Secondary News - 7. januar 2022

Block 4 Week 1

Welcome back to school for Term 2! I do hope that everyone managed to have some family time and relaxed over the holiday. It was great to see everyone back at school this week, rested and full of energy after the break.

It was wonderful to welcome Ms Kotnik back from her maternity leave, she was very happy to see her students again. We thank Ms Drofenik for her teaching and support and are thrilled for it to continue in other areas of the school.

This first week was especially important for the Year 11 to 13 students who were busily preparing for their Mock Examinations next week. This will entail all Year 11 to 13 students coming off timetable to ensure that they are fully focused on their rigorous examination schedule. These conditions for their examinations will mimic the conditions that the students will have when they sit their examinations in May, and therefore this process is extremely important. Additionally, in the event that the current situation with Covid-19 worsens, these results will contribute to their overall mark submitted to Cambridge. In order to provide the best possible quiet environment for these students, they will utilise the new building to sit these examinations. We wish all students in Year 11 to 13 luck for these assessments, and we look forward to welcoming students back to their regular timetable in Week 3.

During Week 3, on Thursday January 20, there will be an IGCSE Subject options evening held for students particularly in Year 9 but also for any student interested in learning about their options in the years ahead, they are welcome to attend to speak to teachers regarding their subjects. This will be an event that will be held in the building, as it is vital for students to have the opportunity to discuss their options with their teachers. Parents will be invited to sign in as per protocol and can arrive at any time between 15:50 and 16:50 to speak at ease with teachers. During Week 4, on Thursday January 27, the A Level options evening will be held for the Year 10 and 11 students and run in the same format as the IGCSE evening. We look forward to seeing students there.

All the very best for students preparing over the coming days, and I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Stephanie Andronikos

Head of Secondary

Languages Block

This block we are celebrating languages. It aims to promote the rich linguistic diversity of our school and raise awareness of the importance of lifelong learning for everyone. Languages are related to each other like the members of a family and it will be great to see how students will show their knowledge of their mother tongue as well as support each other in learning new languages.

This week we were exploring characteristics of a good language learner. Our display is full of their thoughts. How many characteristics do you possess?

MFL Team

Maths News:

Key Stage 3 students learnt about statistical diagrams to represent data. They compared average temperatures of different cities through an online programme that generates line graphs for average temperatures.

Year 10 students learnt how to use a systematic approach to successfully find the nth term of a linear, quadratic and cubic sequence.

Year 11 and 12 students shared ideas on how to effectively prepare for upcoming mock examinations and created the best ‘revision sheet per chapter' to aid their independent learning.

Maths mistake of the week:

Thank you to Valentin from 8B for successfully identifying 3 out of 4 mistakes and earning 6 House points. Well done!

All Secondary students are invited to find new mistakes in front of room 316 next week. There are challenges for IGCSE and A level students too!

Ms Zupanc, Mathematics Teacher

PE News:

This week, students completed a multi-stage fitness test and continued to develop their understanding of their respective sports. Each year group undertook the beep test, comparing their scores to their previous efforts through the academic year so far and looking for trends in their results. Year 7 then focused on their tactical awareness when playing football, Year 8 competed in some 3 vs 3 basketball matches and Year 9 played some larger sided handball games. Year 10 continued to work on their floorball skills and game development, with Year 11 working towards the end of their rugby playing block.

Mr Hayes, PE Teacher

Science News:

In Science, Year 7 students started learning about Earth and Space. They enjoyed the topic very much and have shared many interesting facts with the teacher. Look out for the refreshed planets on floor 1 one - coming soon!

In Chemistry, the Year 8's presented their findings from the flame test practical they did before the Christmas break, reminding themselves of the vivid colours that were produced when certain metals are set on fire.

In Biology, Sixth Form students were busy doing revision for the mock exams happening next week. Year 12 students presented some very interesting facts about common infectious diseases. Year 11 were the busiest of all since they had to revise topics from Year 10 and 11. Luckily, they are all enthusiastic to learn. Year 10 started their health and disease chapter, which is very interesting to them.

Finally in the Physics club, students have explored the simple circuits with light bulbs, played simple melodies with piezo buzzers, and used a simple generator to light up a light bulb.

Ms Tušar, Mr MacNeill, Mr Stanič, Ms Prohart Strmčnik Science Department

English News:

Year 7: Year 7 began reading the book “Holes” by Louis Sachar and worked on creating their craziest inventions inspired by the inventor father of Stanley Yelnats III.

Year 8: Year 8 began work on the novel “A Monster Calls” learning about the hero of the book Connorand the problems he faces in the story.

Year 9: Year 9 researched Propp’s Character Theory of characterisation in stories and had to analyse the different main characters, such as the hero or villain, in a movie of their choice.

Year 10: Year 10 worked on creating presentations on various aspects of “Crumbs from the table of joy,” highlighting their point through the use of quotes from the play and further analysing them.

Year 11: In preparation for next week’s mock exams, Year 11 worked on revising all the key elements of the English Language papers.

Mr Fordham, Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Staines, Mr Siter and Mr. Eve - English Department

MEPI News:

A big welcome back and ‘Srečno novo leto!’ to all of our MEPI participants, dedicated MEPI staff, and All! The big news this week is that the MEPI team at BISL has organised a first aid course with the Red Cross (Rdeči Križ), to be held at school on Saturday 29th January, starting at 8:30, and finishing at 13:00. ALL are welcome!

This is a mandatory course for our MEPI participants (and the price is already covered in their MEPI Annual Fee), but there are extra places that we need to fill. So, staff, parents, secondary students, family etc. are all invited to sign-up for this invaluable experience, which will give you the skills that could save a life one day!

The cost is €30.50, and I urge anyone who doesn't have first aid training to attend. The course will be in English, although the medical professional is a native Slovene speaker, so a little translation will not be an issue if you have Slovene as your first language.

Please confirm your attendance, and/or direct any questions to simon.irving@britishschool.si.

We very much look forward to seeing you there.

Mr Irving, MEPI Coordinator

The first Teacher Feature of 2022 introduces our Head of English, Mr Fordham - read it here!

Creative Arts Block Round Up

Dear Parents,

I hope you have had a restful and relaxing Christmas and I'd like to wish you all the very best for 2022 and a Happy New Year!

We've had a busy week back at school as we arranged extra self-testing on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to ensure that we were all as safe as possible. As sent out on Wednesday, we have one class currently online learning and with the daily cases increasing this week, we hope that everyone in the community remains as safe as possible. Thank you to all parents for making sure that children had self-testing kits during the first day back, this really helped and I very much appreciate this.

Two changes to guidance we have made are below:

• If a class is sent home for online learning for 10 days, any siblings of students who test negative on the 6th day can return after the 7th day to their relevant year groups. We would need proof of a negative test and vaccination to proceed. Otherwise they would have to wait for the full 10 days with the other students.

• To avoid quarantine, there are 3 scenarios where this can occur: 1. triple vaccinated students and staff; 2. double vaccinated and recovered from covid; 3. those that have recovered from covid in the last 45 days but not within the last 10 days avoid quarantine if they do not have symptoms.

Our testing will return to Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week from Monday 10th January. We continue to follow guidance from the ministry and also to ask our contact directly for information pertaining to our school and community.

For parents who have recently joined the school, online learning may be a new experience for you. Please click on the Virtual Learning Guide for a few guidelines about online learning at BISL.

Again, I have to praise our students that continue to approach self-testing very calmly and in a very mature manner, the students who have been vaccinated, and for how well they have all followed health and safety guidelines since they have been back to school this week. The students have been fantastic and we are all so proud of them. This has been a huge positive this week and they have been able to focus back on lessons, learning and having fun!

We have had an amazing Creative Arts block before Christmas during Block 3, please click here to see the wonderful write up and list of the many activities that we had.

Also, we have had some wonderful experiences this week from our students learning outside in the woodland area, in the snow and enjoying being with friends. This is a very important part of school life at BISL:

• Thank you to parents for ensuring children have warm coats, gloves, hats and footwear to play outside.

• We will keep encouraging students and staff to enjoy the fresh air

• We all promote an active and healthy lifestyle

• Unless there is heavy rain or extreme weather, we dress for the conditions and enjoy the climate of Slovenia.

Health and Safety - Please Drive Slowly

Thank you to all parents who have supported our 'Drive Safely' campaign we have started this week. We look forward to many projects from our staff and students as we encourage all parents to drive slowly and carefully throughout the school campus.

Our projects will include:

• Primary and Secondary Poster Competition

• Safety Slogan Competition

• Student Articles - 'Drive Safely'

• Student Council projects

• New safety signs at the entrance of our campus

• Working with our local police to report any unsafe driving

Next week, we will have a police presence on the road joining the school and on site. The speed limit on our road is 30 kph (Cesta 24. junija, from the train line and Ludus to school) and on site is 20 kph. We will continue to do our very best to ensure that all students can arrive to and depart from school safely.

Health and Safety - No smoking on site

I would like to ask all parents to not smoke on the school campus as we had an incident this week on site with a parent smoking. This is a no smoking campus and this is not allowed anywhere near the building or around the students. Thank you in advance for following this and supporting the health and safety of the students, staff and parents.

Next up we have a very exciting Languages block! - we look forward to a range of interesting, engaging and fun activities from our languages team!

Thank you to everyone who joined me for the Coffee with the Principal online this morning! I have included the points shared from the meeting, as well as other health & safety guidance in my full Update from the Principal.

Have a great weekend.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.