Primary News - April 29th

Dear Parents and Students,

The highlight this week is almost certainly the amazing visitors we had on Tuesday, 26th April, when a variety of animals made their way into the school, with an exotic and unusual flair. Students from Early Years up to Y10 learned some interesting facts about these magical beasts while being able to get up close and touch them. It was a brilliant event organised by the Science Team as part of the Science Block and will be talked about for a long time for sure!

As part of their Slovene and Literacy curriculum, the Year 4 students enjoyed a visit to the Puppet Theatre in Ljubljana on Monday, where they watched the ‘Zverjasec’ (Gruffalo) puppet show. This provided a perfect opportunity for students to see how books are transformed into live performances. There are more exciting trips organised for other year groups in the coming week, including the Year 2 adventure in Bohinj and the Year 1 train ride in the Arboretum.

A reminder that Open Day is Wednesday 4th of May, everyone is invited to walk around the school and see how our students learn in class with our amazing teachers.

The BISL International Day opening ceremony starts in 13 days! with lots of events planned, including performances and food fairs. The school has been decorated with colourful flags to represent the cultural variety of our school community.

Please see the sections below for more exciting news from classes and subject departments. As always, you can keep up with the latest News and Events, including the Update from the Principal for important weekly updates.

Enjoy the long weekend with May Day (also known as Labour Day/International Worker's Day). We look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday 3rd May.

Kind regards,

Katarina Železinger, Head of Primary

Early Years

A journey from the garden to our plates!

This week in the Early Years, we were exploring the garden plants we consume. The children enjoyed sharing ideas about their favourite vegetable gardens and talking about vegetables they do and don’t like. As a part of their vegetable investigation, the children explored the tastes and textures of different vegetables and have chosen their favourite to make their vegetable salad.

To consolidate last week's learning, the children have been monitoring the life cycles of bean seeds on our window. Now that the roots have grown, our early year students turned into gardeners for one day and planted the plants in the soil.

Ms Kukovica

Year 1

Despite it being a short week, it has been nothing less than amazing! We started off the week with Amazing Animal visitors, which students were thrilled to pet, hold and learn more about. We continued the animal theme in Topic lessons, looking closely at firebugs from the woodland area and creating a collage of them.

In English lessons, we created our own versions of the story The Night Pirates, which included the Night Carrots, Unicorns and Panthers. In Maths lessons, we’ve explored division by sharing.

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

We have had an exciting week in Year 2! The students loved meeting the animals on Tuesday. Many stroked a tarantula and even had a snake around their neck! They were very brave and a great time was had by all.

In English, we have been looking at different types of sentences and getting very creative in writing our own. In Maths, we have been looking at the length and measuring in different ways. In Topic we have learned about the 5 oceans and 7 continents and watched a fantastic song to really help us remember it.

Ms Harris and Mrs Fordham

Year 3a

During Topic this week students met some exotic animals!

They were able to ask many questions about what they eat, how they move and survive in the wild compared to at the animal reserve.

Ms Blundell

Year 3b

This week the Y3B students have had the opportunity to visit the Technology suite. The students really enjoyed assembling the pieces by following detailed instructions. After completing the model, the students were tasked to improve the design so that it would move faster and decorate it. We finished the lesson by taking lots of pictures of our finished designs.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Burtrand for inviting us and helping us build our first Lego Robots.

Mr Kokalj

Year 4

Year 4 had a wonderful time this week at the Ljubljana Puppet Theater (Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana) watching Zverjasec (The Gruffalo) in Slovene. The pictures, photographs and snap chat reviews say it all.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 5

This week the children have had some exciting lessons, especially in Topic. They enjoyed taking part in ´amazing animals´ and took on a challenge in science by working as a team to create their own moving vehicles.

The children then made an investigation to test their vehicles. The teams used a range of materials varying from clay to lego. It was amazing to see their finished products.

Mrs Thomas

Year 6

Year 6 students joined the fun of meeting several exotic animals this week.

The students were very brave, many overcoming their fears of snakes and spiders to hold or stroke them. In our study of the Solar System, students made scaled drawings of the planets and went on a scaled-down 1km solar system walk, where the sun was a whopping 23 cm in diameter. We will be learning a lot more about space and the solar system as the topic progresses into block 7.

Mr Bishop

Slovene

Years 3 and 4 have been learning about buildings and shops we have in Ljubljana. Students have been searching for pairs and discussing what they can buy or order in particular buildings. They have listed many ideas in their notebooks, as well as revised and learnt some new vocabulary.

I am sure they will be able to use the vocabulary in various shops now. Especially the one for "slaščičarna" - sweet shop.

Well done Years 3 and 4!

Ms Košec

PE

During our PE lessons this week, we continued to explore the topic of our chosen sporting units and the importance of being able to work as a team when playing sport. Years 1 and 2 developed their nitroball/lobster ball skills, playing the game in conditioned, competitive scenarios. Years 3 and 4 worked on the importance of possession when playing football and how keeping the ball as a team can lead to shooting opportunities. Years 5 and 6 were tasked with organising and participating in their own floor hockey tournament, undertaking officiating, playing and scorekeeping roles.

PE Department

Teacher Feature Series

As part of our Science block celebrations, this week's Teacher Feature brings you a fun interview with Ms Prohart Strmčnik from our Science department.

International Days - Mark Your Calendars

One of our biggest family events, organised in partnership with the PTA, this year’s International Days will take place between Thursday May 12 - Friday May 13.

On Friday May 13, from 12 noon, there will be a variety of cultural and educational activities, stalls, traditional dress, flags, international cuisine, games and performances for our community to enjoy.

For details, please click here.

Year 1 Production

Our Year 1s are excited to invite you to their upcoming production of The Goblin Next Door on May 11 from 15:30 in the Performance Theatre. Mark your calendars!

Library Book Donations

In partnership with the PTA, we are accepting donations of books to our library throughout block 6 and encourage everyone to bring in their used books - in any language - and drop it off at Reception.

BISL Summer School 2022

With summer just around the corner, registration is now open for BISL Summer School 2022!

Click here for details.

Dear Parents,

A 4 day week and lots packed in with a wonderful experience for our students on Tuesday with the Amazing Animals and 'Magical Beasts' visiting BISL. Our students loved the opportunities to play with, learn about and explore further with the visiting animals. Linked to this were excellent explanations and interesting knowledge shared by the experts about the animals and this really stretched the students in regards to their own understanding. It was a perfect fit for the science block and a great event to host at BISL.

An update on the Performance Theatre, the stage curtain rail is being installed and we await the addition of the back curtains which will make the stage look fantastic! - added to this, we have a brand new drum kit and other music resources that have just arrived at the school. Exciting and 'loud' times ahead!

A reminder that Open Day is Wednesday 4th May, everyone is invited to walk around the school and see how our students learn in class with our amazing teachers.

Our International Day opening ceremony starts in 13 days! We are all very excited and our decorations have gone up this week as we build up towards this. This year we have world champion dancers performing, a food fair, competitions, music performances and much more!

A quick note to thank everyone for your kind donations for the Earth Day drive. It is very much appreciated.

During the block break, we will send out information regarding the teachers for next year, the class teachers for each year group in Primary and also include the profiles for new staff joining BISL. It is a time of mixed emotions as I am leaving at the end of the term, sad to move on but extremely happy to see the school continuing to grow, the students having more amazing experiences and the very high standards that we have at school. It is an absolute pleasure to see the return of the on-site events this term and our students have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, which is the most important part of what we do!

A 3 day weekend to look forward to, I hope you can relax, rest and recharge with our beautiful summer weather approaching. I'm going to try and get outside as much as possible and enjoy some of the wonderful countryside. Enjoy.

Please read my full Update from the Principal here for links and details.

Have a great weekend!

Kind regards,

Paul Walton, Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.