Primary Newsletter - 20th January

Dear Parents and Students,

Happy Student Appreciation Day! On Friday, teachers celebrated the hard work and achievements of our amazing students through personalised messages or cards. Students also brought to school their favourite games and toys to share with their peers during playtime. Find out more about class celebrations in the sections below.

With our first snowfall this week, students have enjoyed being outside and playing in the snow. To stay dry and safe, please make sure that you have brought to school waterproof clothing and footwear.

Bring in an extra pair of socks too to keep dry! Next week, the Year 5 and 6 classes will be venturing to Krvavec for a thrilling sledging adventure.

Our primary Junior Duke students will be following and cheering on John, a Junior Duke Ambassador from Scotland, who has taken it upon himself to raise money for charity and has just started his cross[1]Africa bike ride. The aim is to encourage and inspire our students to think about their own fundraising activities and further challenges they can set themselves.

For this year’s COBIS Poetry competition, there have been many fantastic entries from our students. Well done to all! Special congratulations go to Valeria in Year 2 for the winning poem selected to represent BISL in the competition. Good luck!

As part of health and safety, we consistently talk to students about road safety. During this week’s assembly, the students were reminded about safely crossing the road. Please keep to the speed limits to ensure that our students can arrive at and depart from the school safely.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Katarina Železinger Head of Primary

Early Years

The Early Years students were more than excited when we woke up on a snow-covered Monday. Our thoughtful students brought carrots for a giant snowman they built on the playground with some teacher help. On our students' wish, we have created a miniature snowman next to the big one to keep him company.

This week, the Early Years students have been learning about the environments in which dinosaurs lived such as volcanoes, forests, and deserts. The Pre[1]Nursery and Nursery students have been exploring dinosaurs' habitats by examining materials and structures while playing in the Dinosaur's small world.

The Reception students have been adding numbers up to 10 with numicon shapes in maths. They all did a fantastic job recognising the number and matching it to the numicon shape.

Ms Kukovica

Year 1

This week, we have been creating our own rhyming sentences inspired by learning about stars. In Topic, we have been focusing on how seasons occur, and the movement of planet Earth, and then started exploring stars as a source of light. The students were inspired by the topic and had great questions about other planets, which led us to create our own solar systems. In Math, we continued to learn about halves and quarters of amounts.

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

In our Year 2 classes we have been learning all about habitats and living things. The children are incredibly involved, and we have already learned many new bits of information.

This week it was time to find the researcher in ourselves and start looking for information about 1 specific habitat. It was one of the first times we used Chromebooks which was definitely fun but challenging for the children. Next week, we will start creating our own habitats using the information from our research.

In Topic, the children have been researching different types of habitats and learning what makes their chosen habitat so special in the world. The children have been using different methods to research their habitat and we have been very impressed with how well the children have worked together to pull information for their chosen source.

Year 3

Children in year 3 were exploring 3-D shapes by making models in the snow. They discovered the rule of 3rds in photography and practised taking landscape photographs.

For a great end of the week, we celebrated student appreciation day by having a fun-filled day, with movies, popcorn, drawing and playing games. Ms Spangl and Ms Blundell

Year 4

We had a fantastic week in Year 4A and B this week. It was a fantastic start to the new classes. This week we have been learning about the physical and human features of the Earth and we have been using Atlases to locate a range of both of these areas. In English, we have been exploring our text and even spent some time acting out parts of the class play. In Maths, we have come to the end of our unit and are looking forward to starting Fractions next week.

Ms Harris

Year 5

Year 5 had a great week learning about Ancient Greece and creating presentations that they shared with each other. In Maths, the children have been calculating area and perimeter and testing their reasoning skills. In English, the children have been writing biographies about people in their families and chosen famous people.

Mrs Thomas-Hayes

Year 6

Year 6 had a fascinating science lesson this week where we explored the field of chemistry. Baking soda and vinegar were used in our experiment, and we watched as a chemical reaction took place. The balloon's inflation due to the release of carbon dioxide astounded the students. The students used this experiment to get a practical understanding of the reactions and the part carbon dioxide plays in them. It was an excellent learning opportunity, and the students are eager to investigate the next science idea.

Mr Kokalj

PE

Across PE this week, we continued to work on our understanding of gymnastics, focusing on linking routines and performance techniques. Working in groups, students were tasked with incorporating jumps, rolls and balance pose into their gymnastics sequencing. We also looked at gymnastic performance and the importance of body language and expression when performing for an audience. PE Department

Slovene

Year 3 and 4 students at Slovene Foundation have been learning about different clothes in Slovene. They had to name clothes that we wear in each season. Students were very excited about learning new words. They are more and more confident when speaking Slovene and are making a big step forward in each lesson. So, what do you wear in "pomlad, poletje, jesen and zima"?

Ms Drofenik

In Y1 and Y2 in Slovene intermediate group, this week was all about "moje telo". Students did different activities, such as learning body parts in Slovene, healthy and unhealthy habits, what to do, when we are not feeling well and lastly the importance of physical activity, which we include in every lesson ... Le tako naprej!

Ms Jakop

EAL

This week in EAL, we had a blast practicing the verbs "to be" and "to have" through engaging conversation activities. We also did some assessment to gauge our progress. One group had a particularly fun activity where we explored adverbs by having students eat food in different ways (slowly, loudly, quietly, energetically) while their classmates tried to guess the adverb and describe how they were eating. It was a delicious way to learn!

Mr Siter

Performing Arts

Year 1 have started learning Solfege this block, learning the basics of Do Re Me first. Year 2 have been learning dances from around the world and have recently completed the Slovene dance.

Year 3 are currently learning African drumming and how to play polyrhythms in time.

Year 4 are learning about music technology and the importance of texture and timing within the music.

Year 5 have learnt all their lines for their class production of Aladdin and are now thinking about their costumes and props.

Year 6 have been learning how to use soundtrap, an online music studio, using a sample of James Brown as their basis.

Performing Arts Team

Performing Arts Musical

Yesterday it was announced to the production club that the new school musical for summer 2023 will be… We look forward to auditioning our perspective Troy Boltons and Gabriella Montez next week.

Performing Arts Team

Dear parents, We hope that all of you had a wonderful time during the Christmas holidays.

Next Tuesday, the 24th of January, the PTA will have a regular meeting at 8.00 to discuss the next events and some general concerns at the school. We will have coffee at the Patent hub coffee bar near the school. Looking forward to meeting you.

Your PTA