The British School of Bucharest has been rated consistently as ‘excellent’ in all areas by the UK International Schools Inspectorate (ISI) in 2018 and 2022.
This is the highest possible rating that can be achieved after being inspected by ISI.
www.britishschool.ro
What a great start to our new academic year at BSB we have had. It is my first year with all the familiar events and trips being reintroduced, and there have been so many highlights that you will read about and see in this edition.
From the “Welcome Barbeque” in September to the fabulous “Winter Fair”, these examples of our whole school community coming together have been very inspiring. Trips and fixtures with other schools have also made a blazing reappearance. Year 6 were “evacuated” to the country as part of their World War Two topic, and our Girls’ Football Team triumphantly won the CEESA cup, bravely battling it out with schools from all over Europe. We even managed to fit in the Autumn Cup, and several teams represented our school with lots of you, as parents, supporting us.
We finish the term with Christmas Singalongs and Winter Concerts, all perfect opportunities to showcase the many and varied talents of our students. I am always so proud to see our students succeed. Not always win; it is absolutely not about winning but succeeding personally. We work really hard as a team to make sure every student finds their way to shine. It might be in Maths or the magical Innovation Hub that we identify an area of
interest or talent, and our job is to nurture, grow and guide.
The results are “Excellence”. Aristotle said, “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.”
The day-to-day growth and developments are habits being formed. We encourage students to try things, to make mistakes and learn.
Our Mock exams have taken place, and this is a perfect example of forming habits and training to achieve “Excellence”. This year, we have tried to replicate exam conditions as closely as possible so students have a real feel for the actual examinations in the Summer term. In advance, we have provided lots of guidance for our parents on how to support their children. We have talked to students in assemblies and form times, and offered increased support to ensure no one feels alone in their journey. Ultimately, there will be mistakes or disappointment, alongside reassurance
and elation. These mid-point check-ins allow us to identify areas we need to work on and celebrate the ones we have mastered. This is “Excellence” in action at BSB and is replicated across the whole school. The relationships that we form ensure a safe space to learn and grow.
If I had to pick one thing that makes BSB so special, it would be the relationships. From the small interactions at the gate as Mums and Dads entrust the responsibility for their child to us, and they skip into school, smiling all the way along the pathway as everyone says “Good morning”, to the joy of learning I am privileged to see every day. Genuine wonder permeates the buildings as we all make sense of the world around us through a BSB lens. Magical!
Grant Gillies Headmaster
We were beyond excited to mark a new beginning and to welcome our community to experience the first day of the 20222023 academic year at the British School of Bucharest. The excitement of our pupils, students, parents and teachers was so intense that it could be felt throughout the campus grounds, hallways and bright classrooms.
We are thrilled with the academic excellence, learning, growth and exploration that occurred this term. We are proud of our students’ achievements and their positive impact on our community. We look forward to continuing to support their growth and development in the coming terms.
At last, the first term of 2022-2023 saw the full return of Primary School productions and performances – sincerely missed fixtures of the events calendar at the British School of Bucharest over the last few years. It has been a pleasure to see our stages come back to life with singing, choreography, instrumental ensembles and drama as the children shared their talents, charisma and confidence with live audiences again.
From the Year 4 Harvest Production to the Year 6 Remembrance Assembly, the Tea Time Recital to Year Group Singalongs, the Year 3 Christmas Production to the Winter Fair and Concert, our students have dazzled us with their stage presence and bravery. But although families, staff and students alike enjoy watching such exhibitions, entertainment is only one factor that motivates the prominence of ‘performance’ in our curriculum. The learning that comes from producing a year group play or music concert may surprise the ‘untrained eye’. Indeed, children must work on memorising their scripts, scores and lyrics through hours of practice, both at school and at home, but there are a whole host of other invaluable skills that are also gained throughout the process.
Whether native speakers of English or additional language learners, drama, performance and public speaking activities help children develop language on various levels. Students are exposed to a range of new vocabulary and grammatical structures, which they assimilate and employ in everyday speech and writing, and because there are times when what is unsaid is equally as important as what is, nuance and innuendo are added to their repertoire. Comedic dialogue tests language proficiency, pace and timing, while children must likewise consider and capture the reactions of their characters and composers through expression and body language.
In addition, performances are an active and multi-sensory way of exploring and consolidating learning across the curriculum. Not only do they promote high-quality engagement in reading and writing for a variety of purposes, but they also give students opportunities to literally ‘put themselves in the shoes’ of characters, exploring their experience and attempting to identify with their feelings, thoughts, desires and ambitions. The Year
6 Remembrance Assembly exemplifies this, as children translated their reading about the hardships of World War I into a series of original artworks, poems, diary entries and heartfelt letters to loved ones from the perspectives of soldiers and survivors of wartime. Coupled with the introduction of content-related songs and poignant moments of silence, as well as moving photographs of their visit to the War Cemetery to pay their respects, our 11 and 12-year-old children put together an exquisite and mature production of their own which showcased their learning.
Furthermore, putting together any kind of group performance is no solitary affair, and children must learn the value of each individual role in creating the ‘whole’. Children must learn to work, fail and succeed as a team in order to create a complete, finished product, employing their skills in collaboration and, at times, learning to take a step back to ensure that everyone has their moment to shine. They must exercise the highest discipline and face the intimidation of being in the spotlight together, helping them to cultivate resilience. Their ability to
encourage and push each other to a high standard, support others when confidence is lacking, and accept and value the learning that comes from mistakes allows that final performance to be one of pride, accomplishment and teamwork.
Ultimately, though, our school performances are a glorious celebration of our students, their effort, and their learning and are something over which our community has much pride. Congratulations to our children for an amazing first term of the academic year.
We wish you all a safe and wonderful holiday full of laughter, family and friends.
Victoria Smith Head of Primary School
By EYFS Team
It has been a fantastic and fun-filled first term in Pre- Nursery for our ‘Owlets’, and the children have quickly become settled and secure in their new learning environments. Every day looks different in Pre-Nursery as the children initiate their own learning through play. They demonstrate the confidence to access resources and to use these to create, play, imagine, explore, investigate and construct in whatever way they choose.
A lot of singing takes place during our day as we have routine songs to support transition times and to embed the structure of our day, but also because it brings us such joy! The children show a great interest
in music and have enjoyed joining in with many action songs and rhymes. ’Hop Little Bunnies’ is a particular favourite, to which the children enthusiastically sing, sign and move.
The children have enjoyed experimenting with mark-making this term and have been working hard to develop their fine and gross motor skills. We have provided many opportunities inside and outside the classroom for the children to develop these skills, their particular favourites being digging in the garden, picking up pompoms with tongs and tweezers and, of course, playdoh! The children were extremely helpful when making playdoh,
mixing, measuring and choosing colours and scents.
We have enjoyed our daily story times, and after reading ‘Owl Babies,’ we were very excited to find that we had our very own owls in the trees at BSB. This sparked our imagination, and the children created some wonderful owl-themed crafts.
We are very proud of how well the children have settled into school life, and it is amazing to see how much they have grown and changed since their first day in September. Their friendships are now emerging, and together, we look forward to loving learning even more next term.
It has been a wonderful first term for our ‘Hedgehogs’ in Nursery. The children have settled in beautifully and have begun to build lasting friendships, and are becoming secure in their environment. The children come to school every day excited to learn and play in our wonderful EYFS.
Our first term has seen us grow in confidence in our own abilities, trying out new things and achieving our own goals.
We have had many opportunities to develop our fine and gross motor skills through funky finger activities and lots of physical activity outside. The highlight of our week is when we get to go to the castle and have it all to ourselves. The children
love challenging themselves and their friends, cheering one another on when one manages to climb up the rope wall or ventures down the slide for the first time.
The Hedgehogs have also enjoyed learning about Goldilocks and the three bears. We surprised our teachers with our wonderful acting ability and how well we remembered the story when retelling it.
We really enjoyed World Nursery Rhyme week, where we learned different Nursery rhymes. Our favourite was ‘5 little speckled frogs’, and we were brilliant at learning the signs for the song and singing along. Our Enrichment Day was a huge success, and we enjoyed working with our older
friends in Reception and the younger children in Pre-Nursery. We made up our own rhyme based on one we learned during world Nursery rhyme week and had lots of fun learning and performing it. Our teachers were super proud of us for our performance in our Christmas sing-along. It can be so difficult standing up in front of our families, but we were amazing and tried so hard to remember the signs and words of the songs! Well done, Hedgehogs!
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas break, and we look forward to seeing you all in January for Term 2!
We have had an amazing first term in Reception. The children have loved getting to know each other and becoming familiar with the adults. They clearly feel safe and secure in their learning environments as they keep coming back day after day with big smiles on their faces.
We have had many opportunities to develop our fine motor skills and have loved getting arty in the Craft Area. This term, we have been extra lucky to have additional support from our Primary Art Specialist, Miss Goppert, and we explored and experimented with colour mixing to tie-dye white socks. Later, turning them into puppets to join us during our daily Phonics sessions. We also hope our families liked our very special Christmas presents to them, all made by our very own hands - our fingers certainly got a good workout with the clay.
During World Nursery Rhyme Week, the children learnt many number-focused Nursery Rhymes. They enjoyed some fun craft activities linked to these, especially origami frogs, in which they were taught how to hop from lily pad to lily pad in the correct order (numbers 1-10). Nursery rhymes are a great way to help children explore the composition of numbers up to 5 and also practice their counting up to and back from 10.
Introducing the ‘Mini Me’s’ into the classroom has encouraged many of our little writers to develop their writing skills. They have relished using themselves and their friends in the playhouse, drawing and writing speech and thought bubbles to annotate their games.
The children were very excited to receive a visit from Postman Greg, who brought a special delivery to each one of us. We loved seeing the photos of the children playing the game he gave them with their parents via Class Dojo. Whilst he visited, we took the opportunity to ask him questions about his job. The level of questions the children asked showed a great understanding of how to use the question words and how they can ask questions to further deepen their understanding. They were all interested in the work that goes into sending and receiving a letter and learnt the importance of a clear address on an envelope.
The BSB Post Box has been a great hit with all of the children in EYFS. They first visited the BSB Post Box and posted a special homemade invitation, inviting our new pen-pals from Year 1 to a ‘playdate’. They enjoyed getting to know their pen-pals, so much so that they quickly organised another get-together challenging each other to be the best dressed - creating an
outfit out of bin bags and showcasing them in a BSB fashion show. The children embraced the challenge and worked well in their teams.
The children in Reception had an important role during our Enrichment Day and supported the younger children to create their own Nursery Rhyme based on one they know well. Even though it would have been easy for them to lead the activity, they showed great patience and understood the importance of everyone contributing and accepting other people’s ideas.
Of course, we must end this article with a huge well done to all the children in Reception for their exceptional performance on the stage for our Christmas Sing-along. It is not easy standing up in front of a crowd, never mind standing up, singing, and dancing in front of one. Well done, Foxes and Squirrels.
Have a wonderful festive break filled to the brim with love and laughter.
The Reception Team.
PS. if you would like to send us a letter/card, please post it via the BSB Post Box to...
Foxes, RG08 or Squirrels, RG07
...we love receiving post!
If you are travelling overseas, a Postcard would be amazing:
Squirrels and Foxes (RG07/8)
The British School of Bucharest no 42, Erou Iancu Nicolae Street, Voluntari Ilfov.
077190
Year 1 had an exciting start to the year when a letter from Superkid appeared. The letter explained that, due to a shortage of superheroes in Bucharest, Superkid needed some new recruits. Superkid would set a number of challenges linked to the learning going on in the classroom. The Year 1 children took up the challenges and eagerly anticipated further contact from Superkid. They certainly showed how super they were!
The children enjoyed learning about the different adventures of Supertato, during English lessons. This included sequencing a story, using adjectives to describe different characters and creating their own version of the story. They even made their own Supertato, using a variety of different materials. We loved the imagination they showed.
They started to count to 20 like superheroes; some even used their superpowers to count beyond 20. They developed their ability to count forwards and backwards, identify missing numbers and identify numbers that are greater or less than a given number. As the children became more confident with counting, they started to develop their addition and subtraction skills using physical resources and number lines. The children enjoyed
being shape detectives by identifying 2D shapes around the School. Many of them were able to start identifying the different properties of these shapes.
During Science lessons, they developed a greater understanding of the different human body parts. As the term progressed, we started to link these body parts to our five senses. The children made links to how a superhero may need to use their senses in order to help and rescue people. This was achieved through carrying out a number of fun activities including a sense walk, taste test and playing i-spy.
In Humanities, the children considered where they would go in the world if they had the superpower of flying. Maps and atlases were used to identify different continents, countries and oceans. We learned a catchy song to help us remember the seven continents of the world. We also considered the hot and cold places on Earth.
As their training drew to a close, Superkid wanted the children to complete their final missions. The children prepared themselves by creating their own superhero costume based on what they had learned. The children were full of excitement when completing these last challenges and
were rewarded with a certificate to celebrate their new found superhero status.
As we draw our term to a close, the students are eager to see what animals they can spot on our field trip to the zoo. What a fantastic job all of Year 1 has done, they should be very proud of themselves and all they’ve accomplished. We hope you have a wonderful and restful Winter Break. We look forward to welcoming back our amazing students in the New Year
It has been so wonderful to be back in school for the first time without any restrictions and getting back to a normal school routine with so much going on, from enjoying the CCAs after school to watching so many productions and watching some excellent musical performances.
In Art, the children learned about colour, line and shape to create a piece of art in the style of Romero Britto. Ms Goppert was very impressed with the different shapes they used and how carefully they painted the dinosaur.
There was a lot of excitement when the children entered the Food Tech Room. First, they followed the kitchen rules carefully and listened to the instructions from the teachers. Then, they enjoyed making mini pizzas, healthy wraps and festive cookies. They were yummy!
Year 2 culminated our theme on dinosaurs by going on a trip to the Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum. At the museum, we explored the exhibits that displayed animals from different habitats, fossils, minerals, and even an enthralling digital
model of our solar system! In addition, the children completed a worksheet that challenged them to find animals from several different continents and to identify animals that were introduced or have become extinct in different parts of the world. Since we spent a term learning about dinosaurs, the children were most interested in the dinosaur fossils shown on the top floor! After our time in the museum, Year 2 was able to stretch their legs by enjoying the beautiful afternoon in the nearby Kiseleff Park.
Writing was the focus of the first Enrichment Day of this academic year.
In the morning, the children got into groups with children from Year 1 to design their animals. First, the children were given pictures of the different parts of a range of animals and were tasked to assemble them however they wanted to create their own animal. For example, the head of a …, the body of a … and the tail of a … Their next task was to create a bank of adjectives to describe their animal.
In the afternoon, the children in Year 2 listened to the story of ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Whilst
listening to the story, they were introduced to a text map of the story. Following similar sequences found in Pie Corbett’s Talk 4 Writing teaching scheme, the children innovated the text map by sticking post-it notes describing their animal over the descriptions of the Gruffalo. Next, the children went on to orally rehearse, retelling the story with actions, following their innovated text map. Finally, the children wrote their innovated story of ‘The Gruffalo’ with their animal as the main character.
Year 3 has been happily bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea!
Our first half term was spent ‘Under the Ocean’, where we went with Dougal, the Deep Sea diver, and explored lots of settings under the ocean. Expanding our vocabulary using thesauruses, we wrote powerful setting descriptions helping the reader to feel like they are bobbing along with us!
During the first half term, year 3 dived into the world of nutrition and human anatomy. We explored why eating a balanced diet is crucial for maintaining good health and how it helps us feel our best. To investigate it, we produced our own food pyramids to work out the food groups and created a poster about each one of them. Although the theory is captivating, there is no Science without practice! The children enjoyed cooking guacamole and identifying food groups!
As part of our ocean learning, we explored different types of skeletons, and year 3 embarked on a trip to the Natural History Museum to look at the myriad of creatures and their bones. Children were thrilled
to take on the role of scientists! The observation findings were noted, and some discoveries were made.
In Art and Design Technology, Year 3 has focused on using our sketchbooks to design brilliant fish sculptures, which the children later made using clay. To make their sculptures, the children used tools which helped them create a sense of movement and convey the feeling of the underwater creatures.
The second half term was a never-ending celebration as we explored festivals around the world with one thing in common - fireworks and light! Inspired by the beautiful colours and exciting sounds, the children wrote both acrostic and rhyming poems, learning to identify and use rhyme, alliteration, similes, onomatopoeia and repeating. It was quite a challenge, but it resulted in some beautiful poetry! We moved on from this to the stunningly illustrated origin story ‘How the Stars Came to Be’ by Poonam Mistry and wrote our own innovated versions of how the stars MIGHT have come to be!
Our Science focus was also light, but how exactly does light work?! We lifted the veil of secrecy on light sources and complete darkness with lots of investigations to find out how light travels and what happens when it is blocked or not there at all!
We continued our celebration and light theme by designing stunning and colourful Diwali ‘Rangoli’ patterns thinking about symmetry, colour and light to make the most wonderful patterns!
Alongside all of this, Year 3 have focussed on number skills in Maths. Place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division have been the focus of our lessons. The children have had fun learning their times tables in fun and imaginative ways.
Our lives are becoming more and more dependent on technology, so a good understanding of computing is vital. This term, Year 3 has focused on block coding aimed at giving children a user-friendly interface to explore basic codes used to create simple games and applications. The children have also studied online safety and ways of promoting good behaviour through kindness.
The Welcome BBQ saw an exceptional return to our BSB calendar, and the whole community enjoyed the atmosphere.
The weather in September was perfect, and traditional Romanian music echoed around the campus. The whole event felt like visiting friends we hadn’t seen for a while and celebrating. It was the perfect chance
to make new friendships and reaffirm old ones.
Some of our parents, who joined during the pandemic, hadn’t attended a legendary social event at BSB, and it was lovely to see so many parents join us for great food, music and even some dancing! Connecting the school community by
getting together is an important part of who we are as a school. We are a family.
And there was something for everyone with activities for the children, including a magician and various superheroes! All in all, the perfect summer evening filled with laughter and friendships paved the way for a fantastic new year at BSB!
Lights, camera, ACTION! Year 4 were thrilled to be the first performers to take to the stage this academic year. Despite missing out on previous performances due to COVID, the wonderful Year 4 children embraced the opportunity to sing, dance and act for our school community. Our production focused on Harvest celebrations around the world. The children shared traditions from their home countries. The performance also provided a wonderful
opportunity for us to showcase all we learned during the first part of the Autumn term.
During our ‘Chocolate’ topic, the children learned all about the processes behind creating delicious chocolate treats. We learned about cocoa farms and how the workers grow, harvest and prepare the cocoa pods. Our trip to the Chocolate Museum was a wonderful way to learn about how chocolate has evolved over the years.
In our Design and Technology lessons, we learned all about creating eyecatching designs for chocolate bars. We explored font style and colour choices and discovered how these features could be used effectively. The design process allowed the children to experiment with all the different features; through selfevaluation, improvements were made to create wonderful designs.
The whirlwind of Term 1 in Year 5 is gradually calming and we feel now is the perfect time to reflect on the abundance of learning opportunities we have been fortunate to experience. The emerging theme amongst students is the unwillingness to settle for mediocrity and a constant desire to strive for excellence and seek out challenges.
A vital part of Year 5 learning involves children being able to identify and use accurately sourced research to produce and justify opinions. Students utilised our topic of Earth and Space to sharpen these skills. A project to discuss who we think won ‘The Space Race’ produced some heated debates and incredible opportunities to identify misinformation and propaganda. Additionally, we learned about the fundamental physics of our Solar System, such as orbits, rotations and the impact of gravity on celestial bodies. Fun was had as we used our newly-acquired knowledge to debunk the Flat-Earth Theory.
A quest for improvement has been apparent also across our English learning. A range
of writing tasks, including fiction and nonfiction, have allowed children to engage with new grammatical structures, figurative language techniques and increasingly-vivid vocabulary. A commitment to continuous development, in both discussions with peers and teachers as well as in our editing procedure, has led to the production of some superb pieces of writing and progress being made by all. Reading studies have evolved into a blend of reading for pleasure and reading with the intention of using text evidence to answer questions, predict future events and infer the meaning behind character actions and author intentions.
Purposeful learning, which can be used to solve genuine real-world problems, has led to a true sense of excitement in Maths. A combination of open-ended, studentled investigations, and increased fluency in formal calculation methods across a multitude of topics, such as place value, multiplication and division, prime numbers, factors and statistics, leaves Year 5 wellplaced to tackle future challenges.
For the Year 5 teaching teams, it is imperative that we provide unique
and engaging experiences for the children. We are proud to report on such experiences. Our trip to the American Embassy, which led to us being treated like visiting dignitaries, generated the buzz of exhilaration which is conducive to excellent learning. As well as increasing our geographical and political knowledge, our interactions with embassy personnel enabled us to demonstrate our maturity and represent BSB with decorum.
Finally, an invitation to participate in our very own BSB Climate Conference has seen groups of children assigned to a country and tasked with presentation and justification of its geographical features and energy usage. This project required teamwork, research and design skills, public speaking and critical thinking. The level of engagement shown across all projects and the evidence of necessary skills throughout the entire curriculum suggest Year 5 will be successful on their journey towards excellence. Excitement about the rest of this academic year is palpable.
This has been a busy and exciting term in Year 6 at BSB, with many activities and a great deal of learning taking place. The Year 6 students have adapted well to the routines and expectations of being role models for the whole of the primary school and have shown a mature attitude towards their learning.
Year 6 have extensively studied World War 1 and World War 2 as part of their Twentieth Century topic. Learning about such a sombre and mature (but important!) topic is always a challenge, but the students have really thrown themselves into it and learned a great deal.
In September, Year 6 visited the Commonwealth War memorial. They thought about the lives of the soldiers who
had died in both wars, used the emotions they felt as inspiration for artwork and laid flowers at the cenotaph.
For Remembrance Day, Year 6 practised and produced an excellent performance and celebration of all soldiers, families and people affected by wars or conflict in recent history. For this performance, the students studied and prepared war poems producing many outstanding pieces. They performed a range of songs and spoke sensibly and thoughtfully on the topic.
Developing their writing skills, Year 6 imagined that they were soldiers, writing letters home to their families and writing incredible war poetry encapsulating the feel and difficulties of war.
In Mathematics, Year 6 studied the four operations and solved challenging problems using the formal methods of addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. They encountered new topics such as squared and cubed numbers, making these out of cubes to understand.
In Reading, Year 6 studied ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll and ‘Private Peaceful’ by Michael Morpurgo. Both texts illustrated the topic of war well and engaged the students in reading.
Following a term of very hard work, Year 6 deserves congratulations and rest ahead of Term 2.
Who am I?
The soldiers shake their cold, fragile hands
And the sergeant stops giving orders and commands
The ground constructed of sludgy ice And also infested with rats and lice
A crowd of people, jolly and energised This day, will be recognized Who am I?
To waste my time during this noon Who am I?
To not participate, but heal my wound Who am I?
To miss this time in history Who am I? To pretend there's still misanthropy
The next day starts But the rainbows collapse There remains house parts The last day feeling like a time-lapse Deafening silence echoes
After time...
BOOM! A cannon blows!
Puddles of death form, created with blood.
The mouthless cry, the puddles create a flood. With sickening, sly bullets And the shivering die. There they all cry, but I say, Who am I!
By Leonard CCats and dogs falling from the sky, It is wet and cold, I want to die!
The morning clouds grey with rage, The sun hiding on the very next page, I hide in the muds warm embrace, This is a life and death race, Oh, the pain!
My face is white as chalk, And I can barely walk, I look at the sunset glow, You look at it too, I know, My dreams are field afar, And there is the faint smell of tar, It always reminds me of you when I see, The big, brown crooked tree, BANG!
The cannons go, And oh, I lie down low.
By Mia AIf you sail here on a boat In a big fancy coat, You will regret that you agreed to come here, Here, fear ripples through the ranks, Through men's limbs. Into our flanks, Here, the ground is painted with blood, People Trencheschoke,flood,
Here, soldiers souls are as raven as ink, People choke on gas, Cough on it, Here, your injuries will hurt, And you will die in the dirt. Out in no man's land people die, And their family mates cry and cry, People don't want to die And so they run, They are having no more fun, In their minds opens an imaginary gate, They want to go back, But it is to late.
By Safiya S
I am a fallen soldier, abandoned like an old dog, My own troops saw me get shot in the head. And they presumed I was dead. All my friends were shot down with guns, And their mothers grieved over their sons. Rays of sunshine raced in front of my eyes, While I was bleeding next to my fallen friends. I was slowly awaiting death and sunlight, Along with a bird singing a charmful tune. But I knew I had to fight, It is all I know that is right. I trudged through no-man's-land lifelessly All I wanted to do is pursue, However, I knew it was the end for me and you. By Dragos A
I feel the blood gushing down my legs, I feel the soul leaving my body
As I am slowly dying. I can feel my feet. Like stars are known to the night And pain is known to deathly injuries.
I'm dead.
I hear the wind howling. I feel the heat catching me I feel my feet slowly running away I hope the person who shot me Snuck home, I pray They don't know.
By Heidi W.
I like to think of you as tall and living as you used to be, I like to think of you taking walks with me. I'm surrounded constantly by a deafening silence. For you are not here with me.
Bending heads over the Christmas tree. I like to think of you when you broke my heart in two, I like to think of you for the state of love I had for you.
When I first saw you, a beaming light in the middle of the dark, My eyes shone with joy like a dreaming lark.
I feel your bravery because you went to war.
I feel the loneliness because you are not here like before. My dear i beg you to come home, For God will perish me in the dome. I feel sadness because you never broke a bone. I feel as dead as stone because you are out there alone. Foreign soil under your foot, And yet, still you take your shot. It always reminds me of you when I see that cake untouched, It makes me think of war and blood.
My dreams are filled with thoughts of fear, When I wake up, I feel a tear.
Strolling down my face, For you are not here.
By Eva PI like to think of you as tall and strong. I like to think of you as nice and smart, I like to think of you as brave and fun. I like to think of you as tall and strong. I feel sad because of what happened. I feel depressed because of the hopeless fight that you are trapped in. I feel happy that you replied to my letters.
I feel bad because everyday I remember what is happening. It always reminds me of you when I see poppies blowing in the garden, It makes me think of you hopelessly fighting.
My dreams are filled with you coming home safe to me, When I wake up I think: did it have to be you?
By Alex IWhen I wake up in the early light, I think of you as my delight, My dreams are filled with happiness, With love, excitement and craziness, When I walk wearily, Through the raspberry fields, silently, When the trees whisper and the wind blows, All around me like a tornado of woes My heart turns to stone Because I can't see you You are my greatest hero, Strong brave and proud like a willow, I feel like I can't live without you And I can't stop crying seeing the soldier crew I wish that you will be alright, Not dying at midnight I hope that you will come back soon And love me all the way to the moon
By Iris CI like to think of you when I have, My never ending walk in the forest, I like to think of you as tall as Mount Everest I like to think of you when I play With our childish, cheerful children outside I like to think of you when I read Your priceless letters I feel like sobbing every second, Because of my missing part in life I feel anxious of our impossible hills I feel like i'm being smashed to the ground Of how much work I need to do I feel cold because I know that you will not come back For a million years
It always reminds me of you, When I see the tremendous tamarind trees on our walks My dreams are filled with our first kiss In pitch black at midnight It makes me think of us happily holding hands And every time I wake up I think of you Looking down on us from above.
By Ema SAfter a two-year break due to the pandemic, we were very excited to see the return of the Café of Cultures to launch the new school year. We welcomed parents and colleagues from a wide range of nationalities to teach us about their cultures and encourage us to taste their gastronomic specialities. From 8 am to 2 pm, the Marquee was buzzing with the sounds of different languages as pupils
from Y1 to Y13 circulated the event, learning new phrases and completing quiz cards. They were rewarded with the delicious snacks on offer. It was encouraging to hear so many students trying new languages and discovering cultural facts and customs through fun activities created by the participants. We were lucky to have countries represented from across
the globe, including South Africa, South America, Italy, Poland, China, the USA, Austria, Spain, France, Romania and many more. Without a doubt, the day was a huge success, and thanks must go to our wonderful BSB parents, our friendly student helpers and, of course, the MFL Faculty and FBSB for coordinating the event.
Each term the Primary school allocates a day to come off its normal timetable to take part in what we call an ‘Enrichment Day’. This term’s focus was on writing and children from EYFS to Year 6 took part in creative activities, working alongside children form different classes and year groups.
In EYFS their day started with a visit from five rather peculiar looking frogs, who acted out the nursery rhyme 5 Little Speckled Frogs. The children joined in with the rhyme, enjoying the use of repetition and relishing in the opportunity to show off their amazing counting skills. The children then split into smaller groups to have a go at innovating the well-known rhyme to make it their own. We saw some excellent ideas, such as 5 Hungry Tigers, where they stopped one by one due to a tummy ache, and 5 Speedy Cheetahs who weren’t looking where they were going and tripped and fell! The children created their own glove puppets to support them with the retelling of their new rhyme. We were really impressed by the creativity displayed by the EYFS children. To bring our enrichment day to a close, the children had the opportunity to showcase their work in a mini performance in front of their peers.
In KS1, following on from Year 1’s zoo visit, ‘Ranger Jane’ had discovered a rather unusual new creature. The children then
By Dan Batsonused the Switch Zoo website to create their own animal amalgamations, described them, and considered their habitat and diet. Year 1 used these creations to write fact files, whilst Year 2 wrote stories, using The Gruffalo as a template.
Lower KS2 took part in an eventful assembly, where our Headmaster Mr. Gillies was kidnapped by the evil villain Professor Rules, intent on ridding our school of any form of fun. Year 3 and 4 were given the task of designing their own superheroes who would have the capability of overcoming this supervillain and rescue poor Mr. Gillies. Once they had designed their characters, they wrote their own ending to this superhero adventure.
Finally, Upper KS2 discovered that someone, or something, was living in the basement of our school. Although they were unable to enter the basement (it is a restricted area), flashing lights and strange sounds were evident through vents accessible from the playground. Year 5 and 6 then wrote collaborative stories based on their own theories about this intruder.
Being able to capture the children’s imagination is vital in developing our young writers, and our Primary Enrichment Day gave us ample opportunity to immerse ourselves in a creative theme to facilitate high quality written work.
We are wrapping up a fantastic Christmas concert season, and I am so proud of all of the primary students. The pandemic prohibited us from properly celebrating Christmas for the past few years, and it feels wonderful to have students and families gather again to sing Christmas songs together.
We began the Christmas season with our Year 4 singalong, and they did a brilliant job. They amazed us with their ability to accompany themselves on tambourines and bells while singing a beautiful program of songs and sharing some Christmas poetry. This was our first exposure to the fantastic acoustics of the primary library, and it surely put us all into the Christmas spirit!
Next, we had our Year 5 singalong, also in the Newlands library. Year 5 did a wonderful
job sharing their three poems and achieved the impressive feat of accompanying themselves on sticks and bells in ¾ time for “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. They filled the primary library with Christmas joy and sang their four songs beautifully.
Year 6 performed their singalong next, only three short weeks after their Remembrance Day production. With limited rehearsals, they offered us an incredible four-song performance while guiding the audience through our program with educational introductions to accompany each song and poem.
Following our KS2 singalongs, the Year 3’s put on an extremely impressive Christmas production called “Ready, Steady, Elf”. The children demonstrated amazing coordination and sensibility when changing the scenes and delivering their lines, and
they showed us some incredibly engaging choreography and songs throughout. I was truly amazed by the result and so proud to have contributed to such a successful production.
Finally, EYFS and KS1 put on a beautiful show in the Marquee with a variety of songs, poems and instrumental performances. The children handled this show with maturity and patience when asked to navigate the entrances and exits (in below-zero temperatures!) and transitions between songs. I was very impressed by the fantastic energy they exhibited during their performances. Well done, all!
A huge thank you goes out to all teachers and teaching assistants who were instrumental in this process. From scheduling extra rehearsals to searching the school campus up and down to find additional claves, bells and tambourines, to organising and even writing some poetry and scripts for our performances, thank you. I feel very grateful to work with such a talented and dedicated primary team.
Happy Holidays to all, and thank you for being part of our musical community at BSB.
Towards the end of November, the children in Year 6 were ‘evacuated’ from Bucharest as part of their ‘A Changing Face of Europe’ work in Humanities and evacuee diary writing in English.
In true evacuee style, the children arrived at the busy Gara de Nord station in Bucharest wearing their school uniforms and armed with their gas mask boxes. They were given their ID cards, ration books and evacuee label. They waved goodbye to their parents and boarded the busy train with their teachers, just like the children in 1939 and 1940s would have done. The train was a new experience for many and a good example of what life would have been like. The children were in the front two carriages and enjoyed looking at the scenery changing and the people at the stations waving as they left.
As evacuees ‘earned their keep’ in the countryside, so too did the Year 6 children. They had been busy planning and preparing English lessons to teach Class VI (our equivalent of Year 5) for two of their English classes. On arrival at Ion Campineanu, the children were treated like famous film stars. They were greeted by a welcoming committee dressed to impress in traditional Romanian clothes and smart suits and given a gift from the people of Campina.
The children were also given bread dipped in salt, a traditional Romanian welcome. There were children dangling out of windows wanting to take a look at them, people passing by on the street staring, and cars beeping their horns. Word of our arrival even reached the Mayor’s office. They definitely experienced what it was like to be an evacuee!
The food was interesting and based on real-life menus from the 1940s. It was made with local, seasonal ingredients and was something new for both the children and the cooks at the hotel. However, they were treated to some 21st-century cakes and pizza to celebrate their achievements on the trip.
This was not a residential trip but an educational one: the writing the children produced based on their experiences was fantastic. They were able to really put themselves into someone else’s shoes and showed great empathy. The Maths based on real 1940s lessons was very challenging, and the handwriting lesson proved to be a surprising hit. As teachers, writing on a chalkboard and not relying on Google Classroom or our Smart TVs was a learning curve.
The overwhelming lesson that all the
children learnt was to be thankful. Thankful for the life they have. Thankful for being students at BSB. Thankful for their lives in 21st-century Bucharest. It was an experience stepping back in time and experiencing life without technology, comfortable beds, Glovo and long hot bubble baths. Still, we are all grateful to live surrounded by our creature comforts.
On behalf of Year 6, we would like to say a huge thank you to the English department at Ion Campineanu, the Class VI teachers and all those who welcomed us so warmly, both at the school and within the local community. Thank you to Razvan at Active Holidays Romania, who, without his help behind the scenes, would not have made this trip possible. Finally, thank you to all the Year 6 team (staff and students) who represented the school so well at Ion Campineanu.
At the beginning of this term, we welcomed our new House Captains for 2022-23. Congratulations to Leo and Emilia (Mures), Ella and Safiya (Danube), Ema and Sofia (Olt) and Mia and Yotam (Arges).
Now, you may be wondering what the role of our House Captains is and why it is such a privilege to be selected. Let me explain. A House Captain is a role model, someone to represent their school House and set an example for others. A House Captain does not need to be the best at sports or academics, nor are they somebody who never makes mistakes.
A House Captain is someone who shows school spirit and goes out of their way to
exemplify our School Values of self-control, honesty, respect, equality and concern for others in all they do. We rely on our House Captains to encourage and motivate, to be ambassadors for our school and to take on extra responsibilities.
We are incredibly proud of our House Captains, and we are confident they will continue to have a successful Year.
The children have been doing a wonderful job earning House Points this term. Unlike merits, which are awarded for effort and attainment in lessons, House Points are awarded for more altruistic behaviour. Demonstrating kindness, consideration, teamwork, and respect are all ways that
children earn House Points, and they should be incredibly proud when they receive one. I can now tell you the current standings for this term:
Who will win the House Cup in June? Keep earning those House Points!
It may seem like a long time ago now, but I was taken back to memories of the summer holiday when flicking through pictures on my laptop to assemble the collage for what has become a traditional annual calendar we send to friends and family. One enduring memory from the heat of July and August was the sheer quantity of ice cream my children managed to consume, caused by the relentless pushing for me to order two scoops instead of one perched on the cornet. To the untrained eye, ice cream has always seemed like something which should surely be easy to make. Granted, there are a whole host of flavours ranging from vanilla to Smurf, some formed into shapes, some on a stick, and some covered in chocolate, but as I discovered from a recent BBC article, the whole process is more complicated than just combing cream, milk, sugar, flavour, colouring, whisking it and then shoving the mixture in the freezer for a few hours. There are whole institutes and university departments dedicated to the production of ice cream. In addition to the ingredients above, the ingredients are heated, would you believe, cooled, then aged, emulsifiers added, and then pumped into a ‘continuous freezer’ machine at 4,000 litres an hour. Then there is the complex process of chemical engineering to add air bubbles and fat globules to be held in frozen suspension, all combining to produce the wonderful result of the endless tubs of ice cream we
can see with noses pressed to the freezer glass at the seaside resorts.
Of course, as you can predict, I immediately found a resonance with the way in which we design and craft education at BSB. We use research, experience, accrued and communal wisdom, and consultations with other schools of similar cultures and curricula. We deploy a cyclic process of continual review, and we adapt and seek to tirelessly improve the best courses on offer, the most effective learning methods and the ways to support and develop all members of our learning community on a personal level too. The result is a range of individualised options and opportunities, and this term has been no exception. In and around the curriculum, there have been Geography field trips, university fairs, the annual Winston Churchill Debate with international schools locally and from abroad, promotion for the upcoming Arctic Challenge and parents’ evenings and information sessions for students and parents. We have also seen our new A-level, Media, now in its second year with students preparing for the full A-level examination at the end of the academic year. We have hosted new and existing student induction and a welcome BBQ to ensure that our students get the best start to the year possible. Our charity and community work has been as strong as ever, if not stronger, in the return from the pandemic
with Jeans for Genes, Macmillan Coffee Morning, Harvest collection, Christmas Gift Appeal, soup kitchen and the winter clothes collection, as well as Movember. Sport and music have been active with after-school recitals, the performance at the Winter Fair, the Winter Concert and the Year 7 choir performing at the annual Remembrance Service and a number of fixtures returning, such as the BSB-hosted Autumn Cup and the CEESA tournament at AISB, where the BSB girls’ team came away victorious. The Duke of Edinburgh award got off to a great start with record numbers of participants setting off into the mountains for Bronze and Silver and kayaking at the Danube Delta for the Gold award. A group of BSB students performed at the Global Youth Forum hosted in Cluj and in the presence of four Royal European households and had the chance to meet personally the Earl of Wessex and Earl of Forfar, His Royal Highness Prince Edward. We ran the annual Café of Cultures in September with huge support from our parent community, and Black History Month in October was highly successful and added to the richness of our pastoral programme. Professional development for staff has been diverse, with middle and aspiring Head’s courses run and hosted at BSB, as well as inviting renowned speakers and educationalists such as Kate Jones and David Didau to present to BSB teachers. As we move into the GCSE and A-level options processes and preparation for exam season next term at BSB, we can bear in mind the blend of complexities of the ice creammaking process. Although one fact I would dispute is the assertion from a scientist at University College London that 50% of the process is merely air!
Jason Porter Head of Secondary School
Our teachers have much to be proud of. Our aims can only be achieved through their dedication and hard work. To support students in making progress in their learning, Form Tutors have held 1-1 targetsetting meetings with each student. This involved a dedicated, personalised slot where each student got to reflect on their term 1a report card, celebrate their success and set goals in areas of development. Not only this, but our School Counselling team
has also provided exceptional support to various students. This has ranged from academic to personal to social-emotional help. As a team, we have worked really hard to encourage our students to reach out for help if needed.
The start of the year is often busy, slightly tense and full of hope and expectation. This was particularly true for Year 7, who made the daunting leap into secondary. Ms Holly
Stephens supported students through this process with an exciting and fun teambuilding event where all students got a chance to learn about communication and teamwork.
As we near the end of the first term, we look forward to developing student democracy through our Student Council. This process comes with a full election, where teachers and students get to vote for their preferred candidate to lead the student body.
After a privileged 32 years as a teacher, I begin these words by questioning the sands of time and why they seem to fall ever quicker in my life. Term One here at BSB has been an absolute joy, from the opening day’s smiles of laughter, hope and anticipation from our community in September to the growing sense of tiredness, married with a comforting nod to our vast array of accomplishments in December. We certainly have managed to pack so much into such a tight timeline, and we as a community should be very proud that we all have helped each other view the sunshine of normality embracing our daily lives at BSB, with the pandemic a welcomed and ephemeral part of our yesteryears.
Restrictions and masks no longer hide the smiles of our lives, and we are so fortunate as a community to see normality return in all its various guises. From Christmas concerts and Carol services to Bucharest and International sports fixtures against other schools, from the sheer joy and pathos of being able to be human again with each other in all its forms, BSB flourishes and normality lives and breathes in our entire community.
We have watched our debating teams, both Junior and Senior, compete and perform
admirably against the best that Europe can position as competitors, we have witnessed our Sports teams perform at the highest levels in both Girls’ and Boys’ Football against the best that Europe can position as competitors, and we have witnessed some quite frankly mesmerising musical and dramatic performances in concerts and shows that belie the age of our students. It really is a bright spot at times to press pause and just wander around the campus without agenda to see the array of talents and infectious levels of motivation that characterise our students and staff. Food for the soul, particularly on cold winter days.
Our Year 11, 12, and 13 students have just completed their Mock Examinations, and the sense of gravitas and authenticity as a springboard for our January and Summer series of external exams has been gratifying. We have placed large fulcrums of support around our students and will continue to do so in all we do. As Director of Studies, the most important and extensive ingredient in this recipe for success is highquality, day-to-day learning and teaching in every classroom. We have been fortunate to collaborate with some of the world’s leading experts in Sleep Science and Learning (Professor Vin Walsh, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscientist at UCL, UK) and
Kate Jones, a world-renowned expert on retrieval practice and Memory for Learning. They help support a continuous lens of maintaining the main thing: consistently good learning and teaching to support student progress and achievement.
Similarly, our Years 7-10 in Key Stage 3 embody a slightly different perspective on our school life; they may not have the stress and anxiety of external exams to cope with, but teenage years in themselves can be turbulent and ever-changing paths for all students to navigate, literally changing on a daily basis. Our Pastoral Team have been superb in offering all levels of support, and we continue to walk the words of our values that academic and pastoral growth are really two sides of the same coin; they need each other to flourish well and have a worth that reflects a well-rounded BSB student who has the capabilities, skills and attitudes to make a difference to themselves and the world around them.
As Director of Studies, it is a pleasure to walk through the gates of BSB every morning to come to school. I wish everyone in our community and family a safe, relaxing holiday and festive season ahead.
Introducing coaching at a school is sometimes anecdotally referred to as higher-order school improvement, so we have been delighted to have been able to develop our coaching programme into a further year. This term, BSB invited Dr David Porritt from the education consultancy company, Karen Ardley Associates, to work with our existing trained coaches to further develop their practice and run a coaching training session with all staff. Dr Porritt works extensively with a variety of British
international schools worldwide, including across the COBIS network. As a result, staff were able to make use of the guidance and experience. As we move into the second term, we will be running further coaching training for our staff so that they use these skills to support students in setting learning targets and to enable them to talk more clearly about their own learning. In addition, we will be building coaching into our staff lesson observation programmes so that staff can engage in professional
learning conversations at a deeper level. There are many differences between coaching children and peer coaching for adults, and we will be building these ethical and procedural considerations into our practice and training. There is much more to come as we develop our coaching skills, so don’t be alarmed if you hear one of our staff members ask you to ‘tell me more about that....’
Participants from 10 countries attended the COBIS Programme for Aspiring Heads (CPAH) held in Bucharest from the 5th to the 7th October. The course was led by our COBIS - Council of British International Schools co-facilitators, Victoria Smith, Head of Primary and Grant Gillies, Headmaster of BSB.
The best thing about the CPAH programme is that it offers the opportunity to learn from experienced school leaders who talk openly about the challenges and joys of leadership.
This Programme represented a great opportunity to learn from other international school practitioners, and it is recognised by international school boards and helps answer questions such as:
• What kind of leader are you?
• How would you lead and manage people?
• How would you lead and manage teaching and learning?
On the first day, the participants were asked what they expected from the training. They answered that their most important keys were open-mindedness, engagement, networking, sharing experiences with insight, confidentiality, collaboration and the power of teachers to impact students’ lives.
The agenda proceeded in an interesting, interactive manner. After the welcome and introductory remarks, the participants were divided into three groups. The speakers then discussed leadership in the education system and how they experience their attitudes in school. Whether they are tight, middle or loose leaders, what are the advantages or weaknesses and, of course, how practical would it be to change the attitude in front of different contexts? Identifying their leadership types through a questionnaire and a reflection period helped the participants better understand themselves and how they can further improve and maintain accountability. There are a few things the speakers shared with the participants to be successful
leaders, such as understanding and developing the school’s vision and implementing it and the values that need to be communicated effectively by being consistent.
The most important thing is that the vision should support the children. This helped the participants to have the know-how to bring the vision to life through pedagogy and curriculum design. The next point was personal reflection. It is important for participants to evaluate themselves regularly so that they can set appropriate goals. Finally, how the changes are implemented is crucial for the success of the leadership.
Working with teams, cultivating relationships with talent, and planning for success - all these things require leadership skills that can only be acquired through practice and experience. However, it is possible to plan properly in advance.
Participants learned in an entertaining and engaging way, and their expectation of receiving honesty, strategies and empathy from the speakers became a reality.
The COBIS Programme for Middle Leaders (CPML) event took place in Bucharest. It was led by COBIS (Council of British International Schools) co-facilitators, Mr Jason Porter, our Head of Secondary, Mr Dan Batson, our Deputy Head of Primary School, and Mr Philip Walters, our University Guidance Counsellor.
The course was a valuable opportunity for participants to develop their personal and professional skills and learn how to effectively implement and evaluate leadership in their schools. They gained clarity on their roles, responsibilities, and expectations, leading to a heightened sense of motivation and a willingness to step outside their comfort zone. While
there is always a safety net in place, the opportunity has allowed them to push their boundaries and reach new heights in their leadership roles.
This programme involved a blended learning approach, combining facilitated workshops and self-directed learning over the course of five days of face-toface training events. Participants had the opportunity to complete six modules and work on a Leadership Challenge project in their own school context. This enabled them to improve their professional skills and build their professional network with other COBIS colleagues.
It was definitely a valuable experience for all involved, not only for the course participants but also for the wider school community. By learning how to lead effectively and bring about positive change in their schools, the middle leaders were able to have a lasting impact on the education and development of their students.
As a result, participants were equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to have a lasting impact on the education and development of their students. The training provided a clear direction and focus and aligned the participants’ goals. It also identified areas for development that will enable participants to further develop their roles in their schools.
The annual Halloween party gives an opportunity for students to have some fun by dressing up for a day in a creative and scary Halloween costume. The event is held in the marquee and other spaces in and around the school. There are games, snacks, music and other events. The party involves many departments from school operations, such as Maintenance, Takanaka and the Events Team. The prefects also get involved by devising and hosting the stalls and activities themselves on the afternoon of the party. They work during the morning and through lunchtime to set up the party spaces and work out ways in which all students can participate in the highest number of activities possible. The Halloween Party is a great example of how different departments at BSB work together and how our older students have the chance to hone and develop their leadership and organisational skills. I hope you enjoy the event photos, which captured the fun and spooky atmosphere!
This term saw the relaunch of BSB University, an outstanding curriculum program, unique to our school. Fifteen different courses ran every Thursday afternoon over a seven-week period. These were all led by teachers, teaching assistants, senior leaders, and volunteers. Each course had a specialist focus, yet fell under one of our three BSB University categories:
• Self-Development & Personal Challeng
• Arts & Creative Development • Service & Community Enrichment
All Key Stage 2 children were able to submit their course preferences at the start of the term and were then allocated one to join.
Project Hermes
Nature Explorers
Rube Goldberg Machinists
Advanced Coding
Primary Playmakers: Sports Leadership
Storytelling Through Lego
The Art of Watercolour
The Show Must Go On! Printmaking Masterclass Publish Your Own Book
Kids’ Community Kitchen Green Fingers
Junior First Aid Eco Film Makers SchoolTube
Two courses we were especially pleased with were led by parent volunteers Alice Wright and Ade Goode. Alice ran Junior First Aid having recently qualified as a St John’s First Aid trainer. The children fortunate to be on this course learned a wide range of first aid essentials, including: how to correctly apply dressings and bandages; how to help somebody who is choking; CPR using resuscitation manikins; and even how to use a defibrillator. For their assessment, the children were given a range of scenarios they needed to attend to.
We were also fortunate to have Ade Goode lead the course Advanced Coding. Using the website CodePen, the children in this course learned how to use Javascript and HTML, beyond the National Curriculum expectations for Primary Computer Science.
The first term is always busy from the perspective of university applications for our year 13 students with key deadlines occurring in October, November and January. This year, once again, the majority of our students will make applications to more than one country. Meanwhile, an increasing number of institutions interview applicants, often to ensure that there is demonstrated interest and commitment to a chosen course. This year we have helped students to prepare for interviews ranging from data science and finance to film production courses as well as those completing medical, dentistry or applications to Oxford or Cambridge. As I write, three of our students – Thea, Stephie and Tudor - are completing final preparations for their well-deserved interviews with ‘Oxbridge’ next week. Meanwhile I am also delighted to report that following early action, Ilinca achieved a prestigious and significant scholarship to read International Relations at IE University in Spain.
With around half of our year 13 students making an application to the UK this year, we have seen a remarkable shift in the number of early offers being made to students. Several offers have already arrived for many of our UK applicants that completed their ‘UCAS’ application prior to mid-November with one student already having received offers from all five of his choices. This suggests a shift to relatively high ranking UK universities actively seeking to attract strong students from overseas, which is good news for many of our students. It has been great to see competitive offers already made to our students for courses at universities including Bath, Bristol, City, King’s, Lancaster, Loughborough, Manchester, Nottingham, Royal Holloway, Sheffield, St Andrews and Warwick.
This year applications have been or are likely to be made to universities in Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Switzerland, UK
and USA which once again demonstrates the global reach of our students.
For all our students applying to university this year we wish them the best of luck, as they go on to take up places at a range of excellent universities, similar to that of last year’s alumni, whose destinations are shown below. The range of subjects being studied by last year’s leavers is once again notable and vast. It includes Medicine, Engineering, History, Law, Art, Economics, Literary Studies, Computer Science, Photography, Politics, Physics, Biological Sciences, Fashion Styling, Entrepreneurship and Multimedia Arts reflecting the breadth of both interests and opportunities at BSB.
University of Bath – Bath, UK
University of Southampton – Southampton, UK
University of Warwick – Warwick, UK
Brunel University – London, UK
Central Saint Martins, University of Arts – London, UK City, University of London – London, UK Imperial College London – London, UK
Royal Holloway, University of London – London, UK University of Toronto – Toronto, Canada
NYU – New York, USA
Lynn University – Boca Raton, Florida, USA
University of Bocconi – Milan, Italy
Instituto Marangoni – Milan, Italy University of Amsterdam – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Eindhoven University of Technology – Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Erasmus University – Rotterdam, The Netherlands
University of Groningen – Groningen, The Netherlands
Utrecht University – Utrecht, The Netherlands
HU University of Applied Sciences – Utrecht, The Netherlands
First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University – Prague, Czech Republic
The Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE) – Bucharest, Romania
Nicolae Titulescu University – Bucharest, Romania
Entrepreneurship Academy – Bucharest, Romania
SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences, School of Design Communication – Berlin, Germany
BIMM, Berlin – Berlin, Germany
Instituto Marangoni – Paris, France
Meridian International Business, Arts and Technology (MINT) College – Manila, The Philippines
Ov er the year s, BSB has reached more and more des tinations.
Russell Grou p and Iv y Le ague univers ities, alongs ide other top uni vers ities are among our st udents' choices.
We def ine our School by the st udents that we educate and their achievement s.
In June, we were asked by the Head of DofE Romania, Shajjad Rizvi, if BSB could perform at the Opening ceremony of the International Global Duke of Edinburgh forum. This event occurs every three years in countries all over the world that undertake the Duke of Edinburgh award, and the 2022 forum was set to head to Cluj, Romania. This was a huge challenge and a huge opportunity in equal measure, given that the Summer holidays were about to begin, meaning we would have only the month of September to put this show together.
Those confirmed to be in attendance were royals from three different countries, including the King of the United Kingdom’s brother, Prince Edward, and custodian to the crown, HM Margarita of Romania and Prince Phillip of Luxembourg. There were also going to be delegates and senior figures from over 80 other countries present at one of the most prestigious events globally held in 2022.
To create a performance of high quality, nuance and passion, I was blessed to be
able to call upon some extremely talented and committed students in our current Year 12 cohort, all of which I have either taught before at IGCSE level or was their form tutor.
The students were: Sara, Anya, Delia, Thea, Elena and Catrina. These six students put in countless hours during school time, after school and at weekends to be ready for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and delivered a beautiful performance on the day, which received a standing ovation from the esteemed audience.
The students also had time to explore Cluj during the trip away, exploring a steampunk museum, Cluj city centre, as well as visiting the Turda salt mines! For me personally, this event was a career highlight. I hope it is now a memory that these students can take with them into life with the knowledge that they truly can achieve anything they set their minds and hearts on. I could not be more proud of each of them.
Stephanie and Harriet were then invited
to perform at the forum during the Closing Ceremony at the Universitatea BabesBolyai din Cluj- Napoca and, like the Drama students, were fortunate enough to perform in front of the same members of royalty. Stephanie and Harriet performed a duet on piano and violin; the first piece was The Secret Garden, followed by The Blue Danube. Stephanie and Harriet were then invited to attend the drinks ceremony afterwards, where they could converse with Prince Edward and HM Margarita of Romania.
As a new school year has began, the Sixth Form students are regarding the upcoming application process with a certain nervousness and excitement, following in the footsteps of the former year 13 students who have already entered the world of universities. Luckily, they have some advice to share from their experience, gathered towards the end of their own university application process, with the over-arching message of “Don’t worry. It’s easier than it looks.”
Ada (Politics): I only decided in September of this year on my options of Political Science, PPLE and International Relations. Everyone tells you you have so much time, but when you get into year 13 and everyone already knows what they want to do, it gets a bit stressful. I’ve always liked politics, so in September I started doing research about available subjects and I realised politics is what I want to do in the future. I like the opportunity of helping and making an impact, anything I could do to either help the world or get to learn the most I can about it.
George(Biology): To be honest, I’ve always known I would pursue Biology. I am especially interested in centipedes and invertebrates, looking at evolutionary biology and developmental biology - the way organisms developed from a bundle of cells to what they are now.
Rafael (History): I’ve settled on History since January 2021. It was something I could actually be the best at, and I like it enough to work hard and also find pleasure in that.
Julia (Art): I’m still not sure if art is what I want to do. To study art in university, you first have to take an art foundation course, which is a 1-year programme. I’m hoping it will give me an insight into what I want to do in the future. The course allows us to try different types of art, like film, sculpture or illustration.
Janus (Physics): I decided around the middle of year 12. Physics was the subject I found the most interesting, the one thing I could spend time on my own at home just to look deeper into it. I thought to myself I could really see myself doing this in the future. My favourite part of physics to study is particle physics or astrophysics Yasemin (Psychology): I knew I wanted to study Psychology last year when I started my AS course. I was good at it and it has always interested me: how people behave and why they behave the way they do. It’s also a great domain that allows me to work with children.
What countries and universities did you apply to?
Ada(Politics): The UK was always my dream country and the application was nice practice. It was pleasantly surprising that for Sussex, one of the universities I applied to, I received a response of conditional acceptance only a few days after my application. Then Ireland, because I like the curriculum and the country itself; the application process is really easy, you don’t need a CV or personal statement, just personal information and grades. Finally, the Netherlands: I really like the universities there, and the atmosphere of the country itself. I already got conditionally accepted to Groningen, and I’m really excited to hear back from the other universities.
George(Biology): The Netherlands, because it’s one of the only countries in Europe that offered Biology courses in English, as many countries do science in their own language, and also the UK, as it has some of the best Biology courses in the world.
Rafael (History): I only applied to the UK, since I have British nationality. I received an offer from Birmingham and Warwick, but I’m still waiting for a response from UCL, which is my top choice, since I really like the city and have many friends there. I also applied to Manchester and Cambridge.
Julia(Art): In the UK, I applied to the foundation courses at UAL (University of Arts London) and Kingston University.
Janus (Physics): I only got to apply to one university, Groningen, in the Netherland. I applied quite early, around October, and I got an offer in January. Since it was my top university, I didn’t go through applying to any others. I really like the physics course at Groningen, it’s affordable, and I generally like the Netherlands lifestyle and its nice cities.
Yasemin (Psychology): In the UK, I applied and already got accepted to Warwick and Birmingham, but I’m still waiting for my answer from UCL, which is my main choice because it has a course combining psychology with education. It would allow me to have in-depth knowledge about learning and children but also clinical psychology, my two interests brought together. I also applied in the Netherlands to Erasmus and Groningen.
Did you participate in any interviews? How were they?
Rafael (History): I had an interview for Cambridge. It was different from what I expected. To be honest, it was quite frustrating, no matter what you always feel like you could’ve said more since it’s really short, and it’s difficult to know how well you did until you get the answer.
Yasemin (Psychology): It wasn’t that stressful since they do give you pre-reading material. The interviewers just want to see the way you think about things, or how well you can communicate what’s on your mind.
How did the school help you in the process of choosing and applying to unis?
Ada (Politics): The school was really helpful, our university adviser helped me choose the subjects I have now settled on and he informed me of other courses I might not have heard of. Once I decided, Mr Walters helped us with our personal statements and motivational letters. It made us all feel so much better about our application by getting help from a teacher. Another helpful experience was when the school had people from different domains talking to us about their working experience. A woman who worked in diplomacy and politics came and talked to us about how much she enjoys what she does, how she likes the way her job allows her to interact with people, and that talk really influenced me in my present choice.
George (Biology): They guided me through the process of applying but not necessarily my choice of Biology. They saw I was confident in my choice and no one suggested I try something else, for example, medicine, which I wouldn’t be necessarily interested in. But the school really helped me with the university application and the whole process.
Julia (Art): Our university guidance counsellor was greatly helpful, he found a huge list of foundation courses for art that I could apply to and helped me choose from them.
The art teachers also gave me a lot of guidance, and even all the teachers in the school helped me with advice, they all shared their experiences and helped me make a decision.
Rafael (History): In preparation for my interview, Mr Walters set up mock interviews to get me used to the questions and atmosphere. Generally, the history teachers were helpful all throughout and they helped maximise my performance.
Janus (Physics): It was quite a relaxed process for me besides the writing of the motivational letter. Mr Walters helped me write my motivational letter, I sent him drafts over drafts. The physics teacher also helped me improve my letter.
Yasemin (Psychology): My psychology teachers helped me prepare for my interviews and guided me in the process of deciding on the courses I want to do. Our university counsellor, Mr Walters, helped me with the long and kinda annoying process of applying through UCAS. Overall, just the constant support of the teachers was really nice to have.
What outside of school activities did you do to help you academically and for university?
Ada(Politics): I did MUN and Debate for 4 years, wrote at the school magazine for 3 years, and was a volunteer at Interact for 2 years. I think these activities do made a difference, the universities can get a better sense of you as a student through the activities you show in your CV or personal statement, and they show you’re really passionate about making a contribution and being an active member of the community. My activities for example show that I am comfortable with speaking in public and organizing events.
George(Biology): I have been volunteering at the Natural History Museum for 6 years, I work in the molecular biology lab where they let me do my own research. With their support, I was able to publish my work on Romanian ladybird spiders, the species eresus moravicius, which got published in the British journal Arachnology. The picture from my article even made the cover of the journal. I do my own fieldwork in Romania, which allowed me to contribute to the world
of biology more than I expected because centipede diversity is less explored here compared to other countries.
Julia(Art): For my EPQ last year, I illustrated a children’s book, which showed me how fun illustration can be. I am an Illustrator at our student magazine, Mosaic, and it was the first time I did digital, which is a great skill especially since the world is becoming more digital and based on technology. I now double as a designer, which is a useful tool, I now know how to use adobe software. I was also a speaker at TEDx @BSB - I spoke on the topic of how to appreciate art that isn’t timeless, like paintings of flowers that are temporary and die fast.
Rafael(History): I volunteer as a tour guide of Bucharest. Besides that, I read a lot of books directed toward topics related to History, such as the study of historiography, or the Civil Rights in America.
Janus (Physics): I did work experience in an engineering business for 2 weeks in the summer, and it was very helpful. Work experience shows you what actually working somewhere is going to be like. What is generally helpful is reading books or watching documentaries, and consuming any media related to what you want to do. I also did 2 online courses, one on relativity and one on the science of cooking. The courses are really helpful to write about in motivational letters and it broadens your understanding of your chosen subject or
anything else you’re interested in.
Yasemin (Psychology): I did work experience at a psychiatry clinic as an intern.
It helped confirm what branch of psychology I want to continue with, which is clinical psychology. I am also tutoring a little kid with English, which convinced me I want to go on working with kids.
What advice do you have for people looking to study the subject you’re pursuing at university?
Ada(Politics): For the general application, get a second opinion for the personal statement, it’s really hard to narrow it down. Write a lot about how you got into the subject, for example, I mentioned the books that I read about International Relations, the podcasts I listen to, my passion for History and my experience in debate. The UK doesn’t ask for a CV, so everything about you must be contained in the personal statement. As for those looking to study International relations or Politics, look into the course a lot, see what each year is gonna be, different unis can imply different types of courses, even if they share the same name of “Political Science”. Do a lot of reading, you can even read just a few chapters, or look into podcasts as well because they can be very useful.
George(Biology): Never think that the
biology course we study in school is what biology is actually like at university or further on. Do as much research as you can to see if you really enjoy biology, and if you have the possibility to do work experience, do it. It will give you the possibility to see what working in biology is really like, as it’s not necessarily what you’d expect.
Julia (Art): Make sure you really like it. But if you’re not sure what you want, that’s also ok. You don’t need an exact career in mind. Also, art in school is so different from art at university, so the foundation course for art is a great bridge between them. More or less just go with the flow.
Rafael(History): Definitely make sure you find something that could be your niche topic in the field of history, really understand how important history is on your own terms and understand how you can apply it in present life.
Janus (Physics): Just start as early as possible with the whole process, studying, deadlines, and submitting applications. It’s so much better if universities give you an answer early and they can come back to you if they need something more.
Yasemin (Psychology): Make sure you read around the subject, you should know what branch of psychology you want to do, do research for more of them and focus on a few that you can then get experience in. Also, do a lot of maths and statistics if you can, it will help.
Mosaic magazine has showcased students’ passions and interests for the past two years. The second issue of the Mosaic magazine features a wide range of topics, from sports and science to social challenges and fashion. The magazine tells the stories that matter to today’s youth. With a fresh and engaging perspective, Mosaic offers a unique insight into the minds and hearts of young people. They
have gone to great lengths to compile a selection of articles that are sure to open up new perspectives.
Suitable for students and readers who want to keep up to date with the latest trends and issues, The Mosaic has something for everyone.
After three long years, the Autumn Cup Hosted by BSB was running again! With excitement in the air, a fresh new venue and a blessing with the weather, the Autumn cup kicked off. BSB hosted a vast number of students from U9 to U18 from 6 schools in Bucharest. All arrived with hopes of taking home the championship trophies.
Approximately 350 students were welcomed to come and showcase their talents, play with their peers, and enjoy the day’s competitive edge. Alongside this, many more parents, peers and supporters came to enjoy the day and watch their loved ones perform on the football field. Over
90 of these students came from our very own BSB, who represented us proudly, displaying their talents, comradery, and fantastic sportsmanship, which we value so much here at BSB. The students representing BSB made us very proud as they showed the fantastic sense of values that we try to instil here at BSB. Numerous teams also made the podium at the end of the day’s events, with multiple teams ending as runners-up or 3rd place in their category.
Alongside this, some students even stood out to the referees who judged the best player and best goalkeeper awards.
Numerous students at BSB managed to showcase their talents so well that the referees awarded players with some of these trophies. Despite not being able to secure a final win, BSB students certainly did us proud with their great individual talents, teamwork, hard work and huge respect for each other and their competitors on the day.
We were very honoured to host the Autumn Cup again this year and will look forward to continuing this success into next year,
The 1st British Scouting Troop in Romania“1st Bucharest” has experienced an actionpacked beginning to life under the scouting umbrella!
With 35 children across three age ranges, the opportunities for fun and learning have been numerous and varied.
Our Cubs achieved the prestigious honour of earning the 1st badge in Bucharest! Foraging for materials, which were used to create bug hotels, combined with gaining an understanding of knots, ropes and shelters. This resulted in awarding of the
Naturalist Activity badge, which was widely celebrated in our community.
Beavers also constructed bug hotels and used this experience as part of their work towards a Photography badge.
They were tasked with photographing suitable locations to place their hotels. This expanded into snapping pictures of our surroundings and one another. We are currently choosing our favourites (it isn’t easy!).
Our Scout troop are eager to explore
the Romanian wilderness, so they have focused on sharpening their skills in preparation. Shelter building, rope making and geocache investigations have fostered the sense of commitment and togetherness that will be essential in our rugged terrain. This culminated in a trip to Baneasa Forest to plant and hunt for Geocaches.
From a teacher and leader perspective, it is heart-warming to see the sense of inclusion and belonging beginning to develop in our group. Smiles and salutes occur as we see each other, and the feeling of positivity is tangible.
By Chris Davies
This last term, we were lucky enough to host a variety of sporting CCA’s here at BSB, utilising our campus to its full potential. We offered sports such as Volleyball, Trampolining, Indoor Cricket, Gymnastics, Badminton, Football and more. During the next term, we look forward to changing our season to offer CCA’s in Basketball, Table Tennis, Indoor Football, Ultimate Frisbee and more. We are also excited to host numerous sporting fixtures next term for Volleyball, Basketball and Badminton.
As well as offering our CCA’s we have had the fantastic opportunity to take our students to represent our school competing
against other schools in sports such as Volleyball and Football. Starting from the very start of term when we had some fantastic students representing our school in Bucharest’s first ever sand volleyball competition that was held at Therme.
However, a more recent and notable achievement has been this year’s girl’s football team. Several weeks ago, our girl’s football team was invited to take part in an 11-a-side tournament that competed against the American school of Bucharest as well as schools from Belgrade and Warsaw. After a tough first game, the girls had to dig deep to turn things around. Despite this
first loss, the girl’s team went undefeated for the rest of the competition and secured themselves as the Champions of the 2022 CEESA Tournament.
During this fantastic achievement, the girls not only showed their hard work, but they showed fantastic determination and teamwork and carried themselves in a manner that we at BSB are very proud of. Well done to the team, it is a fantastic achievement, and we look forward to seeing what you can achieve next year!
Debating has long been a popular activity here at BSB. Our students love to share their opinions on topical issues and learning the art of a good debate is not just educational but also great fun!
This term the two debating CCAs have spent time debating a range of themes, from the benefits of mixed gender schools and whether a college degree is needed for a good job, to whether conscription is a moral obligation in a time of national crisis. Students must use persuasive speaking skills to convince an audience of their views and of course, they often need to argue on the side of views they do not necessarily share! This is all part of debating.
In November, BSB debaters took part in the annual Winston Churchill competitions. This year there were schools taking part from across Romania as well as international schools in Luxembourg, Spain, Denmark and Moldova. The competition was fierce and our students very much enjoyed the challenge. Our Senior team made it to the finals of the Silver Plate competition but were unfortunately narrowly defeated by a very eloquent French Lycée team on the topic of the morality of becoming a billionaire. Our Junior team also had a very productive day, working in mixed teams from various schools and learning many new skills to further their debating styles.
We are now looking forward to two Senior teams taking part in the online COBIS World Debating Competition in February and to training the Juniors further before they compete again in the Bucharest Middle Schools Competition here at BSB in June.
We are keen to get more students in Years 7-10 involved in Debating at BSB.
Do you like to research and discuss topical, ethical or philosophical issues? Are you willing to stand up and express ideas verbally? Do you like to work with a team of peers?
If so, come join a Debating CCA!
This year the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards had to get off to a quick start in order to fit with the school calendar. All three – Bronze, Silver and Gold – had to be squeezed into the first half of term 1. This meant that the Silver and Gold expeditions took place in September, the Silver over two nights and three days in Piatra Crailui and the Gold over three nights and four days in the Danube Delta around Sulina. The Bronze took place over one night and two days in Bucegi. These involved over 60 BSB students in total.
The Silver was first up, which involved three testing hikes, 7 hours, 9 hours and 6 hours, and the conditions were decidedly mixed. We had heavy rain on the first day and snow on the last two days! There was great teamwork and camaraderie throughout the trip.
The Gold was kayak based and involved four separate kayaking trips, some along the Sulina branch of the mighty Danube, others fighting our way through very narrow channels. We were lucky with the weather, and we were also lucky enough to get some
time in the off-season and, therefore, empty Sulina beach.
The Bronze involved a hike from the 1400 metre point in Sinai to Cabana Padina on day one, staying at the cabana and hiking back the next day. Again, the weather was mixed, but nothing could dampen the spirits of the Bronze participants.
All in all, a very successful, fun and character-building series of expeditions for BSB DoE participants.
The CCA programme is essential to child’s education and personal development. Our courses attempt to cover as many areas of interest as possible, across all age groups, from classical sports activities and arts education to music classes, innovation classes, as well as mental well-being, life skills and the latest trends in technology.
On September 24, 2022, the engines could be heard roaring to the maximum, as it was the sixth stage of the National Parallel Slalom Championship. Albert, our Year 11 student, took part in the championship held in Sibiu, following his long-time passion for motorsport.
The Romanian Motorsport Federation organises, manages and promotes motorsport in Romania. Since 2009, the federation has been paying more attention to the discovery of young talent by proposing the granting of facilities and the lifting of the ban on juniors under 18 years of age from participating in motorsport competitions.
Albert made it to the podium at the last stage (the sixth one) of the 2022 season in this championship, thanks to his determination and talent. He finished in
third place twice: individually in the “Junior 1.6” class, where he finished 3rd out of 7 places, and in the “Junior Open” class, where he finished 3rd out of 17 places.
Thirty-six adults and juniors participated in this championship, and Albert Iovan finished 6th out of 36.
In the overall 2022 rankings, where all points from the six stages were counted, Albert finished 3rd out of 23 places in the “Juniors” and 5th out of 60 places in the “Open” category, where adults also took part.
We are incredibly thrilled with what he has achieved. We wish him every success in his future competitions. Congratulations, Albert!
Briana’s long line of achievements started in October 2020, when she was runner-up at the Romanian Youth Cup for Dressage in the Pony Category. She competed on her horse at the Equestrian Winter Tour Show Jumping and achieved first place in the children’s category, not once, not twice, but three days in a row. An outstanding performance earned with grace and a lot of hard work.
If this wasn’t enough proof of her skills, she repeated her performance in another Equestrian Winter Tour Show Jumping event in March 2021, where she again came in first place on all three days. Then, she made history by winning the Winter Tour Show Jumping Championship final.
At the end of May 2021, Briana performed exceptionally in the Summer Tour Show
Jumping Competition in Prejmer She came first in nine competitions and second place during all three days with two horses in two different categories.
At the end of October 2021, she took first place in a Show Jumping Competition at Equestria. She shared this performance with her new horse, Diam’s de Mazure, a beautiful eight-year-old Selle Francais, who jumped at 1.10m, thus securing her victory.
2022 has been another fantastic year for our equestrian star.
In July this year, she participated in the International Show Jumping Competition in Tsaratsovo, Plovdiv. She was the winner on the first day of the competition, placed third on the second day and was runnerup in the Grand Prix competition, 1.20m
class. She also had another excellent weekend at the International Show Jumping Competition in Bojourishte, Bulgaria. Competing individually and as part of the Romanian Children’s Team, she stood on the top of the podium on two consecutive days and was runner-up in the Grand Prix competition, 1.20m class.
In September, she won two medals in two separate International Show Jumping Competitions organised in Romania at Vectra Horse Club. She won a Gold medal with the Romanian Children’s team in the first competition and a Bronze medal at the Balkan Jumping Championship during the second competition.
We’re incredibly proud of her achievements and wish her the best of luck in her future competitions!
We asked Danny some questions during an interview:
We understand that your crew are now National Champions. What did you have to do to become champions?
Q: Danny, what sort of boats are you racing?
Our BSB student Danny recently competed in the National Championship yacht racing. He participated in an Offshore Sailing competition that took place along the shore of the Black Sea on a sailboat between Mangalia and Costinesti. The distance from the shore was usually no more than six nautical miles, or about 12 kilometres. His first year competing in an Offshore boat on the Black Sea was 2022.
Danny started sailing when he was four-five years old, as his father took him out to sea in his Beach Catamaran every summer in Mamaia. Then, as a Junior, he joined Sportul Studentesc Yacht Club, where he learned to sail Optimist boats. He started by taking over his father’s Beach Catamaran and continuing to sail it during the summer
Danny Dumitrescu: The Romanian Offshore Championship is composed of two weekends of individual Races. In 2022 the races were held on 13-14 August and 1-2 October. A total number of nine individual races were scheduled, out of which the last two races, on Sunday 2-Oct, were cancelled due to high wind speeds of over 60 kilometres per hour. The scoring system is called “low point”, meaning in each individual race, First Place has one point, Second Place two points, etc., and the National Championship is won by the boat with the lowest cumulative score at the end of all Races.
We had an Incident on the Starting Line in the first race and we have been disqualified in that race (six points), but we won all the other six Races (one point each), and we were the Boat with the lowest score in Class A2 and won the National Championship in Class A2.
Danny Dumitrescu: The Sailboats are divided into two classes, according to their length. Class A2 for boats between 30 and 40 feet and Class A1 for boats longer than 40 feet. Our Boat, HOPE, has 9.98 meters, so we are racing in Class A2.
What roles do each of the crew do?
Danny Dumitrescu: A boat of 30 to 40 feet has usually a crew of seven-eight people, each of them with a particular role, and sometimes more than one role. The boat is carried by three sails: Main Sail, Jib, and Downwind Sail. Depending on the angle of the wind relative to the boat, we use a combination of two sails, either the MainSail and Jib for upwind angles or the MainSail and Downwind Sail for downwind angles. Also, depending on the force of the wind, we have three different Jibs (for low, medium, and strong wind) and two different Downwind Sails (for low-medium and medium-strong wind).
Sara, BSB Head student from 2019 gave an update interview about her Road from BSB. She is now in London, where it is currently snowing for the first time, which is very exciting.
What university did you attend? What made you choose your course?
I studied Geography at the University of Cambridge. I chose geography because I did not know what I wanted to do after university, and the course looked varied, an interesting mix of humanities and science.
How was university – what did you enjoy, and what were the challenges? How did you get on?
I loved university - I enjoyed the opportunities to explore niche topics, meet new people and experience living in a new country. Saying that, I found moving challenging at first, but nothing a call home or a day trip to BSB friends in London or elsewhere couldn’t fix.
What’s your next plan? What are you doing now?
I am currently doing environmental consulting at PwC in London and enjoying it.
How did BSB help you achieve your goals?
BSB provided me with the time, space
and encouragement to explore what I wanted to pursue later in life and helped me become more confident. I am grateful for the individual attention given to each student and the positive and supportive environment during more stressful periods, such as university application time or A-level exam seasons.
When did you graduate from BSB? Any particular memories that stand out from your BSB years?
I graduated in 2019. There are so many lovely memories, ranging from the many creative hours spent in the Arts room to attempting to gain official access to Mr Coope’s secret sweets collection or sharing a box of Takanaka cookies with friends at break time. I really enjoyed going to school, as well as all my A-level classes and teachers. A non-sugar-related moment that stands out is organising the BSB Open Debate Championship (twice) with Ioana. It was a lot of fun planning and being allowed to run the whole event, of course, with the help of the school and the kindness of teachers who came to help and judge the debates on the day.
Anything that you want to say to your BSB teachers?
Thank you for all your help. I look fondly back on my time at BSB because of you!
We are delighted to welcome to BSB a cohort of amazing teaching staff who provide #ExellenceWithoutBoundaries alongside all the other BSB staff.
Join us in congratulating them and wishing them great success in their new roles!
What would the students be surprised to find out about you?
For several years I’ve practised a martial art which originated in Brazil. It’s called Capoeira and combines music as well as combat.
What is one of your hidden talents?
I’m a fairly good cook.
What sort of morning routine do you have to get ready to teach?
I like to start my day really early. This helps me to ground myself. A good breakfast is essential for me to have a good teaching day. A hungry teacher is not a pleasant person to be around.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
To sum up my education philosophy in three words, I’d say it’s democratic, empowering and personalised.
How do you keep things fresh and exciting for your students?
I try to use a range of multimedia to present information in different ways; sound, moving images and stills. Having a genuine passion for the subject is also crucial.
How do you like to communicate and build relationships with parents?
Meet Mr Darren Goode, our Deputy Head of Secondary School (Pastoral). Mr Goode gained his BA in Art from Brunel University, MA in Education from St Mary’s University and PGCE from London Metropolitan University, all in the UK.
Using language, our primary form of communication, he relates his teaching to the ‘real world’. As literature explores the human condition, he encourages his students to draw parallels between the material they read and their own life experiences.
What would you share if you could pass on any wisdom to your students?
Be yourself. Everybody else is taken. This is actually a quote from the Irish writer Oscar Wilde, and I really like its message.
What influenced your teaching style and your approach to teaching students how to learn about the world in general?
Having some great teachers as a child definitely influenced my teaching style. I’ve also worked with many first-rate teachers, which has helped me understand what makes great teaching.
I like to meet face-to-face with parents as well as communicate via phone. Parents’ evenings and other community events are also great ways to connect with parents.
If you could take the students on a field trip anywhere in the world, where would you take them?
I’d love to take students for a remote retreat where there’s no Wi-Fi!
What would you share if you could pass on any wisdom to your students?
Understand yourself- what you are good at, what your natural personality and tendencies are.
I try to have a positive interaction with each student. In lessons, I aim to give them the confidence and self-belief that they will understand the content, even if it sometimes seems hard. As a pastoral leader, it’s about setting the culture that all adults are responsible for helping children to make meaning in their lives. Essentially, this involves knowing each child at an individual level.
How do you connect your lessons to the ‘real world’?
Language is our primary means of communication. Literature deals with the human condition; therefore, I attempt to help students make links between what they are reading and their own personal experiences.
What influenced your teaching style and your approach to teaching students how to learn about the world in general?
My mother was a teacher, although I try not to let that put me off! I always liked her combination of discipline and warmth, so I try to achieve that myself. She is also a great storyteller with a cheeky sense of humour. I’ve come from being an entertainer, so I’m used to working with crowds and selecting my words carefully for maximum impact. I’m a great believer that truth is best conveyed through great writing.
If you could take the students on a field trip anywhere in the world, where would you take them?
The Globe theatre on the river Thames in London. It is an almost perfect replica of the theatre that was there in Shakespeare’s day.
How do you develop self-esteem within students?
I use a lot of praise with students, and I also put them in more pressurised situations than they think they can handle so that they surprise themselves. For example, if I ask a class to do presentations, about half of the students won’t want to do it, but I just ask them to try, and they always find out it’s not as bad as they thought it would be!
How do you connect your lessons to the ‘real world’?
I am always telling my classes stories about my life, the UK and schools there, and I ask them to share their experiences of the world, which are always very interesting!
What is one of your hidden talents?
Mrs Celia Wrigthon joined the British School of Bucharest as a Teacher of English. She studied Experimental Psychology at Somerville College, Oxford, before getting her PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) in English at Kingston University, London.
What would you share if you could pass on any wisdom to your students?
That everyone is good at something, so don’t give up on yourself if you are not brilliant at every subject at school. The more you discover your true yourself and your unique talents, the happier you will be in life.
I can sing. I trained in Acting and Musical Theatre at Mountview in London, one of the best musical theatre schools in the UK. I went on to be an actor for five years, a jazz singer, and then a musical comedian. I have performed all over the UK and cowrote an original musical, which I took to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
What is your dream vacation?
Anything that involves swimming! I love to swim in open water. I’d like to see all the coastal parts of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.
If you won the lottery and decided to give up teaching, what would you do instead?
I’m slightly embarrassed to say I would still read a lot of literature because that is my favourite thing to do! I’d like to return to university and study again because I left in 1995, and I always said I would go back and do another degree when I retired.
If you could grow up in any decade, which would you choose?
I grew up in the Seventies and was always so disappointed to have missed out on all the excitement of The Beatles. I would want to see them at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1963, so that would be the 1940’s postwar generation.
Our goal is to connect parents to the community with different activities: charity work, visits, walking tours, casual coffee, and school activities.
We had a backpack outreach. We donated and distributed more than 100 bags to our three charities (Bufkids, Fondatia Inocentia and Casa Iona).
The MacMillan Bake was an incredible success thanks to the amazing bakers. I hope you were able to taste a few treats.
Coffee mornings at Takanaka and Starbucks provided the opportunity for great conversations and new connections.
We had a visit to Bucharest to learn about communist times as well as a visit to Domeniile Blaga Vineyard. We organised a Halloween event, which was a lot of fun for the children and staff. Quiz night was an amazing time, even though we had to engage our brains on a Friday night.
Every week, we join the Bufkids team to do creative and festive activities.
Stay tuned for the activities in 2023: more coffee mornings at Starbucks and Gré’s bakery, first aid training, Bufkids visits with an amazing Mother’s Day project, and a visit to TVR studios.
If you are an event planner, love organising and carrying out activities, and would like to build a better community, please join our team of volunteers.
Thank you to all for your continuous support.
For the past month, I have been asking you to translate the message below. It has been approved by Grant. Myriam, the charity coordinator for the school, is also involved and knows about this activity. Thank you for translating this before Christmas break.
Spring is coming, and the opportunity to celebrate mothers is around the corner. We would like to ask for your help to create a memorable Mother’s Day for a group of children at Bufkids. FBSB has been collaborating with the centre since 2021.
The activity we have planned is to let the children ‘’shop’’ for their mother’s gift. We would need beauty items, candles, sweets, slippers, earrings or necklaces and baskets or gift bags.
We would like to provide as many choices as possible for about 35 mothers.
The dates are January 30th to February 10th, 2023.
The drop-off will be at the school entrance. We are so grateful for your help.
The BSB community came together to celebrate the festive season in style at the annual Winter Fair. This year’s event was truly special, with a wide range of attractions that had something for everyone.
The most exciting moment was Santa’s arrival and Show. The appearance of the Grinch, artisans, charitable organisations and arts & crafts workshops were all part of the Winter Fair, which ended with a laser show and lighting up the campus with lots of festive lights. Children and adults could participate in festive games and crafts, and children even had a quick chat with Santa to tell him their Christmas wishes.
At Santa’s Shop, participants found an exciting selection of local artisans offering a variety of creative and unique items. From toys and handmade Christmas ornaments to floral arrangements, decorations, jewellery and cosmetics, there was something for everyone at Santa’s Shop. It was the perfect place to find unique gifts and get a head start on holiday shopping while supporting local artisans and their businesses.
In addition to the activities, the Winter Fair also featured a series of concerts and artistic moments performed by our talented musicians, students and teachers. These performances added to the festive
atmosphere and created a magical mood that was enjoyed by all.
The evening concluded with a breathtaking laser show that lit up the night sky and amazed everyone present. It was a truly memorable way to end the Winter Fair and get everyone in the holiday spirit.
Overall, the Winter Fair was an incredible success and a testament to the strong sense of community that exists within BSB. We hope everyone who attended had a wonderful time and created memories that will last well beyond the festive season. A big thank you to everyone who made this event possible and contributed to its success. Here is to many more festive celebrations in the years to come!
@BSB is the termly School magazine issued by the British School of Bucharest.
The British School of Bucharest (BSB) is a leading international school, providing a comprehensive international education based on the National Curriculum for England and offers EYFS, Primary and Secondary schooling, with IGCSEs to A-Levels.
BSB has offered, since the year 2000, a British education in Bucharest for children aged 2-18. It is a richly diverse learning community, with more than 650 students represented by over 50 nationalities. They benefit from an impressive pupil to teacher ratio and small class sizes, ensuring a personalised and highly supportive learning environment, offered by 100% English-speaking teachers.
BSB is the only British school in Romania rated as ‘excellent’ for both ‘the quality of pupils’ learning and achievements’ and the ‘quality of pupils’ personal development’, according to its 2018 UK Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report. Contact: If you need any information about BSB, please do not hesitate to contact our Office Department:
Tel: (+40) (0)21 267 8919 (+40) (0)728 133 433 Fax: (+40) (0)21 267 8969 E-mail: office@britishschool.ro
British School of Bucharest Crawford House Foundation
42 Erou Iancu Nicolae Street, Voluntari 077190, Romania
Registered: 17/2008 Fiscal Code: 24879960
Other useful e-mail addresses: Admissions: admissions@britishschool.ro Data Protection Officer: dpo@britishschool.ro
Parking Address:
The School’s car park is situated on no 65, Erou Iancu Nicolae Street, next to the Strip Mall. Access to the car park is based on the car registration and access is restricted for the public. After leaving your car, it is a five-minute walk to BSB.
The British School of Bucharest invites you to become a partner in the @BSB School Magazine. For further details of this opportunity, please contact office@britishschool.ro.
As well as uniforms for BSB students, we have a great variety of seasonal gifts.
Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 – 10:30 and 14:30 – 16:30 42 Erou Iancu Nicolae Street, Voluntari, Ilfov
Online Shop: shop.britishschool.ro
British School of Bucharest Early Years Foundation Stage | Primary | Secondary 42 Erou Iancu Nicolae Street, 077190, Voluntari, Ilfov County, Romania
Telephone. +40 728 133 432, +40 728 133 433 Email. office@britishschool.ro
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