Welcome Classes for all year groups are now underway and we are all enjoying spending time back in the classroom working with our students here at the campus and learning at home. Blended learning is a challenging way to work – far more so than having everyone online – but already the teaching team is finding new and exciting ways to ensure that every learner remains involved, engaged and challenged! A new school year is always an opportunity to reflect and restart. Here at BSQ we value all opportunities to explore and examine how we do things and consider if we can do them even better. If you have any suggestions about how we might be able to support you further, please do let us know through the usual channels. In the meantime, I ask for your support with the following areas of the school life. As always. Thank you for your support. Have a great week. British Sign Language Here at BSQ we are committed to continual development and improvement in all areas of our students’ education, which is why this year we will be starting to integrate British Sign Language (BSL) into our everyday communications. British Sign Language is a fantastic way to develop our language skills, understand others who are differently abled to ourselves and improve memory retention. However, this is not just something we are asking staff and students to be joining with us in their learning discovery, we are also asking you, all of our community members to join us in knowing the basics of British Sign Language. It is vitally important for all members of society to be able to understand and be understood, particularly now in these times of uncertainty. Another benefit to learning the basics of sign language is that we can all easily communicate with each other, no matter what our first language is, behind our masks. So please join us in learning a few new signs each week, which you can practice with your children at home. This week we will be starting off with Good morning and Good afternoon. Please watch this brilliant video of our students demonstrating these signs. Welcome Back Picnic Our annual celebration of the start of term is going to be very different this year but we can still celebrate the start of classes, our new and returning class representatives and the joy of being outside with good food and fun activities. This year we will celebrate in our own families and groups, share photographs and award certificates in the following categories.
Next week we will share a picnic photo frame you can use to send us your photographs to celebrate your picnic. Watch this space. From the SSD One of our commitments at BSQ is to support the development of healthy peer relationships of our students. In order to do so, we do not want to wait until an incident of peer-on-peer abuse happens before taking action. This form of abuse occurs when there is any kind of physical, sexual, emotional abuse between peers. It should be recognised that the behavior in question is harmful to both the perpetrator (who is a child) and the victim. We hope that you find this information useful and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the tutors, teachers or the Student Support Department. Dates for your Diary As always please check this section carefully and ensure that you have all the details in your calendars.
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update Now that most classes in Primary have completed a full week of learning, with the majority of our students in school and a small number continuing with their online learning at home, I want to ask you all to spend some time with your child reflecting on their experiences and supporting them to share these with you on a regular basis. this helps in the learning process, as they explain what they have learnt about and put it into their own words. Many of you will have items at home that you borrowed from school before lockdown – please do return any items to school so that we can return them to the correct place in school, for instance library books, school equipment and other items that you feel would be better at school than at home. We would also welcome any hats that are too small for your child – we will wash them and sue them for spares for students who have misplaced their hat on that day. I already have a small collection of lost property in my office – if your child has misplaced any lunch containers, please tell them to ask me! I hope you found the ‘Meet the teacher’ sessions useful last week – if you have any questions, please do contact them directly or ask me if it is a more general question. As teachers, we know that communication is more difficult by email but we do want to keep in contact with you all. The teachers are continuing to learn new ways to deliver this new form of learning to our students at home, making sure that both groups are focused and engaged with their learning and develop the necessary skills for when we are all able to be in school together. Marcus Madden Head of Primary EYFS Update Dear parents, The Dragonflies and Caterpillars have had such an amazing week, with an amazing adaptation process. This week we learnt a lot about dragonflies, the different parts of their bodies, it’s lifecycle and the variety of colors each species has. We finalised the week with a wonderful activity, where each student had the opportunity to design their own dragonfly, then create it with the materials they gathered and prepared. The Caterpillars did wonderful outdoor art, they designed their very own caterpillar by decorating circles that later become its body! Ms. Coronel - Head of Early Years Being BSQ – Secondary Update Welcome Back again (Week 2)! Once again, I have had the pleasure of welcoming back the second wave of students in week 2 who are starting back on site for the first time. I am pleased to report that this was hugely successful again, and all involved have done remarkably well settling into the expectations here and forging fantastic relationships with their peers and their teachers. There really is a wonderful buzz around the place that is increasing as each day passes. It is a great shame that we are having to split years 7, 8, 9, and 10, but we are doing what we can to make this as successful as possible. You will recall I am sure the stress and confusion at the start of the online learning process and the need to engage for the first time with teachers over Canvas in March 2020. It was an exceptionally hard transition that became something of excellence. We are in a very similar position again now with the need to blend online and face-to-face learning. Please remember the previous successes that we all achieved, and if I may, can I appeal for some patience with the staff and systems as we work hard to fine tune what we are doing now. If your son or daughter is working from home, they can expect regular touch bases within the lesson from the teacher through messaging or through direct discussion. We ask that cameras are turned on so that this interaction is easier. If the leadership team pop in, they will interact with the children at home as well if it not too disruptive. Teachers are planning activity so that there is a balance of attention with students at home and in the classroom, and in this process, they will allow and encourage interaction between children at home and those in the classroom. You may also recall the session on Wednesdays at 2.15 pm where students can interact with any teacher through the whole school canvas page. A reminder again that on Wednesday 8th September at 2.30 pm, all parents are invited to a meet their son/daughters respective tutors. They will be welcoming you and giving information about supporting face-to-face and online learning and giving you the opportunity to ask general operational questions. These sessions will be on the form group canvas page. On the 10th of September we have the first of our ´Tie Ceremonies´ for the year 7 students who are entering the Secondary school for the first time. They will be welcomed by myself, and Mrs. Newman, and each student will be presented with their new school tie. This is an important event and something that adds to the transition process to ensure that they feel welcomed and help them quickly settle into the Secondary school. Week 2 students will receive the same experience on the morning of the 14th. Finally, it is wonderful to report on some outstanding success in Figure Skating. Rafaella Chriboga. performed excellently in a recent National Figure Skating competition where she won the silver medal. I understand that she missed out on gold by the very smallest of margins. This is an amazing achievement, and it is lovely for us all to be able to celebrate this with her together. Well done Rafaella! Secondary Updates Year 7 After our first week of the school year, year 7 took a moment to reflect on how the start of secondary school had gone and what they were looking forward to in the future. To do this we created a 'reflection tree', where students populated a bare trunk, with colourful leaves; each colour representing a different question. Orange - something we enjoyed from last week; blue - something we learnt from last week; and pink - something we are excited about this week. We had some fantastic responses, with many of the group really enjoying being able to see their friends face-to-face once again. Some of the students were proud of what they had learned in the classroom, such as how to use a compass or recognising numbers greater than a billion, whereas some were prouder of their culinary findings, such as the discovery that cookies and Coca-Cola are a delicious combination. The final pink leaves told the story that the whole class were excited to learn more at school and spend more time with their friends. So we were all left with the feeling that there is plenty to be excited about this year! Mr. Bowles - Y7 tutor
Have a great week and well done for the wonderful start you have all made Lee Moors Head of Secondary
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May 2024
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