Secondary News - May 10 2021

Block 6 Week 5

The penultimate week of the block was certainly a busy one with a lot happening across the Secondary school. This week saw the Year 7 students working from a distance via Zoom, which they are to be commended for their flexibility and quick ability to adapt to the situation at hand. Thank you to the Year 7 students and parents for your support, and I am pleased to confirm that they will be back working from the building next week.

Additionally, this week, the Year 11, 12 and 13 students saw the start of their final examinations. With the format for examinations as it is with the measures in place, students will have the opportunity to be able to resit to achieve the best possible results for them for their future. All the teachers are working to ensure that revision sessions are in place next week also, and should students have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact teachers directly.

The MEPI clothing drive was a big success this week! Thank you to all the families who donated their preloved clothes to a good cause. I know that the car was certainly filled to the brim and that the charity was incredibly grateful for these contributions.

Next week sees the much-anticipated celebrations for International Days. A big thank you to the PTA for all their hard work in coordinating this event! It is such a wonderful opportunity to see the community participate together in an event that unites us all. As a result, for all students, next Friday is a day to dress down in your country colours.

I wish everyone a lovely weekend.

Ms Andronikos

Head of Secondary

On Wednesday, we were visited by 9 students from Trieste International School who were completing their final assessments for IGCSE English as a Second Language. During the day they undertook a listening assessment, a speaking assessment - many thanks to Mr Kirwan for conducting them - and a reading and writing examination.

They enjoyed pizza at the school for lunch and the day was completed with a presentation by BISL alumni member Ana Milanez who spoke to them about the importance of research when deciding where to continue their studies after high school. This was an excellent opportunity to strengthen the links with an international school and we have already made plans for future visits and collaborative projects. Find out more here.

Week 1 of the final assessments for the Year 11, 12 and 13 group has now concluded, one more week to go. Students are very much encouraged to use this opportunity to aim high and fully justify, through a display of knowledge in their assessment, the high grades they have been working towards.

Students are also reminded that during next week, revision sessions will still take place and it would be highly beneficial for students to attend in order to gain those tips, tricks that could be the difference between a grade. Of course revision sessions are also a time to make sure that subject knowledge is solid and to clear up any misunderstandings.Good luck for next week to all year 11, 12 and 13 students and thank you to the rest of the school, staff and students alike, for respecting the signs asking for silence while assessments have been taking place.

Mr Batson, Head of Sixth Form

Years 7 and 8 - The younger secondary students have started their approach to a student-led investigation, for which they will be deciding, perfecting, and carrying out an experiment to test for something they would like to prove or demonstrate.

Here are some examples of what some pairs of students have come up with:

Badr and Luka

Why does warm water freeze quicker than cold water?

Independent variables: Temperature, Time.

Constant variables: amount of water.

Equipment: Water, cups, hot water, cold water.

Rem and Samuel:

Does adding more Mentos mean that Coca-Cola squirts higher than with just one inside?

Year 9 have taken their first steps into IGCSE content. It was a successful start, considering that a plan to steal and alter the universal reference for the metre stored in Paris (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) is being brewed by them in order to alter the international metric system.

Year 10 have carried out an experiment to test for Ohm's law, utilising multimetres (which they learnt how to use last week) to measure and compare voltage and current across a resistor. One of the teams got a result for the resistance which was close to the real result by within 2%!

Juan Malo de molina Herrera, Physics teacher

Year 7 worked upon a story about Hannibal surprising the Roman Army by leading an army with Battle Elephants over the Alps. They also investigated the use of quotation marks in Direct speech.

Year 8 read about the making of a famous documentary film and the controversies surrounding it with “Nanook of the North”.

Year 9: Class 9b this week have continued with Macbeth, getting to the point of Banquo’s murder. Students have been looking at how Shakespeare portrays Macbeth’s mental state with students practising writing PETAL paragraphs, prepping them for their GCSEs next year.

9b also had a creative double lesson on Tuesday with acting out the play, with props kindly borrowed from the history department.

Year 10: This week year 10 have been looking at speech and letter writing for IGCSE Language Paper 1. Students have been using sources to inspire their speeches and letters this week, although writing is a huge focus in English, it is equally as important to read the question students have been learning. Sometimes the question doesn’t give you a choice what side you argue it from. A huge well done to students this week who have produced GCSE standard responses.

In addition students had a double lesson to explore their creative sides either writing for the student led magazine, or making flags for international week!

Next week we start interview writing!

Year 11: Have continued to revise this week and consolidate their existing knowledge in both language and literature. This has been a mixture of independent revision and teacher led revision. A huge well done to all students for their effort this academic year so far, and especially the last week.

Year 11 have said their English Language final assessment this week - well done to all students for all their hard work.

Book of the Week: The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Alice Walker's iconic modern classic is now a Penguin Book. Ideal for more mature and older readers (13+).

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence.Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.

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

KS3 students were defusing 'bombs', breaking secret codes as well as solving mysteries by answering ratio and proportion questions.

Year 10 learnt how to systematically list outcomes of 2 successive events and recapped the difference between theoretical and experimental probability. The probability chapters will wrap up the topics for their final exam for this year, which is in Block 7.

Year 11, 12, and 13 students sat their mathematics exams this week. Well done to all!

The answers for the last Maths question of the week is: 9.

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

Maths question of this week is:

The area of the large square is 16 and the area of each of the four smaller dark grey squares is 1 (see the picture). How big is the light grey area?

Students who solve the questions send the answer to my email by Wednesday 12th May. Good luck!

Ms Zupanc, Mathematics Teacher

Year 10 are currently studying price in the marketing mix. They have just learnt how to calculate price elasticity of demand….this may or may not have inspired everyone to study A Level economics in the future.

Year 12 and 13 are currently doing revision and final assessments in school. Well done to all the students who have sat their final, I am proud of you all.

Mr. Dalton - Business and Economics Teacher

This week in Geography, students in Year 9A played The Trading Game, a team-based strategic game where students attempt to make the most money by generating paper shapes using limited resources. With students representing different nations at different levels of development and therefore different quantities of resources and capital, the nations must trade and negotiate with each other in order to produce the most paper shapes.

For example, France has all the equipment necessary to make the shapes (pencil, scissors, ruler etc.) but only one piece of paper. On the other hand, Mali has no equipment but four pieces of paper. The game simulates the factors that affect trade globally and the advantages and disadvantages countries have over others. As expected, France generated the most revenue but Malaysia and Mali were both effective traders and performed better than expected!

By the end of the game the whole class was a bit more appreciative of the difficulties faced by poorer countries to compete in the global economy with some of the bigger, more established countries. Will France win again next week in 9Bs lesson? Or is the game rigged?

Mr Bradley, Head of Humanities

Year 7 has been focusing on creating their timelines all the way up to the present day. Firstly, they were trying to guess the correct word through the game Vislice (Hangman) and they succeeded. Secondly, they listened to an example of a random timeline. Finally, they were ready for their own creations – their timelines from the day they were born onwards. They are still working hard on it and soon they will be ready to share their timelines with all their important family events and turning points.

Keep up the good work!

Ms Košec, Slovene Teacher

BISL is introducing a German club as an afternoon activity, starting next Thursday, 13th May. We welcome all students who have already had a first contact with the language, as well as natives, to join the club. Learning German can be fun. Join us! For more information contact Mrs Osolnik Kunc directly.

With a more sustainable future in mind, at the start of April BISL joined MEPI's green initiative to promote environmental and social awareness.

The success of this initiative at BISL was huge! We collected 3 cars full of second-hand clothes, shoes, toys, and jewellery and we would like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who got involved by donating unwanted items.

To read more about this fantastic result, click here.

It is a privilege for our school to appear on the official list of worldwide schools on the UK Department for Education website, showing all of the fully accredited British Schools Overseas across the globe, and now includes the British International School of Ljubljana, with our recent Outstanding report.

Read more about this here.

To register for our Enrichment Days, taking place on consecutive Saturdays, 12th and 19th June, please complete the sign-up form here.

These will include a range of supervised activities for our students to have further opportunities to enjoy learning and having fun together.

With the summer holidays just around the corner, find out how your child can join this two-week summer adventure with the British International School of Ljubljana - details here.

To make up for some of the lost face-to-face interactions with friends due to the period of remote learning, we are happy to be able to offer 5 Days of Free Summer School for BISL students in the first week of the summer, starting Monday 5th July.

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

• 29.04.2021 - Katherine Blundell
• 15.04.2021 - Mr Brad Eve
• 25.03.2021 - Mr Dominic Hulse
• 10.03.2021 - Ms Emina Begić
• 24.02.2021 - Mr Chris Bishop
• 27.01.2021 - Ms Mateja Košec
• 13.01.2021 - Mrs Tanya Charlesworth
• 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
• 06.10.2020 - Mr Jason Batson

International Days Details

A huge thank you to our volunteers for signing up to help organise and run this event, we are very excited for next week. Some details are below:

Opening Ceremony, Tuesday May 11, 8:30am - 9:30am

This will be streamed live via Zoom in case you are not able to come along.

International Fair, Friday May 14, 10:00am - 14:00pm

This is a dress down day - everyone is encouraged to wear national dress or colours of their flag.

To adhere to current guidance, groups of students will visit the fair at set times:

• Year 10 - 10:00am activities
• KS3 - 10:30am activities
• KS2 - 11:00am activities
• KS1 + EY - 11:30am activities + food
• KS2 - 12:30pm food
• KS3 - 13:00pm food
• Year 10 - 13:30 food

There will be no after-school clubs on Friday, but extended supervision will be available as normal.

Second Hand Uniform Sale:

We are organising two afternoons for a second hand uniform sale, on Monday May 10 and Wednesday May 12, from 2pm-3:30pm, to give you an opportunity to purchase gently used items of uniform. Don’t miss out! Look out for our tables by the Early Years entrance.

Dear Parents,

It has been yet another busy week here at BISL with lots going on, including a visit from colleagues and students from Trieste International School, who were here to complete their English as a Second Language IGCSE examinations. This great collaboration between our two schools.

Thank you to those of you who were able to join this morning's Coffee with the Principal. If you weren't able to join, you will find the points discussed, with some further details as promised, in full my Update from the Principal.

I look forward to seeing you next week at one of our upcoming events and wish you a restful and relaxing weekend ahead.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal