Secondary News - May 27th

Block 7 Week 1

Welcome back to the final block of the year! The weather has certainly heated up and is ready to host the PE theme this block. The PE Department has prepared many wonderful experiences for the students to enjoy, get involved and get active with, and even a staff vs parents opportunity in the final week! Please contact the PE Department for further information.

This week saw the wonderful Year 13 students graduate from BISL. This cohort have truly embodied the BISL values and have been a pleasure to work with. It was a lovely ceremony which was hosted in the new building. Mr Batson, Ms Strmcnik and Mr MacNeil organised a lovely, formal event seeing students receive their certificates, and speeches shared. We certainly wish them all well in the future and we look forward to hearing of their university successes.

Next week marks just two weeks left for the examinations window for our students. They are very nearly at the end of these assessments and are quickly heading toward a well-earned break. We hope students continue to make the most of this time, working hard all the way to the end.

For the Year 7 to 10 students, the summer Adventure Trips begin next week. It has been years since we have been able to host these trips in their entirety, so it is wonderful to see them fully back. Ms Fairchild has been working tirelessly planning these trips and the students are sure to have a wonderful time. Please contact Ms Fairchild to sign up your child.

Lastly, in Week 3 the Progress Tests in Mathematics and Progress Tests in English will begin to take place for all KS3 students. These are standardised tests that students only require a laptop and headphones for. Please support by reminding students to charge their laptop and store their headphones in their bag.

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend.

Stephanie Andronikos, Head of Secondary

Take a look at this wonderful gallery of photos from our Class of 2022 Graduation.

Starting from this Block, this new Literature Club is open for Year 7 - 13 students, for an opportunity to come and have fun with English Literature. A club for you to have the freedom to explore whichever literary interests take your fancy, from reading poetry to writing short stories to analysing theatre, the choice is yours. Be guided to follow your passion whatever it may be. The club takes place every Monday in room 311.

Mr Wilkins, English Teacher

PE Block

We kicked off the PE Block with the BISL Olympics, with all of the students taking part in a range of events.

Secondary students will represent their house, across a range of events during Block 7.

Year 7 took part in a kickball match, with Year 8 & 9 competing in a baseball game and Year 10 participating in some competitive cricket.

Each member of the winning team scored two house points, whilst the runners up registered one point for their house.

Here are the current BISL Olympics scores (28/05/22):

• Zircon: 77

• Sapphire: 70

• Hessonite: 88

• Emerald: 99

The BISL Olympics will continue throughout PE lessons, across Block 7.

In addition to the BISL Olympics, all Secondary students completed their fitness assessment for Term 3, completing a fitness circuit test, related to their striking and fielding unit.

Science News:

The first week back after the block break, we didn't stop having fun - even though the Science block had finished, the KS3 students continued with some awesome science practicals.

Year 7 students made their own indicator from red cabbage. They learned that not all indicators go the same colour in acids, alkalis and neutral solutions.

Year 8 students recapped the plant and animal cells by looking at the onion cells and cheek cells.

We would also like to report that our Year 12 students took all of the scheduled A Level practical exams, the last one being the biology one. We are confident they will produce great results!

Science Department

English News:

Year 7: Year 7A got to perform Shakespeare’s “All the world is a stage,” while 7B also enjoyed some role playing where they presented some of the key moments from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.”

Year 8: Year 8 continued their exploration of “blood brothers”

Year 9: Year 9 looked at the perception of how much power each of the key characters in Steinbeck’s “Of mice and men” and debated where each character might fit in order of importance.

Year 10: Year 10a worked on the poem “Rain” by Edward Thomas about the horrors of trench warfare in World War I.

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

MFL News:

In Y10 Slovene Advanced Lessons the students were learning about principles of successful communication. First we took a look at which principles are important and later watched a TV show Tarča where students made comments about the host and guest speakers. They did a great job making suggestions and it looks like we have some great speakers in class.

Ms Kotnik, MFL Coordinator

Maths News:

Key stage 3 and Year 10 students designed an amazing student-led revision project in the preparations for our upcoming end of year assessments. They collected and displayed every important key method and formula in ‘The best summary’ powerpoint, designed examination-style questions and challenges for their peers through Kahoot and Quizizz.

Maths mistake of the week

Well done to Valentin from 8B; he correctly identified 3 mistakes and earned 6 House points.Check out new mistakes next week, in front of room 316.

Ms Zupanc, Mathematics Teacher

MEPI News:

This week on Monday the Mepi team had a very long 3-hour assembly.

First, we played a game that practiced our team coordination role assignment and strategy testing. We had to cross a line and once we did, a timer would start, we would rush to a square on the ground, and we had to touch 30 different notes on the ground while only being allowed to have one person in the square and only having only 30 seconds to do so.

Next, we made plans and maps for our qualifying trip and for Friday such as finding where to go, when to camp, making the map and then we enjoyed some Pizza!

Lastly, we finished off our preparations for Friday and practiced making tents outside, and headed home.

Abdulla, MEPI Participant

EAL Presentation for Parents

The EAL department would like to invite you to the EAL Presentation for Parents on Monday May 30 at 4pm in the new Assembly Hall, where we will discuss various topics regarding the EAL Provision at BISL such as:

• Identification of EAL needs through EAL assessment of new students and tracking of student progress.

• Why early intervention through effective EAL provision is important for ensuring success in students' educational journey.

• Continued development of the EAL Programme using the latest research and professional training for teachers.

• Quality assurance of the EAL Programme through the BELL Accreditation.

• Further areas and questions (from participants).

The event will be held on site:

• WHERE: in the Assembly Hall of the new building

• WHEN: Monday 30th May 2022 at 16:00

Please park your car in the public parking area and access the school via the main entrance of the new building.

EAL Department

Coffee with the Principal

Join Mr Walton for the final monthly Coffee with the Principal on Friday June 3 from 8am in the Assembly Hall. The agenda will include updates and plans moving forward for the next academic year.

BISL Summer School 2022

Registration for BISL Summer School 2022 is closing soon! Don’t miss out - register your child(ren) for their summer adventure by clicking on the link below.

Register Here

Dear Parents,

It seems only yesterday since the International Days and yet so many events, activities and projects have been completed since!

Before I run through these, I would like to thank all parents for supporting our International Days events, from the Opening Ceremony to the Food Fair, it was a succession of wonderful experiences for our students, thank you.

During the block break we hosted a Year 6 LEGO Robotics programming workshop. Thank you to Mr Kokalj for leading this!

We've had maintenance updates (new stage curtain pictures in my full Update!) with improvements in the new building in the Performance Theatre, outdoor storage for Early Years (gardening tools, resources and equipment), an upgrade with our Wifi throughout the school, textbooks arriving for 2022/23 and new student work displayed in school. Also, painting, air-con service, health and safety checks, and woodland area and site maintenance have taken place. Thank you to Andrej and the admin team for your work on this to keep our school looking fantastic and running well.

All parents should have received a list of the new teachers joining next year and the parents of our Primary classes will have received a letter from the teacher your child will have from August 2022 to introduce themselves and include some useful links.

In my full Update, I have included some important links sent out by our School Nurse, Mrs Rismondo. These include information regarding prevention and protection of various health areas - sun protection, tick prevention and hydration - as we enjoy the summer term. Having the privilege of such a beautiful outdoor environment, warmer sunny days and working near nature also brings the opportunity for us to help keep everyone safe.

A huge well done to all students involved in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust International Junior competition. Mathematics is a strength of our school and we have seen excellent results over the past few years through Primary and Secondary. Thank you to our Head of Mathematics, Mr. Batson, and the whole school team of Ms Zupanc, Ms Andronikos and Mr Bishop. We look forward to the next set of results in the PTM (Progress Test Maths), which start next week throughout the entire school.

We have finished a very successful Science block, please check our website to see the wide range of wonderful Science opportunities created by our Science Team. Thank you to Ms Tušar and her team Mr MacNeill, Mr Stanic, Ms Prohart and Mr Ogrin for working with staff throughout Primary and Secondary. A massive amount of time, effort and passion into a whole host of events. Well done to everyone!

As I enter my last block as Principal of BISL, I will have a final monthly Coffee Morning on Friday 3rd June at 8.00am in the Assembly Hall for parents. I will include updates and plans moving forward for next year. It is also a chance for parents to come in, meet, mix and mingle with others in the community.

Finally, I wanted to say a big congratulations to the Year 13 class who graduated today from BISL! They have faced unique challenges over the past few years with changes to exams, online learning and much more, but the way in which they have conducted themselves has been incredibly impressive and at times, incredible by these young adults. On behalf of all of the staff at BISL, we sincerely wish each and every single one of you all of the very best in the future!

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

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.