed our Explore Nepal objectives of service, connecting with the host-country culture, physical challenges, and team-bonding.

Grade 10 Explore Nepal Advisors

Gr. 9 Explore Nepal

We just wanted to take a little moment to acknowledge the grade 9 class. Throughout the Explore Nepal trip there dedication to the cause was second to none. Your children were pushed outside of their comfort zone and they were able to embrace it with grace.

This year was focused mostly around service, helping schools that were affected by the earthquake. I am proud to announce that the grade 9 students were able to directly impact 3 Nepali schools over the past week in the Nuwakot region. They taught lessons and were patient in the process, they primed and painted a primary school that didn't have the funding to complete it (the headmaster was overwhelmed with the work of your children). This class was also able to break cultural barriers/stereotypes involving activities with young women. Lastly they were able to learn technical skills of bending rebar, chiseling brick, filtering sand, painting, and mixing cement. All in efforts to rebuild a school on the top of the ridge, Jalpa Yuwa.

The students were able to create strong bonds on this trip. They were like a diesel powered combine chugging along each day (sorry I'm from Nebraska if you don't understand the analogy) Each day there were bumps, cuts, scars. And each day they dusted each other off and were ready to face another challenge. This class showed true class and character and we could not be more proud of them.

Regards,
Grade 9 advisors