Welcome As we move through this term I continue to be impressed by the positivity and resilience of all the members of our community. From the surveys we have sent out so far, responses have been strong and given us ways to improve our provision now and in the weeks and months to come as we move towards a school return. As you know, in October we ran a simulation day for staff to work through our protocols. On November 19 we will be welcoming a group of parent representatives onto the campus to do the same. This way we can also look at our plans through the eyes of parents. Next week I will be sharing a short survey with the student council so that we can also include the student suggestions as we move forward. We will keep you updated as our plans move towards completion but please – as always – do contact us if you have any questions. Parent conferences Thanks to all the parents who attended conferences with their class teachers, subject teachers and tutors last week. These meetings are always important but more so than ever now that we have so few opportunities to see our parents. You will have received advice and guidance about next steps as well as celebratory messages about the achievements made so far. Remember that it is also important to reflect on any feedback received and consider how you can move forward with it so a follow up conversation at home will always help in order to process the information fully. Thanks also to all the staff who prepared feedback and supported families to understand how to aim even higher. Again, if you have any questions or would like some more detail, please od contact the relevant members of staff by email. e-Learning at BSQ From the Staff and the Students Continuing with our teachers and their stories about e-learning this new period. This week we have Mr. Nick Kennedy and Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa from Secondary and Mr. Tomos Prosser and Ms. Antonella Coronel from Primary. Mr. Nick Kennedy and Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa – Y10 Tutors We would like to celebrate the Year 10 students who make our lessons so much more buoyant, dynamic and joyful by turning on their cameras and microphones. It is not only other students that miss the face-to-face interaction and dynamism of the classroom - teachers do as well. Most of us teachers thrive on human interaction. So it makes an enormous difference to all when students have their cameras rolling and microphones buzzing with wisdom and good humour. So thank you especially to the following Year 10 students, who always make an exceptional effort to interact, engage and make online learning a pleasure for us all. Jhoana, Ana Paula, Lucas, Domenik, Jossue, Barbara. Bernarda, Maria And also thank you to Carlos, Daniel, Federico and Martin who are using their cameras more and more frequently. Mr. Tomos Prosser – Year 4A Teacher Recently in 4A, we have been focusing on creativity. Just before our break, the students completed some artwork on koi carp (as we had been studying Japan). Using a variety of koi art, the students chose their media and designs for their fish. As a class, they created a wonderful range of designs. We were very impressed! The theme of creativity continued this week as the students designed posters to showcase their understanding of “MRS GREN” (the criteria for whether something is living or non-living). The posters showed some great organisation and artistic skills. In our literacy work, creativity has been shown through using their imaginations. We are currently studying how to write blog-posts. This week the students did a great job imagining that they were travelling around Ecuador, visiting famous places. We learnt how to correctly form paragraphs and how to link the two topics together. Creativity is slightly harder to achieve in maths; however, 4A have managed to look at maths in a variety of ways and answer with in depth descriptions. This has been achieved whilst learning all about multiplying and dividing by ten and hundred. Well done on some great work recently, 4A! Ms. Antonella Coronel – Head of EYFS Dear parents, Thank you for joining us at the Parent-teacher conferences last week. It was great to share with each of you how your child has been progressing over the duration of term 1. We look forward to the next opportunity to do so. Over the last week in Nursery, the children have been learning about a Hindu celebration called “Diwali, the festival of lights” and it lasts for the duration of 5 days. To deepen the student’s understanding of this celebration, we read the story of Rama and Sita and throughout the week, they made mandalas, candle holders and urli pots. This week the children are looking forward to learning about Guys Hawkes and the gunpowder plot. Enjoy a great week, Kind regards Dates for your Diary
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update I hope that you have all managed to speak with your child’s class teachers at the recent Parent Teacher conference and discussed their progress, attainment and areas for development. This focus on getting valuable feedback about their learning is really important for each student – without knowing at which stage they are at with their learning in different areas of the curriculum and their next steps, they are not able to focus their efforts and practice the knowledge, skills and understanding that will support their continuing development. The staff here at BSQ are always available to give you specific feedback about progress and ways that you can support your child to develop in certain areas. The most obvious is in the learning sessions themselves, where the teachers use a variety of strategies to establish understanding and to focus their support where necessary. They use the poll function, public and private chat and the microphones to ask explicit questions relating to the learning objective, plus ask the students regularly if they understand or need support. It is extremely important that we encourage our students to be reflective and willing to say when they do not understand a concept or piece of learning and need support. In fact, teachers find that this targeted support is more effective in the learning process when a student has highlighted themselves that they find a concept difficult and that they require consolidation or further practice of the skill. This then means that the student is able to articulate the area that they are stuck on and we can then work out which developmental stage that they need support on. As we have shared many times, we learn through making mistakes and then correcting these mistakes after further learning or practice – it is rare to get things correct the first time we try them! I would encourage you and your child to seek this feedback regularly and share your mistakes and misconceptions as regularly as your successes. You will have already received details about the proposed RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) workshops for parents and students in Years 1 to 6. The first part of this process is to share with you the content and structure of these workshops on Thursday 19th November at your normal Parent Session on your child’s class canvas page. This will be an opportunity for you to hear about this workshop in detail and to ask any relevant questions. The actual workshops will then be held the following week, with both you and your child present. If you have any questions about this, please direct them to Miss Vasilokonstantaki for Years 1 & 2 and Miss Dean for Years 3 to 6. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Tolerance We are increasingly as a global society needing to operates more on a platform of tolerance. There are many countries around the world at the moment who are having to tolerate attitudes outside the norm, actions which are ordinarily unacceptable, or opinion which can on occasions shock. The political climate currently in some countries is really highlighting this. The United Nations celebrates World Tolerance Day this week on Monday. There are many famous figures in the World who have demonstrated tolerance for the good of a wider issue. In this process they may have made many sacrifices. The world renowned civil rights leader, Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated tolerance in the face of many challenges and even violence throughout his life. As teachers and as parents we guide our children and constantly encourage them to show tolerance and understanding and allow others to express views and have their say in whatever process is at hand. Often as children they are quick to show intolerance about things that they do not agree with or understand. This magnifies as they go through the rigors of adolescence and we as parents and adults need to increase our own tolerance levels as a result. The opportunity to be part of a community that is caring and inclusive insists upon democracy. Democracy itself is challenged if tolerance is not prevalent. BSQ students aspire to many qualities and all who depart on their journeys as adults are armed with many attributes to make them extremely successful. I for one would hope that they are tolerant of others views and behaviours, allow others to express their opinions and add some form of democracy to everything that they are involved in. I am very pleased to report on the wonderful opportunity parents and staff have had to meet and discuss current performance and areas that students could improve at the parent teacher conferences this week. I was particularly pleased by the number of meetings that staff had. There is clearly lots of support for our children and I am extremely aware of how useful the staff find your support. There are so many things that students need to deal with right now and all will present challenge and allow them to experience adversity – it is part of being at school and part of the lessons learnt on the journey to adulthood. What is important is that the correct level of support and care is applied to help them through and opportunities such as the PTCs are arguably the best platform. Thank you for your support on behalf of all the staff. We would like to extend our congratulations to Nicolas for receiving offers to study Psychology at the following institutions next year: Queen Mary University of London and City, University of London. Tomás and Martinna have also sent applications off to University of Oxford and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. We look forward to updating you with more successes in the near future! I had a strange email this week where I was asked if I minded being murdered tomorrow? Yes, this is absolutely true. I am very thankful for such a talented school council who have arranged an amazing murder, mystery event for students as part of enrichment activity. I have not given the game away as the publication is after the event. I look forward to finding out who the fiend was that ended my life at such a disruptive moment. Thanks to Ms Sadotra for her guidance on this with the school council and for checking my availability for my downfall in my calendar. Be aware of pictures and reports on the event here next week. You may have noticed one or two members of staff adorning a new moustache this week. This is an event called Movember which sees people growing facial hair in aid of charity to tackle research and raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. The movement is now becoming global and it is good to see this in South America. I know that Mr Edwards is working on an event to frame this as a focal point, so do please look out for the arrangements. We hope that everyone can donate and also adorn a moustache on the day, whether in pen or the real thing. For more information on this charity and the issues they are tackling please find it here: https://movember.com/ I am excited by the fundraising efforts and the prospect of the whole school in moustaches on the day. A serious event and theme, but also lots of fun. Have a great week everyone. Lee Moors Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about how to give children consequences that work.
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May 2024
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