Welcome Last week at BSQ we focused on our commitment to our environment here at BSQ and in the wider community as we explored activities and information linked to the international Earth Day. We decided to celebrate #BSQEarthWeek and spend longer looking at how we can all work that little bit harder to make a difference. With thanks to our passionate environmentalists in the secondary school, a range of activities were undertaken by students across the school which were all designed to reduce, reuse or recycle. Some students even proposed the sponsoring of a turtle! Well done everyone and you can see more detail below. As I was dropping into classes last week, I found myself very much enjoying listening to our wonderful Year 2 students reading aloud, using their phonics knowledge to decode words. Phonics (simply put - the range of sounds that make up the words we use) is taught at BSQ from when students join us in nursery and continues until Year 2 or 3 depending on language acquisition. One of the best ways to support your children to learn to read with confidence is of course to read to them yourselves and this guide from the National Literacy Trust in the UK. Let us know how you get on. Dates for your Diary
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update This week is only four days, with school finishing on Thursday afternoon for the long weekend, but as usual our teaching staff are committed to providing a wealth of activities and opportunities for our students to grow and develop both academically and personally. As teachers, we recognise the value of providing a breadth of learning opportunities so that our students can link these varied experiences and begin to make sense of the world around them. Whilst many of these experiences remain virtual, they can still link these to their own knowledge and understanding and create their own narrative – one that can be tested and adapted as they gain more and more understanding of a range of experiences. Many of our students, teachers and parents participated in Earth Day activities last week, highlighting the need to look after our valuable resources and sharing lots of different activities that we could try at home. Whilst the global carbon footprint has definitely been reduced over the past year, mostly attributed to reduced transport emissions, it has been suggested that these will return to pre-lockdown amounts once the world returns to some sort of normality. Our students have voiced their concerns that we cannot allow that to happen and we need to listen to them, making sure that we use this opportunity to change our habits and continue to care for our planet. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Early Years Update Dear parents, Welcome to Week 3 of Term 5, we look forward to continuing building on the initiative started by all of the Primary team of implementing British Sign Language to support the students’ overall comprehension. In the Early Years Foundation Stage the children previously worked with Signs 4 Learning, this gave the students a tool to communicate emotions and solve problems. British Sign Language is now being implemented to build upon this, giving the children additional words to express and communicate in different areas of the curriculum, such as in Numeracy as well in Literacy. Teachers are utilizing stories, activities and songs to begin introducing BSL, for example “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and playing I spy are great ways to teach positional language and make the learning process fun and accessible for all early learners. If you would like more information on this initiative, please contact me at: [email protected]. Antonella Coronel Head of Early Years Being BSQ – Secondary Update It is about personal pride! As I mentioned last week Year 13 are quite rightly now focusing on what comes next after studies at BSQ. School is a huge part of a teenager’s life and many of our students have been here for a long time. The school has been the place where the staff, and curriculum has enabled them to develop and flourish in a safe and supportive environment and they will all look back at this time with great fondness. On Monday, we start a fantastic futures curriculum that the staff have put a huge amount of time into so that students leave with a wealth of knowledge that a traditional curriculum does not offer. The year is not done yet and I look forward to seeing all Year 13 students continue to achieve great things and leave a strong legacy behind them as they move forward. There are a number of other activities this week that you will read more about in the newsletter, but for me the pick is Earth week. What a wonderful focus and so important right now. There have been some excellent activities led by students again. How fantastic that our young bright minds are leading in some of our curriculum. Do enjoy the excerpts from the wider team that follow. Year 11A Year 11a have been studying hard all year and it has now reached ‘crunch time’ their exams are just around the corner and they are studying hard. They have had revision sessions during form time where they have used applications such as SENECA to revise for their exams, plus working through their books and documents teachers have provided to them. The exams are an opportunity for year 11 to show what they are capable of, based on their learning from the past 2 years. 11a are not defined by their grades in assessments however and are proving that they are well rounded and ambitious individuals. Many have played key roles in Earth week and highlighted issues that are negatively impacting our planet. Key tip from Anabella: cut the strings of your disposable mask before throwing away so it doesn’t kill wildlife. Samantha is asking you to delete emails you no longer need and unsubscribe to spam to reduce the amount of CO2 you are producing. Small things can make a big difference. Hopefully we can all make these changes to make the world a better place. Ms. Natalie Sawyers KS3: Year 8 Science This week in science, to introduce the topic of Light and Sound, the students performed a simple experiment to investigate waves. I would like to share the outstanding lab report produced by Doménica. Doménica demonstrates excellent scientific skills, including the ability to collect and analyse data, construct a graph using Excel, draw conclusions and be reflective of her own scientific work. Well done, Dome! Conclusion: According to the graph, as the height of the container drop increases, the time stamp for the wave to disappear varies, this could maybe be due to the amount of strength that is put into each drop. However, the drop from 4cm was the longest amount of time it took for the wave to disappear it was a larger timestamp than the 5cm drop this could maybe because of the amount of force put into the drop was a larger amount than the one given at the 5cm drop; also the measurement might have not been as accurate as it should have been as well as multitasking by putting the timer or holding the ruler and dropping the container. The size of the container does affect the timestamp due to the fact that the water goes all the way from on side to another and back so the amount of time would be increased. In conclusion my hypothesis was somewhat correct because it explained in a way the effect the container has in this experiment. Evaluation: The experiment went well I liked doing the graphs although I struggled a bit and the experiment itself was fun. Some things that I struggled with were doing accurately the experiment because I mostly managed myself holding the ruler, the time and dropping the container. I would improve the experiment by making some people help me so it can be more accurate and maybe double checking the graph and results. Ms Avent, Science Teacher KS4 Geography In KS4 Geography the students have been looking at tourism and analysing the impact of different countries around the world. Students in year 11 were asked to create a storyboard of some of the negatives of tourism on St. Lucia. Our year 10 geographers identified some of the important coastal locations across the world. Here is the work they created! Ms Sawyers, Geography Teacher KS5: Year 12 Geography Year 12 tried to figure out what linked all these cards. In class it would have been prepared for them, but they used their skills to create all their own cards and make links. They will hopefully have identified links in the nexus! Ms Sawyers, Geography Teacher Year 13 ESS Year 13 are wrapping up our final topic in ESS on the Atmosphere by looking at acid deposition around the world. Students researched different case studies on the regional problem of acid rain and created infographics of their findings. Ms Avent, Science Teacher BSQ Earth Week in Secondary Last week we celebrated Earth Day across the whole of the week. Earth took place on Thursday 22nd of April and is a day celebrated to raise awareness of environmental issues to help us to deal with the climate crisis we are currently facing. The Climate Change Committee, red MOVE environmental group, and the Student Council all joined forces to put something together for this important day! Here are the main activities they came up with:
I am sure you will agree our students did a wonderful job of planning some really interesting activities for the students to get involved in. We culminated the week in an assembly celebrating the achievements across the week. Here are some pictures of the students who got involved! On Thursday in Secondary all lessons had an Earth Day theme, here are some of the activities! Discussing mathematical models of climate change with the year 13 mathematicians! Mr. Bowles celebrating Earth Day through colouring in a plant with the year 13 mathematicians using differentiation! Ms. Sadotra, KS3 Coordinator Equality & Diversity Committee After watching the new Netflix movie 'Madame Curie', which tells the story of Marie Curie; a talented chemist who conducted several experiments on radioactivity and who, together with her husband Pierre Curie, discovered two new elements: 'polonium' and 'radium', I wanted to share the message of the film. The movie tells us about the obstacles that society at that time puts Marie Curie through, as well as several of the characters in the film such as Pierre Curie and Irene Curie. Like the current era, this story tells us how society begins to develop and advance, not only on a technological level but also on a social level. However, to achieve this progress, perseverance and struggle were present. What I take from the film is that Curie prevailed in the face of adversity and on a psychological level she was strong and had confidence in herself and that was used to achieve her goals. As part of the Equality and Diversity committee, I feel the duty to share this teaching, since to achieve our goals, to achieve social equity, we have to fight and have an open mind and use our strengths as tools for success. "Life is not easy for any of us. We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained" -Marie Curie Ana Paula-Equality and Diversity Committee Do you have any questions? Contact us at: [email protected] Have a wonderful week everyone.
Lee Moors Head of Secondary
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May 2024
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