WelcomeI think we can all agree that starting a learning year online is much harder than going into lockdown when all your systems and processes are already running – and particularly given the hopes we may have had in June that we would be together again in August. That was not the case and now we are still working hard together to keep learning whilst we refine our protocols and processes for the day when we can welcome you all back to the campus. This week we are able to enjoy some rest and relaxation and this is as important as ever – if not more so. The most recent LAHC conference we attended online was a keynote by Natasha Devon and her tips about mental wellbeing were really interesting too. She shared a range of different ways to self-care – to look after ourselves and keep our wellbeing muscles strong and functioning. I am sure you have seen and tried many of these methods already but a reminder is always useful. She also shared some of the really useful websites for mental wellbeing and - in particular – supporting young people so this might also be of interest to you. We were also able to listen to the well-known writer and researcher John Hattie talking about how learning from home has changed many ways we do things. He suggested three great questions and these work for everywhere really – in school, online and at home. What not try these as part of the excellent support work that is taking place at home – just change the I to you.
Have a wonderful break and see you on November 4th as usual. 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 Ms. Sara Avent, Mr. Rodrigo Samaniego and Y13A students from Secondary and Mr. Kevin Dobson and Ms. Antonella Coronel from Primary. Ms. Sara Avent, Mr. Rodrigo Samaniego – Year 13A tutors The last week or so has been extremely challenging for Year 13. It saw the deadline for their Extended Essays, an intensive 4000-word research project which gives them the opportunity to research a topic they are particularly passionate about. This is a part of the core component of the IB DP and can be extremely challenging. Various Internal Assessment deadlines have added to this challenge pushing students in their self-management skills. Despite all of these challenges and pressures, our Year 13s are also completing and participating actively in various classwork and homework assignments. Although these times are challenging, the successful completion of these tasks can be hugely rewarding and develop in our students’ skills that will serve them well when they move onto the next stage of their lives. With the recent completion of the EE deadline, Mr Samaniego and I asked Year 13a to share some of their top tips for dealing with the challenging workload presented by the IBDP, but I think these tips are well suited to any student no matter what year or program of study they are currently in. Tomas: “To manage deadlines I set alarms in my phone reminding me to begin homework or IAs. And I also have a planner in which I write the deadlines and the homework.” Gala: “I don't procrastinate and I have priorities so there is sometimes work that I don't have the time to do.” Sofia: “Manage your time carefully in terms of social and academic life - make sure there is a balance, but also prioritize.” Anna: “I think my advice would be to do what we can and if we can't finish by the deadline, do not stress about it, kindly ask for another reachable deadline and keep on going with the work.” Fabricio: “One way to manage deadlines is to have a pre-planned schedule for the whole month and add the deadlines that are given.” Maria Paz: “Trust yourself, and do not stress too much about your IAs or your extended essay, it is not as hard as you think it is, as long as you try to finish on time and dedicate as much time as possible to your work, you will make it.” Bianca: “Create a planner so that you can organize the tasks you need to complete and make sure you are giving yourself time to relax. When meeting deadlines for essays or writing tasks make sure to separate your work so that you don't feel overwhelmed. Allow yourself to have the best chance in analyzing and doing investigations in your Extended Essay and IA's.” Martinna: “Be aware of important official deadlines in advance and put them into your calendar a week before the actual deadlines. Be realistic with your to-do lists, so if you need to make an essay don’t just write “do essay”, instead write your specific steps: write introduction, complete bibliography, research x thing for paragraph 1.” Mikaela: “Use an agenda to be able to write down all the deadlines you have and to see how long you have to prepare. Have prepared ideas that you like for your IA and so it will be easier to investigate and develop your work, then you have to like the topic you chose, because if not, it will be difficult to focus or look for it.” Nico: “If you know that there is an upcoming deadline try and do a bit of work each day, instead of leaving everything until the last day. Also, try and do things early on in case more homework is sent later, for example, finish your university applications early so that you can concentrate on other things later.” Mr. Dobson & Miss Figueroa - Year 5B Over the past few weeks Year 5 have been investigating questions relating to life and migration in Australia as part of our Topic project with the grand title of “Why do people move?”. We started this by analysing an image from Australia and, using the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), children in 5B created, developed, and explored a range of questions relating to the mix of cultures and peoples in Australia. From a list of over 30 questions produced by the class, as well as a range of questions that had been asked in previous lessons relating to migration and Australia’s history, each student chose a question that they would like to investigate as part of a 3-week project. Some of the questions that were chosen included:
As you can see, many of these questions are complex and by no means have one easy answer! So, the children embarked upon a three-week journey of researching information and then transferring that information to detailed, illustrated booklets so that they could display their findings. All that is left now is for the projects to be presented to the rest of the class, a task dedicated to our final week of learning before the October holidays. Below you can see a range of the project submissions, showing the commitment and dedication to detail that 5B have put into these! Ms. Antonella Coronel – Head of EYFS Dear parents, Last week in Early years the children worked on numbers! For us, is it important that the young students learn through experiences, thus the planning document shared weekly offers a wide variety of learning opportunities the children can access through everyday experiences. The Reception class began to practise using numbers lines, some from 1-10 and others all the way to 20! In Nursery, the students worked on counting from 1 to 10 and recognising these numbers as well. Cooking and baking are great ways to encourage mathematics as well as increase vocabulary in any stage of the child’s learning adventure and because of this we implemented cooking activities during our live sessions. During the cooking sessions, each child practised counting, following instructions, sequencing, new vocabulary and fine motor skills. It was a busy week for the students and this will be an even busier short week. We look forward to seeing everyone back after the half term to continue our learning journey together! Kind regards, Ms. Coronel Dates for your Diary
Emma Newman Principal Being BSQ – Primary Update This week we are in school for two days, finishing at 12pm on Tuesday 27th October, with a week’s break to recharge the batteries and enjoy some time with family and friends, before returning to school on Wednesday 4th November at 8am. This break also gives us all an opportunity to spend some time away from the computer and focus on different activities, such as spending time outdoors and reading, artwork and play. Although adults tend not to use the word ‘play’ to describe the activities we do for pleasure, this is exactly what many of these are. Play is when we ‘engage in an activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose’. Although adults can get extremely serious when playing a game, whether it be a board or card game or a game of sport, we do these activities for fun, to relax and without a real end-point or aim. It is extremely important over this break to encourage our children to do the same – to spend time doing things that excite and relax them, that are different from the normal things they do when they are at school and bring them enjoyment. You will already have received contact about the Parent Teacher Conferences on Thursday 12th November – there are no online teaching sessions on that day, with you (and your child, if appropriate) joining with your child’s class teachers for a short conference to discuss their progress, development and next steps. Please do also contact your child’s specialist teachers for Music, PE, Spanish and Sociales directly to make an appointment if you would like to. I wish you and your family a relaxing a peaceful break and look forward to hearing about the different ways your child relaxed over the break when we return. Marcus Madden Head of Primary Being BSQ – Secondary Update Before and after We have all achieved so much this term and I still find it remarkable that as a school our students and staff have delivered learning in such an organized and effective way. I do not write this without a solid evidence base as any researcher worth their salt would do when considering results and what comes next. I look back over the previous entries to this excellent newsletter, and I notice that the themes have always been positive, and reflective of staff and student success. Over the last 2 weeks, amongst other leadership colleagues, we have been looking at the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the school. We really are drilling down into these areas at the lesson level. I have found that every lesson I have been in the students have been super cooperative, flexible and resilient to challenge. This is not new news as I have shared this before. What has struck me is the attendance to lessons, the care and attention that students are putting into their work, and how well they are approaching the learning relationship. I have really enjoyed witnessing this and sharing the experience when reflecting with the teacher after the event. We are really privileged to have such a talented group of staff at BSQ and such eager students, who go above and beyond on the whole to please, and in that process, do the best they can for their teachers. This is beaming out form their work and from what I have seen in lessons. Well done all! Of course, it is not always the case and as in any school there are on occasion teething problems, where new expectations and consistencies are slow to come to terms with. In this circumstance I really do encourage you to raise this quickly to the phase leaders or the teacher themselves: We will do everything in our power to resolve it as quickly as possible. I would always encourage quick action as this prevents problems growing and becoming more chronic, and thus, harder to solve. I am really pleased to report that our drive to encourage the use of cameras is slowly starting to improve. Please help us by keeping the encouragement up at home, as this really is something that is imperative for developing our community and improving wellbeing. I was lucky to witness a Primary class and their focus on verbs in their literacy lesson a couple of days ago. Every student’s camera was on, they were following teacher commands on the camera and demonstrating understanding immediately. The kids were having fun, they were active, they were all included and the teacher was able to positively frame immediate feedback. This enabled the children to quickly achieve their objectives. Without the cameras these things would not have been achieved in the same way– lessons learnt for Secondary! I am pleased to hear that some of our children are spending time together in other houses and with friends for lessons during the week. This is wonderful and of course, the benefits to wellbeing are enormous. On the whole this works well, but please do support us with a little supervision occasionally, especially with younger students. We need to be careful that this does not become a distraction as well. We are in the throes of Spirit Week and the fundraising drive. Do please make donations to the students chosen charity and encourage involvement where possible. I look forward to the pictures and reports from Ms Montenegro and the team. Well done to them for their organization and for their drive in this important event. Year 13 are under an enormous pressure right now with essays, university applications and many other demands form their subject teachers. We are looking at ways we can help them organize themselves, and key staff are giving additional 1:1 time where it is needed. Please be aware of the signs of anxiety and stress at home and do pass this on if you are getting concerned. It is a tough time and we all need to work together to help them through it. Holidays are good for rest, catching up and planning ahead for pinch points. Encourage to do lists and timetables that outline their personal challenges. Often, anxiety at this stage is caused by the pressure of the size of the to-do list. There can be procrastination and inevitably with this approach, the problem gets worse and far more serious to solve. If you make a start you are getting control – if you feel in control the anxiety subsides. Encourage the start and help them plan – it is so important right now. Finally, do please look out for the booking process for the forthcoming parent teacher conferences. The afternoon of the 10th and the whole day of the 12th November are put aside for this. If you have a teacher who teaches your son/daughter 2 subjects, then I have asked that this is covered in the same meeting. You will be given your appointments in plenty of time prior to the event. Teachers have been asked to set independent learning activities where lessons have been impacted. Any questions or concerns do please contact Sandy who is coordinating this: [email protected] Have a great week and half term break. Whatever you are doing, do please be safe and have a great time. Have a wonderful week everyone. Lee Moors Head of Secondary From the BSQ Counselling Team This week our school counsellor, Andrea Carrera, talks about learning from mistakes: why we need to let children fail.
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