Welcome This week our exam group secondary students will be sharing their knowledge and skills once again through some practice papers based on the Cambridge and International Baccalaureate syllabuses in preparation for the final exams in May. For two years the students have not been able to prepare for exams in the usual way and so this is an even more significant time than usual. We are all very proud of the way they have approached their academic studies so far and feel confident that the outcomes will represent their hard work. It is easy to forget how important these times are in the lives of students and, of course, all students of any age can feel anxious or worried about classes, lessons, tests, exams or pressure to succeed. There is a lot of research about the impact of pressure on young people. For example:
Of course, fears that the pandemic has caused children to fall behind also add to a number of pressures learner fell to perform. Let's remember that we can always only expect our children to do their best and that will not look the same for every learner. So how can we support our children to do that best, feel happy with the outcomes and flourish!? Extensive research from universities in the UK and the USA (UCL and MIT for example) suggest the following:
I know that our older students have learned these skills at school and at home and that they will apply them to the exciting challenges ahead. If any parents (of children of any age) need any additional guidance or support about study skills, curriculum or any of the above then please do check out our regular parent workshops and contact us if you have any specific questions. Announcement According to the resolution issued by the COE on February 22, 2022, please keep in mind that the temperature will no longer be taken starting tomorrow. All other biosecurity protocols will remain in place at BSQ. British Sign Language (BSL) This week four of our BSL Enrichment students will be demonstrating the Alphabet using BSL. Please watch this brilliant video: Ms. Hayley Dean, KS2 Lead IB Art Exhibition The Arts Department and Y13 Art students Felix, María José, Sebastián and Nanditha proudly present "Hephaestus", the IB Art Show portraying the pieces of Year 13 IB class 2021/2022 this Saturday March 19th from 10AM - 1PM at the Multipurpose Room. Year 12 and 13 students with their parents and school staff are invited to attend the Art Exhibition. KS3 and KS4 students will be invited to visit the show on Monday March 21st during their allocated slot during school time. Join our Yearbook Cover Pages Contest! Our BSQ community members - students, parents, staff - are invited to participate in our Yearbook Cover Page Contest. The theme is A place for every learner, where you create a design . We will choose 3 winners (one for students, one for parents and one for staff members) and their designs will appear on the Yearbook Cover Pages. Please send your proposed designs, considering the following parameters:
If you have any further questions, please contact Andrea Zambrano to: [email protected] Sponsor a School Initiative As part of our approach to sharing our values of respect and care that promote actions to support quality and sustainable education, BSQ and BritCham participated in the "Education as a goal of sustainable development" event, together with business leaders and Maria Brown the Education Minister, to support the MoE "Sponsor a School" initiative. This joint collaboration between the business, education sectors and the Ministry of Education will improve education conditions and ensure equitable inclusive quality education to promote learning opportunities for all. Dates for your Diary As always please check this section carefully and ensure that you have all the details in your calendars.
Mrs. Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary UpdateAs shared last week, we will soon host our next online Parent Teacher Conference for all primary students and yourselves on Thursday 24th March. On this day, there will be no lessons in school or online and each student and their parents will be invited to an online Parent Teacher Conference – your child’s class teacher or Mrs Sandy Pazmino will be in touch with you soon about the most convenient time for your conference. During this Parent Teacher Conference, you will have the opportunity to discuss your child’s progress, attainment and areas for development in the future. To make these really meaningful and useful for your child, spend some time with them before the meeting to find out what they have been learning about, what they enjoy doing and what they find more challenging. Have a pre-prepared list of questions for the teacher and please do ask for translation support if appropriate, in advance. We hope that you will come away from these Parent Teacher Conferences with a clear idea about how your child is doing, what their next steps are and how the school and yourselves can support the development in the coming year. Remember that I have a large amount of lost property in my office – mostly unnamed sweaters and jackets and water bottles. If your child is missing any items, please ask them to visit my office and have a look for things they might recognise. Mr. Marcus Madden Head of Primary 4B Newsletter Over the last term in Art, we have been creating some pieces of amazing Hip Hop and graffiti art. To be able to do this we learnt about how Hip Hop was a movement for the African American community to send a message about human rights and racial equality. Then we learnt how art doesn't need to be expressed through pictures, it can be through music and dance. This is when we learnt some dance moves (we need some more practice though)! To help spread positive messages of equality and human rights, we discovered that people use graffiti; we debated if Graffiti is good or bad for the community, deciding it depends on the message and the artwork with it. To create our final pieces we used the method of practising, sketching and evaluating each other pieces of work. We asked each other's opinions in terms of the colours and styles we used. We wanted our posters to spread a positive message. Have a look at our wondrous and creative work and see if you can create your own. The fabulous artist in 4B. KS2 Green week. During the week before our carnival holidays, KS2 had a green week, talking about our impact on the environment and how it is impacting the planet now and in the future. To end an incredible week of learning we came together in our houses to create AMAZING pieces of art out of recycled materials. Can you tell what the pieces we created represent? Who do you think won the house event? Ms Hayley Dean, KS2 Lead Celebrations We would like to share with our BSQ community that Lucas, Year 5, and his team obtained the 3rd place in the Soccer competition “Copa Estudiantes De La Plata” Sub 10 category. Congratulations Lucas and his team for this achievement, we look forward to supporting him in future competitions! Being BSQ – Secondary Update We are blessed with so much talent! How lovely it has been to all be back on site and sharing our news of adventures in the holiday. It really is beneficial to have a break, relax and switch off so that everyone is refreshed. This week we are focusing on how our wider curriculum is developing. Ideas have been brought together so we have everything in one place and defined. We have certain programmes to support development depending on the age of the child but in addition to this we are now looking at our adventurous and educational residential visits that secondary students should have the opportunity to experience. We are developing opportunities that may take students to the Galapagos, the Amazon, the highlands and overseas. This is super exciting and is looking very positive for next year. More information on this to follow over the next couple of weeks. Apart from the return, the news is fairly limited this week but it does give me an opportunity to discuss a focus we have currently. Ms Todd is realigning our gifted and talented strategy at the school currently. This is quite a controversial topic in education as it could be perceived as elitist and others do not see what the fuss is about as surely, a gifted child will always do well, won’t they? Gifted learners are those who have particular academic abilities; Talented learners are those who have particular abilities in the creative arts (such as music, art and design, drama, dance) or PE. We see these students as ‘more able’ or ‘high ability’ as these are inclusive terms, but gifted is very much a part of the official language. You are now possibly thinking about whether your child is gifted? A gifted child quite likely:
As a school we need to understand who our gifted children are and how we stretch and challenge them at every stage of their school career. Miss Todd is our designated teacher who oversees how the policy is developed and managed. She is focusing on who and what the staff are doing with them right now. She also works closely with the individual needs department to ensure that all children in the Secondary school are challenged at the right level. If you as parents feel that your son or daughter is ‘Gifted’ or ‘Talented’, then please get in touch with Miss Todd by email outlining your thoughts. She will be very grateful for your input. Continuing in the theme of ‘Talented’ it gives me great pleasure to report on one of our students who is extremely gifted in the field of Gymnastics. What wonderful news last week about Antonella who recently achieved the second place in competition on the floor with a score of 9.200 in the 34TH ANNUAL 2022 GASPARILLA CLASSIC in Tampa, Florida USA. She practices for 2 hours a day in artistic gymnastics at ‘Gymfinity Ecuador’ and she is now at level 2. This is the second time she has been to Tampa. This is a wonderful achievement and clearly looking at the pictures, she is super talented to be getting success at such events. Well done Antonella! We all look forward to seeing your talents develop even further and also well done for the commitment you are showing to your training. Dedication and sacrifice will bring success. Year 8 update In Year 8 during some of our tutor-time on Fridays, we have been working on activities linked to the BSQ Values Programme. The students have been reflecting on their personal qualities and how they can develop these further. This is an important skill which will be useful for school, further education and professional life. The Personal Development Programme offers the opportunity to work on an area of development chosen by each student and to document this process with a portfolio of evidence. In one of our early sessions, the students were asked to create some word art to give an indication of their current qualities, before the next selecting a Personal Intention Statement for further development during the programme. We have included some of their examples just here. Mr. Simon Newman, Y8 tutor International Women's Day The 8th of March, International Women's Day, is an important date to commemorate the work of women to claim their rights around the world and to remind us to change and eliminate gender stereotypes that harm us so much. It is for this reason that year 12 and 7 art students discussed gender issues that affect thousands of women in Ecuador:
Based on these statistics, the students discussed ways in which we can contribute to a more just and equitable society in terms of gender:
After this, students did different activities related to the topic which we would like to share with you: Ms. Belen Arellano, Y7 and Y12 students.
Have a good week everyone. Lee Moors Head of Secondary
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May 2024
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