Welcome Some people might complain about working on a Saturday morning when all they really want to do is get some extra sleep (very important as we explored last week!) but last weekend I spent a very happy and productive morning with our Year 12 students as they explored the early stages of something called the Extended Essay (a 4000-word academic study - in case you are not yet an IB family). We explored ways to start our research, refine our questions and consider ways to reflect effectively and score top marks for this skill. It was great to see such focus and commitment culminating in some excellent presentations. I cannot wait to see how this group of students develop their thinking along the way. Across the school lots of other activities were taking place from art attacks to poetry competitions and community projects. Well done everyone. EDI Last Sunday, October 10th, was World Mental Health Day. It is a day for education, awareness and advocacy against stigmas regarding mental health. Although the date has passed, I think we should take advantage of the opportunity to learn and reflect. Lockdown was a time when we were particularly aware of mental health and how important it is to take care of ourselves mentally and physically. Now that things are going back to normal we shouldn’t forget to give mental health the same attention, let’s continue to check in and be kind to ourselves and others. The theme for this year's World Mental Health Day was ‘Mental health in an unequal world’. Unfortunately, mental health is another thing affected by inequality. Social stigmas surrounding mental illness often prevent people from accessing treatment: many fear they will be judged by family, friends or even in the workplace. A lack of education about mental health makes illnesses hard to recognize and seek treatment for. There are also racial barriers to mental healthcare, racial minorities are less likely to get treatment due to financial limitations and discrimination. By starting to learn about this reality we can begin to destigmatize mental health and create the change needed to make mental health care accepted and accessible for all. Naty – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Do you have any questions? Contact us at: [email protected] BSL This week 4 of our Y1 students will be demonstrating 2 new signs, confused and sad, using BSL. Please watch this brilliant video: Ms. Hayley Dean, KS2 Lead Video Competition: Years 1 – Year 6 Only As a COBIS school we are going to be sharing our stories of our love of Ecuador with students in Mexico, Bermuda and beyond. For a chance to win one of 10 spaces on our Why should you move here?! video please send the video with the below specifications to Andrea Zambrano on [email protected] by Wednesday November 10th at 3pm. You can include costumes, colours, flags, food - anything that shows ECUADOR Bonfire Spirit Night Save the Date: This November 13th our students and staff will be celebrating our Bonfire Night! More information and details to follow. 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 Thank you to all the students who participated in our Saturday Arts Activities and for sharing the results of their creativity and design. This week we have a group of teachers at school extending their knowledge and understanding of the benefits of using sign language with students. We already use many signs throughout the school and have seen that the students have been more communicative with each other and their teachers. This initiative also links appropriately to one aspect of our school values, the concept of being welcoming: We live and learn with a happy and welcoming attitude to everyone. Here at BSQ we hope that all the adults who work at school model this attribute on a daily basis, welcoming all members of the community, either in person or online. However, we actively plan activities that dig deeper into the meaning of this attribute, with the aim of ensuring that our whole community:
The Early Years and Key Stage One staff have their second and final day of external Phonics Training on Thursday 11th November. On this day, there will be no school for all students in Nursery to Year 2, with online activities posted for them to do at home. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Caterpillar Class It has been a great week in Caterpillar Class as the children continue to adapt to school life and routine. This week’s focus has been on family, where we have been reading ‘Every Family Is Different’ by Maureen Eppen. The children have been thinking about all the people who love them and using stamps and paint to make family trees (which include friends and pets!). We have been continuing to work on expressing our preferences. We have learnt how our likes and dislikes differ by smelling different things and also feeling different textures (such as pasta and jelly) with our feet! We have been continuing with shape and colour in Maths and also playing lots of games for the children to get used to taking turns and listening to one another. We are so proud of how the Caterpillars have handled themselves and their learning this week, and it has been especially lovely to watch friendships take shape and blossom! Ms. Isobel Anderson, Nursery Teacher Being BSQ – Secondary Update ‘Enrichment for enhancement’ What a wonderful week we have had again at school. A long weekend is always welcome as we all need to recharge our batteries from time to time. This applies to staff and students of course with all of the teaching and learning pressures, but also for you as parents with getting them organised and safely to and from school. At school we are now considering the quality of our teaching and our process of collegially developing our very high standards even further. This is a process that we enjoy and also benefit from enormously through our opportunity to collaborate and the share of ideas about pedagogy (the tools and skills we use to teach). I have also been meeting with our new enrichment coordinator, Ms Martinez, this week and agreeing on the action plan to develop this critical area of our curriculum. We are looking at a number of things we want to do to enhance enrichment provision at school. As I said recently, you will be consulted in the process about what you want to see more of within school enrichment sessions, and what after school opportunities you would like to see on a Tuesday and Thursday which you can buy into. We hope that in the not too distant future we will be in a position to reconnect with this part of school life, which is why we are planning now so that we are ready. For example, I have spoken personally with a couple of parents who have expressed interest in Music and we also intend to start looking at how we use the great facilities in our community. I am exploring how we can enhance the residential and adventurous activities year groups can do to further enrich their experience at BSQ. Events such as a short team building residential for year 7 in the first few weeks of the new academic year; a leadership course for year 12 at the end of their first year of study in KS5, so we can train everyone to be leaders, and identify the best leaders for year 13. I would like to see us take students on residential events as part of their curriculum under themes such as water sports, outdoor and adventurous activity (mountains), and ecology and environmental awareness in the jungle. I really do hope that these ideas are things that excite you. Look out for the survey and give it your support. Miss Todd is also working on how we not only reward students who regularly demonstrate our strong values, but also how they can record them. This will initially be for KS3 for a January launch in preparation for the new academic year. At this stage we hope to widen this even further for a whole school strategy. Year 13 are now fast approaching their mock exams which will take place at the end of November. This sounds like a long time away but it is not. These are super important as the outcomes will drive the actual predicted grades connected with applications for next year. Staff are preparing he exam scripts now, and in the next week or so will share topics etc. to allow the best preparation to encourage positive outcomes. We are also looking at how we can safely deliver elements of our calendar where normally the whole school and parents are involved. Secondary leadership has met with school leadership and the students who drive ‘Spirit Week’ have also met to plan a strategy. We are extremely grateful for their leadership and commitment to their very important CAS projects. Next week there will be more information on the plans and events taking place on Bonfire Spirit Night. We are determined that our students will have an amazing experience parading and performing. Remember, if you have news regarding your son or daughter, do please drop me a line with an image as I will be very happy to share their success here in the newsletter. With more things opening up students are able to return to their passions. Year 11 Year 11 have all managed to make it back into school and into physical classes. It has been great meeting students that I taught last year but never met. It is their final year of their IGCSEs, so incredibly important. I have started a form competition to encourage them to revise on the website/ app SENECA. Next time I can hopefully update you on how they have been doing. You are right, Ms Sawyers, it has been a total pleasure to have students again in class, definitely, human contact is indispensable to learn appropriately. Now, we are all at school since Berni, Dome, and Fede have finally incorporated into on-site school. Feeling the warmth of students in class is the perfect way to encourage both -students and teachers- to build knowledge and to experience through them. In Spanish Literature, we finally get to the end of Gioconda Belli’s poetry in which we have found several meanings that comes to us through the metaphoric and all figurative language of different themes that affects human beings; at first, they seemed to be just Nicaraguans or Latin Americans, but then, we could understand that all those are conflicts that are phased by many humans around the world like unfair, gender conflict, migration, dictatorship, motherhood, or the coming old age. Spanish Literature class are now preparing a fantastic project of Art and poetry in which they will give their own perceptions of Gioconda Belli’s poetry. On the other hand, in LLS this week, year 11 had the pleasure of guest speaker Ms. Sofia León coming in to talk to them about Alcohol. It was a great opportunity for the students to reflect about the effects and risks of drinking alcohol and how to deal with the social pressure that more than once forces young people and adults to drink alcohol and live really dangerous moments that can mark their lives forever. Ms Sawyers and I, as Y11 tutors, are sure that this 2021-2022 school year will be a magnificent one. At the moment, students are coming back to their normal study habits, but strengthened by the hard life lessons the world and themselves have experienced due to COVID pandemic. Students in year 11 have been invited to compete in a revision competition on SENECA, a free online learning platform. Ms Sawyers has invited teachers to detail the specification that the year 11s are studying and she will be setting up the page for the form to spend time revising each week to encourage them to plan and organise their study time and prepare, little by little, for their final IGCSE exams. Mrs. Rocío Rueda and Miss Natalie Sawyers Have a wonderful week everyone.
Lee Moors Head of Secondary
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
CategoriesArchives
May 2024
|