Welcome I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend and some family time away from the computers. Despite the four-day week last week there was still a great deal of activity, learning and development going on at the school. Just look at all our activities in this newsletter alone. Schools are always places of high energy and interaction and certainly there is much of that still taking place despite our absence from the school site.
I know lots of you are concerned about the next steps in terms of returning to the campus and I wanted to update you on what we are doing at BSQ.
These actions will not give us a return date but will equip us with a clear focus on the specific site challenges and the ways in which we can ensure excellent learning and safe living as we move forward. In terms of the survey responses I know that many families were hesitant about returning at various points during the coming months and mainly because more information is needed to be able to make that decision. Completing the actions above will provide some of that detail but first and foremost in our planning s the safety or staff, students and parents. We will keep you posted. e-learning at BSQ From the Staff and the Students Continuing with our teachers and their stories about e-learning this new period. This week we have SSD and Ms. Hayley Dean and Ms. Antonella Coronel from Primary. World Mental Health Day The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on 10 October every year. This year's theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health is 'mental health for all'. BSQ is committed to fighting stigma and supporting Mental Health. Ms. Hayley Dean – KS2 Lead | Year 4B Teacher In 4B we have been learning all about the different features of an advert, including rhetorical questions, bossy verbs, powerful adjectives and opinions. We used all of these features to write and perform our own adverts for magic hats. We decided what was magical about our hats and then used our fantastic new knowledge to try and sell our magical hats. Watch our videos below. - which hat would you want?
Ms. Antonella Coronel – Head of EYFS Dear parents, In EYFS, the past week was dedicated to the topic “My family”. From this topic children worked on new vocabulary. They children also got to study about their family and the members consisting of it. To support their understanding, teacher’s suggested a family tree activity and these are the highlights of the week. What a great way to learn about the people we love and where we come from. It is also an opportunity for the children to learn about what makes their own family unique. Thank you for another fantastic week of online learning, we are so proud of the amazing work the children have been doing so far. We are happy to see their progress and share this with you. Have a great week, Kind regards Ms. Coronel Dates for your Diary
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update In this week’s newsletter, I would like to focus more on the role the adults at school and at home play in each student’s education, in particular how we can support each student to make progress and achieve the very best they can. There are many ways we can support each student, from ensuring they have enough sleep, nutritious food, exercise and play, all of which are possible while we are online and learning remotely. Another critical element that we can support our students with is how we offer guidance and support when they find something challenging or difficult. As parents, we should view our role in this process as a mixture of facilitator, teacher and participant, making sure that we allow them time to explore this imaginative side of their personality but also ensuring they have a clear structure for their formal learning. With many of you continuing to work from home, this can be difficult to achieve each day, but please do make time each day to share your child’s learning, give guidance and support as necessary and of course some valuable positive feedback about their achievements. We can also support our students in this process by showing them different ways to solve a problem and find examples of the skill or concept that we are trying to master. The teachers at BSQ will give suggestions and advice to their students on how to improve their skills and understanding in the future, often revisiting concepts to make sure that all their students are ready to move onto the next phase of their development. The next formal opportunity to discuss your child’s progress and areas for development will be at our Parent Teacher Conferences on Thursday 12th November. Please note, there will not be any classes on this day and you will join with your child’s class teachers for a 1:1 appointment. We will send further details of how to sign up for a meeting time next week. However, please do always contact your child’s class teachers to discuss any concerns or ask for guidance with supporting your child’s development and progress. As you know, for the coming academic year, the Ministry of Education has given every school in Ecuador extra advice and guidance about the collation of evidence and the reporting procedures for students in Years 1 to 13. This guidance includes the change to four partials of ten weeks each (previously we had six partials) and continues to include an element of parent involvement in the grade given. For the first partial, each parent will be asked to rate their child's participation in online learning according to a rubric which has been devised by the Ministry of Education (and shared with you by email). To submit this parental grade, we have created a simple form for you to complete. You need to access this link and fill in your child's full name, class and the grade you feel best reflects their participation (from 0 to 1). This grade must be submitted before Friday 16th October - any students without a grade submitted by their parents will be automatically allocated a grade of 0.5. You must submit a different form for each of your children - when you have submitted one form, it will give you an option to submit another form or you can press on the link above again. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Wellbeing at school A rest is well deserved! Not only are we celebrating the independence of Guayaquil on Friday but we also fast approaching our half term break. Everyone should be very pleased with themselves for their achievements so far. We really have sustained some extraordinary successes in the first half of this term. As a school with staff and students overcoming and adapting to the new norm, we all experience a level of fatigue. We are all human and there are moments that we all feel the stresses and strains. Luckily we are an extremely supportive community who centers wellbeing at the heart of all we do. There is a long road ahead and it is important that we take rest breaks on the way. This is to ensure that each of us succeed physically and mentally and to stay healthy — we must make our rest and recovery a priority. It is important that we examine what rest and recovery is so that we understand what it gives to maximize the benefits. Jen Fisher in her article exploring work life integration, sums this up well. She suggests that this goes beyond just getting enough sleep. It’s about carving out space and time to be with our thoughts, and connecting with a deeper part of ourselves. In fact, giving ourselves permission to slow down and get to a quiet space, to hear our own wisdom, and tap into our own inner knowledge is important for showing up for ourselves and the world. From this place of stillness, we can get clarity on what actions we can take to feel better about our contributions to the world. Put more simply, prioritizing rest and recovery helps us show up at our best, in every circumstance. It gives us the strength to cope and succeed, it empowers us to care for ourselves and others, and to weather challenge and changes that everyday life presents. All of us irrespective of age or responsibilities become ‘exhausted’. I use this word in a positive sense drawing a parallel to some recent gardening I have completed at my house. I was exhausted at the end of the day, my back was hurting and my hands were sore and dirty with soil, but as I sat looking at the lovely flowers and the visual improvement, I sensed a great satisfaction in getting to that point. When I rested and took time to reflect, I drew great satisfaction at being exhausted as it was worth every moment. What we are experiencing currently is hard work but let us reflect on the positives that this toil brings. Essentially, this is the valuable experience we gain form adapting and overcoming for the important purpose of educating. So why do we make time to rest and recuperate and what benefits will this time bring? When we are rested, we are more creative, productive, and are able to solve more complex problems. Our level of thinking is higher and we are able to apply this to the activities and tasks we are set. we show up to things energized and at our best, giving our full attention and engagement to whatever we are doing. You need that extra energy so that you can give of yourself to everything in a way that is meaningful to all that you do. As I have said previously, our staff very aware of the causal factors for stress in our students. This can lead to withdrawal or procrastination with work and deadlines. Much of this can be resolved by managing time and tasks. This is something that adults can find hard, but for the majority of students this requires guidance. We are all now looking at ways to help students manage the load with regard to deadlines and pinch points. As we continue online this will become more critical and it is hoped that this approach will improve things for the better. Well done to the students this week in year 7 and 10. They all managed to navigate the CAT4 testing without any major issues. Again in an online approach this presents more complications which were navigated superbly. The collaboration with staff and the planning ensured that this was a smooth event. Well done all. As far as the data outcomes go, we now have the predictive data for likely outcomes which will help us enormously with internal progress tracking. I look forward to the rest and the opportunity to reflect on the gains so far. This will arm me well when I am faced with considering the challenges ahead as we move towards Christmas. After a brief reset and recovery I will be refreshed and ready for what comes next. Have a good week everyone. Lee Moors Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about helping your child manage stressful situations.
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May 2024
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