Welcome This week we move into December and here at BSQ we are starting to celebrate ways to mark Christmas 2020 with some of the same joy and happiness that this season would normally bring. Christmas is important because it holds so many of the traditions for families, friends and colleagues – traditions that we treasure year after year as part of our growing up and adult lives. With so many of our normal behaviours put on hold, it is important that we can still find time to mark and cherish those traditions. Since December 2017 we have celebrated the end of the school year with a calendar featuring all the members of our student and staff community. Whilst we will not be producing a traditional calendar this year – keep a look out for our special lockdown eco-calendar moving forward. For many people the music of Christmas is a very important part of the celebrations and each year our BSQ choir sings at the British Embassy Christmas event and also last year sang at the Christmas Fair to rave reviews! Don't worry about missing out this year – there will be an online choir performing some Christmas favourites for you all later in December. PARENTS - please do contact Ms Cano at [email protected] if you would like to join in. I know she would be very happy to hear from you! Finally, we always raise money for one of our special foundations at the Christmas Fair and whilst we will not be gathering to sell our products this year, we will still be supporting Hogar para sus Niños as usual. This year we are going sponsor crazy and the whole school will join together to collect donations by taking part in a range of activities. Here is a taster from Ms Dean and Mr Edwards. Secondary will be completing a range of exercise challenges to raise money by accumulating miles through exercise. The aim is to (fingers crossed) travel the whole way around Ecuador! The secondary students will be encouraged to get all of their families involved too so get ready! This event will start Monday 7th December running for the whole week. Primary and EYFS will be completing a sponsorship challenge, each child can pick their own challenge, for example, walking so many steps, or reading so many words, hopping on the spot (whatever they want - the harder and weirder the better). This will start the week of the 30th in your PSHE lesson, where you will introduce the idea of the challenge and the charity to the children. As we start to prepare for our move back onto the campus it is more important than ever that we take time to appreciate the outstanding strengths of our school community, how we have maintained those through the last year and how we will continue to grow and flourish in our lives and in our learning over the coming months. e-Learning at BSQ EYFS Webinar Join us for an interactive webinar about our exciting and challenging curriculum for Early Years students. Discover how our provision across seven targeted areas of learning enables the children to achieve and exceed the early learning goals. This session is reserved for families with children aged 3 - 5 who are not yet enrolled at BSQ. Primary Webinar The best of British education for your child - just a click away! The British School Quito invites potential families to join us for an interactive webinar about our broad and balanced curriculum for Primary students. Discover how our academic provision helps your child to develop independence, life-long learning skills, critical thinking and questioning. This session is reserved for families with children aged 5-11 who are not yet enrolled 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 Ms. Belén Arellano, Ms. Natalie Sawyers, Mrs. Montenegro and the Equality & Diversity Committee from Secondary and Ms. Anna Vasilokonstantaki and Ms. Antonella Coronel from Primary. Ms. Natalie Sawyers and Ms. Belén Arellano – Y11A tutors In the last Life and Learning Skills session with year 11a, we were discussing the topic of Racism and the battle against xenophobia with the guide of the student support department of the BSQ. In a diverse and multicultural environment as it is BSQ, it is very important to debate and discuss topics like this. Students shared many examples of racism that many times had been normalized in our society or mass media which made the discussion even more interesting. As mentors of young students we found it crucial to have this kind of safe space where they can share and present their opinions. We are very thankful for the great contributions we had during this session, especially to Katherine, Samantha, Rommy, Francisco and Gala who had participated in and made the dialogue even more interesting. We look forward to continuing building equality in the school environment and making the classes a safe space to denounce any example and type of racism that affects people inside or outside the community. In addition to these LLS sessions students have continued with their studies online. Under difficult circumstances of being online. Many people have found this pandemic difficult and young people even more so where they are completing their studies but without the key social aspect of school and interactions with their peers. The year 11s and 13s have mocks in January which is a stressful time in normal conditions but for some this may be even more difficult due to the questions if we will be online or in school and how this transition will work. Here are some tips to try and help manage stress:
Community Projects Our KS3 students have continued to work exceptionally hard on their community projects despite being online. Ms Montengro who coordinates this important programme wanted to share with you some information on what the students are doing and the causes they are supporting. I am sure you will agree that we should be incredibly proud of these students and what they have achieved so far! Ms. Montenegro The 25th of November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women-Orange Day. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, reports have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified. The Equality and Diversity Committee strongly and actively believes and promotes Gender Equality. This is why the students have created this wonderful video about Equality in education, sports and more... Making the Orange Day video was very educational, interesting and fulfilling. Gender inequality is a complex issue that can be eradicated by simple actions, such as educating people and making them aware about what actions can promote a fair life for everyone. This project was a great experience: contributing to change even if its small makes a difference. We are in charge of our future. Let's start to make a difference now! Dome, Bernie, Maite and Miss Sofy. Ms. Anna Vasilokonstantaki – Year 2A Tutor Finally, 2A would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving Day to all the BSQ community. This year, we used a digital version to share our Thanksgiving notes with the people who are important to us. Remember that during this stressful and challenging time, a 'thank you' note has even greater value. Don't forget to show your gratitude to the people who are next to you and support you every day. Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone! Ms Vasilokonstantaki & Ms Camacho Ms. Antonella Coronel – Head of EYFS Dear parents, Through the duration of last week, the Nursery students learned about Thanksgiving and why it is celebrated across North America. We finished the week off with a fantastic Thanksgiving feast during a live session. As each student presented to the class what food they brought, the other children got to learn a little about what we are all thankful for and what each other’s favorite foods are. This week, the Early Years students will be looking into the traditional celebration “Fiestas de Quito”. This festivity is celebrated every year throughout the capital of Ecuador, Quito. The city is adorned with red and blue to represent its flag and traditional music is played by the Bandas de pueblo. We look forward to teaching the children about this city’s traditions and culture! Kind regards. Dates for your Diary
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update There has been a great deal of research conducted over the last few years to establish whether there is a link between increased screen time in children and deteriorating health and other detrimental factors. While there is evidence to suggest that prolonged screen time can be correlated with increased eating disorders and reduced exercise patterns in young children, these are not always causal correlations; in other words, it is not the screen time that causes the over-eating or reduced exercise habits, rather they are a result of a number of factors that influence the child. However, all of these studies do suggest that we need to encourage our children to remain active, make healthy food choices and observe the protocols for eye and body safety when using the computer, to make sure that we do not allow the technology to replace the need for exercise, a healthy diet and other forms of relaxation. This is one area of our lives where we can directly influence the habits of our children. In the current circumstances, where technology plays such a central role in our lives, our habits are often mirrored by our children. Our children’s technology use and screen time away from work or school commitments is likely to resemble our own—what we do with our device at the dinner table, while driving, or for relaxation is likely what they will do in the future, with our children learning that technology takes priority over humans and real life experiences. One of the best strategies for reducing screen time away from lessons and work and maintaining healthy boundaries between real life and technology is to make a conscious decision to temporarily push aside the daily distractions of screen time and give your undivided attention to someone or something meaningful in your life. At the moment, we are unable to give up technology altogether and it definitely does not mean ignoring your work responsibilities, volunteer obligations, or home duties. Here are some small changes that we have shared before that you can make as individuals or as a family that will make a big impact on you and your family’s well-being, now and in the future:
Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Roll the sleeves up everyone and give some support! What an exciting few weeks to come. This time of year presents year 11 and 13 students with much to consider and reflect on about themselves. They are embarking on a critical time in their education journey as they progress towards key exams and what comes next. We need to consider this carefully, and as parents we need to understand our role in ensuring that they come out the other side as successfully as possible. I have spoken before of the triangle of support that is super important to secure success in learning. This week we have been considering what we as the teaching team need to do to ensure that students have what they need to be as successful as possible over the next few weeks. We are working for them to feel supported so that they feel confident and as relaxed as possible going forwards. I have also been working with the secondary leadership team to ensure that students are put at ease, and that we provide opportunities for them to express themselves so that they can share the things that may be worrisome. I have been extremely impressed by their adult approach to these activities and the confidence that they have shown in expressing their opinions. This makes our job much easier to respond. As parents you also have a huge role to perform in securing their success and providing the love and support they need right now. I would be grateful if you could consider the following tips as they progress through their revision and preparations for their mocks between now and the early part of the new year. Please be consistently positive, even in the face of negativity as we know at this age often this is displayed. Please be particularly encouraging and positive about the process. Encourage them to relax and take time for themselves, but also to manage their time effectively, even in the holiday period around Christmas. This really is an opportunity to really focus on quality revision time. Encourage a healthy lifestyle such as a good diet, drinking lots of water and most importantly, take time to rest and recharge through sleep. Try to avoid adding to the pressure with too much focus on grades and ‘what they need to get’. Mum and dad please remember that these are indicators of attained knowledge to them and to us as their teachers. They are not critical to the course outcome. See them as a check in to see how things are going. Even if they do not do as well as you hoped, it is not a concern as they are practice events for the real thing in the summer – mistakes and missing knowledge is good to know about now as we can work to close them and build. The most important thing that you can do is ease the pressure and give your usual love and support. Thank you for your help in this. It is lovely to see the work of our students on their community projects. I would encourage you all to find the article outlining what our KS3 students have been paying their attention to and what they have achieved so far. It is remarkable that they have drawn so much success during this difficult time online. Ms Montengro who coordinates this important programme wanted to share with you some information on what the students are doing and the causes they are supporting. I am sure you will agree that we should be incredibly proud of these students and what they have achieved so far! There has been a focus this week on ‘Orange Day’. Back on the 12th November Ms Leon in the SSD had a meeting with the Ministry of Education about a focus on the International Day for the elimination of violence against women. The team on the equality and diversity committee worked hard preparing resources and a video to be shown to all students to raise awareness in school. This was well received by students in lessons on the day itself. Thanks to the E&D committee and to Ms Leon for her leadership with this particular focus, and of course the teachers who gave a few minutes in their lessons to allow this to happen. Finally, I thought I would share some wonderful drawings that our Arts students have completed on perspective. They are really talented and again I am so impressed that they are demonstrating resilience, flexibility and creativity in engaging at this level online. Well done to them all! Do have a good week everyone. Lee Moors Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about preventing violence against women: teaching children about respect, November 25th – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
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