Welcome Living Welcome back everyone and I hope that your holidays with family and friends were relaxing and restorative. As always it was wonderful to see the school filling up with the students on Thursday last week. Maybe some of you have made some New Year resolutions to start 2019 with, but if not then I have some excellent ideas for you to be involved in the life of the school as we move forward through this year. This week we are delighted to welcome Karl Wilkinson from Orbital to our school again. Karl first visited us in September and is very much looking forward to joining us again and spending time with our staff and students. On Wednesday next week the PA and I will be hosting an information session for all the class representatives in the library. We will take this opportunity to follow up with the outcomes from the PA survey that 127 families responded to during September last year. On Wednesday 30th January at 08:00, I invite all parents to join me for an information session and workshop linked to our CIS accreditation process. As you know we will be hosting the CIS team in May this year as the final part of our journey towards our 5-year reaccreditation. Following the successful preparation visit in March last year, we are all looking to having our successes and progress recognised. Finally, on a Thursday morning in February (date TBC) we have our first event devised and arranged by the new Ayuda Social commission as part of the PA. Watch this space. Learning This term I am delighted to introduce our new art teacher to you. Daniel Hurdle spent 10 years teaching in the UK and leading the art department at his school in Portsmouth. Recently he has been teaching in Malaysia and Hanoi. Daniel has visited Quito before and is very much looking forward to starting his work with our students and families here at BSQ. Welcome Daniel. This month we come to the end of Quimestre 1 and so all students in the secondary school will be having exams and all parents will receive full written reports reflecting on progress and areas for development. Dates for your Diary January 8th - 11th - Karl Wilkinson visiting from Orbital January 11th – Emotions Workshop – Reception B. 8:15 – 9am January 15th - Meeting for parents interested in the Budapest trip (Years 7-13) January 16th - Parent meeting to reflect on survey outcomes. 8am in the library January 30th - Parent CIS meeting. 8am in the library Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary UpdateHappy New Year and welcome back to The British School Quito for what will be an exciting and challenging new term for the students. The tragic event at the end of last year is still fresh in our minds, so we will continue to support the students in any way we can as they come to terms with our community’s shared loss. Of course, a New Year always brings a fresh focus and gives us a chance to review our personal, academic and global goals. This was the focus of our Primary Assembly on Friday – making promises to both ourselves and the wider community that will benefit us all, including what I have termed ‘Random Acts of Kindness’. These could be something as simple as a complement, holding a door open or tidying up for someone, so hopefully you will receive one of these Random Acts of Kindness in the near future! With the improved weather we are experiencing comes the added problem of UV radiation and the danger that poses to our skin. Please can you make sure your child has sunscreen applied before school each day and brings a suitable hat to school each day – this can be left at school between Monday and Friday to be returned home to be washed at the weekend. Students without hats will either be required to stay inside during break and lunchtime or use a spare hat. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Quimestre 1 Exams For all students apart from those in Year 13, the week beginning 22nd January is the Quimestre 1 exam session, a full schedule for which will be be published soon. Students will be studying and revising in lessons over the next two weeks. The grades from these exams are combined with those of the individual Partials to provide overall grades for the year: Partials are each worth 13%, and each Quimestre exam is worth 10%. Quimestre 1 exams are intended to test the students' knowledge, understanding and skills learned and developed throughout the whole of Quimestre 1; and so, anything they have studied up until this point might appear on the tests, and should be re-learned. The students have been taught effective ways to study and revise for tests as part of their Study Skills programme, and the use of these techniques is vital for success both in these tests and in the IGCSE and IBDP exams that will come. It's important to understand why we do these exams. At BSQ we use the exams to focus on two main things: measuring a student's academic progress, and preparing them for the high-stakes exams they will take in Years 11 and 13. Understanding the first is vital: we are not measuring students against one another, but against themselves and their previous attainment, to see that they improve. Please support your child in their revision by providing the time, space, and support they need to learn at home. Jim Wild Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, gives us some guidelines for parent - teenager communication.
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May 2024
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