BISM Newsletter December 2017

ISSUE 1 SCHOOL NEWSLETTER #23

The British International School of Marbella

NEWSLETTER A Newsletter for Parents, Students and Friends of our School

December 2017

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Pre-Nursery

Headteacher’s Message Dear Parents & Students, December is by far the best month of the year at BISM with so much excitement in the air, it’s impossible not to feel festive.

The season’s celebrations started with superb performances at both the Lower School and Middle School Carol Concerts. The progress the children have made in Music this term has been phenomenal and it was great to see the children demonstrate their singing and musical talents at the concerts.

Congratulations to the children and well done to Mrs Conlan and Miss Stone on their hard work this term, you should be really proud of what you have achieved with them in your first term at BISM. The following week it was the Foundation Stage children’s turn to shine. Their performance of the the Nativity this year was beautiful. Throughout, they displayed confidence and talent and looked like naturals up on the stage with not one tear (from the children at least). At the end of the show they then came out of their acting roles to sing ‘Jingle Bells’; it was wonderful to see them so happy, jumping and dancing on the stage enjoying every second. Well done children, you really are super stars in the making. Well done to the whole Foundation Stage teaching team and Miss Conlan on a fantastic show.

The next event on the Christmas Calendar was the Old Town Christmas Choir concert. Both Lower School and Middle School Choirs (over forty children) attended and sang their hearts out, much to the audience’s delight. The Middle School Choir won the ‘Best Technical Ensemble’ category and the Lower School Choir were the overall winners in the Infantil section, amazing!! The children were given a cash prize of 180€ which the children have decided to donate to our school charity - Hogar Betania, which makes me even more proud.

Following the choirs’ return to school, it was time to get ready for the Christmas Fair. It was a super afternoon with a variety of stalls, games and crafts available raising money for Hogar Betania. This year we even had pony rides and bunnies for sale! It was a lovely afternoon thanks to the hard work of our staff and parents. Thank you for all your contributions and for also donating your time to make it such a roaring success.

After the Fair, Miss Lawrence, Miss Conlan and Mr. Kirkpatrick drove to La Linea to deliver the Christmas presents you kindly donated to the Hogar Betania children. Armed with mince pies and instruments, they entertained the staff and children with an evening of Christmas Carols. Thank you so much for taking time out of your weekend, you really made their Christmas!

The term then ended with Christmas Craft workshops and class parties before finishing at 12pm.Thank you to the whole BISM family for making December such a special month this year, the children have enjoyed every minute.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2018; have a safe, restful break and we look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 8th January.

With very best wishes, Sian Kirkham Headmistress

Nursery

Lighting Up Christmas Let It Snow From twinkling stars in the Nativity to twinkling lights in the classroom, the children in Pre-Nursery have been very busy spreading Christmas cheer to all. They carefully picked up corks that were dipped in various brightly coloured paints to make ‘spots’ on the page to represent twinkling lights.

This was no easy feat, picking up something so short and small requires the children to use their three finger grip which in turn will help to develop the grip needed to hold a pencil to write. With focus and determination, the children all made a large page of ‘lights’ ready to be presented in their Excellent Work Books.

From all of the Pre-Nursery children and staff, may we take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mrs Rutherford Pre-Nursery Teacher

Although there is no chance of snow here in Marbella, during the festive season, Nursery Class created snowmen using shapes. Before making the snowmen they went on a shape hunt to consolidate their knowledge of 2D shapes. The children very sensibly walked around the school spotting hidden shapes. They looked in places some people would never think of looking and showed amazing thinking skills.

When we returned from our shape hunt the children created fantastic snowmen using cut out shapes.

The children used their knowledge to name all the shapes they had used in their wonderful pictures. The children also spoke about their own experiences of snow; whether they had seen, touched or played in the snow. They discussed the problems of snowmen melting and came up with some super ideas to stop them from melting.

Well done, Snow Shape Hunters!

Miss Nixon Nursery Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Reception Writing Is Not Just For Christmas In Reception this December, the children were, needlessly to say, excited about Christmas and the holidays! Christmas has provided the children with the perfect opportunity to practise their writing skills. They wrote letters to Santa, made lists and sent out invitations they had worked hard on to their parents ahead of their Nativity at the start of the month. They also enhanced their fine motor skills through activities requiring real concentration and intricate use of their hands, such as making Christmas paper chains and different 3D shapes from nets in their Maths lessons!

They also did lots of writing in their elves workshop.

Play and real life scenarios can provide children with lots of opportunities to write with a motivating purpose. When you go shopping over the holidays and beyond, please consider allowing your child to help you write the list and cross off items once you have found them, so they can practise both their writing and reading!

Mr Holden Reception Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 1

Sinterklass Lesson

Endangered Animal Assembly

This month Year One enjoyed learning all about Sinterklaas - The Dutch Christmas.

This month the Year One children participated in their first assembly on Endangered Animals.

The children got into groups, creating team names and designed their houses in preparation for the 5th December - Sinterklaas.

The children learnt many facts about endangered animals and how to help them from here in Marbella.

In the assembly, they spoke with confidence about how parents and children in BISM could help endangered animals.

The assembly was a take on the Lion King, with Year 1 children (dressed up as animals), talking about how endangered they are.

They learnt all about ‘Bossy Verbs’ to create instructions for their gingerbread house creations and followed them on the day.

We enjoyed a friendly competition, building gingerbread houses in our 4 groups. Mrs Kirkham joined us to judge the 4 creations. The winner of this event was….. ‘The White Horses’ team.

Congratulations!

Miss Lawrence Year One Teacher

They performed well and relayed an important message which hopefully our BISM family can implement. Well done, children, we are all very proud of you.

Miss Lawrence Year One Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 2

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Numeracy In Year 2

Trip To Parc Quiñones

In Numeracy lessons this month we have focused a lot of our attention on place value with two digit numbers. WIth the support of a 100 square the children have been learning to navigate through tens and units by adding and subtracting.

The Year Two class had a wonderful trip to Parque Quiñones this month. The day started off with a bang as the Lower School Carol Concert took place beforehand and the children were further excited by the prospect of a class trip! On this trip the children’s learning was focused on fire and The Gunpowder Plot.

The learning has been practical and games based so the skills that they are learning are embedded securely. To begin with some children found adding and subtracting two, two digit numbers quite difficult but through perseverance and determination everyone has found success!

The children learnt to add or subtract the tens first and then the units with our “helpers” spider and fly, moving up and down, left and right on the 100 squares. Through fun interactive and practical games the children have learnt a lot! Excellent work, Year Two! Mr Thomas Year Two Teacher/Lower School Leader

When we arrived at the park, the treasure hunt task was introduced to them. The excitement was clear to see on their happy faces! Cards were hidden around with information about The Gunpowder Plot. WIth a clipboard as partners, the children had to complete a quiz using the cards that they found. There was also a time limit set so the children were raring to go.

During the quiz I saw fantastic teamwork but also independence in their thinking for problem solving, I was very impressed!

To finish off the trip we had a lovely barbecue in which we had some very healthy barbecued bananas and also some marshmallows as a treat.

A great day was had by all and some valuable knowledge of history was also learnt in a fun and interactive way.

Mr Thomas Year Two Teacher/Lower School Leader

Year 3 Christmas Art Year Three were busier than Santa’s elves when creating their Christmas craft for the fair. The children created some splat paintings and framed them.

Firstly, they created a Christmas tree template and stuck it to their page. The second part was possibly the most fun… the splattering!!!

Children chose from a range of Christmassy colours to splatter across the page. Once dry, the template was removed to create an effective design. Santa himself would be very proud.

Well done, Year Three!

Miss Allen Year Three Teacher

Lightblub Moment Year Three began to investigate light as their new Science topic. The first activity was to decide whether objects were light sources or not. The children did a great job, although there were a few tricky objects.

The children discovered that even though the moon looks like a light source it actually is not. The moon looks like it creates light, however it is really only a reflection.

The children discovered that without light we cannot see; they proved this by blocking light sources with blindfolds and trying to guess what a range of objects were. There were some rather interesting guesses and surprised faces!

Well done, Year Three, a great start to the topic!

Miss Allen Year Three Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 4

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 5

Year 4 Poetry

Trip To Rio Verde

What’s The Time Where You Are?

Our Year 4 Literacy topic this month has been ‘Creating Images’ through poetry. We focussed on the works of poets Grace Nichols and James Carter to learn more about how metaphor and personification can be used to create imagery in poems. The children learnt about the different between similes and metaphors, identified imagery in poetry and then wrote their own poems using these skills to describe different things such as winter, summer, the sun, the moon, nature and Christmas

This month, Year 4 visited to Roman ruins at Rio Verde to see some real-life Roman mosaics. The tour guide shared a lot of interesting information with us about life in those times, the villa and the mosaics.

Each of the mosaics had a different meaning and the Year 4 children had some very perceptive ideas to share with the guide; he was impressed!

This month Year 5, as part of their study of the Solar System, have been looking at the different time zones around the world. Earlier in our unit of study the children looked at evidence for and against the ‘Flat Earth Theory’. After using evidence to justify their thoughts that the Earth is a sphere they looked at how our planet moves through Space.

We honestly have some very talented poets in Year 4 who could give Grace Nichols and James Carter a run for their money! Read some of the poems included in this newsletter and see if you agree. Well done, Year 4!

Miss Marseglia Year 4 Teacher

The class were shocked to see how vandals had purposefully damaged the famous Medusa mosaic at the entrance of the Roman villa. The main part of the mosaic (over 2000 tiny tiles) had been taken and while we were there two women were painstakingly restoring the mosaic to its former glory. Not an easy job!

After the tour, the children did a detailed sketch of their favourite mosaic in the villa and answered some questions about what they had learnt on the trip in their Humanities book.

Miss Marseglia Year 4 Teacher

The concept of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, whilst spinning on its axis, seems at first to be quite an abstract one. However, as all good scientists do, they found evidence we can point to which supports the theory. After establishing how night and day are formed they built on this knowledge to investigate different time zones around the world.

Being such an international, and well travelled, group many of the children could draw from their own experiences and shared examples of encountering different time zones in different parts of the world. The children used maps, globes, torches and the Internet as tools in their investigation and the presentation of their findings.

For those of you travelling to different time zones over the holidays, happy trails!

Mr Herron Middle School Science

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 6

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 6 Trip

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Dazzling Dramatics Assembly

The children in Year 6 showed us their creative side when preparing for the annual Christmas Fair.

In the month of December, children from Year 6 took to the stage to wow us with their newly learnt Drama skills.

The children chose a wooden shape to transform into something special for people to place on their Christmas Tree. Once all the boys and girls had chosen their shape, they then decided on pattern and colour, each applying a burst of life to their decoration. We were impressed with the brush stroke techniques that the children applied and the originality of each design.

We are sure the decorations will make a wonderful addition to any Christmas Tree and the children were pleased that they sold like hot cakes!

Mr Anthony Year 6 Tutor and English Teacher

As part of the National Curriculum, children are taught tableaux, soundscape, miming and improvisation. With the direction and support of Miss Condliffe, the children produced and created a fantastic performance based on a talent show for their class assembly. It was wonderful to witness not just the new skills the children had clearly mastered, but also the amount of teamwork they demonstrated. They have all clearly grown in confidence and this was evident through the way they took command of the stage.

Congratulations, Year 6, and thank you Miss Condliffe; it is safe to say that the performance was enjoyed by all!

Mr Anthony Year 6 Tutor and English Teacher

Exploring Local Culture

This month, to further our study of Early Islamic Civilisation, the children visited the local mosque.

The children got to explore the King Abdulaziz Mosque and spent some of their time looking for examples of the kind of Islamic Art they had studied a few weeks before. We were hosted by the Iman’s son who graciously answered lots of questions from the children. The children took the opportunity to ask about early Islamic scholars, the advances they made and the legacy they left behind. They also quizzed our hosts about modern day Islam, in particular the significance of current practices.

We were also shown around the library where we saw a photo of the Iman meeting Pope Francis. The children were invited to use the library whenever they wanted and we were given a few books on discoveries and inventions to borrow.

They conducted themselves excellently, showing maturity and awareness and were fantastic ambassadors for the school!

Mr Herron Middle School Humanities Deputy Headteacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 7 Charter Value: Awareness During PSHE year 7 explored the charter value ‘awareness’. The maturity level of the children has shone through as they embraced the opportunity to link awareness to real life situations. During our sessions we delved deeper into what awareness means to each one of us and how that could be made visible through our actions toward each other. It was inspiring to see how thoughtful and caring the children are as they came up with some excellent examples of areas where we should think about our level of awareness. Here are some great reminders for us all: Be aware of the welfare of animals: It is important that we all take good care of our animals and make sure that they are always healthy and not to mention happy!

Be aware of the value of property: Respect what you have. Some people have nothing so appreciate what you have.

Be aware of what you say: Don’t say bad words to other people because you can really hurt them. So treat other people the way you want to be treated.

Be aware of your own safety: Don’t run up or down stairs or you can seriously hurt yourself, even if you are in a hurry! Always look after yourself.

Be aware of other people’s emotions: Facial expressions can tell a lot about you. Don’t talk about other people behind their backs. If you see people are sad, try and make them feel better.

Be aware of your own health: If you’re eating the right food and keeping fit, your body will be strong and help you to cope with stress and also fight illness. Eating well and exercising often when you’re a teenager will also help you stay in good health later in life. Getting regular sleep is another really important way to stay healthy.

Be aware of time: Time is precious. Don’t waste it!

Be aware of your own learning: Be a lifelong learner.

What a fantastic way to enter the festive season with these inspiring comments. Great work, year 7.

Mr Kuhn Year 7 Form Tutor

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 7 Assembly

PHSE

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Helping Others

The Year 7’s have impressed everyone in the audience with a wonderful stage production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was a strip down version, without any costumes and props, so the children had to rely on their acting skills, some raw talent and at times - good improvisation.

They really did well to remember all their lines and when to speak.

This term, as always here at BISM, we have made a focus of helping others. Our dedicated charity events have helped support children in La Linea, we have collected school resources for children in Africa and the staff have also collected blankets for animals at Triple A.

It is amazing to see how the children have gained confidence throughout this term and it was clearly evident in the way the children acted on stage in front of the whole school, Year 6 and the Year 7 parents. The performance was brought alive with great humour and some first class acting.

Thank you to Miss Condliffe for helping the children to develop their acting skills and stage personality.

It has been a hugely successful term, with your generosity raising some much needed money to help the children build a new playground and to make sure that they all have a present to open this Christmas.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and to also say a big “well done!”, you are great role models to your children, showing them how important it is to help those less fortunate than us.

Well done, children, you should be so proud of yourselves!

Next month, our PSHE focus will be around the charter value Teamwork and Leadership which links well with the introduction of prefects in the Middle School. Watch this space for more information on their progress.

Mr Kuhn Year 7 Form Tutor

Mrs Rutherford PSHE Coordinator

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Spanish

Music

Queirdo Papa Noel

A Carol Concert To Remember

In Year 2/3 we wrote letters to Papa Noel in Spanish.

We worked hard and produced lovely letters to Santa asking him questions and telling him a little about us.

What a lovely start to the month of December we have had here at BISM.

On Monday 4th December we went to the Oficina de Correos de Marbella (Post office ) to post the letters to Papa Noel. We set off in high spirits to the post office to send our letters. One by one we posted the letters. After, we got a special tour into the interior of the post office. We saw where all the letters were stacked before being sent off, we went into the director’s office and some lucky children even sat in his important chair. The postmen were very kind too and let us sit on their motorbikes. We felt like real modern postmen zooming off to deliver the post!

It was an exciting trip!

Miss Moriarty Spanish teacher

Here is the Music department we feel quite Christmassy now!

We were so proud of the children in the lower and upper school Christmas concerts.

The Lower School children wowed us with their fantastic singing and brilliant ukulele playing. I can’t believe they have learned how to play so well in just one term! How lovely it was to see some parent participation when Miss Conlan left some instruments under their seats; it was quite exciting!

The Upper School children did us proud with their concert. They were all so professional and I was overjoyed to see them shine on stage. Year 7 were fabulous with their glockenspiel rendition of Walking in the air; bravo!

And I know Mr Kuhn was not only surprised but extremely impressed with the song Year 5 made for him; how he laughed!

Choirs of both lower and upper school brought tears to our eyes as usual and I think a great day was had by all so well done again to all the children for all their hard work.

Miss Stone Music Teacher

Special Events Winter Fair 2017

Ponies, rabbits, singing elves and power cuts were just the start of our annual winter fair on Friday 15th December. After much fuse flicking, unplugging of hot plates and general electrical wizardry the fair finally got off to a roaring start and parents and children alike visited the many stalls on offer and enjoyed some Christmas cheer!

Highlights included the delicious Syrian food stall run by Meibyng and Salma, a Christmas craft stall where the children produced handmade penguins and beautifully crafted wooden signs and candle holders courtesy of the multi - talented Mr. Steele.

The pony rides proved popular especially with the younger children and there were busy queues around the FS playground for both the pony rides and the opportunity to play with the extremely fluffy bunnies brought in by Sebastian.

As ever our raffle was a roaring success with most of the prizes being won by two particularly lucky mums - Cuca and Mel who now have plenty of supplies to see them through the Christmas period.

A great big thank you to everyone who helped with the fair and I am pleased to announce that we raised over €1000 for this year´s chosen charity Hogar Betania in La Linea. We will be asking the students to send in their design ideas for the outdoor areas that we will be developing for the Hogar in the new year.

Emma Watkins Head of Administration

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Special Events Carol Competition 2017

On Friday 15th, after a song filled assembly by Y1, the Upper School and Lower School Choir (both looking very smart as usual) filed on to the bus. They were heading to the Old Town for their latest performances, complete with musical instruments in tow.

Both choirs had, two weeks previous, wowed their audiences at the annual Christmas Carol concerts held in school. We are very lucky to have such talented musicians at our school and regularly get to see them showcasing their talent in various events throughout the year. Both choirs sing so beautifully it wouldn’t be very civic minded of us to keep them just to ourselves. Therefore one of our calendar events annually is to take part in a carol competition organised by the Ayuntamiento.

Upper and Lower School Choirs from eight different local schools were in attendance all vying for the coveted ‘Best Choir’ award, whilst being filmed for local television. The Lower School Choirs were to perform first and faced stiff competition from a number of other schools. The Upper School Choirs then performed. In this category were a number of choirs from local secondary schools, singing a mixture of well known and original compositions in English, Spanish and even French.

A tense period was to follow as the judges met and deliberated. A number of categories were to be decided as well as the best overall choir in the Primary and Secondary categories. Our Upper School Choir was declared as the Best Technical performance in the Secondary field and Evie and Lucas went up to the stage to receive a cheque as their reward. A number of categories were then announced in the Primary category without mention of us. They were leaving the best to last as our Lower School Choir were then announced as the Best Choir overall in their category. The whole choir were back on stage to receive their very large cheque and a plaque to commemorate their achievement.

Fantastic performances from school choirs don’t happen by themselves and take many hours of coaching and rehearsal. A big thank you and congratulations to our music department, Miss Stone and Miss Conlan.

Mr Herron Deputy Headteacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Foundation Stage Nativity We Must Go To Bethlehem

From the moment the show begun and the stage filled with the beautiful sounds of Foundation Stage singing ‘Special News’, it was clear this was going to be a performance to remember. The Foundation Stage Christmas Production is always a magical one with amazing songs and lots of resilience shown by a talented cast. And it was quickly clear this year’s production of ´We Must Go to Bethlehem´ would be no exception.

Dazzling Diana had the audience captivated by her breathtakingly beautiful performance as Mary. She delivered her lines with such confidence she made it look easy, a performing star in the making. I must be sure to get my programme signed! Mark played the doting Father, Joseph, with conviction and confidence. He was the proud Father and caring husband and made sure we all knew his kind and caring role! The Wise Men stood proud and tall when delivering their lines and gifts! They took their job very seriously and made sure everyone knew just how important baby Jesus was to many, many people. The Shepherds showed us amazing acting skills when awoken by an angel, they remembered their cues and stage directions perfectly and never once forgot their sheep! The Innkeepers were fantastic with the delivery of their lines! They were clear, confident and strong! Our shining star Carolina, guided the way for the Kings and made sure they safely made their way to Bethlehem.

Our Reception narrators weaved the show together with their confident and strong delivery of lines and, they should be extremely proud of their fantastic efforts in telling the Christmas Story. We were so proud of their efforts in learning and delivering lines like professionals.

Nursery are continuing to grow in confidence when on the stage. They have now had plenty of practice during the last few weeks and step up to the mark every single time. They enthusiastically told the Christmas Story through song, dance and big smiles. We are all proud of their determination when learning the songs for this spectacular production and their engagement during the performance.

And we cannot forget our super dazzling stars! A huge achievement from our youngest children in the school, who came onto the stage to sing by themselves. They were truly fantastic, sung beautifully and looked amazing. I will be singing ´Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star´ all through the festive season. Thank you for your beautiful rendition of this song, Pre-Nursery.

A huge thanks and congratulations to all involved in the FS Christmas Production. A charming take on the story of the Nativity that was a real joy to watch and experience.

Happy Holidays!

Miss Nixon

Nursery Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Cybersafety

How Social Is Social Media

Through discussion with the children we’ve become aware that an app called Musical.ly is very popular at our school. I’ve included some information from Gooseberry Planet about the app so that if your child is using it, or interested in using it, you can have an informed discussion about it with them. In the attached information you will find a number of points to consider which are unique to the app itself.

Musical.ly has an age rating of 12+. In Spain, 14 is the recommended age for any form of social media. This age recommendation is in place to protect young people and to give them the opportunity to mature sufficiently before engaging with others in this way. Another feature, which is common to a number of social media platforms, is the ability to comment in a group format. Commenting in a group format requires a certain level of understanding.

Words in text, particularly in a chat, can often be misconstrued, it is very difficult to understand context and intonation. If your child uses an app in which there are group chats, please take the time to discuss this and monitor the types of discussions they are engaging in.

As always, if you have any questions or something you’d like to bring to our attention then please speak to your child’s class teacher or myself.

Cybersafety Using musical.ly safely •

Communicate your expectations- As a parent, it is your responsibility to make clear what is and what is not acceptable online behaviour. You need to accept that allowing your child access to online appslike these, require trust and clear boundaries, for their own wellbeing. If you are not comfortable with them dressing in a particular way or behaving suggestively whilst lip syncing to the latest tunes, musical.ly may be one to avoid.

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Ask the question- Encourage your child to visualise who might be watching their video. Pose the question: Think about a person you would least like to see your video. How do you feel about posting it?

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Downloading the app- Once downloaded, the app remains public (anyone can view your content). You have to change the setting to make it secure.

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Privacy- Users are able to control and approve who can see their ‘musicals’ and who can ‘follow’ them. The key here is to impress upon your child how important it is that they only have real life friends following them. If they accept people they do not know, the privicy setting is pointless.

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Not that private!- Even with a private account there is information in your Bio (Biography) that remains public. It is too easy for others to find out personal information and about other social media accounts.

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Personal information- Use creative usernames that do not identify your child’s real one on screen. At the very least take off surnames as names are used alongside the musicals and any other personal information. Use this approach for all social media accounts.

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Collection of personal information- This app collects personal information of its users and shares it with third parties, for full details, read the Privacy Policy (www.musical.ly/privacy.html).

Best regards, Mr Herron, Deputy Headteacher.

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Become a Gooseberry Guru Keeping Children Safe Online

What is musical.ly?

musical.ly

Gone are the days of singing into your hairbrush infront of the mirror.These days you can become an internet popstar in seconds....but if you are not careful, you may also become a target.

Musical is a free music, video and social media app for ages 12+ (App Store), that can be downloaded for IOS and Android devices. It allows users (also called “musers”) to create fun music videos (also called “musicals”) within minutes, share them online with other musicaly.ly subscribers. Musers can give and get feedback, comments and likes on thier performance.

‘Musers’ can choose from 1000s of popular tunes and videos or can take on challenges to create a ‘musical’ Techniques will include lip syncing, dancing and special effects to create thier ‘musical’ and then share them on other social networking sites within seconds. The most ‘liked’ performances form part of a leader board, creating competition and the need for users to deliver an even more memorable performance.

Sounds really innocent and fun right? Wrong! The capabilities of the app provide easy opportunities for users to see children at thier most vulnerable, expressive and in some cases provocative in their bid to become the next internet sensation. ‘Musicals’ are meant to be shared and the use of hashtags (#) increase the viewing audience, with over 22,000,000 searches on one social networking platform alone.

Is musical.ly safe for children to use?

If you search for examples of musical.ly videos online, the results are oerhaps not a surprise. You will see children, many of whom are under the age of 13, copying dances, movements and clothing styles that are less than age appropriate. Selfexpression and exploration is a natural part of growing up. The difference is, they are doing this online in the public domain, where anyone could be watching.

You only have to read the reviews of the app to realise that this is causing concern, even with those who have downloaded it.

Turn off app location settings- Although other users are not able to search your child’s exact location from the app, it will give them a good idea where they are. The app allows users to search for others in their location in the ‘my city’ area of the app to find those locally who are using musical.ly.

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Pieces of a puzzle- Combine this with other information that your child may be sharing on other social media accounts and someone who is persistent will not have to look too far to get all they need to make contact.

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Search and check- Ask your child to show you their account or search your child’s account and see what information they are displaying. If you are able to see personal information, then so can others. You are not prying, you are parenting.

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Watch the musicals- Watch the musical and content they have created, use this as a starting point for opening up a conversation about what they are sharing and how it makes you feel.

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Take action- If you are uneasy about your child using musical.ly, they are under the age of 13 or have shared personal information without your permission, you can contact musical.ly directly at privacy@musical.ly and they will be able to lock or delete your child’s account.

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Think before you act- Deleting your child’s account may be a quick and easy solution but it is unlikely to stop them finding more creative ways to obtain the app.

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Read the Privacy Policy- This will tell you all you need to know and help you make some important decisions about how you will allow your child to use musical.ly- www.musical.ly/privacy.html

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Look and you will find- As with many social networking sites, if you search long enough you will find many examples of material which is innapropraite to be viewed by children.

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Making a decision- You are a parent and you will know your child enough to make a decision about allowing them to use musical.ly or any other social networking app, Musical.ly is designed to be a fun and appealing app and it is not difficult to see why it is so popular. By following the steps outlined above you have a better opportunity to ensure that your child is protected online.

Remember the internet should be a fun and liberating experience for all, but it takes the right steps to make it a safe one!

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Big Writing December Big Write Winners As always, the children at BISM have worked very hard on their weekly Big Writing, which is always a pleasure to read.

Many congratulations to our weekly Big Write winners this month:

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Hogar Betania

Charity Begins At Home I am really pleased to say that our first term supporting our chosen charity, Hogar Betania has gone fantastically!

Thank you for your overwhelming generosity this Christmas‌.our BISM family has collected 118 presents for underprivileged children in Hogar Betania.

Not only have we been raising money and will continue to do so from various events, but the success of this month´s present giving makes a massive difference to the lives of these children.

After the Christmas Fair, some teachers made their way to Hogar Betania to give the presents to the helpers there in preparation for their big event on the 5th December.

We also took many donated second hand toys which the children loved.

Miss Conlan organised a musical event for them where many children got involved, playing guitars and drums. It was a fun evening had by both BISM teachers and residents of Hogar Betania.

Miss Lawrence Student Council Coordinator

This month, the children also took part in their halftermly writing assessments. This time, a mysterious box had been delivered to our school over the weekend, however, when the children arrived on Monday morning the box was open; something had escaped! The children reviewed the evidence, discussed ideas in class and finally used this stimulus to write a non-chronological report explaining what kind of creature had escaped from the box and was wandering around our school!

Miss Marseglia English Coordinator

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Talking Point Self-Discipline

At the heart of any successful person, is self-discipline. Whether it’s success in their personal lives or their professional lives, it all starts with an inherent ability for self-control through discipline. Your thoughts, emotions, behaviours and habits must be kept in check.

If you want to achieve any goals you set, understanding how to discipline yourself is a key ingredient to the success recipe. But self-discipline isn’t something new. In fact, self-discipline has been a topic of discussion for thousands of years and it’s been championed by some of the world’s most successful people.

Referring to our ability to succeed in life at any endeavor, Aristotle once said, “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.”

This month we asked the Middle School children to reflect on themselves whilst considering their self discipline. We asked them to ask themselves ‘am I a good role model’, ‘do I always try my best’, ‘do I have the best interests of those around me at heart’ and ‘do I have the ability to make BISM a better place’. Those who felt they could answer positively to these questions were invited to apply for the role of prefect.

After being interviewed by Mr. Kuhn, Mr. Herron and Mrs. Kirkham the first BISM prefects were chosen.

Congratulations to Victoria Y7, Isabel Y6, Poppy Y6, Emma Y6, Solaemen Y5, Jasmine Y5, Uzala Y5, Laura Y5 and Paddy Y5; you certainly have great self-discipline, keep up the great work and good luck in your new roles.

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