WelcomeBeing BSQ in Ecuador. What a fantastic time we all had on Saturday as the school came alive in celebration of Ecuadorian culture. With music, dancing, presentations, food and a wonderful sense of the diversity and wealth of spirit in Ecuador, we all left with more knowledge and understanding and a huge smile. With thanks to our Diversity Committee of Silas, Samantha and Mateo for organising, to Ms Parker for her vision and steering and to all the students, staff and parents who participated with such energy and enthusiasm. I personally was very happy to be a judge with Mr Wild, Mr Madden and Mr. Mercer at the BSQ Gastronomy Competition and was impressed by the high standard of food that had been prepared. We also celebrated the fun of sports day in the primary school on Saturday. With equal energy and enthusiasm, the primary students enjoyed different activities prepared by our staff. The Sun We are very fortunate to live in an environment where the weather enables us to spend much of our time outside being active. However, there are also the days when the UV index is extremely high and potentially very dangerous if we do not take enough precautions. Whilst we are looking at how we can provide extra cover for our sports facilities, there is also much we can all do to protect ourselves.
If you need any additional advice and guidance, please contact our doctor Sara Luengo on [email protected] Enrichment – our Co-Curricular provision Once again, this year, the parent survey showed that there was a desire for more co-curricular provision at BSQ. Whilst I understand that this refers to after school activities in the main, it is important to remember that the breadth and choice within our co-curriculum programme on Tuesdays (KS3) and Wednesdays (whole school) is outstanding. A BSQ student can choose from any one of these activities at some point during their school journey. In addition, they can choose to be part of our Equality and Diversity groups, our Climate Change Committee, our students council, our RedMOVE programme, our community projects, our overseas trips, our MUN Committee or our international Duke of Edinburgh programme. Staffing News Many thanks to the parents who worked with us to interview our candidate for the position of Head of Secondary last week. Following a rigorous and successful week here, we are glad to announce that Lee Moors has been appointed as Head of Secondary at BSQ starting in August 2020. Lee will be joining us from the UK with his wife and two children and we will introduce him properly here next term. Meet the team – Mathematics. We are lucky at BSQ to have such a dynamic and passionate maths team. I have worked in many schools where maths is not very popular but that is not the case here! After School Clubs. Many thanks to those who have signed up to start our brand new music club after school and to join the BSQ String Band. On Tuesday February 11th at 3:30pm Dina will be coming into school to give a demonstrative lesson in the Multipurpose room.
TEDx Youth@BSQ Following our expert speakers, BSQ proudly announces our outstanding group of students to share their stories with us about Education: Innovation, Diversity and Wellbeing during our boundary-breaking first for BSQ: TEDxYouth@BSQ: Martín (Y11), Martinna (Y12), and Pablo (Y12). Driving Change 2020 – Save the Date and volunteer Thank you to those parents who have volunteered to help with the conference Women and Leadership: Driving Change. This week we are opening the process for joining us to celebrate strength, leadership and change in the field of driving forward change by and for women in all walks of life. Our website is open, and you can sign up to join us and connect here. From the Staff and the Students Continuing with our teachers and their stories about learning in the classroom this period. This week we have Ms. Ruth Todd from Secondary and Ms. Coronel from Primary. Ms. Ruth Todd – Secondary Science Teacher Saturday was a wonderful day at BSQ. Ecuadorian Culture Day with its many activities as well as Year 11 and 13 workshops for revision for both parents and students displaying the high level of commitment our whole community has to a balanced education. A MASSIVE thankyou to Miss Parker and the Equality and Diversity team, it is an amazing part of our school year and we are lucky to have here it here at BSQ. I would like to explore more the word balance; balancing our study or work with other activities or interests means that we reduce stress levels and can perform much more efficiently when under pressure. In the parent/student workshops we explored the benefits of planning revision or study sessions, thinking as a family about the optimal conditions for each individual student. Even if your son or daughter is not in an exam year, sitting down and talking to them about their study habits is a useful task as it encourages them to develop their organisation and time management skills. In order to aid these conversations, you could consider the following things:
Whilst the first 3 bullet points might seem nothing to do with studying, they are very important for healthy happy people. If you plan your study periods to occur with high frequency over time (each subject is visited once a week), there is no reason why you should have to stop doing the things you love doing. Here you will find a short YouTube video which goes through 9 effective study habits, I recommend you take a look! Ms. Antonella Coronel – Head of EYFS Last week the children got ready for our Saturday Sports/Ecuadorian Culture day. The children did a wonderful job during the sports events in the big football field. The obstacle courses presented a lot of great challenges for the children to do. One of the obstacles had the children pushing the ball with their hands through cones and zigzags. In another course the children had to pass through the hula hoops faster than their opponent. The other had a lot to do with balancing and overhead throwing. The second half of Saturday morning the students had the opportunity to learn a little about Ecuadorian Culture. We set up activities where children had to rotate through. Traditional games were set up in the EYFS corridor, and they learned how hopscotch is played, jump rope games as well and trompos. It was great to see the children connecting and loving the things that we used to play. They also learned a little about traditional art where they made diablo huma masks. Dates for your Diary February 20th– TEDxYouth@BSQ February 21st– Carnival holiday starts at 12h00 March 20th – 21st– Driving Change 2020 March 25th– EYFS Open Day Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update Last week we enjoyed the Primary Sports Day alongside the Festival of Ecuadorian Culture Day – we hope you all enjoyed sharing these events and appreciated the opportunities available for the students. This initiative also links appropriately to our focus last week on one aspect of our school values, the concept of being welcoming: We live and learn with a happy and welcoming attitude to everyone. Here at BSQ we hope that all the adults who work at school model this attribute on a daily basis, welcoming visitors to the school, alongside being welcoming to our students and parents. However, we actively plan activities that dig deeper into the meaning of this attribute, with the aim of ensuring that our whole community:
On Friday this week, a group of Secondary students are raising money for a charity based in Lago Agrio, as part of their CAS learning. They are encouraging all the students to dress up in red pink and/or white clothes for Valentine’s Day (Friday 14th February), contributing $1 if they choose to wear their own clothes. Here at BSQ we take the welfare of our students very seriously, always looking into any concerns raised and supporting students and their families whenever we can. If you have any concern about the welfare of your child, please do share this with either your child’s class teacher or Mr Madden. We also love celebrating birthdays with our students. Please speak with your child’s class teacher to arrange a suitable time (often best at 2:30/2:45pm) and limit the use of paper plates and cups, with no single use plastics to be used at all, including balloons. Finally, we would like to invite you all to meet the representative from the provider for after-school musical activities on Tuesday 11th February at 3:30pm in the Multipurpose Room (between 2A and Year 5’s classroom), to find out about this exciting opportunity for our students. Star of the WeekMarcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Timetable Changes To ensure that all students are able to enjoy outdoor PE classes, it was necessary to completely rewrite the Secondary timetable over the weekend. You have been sent a copy. In preparing and communicating the changes, I was struck by how lucky I am to work with such an amazingly cooperative, understanding, and selfless team of professionals. In no other school that I’ve taught, including this one a few years ago, would it have been possible to completely overhaul the timetable in two days without a single complaint from a teacher. I’m deeply grateful. IBDP Study and Revision Thank you to those of you who came to support your children at our IG and IB exam preparation workshops on Saturday. Ms Todd and Mr Karakashian, with the help of the whole team, have spent weeks preparing study and revision resources and programmes for the Year 11 and Year 13 students respectively. Right now, at school and at home, these students really shouldn't be thinking about or doing much else apart from eating, sleeping, studying, and resting. Please continue to support us by making sure that the right work is being done in the right ways, all the way from now until May, so that everybody has the very best chance of success. Jim Wild Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about the use of technology at home.
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May 2024
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