Update from the Principal - 11 december 2020

Dear Parents,

As we head into the last week of term, it is important to focus on celebrating the incredible work that our students and staff have done.

I could not be more proud or grateful for the help, support and reassurance we have had from our community. Thank you. It has made a huge positive impact on my colleagues, the work they do and most importantly, the experiences that our students have had.

Over the past seven days, the snow has disappeared, but we have spent a lot of time working together to create some fantastic projects to celebrate the hard work from our students and staff. Naturally, we’ve also had a lot of fun along the way!

A highlight of my week for sure was being invited down to Early Years to watch the premier of their Christmas Play, The Nativity Story. I'd like to congratulate the Early Years team for putting together such a fantastic production and adapting it to make it inclusive and available for our entire community to enjoy.

I am immensely proud of the incredible work that our students do here at BISL on a regular basis. This year's virtual BISL Art Exhibition is a true testament of our students' talents, creativity and dedication to their individual passions and interests. I highly recommend for you to take a look at the BISL Virtual Art Exhibition 2020 here, with a description and a compilation of videos to showcase the works of our students.

I am delighted to share with you this week's Teacher Feature, introducing the wonderful Ms Tusar, who plays a key role in the Science team by fostering a love of Chemistry in our Secondary School. We are always amazed by her passion, excitement and the energy she brings to the classroom!

Julia and Kevin, two of our students from Year 10, have completed an very insightful study on the amount of physical activity their peers in Secondary school do during their time in remote learning, and have written a very interesting summary discussing the importance of physical fitness during this time. Read their article here.

Yesterday our Year 9s took part in an inspiring poetry workshop with Alan Parry, a published poet, who co-runs a poetry publishing company which aims to publish less known and aspiring writers of all ages. Mr Parry gave live readings of some of his poems and encouraged our young writers to get their ideas down on paper whenever inspiration strikes and make sense of them later, to dare to abandon the traditional ideas of rhyming poetry, and to embrace a modern form of verse.

Friday, January 8^th at 9:30am, I invite you to join me online for another virtual coffee together as I share some current school news and topics, including:

• Start of Term 2 updates
• Upcoming Events
• Mock Exams – IGCSE and A Levels

You will find details of this Zoom event here.

We hope to be able to return to hosting these monthly Coffee Mornings in person at school as soon as safety measures allow. As in the most recent coffee morning, I will include all updates shared during this event in my Update from the Principal following the event.

Please note that Mock Exams will take place between Tuesday 5^th January – Friday 15^th January for IGCSE and A Level.

As they say, practice makes perfect, and indeed, mock exams are an ideal opportunity for students to prepare for their external examinations. They allow students to familiarise themselves with pressure, encourage them to start revising early, to practise effective revision strategies, to improve their knowledge in key areas, and act as a guide moving forward.

Mr Batson coordinates these examinations, for more information, feel free to contact him directly.

No changes as of today for Monday 14^th December. We await guidance to be sent out and hope for a drop in the number of cases across the country. Our thoughts are always with those families and friends affected by the pandemic.

We all miss the face to face interactions with our students and families, and hope to be able to welcome you and our students back in the building soon.

All urgent updates continue to be communicated via email.

Please monitor your emails for future updates as this continues to be the best way to send out clear and consistent communication to all parents. Check that you are receiving emails, have enough space in your email folder, that they do not go to your 'junk' folder and if you are unsure, please contact reception@britishschool.si to check your contact email and phone number on record. If you change any contact details, please inform the school immediately.

If you have any specific questions about the learning in your child's year group, please contact the Class Teacher/Form Tutor first.

I would like to finish by thanking all members of our community for your amazing help throughout this term. I have spoken to many parents during the drop off and repeat how grateful I am for your encouragement and support of our teachers at school. It is very much valued and has made a huge difference. Thank you.

The appreciation, care and thought for others has been incredible during this unprecedented time and is something I am committed to maintaining as we return after the holidays.

As we head towards the holidays, I'd like to end this week with a fitting poem:

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,

for loving, sharing, giving, are not to be put away

like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.

The good you do for others, is good you do for yourself.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal