Primary News - February 4th 2022

Dear Parents and Students,

We have come to the end of Block 4 and there are lots of things to be celebrated. As part of the Language theme, celebrating cultures and internationalism, students and teachers across Primary classes read stories and traditional tales during Literacy and Language lessons, travelled around the world to explore different countries as part of their Topic learning in Y4 and celebrated Chinese New Year on the 1st of February (see Y5 and EY photos below).

Prešernov Dan (Prešeren Day), also known as the Day of Slovenian culture, is celebrated on the 8th of February. Students paid tribute to the great poet in their Assembly and Slovene classes. On this day families can take part in many cultural activities across Slovenia, such as Prešeren Fair.

BISL took part in the 2022 Mangahigh COBIS Maths Quest online competition in which students aged 5-16 were able to participate from schools around the world. In between 24th-31st January, students completed maths activities at school and from home to score points towards their school’s total. Well done to all the students that took part in collecting points for BISL in this exciting challenge and put their maths skills to the test! See the section below for more details on the year group and individual scores.

To conclude this block, students and staff dressed in the House colours (Zircon, Hessonite, Emerald, Sapphire) on the last day. Well done to the winning House of this block - Hessonite, collecting 510 points!

As we head into the block break, I would like to wish everyone a good break and to remain safe. Thank you for following the guidance and keeping up with the changes, of which there have been many during this block. We have been very fortunate to have had the majority of primary classes learning onsite for the duration of this block and we would very much like to start Block5 with all students returning to school. Please continue to read up on the latest guidance in the Update from the Principal. It is also encouraged that students be self-tested at home before they return to school on their first day in helping us to keep everyone as safe as possible.

Have a restful and relaxing holiday.

Kind Regards,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

The 2022 Mangahigh COBIS Maths Challenge has concluded and our primary school placed in the top 100 schools this year. A big thank you goes out to all those who took part in this exciting competition, progressing their mathematics skills along the way.

Our school achieved a total of 2505 medal points in the competition. The top contributors or each year level are listed below, alongside total class points gained:

Year 1: Isabella 81 points (136 total)

Year 2: Valeria 18 points (124 total)

Year 3: Benjamin 106 points (293 total)

Year 4: Leon 94 points (408 total)

Year 5: Marlene 103 points (507 total)

Year 6: Daniil 261 points. (1035 total)

A special mention also goes to Maksim in Year 6, for attaining 250 points in the competition.

Congratulations to all competitors, especially those in Years 1 and 2 who did not have access to iPads during the competition. Thank you to the families and teachers for supporting this worthwhile event. Hopefully next year we can progress even further up the leaderboard.

Chris Bishop

Primary Maths Coordinator

Early Years

The Early Years have had a fantastic week. We concluded our topic ‘Traditional Tales’ with the story of Jack and the beanstalk. To practice their newfound knowledge, students had fun exploring green spaghetti with beans and painting beanstalks. They even used coloured beans, to help them with learning the mathematical concept of number bonds.

For the language block activities, the children were learning about Chinese culture and how to say ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, and ‘Happy new year’ in the language spoken in China (Mandarin). To learn more about the celebration of the New Year of the Tiger, the students created a large-scale symbol of luck in Chinese culture. The Early Years students painted the boxes red and added strips of crepe paper along the sides of the box, representing a body. Here is a sneak peek of the action so far:

Guess which piece of art our Early Years students are creating!

Ms Kukovica

Year 1

This week we introduced Friendship Knots in Year 1! Each time a student does an act of kindness, they tie a knot and collect points. We also started our second big Topic project, which was making tie-dye shirts. Do you like the designs?

In English lessons, we have been busy writing our own stories. We thought about our characters and all the details of the setting, as well as the dilemma in the story and the ending. In Maths, we practised estimating lengths and fractions.

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

This week, Year 2 have worked hard on writing their own traditional stories. We travelled to a faraway land and met a lot of amazing characters. Next Block, we will explore playscripts and their key features.

In Topic, students have been busy finishing their Habitats projects and recording each others' presentations. In Maths, we have concluded the unit on Fractions and are excited to learn more about addition and subtraction next Block.

Ms Harris and Ms Bradley

Year 3

This was a particularly exciting week for the Y3 students. They were busy creating Island dioramas.

To support their topic, the students were tasked to create a 3D model of an island formation to present to the class. They used compass directions with country and ocean names to indicate the island's location. Students used their tablets to independently research different human and physical features to include in their final piece.

Ms Blundell and Mr Kokalj

Year 4

Year 4 have continued to travel around the world visiting:

● Russia and the beautiful winter in Saint Petersburg.

● Australia learning about marsupials and dangerous animals.

● Ukraine and the origins of the beautiful Carol of the Bells.

● Kazakhstan and traditional romantic horse racing.

● Serbia and learning to write our names in Cyrillic.

● Qatar and the dangers of sandstorms and scorpions.

● Abu Dhabi and being tempted to eat Al Madrooba with Aysh Biryani, and topping it off with the sweet Luqaimat.

● Iceland swimming in some hot springs although watching out for warning signs when they are too hot.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 5

This week the children have taken part in some exciting activities. The class celebrated Chinese New Year by reading a story of how it all began and writing their name in mandarin.

In Maths, the children practised measuring angles and identifying 3D shapes. In English, the children wrote their very own autobiographies which have been turned into a class book. It is very exciting to read.

Ms Thomas

Year 6

Year 6 have brightened the classroom with their wonderful art creations this week. They completed their cubism landscapes and have now moved to the final phase of the unit: creating their own work of art and accompanying it with a musical score of their own creation. They are moving ahead with their chapter books also, which I am greatly enjoying reading bit by bit as they complete their chapters.

I would also like to congratulate the class for achieving such great results in the Mangahigh Maths Challenge this year, helping to cement our place in the top 100 with their commitment to working on the challenge in their spare time also.

Mr Bishop

Slovene

This week we celebrated Cultural Day (also called Prešeren Day). It is a public holiday celebrated in Slovenia on the 8th of February to mark the anniversary of the death of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren in 1849 and is a celebration of Slovenian culture.

We have asked Year 1 what the word culture means to them. Students have provided many diverse answers. Have a look at our lovely photo and video.

watch the video here

If you would like to join in celebrating Cultural Day, you can visit some museums, galleries or castles free of charge.

And let’s not forget - understanding languages and other cultures build bridges and our community can definitely confirm that.

Happy Cultural Day!

Slovene Department

French

After an entertaining and busy Block, students could enjoy practising what they have learnt and remembered in French by playing many new games!

We discovered how to work as a team to build meaningful sentences or to achieve creating displays and mind maps about all the knowledge that students have so far in French. Well done to everyone for the hard work and engagement during every lesson!

Ms Tatil

PE

Across PE this week, we completed our gymnastics block by performing a choreographed routine for the rest of the class in small groups. Tasked with incorporating jumps, rolls, spins and balance poses into their sequencing, the students worked collaboratively to create their gymnastics routine to a theme of their choosing. We also focused on the aesthetics of gymnastic performance and the importance of body language and expression when performing to an audience.

PE Department

Teacher Feature Series

For our final Teacher Feature this block, we shine the spotlight on Mr Chuter, our brilliant Business and Economics teacher.

Read Mr Chuter’s Teacher Feature here.

MEPI News

I enjoyed spending time with the newly joined MEPI participants this Monday after school.

I was glad to see that the involved students were actively participating in the programme, each already doing activities towards their goal and that they enjoyed taking part in the activities during the lesson, where we assessed our knowledge on map symbols through an online quiz.

Lastly, we finished off the meeting by completing a questionnaire on the topic of MEPI expeditions - for which the participants are preparing for in June this year.

I am excited to see where their MEPI journey ends up taking them and was happy to help and attend on Monday.

written by Taja, Year 13

MEPI participant

Dear Parents,

We end the block with another Winter Adventure Trip and our Year 11, 12 and 13 students off to enjoy skiing and other fun activities in the snow. The students have had a great time over the past 3 weeks and the photos look stunning of the excellent conditions and glorious weather they have enjoyed!

Today is House Dress Down Day, as an all-through school we can't wait to celebrate together across the year groups and showcase our House pride!

A highlight of this week has seen our students completing their 'Mangahigh' competitions. We've seen some amazing contributions from all students and I am personally very impressed by the passion and dedication shown by our Primary students engaging in this game-based learning platform. They've had great fun!

Maths is a real strength at BISL and our staff continue to do a great job in encouraging and supporting students. I look forward to the end of year PTM (Progress Test in Maths) results again to recognise and celebrate the progress of every individual at school.

We've had a brilliant Languages block and look forward to our next topic of celebration which is English as we return after the block break. Thank you to our Languages team and everyone involved for celebrating languages, culture and internationalism over the past 5 weeks. I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!

During the past 2 weeks our Secondary staff have completed the IGCSE and A level events for our Secondary School students, visiting classes and sharing information about courses for Year 10 through to Year 13. BISL offers a wide range of IGCSE and A level courses and I'd like to thank the amount of time and effort that everyone has put into this process so far with the personalised help and support for students.

Thank you to all parents who have filled in the Parent Survey, we really appreciate all of your feedback and as always I will pass on your positive comments to staff. Any kind word is gratefully received and makes a huge difference.

Please read the full Update from the Principal here for details.

Have a great block break!

Kind regards,

Paul Walton, Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.