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In This Issue: 1. Introduction
2. 2015/2016 COBIS Student Competitions and Events Calendar
3. 2015/2016 Competition Themes
4. 2015 Autumn Term Events
5. 2016 COBIS Games and Student World Debate Competition
6. Other Events and Competitions for the 2015/2016 Academic Year
7. Contact Us
Introduction 
Last year more than 2,000 students worldwide were involved in COBIS Competitions and Events. We launched the COBIS Art Competition, ensuring more schools were able to engage with the COBIS community without needing to leave their classrooms. The Senior School Music Festival also took place, hosted by the Prague British School, which saw more than 100 students take part in workshops, concerts and local culture.
This year’s programme includes the COBIS Primary Games, hosted by Haileybury School in Astana, and the Secondary Games, hosted by Dubai College. The COBIS Student World Debate Competition is taking place at The Edron Academy in Mexico and 2016 will be the first time the competition has been hosted outside of Europe. The COBIS Model United Nations Conference will meet for the first time in March 2016 at the International British School of Bucharest and I’m sure it will be a fantastic weekend for all involved.
As ever, we are very thankful to all schools who are hosting events and competitions this year; for all the planning that has gone on to date and which will continue over the academic year.
Read on for details on proposed dates for all the student engagement opportunities in 2015-2016 and we hope to see lots of our members getting involved during the academic year.
Kind regards, 
Colin Bell COBIS CEO
COBIS Student Events and Competitions Calendar - 2015/2016 Below are the proposed dates and deadlines for all COBIS Competitions and Events for the next academic year.
Spring Term Summer Term
2015/2016 Competition Themes
COBIS Primary Creative Challenge The theme for this year's COBIS Primary Creative Challenge is "Let's Celebrate". Schools are invited to submit a video illustrating a celebration or festival that is unique to the country or region their school is based in. For example, schools in the United States of America could submit a film of their Thanksgiving Celebration, a school in India could show us Diwali and schools in China could showcase Chinese New Year. For more information on the Primary Creative Challenge, please click here. The closing date is Friday 15 January 2016. COBIS Poetry Competition  This year, COBIS students are challenged to write, in 40 lines or less, a poem on "Journeys". The closing date for this competition is Friday 11 March 2016. Students can start writing now and details on how to submit a poem can be found on the Student Poetry Competition page of the COBIS website. The winning students will have their poems published in COBIS World Student Magazine and will receive a prize, kindly provided by John Catt Educational. COBIS Art Competition Following the success of last year's competition, the COBIS Art Competition is back for a second year with the option to enter into a group category within each of the four age groups. This year's theme is "A Room With a View" and we are very excited to see the entries start to come in. More information on submitting a student's entry can be found on the Art Competition page of the COBIS website. The closing date for this competition is Wednesday 20 April 2016. 
2015 Autumn Term Events
COBIS/King's Group Student Leadership Weekend COBIS and King's Group welcomed student leaders from 13 COBIS schools to the COBIS/King's Group Student Leadership Weekend hosted by King's College, Madrid, 9-11 October 2015. 29 students from schools in nine countries attended the conference which included workshops and sessions from leading speakers on What is Student Leadership?, Social Media Challenge, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills and more. We would like to thank colleagues at King's Group for organising this hugely successful event for the student leaders. To see more photos and film footage from the weekend, please click here. 
2016 COBIS Games and Student World Debate Competition COBIS Student World Debate Competition We are excited to announce that The Edron Academy, Mexico, who were the 2015 COBIS Student World Debate Competition winners, will host the COBIS Student World Debate Competition, taking place 5-7 February 2016. Attending Schools: Following a registration period of two weeks, the following schools will take part in the 2016 Student World Debate Competition:
- The Edron Academy, Mexico
- The British School in The Netherlands
- Prague British School
- The International School of Moscow
- British International School Cairo
- British School of Madrid, Soto de Viñuelas
- Temple Secondary School, Nigeria
- Divine Royal International College, Nigeria
- British School of Gran Canaria
- St Paul's School, Sao Paulo
- Vivian Fowler Memorial College, Nigeria
- King’s College, The British School of Panama,
- St George's Luxembourg
- English International College, Spain
- The British School, Al Rehab, Egypt
COBIS Primary Games
We are delighted to announce that Haileybury Astana, will host the COBIS Primary Games, 26-29 May 2016. For updates on the COBIS Primary Games, please follow @cobisastana2016 on Twitter.
Attending Schools Following a live draw on 7 October 2015, the following schools have been selected to attend the 2016 COBIS Primary Games:
- Haileybury Astana, Kazakhstan
- St Catherine’s British School, Greece
- St Saviour’s School, Ikoyi
- Prague British School
- The British School Al Khubairat, UAE
- The British School in The Netherlands
- The British International School Cairo
- Egypt British International School
- St George's Luxembourg
- British International School Istanbul
- British School of Madrid, Soto de Viñuelas
- British School of Gran Canaria
- Haileybury Almaty, Kazakhstan
- Geneva English School
- King's College, The British School of Murcia
- British School of Bucharest
- Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong
- Rainbow International School, Uganda
- Park Lane International School, Czech Republic
- British Embassy School Ankara
- Tenby School Setia Eco Park, Malaysia
- British School of Madrid, King's College School La Moraleja
- New Cairo British International School
- The International School of Moscow
COBIS Secondary Games 
COBIS is pleased to announce that Dubai College, winners of the COBIS Secondary Games 2015, will host the COBIS Secondary Games, 10-12 March 2016. Attending Schools Following a live draw on 7 October 2015, the following schools have been selected to attend the 2016 COBIS Primary Games: - Dubai College
- St Catherine’s British School, Greece
- British International School Istanbul
- British School of Bucharest
- The British School in The Netherlands
- Prague British School
- Rainbow International School, Uganda
- British School of Madrid, Soto de Viñuelas
- The International School of Moscow
- British School of Gran Canaria
- St George's Luxembourg
- Campion School, Greece
- King's College, The British School of Murcia
- New Cairo British International School
- The Edron Academy, Mexico
- The British School, Al Rehab, Egypt
- The British School Al Khubairat, UAE
- Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong
- British School of Madrid, King's College School La Moraleja
- King's College, The British School of Alicante
- Tenby School Setia Eco Park, Malaysia
- Berlin British School
- Egypt British International School
- British Embassy School Ankara, Turkey
For more information on the COBIS Primary and Secondary Games and the COBIS Student World Debate Competition, please visit the COBIS website.
Other Events for the 2015/2016 Academic Year
COBIS Model United Nations We are pleased to announce that the first COBIS-MUN will be hosted by the International British School of Bucharest in Romania from 3-6 March 2016. The COBIS-MUN offers students from COBIS Schools worldwide the opportunity to come together for a common purpose, to discuss important issues that face our world today. This event will offer students the opportunity to intellectually engage with other like-minded people while developing key skills, including debating, critical and creative thinking, and the art of compromise, which are increasingly necessary in the world today. For more information on the COBIS-MUN, please click here. COBIS Young Scientist Film Awards The COBIS Young Scientist Awards are back for the 4th year, in partnership with the National Physical Laboratory. In addition to the normal categories, to celebrate 2015 being the International Year of Light, we have added "Best Film about Light" for 2015/2016. More information will be released on the COBIS website before the end of this month..jpg) The closing date for this competition is Friday 15 April 2016. COBIS Student Achievement Awards Each year COBIS schools can nominate up to three students to receive a COBIS Student Achievement Award which recognises outstanding individual achievement and contribution in any aspect of school or community life. To nominate a student, please click here. Nominations must be made by Friday 22 April 2016. COBIS Senior School Music Festival More information on the 2016 COBIS Senior School Music Festival will be announced later this month. Please check the COBIS website and COBIS Connect for updates.
Contact Us If you have any comments or questions, please contact us. We'd love to hear from you.
Colin Bell, CEO - ceo@cobis.org.uk
Catriona Lawless, Personal Assistant to the CEO - pa@cobis.org.uk
Natalie Friend, Communications and Membership Officer - members@cobis.org.uk
Sakina Zafar, Academic Officer - academic@cobis.org.uk
Amy Carter, CPD and Events Officer - cpd@cobis.org.uk
Padma Sivapunniyam, Finance Officer - admin@cobis.org.uk Follow us on Twitter @CobisDirector Like us on Facebook
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Telephone: +44 203 826 7190
Address: COBIS, 55-56 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London, WC1B 4HP, UK | 
