Primary Newsletter - 19th November

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome back to the start of Block 3! It is that time of the year when the temperatures drop and the rainy days are more frequent. Please remember to dress up warmly, with a weather-appropriate coat and footwear, so that the students can continue enjoying the outdoors as much as possible while remaining safe and healthy.

As part of Anti-Bullying Week taking place between 14th-18th November, with the theme of Reach Out, students have talked about the types of and the impact of bullying, the importance of paying attention to the feelings of others and reaching out to give support or ask for help. Tying in with the school values, students reflected on their own behaviour and how to be active citizens through compassion, responsibility and respect for diversity. See the link above for useful resources to help you talk to your child about this at home.

To celebrate the World Cup taking place this year, the PE department has launched the BISL World Cup Student Sweepstake, in which all classes will be able to participate and track the progress of their country as the World Cup unfolds. Alongside the students, staff will also be taking part in the Staff Sweepstake. Good luck!

At the end of this term, we will be issuing EYFS and Primary Autumn Reports, reflecting the progress students have made in their core subjects of English, Maths and Topic. Additional reports will also be issued for students in the Slovene Advanced group and those in the EAL program. Please note that the virtual Parent-Teacher Interviews for Primary will be held at the start of Term 2. Dates and information on how to book appointments will be sent out to parents. The interviews are an opportunity for parents to talk about their child’s successes and further targets to work towards. Should parents have any concerns about their child, please raise these with the Class Teacher as soon as possible rather than wait until the interviews.

In partnership with two charity organisations, Zveza Prijateljev Mladine Ljubljana Moste-Polje and Trije Zimski Botri and with the ongoing support from you, the parents and our students, we are aiming to make 160 wishes come true this year through the BISL Make a Wish Project! We are thankful to have such an amazing community here at BISL and grateful for your ongoing support of this project. Have a wonderful weekend.

Kind regards,

Katarina Železinger                                                                                                                                                      Head of Primary

Early Years This week in the Early Years, the children learned about different building materials through the story "The Three Little Pigs". They built the houses in "The three little pigs small world" to explore why some building materials are better than others.

The children explored the world of 2D shapes by recognising them in everyday objects because shapes are everywhere around them. Children also recognised shapes in housing features while creating junk model houses and went on a shape hunt around the school.

Ms Kukovica

Year 1

We had a very exciting first week back. In Maths, we used our knowledge of shapes to look at lines of symmetry and made very creative symmetrical art pieces.

We then used shapes to make trees, animals, cars and other objects and used positional language to explain where the shapes are to our classmates. Their task was to guess the object we made. In English lessons, we drew a story map of the book "Handa's Surprise" and used actions to retell the story. In our topic lessons, we are learning about different celebrations that happen around the world. So far, we have taken an aeroplane to visit India and the Diwali festival and the USA to learn about Thanksgiving.

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

In Topic, the children have been entranced listening to each and every presentation given by their classmates about the celebrations they celebrate with their families. We had a wonderful time discussing the differences between the various cultures and household traditions.

Thank you to the parents who took the time to do the assignments over the block break. The children are mighty proud of their achievements in sharing something they worked so hard to bring to the class.

Ms Torrington

Year 3

In year 3B, Pupils turned into adventurers and found different kinds of unexplored islands; tropical, deserted islands with dangerous animals or some with vast vegetation, rivers and lakes.

Children expected to find gold treasures, traps, and ruins from lost civilisations. They teamed up to visualise their imaginations.

Ms Spangl

Year 5

This week the children took part in an introduction to the arts by testing out different materials and techniques just like real artists. Will Year 5 have the next Van Gogh?

In Maths we focused on multiplication techniques and learnt about the inverse. In English, the children are learning about what dilemmas are and the stories linked to them.

Mrs Thomas-Hayes

Year 6

The Year 6 students completed their peer assessment for their last week's assignment - Layout of the Benin city. They needed to judge each other's work by referring to a rubric they had agreed upon.

Peer assessment can help students develop their critical thinking and evaluation skills. Throughout the lesson, the students practised identifying strengths and weaknesses and giving constructive feedback. This activity lead to increased cooperation and collaboration among students.

Mr Kokalj

PE

Across primary PE lessons this week, we introduced some of the basic concepts of our new sporting units. Year 1 and 2 students focused on fundamental movement patterns in gymnastics, whilst Year 3 and 4 developed their understanding of volleyball. Year 5 and 6 began their invasion games unit, working on positional sense and spatial awareness when playing Swedish Handball.

PE Department

Slovene

Year 1 and 2 students at Slovene Foundation have been learning about family members this week. They worked on the vocabulary and talked to each other and summarized the questions. They also drew their family and wrote the Slovenian names of the family: "mami", "očka", "brat", "sestra". Please take a look at their work. Čudovito!

Ms Drofenik

In Y5 and Y6 Slovene Intermediate group, students were practicing vocabulary from the topic "V mestu" through different activities. One of them was working in pairs and making dialogues in different facilities around the city.

Based on the phrases of each dialogue, the classmates had to guess where the conversation was happening (e.g. trgovina, bolnišnica ...). Students did really well collaborating with their peers and showing their acting skills too.

Ms Jakop

In Y5/6 Slovene lessons students started Block 3 on a strong note. They are already bringing their pieces of evidence about the books they read. Looking forward to seeing them all!

Ms Kotnik

BISL Does Band AidWelcome to the Creative Arts block

This block there are lots of exciting things going on throughout the whole block and across the whole school.

We have our fantastic Christmas pantomime Peter Pan, showing to primary on the 8th and to secondary on the 9th of December after lunch, with the show for parents happening on the 12th at 16:30.

We will be running a competition for the design of the poster and tickets, which is open to years 5 and above. Information for this will be given during assemblies.

We will also be keeping to tradition and getting the whole school and staff involved in our Christmas cover video. This year we will perform a rendition of ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day’ by Wizard.

There are 9 solo spots available and also an opportunity for singing in the whole school chorus. Here is a link to the song we will be singing.

Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (Official Music Video) - YouTube

BISL Does Band Aid 2020 - YouTube

Please also see previous years songs for examples.

The Cobis Art competition is a brilliant opportunity for young artists to compete internationally and showcase their talent. The deadline for submissions was the beginning of this week and students responded to the theme of “Who am I?”. The competition is open to all COBIS schools and only 2 entries can be submitted for each Key stage. We will announce the finalists during our assembly next week, so keep an eye on our social media as we reveal the finalists for Key stages 3, 4 and 5.

Last year all students in art participated in the homework task of recreating either a famous piece of art or a well-known album cover using photography. This year it will be open to the whole of secondary (staff too!). Choose an image to recreate, photograph yourself, family, friends or complete it in groups depending on how many people are in the original piece. Please send your entry with the original to Ms Hawkins by 02/12.

Some will remember the virtual art exhibition that we had last year. This block we will be showcasing all the best recreations in our virtual exhibition. Will you make it to the gallery wall this year?

PTA News

Dear Parents,

The PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) is glad to start sharing news regarding our activities at BISL.

We are a group of parents-volunteers, who support the school at the events around traditional holidays (i.e. Christmas, Halloween) or specific BISL school events, such as International day or the Teacher appreciation breakfast.

In order to organise these events, the PTA volunteers are always trying to find ways to raise funds, since the group does not have any allocated budget from the Orbital group or the school. As an example, this autumn the PTA organised a very successful Secondhand uniform sale, where we were raising funds for the Teachers appreciation breakfast, Halloween and future events.

How can you help:

If you have time we are always looking for new volunteers to help with the planning phase of the events and/or during the events. You can also help by bringing any items that are needed for specific events (such as baked goods or decorations etc). And you can always donate to the PTA budget (we need funds to buy or replace items needed for different events, for food/drinks, performances etc), and we would especially appreciate your donations if you are visiting the PTA events as a guest.

So, Dear parents, if you feel that you would like to get to know each other better, build up a great community around BISL and find out more about school life and especially if you wish to make the school experience even better for your children -PTA is indeed a great opportunity. We meet after every ‘Coffee with the principal’ at school. Feel free to contact us via e-mail: pta@britishschool.si or through your class representative.

PTA group

BISL Make a Wish project

Christmas time, presents and snow are just around the corner. This is the happiest and the most magical time of the year for many children. But not all. This year we would like to work together again, to bring smiles to the faces of those children to whom magic does not come by itself.

In partnership with two charity organizations, Zveza Prijateljev Mladine Ljubljana Moste-Polje and Trije Zimski Botri and with the ongoing support from you, the parents and our students, we are aiming to make 160 wishes come true this year!

Next week, children will pick and choose the letters in class and will bring the printed letter home with them. All the information about the project will be shared on our website, social media and via e-mail.

Parents will also receive a PDF version of the letter that their child will pick by e-mail. We are thankful to have such an amazing community here at BISL and grateful for your ongoing support of this project.