Primary News - Sept 8 2021

This week has been particularly exciting, as our younger students in Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2 visited the school library situated in the new building. Students enjoyed story-time with their teachers and exploring books of their choice. All primary classes will have access to this fabulous new space as part of their weekly scheduled literacy hour.

Mrs Rismondo, who joined us last week as a School Nurse, has been visiting the Primary classes during their PSHE lessons to introduce herself and her role while providing some useful tips about hygiene.

In case of any medical emergencies or accidents, or if students feel unwell, the School Nurse will be the one to contact the parents. If you have any concerns or questions, you can contact Mrs Rismondo at teja.rismondo@britishschool.si.

Primary EAL Presentation for parents and students took place on Monday 30th August. With more than 90% of students with English as an additional language, the EAL programme is extremely important in supporting students and ensuring that they can fully access the curriculum. All EAL students will have been assessed in the first two weeks for entry into the EAL programme starting in week 3. For any questions about the EAL programme, please contact Mr Siter.

Along with the EAL, students at BISL may require support in different areas of learning. The SEN department works closely with students, parents and teachers to enable students to reach their highest potential through identifying individual needs and supporting students in their learning and general wellbeing. For more information on SEN provision at BISL and to meet the staff involved in the SEN, all parents are invited to join the SEN Presentation on Tuesday 7th September at 16:00 on the school premises.

In PSHE lessons, students have been talking about school values. This week’s focus is compassion, as students discuss ways in which they can show compassion to their peers and why this is important.

Next week we will talk to students about keeping safe, as part of safeguarding and child protection. Guidance for parents on how to talk to their children about keeping safe can be found on the NSPCC website.

For any important updates, please continue to check the News section and the latest Update from the Principal. Remember that activities run from next week as well, co check out the information below.

Have a lovely weekend,

Kind regards,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

Me, Me, Me!

Early Years delved into their first topic this week ‘All About Me’ by learning all about their faces. The children have had fun identifying their facial features through using mixed media objects to create a face, used visual prompts to support naming features, singing all about our faces, and then rounded off the week by painting their own self-portrait.

We cannot wait to hang our portraits up in special frames for everyone to see!

Ms Gillespie

Year 1

This week we have been learning about rainforests and which animals live in the different layers of them. We have created sloths and snakes to transform our classroom into a rainforest.

We’ve also been counting using different objects and making lists of our favourite things and rainforest animals. Our very first visit to the new school library has also made our week very special!

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

This week in Year 2 we have loved learning about Pirates in our 'Treasures' topic and it has been fantastic! We made pirate hats, we had a pirate story outside and we were even able to take our Maths lesson outdoors. We are learning about place value in Maths and we have been learning about and understanding the value of numbers. In Literacy, we have been learning about instructions and we have been using instructions across all of our subjects, understanding how and when they are used.

Ms Harris & Mrs Bradley

Year 3A

What connects us? Year 3A discussed what connections can we find between each other. Languages? Countries we have lived or visited? We found a way to connect all students into a wool web!

Students have tried out their first Friday Maths quiz and have loved getting used to using the iPads this week.

Ms Blundell

Year 3B

The Year 3 students have been learning how to expand their vocabulary when expressing their feelings. This week they focused on giving a suggestion to someone who is struggling with friendship.

The students shared ideas and created some amazing sentences which were later written down in their books.

Mr Kokalj

Year 4

BOOK LUNCH

Year 4 spent a fun reading carousel lesson devouring their favourite books. Each student brought in a book to share with the class, explaining why it was their favourite book and reading short excerpts from it. We had a blast pretending to eat the books set out on plates using cutlery and drinking kid's champagne.

The books came in many languages and many different genres, including Slovene, Russian, German, Polish, Serbian and Romanian. We saw animals playing bad characters and escaping from jails, schools for magic, a very nosy lady, gameboards with gaming instructions within, furry rabbit adventures and even a very hungry caterpillar made an appearance.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 5

This week, Year 5 took part in an exciting group project that involved the skills of planning, research, presenting and teamwork. It was fantastic to see the class work together to collate information about extreme conditions. The students were introduced to a new story called 'The Dragon Slayer' where they discussed Chinese Traditions and why the dragon is important to that culture.

What a great day in Year 5. We have 2 birthdays - Marlene and Ana Nina turn 10.

Ms Thomas

Year 6

The Year 6 students have been busy investigating some lesser-known capital cities to prepare a city tour guide which would be an invaluable asset to those travelling to the selected destinations.

Accommodation, eateries and popular attractions have been researched, and just may be the ticket to motivate families to travel to locations such as Albania, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Belarus or Azerbaijan. They also created quick fact sheets of their home countries.

Mr Bishop

PE

During PE this week, we developed our understanding across a range of net and barrier games. We played more traditional games such as dodgeball and volleyball as well as experiencing newer games such as lobsterball.

We also looked at the different movement patterns involved in each game and increased our tactical and spatial awareness when playing net and barrier games.

PE Department

Slovene

"Dober jutro, dober dan, nasvidenje ..." would say our students of Years 1 and 2. They have been practising Slovene greetings through a wide range of activities such as memory games, movement games, etc.

Of course, they have shared all the new words with our green crocodile who visited us. We are always extremely excited to have him around.

Keep up the motivation as you do!

Ms Košec

Slovene Advanced

What a fantastic start for Year 1 and 2 students at Slovene Advanced lessons! This week we have read a lovely story about two rabbits "Ali veš, koliko te imam rad?"

We have also started with the Slovenian alphabet and students did really well!

Ms Drofenik

After School Provision

After school activities start in week 3 on Mondays Thursdays and Fridays as well as supervision for Years 2-6 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Please see the website here for the full list of activities.

For those who have already signed up for some activities please follow the guidance included in the letter from the lead teacher for that activity.

Ms Kenealy

MEPI News

As we come to the end of our second week of the year, it is with great excitement that we enter the weekend knowing that Monday brings the first official MEPI meeting of the new school year. We already have some amazing students continuing the MEPI experience from last year, and new talent already signing up for the year to come. Secondary students (Y9+) should come along to room 310 at 15:00 on Monday to find out more about this special after school programme!

Mr Irving, MEPI Coordinator

Dear Parents,

The new building is in use! - an amazing feeling. As I drove in this morning, I stopped at the barrier, took a picture out of the car window and included it in my Update from the Principal. It was an amazing feeling to see the new building, the illuminated sign and the start of the day. It made me feel very proud of what we have all achieved together and excited for the future.

Thank you to all parents who attended the coffee morning, it was great to see everyone and share with you updates about our school. Details are in my Update from the Principal. The next coffee morning is on Friday 8th October from 7.45am. A great way to meet other families, listen to school updates and I am free to talk to individuals after the event if convenient. As mentioned during the coffee morning, it is a great feeling to finally see everyone again in person!

On Monday 6th September, we start:

1. After school activities, this will add further opportunities for our students to get involved in, have fun and learn new skills in a wide range of clubs at BISL.
2. School trips - Adventure Days, House of Illusions, Science Museum etc.

Please note, we have events on site next week, details are in my Update from the Principal. This will be reviewed weekly.

Finally, thank you to all parents for your positive comments/feedback about teachers at drop off, the coffee morning and also via email. I pass these on to our staff and it makes such a huge difference and is very much appreciated.

Please read my full Update from the Principal for more details and upcoming events.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.