The L ghthouse February 2017
The British School, Alexandria
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Principal′s Message Welcome to our second edition of the Lighthouse. This magazine showcases the achievements of our students in the first half of this academic year as well as demonstrating the range of activities that our children are involved in. As a school we very much believe in the education of the whole child as well as the academic and this publication aims to reflect this. We hope you enjoy this edition of the Lighthouse. Mr Justin Blakebrough
Principal
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Role Play FS1 Red have been having tremendous fun with imaginative play. We said goodbye to the traditional Home Corner and have been enjoying open ended learning through Deconstructed Role Play. Our role play area is in a constant state of change depending upon the children's interests of the day. There is no limit to what has been imagined and created. Sometimes it's a pirate ship, a bus, an aeroplane, a babies cot, a kitchen in a cafe or simply somewhere to hide and surprise our friends!
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Happy Halloween! Here is FS1 Blue having fun during 'Halloween Day'. We liked dressing up in our fantastic costumes, using the pumpkin to make different types of foods in our play and creating some green slime sensory bags.
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What happened to Humpty ? What happened to Humpty? He has fallen and rolled away from the wall. He bumped into the fence and then cracked! How did Humpty fall off? Was he pushed? Can we put Humpty back together again and then work together to safely transport him back onto his wall? FS1 White had lots of fun solving this problem during our Maths Crime week!
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Andalusia Hospital FS2 Blue FS2 Blue had a lovely trip to Andalusia Hospital. They gave us all a white coat to wear so we could all be Doctors. We had a look inside an ambulance and used a stethoscope to listen to our friend’s chest. We went on a tour of the hospital and we met lots of different people. The hospital gave us some cake as a special treat then we met a Doctor who taught us how to wash our hands in the right way. We also met the chef who told us how to make a healthy lunch box. It was a great day!
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Andalusia Hospital
FS2 Red As part of our “Ourselves” topic in Term 1 we explored the various people who help us in the community. We visited the people who help us around the school and we also learnt how doctors and nurses help us when we don’t feel well. We had a wonderful fun filled, educational trip to Andalusia Hospital, where we got to dress up as doctors and explore the hospital.When we arrived we got to go into an ambulance, turn on the siren and examine all the equipment they have in it. The doctor also showed us how to use a stethoscope and listen to our own and other people’s heart beats. We then went into the emergency room and saw all the equipment used there. Afterwards Dr Ahmed took us up to the roof where he showed us how to wash our hands correctly as well as how to prevent spreading germs! We really enjoyed our trip to the hospital!
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Family Centre Trip FS2 White had a wonderful trip to the Family Centre in Loran. It was a great experience for children to develop their creative, personal and social skills outside of the classroom. Children had lots of fun and made an amazing mosaic letter and painted plaster and soap. Well done to all the children for being so sensible and polite throughout the trip.
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Amsterdam Clinic Visit Here are a few photos of Year 1 Red from the Year 1 trip to Amsterdam Clinics in Smouha. We went there to consolidate our learning on our topic of how to stay healthy.
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Maths Week In Year 1 blue during maths week we had to use all our maths skills to solve the mystery of who stole our bikes. In order to do this we had to work in teams and find the clues to solve the crime. We made wanted posters to see if anyone could help, used our measuring skills to see who the footprints belonged to, used directional skills to follow a map, used our knowledge of addition and subtraction to crack a code and finally using shape we completed a jigsaw to find the culprit. Our fantastic teamwork meant that we solved the mystery and were able to find the thief and get our bikes back. Luckily it was all just a big trick and Mr Blakebrough gave us our bikes back. It was just lucky Year 1 Blue had such amazing maths skills.
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Brazil Day One of our Geography topics this term allowed all of the Year 2 students to explore the wonderfully interesting and unique country of Brazil. To consolidate our learning we had a special day where we got to come to school wearing the Brazilian flag colours; green or yellow. We worked together in a team to create a fact file while learning lots of fun facts about the country and exploring the continent of South America on a map. Ms Collette even visited us from the Tamarin Centre to teach us how to Samba. What a fantastic day!
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Happy Halloween ! Spooktacular Fun at Pre - Prep's Halloween Day At the end of October we had a spooky fun day dressed up in our favourite costumes. We had ghosts and witches, superheroes and Disney princesses exploring different activities. Children made skeletons and ghosts to hang on the wall. FS1 created yucky potions while Year 2 cooked delicious pizzas in the Cleopatra Pizza oven.We just love to see our teachers dressed up. Such a great day was had by all of the children.
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Maths Week Last term we have had lots of memorable moments, it’s hard to just choose one to share. ‘Maths Week’ was one of our fondest times in Year 3 Red because it was linked to ’Crime’ and we had some really fun math problems to solve. We had a burglar who broke into school and left behind a briefcase full of TNT! We had to use our knowledge of time to trace his movements throughout the school. He had left behind clues and CCTV footage and this helped us with the timings. The time that he left the school was the combination to disable the TNT. We then opened up the TNT parcels to find treats to share out. There was also a mystery murderer on the loose in Prep School! We found a body amongst some ‘Crime Scene’ tape with a variety of clues spread around it.We had to use the clues each day to help us eliminate the possible teacher suspects. The skills we needed included reading positions on a compass, following coordinates, knowledge of 2D shape properties and finally the four basic operations used for calculating. Each day the clues would help us to minimise the suspects leaving only one teacher… Mr Galloway !! We later discovered that Mr Galloway was in fact just trying to trick everyone, he never really murdered anyone...It was a set up. However Miss Lucas and the police have warned him about wasting Police time. Maths week was great fun and we worked well in our groups and teams to solve the mysteries that faced us. It was scary at times thinking that our school fell victim to crime, but it was all okay after all.
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Trip to Fagnoun Year 3 have had a great start to the year with many exciting things taking place. They especially loved their school trip to Fagnoon which linked to their topic and art activities on The Romans. On the trip they got to use real clay to make their own pots, just like the Romans used to. They also enjoyed making some flat bread that the Romans used to eat. Back in school we then decorated some clay pots in the Roman styles that we had been learning about. Everyone had a great time.
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Montazah Park Day During the second half of this term we have been looking at landscapes and observational drawing. As a natural extension of these activities we thought it would be a good opportunity to visit Montazah Park. So towards the end of November, Ms Atkey, Mr Galloway and Ms Nelly, with the able help of Ms Rana and Ms Gehad took Year 4 to the park. We departed first thing in the morning navigated the traffic and arrived in good time. Once we arrived the children were divided into groups. Once the groups were organised the children set off to different places looking for something to draw. They had to find both a landscape to draw, which was more of an overall picture as well as something smaller, like a flower or a tree.The children also had the opportunity to do some bark rubbings. The drawing activities were broken up by games and activities that got the children moving. We finished the day looking out over the sea by the bridge before we returned to school and home. It was a great day and one enjoyed by all.
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Cairo Trip In November Year 5 went on an exciting three day trip to Cairo. Most of the children had never spent a night away from their families before so it was a fantastic opportunity to develop their independence. The children all met to board the bus excitedly and we drove straight to Giza. We shared our knowledge of the Great Pyramids before riding a camel to the Sphinx. We had lunch at a delicious restaurant where our rice was shaped like a pyramid! Then we travelled to the Egyptian Museum where we were all fascinated with Tutankhamen's collection. After a busy day we relaxed at our luxurious hotel and enjoyed dinner together. Day two of the Cairo trip was just as exciting as the first! We had breakfast at the hotel and then went to the Pharaonic Village. Here, we went on a tour of a model of Ancient Egyptian times, painted pots and had a try at making our own. After that we went on a boat ride on the river Nile, singing and dancing whilst taking in the sights! On the final day we went to the Citadel and walked around before having a play at Azhar Park and travelling back to Alexandria. It was a fantastic trip with the students representing the school fantastically and everyone had a lot of fun!
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Cross Curricular Learning Often some of the best learning occurs when children make links between different subjects. At BSA, we have themed weeks where we make links explicit, but there are many occasions throughout the year when children apply their knowledge in cross-curricular settings. In computing, the children have been learning how to program the Probots.This has involved knowledge of programming, but also English to create clear instructions and also Maths for calculating angles. There was also some revision of electricity involved when it came to inserting the batteries! During maths week, the children applied their mathematical skills in many different situations. In addition to measuring and cutting accurately, the children also added to their topic knowledge by creating and playing a highly tactical ancient Greek board game. In Science, Year 6 have been learning about light and how light rays travel. In addition to the scientific knowledge, they need to apply mathematical knowledge of angles as the angle of incidence should be equal to the angle of reflection. We also took the opportunity to revise reflective symmetry.
Programming involves good language skills and applying maths knowledge.
Measuring accurately and choosing complementary colours.
It was important that they look good but they are also replicas of an Ancient Greek board game.
Playing polis involves tactics, strategies and forward thinking. It also gave us a chance to discuss ancient Greek politics.
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Computer Science Week This year’s Computer Science Week was a real success and the BSA successfully participated in what is to date, the largest learning event in history which was in collaboration with Code.org and endorsed by Google. Over a million students across the world participated, learning new and valuable computing skills to improve their understanding of the subject and develop great employability skills. Students from Year 1 to Year 12 completed an "Hour of Code", using 60 minutes of the day to learn a completely new computing language. Y11 and Y 12 students delivered outstanding lessons on hardware, algorithms and binary numbers to the students at the Prep School; not only demonstrating their own knowledge but also developing a range of interpersonal skills through planning and delivering structured and cohesive lessons. Y8 and Y9 students were also fortunate enough to participate in a Robotics workshop with the Engineering For Kids group who showed our students how to create and program robots using Lego Storm kits. And finally Y10 students held a range of computing workshops during their lunchtimes in everything from programming to animation. The week was great fun and we hope to build on it for next year. Keen Computing Students should keep an eye out for the follow up Robotics courses later in the school year. Ms Mala Nagulendran
Director of ICT
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Maths Week Maths week took place between 20 - 24th November 2016 The theme for this year was Maths and Crime. Maths week gave an opportunity to students to explore Mathematics in a context not usually explored within the classroom. Students are offered numerous enrichment opportunities which were aimed to increase the enjoyment and participation of the subject some of which are detailed below. Lab coat challenge The Mathematics department and other staff members wore lab coats for a day with a mathematical problem on the back for the students to solve. Students were asked to find the name of the victim of our mathematical murder. When the students solved the clue they would obtain one or two letters which made up the name of the victim. When they had collected all the letters the students had to rearrange them into the name of the victim. Code Breaking During the week students were given a form time activity based around codes and code breaking. Students were given four names hidden by using four different types of secret writing. The students then had to uncover these names by understanding how these methods of secret communication work. This gave students an insight into an area of study which plays an important role in modern crime detection particularly in computer related crimes. Crime scene investigation On Monday and Tuesday pupils embarked on a crime scene investigation to seek and eliminate the suspects.They required to analyse, discuss, predict and come up with facts and a culprit within 2 days. Daily Puzzle Each day a daily puzzle was set to help pupils see different ways in which Maths could be used to tackle crime Themed Lessons Students experienced themed lessons during the week in different subjects. Tutor Group Activities All week there were themed activities in tutor time including a prize competition.
Mrs Agnes El Bendary
Head of Mathematics
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Languages Department The MFL department has been very busy this term. Alongside French, German is being taught for the 3rd year at BSA, both at GCSE and A-level. It is crucial that new languages are being introduced as they are a very important tool to have in a world that is becoming more global. Spanish has appeared on the Enrichment activities in the Senior School and the students taking part presented a role play completely in Spanish during an assembly. The emphasis for this activity was on vocabulary and real life situations. Exam results in French have been excellent, with no student getting a grade lower than a B both at A-level and IGCSE. The department is still encouraging students with a home language other than English or Arabic to sit an exam in that Language. This year, students scored A* in both A-level and IGCSE Dutch. In Pre-Prep, students are learning French without any writing and from the lessons observed, are thoroughly enjoying themselves, using the target language as much as possible. In Prep school, almost every assembly has a French section and the Year 6 singing of “On écrit sur les murs” was excellent. In Senior school, enrichment tasks have been given as extra homework to make students do research and increase their general knowledge. From Y9 onwards, students are being exposed to French cinema after each Module test, something they enjoy. Mr Arnaud Germain
Head of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
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Languages Department
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Creative Arts CIBSA Expressive Arts trip We had a very successful trip to Cairo for this exciting event. Pupils from both the Primary and Senior school took part and gained a lot of new experiences in the pleasant environment of the school. We were very warmly welcomed by the school staff from the Music, Art and Drama Departments.The pupils behaved very well and they were a credit to both the school and their parents. The Art pupils quickly set to work and carefully followed the instructions on how to sketch out their initial ideas and then develop them keeping in mind that the final piece was going to be a 3D clock. All pupils came up with original and creative designs. Their work was well executedand finished to a high standard thanks to the technical help from the Art TA. In Music the pupils showed perfect timing and great enthusiasm. Drama took place in the school’s professional theatre; our pupils took part very energetically in the improvisations and performance. Great fun was had by all the participants and they made new friends and learned a lot for such a short time. Mrs Geraldine Jordan
Head of Art
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Creative Arts
Year 8 making paper jewelry
Year 8 making Christmas decorations
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Creative Arts In Performing Arts this term Years 8 and 9 have been learning about mime, silent movies and using music to make a scene effective. They worked in groups to create their own comic silent movies based around three different moods – happy, sad and disastrous. The movies were accompanied by Mr Booth playing the piano in the style of 1920s picture cinemas. The groups worked well together and it was exciting to see the array of talent that we have in our school. The completed films were almost as good as Charlie Chaplin’s! A special well done to Farouk Ibrahim for his efforts with editing the completed movies. Miss Terry & Mr Booth
Joint Head of Performing Arts
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Creative Arts Laurence Lowry Art Work Year 6 have been producing art work in the style of Laurence Lowry. They have tried hard to use the same colours and lines and, more importantly, to capture the feelings of his original work. They have done a great job! Mrs Clare Germain
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Senior School Science What an exciting busy term! Both students and teachers alike have worked very hard to cover the syllabus while keeping the excitement and curiosity alive in Science. This academic year, the Science Department welcomed two new members to the team, Mr. Ahmed specialist in Chemistry and Ms. Hemady, with a specialism in Physics, both new to the School and Egypt. I am very pleased to say, there has been an increase in students taking up one or more of the Sciences in 6th Form, with some students taking AS in all of the three Sciences we offer: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I am also happy to say Year 11s are progressing extremely well and IGCSE results looking very promising! There have been so many highlights this term, the Science Department joined the Arabic team and took the Year 10s to a very successful visit to the Labanita Dairy Farm; during the Extended Curriculum Day,Year 11 and 6th Form students joined us for a whole day of explosive experiments and demonstrations. We joined the Maths department during Maths & Crime Week and offered students a range of activities, from extracting DNA to fingerprinting. With many more highlights to come, I cannot wait for next term! Ms Marta Carvalho, Head of Science. It has been great to get to know the students this term. I have been delighted with the hard work and student engagement in science lessons. The creativity that the year 8s put into their ear defender poster advertisements, the detailed research behind year 7s presentations of different types of energy resources and the consistent use of logical steps in their approach to solving complex physics problems demonstrated by upper school physics students, to mention but a few. Miss Kabini Hemady The highlights for me this term have been the ever increasing number of practicals students have carried out, from extracting DNA, dissecting a cow's eye to extracting chlorophyll from leaves. The main highlight however was the Extended Curriculum Day where the science department went all out to show how fun science can be, carrying out some of the most exciting experiments science has to offer! Mr Junaid Rawoot
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Senior School Science It has been a pleasure to work with such hard working enthusiastic pupils, and staff alike. The highlight of this term for me was in October, when we had the opportunity to take the students to a local orphanage and spend time playing with the children and feeding the babies. It was a very enjoyable day in all aspects, and also allowed for a great opportunity to further build professional relationships with the pupils within the wider school environment. Mr Kabir Ahmed The Science Department
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Under 11 Football Team The U11 football team has worked really hard this term, with the sessions being extended until 4.30 pm on Thursdays. The focus, once again, has been on playing as team, sportsmanship, short and long passing, controls, shooting, headers, attacking and defending. The coaching team has expanded as Mr Shanks is now helping Mr Camplin and Mr Germain. The students have done really well and have played two friendly matches against Shutz, which they both won. More important than the result, the players are showing good discipline, keeping their position and an increased level of confidence with passing getting more accurate. They will need to continue with the same attitude next term as they will have tournaments to play in (CIBSA and ISAAA) as well as more friendly matches. Mr Arnaud Germain
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House Competitions The House Competitions were a culmination of the students’ programme of study in PE. All students participated and played with great enthusiasm and to the best of their ability. The House Competitions were particularly dynamic this term, with battles raging fiercely between Black Ibis and Blue Scarabs, Red Scorpions and Gold Eagles.The mid-term contests in Basketball, Volleyball, Bench ball and Hockey always raise anticipation, but it seemed that due to the particularly high profile of sports this year, our students were really on fire for glory. Mr Haytham El Tonsy
Head of PE
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Arabic اعرف عاداتك و تقاليدك
فــى العصــر الحديــث و مــع تطــور التكنولوجيــا و ظهــور اآلالت الحديثــة بشــكل شــبه يومــى أدى هــذا التطــور إلــى ضعــف فــى الذاكــرة الشــعبية لدرجــة نســيان بعــض العــادات و التقاليــد و اآلالت القديمــة .لــذا حــرص قســم اللغــة العربيــة علــى تذكيــر و تعريــف ببعــض نمــاذج مــن هــذه المظاهــر المصريــة األصيلــة لربــط الماضــى بالحاضــر و التواصــل بيــن األجيــال،و قــد شــارك الطــاب فيهــا مشــاركة فعالــة ربطــت بيــن المتعــة و االســتفادة. Know your culture and Tradition In the modern age, and with the development of technology and advanced machinery, there is the danger of people’s memory being weakened to the extent that they forget cultures, traditions and the old machinery. Therefore the Arabic Department has focused on reminding students of the older machines using models to connect the past with the present and create board between generations. Students joined in the fun and beneficial activities .
العروسة و الحصان الحالوة هــى دميــة و حصــان مصنوعــان مــن الســكر كانــت تبــاع فــى يــوم المولــد النبــوى لتلعــب بهــا البنــات الصغيــرات ثــم يأكلنهــا أو يحتفظــن بهــا.
The doll and horse are made of sugar, they used to be sold on the prophet's birthday for little girls to play with, then they either eat it or keep it.
عربة الكشرى الكشــرى طعــام مصــرى شــعبى شــهير جــدا يتكــون مــن األرز و المكرونــة و حبــوب العــدس األســمر و يبــاع مــن عربيــات يجرهــا البائــع و يتوقــف بهــا عنــد نواصــى الشــوارع و كذلــك فــى أماكــن الترفيــة قــرب النيــل و األماكــن العامــة.
Koshary is a famous popular dish made up of rice, pasta and lentils. It is sold on carts dragged by the seller who stands on narrow street corners as well as by the river and public gardens.
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Arabic عربة الترمس
منظــر عربــات تبيــع الترمــس و هــى، مــن أجمــل المناظــر الشــعبية فــى شــوارع المــدن خاصــة علــى شــاطىء الليــل .حبــوب صفــراء ذات طعــم مــر تنقــع فــى المــاء ثــم يضــاف إليهــا الملــح One of the nicest scenes on the streets of the Egyptian cities especially on the banks of the river and places like public parks, It's the site of the carts that sell Lupin which is a yellow seed with a sour taste. The seeds are soaked in water for a long time to get rid of bitter taste and then sprinkled with salt water.
الوشم أو التاتو
الوشــم أو التاتــو كمــا يســميه بعــض النــاس هــو فــن قديــم جــدا و معــروف فــى كل بــاد العالــم و هــو عبــارة . عــن تزييــن جســم اإلنســان بزخــارف و كتابــات مختلفــة Tattooing is an ancient and well known art across the globe decorating the human body with shapes, symbols and different writing.
أرجوحة العيد
هــذه. و تتكــون مــن صنــدوق خشــبى يشــبه القــارب تمامــا،هــى األرجوحــة التــى تتأرجــح مــن ناحيــة إلــى آخــرى .األرجوحــات تنتقــل مــن شــارع إلــى شــارع و مــن حــى إلــى حــى لتقديــم خدماتهــا للزبائــن The swing is a traditional form of entertainment which oscillates from side to side. It is constructed from a wooden bar resembling a boat. These swings move between different streets and districts to service new customers.
بائع العرقسوس
العرقســوس يحلــى بالســكر و يصبــه البائــع مــن قــدر. العرقســوس شــرابا مصنوعــا مــن أعشــاب تنقــع فــى المــاء يحملهــا مربوطــة بحــزام إلــى كتفــه و قــد تميــز بائــع العرقســوس بمالبــس خاصــة تشــبه مالبــس أهــل اســكتلندا . و كان يحمــل فــى يــده صاجــات Licorice is a syrup made from herbs soaked in water and sweetened with sugar. The sellers used to carry large amount by a belt strapped to their shoulder. The licorice was marked by special clothes resembling clothes in Scotland.
عربة البطاطا
مــن المناظــر التــى كادت ان تختفــى مــن حيــاة المصرييــن عربــة بيــع البطاطــا الحلــوة و أهــم مــا يميــز هــذه كان األطفــال يقبلــون علــى شــراء البطاطــا و أكلهــا خاصــة. العربــات الفــرن الخــاص بشــوى البطاطــا و إنضاجهــا . فــى أيــام الشــتاء البــاردة One of the aspects that has almost disappeared from Egyptian’s life is the sight of carts selling sweet potato .What makes these cars special is the “ oven“ that grills the sweet potato . The children used to run up to the cart to buy and eat the potato especially on cold days.
سن السكين
مشــهد كاد أن يختفــى تمامــا مــن حيــاة المصرييــن و مهنــة علــى وشــك اإلنقــراض و هــى مهنــة ســن الســكين و كان يحمــل علــى ظهــره آلــه ثقيلــة يحركــه بقدميــه و ينــادى صائحــا ( ســن الســكين و المقــص ) فيرســل ســكان . الحــى ســكاكينهم و مقاصتهــم ليقــوم بشــحذها This scene has almost vanished from the Egyptian life. This profession is almost extinct which is sharpening knives.The sharpener carries a heavy machine on his back.The sharpener controls the device with his feet by using a pedal mechanism. He promotes his work in the street by calling out “I’m sharpening “, people send their knives to be sharpened or to replace their items.
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Arabic شارك استمتع استفد
لــم تكــن المتعــة هــى الفائــدة أو النتيجــة الوحيــدة التــى حققهــا طلبــة الصــف 12و 13 مــن خــال مشــاهدة مبــاراة كــرة القــدم بيــن فريقهــم الوطنــى مصــر ضــد غانــا القــوى و لكنهــم طبقــوا بشــكل عملــى بعــض القيــم و األهــداف التــى درســوها نظريــا فــى منهــج اللغــة العربيــة ( كتابــة و قــراءة ) و مــن أهمهــا حــبٌ الوطــن و االنتمــاء إليــه و أيضــا التفاعــل االجتماعــى باإلضافــة إلــى غــرس الــروح الرياضيــة و التســامح مــع اآلخــر و رفــض التعصــب و العنــف. Participate, Enjoy, Benefit
Enjoyment wasn’t the only benefit or result that was achieved by the Year 12 students who attended the football match between their national football team and Ghana. They also applied, in a practical way a few of the values and goals that they learned visually from the Arabic Language curriculum. Most importantly patriotism, their loyalty, their social interaction, team spirit and sportsmanship.
Mrs Maissa Wassef
Head of Arabic
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English English has had an invigorating start to the year with the introduction of Ms Razavi and Mr Maddocks breathing new life into the department. They have proved to be colourful characters, inspiring teachers, and worth their weight in gold. (A definite highlight of the term for me was seeing them both star in the Christmas Pantomime as beautiful Snow White and hypnotically grotesque Nanny Knick-Knack respectively!) As of January, Year 7 have embarked upon a study of Greek Mythology, Year 8 are exploring novels including the modern classic Northern Lights (Ms Razavi) and Arthur, High King of Britain (Mrs Jackson), and Year 9 are being assessed on their ability to write and speak persuasively (which has led to many entertainingly impassioned speeches). Perhaps we have the greatest orator of the next generation amongst us in the year-group. Year 10 are bravely taking on literary analysis of Shakespeare's Macbeth, and vigorous exam feedback/preparation is the focus of the Year 11s in both Language and Literature. With them working so hard towards their exams, it was wonderful to see Year 11 put real thought into their own poetry compositions, used by Ms Terry's class as an exercise in literary analysis. Pictured here are just a selection that have been entered for the Principal's Award or will be submitted for International Competitions. Also shown are Omar Osman and Aliza Kabani (after delivering their outstanding persuasive speeches) with the three most treasured possessions they would rescue in the event of a natural disaster. A varied and exciting term. I am lucky to have such a great department and students to share it with. Ms Marika Terry
Head of English
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Humanities Year 7 Residential trip at Iberotel The students were challenged with team work activities ranging from the sand castle competition to the minefield challenge which promoted communication skills and memory. They also consolidated their map and fieldwork skills on the beach and round the pool. I am sure they have bonded more as a year group and this will help them to settle even better into the Senior School.
Year 10 investigation into earthquakes in Egypt Year 10 students tested their questionnaire skills this week asking locals about their perceptions about earthquakes in and around Egypt. We have a wide range of responses giving us some interesting data to analyse. Let's hope the buildings and people are prepared in the unlikely event of an earthquake. Mr Stevie Abbott
Head of Humanities
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Halloween Business Challenge The Year 11 Business group was tasked with running two competing food companies for this year's Halloween disco. This was a different idea to previous years, where pizza was normally delivered. The students worked extremely hard over the 6 week period prior to the disco, creating a brand, designing a menu, conducting focus groups and ensuring they provided what the customers wanted on the night. As part of the challenge, the students had to pay for the initial costs (food, non-food equipment and marketing), with the knowledge that whatever profit or loss they made, the group would share. This was to ensure as real an experience as possible. Following the disco, the results confirm that both groups made a healthy profit. The boys made a profit of 2200 LE and the girls team made a profit of 1950 LE. Congratulations to both groups, highlighting what successful, young entrepreneurs we have here at BSA! Mr Nicholas Rudd
Head of Business and Economics
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Model United Nations (MUN) Ten sixth form students gave up a weekend in December to participate in the Lycée Français d’Alexandrie Model United Nations (MUN) Conference. The objective of MUN is to improve students knowledge of the workings of the UN, develop their global awareness, team skills and public speaking. Our delegates were split across the General Assembly, Security Council and Human Rights Commission. They addressed a diverse range of issues from Child Labour to demilitarization of the oceans, and combating terrorism in Africa. They prepared thoroughly and participated enthusiastically. Yehia and Ahmed both won the awards for ‘best delegate’ in their committees’. Also well done Sheharyar, Hana, Yehia, Rina, Menatulah, Lina, Hanna, Rodayna, Hussein and Ahmed. Ms Heather Cartmell
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Extending Students’ Experiences One of the first events of the academic year was the Year 7 residential trip to the Iberotel which was both great fun and a valuable bonding experience for the students. Our Autumn Term extended curriculum day saw trips to Rashid, the Labanita dairy factory and also a fantastic production of The Lion King. Later on in the term, some students were able to take part in an Engineering for Kids day where they programed robots to move around. The Hallowe’en Disco was greatly enjoyed by the students who attended and there were some very scary costumes worn by both students and members of staff. International Day continues to go from strength to strength and this year’s activities included making a Loch Ness monster, a United Nations quiz, Sumo wrestling and K-pop dancing. As well as furthering their own education, our students have also been extremely generous concerning those less fortunate, with their fund-raising events to support local orphanages, organising bake sales, charity football matches and of course, the annual shoe boxes donation. Mrs Nichelle Jackson
Head of Senior School
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Leadership Weekend Last weekend saw the first trip of what we hope will be a very successful school leadership scheme. 17 students from Years 5 to 10 braved the cold weather conditions and departed to the El Hammra Ecolodge for a weekend full of activities designed to develop their leadership potential. Despite some initial concerns about the basic living quarters and the lack of WiFi, great fun was had by all! Moreover, students excelled in demonstrating their leadership qualities and the desire to improve both their own characteristics and that of others. Most pleasing were the examples of teamwork and decision-making that have made these students stand out and highlighted why they were selected. The challenge for them now is to find a project to work on within the school community, one that we have no doubt they will aspire to and achieve admirably. Bring on the next trip! Mr Rudd & Mr Galloway
The Student Leadership Team
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Friends of School FOS started the academic year with our annual charity Gala Dinner on the 13th of Oct, which was a great success. We were able to supply El Shatby Children's hospital with 14 hoses for incubators. The Gala Dinner was followed by International day where exotic food from more than 18 countries was served to BSA students and staff.This year with the help of new FOS members we were able to have international tables on two sites Hard court and Zahran field at the same time. What an amazing day! The first Pizza Day of the year was very successful, money collected was used to buy baby milk. Last but not least, shoe boxes. FOS helped in organising the event and the distribution of the shoe boxes to the orphanages: El Radwan, Bambi, Maharm Bek, street children, El Orman. We left the children with a big smile on their faces and a big thank you to BSA families. Mrs Rania Nashed & Mrs Heba Selim
Co-Chairs FoS
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EDEXCEL / CIE AWARDS 2016 Congratulations to several of our students for winning The Edexcel / CIE Awards for Outstanding Examination Results. Well Done ! Top in the world - Mathematics Top in Alexandria - English as a second language Nadia Bitar
Top in the world - Mathematics Sara Urso
Top in Africa - Business Studies Yehia El Kafrawy
Top in Africa - History Top in Egypt - Geography Felix Dowidar - Jackson
Top in Egypt - Dutch - CIE Mona Khatib
Top in Alexandria - Biology Abdul Rahman Aboul Saad
The British School, Alexandria
www.bsalex.net