WelcomeLiving This week we welcome the visiting CIS team to BSQ to complete the process of our 5-year accreditation cycle. We started this journey in 2014 with the membership application and since then have continued to develop and grow in line with both the CIS code of ethics and standards and – more recently – in line with our own values of living and learning together to achieve the high ambitions we have for every member of our school community. Thank you to the parent association representatives who were able to join us yesterday to meet and greet the CIS team along with our school staff. We also welcome Karl Wilkinson this week from Orbital. This is Karl’s third visit to BSQ now and he is really getting to know the school. On Thursday afternoon at 2:30pm Karl will be hosting an afternoon coffee in the canteen where he would be delighted if you could join him. It may be halfway through the final term of the year but there are still so many wonderful things happening here at BSQ both in and out of the classroom. In particular this year I am very excited about our Shakespeare Season. Whilst Shakespeare is often studied as a text in schools, there are not so many opportunities for young people to perform in the plays and we are presenting two of the most famous ever written, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. Both of these plays are tragedies – meaning that there are quite a few deaths scattered across the plot - and both deal with significant themes that are still relevant in our lives today such as power, love, jealousy, anger, betrayal, greed and prejudice. Exploring these themes in depth helps our students to understand more about empathy and relationships as they look more deeply into the lives of the characters. Not only are these performances taking place but in the secondary English department students are studying Julius Caesar in Year 7 and Hamlet in Year 8 and tackling challenging questions about the themes Shakespeare was exploring. Much research has been undertaken about the study of Shakespeare and there are many different opinions but here the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) tell us some surprising results:
So, I hope that you will all check the Dates for your Diary and book a place to join us for our performances this term. After all, if ‘All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players’, then we are exactly right in our choice of drama this year! Learning. As we move forward into the final stages of this school year, I am delighted to tell you that we have completed our academic staffing for 2019-2020. With expansion and the completion of contracts, there will be approximately 16 new international teachers joining us in August and I am absolutely delighted with the qualifications, calibre and experience of them all. Over the next few weeks I will introduce you to them via the newsletters and, of course, you will have the opportunity to meet with them at the start of the term in August. From the Staff and Students Continuing with our teachers and their stories about learning in the classroom this term. This week we hear from Ms. Sofía Molina and Y8 student Bárbara Ortiz in Secondary and from Mr. Oscar Tabango and Year 2B students in Primary. Ms. Sofía Molina – Art Secondary Teacher In the last few months the students of Y8 have been busy exploring several artists and art movements as well as developing new techniques. I would like to share some pictures that reflect their hard work. Bárbara Ortiz – Year 8 Student In year 8 we have been working very hard in order to persevere and progress in our learning, especially in Art. The latest topics we have learned about in Art are Cubism, Pop Art and now we are making our first attempts of making cityscapes. Cubism was one of the most influential visual art styles of the twentieth century and was created by Pablo Picasso. Pop Art is an art movement that emerged in the 1950s and became popular in the 1960s in the United States of America and England. Cityscapes are the visual appearance of a city or urban area. We have also expanded the range of materials we use, for example this year we have used acrylics and different shades of pencil. In conclusion this year we have all improved and evolved our art skills. Mr. Oscar Tabango – Year 2B Teacher Our Literacy focus in Year 2 has given us the opportunity to write about “character description and write informal letters”. We started by reading the book “The day the crayons quit” by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. We started reading several letters that crayons wrote to their owner Duncan because they are not happy with his treatment. Pupils personalize the crayons and wrote a letter as well then they also personalize Duncan and replied to the crayons. Then we chose hats related to stationary objects so they can personalize it again and express themselves how they are feeling, how they look like, this help taught them how to give details when are describing something or someone. Finally, they drew a character and wrote a full description of it. They were really inspired creating characters like: princesses, dragons, knights, wizards and robots. They were excited and motivated to create these outstanding characters. Dates for your Diary May 26th – 31st – CIS Team Visit May 27th – Year 2A Class Assembly, with parents invited. 1pm May 27th – Year 12 mock exams begin May 29th – Year 3B Class Assembly, with parents invited. 9:30am May 30th – Workshop for Parents in Years 1 – 3. Library between 8am and 9:30am May 31st – Workshop for Parents in Years 4 – 6. Library between 8am and 9:30am May 31st - RA Fine Motor Skill Workshop at 8am in their classroom. May 31st - Y6 are visiting a church in Quito June 11th – 13th- Secondary Production: Romeo & Juliet June 25th & 26th- Primary Production Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update This week we welcome the team from CIS who are here to meet our students, staff and of course parents and discover what we already know - that BSQ is a wonderful learning community and a great place to live and learn! The visit may mean a few small changes to the routines in the Primary School, though these should not affect the students. The students will have lots of opportunities to meet with the CIS team and share their learning experiences with them throughout the week. Students from Year 2 to Year 6 will also participate in our annual assessments of Maths and English. These consist of a Progress Test in Maths (PTM), which is a standardised assessment of students’ mathematical skills and knowledge and a Progress Test in English (PTE), which is a standardised assessment of students’ technical English skills (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and reading comprehension. These are enjoyable online assessments for the students with a variety of activities and challenges and they help us to gauge each student’s performance and progress over time. Today the students from 2A will share their learning with us at their Class assembly, followed by the students from 3B on Wednesday morning. On Thursday and Friday this week, we also invite parents to our next Student Support Department workshop, titled “How the family can manage children’s anger and tantrums in a healthy way.” This will be led by Miss Andrea Carrera in the Library between 8am and 9:30am, for parents of students in Year 1 to Year 3 on Thursday and parents of older students on Friday. Finally, I would like to celebrate the achievements of Marcel Grijalva Gálvez from Year 6. Last weekend, Marcel participated in an invitational interschool fencing competition (IN-CUP Fencing Competition hosted by Johannes Kepler School in Quito). There were athletes from eight schools competing in a variety of different disciplines. Marcel won Gold in the épée competition and Silver in the foil competition in his category and he dedicated this achievement to BSQ and the Y6 class. An épée is a thrusting sword similar in length to a foil but heavier, with a larger guard and a much stiffer blade that has a tapered shape, whilst a foil is a lighter, thrusting sword with a small, circular hand guard and a flexible, rectangular blade. Congratulations Marcel – the Primary School is proud of your ambition and dedication to your sport! Star of the WeekMarcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Romeo and Juliet Tickets for this year's Secondary play go on sale today, and are available from Sandy at reception for $10, all of which goes towards the cost of the theatre, the costumes and the set. The students are all working immensely hard to create an original and enjoyable show. Please come, please bring your families. Performances take place on the evenings of 11th, 12th, and 13th June at the Telón de Aquiles Theatre in Ventura Mall. Exit Permissions We take student safety extremely seriously, and one of the structures in place to ensure they are secure in school is the exit permission system, the essence of which is that I will not give permission for a student to leave the school premises during the school day unless I have explicit permission from a parent. This permission should come in the form of a pre-written and signed permission slip, printable from the website. In the absence of this, I will accept a signed letter, or an email from a parent's email address. In all cases, students need to seek my permission and signature in good time, as should I be otherwise occupied when they wish to leave, they will need to wait until I'm available. Jim Wild Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about setting up parental control on Netflix.
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May 2024
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