2018 has been an exciting year for PIO with a number of new and interesting activities enjoyed by students and teachers.
Health volunteersStudents at PIO continue to benefit from a number of visits from health professionals. The visits are arranged through the Healthy Kids Cambodia programme, the University of Puthisastra and Antipodeans Abroad.
In January all students at the Stung Mean Chey School underwent health assessment from nursing staff and students from the University of Newcastle (Australia.)
During the year there were a number of visits by oral hygienists, dentists, and dental students from several organisations. They treated a total of 927 students and provided 3088 separate treatments.
Teaching volunteersPIO was fortunate to have some exceptionally good teaching volunteers. From Germany we had Tom 207 / 2018 and Linda 2018 / 2019. Each of them had a 10 month placement at PIO as part of a programme sponsored by the German government. Universities in the United States and France also sent volunteers who stayed at PIO for 2 months. In addition there were a number of shorter term volunteers from Hong Kong, the USA, China and Sweden.
Play around the WorldThis group from the University of Alberta continued their support of PIO with another 3 month visit, providing a range of sports and play activities for Kindergarten to Grade 4. <,/p> Visitors
Through the year there have been a number of visitors at PIO, many of whom support the school through the donation of goods and funds for the school.
Naga World - Visit to PIO +Lantern contestAs part of their corporate social responsibility Naga World provided two activities for PIO high school students. The first was a cooking demonstration at PIO, the second a lantern making competition and show held at Naga World. The latter saw PIO winning 4 prizes for the lanterns they made.
Speech competitions,/strong>English speech competitions are now an established part of the school calendar. They are held twice a year and the highlight is a competition between top students from the two PIO schools; Stung Mean Chey and Borey Keila.
Maths competition ,/strong>In July students from Grade 2 to Grade 6 began preparing for an online calculation contest in which each team had a limited to do a number of calculations using only pen and paper. The top teams from each class competed in the grand final. Grade 6 took part in the same competition with the Canadian International School in Singapore it was a closely contested contest, greatly enjoyed by all contestants.
Temple of Learning - Library and IT centre.In September PIO opened its Temple of Learning a room that combines the library and our collection of computers and IPads. The room is in use all day - reading classes in the morning, open sessions at lunchtime and using IT for maths and English the afternoon.
Coding clubFrom 4 - 5 each day grade 8, 9 and 10 students learn to code. The PIO coding club gives students the opportunity to learn the basics of coding and web design.
CIS visits and liaisonPIO continues to enjoy a good level of support from the Canadian International School (Singapore) with visits from students and teachers. This year one of the CIS staff worked as a volunteer at PIO assisting with our high school English classes.
US embassy visitIn October 20 PIO students were invited to the US Embassy. The purpose of the visit was to record videos for the Embassy’s Facebook page and to provide students with information about study awards available from the US government.
CelebrationsWhenever there is a special occasion, festival, competition or honouring visitors to the school, PIO students perform songs, dances and comedy performances based on Khmer culture.
Temple Christian College and ConnectEd CambodiaTemple Christian College (Australia) has supported PIO for 10 years. This year in partnership with ConnectEd Cambodia they donated 45 used IPads and 10 laptops. The devices are a great asset to the school providing a strong foundation for the use of IT in classes throughout the school
PIO student graduates from universityPIO is very proud of former student and now PIO teacher Yann Veasna who in February graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Northbridge University. Veasna was sponsored in his studies by Maybank.
MaybankMaybank has supported PIO for 5 years. This year they extended their sponsorship of high school students to 52. They also brought the Money Tree programme to the students to teach them the importance of saving and to improve their financial literacy.
New ShelterIn partnership with the Sino Great Wall company and Maybank Cambodia. PIO will rebuild the Shelter incorporating into a new 5 floor building at Stung Mean Chey. Building will commence early in 2019.
,strong>JWI Executive director Mei Mei NewsomeJust World International (JWI) has supported PIO since 2004.In October we were delighted to host a visit from JWI Executive Director Mei Mei Newsome.
Bicycle donationIn February the Gravenhurst Rotary Club (Cambodia) donated 100 bicycles to PIO students.