Secondary Newsletter - 3rd December

Block 3 Week 3

Christmas has come to BISL! Thank you so much to the PTA for doing a wonderful job of decorating the building. You have made the entire team feel incredibly festive. With the BISL Christmas Fayre, dress-down day and other winter activities scheduled for Week 5, we all excitedly await a very merry end to Term 1. Mr Hulse has begun the process of creating the Christmas song and I can’t wait to share it with everyone during our final assembly. Many thanks to him, it is quite an undertaking that involves a considerable number of people.

Less fun but extremely important, Year 11 to 13 students are preparing for Mock examinations in Week 2 of Term 2. Mocks are designed to give students a genuine experience of formal examinations and also to give teachers a clear indication of where each student is at with their learning. Armed with the results, teachers will tailor their final few months of tuition accordingly, ensuring that each lesson is used to maximum effect to suit the needs of all students. Year 11 to 13 students are currently focusing on study skills and revision techniques during form time, a process that will undoubtedly help them with the revision process. We wish them success in this endeavour.

Parent-Teacher interviews start next week via the site:https://bisl.schoolcloud.co.uk.... Please can all parents ensure that they log in and book an appointment to see teachers before the deadline on Sunday. These interviews are a wonderful way to connect with the teachers and plan targets in each subject area. Students need to know where they are in their learning and where their learning needs to go next in order to ensure that their potential is realised.

Finally, I’d like to thank the Creative Arts team for continuing to inspire us with musical treats every morning! The ‘On This Day’ musical history has been a wonderfully reminiscent journey back in time through the musical greats. I look forward to it every morning! Peter Pan is also fast approaching and the dedicated team of actors and musicians are putting huge amounts of effort into their rehearsals. We can’t wait to see the final result!

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

Mr Jonathan Travis, Head of Secondary

Peter Pan update - dress rehearsals are well underway and students are looking fabulous in their costumes. Next week will be the first of two performances, on Thursday afternoon to primary and on Friday afternoon to secondary, with the final performance for parents on Monday 12th December at 16:30.

This week the winning poster for Peter Pan went up around school

And the winning ticket design was also chosen.

Congratulations to Emma from Year 9 for the design of the winning poster and to Daniil from Year 7 for the ticket design.

Next week many classes and budding singers will be busily recording their parts for the Christmas cover song”I wish it could be Christmas everyday” by Wizard. Students are encouraged to practise at home, especially the chorus.

Watch this space for the final product.

English News:

Year 8 began “Blood brothers” and explored status by creating freeze frames for a variety of scenarios. They also created small role play versions of the whole play.

"This is a reenactment not a genuine photo".

Year 9 continued their study of “DNA” and had a superb debate on whether Phill was a good or bad person. They used evidence effectively to support their arguments, and a few even changed their views based on what they heard.

Year 10 finished off their lessons on the key themes of “Crumbs from the Table of Joy”. After being taught how to teach last week, they used what they had learnt about the fundamentals of teaching to teach their own lessons. It was particularly impressive to see the quality of their questioning and modelling, and how well they supported each other to learn.

Year 11 finished “Purple Hibiscus” and reflected on the impact of the novel. All were glad to see that the tyrannical Papa finally died.

PE news:

Across secondary PE this week, students developed their overall skill levels, across their new sporting units. Year 7 focused on passing and dribbling when playing football, whilst Year 8 developed their understanding of possession when playing basketball. Year 9 focused on spatial awareness and shape when playing handball, whilst Year 10 were introduced to the fundamentals of floor hockey and Year 11 focused on understanding the rules of the game when playing rugby league.

Mr Hayes, PE Department

Maths news

Year 7 students learnt how to solve linear equations with one and two operations. Students who finished first solved simple equations involving squares and square roots. They learnt that some equations can have more than one answer!

Year 8 students used flow diagrams to solve simple equations and then solved equations with the variables on both sides. They challenged their peers through a round of Quizizz.

Year 9 students learnt how to solve more difficult linear equations, linear inequalities and simultaneous equations. They demonstrated good understanding of these new concepts, delivered by our student intern,

Mrs Jaarsma.

Year 10 students compared methods to solve linear equations of various difficulties and RAG rated their skills. They practised solving equations to ensure they can carry out correct methods with no mistakes.

Year 11 students learnt the algebraic properties of quantities in direct and inverse proportion and used appropriate formulae to solve problems.

Year 13 students were introduced to numerical methods. Sometimes we cannot use algebra to solve equations, however we can estimate an approximate solution and improve it through an iteration process.

Maths challenge wall - Do not miss new challenges published next week in front of room 316.

Ms Zupanc, Maths Department

Science News:

Year 12 students created models out of plasticine and gave presentations on the semi conservative replication of DNA as part of their chapter on nucleic acids and protein synthesis.

Year 13 students created their own habitats and used sampling techniques such as the quadrat to sample each other's habitats to calculate percentage species coverage. This supported their understanding of their unit on classification, biodiversity and conservation.

After learning about how transition metals form coloured compounds with different ligands (chemicals), Hebe from Year 13 performed a successful practical in producing different coloured complexes. Not only is it visually appealing as there are some lovely colour changes, but it allows Hebe to further develop her practical skills.

This week Year 8 finished their board game on sound, and thoroughly enjoyed revising key facts and figures about sound using the game!

Year 11 students used the enzyme pectinase to make apple juice from apples as part of their topic on Biotechnology

This week also saw an experiment to see the effect of capillary action as we watched what happens when we leave celery sticks in various coloured water. Here is a picture of the result.

Humanities News:

History Year 7 history enjoyed getting to act out the story of Mansa Musa and his brother on a buffalo hunt!

MFL News:

“Koliko je ura?” What time is it? Year 7 students in Slovene Foundation lessons have learned how to tell what time it is in Slovene. How do you think they did? “Zelo dobro!”

Ms Drofenik, Slovene teacher

In Year 9 Slovene Advanced Lessons the students are reading a book translated from French, “Le temps des miracles” - “Čas čudežev”. Our readers are following the story of Kumajl who is running away from Kavkaz during war time to save his life. In order to understand the feelings of the main character, the students had to write dramatizations and act out one of the events. Some of the students put artistic notes into their acting and it was great to see their creativity.

Ms Kotnik, Slovene teacher

PTA News

Dear parents,

Christmas preparations are now on full speed. This week PTA volunteers were decorating the school so that the kids would feel the Christmas atmosphere in the air. And the planning for BISL Christmas Fayre is underway. Don’t miss it on Thursday, 15th of December, from 14.00 until 16.00.

The PTA would kindly ask each family to contribute baked goods or snacks for the Fayre that can be either taken to the class teacher or dropped off in the morning on the 15th of December. Please ensure that all the food is nut-free as some children at our school have allergies, including severe cases of peanuts allergy. For those parents, who would like to join to help during the event itself, you’re more than welcome to contact us on pta@britishschool.si. Your support will be highly appreciated indeed.

Your PTA