Secondary News - Sept 2 2021

Block 1 Week 1

Welcome to all families to a new year at BISL! It certainly has been a busy start, with many events held this week already! We continue to operate with Covid-19 safety measures still in place but are extremely happy to see families back and students learning in lessons. The Secondary teachers have worked very hard to prepare for the new year and we welcomed the new members of staff to the team. It was also wonderful to welcome so many families personally at the Orientation Day last Friday.

This week, the start has been a positive one, with new students getting to know current students and forging new friendships. There have been many information sessions via Zoom this week, to aid families in learning more about the school and the curriculum expectations. On Tuesday, Ms. Kenealy introduced the immense number of activities that we are planning for this Block. We are really looking forward to increasing this provision this year, and parents are invited to sign up for these via the website here. On Wednesday, parents had the opportunity to meet Form tutors and gather further information regarding the curriculum for the year. Additionally this week, Mr Hayes and Mr Malden introduced the opportunities for student voice and leadership in Secondary to the students.

Congratulations to all the students who received their IGCSE and A-Level results over the Summer.Click here to see the incredible results of our students. Well done and we wish our graduating class well in all of their chosen university pathways.

It is that time of the year when we are excited to offer two Enrichment Days on the 4^th and 11^th September. It is a lovely way to be able to have fun and engage in a less formal setting with their peers. Students can join these days via the link on the website.

It has been such a brilliant start to the year for all, and it has been wonderful welcoming students back into the building. Just a reminder to all, that students are to be wearing the full formal uniform as listed onthe website, with buttoned, collared blouse and tie.

The energy and buzz around the school is certainly a positive one and it will only improve as professional relationships further develop between all students and staff. I have already witnessed so much learning taking place and smiling faces around school, so I look forward to seeing these connections continue to flourish in the coming weeks.

For any important updates, please continue to check the News section and the latest Update from the Principal.

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend ahead,

Stephanie Andronikos

Head of Secondary

We are delighted to welcome Mrs.Teja Rismondo to the BISL team. Mrs. Rismondo is a qualified nurse and has already started her role as the School Nurse this week. Her assistance during outdoor breaks and within primary classrooms will further secure the health and safety of our students.

If parents have any questions or concerns, please contact Mrs. Rismondo at: teja.rismondo@britishschool.si

Mathematics Block

The theme of the first block of this academic year is Mathematics, which, in my opinion, is an excellent way to start. So what can be said about Mathematics? We can start with Carl Friedrich Gauss, who called Mathematics “the queen of the sciences”. Or perhaps a quote from a former student, Ema, who was studying Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. She once told me that “...Biology, Chemistry and Physics are such heavy subjects, I usually do some Mathematics to relax.” Strangely enough, not everyone has this experience. Mathematics seems to have an almost unique ability of inspiring some whilst infuriating others but one thing is for sure, without Mathematics, many subjects would struggle to exist and make sense. What would History be without dates, Geography without distances, how can we understand anything in Chemistry without knowing the number of protons, neutrons and atomic mass and let’s not even talk about Physics. The relationship between Mathematics and English is also easy to see. Afterall…

Mathematicians

Must always seek out patterns

To make connections

Even Haiku’s require the guidance of Mathematics.

This block, to celebrate Mathematics, we will be promoting the subject across the curriculum, sending out interesting articles, puzzles and facts about Mathematics to the BISL community. Running a Pi recital competition and displaying work connected with Mathematics completed in lessons. So delve deeper into the world of Mathematics this block and enjoy.

Mr Batson, Head of Mathematics

Maths News

Year 7 students successfully escaped primary mathematics by accurately solving various sets of challenging problems. They worked in groups and have shown leadership, collaboration and leadership skills.

Years 8 and 9 had a successful start of the week by demonstrating their knowledge of historically important mathematical events, people and concepts. They created their own online quizzes for their classmates to aid their revision of number concepts.

We welcomed Year 10 into their first year and Year 11 into their second year of IGCSE mathematics with a selection of challenges.

Year 12 expressed their dedication to learning by reviewing IGCSE equations and expressions through student-led presentations.

The Mathematic department would like to present a new weekly maths challenge: Maths mistake of the week. Each week we will showcase numerous worked examples on the display board on the 2nd floor corridor, opposite mathematics room 316, for KS3 and KS4 students. Each mistake is worth 2 house points. How many can you find?

Send your answers to Ms Zupanc: maja.zupanc@britishschool.si

Ms Zupanc, Mathematics Teacher

Psychology News

The year 12 students will explore the brain and human behaviour in Psychology. It is always interesting to see how students will react to a totally new subject as Psychology is an A level only subject at BISL.

Year 13 psychology will continue to delve deeper into the human mind, starting the year off with the study of Schizophrenia and paranoid delusions.

PE News

This week during secondary PE we introduced the student expectations for the year ahead and outlined the different sporting topics we will be covering. All students completed the beep test during the first week and we played some conditioned dodgeball games.

All of the students displayed excellent effort and enthusiasm during secondary PE this week and the whole PE department is looking forward to an active and successful year ahead.

Mr Hayes, PE department

English News

Year 7: Year 7B began the year by jumping into Oscar Wilde’s wonderfully funny story called “The Canterville Ghost”.

Year 8: Year 8A bagan the year off with a dip into the world of Sherlock Holmes and his adventure “The Speckled Band”. We also wrote an account of our own meeting with Sherlock Holmes trying to catch a mysterious unknown killer.

Year 9: Year 9 started the year off by jumping into writing a modern screenplay. First we studied the example we had from the film “Gladiator” then we moved onwards to choosing our own scene to describe in the same style.

Year 10: Having being inspired by watching inspiration speeches throughout history, Year 10 have been writing persuasive speeches on important global topics including mental health awareness, global warming and religious tolerance and identity in preparation for paper one of the English Language GCSE

Year 12 English Lang - Year 12 have been introduced to their English language course and the requirements of the year, and have begun analysing texts in greater depth, building upon their year 11 work.

Year 13 - Year 13 have been introduced to the history of the English language and language change over time and will be producing a timeline of the important moments and changes in the history of the language.

Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Staines, Mr Siter and Mr. Eve - English Department

Slovene News

“In šola se je začela. Dobrodošli nazaj, učenci in učenke!”

Our Secondary students were very engaged at Slovene during this week. They are looking forward to learning Slovene through various activities!

It is nice to be back indeed, so we can't wait to start the 2nd week.

Ms Kosec and Ms Drofenik, Slovene Teachers

Science News

This week Y7 students were learning about how to work safely in the science laboratory. They learned about the hazards, the risk they pose, and precautions that we should take. Thus they were ready to light the bunsen burner for the first time and combust metals to produce mini fireworks.

Year 9s began the year by observing stomata of samples harvested from leaves outside the school. They used the so-called “nail polish technique” and observed the samples under the microscope. Some challenged themselves and removed the lower epidermis from the leaf and put it directly on the microscope slides.

Computer Science News

In Computer Science this week Year 7&8 have been looking at Computational thinking skills which includes writing algorithms and decomposing problems. Year 9 will be looking on Friday at how we can make a computer appear smart and the beginnings of how AI works. Year 10 have started their first IGCSE unit on Binary and Hexadecimal systems and Year 11 have begun their first unit on hardware and storage devices. All classes have shown great enthusiasm and willingness to learn, I look forward to another great week of learning ahead.

Miss Burtrand, Computer Science Teacher

MEPI News

It’s been a wonderfully busy week for everyone as we all settle into the new academic year, and put our well-laid plans into action. MEPI is no exception to this, as we welcome some new members to our intrepid team. I would like to thank Mr. Astbury (Humanities teacher and Year 10 Form tutor) for giving his time, expertise, and energy to the cause, and likewise, Ms. Zupanc (Mathematics teacher and Year 8B Form tutor). Of course, a very warm welcome back to Ms. Tušar (Science teacher and Year 8A Form tutor). The team is stronger than ever, and we have a great programme to deliver this year. Already MEPI has featured in the After School Activities webinar for parents, and MEPI presentations have been taking place in various Secondary form rooms (and will also feature in the next Secondary Assembly.) A webinar solely for MEPI and ‘Junior Duke’ (A similar programme for our younger students) is also happening at 16:00 hrs onTuesday 31^st August. Our first official After School MEPI meeting will be on Monday 6^th September at 15:00 hrs (Room 301), but I would like to invite my participants from last year to meet this coming Monday (30^th August) for a quick catch up meeting.

Mr Irving, MEPI Coordinator

Dear Parents,

An incredible week! - I think we all have felt a range of emotions over the past 5 days from excitement and eagerness to be starting the school year back in classes, to a sense of fulfilment and tiredness at the end of such a busy week.

Thank you to everyone for making this such a positive start back to the year! I really appreciate it.

We've started back very well but we have to be honest about areas which we can do better with as a school, our pick up procedures at the end of the day will improve and I thank you in advance for your patience with this. We are also planning to move all lunches back into a new canteen area and this will undoubtedly help with the quality of food our students have each day. This is something we can do very quickly.

Also, other areas such as helping students settle into the academic year will take time as they make new friends, get to know new teachers, and for students to learn new subjects. All of this comes with being in an international school. It is both a challenge and also an exciting part of students moving up from one school grade to another. We are here to support all students as everyone will have to experience change at some point.

To finish the week safely, students smiling and lots of great photos of them learning in class through our social media is a wonderful way to share with you their experiences so far.

With the after-school activities to start on Monday 6th September, we are looking forward to more opportunities for our students.

Please note as mentioned in my full Update here, we are opening up events on site next week. This will be reviewed weekly.

Please read my full Update from the Principal for further details.

Wishing you a fantastic weekend.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website here.