Primary News - December 15 2020

It is beginning to feel very festive here at BISL. On Monday, the younger students were surprised with some treats left for them by Sveti Miklavž (St, Nicholas) from his visit on the 6th of December. Both Primary and Secondary students participated in the House Competition this week. Apart from earning House points on the quiz questions, the students shared ideas on slogans and voted for a song to represent their House. We await the full results to be announced on Monday!

Students across Primary have been busy rehearsing and filming various end-of-term performances, be it online or at school, including the Early Years Christmas Play which premiered on Thursday 10th December. With so many stars in the making, we look forward to other upcoming performances to end this term on the festive note.

The Student Council has planned some fun events for Primary students to enjoy at home and in school to get into the festive spirit before the holidays. Watch out for further announcements and check the important dates section below.

Some fantastic artwork has been submitted for the COBIS Art Competition. The deadline has been extended to Monday 14th December, so there is still an opportunity for students to get involved. More information can be found in the sections below.

The parent-teacher online interviews have started this week. If you did not book an appointment through the parent portal, please contact your child’s Class Teacher directly. The interviews provide an opportunity to celebrate our students’ work and their progress.

Next Friday 18th December marks the last day of school. Please note that lessons online and in school finish at 12:00 noon. For students on-site, pick-up time is from 12:00-12:10. The last day is also a Dress Down Day (non-uniform day). Students and staff will be wearing festive clothing to celebrate the theme of Christmas (this can be your favourite winter jumper, Christmas colours or accessories). Please make sure that any reading books are returned to school by Friday (parents can drop these off at reception during next week if students are working from home). Students should take home all of their personal belongings (including water-bottles, uniform, slippers etc.) over the break. Check for any lost items in the Lost and Found box in the primary cloakroom.

Please continue to read the latest news and updates on our website and check your emails for any important announcements.

I wish you all a relaxing weekend and a successful end of the first term.

Kind wishes,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

In Early Years we have been getting into the holiday spirit and we have been writing Christmas cards to our friends and family.

It felt good to be able to use our phonics knowledge in our writing!

Ms Rosa

Year 1

This week, Year 1 have continued to learn about measurement, focusing on weight. On Friday, we were applying our knowledge and measuring skills to make Christmas pancakes!

Year 1 have also been working really hard on learning songs for our Christmas production video, which we look forward to sharing with the BISL community.

Thank you to all parents during the parent-teacher evening this week. It has been fantastic to celebrate all the children's progress with you.

Mr Hughes

Year 3

This week was an eventful week for Year 3 across all the subject areas. One of the highlights of their studies was in Topic where they conducted an experiment to test the best shapes for fish to swim through water. The students made cardboard cutouts of many kinds before dragging them through water-filled basins to test the shape which glided through the water the best. The variety of the methods and materials used were very impressive so well done to all the students for taking part.

Well done also to Maxim who did a great job with his experiment, coming up with a solid design for his cardboard cuttings and writing a well-detailed report!

In additional news, the class will write their version of a science fiction story next week, based around the 'Tale of Two Robots' by Roy Apps, before turning their attention to some Christmas themed reading and writing and in Mathematics, the students have now completed their first unit on multiplication and division, before moving onto unit 2 in Term 2.

Well done to the students for another great week of distance learning, and we are looking forward to a fun-filled final week before Christmas break.

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4

Year 4 have been busy concluding their research about the famous empires through history. They learnt that power often comes at a cost of human rights, and saw that slavery, exploitation of goods and people and the spread of deadly diseases amongst the local population were common pitfalls of the empirical rule.

Of course, many benefits were gained by the ruling countries and often their dominions, such as international trade, the spread of religion, refined legal systems and improved trade infrastructure such as rail, road and shipping networks. Now, the students are starting to research a chosen adventurer and will give an oral presentation in the role of this person after the Christmas break.

The students also had a great time suggesting a logo, chants and theme songs for their houses this week and got into the spirit by dressing in their house colours.

Mr Bishop

Year 5A

This week has zoomed past quickly with the fun of the Christmassy weather. In maths, the students became the teachers while learning about prime factors. Students drew factor trees for their friends who filled them out to discover the prime factors of a number. The student teachers drew up rules for the class so they could check if they succeeded in the task. All student teachers were respectful and informative in their discussions.

A lot of the students have been using this time for their hobbies. Maks from Y5 has been making some very impressive lego models which Mr Walker and Y5 were very impressed with.

Mr Walker

Year 5B

ATHENS VERSUS SPARTA

We have had some very enthusiastic videos created by the Year 5 students about the differing governments between the Ancient City-States of Athens and Sparta. Some students even used subtitles and photographs to add to their information, making them even more entertaining.

The Success Criteria for their videos were as follows:

• Speaking loudly and clearly. Using body language.

• Use specific historical terms associated with the period you have studied.

• Present your research about the topic. Where did you find good information?

• Present your understanding of history by making appropriate use of dates and historical terms.

The students discussed the forms of Oligarchy and Democracy that reigned at that time and concluded their videos by stating where they would have preferred to live and why. Their answers were not quite as simple as you would expect.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 6

This week the Year 6 students were expanding their knowledge of Geometry. Specifically - Angles. They studied unknown angles around a point, on a straight line and learned about vertically opposite angles. Everyone seemed to enjoy working with angles and we thought we would share an interesting question with the readers of our Newsletter.

Can you guess the size of the angles in the picture (marked a and b) without using a protractor?

Mr Kokalj

Slovene

We are staying on distance learning, but that doesn't mean that we can't have a good old dance together. Our Year 2s have been learning about animals in Slovene. We decided to dance to the Slovene song Od glave do peta where we were using different moves for each animal in the song. Can you guess which animal belongs to the movement in the photo? I bet you can.

Zelo dobro Y2!

Miss Košec, MFL Department

PE News

In PE this week students from Year 2 continued fun and active online lessons. Year 1 did House competition relay races and were practising movements targeting their coordination. They had a lot of fun and fair play because all Houses were cheering for each other. Very nice to see that level of support.

Years 2, 3 and 4 continued with daily lessons, focusing on their Fitness and Health.

Year 2 had a blast with Ms Sharpe and Years 3 and 4 with Mr Damjan and Mr Černi.

Years 5 and 6 focused on their Fitness test of maximum pushups and squats. They were also challenged with core exercises and flexibility tasks.

Overall, all students are doing very well in PE and continuing working towards better health and fitness.

The PE department would also like to invite you to try Mr Černi's volleyball challenge. Click here.

WHOLE SCHOOL HOUSE COMPETITION:

We would like to thank all of the students for participating in the Whole School House Competition that took place this Tuesday. The students voted for the House Anthem Song, House Slogan, House Cheerleading slogan and competed in a Theme Block Quiz where they tried to collect as many points for their House as possible.

We can already announce the winners of the House Anthem Song voting:

• EMERALD: Survivor - Eye of the Tiger

• SAPPHIRE: Eiffel 65 - Blue

• HESSONITE: Pharrell Williams - Happy

• ZIRCON: Lil Uzi Vert - Go Off

Also, Year 1 did an excellent job on the House Competition challenges. Please take a look of the video on how Year 1 decided on the House Slogans and House Cheer-leading slogan. Enjoy the video.

CLICK HERE

DESKERCISE YOGA

PLANICA TIME

This week, one of the biggest sports events in Slovenia is taking place.

World Ski Flying Championships are on from Thursday until Sunday, so take a look at how the best ski jumpers compete on the biggest hill in the world.

Here's a photo from when our school went to see the competition in Planica last year.

BISL Art Exhibition 2020

As part of our Creative Arts theme this block, the BISL Art Exhibition 2020 celebrates the amazing works created by our students this term, showcasing the skills they have learnt and ideas they have communicated through visual language. We hope you enjoy seeing the talents of our creative students through this year's virtual exhibition:

Click here

Teacher Feature

In this week’s Teacher Feature, we focus the spotlight on Ms Polly Tušar, our brilliant Science and Chemistry Teacher, who never misses an opportunity to ignite our students’ curiosity with great enthusiasm and determination.

Read Ms Tušar’s Teacher Feature article here.

C4C & PTA Christmas Action Project

LAST REMINDER

Thank you to our BISL community for being so supportive of the Trije Zimski Botri Christmas projec, so many presents have already been delivered at ZPM awaiting their final dispatch to the children.

Just a final reminder that the presents should be dropped off by December 17 to Zveza Prijateljev Mladine Ljubljana Moste-Polje, Proletarska cesta 1, 1000 Ljubljana. (You can park in a yellow designated zone and the security guard will guide you to the room where you will drop-off your gift.)

Please DO NOT bring your gift into school this year!

Due to Covid measures we have to kindly ask you to deliver directly to the foundation!

The time slots for gift deliveries for BISL are as follows:

• Tuesday 15. 12. 2020 from 8:30 to 12:00 and from 17:00 to 18:00.
• Thursday 17. 12. 2020 from 8:30 do 12:00 and from 17:00 do 18:00.

Please don't forget to stick/write the code on the top of the present, as this enables the present to go to the correct child.

Thank you,

C4C & PTA

GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE THIS CHRISTMAS

All it takes for you to save a life is less than an hour of your time. Although the blood stocks have improved from last week (see below picture), they are still not near the required quantities. The Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, Zavod Republike Slovenije za transfuzijsko medicino, is still desperately calling out for blood donors:

For more information see:

http://www.ztm.si/en/blood-donation/blood-stocks/

Their mobile phone numbers for blood donors are 051 389 270, 051 671 147 or 030 716 796.

To show others how easy it is to donate, please send in a photo of yourself donating blood with a smile on your face (underneath that mask), and hopefully, you will encourage someone else to give it a go too.

sandra.fekete@britishschool.si

What a wonderful way to teach each other the values of Empathy and Challenge.

Most of us have perhaps a bit of extra time this upcoming holiday season, so why not use it to save someone's life!

Best healthy wishes,

Mrs Charlesworth & the C4C Team

CHRISTMAS STORY TIME

Students will have the chance to read Christmas/Winter Holiday themed stories to their classes on Monday. If they would like to pre-record themselves reading their stories and sharing their videos with their class teachers, that would be wonderful. This way, we can share videos with students from other classes. The students are encouraged to bring in their favourite toy or blanket to snuggle up with while listening to the stories.

MEPI News

As our intrepid participants battle onward through the rigours of how to navigate in a more adventurous setting, they have become more familiar with the skills and the planning required. Armed with a map, a protractor, a start and a finish grid reference, a blank route card (and an example route card), their challenge this week is to plan a short, but detailed route. Things to consider: Grid references; compass bearings; distance travelled; height gained (or lost); time for journeying, exploring, rests, and meals; details of the route, and escape notes. Equipment has been further discussed, and vital kit identified. The important features of a 'decent' rucksack include adequate volume and padded hip belt and shoulder straps.

Walking shoes need to be sturdy and provide ankle support. Waterproof clothing is also a 'must'! We will soon be moving on to safe use of camping equipment (including stoves). The practical application of these newly-honed skills is very much anticipated!

Mr Irving, MEPI Coordinator

Dear Parents,

As we head into the last week of term, it is important to focus on celebrating the incredible work that our students and staff have done.

I could not be more proud or grateful for the help, support and reassurance we have had from our community. Thank you. It has made a huge positive impact on my colleagues, the work they do and most importantly, the experiences that our students have had.

Over the past seven days, the snow has disappeared, but we have spent a lot of time working together to create some fantastic projects to celebrate the hard work from our students and staff. Naturally, we’ve also had a lot of fun along the way - take a look at my full Update from the Principal for details.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal