BISM Newsletter - June 2019

ISSUE 1 SCHOOL NEWSLETTER #39

The British International School of Marbella

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

June 2019

2

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Headteacher’s Message Dear Parents and Students, June is always the busiest month of the school year as the count down to the holidays commences. Behind the scenes students are preparing for their GL assessments, Teachers are busy writing reports and the Leadership team are analysing data in preparation for writing the school development plan for next year.

This year, in addition to this, we also had the pleasure of welcoming NABSS for our inspection. This is the third time we have been expected by them and once again they were very impressed with the work we are doing at BISM. We were rated good to outstanding (with many outstanding features) across the school.

They were particularly impressed with how confident and polite our children are and the positive comments the students said about the school and the staff; this made me extremely proud. A perfect end to another great year at BISM. There was a very quiet week of June when our Middle School Students went on their annual residential. The children had a great time and, on the whole, behaved very well.

The teachers were very complimentary of the children’s maturity and independence.

All returned to school with big smiles and funny stories to share. Well done, Middle School, and thank you to all the staff for your care and attention ensuring all had a wonderful time.

A firm favourite on the events calendar is Sports Day. This year the venue may have changed, however the skill, sportsmanship

and sense of fun remained unchanged. Well done to all the children who participated and congratulations to the Sports Team on another stellar event.

As always, the year ended with Speech Day. The event was, as always, a wonderful celebration of the year we have enjoyed together. It is easy to get swept away with the busyness of life, particularly school life, and forget to take a step back and appreciate the ‘now’. It has been a wonderful year with many highlights, as these monthly newsletters depict and has ended with impressive assessment results, and excellent inspection report and, most importantly, very happy children.

For me personally, this particular Speech Day was a very special one as it marked the end of my time as Headmistress of the British International School of Marbella. I have enjoyed nine amazing years leading this wonderful school. No two years have been the same and I have found my time at the school to be rewarding, challenging and extremely enjoyable. I would like to take this opportunity to thank firstly the children for their boundless positively and energy, the staff for their hard work and creativity, the parents for their unwavering support and, finally, the Britsh Schools Foundation for believing in me. I look forward to seeing you on the other side of the school gates in September.

With very best wishes, Sian Kirkham Headmistress

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Pre-Nursery Lovely Literacy The children in Pre-Nursery have become keen storytellers!

They listened carefully to a story all about a Daddy. He was kind, funny and had lots of special skills. They listened carefully and commented on the images they could see. At the end of the story they were asked to tell Ms Pottinger what was so special about their Daddy. Amelia said loudly “He is Papi, not Daddy”. Albie said “My Daddy takes me to the beach”. Olivia pointed to the picture of the Daddy in the book and said “looks like my Daddy”. The children became very excited about their Daddies and began talking all at once. Ms Pottinger asked them to take it in turns to talk about their Daddies. They all had something different to say, they enjoyed telling their stories. Advik was able to point at images and made some lovely sounds.

After the story the children were split into two groups, one group wrote a card to Daddy and the other group designed the front of their card for Daddy. Albie liked the idea of making his Daddy a card that looked like a shirt, he counted the buttons as he placed them on the card. He did this in English and Spanish! What a star! Some of the children were even able to trace the initial letter of their name, Nika had very good control of her pencil.

The children surprised Ms Pottinger with their amazing Literacy skills, particularly their ability to tell a story about a member of their family.

Well done Pre-Nursery you have come so far.

Ms Pottinger Pre-Nursery Teacher

3

4

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Nursery Who Lives in my House?

As part of our work in the build up to Doughnuts for Daddies the children were very excited to share lots of information about their families. As part of our curriculum the children are encouraged to share with their classmates details of their family, to learn that there are similarities and differences between all our families and celebrate their unique nature.

As part of a circle time the children were happy to talk about who lives in their house, what pets they have, this was extended to discuss their wider family and all their much loved family members who live all over the world. The children were able to talk with fondness of their relatives and discuss how they felt.

They listened to each other carefully and asked thoughtful questions of each other.

The children then completed an activity where they had to read a key using different coloured squares for different family members and they put them in their house. This created a lovely visual representation to end our discussion on the topic.

Well done Nursery!

Mrs Riddell Nursery Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Reception

Tick Tock Around the Clock ‘Tick tock around the clock’ is the song that took the children’s interests in telling the time to another level in Reception class. They loved the challenge of making the time on the clock as it was sung in the song. To extend their learning and knowledge of time, the children were challenged to make their own clock, complete with moving hands!

They had to use their own clocks to make the correct time. They also enjoyed a classic game of bingo, except it was time bingo. In teams they had to listen to the time and find it on their bingo board and then be the first team to shout out, it was a very competitive and close game!

Be sure to ask your children to help you tell the time throughout the summer holidays, perhaps you could make a timetable and use the clock to work out what time it is?

Mrs Rutherford Reception Teacher

5

6

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Foundation Stage

Trip to Villacana Pony Club

In the penultimate week of term Foundation Stage went on a trip to Villacana Pony Club. With our lunches in our backpacks we boarded the bus ready for an exciting day.

When we arrived the children took part in a variety of activities such as brushing, feeding and riding ponies. The children had the chance to ride in the ring on the ponies and play a few games with them. The children were so calm around the ponies and were really brave facing and overcoming any initial fears they had.

Jordan said ‘I was frightened on the first time but then I did it and it felt amazing’.

We also had the chance to explore the vegetable garden, feed the chickens, collect the eggs, bounce on the trampoline and play in the teepee. It really was a fun packed day. The children were brave, polite and patient and they were a real credit to the school. Many thanks to the wonderful parent helpers who really helped on the day.

Well done Foundation Stage we returned from the trip a very proud bunch of teachers!

Mrs Riddell Foundation Stage Leader

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Special Event

Doughnuts For Daddies

What a lovely way to spend a Friday morning! The children had been very busy, spending the week preparing for the event. They had made cards and sweets for their Daddies and had also shared some lovely memories of the wonderful activities that they do with their Dad. The children performed their songs and poems with great confidence it was truly lovely to see how much they have grown with their performing skills over the course of the year. Of course the highlight of the event is sharing doughnuts. This year we would like to thank Savraj’s parents for very kindly donating a feast of ‘Dunkin’ Donuts’ that went down a storm.

Mrs Riddell Foundation Stage Leader

7

8

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Special Event

Foundation Stage Splash Day I didn’t know it was possible to get as wet as the staff did on Foundation Stage splash day. The children rose to the challenge to make the end of term go with a splash.

The children took great delight in squirting each other and the staff with giant water guns and the new addition of the water slide paddling pool went down a storm.

The children were also amazingly sensible at getting dry and changed with increasing independence. What a fun day!

Mrs Riddell Foundation Stage Leader

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 1

New Beginnings

Malaga Car Museum

At the beginning of the year the children were all excited for Year One and were ready for a new challenge. During the course of the year they have blossomed into mature pupils of the Lower School who can be relied upon to do tasks individually.

Their social skills have improved immensely, solving problems as they come along and compromising when needed. We are all friends here in Year One and have enjoyed a wonderful year together.

I have been very impressed indeed with their writing skills. They now know many sounds and can read well. Using phonic skills, the class can also now write independently.

The children love mental maths challenges and enjoy taking part in the mental maths championship on a Friday. Their dancing skills have also improved along with their maths as they sing and dance maths challenges!

What an incredible journey that we have been on as pupils, teachers and parents.

Thank you so much for your support this year. It has been a wonderful experience for me to teach your children and I wish them all the best in Year Two! Mr Thomas Year One Teacher

For the end of year trip, the Year One class went to the Malaga Car Museum. Over the course of the final term the class has been learning about Travel & Transport and were very excited to visit real life classic cars!

The children were all excited arriving to school ready for the bus journey to Malaga.

When we arrived at the museum we were greeted by our tour guide for the day. He was very eccentric and was dressed as Willy Wonka! He was very theatrical but informative. As we travelled around the museum he gave us quizzes before we moved onto the next section.

We sketched our favourite car from the collection as part of our class competition.

The museum staff voted for their favourite piece and a winner was chosen and was given a special pencil! Well done Janna for being the winner!

On the way home on the bus, the children were all tired from the fun learning and most slept the whole journey home! A fantastic day was had by all and I would recommend for you and your families to visit.

Mr Thomas Year One Teacher

9

10

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 2

Marvellous Mini Habitats Year Two have been studying habitats as part of their science topic. They have learnt about habitats such as deserts, rainforests and the arctic as well as micro habitats such as flower beds, shrubs and ponds. The children then chose one habitat to research and using the Chromebooks they found out about what plants and trees would live in their chosen habitat as well as different kinds of animals.

The children then turned some plain shoe boxes into marvelous habitats using paints, tissue paper, fabric and cardboard. These habitats look incredibly bright and eye catching. To finish them perfectly the children created some clay animals to reside in their habitats. Such great pieces of art!

Well Done Year Two! Miss Allen Year Two Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 3 Stupa Class Trip

12’s

After learning lots in Year Three about Buddhism the children had the opportunity to visit the biggest stupa in Europe in neighbouring Benalmadena, to help cement their classroom learning.

At the extremely impressive building, which has probably caught your eye as you have driven past on the nearby motorway, the children received a guided tour, had the opportunity to ask questions of Buddhists and they also joined in with a meditation.

It was a wonderful experience, followed up by an equally fantastic experience in the afternoon, although very contrasting in nature, when the children enjoyed lots of fun, games and imaginary play at the playpark inside Parque de la Paloma.

It was a wonderful trip to come at the end of a wonderful year!

Mr Holden Year Three Teacher

In Year Three we love using games to help our learning.

One such game we use is called “12s” and the children love it, which often results in the cry “Please can we play 12s?”

In order to play stand in a circle and take turns saying numbers. You may say 1 digit, 2 digits or 3 digits before it passes to the next person in the circle. The objective of the game is to avoid being the person who has to say 12. If you are, you are out!

It is very simple and as the children have become sophisicated at playing it we have added more levels in complexity and they have added their own strategies to help them or their friends “not lose”. (It can get very tactical, when there are 22 children in a circle!)

To increase the difficulty, we have played backwards and with different times tables, for example, “12s” with the 5 times tables in which the dreaded number is 60! (12x5) You only need one other player to play, so please give it a go!

Mr Holden Year Three Teacher

11

12

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 4

Electricity

This term we have been learning about something that we use everyday: Electricity!

Can you imagine a life without electricity? It certainly wouldn’t be easy.

The class learned about where electricity comes from, the uses of electricity and how to use electricity safely. The children worked in small groups to create simple and more complex circuits using wires, batteries, bulbs and switches. They experimented with ways of making the bulb weaker or stronger and how to add more components to the circuit.

Here is some advice from Year Four of how to save electricity as much as possible: Turn off the lights when you leave the room.

Turn off electrical appliances (like computers and TVs) when you are not using them.

Turn unnecessary lights off.

Use renewable energy sources.

Don’t use heaters or air conditioning if it is not completely necessary.

Miss Marseglia Year Four Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 5

Theme Park Year Five’s final project of this year is all about theme parks. With Marbella’s recent Feria and the residential trip to a theme park in Seville, I have decided to show the children just how much Maths is needed to design, build, advertise and enjoy a theme park. This project was intended to: • • • • •

develop their problem-solving and creative thinking skills; make decisions and choices; strengthen their ability to work collaboratively within a team; use a range of mathematical and literacy skills; have fun!

The first part of the project was to plan out their park and label on their initial ideas for names and areas. Their park needed three distinct areas: the different rides, amenities and attractions, and all of these areas needed to be calculated and took up different areas on their map. Then they had to design a brochure that includes all the rides and attractions, with a clear synopsis of each. Here the creativity had no boundaries!

The next part was calculating the running cost per day. They had to factor in things like: electricity and water consumption, hiring cost of security staff, maintenance cost and many more. Initially the 5million pound budget sounded like a lot of money, but they soon realised that they had to work very careful with their money.

Of course the aim was for their business to make money, so everyone needed to advertise their theme park to ensure people flock to come and ride Wolf-Hound, The Last Hour, Autopilot, Death Drop and Project Ultimate, amongst many others.

Well, by the sound of those rides, I’m sure to pre-book my ticket today!

Mr Kuhn Middle School Maths Teacher

13

14

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 6

Electricity and Electric Circuits The Year Six pupils have studied a unit about electricity. This has accompanied their English unit about amous inventors quite nicely as Benjamin Franklin had one of the greatest scientific minds of his time. He was interested in many areas of science, made many discoveries, and invented many things, including bifocal glasses. In the mid-1700s, he became interested in electricity.

Up until that time, scientists had mainly known about and experimented with static electricity. Benjamin Franklin took things a big step ahead. He came up with the idea that electricity had positive and negative elements and that electricity flowed between these elements. He also believed that lightning was a form of this flowing electricity.

In 1752, Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment. In order to show that lightning was electricity, he flew a kite during a thunderstorm. He tied a metal key to the kite string to conduct the electricity.

Just as he thought, electricity from the storm clouds transferred to the kite and electricity flowed down the string and gave him a shock. He’s lucky that he didn’t get hurt, but he didn’t mind the shock since it proved his idea. Building upon Franklin’s work, many other scientists studied electricity and began to understand more about how it works. For example, in 1879, Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb and our world has been brighter ever since!

The concept of a circuit: a never-ending looped pathway for charge carriers. If we take a wire, or many wires, joined end-to-end, and loop it around so that it forms a continuous pathway, we have the means to support a uniform flow of charge. Each charge carrier advancing clockwise in a circuit pushes on the one in front of it, which pushes on the one in front of it, and so on, and so on. Now, we have the capability of supporting a continuous flow of charge indefinitely without the need for infinite supplies and dumps. All we need to maintain this flow is a continuous means of motivation for those charge carriers, which is known as the voltage and current.

The Year Six pupils, alongside their parents were in investigating how current and voltage change in series and parallel circuits. They have learnt the names of the different circuit symbols and have been practising creating different types of circuits with bulbs, motors and buzzers. They have enjoyed learning about electricity and will go on to explore more circuits in Key Stage 3!

Miss Ladds Middle School Science Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Special Event

Middle School Residential Trip to Sevilla Phew! We are just home from an amazing residential! Let me tell you all about it!...

Years 5-8 have been on a four day trip to Sevilla. We all really enjoyed the trip and we all had lots of fun. On the first day we packed all of our stuff into the coach, waved our parents goodbye and departed for Tarifa! You could feel the excitement as we sang songs, ate sweets and had lots of laughs along the way!

Day one: When we arrived in Tarifa we did four different activities: zip lining, circuits, archery and we even managed a small hike! After the activities we walked to the sand dunes and jumped off the top to the bottom. This was an amazing experience and we got some fantastic pictures! Exhausted, we all jumped on the bus and departed for our hostel in Sevilla…

Day two: We were up at the crack of dawn, excited for the day ahead! First, we set off for the center of Sevilla and our first top was the Cathedral. We even got to go inside the cathedral to look around. It was stunning.. Then we set off for the Alcazaba to look around. We walked through the Palace gardens and some of us walked inside the Palace. After all of our sight seeing, it was time for the adrenaline to start pumping..and set of for...Isla Magica!!! In Isla Magica we all went on roller coasters, Viking boats (as a Danish girl - this was a favourite of mine!), roller coasters, water rides and much more!

It was so much fun.

Day three: Bright and early we travelled to Italica which were ruins that were also used in the series “Game of Thrones.” In Games of Thrones the ruins were used for the scene of the dragon pit. After we saw the ruins we went straight to the waterpark “Aquatropalis.” We spent most of the afternoon in the waterpark going on waterslides. The park was almost empty, so we didn’t have to spend any time queueing! It was epic! After the waterpark we all had a choice to either rent a row-boat and take in the breathtaking sights of Sevilla or for those out of energy they could go back to the hostel! Most of the tired and exhausted Middle School travelled back to the hostel, but myself and a few others decided to try out the row boats. I can tell you, rowing a row-boat isn’t as easy as it looks and we all had a bit of trouble rowing the boat at first! After a while we got the hang of it, and it turned out to be a very memorable part of the trip!

Day four: Day four was a very special day because it was Julieta Toro’s birthday and the last day of the residential. After stuffing our faces with birthday cake, we drove from the Hostel in Sevilla to El Chorro. El Chorro is around 45 minutes from Malaga and if you haven’t been,

15

16

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

you must go! It is absolutely breathtaking! In El Chorro there were different activities to do including: abseiling, tracking, kayaking and there was a hike as well. After we had completed the activities we drove back to Marbella to see our parents and family. We had a truly amazing time but i must admit we were all happy to be back home.

A special thank you to Miss Ladds and Jeff who organized the trip and thank you to all the teachers that made it such a memorable experience for us all. Roll on our next trip!

Victoria Wiberg Year Eight Student

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Sport

Fantastic Foundaton Stage Fun!

On Tuesday 4th June, Foundation Stage had a fantastic fun morning on the beach for their annual sports day. They participated in 6 activities, races and a game of Reception`s favourite game – The Countries game, which they taught to their parents and Nursery and Pre-Nursery.

There was wet the teacher fun, an obstacle course, beat the goalie, and old classics like the egg and spoon and the sack race.

Year 8 came to help and ran the events and it was great to see the oldest children in the school helping the youngest!

Thank you to all the parents for attending, I know the children love to share their learning with you, also to all the teachers who helped, but mostly to the children for being such super sportsmen, well-done Foundation Stage!

Miss Bruce PE Teacher

17

18

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Sport

Sports Day 2019 On Wednesday 5th June the Lower and Middle schools had their Sports Day. Children competed in lots of different events including javelin, shot putt and beanbag throws, standing long jump and of course the sack race which is always good fun! They also participated in sprint and relay races which were very competitive and showed off the amazing athletic ability of our students.

All children were competing to score points for their house and after a fantastic effort, the Saxons emerged as the winners! Congratulations to them. The Vikings came in second, Normans third, and Romans fourth but there was not much between them all so well done to everyone.

I Ě d like to say a big thank you to the teachers and Teaching Assistants who all helped to make it a really successful event and to the many parents who came along to watch, the children love it when they can show off their talents!

Mr Allen PE Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Sport

Aloha Althetics

On 13th June 20 Year Five and Six children were invited to attend an athletics workshop at Aloha School. The focus was on participation and the children learned new skills including high jump and the standing triple jump. They were an absolute credit to the school! They tried new things and showed resilience and humour when learning difficult skills.

They also performed extremely well in the relay races, winning every single final! Both teams performed to a very high level and were supportive of each other. They very much enjoyed the day and can be commended on their wonderful attitudes and perseverance.

It has been a wonderful year in terms of sports and I have been so proud of the children`s achievements over the year. Both the football teams performed extremely well, the basketball team has been a huge success and we have had several opportunities to compete against other schools in athletics and friendly football matches.

The children have been an absolute pleasure to teach and I am looking forward to seeing them progress, moving into the new site with extended facilities.

Miss Bruce PE Teacher

19

20

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Spanish

Sunflowers This year has been full of changes. The pupils in Reception started in Lower School, and they overcame the challenge marvellously! Likewise, the students in Year Two have grown a lot throughout the year. But not only the students: suddenly, in February, the Spanish teachers changed. Miss Aburuza left and Miss Rodriguez arrived. The children had to adapt to the change... and they sure did! They have learned a lot since then; now they know everything about our country, Spanish geography or wildlife. The pupils have responded with positivity and determination to these readjustments that have happened throughout the school year. And what better way to symbolize change than a plant? In particular, a sunflower.

A few months ago we started learning all about plants. The pupils showed great interest in the growth of flowers: they learned a lot of vocabulary and many details about this process. It was important to experience everything they had seen about the topic in videos and pictures, so we decided to plant our flowers. We took a few cups of yogurt and put in some sunflower seeds. You all can imagine how much they have enjoyed this project‌ they loved it! For the last few weeks we have been looking after our sunflowers and observing the changes going on, and the children have seen how their sunflower has been growing and transforming.

A plant needs water, sun and fertilizer and the pupils have had to take care of it with love and dedication, which symbolizes the essence of education: we as teachers must sow the seed of dream and nourish it every day with care and attention. The children, on the other hand, have to contribute to the growth of that seed with work and effort. Thus, little by little, pupils’ skills will flourish, facing new challenges and overcoming any adversities.

Finally, I as their teacher have gratefully collected the fruits that this process has yielded: students who are constantly becoming more and more skillful, being able to apply that knowledge on a day-to-day basis.

In conclusion, it has been a fantastic year and we have all enjoyed it very much. I would like to congratulate all the children on their effort. I am deeply grateful to be given the opportunity to see them learn with such enthusiasm.

Have a lovely summer!

Miss Aburuza Spanish Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Music

Holiday Practice Tips During the school holidays we encourage students to practise daily where possible. The format of practice can be varied so that even if you are away from home, you can be doing something musical every day.

Listening and Singing Do you listen to your pieces every day? It is a great way to start hearing the melody, learning the structure of the piece, concentrating on dynamic variations and articulation.

You could listen to a piece several times and each time pick out a different thing to listen to. The first time, you could choose to listen to the dynamics. You can jot down the quietest part of the piece, the loudest part, how does it begin, how does it end etc. By creating these music markers, you will find that when you practise your instrument, you will have an understanding of the piece in your mind. It is also good to listen to the piece whilst looking at the music.

As well as listening, try singing or humming along to your pieces. Music consists of phrases that are marked as long sweeping lines over the top of a piece. A melody is the part of the music that sings to us, so when a phrase ends, it would be where a singer would take a small breath before embarking upon the next part of the melody. If you start thinking of music in phrases, it will help shape your playing.

Encouraging Practice Whilst at Home If you are away from your instrument, then it may be tempting to take a break from daily practice. For some students, this doesn’t affect their playing too much, although it does not lead to much progress. However, for most students, particularly young students, lack of practice means that lots of the basics are quickly lost and when you return to lessons, your teacher will have to spend another 2 lessons recovering the lost knowledge.

If daily practice is starting to seem like a battle during the holidays, then try some of the methods listed above. It is good to encourage young musicians to move away from the instrument occasionally and listen to their pieces or study the music.

Miss Conlan Lower School Music Teacher Mr Everist Middle School Music Teacher

21

22

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Special Event

Speech Day 2019 The year ended with our most prestigious event of the year, Speech Day. Split into three stages, all events were very successful and a wonderful opportunity to reflect an the super year we have enjoyed.

Certain children were selected to receive awards for outstanding achievements but all were rewarded with their excellent work book.

The house cup winning team was also announced - congratulations to the Saxons for collecting a staggering 9130 house points this year, well done!

Ms Kirkham Headmistress

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

E-Safety

How Safe is TikTok? Given the popularity of this app amongst our students, both in its current and previous form, I thought, this month, it might be helpful to share the following article which comes from themodernparents.com: As of August 2018 the popular lip syncing app Muciscal.ly no longer exists in its original form.

The parent company of TikTok, hugely popular in the Asian markets, purchased Musical.ly and have now merged the two. As such, anyone with an account on Musical.ly has now had that account automatically switched over to TikTok. Both work in similar ways, with TikTok having slightly advanced special features and effects to allow greater creativity to edit, share and view the millions of videos created daily.

So how does TikTok work?

As outlined in previous posts on Musical.ly, the new app still does all of the same things.

It is essentially a social network that allows users to make video clips, lip sync to their favourite songs, create short videos, as well as view the clips and videos of others. There is also the option to live stream videos and directly interact with users via the online chat.

What should parents be aware of?

Like with Musical.ly, TikTok also puts young people at risk of seeing highly inappropriate content.

Lyrics, interpretations of songs, the level of dress or undress of users is certainly a by product of viewing other peoples music clips. I guess whilst Musical.ly had trouble keeping tabs on the nature of its content and users at 100 million accounts, jumping to 400 million users overnight will likely see many of these challenge continue to rise.

It is also a social media platform, which like all social media platforms encourages users to connect, to share content, to like and to comment.

This also means public and private chats are available and young people can certainly be contacted by those who don’t have their best interests at heart.

Users can connect their other social media accounts to their TikTok account making it easier for them to be found and contacted via these apps as well.

The app store rating is 12+, however Common Sense Media rates it at 16+.

What should parents do?

If you are ok with the content, with the lyrics, and all that comes with social networking apps such as these, then there are certainly some things you need to think about before handing over the app, or in the case of existing Musical.ly users, continuing to allow it.

Remember if your child has friends over and they are creating videos, this may not be something other children’s families are ok with so one should always check before uploading any videos of other people’s kids. I used to tell parents that their child could save videos to your camera roll to share with close friends rather than upload it online and have others and potential strangers view, share and comment. Unfortunately to date, this element is no longer available on this version.

23

24

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

There are 2 privacy settings on this app.

Private: only the creator of the video can watch their videos Public: anyone on the app can see your videos.

Obviously this is certainly concerning as most kids are not joining a social media app to ‘go it alone’ and so the only other option is to be public. Remember this then exposes them to all manner of videos. The interpretation of a song by a 17 year old can be vastly different to how your 9 year old would interpret it. And likewise, you have all manner of adults viewing your daughters interpretation of their favourite pop song. There was also to be found on Musical. ly videos of self harm, sexually explicit videos, and attention seeking ‘dares’ by kids putting themselves at risk to get likes and acceptance.

They can however still determine who can duet with them, contact them or see their messages, and as with all social networks, they have the ability to block people via the settings tab.

By default all your accounts are public so you need to physically go in and change this if you are wanting to go public.

Setting up Tik Tok Go to settings (the 3 dots in the right hand corner on the user account page) Click on Privacy and Settings.

Click on Privacy and Safety There you will see options: Allow others to find me Private Account Who can see my comments Who can duet with me Who can send me messages My Block list Also be aware there are in app purchases of up to $99 so you may want to turn that feature off too!

Like all games and social networks, it is certainly imperative parents do their homework if they are going to allow their child on apps that are generally not recommended for their age. That means finding out all you can on how to set it up safely, recognising the risks and having the appropriate and ongoing conversations with your child. I am certainly not against young people playing around online and there are certainly great benefits when done safely and smartly.

But as I am often reminded in my student workshops, if we are allowing them to play in public places, we must recognise that the cognitive brain development of most young people is simply not there yet to make some of the important decisions and engage in the critical thinking that is expected of them at this level of playing.

Should you wish to discuss this, or any other e-safety matter please speak with your child’s class teacher or myself.

Best regards, Mr Herron Deputy Headteacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Current Affairs An interesting one for debate this summer - Should female footballers be paid the same as men?

The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is now well underway in France with the final less than 2 weeks away! The competition is being held across nine cities, with the semi-final and final being played in Lyon. Women’s football is fast growing in popularity, with the global viewing audience for the Women’s World Cup expected to reach up to one billion!

But the players themselves are increasingly questioning the level of earnings and prize money they receive compared to male footballers, which are around x10 less!

Things to talk about at home...

Have you been watching the Women’s World Cup? Do you think it is shown enough on TV? Did you collect the men’s World Cup stickers?

Are you collecting the women’s stickers too?

Do you think it’s fair that male footballers are paid more than female at the moment?

Please do encourage your children to share any interesting points of view.

Best regards, Mr Herron Deputy Headteacher

25

EARLY YEARS

-

PRIMARY

-

SECONDARY

+34 952 779 264

www.bsm.org.es - info@bsm.org.es