Primary News - September 7 2020 first part

This week we have continued to focus on safety and securing a safe learning environment. We are very proud of our students for the way they have adapted to the changes and have worked together to keep everyone safe. We are extremely fortunate to have had such a good start to the school year: students have been able to enjoy the full range of subjects with their Class Teachers and the Specialist Teachers, they have had the opportunity to connect with their former peers, as well as make new friendships.

Time spent outside in the playground and the woodland area has been very valuable. We encourage students to play outside as much as possible. With the cooler and wetter weather approaching, please ensure that students have appropriate clothing for playing outside or walking to the nearby sports facilities for P.E. lessons. A waterproof jacket or poncho will do the job.

In Primary, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education) is a crucial part of the curriculum. In the first Block, the students reflect upon the School Values of Respect, Empathy, Excellence and Challenge. Teachers and students have talked about respecting the health and safety guidance and why this is important in supporting the whole community as caring, global citizens. The BISL PSHE curriculum promotes the feeling of internationalism and cooperation, and understanding and appreciating differences, through respect and empathy for others.

This week we have started the After-School Supervision for EY, Y1 and Y2 students. We are delighted to be extending this to the Y3 and Y4 students in week 3. We aim to start with activities and clubs after school in week 4 but will continue to review the safety guidelines. More information can be found in the After-School Provision section below. In addition, the third Enrichment Day has been organised for the students this Saturday, 5th September, which will include various activities for students in areas of science, music and art, English, humanities and languages.

We would like to thank all parents for their continued support during this crucial and difficult period, for respecting and following our health and safety guidance and thus helping us to ensure that we can continue to deliver education in person. Please continue to read the Principal Updates on our website for the up-to-date information and guidance.

With best wishes for the weekend,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

In Early Years we are exploring our topic All About Me.

We have begun to experiment with mark-making and painting in Pre-nursery and self-portraits in Reception. Come and see!

Ms Rosa

Year 1

After breaking his thumb, Mr Hughes is happy to be back in the classroom!

Year 1 have made a great start to the year, it has been an amazing first two weeks getting familiar with KS1 from Early Years and getting to know everyone.

We have been doing phonics, developing maths (numbers 0 - 20) this week and in Topic, we have been learning about plants and planting our own.

Mr Hughes

Year 2A

Year 2A has had an awesome week! We have been looking at place value in maths and have been actively participating in lessons. We have been learning outside the classroom with Year 2B, identifying odd and even numbers.

I hope to see the positivity and enthusiasm in Year 2 continue! Well done superstars!

Ms Harris

Year 2B

This week 2B has had an incredible yet busy week! In maths, we have been learning all about different numbers. We have discovered strategies to help us identify odd and even numbers. During Topic, 2B has worked hard with 2A to learn a song All about pirates and we cannot wait to show you in a few week's time!

Ms Miller

Year 3

This week in Topic, the students have been learning about different cultures of the world. They performed the 'Bon Odori' dance from Japan and sang a Russian folk song called Kalinka. The students are also preparing a presentation on one custom from their homelands, which includes presentations on poems, songs, dances and recipes. Watch this space for pictures of the priceless presentations to come.

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4

Year 4 have continued to strengthen their coding skills using functions, loops and commands to navigate mazes using Swift Playgrounds. We have been delving deeper into the Victorian times, learning about unsavoury jobs children were forced to do, such as crossing sweepers (sweeping up horse manure so the wealthy didn't get their clothes dirty), mudlarks (walking waist-deep in stinking mud to try to find some lost coins or metal to sell for food) and chimney sweep helpers (climbing up hot and sooty chimneys to scrub them clean, hoping they didn't get stuck). We also learned about life in the workhouses for the homeless and orphans, eating gruel (watery porridge with chunks of fat) and their strict rules. Overall, this unit is making the Year 4 children very happy that they live in modern times in comfortable conditions.

Mr Bishop

Year 5A

Y5 have been enjoying our 2nd week tremendously. It was enthusiasm galore with our researching, designing and making of the children’s chosen habitats.

In maths we have been adding, subtracting and rounding different sized numbers. Mai-Ling’s adventures have provided a great read in our English classes.

Mr Walker

Year 5B

PEER ASSESSMENT

Year 5B wrote their Recounts using the Year 5 writing target rubric and tried their hardest to include targets, such as figurative language, joined neat handwriting and paragraphs to name a few. They then self-assessed their work; looking at each target and then deciding whether they were beginning to achieve that target, developing or mastering it. Their peers were given the same task but had to do it online. Each student took photos of their work and uploaded them to the Recount assignment on Canvas. The peers that were assigned to each other then looked at their 'to-do list' on Canvas and saw they needed to complete a peer review using the online rubric. For each target they assessed, they needed to write comments about why they marked the target as they did e.g.:

• mastering - showing examples of what they put into their work
• beginning - discussing where they could have used a comma

In this way, they showed they were reviewing their peers' work. Some of the thoughtful comments included:

"Your holidays sounded amazing. Please improve your handwriting, because I can barely read some of your sentences."

"Your handwriting was EXCELLENT. If there was a 20 I'd give it to you. There were some spelling mistakes and a medium use of commas."

Year 5 are looking forward to reviewing their next pieces of work and continuing to improve the way they give constructive feedback.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 6

Year 6 students have started the year with an exciting topic called "Brainy Backpackers”. We will be finding out about our responsibilities as tourists, and the impact that our choice of holiday and travel destination can have on the human and physical environment. The students have started studying the names of the countries in Europe and will expand to other continents as the unit progresses.

We are using the "Seterra Geography" - Free Map Quiz website for those of you who are interested in participating at home.

Mr Kokalj

PE News

This week, students in PE were rollerblading. The first task for all students was to take rollerblading equipment to our sports facilities. Next task was to put on all the safety equipment (helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist pads) and rollerblades. After that, students learned how to fall and get up correctly, and after students covered all the basics, they had a lot of fun doing various activities with their rollerblades.

To sum up, there were a lot of big smiles and a lot of excitement in this week's PE lessons.

PE Department

MFL

In Slovene classes, Y5 and Y6 got to know each other better through diverse activities.

The first group travelled around the world while answering questions about themselves. The second group drew butterflies and talked about their birthdays.

The third group wrote down their likes in Slovene and their mother tongue. Well done students!

Slovene Department

The After School Provision

In week 3 we continue with supervision for:

• Early Years (age 3+) until 16:30
• Y1 and Y2 until 15:40
• Y3 and Y4 until 15:40

To register go to form *

To register go to form *

* for students already registered this is NOT necessary

In week 3 we open supervision for:

To register go to form

PTA

If any parents are interested in the role within the PTA, please email the Principal directly.

Dear Parents,

As we approach the end of our two-week transition back to school, it gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect upon the return to lessons, the safety of the school and our wider community.

We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support, encouragement, and best wishes for this term ahead. I would like to thank all parents for this positive start to our Academic year. It has been a pleasure to speak to the students each morning at drop off and ask them about their teachers, lessons and how they have settled back into school. I am very proud of all staff who have hit the ground running with a huge amount of energy, enthusiasm and dedication to help our students focus on their learning and further experiences that all children should be able to embrace as much as possible.

Perhaps now more than ever, it is essential that children are allowed to enjoy their learning, to think and talk about school life, interact with their friends and teachers, and to have lessons in a 'normal' classroom environment as far as possible.

All safety measures are put in place to protect our whole community. Some are less obvious 'behind the scenes', some can be explained to students, while some may be trickier to talk through, especially for our younger students to understand. Nonetheless, they mean we do our best and encourage our students to focus on enjoying their learning, their face to face interactions with those around them and the incredible moments they share in class. Some conversations are for adult ears only, while some should be with students. To differentiate these is a challenge but paramount during this time as we protect, support and help our students. Safety measures discussed in a positive, calm and constructive manner will help in most situations and I thank parents for your steadfast support with this. For now, all around the world, this is unfortunately the situation that students need to get used to.

The safety measures in place at BISL and further changes are includedin my update.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal