Thought for the week; “Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” Deepak Chopra Thank you to all the parents who were able to join us for our coffee mornings over the past weeks. In total we received XX people over the 5 separate sessions. Thanks to your contributions we have been able to identify certain priorities and address certain issues of importance to us all. This is our last week at school before our half term break and it is a week full of fun and learning to bring this first study period to a brief close. Starting Tuesday, we will begin our SPIRIT WEEK activities (see section information for more details) and on Friday the 28th we will close with our traditional Halloween Parade and a World Food Day event packed with relevant educational experiences and guest speakers. We are sure our students will have a great week and we sincerely hope that you will all enjoy a well-deserved half-term break. Classes will resume as normal on Monday, 7th of November. David Jones Principal Dates for Your Diary As always please check this section carefully and ensure that you have all the details in your calendars.
Principal BSQ – PrimaryLast week marked a week of fun in primary with House Events taking place as well as the Year 2 and 3 trip to Jardin Alado. Students on the trip were able to watch a live birds of prey show, meet a variety of parrots and feed a range of animals including rabbits, llamas and emus. Some groups were also fortunate enough to be able to witness some recovered animals being released back into the wild. A great day was had by all on the trip and we even managed to avoid the rain! Next week is certain to be a fun and busy week with many things happening. From Wednesday, we will be celebrating CAS spirit week whilst raising money for good causes. Wednesday is colour day with children invited to dress in a designated colour (below), Thursday is pyjama day with students invited to come to school in appropriate pyjamas, and Thursday is our Halloween celebration where students can dress in a spooky costume. Additionally, Friday is also our World Food Day celebration with students from Years 1 – 6 involved in a variety of activities throughout the day with parents invited to join us at 2pm for a picnic and Farmer´s Market. Please remember that Friday October 28th is also the last day of the half term. We look forward to seeing students return to school on Monday November 7th after a well-earned rest. I wish your families a wonderful vacation whatever your plans may be. Lewis Hutchinson Head of Primary BSQ – Secondary We have had an extremely exciting and busy few weeks with students finally having the opportunity to involve themselves in the activities and residential events that sit alongside our academic curriculum. Our Key stage 3 students spent some time planning and organising activities, fundraising and eventually visiting the projects they were supporting. One of these was a project connected to animal welfare where some students from Years 8 and 9 visited the foundation Proteccíon Animal Ecuador (PAE). There photographs and comments follow. Whilst there, the students listened to a talk about the important work PAE does in caring for and rehoming dogs. Following this, we had a wonderful day with the dogs. We bathed them, brushed them, took them on a walk, and swept their kennels. Of course, there was plenty of time for play and cuddles too. Years 8 and 9 also enjoyed a really exceptional trip to El Jardin Alado for another of the community projects. El Jardin Alado is a charity which works to rescue exotic pets from the illegal trade. Where it can, it re-releases them into the wild, and where it can’t they care for the animals, giving them a much better life then they would have should they stay and grow with their owners. Often, these are dangerous animals from the Amazon. People buy these animals when they are young without realising their future potential, they are wild animals after all! This curriculum subject is a multi-week programme which is student led. Students decide in groups how they would like to support a local charity, and it culminates in an educational visit. The Jardin Alado group decided to help by directly raising money for the charity. During the Saturday ‘welcome back picnic’ children supplied doughnuts and hosted a ‘Doughnut Dangle’ game. The game proved to be really successful and raised a large amount of money which was donated to the charity. Of the several species of animal they support, they mainly focus on exotic birds and occasionally wild cats. As featured above, is a picture taken by a student of an Ocelot that the charity rescued. The Ocelot has an extensive caged area, running through trees and giving the animal as much space as possible. Unfortunately, because this Ocelot has become dependant on humans, it can never be released. Next to the Ocelot is one of the many Owls the charity looks after. Fortunately, some of these owls will be released in the next few years once they have been taught to fly. At the rescue centre, the children had a tour and a talk around 3 stations. These stations were the birds of prey, land animals and finally the parrots. They then learned about the various animals habitats, their feeding and their reasons for being at the rescue centre. The children then got the opportunity to feed some of the animals and finally cleaned out their cages and living areas. As a special treat, the pupils participated in a flying lesson for one of the parrots! All in all, the children had a fantastic learning experience and really got stuck in with the cleaning. They can all go away knowing that they have made a difference in an endangered animals life. The third events saw a group of ten students from Y8 and Y9 go to the Lucky animal shelter to help and support in site according to their community project plan. There were some positive and negative things that students realized. The students enjoyed meeting dogs and other animals that the shelter keeps. There are more than 700 dogs, a cow, cats, pigs, ducks, and a horse, they are divided into different sections according to their needs or backgrounds. The volunteer who guided us through the shelter explained students how animals are divided and the stories behind each rescue they´ve done. Students realized that to be a volunteer in Lucky is hard because every single day the shelter should be cleaned up due to the number of animals there are living in. However, students enjoyed playing and helping the animals to have a good place for staying and feeling safe. If you are thinking to become a volunteer at Lucky make sure to take cleaning items like brooms, disinfectants, wear rubber boots and old clothes. Students learned that the most important is to adopt and stop buying dogs in the pet shops, Additionally, they learned that people who are not able to adopt dogs because of limited space at home can sponsor one or more dogs, taking food, blankets or treats for the dogs to the shelter. The group also go on to say that if you are able to support animal shelters in anyway do it, they will appreciate it. We also had our intrepid explorers out with their Silver uke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition to Ibarrra. The three-day hike plays an integral role in the preparation for the qualifying adventurous journey later in the year. Five year 11 students and five year 12 students set out early Wednesday morning to travel over to Ibarra and begin their first day hike, starting off next to Laguna Yahuarcocha. Their first day involved a 12km hike with full backpacks holding their sleeping bags, food and personal belongings. The sun was intense, but, through correct route planning, they had regular stops to hydrate and stock up on energy rich food. Students set up camp and cooked a calorie rich meal before heading off for an early night. The second day was much more challenging, with over 900m climb and 16+km to cover. Students carried day packs due to the trick terrain. Despite it being a more challenging hike, many made the most of the outdoors by singing and enjoying the views. With a little rain to end the day, the students headed back to camp to shower, cook and get some well-earned rest. The final day involved an easier hike around the lake with full backpacks, but intense sun made for a hot last day of their expedition. With their practice expedition complete, the Silver students now have the chance to reflect upon issues which arose during the three days including not enough carbs in an evening meal, shoes not being worn correctly and navigation practice. This should all lead to better preparation and greater understanding of skills needed for their upcoming expedition to Quilotoa. Recently year 7 and 9 attended our new residential events which were a huge success. Year 7 students entering Secondary School, as they started the month with their long-awaited residential fieldtrip to the Amazon Jungle! From October 3rd to 6th students embarked on a four-day adventure to the Amazon regions surrounding Tena and Archidona. Their trip consisted of various teambuilding activities, hikes, waterfalls, caves, swimming, wildlife, pizza and of course many challenges and learning opportunities. This trip was an opportunity for students to face their fears, gain independence, and most importantly build relationships and make new friends. Some highlights according to our students were: Visiting a Shaman from an indigenous village on the Rio Napo. Night swimming in the pool at the lodge with their friends A hike into gran cañon and swimming under a giant waterfall coming through a cave Nights in their cabins with friends and of course jungle insects and bugs This was trip that the students will not soon forget and will be inked into their memories forever. Below are some thoughts from some of our Year 7’s about their experiences: “One of my favourite parts was just being with my friends and getting to hang out with them a lot.” Charlie “I wasn’t able to join the trip, but one of my favourite parts of Secondary School so far has been how kind and nice everyone has been to me.” Krish “I absolutely loved going into the gran cañon and seeing the waterfall splashing into the water. When I entered the waterfall, it was really cold.” Natalia “We loved seeing monkeys and monkeys on the roof.” Elias, Arian, Robbie “I loved hiking in the gran cañon and when we reached the top it felt amazing especially when we go to swim.” Israel “The more time I have spent in year 7, the more friends I have made. I am really glad to be in this school with my friends.” Dasha “My favourite part of my trip to the jungle was sharing time with my friends and making new friends.” Nicolas From the 27th - 30th September, Year 9 students finally got the opportunity to spend time away from school and attend their long delayed residential trip. Over the four days they were able to work together to develop teamwork skills and develop new relationships within their friendship groups. There were lots of exciting opportunities to try new activities, such as jumping from the giant Ceibo tree and zip lining into a lake. The trip had a positive impact on their self-esteem and gave them confidence to try new experiences. Below is a summary of the exciting activities they took part in, written by the students: Day 1. Tuesday, It was a fun day. The bus ride was, Let’s say, interesting. Most people were singing their favourite song while some were covering their ears because of the loud noise. Well, we arrived at a lovely place where we walked about 30 minutes to the waterfall, then after a long walk that seemed to last for hours, we reached it. It was a wonderful place most of us went straight into what felt like freezing cold water but it was really fun. Day 2. The next day we ate then went on a walk but everything was very chilled. We also had lots of time to play in our favourite room, the ‘game room’. It was really fun. Then we made some kind of bread that was very fun then we went to sleep. Day 3. We did the hardest activity, using a compass to navigate a scavenger hunt which took us around 4 hours. One of my favourite moments was when we swam at the lake. Lee Moors Head of Secondary
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May 2024
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