WelcomeLiving As always it was a very busy time at BSQ last week. The main event of course was Book Week which for the most part was organised for the primary school children – with thanks to Ms Backhouse and Ms Novoa. A book week is a wonderful way to introduce children to ideas, stories, characters and language that they might not otherwise encounter and the children have all enjoyed browsing the book fair, listening to stories, meeting authors and dressing up in costumes from their favourite fiction. You will have started to notice the Save the Date posts for our fantastic Family Funday on April 6th. Thanks as always to all the parents and staff who have been working so hard behind the scenes to prepare for this event. Look out for the great prizes and, as always, the wonderful food stalls that celebrate our diverse and rich cultural heritage here at BSQ. Make sure you have the date saved and we look forward to seeing record numbers of families on Saturday. Learning I spent a few days last week learning about the schools in our Latin American Heads Conference group in Mexico City. Before I tell you about that I want to share a quote with you. Dylan Wiliam (an academic who wrote one of the best-known books about school assessment – Inside the Black Box) said that, ‘Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.’ Well, the same applies to Principals and Headteachers and last week Mr. Wild and I learnt a great deal in Mexico City and were also able to share some of our own work with others. We listened to the inspirational story of Claire Harvey who overcame a broken back to play in the 2012 Olympics as the captain of the British Sitting Volleyball team. Her story of disappointment and triumph taught us all to be more philosophical about our problems, but also to focus on ways to enable our students to be more flexible, empathic and agile in their thinking. You can read about her journey here http://www.womanthology.co.uk/claire-harvey-paralympian-senior-consultant-inclusive-leadership-kpmg/ We also listened to David Weston who talked about building a culture in schools that is focused on staff training and development and it was reassuring to hear that many of his recommendations are already in place at BSQ but we are always looking for ways to improve and so it was interesting to look further into research about what works well and what does not. You can see some of his writing here https://tdtrust.org Whilst there are many benefits in terms of specific learning from others, the actual act of networking is also important. Networks are an increasingly important feature of contemporary life in which organisations understand their importance for innovation and knowledge exchange. Within education it is clearly understood that organisational isolation inhibits learning and, here in Ecuador, as the only British School, we need to ensure that we have strong connections across Latin America and further afield so that we keep ourselves up to date and forward thinking. As we move through the remainder of the year and into next, those connections will become increasingly important and I look forward to sharing potential opportunities with you. 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. Rodrigo Samaniego in Secondary and from Ms. Cecilia Vallejos and the Reception B students + Ms. Laura Stone and the Year 1B students + Ms. Lauren Backhouse in Primary. Mr. Rodrigo Samaniego - Secondary Teacher This week with year 10 we have begun looking at factoring. At first student struggled with the expansion of binomials but afterwards managed to handle it with ease. From this we began the backwards process by factoring the trinomials resulting of the expansion. At the beginning of the process the class felt confused and struggled with the general concept. After a few different explanations they began to manage to solve the exercises, and factor simple case trinomials. Proceeding from the factoring of trinomials the class moved onto factoring the first special case, which is difference of squares. By applying the logic from the previous factoring they managed to identify the way to factor the new case. This week has made me realize the great progress that this year classes are managing in Mathematics, and all the effort they are putting into learning and applying their knowledge. Ms. Cecilia Vallejos - Reception B Teacher Reception B has been studying the cycle of plants, they have learnt the incredible phenomena of birth, that starts with a tiny seed that follows different phases and, in the end, we get the product, flowers and fruits. The kids not only have understood what the cycle of plants is but also that a plant needs water, air, soil, solar light, and love. The plant that the kids have been taking care of is called “Farita”, a name democratically chosen by the kids through an election, what has signed the value of respect. The ages of the kids fluctuate between four and a half and five years, being these the initial phases of learning, we´ve been working on basic and fundamental concepts, like adding and subtracting. Likewise, we have also been working intensely on the phonics area. Of all this baggage of knowledge, we have been harvesting the results day by day. This week Dr Fernanda and Dr Alía came to talk to the Year 1 children all about the animals, plants and communities you can find in the Amazon Rainforest. We learnt a lot. We learnt there are 13 different nationalities in Ecuador and 13 different languages are spoken. They taught us the language of Wao Terero spoken in the Amazon. We learnt to say my name is you need to say Voto imopa. Also to say thank you in Shuar you must say Yuminsajme. They also taught us about the dangers facing many parts of the amazon due to oil companies cutting down the Rainforest. Thank you very much Dr Fernanda and Dr Alía for coming into spend the time with year 1 Ms. Lauren Backhouse - Year 4 Teacher Purple Mash! Years 1 -6 Your child now has access to Purple mash, a resource of exciting learning opportunities. Purple mash is a comprehensive online learning tool designed to be used by Primary aged children in the classroom and at home. You can find out more here: https://2simple.com/purple-mash/purple-mash-parents/ Log on to Purple Mash with your child and see the different ways you can support their classroom learning. Dates for your DiaryApril 4th – Years 1, 2 and 3 Parents: PSHE Workshop. 8 – 9:30am April 4th – Art Sale Years 1A & 1B, parents invited. 1:30pm Library. April 4th - IB Art Exhibition. 5pm April 5th – School closes at 12pm for Teachers´ Day April 6th – Family Fun Day April 11th - Years 5 & 6 trip to Ilaló April 12th - school finishes at 12 for the Easter break. Happy holidays everyone. April 15th - 19th - Easter Week May 3rd - Labour Day Holiday (note change of day) Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update Last week we held a very successful Book Week, with the students experiencing an author visit in Years 1-6, visiting the Book Fair and ending with our Book Character Dress Up Day. Of course, the main focus for Book Week was to get the students engaged in reading and enjoying a wide variety of books, experiencing different styles of books and thinking about their own reading habits. This week we are holding a PSHE Parent Workshop on Thursday morning at 8am for all parents of students in Years 1, 2 & 3. This session will let you know the content and delivery of the next part of our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education) programme. On Thursday afternoon, Year 1 will host an Art Sale in the Library at 1:30pm to raise money for a variety of rainforest charities. On Friday we are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Day – school will finish at 12pm for all students, who will have their lunch at home that day. Star of the weekMarcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Latin American Heads Conference Attending the LAHC annual conference last week, one theme that came up time and again in presentations and workshops resonated especially well with our values here at BSQ, and that was the importance of student happiness and well-being as not just an aside or an afterthought to education, but as as one of its central aims. To me this seems natural and obvious, and yet it was clear from speaking with other school leaders that such an approach is not the norm in all school. It makes me proud to be part of a school that is doing do many things right that others have yet to achieve, and while we will always look to improve, we're definitely well ahead of the game in both intention and action. The IB Art Exhibition One of our most anticipated annual events, the IB Art Exhibition, happens this coming Thursday from 5pm. We are very lucky this year to have been granted permission to 'take over' the school's central building for the week, and as such not only are we able to exhibit at school, but the students and Ms Sofi Molina have also been able to get very creative with the unique spaces available. Please do come along and marvel at the students' talent and efforts on Wednesday. Jim Wild Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about conflict management with teenagers.
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May 2024
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