Primary News - April 18 2020

Another busy week continues with numerous online learning activities provided by teachers in all areas of the school. More online sessions have started this week, including the Catch-Up sessions and Q&A time to give students the opportunity to ask teachers for help and share their work. I would like to thank parents for their encouragement and positive feedback, which has helped us to make further improvements. These are outlined in the weekly updates from the Principal. There have naturally been many questions or concerns regarding online learning during this difficult period of time and I would urge parents to continue to communicate with their child’s class teachers, who can support them first-hand during this stressful period.

In week 2 and 3, the teachers will focus on assessing students and their progress so far in Term 3. Alongside daily and weekly assessment of students’ work and engagement in the online sessions, teachers will organise various tests for students in KS2 (Y3-Y6) to complete online. With younger students in EY and KS1 (Y1-Y2) this will involve verbal assessments during the online sessions and assessment of feedback from the students.

Parents who wish to discuss their child’s progress via the Parent-Teacher virtual interviews in week 4, can book the slots with class teachers (core subjects) or specialist teachers (Slovene and French) until Friday 24th April.

Don’t forget St. George’s Day next Thursday, 23rd April. How will you celebrate the great patron saint of England's triumph in fighting dragons and saving princesses? You can find some fun and educational online activities here. Share with us your ideas and photos!

Have a lovely weekend and continue to look after yourself,

Mrs Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years' current Topic, Animals, is proving to be very interesting and a lot of fun! Combining Topic and Maths, the Early Years students collected data about their favourite pets.

The students were then challenged to create a graph displaying the data. The children got to work at home and came up with a variety of different types of graphs. Here are some of them. Well done Early Years!

Mrs Paradiž and Ms O'Hara

Dear Y1, a BIG thank you for all your hard work, I'm so proud of you!

In topic, we have continued our theme of toys, this week focusing on geography. Naming the 7 continents and researching what country our favourite toys originated from.

We have been getting busy in maths, creating resources to help our learning. We made DIY number lines, making adding money easy.

Next week we will continue with our live phonics lessons, toy topic, money and introduce a mixed literacy and mindfulness lesson.

Thank you to all parents and the wider year 1 team for your support!

Good luck in your Kahoot quiz Y1!

Mr Hughes

Year 2 have had another fantastic week, they have continuously been working hard both independently and collaboratively as they progress through Block 6.

In Literacy, we have had some fantastic writing and the class have come up with some imaginative ways to apply their learning. Well done Year 2.

Ms Harris

It was another great week in year 3 with the students embracing distance-learning and producing much creative and original work.

Well done to Ela and Alana who are pictured above, presenting their new sports called 'jumping ball' and ´rolling´ respectively, for the upcoming Home Olympics.

We also had some wonderful contributions from Mark and Eva B who sent in pictures of 3D shapes that they made from different surfaces around their home.

Well done to everyone in year 3 for your fantastic contributions this week. Keep up the good work :)

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4 concluded their presentations on famous explorers this week and they were followed up by several student's online Kahoot quizzes which they made to test our listening and observation skills. A big thank you to all the students who gave very informative and detailed descriptions about many interesting people who can be an inspiration for us all in terms of their determination to succeed despite overwhelming challenges.

Science experiments are in full swing this week with students testing different protective cases for eggs, making rock candy, experimenting with gummy bears in different solutions, making invisible ink and many other exciting tasks which can easily be done at home. Next week, students will again take the stage and present their own science experiments to the class via Zoom.

I have been very impressed with the ongoing engagement from all students in Year 4 and their continued commitment to producing outstanding work across the curriculum. Keep up the great attitude!

Mr Bishop

This week year 5 have been delving into the world of persuasive writing by identifying writing techniques that try to convince us of a certain point of view. Children have subsequently used these techniques to develop their own points of view and present them to the class. In Maths, children have been using common multiples to facilitate an easier comparison between fractions with different denominators.

With the help of our map reading god (Mr Irving), children have been exploring 6 figure grid references and contour LINES, so that Y5 now have the skills to lead us to different landmarks without using google maps!

Mr Walker

A collection of poems and one-liners from the poems the students in Year 6A wrote this week.

TERRORS

Hearing the terrors of the war,

Saw trouble by

Each new victim of the combat

But somewhere is the one soul

That remembers but can never

It's drooping branches more

Peter

Smoke bursting out of the shattered windows, like a witch is making a spell

Anastasiya

I heard gunshots in the background, closer and closer

Rem

Gone with the smoke!

Tian

Curtains blowing shrouds from the dark shadows.

Valentin

Mrs Charlesworth

This week the students have started their learning journey on programming. They will be using an app called Hopscotch to learn the basics. This app was built on the principle that anyone can become a great programmer.

As we move forward in our ‘Digital Gamers’ topic, we will also be using Minecraft Education to practice design and work collaboratively. Our first assignment was to create a code for a simple game called the ‘Crossyroad’. The objective is clear: Move your character and cross the busy road.

This simple game has introduced events, sequences, and loops, through helping a character navigate across a busy street.

Big Idea: If you can code, you can make things that you like and use, and that may not have existed before. Coding is a superpower!

https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/10uvpejcv5 (Copy this URL into your browser to play the game created by one of our students in Year 6B).

Enjoy!

Mr Kokalj

This week, the Year 5 students have been learning how to write a piece of persuasive text. They have started preparing their arguments for and against a stadium being built in the city of Denton. As you can see in the picture, the discussion in their EAL lesson became quite heated!

I look forward to seeing their finished pieces of writing as the students all have very valid points of view!

Mrs Majzelj Kralj

Our students and staff, as well as many parents at home, were expected to read for longer periods of time from screens on their devices in the last couple of weeks. Depending on the increase in time spent reading, the eyes needed adjusting to the stress. This can be experienced as tired, watery, itchy eyes. Consequently, it is difficult to keep up and do more work. Something that students and people with reading and writing difficulties experience almost every day in their lives.

Can you imagine having 'heavy' or 'itchy' eyes and still needing to put a lot more energy into reading, as you haven't finished due to slower reading or mixing letters, syllables, lines of text and similar? It would probably look something like this:

Distance Learning can present even a bigger challenge for a person with reading and writing difficulties. The light of the screen and the white and black contrast in the text present a great strain for eyes. Sometimes it helps to read in a darker room, sometimes it helps to adjust the screen brightness. When possible, it might help to have colour printouts of the text.

When stuck with having to read from your screen for a long time, you can try a Virtual coloured ruler. The idea originates from specialists working with Dyslexic students and students with Irlen or Scotopic syndrome. Irlen syndrome can be present with students experiencing difficulties reading and reading comprehension, difficulties focusing, difficulties processing depth of 3d objects, light sensitivity, tiredness working with computers and under neon light. A person has difficulties due to the way the brain processes visual information. The specialists have proven that specific colour combinations help and make reading easier. To find the perfect colour or combinations, people need to have a thorough assessment.

However, having tired eyes and still needing to do more, you can try if having a reading colour ruler on your screen might help you. It is a software that colour codes the desired segment the person is reading, making it stand out or changing the colour of the screen a person is looking at to make the reading easier. You can add an extension on your Chrome search engine (Reading rulerdownload) or download onehere.

SEN Department

Year 4 students have been using their mathematical knowledge as well their French skills the last two weeks. Indeed, they have been learning how to ask what time it is and answer this question in French.

Their project was to create a domino game for the class. Like this, we will be able to play all together when we will be back to school. We can't wait!

Mrs Poulet

Dear Students and Parents,

The PE Department would like to thank you for all the workout photos and videos you have sent to us. Please keep on doing this so we can see the attendance and the progress of the students.

HOUSE COMPETITION:

We have received some amazing weekly scores from different challenges. Here are the weekly high scores:

• Balance challenge: 2min 15 sec
• Wall ball toss: 17 passes
• Marathon: 6000 meters
• Push up: 31 push-ups
• Soccer juggling: 24 times
• The plank: 5 minutes

Please keep on posting your scores and help your House win the competition.

PE LIVE SESSION:

Each morning members of the PE Department host a live stream with various different activities depending on the day of the week, these can be found below:

Note that the PE Department is monitoring the student attendance which will have an effect on students Attitude to learning grade.

CANVAS:

We have now permanently moved over to Canvas and will only be accepting submissions through this platform. Please log in to CANVAS if you have not done it yet. If you are not sure of your Canvas login, email Mr Damjan where he will provide you with your login and temporary password.

Kind Regards,

PE Department

Y1 were focusing on the first and last syllable in the word as well as drawing a path of Lučka according to the text.

Y2 was working on possessive adjectives: Whose is what. They did a great job even with exceptions!

Y3/4 was working on reading comprehension and how to describe an animal, particularly on keywords.

In Y5/6 we were working with two descriptions of a village or city, Bovec and Ajdovščina.

Well done, everyone.

Slovene Department Team

Dear BISL community,

We need your help to begin the worldwide hunt for teddy bears in Slovenia. The idea is that you place your teddy bears in your window or balcony so that people walking by will spot them. This makes for a great adventure for young children. Please then take photos of your teddy bears in their habitats and of any that you see on walks and share them in our Facebook “We’re going on a bear hunt post” (in comments) - and please feel free to share the initiative by sharing our original Facebook post.

Please take a look at your C4C email for more details, including a slideshow created by Liam (from Year 4).

Happy Hunting!

Mrs Charlesworth & the C4C Team

plus our excited teddy bears.

I must admit that I've been rather missing the Nutrition Room recently, and whilst reminiscing over the delicious delights (and horrifying messes) that our wonderful Primary students (and certain members of staff) have created there, I realised that one proper 'big thank you' had gone amiss

It's been a long time coming, but the BISL Cooking Club would like to extend it's gratitude to Mr Zimmerman for his very generous gift of a fabulous, new Bosch processor.

Under the pressure of time, it has proved invaluable in the execution of many a recipe!

Mr Irving

Early Years

Julia... for taking part so enthusiastically in the maths treasure hunt and for making her own farm!

Tristan... in recognition of his creativity and all his efforts in both the online lessons and the home learning activities this week.

Year 1

Nancy... in recognition of her resilience and dedication to learning, especially in such difficult circumstances. Well done Nancy, Mr Hughes is very proud of you!

Year 2

Adrian... for his continued enthusiasm and his positive attitude in all areas of his work.

Year 3

Ela... for inventing the sport called, ́jumping ball ́, that is safe and easy for others to play and for presenting your project in a clear and effective way.

Alana... for inventing a fun new game called ́rolling ́ and for demonstrating the sport clearly in your video presentation. It is clear you put a lot of thought and effort into this project, so congratulations to you Alana on a well-deserved star of the week award.

Year 4

Vaibhav... for his consistency in completing homework tasks on Canvas in all subjects.

Year 5

Denis...for completion of top classwork in a timely manner even in this difficult time. Thank you for your hard work and dedication, Denis.

Year 6a

Anastasiya...for her wonderful metaphor in her poem; likening the smoke to a witch casting a spell.

Year 6b

Artur...for his continuous efforts to complete all his work in time and making sure it is of consistently high quality. Mr Kokal is also very impressed with his communication skills during our distance learning at BISL. The letters he sent to other members of the class and his teacher show how polite and respectful he is. Well done Artur!

A special Star of the week award from Caring for the Community Club

Liam... for his wonderful attitude and support that he always provides in C4C, Mrs Charlesworth would like to thank him for the slideshow he prepared at the drop of the hat and in no time at all, during his holiday.

House Points

Last week it was a very close call, and once again the extra activities points came a long way and whipped the winning place and gave the leader board a whole different look! Year two have clearly impressed Miss Harris this week and their points also bumped up the points a lot, so well done Year 2! Without further ado, as you have probably skipped reading this in excitement anyway...

Emerald have taken the lead again with115 points!

• In second place is Sapphire with 98 points,
• In third place is Zircon with 79 points,
• In fourth place is Hessonite with 63 points.

Well done everybody, and don't forget every single point, for all your efforts, in all ways, can make a difference to not only to your learning but also the house point winners!

Dear Parents,

I would like to continue to update you each week and these will be sent out directly every Friday, as we continue to work together during this challenging time. For links to the previous 3 articles, please click below as they might answer some of your questions and also show the process that we have followed through this transition of learning. Timetables and schedules will continue to be sent out by the Heads of School.

1. Friday 13^thMarch – Frequently Asked Questions
2. Monday 30^thMarch – The Block Break Plan for the 2 Week Evaluation and Key Communication from the School
3. Friday 10^thApril - The Five Improvement Areas created during the block break after the first two weeks of Online Learning.
4. Friday 17^thApril – The FAQs, current processes and the looking ahead for our school.

Current processes

Online Learning

Our Learning Management System(LMS) is CANVAS. Having one common LMS is important to the school and is integral to our School Development Plan. This will make it easier for students in the long-term having familiarity with one area to use and will make learning online more accessible. This has already started in Primary and some areas of Secondary. In our School Development Plan this was scheduled to be completed in June 2020. This has now been accelerated due to the pandemic and we will schedule a seamless transition over the coming weeks during block 6 to facilitate this. We are delighted to announce plans to introduce CANVAS into Year 1 and 2 for parents to access student work as suggested.

E- Safety at BISL

We have shared our Online Learning Policy and also our E-Safety at BISL page . We also commit to not publishing images of students without permission or videos to assess publicly. If you would like to opt out of sharing images/videos, please contact our admissions team: admissions@britishschool.si

Looking Ahead

Monitoring Health Advice

We are continuing to monitor the situation daily, checking areas of guidance and how this is changing over our period of time during Online Learning. Health Guidance, Advice and Support from British and Slovenian authorities as well as the World Health Organisation are regularly referenced to make sure that we stay up to speed with any developments.

School Site

The access is currently suspended for students to the site. We have plans in place to make sure that the school is maintained, clean and safe over this time. Regular checks are taken to make sure that we are as ready as can be before students are allowed back on site.

Reopening

We will only reopen the school when we receive official government authorisation. We will consider the guidance when restrictions are lifted, carefully follow the advice from the government, authorities and our School Board. All parents will be communicated at the same time, via email. We all miss the face to face interactions with students and our priority remains the health, safety and wellbeing of our community.

Communication

Please continue to check email as the primary method to contact all parents. A lot of information is sent out and this is the main channel of communication to make sure that all members of the community are informed at the same time. A gentle reminder to check your inbox, spam folders and space on your devices to make sure that you receive all communications. If you change your email address, please contact admissions@britishschool.si

Further updates

During these difficult times, the staff have been encouraged and uplifted by messages of goodwill and support received from parents, students and the wider community. It is a pleasure to read these and I deeply appreciate all feedback to the staff and students to acknowledge how they have approached this unique situation.

Student Progress, Exams and Teacher Conferences

During this time, students will not be penalised for a lack of progress due to resources, access or working from home. We ask that all students are engaged in online learning, attend classes, complete work to the best of their ability and communicate with teachers if they require any feedback. This applies to parents who have any questions about the teaching, tasks covered in class or content covered. Emailing to the teacher in the first instance is the best way to discuss and reassure during this time. Whilst we continue the transition to CANVAS as a consistent Learning Management System, we encourage all teachers to continue to use their own personal style, creativity and energy in the lessons to give as much variety as possible for the students.

Additionally, Cambridge exam information for Secondary school students has been emailed out by Mr. Batson. jason.batson@britishschool.si For all Primary and Secondary students to receive feedback on their progress in lessons, this can be discussed with parents and teachers at the upcoming Virtual Parent/Teacher (student) Interviews in Week 4. Heads of School have emailed out information regarding how to sign up for these.

After School Activities/Music Lessons

For information/questions about after school activities/music lessons, please contact petra.skofic-damjan@britishschool.si and cc accounts@britishschool.si.

Financial Payments

If any parents have any questions or require advice/support with financial payments for school fees, please contact the school immediately, accounts@britishschool.si

Feedback

Thank you for this feedback and please keep these kind words coming. We will continue to celebrate and share the work produced by students and share this with you through our social media channels, website and emails.

We hope that out of this pandemic, we emerge stronger, valuing the interactions with others and believing in our values to bring about a greater emphasis on care, understanding and compassion.

Thank you for your support during this challenging time and I hope you have a good weekend. I have included a video below with some messages and thanks for you to view during this time.

Stay safe and take care.

Kind regards,

Mr Walton

Principal