Primary News - September 28 2020

Dear Parents and Students,

We have come to the end of our first Block and while so much has happened over the past five weeks, this last week has been particularly exciting.

To conclude the theme of this Block, students participated in various Maths activities and competitions, including the Maths Treasure Hunt, organised by our Primary Maths Coordinator Mr Bishop. Students had lots for fun while learning new Mathematical skills along the way.

Today was our House Colour Dress Down Day, to further celebrate the values of team-work, collaboration. Students continued to collect the House points throughout this Block. Well done to the Hessonite House for winning the top place in Block 1. Through various activities in their language lessons, students also learned about the European Day of Languages (EDL) celebrated across Europe on the 26th of September every year.

The Student Elections took place across Primary to select students for the roles of the Head Boy and Head Girl, the Primary Head of Student Council, the Y6 Prefects and the Class Student Council Representative. Students all the way from Early Years were involved in casting their votes, along with the teachers. The results of the elections are below and we would like to thank all of the students that put a great effort into applying for the positions. Special congratulations go to the elected candidates, who will be supporting students in many different ways and will be representatives of the student's voice in Primary.

We wish all students and their families a good break next week, to stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to seeing you again on Monday 5th October.

Kind wishes,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

We proudly present the all-new 2020-21 Head Boy and Head Girl. A well-deserved achievement!

Head Boy - Jakob P.

Head Girl - (Maria) Minako T.

Congratulations, we look forward to working with you this year. We're sure you will do us proud!

We would also like to announce this year's Prefects and our new Primary Head of Student Council.

Early Years: Sasha C.

Year 1: Katarina E.

Year 2: Cyprian G.

Year 3: Robert S.

Year 4: Muhamed H.

Year 5: Dalen K.

Year 6: Denis Y.

Library Prefects: Liza R., Nastya G., Milena L.

Primary Head of Student Council: Shaun W.

The students are more than ready for such a challenge, and we were all so impressed by their initiative in pursuing these wonderful new roles.

Congratulations to everybody!

Mr Kokalj, Year 6 Class-teacher

What an exciting two weeks of preparation we have seen from the Year 6's both inside and out of their classroom. Thirteen of the students have risen to the challenge of applying for positions of responsibility in looking after the younger members of Primary. These roles include the prestigious Head Boy of Primary and Head Girl of Primary, the Primary Head of Student Council, the four House Captains (Zircon, Hessonite, Sapphire & Emerald) and the Prefects for each year group in Primary, including Early Years. The students who wished to be candidates for Head Boy and Head Girl had to first write letters explaining why they would make the best candidates for the position; including past experience, their motivations for wanting the position and their best qualities. These letters were reviewed by Mr Walton, who can be quoted as saying ("The quality of their presentation and their articulation of ideas were of a high standard. I was particularly impressed by how often they would mention they were interested in helping others and how often they referred to the school values.") The nine candidates then went on to create posters to catch the voters' eyes. The creativity and wit were much appreciated by the students but perhaps even more so by the teachers. They then moved on to creating videos to stand out in the voters' memories for when the ballot papers were in front of the students and teachers. The videos were outstanding and highly entertaining; the level of editing in many of the videos was outstanding, including the use of subtitles for the hearing impaired. Many of the candidates focused heavily on the BISL school values and how the students would ensure they lived up to these values in their new roles.

The days of voting finally came, in which each class was given their ballot papers and needed to circle their choices for Head Girl and Head Boy, and pop their ballot into the official ballot box. As any good democratic vote happens, each student was given privacy and anonymity for their voting. All the votes were then counted and re-counted to find out who the winning candidates are. Once this was established, the rest of the roles were designated according to the best fit of the individuals to the rest of the roles.

Thank you to all students and staff who voted and for parents for supporting their children in their campaigns. We wish the new candidates the very best of luck in fulfilling their new duties.

Mrs Charlesworth

Early Years

This week we have taken every opportunity to count and practice our numbers!

We even had a numbers treasure hunt and found some very big numbers!

Miss Miklavec

Year 1

This week Year 1 thought about Native plants and animals during Topic, and each student presented their findings to the whole class.

Ms Blundell

Year 2A

Year 2 has had a fantastic end to the first block! We became Pirates for our first Topic day and went on an exploring Pirate adventure. It was a blast! We created some pirate art, sang songs and had a fantastic pirate picnic. It was a lovely end to our first topic. This block, Year 2 has been working hard in all areas of the curriculum, both as a team and individually.

I am looking forward to the next block and the adventures it'll bring.

Ms Harris

Year 2B

What an incredible week we have had in year 2! This week, we took flight and visited South America. We learnt all about the different countries, cultures and languages. In literacy, we ate some popcorn and used our knowledge of adjectives to describe what it tasted, smelt, felt, looked and sounded like. We had a fantastic end to block 1. Have a great break and see you in block 2!

Ms Miller

Year 3

This week in Year 3, the students studied some inspirational historical figures from around the world. The aim of the project was that the students might identify what makes a person inspirational and what their actions might inspire others to do. This led to some interesting discussion as the students identified the different ways in which they have been inspired by the actions of people they researched. That concludes the 'Different Places, Similar Lives' topic, which has been a very enjoyable and fruitful experience for the students. We look forward to the next block and examining the role of chocolate in the world today.

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4

Year 4 have completed their games this week and have had a great time playing each other's games to determine which games have a great playability factor, with the right combination of challenge, fun, visual appeal and the, 'I have to play that again!' factor. I am glad to say that all passed this stringent test. They have also had a great time completing a maths treasure hunt, and we will be going over a few of the more difficult upper primary challenge questions in our regular Problem Solving Friday classes.

Everyone is excited to start the holidays, and I look forward to hearing about all their exciting adventures when they return- maybe even involving some snowball fights if the weather prognosis can be trusted!

Mr Bishop

Year 5A

This week Y5 have written their final writing assessment using the success criteria to create a new adventure for Mai Ling. The highlight for many of the children was the Math scavenger hunt which took the children around the whole school to find Math clues and solve brain teasers.

Topic has involved implementing a design to create a new living thing. What a first block it has been.

Mr Walker

Year 5B

MAI-LING, THE DRAGON SLAYER, VISITS YEAR 5B

Year 5B had a special guest visitor to one of their English lessons this week. Mai-Ling, herself, stepped out of the adventure story 'The Dragon Slayer' to speak personally to the year 5's. Before she ventured into our classroom, the students created a list of open questions for the character, using a tracing of their hand to help them think of - what, where, why, when and how questions with each finger representing a question. Once there, one by one, she was asked for her answers to their questions. At the end of her visit, there was the opportunity for the students to have a selfie taken with Mai-Ling, the famous slayer, as well as get her autograph.

We look forward to Mai-Ling popping in for another visit soon, hopefully before the students write their own episodes for Mai-Ling defeating an ogre.

Mrs Charlesworth

PE News

This week in P.E, pupils had to show how much they have learned in rollerblading classes. Firstly, pupils had to show how to properly put all the safety equipment on, and perform proper falling and standing technique. Secondly, pupils had to show their balance, changing direction, low bridge, and stopping with their break on the rollerblades.

The P.E. teachers are looking forward to the next block of P.E., where students will engage with football. We wish you a great block break and see you in Block 2.

PE Department

MFL News

»Happy European Day of Languages« our curious students would say. This Saturday, 26th of September, we are celebrating 18th European Day of Languages.

Our BISL is an intercultural setting of learning because of our keen students and staff who come from all over the world. We took a lesson or two to acquaint each other with our mother tongues and acknowledge them! Furthermore, we expressed our creativity on paper. Zelo zanimivo!

Miss Košec

On Saturday, 26th of September we celebrate the European day of languages, which is why the primary students learned about the similarities and differences between different European languages at the end of the week.

In this photo, they are trying to say a few phrases, pronounce specific sounds, and read some tongue twisters during a Slovene lesson.

Mrs Begić

EAL News

The EAL programme got off to a fantastic start in this first block. As we completed most of the evaluations within a fortnight, we were able to start our work in the third week. A few lessons and one or two icebreaker activities later and the students were already bonding within their EAL groups. It is marvellous to see so many ideas, cultures and languages in one classroom and we are all excited to see what the next block will bring!

Mr Siter

PRIMARY STUDENT COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES 2020/2021

Thank you to all of the students that applied for the role of student council representatives, it was wonderful to hear of so many students wanting to be the voice for their classes. Congratulations to the following students:

• Early Years: Titus B.
• Early Years: Isabella S.
• Year 1: Valeria I. S.
• Year 2A: Daryus A. M.
• Year 2B: Jenna E.
• Year 3: Hanna K.
• Year 4: Ela R. D.
• Year 5A: Darya A. M.
• Year 5B: Kristina I. S.
• Year 6: Shaun W.

Maths Treasure Hunt

This week, students across the primary school and preschool participated in a maths treasure hunt in order to celebrate maths, which was the subject in focus during Block 1.

Early Years had to find a variety of items matching given descriptions around the classrooms and school building.

Years 2, 3 and 4 had to follow a trail of cryptic clues around the school in order to locate envelopes containing maths problems. Years 5 and 6 did a similar task, however they had to solve a variety of more challenging puzzles and tasks in order to find the final location of the 'treasure'. Some enthusiastic Year 4's also decided to challenge themselves and participate in the more difficult treasure hunt, which was fantastic to see. We will be going over these challenges in our regular Problem Solving Friday sessions.

Mr Bishop

MEPI News

Participate in the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for Young People (MEPI)

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, known in Slovenia as MEPI, is a non-formal education and learning framework operating in more than 130 countries and territories around the world, through which young people’s achievements outside of academia are recognised and celebrated. Please click here to find out more about the award and its benefits.

On Monday 5th October 3 – 3:40pm in Room 310 there will be a MEPI Meeting for all current participants as well as any new students who are interested in joining the MEPI programme – come along to find out more. Also, feel free to contact our MEPI Coordinator, Mr Irving if you’d like to join the programme or for more information.

Dear Parents,

Today we have celebrated ‘House Day’ at school. Our House days are designed to bring the community together in different ways, across year groups and schools, to foster further collaboration, social interaction and discussion. Also, of course, House points! As well as opportunities to embrace competitions and various activities.

Further information will be sent out regarding COVID safety measures after all guidance is checked through the block break. With cases rising even higher, this gives us time to further plan and prepare for different circumstances. All our online courses will be reviewed again during the block break.

Thank you to all parents for your patience, support, and flexibility as we have ended our Block 1. Overall, it has been very successful in many ways with an abundance of positivity, energy, new friendships, and some wonderful learning experiences.

To read my update in full, please click here.

Thank you for making this such a good first block and I hope you have a restful, relaxing and recharging week.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal