Secondary news - 5th November

After the excitement of Halloween last week, it was hard to imagine that Week 5 (a three day week) would be so eventful! There is never a dull moment at BISL…

On Wednesday Mr Bradley led a fantastic assembly dissecting the importance and meaning of the Humanities subjects. These subjects teach students to critically analyse the world around them, ask questions of perceived truths and formulate balanced arguments alongside justified conclusions. Vital skills in a 21st century world characterised by fake news and irresponsible political leadership. BISL is not just a place students come to get good grades. While grades may give them the currency of choice, they do not alone guarantee the capital of success. BISL makes people who thrive no matter what their destination. We value character above all else.

Mr Bradley also explored the theme of Remembrance and why it is important to remember. It is only through remembrance that we can learn the lessons of the past in order to improve the lives of future generations. On Friday students will be commemorating the lost heroes and victims of war with a two minute silence. We also celebrated Founder’s Day this week and the enormous debt we owe Jeremy Hibbins for setting up such a great school, with such an inspirational vision. His early death is a sad but poignant reminder of the fragility of life and the importance of making every moment count. A thought-provoking way to finish a super Block at BISL. We wish all the students and parents a happy holiday! Please be sure to read the latest Update from the Principal and I wish everyone an enjoyable weekend.

Kind regards,

Jonathan Travis

Head of Secondary

Mr Jonathan Travis, Head of Secondary

English News

The English department has been running a poetry competition in lessons across the school in order to get entries for the COBIS poetry competition. Students have taken part in a series of interesting lessons to help them become able to respond to the prompt: Who am I?

We are delighted to announce the winners of each Key Stage are:

KS4 - Naomi

KS3 - Lucia

KS2 - Valeria

We are excited to see how they do in the competition. We would also like to include this entry from Aleksandra from Year 9, which was unfortunately too late to enter the competition, but was so good we wanted to share it.

Aleksandra Y9

PE news

Throughout PE this week, we concluded our respective sporting units with some competitive matchplay. Year 7, 8 & 9 finished their badminton and tennis units, with a small tournament, focusing on both singles and doubles. Year 10 & 11 finished their volleyball unit, completing a round robin tournament in small teams.

Mr Hayes, PE Department

Maths news

Year 7 students determined who was the best superhero by calculating the average of their powers. They also solved differentiated worksheets to either secure or extend their knowledge of averages.

Year 8 students calculated the averages of Eurovision song contest scores for selected countries. They also learnt the difference between discrete and continuous grouped data.

Year 9 students engaged in a group activity - statistics project. After discussing the advantages of group work, the groups decided on a question to ask 3 classes. Their task was to create a Google form to collect data, process the data by calculating the averages, compare the results of three classes and present their conclusions on an A3 poster.

Year 10 students learnt how to use the correct set notation to work with Venn diagrams and solve problems.

Year 11 students learnt how to use graphed inequalities to solve optimisation problems through a topic called linear programming. They solved a variety of examination-style questions to cement their knowledge.

Year 13 students concluded the topic of differentiation and derived functions in explicit, implicit and parametric forms. Then they applied their skills to solve problems involving differentiation such as stationary points, gradient, tangents and normals.

After the block break, all students will be preparing for their upcoming assessment, which will be in the first two weeks of Block 3. Please check the assessment calendar for the exact date. The assessment will cover: Chapters 1 - 6 for Years 7, 8 and 9, Chapters 1 - 10 for Year 10, Chapters 1 - 14 for Year 11 and Chapters 1 - 4 for Year 13 students.

Maths challenge wall

See you after the block break with new challenges posted in front of room 316. If you solve the challenge, do not forget to contact your Maths teacher, as correct answers will award you House points!

Ms Zupanc, Maths Department

Science News

At the end of last week, Year 9 students did a pendulum experiment in their Physics lesson. They were investigating how the length of a spring affects the time for 1 period. They carried out an experiment that they planned independently.

MFL News

This week the Year 8 Slovene Advanced group were learning how to write a formal thank you note and what are the differences between formal and informal letters. We also worked with the text about zorbing and we found out that we have many enthusiasts who would love to try it out.

Ms Kotnik, MFL Coordinator

Year 8 students in Slovene Intermediate group finished the topic "Potovanja" by describing a chosen country. We had the opportunity of listening to some very good presentations about: Bolgarija, Egipt, Kazahstan, Nemčija ... learned about their landmarks, cities, language, alphabet etc. This was the second presentation for Year 8 so far and we can already see the progress in their spoken skills. Odlično!

Ms Jakop, Slovene teacher

Although this week was short, the students were very productive and engaged in their learning. All secondary students in Slovene Foundation were revising for the upcoming assessments. I believe they will do their best after the block break!

Ms Drofenik, Slovene teacher

Student Science Article

Using seaweed to fight climate change.

Climate change is an important issue that has fallen out of the limelight in the past few years as the world has fought the pandemic, but as we slowly recover from COVID, the planet is being hit harder than ever. The effects of climate change are also stronger than ever before with UN scientists predicting that all glaciers in Africa, as well as those in Yosemite park and the Dolomites, will be gone by the year 2050. World leaders will again meet to discuss how to fight climate change, next week in Egypt during the COP27 conference, and one interesting solution has come up: Seaweed.

A UK company by the name of Seafields Solutions wants to create a seaweed farm the size of Croatia, in order to capture and therefore remove CO2 from the atmosphere. The idea is to ocean currents, called gyres, to hold together crops of sargassum, which is a type of seaweed. This would all happen in the middle of the atlantic ocean, the surface of which does not contain the nutrients required for seaweed to grow, but this would be solved by piping nutrients from the ocean floor up to the seaweed. Once the seaweed captures the carbon it would be sunk to the bottom of the ocean, where it would store the carbon for hundreds if not thousands of years. The idea is extremely ambitious and critics say that it cannot be scaled to the extent the company wishes, but the technology will be tested in early 2023 and if successful could prove crucial in the planet's fight against climate change. The company also wishes to monetise their credits by selling companies so-called “carbon credits”, where the carbon captured can be claimed by the company buying the credit. It is yet to be seen whether this is a viable solution, or how it may impact the ocean ecosystem, but it is just one of many proposed solutions to tackle climate change.

Anže Z, Year 13 student

MEPI

News Mepi participant Lila writes about her experiences of the recent MEPI trip. Last Saturday, the MEPI team went on our first expedition this year. We met at a car park in Škofja Loka, and as an icebreaker we played a team game, which really made an impact on our team spirit. After the fun-filled icebreaker game, we played an egg hunting activity teamwork builder. It required us to communicate and formulate plans efficiently and Effectively with blindfolds on!

Then we finally set off to begin our hike. We casually talked whilst taking in the stunning scenery. The rain was light at this point, but we were still kitted out in the appropriate gear. After we had had lunch (making hot chocolate, pot noodles, and coffee for ourselves) we continued to be greeted by rain. In the final segment, it took a turn for the worse, we were so close to the finish line but unfortunately since we were overcome by the cold and the wet weather, we took a wrong turn. But at the end we’d all had an active and fun day out at Škofja Loka.

“MEPI was truly an amazing bonding experience for me and my peers, at first I was sceptical, but during the walk I thoroughly enjoyed the outdoor experience and the company of my mentors and friends.” - Elise “I enjoyed my Saturday, we discovered we could make chopsticks out of wood, and it showed how creative we could be when we were put in a survival position.” - Anonymous “The first MEPI hike was a fun endeavour that strengthened my connection with my peers and friends. It tested our practical navigation skills and our ingenuity to think on the spot at times.” - Naomi

Isla Gillespie will be leaving her role as the EY leader and teacher. She has enjoyed working in our school very much and regards herself fortunate to have been part of such a positive and vibrant community. We would like to wish Ms. Gillespie for all her contributions to EY and Primary during her time here and wish her all the best in the future.

Mrs. Emma Fordham, will start her maternity leave this Friday 4th November. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Emma for all of her hard work with the children during the first part of this term, and to wish her and her husband all the very best as they start on the journey together as new parents.