ISSUE 1 SCHOOL NEWSLETTER #30
The British International School of Marbella
NEWSLETTER A Newsletter for Parents, Students and Friends of our School
September 2018
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Headteacher’s Message Dear Parents and Students, Welcome back for another exciting year at BISM. It has been a wonderful first month of the academic year. I’ve been really impressed with how quickly the children have settled into their new classes and the motivation they have displayed. I have already seen some impressive work, particularly in Writing, Science and Art. Not only are the children displaying boundless enthusiasm towards their learning but they seem very motivated by this year’s school initiatives. Almost daily, children are sharing with me examples of the good deeds they are performing outside of school as we spread the BISM Kindness Revolution into the wider community. If you see your child do something kind while out and about, please do encourage them to let me know. Recycling is a hot topic since Craig Webb’s talk on keeping our seas plastic free. There are more children bringing reusable water bottles to school as a result, which is great to see. Many are keen to join the next beach clean so please keep checking the parent portal where we will share further details. While on the subject of the Parent Portal, please can I remind you to check it regularly. Vital information is shared at least weekly in addition to news items, photos and videos of your children. It would be such a such shame to miss out on the opportunity to
engage with your child about their school day and the learning they are experiencing. We have continued the Talking Point section of the newsletter which you will find towards the back of each edition. Following on from my presentation at the start of the academic year, this month I have focused on how we are preparing our children for the VUCA world. In order to encourage parental engagement while offering the opportunity for parents to discuss various topics related to child development, we will be holding ‘Coffee with Ms Kirkham’ mornings. Our first one will be on Tuesday 30th October at 09:00. It would be great to see many of you there. With very best wishes, Sian Kirkham Headmistress
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Pre-Nursery Magic Maths Bag The children in Pre-Nursery class have been learning to count to 5. They were shown Mrs Pottinger´s magic bag. They were very excited to see all of the different props. The children listened very carefully as Mrs Pottinger showed them the five in the bed puppet. The children were able to count the people on the puppet and some of them could even hold their fingers up to show how many people they could count. Some of the class were able to join in with the actions for the song. Amelia enjoyed showing everyone five by holding up her hand. She used some number names correctly during the song. At the end of the five in the bed song the children were asked “Would you like to do more counting?” They all said yes and excitedly looked in the bag to see what the next magic song would be. Mrs Pottinger Pre-Nursery Teacher
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Nursery Owl Babies - STEM Nest Building Challenge After a week reading the book ‘Owl Babies’ and finding out all about Sarah, Percy and Bill the Nursery children were challenged to make a nest for the baby owls. The children watched a video of an owl making a nest and we talked about what materials they used. The children decided they wanted to make a strong nest so the fox couldn’t eat the baby owls and it must be comfy so they can sleep in it. The children planned the materials they wanted to use and then went on a hunt around school, they found some beautiful feathers, sticks, leaves, pine cones and moss. The children then had to work together to make a nest, they used the sticks to make a good protective outer layer and then filled it with leaves, moss and feathers to keep the babies warm and cosy. The children were very proud of their nest and we think any owl would be proud to call it home. Mrs Riddell Nursery Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Reception Colour Mixing
What happens when you mix primary colours? That was the question that the Reception children were eager to find out. So, what better way to explore the answers than by getting messy and painting the children’s hands? The children were delighted when they painted each of their hands in their chosen colour, making a print for each. They then had to rub their hands together and see what secondary colour they had made before making a print to show the answer. The room was full of laughter and gasps of surprise at the colours they created. It was so exciting that even when it wasn’t their turn, the children just wanted to watch the colours that their peers were making! The children are now experts in colour mixing! Mrs Rutherford Reception Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Foundation Stage Wow Day
When I Grow Up?
As part of our topic ‘Wonderful Me’ the Foundation Stage had a WOW Day based around what we would like to be when we grow up. The children were invited to join us dressed up as the job they would like to have when they are older. The children looked amazing and we had a variety of careers from ballerinas, footballers, vets and doctors to police officers, artists and chefs. We were really lucky to have two special visitors on the day. Firstly we had Mr Webb, who is a Marine Conservationist, he explained to the children about the dangers of plastics on our beach. The children were full of enthusiasm for this cause and were keen to help look after the turtles and dolphins by keeping plastic bags out of the sea. Secondly we had Savraj’s Mum, Ranjit, who is a scientist. She demonstrated a fantastic experiment to the children which showed them how rain is made and how it falls through the clouds. The children were eager to join in and loved seeing the multi-coloured rain fall. We would like to extend our thanks to both these visitors for their time. The children loved finding out about all the people who help us in school, Ms Rutherford held an assembly where we looked at all the people who help us in school and we talked about all the different jobs they do to keep us happy and healthy in school. We really had a wonderful day. Thanks for all the fantastic support in dressing up. Mrs Riddell Foundation Stage Leader
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 1 Bonding Together With Maths
Endangered Animals Wow Day
Returning to school after a long summer holidays can be a tough process to rediscover what children had learnt previously but in Year One the class hit the ground running, really impressing their teachers! This month we worked hard on our number bonds of 5, 6 and 10. The children learnt many action songs to easily recall bonds. In addition to singing the class also played with physical objects such as numicon and cubes to see their calculations come to life. Finally, to consolidate their learning they wrote their calculations using the correct numbers and mostly forming them correctly to show their understanding. Their teachers were very impressed with their attitude to learning and their readiness to take part in a variety of different activities. Keep it up, Year One mathematicians! Mr Thomas Year One Teacher
The children came to school wearing their wonderful costumes that you had all kindly provided and were very proud that day. We started off the day with a conversation about which endangered animal they were and why they had chosen that particular animal, there were some very interesting responses! We had made some wonderful mosaics of endangered animals using cut up coloured cards stuck onto a template and learnt lots about a variety of animals. They showed patience and skill when holding onto these small cut up cards. We finished the day having a lovely buffet and shared our thoughts about the wonderful day that we had and what we had learnt. The class’ curiosity to find out more was plain to see all day! Mr Thomas Year One Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 2
Globetrotters
Space Wow Day
Year Two are currently learning about space. In order to give the class a better understanding of the solar system around us the students first took a closer look at our home planet Earth.
Year Two arrived in their classroom to a terrible
The children were given globes and challenged to find certain continents and countries. After the globe treasure hunt the children were tasked with creating their own globes using a balloon and templates of the different continents. This helped deepen the understanding of their own planet and how it is made up.
note beside him.
Well done Year Two, great investigation skills!
created some interesting and creative 3D models
Miss Allen Year Two Teacher
children then did some investigative maths work,
mess!! Chairs were scattered, pencils were strewn all over the table and there was what appeared to be moon dust sprinkled over the carpet. On arrival the children also noticed a small, green creature tucked behind a chair and what appeared to be a
The creature was in fact an alien and he wanted to learn more about Earth. He wanted the children to take him home each week to teach him about our planet. The class named him and each week he will go home with the Star of the Week. After a good clear up of the classroom, the children of what the aliens home planet might look like. The seeing how many arms a range of aliens had. After all the ‘spacey’ fun the children had worked up a hunger so at the end of the day they created some galaxy cakes, which were delicious! A great start to the topic Year Two, well done! Miss Allen
Year Two Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 3
Good Mornig Year Three Tropic Like Its Hot Want to get wide awake in the morning? Then come into Year 3 and join the children in their morning challenge! Every morning as they arrive in class and before the start of their first lesson the children get their brains warmed up by taking part in a morning challenge. The challenges change every day and the person who embraces it in the most positive way, including putting in the most effort each day, wins 5 dojo points! A real motivator for the children and a great way to get the brain going. The challenges including trying to solve maths problems, which involve applying their knowledge from lessons. Or they can be interesting and engaging ways to learn their weekly spelling words or improve their handwriting. Here are some challenges for you; how many ways can you make the number 9? For example 8+1, 3x3 and 10-1. One child in Year 3 managed over 20 different ways in less than 15 minutes. How many can you do? Another one for you to ponder; how many words can you make from the two words: “Morning Challenge”? To help you get you started: 1. linger 2. in 3. no 4. lemon Have fun! Mr Holden Year Three Teacher
The children of Year 3 have been so intrigued learning about “Rainforests” and loved coming to school for their “Rainforests Wow Day!” Many children dressed as animals you might find in the tropics and some came as explorers. On the day itself the children completed informative posters about rainforests, having researched for information using non fiction texts and also online. They also enjoyed taking part in a rainforest “treasure hunt”, where the treasure was interesting rainforest animals that had been hidden around the school. They all made their own masks of two famous rainforest animals, a jaguar or macaw and they also matched up rainforest loop cards, improving their understanding of technical vocabulary in the process. Mr Holden Year Three Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 4 Solid, Liquid or Gas? This term, Year 4 started their new Science unit: States of Matter. Did you know that everything on Earth is made up of atoms? How these atoms behave, determine whether something is a solid, liquid of gas. The class started off by understanding what the difference is between solids, liquids and gases. They then learnt about how the atoms behave differently in each of these states of matter and acted them out using drama. Can you guess which photo is showing the children acting like an atom in a solid, an atom in a liquid or an atom in a gas? A house point for 3 correct answers! Later in this unit the class will be investigating changes in states including melting, evaporation and condensation. They will be building on their scientific skills of hypothesizing and drawing conclusions to explain their results. Miss Marseglia Year Four Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 4
Rotten Romans and Crazy Celts Assembly On Friday 28th September, BISM was overrun but a troop of nasty Roman soldiers and wild Celtic warriors! It was the day of the Year 4 class assembly of course! The class stormed the stage to teach the school the differences between the Romans and the Celts and the stories of two famous Celtic warriors, Caratacus and Boudicca. Year 4 entertained the audience through humour, storytelling and songs. In the end, the Celts won and the Romans slunk back to Rome, defeated. But that wasn’t the end! Year 4 then had fun celebrating their Roman WOW day for the rest of the day! They learnt about Roman numerals, the countries that formed part of the Roman empire, mosaics and played some Roman inspired games. Thank you to everyone involved, for helping to make it such a fun day! Miss Marseglia Year Four Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 5
Grrrrrr Green Man In The Garden
September has been a busy month for the Year 5s as they have been studying the poetry of two poets - Michael Rosen and Charles Causley. Poetry can be a complex area of literature to study, as it can be understood in many different ways but this did not put the Year 5s off! They produced an excellent piece of drama on the ‘Green Man in the Garden’ by Charles Causley which focused on facial expression, voice and body language. I am sure you will agree that they look very scary! Listening to Michael Rosen read ‘Harrybo’ and working in groups to analyse the features of the poem was another highlight of the lessons. The Year 5s found Rosen’s depiction of a tragic topic incredibly funny! The Year 5s have been researching poetry online and have even recited poems they enjoyed off by heart in front of the class! They are looking forward to writing their own poems soon… Miss Kerlin Middle School English Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 6
Ancient Wisdom The renaissance in Europe is a period of time spanning the 14th to 17th centuries. “Renaissance” is a French word meaning “rebirth”. The period is called by this name because at that time, people started taking an interest in the learning of ancient times. The Renaissance was seen as a “rebirth” of that learning and is often said to be the start of the “modern age”. Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are often credited as the sources of learning for this renewed interest. But this was being done by another group of people hundreds of years prior to the great thinkers in Europe. Y6 have been researching the founding, flourishing and achievements of the early Islamic civilisation. Ancient works from around the globe were collected by early Islamic scholars and Baghdad became the centre of learning. Year Six have been looking at the major events of the period and organising them chronologically. Using our new sunny terrace, with beautiful views, as the spot for arranging a number of events. They worked together to get the order correct and then discussed their events and how much of an impact they may have had. The influence was felt across a number of continents and very heavily here in Spain. And so, to paraphrase the great Monty Python, what have the Early Islamic scholars ever done for us? Well to touch on but a few we can cite advances in: Algorithm – a set of instructions to solve a problem Numerals – the expanse of maths into algebra Algebra/Trigonometry – Pioneered in this
period Rise of the city – a pioneering design based on quarters, adopted by many other cities in the region/world. Islam – the organisation around Islam as the unifying force in society. Year six will be learning more this term and will be only too happy to share their findings with you. Mr Herron Middle School Humanities Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 7
Speed Dating Cells We have been studying cells as our first Biology Topic in Year 7. We have learnt about the structure of a cell and the function of each cell organelle. Pupils had fun learning about the different types of differentiated cells though the medium of ‘speed dating’. Please do not worry we were not encouraging the pupils to begin dating each other, merely to encourage them to extract as much information as possible during a given time period! Ten pupils were given specialised cell cards; sperm, egg, nerve, root hair, ciliated...to name but a few. They then sat around the room and the other half of the class came in and had three minutes to ‘date’ each one. They had to fill in a table to include a diagram, location, description and function of each type of specialised cell. After they had completed four ‘dates’ they then swapped over and the others had the opportunity to meet with the other cells. They pupils had to keep with the online stopwatch and everytime it sounded they had to move to their next cell. Pupils were really engaged in the activity and had fun, and hopefully one they will remember! Miss Ladds Middle School Science Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 8
Decency
Year 8 have been looking at the Charter Value ´Decency´ this month during our PSHE lessons. The children have already been learning about this topic last year so the challenge was how can we improve our own understanding of it. I asked the children to think of new and obscure ways of how we could show our understanding of decency towards others. And of course in true Year 8 style, they did not disappoint. The children were set the task to choose their own topics they want to explore further. The following is an extract of what the children have come up with in each group. 1) Eradicate racism - Racist bullying can include: being called racist names or being sent insulting messages or threats having your belongings damaged or having to see racist graffiti personal attacks, including violence or assault being left out, treated differently or excluded people making assumptions about you because of your colour, race or culture being made to feel like you have to change how you look racist jokes, including jokes about your colour, nationality race or culture. 2) Respect and understand other religions Here is an example of what we should not do: there is a new child in your class and she is wearing a scarf around her head. You go to you friends and talk about her in a mean way. You should not go over to her and bully her just because she is different. This does not give you the right to disrespect her religion. What you need to do instead is make her feel welcome and talk to her in a friendly manner. 3) Appearance: Accepting people for what they look like. Judging people for the way they look is the most common form of discrimination. For example when people see someone with piercings or cazy hair ect. They will assume what kind of person they are without even saying a word to them. Think about the fact that other people might not look like you but maybe lead a life that is similar. Think about your friends, they all look different yet they still go to school with you and do their homework. If you look different that doesn’t mean you’re a different person. Think of it this way, we are all just human. 4) Gender equality Gender equality is the vision that men and women should be treated equally in social, economic and all other areas of life. I was very impressed with the Year 8 pupils´ view of what they perceived to be forms of decency towards others. They had the opportunity to showcase their work to the rest of middle school during assembly. It was great to see how, not only the children, but also the other teachers showed their appreciation for the accurate and mature way they dealt with some of these rather sensitive themes. Well done year 8s. What a decent job….! Mr Kuhn Year Eight Form Tutor
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 8
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Mentoring and Coaching Middle School Changes
Now that BISM has a full Middle School, we have been considering the best approach for our older students. To prepare our children fully for the unknown future that awaits them, we need to ensure they are equipped with all the tools they need to support their emotional and mental growth on their learning journey. The importance of pupil wellbeing has always been a focus at BISM. Providing a safe, happy environment has always been at the forefront of what we do. That said, we asked ourselves do we provide enough opportunities for children to discuss difficult topics and issues? Do all our children have an outlet for their frustrations, feelings and concerns? We felt that this is an area we could improve, particularly in the Middle School where the consistency of a class teacher is no longer available. As a result, PSHE will have a more prominent platform this year with extra allotted time enabling tutor groups to meet four times per week to address the issues our young people face today. In addition, all Middle School pupils have been allocated a Mentor. Mentoring Pupils have been allocated a school mentor to meet at least once every two weeks for a oneto-one fifteen minute meeting. The aim is to build a relationship based on trust and respect providing pupils someone they can turn to for advice with any problem in any situation. Coaching within MS Extended Study The aim of the MS Extended Study is to provide the children with more autonomy in their learning, while developing key skills and deepening understanding. It stands to reason that children learn far more when engaged in a subject or topic that they genuinely enjoy. Providing choice and freedom will enable them to take their learning beyond the barriers of the curriculum. During these sessions the teachers will be on hand to coach pupils in their chosen areas of learning as opposed to directly teach them, asking extension questions and challenging their reasoning. If the pilot of the Extended Study programme proves to be the success we all predict it to be, then we will further use this model to deliver more of the curriculum. Ms Kirkham Headmistress
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
ECA
Enrichment The Extra Curricular programme has started with motivation and excitement across the school. Foundation Stage After an extra week to settle in, the Foundation Stage ECAs started in Week 3. We had a great variety of clubs on offer and the children were eager to get started. Construction club was really popular and the children were challenged to build the tallest tower they could manage. We had specialist teachers in to teach Spanish, Art and Music which gave the children a really exciting start to their year. Lower School What an incredible choice the children had for their clubs this term! There were so many that the children found it difficult to narrow down to the one that they wanted to take part in the most. The variety on offer from Art to Dodgeball really captured the children’s imagination and I am really glad that we are in tune with the children’s interests. As you can see from the pictures they are having a lot of fun! Middle School This year we are very excited about the changes we have made to the enrichment programme in the Middle School. One of our charter values is independence, something we value greatly and a trait we firmly believe we need to cultivate in our students. Friday afternoons are now comprised of two extended study sessions. The children have the option to choose from a wide range of areas they would like to further and develop. Rather than set course which the children sign up to and follow they now have real choice and a voice in how they would like to direct their learning. A number of staff and outside providers (paid for by the school) are on hand as coaches rather than teachers. They lend their expertise to guide the children in developing skills, talent, knowledge or understanding in ways of the children’s choosing. You can see from the table below the breadth of offering and the children have responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to determine their direction of development. We look forward to sharing with you the achievements the children have made in this new and exciting initiative.
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
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Lower School Music
Left Hand At The Top!
Middle School Music
Striking a Chord!
The children in Year 2 have started to learn the descant recorder and they love it! Learning the recorder is a fantastic opportunity to start to play a woodwind instrument. The children have played a piece of music called B Groovy and are now learning BA Dood using the notes B and A. This week we are looking at how to recognise the notes B and A on the stave and also how to follow various musical signals that indicate which note to play. Playing the recorder is a tricky business. The left hand always covers the top three holes and the hole at the back. The children have to apply enough pressure with each finger so as not to let any air escape, while at the same time moving the fingers in time and producing a pleasing tone by not blowing too hard or too soft. On top of all that, they have to play together in unison, listen to the accompaniment, read the music and HAVE FUN! I wonder who I´ll catch out this week when we play Don´t Toot This One Back? Next week, the note G! Miss Conlan Lower School Music Teacher
Year 8 are shaping up to be the new competition for Jools Holland! They’ve dusted off the keyboards and begun their journey to learn some great ensemble pieces that they can perform later on in the year. Except for minimalist or avant-garde styles, every musical genre is based on chords. From Mozart’s piano concertos to The Beatles’ hits, chords are foundational, and Year 8 have started the term off by revising what they may have learnt in previous years and trying to learn the essential chords that are the magic I, IV, V and VI. In fact, the ‘four chord song’ has been around since Pachelbel’s Canon in the eighteenth century! Once Year 8 master these chords, there are literally hundreds of songs at their fingertips. We’re hoping to add some drum and vocal parts to what we all learn together over the coming weeks, but the most important thing is that we are all learning together, making music and having fun! Mr Everist Middle School Music Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Lower School Spanish Middle School Spanish Shape Yourself
Welcome Back!
Year 1 and Year 2 Spanish Natives/Bilingual class has been learning the names of 2D and 3D shapes in Spanish. They started by matching up the actual shapes with their names printed on different flashcards. Once all children were able to name most of the shapes in Spanish, they learnt key words in order to describe how they look like, for example: side, corner, edge, etc. along with recalling numbers and colours from previous lessons. By the end of that session children could orally describe a shape to each other and guess which one it was. We concluded this mini-project by creating geometric shapes using their own bodies. Children had to carefully listen to the teacher’s instructions as they were told to stand up, sit down or lay face down on the grass. During this activity children demonstrated excellent group and collaborative work, as well as some leadership skills when organising their own groups or even the whole class, to get into an specific shape. No doubt these children have not only extended their language skills according to the topic but also they can recognise and follow a lot of instructions given by the teacher in the Target Language. Miss Escribano Lower School Spanish Teacher
In years 7 and 8 of the non-native Spanish class we have been revising our holidays. We have talked about how our summer has gone, what places we have visited and the new people we have met. Taking advantage of the enthusiasm of the students to explore new corners of the world, they have created a presentation to show us what their favourite holiday city would be. First, the children decided what would be the place to visit. Then, they have started to investigate to collect data: what are the main tourist attractions, what sites you can visit there, the native fauna and flora, etc. After selecting the most interesting pieces of information, they have started working on the writing of their presentations. The pupils have used an online dictionary to write their texts, to later correct the possible grammatical errors together. Finally, the students have shared their ideas with the class and the result has been fantastic. They have expressed with confidence their ideas and they have even improvised some dialogue during the presentations. It is important to focus on the oral capacity of the children, so that they can gain more fluency. Keep up the hard work! Miss Aburuza Middle School Spanish Teacher
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Sport
Spendid Sports Assistants
Current Affairs
Whats Going On This Month?
It has been lovely to welcome the children back to sports this September and see that their enthusiasm has not waned! Two children in particular showed their dedication sports when collecting their World Cup Sweepstake prize. Charlie and Jasmine were lucky enough to have picked out the winning teams of France and Croatia in the sweepstake. The prize was to spend a day with the Sports teachers as a special assistant. Charlie supported classes on Wednesday and proved himself to be a credit to the school. He supported the younger children in dodgeball and swimming and impressed both the sports teachers and class teachers with his helpful attitude. He even helped me tidy the sports cupboard (a job even Mr Steele hides from!) and was thoroughly positive and enthusiastic all day. On Friday, Jasmine also supported the younger children in Reception, Pre-Nursery and Nursery PE, proving to be attentive and caring too. She even helped with lunchtime playground duty! It was a pleasure to have them with the Sports Team and we all want to say a huge thank you to our helpers! Watch out for Euro 2020, I feel another sweepstake coming! Miss Bruce PE Teacher
This month’s suggested topic for discussion focuses on advances in technology and the positive impact they have had on our lives: How different would life information at our fingertips?
be
without
September 27th, 2018 marks the 20th birthday of the biggest search engine in the world, Google. Twenty years ago, two students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin formed Google, Inc. for incorporation in the garage of their friend Susan Wojcicki. Over the next 20 years the search engine became the cornerstone of a digital empire that covers everything from images, maps, translation, videostreaming, tech accessories, smartphones, internet browser, and even driverless cars. Things to talk about at home... Can you imagine not having any technology (phones, TV, tablets etc.) to find out information? What are some of the different ways you would be able to use to find out information? Talk to a family member or friend who is over the age of 30, ask them about what life was like before we had the internet. What was harder and what did they think was better about a time before Google? What do you think the next 20 years of technology will bring? As always, please encourage your children to share their thoughts on these matters and discussions you’ve had with their teachers and peers. Mr Herron Deputy Headteacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
PSHE
Decency Decency was our charter value for the month of September and we had an array of assemblies delivered by different staff with powerful messages on what decency means and on the need to be decent. Ms Kirkham kickstarted the theme with an assembly about starting a BISM Kindness Revolution and our final assembly of the month welcomed a special visitor to our Foundation Stage, Lower School and Middle School. Craig Webb has started an organisation called Plastic Free Seas Worldwide. He has been organising beach clean ups along the coast with the next one due at Laguna Village, near Estepona on Saturday 20th October. Craig has also been helping spread the message of what we can all do to help make a difference and prevent so much plastic ending up in our oceans, potentially damaging sea life and ultimately ourselves. Craig made a huge impression on the children who themselves made a huge impression on Craig with their super listening, fantastic questions and interesting stories of how they are trying to reduce their use of plastic, and if they do use it, how they are trying to reuse and recycle it! To look after our planet seems to be a thoroughly “decent� thing to do. Hoping to see you and your children at a beach clean up soon! Mr Holden Lower School Student Council Mentor
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Special Event Phase Picnics
During the first week of school children, staff and parents enjoyed an afternoon of catching up with holiday news while meeting new members of the BISM family during our phase picnics. Foundation Stage The Foundation Stage Picnic was a fantastic start to our new year. It was lovely to meet all the parents and to get to know so many of you. The children were superstars, they were so excited to have all the parents arrive and enjoyed all the lovely food so kindly provided. We look forward to seeing you at the different events throughout the school year. Lower School The Lower School picnic was very well attended by our parents and there was a positive and friendly atmosphere all around. A lovely way to start the school year and meet familiar and new friends. The children certainly enjoyed seeing their parents here at the school and taking an interest in their school life. Middle School The Middle School phase picnic this year was a noticeably larger event than last year with our expansion into, and opening of, year eight. Our middle school is now comprised of four year groups from year five to year eight. It was wonderful to see the children and parents of these year groups getting together in an informal atmosphere, swapping tales of the summer and welcoming new families to our school community. As always, we are grateful for the generosity and warmth of our parent body without which events such as these wouldn’t be so successful.
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Talking Point
Preparing Our Children For a VUCA World An acronym, first used in the 1980’s by the US Army to reflect general conditions and situations they were training their soldiers for, a VUCA world is now what we all must be preparing for. We are living in exponential times. There are many top jobs in demand today that did not exist ten years ago. We are preparing pupils for jobs that do not yet exist using technology that hasn’t been invented to solve problems that haven’t been created. As educators we have to go far beyond imparting knowledge and skills; we have to prepare our pupils to be resilient risk takers who can seek relevance and make links to beliefs and experiences. They need the ability to anticipate, reflect, analyse, justify and plan ahead. We need to develop their toolkit of strategies to learn independently. When they are able to inquire, inspire and innovate then they will achieve. One of the first steps is encouraging independence. However, it’s not ‘kids today…’ that we should be focusing on when we surmise about society but ‘adults today’. Through no fault of their own, many of our children are overprotected and do little for themselves, both at home and at school - the adults around them are only too willing to step in and provide what they need, whether it’s an answer to a question or the resources they need for the day. How can we expect them to be independent, highly functioning members of society if we do not provide opportunities for them to take responsibility for themselves? They need to be placed in situations where there will fail, that is when they will learn the most about themselves. How will they learn patience if everything is instantly handed to them? How will they learn the gratification and importance of hard work if everything is done for them? They need to experience boredom in order to appreciate what is exciting. In a world where change is accelerating ever faster, are we preparing the next generation even as well as our parents prepared us? If you would like to discuss these issues with other parents and myself, please attend our first ‘Coffee with Ms Kirkham’ on Tuesday 30th October at 09:00. Ms Kirkham Headmistress
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E-Safety
Chain Messages This month through PSHE and a middle school assembly we have been discussing those chain messages that often make the rounds. As adults, we have the experience and intellect to decipher what is believable or likely, reasonably quickly and reliably. It is, however, a skill we develop. We looked at some examples……. ….and broke them down into their component parts.
We Defined them:
A chain message or chain letter is a message that tries to convince you to forward or pass on the message to as many people as possible This was followed by what we should do when presented with one of these messages and the possibilities of viruses and our information being harvested. Please take the time this month to discuss your experience of these types of messages with your children if you think they might come across one. Mr Herron Deputy Headteacher
EARLY YEARS
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PRIMARY
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SECONDARY
+34 952 779 264
www.bsm.org.es - info@bsm.org.es