Primary News - January 12 2021

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2021 and welcome you back for the start of the second term. With the Early Years and Year 1 students returning to school and other year groups starting online sessions, it has been a busy and exciting first week, as you can see from the sections below. It has been a real treat to see smiley faces on-site and online, as students have come together for their first week of learning. This Term we also welcome some new teachers to BISL (see the section on staff updates below), who are thrilled to be joining the BISL community.

We are very proud to have received the certificate of recognition for the Christmas Action Project - Trije Zimski Botri (Three Winter Godfathers) We thank the C4C and the PTA for organising this and the BISL community for their incredible generosity.

As classes continue with virtual online learning, it is important to continue talking to students about how to keep safe online. This is something that teachers will be refreshing with students and we ask parents to look through the BISL Virtual Learning Guide with their children at home. Further useful guidance and tools can be found on the E-Safety section of the school website.

Please continue to check for the latest updates on our website. Any changes for week two will be emailed to parents also.

Our thoughts continue to be with all the families and their loved ones. Keep safe and stay healthy.

Kind wishes,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

In Early Years we have started our Traditional Tales topic and have learnt to retell the story of The Little Red Hen.

The children have been making masks and hats for their role play as well as using Van Gogh’s style of painting with flour and paint in the creative area.

Ms Rosa

Year 1

Happy new year to the whole of the Year 1 community. We have started the year as we mean to go on, busy and creative!

This week in English, Y1 have been developing writing skills, planning and writing about what they were up to over Christmas. We look forward to celebrating their work with you.

In Maths, we have been looking at shape and symmetry. Y1 are enjoying this topic and developing knowledge and skills from the Early Years. We have been looking at shape and symmetry in everyday life and applying our measurement skills from the last block.

Finally, in Topic we have continued to learn about different continents, this time with a new topic focus 'Let's Dress Up', we have been learning about traditional dresses from around the world. Y1 have been designing and creating south American styled ponchos for their teddies, using shape and symmetry skills in maths to help make patterns.

Tuesday 12th will be my last day as a class teacher for Y1. It has been wonderful working with you all!

Thank you!

Mr Hughes

Year 2

This week in English we have started our new unit 'Traditional Tales'. We have read and discussed our new class text and during these next few weeks, we will explore the text in detail. In Maths we have started our unit on multiplication and division. Our focus this week has been on patterns in repeated addition. Next week, we will begin to look at multiplication using a range of methods.

In Topic we have started our unit on 'Living Things', we have looked at the characteristics of living things and how they differ from non-living.

We look forward to another week ahead and it has been wonderful seeing our students back and refreshed from the break.

Ms Harris & Ms Miller

Year 3

It was an enjoyable first week back for Year 3 after the winter break, with many students eager to tell all their stories from their holidays.

We heard many of these in the English recounts as they were first on the agenda for this week, with the students telling all about their adventures over the past few weeks, before moving onto playscripts, the new topic in writing.

In Maths, the students took up where they left off with their study of multiplication and division. Comparing statements and relating calculations were the order of the day, as the students gear up for some formal multiplication fun next week.

A new term and a new Topic also, as the students opened up the giant treasure chest that is the Ancient Egyptian civilization, by cracking hieroglyphic codes and reading all about their daily lives of the people of that time!

It was a fun first week back and we look forward to next week's activities already.

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4

After a relaxing break, it was good to see the Year 4's return refreshed and revitalised for the beginning of Term 2. There was a sea of smiles to greet me as we all caught up in our virtual classroom.

This term we will be studying maps and the globe, and we started by testing our knowledge of the European map, with students being challenged to learn all countries in Europe and their position on the map by the end of the unit (later, we will add countries outside Europe also).

We are also starting a mini art unit, with the first focus on impressionist painters. Students have started to create their own impressionist picture of an outdoor setting near their homes. I look forward to sharing some of these in the newsletter upon their completion.

Mr Bishop

Year 5A

Y5A have enjoyed being back after the Christmas break tremendously. This week the students became the teachers in maths, explaining to each other division and multiplication methods.

During maths revision classes, myself and Mrs Charlesworth took a step back and watched in awe at the amazing, polite and inspiring maths teachers. Students talked to each other respectfully and it was lovely to see them learning from each other.

Mr Walker

Year 5B

Year 5 students took their Grammar test online today. It was a huge success, the students are now very comfortable taking Canvas quizzes and understanding what skills to use when matching questions and answers, answering true and false questions, multiple-choice, essay and fill in the blank, to name a few. When creating the online quiz, it is very easy to assign an outcome (learning objective) to each question and at times more than one. At the end of the quiz, the students get instant feedback on most questions, except for the essay ones which need further teacher marking.

After all of the questions are marked, Canvas is able to generate an Outcomes analysis, which breaks down each outcome and says how the class performed as a whole, highlighting to teachers, which areas they may need to go over. As you can see, by our outcome analysis it is adverbials and modal verbs that many students need revisiting.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 6

In light of this Block’s theme of Languages, the Year 6 students will be learning how to speak to their computers. They will learn to code and design projects on their tablets.

We would like to share our first assignment. Our learning objective is to design a creative solution that tackles a local issue impacting our school, community, or country.

In this assignment, the students have the opportunity to get engaged in a creative, collaborative problem-solving challenge. It was designed to unite students to build a better world with Minecraft! First, they had to choose a topic of sustainability or equity for our school. Below, you can see the options they were allowed to choose from.

Mr Kokalj

PE News

Dear Primary students and parents,

The PE Department would first like to wish you a happy New Year and all the best in 2021.

In this new block, students will be focusing on a new set of skills which will include coordination with a ball (throwing, catching, passing). Continuing online lessons will also focus on fitness and well-being exercises, to maintain fitness levels and abilities.

We would also like to inform you about the updates starting in Block 4.

• The PE Department would like to welcome Ms Fairchild who, as mentioned in the newsletter at the end of the last term, will be replacing Ms Sharpe.

• All of the Zoom links to the PE lessons can be seen on CANVAS PE homepage.

WEEKLY CHALLENGE:

Mr Černi created a new and fun Weekly challenge for all the students to try and complete themselves.

With uploading the videos of completing the challenge, students have a chance to collect extra house points. CLICK HERE

HEALTHY DIET RECIPE:

As the topic of this block is Health and well-being, the PE Department will share some delicious, healthy and easy to make cooking recipes that you can try to replicate at home.

This week we are sharing a recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Rolls.

Please CLICK HERE to view the recipe and share with us your photos of the dish.

KEEP UP WITH THE TEACHER / STUDENT:

We are continuing with the fun challenges in this Block as well, with a small twist. Each week, a different year group (house captains, prefects, year group,...) will come up with a fun challenge that will be presented among the rest of the students.

By completing the challenge and uploading their videos, students will have a chance to collect extra house points. The student challenges will be presented in week 3.

PE Department

MFL News

Years 3 and 4 have been learning about the clothes we wear in different seasons. First, we did a recap of the four seasons via a moving game. Second, we looked at various pieces of clothing in pictures. Finally, we told each other what we were wearing at the moment.

When the photo of winter came on the screen, we did snow angels in the snow; when the photo of autumn was on the screen, we turned into the wind, as you can see on the photo.

Zelo dobro učenci!

Ms Košec

EAL News

Starting a new Term is always a bittersweet experience for the EAL department. Some of the students have made such great progress that they don't need EAL provision anymore and have moved on to the main lessons on their own. We are extremely happy with the progress they've made but at the same time just a little bit sad because we won't be able to see them in our lessons anymore.

It was so nice to see the rest of the students come back to the EAL lessons with refreshed smiles and enriched enthusiasm for learning.

The EAL department has also undergone some exciting positive changes this Block, as Mrs Albina Bradley joins the team and takes over most of the primary EAL lessons.

Mr Siter

After-School Provision

Supervision after school for EY and Y1 students until 15:40 continues in week 2. This is reviewed on a weekly basis.

Teacher Feature Series

If you haven’t had a chance to read our recent Teacher Feature profiles, here’s what you may have missed:

• 16.12.2020 - Ms Sarah Fairchild

• 09.12.2020 -Ms Polly Tušar

• 25.11.2020 - Mr Tobija Siter

• 04.11.2020 - Mr Gary Bradley

• 28.10.2020 - Ms Laura Harris

• 21.10.2020 - Ms Katarina Miklavec

• 14.10.2020 - Mr Nino Kokalj

• 6.10.2020 - Mr Jason Batson

Staff Update

Mr Hughes will sadly be leaving BISL next week. We are certain that the Year 1 students will miss Mr Hughes and his boundless enthusiasm for teaching, and we wish him all the best in his new post.

Ms Blundell will be taking on the role of the Year 1 Class Teacher fully from 13th January. Ms Blundell has assisted and supported students across Primary since joining BISL in 2014 and has been focusing her teaching practice on the Year 1 class this academic year. We congratulate Ms Blundell on the new role.

Joining our Assisting Teachers team from week 2 will be Miss Predan, whose international experience and background in teaching includes specialisation in Performing Arts.

Ms Drofenik fully took on the role of Year 7A Form Tutor this term. It has been a very positive start for her and her students.

Ms Fairchild has joined the P.E. department from Term 2 and has already engaged students with a renewed energy and passion for fitness and healthy living.

We welcomed both Mr and Mrs Yates to BISL. Having arrived in Slovenia during the break, they have had a very positive start to the Term already.

MEPI News

It's fantastic to reconnect with the students after a well-deserved Christmas break, and we look forward to our first post-break MEPI meeting at the usual time this coming Monday. It will be quite revealing to see who has achieved a level of success in creating their own route card and also to discover how many participants actually managed to complete their route. We wonder if there might be any photos forthcoming? Another much-anticipated event is the Red Cross first aid course, which will be held at the school.

Due to the current COVID situation, we have moved the date to Saturday 13th March. It is a six-hour course that covers all the basics plus a few bits that will be useful when hiking and camping (sprains, burns, snake bite...). Our Red Cross medical professional is a native Slovene, but the course will be delivered in English. (A rare opportunity in Slovenia!) There are still a few places left on this essential course, so if you are a student, member of staff, or even a parent that would like to know what to do in a medical emergency, please email simon.irving@britishschool.si (The course costs thirty euros and fifty cents, and you will also receive a Red Cross certificate.)

Mr Irving

Immerse Education Essay Competition

A huge well done and good luck to the students in Secondary school who entered the Immerse Essay Competition, for a chance to win a 14 day summer school place at Oxford/Cambridge University this summer, which includes accommodation, breakfast, dinner, trips in Oxford, a graduation ceremony and certificate on completion. Find out more about our entries here.

C4C & PTA News: Message from ZPM

Everyone at the Zveza Prijateljev Mladine Ljubljana Moste-Polje would like to send a huge virtual hug and thank you to the BISL community on behalf of all the children and their families that you've gifted through your support of this year's C4C & PTA Christmas Action project with ZPM and Trije Zimski Botri! Over 150 letters were distributed - Thank You!

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year and welcome to Term 2 of 2020/21.

We've had a very busy and exciting 4 days back in the building with high-quality online lessons, activities and events in full swing. As always, we are following the daily guidance from the news, government and worldwide websites to keep updated with the pandemic. We miss the students and hope they can return to lessons back in the building as quickly as it's safely possible to do so.

Thank you to all the parents who attended the 'Coffee with the Principal' this morning and also for the many positive emails to our teachers and staff. We really appreciate your kind words and this has a huge, positive impact on our school. I would like to personally thank you for this.

During this time we are also monitoring the discussions and ideas from the exam board regarding the plans for next summer. As plans from the exam board are proposed, debated and changed, we have worked as a team to ensure that our students do not miss out for next summer and receive the same outstanding grades we achieved last year in 2020.

Please read my full update here for more details.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal