Secondary News - April 19 2021

Block 6 Week 2

This week we welcomed the return of students into the building which was wonderful to see. The staff and the students were very happy to be back and learning face to face again. This enabled the after-school revision sessions for Years 11-13 to resume in school with their teachers and they have been highly successful. Some Year 11 students commenced their exams this week, with the IGCSE French Exam taking place. Students have been working tirelessly to prepare for these, making the most of being able to work closely with their teachers.

The Science team has launched the Science block competitions and activities planned for this block during the assembly time this week. Students will be able to complete experiments and tasks that raise awareness of Science and current events. The Science staff look forward to continuing promoting their subjects.

Lastly, we are delighted to share that several After School Activities have been made available for students of all ages throughout the school. These incorporate several physical, creative and academic options for students to participate in this term. Please register your child by visitingthe BISL website, and emailing the teacher responsible for the activity directly. They begin next week, so please do not delay in making contact so that we can monitor the student numbers accordingly. Further updates are all available in the latest Principal’s Update, including details of upcoming extended opportunities for our students.

I wish everyone a lovely and restful weekend.

Stephanie Andronikos

Head of Secondary

The examination season has officially kicked off with IGCSE French speaking examinations, which took place on Thursday of this past week. The first written examination paper will take place on the 27th April so, in addition to other preparations, it may be a good time for students to start putting together their equipment for examinations.

As well as the obvious pen and pencil, students should make sure they have Mathematical equipment such as compassess, protractors, a calculator that they are familiar with using, an eraser, a ruler, a highlighter pen. Students should also remember that if they wish to bring in a water bottle, it should not have a label on it and should be totally transparent. Eraser pens or editing fluid are not permitted in the examinations for a very interesting reason (see Mr Batson if you wish to know why) so no need to include those things in the inventory.

It has become popular amongst students over the years to carry their equipment in a plastic wallet as demonstrated by our seasoned examination candidate Daniil in Year 13. Students should make sure that they check with their teachers ahead of time to see if anything specific is needed for their examination and if in doubt, speak to the examinations officer.

As AS Level Psychology is the first written examination paper, taking place on the 27th April, revision work has begun. The Psychological studies have been explored, the aims and conclusions have been learned and now it's a matter of finding ways to cue back the information from the long term memory to the short term memory. One of those methods is to use a one page summary of each of the key studies which outlines all the essential points. Pictured is an example of a summary of the infamous Bobo's Doll study, conducted by Albert Bandura in the 1960s. The study looked at the power of social learning in shaping a child's behaviour, specifically whether a child will copy modelled behaviour regardless of if that behaviour is aggressive.

Mr Batson, Examinations officer and Psychology teacher

Over the last six weeks at BISL we have organised seven career talks from a range of speakers from physicists to businessmen, for our Key Stage 4 and Sixth Form students, allowing them to explore a variety of career options.

These talks were open to all Key Stage 4 and Sixth Form students to attend voluntarily for 15 minutes during Form time. It is important for students to explore career options, understand routes to follow in order to get to certain careers and discover careers they may not even have considered or knew existed previously. Click here to read more.

Ms O’Regan - Assistant Year 13 form tutor

We are delighted to confirm that after-school clubs will start from Monday 19th April. A full list of options is available here on our website, please take the weekend to consider your options and follow the instructions to register as detailed on the After-School Provision page.

This has been a fantastic week for revision for Years 11, 12 and 13 with many students coming to after school revision classes for a variety of their subjects. There has been a huge effort amongst students to consolidate their knowledge before their real exams.

Fast fashion has a significant negative impact on our environment, and at BISL we take action by joining the MEPI initiative to support living a greener life by upcycling the clothes we own!

In the next two weeks, we will be collecting donations of clothes, footwear, toys, jewellery, and books that are no longer in use but are still in good shape.

These will be donated to Društvo Verjamem vate, Naša trgovin'ca, a local NGO that aims to integrate young people with physical and mental health disorders into society and work through a second-hand shop, where they can give your donated clothes and other items a whole new lease of life.

You will find a large donations box by the entrance during drop off and pick up until Tuesday, April 27. More info here.

This week’s science block riddle is as follows:

I can rush, I can be still, I can be hot, I can be cold, I can be hard, I can slip through almost anything. What am I?

Answers by email to Mr Yates to win house points.

Sustainable development:

During assembly on Monday we were talking about sustainable development and why it is important. We watched a video that explained what it was all about and then we were asked to come up with suggestions on how we could live more sustainably. There were many suggestions such as: recycle, don't litter, buy second-hand, donate, use reusable materials, don't waste water, switch off lights... and the list goes on. There are so many things in our day to day life that we could be doing more sustainably, yet we don't. If we don't do something about this problem it will never be solved. Even the little things make a difference.

Year 8 Form

Physics: The Y10s explored the radiation of black bodies using a demo simulation (you can find below) which displayed the colour of the visible radiation in relation with the temperature. This finally explained the expression 'red hot' for them!

The Y11-13s are doing revision, progressing towards their aspirational grades in these two weeks before they go on study leave!

Chemistry: Today Y10 students were performing a practical in which they through experiment tried to determine the formula of magnesium oxide.

This week Y11 students were performing an experiment in which they tested for different cations and anions present in the solutions.

Mr Yates, Ms Tušar and Mr Herrera - Science Department

Year 7: Continuing our look at life in the trenches in World War I, we then began examining some Recruitment posters for recruiting soldiers for the armies of both sides. Then we chose some modern advertisements to compare and contrast, finding both similarities and differences. We then presented our results to the rest of the class. We also looked at the difference between direct and indirect (or reported) speech. We came to a key point of our class literature in “Stone Cold” where our main character met a new girl and learned how this affected him.

Year 8: In a very entertaining week, Year 8 read the gripping account of a young Native American girl’s desperate fight against a mighty and aggressive Grizzly bear. Then we took the opportunity to write stories of our own about a confrontation - though this time between a teenage girl and a teenage boy. Finally we examined how we make instant judgements about other people through their body language.

Year 9: Both classes have been reading Macbeth this week, whilst 9a are close to finishing the play. 9b are just getting started. This week 9b read up to act 1 scene 5, and are just about to meet Lady Macbeth for the first time. The class explored the difference between a monologue and a soliloquy and made mind maps about the key characters Banquo and Macbeth.

Also a huge well done to Ema and Maria in 9b for getting an A grade on their midterm English Language assessment (descriptive writing).

Year 10 have been exploring English Language paper 1 this week, with a focus on reading comprehension, and language analysis. With a lot of pair work this week, students have had a chance to be social and learn at the same time - which is always important after such a long time on zoom.

Also this week students completed their term 3 English Literature assessment and sat a full IGCSE Literature paper 1 assessment in exam conditions. A huge well done for the quantity and the quality the students wrote on Thursday.

A huge well done to Lara for getting the top mark in her assessment with an A*.

Year 11 Have continued revising for their IGCSE English language and IGCSE literature exam. In 11b students had a chance to reflect on their feedback from last week's descriptive and narrative writing assignments and act upon it in their next essay. We had some fantastic descriptions of playgrounds and airports, our students really knew how to bring the scene to life with use of a variety of language devices and rich vocabulary.

Later on in the week students in 11b revised The Crucible in small groups, making it colourful and in detail. Giving students freedom to create their own revision is an important part of the English curriculum.

Year 13 Literature: This week has been jam packed with an entire course revision, with students focusing on A Handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood at the start of the week, where both students completed 2 full length practise essays.

Taking a break from essay revision and prep, students had a creative single lesson on Thursday showing off their artistic skills and reflecting on what they have learnt this year, especially on the 34 Dickinson poems. Students decorated a display board in the hallway with their favourite quotes from the texts and poems this year. Who can list the poems which have robins in from Dickinson?

Book of the Week

Brave New World is a classic - it is a dystopian novel similar in theme to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is a thought provoking read, and is it a depiction of our future?

Mr. Eve, Mr. Kirwan, and Ms. O’Regan - English Department

Our mixed year project is progressing nicely, they are currently reporting writing and making their own presentation on the market research they have carried out. We look forward to sharing it with you.

Mr. Dalton - Business and Economics Teacher

Slovene as a Second Language

Year 7 has been learning about natural and cultural historical attractions across Slovenia. They have been focusing on natural landmarks on postcards, regions and beautiful spotlights in Slovenia as Bled, Postojnska jama, Triglav, Piran, Bohinj, Portorož … Of course, they have expressed their creativity with their own postcards with a picture and short message in Slovene. Happily the students are ready to send a postcard with a Slovene message when they are on holiday again.

Zelo dobro!

Ms Košec, Slovene Teacher

Slovene Advanced

It has been a challenging week for Year 10 students in Slovene Advanced lessons. As persuasion occurs in nearly every facet of our day-to-day lives, students will be devoting a few lessons to this topic. This week they have been focusing on the characteristics of a persuasive speech and working in two groups. We will see which group better defends their views and gives more convincing reasons. The debate will be about public and private schools. I’m already looking forward to seeing their presentations!

Ms Drofenik - Slovene Teacher

This week in P.E., secondary students returned to our Ludus facilities and started our new beach volleyball unit. Our students experienced challenging workouts and resistance offers while participating in relay house challenges, ladder skill drill workouts, and reviewing the volleyball setting technique.

The PE department would like to remind students we will be doing ladder skill drill testing in week four of the block. The PE department also would like to invite students to sign up for after-school activities relating to health and well-being. There are three being offered currently starting in week three of this block. The first is Multi-sport, being run by Ms. Fairchild.

This after-school activity will offer a sampling of many sports and fitness-related games from around the world. The next is a reintroduction of the running club led by Mr. Batson. The third will be a basketball club run by Mr. Černi. Please consider which activities might be of interest to you and sign up.

Ms Fairchild-Gojkovic - PE Department

Year 8 historians finalised their study of the French Revolution by uncovering what happened to the unfortunate Louis XVI. In teams, they designed and illustrated a road map of the revolutionary period leading up to Louis XVI's execution.

Well done to Isabella, Visnja, Julia and Monika for their work!

Miss Dascalescu - History Teacher

This week, KS3 students worked out percentages of amounts, percentage increases and reductions. Years 7 and 8 tested their skills in a Percentage war game tournament. Well done to the winners!

Year 9A Maths have been learning about designing their own effective data collection methods and are putting these skills into practise.

Year 10 students applied Pythagoras' theorem and trigonometric ratios to right-angle triangles, including examples that arise from real-life problems.

Year 11 and Mechanics 1 students continue having revision sessions to aid their preparations for upcoming exams.

The answers for the last Math question of the week is: 87.

Thank you for all submitted answers and congratulations to Mei from 7A, Michail from 7B, and Aleksander from 9B, who guessed correctly and received 5 house points. Well done!

Maths question of this week is:

Students who solve the questions send the answer to my email by Wednesday 21st April. Good luck!

Ms. Zupanc - Maths Department

As Year 11 prepares for study leave, Art students Wiktoria, Irmak, Maria and Ekaterina have been working hard to complete coursework with ambitious final pieces. Preparatory work and sketches are being carefully presented and refined, whilst larger scale paintings and drawings are underway to showcase the individual responses of students.

Irmak and Maria attended the Art revision session after school to receive further feedback and guidance regarding their projects.

Keep it up Year 11, we anticipate some wonderful final artworks coming soon!

Miss Clayton - Art Teacher

For the first Teacher Feature of Block 6, we look into the English Department with Mr Brad Eve, longstanding member of the English and EAL Team here at BISL.

Read Mr Eve’s Teacher Feature here.

Dear Parents,

As we head into Term 3, we have shared with you fantastic news regarding our Outstanding School Inspection and also the reopening of our After-School Provision at BISL.

I also would like to thank you for your ongoing support, encouragement and help during this year and the challenges we have faced. Due to missed face-to-face interactions at school, we are offering extended opportunities for our studentsto see each other, have fun together and to learn with one another further, please see details of this in this week’s Update from the Principal.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal