Welcome Thank you to all parents for your flexibility and understanding last week with two days of home learning while the construction team managed the road repairs right outside the school. It was certainly a stark reminder of how we all lived and learned together for such a long term in the months before this school year brought us back together. What a relief to be able to return to the physical campus this week. On Thursday afternoon last week, I was invited to meet with the EDI student group (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) as they showcased their new website page. Designed to educate, inform and encourage and with the tagline ‘Acceptance without Exceptions’, this is the outcome of a challenge I set the group some months ago and to which they have risen remarkably. I am so proud to be able to share this with you now and look forward to the next steps for the site as it grows and develops further. EDI Website Finally! The moment we have been waiting for! Our website is here! Have you seen our home page? We designed it for you. And we are very excited for you to see it and tell us what you think. Check out the BSQ voices section, we are sure you will want to participate too. Have you seen our previous projects? They were all created during the pandemic! We know you have enjoyed our newsletter articles, now you can find all of them in one place. Get to know us through our website-there is something for everyone! Our EDI champions have been working really hard to create a platform where we promote ACCEPTANCE WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS. We want every member of our community to have a voice, a space to share their ideas and a way to interact with each other about very important components of education: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Here is the website in English, y aquí en español. Sofy-Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Do you have any questions? Contact us at: [email protected] Why should you move here?! Following on from our last newsletter, in partnership with COBIS schools in Mexico City and the Bahamas, we wanted to share our stories of living and learning with children from very different places and with very different experiences. Here is another example of one of our students explaining ‘Why should you move here!?’ (to Ecuador) and another video from one student in Mexico - look out for more in the coming weeks.
BSL This week two of our Y11 students will be demonstrating two new signs: sorry and repeat, using BSL. Please watch this brilliant video: Ms Hayley Dean, KS2 Lead BSQ Directory Dear BSQ Community, For the PA, it is very important to support each other among all the Families of the British School Quito, for this reason we have created a business directory with businesses of the Parents of our Community. We hope that you consider as a first choice all the options for goods and services that our BSQ Directory offers. BSQ PA members Dates for your DiaryAs always please check this section carefully and ensure that you have all the details in your calendars.
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update Thank you all for your patience and understanding during the forced road and hence school closure last week – we understand that this is frustrating for our students after we have finally returned to full face-to-face teaching but trust that you understand that these events are out of our control. Fortunately, our experiences of teaching and learning online mean that our students and teachers are able to continue interacting appropriately with each other and continue the process of learning, albeit with minor changes to the way we communicate and share that learning. One thing that has been a positive of this whole situation is the exponential rise in collaborative skills between students, teachers and parents, with everyone feeling more confident to share their ideas remotely and work towards a common goal. As the world becomes even more interconnected, this raises the possibility of allowing us to connect with people and cultures far beyond our school community, which can only benefit us in our mission to support our students to be lifelong, internationally minded members of the world society. We have several events coming up that will be shared with you in the coming days, for your calendars:
Marcus Madden Head of Primary Class 1A During this term, Year 1 has been exploring different weather types. This week, we have focused on cloud formations, in particular cumulus, cirrus, stratus and nimbus clouds. We have been drawing and describing these cloud formations in school and at home we have been cloud glazing with our families. In science, we created a cloud in a jar. We really enjoyed mixing all the components together to create a cloud. We learnt that clouds are not made of cotton candy but rather of water- how cool! Miss Kerigan & Miss Calero - Class 1A Being BSQ – Secondary Update The importance of attending school Last week I was discussing attendance at school with the team. On occasions we are all absent due to a critical medical appointment or through a serious bout of sickness. We have noticed that a number of students are away fairly consistently through other reasons which of course we are unable to authorise. The Ministry of Education does have a limit of unauthorised absences each year which could lead to graduation barriers but I feel that there is a much more significant cost due to the time missed with teaching staff as part of our learning community. If your son or daughter is away from school, they will be receiving a very limited learning experience and we would discourage this at all times. I thought I would share some facts about attendance and ask you to consider the impact of 85% attendance. This does sound like a high number, but it also means that the student is absent for 15%. Over a number of years this really does add up. Attendance impacts on learning Can you imagine now taking your son or daughter out of school for half of a school year and what impact would this have? It is an interesting thought. Do please consider carefully the impact of the next event where your son or daughter misses school. The years where public examinations take place are absolutely critical and with poor attendance, results will inevitably be impacted. We enjoyed some extremely purposeful conferences at the end of last week to discuss academic performance. Thank you so much for supporting us in this process. These conversations are valuable and contribute significantly to your son or daughter’s success. We are looking at the format of these meetings and how we not only frame the conversation but also record areas of strength and weakness. It is important that we set some goals together and use these for review at the next meeting to celebrate success or reshape activity. Ideally, over an academic stage these documents should show some progress over time. More on this to follow as we get nearer to the next event. By now you should have received lots of information and the new report with the new information. The information sheets do outline all of this for you but if you still have questions then please get in touch. Staff are in the process of adding new progress data to the system and after Christmas the summative tasks for the end of cycle 2 will be completed. I draw your attention to the letter I issued with the newest reports which outlined how we use targets and convert our grades to reflect grades from the Ecuadorian system. The CAT4 test is presented in English so we must consider that for the majority of our students this is a second language. This may impact outcomes with verbal and written communication. If the data suggests a C grade as a target, we do not rest on that – we target a challenge grade that equates to a C+. A challenge target means that we are as a matter of course targeting attainment slightly above ability. I am sure you will all appreciate our intention here. The current CAT4 outcome is not fixed so students will periodically sit more as they progress through the stages. This is a new system and we will be constantly reviewing this over the first couple of data cycles. Finally, we look forward to the Christmas Bazaar event that approaches. Previously the Secondary school has used the time for other academic matters, but this year we are trying to develop and widen the community opportunities now that we are back on site. The Secondary school will also be enjoying different activities on the day that students will opt into. We are confident that this will be a lot of fun and allow everyone to experience some of the local cultures and experiences. I am certainly looking forward to some door dressing, Ecuavolley, and some mural painting. More of this to follow. CAS The students from Y12 and Y13 did an excellent job organizing the Bonfire Night. It was an afternoon and night where the creativity, talent, and joy of all of us who are part of BSQ were reflected. The money raised was divided among the 3 CAS projects: Beyond Lagartococha, Second Chance, and Operation Smile. We want to thank the PA, the representatives of each class who collaborated with the teachers and TAs, each of the teachers, administrative and maintenance personnel who without their help and collaboration would not have been possible, thank you for trusting in our work. We also want to invite you to participate in the Christmas events organized by CAS students and community projects for the benefit of other foundations such as Ammen and Sinsoluka. And if you want to know more about what CAS is, we invite you to read the following information. Mrs. Paola Montenegro, CAS Coordinator Have a wonderful week everyone.
Lee Moors Head of Secondary
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May 2024
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