ISSUE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER #111
The British International School of Marbella
NEWSLETTER A Newsletter for Parents, Students and Friends of our School
September 2016
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Headteacher’s Message A New Year at BISM Dear Parents and Students, Welcome back to BISM for the 2016/17 academic year. It has been an exciting month back at school, with many new initiatives. This year has seen the introduction of Project-based homework. The first month has gone extremely well, with positive feedback from both the students and teachers. With questionnaires going out by the end of the month we will evaluate what the students and parents thought of this trial and how we can improve for the future! I am delighted by the way the children have settled back into school life and welcomed new students in their classes. The Year Four Romulus and Remus assembly was a great way to kick off class assemblies, with star performances by Jason and Uzala (as the warring brothers). In the FS, Pre-Nursery and Nursery have settled in so well, moving around school sensibly and greeting adults respectfully. A wonderful start to the year, keep it up! As part of our IT curriculum, Cyber Safety was highlighted in the first weeks of school. Specialist IT lessons with Mr Herron have proved a huge hit and children have been working on their presentation and word processing skills in the first few weeks of term. At BSIM we are continuing to develop our Expressive Arts curriculum and are delighted to welcome Miss Condliffe to the teaching staff, who provides Specialist dance and drama lessons daily. The children have really enjoyed these lessons this month and we look forward to exciting class assemblies, showcasing the children’s talents. Our New Spanish department have already made a huge impact on teaching and learning, with tailored lessons catering to the first language and second language Spanish speakers. The children have really enjoyed their initial lessons with Miss Escribano and Miss May.
With Roald Dahl Day and Peace week both falling in September, the children have had an exciting start to the school year. With a huge focus on literacy this year we will have many more educational assemblies and activities to share over the year. With Best Wishes, Laura Bruce Acting Headteacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Pre-Nursery
Doctors in Pre-Nursery! Pre-Nursery have been learning about doctors as part of their ‘People Who Help Us’ topic. The children learnt all about x-rays and even got to explore some real x-rays. They were amazed to see what the body looks like on the inside. After that, they decided to make some hand print x-rays of their own. The children were very brave and every child put paint onto their hands to make a print. Their faces were so excited when they saw the prints that they left actually looked like an x-ray! After this, they continued to role play in the PreNursery hospital. The children were so desperate to join in that they had to go and find extra gloves for dressing up! It was lovely to see and hear the children playing doctor, saying things such as “Poor you, you need to go to bed” and “Here is the medicine, look all better!” To end, they all danced the skeleton dance to keep their bodies fit and healthy. The children joined in with the actions and even learnt some of the words. What a busy time in the Pre-Nursery Hospital! Ms Rutherford Pre-Nursery Teacher
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Nursery
Fire Counting
Nursery class have continued their topic, ´People Who Help Us.’ They have been focussing on firefighters and the important roles and jobs they perform. The children all agree that firefighters must be very brave and use lots of teamwork in order to achieve their goals. They also discussed how they must be risk takers and how they should always take safe risks with their learning; challenging themselves whilst remaining resilient! In Nursery, the children have been very busy practising their counting skills and they have definitely been showing these qualities! The children have started to expand their knowledge of numbers and have begun to look at numerals whilst playing the Fire Counting game! The children had to put the fire numbers out by placing the correct amount of buckets of water onto the fire number! It was wonderful to see the children so engaged with their learning. They worked hard to remember the numerals and then had the tricky task of placing the correct amount of water buckets on top! Lots of new learning took place and I am looking forward to consolidating these new skills with the children! In addition to this, the children also practised forming numerals with water and a paintbrush. They had to stop their fire number burning by carefully tracing over the numeral with water. When the children had very carefully painted the whole numeral with water, only then would the fire well and truly be out! The children demonstrated lots of brilliant motor skills and number recognition! Well done Nursery! Miss Nixon Nursery Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Reception We’re Going to Catch a Big One!
In Reception, the children have really enjoyed their PE lessons with Mr Holden, Mrs Toro and Mr Herron. Many of their lessons have been inspired by popular children´s books, such as We´re Going on Bear Hunt, The Enormous Crocodile and Willy the Dreamer. They´ve been squelching and squerching through thick oozy mud, swishing and swashing through long wavy grass. They´ve stomped like elephants, flown like the roly poly bird and got excited avoiding the enormous crocodile by running really fast. They´ve also danced like a ballet dancer and swam like a scuba diver. But unlike Willy the Dreamer, none of this was dreamt. This was very real and is just a typical sports lesson in Reception! Mr Holden Reception Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 1 Super Senses! This month, in Year 1, we have been exploring our senses. We enjoyed working together to use each sense to solve a problem. For sight, we had to look very carefully at some special bottles, filled with rice to identify the objects hidden inside. For touch, we had to use our hands and feel inside a mystery box, describing what the object felt like. For hearing, we needed to listen very carefully to some sounds and work with our partner to figure out what they could be. For smell, we had to sniff very hard to describe what could be hidden in our smelling cups. Finally for taste, we had to try different types of crisps and try to work out what flavour they were. We had a lot of fun exploring our senses, although not the smell of onion! We are now senses experts! Miss Armstrong Year 1 Class Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 1 Wow Day
Groovy Gorillas!
Year One had their Wow Day this month, to kick off their topic of Endangered Animals. First, we had a look at some animals that had become extinct and thought about what that meant. We then found out what being endangered means and named different endangered animals. We then spent the rest of the day thinking about gorillas. We learned some sign language, like Koko the gorilla, and made some groovy gorilla masks. It was a great day, preparing us for our topic and for Peace Week, where we are looking at the gorilla charity, The Gorillas Organisation. Miss Armstrong Year One Class Teacher
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Year 2
Science
Our first Science unit of work is all about Healthy Humans and Animals. The children have been realising that we humans are actually animals too! We have played some card games, matching up baby animals to the correct parent and discussing the similarities between parent and offspring. To link the idea that we are also animals we looked at the fact that humans also have babies. The class thought it would be a good idea to interview a pregnant adult about the preparation of looking after babies’ health. Miss Kirkham kindly volunteered to be our interviewee while we thought of some relevant questions to ask her. The children had been working hard and were excited about our special visitor. Most children asked some wonderful questions about her pregnancy and were very curious to find out more. After the interview we reflected on some answers and discussed it further together. It is very early days in the year but I am already impressed by the pupils’ curious nature and their attitude to work. Long may it continue! Mr Llion Thomas Year Two Teacher / Lower Primary Leader
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 2 Wow Day
Fire Wow Day! On the Friday of the second week in school, the Year Two class had a special day, it was our Wow day! The class came all excited and had some speaking and listening activities with the theme of, “Would you rather…” linked to our Fire topic. It was so much fun! It set up the day with a positive learning attitude and lots of smiles and laughter. Literacy was very poetic, we wrote some acrostic poems describing fire using powerful adjectives that fired up our imaginations! It was the first time many of the children had tried to write an acrostic poem and had a fantastic attitude to learning. The class had a special helper for their numeracy lesson in the afternoon as Fireman Sam helped the class with their adding and subtracting in 10s. He slid up and down his pole on the hundred squares to show some mathematical tricks! At the end of the day the children were ready for our little trip to the park to have a barbecue to melt some marshmallows and sing some campfire songs. Mr Pattison and Miss Flanagan prepared some great sing along tunes for us to sing in front of the fire. It was a great experience that I am sure will be a highlight for the year. It was such a lovely way to finish our Wow day and it really enthused the children for the learning ahead for the term. Mr Llion Thomas Year Two Teacher / Lower Primary Leader
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Year 3
Year 3 Science Lesson: Plants Year 3 have been learning all about plants, so far they have learnt about parts of a plant and the various jobs that they do. Year 3 began to wonder what plants need to be healthy and to grow well. They all decided that water and sunlight were a must. However, being the super scientists that they are, they wanted proof. So they set about discussing questions to investigate. Some decided to consider whether plants need light to grow well, while others wanted to explore whether heat or water had an impact. After deciding on a question to investigate it was time to make a prediction with the children ensuring that they explained their thinking by using prior knowledge (a clever guess.) The class practised their prediction making skills by watching ‘You’ve been Framed’ clips. For example… “I think the man will fall in the water because the hill is very steep and he is moving very quickly!” The final stage was to actually plant some seeds and begin the experiment by placing the seeds in various different places- some with light, water and warmth and some without. This experiment will improve the children’s observation and analysing skills. Watch this space for the results! Rebecca Allen Year 3 Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 3
Wow Day The Rainforest is a very exciting topic and we kicked it off in style, thankfully without a drop of rain! The first activity of the day was some colour by number artwork. The children had to add two and three digit numbers together and colour in various animals accordingly- who knew monkeys were green?! Then it was time to explore the animals of the rainforest a bit further. Mrs Griffiths hid animals in and around the trees and fountains in the park across from school. It was the children’s job to track them down and identify which species they were. We saw them all: terrific toucans; amazing anteaters; and everybody’s favourite, the super sloth. Next up was mask making time. Using felt tips and tissue paper, the children created some fabulous masks. They picked their colours carefully and highlighted details with the tissue paper. After a short fashion parade, showing off their masks, it was time for swimming. Thankfully we didn’t spot any crocodiles or piranhas in the water! The children made excellent behaviour choices throughout the day and showed how curious, creative and enthusiastic they are. Thank you for an excellent first WOW day Year 3- I can’t wait for the next one! Miss Allen Year Three Teacher
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Year 4
Roman Assembly
We are proud to say that Year 4 started this year’s class assemblies with a bang as they produced a fun version of Romulus and Remus, the myth of how Rome was founded. This was a fantastic way to kick start the topic of The Romans, which commenced with a focus on Roman mythology in Literacy and Cultural Studies lessons. It was wonderful to see so many enthusiastic actors and actresses and the children did very well to learn their lines perfectly in a short space of time. The play finished on a class song about the Romans written by Mr Pattison, called ‘Sweet Rome and The Empire,’ which was sung in the tune of Sweet Home Alabama and was a great hit with the children! Miss Varty Year Four Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 4
Wow Day: A Roman Banquet Year 4 looked fantastic on their WOW day this September! They kicked started their topic of ‘The Romans’ with a fun and exciting day in character. The day began when each child answered their name in the register with their chosen Roman name, addressing their teachers as Miss Varticus and Mr Kirkpatrimus! The children loved learning about how the rich Roman emperors would feast and how their table manners were quite different to what we would regard as polite today. After lunch the children were divided into slaves and emperors. The emperors laid in our very own triclinium, remembering to rest their head on their left arm so that they could eat with their right hand, just as the Romans did. They were then served their Roman feast by the slaves who were not allowed to eat a bite until the emperors cast off their leftovers (if they were lucky!). The children then swapped and and played the opposite role. Dojos were awarded to children who were in character the entire time and who remembered to reenact the strange Roman dining customs such as tickling the back of their throat with a feather so that they could vomit in order to fit in even more food! We finished the day with a Roman dining facts quiz and impressively every group got over 90% of the questions correct. It was great to see the Year 4 class so enthusiastic about their new topic on their first week in Year 4, giving us the rest of the term to learn about several other aspects of Roman life. Afterall, Rome wasn’t built in a day! Miss Varty Year Four Teacher
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Year 5
Mysterious, Marvellous Mayas! This term Year 5 have been enjoying learning all about the marvellous Mayas (Mayans). They have discovered a wealth of wonderful information on Mayan life. They investigated the Mayan Creation story and the students had fun representing the tale through story, role play and a rap! The students had lots of fun and the results were extremely creative! They also listened to atmospheric Mayan music, and looked at the wonderfully intricate instruments they used.
They also learned that the Mayans had two calendars, a religious one which was 260 days long and a farming one which was 365 days long, just like the calendar we use today! This linked in really well with their Earth and Space Science work. Their studies also revealed that according to the Mayas, the Earth (Middleworld) was square and flat and rests on the back of a huge creature (like a turtle or crocodile). A giant tree grows at the centre of the earth (Middleworld), its roots reach down to the underworld and its branches reach to the Upperworld. The underworld was called Xibalba, which means ‘place of fear’. It was reached through caves and tunnels. Maya gods of death, who looked like jaguars, lived in the underworld. The Maya believed that when they died their souls travelled to the underworld. Then they delved deeper into the dark and mysterious world of Mayan gods. The Ancient Maya had many, many gods, over 150! Many of them had overlapping roles and names. Some had human form, some took the form of an animal, others were a phenomena of nature. Year 5 are currently in the process of creating fabulous Mayan masks which will depict their own God or goddess, inspired by the Mayan examples. Mayan masks used amazing designs with bright, vibrant colours painted onto wooden surfaces. Year 5 cannot wait to finish their own! Clare Williams Year 5 Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 5/6
Roald Dahl Day
As part of the unit ‘ Tales from Other Cultures’, Year 5/6 have begun the year by reading the magnificent ‘Parvana’s Journey’ by Deborah Ellis. The children have learnt about some of the background to the story which is set in war torn Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban and concerns a girl who is searching for her missing family. The calss then raised money for Save The Children as part of Peace Day, as their work is dedicated to helping girls like Parvana. The enthusiasm for the story has been fantastic, with the children learning to engage with the plot, characters and setting. They have learnt new skills such as how to distinguish between open ended and closed questions, discuss how the author uses language, acquire new vocabulary and to model their writing on the style in the book.
As part of the Roald Dahl Day, Year 5 & 5/6 were whisked off into the realm of dreams and inside the world of the BFG. After some activities to warm their appetites for the story, the children explored the meaning of the word plot. They read and analysed key passages from the book which unpicked the BFG’s role in the story and his love for concocting new dreams by mixing old ones together. Cue much sharing of ideas and elaborate plot lines! Once the children had spoken and listened to one another, they chose two dreams which they merged into one to create their own original BFG inspired plot. After getting down to some fun writing, the plots were ready to be read. We had some spectacular plots involving the ability to stare at people and make them fall asleep and characters who could jump out of high windows and float down safely. Well done! Mr Anthony Year 5/6 Class Teacher
Comprehension is such an important part of reading and the children are learning to be more independent and aware of their progress by formulating their own searching questions to the story in the Cooperative Learning Structure ‘Read and Review.’ Through this activity, children read to one another and then think of a question for their partner which checks both pupils` comprehension at the same time. It’s a challenge to ask a suitable question and then get an equally suitable response. Some of the children are taking their questions to a deeper level and drawing out more implicitly communicated information. Discussion of the book has breached the classroom and been heard throughout the day. I’m very happy to see the children so involved in it. Their learning and the story continues….. Mr Anthony Year 5/6 Class Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Peace Festival On Friday 23rd September, the whole of BISM took to the stage to perform in a concert to celebrate World Peace Day. The event began at 2pm with the whole school song singing a beautiful rendition of `No Wars Will Stop Us Singing´. After that, we enjoyed a series of different themed songs based around Peace from each class such as `Heal the World´by Michael Jackson (Year 2), `What the World Needs Now´(Year 3) and the finale `We want Peace´(Year 5 & 6). The pieces were introduced by class speakers who spoke about the class and their chosen Peace week charity. All children did extremely well and should be very proud of themselves for their efforts! In the second half of the Peace event, we saw some very talented students and staff take to the stage including Stav Arbel (Yr.3) and Baran Moshrefzadeh (Yr.4) performing solo piano. We then had the delight of hearing staff and student collaborations with the Year 5 girls and Miss Flanagen performing `You´ve Got a Friend in Me´and Felix (Yr.6) and Mr Holden performing an impromptu rap with Noe (Yr.5) supporting on drums and Mr Pattison on the bass guitar. Well done to all performers for all the hard work and talent that was showcased, it was an enjoyable way to finish Peace week at BISM. Miss Green and Mr Pattison Music Department
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Arts
Art Attack!
During the course of the year, several pupils from Year One to Year Four are taking part in an Art club to develop their skills in drawing, painting and working with mixed media. The club got off to a great start as the children learned about primary and secondary colours and arranged them into the colour wheel. Art club will cover a range of artistic areas and the children have the opportunity to work with a variety of resources to create landscapes, portraits, collages, and crafts. We are all very excited to see what the children can produce throughout the year! Miss Flanagan Art Club
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Spanish
Monster Project in Years 3 and 4! Spanish has got off to a flying start this term and children have demonstrated a fantastic attitude towards learning across the school. The Year 3 and 4 Spanish as an Additional Language (SAL) class have been learning parts of the body through games and activities, such as Simon Says. This half term we have been getting active by conducting learning outdoors, even making sentences outside by working in groups to put big coloured word cards together! Learning about nouns, adjectives and verbs has also helped our literacy skills. We then used all this new vocabulary to create Wanted! posters for monsters with funny bodies! Using a Wild West theme, the pupils got creative and wrote original sentences for their Wanted! poster. The pupils were very enthusiastic to get started, were eager to ask for new vocabulary and didn’t shy away from hard work! Most have written extended sentences or a whole paragraph. The pupils created excellent pieces of work, which have been displayed in the Year 3 classroom. iFelicidades a todos los alumnos de aùos tres y cuatro ! Miss May Spanish Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Special Event
Delightful Dahl Day
This month, BSM brought Roald Dahl to life as we celebrated what would have been his 100th birthday. The children transformed into characters from a range of Dahl’s razztwizzling stories, including Matilda, the BFG and The Twits. They enjoyed learning about the wonderful stories that Roald Dahl wrote and parading their fantabulous costumes. It certainly was a splendiferous day! Miss Armstrong Literacy Coordinator
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Special Event
It’s the People Who Help Us!
Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it’s the Foundation Stage dressed as Superheroes, Nurses, Doctors, police offices, the fire brigade and many more “People Who Help Us”. The children had such a good time at the launch of our new topic driving fire trucks and police cars. They also visited opticians, supermarkets, hospitals and farms during their WOW Day! They played with ´People Who Help Us´ puppets, made playdough fire hoses, bandaged up patients, put out lots of fires and fixed lots of broken toys with the tool kit! They even made some arrests! We have lots of very helpful children in the Foundation Stage at BISM who are all very excited to learn more about ´People Who Help Us.´ It was wonderful to see their enjoyment and enthusiasm for our new topic and we´re excited about the learning in the weeks ahead. Mr Holden Foundation Stage Leader
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