WelcomeLiving As we are now approaching our Carnival break it is time to reflect on all that has been happening around the school recently. There is always lots going on at BSQ and last week was no exception. On Friday we welcomed Michelle O. Fried into school as the first guest of the new BSQ Ayuda Social and she spoke to 30 parents about how to buy, prepare and eat fresh and healthy local Ecuadorian produce. If you were unable to make the session then you can try out some of her recipes here https://www.michelleofried.com/english#main It was wonderful to be able to share her expertise with parents and we hope to develop the relationship and sessions further moving forward. Following on from the wonderful, informative talk given by Michelle O. Fried on Friday last week I would like to set all families and staff a challenge. At the start of next year we want to publish our own BSQ recipe book called The BSQ Lunchbox. This will be filled with healthy, local recipes and ideas for packed lunches (the first in a series I hope!) So I invite you all to send in your ideas.Of course, with our mission to eat well and local, all recipes must have that focus. Feel free to add drawings or photographs to illustrate your ideas and maybe tell us where the recipe came from - a relative, a home country, your imagination etc The deadline for sending in your recipes is April 13th. Our Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9) students are very busy at the moment with their community projects and this often includes raising money for their chosen foundation or cause. Last week alone we had a PIE the teacher event, a video games tournament and bake sales. Finally, this Friday we will celebrate International Women’s Day with an assembly, a jeans day and (yes) more cakes in aid of the Triada Foundation. Parent Survey. Remember that I am looking for some answers to these two questions following on from the parent survey. Question 1. If the newsletter is read by over 1/3 of the parents, what should we have in it that helps communication to improve. Question 2. Since social media is the most easily accessible form of communication for most people, how can we develop our Facebook page (or other suggestions) to ensure that it is a frontline form of communication. We look forward to your answers because of course communication is a two-way effort. If oy think someone may not have read the newsletter this week – pass it on! Enjoy a well-earned rest with your families next week Learning On February 15th and 16th I was lucky enough to attend and speak at an exciting new conference in Quito called Women and Leadership: Enabling Voices. It was wonderful to see over 100 people giving up their time at the weekend to come together and talk about, listen to and explore the ways in which women have developed their leadership and the ways in which they still plan to – both here in Ecuador and across the world. It was a great way to meet people and share ideas and I know that some of the staff who attended have already invited guest speakers into school to work with students. Perfect timing as we approach International Women’s Day. Last week I came across a group of year 12 students using the microwave during a physics lesson. They appeared to be cooking an egg white. What I learned, thanks to Mr Taylor’s clear explanation, was that they were in fact measuring the speed of light. By finding the distance between the cooked spots of the egg white (half a wave length) the students were able to calculate the speed of light and compare their findings to published figures. Amazing! Just around the corner, Year 5 were making Inca masks as part of the How have important civilizations contributed to our world today? module. They were all beautiful and I learned that the way the Incas viewed the skies was very different to ours – the stars were thought of as eyes looking out of dark figures and watching over every living creature on earth. Tomorrow our Year 3 students will be coming into school dressed as Egyptians as part of their learning module entitled How have important civilizations contributed to our world today? Many thanks to all the parents who have supported with costumes and contributions. From the Staff and Students Continuing with our teachers and their stories about learning in the classroom this term. This week we hear from Mr. Ashfield in Secondary and from Mr. Newman and the Y6 students in Primary. Mr. Ashfield - History Secondary Teacher One of the best things about working here at BSQ is our school community and how everyone comes together to create a broader and more enriching curriculum for our Students. An example of this was the school´s first annual International Day that we had on February 5th. Students worked together from different year groups and really got into the spirit of the day learning about their assigned countries and creating an amazing set of displays on them. At break time we were fortunate to have food brought in by our parents that was representative of a range of nationalities (with the Peruvian stand being a particular favourite of mine!) Then in the afternoon we had a student lead session of the Model United Nations enrichment that we run here in school. The students had to embody their countries and represent new and challenging views that may have clashed with their own but they did this with a degree of skill I was not expecting! A special mention should go to our senior MUN team as well as I was incredibly impressed by our student chairs who lead these committees with skill and maturity and helped create a fantastic day for all of our students. We can sometimes focus almost too much on Quimestre exams and reports but really it is days like these that people remember from their time in school and I feel fortunate to be part of such a supportive community of students, teachers and parents that make these days a reality and I can happily say I am looking forward to the next one we do! Mr. Newman – Y6 Teacher In Year 6, like other classes in the primary phase, we have been focusing on a civilisation from the past in Topic; in our case, it has been the Romans and their occupation of what we now know as the United Kingdom. We have spent a lot of time thinking about the features of civilisations and what the criteria seems to be for a culture from the past to be described in such a way. We have also considered what it means to be civilised and whether the word civilised goes hand in hand with civilisations. Our classroom is also filled with ancient Brittonic shields that the early Britons would have used to try to repel the invading Roman barbarian hordes! We are also deep into rehearsals for the Year 6 end-of-year production. You might already have read that we are preparing an interpretation of one of the greatest Shakespearean tragedies ever written: The Tragedy of Macbeth. Very soon we will be presenting our Year 6 class assembly to the KS2 pupils. We are going to give them a ‘taste’ of a few things from the production that we have ready. Of course, we won’t be giving too much away in the assembly because we want to keep things a surprise and, also, if I am honest, because we are not yet ready! After all, the production isn’t until the final week of school in June. The children in Year 6 have been managing the demands of daily classes with additional pressure now as we work on Macbeth. I am full of admiration for them because the production is another, but exciting, thing to fit into their schedules inside and outside of school. To whet your appetites, take a look at some of the early photos from rehearsals. Dates for your Diary February 25th - Whole Primary Photo + Secondary Photos (year group + individual). February 25th – KS1 Assembly, led by Year 2A, at 1pm. Parents invited February 25th – Parent meeting, host by Mr. Kyle, at 3:45pm about Year 5’s trip to Huasquilla February 26th – Egyptian Day in Year 3 February 26th – Primary School Photos (year group + individual). February 27th - Whole School and Secondary Photos February 27th – KS2 Assembly, led by Year 6, at 9:30am. Parents invited February 28th – Digital Learning Day March 1st – International Women’s Day: Own Clothes Day (white, purple or black colours) and Bake Sale. March 4th - Carnival holiday week April 4th – Years 1, 2 and 3 Parents: PSHE Workshop. 8 – 9:30am Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update This week’s newsletter focuses on an area of child development that is often the hardest for us adults to understand and facilitate – experiential learning through play. Experiential learning can be defined as children (and adults!) learning through exploring, experiencing, creating, discovering, relating to and interacting with the world around them. This form of learning is unstructured, without rules or time limits, and often involves little adult guidance or input. Experiential learning enables children to pursue their own areas of interest and to work through problems as they arise in real-life situations. Experiential learning can also be important for letting children experience the reality of ‘failure’ and how to overcome setbacks and challenges. They can feel pride when they eventually find a way to do something because they learned to do it themselves, not because someone told them the answer. This approach is often collaborative and enables children to work out their own unique strategy (with some support), rather than following a set formula to arrive at an answer. They will be more likely to think creatively in the future, rather than assuming that all problems have “right” and “wrong” answers and “right” and “wrong” ways of getting there. Play enables children to act out alternative scenarios and to find different ways to express social or emotional difficulties. They can learn assertiveness, social skills, leadership qualities and how to solve group-conflict through role-play and using the play space as a rehearsal for real-life situations. Learning is not just about academic pursuits but also about life skills. When lost in a world of unstructured play, children are free to get to know others and communicate their feelings, thoughts, and needs in a safe environment. My favourite quote about the benefits of play comes from Peter Gray’s article ‘The Value of Play: How Children Confront Life’s Challenges’: “Children do not play to avoid the realities of life, they play at the realities of life. In doing so they come to grips with those realities—physically, intellectually, and emotionally.” Next week the whole BSQ community has the opportunity to enjoy a week of unstructured play. To help facilitate this, I have attached something I shared with the students before the Christmas break – 50 Things to do in the Holiday. Though 50 is probably unrealistic, why not strive to achieve at least one of these types of activities each day of the holiday? We would love to share some of these activities once we are back at school on Monday 11th March On Friday 1st March it is International Women’s Day and some secondary students are organising a Bake Sale and Own Clothes Day to raise money for the Triada Foundation. If your child would like to participate, please send in $1 to wear black, white or purple clothes (these colours represent Women’s rights) and perhaps another $1 to buy cakes or cookies. Star of the week Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary UpdateHouse Most Friday mornings, for 45 minutes, the whole of Secondary come together as one in friendly support and competition. The 'House' programme, based on long-established British educational tradition you'll no doubt be familiar with from the Harry Potter books, puts students and teachers, for the duration of their time at BSQ, into one of three teams: Antisana, Cayambe, or Iliniza. It is in these teams and for these teams that they collect House points for hard work and excellence; and on Fridays, it is in these teams and for these teams that they compete in a wide range of sporting activities. The leadership, participation and camaraderie across age-groups is powerful and meaningful, and we would ask parents to encourage their child's full participation in such character building and enriching pursuits. The Secondary Play This week saw the first gathering of the cast and crew of this year's Secondary production, Romeo and Juliet. It will be a long and challenging road between now and the performances in June, but with the talented actors we have, and the organisational skills of the Tiny Piano production team to support them, we're all very excited to see what we can create. Jim Wild Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about how to deal with your child's bedtime fears
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May 2024
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