Primary News - September 14 2021

Dear Parents and Students,

This week in Primary, we focused on child protection in our assembly, class circle times and PSHE lessons.

We introduced and reviewed a rule, devised by the British NSPCC, called the 'Underwear Rule’. This is a simple way we can help keep children safe from abuse - without using scary words or mentioning sex. More information can be found here: The Underwear Rule NSPCC.

Although the subject matter may be uncomfortable to talk about, it is important for children to know that they can talk to their teachers or parents about safeguarding issues. You can download a guide for parents to help you talk PANTS with your child. The following song will also help to get the message across, especially with younger children.

The after-school activities started this week and it has been great to see students extending or learning new skills. To sign up for any afterschool activities, see the school website.

As part of the Student Voice campaign, elections for Prefects, Head Boy/Girl, Primary Student Council Representatives and House Captains are underway this and next week. These are important opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills and get involved in school life through organising events and developing areas of the school.

Please be sure to read the latest Update from the Principal and have a great weekend.

Regards,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

Why do we have to wash our hands?

This has been the key question in Early Years this week as the children have been learning about their bodies and the importance of staying healthy through hand washing routines. We have learnt all about germs and nasties and the key times we need that soap to wash them away.

To practice our learning, Early Years have had fun exploring sticky sand, created marks in glitter, explored mud and of course used our hands and fingers to paint with. After that, we washed our hands! We have even used coloured germs to help us with our mathematical learning of repeated patterns.

Alongside our washing hands, Early Years have continued learning about themselves through naming body parts, matching body pictures to a large-scale body outline and even identified body parts through x-ray pictures.

A super exciting week for Early Years who are now expert germ busters!

Ms Gillespie

Year 1

This week we have been learning how to write labels and captions for our favourite toys from home. We learnt about the use of capital letters, finger spaces and full stops!

In our topic lessons, we spoke about animals and plants living in the desert, which inspired our young artists to use various materials to create their own cacti.

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

This week in Year 2 we have created our own pirate maps in Topic. We started by tea staining our maps to make them look old, we then chose a range of features that we would like to include in our maps.

In groups, we discussed how our pirates would find the treasure. We used our new knowledge of instruction writing and keywords in our discussions. It has been a great week and we can't wait for you to see the finished maps on display.

Ms Harris & Mrs Bradley

Year 3B

The Year 3B students have spent one of their lessons this week in our new library. After we discussed the library etiquette, the students enjoyed some quality time browsing through their favourite books.

We are all looking forward to our next visit.

Mr Kokalj

Year 4

ROLE ON THE WALL

Year 4 practised developing their ability to make inferences about characters from what is implied by their words, actions and relationships with other characters. We did this first as a whole class using a word bank to describe Dave the Troll.

The students did a good job of looking at how the character changed during the ballad of The Bogey Men and the Trolls Next Door and how he acted towards his family, versus the neighbours. The students then created their own Role on the Wall for the other lead character - Dave the Troll. Some worked together, others used thesauruses and antonyms to stretch their abilities.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 5

This week the Year 5 students have been writing a storyboard about the Dragon Slayer. They have discussed the characters from the story and described them using descriptive language.

Our topic lessons have been very exciting as the students have made a 3D version of their habitat and they look superb.

Ms Thomas

Year 6

Year 6 have completed their wonderful city tour guides and are moving on to become travel agents where they need to research countries to find the best-suited location for several discerning clients.

Head Boy and Girl and prefect applications are coming in so stay tuned to this newsletter over the next few weeks to see who will be chosen to represent the school in various departments.

Mr Bishop

PE

This week students have continued to improve their net and barrier game skills from both a technical and tactical perspective. We have developed our technical understanding when playing lobsterball and dodgeball, focusing on skill acquisition and throwing accuracy. Students have also increased their tactical awareness in competitive playing scenarios, concentrating on working effectively as a team and the importance of communication when playing team games.

PE Department

Slovene

Our Primary students (Y3-Y6) were extremely creative and engaged during Slovene lessons. They were introducing themselves in Slovene through art skills. As an international school, we decided to expose the typical attractions of our home countries.

Please enjoy the beautiful masterpieces of our Primary students.

MFL Department, Ms Drofenik and Ms Košec

EAL

The EAL department is proud to say that some of the EAL lessons have already started by the end of this week. At the beginning of next week, the lessons will already be in full swing and we can't wait to see what they will bring.

Mr Siter, Head of EAL

MEPI News

It was fantastic to see so many new faces at our first MEPI meeting of this year! A BIG 'welcome back' to participants and staff involved with MEPI last year.

And a VERY warm welcome to our new participants (and also TWO new staff members). It is truly a great time to be involved with the Award. After a brief introduction, the first item on the agenda was a 'Rope Trick' ice-breaker, which was a fun and easy way for us to step slightly out of our comfort zone, and ultimately start to connect as a group. We then moved on to the business of setting up the Online Record Book for our new participants. The app was downloaded onto mobile devices (and registrations will soon be confirmed). The participants also found time to start considering the activities they might like to undertake for the different sections of the Award. We even discussed the 'SMART' goals that would lead to the successful completion of this MEPI challenge. It's a great start!

Mr Irving, MEPI Coordinator

PTA News

Come along on Friday 17th September for our Second Hand Uniform Sale! A couple of PTA volunteers will be set up outside the front entrance between 2:30-3:30 during pick up.

If you have any uniform items that your children have outgrown, you are also welcome to donate them to the PTA! Simply drop them off in the designated box by the front entrance by Thursday.

Dear Parents,

School open, lessons in action, After School Activities running and now School Trips are in full swing!

Our school is fully open and 'normality' is closer with our first Adventure Trips out today with Years 7 and 8, next week we have Year 9 and 10 Adventure Days, and also visits by our Primary students to the House of Illusions and an Eco Farm! We are delighted to arrange these opportunities and very happy that the students can enjoy exploring and experiencing class and year group excursions already this term. They will have an amazing time!

Tomorrow, we have our Enrichment Day 2 from 8.00am to 13.00pm. Over 60 students have signed up over the 2 weeks and this makes it our most popular Enrichment Days we have organised in the last year. We had wonderful weather on Saturday last week and enjoyed some excellent PE sports and arts and crafts. We have MEPI and Science activities planned for the students this week. I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Please come along to the PTA Second Hand Uniform Sale if you are free next Friday 17th September between 2.30pm and 3.30pm. This is a great way to meet other parents, help out one another with uniforms and to recycle any clothes so that others can use them. A great event and thank you in advance for your support.

Today, we had a fire drill onsite and the students were a real credit to the school. They exited quietly, calmly and in an organised manner. I was very happy with all students and staff and this further solidifies the high-quality safety expectations of the school and our procedures. Well done to everyone.

More deliveries have arrived in the new building over the past 7 days with extra tables, chairs and IT for the ground floor. On Monday 13th September, all primary classes will have a scheduled literacy lesson in the new library. Other building updates include the School Nurse's room completed, fully equipped and this has been an excellent addition to our provision here at BISL.

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 here.