WelcomeA short week at BSQ with Labour Day remaining in place as usual on Friday this week. It will seem strange to many members of our own community, and the wider country, to be having a day away from work to celebrate the rights of workers when so many people are already experiencing extended work breaks – many not from choice. However, May Day/Labour Day/International Solidarity for Workers Day is also about standing together, about recognising the essential importance of work and those who undertake it. We know there are many workers around the world still required to face dangerous environments, challenging situations and potentially life-threatening expectations – including some of our own families. Perhaps on Friday we could take some time to think about and thank those still working in healthcare, food provision, security, transport, government and education – to name a few. Here are some images from around the world to get us started. Diary dates. Following our extended teaching days and shorted Ester holiday, the three days we have to spare have been added to our current long weekends. Please see the new dates below. e-Learning at BSQ BSQ Parents Quotes Thanks to our staff and community for your hard work and support, here are more comments from our BSQ parents about e-learning at BSQ Celebrating Success Following another first for BSQ last week – Parent Teacher Conferences Online – we are able to review some of our learning online practices and we hope that you all enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the progress and process of online learning with the BSQ teachers. Over the next few days, we will be taking the opportunity to ask for your opinion through a sort survey about the online learning experience for you as parents. Please find a few minutes to help us explore more ways to continue developing our provision. Earth Day Earth Day was on Wednesday 22nd April and many students celebrated on the day and during the week with many themed lessons and optional activities. Here are some examples of the fantastic ways the students celebrated our beautiful planet earth: Secondary students took part in many optional activities including planting seeds, creating a garden, making a bird box, creating a picture collage or poster, recorded the birds singing, participating in an earth day quiz, cooking vegetarian food, writing poetry and messaging a friend to wish them Happy Earth Day. In the lessons students enjoyed Earth day themed lessons in Sociales, Humanities, English, Maths, Art, Science and History. Primary students in all year groups enjoyed Earth day themed lessons and the activities included making recycling bins, creating posters, model building from recycled materials, pictograms and 'no paper' day, language and our connection to the natural world and connecting with nature, birds, insects and plants. Nursery promoted the theme of the 3 R's: Reduce-Reuse-Recycle and the children acted out the part of a Recycling Superhero. Since 1970 people around the world have been celebrating Earth Day but let's not make it just about one day! Earth Day is simply a reminder of how precious our natural world is and what we can do to enjoy and protect it. Thank you to all the BSQ students and teachers who celebrated the day and continue to celebrate our beautiful planet. Important Announcement - time is running out. By the end of May, we are aiming to have all our parents signed up to the Canvas Parent Portal and to STOP USING EMAIL AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH YOU. PLEASE make sure that you are logged onto this platform using the invites you have had from school. We do now have over 100 families signed up – but we have 239 families at BSQ so still quite a way to go! Dates for your Diary
From the Staff and the StudentsContinuing with our teachers and their stories about e-learning this new period. This week we have Mr. Bradley Edwards from Secondary and Ms. Ana Espinosa and Mr. Óscar Tabango from Spanish Department and Ms. Coronel from Primary. Mr. Bradley Edwards – Secondary PE Teacher For this week´s House competition students entered 5 different events including Tik Tok dancing, Loo roll keep up challenge, Blind drawing, longest plank and Best flip cup. There were some very creative entries and it was fantastic to see so many students getting involved from home. With all the excitement the teachers couldn´t resist but enter a video themselves. Ms. Ana Espinosa – Spanish & Sociales Teacher Year 3 - Spanish: During these weeks the Y3 students have been learning about “Textos para jugar”. There are several kinds of texts and we have learned: Riddles, tongue twisters, greguerías and children's songs.. Year 3 Sociales: Year 3 has been learning about our beautiful Ecuador, specifically this week on Civic Holidays, Religious Holidays and Family Holidays. Year 4 - Spanish: Comprehensive reading is very important for learning, for this reason the students delighted in the story of "El mejor regalo para Hugo", a story that contains values such as friendship and respect. They enjoyed learning vocabulary and answering questions about reading. Year 5 – Spanish: "Poemitas divertidos" is the topic that the students are learning. Their creativity and imagination will help them continue creating poems that they will enjoy sharing with the rest of the class. Year 6: During this week the Y6 students have shared the reading of an informative text, leading them to reflect and learn more about what is happening around us. We have done comprehensive reading with the development of questions and answers of personal opinion. Mr. Óscar Tabango – Sociales Teacher Dear BSQ family, I am very pleased to see the enthusiasm, dedication and above all the consistency with which all the students in Sociales have been working during these times of crisis around the world. We have had the opportunity to continue working on the contents planned at the beginning of the year. In Year 2 we have been studying the “My Neighborhood” Unit in which the children have gained new knowledge about their environment, which includes the different places found in the neighborhood (church, park, carpentry, among others). In addition, we have talked about the importance of living in harmony and security. Finally, among other activities I can highlight the activity in which we listened to and saw the book "Dinosaurs and all that rubbish" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_huzL_FPZg which showed the importance of caring for children. nature and respect animals. In Year 4 we are studying the province in which we live, its division into cantons and parishes, the importance of knowing it and also knowing its tourist sites, most outstanding monuments and the different cultures that we find in each province of the country. In addition, we enjoyed listening to various legends from different parts of Ecuador which helped students to reflect on values such as humility and respect. Finally, did you know that Cantuña did exist? Please ask year 4 children to tell you about this.
Thanks to the support that parents make at home, the children have been very successful in the virtual Social classes. I hope to see you all soon, remember to wash your hands, eat your vegetables and listen to your parents Ms. Antonella Coronel – Head of EYFS Dear parents, It has been a great week of online sessions. It is so wonderful to hear the children answering questions, interacting with the learning opportunities and growing their confidence. You have all shown great resilience through these special circumstances, thank you for your amazing work. We want to share 6 top tips to keep the children motivated and the learning opportunities enriching!
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update I hope that you all managed to discuss your child’s progress with their class teachers and have a better understanding of how best to support them during this period of home online learning. Thank you for sharing this time together and all of the positive feedback you gave to the teachers who are working tirelessly to continue your child’s learning and development. We also welcome any suggestions that you make to help us improve our provision and make sure that we do the very best for our students in these circumstances. One way that you can further support your child is to make sure you play an active part in their online sessions. Consider sitting with them for a session each day, finding out what they are learning, discussing their understanding of the topic and then praising them for their finished product – the power of having a personal teacher sat next to them is incredible. Thank you to everyone who participated in the two international events we promoted this week - Earth Day on Wednesday 22nd April and World Book Day on Thursday 23rd April – it is really appreciated. This week is a four-day week, with no online classes on Friday. Please continue to access all of the different learning opportunities shared by the teachers here at BSQ, but also find time for yourself and your families to relax and do one of those activities you have been meaning to do for a while. We look forward to finding out what extraordinary activities you have shared with your families. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Student Surveys With so much new about the way we are currently teaching in learning, it's vital that we take into account all perspectives when making improvements. Last week in Secondary we conducted a survey of the students to get a sense of their experience thus far with our systems of remote learning. From the 51 respondents, we gleaned a great deal of very useful information, much of which we will act upon. These include ideas about what works best, and what works less well, in online classes; how they prefer to receive one-to-one feedback and help when they are struggling; and what we need to develop about the ways in which we, as a community, communicate with one another. This input has been valuable in helping shape our ongoing conversations about how we can improve the education we provide. Our ears remain open, to the students, the parents, and each other. Assessment Calendar One of things students told us they wanted was a clearer understanding of how and when they were to be assessed for the learning they are engaged in, including when and how they will take any exams. Partial assessments remain the same as ever: students are graded on numerous activities and pieces of work completed during a Partial period, with their progress being measured against four criteria: Knowledge and Understanding, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Study Skills (with grade descriptors for Study Skills having been adapted to reflect the nature of school during this last Partial). Exams, including the Year 12 'mocks', will take place remotely from 11th June. A full calendar will be shared with the whole community later today. Jim Wild Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about how to teach children the value of price, not things.
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May 2024
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