Secondary Newsletter - 14th January

Block 4 Week 1

I believe it was Charlemagne who said ‘to speak another language, is to possess another soul.’ Well our intrepid MFL team has certainly got Block 4 off to a flying start, with a whole host of activities designed to inspire our students to study languages. While the Primary School will enjoy a puppet show, our Secondary students will be treated to a private viewing of the famous Slovene film Vesolje med nami (the universe between us). Not only that, but rumour has it that the director of the film and lead actor will be hosting a post-film workshop with our students. We also have scheduled a visit to the National and University Library of Ljubljana for our Year 8 students. What a treat.

Assemblies are an important part of school life. They bring us all together, students and teachers, to celebrate achievements, promote school values and to build school culture. We will be holding more assemblies this term on a variety of topics, including the BISL Values, that we hope will inspire students. On Monday I led an assembly inspired the GB Olympic team, challenging our students to build a new habit through 1% marginal gains. Tutors are leading a follow-up with students to help them commit to a new target this term. The MFL assembly on Friday was fun-filled and informative, reminding all of us of the importance of diversity, inclusion and culture - the very values that bind BISL together as a kind and caring community.

Mock exam week is almost over and students have behaved impeccably well. Following the marking and a detailed moderation by departments, parents and students will receive the raw marks/percentage results. This is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 25th January. The most important element of the mocks is not the result, on the contrary, it is what the students do with the result. It is vital they reflect deeply on the experience, interrogating the effectiveness of their revision strategy. This is the moment to recognise changes needed to their learning approach before the all-important summer exams.

Finally, on Thursday 19th January at 3pm, I will be delivering an important presentation about Assessment and Reporting in the Secondary School. I would be very grateful for your attendance. Specifically the presentation will focus on:

- The purpose and value of assessment in the learning journey of every student.

- How the curriculum (and disciplinary knowledge) is the progression model.

- Adjustments made, and further planned changes to, Assessment and Reporting at BISL in 2023/24. - The value of home learning and how parents play a vital role in helping students make progress.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

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

Mr Jonathan Travis, Head of Secondary

Slovene news:

The Y7 Slovene Advanced class has been working diligently on the description of a person's life. As an example, we studied the life of Slovenian rapper Trkaj. The students have gained a deeper understanding of the language through this exercise. Now, they will be writing their own piece and I am excited to see the unique perspectives and creativity they bring to their work. I look forward to reading their final pieces and seeing their progress in the language.

Miss Kotnik

Y8 students in Slovene Intermediate group were learning about verb -"glagol"this week. The grammar might not seem very exciting at first, but we did various activities in groups to make lessons more fun and memorize new vocabulary.

Ms Jakup

MFL - Slovene Foundation

In Year 9 at Slovene Foundation we have been talking about students’ houses or apartments where they live at the moment. Students had to describe their rooms and furniture. At the end of the week the also created an interview about the apartment they would like to rent. This was a good way to practice the use of cases, adjectives and spread a vocabulary with new words.

Ms Drofenik

Creative Arts News:

Prop design club This week our prop designers have been busy starting the props for our much anticipated summer show. On Thursday they worked together to produce a boombox out of cardboard, next week we will work together to paint and add details to bring it to life! The prop club is a great opportunity for students to be creative as well as working individually and a team. Can you guess what the production will be?

English News:

Year 7 continued their study of Shakespeare in the form of “The Tempest.”

Year 8 wrote a speech from the perspective of Mrs Johnstone, describing her difficult life and the impossible choice she was forced to make.

Year 9 looked at how connected Dennis Kelly’s DNA play was in the context of a Post 9/11 world and the concept of “in yer face Theatre.”

Year 10 A looked at Boey Kim Cheng’s poem “The planners and the effects of progress in the life of a modern city.

PE news:

During PE this week, students continued their respective sporting blocks this week, developing their understanding of gameplay and positioning. Year 7 took part in some 3 v 3 basketball match play scenarios, with Year 8 continuing their handball unit with some conditioned games. Year 9 progressed their floor hockey unit, developing their understanding of spatial

awareness and passing sequences, whilst Year 10 focused on the importance of possession when playing football.

Mr Hayes, PE Department

Maths news

Year 7 students were exploring units for area and how to use them to calculate the area of squares, rectangles, triangles and compound shapes. They noticed you must divide a compound shape into two or more smaller shapes, calculate their individual areas and then add them together.

Year 8 students worked with stem-and-leaf diagrams, line graphs and recalled how to calculate angles in pie charts.

Year 9 students recalled formulae for shapes and solids through Quizizz. Then they worked in pairs and solved more difficult questions involving the area of shapes and volume of solids. To help them prepare for their upcoming assessment,

Year 10 students engaged in a feedback task on selected chapters and provided peer feedback.

Year 11, 12 and 13 students sat in their mock exams this week. Next week, we will analyse the mocks and address the topics the students performed the worst at.

Maths challenge wall

Well done to 7A students who continue to solve the weekly challenges. Do not forget to check out new challenges next week in front of room 316.

Ms Zupanc, Maths Department

Science News:

This week year 10 dissected a pig's heart to understand the different structural and functional components of the heart as part of their chapter on transport in animals.

Ms Jones, Science Department

In Year 9 students were learning about electricity and electrical circuits. As current, voltage, resistance and effect of circuit components are difficult to imagine Y9 students used models to demonstrate this. They used a pizza delivery route, McDonald's delivery and distribution, gas and cooking stove connection and a city road to model electric circuits. Interesting examples included: a bridge and traffic light representing a switch, a pizza place representing a battery and a speed sign representing a resistor. They also identified the advantages and limitations of their models. Here are some pictures of their work and students presenting the models to each other.

Ms Tušar, Head of Science

In Year 9 students were learning about electricity and electrical circuits. As current, voltage, resistance and effect of circuit components are difficult to imagine Y9 students used models to demonstrate this. They used a pizza delivery route, McDonald's delivery and distribution, gas and cooking stove connection and a city road to model electric circuits. Interesting examples included: a bridge and traffic light representing a switch, a pizza place representing a battery and a speed sign representing a resistor. They also identified the advantages and limitations of their models. Here are some pictures of their work and students presenting the models to each other.