Secondary Newsletter - 16th December

Block 3 Week 5

It seems as though everyone at BISL wishes it could be Christmas every single day! A wonderfully festive week has culminated in a Fayre to be proud of, bringing together the BISL community in festive style. Rumour has it that Santa Claus himself was doing the rounds, spreading Christmas joy all over the school. Congratulations to the students and staff for concocting an extravaganza of Christmas games, face painting, gingerbread making, lantern designing and carol singing! Thank you also to the PTA for providing their trademark design and organisational skills. It really has been a super way to end a long but incredibly rewarding term. I hope the parents enjoyed it!

I hope that all students have a relaxing break with family and friends. Our oldest year groups will of course be returning in January to take their mock examinations. These are extremely important for two reasons - firstly, to give students a genuine experience of a formal examination; and secondly, to give teachers crucial information as to where to take their instruction next, in the final few months before the real examinations take place. Students in Year 11, 12 and 13 should of course enjoy their Christmas break, but should certainly be spending some time in revision mode. Remember, revision is an active not a passive process - design those revision materials carefully and you can use them again before the real thing. Time spent now is time saved later! Our final assembly on Friday recognised those students in each department who have shown the most progress in their learning. Here at BISL we celebrate effort, rather than talent, believing that grit and determination are the ultimate keys to success over time. We had student piano performances from Ewa and Kristina, announcements of winners in the virtual art exhibition and House competition, finishing in grand style with the infamous BISL Christmas song! What joy.

Please be sure to read the latest Update from the Principal and I wish everyone an enjoyable holidays.

Mr Jonathan Travis, Head of Secondary

Recreate a famous artwork or music album

As last year was such a success, we ran the recreate a famous artwork or music album again this year. Students across all of Secondary had the opportunity to recreate a famous artwork or album cover using photography. During form time on Tuesday students could explore the virtual gallery and vote for their favourite recreation. I can now reveal the winners, voted by students and staff. In third place, Karolina Year 7A with her recreation of Lady Gaga. In second place, Lynne Year 8A with an excellent recreation of The Smiths album. Last but not least, our winner Aleksander Year 9 who recreated Drake's album. Please see the excellent work produced by students for yourself!

https://www.artsteps.com/view/638ef1893f497bda 3d85c502

We are already looking forward to next year's creative entries.

Ms Hawkins

The Christmas song video was premiered Friday at the Christmas Assembly and we think everyone has done a fantastic job. Why not take a look at our talented BISL performers for yourself.

Merry Christmas from… | British International School of Ljubljana (britishschool.si)

This week our Year 12 Business Studies students were tasked with applying their knowledge of “Sustainability of Operations” to a real life scenario - how to improve the sustainability of operations at BISL?

Both presentations featured some good analysis of the general environmental and business benefits of sustainability. Furthermore, the students provided some creative and innovative ideas for how our school might update some of its policies and facilities to improve sustainability.

Several short term and longer term solutions were suggested. These included; reducing the amount of paper usage and printing, establishing a garden in the school grounds to grow fruit & vegetables and to recycle organic waste, to encourage more students to travel to school by public bus or to cycle, to provide more recycling bins around the school, and to plan ahead for longer term energy efficiency such as installing solar panels and improving insulation.

The story does not end here. The students, assisted by Mr Chuter (Business and Economics Teacher) and Ms Mazgić (Head of Marketing and Admissions) will work together to establish a BISL “Sustainability Project Team” with the aim of bringing some of these ideas to life.

More to come soon.

Year 7 delved further into Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” a tale of magic, revenge and romance on a remote island.

Year 8 continued their journey through “Blood Brothers” and looked at how the character of Mrs Johnstone found herself having to make an impossible choice.

Year 9 worked further on “DNA” and looked at why the character of Phil is always depicted eating some kind of snack. They performed short scenes they had written using the characters from the play.

Year 10 continued their study of “Funeral blues” and recalled the “Seven stages of grief” they had looked at while reading “Crumbs from the table of joy.””

We finished off 2022 in PE with competitions and tournaments across all of the year groups. Year 7 participated in a football tournament, with Year 8 also taking part in a basketball round robin competition. Year 9 and 10 took part in volleyball and football tournaments, with Year 11 undertaking some fitness assessments to conclude the year. The PE department would like to wish all BISL students a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mr Hayes, PE Department

Year 7 students learnt how to use a protractor to draw and measure angles and other geometric shapes. They refined their skills in solving linear equations trough a game of Mathonopoly and engaged in a competitive game show called Jeopardy on various topics.

Year 8 students incorporated inscriptions with a compass into art. They have been learning about street art the past term, so they created a sticker art and graffiti art pieces. They designed stickers with inscribed patterns into circles with a compass, other holiday themed stickers and graffiti signs with inscribed ornaments.

Year 9 students also engaged in an art project inspired by Escher and impossible shapes. They designed fantastic impossible Christmas trees, ornaments, presents, cosy houses and signs.

Year 10 students learnt how to find the general rule for a linear (arithmetic), quadratic and cubic sequence through student modelling.

Year 11 students applied differentiation to find stationary points and gradients of curves. They also learnt how to properly use functions notation, calculate inverse and compound functions.

Year 13 students worked on decomposing algebraic fractions into partial fractions and expanding binomials to negative and fractional powers. They also reflected on their learning of integration. Maths challenge wall New mistakes will be published after the holidays in front of room 316. Correct answers given to me will receive House points!

Ms Zupanc, Maths Department

This week in the Secondary Science Club we created a christmas tree by adding universal indicator to different acids and alkalis. We took inspiration from the christmas tree created by the primary science club made previously, however we definitely improved it!

This week in the Secondary Science Club we created a christmas tree by adding universal indicator to different acids and alkalis. We took inspiration from the christmas tree created by the primary science club made previously, however we definitely improved it!

Dear BISL community,

We made it to the end of term! We hope you enjoyed the Christmas fayre on Thursday. The children and the teachers did an amazing job representing their classes at the event, we saw so many fun activities in both assembly halls. And the BISL/PTA tombola was a big hit, with some of you winning super prizes like Swarovski jewellery, ‘Meet your favourite animal at the zoo’ ticket, headphones etc.

We want to thank everyone that donated items for the event, and a special thank you from the PTA team to Tjaša and Katja from the admissions office, we couldn’t have done it without you! And, of course, big thank you to all PTA volunteers who made it happen. We wish you all merry holidays and we hope to see you soon at a PTA coffee.