Primary News - June 27 2020

Dear Parents and Students,

With only a few days remaining before the end of the school year and some new measures coming into effect, please continue to follow the school’sguidance, as this is paramount in ensuring the safety for the whole BISL community.

The Primary Summer Term Reports will be issued this week including the core subject reports in English, Maths, Topic and Slovene (for natives/advanced groups). The Early Years (EYFS) Reports cover the progress made in the seven key areas of learning and students will also receive a report of progress made in Slovene for both native and non-native speakers. Due to the current situation, we are unable to hold parent-teacher conferences. Should parents have any questions about their child’s progress, please contact your Class Teacher directly before the end of the school year.

The Yearbook 2019-2020 in both online and printed versions will be available soon. Teachers have prepared the class pages with various photos and highlights of the year. Any school events that we have been fortunate to have this year will also be included. More information about accessing and/or purchasing the Yearbook will follow.

Wednesday 1st July is the last school day and the day finishes at 12:00. We ask parents to collect their children promptly as per normal pick-up procedures. Any school belongings (reading/library books, book bags) should be returned to school. Teachers will try to ensure that students take home all of their personal belongings, as all classrooms and cloakrooms need to be empty during the school holiday, to allow for thorough cleaning and tidying of the premises. Please note that parents will not be permitted to enter the school premises. Any items in the lost and found box, which are not labelled, will be placed outside the gate in the pick-up area for parents to look through the missing items. In this case, please park in the nearby car-park and NOT in front of the school/in the pick-up area or line, as this will cause delays and compromise everyone’s safety.

Looking back, it has been a year full of great achievements, despite some very difficult challenges. I could not be more proud of our students and staff who have worked hard to ensure that students not only completed the year successfully but made tremendous progress in so many areas. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to all the parents for their support and encouragement throughout the year.

"Look back and be grateful

Look ahead and be hopeful

Look around and be helpful", my friend said

- Paulo Coelho, Manual of The Warriors of the Light

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!! Early Years students have continued to take advance of the sunny weather this week. We have been going for walks almost every day. On Tuesday this week, the children broke their record and walked almost 4.5km! As it was the last week for some of our children, a special sweet treat awaited the children on Wednesday.

We had a delicious "ice cream picnic". Messy, happy faces all round (teachers included!).

Mrs O’Hara

Year 1

Happy international day BISL community from Y1!

This week we have been learning about oceans, sea life and plastic pollution, as we continued our water topic and linked it to our whole school science block theme.

Check out and subscribe to this awesome video Y1 made about plastic pollution and how you can help:

Have a great weekend and see you all for our final week of school in this academic year!

Mr Hughes

Year 2

In our final week of Year 2, we came to the end of our Topic 'H2O' and our Literacy unit where we have been writing diary entries. All of the children have worked so hard this week and have maintained their focus in their final days of this year.

They have been working in small groups thinking about our class text 'Chatterbox Ben' and preparing for their role plays. Another great week and we are looking forward to these final days in Year 2.

Ms Harris

Year 3

This week was very much assessment week in Year 3, with the students completing written assessments in Maths and English, while also writing a mystery story, which they later edited and published.

To balance all this hard work, the students did some jungle yoga, with poses inspired by animals of the rainforest and in Topic they acted out some aspects of the life cycle of the plant, which they are pictured doing above. Well done to the students for the fantastic effort this week.

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4

It's hard to believe this extraordinary school year has almost come to its conclusion! I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all students who have continued to show great enthusiasm and commitment to their schooling (live and online) this year.

It has been a challenging, but interesting ride, which has given us all a sense of humility and respect for our community, in BISL and beyond. I wish everyone a wonderful summer break, it has definitely been well earned.

I would like to congratulate Darsh for winning the Year 4 times tables championship, with Lai coming second. Darsh almost beat the true champion, Mr Bishop, but better luck next year 😀

Mr Bishop

Year 5

Year 5 made solar ovens this week and tested them in the hot, blazing sun. We have written out our scripts involving a bully in our English classes which we are all excited to act out next week. In Maths, children have been making their own train timetables and testing class members with travel questions. I can't believe next week will be our last, thank you to all of Y5 (children and parents) for all the support this year.

Mr Walker

Year 6A

EXTINCT without us HELPING!

Year 6A had the opportunity to present their ideas to Mrs Železinger about how we as a school can begin to save the world. They thought carefully about the critically endangered animals that they researched and what they could do as Global citizens to make a difference. Four groups of students decided on four different projects:

1. Cycling to school day - students from 6A will try it out first next week and if it is successful get more students involved next school year.
2. Whiteboard tables - use them as an alternative to normal tables to save on the use of paper.
3. Mechanical hand dryers - to limit the amount of paper towel used in the school.
4. Tasmanian Devil Presentation to Primary - to enlighten students about why the Tasmanian Devil is becoming extinct and encourage families to donate to their cause.

More news to follow about their projects soon.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 6B

Today marks the year six’s final graduation event which means that they are leaving primary and will be joining secondary after summer. The headboy Tian and headgirl Frances have prepared a wonderful speech thanking their teachers for their support during their years in primary.

After distributing the graduating certificates, Mrs Železinger addressed the class 2020, congratulating them for their performance in year six and their overall academic success in primary.

Mr Kokalj

PE News

This week the Year 1 students were set a floorball challenge. If they didn't manage to beat the teacher they had to draw a picture. Below are some of the pictures from some students:

Other year groups have been playing games of capture the flag, which has improved their ability to play tactically and strategically. Year 4 joined in with the Year 7 class as they enjoy the game so much during their outside break time.

PE Department

French

Year 3 students had an amazing time doing a French treasure hunt. At each different step of the hunt, they had to complete challenges to show their French knowledge. They did brilliantly! Good job Year 3!

Mrs Poulet

EAL

Our EAL students are on a roll with their reading and they just won't stop!

250 books read on GetEPic! since the start of the Distance Learning period and counting! Well done everyone!

Mrs Majzelj Kralj

Nursery

Sofia Ana… for always helping her classmates without even being asked to.

Reception

Sophia Julija... for being a kind friend and sharing resources with her classmates

Year 1

Tommy... welcome back, you have been missed! Have a great final few days!

Year 2

Leon... for his positive energy and can-do attitude this week

Year 3

Eva... for showing so much determination and perseverance in completing your tests and assignments this week and for taking it upon yourself to complete classroom tasks with great care and attention to detail. Really well done and keep up the good work.

Year 4

Ela... for being the best assistant ever for her help with the pickup register all year.

Year 5

Haruki... for his scriptwriting and general charisma in class

Year 6a

Aleksander... for your skills in performing as a customs officer and an exotic pet smuggler at the same time.

First place is Sapphire with 111 points!

CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS!

Second place with 86 points... Emerald

Third place with 70 points... Hessonite

Fourth place with 57 points… Zircon

CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS!

Second place with 313 points... Emerald

Third place with 286 points... Zircon

Fourth place with 260 points… Hessonite

THE WHOLE SCHOOL YEAR HOUSE WINNER

Here we are in the last full week at school, and it begins thinking about the winner not just for this week, or this block, but for the whole school year. Students have worked very hard this year, through challenging, but also new means of study approach, environment, and technology. For the whole school year house winners, there is usually a VIP party held just for the winning house members, but sadly due to the safety precautions needed during the Covid 19 restrictions, this is not possible. Instead, the house captains will come around to each classroom personally, to present certificates to the winning members. House captains will also resume their well-loved competition games for one last time, to give you a visual representation of which house won, and totals achieved in a video for you to watch from the safety of your own classroom.

We look forward to the final house point demo game from the Captains Next week!

In line with this week’s government announcement that masks will be mandatory indoors, we have decided to reintroduce masks at school for the protection of our community. Safety is our number one priority at the British International School of Ljubljana. Please read Mr Walton's full update here.