Primary News - March 11th

Dear Parents and Students,

This Block is moving very fast, with only two weeks remaining until the end of Term 2. It has been very liberating for students and staff to be in school without masks this week. Teachers have also been able to plan exciting trips for their classes in this/next Block.

As part of their Topic Theme ‘Pictures, Painting and Photographs’, the Year 3 students visited the Ethnographical Museum this Friday, took part in a Ceramics workshop, while also exploring the local park and Metelkova Art hub. Trips are an integral part of the curriculum, in developing new skills and applying previously learned knowledge in environments outside of the classroom, as well as, encouraging peer collaboration and interaction in a different context. We welcome this opportunity and will keep parents informed of the upcoming trips.

As part of the continuing English-theme Block, students in Secondary took the time this week to record themselves reading some stories for primary students. More than 30 stories were synced to QR codes and attached to the books for students to access. This is a wonderful effort from Secondary students in encouraging their younger peers to develop their reading through enjoyable activities. Don’t forget to also tap into our EY Storytime Youtube playlist and enjoy listening to stories together with your child.

Thank you to the PTA for organising the second-hand uniform sale today, Friday 11th March. Students can quickly grow out of their uniform and many items can be reused by their younger peers. The school uniform is unique to BISL and plays an important part in students’ school life, providing a sense of unity and belonging amongst a wider international community. For more information, please see the school website section on uniforms.

We would also like to say thank you to the community for supporting the Donation Drive organised by our Sixth Form students. The generous response is very much appreciated and our thoughts remain with all families affected.

Please be reminded that the interviews for parents with the specialist teachers start next week. If you have not yet made the bookings, please do so, as these will officially close this Sunday, March 13th at 4:00 pm. Specialist Subject Reports will be issued on the last day of the term.

As always, please ensure that you keep up with the latest News and Events, including the Update from the Principal for important weekly updates.

Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead.

Kind regards,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

This week our “Animals” topic took us on an adventure underwater, where we learned about sea creatures and animals which live near water. Everybody knows that water-based activities are our favourite thing to do, which made this week super exciting! The Early Years students had fun exploring the consistency of water and practising new water-related vocabulary while playing with their peers.

The children got creative in making paper plate jellyfish and mixed media rainbowfish. Our mathematical focus was on 2D and 3D shapes, where children experimented with the position of 2D shapes to create their favourite water animal tangram.

Ms Kukovica

Year 1

Year 1 students have been exploring different funny poems this week, such as the Ning Nang Nong and Don’t, by Michael Rosen. Students have enjoyed poems so much, they have been requesting to listen to them even during our break times!

In Maths, we used a block graph to work out different capacities and continued to explore the meaning of capacity. In our Topic lessons, we have been exploring Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and we made our own version of papyrus paper using brown paper bags.

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

We have had a fantastic week in Year 2! We have been busy celebrating International Women's Day with some interesting discussions and creating posters. We have also been continuing our learning with the playscript 'Oh Gnome' and acting out some parts which has been great fun.

In Maths, we have been finishing off learning about multiplication and division sentences and using arrays and look forward to moving on to time. In Topic, we have looked at Fairtrade as part of our Food glorious food topic and thought about where our food comes from.

Ms Harris and Mrs Fordham

Year 3A

This week the Year 3 students participated in an organised debate. They needed to argue whether Dogs or Cats make for the better pet. The students performed extremely well as they were able to put forward strong arguments for both sides. Some students were also able to rebuttal, by offering contrary statements in order to support their arguments.

Teaching students how to successfully debate promotes problem-solving and innovative thinking. It helps students to build links between words and ideas that make concepts more meaningful.

Ms Blundell and Mr Kokalj

Year 4

YEAR 4 MATHEMATICS OUTSIDE

Year 4 have been learning how to measure angles correctly with a protractor. Outside, the students began by first looking for a right angle, then an acute angle and finally an obtuse angle.

They tried to measure these angles by placing the arrow at the meeting points of the lines, laying the 0 line as neatly as possible across one line, aiming to read from left to right the number that is on the second line. Right angles are everywhere, but obscure acute and obtuse angles were the most fun to find.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 5

This week, the children researched women who made a difference in history, in conjunction with Women's day on Tuesday. The children worked as a pair to research a woman they found inspirational and created a poster. Then the children used this information to create an interview script and the pair used their acting skills to pretend to be an interviewer and interviewee. This was very interesting to watch. In English, the children wrote their very own discussion text and took part in a debate. It was fantastic to hear the children's opinions on different topics.

Mrs Thomas

Year 6

In our Climate Crisis unit, Year 6 students are preparing news stories to present the current global climate events which are occurring due to global warming. Each group has been allocated a continent so we can get a global perspective on how widespread the impact has been, and to see how many people and communities are affected.

They will also be asked to suggest potential solutions to try and address these problems - in preparation for them to be elected in parliaments around the world next year :-).

Mr Bishop

EAL

As a way of learning how to make our language and writing more descriptive, the EAL students in one of our groups learned about similes and how to use them. One of the students (Franja from year 5) came up with an amazing simile, proving that the lesson was a success:

"The princess was as happy as a teacher with a coffee."

Mr Siter

Slovene

This week Y5/6 Slovene Advanced were learning about how to write a summary. They all got a piece of an article about electric cars. Their task was to independently write a summary and compare it with others. The next step will be to write one piece as a group. It will be great to see their collaboration skills and how they will discuss keywords together

Miss Kotnik

Years 5 and 6 have been discussing Basic Slovenian phrases that we use in the shops through diverse activities. Their favourite one was to organise questions and answers in the correct order and guess their place. Then they were ready to pick one of the photos of the random shop and write down their own dialogue.

Students put lots of effort in and even tried to overcome a challenge. Of course, we spent the last few minutes doing plays in front of the class. So, have a look at our photos.

Zelo dobro 5. in 6. razred.

Ms Košec

PE

During our PE lessons this week, we continued to develop our understanding of invasion games and working as a team. Years 1 & 2 focused on their ability to work as a team when playing basketball and the importance of possession helping achieve a collective goal. Years 3 & 4 progressed on to playing Handball, getting to grips with being able to move with the ball for three steps before passing/shooting. Year 6 focused on shooting accuracy when playing handball and the importance of moving the ball quickly, to create space for teammates to shoot.

PE Department

Kangaroo Maths Competition

On Thursday, March 19, students from Years 1-9 at BISL will be taking part in the annual international Kangaroo Maths Competition.

This competition is organized in Slovenia by the Department of Mathematics, Physicists and Astronomers, and is an event we have participated in for many years. It is a wonderful opportunity for students to extend their mathematics skills and demonstrate logical reasoning. Past papers can easily be found online using a web browser. We wish all the students good luck in the event.

Mr Bishop

Spelling Bee

With the final round of the Primary Spelling Bee coming up in week 6, students are preparing voraciously for it. Our Judges for the event, are equally working just as hard: finding appropriate spelling words, writing them on flashcards, all ready to be read out in a sentence to the contestants.

Early Years to Year 1

Write as many words as you can in the sand or soil, use a stick or your finger.

Year 2 to Year 4

In prepartion for the Primary Spelling Bee coming up, please try out an online Science Spelling Bee game where you input the missing letters:

Science Bee spelling game

Year 5 and 6

Read a dictionary and tell your teacher 5 new words that you have learnt; be able to spell them and put them into sentences.

Mrs Charlesworth

International Days - Mark Your Calendars

One of our biggest family events, organised in partnership with the PTA, this year’s International Days will take place between Thursday May 12 - Friday May 13.

There will be a variety of cultural and educational activities, stalls, traditional dress, flags, international cuisine, games and performances for our community to enjoy.

As many of you potentially head home for the block break, please keep this event in mind, and bring back any traditional items you’d like to display on your country stall.

If you would like to get involved in the event by having a stall at Friday’s fair to represent your country, please contact pta@britishschool.si.

For more details, please click here.

BISL Summer School 2022

With summer just around the corner, registration is now open for BISL Summer School 2022!

Click here for details.

Teacher Feature - Ms Rismondo

This week's Teacher Feature shines the spotlight on our wonderful School Nurse, Ms Teja Rismondo.

Read Ms Rismondo’s Teacher Feature here.

Student Voice: Class Trip to Woop! Arena

Year 8A had a fantastic trip to the Woop! Arena last Friday, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Here's a fun recount of the day's events from two of our students - read it here.

Dear Parents,

With sunshine, no masks and lots going on, it's been a great week at school for our staff and students at BISL!

We look forward to warmer mornings, more outdoor activities and trips over the coming months. Seeing the smiling faces of students in the building, in lessons and enjoying being another step back to normal has been a real treat for us all.

Thank you to all parents for joining the 'Coffee with the new Principal' last Friday, it was a great event and I am very happy that BISL will be in safe hands in the future when I leave in the summer.

We also have celebrated International Women's Day here this week and we have presented all women with a rose and very much appreciate all that they do every day!

This term we finish with another celebration of growth as the school will be the biggest it has ever been next month! This is a remarkable achievement in the current climate and I'd like to thank every member of the community for your ongoing support as we continue to grow stronger as a school. This creates more opportunities for our students with events, sports, teams and fixtures and I am personally very proud and absolutely delighted with this ongoing success!

Thank you to all families for your support with donations and our fundraising projects, it has been amazing to see how the community has come together and the amount of kindness, thought and care shown towards others has been truly overwhelming.

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

Have a lovely weekend!

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.