Primary News - June 24th

Dear Parents and Students,

We have come to the end of the school year 2021-2022 and what a year it has been for the BISL community! We have successfully navigated through different challenges, with some classes having to move to online learning for a while, but are really grateful to have been able to complete the school year not only with classes running on-site but also with wonderful events we have been able to organise and enjoy.

This last week has seen many events taking place for parents and students. In preparation for our Reception students moving to Primary next year, Early Years Transition Day was organised to give students an opportunity to experience school life in Year 1 and a presentation was held for parents to find out more about this important transition.

The Year 4 Gallery event on Tuesday showcased the amazing artwork created by the Y4 students over this block. The Wizard of Oz production on Thursday was fantastic! Thank you to all staff involved and to the students for their brilliant performances. With the end of the PE Block, during which students participated in numerous sporting activities and competitions, we now conclude the BISL Olympics. Well done to all for taking on the challenges and persevering to that finish line!

All Primary students gathered for the Student Awards Ceremony on their last day of school on Friday. This was a very special event, as it was the first time all students have been able to come together in the last 2 and a half years.

The ceremony celebrated student achievements in various areas including Specialist Subjects Awards, Student Leadership Certificates, Academic Awards (PTE, PTM and EAL), and the Junior Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Congratulations to all of the students receiving these awards! Well done also to this year’s House Captains for encouraging their houses and collecting points, and to the Hessonite House as the House Winners of 2022!

As with every end of the year, we have to say goodbye to students who will be leaving BISL. We wish them and their families great new adventures wherever they may be going. We also extend our gratitude to any staff ending their journey at BISL and wish them all the best in the future.

I would like to wish all BISL families a relaxing summer break and we look forward to welcoming you back for the new school year, together with new members joining us in August.

Kind regards,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

We have set sail into the last week of our Pirates topic. The last days were full of creative ideas and discussions about angry pirates. The children made pirate ships using junk model materials to sail the blue ocean. To make our Pirate’s journey even more exciting, the children made an enormous octopus!

They stuffed long socks with newspaper to create octopus heads and tentacles. Their favourite part of creation was no doubt a messy painting where the students used their hands instead of paint brushes. Hey Ho, we are ready for the summer!

Ms Kukovica

Year 1

It has been a truly wonderful and busy last school week. We hosted the Reception students during a phonics lesson and showed them various parts of the school. We then listened to the Y2 students who told us about their favourite parts of the school year.

We also played an interesting version of bingo to find out where our friends are going over the summer. Later on, we had some fun games with Y2 students outside and we must not forget about the spectacular Wizard of Oz show, which we watched.

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

We have had a good final week in Year 2. They thoroughly loved the sports day events. It was fantastic to watch and see them working hard and supporting each other. We finished off our Topic by baking some traditional English cakes, which were loved by all.

We also finished everything off in class and they have some brilliant pieces of work that they have taken home. We created a round-up of the year and discussed all the fantastic memories and achievements. We have loved having all the students and wish them the best for Year 3!

Ms Harris and Mrs Fordham

Year 3

Miss Elena prepared a final, insightful presentation to round off Year 3's Topic on 'Fit for life'. Students were given more facts on all areas of learning covered in the last 5 weeks, then quizzed on subjects such as sleep, types of exercise and diet. What better way to end an in-depth quiz than with some stretching and games!

Ms Blundell and Mr Kokalj

Year 4

YEAR 4 GALLERY OF SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE

It was a block of spending time painting, photographing, videoing, drawing, sketching, sculpting, dancing, recording, presenting, watching, backing, naming, signing, smiling, enjoying, cleaning, and more cleaning… in preparation for our Gallery of Significant People. Year 4 students chose a famous artist or musician, and replicated their famous work as close as possible as they could. They then made their own art piece in their artist's style - drawing, photography, painting or piece of music. We had artists celebrated from a number of countries, including the UK, Russia, Ukraine, The Netherlands, USA, Romania, Italy, Serbia, Poland, Norway, Austria, and Mexico, almost as many as our own students! Famous names seen were - Picasso, Mozart, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Grieg, Bilokur, Avicii, Jackson, Lichtenstein, O'Keeffe, Pushkin, Frankenthaler, Kahlo, Luchian, Banksy, Aivazovsky, Malevich, Petrović and Da Vinci. But the highlight of the Gallery was to celebrate the Year 4 students as being truly significant beings and I wish them a wonderful learning journey next year.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 5

Year 5 has had a fantastic year! From dressing up as Romans, making snowmen in the playground, fun trips to Postojna cave and castle, House of Illusions, the town museum and National Gallery, becoming a president and of course our brilliant class assembly- it has been filled with fun and adventure.

I've watched the children learn and grow and change week by week. It has been a great pleasure to be their teacher and I wish them all the best for their journey into Year 6. I hope everyone has a restful and safe summer.

Mrs Thomas

Year 6

Year 6 rounded off the Space unit by designing their own space stations for Mars in order for humans to inhabit the planet. Many students used Minecraft to create wonderful and intricate buildings, taking into consideration how to supply oxygen, food and a liveable environment for human inhabitants, and how to source energy. We were all very impressed with the designs, so NASA can now look forward to some future space engineers knocking on their doors!

We also held the Year 6 Graduation ceremony last Friday. Students performed their own compositions, including piano recitals, singing and dancing. I wish all students a fun and successful transition to Secondary school next year.

Mr Bishop

EAL

Giving out EAL certificates of completion is always a bitter-sweet moment. The students have made great progress and do not need EAL support anymore but at the same time, it also means that these students will not be coming to EAL lessons and we have to part ways.

Nevertheless, we are proud of all of our students and congratulate them for this exceptional achievement.

Mr Siter

Slovene

Our Primary students have been revising topics we have done during this year. Students became teachers for a day, presenting their favourite topics. It was wonderful to see their eagerness and willingness to teach others and share any creative ideas.

Quite challenging to prepare everything we would say, but they know that they have done a fantastic job.

Well done Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. Zdaj pa na počitnice.

Ms Košec

PE

This week we completed our BISL Olympics events, across Primary school PE lessons and Sports Day.

On Monday, we held our Primary Sports Day and here are the results from the respective events:

AGILITY COURSE

• EY: 3rd - Luke, 2nd - Logan, 1st - Ryker
• Y1: 3rd - Ivan, 2nd - Wilder, 1st - Konstantin
• Y2A: 3rd - Ondrej, 2nd - Stefan, 1st - Ayaka
• Y2B: 3rd - Joshua, 2nd - Valeria, 1st - Lev
• Y3: 3rd - Benjamin, 2nd - Ana Lina, 1st - Žak
• Y4: 3rd - Luka, 2nd - Leon, 1st - Christina
• Y5: 3rd - Franja, T=2nd - Marlene & Sven, 1st - Vova
• Y6: 3rd - Maxi, 2nd - Ida, 1st - Ivan

SPRINT CHALLENGE

• Y2A: 3rd - Kaylee, 2nd - Sofia, 1st - Stefan
• Y2B: 3rd - Tita, 2nd - Paskal, 1st - Joshua
• Y3: 3rd - Ana Lina, 2nd - Aleksej, 1st - Alexander
• Y4: 3rd - Stella, 2nd - Leon, 1st - Jonathan
• Y5: 3rd - Marlene, 2nd - Sven, 1st - Franja
• Y6: 3rd - Ida, 2nd - Lev, 1st - Ivan

RELAY RACES

(Names of winning team members)

• EY: Bode, Malia, Logan, Filip Maj & Patrik,
• Y1: Zachary, Titus, Aneliese, Ariane, Tereza & Wilder
• Y2: Paskal, Martin, Sofia, Tristan, Tia, Jacob, Mikolaj & Izabela

LONG THROW

• Y3: 3rd - Aleksej, 2nd - Alexander, 1st - Gabriel
• Y4: 3rd - Luka, 2nd - Dominic, 1st - Leon
• Y5: 3rd - Vova, 2nd - Lucas, 1st - Sven
• Y6: 3rd - Maks, 2nd - Maksim, 1st - Ivan

Here are the current BISL Olympics scores - across the whole school (correct as of 22/06/22):

• Zircon: 602
• Sapphire: 655
• Emerald: 661
• Hessonite: 712

Take a look at our Primary Sports Day Gallery here!

A huge thank you to all students for their effort and application across PE lessons this year!

PE Department

Staff announcement

We would like to say thank you to the following teachers leaving BISL at the end of this school year:

Mrs Tanya Charlesworth, who has been a valued member of the BISL community since the founding days of BISL. We thank Mrs Charlesworth for her passion, devotion and contribution across the school over the 14 years, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

As a member of the Slovene department, Ms Mateja Košec taught Slovene to year groups across the school, from Early Years to Primary and Secondary. We wish Ms Košec the best of luck with her future career path.

Mr Chris Bishop, who has been a valued member of the BISL community for 11 years. Alongside Mr Bishop’s passion for Mathematics, he has contributed to many areas of the school and its development over the years. We wish Mr Bishop all the best on his new adventure.

A message from Mr Bishop:

Dear BISL community,

It is with a heavy heart that I have chosen to bid farewell to the BISL family of which I have had the privilege, honor and joy to be with for the past 11 years. Over the years, I have taught many amazing children, met numerous warm and generous families and worked with the best colleagues I could have hoped for at the school, passionately dedicated to educating children in a challenging, stimulating and unique way. I am proud to have worked so long in a school which helps students attain their full potential in a nurturing environment. I will always cherish my memories of the school, and I wish everyone an enriching journey onwards as I also chase new challenges. I thank you all for contributing to such a rewarding experience in my life.

Mr Bishop

Outstanding PTE & PTM results across the school

We are delighted to announce our outstanding results from the recent PTE and PTM assessments at school once again, which have been consistently above the UK average.

Take a look at the results and analysis here.

The Wizard of Oz - Photo Gallery

What a wonderful way to finish the academic year with our school production, The Wizard of Oz, which was a huge success on Thursday afternoon!

Thank you to all parents for coming along, and a special thank you to our students who worked extremely hard on this performance, not only on stage but behind the scenes too, as well as to our Creative Arts team for putting together such a fantastic show!

Take a look at our Wizard of Oz photo gallery here.

Orientation Day - Friday August 19

We look forward to seeing all of our returning and incoming families at Orientation Day on Friday August 19 ahead of the start of the academic year!

Coffee with the Principal - Friday September 2

We look forward to seeing all of our returning and incoming families at Orientation Day on Friday August 19 ahead of the start of the academic year!

Dear Parents,

My last update as Principal...

We've enjoyed an excellent finish to the year and I'd like to thank everyone for your continued support throughout this year. It has been amazing to see our students during the last week with so much excitement and really enjoying being at school. They are happy, joyful and still full of so much energy!

Congratulations to everyone involved in the Wizard of Oz production, this was superb. An amazing event of the highest-quality and a great way in which to finish the academic year! Thank you to Ms Hawkins, Mr Hulse, Ms Predan, Ms Blundell, all staff involved, Mr Kravanja for his work on the stage/props and everyone who supported the show. Parents have been brilliant, thank you to those that attended and a special, final thank you and well done to the students! You were fantastic!!!

I am very proud to see so many opportunities for the students performing together and enjoying using the Performance Theatre, it has made a huge positive difference to our community.

Another congratulations to all students for doing so well in the PTE/PTM tests. We have presented over 70 awards for progress and attainment this week and the students have excelled again. These standardised tests are assessed outside of the school and the trends are clear to see, our students in BISL are performing significantly above the UK and international thresholds. This is a real testament to the hard work from the teachers and students from Early Years through to Year 9.

This week we have enjoyed our Primary Sports Day, EY Transition Day, Staff vs Students Volleyball and the finale of the BISL Olympics. A great way to finish the transition presentation series and our PE block.

The main picture in my update is the annual tradition of placing the plaque of graduates on our Alumni wall. Something I look forward to with Mr Batson each year as we reminisce and talk through our graduates from BISL, we are proud of each and every one of them.

A quick reminder regarding our Summer School, please look out for the upcoming photos to be shared on our social media from Monday 4th July to Friday 15th July.

Please click here for the events coming up in August and save the date for Friday 19th of August for the Orientation Day for the 2022/23 Academic Year.

Finally, a personal thank you to all parents for everything you have done over the past 4 years, I really appreciate it.

I am sad to finally leave but very happy as I have thoroughly enjoyed working at BISL and the school is in a very strong position moving forward. We have such caring, professional teachers, wonderful supportive parents and amazing, talented students. We've developed our facilities, the quality of education provided and now have even more events for students to get involved in. Looking back, I feel a sense of pride of what we have all achieved together, it has all been worthwhile and I leave with fond memories, great moments from our students, with a smile on my face…

Please read my full Update from the Principal here for details, photos and links.

Have a wonderful summer and I wish you all the very best for the future!

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.