Secondary News - May 22 2020

Welcome back to in-school classes for Years 9 and 10 this week, as they had to get quickly up to date with the latest system changes and measures that we have put in place. Safety for all is the utmost priority, and I have appreciated the assistance from staff and students to stay vigilant this week. Next week, we also welcome our Year 7 and 8 students back, and these systems will be relied upon more than ever for the safety of all.

“It feels really great to work with everyone again in class.”

Year 10 Student

Generally, despite the extra precautions in place, students have appreciated being back and seeing their teachers. It is evident that throughout virtual learning, the students were able to continue to progress and engage with their subjects which has led to a seamless transition back to in school classes.

“The online learning has helped me to be more organised and do the work by myself.”

Year 10 Student

Ultimately, we are all grateful to be back. I think there is a little more appreciation for each other and the learning that is taking place. These are indeed unique times, and the way students have currently adapted to the present situation has demonstrated their resilience and that everyone is aware of the seriousness of the situation at hand.

I wish all a safe and happy weekend.

Ms Andronikos

Head of Secondary

Dear Parents,

We are very pleased to report that we have had a successful reopening this week, following our BISL Reopening Procedures and ‘staggered start’ plan.

Each day we have had a safety check of the school, reviewed our protocols and made sure that we have followed our published guidance to enable everyone to return safely on site. With safety as our priority, we have welcomed back our students and have been delighted with how they have transitioned back into the school building. Our students have been incredible in the way they have arrived back, interacted with each other and enjoyed being reunited with their friends and teachers.

Please check the FAQs on the link above as much of the information is located on this page and other relevant updates may be useful. We also recommend following us on Facebook and reading our weekly newsletters for regular updates.

Thank you to all parents and members of the community for your support, patience and help through this time.

As restrictions continue to be relaxed, we will update you on any changes so that you are aware of any safety measures and routines that are altered. If your child is returning next week for the first time, please remember to complete a parent declaration form in advance.

I wish all families an enjoyable weekend and look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Kind regards,

Mr Walton

Principal

Progress Test in Maths (PTM) and Progress Test in English (PTE) have been scheduled for all KS3 students over the next 2 weeks. Like the CAT 4 tests, these are a part of the GL assessment suite of standardised tests that support pupil attainment. At BISL, these tests are completed annually, to provide us with some very valuable information about the students' progress over the year.

The Progress Test in Maths (PTM) is a standardised assessment of pupils' mathematical skills and knowledge. PTM assesses two dimensions of maths learning:

1. Mathematical content knowledge (Curriculum Content Category)
2. Understanding and applying mathematical processes through reasoning and problem solving (Process Category)

Progress Test in English (PTE) is a standardised assessment of pupils’ technical English skills (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and reading comprehension. This is designed for benchmarking student’s English knowledge, and measuring their progress over time.

For these tests students require:

- A charged laptop - Headphones

Please see the Assessment Calendar for the dates of these assessments.

Mr Gary Bradley

Secondary Data and Analysis Lead

Dear Students and Parents,

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the PE lessons for this block are happening at the school playground therefore changing into PE clothing will not be possible.

We advise all students to bring comfortable footwear to change into and have an extra t-shirt on the day of the PE lessons.

In case of bad weather, the lessons will of course be happening in classrooms where students will be learning PE theory content.

Kind Regards,

Mr Damjan

Head of PE Department

The Maths department would like to give a warm welcome back to all students! The last Block of this academic year will really give you the opportunity to strengthen your mathematical knowledge. The final whole-year maths assessment is just around the corner, so start preparing for the exam. When in class, please make sure you bring your own equipment (textbook, notebook, pen/pencil, ruler etc.).

Last week's answer for the Maths question of the week is: Eva does ice skating.

Thank you all for submitting answers and congratulations to Shivam (Y7), Divyansh (Y8B), Aleksander M. (Y8B), Eren (Y10A) who guessed correctly and received 5 House points each!

Maths question of this week is:

When Nick cannot make a decision on his own, he uses his decision dice. The diagram shows the dice in three different positions. What is the probability Nick gets a YES when rolling his dice once?

Students who solve the question send their answer to my email by Wednesday (27th May).

Good luck!

Ms Zupanc

Maths Department

Year 7 are working on a modern version of an old story and learning how to create suspense and lead a reader into a surprise ending through a tale about Roman general Hannibal and his elephants in the Alps disguised as a story about space exploration.

Year 8A did an interesting lesson on JRR Tolkien’s famous Lord of the Rings, examining figurative language techniques.

Year 8B read about the debate about a tribe of Indians allowing nuclear waste to be buried on their tribal land.

Year 9 continued their examination on the features of Shakespearian tragedy.

Year 10 continued working on the poem “Little boy crying” by Mervyn Morris and began looking at the key features of what makes a good short story.

Mr Eve and Mr Kirwan

This week Y7's and Y8's were working on more challenging use of capital letters and on synonyms and antonyms.

Y9 started working on an interesting text by Raymond Queneau, “Vaje v slogu.” The author chose an event from the crime section of the newspaper (črna kronika) and wrote it using 99 different writing styles.

Y10 started a new topic - Slovenes abroad, where they explored reasons why Slovenes went to Argentina, Canada etc. in the 19th and 20th century.

Miss Kotnik, MFL Coordinator

Year 7 have spent the past few weeks looking in depth at the continent of Africa and learning more about the huge variety of geography that we can find there. Yesterday was (hopefully!) our last distance learning lesson on Zoom and we wrapped up the digital learning by exploring Africa with Google Maps.

Using a wide range of views, including satellite and street views, the students have been exploring and discovering the rivers, coasts, biomes and settlements that can be found on this enormous continent. It's pretty amazing the things you can find and see on Google Maps and how much it can change our perception of places. Please play around with it in your own time even if you are not in Year 7!

Overall, I have been really impressed with how well Year 7 have adapted to the distance learning and the exceptional IT and geographical skills they have developed over this challenging time. I look forward to seeing them all in person next week!

Mr Bradley

Head of Humanities

This week our Yr 7 and Yr 8 EAL students looked at the story of a lone sailor who had to operate on himself to save his life via instructions over a satellite phone. We also examined the famous David Bowie song “Space Oddity” and had to write a piece explaining our feelings if we were Major Tom from the song. Here is an example from Nanako from Year 8:

Finally this day has come, I was nervous and my heart was shaking. I wear my helmet and try to make my feeling tightened.

10, 9 the countdown just started…... 8, 7 , 6, from now on, I am going to a very far place. 5,4,3,2, I check my engine.

1, my mission started. Lift-off

To be honest, I was very nervous. But I was full of feeling that I had to complete this mission. I strongly thought so...

Suddenly it became slow, and someone started to talk to me from the crystal clear blue Earth.

“You’ve really made the grade!!” I was in space, the surroundings were pitch black and stars were shining. I was floating and the earth seen from 100,000 miles away was very beautiful like I had never seen before. It was a pretty planet.

There was a sound of heavy objects falling from the high place. I thought it was the end. Tell my family I love them the most in the world and I still love them. “ Major Tom!! Major Tom!!! Can you hear me! Can you hear me…” something went wrong with the connection . I feel it’s only me just floating and I can’t hear anything.

The planet Earth was still shining and there was nothing I could do. I was full of sorry feelings.

Nanako

Yr 8A

At the British International School of Ljubljana, our uniform is an important part of supporting our values, common purpose and uniting the community together.

We are often asked about footwear. A comfortable, elegant and good quality black shoe is required for the school day as part of the uniform all year round and also important as students frequently represent the school at events, presentations and ceremonies. We have included photographs below of examples of our students to help you.

Please find a link to our school uniform page here to guide you with the expectations at our school.