WelcomeLiving Well we really got the Christmas season off to a fantastic start here at BSQ on Saturday with our Bazaar and entertainment. The students had all worked so hard in primary to devise and create their products to sell. This is a great example of working together and enjoying planning and executing a project. More below in the primary section. This week we are embarking on a very exciting project here at BSQ. We have joined a project called Red Move along with other schools such as Colegio Alemán, Liceo La Condamine and Colegio Menor and our first activity as part of this group is to start work on our school recycling project. So, on December 4th we will be collecting our school rubbish in boxes ready to be categorised on December 5th. The categorisation involves sorting our waste into three sections, weighing it and preparing to work with a Foundation to collect and recycle it. The project will also involve re-educating our community about recycling and making good use of our separation bins moving forward. More news next week with pictures. We are busy now collecting all the donations for the PA and CAS Christmas project this year. Each classroom has the boxes ready and waiting to be filled with clothes and food for Fundacion manos con sabor a Venezuela and Maggie is collecting the books for Sinsoluka in the library. Thank you everyone for your generous donations so far and we look forward to a bumper year of supporting those in need. Learning In Secondary on Saturday the students and parents of years 8, 9, and 10 were able to meet with the teachers and talk about the progress made so far this year. These parent-student-teacher community conferences are so important as they make sure that learning is joined up between home and school. Thanks to all the parents who found time to come and hold those crucial conversations. As many of you will already know, one of the most important elements of the IB programme is the CAS project where our students plan and carry out a range of activities designed to connect them to the community in service. This year I have been enormously impressed by the way in which the students in years 12 and 13 have approached these tasks. This week we also send good luck to our Y13 students who are at Huasquila Lodge undertaking the research required for their Group 4 project for science linking all the disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology together. With thanks to the science team for organizing this exciting project studying bats. We look forward to hearing all about it and seeing the pictures when you return. You will have seen all of the wonderful posts of Facebook linked to our Enrichment Programme this year. We are now approaching the end of the first cycle of clubs and will be celebrating with a showcase for all students in the final week of term. Our programme for next term looks even more exciting and with 40 clubs to choose from there is certainly something for everyone. From the Staff and StudentsLast week we heard from Mr Kennedy and the Year 8 scientists. This week it is the turn of Ms. Rueda and her Year 11 students and Mr. Drayton and his Year 2 class. La magia de la pregunta en la aventura de aprender - Ms. Rocío Rueda, Profesora de Español ¿Qué significa preguntar? ¿Por qué preguntamos? Pues es sencillo. Preguntamos por curiosidad. Este comportamiento nos acompaña a los seres humanos desde edades muy tempranas; exactamente, desde que salimos de la tutela materna y nos ponemos en contacto con el mundo circundante. Es entonces que el ¿por qué? se vuelve la herramienta más importante para la sobrevivencia y el conocimiento; es por esto también que los niños frecuentemente y sin cansarse nos abordan, interceptan, increpan hasta la locura con interrogantes sobre situaciones tan sencillas cómo ¿dónde está mi conejito? O unas mucho más complejas como ¿cuánta sal hay en el mar? o ¿cómo nacen los bebés? Sin duda, la interrogación es una pieza fundamental en la mágica aventura de aprender, es decir, en la capacidad de transformar la información en un conocimiento a través de la observación, la experiencia, el razonamiento y la transferencia hacia nuevas situaciones. Pero ¿en dónde se encuentra la punta de este maravilloso ovillo que es el aprender? Precisamente en la interrogación. La clase de Español no puede mantenerse ajena a este valioso instrumento que, como una barita mágica, conduce la lectura de los estudiantes y permite la comprensión y la reflexión sobre la misma. Esta es una experiencia cotidiana en el aula de Español a través de sus diferentes formas. Los estudiantes se enfrentan al texto y luego de una primera aproximación a este, plantean una o dos preguntas sobre las inquietudes que la lectura le ha dejado; dichas preguntas pueden ser resueltas durante o después del proceso de comprensión lectora y al mismo tiempo guían su comentario reflexivo y crítico sobre la lectura. De otro modo, puede también surgir desde la maestra, planteando preguntas que desequilibran su conocimiento y los desafía a encontrar la respuesta a través del proceso de aprendizaje. De cualquier manera, la pregunta es una estrategia maravillosa que hace visible la curiosidad de los estudiantes y los lleva al goce de la estética literaria y por supuesto a un nuevo conocimiento. Mr. Pete Drayton - Year 2A Teacher Dear Parents, It has been an exciting and slightly odd week for 2A. As the Nativity gets ever-closer, we are dedicating more of our time to perfecting our lines, actions and songs. We have also been super busy preparing for the Christmas Bazaar. The children learnt the history of gingerbread, read the folk tale and then baked gingerbread, which we sold at the Christmas Bazaar (I was assured it was delicious). We didn’t let the unexpected day off on Friday phase us and were more than ready to sell our baked goods on Saturday morning! We have had many opportunities to not only work as a class but also as a year group and we have also been guided reading with year 5. In addition, we have gone mad for maths and have been learning maths games and the children have also been developing their understanding of fractions of amount by sharing different pizza toppings. They have also finished their amazing non-chronological reports about sharks, you can really get your teeth stuck into them! We have also been continuing our work with our unit on flooding and answering the question ‘How Have Natural Phenomena Shaped the Planet?’ Dates for your Diary December 3rd - 5th - Year 13 IB study trip to Huasquila Lodge December 6th - Executive Student Council meeting December 7th - School closed for Fiestas de Quito December 10th - Year 5 trip to Pintag Eco Farm December 11th - Year 11 Sociales trip to Centro Histórico December 11th and 12th - Nativity Play December 13th - Year 8 trip to the Science Museum December 14th - End of term. School closes at 12 for everyone Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update On Saturday, the Primary School students all had the opportunity to complete the third section of their Enterprise activity – sell their products to the public! They had already researched and planned their product and bought and sourced the necessary materials, before making the product in class and producing suitable advertising. The importance and value of this process cannot be underestimated; for many students, this will have been the first time they have completed a task like this, immersing themselves in the world of finance and commerce and considering their target audience. For many of the parents at BSQ this is a daily experience, but most young children have never been exposed to the mechanisms of business, profit and loss and the constant refining of processes involved in creating and selling a product. There are also numerous benefits of enterprise activities to the students’ development, including improving their teamwork and communication skills, increasing their innovation and curiosity and of course their negotiating and persuasive skills! Thank you to all the customers who bought the various products on offer, including Christmas photo frames, globes, handprint mugs, Christmas cards, bookmarks, sweet jars, strawberry Santas, gingerbread, Bucks Fizz, Egg Nog, button crafts and lots of different Christmas Tree decorations. This week is only a four-day week - we hope you enjoy the long weekend with your family and friends, ready for the final week of Term. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Everyday Teaching Rather than writing once more about the extraordinary or the exceptional this week - although those things have still been evident in abundance - I thought it worth taking time to reflect on the great work that happens everyday in classrooms across the school. During a thirty minute walk around campus on Thursday morning, I saw so much learning going on: in Mr Kennedy's Year 12 Biology class, students were greeted with handshakes at the door, and set to work hard and fast on an experiment to measure the effects of alcohol levels on plant cells; in Ms Tufiño's Year 11 Spanish lesson, students were collaborating enthusiastically on the analysis of poetry; Mr Ashfield was using expert questioning strategies to ensure every student in his Year 10 History class was challenged to learn about the causes and consequences of the Great Depression; and young Carlos Flor was found leading a round of the hugely engaging 'Pirate Game' in Ms Ngwenya's year 8 Maths class. Those were five terrific, challenging, meaningful learning activities happening in just one thirty minute walk. So it isn't just the extraordinary and exceptional activities like Community Projects, CAS, and Enrichment that provide such a rich experience. The everyday teaching that goes on in every single class at BSQ is extraordinary and exceptional. Jim Wild Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team Family and togetherness are key themes for the holidays. That can make the holidays difficult for people or families who are grieving the loss of a loved one. This week, I would like to share this document with you in case you or/and your child face this feeling. This article tries to explain how can we face this feeling and how can I help my family to deal with it.
Andrea Carrera School Counsellor
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May 2024
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