The British School of Bucharest Magazine
Issue 4 - May 2010 Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
BSB students win Winston Churchill International School Debating Competition This year has been a particularly good year for the BSB Debating Club as BSB students have enjoyed their first taste of victory in an International School Debating Competition. Left to right, Senia, Year 11, Louisa (Team Captain), Year 10, Mihnea, Year 10, Ana, Year 8, and Polen, Year 8, all preformed beyond expectations
British Ambassador attends BSB 10th Anniversary Ball The social event of the year in the BSB Calendar this year was without a doubt the BSB Ball with British Ambassador Robin Barnett in attendance in the company of a number of Bucharest’s glitterati. The event was also exclusively covered by the Romanian media.
making it to the final against students from Years 11, 12, and 13, eventually going on to win the Winston Churchill ‘Future Leaders’ Debating Trophy in a very tightly fought final debate against The Cambridge School of Bucharest.
Good snow in Switzerland brings a smile to BSB faces Students in Term 2 enjoyed a wide variety of academic and social events, but perhaps the most memorable, for students lucky enough for to have registered, was the annual BSB Ski Trip to Gstaad, Switzerland to ski the pristine slopes of the Swiss Alps. It was a week of fun and good times spent with friends, and of course a lot of great skiing!
Chess Invitational enjoyed by all On Wednesday the 21st of April AISB hosted the first Bucharest Chess Invitational, and BSB along with 5 other schools arrived to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon of chess. In all, 9 BSB students ranging from Year 6 through 10 attended the event and played 6 games each over a period of 3 hours, testing their chess wits against students of a similar age and ability.
Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro Contents · Editor’s Note 2 · BSB Summer Fair 2 · BSB Sports Day 2 · The BSB Calendar 2 · Principal’s Report 3 · The Front Desk 3 · EYFS Gafencu Report 4 · EYFS Pipera Report 4 · Key Stage 1 Report 4 · Key Stage 2 Update 5 · Primary School Report 5 · Secondary School Report 5 · Student Spotlight 6 · Who are the people in your neighbourhood? 6 · Student Council: Crazy Hair Day joins Friendship Day! 7 · Secondary School Student Council Update 7 · Tennis lessons now available at BSB 7 · BSB Eco Committee Report 8 · We Come In Peace! 8 · Scared of the Dark? 8 · Crazy Craze of the Month Activities: ‘Hot Potato’ and ‘Gutter Ball’ 9 · A Successful Eco-Week in EYFS Pipera 9 · Students go Skiing and Swishing Down the Swiss Slopes! 10-11 · BSB Celebrates 10 Years 12 · Drama Department Update 13 · BSB Radio: Taking It to the Next Level 14 · Raus aus der Klasse, rein in die Küche 14 · BSB Students compete in International Maths Competitions 15 · World Maths Day 15 · Book Week in EYFS 16 · World Book Week at BSB 16 · English Department Events 17 · Newlands celebrates World Book Day 17 · The GREAT Reading Race 17 · Book Sale 17 · Learning to Debate 18 · BSB win Winston Churchill International School 19 · Debating Competition 19 · Primary Physical Education What Can ‘I’ Do? 20 · Learning to cope with change: from EYFS to Key Stage 1 22 · Key Stage 3 Textiles: Eco Bag Project Update 23 · Transition Year 6 to 7 – Stage 1 23 · Recycling Computers 24 · Spanish Theatre Festival 24 · Light into Europe Visit BSB Secondary 25 · More than Just a Bake Sale… 25 · What’s been going on in the BSB Art room? 26 · Primary House Team Report 28 · Primary House Captain Reports 28 · Secondary House Competition Report to April 2010 29 · Afterschool Football Training with FC Bats 29 · BSB students attend International School Chess Invitational 30 · GCE A Levels and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Explained 31 · New Parent’s Café Open for Business 31 · Friendship week in EYFS 32 · EYFS Enjoying the Great Outdoors 32 · KS1 Friendship Day 32 · A day in the life... 33 · Spring Bonnet Parade 33 · Class Pages 34 · Crèche Gafencu 34 · Busy times in Creche- Pipera 34 · Gafencu Preschool 34 · Preschool M 35 · Reception C 35 · Reception E: 35 · Under the Sea Fun 35 · Reception Gafencu: Planes, Trains and Automobiles 36 · 1C learn how to use dictionaries 36 · 1T 36 · 1W, 2P, 2S 37 · 3T Get into role in their ‘Roman Assembly’! 38 · 3W 38 · Year 4D’s Work 38 · Wizardry Writing in 4H 38 · 6H: Full on Action! 39 · 6U: Connecting Ourselves with the World 39 · Thumbs up for Assessment for Learning 40 · CPD: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain 40 · CPD: Dealing with Food Allergies 40 · Key Stage 2 Students assist · MA research project 41 · BSB- the cream of the crop 41 · Parent’s workshop · Numeracy and Storysacks 42 · Adult Art Class 42
Editor’s Note
When putting an issue together I always leave the front page to the very end, and spend some time flicking through the finished pages looking over the entire issue trying to get a feel for the content. In doing this the front pages inevitably ends up writing itself as there are usually a few articles that stand out more than the rest. In this particular issue it was the Winston Churchill ‘Young Leaders’ International School Debating Competition because of the tremendous achievement of the
BSB Summer Fair Saturday June 5th, 2010, 12pm start Location: BSB Campus All parents and friends are invited to attend
Ms Hussain in the firing range
BSB Sports Day In partenship with Porsche Finance Group Romania Thursday 20th May, 2010, 9am start ‘Iolanda Balas Soter’ Stadium near Arc de Triumph ‘Arcul de Triumf’ All parents are invited to attend
What stands out in this issue more than any past issue is the number of 2 page photo spreads. I have had comments made to the effect that more photos and less text would be preferred, and as we are an international school with many parents who are not fluent in English, this makes a lot of sense. So in this issue I have tried to reflect the fact that the people have spoken. I hope you enjoy looking at all the photos reflecting the multiple aspects of life at BSB. The photos show that the students are experimenting with Design and Technology, getting creative in Art,
getting physical in PE, enjoying celebrating a number of international days and events, such as ‘World Book Day’ and ‘World Maths Day’, receiving German cooking lessons in German, being challenged academically, and contributing to school life in a number of interesting and colourful ways, including writing for the school magazine. Thank you to everyone, students, parents, and teachers, for all the effort put into the school over the past few months. Thank you also to the sponsors of the various events, including LG, the British Council, World Class Gym, and Mr Cap, to name a few. Finally, thank you to everyone who contributed toward this issue of Newsblast, and in particular, Ms Moorcroft, Ms Hussain, Ms Greenwood, and Ana P. and Jennea from Year 8. Finally, I would like to wish all those taking IGCSE and A Level exams in the weeks ahead the very best of luck. I know you have all been working very hard and so I hope you get the marks you deserve. Happy reading. Mr Kendall Peet Kendall.peet@britishschool.ro
The BSB Calendar May Monday 3rd Tuesday 4th Thursday 6th Friday 7th Monday 10th Tue 11th – Fri 14th Thurs 13th - Sun 16th Wed 12th- Fri 14th Wednesday 19th Thursday 20th Friday 21st Monday 24th Thursday 27th Mon 31st-Fri 4th June
IGCSE External Exams start (Finish June 15th) Parents transition meeting. Gafencu Reception visiting Pipera site EYFS Paretns workshop - Outdoor learning AG&T Bake Sale INSET- School closed Visiting Author in school International Award expedition to Zarnesti national park Anthony Frost and The Oxford Educational Book Shops in the Parent’s room Year 6 Primary to Secondary Transition Day 2 BSB Sports Day / Year 10 Parent’s Evening Student Council Bake Sale National Holiday (school closed) IGCSE Exams still on this day Gafencu Reception children transition day to Pipera Year 6 Liddington Trip
June Tuesday 1st June – 3rd Thursday 3rd June – 4th Friday 4th Saturday 5th Mon- Fri, 7th-11th Friday 11th Tues 8th Wednesday 16th Wednesday 16th Thursday 17th Friday 18th Mon 21st-Fri 25th Wednesday 23rd Thursday 24th Friday 25th Monday 28th Tuesday 29th Tuesday 29th End of June Wednesday 30th June
Y4 Trip Y3 Trip EYFS Pipera reports out Summer Fair Year 5 Trip Year 6 Primary to Secondary Transition Day 3 Gafencu Reception children transition day to Pipera Key Stage 3 Parent’s Evening EYFS Pipera production KS1 Production EYFS Pipera water day Year 7 Trip to Madrid/ Year 8-13 Trip to Berlin Theatre Day KS2 KS2 Theatre Day and Production EYFS and Ks1 Picnic Secondary School BBQ Secondary School Awards Presentation Primary Leavers/ Awards Assembly Primary Reports out – school finishes at 12.00
Please note that some of these dates could change. BSB Sports Day
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students involved, The BSB 10th Anniversary Ball because it was such an enjoyable and memorable night for all concerned, The School Ski trip to Switzerland because the photos make you feel like you want to be there, and the Chess Invitational because it was the first inter-school chess event. Invariably it is also the articles with good photos that get onto the front cover and so wonderful articles such as the EYFS transition to Key Stage 1 article, by Kath Homer on page 22, often fail to headline, when in reality they deserve to.
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Principal’s Report Dear Parents and Friends of BSB I have just spent a delightful hour watching the semi-finals of BSB’s Got Talent, our inaugural talent competition. The finals will be at the Summer Fair, and with so many things to look forward to this summer term, I am sure this will be a highlight. Having been in education for many years I am always surprised that I am still in awe of children’s performances; however I do find their confidence, energy and self-belief to be contagious. While there were only 15 groups that made it to the semi-finals the other students could not have been more supportive of their colleagues, whether they were competitors or audience members. As the performers entertained us with a variety of acts it was obvious that they all felt in safe hands and knew that they would receive nothing but support and loyalty from their teachers and peers. The knowledge that those students felt
so comfortable and were ready to take the risk that they might forget their words, or have their backup music fail on them is a reflection of the environment the staff at BSB have created. The learning journey that all our students embark on every term involves taking a risk, pushing themselves further to see exactly what they can achieve. To do this students need to feel that they can take the next leap without the fear of falling and this can be the same feeling for a crèche child who can decide one day to use the knife and cut their own snack for the first time to a Secondary student volunteering to join a debating club with no prior knowledge. I am extremely proud that BSB is a safety net for all these monumental events and hope that this term sees all our students being the best they can be, taking on new challenges and reaching new heights. Kind Regards Jo Puddy-Wells principal@britishschool.ro
The Front Desk
Pipera Office Staff
Pipera If you need any in formation or help in regard to your child’s education and support at BSB, please do not hesitate to contact our office team during normal working hours, 8.00am - 5.00pm, Monday-Friday. Email: office@britishschool.ro Tel: 021 267 8919 Fax: 021 267 8969 For specific help relating to school transport and student lunches, please contact: Email: services@britishschool.ro Mob: 0728 133 432/3 Tel: 021 267 8919 Fax: 021 267 8969
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
For admissions please contact Ms Madalina Cioc either by: Email: admissions@britishschool.ro, Phone: 021 267 8919 Fax: 021 267 8969
Gafencu Camelia Stoian Email: camelia.stoian@britishschool.ro Mobile: 0731 300 804
Camelia Stoian, Gafencu
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EYFS Gafencu Report It was the middle of March before the snow finally melted away from Gafencu garden. During that time the children and staff went from delight and fascination to acceptance that there had been yet another snow fall. During this time the children continued to exercise their choice of whether to play out side or stay inside. As a result, all the children including Creche have become much more independent in changing into and out of outdoor clothing. But as the weather has improved and the snow has thawed, the delight at been able to go outside without dressing in several layers of cumbersome clothing has been immeasurable and the children
EYFS Pipera Report As I write this report I can’t believe that the third term is already underway. It doesn’t seem so long ago that we were rehearsing for the Festive production and now we are already starting to think about the summer one! The main reason the time seems to fly by is due to the large amount of fantastic activities that are constantly going on at the British School of Bucharest, making it a wonderful place to work and an amazing place to learn. You will be able to read in this Newsblast issue about the EYFS Friendship Week, Eco Week, how we use our outdoor areas as extensions of the classrooms and the latest Parents Workshop on numeracy and Storysacks. All these events take a large amount of planning and
Key Stage 1 Report Even though winter put up quite a fight, it looks like we are finally into spring and beautiful weather. Already some classes are heading outdoors for outside lessons; I know many of us in Key Stage 1 are looking forward to getting the children outside for more lessons this next term. The beginning of March proved to be very busy month with World Math Day, Book Week and Open Day. The Key Stage 1 children did very well answering the Math questions and we were very impressed in their
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have rediscovered play areas and toys that they had forgotten- every time they went into the garden a forgotten toy was retrieved as though they had found treasure. The highlight of changing clothes was on World Book Day when all the children came to school dressed as their favourite book character. This was followed a short while later by Green Day when again the children wore green clothes and paid a non uniform fee. Thank you everyone who contributed, we raised 300lei. With the introduction of the EYFS in 2008 the learning area was identified as having two main locations indoor and outdoor. The children were asked to design different features and activities to go in the garden, the plans and designs were the basis of the Reception class staircase display. So the garden which is as usual
available all day every day, next term will have displays of numbers, the alphabet upper and lower case and tricky words. The areas will be more specific with a den for dinosaurs and a big deep dark cave where everyone knows there lives a monster, apparently a friendly monster! And not least of all, as a result of the World Book Day, there is now a book area furnished with cushions and fabrics and lots of the children’s favourite books! We are using as many natural materials or recyclable materials as possible such as cardboard packing boxes, cardboard tubes, adult paint brushes and car tyres, so if you are spring cleaning please remember us… Ms Kath Homer, Gafencu EYFS Coordinator
preparation and for that I would like to thank the whole EYFS team – the teachers, teaching assistants, specialists who work with EYFS and our cleaners.
Activities planned for the very busy third term include Healthy School Week, Water Day and Sports Day. To keep up with all these activities why not visit our blogs?
I was recently looking through the EYFS pictures for one of our projects and it struck me how much all the children have grown – both in stature, maturity and independence. As preparation for transition to the next year I look forward to welcoming Creche to the EYFS assemblies and Reception will attend the weekly KS1 assembly. More details about transition can be found in a separate article in this issue.
www.piperacreche.edublogs.org www.piperapreschool.edublogs.org www.piperareception.edublogs.org They are packed full of information and photographs. Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, Pipera EYFS Coordinator
As the weather gets hotter I would like to take this opportunity to remind all parents of the importance of sending children to school with a hat and some sun cream. We will also be encouraging all the children to drink more water.
speed of recall. The costumes for World Book Day were varied and interesting as always; it was very hard to choose winners from each class. Open Day saw a good turnout of parents with lots of positive feedback- you could tell by the faces of the children that they enjoyed the experience of the parents being in school. There are a few events still scheduled. Before the holiday we had the Spring Bonnet Parade. The creativity of the hats was amazing. The EYFS joined Key Stage 1 for the parade. As the summer term progresses there will be more opportunities for the Reception children to join Year 1 and Key Stage 1 to help with the transition from
EYFS to Key Stage 1. One of these will be the Teddy Bears’ picnic. Remember we are always around to answer any questions with regard to ideas, suggestions or concerns. Please don’t hesitate to catch us in the afternoons at the gate or send us messages via the homework diaries. Ms Justine Tyler, Key Stage 1 Coordinator
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Key Stage 2 Update Every time I am asked to submit my coordinators report I always begin by making a list of what has happened since I last wrote, and then what we have to look forward to. Each time I do this, the list seems to get longer and longer. Since our last publication we have had our Book Week, Open Day and Dog Day – planned, organised and run by our Able, Gifted and Talented groups of pupils under the guidance
Primary School Report As always the spring term has been packed with events and activities. Some of the highlights for me were the World Book Day events as I always love to see the creativity and effort of the students dressing up as their favourite book characters (some of the staff also seem to enjoy the opportunity to outdo each other!). I was also incredibly proud of our students who entered a city wide public speaking competition and represented BSB very impressively.
Secondary School Report Spring seems to be keeping us all in suspense; sunny one day and chilly the next. This is one of my favourite times of the year when the garden is just beginning to come into bloom, the snow has finally disappeared and I can once again open my window and let the sunshine in. It is my pleasure to welcome Athina who has joined us in Year 9. I would also like to say goodbye to Mr Mulvany who has been at the school for two and a half years. He is returning to the UK at Easter where we hope to see him make a speedy and full recovery from the illnesses he has suffered over the past three months. As his replacement, we are pleased to welcome Mr Christian who has joined the school as the new Music teacher and we are looking forward to hearing some splendid performances from our students. The secondary school certainly has cause for celebrations having just taken first prize in the Bucharest Inter-School Debating competition and I know Mr Peet will
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of Ms Nicole Fisher. Another noticeable and very popular event with the pupils is the World Maths Day which is held in March. Again we had great success here where one of our KS2 pupil’s came 3rd out of all the participating schools in Europe, and was in the top 10 world-wide. Finally, towards the end of March we had the Inter house sports competition which again is very popular with the pupils- my thanks to all the parents who came along and cheered on the pupils. Looking ahead, we have so many exciting events and activities to
look forward to. First up is our Science Day and also the auditions for the first ever BSB’s Got Talent Competition. It is fair to say that the 40 acts and their talents which will compete for a place in the grand final are as diverse as they are unusual! As well as these we also have our Sports Day and end of term production to fit into what will be a very hectic final term. So it will be a very busy time for all and I am sure the term will fly by. Mr Iain Davidson, University and Key Stage 2 Coordinator
They thoroughly deserved the success they achieved. Carrying on our winning streak was another very impressive year in the World Maths Day Competition, where yet again one of our students succeeded in scoring one of the highest scores in the world – a mammoth achievement. As you are reading through this issue of Newsblast, you will see all the details of the events I just mentioned, plus the many other activities that our children have involved themselves with. I am always a little in awe of just how much pupils and staff manage to pack into this term.
The final term is now already upon us and the weather is finally behaving itself. I am now looking forward to the joys of the summer term when the students can really utilise the whole grounds of the school as well as visit places further a field without battling the cold and snow. I am sure it will be another exciting term and I hope everyone has arrived back after their Easter Break refreshed and ready to tackle the learning opportunities ahead. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our families a happy and enjoyable spring time.
be including an article about the event. I must, however, add my own congratulations to the students: Senia, Year 11, Louisa and Mihnea, Year 10, and Ana, and Polen, Year 8 and Noor, Year 9 (our reserve candidate). The students present a formidable team and it has made me think twice about engaging them in a debate. Senia, Louisa and Ana, who made up the finalist team lineup, can only be described as terrier dogs; they sunk their teeth into the opposing team and did not let go. Well done to all the students who represented BSB.
As usual, our final term will be a hectic one. Year 10 and Key Stage 3 internal examinations will be taking place alongside the Year 11 and 12 external ones, the trips to Berlin and Madrid are being finalised, plans are being made for the end of term BBQ for secondary students, and I am particularly looking forward to the awards and leavers assembly on Tuesday the 29th of June. This is a time when I can proudly reflect on all the achievements over the year. However, I am a little concerned that I appear to have signed up to the International Award expedition during the summer term which apparently involves long walks and sleeping in a tent. If that was not bad enough, I have since found out that there is nowhere to plug in my hair dryer. Hopefully the brave campers will be able to get me through this ordeal!
I would also like to thank Mr Kelly and Ms Dearman, who have been working hard with the students putting together the secondary school production ‘An Evening of Theatre’, which was a great success. Students were wandering the corridors of Crawford House in an array of costumes and face masks, whilst actors were striking poses and delivering lines to anybody who would listen. As always, I want to thank all the teachers, administrative and ancillary staff for their endless support, with a very special thank you to Mr Kelly and Ms Dearman. My final thanks naturally must go to all the students who have taken part.
Ms Naima Hussain, Head of Primary
I hope that over the next few months I will be able to meet with you at one of the many events taking place, or even at school if you wish to come in and take a look around to see daily life here in Crawford House – you are always most welcome. Ms Jane Greenwood, Head of Secondary
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Student Spotlight Daria, 3W, is from Romania and is currently in Year 3. Her favourite subject in school is ICT because she thinks it’s very interesting. As a hobby she enjoys gymnastics and she attends classes outside of school also. She has two sisters, one older than her whose name is Bianca and one younger sister who is 2 years old. Veronica, 4H, is from Slovakia and has been in this school for 4 years.
She is currently in year 4H and she loves it. Her favourite colour is purple and she likes Art. Her favourite food is chips and her hobby is watching TV. She has a younger brother who is now in Year 3.
Bucharest. She has many friends and she really likes the school because there are a lot of green spaces. She is currently getting ready for her SATS examinations and we all wish her good luck.
Simon, 3T, is 8 years old and comes from Norway. His favourite subject is P.E. because he enjoys playing football. His favourite colour is orange and he has a younger brother who he enjoys playing with.
Noa, Year 9, comes from Israel and has one sister. Her favorite movies are Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and The Notebook. She likes to listen to music and her favourite style is punk rock. Her favourite bands are The Jonas Brothers and Green Day. She really likes the school because it’s big and the teachers are friendly.
Marina, Year 9, comes from Spain and has 2 brothers and 1 sister. This is her first year in Romania and her first year at the British School of
Marina, Year 9
Who are the people in your neighbourhood? “Who are the people in your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood, yes, who are the people in your neighbourhood, they’re the people that you meet each day”. The Front Gate BGS Guard I am proud to announce that I am the first one to write in the new section for the school’s News Blast: “Who are the people in your neighbourhood”. Our first lucky candidate in this issue is Dobre Alexandru Catalin. You might have met him; he is the BGS guard that supervises the gate area next to the DT room.
Simon, 3T
Noor, Year 9
qualifications. He is specialized in topography in civil constructions, has graduated the Bucharest school of art with a degree in sculpture, he has a diploma in engraving as well as being a jeweller. Also, he has 15 years of experience in designing special mold prototype designing and another 15 years of experience in technical art. He is so experienced and qualified for other jobs, so the question is: why does he work as a BGS guard? Well, before this he worked as a jeweller, as well as a designer and made different things for the Romanian patriarchy. However, these jobs were not very well paid so he decided to try becoming a jandarm, which is a type of police man that takes part in sport events interventions as well as interventions in antisocial behaviour cases. Unfortunately, by the time he decided to join he had passed the maximum age limit for application in this area. So he decided to apply for a job as a guard. Why a guard, you may ask. Well, Catalin said that he enjoys being a guard and it also offers a lot of free time, which he uses for his hobbies and to complete his studies in becoming a teacher of applied arts.
Catalin
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Verronica, 4H
Detaliled metalwork
Embossing
Although he has a more serious attitude at his workplace, Catalin describes himself as being a very cheerful person that loves to pull pranks on people. He is very optimistic and communicative, but says that he is also very stubborn and admits to sometimes being lazy. He is an expert in the art of traditional karate and loves to go free climbing, which means climbing with no safety rope. Catalin is a big fan of sciences like geometry, physics and chemistry but also likes more simple things like fishing. All in all, I am very happy to have interviewed him because I found out very interesting things and was really surprised by some of them. If there is anything that you can learn from this article, it is that you should not judge a book by its cover. If you ever pass by the DT room make sure you say hello to Catalin. I can guarantee you will be happy that you did
Prejudice is currently a big problem in this world. Your first thought when hearing that he is a thirtyone year old guard for the BGS was probably that he is not very educated and was, by lack of qualifications, forced to choose a job like this. Well, start feeling bad because if you did think something similar then you were very, very wrong. He is actually well-educated with a number of
Daria, 3W
Bronze coins
Alex, Year 10
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Student Council: Crazy Hair Day joins Friendship Day! Student Council have been working very hard to ensure that you had lots of fun on Friendship Day and Wacky Hair Day. The amount of candy grams sold this year was triple the amount of candy grams last year! In addition to the candy grams, all the children enjoyed the ball toss, fruit hunt, three-legged race and back to back race during their breaks. Everybody also loved Wacky Hair Day too! Anybody and everybody (even the teachers) could wear a wig or even dye their hair! I can still remember Mr Davidson with his girly wig …he looked very pretty. Some children put wire in their hair so it could stand up just like Pippi Longstocking’s hair. The wackiest hair in KS2 was……. Bram! The most important aspect of this special day was the fundraising we did to help the people of Haiti. Through the event we raised an outstanding, 1000 Euros, which was donated to UNICEFon March 25th. I hope you liked these two special events and are excited about our new upcoming event which is……. A Talent Show! The Talent Show is called ‘BSBs got Talent!’ The preliminary rounds will be during break time the week of 19th of April. The finals are on the 3rd of May. The prize is a surprise, which you will find out if you win. Good Luck to all of you! Maria, 6H
Bram and Matthieu taking part in the back-to-back race with their crazzzzy hair!
Secondary School Student Council Update It’s been a busy term for all and the Student Council has dipped their fingers in all sorts of activities. On the last day of the winter term, we held a Crazy Hair Day where whoever wanted to could donate at least 5 Ron to UNICEF to bring hope to the people who were in the Haiti earthquake. Everyone dressed their hair in any funky way they wanted to. Not only this, but we also had a bake sale on the day too. This meant a lot of fun, lots of hairspray and a big smile on the face of the Director of UNICEF, Mr Edmond Mcloughney. We raised an amazing 1000 euros, which was given to the UNICEF Director during the International School Debating Competition (which we were fortunate enough to win!). As the Primary School SC review has already said, the Student Council has recently been involved in organizing a talent show for all students to show off their amazing talents and is also planning a 10th anniversary summer dance for the Secondary School Students this term. We look forward to future student ideas and contributions and hope you all have a great final term! Polen, Year 8
Senia and Louisa handing Mr McLoughney, head of UNICEF a 1000 euro donation for Haiti
Tennis lessons now available at BSB In addition to football lesson BSB is now happy to announce that we can offer students regular tennis lesson at a variety of levels. Tennis lessons are held in the Dome from 4.00- 5.00 on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The classes are organised every term, and are open to children aged 6 and up. Private one to one lessons are also available at selected times on request. Age groups: 6 to 8; 8-10; 10-12; 12 and above. Teacher: Adriana Verbanciu Cost: 6 Euro/lesson Contact: office@britishschool.ro
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BSB Eco Committee Report
5L and their eco sculputure made from reused materials
BSB recently celebrated Green Day on March 17, where everyone dressed in green and teachers integrated an eco theme into their lessons throughout the day. The idea of everyone dressing up in green was to draw attention to the green movement and environmental awareness at BSB. The proceeds of the donations to dress up in green and not wear the school uniform will fund awards for competitions, and hopefully enable us to start
6U and their works of art
to venture into partnerships with environmental organisations here in Bucharest. In the Primary School, students also celebrated the day by introducing eco-points, where points are now being awarded to students for behaviours such as turning off lights, using reusable lunch containers, picking up trash and conserving the amount of materials that might be needed for a task. Additionally, in Key Stage 2 each class
More contributions from 6U
received a pot, soil and flower seeds in order to grow and care for their own class plant. They also participated in a competition where each class made a sculpture out of reusable materials, demonstrating that one way to reuse materials is to turn it into art work. Congratulations to 5L and 6U for their winning sculptures. BSB Eco Committee
We Come In Peace!
Eco Day - Green Green Green
Time: 17 March 2010, 08:30 Location: British School of Bucharest Problem: Alien Invasion...Green specimens roaming the corridors. Flashes of green zapping across everything visible! Green, green everywhere! th
For an outsider to BSB, it was easy to mistake the normally orderly facility as a target of Extra Terrestrial invasion, especially as the only colour visible on the 17th of March was green, green, green and, of course, more GREEN! The reason for this was not aliens in fact: it was GREEN DAY!
The much anticipated event allowed all students to deviate from school uniform for a day in exchange for green attire from head-to-toe... and it was for a good cause too! Green clothing was permitted for the low, low cost of 5 RON, which went to the EcoCommittee in order to make our school “greener”not that any more of this eco-colour was needed on Green Day! With hardly any down side, the event was a great success that saw jerseys, t-shirts, shoes, socks, hair accessories, face paint and even nail polish- all green!
Having a little Eco Day fun
Overall, Green Day was an amazing activity that was fun, spontaneous and creative whilst creating awareness about taking care of the Earth! A true display of the success of Green Day was the amount of money that was collected from the event- an immense 830 RON! I think that a huge thank you is in order for all students who participated--Green Day was made possible by your participation! It is probably safe to say that the next Green Day is anxiously awaited! Don’t worry, though, we will come in peace! Jennéa, Year 8
Scared of the Dark? Each year the Saturday before the time changes we can hopefully find ourselves left out in the dark. I say hopefully because for 60 minutes at this special time of year it is Earth Hour. What is Earth Hour you may ask? Well, this is a valid question as Earth Hour is officially not celebrated in Romania; but, Earth Hour is one hour where we turn off our lights in support of Mother Earth. Prepare some candles or other festivities to celebrate the world’s fastest growing celebratory
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time. Around the world ceremonies are being conjured up to celebrate this occasion. Remember Earth hour is in honour of Earth. Due to the Fact that Earth Hour hasn’t caught on fully in Romania when you turn your lights off you’ll be one of the first people to do so! So get a jump on the rest and switch-off your lights. When I lived in France we celebrated Earth Hour and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. For our celebrations my school went to Paris for the
weekend. We stood directly under the Eiffel tower, at the base of the majestic structure. It was scary when everybody was packed up really tight, and suddenly, the lights of the giant thing you were standing under snapped out! I have to admit that I was scared for a brief time but it was also thrilling. If you want to help develop Earth Hour in Romania, go on www.earthhour.org and make yourself a lantern in support of this good cause. Sophie, Year 8
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Crazy Craze of the Month Activities: ‘Hot Potato’ and ‘Gutter Ball’ 6U had a great time in Term 2 playing Hot Potato! The students pretended that the potato burnt their hands as they passed the burning ball around the crazy circle. The game was amazingly awesome, but was superseded by Gutter Ball. 5M’s Gutter Ball was and is a great game! To play Gutter Ball, you have to have two benches which you put together so that they make a long triangle. Then you pick two teams. After that you have to choose who starts throwing the ball at the bench and you have to catch it. If you catch it, you take a step back and throw the ball, and so on. But if you don’t catch the ball you’re out and have to give the ball to the other team. You win if you can throw, catch and step six times. It is very fun and cool. Can’t wait to see what 4D is going to pull out for their Craze of the Month! Sacha 6U
Andrew and Matteo busy with a game of Gutter Ball, while Alex, Adam and Haris watch on
A Successful Eco-Week in EYFS Pipera We had a very successful Eco-week in EYFS with the children gaining a real understanding of the importance of looking after our lovely environment. There were additional opportunities for them to identify features of their environment and natural world. The children very much enjoyed learning the 3R’s song and have a good grasp of Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.
The most exciting part of the week came when the children were dressed in green for ‘Green Day’ they all enjoyed speaking about the different shades of green that they were wearing and what it represented. The children in Preschool M even painted their faces green, and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Our week consisted of many exciting activities, including planting bulbs and seeds, face painting, nature walks, twig-weaving and making outdoor nature pictures using various leaves and twigs that we found on the ground. We also had a whole day with a “Lights Off” message, the Reception children were especially enthusiastic about ensuring the lights weren’t switched on for the whole day. The children have planted lots of bulbs and seeds so soon we will have some lovely flowers. The children are taking full responsibility for the watering of the flowers. Planting of bulbs and seeds provide many learning opportunities for young children and encourages them to take responsibility for various living things.
Children from Reception E weaving twigs carefully through the fencing
They also used fallen twigs and leaves to make imaginative artwork. They enjoyed collecting up the different braches and discussing the similarities and differences between each one, and decided how they would position them carefully on their page to make a Nature Picture.
Carmen wearing green - complete with painted face
Children in Creche planting some bulbs in their flower bed with Miss Dana
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
The Reception children have made good use of all the fallen twigs and branches from the floor, by constructing our own Weaved Wall, whilst doing this the children needed to work together as a team to collect the twigs and weave them in and out of the fence. They then decided that we could maybe tempt birds there by hanging nuts on the twigs that we weaved.
Lisa using twigs and sticks to make a very interesting piece of Natural Artwork
Altogether a very valuable and successful Eco-Week in EYFS!
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Students go Skiing and Swishing
‘I dare you to say that
If you are wondering why some of BSB’s students still have a dusting of snow on their shoulders, look no further for the answer... The 4th Annual BSB Ski Trip! This year- from the 7th to the 14th of March- the students of BSB were privileged to journey all the way to Switzerland for a week of thrilling skiing- having been once again invited to the accommodating premises of Haut-Lac, where we would be staying for the week. SebastianOOoooo!
After safely landing (after a somewhat adventurous flight), in the airport of Geneva, we were greeted by two cheerful faces from Haut-Lac before boarding two mini-buses to begin the venture to the centre, which allowed most of us to take a small nap- when night fell en route, until eventually we were welcomed in by the glowing windows of the warm building and were extremely grateful for the filling meal which awaited our arrival and put us all in a relaxed state of mind... Off to bed! The week following our arrival was filled with so many laughs, so much
excitement, numerous games and activities, much progress in skiing (as well as a few tumbles into the snow!), along with various other things that it is impossible to fit it all into a single article! What must be mentioned, however, is the fact that everyone had a great time skiing and received well deserved levels as well! There was hardly a moment when we were not occupied; whether it was with table football, ping-pong, movie night, or the buzzing disco that bade us farewell! Everyone at Haut-Lac was incredibly hospitable and friendly throughout our time there, and needless to say I’m sure you will find us all swishing down the slopes again next year! We would like to say a tremendous thank you to everyone at Haut-Lac and there is no way to express our gratitude to Mr Murchison and Mr Hamacher for an absolute blast! Please check out the plethora of photos to get a taste of our delightful trip in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Jennéa, Year 8
Off on the start of another great "run"
Wipe outs rule!
Team 4-orce!
Always on patrol
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More lessons!!!
The ma
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Down the Swiss Slopes! five times fast’
Year 8 rivalr y
Home sweet home
Three Amigos
ajestic alps
Our playground
Having lessons
AndAAAaaaa!
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Three more amigos
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BSB Celebrates 10 Years This year BSB officially turned 10 and to celebrate this festive occasion BSB in collaboration with PTA organized a grand Ball in the new Bamboo Club function centre on Saturday the 13th of March. The invitation only event sold quickly with a guest list approaching 200, including the British Ambassador, Robin Barnett and a number of Bucharest's glitterati, and with the media in attendance to record the evening's festivities it certainly proved to be a night to remember. Kicking off at 8pm with drinks and a warmed felt welcome speech by school principal Jo Puddy-Wells and School President Corina Corda, the night quickly got underway with singer/performer Sarah Kemp flown in especially for the event, putting on an enjoyable cabaret style performance to get the guests up and dancing. Drinks, food, and entertainment carried on well into the early hours of the morning and left all present feeling that it was a night well-spent. A big thank you to Mrs Mager and the rest of the PTA for all their hard work and to the event sponsors Vodaphone, Worlds Class Gym, and Mr Cap for their raffle prizes. We’re already looking forward to the next PTA social event- this one is sure going to be hard to beat.
Everyone enjoying the show
The BSB Ball made the news, including television and printed press
Mrs Tiffany Moorcroft and Mrs Daniela Mager drawing the evening's prizes
Sarah Kemp entertaining everyone cabaret style
Mr Davidson and Mr Peet enjoying the night
Ms Kemp and Ms Rocio waiting for the next round of drinks
All dressed up and somewhere to go
Parents and guests wining, dining, and dancing the night away
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Drama Department Update The Drama Department has now finished the fourth show of the year from the various parts of the school but the latest was attributed to the secondary school. With the help of our primary colleague Mrs Dearman we managed to do a collection of numbers from Musicals both old and more modern and a series of parts from written plays, one of them being a GCSE piece of coursework. We were able to sing along to ´The Sound of Music¨, stamp our feet to the more frivolous ¨Grease¨, with a little help from our Year 12 Alvaro, who helped out at the last minute but we were also asked to think about the destruction of the rain forest by our Year 7 students. May from Year 10 charmed us with her rendition of Mystic Meg to the ever stereo typed casting of Saher as the ´Cool Dude!’, and the rest of the cast brought their own personalities to their parts, which was part of the exam process.
But mum you never listen
Chop those trees down!
The human needs to be taught a lesson
The vampire and werewolf meet
You’ve made your last wish!
Do not ask me to leave Rev. Mother
The Year 9´s delighted us with their masks helped by the Art and English Departments and the band played with their new vocalist Emma from Year 10. Next step forward starts immediately with the casting of the primary school, mainly Year 6´s for their final fling in Á Wind in the Willows´ Without the help of parents and their children the productions would never take place so we thank you once again and look forward to seeing you at the next show. Mr Kevin Kelly, Head of Drama
Why do you have to go on and on
JXD \HDU UDQ RQ R WH SUR XU 3DLQH WHFW )RUP LR W XOD Q 8
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BSB Radio: Taking It to the Next Level BSB Radio offers students at BSB an opportunity to be creative and to show to their peers what they can do! The radio programme has its own blog site where student radio shows and pictures are posted. Students at BSB really enjoy working with their friends on the radio project and it gives them a definite sense of accomplishment. Students at BSB have always taken an active position in information and communication technology (i.e. we have a number of students known as the “Tech Crew” available to help both teachers and students with any technological needs). BSB Radio aims to take it one step further by teaching students to edit their own radio shows with the Nero Media installation. Now students will be able to add sound effects and create different elements to their radio shows to give it a more realistic element. The aim of the BSB Radio Programme is to make all students familiar with the workings of a radio programme whether it be editing or creating a script for an actual show. BSB Radio is just another way that BSB takes educating students to the next level! 5M Radio Team
Ms Nicole Fisher, BSB Radio Coordinator
Raus aus der Klasse, rein in die Küche In Deutschunterricht haben wir Wörterbucher, Kopfhörer und Hefte gegen Schürze, Kochlöffel und Kochtöpfe getauscht. Wie kam es dazu? Vor zwei Wochen haben wir (Soo Min, Senia und Alex) Adam kennen gelernt, einen britischen Chefkoch, der 10 Jahre in Berlin gelebt hat, und folglich perfekt Deutsch spricht. Bei seinem ersten Besuch in der Deutschstunde haben wir uns im Allgemeinen über seinen Job, seine Hobbys, seinen Film-Geschmack und viele andere Themen unterhalten. Beim Abschied, haben wir ihn eingeladen, mit uns zusammen zu kochen. Er hat gerne zugesagt und am letzten Mittwoch vor den Osterferien war es soweit. Wir haben selbstgemachte Pasta mit Broccoli und Spargel in weißer Käsesoße gekocht. Es war lecker! Die Zutaten waren: 100 gr Mehl pro Ei Parmesan Weichkäse Majoran Creme-Fraiche
Kochen macht sehr viel Spass und Adam ist auch ein sehr guter Koch. Er gab uns ein paar Tipps, wie zum Beispiel: Beim Kochen muss man immer scharfe Messer haben. Mit einem stumpfen Messer schneidet man sich nur selber. Außerdem, wenn man auf einem Schneidebrett schneidet, sollte man ein nasses Tuch unter das Brett legen, damit es nicht wackelt und damit man sich nicht verletzt. Es ist wichtig, wenn man ein paar Minuten hat, den Arbeitsplatz sauber zu machen. Sonst hast du am Ende einen riesigen Spülberg, wie das bei uns leider der Fall war. Adam wird glücklicherweise in der „Healthy Schools Week“ wieder kommen, und wir freuen uns auf ihn. Senia, Year 11
Tasting the final product
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Pfeffer Öl Salz Broccoli Spargel
Soo Min preparing strips of pastry
Year 11 Students Cooking with Adam Hulme
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BSB Students compete in International Maths Competitions The secondary school students recently took part in two events to promote student interest in mathematics and to encourage students to extend their knowledge through the experience of participating in online math challenges and international mathematics competitions in which students from our school get to pit their wits against the more able students from other schools around the world. The Key Stage 3 students took part in the World Maths Day Challenge on the 3rd March. The computer automatically matched a BSB student up with three students to play against from around the world, with each of the students answering as many questions correctly in one minute. The students showed a fantastic level of enthusiasm for this challenge as students managed to answer over 38,000 mathematic questions correctly between them in a variety of areas relating to multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction, which is an average of about 1000 questions per student. This is a wonderful result as 1000 correct answers per student shows that there is a very strong mathematical base in Key Stage 3. Year 8 in particular did fantastically well with Jennea and Polen answering more than 5000 questions between them. Antonio (7H), Robert (7P) and Noor (9) also received certificates for their efforts. The Key Stage 4 students also took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge 2010 organised by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust. This competition was aimed at higher ability students and so I am especially proud that seven of our
Mr Leay with the Maths Challenge Winners
students were awarded special certificates for their work. Mihnea and Alexandra both received Silver awards, whilst Senia, Alex F., Tudor, Maria and May all received Bronze awards. These results are an early indication of the calibre of students in Key Stage 4 and I am confident will these results will be reflected in the IGCSE mathematics results coming up later in the year.
Congratulations to all those students who participated in these competitions. You have set a standard that will become the benchmark for future years. Mrs Jennifer Leay, Head of Mathematics
World Maths Day On Wednesday the 3rd of March BSB took part in the ‘World Maths Day’. This was an online competition available to schools from all around the world. Our Maths Coordinator Mr James Ward organised for all pupils from Year 1 through to Year 6 to take part. Pupils were allowed to play up to 100 games for each level. Each game was a 60 second race to answer as many questions as possible. There were 3 outcomes. 1. The highest overall score for a 60 second race. 2. The highest accumulated score for all games played. 3. Most improved score. The computer takes an average of all the games played throughout the competition for each child. It calculates each average at the beginning and then compares with the average at the end. As each child plays more games their progress is recorded and a most improved result is produced. We are pleased to announce that a child in 4D came 11th in the world for his age group for the highest accumulated score - CONGRATULATIONS Hitharth. Some statistics: 56,082 Schools took part from 35 countries with 1,133,246 students participating In all, 479,732,613 Questions correctly answered That’s a lot of Maths!
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
World Maths Day
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Book Week in EYFS
EYFS Book Week costume parade
EYFS celebrated World Book Week by each class focusing on a book for the week. These were decided upon by largely following the children’s interests. Creche based their week on The Very Hungry Caterpillar and were lucky enough to have the story read to them in four different languages with the help from different parents! Pre school had a Goldilocks and the 3 bears week complete with a cottage, 3 different sizes of beds, 3 different sizes
Reception E sharing a story
of chairs and even the bowls and spoons. There was also porridge tasting and stories read by parents. Reception E concentrated on Elmer the Elephant for their week, which inspired them to make some great art work and Reception C turned into jungle animals for the week! They read a selection of jungle related stories and even had a jungle in their classroom. There were also many other activities taking place throughout the week, including shared
stories with children from KS2, book making and our EYFS costume parade, where we sang songs and had the opportunity to show everybody our costumes. All in all, it was a great week and everybody enjoyed themselves. A special thank you to all the parents who came in to read to the classes. Ms Claire O Brien, EYFS teacher
World Book Week at BSB Book Day, which takes place during the annual BSB celebration of World Book Week March 4th- 9th, is the biggest annual celebration worldwide of books and reading, and was again this year a big event also for us here at BSB. The children from EYFS to KS2 were very busy with KS1 organising a competition for the best door cover, for which they all worked hard to replicate the cover of a famous book, XXL size, and to decorate their classroom door with it- congratulations to the winners, 2P and 2S. During the week the children from KS2 also went over to KS1 for the “book buddies” initiative, in which children from different year groups got together to do some shared reading. To celebrate the official World Book Day on the 4th March, children came to school dressed as their favourite book characters and some of the costumes (pupils and teachers) were amazing! Both KS1 and KS2 held special book assemblies, with guest readers and a parade of the costumes. Congratulations to all winners! Several parents also came to read aloud from their favourite books to their children’s class. Various activities were organised by class teachers and I’ve just found out from Mr Davidson how hard each child in 4D worked to put together the “book in the box” homework project, so well done to everyone in 4D.
Book week - Mrs Hearn reading to 4D
Cristina, Anouk, Ms French-Paris, Marillia and Anastasia, dressed up for Book Day
Reading Buddies
Door Book Cover, The very Hungry Caterpillar-by 2S
The Primary library also had on display the favourite books of our teachers, so that the students could get to know the teachers better by finding out what they like to read. And now it is time for me now to announce the winner of the “Guess Who’s Favourite Book This Is?” competition. Congratulations to Clara and Veronika in 4H who guessed all three books! They can come and collect their prizes from the Library. Happy reading! Ms Ana-Maria Marin, Primary School Librarian
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English Department The GREAT Events Reading Race It has certainly been full-speed ahead for the English Department as of late. I have scarcely had time to take a breath and it has been much the same scenario for Mr Peet. There have been a plethora of events taking place within the department. There have been not one but three activities prompted by World Book Day, the Regional and School Speech Competitions and, the granddaddy of them all, the Interschool Debate Competition which was hosted right here at BSB! The real reward of all this activity is witnessing the students in action. The Secondary Resource Centre has been packed with avid readers. The English Classes have been perpetually full of keen students battling through books or preparing for their big debates or speeches during breaks and lunchtimes. The frenzied activity is enough to make bees jealous. As a teacher it is great to see Louisa up representing BSB using poignant quotations to persuade the judges towards her team’s side; it is absolutely amazing to see groups of students banded together around a book trying to dupe their teachers; and it is an English teacher’s delight to see students who may struggle in class enjoying a novel in their own free-time in a jam-packed resource centre! As of late I’d have to say that I’m proud of everyone and take my hat off to salute both the department and its students. Mr Murchison, Head of English
Newlands celebrates World Book Day
portion of the proceeds made by the book shops will go directly to BSB. The last book sale raised almost 1500 Ron for the BSB library so keep turning the pages and I’ll see you there. Eda, Year 8
Yep! It’s just what it sounds like--a race in which you read. Everyone in Newlands got to partake in one of six events-the triathlon, the relay, the hurdles, the decathlon, the half-marathon and the big challenge--the marathon. The only difference is that instead of running, we have to read. In each race, there is a different amount of books that we need to read in our own time. There is a race for everyone, regardless of their reading level. Each ‘leg’ or book we read needs to be verified by our parents or teachers. What’s really novel (pardon the pun) is that we can take as long as we want to complete the race and that participation is the focus. ‘Like in a marathon, the more people we get running (reading) the more successful the race is. It is not how fast you read, the point of the reading race is simple—to get people to read.’
Example of Great Reading Race Challenge Sheet
Mr Murchison, Head of English.
‘I like the race because I get to choose the books I read.’ Basil, Year 7
Did you know that some teachers even entered the race? Mrs Puddy-Wells, Mrs Leay and Mr Murchison are all participating. Both Mrs Leay and Mr Murchison are in the half-marathon and as it currently stands Mrs Leay is in the lead- surprising for a Maths teacher don’t you think? When Mr Murchison was queried about this he responded, ‘I tripped at the start gun.’ He added with a smile, ‘I’ve regained my momentum and will try to catch Mrs. Leay; however she is a very nifty reader, I’m going to have my work cutout for me.’
Anthony Frost bookstand
Ana, Year 8
Stump the Trumps Have you ever felt the need to try and trick your teachers? We have, and on Monday 15th March we were given the perfect opportunity to do so. As a part of our World Book Week we were given the chance to take part in an event, we call ‘Stump the Trumps.’ The trumps were a panel of five including Mr Murchison, Ms Vollaire, Mrs Wells and two famous parents- Mrs Pillay and Mrs Spears. Our challenge was to try and stump them with an excerpt of a classic book! We were allowed to choose any classic book and survive a gauntlet of 10 ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions from the illustrious panel. Although only one group managed to fully ‘stump the trumps,’ it was a load of fun and I’m sure everyone enjoyed it while learning a lot! The spectacle was a roaring success and Mr Murchison has already received several requests to repeat the event next year. Ana, Year 8
Students preparing to ‘stump’ the teachers and guests
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
Anthony Frost Young Reader's Table
Nikita and Danial in a solitary reading race
Book Sale There were a lot of activities taking place on March 4th, after all it WAS ‘World Book Day’. Not the least of which was the Book Sale, however, it was easy for this event to get lost in the milieu; what with primary dressing as book characters, and amidst the frenzied pitch with which secondary headed into ‘The Great Reading Race’ and the ‘Stump the Trumps’ event. Nevertheless, there was indeed a hidden gem in the mix and it was the Book Sale, with both the Anthony Frost Bookstore and the Oxford Educational Book Centre setting up shop in the Parent’s Room for three days, providing us with a great variety of books to chose from. As a part of book week, Mr Murchison let us go to the Parents’ Room and browse to see if there was anything we liked. We were astonished as we crossed the threshold as it felt like we were really in a book shop. And guess what? There will be another book sale in May! In case you were looking for a good reason to buy books, besides reading them; a
Oxford Educational Centre bookstand
Students enjoying the Newlands resource centre
The next Bookshop Day at BSB is May 12, 13, and 14 - again in the Parent’s Room
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Learning to Debate I guess when people first think about debating, a lot of you probably think that debating is just a different form of public speaking. In a way, this is true, but it’s also a lot more. Debating requires the ability to stand up in front of an audience-just like when giving a speech. However, you also have to be quick to think on your feet. This is necessary, as you have to argue against the other team’s points.
In some cases, you don’t even know what you are going to be debating until 15 minutes before the debate! You must also be careful not to be too aggressive when replying to the opposing team. Another skill which is essential to debating is trying to throw the other team off track. We do this with Points of Information, or as we call them, POIs. Through these we try to interrupt the other team by offering them some information which states otherwise to what they have said, or we ask
them a question related to the topic that might be difficult to answer. Overall, debating is extremely educational, but at BSB we’ve made it more than just that. We’ve made it fun, and we all enjoy learning different tricks, tips and techniques from Mr Peet! Debating is something which I hope to continue using for the rest of my life! I look forward to seeing you at the next Debating Club meeting- Thursdays 3-4pm. Ana, Year 8
BSB Team 2
The final round in progress
Judging the morning session
BSB, Finals Team
LG Mobile phone winners
Louisa says no thank you to an IBSB POI
Cambridge, Finals Team in action
Mr Roy Chambers from IBSB Chairing the final round
Mr Jonathan Gayther Judging the final round
IBSB, Team 1
Left to right, the BSB, Cambridge, and IBSB debating teams
BSB students Head of UNICEF, Mr Edmond McLoughney receiving Haiti donation from BSB students
v
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BSB win Winston Churchill International School Debating Competition On Thursday the 25th of March, BSB hosted the first Bucharest International School Debating Competition, in which the Cambridge School, International British School of Bucharest and BSB all participated. The other schools arrived at 9am and debates began shortly afterwards. As a result of a draw, BSB had to go first against IBSB and second against Cambridge school. The first Debate was the motion “This house believes that animals should have equal rights as humans”. The first round BSB team consisted of Ana Y8, Senia, Y11 and myself, Louisa, Year10. IBSB won the toss and elected to take the position of the opposition, leaving BSB to argue in favour of the motion. It seemed a daunting task as the oppositions argument seemed the easier to argue, which is why IBSB opted to argue the opposition, but despite the odds BSB prevailed, winning the debate 3-0. Unfortunately our second debate against the Cambridge school did not go so smoothly and we did not win as the opposition, opposing the motion “This house believes that man by nature is evil”. The second BSB debating team consisted of Polen Y8, Mihnea Y10 and again, myself, Louisa Y10. In the end it was a close debate with BSB losing 1-2, with Mr Peet actually voting against BSB – I guess to give Cambridge a helping hand. I think both schools debated well and we definitely learnt quite a lot from the debate. Congratulations to Cambridge. The last debate before the finals was between IBSB and Cambridge School. After an intense debate over the motion that “This house believes
that in today’s world money equals happiness” Cambridge school managed to somehow win again by a narrow margin with a 2-1 judge’s decision. So it was BSB up against the Cambridge school of Bucharest in the finals after lunch. In the final round, instead of teachers from different schools judging the debate, Mr Jonathan Gayther from the British Council and Mr Edmond McLoughney of UNICEF graciously offered to attend the event and to judge the final round in order to ensure that the final decision was as fair and equitable as possible. Mr Chambers from IBSB kindly offered to act as Chairperson. The motion, which was presented by the British Council 15 minutes before the debate, was “This house Believes that the French Government was right to draft a law stating that women cannot cover their face in a public place” Cambridge were given the chance to choose to toss and losing the toss, BSB decided to argue the proposition. It was a very tough debate, which seemed to swing back and forth as the debate progressed and in the end it was a nail biting finish with all present sitting on the edge of their seats speculating as to who won in the end. We are happy to announce that the final decision was in favour of BSB and thus the winners of the Winston Churchill Debating Trophy for 2010, the individual team member trophies, the Road to IELTS Course Certificates, donated by the British Council, and the 120cm flat screen television, kindly donated by LG, went to BSB. The award ceremony was, however, enjoyable for everyone present because the winning team did not get
all the prizes on offer. 5 LG Chocolate phones were given out to those who debated the best in different areas: Best overall speaker: Elena, Year 10, The Cambridge School of Bucharest Best first speaker: Ana, Year 8, The British School of Bucharest Best second speaker: Andrei, Year 13, The International British School of Bucharest Best third speaker: Eugen, Year 11, The Cambridge School of Bucharest Best reply speaker: Louisa, Year 10, The British School of Bucharest Best EAL speaker was awarded to Amina, The Cambridge School of Bucharest All participants received IELTS prizes from the British Council. There was also a special presentation made to Mr McLoughney, the Director of UNESCO Romania, as the BSB Secondary School had been fundraising the week before and made a cash donation, presented by Louisa and Senia, from the Student Council, of almost 1000 euro toward the Haiti relief fund. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to say a very special thank you to LG for sponsoring the event, to the British Council for supporting this event, providing the trophies and various prizes, and to Mr Peet for his time and effort in organising this event. Overall, it was an enjoyable and educational experience and everyone came out with a prize. We look forward to the Bucharest International School Debate next year. Louisa, Year 10
The BSB Debating Team celebrating winning the International school debate left to right: Senia, Louisa, Polen, Mihnea, and Team Coach Mr Peet (Ana was camera shy)
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
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Primary Physical Education – What Can ‘I’ Do? GAMES AND INVASION GAMES LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
I can stop/catch a ball with basic control
I can stop/catch a ball with control
I am beginning to influence opposed conditioned games
I can control and catch a ball & accurately pass whilst moving
I can send a ball in the direction of another person
I can pass a ball to someone else
I can control and stop/catch a ball with movement
I can take part in conditioned games with under-standing of tactics & rules
I can take part in sending and receiving
I can take part in opposed conditioned games
I can move with a ball (hockey / football), and I can accurately pass to someone else
I can move with a ball in opposed situations (hockey/ football)
I can talk about exercising, safety & short term effects of exercise
I understand about exercising, safety & short term effects of exercise
I can talk about reasons for warming up / why exercise is good for health
I understand and use principles of warm up & why exercise is good for health
GYMNASTICS LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
I can copy & explore basic actions with some control & co-ordination
I can copy, remember, explore & repeat simple actions varying speed & levels
I can copy, remember, explore & repeat simple actions, and link & vary ideas with control & co-ordination
I can link ideas, skills & techniques with control, precision & fluency when performing basic skills
I have begun to choose & link basic actions, and I can recognise & use space appropriately
I am beginning to select simple actions to construct basic sequences
I can apply compositional ideas to sequences alone & with others
I understand composition by performing more complex sequences
I can watch & discuss my own work & that of my peers
I am beginning to identify the difference between my performance & that of others
I can describe my own & others work noting similarities & differences. I can make suggestions for improvements
I can describe how to refine, improve & modify performance
I can safely perform teacher led warm-up & I am aware of others
I understand the need for warm up & cool down, and also what is happening to my body during exercise
I understand working safely, I recognise changes in my body and can give reasons why PE is good for health
I can demonstrate specific aspects of warm-up & describe effects of exercise on the body
STRIKING AND FIELDING LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
I can hold select and hold a bat correctly, I can attempt to catch ball, I can attempt to throw a ball
I can bat with control, I can catch the ball, I can throw the ball with control
I know how to hold equipment, I know why to stop the ball, when to throw a ball and attempt to
I can attempt to hit the ball forward, attempt long/short barrier, throw accurately, with 1 bounce
I can watch someone perform
I can identify phases of movement in performance
I can compare my work with others
I can identify strengths and weaknesses in my own and others performance
I can bat at a target and I can catch certain objects
I can understand batting technique, catching and throwing techniques
I can select and apply why and when to perform a skill
I try to use batting, fielding and throwing skills in a game situation
I can talk about exercising, safety & short term effects of exercise
I understand about exercising, safety & short term effects of exercise
I can talk about reasons for warming up / why exercise is good for health
I understand and use principles of warm up & why exercise is good for health
LEVEL 4
Range Of Levels Within Which The Greater Majority Of Pupils Are Expected To Work
Expected Attainment For The Majority Of Pupils At The End Of The Key Stage
Key Stage 1
1-3
At age 7
2
Key Stage 2
2-5
At age 11
4
In the Physical Education curriculum there are levels of attainment that indicate where students should be working at for the various units of work that are covered according to their age and development. The units of work that classes are covering within the school year in KS1 and KS2 PE classes include: Swimming, Games, Athletics, Dance,
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LEVEL 3
Gymnastics, Invasion Games, Striking and Fielding and Net Games. In PE, students are motivated learners who are acquiring and developing skills, learning how to select and apply skills, tactics and compositional ideas. Students in PE at BSB are evaluating and improving their performance and
developing a thorough knowledge and understanding of fitness and health. During the spring term the KS1 and KS2 students have been getting a lot of enjoyment out of participating in Gymnastics, Games, Invasion Games and Striking and Fielding activities. Students can look at the tables to
see where they are performing for the current unit of work and they can set attainable goals for where they would like to be and how they can work towards getting there with the help of their teachers. Ms Billie Jones, PE Teacher
Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
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Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
Learning to cope with change: from EYFS to Key Stage 1 One of the major calendar events of any school is the process of “moving up a class’. The teachers find this as an exciting time as the children dothe children generally see it as an important rite of passage as they grow and mature. Parents are also involved in the excitement and not only in the capacity of buying new school uniform, but also getting to know the new teacher and learning about the new curriculum. “Moving up” or Transition is a very emotional time which needs to be dealt with sensitively and carefully with appropriate planning so as to ensure that the children and the parents know what to expect and feel supported throughout the process from year to year. The experience with classroom transition is also important because the way we deal with transition as adults is potentially influenced by how we were guided and encouraged to deal with transition as children.
they do not understand. The routines are different to those of home and so they have no way of marking the passing of time which will return them to home and the life they understand. Starting school in EYFS In the Foundation Stage classes at BSB the day is planned so that the majority of routines in accordance with the EYFS are flexible and easily adapted to be able to support the needs of the children, and parental involvement is encouraged so that the children feel secure and cared for; as is the relationship between parents and teachers encouraged, so that a partnership develops to support the child. This is an important transition time for two individuals, the child and the parent, particularly if it’s a child’s first day at school. Part of the success of the Foundation stage is that teachers are encouraged to give the children time to settle into their new environment and adjust to being away from parents and home. So for the comfort of the child we try to make sure that the first few months in school shares similarities with the home environment. Changes, which introduce students to school life, are gradually introduced so that the child is comfortable, relaxed and confident. Changes to Key Stage 1 to improve individual childhood development
EYFS Gafencu students enjoying outdoor pursuits
For young children one of the major Transition changes for them is leaving home and spending the majority of their day in school without their parents, with several other adults, all of whom they do not know, in a building they do not know, and for many children hearing and being spoken to in a language
When children go on to Key Stage 1 they also go into what is referred to as the National curriculum. Many people consider this to be the real start of school when the child stops playing and starts to learn. But substantial research has shown that “play“ is one of the main methods in which children learn. Play is very important in allowing young children time to follow their interests using play as the learning vehicle, as in the Foundation stage, where they are too young to follow direction to specific activities and outcomes which do not interest them. As children begin to develop in the next Key Stage they can be directed more specifically toward certain tasks, but still be allowed and in some cases encouraged to use play to achieve their outcomes. In traditional Key Stage 1 classes, the
EYFS Students enjoying music lessons with Mr Jonathan Crispin-Moore
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main difference from Foundation Stage classes are that the day is very structured with adult led activities, which begin immediately from the first day of the year. The classroom is furnished like a traditional class room and the organisation of the day is tightly timetabled and parents are encouraged to stay at the gate! So creating for the child a potentially stressful transition where survival becomes the aim of the day rather than continuing to develop and learn, with school now having no resemblance to what the child understood as school. Over the past year BSB has looked very carefully at the Transition process of the children from Foundation stage to Key Stage 1; and supported by the latest national research BSB are developing plans to continue the implementation and achievement of the objectives of the National Curriculum but in a way that the children recognise. This will be mainly in the way the classrooms are organised: the rooms will have subject resourced activity areas with specific tasks to support and extend the particular objectives, yet allowing the children the opportunity to develop their own lines of interest and learning. The daily timetables will become more flexible so that the children have time to follow these interests whilst also having small group, adult led objective specific teaching sessions catering to individual development. And parents will be encouraged to come into the class rooms for the first few minutes of the day….. that is always supposing that the child wants this. As again the process of transition from a young child to a Key Stage 1 child often makes the child discourage Mum from coming into the classroom!! During the summer term parents have been invited to various workshops to explain the changes. If you would like to attend one of the summer workshops on childhood development, please contact the office for more information on dates and times. Ms Kath Homer, EYFS Gafencu Coordinator
Gafencu EYFS Students enjoying lunch
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Key Stage 3 Textiles: Eco Bag Project Update “It’s a lot of fun making the logo” Ana, Yr 8
“An Eco Friendly and fun way to celebrate a decade of BSB” Jennea, Yr 8 “I have learnt how to use wonder web when sewing and to embellish fabrics with decorative sewing” Naomi, Yr 8 “Making Eco Bags is helping to make BSB more sustainable, because we can actually use our bags when we go shopping in Bucharest” Miriam, Yr 8 Ana Yr 8
Eda Yr 8
Sophie Yr 8 logo design and applique panel
Mariam Yr 7
Diana Yr 8 working on the sewing machine
Jennea and Miriam Yr 8 working on their logo designs
Naomi Yr 8 using the iron to create her logo
Megan Yr 7
Polen Yr 8 logo design process
Nikita Yr 8
Shani Yr 9
Transition Year 6 to 7 – Stage 1 On Wednesday 31st March the Secondary School invited Year 6 parents for their annual first stage meeting. Transitioning from Primary School into Year 7 is such an exciting step and preparation is the key, therefore there are 4 stages planned. The first is ‘Meet the Year 6 Parents’ to familiarise them with aspects of the Secondary School routine, the planned curriculum, the pastoral system of care and how this links in with the current PHCSE curriculum. The second phase is whereby our current Year 7 students visit Year 6 to share with them their experiences of Secondary school at BSB and to reassure them that everything will be fine! The third phase is when Year 6 Students visit the Secondary School for half a day. Students in Year 6 are used to being in the Secondary building for their MFL lessons and some ICT but on this day they are taught some lessons in the core subjects of English, Maths and Science. The fourth and final stage is whereby our Year 6 teachers Ms Ullman and Mr Hamacher meet our Secondary Assessment Coordinator to transfer assessment data to our Secondary School Assessment database. Once this is complete our Year 6’s become Year 7’s in September! We are looking forward to meeting you and getting ready for your arrival. Ms Jen Kemp, Assistant Head of Secondary
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
Dates: Stage 1
11/03/10 Rearranged 31/03/10
Year 6 Parents Invited to Secondary
Stage 2
19/05/10
Year 7 Students to visit Primary
Stage 3
9/06/10
Year 6 Students to visit Secondary
Stage 4
TBC
Year 6 teachers meet with Sec AssCo
Year 6 on their mountain expedition this year
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Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
Recycling Computers BSB values recycling and aims to limit excess use of resources as well as re-use and recycle materials wherever possible. Recently BSB upgraded some of the computers and technical equipment that were being used in the primary ICT suites. The resources we are now using are much better for enhancing and supporting pupils’ learning and also help to speed up and simplify aspects such as printing and publishing work. However, we were left with several machines that, although not suitable for use in school with the demands placed upon them, were still potentially valuable tools for others. We were delighted to learn that a local company were able to make good use of them. A collection date was organised and the computers and other equipment were last seen on their way to serve a new purpose. As with pupils and staff who move on from BSB, we are thrilled to hear that all the electrical gear has settled in well to its new location. We wish it all the best for a long and profitable future. Mr Stuart Harrison, Charity Committee
ICT Donation
Spanish Theatre Festival On the 7th of March, students who chose Spanish as their modern foreign language had the opportunity to watch a play called The Elevator or El Ascensor in its original language – Spanish. The performance was on at Palatul Copiilor. It was about some people trapped in the elevator in the mall and discovering what are the important issues of life. Although I didn’t understand much, I understood that all the people were complaining to the director and telling him why they are so angry, and the director then would try to calm them down. In the end they got freed and everybody continued with their normal life but with an experience they would remember forever. Ana, Year 7H
I really enjoyed the experience of watching other secondary students from schools across Romania performing a play in Spanish. I hope that in time my students at BSB will be able to put on a similar play in Spanish! There is a lot of acting talent around, as everyone could witness at the Secondary Production.
Ms Rocio and Ana enjoy the Spanish play
Ms Rocío, Spanish teacher
Spanish theatre festival
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Spanish play
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Light into Europe Visit BSB Secondary
May, Year 10 and Denis, Year 11, meeting Chloe and her trainer
Light into Europe visited BSB Secondary on Monday 8th March. We were very lucky as the organisation also brought along Chloe the guide dog. Some BSB Secondary students have met Chloe before but for others this was a first time experience. Students asked very mature questions about the organisations objectives and gathered more of an insight into the work Light into Europe does
Ms Greenwood presenting Light into Europe with a donation from the BSB Secondary School and the PTA
in Romania. Their main aim is to help sensory disadvantaged children and young people to improve their lives, to expand their possibilities and to become active and accepted members of the society. As Light into Europe is one of BSB’s focus charities, Ms Greenwood presented the representatives with money raised from BSB charity events and the PTA.
Light into Europe started in 1986 with medical and humanitarian projects across Europe. Since 2004, efforts have been focused on supporting two groups: the sight impaired and the hearing impaired. For more information visit http://www.lightintoeurope.org/ Ms Jen Kemp, Assistant Head of Secondary
More than Just a Bake Sale… This year, Able, Gifted and Talented students decided to focus on the issue of stray dogs in Bucharest. They have done hours of research on the topic and are focused on educating other pupils on why stray dogs are a problem and how that problem can be solved. One way in which the AG&T students have found to help stray dogs is to raise money for the organisation R.A.R. (Romanian Animal Rescue Organisation). R.A.R is a non-profit organisation which travels around Romania spaying, neutering and vaccinating stray dogs. In order to effectively reach as much of the stray dog population as possible, they use a second hand and fairly aged mobile clinic. As the mobile clinic is not as functional as it could be, they have decided to buy a new second hand one, but with no funds, they rely only on donations. AG&T students are coming to the rescue. They have set a goal of raising 2,000 lei to donate to the organization. The question that has been on everyone’s mind is how can they
possibly raise all that money? The AG&T students brainstormed together until they came up with two viable options: A) They would have bake sales to raise the money, B) They would ask students to bring in used toys which would then be resold at their bake sale.
Daniel, 5M “We brainstormed a few ideas (about how to raise money for stray dogs) and realized we could sell toys and cakes and stuff at the same time. We even ate a few of the cupcakes from time to time.”
AG&T students were responsible for planning every detail of their project from creating posters/ fliers for the bake sale to projecting their profit. They even made everything that they sold. Here’s what some students had to say when they were interviewed about their preparations for the bakes sale: Thomas, 6U “We made over one hundred cookies and cupcakes. The hardest part of the experience was setting up the snacks and toys and also pricing them. The best thing about the bake sale is how many stray dog’s lives will have changed forever. It’s also great that the resold toys will now be in the hands of people who enjoy them!”
Thomas 6U and Daniel 5M talk about their A, G & T bake sale plans
The AG&T students held their bake sale on the 26th of May and it was a major success! They raised 486 lei. The group is planning another bake sale for the 7th of May with hopes that it will be even more successful than the last. Ms Nicole Fisher, Able, Gifted & Talented Coordinator
Rodney 4D, Amelia 4D, David 4H - Deciding on prices of toys for the sale
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
25
Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
What’s been going on in the BSB Art room? Yet another exciting term in the Art Department. Pupils and parents alike have been busy creating exceptional works of art on paper and canvas as well as sculptural pieces. It has been a delight to see the work in progress and I would like to congratulate everyone on their remarkable achievements! Year 7 have been working on masks We started off by looking at a variety of masks, including African, Venetian and Chinese. After we had researched all about different masks and their amazing features we started to plan our own masks designs. Everyone had a different idea in mind; some were very exaggerated, but they all stood out in one way or another. We began the mask making process by cutting out our mask template, we then added our main features using papier mâché. After smoothing the edges we painted a white base coat and then carefully (in pencil then pen) drew guide lines on our mask so we knew where our designs and patterns would go. In the end we managed to make an amazing mask, with great detail! I look forward now to painting them. Olivia,Year 7
Johann's mask takes shape
Stretching Art in Year 8 Walking into a Year 8 Art lesson, you might think that the class has gone a bit bonkers as the portraits created by us this term are very odd indeed! From odd-sized eyes to elongated necks and from swollen noses to long, floppy ears- the Art room has it all. The reason for this? The new Art topic is ‘Portraits and Distortion!’
Jennea elongates Pluto’s ears...
We have been looking at a new form of art which involves us blowing certain areas of an image out of proportion so that the image is slightly muddled; our theme being portraits of celebrities - what fun! First, we chose a celebrity and found an image of their face. Next, Ms Greaney showed us how to split up the image with a grid. We then created a distorted enlarged grid on paper which guided us in creating a distorted portrait. We added bright complimentary colours (colours on the opposite side of the colour spectrum) to the completed drawing.
Egor’s mask is now ready for pattern making and paint
Pretty soon, the entire room was scattered with amazing artworks of blue, orange, red, green, yellow and purple! We then started adding texture to our finished paintings with sand, salt, corrugated card, crepe paper and even foil and many wonderful masterpieces were created during this project! Some who had finished earlier started work on a 3-dimensional distorted portrait using a small box and papier maché and work is currently still being done on this project.
Miriam’ s wonderful impression of Mickey Mouse
So far, this project has been tons of fun whilst still stretching our art abilities and minds! We would like to thank Ms Greaney very much for everything so far! Jennea, Year 8
Hristo has completed his first layer of paint on his dinasour mask
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Hyo Min’s colourful study of Britney Spears
Naomi’s textured portrait
Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
Perspective in Year 9 Our buildings and perspective project was interrupted so that we could make animal masks for our performance in the Easter School Production. We made a rhino, fox, elephant, cheetah and buffalo using mod roc and acrylic paints. We added sticks to them to make them masquerade masks. We had a lot of fun making the masks and the performance was a great success.
really helped us when experimenting with different techniques, materials and styles. I have been pleasantly surprised at how well we have developed our artistic skills and would like to give Ms Greaney a well deserved thank you! Jasmina, Year 10
Noor, Year 9
Andreea experiments with a range of paints
Senia puts the finishing touches on her artwork
Maria creates elaborate leaves for the rainforest scene
Marina’s character the lion was made by Noor and painted by Vanessa
Soo Min adds detail to her silhouette of London
Jasmina creates a waterfall in the rainforest
Year 11 Work Rest and Play We have been preparing for our IGCSE art exam which has the theme ‘Work Rest Play’. This is an eight week process where we complete coursework in preparation for our final piece. So far we have researched different artists, including Jasper Johns, Roy Lichenstein and Ed Hopper, and have completed a study of our chosen artist’s work focusing on their use of materials and techniques. We are currently working on observational drawings, experimentation and development. I feel like a coal miner at the moment as I am using charcoal and chalk pastels on my drawing. On April the 19th we also started our iGCSE art exam. Panayotis’s character the elephant was created by Shani
Soo Min's tonal sketch of the Taj Mahal
Senia, Year 11
IGCSE work on the school production in Year 10 In art this term we have been working really hard on painting rainforests, mountains and a desert for the Easter School Production. The canvases will be part of our GCSE assessment and I am sure that we have all achieved good grades as a result of our hard work and creativity. It was a very positive and fun experience working as part of a group, and learning about scenic painting made us experts in colour mixing and applying a wide range of brushstrokes to the canvas. During Term 2 we have researched about different artists and this
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
Senia’s pastel drawing of guitar strum
Andreea’s artist research
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Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
Primary House Team Report As we approach the final term the race for the house team cup is heating up. Arges are just in the lead with 3325 points though Olt are not far behind with 3256 points. Mures are in third place with 3169 points and Danube have a little catching up to do during the summer with 2937 points. The children recently had their interhouse sports competition which was hotly contested. Here are the results: With plenty of time left to go in the year the winner’s title is still up for grabs so keep on trying! There are also lots more events which will be taking place in the summer term so there are plenty of opportunities to gain some extra points for your house. Good luck!
Year 3 & 4 Girls Hockey:
Yr 3 & 4 Boys Football:
1st
Arges
1st
Danube (On goal difference by 1 goal)
2nd
Mures
2nd
Arges
3rd
Danube
3rd
Mures
4th
Olt
4th
Olt
The Year 3 and 4 football competition
Yr 5 & 6 Girls Hockey:
Yr 5 & 6 Boys Football:
1st
Mures
1st
Danube
2nd
Olt
2nd
Olt
3rd
Equal Arges & Danube (Dead heat - both scored a total of 2 goals)
3rd
Mures
4th
Arges
The Year 3 and 4 girls in action
Primary House Captain Reports Awesome Arges
Danube Rocks!!!
Jarod House Captain Arges
Dilara House Captain Danube
In Term 2 Awesome Arges worked very hard and so we are becoming unbeatable. First of all, I would like to thank all of the members for their hard work. We have almost achieved our goal of first place. Some students have been working very hard like: Calin 6U, Ethan 5L, Lucie 6H, Raphaela 6U, Pelin 4D and Lena 3W. Actually, every body has been working and doing all they can to help the team. Olt is still behind us, but they are slowly creeping forward. So, we have to stay awake Arges, and by awake I mean we can’t give up. Listen, if you have an idea come and see me or Lucie. Starting from March 22nd the P.E. teachers began to give House Points for improvement, co-operation, teamwork and encouragement. So, let’s get those house points and we will win the house competition this year. Whether we win or we lose depends on you. By the way, our future and ultimate goal is to win BSB Sports Day!
In Term 2 Danube worked really hard, but couldn’t achieve the goal we set ourselves. Danube was very dangerous and dynamic, but unfortunately wasn’t able to work hard enough to get into first place. Danube is as bright and big as the river itself but had some problems passing hard obstacles. I hope and believe that Danube will surprise me a lot and will write history. Every week new ways of getting house points have appeared. For example, the PE department has launched a new way of getting house points; students who make improvements, encourage other people, play fair, or co-operate with their friends get five house points each. This is great news because Danube is very good at sports. GO DANUBE!!!! YOU ROCK!!!
Jarod, 6H, Arges House Captain
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Dilara, 6H, Danube House Captain
Mighty Mures
Thomas House Captain Mures
It was a very exciting term for Mures in Term 2. We have now caught up with House Points and are challenging Olt and Arges for the title! We are putting forth 100% and are working together and this is important. We have also done well in the recent House Competitions, with the Year 5 and 6 girls winning the hockey title. However, not focusing solely on house points, you can see that we are like a family in Mures. We are good friends and enjoy the company of each other. I think everyone in Mures should be proud of themselves. I believe there is no house anyone would be happier to be a part of. Keep up the good work! Thomas, 6U, Mures House Captain
Incredible Olt
Eleanor House Captain Olt
Term 2 was very exciting for Olt, especially with the House Team Competition, where the girls played hockey and the boys played football. Everyone tried their hardest to win. The girls did a great job when they were losing and were able to come back at the end to earn three points. We have also been trying to earn a lot of house points by putting a lot of effort in our lessons. Thank you Olt for all of your effort. Keep up the good work! Eleanor, 6U, Olt House Captain
Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
3500
3500
3000
3000
2500
2500
2000
2000
1500
1500
1000
1000
500
500
0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Primary house point chart
Secondary house point chart
Secondary House Competition Report to April 2010 The Titans are falling! Good news for all Arges, Danube and Olt followers, the leaders Mures are within sight. As reported in February, Mures have led the House Point race since week 3 of the competition. At the height of their success, Mures were over 300
points in the lead and now their grasp of the lead is slipping. The other houses have dropped a gear and are now catching up, with Danube in hot pursuit. The totals will change after Easter for sure as the winners of the Inter-House competition will
be announced, the only question remains is who will be in the lead. Until next time point spotters! Mr Pantella, House Competition Coordinator
House
Total
Arges Danube Mures Olt
2322 2384 2617 1961
Afterschool Football Training with FC Bats FC Bats is a football academy that uses the BSB Dome on Wednesday and Saturdays for high quality football training. The FC Bats Football Academy offers a well-structured football training program and is currently working toward forming an official football club that will join the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) and compete in the National Junior League. There are 2 training sessions per week; on Wednesdays after school and on Saturday mornings, in age groups as follows:-
Juniors ( 7 up to 11 year olds) Seniors (11 up to 14 year olds) Upper Seniors (14 to 17 year olds)
Wednesdays 4 - 5pm 5 - 6pm 6 - 7pm
Saturdays 10.00am - 11.30am 11.30am - 1.00 pm 1.00pm - 2.30pm
The FC Bats trainer is Marian Bucureanu a high calibre, professional head trainer who has been a FRF registered trainer since 1986 and prior to that was himself a professional player. Most recently he has trained the National Under 17’s team so he has important age specific experience for FC Bats players. His long established history and reputation within the FRF is also invaluable in helping to advise on meeting FRF accession requirements. Football Subs are 200ron per month. Contact person: Mrs. Claudia, email: fcbats@yahoo.com Working as an assistant coach FC Bats is a fun opportunity for kids of many ages to show and practice their skills and be trained by our two professional coaches. We currently have players from a number of international schools- all players are aged between 6-14. We train during the week on Wednesday and play games on Saturday mornings. Saturday is the preferred day as we play more games then, however in order for us to really train and enjoy the beauty of the game we should also use the training session on Wednesday. In these sessions, we look to improve skills by getting players to work with the ball as often as possible, using small sided games to give players opportunities to showcase learned skills and to try new ones as well. FC Bats is a great opportunity for kids of most ages to practice the sport of football and have a blast doing it! Basil, Year 7
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
Basil, 7P
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BSB students attend International School Chess Invitational
Aaron making his move
Jarod, 1 for 1
Fillipo thinking about his next move
Basil about to move his rook in for the kill
Johann giving an advanced player a tough game
Fin going in for the kill
Ege focused on victory
Tudor locked in battle
Mihnea, making his move
On Wednesday April 21st, the chess players of BSB visited AISB (American International School of Bucharest) to take part in the first annual international schools chess invitational tournament. The actual venue of the tournament was one of AISB’s gymnasiums, in which several chess boards were set up. Players of approximately the same level, but from different schools, played one another to gain points for their school. The points were then added up and divided by the number of participants from the respective school so that an average score could be worked out. The students participating ranged in age from 10 to 18 years old and from absolute beginners to experts. The aim of the tournament was to bring students together from different schools in order for students to have fun playing a game they all enjoy. All in all, I think everyone from BSB who attended the Chess Invitational would say that it was a fun and enjoyable afternoon. All of our chess players played 5 of 6 games in the
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afternoon each and most managed at least one win, with some students winning 3 or four matches. At the end of the Chess playing each student and teacher received a T-shirt commemorating the event with the infamous 4 move check mate printed on the back of it. The director of AISB Mr Brian Roach thanked all those present for attending and said that he hoped this event will be repeated in future years. The BSB chess team is keenly waiting for this event next year, after having had this year’s practice of playing with opponents from different schools. The BSB chess team would like to thank Mr Peet for helping to organise the trip to AISB. Mihnea, Year 10, [Won 4, lost 2 J]
Swiss Made
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GCE A Levels and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Explained When choosing an International school parents are often faced with the dilemma of choosing between a school offering GCE and A Levels and a school offering the IB Program. It can be confusing for parents trying to understand both systems in order to decide which course is best for their children. Why does BSB teach GCE A levels and not the IB Program? In the UK there are at present over 4,000 state schools and 2,500 independent schools. Approximately 90 schools of these (less than 1%) now offer the International Baccalaureate as an alternative. As a British school, The British School of Bucharest’s foundations are firmly rooted in offering a British style of education, and so the school closely follows the English and Welsh National Curriculum, which currently offers General Certificate Examinations (GCE) in Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced (A2) subjects. We continually review alternative programmes of study, as we passionately believe in always looking to offer the best opportunities for our students, however, at this moment the GCE A Level system is the most popular system used in the UK, currently used by over 99% of school in the UK, and so as a British School, it is important that we align our school with the educational expectations in the UK. We have full confidence in the Gold Standard GCE A levels offered throughout the UK and in many international schools around the world and for this reason will continue to teach our students using the GCE A Level Curriculum. What are the main differences between GCE A levels and the International Baccalaureate: The findings in a recent QCA report were that ‘A level and IB examinations were comparable in the demands they placed on candidates, but with differences in approach.’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/ education/3346299.stm
Some of the key similarities/differences: GCE A levels
IB
2 year program
2 year program
4 or 5 subjects at AS level (Year 1) with a minimum Of 3 at A2 level (Year 2).
6 areas of study (broad field)
Focused on personal preferences
Combination of subjects (compulsory sections)
Exams both in Yr 12 and Yr 13
Exams at end of second year
Can pick up new subjects in Yr 13
Have to study Ext Essay, TOK and Community
UK Gold Standard
Less opportunity to mix and match
UK content focused
International content focus
Accepted in UK and international
Accepted internationally and UK
Choose to take on enrichment aspects
Enrichments studies built in
Offers points entry system
Offers grade entry system
Individual certificates for each subject
A pass certificate or a Diploma (24 points or over)
There are differences between the GCE A level curriculum and the IB Program but in the end the truth is that both systems offer rigorous courses of study in the various subject areas and have the ability to produce students of the highest academic ability.
For further reading on the GCE A level and IB Programs, please refer to the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IB_Diploma_ Programme http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_levels
Choosing a school When choosing a school it is advisable to take the time to look closely at the school and the way the students behave. Take the time to meet the teachers and to look through samples of current student course books because it is more often than not the teachers that make the most significant difference to the learning environment and it is usually the teachers more than the school that we remember when reflecting on the quality of our own education. We always remember the good teachers!
New Parent’s Café Open for Business We would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to our maintenance staff who during the Easter Holiday gave a new look to our Parent’s Room. The room has received a makeover and now has a brand new modern floor and also access to a bathroom. There will also be a new shop as part of the upgrade which should be open for businesses by the time this publication comes out- not to spoil the surprise, but word has it that it will be a place where we can ‘attack’ a ‘snack’. The shop will also serves drinks, including freshly made coffee, so you will be able to relax with a coffee or a cup of tea on one the garden tables outside before or after dropping your children off at school. We look forward to seeing you at the parent’s café soon. Ms Adina Suciu, Front Office
The British School of Bucharest Magazine
New parent's room renovations near completion
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Friendship week in EYFS
All singing together
Rainbow fish display
When it was the whole school friendship day EYFS decided to extend it into a friendship week. We used it as an opportunity to work together as a unit and think about what being a friend really means.
biscuits for each other, completing activities with our twin classes and reading friendship stories. We had circle time about who are friends are, what we like doing with them and why we should be kind.
We started with an assembly where Ms Tiffany read the story of the rainbow fish – this story shows us the joy of sharing. We all then worked together to make a giant Rainbow Fish.
We all had a lovely singing session in the disco room. All the classes joined together with Mr Jonathan and the EYFS staff and shared some songs together. It was really nice to see all the children joining in and sharing a very pleasant time together.
Other activities in our classes included making
Our main event was the friendship hunt where the children, teachers and teaching assistants were placed in mixed groups and went around the whole BSB site following clues. The clues led to different parts of the school where we found trays containing photographs. We had to find two pictures in each tray of children in our group. We all had a wonderful, friendly time. Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, EYFS coordinator Pipera
EYFS Enjoying the Great Outdoors Down in EYFS we have been taking advantage of the spring sunshine this half term with all classes enjoying a lot of time spent outdoors. Staff and children have been working together to update our outdoor learning areas, making fun and interesting environments where the children can access all six areas of learning and extend their knowledge, learning and development beyond the classroom. Crèche have been busy in their garden and have also made regular trips to the Ringwood building to join up with both Pre-school and Reception, learning alongside each other in the garden and other outdoor areas. The Pre-school class have been particularly busy in the garden, planting seeds and bulbs and preparing to grow their own foods for healthy snacks in school. They are even growing cress in different shapes! Meanwhile, the two Reception classes have been equally busy outdoors. They have been planting and growing, weaving, exploring nature and much more. All the classes have also been very excited to see Happy the tortoise again after her long winter’s hibernation and the children have really enjoyed feeding her and helping to look after her now that she is out and about again. We have also been very lucky to have some frogs in the garden so the children have been having some fantastic discussions about these and other animals. Although we enjoyed the snowy weather during the winter months, the sunshine means much more of our learning can be done outside with the advantage of the space and surroundings. Being busy outdoors means we can access nature and work on a much larger scale. This includes large scale painting and craft, using natural resources such as compost, mud, water and sand, and lots of other messy jobs, so it is important that the children still have spare clothes in school. The children in EYFS love working outside in the natural environment across all areas of learning, and we are looking forward to much more outdoor learning in the coming weeks. Ms Claire Cowlishaw, Reception Class Teacher
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Creche took advantage of the warmer weather, enjoying a carpet session in the creche garden
Reception C Talking about Nature
Pre-school children enjoying some fresh cabbage whilst exploring in their ’boat’
Reception E weaving materials
KS1 Friendship Day For Friendship Day in KS1 this year we took the time to appreciate our old friends and to make some new ones. We talked about how to be good friends to one another and tried to perform acts of kindness throughout the day. We also wrote and delivered thank-you letters for kind deeds that had been done for us. As a whole class, we played games like ‘Human Chain’, ‘Human Knot’ and ‘Ball Relay Race’. We had a lot of fun working together to complete the challenges. As Emaan in 2S said, “It’s hard to work together, but when we cooperate it’s more fun.” Finally, we used straws and paint to make beads for friendship bracelets. Most of us made more than one bracelet that day, since we discovered that there are great friends all around us!
Sai and Sebastian from 1C exchange friendship bracelets.
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A day in the life... This article is the first in a new series for Newsblast, sharing a typical day for different sections of the school. Preschool M When the children arrive in Preschool they meet their friends in the playground at the front of Ringwood. As each one arrives there is much excitement, ‘look Ms Tiffany, Mariam is here’. When school starts at 8:30 we make our way to the classroom. The children are now really independent at taking off their own coats and hanging up their things. It is great to hear them chatting to each other as they do this. The class are all very proud that they can recognise their own name cards, as well as those of their friends, and sign their 1st initials to show they are in school. The class are always excited about entering the classroom as there are often some surprises waiting for them something new to choose, a different role play area and one day there was even a kitten! . Many of the children like to show their mums and dads things in the classroom that they like. At 9:00 we have a short carpet time, this could be a story to do with our theme, learning some new vocabulary through sign language, working on the Interactive Whiteboard or sharing something the children have brought in. The rest of the morning is busy, busy. The children choose when they would like to have their own snack and are now independent when getting their bag, washing hands and packing away afterwards. The rest of the children will be involved in ‘freeflow’ at this time. This means that they follow their own interests when choosing activities both inside and outside. We are really lucky at Ringwood to have lots of outside places to play in and explore. The adults working with the children either support
them in their choices or observe - this enables us to assess the children’s development in the 6 areas of learning and also note their interests for future planning. During this time we may also plan an adult focus activity - this is a time when either the teacher or one of the teaching assistant works with an individual or a small group of children. One of our favourite activities is cooking. On Wednesdays we even make our own snack! We have another carpet time just before lunch, this one is usually numeracy based. The children especially enjoy working on the interactive whiteboard and counting different objects - if you visit at this time you will be counted! Lunchtime is a lovely time, we join the reception classes in our lunchroom. We are all very aware of health and hygiene, making sure we wash our hands and take our water bottles to the lunchroom. The children then enjoy outside play, again with reception. This is another great opportunity for observing the development of the children and playing together.
We like to explore the school grounds
We enjoy specialist lessons for music, PE, drama and library. The children love having different teachers for these lessons and really benefit from their expertise. After lunch we have our quiet time. This is a time when we relax in our carpet area - reading books and playing with jigsaws and soft toys. The afternoon consists of more ‘freeflow’, sometimes we are joined by the afternoon creche group. It has been wonderful watching the preschool children mature and support the creche group. The children love working together especially when constructing. At the end of the day the children take it in turns to choose a story, sometimes this takes longer then the story itself! We then gather our belongings and walk to the gate, sometimes this walk takes a while as we enjoy talking about all the things we see on the way.
Working together to make a garage for the cars
Spring Bonnet Parade A sea of colour met out eyes as EYFS and KS1 had their annual Spring Bonnet Parade at the end of Term 2. There was an array of different themes and materials that were used and the children looked spectacular as they paraded in front of their parents. Each class were able to twirl in front of parents for photo opportunities as well. Mr Jonathan led the children in some wonderful singing, while Ms Moorcroft emceed the parade and Ms Tyler coordinated the children. We think that Ms Moorcroft missed her calling!! The parents were also treated to some spring edible goodies made by the EYFS children.
EYFS and KS1 enjoyed the Spring Bonnet Parade
The EYFS created their bonnets in school while KS1 made theirs at home. We would like to thank the parents and other adults who helped with the making of the bonnets. Ms Moorcroft and Ms Tyler
Mr Jonathan Crispin-Moore conducting a Spring Bonnet Parade song
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Class Pages Crèche Gafencu Well, we had hoped that spring would be here early but at the end of March we were still making the best of the long winter by playing outside in the snow and throwing some unseasonable snowballs! We make use of all sorts of items during our playtime, from polenta and pasta to shaving foam – not to mention our usual toys. Our play is often quite inventive. We’ve enjoyed finger-painting and creating pictures. Our artistic sides were also allowed to run free on Book Day, which we marked by dressing up as our favourite story characters. Princesses, snowmen, mermaids and pirates were all let loose at Gafencu! It was such fun that we have continued our dressing up and role-play since then.
Busy times in Creche- Pipera
that we can think of relating to the focus topic. This gives the staff an indication of how much children know of a subject and where we can extend their knowledge.
It has been an incredibly busy term for Creche here in Pipera. We have had so many different special events recently. There was Friendship Week, Book Week and Green Day. All these events have played a part in what has been going on in the classroom and many interests have emerged from these. We enjoyed being Bears for a while then the children moved onto Caterpillars and Butterflies and more recently the interest has been Frogs and looking after our garden outside.
A group of Gafencu students enjoying the great outdoors
Creche in their book day costumes
EYFS Gafencu students enjoying World Book Week
Maria, Nicolas, Philip and Albert dress up for Book Day
Planting the flowers
The children get creative
The children have all enjoyed planting flowers and vegetables. We read a story called Fran’s Flower which is about growing flowers and how to look after them. We discussed what flowers and plants may need to grow and everybody now knows that flowers need soil, water and sunshine. Not pizza and Ice cream like the poor flower in the story!
Ben and Akshay being "teachers" as they "read"
Ms Claire O’Brien, Class teacher
Gafencu Preschool Towards the end of winter the children’s play reflected the work of the maintenance people in clearing snow from our paths and garden and in the previous issue of Newsblast there is a photo of Ben and Alex using the climbing frame as a snow plough.
Mimi and Marguerite getting in some pratice for the World Cup!
Another themed day was Green Day, when we came to crèche wearing the appropriate colour, and had fun playing with Philip’s green crocodile. We continue to look forward to our regular visits from Mr Jonathan, who has taught us some great songs, and Mr Mugur, who has introduced the hurdles into our PE lessons. And one of the nicest things is that now we all know each other much better, we have been playing more together and having fun as a group. A good example of this was when we commemorated the first day of spring, exchanging tokens and sharing food in the Romanian tradition. Mrs Chris Stowe, Creche Teacher
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During mid March, as we began to consider the seasons, the weather, days of the week and other calendar items the children’s interest gradually changed. The climbing frame became a rocket and so we began another learning journey. We have talked about travel not only to the stars but around the world not only how we travel but why. One of the main reasons was to visit grandparents. By looking at the globe and various world maps we were able to identify countries that were important to us- it was interesting that all the children knew to look for “R “ to signify Romania, but we did occasionally end up in different countries! This learning journey also gave us our first word collection display, which basically is every word
Thomas, Alex, Akshay and Jason writing speeding tickets
As ever with early years, as soon as the staff thought we had settled into a topic the children diverted it into another. This time about people who help us. In particular fire men, nurses and doctors. Particular delight was taken by the children when they played with the hospital equipment; the staff have never had so many pretend injections or taken so many tablets! Each injection was given with reassurance that it would not hurt…. Developing children’s writing skills is always interesting and critical as we have to be very aware of each individual child’s interest in mark making and consequent letter formation skills. So we make the most of any opportunity that arises, but we
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did not envisage that the latest prompt to support writing skills would be that the children would decide to be policemen and the only available candidates to be prisoners were the staff. The main crime was speeding which required tickets … staff only agreed to go to prison if accompanied by a written document….which was duly produced! Ms Kath Homer, Class teacher
Preschool M Due to the warmer weather our garden is now coming to life. This creates many learning opportunities for the children. Just before the snow came we all planted bulbs in our garden and the children are now amazed as the green shoots push through the ground and we see some flowers! Esperanza also worked hard with Ms Ani to prepare our other beds for more planting. The children water the flower beds each day, Samuel and John are especially good at this, and they often comment on how much the plants have grown. Another wonderful event was our tortoise Happy coming out of hibernation. Over the winter she buried herself in a hole in the ground and was covered with lots of leaves. When she woke up we gave her a bath, Anya really enjoyed doing this. We then let her have a walk around the garden. Carmen watched her carefully, even when she went underneath our wooden house. We also had a birthday in our class, our class elephant Nellie was 4 years old. During the week the children worked together to plan the party. They wrapped parcels, which required them to cut the right sized paper, use the cello tape dispenser and manage the paper and cello tape at the same time. They also made cards and invitations and stuck up birthday banners in the classroom. For the party the children brought their favourite party clothes and we made some little cakes. Jan’s mummy also made us a wonderful cake, complete with an elephant. We think Nellie had a great time.
Mariam and Tibor have been building tall towers out of bricks and counting how many bricks tall they are and measuring the tower with a long ruler. We would love some different items to help with counting and sorting – if you have any buttons of any size or shape that you don’t need please send them to us – thank you!
to the books. We also worked with our twin class 4D and shared some stories with them.
We all look forward to a very busy third term. Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, Class teacher
Reception C Reception C has been going jungle crazy this half term! We have been learning all about the jungle, animals and their habitats, using books, video clips and the internet to find out new information. We read lots of stories about the jungle too, including Rumble in the Jungle, The Jungle Book, Walking through the Jungle, and many more. Amongst other things, we used these stories to help us write about our favourite jungle animals, design our own jungles, write our own jungle stories and poems, and create new jungle animals of our own. However, the children’s favourite part of the topic by far was transforming part of the classroom into a jungle. They kept very busy painting and making a collage of their own jungle scenes to decorate the room and making vines, animals, plants and trees to make the jungle. After adding realistic jungle sounds and music through hidden speakers, the children were very amused to see the puzzling looks on other people’s faces when they visited the classroom and wondered where the sounds were coming from! They also really enjoyed showing their parents around the jungle on Open Day and making jungle themed foods like ‘Swamp Mud Pie’ and ‘Jungle Fruit Salad’. The children have been really interested and enthusiastic about their jungle learning and have thoroughly enjoyed playing and learning in the classroom jungle.
Reception C - Miki and Andra sharing stories with twin class 4D
They very kindly came and read to the children and in turn, some of the children chose to read their school reading books to the older children too. All the children in Reception C are making fantastic progress in their reading at the moment so the book topic has been very successful. They are all very proud of their progress in reading, as are Cristina and I, and all their parents! Ms Claire Cowlishaw, Class Teacher
Reception E: Under the Sea Fun The children in Reception E have been very busy learning about different animals and creatures that live Under the Sea. During this learning journey the children have become very enthusiastic about reading, and have enjoyed reading a range of both Fiction and Non-Fiction books. They have even made their own information books to educate each other about different under the sea animals. We have also made our own under the sea cave, where the children are able to re-enact various under the sea stories that we have read so far. The children have really shown their creative side by filming their own under the sea story, which began by making Jellyfish, Sharks and Octopus using Junk Modelling. They were able to capture the different features of these animals through carefully designed and thought through models. They then performed short stories using the puppet theatre to other children in the class.
Reception C - Lennie shows his Mum around the jungle Nellie's party
We have completed many activities involving Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy. The children have been so enthusiastic about counting, shapes and measuring. Jan and Ayesha really enjoyed counting different coloured animals and discussed the numbers, colours and even features of the animals as they counted.
Counting
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We have also been getting busy outside, making the most of the spring sunshine. We have done a mini topic on planting and have made our own greenhouse planting bottles and planting diaries so that we can monitor how the plants grow. We are now investigating how they grow in different places, seeing how they grow indoors and outdoors, with and without light and in different sized bottles. We have also used books and the computers to find out more information about planting and growing and have been using the interactive whiteboard to play informative games on growing plants. Further to this we did a focus author topic and have been reading books written and/or illustrated by Nick Sharratt. We looked at numerous books and discussed which he had written and which he had illustrated and then did various activities related to his books. The children are really inspired by the Nick Sharratt stories and are very eager to find more and more of his books each time they visit the library. A lot of the books rhyme so we have used the stories to support our learning about rhyming words and have played some lovely games linked
Stephanie painting their favourite under the sea creatures from the story Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson
We have also been making the most of the sunny weather by doing lots of outdoor learning. The children have really enjoyed painting various sizes of sea creatures, and were able to describe them using their developing mathematical vocabulary. Oskar A painted an enormous whale on the paper outside while Omar painted a long thin shark! The children have made their own outdoor under the sea cave, where they were able to independently select resources and materials to
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use. Emile and Oskar H were the key team members in constructing the cave, with Remi and Denis giving them instructions of what they needed to do next.
internet site! The Key Stage 1 teachers were all very proud of the progress made by the children as a result of practicing so hard.
Oskar H, Emile and Arina are working as a team to construct an outdoor under the sea cave
We look forward to the sunny summery weather and much more learning both in and outdoors! Ms Kayleigh Evans, Class teacher
Reception Gafencu: Planes, Trains and Automobiles The Reception class at Gafencu really enjoyed World Book Day and we had fun dressing up as our favourite book characters. Benji dressed up as a fantastic pirate and the girls’ favourite was definitely princesses and Cinderella. Ambra and Sanziana have also been fond of using materials to create their own princess costumes and have shown real imagination in doing so. The boys, and Sasha and Cameron in particular, loved making plans for our new outside reading area as part of World Book Day as well as helping to build it. Alex C was very involved in this also as his learning journey in Term 2 was about transport, travelling and the globe. This journey has allowed us to talk about mapping, the world and directions, as well as the different ways that we can travel. We shared our experiences of travelling over the February half term and Joost told us all about his first time experience of skiing in France. Our class is interested in knowing where our peers and teacher comes from and identifying it on the globe. Ms Kellyanne helped us to change our role play area into a Travel Agents and Martina and Calin have enjoyed playing with our computer, which we created ourselves with cardboard boxes, paint and paper.
1C Celebrating Book Day Niya in her princess costume
Ms Nicoleta has been encouraging us to go outside and enjoy the Spring sun; we are making the most of it in case the snow surprises us again. Just when we thought the snow suits could be packed away until next year, the snow came again and chased away the sun. Tudor M has been building a house outside; perhaps he is being prepared and making shade for when this wonderful sun comes out to stay… Alma is helping him by cleaning everything outside with water and a brush and she is very thorough. Just as well, as Tudor S has been preparing himself by wearing fabulous sunglasses to school and sunbathing in class.
We have been looking at ‘Sorting and Using Materials’ in Science this term, and in particular looking at how we can recycle items according to what they are made from. We have been investigating different types of materials in Art and even worked together to create sculptures made from recyclable materials. We also spent some time finishing off the homes which we made in connection with the topic ‘Homes’.
Smruti and Claudia 1C with the homes they made
Alma enjoying being outside
However, some of us are just enjoying the freedom to run around and have lots of fun. Wait, I think that blur was Alex M just running past… Our teachers just can’t keep up with us. Until next time. Ms Kellyanne Feeney, Reception Class Teacher
Finally, we have been enjoying learning about Barnaby Bear’s travels in Geography, and especially enjoyed finding out about how he celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. We have also been learning about road sense and the Highway Code, and can now identify a variety of international road signs. Ms Theresa Collins, Class teacher
1T 1T is eagerly taking advantage of the change of weather and have been looking at what lessons we can hold outside.
1C learn how to use dictionaries
Making bookmarks for World Book Day
Through our role play area we have been talking about cultures and communities around the world. Our class has been very curious and excited about birthdays this term and Niya has been creating some great pretend yummy birthday cakes using a selection of materials from the classroom. We have enjoyed learning about the continents and the animals that live in these places. Our vocabulary has broadened to include words such as habitat, migrate, extinct and hibernate, which helped us when Irina brought her toy hamster to school; we knew we had to be quiet to let it sleep during the day…
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1C have been learning how to use dictionaries to help them to find the meaning of new words in Literacy this term. They have also been writing instructions and learning how to arrange words in alphabetical order. We enjoyed dressing up for ‘World Book Day’ on the 4th of March, where Winnie the Witch became their teacher for the day and the class included Peter Pan, Spiderman, Tintin and Snow White, amongst others. In Numeracy we have been learning to add and subtract numbers that are bigger than 15 by using a number line to help us. We have been pretending that our classroom is a shop and using coins up to 50p to buy things. Ms Collins was very impressed with how quickly we learnt to identify odd/even numbers. We also enjoyed participating in the World Maths Day challenge on 3rd March, and some children even practiced over 100 rounds on the
Letitia and Catinca enjoy reading in the sunshine
In Geography we have been looking at Road Safety. We did a traffic survey where we counted how many different vehicles passed in front of the gate during a 20 minute time span. We counted around 120 vehicles and managed to see every type of vehicleeven a tractor. We also discussed the affect that the traffic has on road safety in front of our school.
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2P
1T counting the vehicles for their traffic survey
Another lesson we held outside was a Science lesson on Materials. We went on a material hunt around the grounds to look for things that are made of wood, metal and glass. We found lots of different examples. We also headed outside for a reading picnic. We took our books and sat outside enjoying the sunshine whilst we read to ourselves, our friends and our teachers. 1T is looking forward to more bright sunny days.
The Spring Term has whizzed past in Year 2P and we are now already in Term 3 enjoying the sunshine again, having finally abandoned our snow suits and boots. They say that in the springtime everything goes a little mad (March Madness) which fits in well with our Poetry unit which was called ‘Silly Stuff’. We listened to ‘Tongue Twisters’ such as ‘Peter Piper’: ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, a peck of pickled peppers, Peter Piper picked….’ Then we had to make our own version which was great fun. Even better was when we looked at ‘Riddles’ and ‘Nonsense’ poems. For Nonsense poems you had to ….yes you guessed it - write nonsense! Here’s an example from Andrei in our class:
By 1T and Ms Justine Tyler, Class teacher
1W Again a very hectic term has flown by. We have been very busy across the curriculum. One of the highlights has been Green Week where 1W learned about how not to produce so much waste. We now know it is better to use the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In class we collected a lot of many everyday disposable materials which would otherwise have been thrown away such as plastic bottles, used yoghurt pots, newspapers, cardboard packaging etc. We then used the materials to construct a ‘spaceman’ which we thought may double up as a scarecrow! There is so much we can do with our ‘waste’.
Boris and his mural
‘I went to the swimming pool tomorrow and I walked on water. I went to the school tomorrow and a pencil wrote with me and I played football with my hand.’
We have also really been enjoying Geography as we have learned about things we did not have any previous knowledge of. For example, we now know that many people in developing countries do not have glasses and it makes it difficult for them to see clearly, but if they had glasses they would be able to see. What’s more it only costs the price of a Coca Cola to buy the glasses for them. Thank goodness for a charity called ‘Vision Aid’ who help people across the world to see again- we designed posters for them. In connection to this theme we also heard the fascinating life story of Louis Braille who developed a system of reading by dots to help people who could not see to read and write. In Science, we have been learning all about materials and their properties. We particularly had fun seeing what happened if we heated materials like ice, chocolate and jelly, (they melted!) In Art, we looked at buildings and their materials and thought about whether buildings could ‘speak’ to us. That sounds like more March Madness, but we learned that by looking at how old or colourful a building is, you can work out quite a lot about the designer, or the period of history during which it was built. You can tell by looking at materials if the builders were rich or poor or if the house was built in a hot or cold country…many things! We made our own wall murals in support of this topic from clay and then painted them. Our theme was ‘Our Playground’ and we communicated our feelings about our playtime and playground through our art work. You can see some examples in our photographs. Ms Tiffanie French-Paris, Class teacher
2S This term in Art we have been exploring the patterns, textures, materials and shapes we can see in buildings. We have recently completed our own relief tiles depicting areas of the school, and we are looking forward to putting them all together to make a class mural.
Christina and her mural
“Daniel, Tudor, Jackson, Darius and Sarah making their clay tile in Art class”
Recycled Model
We have also been learning about Making Our Local Area Safer. We studied road traffic signs and learned the important Green Cross Code to cross a road safely. Another exciting event this term was the Ladies Week and ‘Martisor’. We thought as we were learning Poetry in Literacy it would be a nice idea to write some poems for Mother’s Day and we learned some very interesting reasons why we love our Mothers – their cooking seemed to feature very highly on 1W’s list of priorities!
Close up of Christina’s mural
In Science we have been busy freezing and heating different materials and observing the exciting changes they undergo. We were pleased to find that chocolate tastes just as good when it is melted! Finally, in Literacy we have been creating some silly poetry, such as riddles and tongue twisters. How many times can you say 2S quickly? Ms Kristen Swanson, Class teacher
The end of Spring Term was then celebrated with the exciting Easter Egg Hunt and the Easter Bonnet Parade. We are now all looking forward to enjoying the rest of our Summer Term. Mr James Ward, Class teacher Tudor enjoying painting his mural
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3T Get into role in their ‘Roman Assembly’! The children in Year 3 were studying The Celts and Romans this term in History and our 3T assembly in Term 2 was based on this topic. The introductory music was thought to be that which would have been heard in Roman times played with panpipes and lyres.
3W
Year 4D’s Work
Ave! 3W ended the spring term with the eagerly anticipated Roman Day. The children arrived at school lugging swords and bedecked in traditional Roman attire. The day’s activities started with bread making - a favourite taple of the Romans. The children turned flour, water and yeast into dough, and then added fruits and cheese to make their bread even tastier. Having prepared the foods for the afternoon feast, all the children got stuck into creating a large ceramic mosaic of a fish and then Roman helmets. The children took their usual lunch break, stocking up on vital calories to prepare them for the afternoon fray.
We did lots of fun things for Book Week. Mrs Hearn came and read stories to the class and we dressed up as a character from a book. In Literacy we had an activity called ‘Book in a Box’. It was a fun activity because we had to find 5 objects that had to be in the story. We also had to write a report about the story and present this to the class. Everybody had to give their presentation about their ‘Book in a Box’ to the rest of the class. It was a little bit scary for some people. In Science we are looking at electricity. So Mr Davidson gave us all the things that we needed and we tried to light up a bulb. It was quite difficult because it was the first time some of us had done that. To light up the bulb you had to make a circuit. Not all of us could light up the bulb; it was also very interesting to learn about electricity. In History we are looking at Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. It is very interesting to learn about Gods and Goddesses of ancient Egypt. We tried to find more facts, so we used one of the class sets used of laptops to find out more information about Ancient Egypt gods and goddesses.
God Mercury (Martin)
Rodney, Klara, Amelia, Ioana and David with the ’Book in Box’ activity
In Music we are learning to play the recorder. Playing the recorder is a lot of fun. Our assembly was on March the 17th. It was about our Geography topic – Chembakolli – and also Green Day. We sang 10 Green Bottles and also a song about little green frogs.
Viktorija selling pizzas
Ioana, 4D
Wizardry Writing in 4H
Waiting! Viktorija Victor and Anastassia
We introduced the audience to some of the many Gods and Goddesses that the Romans worshipped and followed this up with a Roman poem about some things that we have inherited from those times and which still exist today. We then performed our version of ‘Roman Adventure’, one of the Magic Key ORT books and finished with a song about Roman Legionnaires. The children all had prepared extremely hard for the day and subsequently performed excellently. Ms Jane Taylor, Class teacher
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First, Mr. Williams lead the children through some basic sword techniques. Following this, the children staged a fierce Roman battle, employing the military tactics of the time. Having burnt off some more energy, the children ended the day by refueling on grapes, cheese, breads and olives, with some fine wine (grape juice) to wash it all down. Mr Mark Williams, Class teacher
Bird’s Eye View - Marcel is looking up Science definitions
In recent weeks we have been focusing hard on improving our story writing skills. We have been using many of the tools encouraged in the Big Writing scheme, such as impressive sentence openers and intriguing connectives. Alongside focus on these tools, we have tried hard to increase
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the variety of adjectives and adverbs we are including in our work.
really well. We first covered Mr. Leese’s phone with different materials including corks, sponge, rocks, paper and a plastic jar. The one that muffled sound the most was the sponge. We used a Data logger to find out exactly how loud the sound was.
Math has been fractions, fractions and more fractions, or so it seems. We have been learning about proper fractions, improper fractions, equivalent fractions and mixed numbers. Whilst in Literacy we have started writing short stories with flashbacks! We read an extract from a horror book called Hajj. It was pretty scary and after all that reading about flashbacks, I had one too. I remembered when my Mum used to read me horror stories. Lastly and sadly, SAT’s time is coming, so we need to get ready! Lucie, 6H
6U: Connecting Ourselves with the World
Green and Blue Table Put Their Research Skills Into Action
6U recently completed a Humanities unit entitled ‘Connecting Ourselves with the World’. Within the unit we investigated different ways that we can connect ourselves with the world. Some of the things that we did during the unit was exchange daily weather reports through email with Ms Ullman’s mum in Cleveland, Ohio USA and create a travel guide for somewhere we would like to visit. The travel guides included information about geography, culture and popular attractions of the location.
Our stories are now sounding much better and we are able to create more colourful pictures in the minds of our audience and readers. Some of us have even managed to scare our teacher by our use of powerful language and by cleverly building up suspense. Our writing will never be the same! Mr Stuart Harrison, Class teacher
Year 5 In the second term of 5L in Literacy we all did a modern day retelling of the story Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp. First we had to change Aladdin’s name to a modern name, which was the fun part! Another fun part was choosing what Aladdin would wear in our modern day retelling. We also had to change the evil person from Aladdin to a modern day person. And finally, we got to write the stories and they all turned out exciting! In Maths we have also been quite busy studying probability, line graphs and decimals. In probability we have been rating things either: certain, likely, unlikely, or impossible. See if you can find things that are one of those! When we did line graphs we had to get information using the line graphs which was both easy and hard at the same time! After line graphs we switched over to decimals. First we did multiplying decimals then we did subtracting decimals. In History we studied the Victorians which was very interesting. First we learned about school life by watching a Victorian diary movie. Then we watched the two stories of famous Victorians. One of them was George Stevenson and the other was Mary Seacole. We then worked on projects for the Victorians. Term 2 in 5L was certainly very busy! Calista, 5L
5M worked really hard in Term 2. In Science we made an investigation to see which material was the best at muffling sound. We also created musical instruments and Power Point Presentations about music.
Seoyoung in 5M working on her sewing
Oh, and we also learned to make action buttons, which are buttons linked to websites in order to find out more about something. Alessandro, 5M
6H: Full on Action! This term 6H got into action! It all started with a front page of a newspaper. All of us felt like real journalists. We imagined and we wrote about fiction or non-fiction happenings. It was very fun! All of us could make up the title of our own newspaper and we could also add advertisements for shampoos, McDonalds and so on. Then we traveled to the amazing places that we have always dreamed about in Geography. We had to make a travel intinerary for a trip of our choice. The best thing about it was that we planned our fantastic vacations alone. It was very exciting but hard to find a suitable flight that was on the right date. In the end, luckily, we got safely back to our class. In ICT we have begun learning about computer programming with Pro-Bots. We learned how to turn, go forward, go backwards and stop with the small Pro-Bot yellow car that does exactly what you tell it to. After a while everyone was able to navigate the Pro-Bots. Next up was the Tudor Exploration project. We had to research famous Tudor explorers, their ships, life on the sea and the best of all, Tudor biscuits!
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Our final project of the unit was to create a presentation about Romania, which we sent through email to share with several elementary classes in Ohio, USA. The presentations that we created include sections that we came up with on our own. They are: Our classroom and the British School of Bucharest, Romania’s Culture and Traditions, Geography and Maps, Famous People, Climate, Popular Monuments and Attractions, and the Top 10 Things about Romania. The classes that we sent our projects to are now working on creating their own presentations about Ohio, which they will send to us when they are finished. We are looking forward to learning about what it is like where they live. 6U
They were all really fun but I enjoyed making the Power Point Presentations the most. I chose to make it about guitars because that is one of my favourite instruments. Making musical instruments was also fun: we had to turn recycled materials, like plastic bottles, into musical instruments. I choose to do a string instrument, however other people chose percussion because it was the easiest and no one did flutes because it was hard. We then covered our instruments with paper and glue so we could paint them. At the end we took them home. In Science we did an investigation about music. Our task was to find out which material was the best at muffling sound. The investigation worked
6U Students Calin, Thomas, Chira and Ilinca working on their presentations
Aaron naviagting his Pro-Bot racer through the Roberto Tower and under the Benedetta/Lucie Bridge!
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Thumbs up for Assessment for Learning On Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd February, refreshed from the half-term break, secondary teachers took part in an ‘Assessment for Learning’ training session delivered by Susan Templeton from the Light House Professional Development Agency. Susan did an excellent job at sharing her enthusiasm for a strategy that offers a very effective way of improving attainment. Assessment for learning resembles a teacher’s toolbox, a set of strategies which helps teachers monitor students’ understanding and progress. Some of the strategies highlighted in the training include: • Sharing learning objectives: explaining to our students exactly what they will be learning and what we are looking for in a good piece of work. • Traffic lights and Thumbs up: allowing students to signal their level of understanding and hence enabling teachers to work closer with students who are struggling with an aspect of the lesson
• Peer and self-assessment: giving students the opportunity to look at their own work and that of others in a constructive manner. As a relatively newly-qualified teacher, I am now in my third year in teaching, I have found that assessment for learning, and this session in particular, has given me a coherent and comprehensive framework to work from. Another positive aspect of this training was being able to share good practice with colleagues and hearing some of the excellent strategies already used by my colleagues in other subjects. This session reinforced the fact that beyond subjectspecific knowledge and know-how, assessment for learning can give teachers and students alike a common language to enhance the quality of learning in our classrooms thus helping our students to become more successful and independent learners. Ms Manon Vollaire, French Teacher
Ms Manon Vollaire
CPD: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain On Tuesday evening, the 26th of February, Mr Williams lead a session for staff on the increasing importance of an educative Art program. He discussed its role in activating the right sight of the brain, and facilitating creativity. He began by explaining that art is a skill just like any other, one that requires technique, practice and patience. He took the teachers through the principles of drawing, line, space, relationships, light and shadow and the gestalt. Each teacher had an opportunity to practically apply these skills. They were able to appreciate that art is a learned process that requires a continuum of experience and application, and that it is not, as many are prone to conclude, merely a talent that one may
have had the luck to have been bestowed with. Mr Williams showed the teachers that training in art stimulates the right side of the brain. It develops intelligence, not only to help us draw, but in fact to increase awareness and enable critical, innovative thinkers, to problem solve, express, communicate, create and experiment. Art develops imagination. Imagination reflects upon experience to develop inventive and productive ways to think ‘outside the box’, - vital skills for our future work forces and indeed the well being of our civilisation. Mr Williams highly recommends reading A Whole New Mind and Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain for interested parents. Mr Mark Williams
CPD: Dealing with Food Allergies Recently Mrs Ion, the school nurse ran a CPD training session for all the teachers and teaching assistants about the implications of food allergies. This is some of the key information covered during that session. Food allergies affect most children to a greater or lesser extent. In this regard it is important that adults and teachers alike know what to do in case of an emergency. However, having a food allergy is not all doom and gloom as children with food allergies have a normal life if they take certain simple precautions. However, because in some extreme cases food allergies can be life threatening, BSB has established safety procedures informing staff about children with food allergies and ensuring that staff know what to do in cases of an emergency resulting from a food allergy. Reactions to foods: Reactions to foods can however be different, with some reactions being very mild and involving only one system of the body, whilst other reactions can be more severe and involve more than one part of the body. Someone with severe allergies can be at risk for a sudden, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction
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called anaphylaxis. There's no cure for food allergies, and the only real way to treat them is to avoid the food in question. Fortunately, doctors can prescribe medications to help lessen symptoms if they do happen — and even save a person's life if the reaction is serious. Peanuts are among the most common foods causing allergy. Managing Serious Reactions: Ensuring that teachers know how to recognise sings of allergies and how to react promptly in case of emergency is essentially to a child with food allergy. Epinephrine: It is the emergency medicine in case of anaphylaxis. Using it is easy because is a disposable drug delivery system that contains the proper dose of epinephrine. The name of it is the EpiPen. After training, teachers are more confident in being able to recognise signs, act in case of anaphylaxis and manage an EpiPen. Preparation is the key to responding to unexpected food allergy emergencies. Ms Camelia Ion, BSB School Nurse
Ms Camelia Ion, BSB School Nurse
Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro
Key Stage 2 Students assist MA research project Five months ago I had to present my dissertation title and the contemporary writer I would focus on for my Master’s Degree in Contemporary Literature. At first I wanted to choose John Fowles, but in the end opted for Michael Morpurgo, as I have always loved children’s literature. I asked Ilinca T., a student from 6U, knowing that she was a good artist if she could draw a picture interpretation to go along with my dissertation and as she was drawing, we had a conversation about what my dissertation was all about. I wasn’t sure she understood exactly, but she managed to amaze me in the end, drawing a child surrounded by a brick wall. She drew the bricks uneven and when I asked her why she had done so, she answered “nothing’s perfect!” When it came down to colouring the drawing, she coloured the contour of some bricks green and others yellow. At first I thought she drew moss growing on the brick wall, but she then she told me that the green bricks represented the light coming through the wall, the hope beyond the wall, and the hope for freedom, for a better life. I then asked if she could sketch a second drawing and this time she sketched what looked like a girl trying to scale a mountain in order to get away from a vicious tide on a stormy day. She drew the waves splashing against the rocks and the water drops as if they formed the shape of the girl trying to climb the mountain. She said that the mountain represents our problems, our fears and that if we cannot go over it, in time the water will erode them and that eventually we will go through and beyond. The main idea was that we can overcome our obstacles if we put our minds to it. And that was when the idea came to me. I spoke to my coordinator about the idea of writing my dissertation in a magazine format with and for students. I then asked for permission from the school and with permission given, set about putting
together a team of 30 students from Key Stage 2 and we’ve been working for the past 5 months in clubs and University courses discussing Michael Morpurgo’s books, writing book reports and essays on philosophical subjects, discussing quotations, setting rules for compiling a proper interview, making illustrations, and designing covers, etc. The children have been working very responsibly and as we are nearing the end of a fantastic period of work, I have to say that I’m very impressed with their progress, with the amount of effort and maturity they have brought to this project, which might actually end up being published at the end of July. I’m overwhelmed by the fact that the children have managed to share so much and discuss freely the things that have arisen each day, such as the problems adults are often confronted with, how they are so lucky to be in a good private school, and the difficulties other people in the world have to face. I was very happy to see them working as a group, helping each other, sharing and respecting the opinions of other students. I received very positive feedback and I must admit that there are times when I realise that a child’s logical thinking exceeds by far that of an adult. Children usually feel before they think and often spontaneously express what is that they are feeling (something which adults often cease to do), and at other times they prove that children have a rational and often quite logical way of thinking, looking at, and working through things. We need to acknowledge the fact that they evolve at a fast rate, just like technology, and give them the support and credit they need and are due, and basically see them for what they actually are: BRILLIANT! To those students who have been helping me on my MA project, thank you very much. Mr Alexandru Cirtu , Year 4 TA
Hannah D drawing her illustration
Ilinca T. drawing her illustration
BSB- the cream of the crop A month ago, a friendly volleyball competition for staff members of International Schools was organised at AISB. Five members of the BSB staff (Ms Catalina, Ms Daniela, Mr Madsen, Mr Hamacher and Mr Alex) and three other acquaintances formed the BSB team. Although it was supposed to be a friendly competition, everyone played with the utmost determination. After a rough start against the French School, we won the next six games, including the one against AISB (famous for their international volleyball player). If the BSB team would have had a crowd, they would have sent each and every fan into raptures. A combination of technique, composure, outstanding jumping and finishing made the BSB team hope for the rematch against the French School in the final. All that was needed was for the American School to secure a win against the French School, which they did.
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And there we were, in the final against the team we had lost the first match to. We thought our recent form would continue, but the truth was we struggled a bit in the beginning. They were leading us 24-21 and we were starting to lose all hope. They needed just one more point to win the game. After an outstanding recovery from Ms Catalina and an artistic pass from Ms Daniela, Mr Madsen smashed the ball in low and earned us a point. Only a few seconds away, Mr Alex blocked an attack and BSB was one point away of equalising. It was Mr Alex who managed to equalise with a header (proving one more time that football is actually his strong spot and you never know when a skill that you learned in football might come in handy). We managed to equalise but the hard part was just beginning. The French School team scored the next point, but they needed one more
in order to win. We managed to equalise again with the help of Mr Hamacher. And in the end, it was Mr Hamacher’s superb recoveries, Ms Daniela’s serve, Ms Catalina’s weighted passes, Mr Alex’s block and Mr Madsen’s smash hits that earned the next two points and secured a massive “friendly” victory against the French School. We would have had fun even if we had not won the final match, but winning always leaves a nice feeling. We left AISB having won the most games. Call it fun, call it pride or competitive personalities, call it whatever you like, we represented BSB, we represented a name and we thrived under it. In a country where agriculture isn’t what it used to be (especially with the economic crisis that we are facing), BSB is the cream of the crop! Mr Alexandru Cirtu , Year 4 TA
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Parent’s workshop – Numeracy and Storysacks On Thursday 11th February EYFS Pipera held a parents workshop focusing on Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy (PSRN), and How to use our rhyme and story sacks at home. Firstly, we covered the 4 themes of the EYFS Framework – The Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments and Learning and Development and learnt how PSRN is covered in all these areas. Parents were also shown what a
typical PSRN session would look like in Crèche, Preschool and Reception so they could see the development as the children move through EYFS. There was also a focus on the different strands of PSRN – Numbers as labels for counting, Calculation and Shape and Space and Measures and the development within these areas. Next we looked at the story and rhyme sacks. These are basically a large cloth bag containing a rhyme or
storybook with supporting materials to stimulate reading activities. The aim of the sacks is to give parents the confidence to enjoy rhymes and stories together with their child, creating a combined learning experience. We then looked at a few of the sacks. The parents were very excited about receiving them and agreed this would enhance the books and a great way to enjoy singing and reading with their children.
The EYFS teachers and teaching assistants have spent a long time putting together the sacks and I would like to thank them all. We are still making more rhyme and story sacks, so if any parents are able to make us any bags please let me know- your help is greatly appreciated. Ms Tiffany Moorcorft, EYFS coordinator Pipera
Adult Art Class This term the Adult Art Class have been learning about oil painting and experimenting with techniques and approaches. To begin with they got to grips with perspective and completed impressive detailed drawings of architectural spaces. From this they chose a striking perspective image to work from and began applying oil paint in rich textured brushstrokes, layer by layer. The results so far have been very impressive and it’s been very exciting to see the results. Well done ladies!!! Ms Martina Greaney, Adult Art class teacher
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Daina’s impressionistic landscape
Janie’s landscape
Karen’s landscape
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www.britishschool.ro
42, Erou Iancu Nicolae Street, 077190 Voluntari, Ilfov County, Romania T. +40 21 267 89 19 F. +40 21 267 89 69 E. office@britishschool.ro
Reception students wait patiently to begin their gymnasitcs PE class