Secondary News - Nov 19 2021

Welcome back to Block 3 for all! This week began with a number of health and safety measure changes, and I wanted to thank everyone for their support and organisation regarding renewed Covid Declaration forms, masks, self-testing forms and acquiring self-testing kits for the children that require them. The response was much appreciated and with the help of Nurse Teja, the students were all successfully guided through testing on Wednesday and Friday of this week. We continue to follow the guidance closely as it is released to ensure that we are all able to remain safely at school.

This week Mr Batson held an IGCSE Information webinar for anyone who wished to learn further information regarding the IGCSE programme we follow here at BISL. Parents and students discovered more about what these are and where they lead to in the future. Thank you to Mr Batson for hosting this webinar. Year 9 families will be additionally invited to an IGCSE Subject Information session in the next block to provide some guidance in order to select subjects for Year 10.

This week, the school also raised awareness of Anti-Bullying Week, held from 15^th – 19^th November. We also marked the occasion by sporting odd socks on Friday. It was wonderful to see so many teachers and students taking part in this important event. To also finish the week, the MEPI students along with Mr Irving, Ms Tušar, Mr Astbury and Ms Zupanc will spend their Saturday morning climbing Šmarna Gora. Thank you to the teachers for supporting the MEPI students to take part in this walk.

As always, please check the website for any further updates and have a safe and happy weekend.

Stephanie Andronikos,

Head of Secondary

This block, Parent Teacher Student interviews are available for parents during Weeks 4 and 5. These will be held online as previous years. Further information will be sent to parents on Monday 22nd November with instructions on how to book, and the bookings will open for parents on Tuesday 23rd November at 8am . Having your child present for these meetings is fully encouraged so that they are a part of the discussion around their learning and progress.

Maths News:

The students have been busy preparing for the upcoming Term 1 assessment. One of their preferred strategies was to recall previous concepts by solving questions under a time limit, while competing with their classmates to achieve high scores. Online quizzes such as Kahoot and Quizizz are excellent tools for that and are so popular amongst students that they cannot decide on their favourite!

We also discussed the students' target areas from this Term to help them effectively prepare for the assessment.

Year 12 students enjoy recalling previous concepts through collaborative work, solving problems on the white boards.

Maths mistake of the week:

Thank you for all submitted answers this week. Valentin from 8B successfully found the most deliberate mistakes and took home six house points in the process. Good work!

Find new mistakes and new opportunities to win house points next Monday, in front of room 316.

Ms Zupanc, Mathematics Teacher

PE News:

During PE this week, we completed some sporting units and carried out practical assessments across a range of sports. Year 7 completed their badminton unit, with Year 8 finalising their tennis playing block and Year 9 concluded their volleyball unit. Year 10 were assessed on their overall Sepak Takraw playing level, with Year 11 concluding their cricket unit. All students then went through the fitness exercises, ahead of their final fitness assessment next week.

Mr Hayes, PE Department

Computer Science News:

In Computer Science this week all year groups are sitting their term 1 test, students have been revising over the block break and seem prepared for the tests. The Bebras UK Computational Thinking skills competition is also being held this week with some of our students entering and enjoying the various tasks.

Ms Burtrand, Computer science teacher

Science News:

It has been a busy week again, filled with many science activities.

Do you know what elephants wash their teeth with? In the Young Scientist Club, Ms. Strmčnik showed students an elephant's toothpaste demonstration, showing them what elephant toothpaste looks like.

In the Science Club, Valentin stepped into the teacher's shoes and demonstrated alkali metals reacting with water. Students found out that if you add two small pieces of sodium into the water simultaneously, they join together. Valentin did a fantastic job - congrats!

In the Physics Club students investigated how the size of the beaker influences the time it takes for the candle to go out and how the water in the beaker rises due to the changed pressure.

In their Chemistry lesson, Y9 students investigated how much energy different fuels release when combusted.

Ms Tušar, Science Department

English News:

Year 7: Year 7 examined the world of dreams and nightmares and learnt about the symbolism of the more common nightmares. They also continued further into reading “Stone Cold” and met the unscrupulous “Captain Hook” who profits from the needs of the homeless people in the story.

Year 8: Year 8 worked on writing a radio play based on significant events of “Private Peaceful.”

Year 9: Year 9 continued their evaluation of “Animal Farm”

Year 10: Year 10 looked at the tension between Aunt Lily and Godfrey as she tries to get him to remember the man he was before his wife died in the play “Crumbs from the table of joy.”

Year 11: Year 11 learnt to zoom in and analyse quotes from The Crucible in minute detail in order to create evidence for essay writing.

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

MFL News

Slovene beginners

Year 7 is always so engaged when we are playing the game Vislice (Hangman). They are trying to save him as fast as they can with the use of the Slovene alphabet. Occasionally, we use this game as a starter or a plenary. This week we were focusing on describing our two classes (7A and 7B), best classmates and form tutors. Students used a range of vocabulary in those descriptions. They have mentioned the nicest things about their classes.

Stay connected as you are Year 7!

Slovene Advanced

Year 7 students at Slovene Advanced lessons have started a new block with grammar. They have been working on spelling, especially capital letters and rules that are different in Slovene and English. Students compared both languages and tried to ‘’invent’’ groups of rules for capital letters. Although the topic isn't so easy, students impressed us with their attitude and desire for knowledge. Odlično!

French

Bienvenue dans le Block 3! This week, students were very engaged in learning about body parts, but also clothes, time, and how to ask questions. Culturally speaking, we learnt how to get information from touristic places by playing some interaction games while practicing speaking skills and intonation. It was also the occasion to learn more about some famous places in France. Well done to everyone, et à la semaine prochaine!

Ms Drofenik, Ms Kosec , Ms Tatil - MFL Department

MEPI News:

This Monday we were just making our final touches on our planning for our trip to Šmarna Gora / Mt Saint Mary which will be taking place this Saturday at 9am . It was quite interesting since we came to the conclusion that if we do everything we calculated on our route, it should take us 30 minutes to get to the top. Theoretically, this should work but realistically I don't think it will. It will take us more time since we also have to stop 7 times to check on our compass if we are heading the right direction. We will be split into two groups for a better experience. We are all looking forward to it even though it will be very cold.

Zoja, MEPI Participant

The first reconnaissance in preparation for the execution of this year's Green Dragon Adventurous Journey has been successfully completed. A select group of MEPI Award Leaders from numerous Award Centres came together in order to hone their navigational skills, and assess the suitability and potential hazards of a route which is in close proximity to Dobrova. I would like to thank Mr. Staines for his participation, and Mr. Luka Kambic for his expertise in arranging the event.

Mr Irving, MEPI Coordinator

Do you happen to have any books at home, which you don't read anymore, enjoy or are taking up a lot of space in your home?

This is your chance to not only replace some of those old books with new ones from your classmates, but also expand the collection of books within our school library by giving back to the community.

On December 3rd, Book and Barter - A book exchange and donation event initiated by the MEPI programme and led by Taja and Chloe from Sixth Form - will be taking place and open for students to pick up new books and enrich their knowledge on new topics, by exchanging and/or donating books

You’ll find more information and details here.

Taja & Chloe, Sixth Form

In partnership with Zveza prijateljev mladine Ljubljana Moste-Polje, we are delighted to be continuing to support this special holiday initiative with the help of our generous community.

Through this holiday project, children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds write a letter with their holiday wish, and in order for every child to get exactly what they wanted, the gifting is done in such a way that, in cooperation with the ZPM Ljubljana Moste-Polje, we distribute these letters from the children across our community.

Over the past few years that we have been involved in this wonderful project, everyone's enthusiasm has continued to grow. Each year, we have made more and more children happy, last year with an incredible 150 gifts! This year, we are aiming for the same kindness, generosity, empathy and enthusiasm from our BISL community.

For more information and to get involved, please click here.

Dear Parents,

I have emailed out all parents this morning to thank you for your help and support throughout this week, it has been incredible. Thank you. Our Sixth Form students have distributed a quick survey and collected the results to check how everyone has felt after the self-testing. Thank you to Mr. Batson and the Sixth Form students for doing this.

For the first week back, we participated in the global Anti-Bullying Awareness Week culminating in Odd Socks Day today, we held the IGCSE Information Evening and started celebrating 'Creative and Performing Arts' as our theme for this block.

We have an exciting month ahead with both Art and Coding competitions, our Book and Barter event, Christmas activities and much more!

Please check the FAQs in my full Update here for questions that you may have, as well as your email on a regular basis to ensure that you are receiving all of the necessary communication. Thank you to parents for raising questions, we have added them to the FAQs and now have a comprehensive list of areas queried and answered, which really helps.

Finally, we look forward to putting up our Christmas decorations soon and really appreciate the help from parents with this annual tradition as we decorate the school to add excitement and festive cheer to our classrooms and corridors. Similar to the amazing Halloween decorations we had, the whole school becomes filled with wonder and our students thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere!

Please read my full Update from the Principal here.

I hope you have a relaxing weekend.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal