TIV Issue 3- June 2016

Issue 3: June 2016 INTERNATIONAL BRITISH SCHOOL OF BUCHAREST

www.ibsb.ro

It has been an incredible year in the life of IBSB, with many successful events run, and with the PTF doing a wonderful job building a warm, vibrant, family community for us all to enjoy. It is therefore with hear elt gra tude that I thank our students, parents, sta, and community partners for all your hard work and support this year and wish everyone a well-deserved summer break.

Aura Bogdan Execu ve Director

Contents Staff & Editorial 2

Head of School Message

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Deputy Head– Financial Ed.

CREATIVE CORNER

CAS Coordinators Teacher Coordinators: Ms Andrea Carman Mr Paul Jennings Junior School Whiteboard: Ms Andreea Rus

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SPORTS 13

The Colour Run

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Sports Day

WHITEBOARD Welcome Message

Journalists/Contributors

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Early Years

Dilara Y. (Year 12), Milena V. (Year 8), Doga S. (Year 8), Stephani L. (Year 8), Matei C. (Year 10), Kathleen H. (Year 7), Meea S. (Year 7), Utku B. (Year 7), Bogdan D. (Year 7), Pietro B. (Year 7) Melissa A. (Year 7), Ronny B. (Year7), Fillip[ S. (Year 7), Gruia P. (Year 7), Sophia C. (Year8C), Anda I. (Year 8C), Ioan C (Year 8C)

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Year 1

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Year 2

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Year 3

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Year 4

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Year 5

Photographers

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Year 6

Mr Silviu Nastase

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Young Photographers

Kevin Zhan (Year 12)

SCHOOL EVENTS

Contributing Staff

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Spring Show

Mr Kendall Peet

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Historian Day

Ms Andrea Carman

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Francophone Week

Mr Ciprian Tiplea

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Year 7 & 8S Trip to Fratii Jderi

Mr Afzal Shaikh

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Greece Trip

Ms Katie Bickell

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Winston Churchill Debate

Ms Johanna Croci

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KS3 Performance

Ms Blessy Savu

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Maramures

Ms Ioana Dumitrescu

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Graduation and Awards Ceremony

Ms Aida Ivan

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Mud Volcanoes

Ms Cristina Marascu

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Stock Exchange

Ms Diana Lia

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UKMT Math Challenge

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Cooking Experience

Mr Valentin Mandache

Contact Information:

Layout:

SCHOOL VIEWS

Ms Lea Cohen

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Book Review

Mr Florin Ghita

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Bucharest History– Spreading the word

Fax: (+4) 021.253.1697

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Mindfulness

E- mail: office@ibsb.ro

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Why Drama?

Website: www.ibsb.ro

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Summer Programme

Address: 21 Agricultori St. District 2, Bucharest, Romania, 021841

Primary Creative Corner

Annual CAS Gala

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Office Staff

New Wave Cinema

Tel: (+4) 021.253.1698

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Head of School When thinking about education, one of the first words that come to mind is KNOWLEDGE, and indeed the passing on of KNOWLEDGE from one generation to the next is, or at least should be, a core element of any fundamental educational system.

Another popular word that comes to mind when thinking about education is SKILLS, with many leading schools now moving their focus from KNOWLEDGE based curriculums toward SKILLS based curriculums intended to equip students with a skill set to cope with the demands of this modern, rapidly changing world, in which we no longer necessarily need to remember information, such as phone numbers, but rather simply need to know how to recall, find, evaluate, and process information.

also greatly influenced by the media, especially those parts which seem to resonate with the values of our peer groups.

From this basic framework we can see that parents clearly play the primary role in the process of children forming their values in regard to knowing right from wrong. The teachers can also play an important role, but their values will, in most circumstances, be cancelled out if they are not aligned to those of the parents. This is particularly true when considering that most teachers only teach a student for a year in the first two development periods. Peers also play their part, but by this time students already have a strong sense of right from wrong and have largely formed the character that they will carry with them through life.

VALUES is yet another key word that has received an increasing amount on attention within the field of education over the last two years, and is now in fact a key component of the British School inspection process, and it is this word that I would like to briefly focus on for this final issue of TIV for 2015-16.

The particular direction that I would like to take this topic in, is toward the idea of discussing how children learn values and who is responsible for teaching children values.

How do we acquire values?

We are not born with values, so how do people develop their values? According to Sociologist Morris Massey, there are three periods during which values develop as we grow.

In the first ‘Imprint Period’, up to the age of seven, we are like sponges, absorbing everything around us with blind acceptance, especially when it comes from our parents. It is in this period that we develop a sense of right and wrong, good and bad.

In the second ‘Modelling Period’, between the ages of eight and thirteen, we copy people, often our parents, but also others who play a key role in our life, such as teachers, coaches, and public role models, trying on their values like a suit of clothes, to see how they feel.

Finally, there is the ‘Socialisation Period’, between 13 and 21, when we are very much influenced by our peers as we develop as individuals and look for ways to get away from the earlier programming, turning to people who seem more like us for support and companionship. During this stage we are 2

Becoming principled It's tough to have high moral values, but some people get there. How? Again, as above, we pass through three states- or at least some of us do.

Message The first state that we all pass through is the pre-moral state, when we really have no real values at all. During this amoral state, young children generally do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, even if it means hurting other people. I have seen my own daughter passing though this stage in her early years, especially in situations when she sees a toy another child has and tries to take it regardless of the consequences. Thankfully, this is short-lived period for most children.

From a pre-moral state, most children move on to acquire what are referred to as conventional values, as learned from their parents, teachers, and peers, which are basically the rules we all learn to live in reasonable harmony with other people. In this state, we usually follow the rules just to the point we think we need to, occasionally breaking the rules if our needs are threatened or if we are pretty sure we can get away with it (this is especially the case for drivers in Bucharest). I think many of us fall into this category.

However, a few of us move on to become truly principled people, believing in our values to the point where they are an integral and subconscious part of who we are. Right and wrong are absolute values we uphold, even in difficult times.

Obvious candidates for this category are highly principled people like Martin Luther King and Gandhi, to name just two.

As the Government continues its crusade to enforce the teaching of British values and character in our schools, there is a much more urgent issue that needs to be addressed.

Daily, we read of actions and behaviours that show an absence of self-regulation and a lack of integrity, morality or any sense of social responsibility.

In this article Tait basically argues that modern media (where information is relatively unregulated, and where our children spend an increasing amount of their time), is responsible for the decay of morality among the youth of today. From every direction our children are being bombarded with information reinforcing immorality. One recent example is the release of the Mossack Fonseca Panama files, highlighting the degree of tax evasion and tax avoidance around the world amongst the wealthy elite, which brings to mind the quote by Teddy Roosevelt: "A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad." What he didn’t add was "and get away with it", which is a situation that our children are becoming increasingly aware of. We say that crime doesn’t pay, but unfortunately in these modern times it too often does, and it pays very well.

Students today have access to a lot of information and work things out pretty quickly, and the end result is that it becomes increasingly hard for us to get the next generation to buy into this modern lifestyle, which they know does not distribute wealth fairly, does not treat people fairly, and is the cause of global warming and the many flow on consequences that result from this terrifying phenomenon.

A Common Goal, a Community Effort

The Current Challenge to Developing students with Truly Principled Values In a recent article, published in the Telegraph, titled ‘We should be teaching morals and ethics in our schools’, Head of School Peter Tait wrote:

In the face of all this information, it is absolutely essential that parents and teachers combine to form a common front.

Without parents and teachers working closely together, aligned to the common goal of raising and educating our children with truly principled values, little can be achieved in this modern age of information technology. The end result is, however, well worth all the effort, as the majority of the students graduating from IBSB are young men and women that we can all be extremely proud of, providing us all with real hope for the future.

By Kendall Peet Head of School

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Deputy Head- Financial Education such markets, and aims at ensuring stability, competitiveness and proper operations.

The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) was established as an autonomous, specialized, with (legal status), independent, self-financed administrative authority exercising its duties by taking over and reorganizing all duties and powers of the National Securities Commission (CNVM), the Insurance Supervisory Commission (CSA), and the Private Pension System Supervisory Commission (CSSPP).

IBSB was happy to accept their visit and presentations in our school of ASF Romania, who are developing a national programme in schools with the focus on Financial Education, This year, ASF representatives had a session with the Year 8 students and another with the Year 10 students. In addition, the Year 10 students studying Business Studies and Economics were invited to attend a seminar with the same focus, at the Stock Exchange here in Romania. The general feedback from the students was positive and more specifically, the visit to the Stock Exchange was a unique opportunity for our students to see how the Romanian financial market operates.

Next year our collaboration will continue, as we will implement these types of sessions in a number of Life Skills lessons for different year groups. See below a few of the messages sent during part of these sessions: a) b)

ASF contributes to the consolidation of an integrated operation and supervisory framework of the non-banking market, participants and operations, which are performed on

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c) d)

Spend less than you earn .

Save at least 10% of your income and invest intelligently .

Develop an investment plan and allow your investment to grow.

Understand the power of multiple gains .

By Ciprian Tiplea Deputy Head of School

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Community Action Service 6

Citizenship Day Annual Gala The CAS Gala is always the highlight of the CAS programme in which Year 12 and 13 take part, as students get the chance to present to everyone else what they have done as part of their project over the past year. It was touching to see how enthusiastic and outspoken students were about their CAS projects, which goes to show how much effort and work was put in; it was especially impressive to see the younger pupils who were in this position for the first time, holding professional presentations and sharing their experiences.

Perhaps the most challenging part about the CAS Gala is choosing the top 3 projects for the year; after the passionate presentations one feels the need to tick all the projects on the voting bulletin and I dare say it takes a considerable amount of self control to refrain oneself from doing so. However, a choice had to be made based on rigorous criteria, and so this year, these were the projects that received monetary prizes that will be invested in the same causes next year, in order:

1. Caring Animal Saviours This project was the only one to start with no funds, and yet managed to raise over 5000 RON from bake sales and donations. This achievement demanded a lot of teamwork, orchestrated effort, and dedication from all of those involved – the volunteers and their supervisor, Ms Katie. The bake sales became very popular in the school, as evidenced by the large queues of students and teachers eager to taste some home made goodies. The team at Caring Animal Saviours put together a very successful Open Mic Night at Casa Jienilor to raise awareness of their cause but also to showcase some of the artists in our school! The event was well-attended and highly enjoyable, with many pupils and members of staff taking part. The team at Caring Animal Saviours supported Bruno shelter by attracting donations for cat food and dog food, and promoting the shelter in hopes of getting people to adopt the animals. The group managed to handle one cat

adoption, sponsor one sterilization surgery, donate “a mountain of dog and cat food” and, very importantly, did awareness work in the local community, showing that animals deserve decent treatment, too. They have been busy all year round, as every group has been, and these are only a few of their achievements.

2. Paper Tree Defending their position from last year, the Paper Tree is ever closer to achieving their goal of buying solar panels for the school. Since the beginning of the year, they collected 300 kg of paper and cardboard (and that was before past paper season). The Paper Tree team also initiated a petition, signed by more than half of the students in the secondary school, to try to persuade the school’s administration to reduce plastic cup usage, which, according to calculations made by the Paper Tree, generates about 700kg of plastic waste during a school year. The Paper Tree team regularly collected and sorted paper from the special boxes in every classroom throughout the year, giving it to a recycling centre. Their effort in the school, though at times perhaps gone unnoticed, is vital in our community, making it more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Why not buy the solar panels this year? Well… because it’s “hard-earned money – we need to be very careful about how we spend it. We must make sure that we make the best investment, otherwise, seven years of work would be thrown away.” Boris Radovanovic explains. “For each ten kilograms of paper recycled, we gain 1,5 RON.” This project is eye-opening for how important is to reuse, and to prevent resources from being wasted.

3. Touched Romania Similar to the Paper Tree, the team at Touched Romania, with the IOMC and Casa Agar projects, defended their position in third place. They were very busy this year, too, not only with organising jewelry sales and bake sales (yes, there were many bake sales this year but no one can complain about home cooked sweets, can they?) but also with various other activities. The team established a rota system for visits at the IOMC Hospital for babies, where the team interacted with little ones and also took care of their hygiene, such as cutting nails and changing nappies. They also put together a wholeschool Christmas Collection for Casa Agar, gathering 8 sackfuls of food, clothes, nappies and other hygiene products! The team also did well to raise awareness of critical issues, by leading PSHE lessons and assemblies with themes such as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against 7

..continued Women, which featured a theatre performance from AltaTiater, a theatre company from Italy, invited to our school by Touched Romania, as well as the UNICEF Day for Change. Throughout the year, the team donated over 1000 RON to Touched Romania.

During the Gala we also expressed our gratitude and praise to the youngest and most involved CAS volunteer, Irina Chemencedji. Her positive attitude is an inspiration to her peers, and her energy and determination could move mountains. She has been a great contributor to the CAS Club, and we trust that many of her colleagues will follow her Although these 3 projects were this year’s winners, we example and find meaningful experiences in helping those cannot forget to acknowledge the teams working on other around them. projects, who were just as involved. At Speranta pentru Tine, the team worked at the Fundeni hospital with children suffering from serious diseases, spending some time with them once a week in the play room. This is obviously not an easy task as it is saddening to see such young children suffering from dreadful diseases, but the team at Speranta pentru Tine did an amazing job; they said that the kids there inspired them, as many refused to let their health problems take over their life, so much so that at times our volunteers themselves forgot about them. At the Sfanta Macrina centre, the team worked with primary school students, helping them out with homework and even playing football! They started a project to teach the students there English, which they hope to carry on for next year. They also organised a gift gathering for the children at Sfanta Macrina around Christmas, which was very appreciated by the kids!

Once again, the 2016 CAS Gala marked the end of another successful CAS cycle and I hope that the future groups will be just as enthusiastic, determined and passionate as their predecessors!

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SPORTS 10

Citizenship The Colour Day Run

A Brief History The Colour Run, also known as “the happiest 5k on the planet," is a euphoric race in colours that celebrates health, joy and originality. Focused less on running times and more on fun, The Colour Run is a 5 km race in which thousands of participants are painted from head to toe in different shades at the end of each kilometere. The fun continues after the end of the race with a huge festival where powder is liberally used to make an explosion of happiness, colour and memorable experiences with hundreds of combinations of vivid hues.

The event started in 2011 in America and 2014 in Romania. In 2015 more than 5 million runners have took part in 225 events in over 50 countries!

The Colour Run Tropicolor World Tour 2016 marks the third anniversary of The Colour Run in Romania and the fifth worldwide.

My Experience

Before running, my legs felt a bit stressed but once I got going, I enjoyed myself and any doubts I had just went away!

As I told you earlier, there are five points where you get “coloured”. The first one was yellow, the second orange, then blue, red and finally the Tropicolour gate that has all the hues to make you look like a rainbow! After the Tropicolour gate, you exit the race where you get a medal, packs of colour (you get just one pack, but I snitched two!) and a fresh squeezed orange juice to refresh yourself with. Straight away I opened one of the packs and poured it over myself. The other one I still have at home, and I want to keep it for the next Colour Run. So, if you want to stay fit and healthy , join the Colour Run!

By Ioan C. Year 8C

The Colour Run was a wonderful experience and the first time I bit the bullet and participated. All the other years I was holding myself back because I thought it was hard, but actually it wasn’t! Every kilometere you get blasted with colour and smell. It doesn’t matter if you can’t run fast or can’t run at all, you can just walk and enjoy the euphoric colours surrounding you.

After the race was finished I was exhausted, but that didn’t matter to me. What mattered to me was that I got to run 5k and enjoy it!

Now let me tell you about the event itself. At the start, all the people waited in a huge queue ready to hit the road and start running. I entered in the 6th row of people that were running.

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Sports Day Friday, May 27 saw the House colours of Dobrogea (2013 winners), Muntenia (2012 winners), and Transilvania (2014 winners) once again flood the Lia Manoliu Stadium, as the students from IBSB readied for battle for the annual IBSB Sports Day Cup.

student coming second and fourth, with the teacher's coming in a rather disappointing 5th. Well done to the parents!

In the woman's relay it was the reverse, with the student teams placing 1st and 3rd, the parents placing 2nd and 5th, with the teachers coming in 4th, just outside the medals. Well A little overcast in the morning, with a light sprinkle of rain, done to the students. Looks like its back to the training track the clouds soon parted, the sun came out and the Sports Day for the teachers. was officially under way with the 50m/100m Sprints, a lot of cheering and some very proud parents standing on the finish Thank you to Alexandria Club for supplying us with an instructor for our aerobics workout to get everyone warmed line eagerly anticipating the moment of glory. up for the day and to our various sponsors.

Initially it was Muntenia who seemed to take an early lead in the competition with Transilvania and Dobrogea trailing close A BIG ‘THANK YOU’ to Claudia Marta and the PTF for their support in helping to arrange the day and to our event behind. sponsors.

The students then divided off into their class groups and began the class rotations, with the secondary students A BIG ‘THANK YOU’ also to Romanian Ultra Marathon Runner rotating through the shot put, high jump, long jump, 400m, and Ultra Triathlete Andrei Rosu for joining us to help give out and football dribbling. For the Primary students, the events the individual Sports Day Awards to the Best sportsmen and were a little more creative, with the welly throwing, the sack women from each Key Stage and for presenting the Sports Day race, the dress relay, the hoop race, beanbag throwing, and a Cup. little more traditional, the long jump.

Most importantly, though, ‘Congratulations!’ to the students House Shirts and water were once again supplied by BORSEC, for making the day such a great success and to the parents for Sports Day Caps were again Sponsored by Sun Wave Pharma. coming along to cheer and support our students. We look Danone and Mega Image provided the healthy snacks with forward to seeing you all at the next IBSB Sports Day in Term yoghurts and fruits, and Tchibo were thankfully present again 1a next year. this year to ensure the parents and staff we primed and ready to go with a little extra bounce in their step.

All in all, it was a great day enjoyed by all, with eventual winners Dobrogea (2021 points) winning the day, with Muntenia (2090 points) placed second, and Transilvania (1882 points) finishing third.

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1 Place

The parents stole the day this year in the Student/Parent/ Teacher men's 100m relay, placing 1st and 3rd, with the

2nd Place

3rd Place 12

Go Dobrogea!

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Swimming into History It is now just a little over three weeks until our Primary School PE Teacher, Mr Paul Georgescu, boards a plane bound for London. From there, it is a short 1 hour train ride down to the small coastal town of Folkeston, that will be Paul’s home for the two weeks leading up to his English Channel Swim. (July 26 -30).

Preparation It has been almost twelve months since Paul first decided to attempt the, with a tough programme in pace to get him ready,. Every morning Paul rises at 6am to dive into a pool for his early morning 6km swim. On the weekends 10km+ swims are the norm, with cold water swimming also an important part of his training programme. In order to register to swim the English Channel you must fulfil the criteria, including a 6 hour swim in cold water at 16’C or below. Paul completed this swim in early April, once the ice of Snagov lake had full thawed, clocking a distance of 23.5kms in six hours.

Nutrition has also been an important part of his programme, which includes taking supplements to build up his fat levels and body mass to enable him to sustain the cold temperatures as he swims from England to France. A special thank you to Catena, who are one of the main sponsors supporting Paul in preparations for this swim, supplying his nutritional requirements that are essential to an athletes preparation for a world level performance.

On target to break the record Matei Giurcaneanu (Former Romanian Breaststroke Champion, and current Vice President of the Romanian Swimming Federation) has been working with Paul to prepare him for this swim. The current Romanian record is set at 14.32.00 in 2015, by the first and only Romanian to complete the crossing in accordance with www.channelswimmingassociation.com guidelines. Paul is currently on target to complete the 32.5km+ swim in under 8 hours, not only smashing the existing Romanian record by over 6 hours, but also on target to record the best time for the year. He is also going to have a go at the current world record, set at 7.17 minutes.

A little information about the English Channel Swim http://www.channelswimmingassociation.com/faq/ The English Channel is a unique and demanding swim, considered by many to be the ultimate long distance challenge. It isn't just the distance that is the challenge, but more, the variable conditions that you are likely to encounter.

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These may vary for mirror like conditions to wind force 6 and wave heights in excess of 2 metres. The water is cold and you are strongly advised to acclimatize to it, there is a good chance of meeting jellyfish, seaweed and the occasional plank of wood. It is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world with 600 tankers passing through and 200 ferries/seacats and other vessels going across daily.

Send Paul a Message and Follow Him Live We would like to encourage the entire IBSB Community to get behind Paul as he begins his final preparations for his swim.

Send him a message to wish him well at paul.georgescu@ibsb.ro or by SMS at +40 723589091. You can also visit his website, at www.paul-georgescu.ro, to find out more information closer to the time. There will be a drone following Paul as he swims the channel, tracking him live, so you will be able to login on to follow his swim live.

Education is much more than the transfer of information, it is about inspiring the next generation to aspire for goals that take humanity to the next stage of our evolution, be in sport, in science, or in technology.

As a PE Teacher, Paul is leading by example, pushing the limits of human endurance, and as such he is an inspiration to us all.

Good luck Paul, and may you have calm seas and blue skies overhead on the day. We will all be watching and waiting for the good news. IBSB will send out regular email updates to keep everyone informed about the event.

The entire IBSB Community is behind you And we wish you good luck in the swim ahead!

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WHITEBOARD 16

Welcome to Term 3 Welcome to the Primary School section of the Summer TIV. I wish to start by thanking all the contributors and the Primary TIV editor, Ms Andreea Rus, for their endeavour creating and editing our section. We hope you enjoy the pictures and stories on these colourful pages.

them. Kangaroo and Maths competitions have continued in school with our pupils preforming to the highest standards, proceeding to the national levels and achieving Gold certificates in the UK Maths Challenge. Outside school, we have performed in chess competitions and triathlons also with great success, we seem to celebrate these achievements every week.

An area of the school that is developing well is our community links and charity work. We had a visit from Sean and Siobhan, a blind English couple with their guide dogs, Sammy and Mac, to talk to the children about their daily lives and how the money we raise for Light into Europe helps. We also found out why we don’t have guide cats (that was a great question from Andrada). Even more impressive was that the various spelling and writing sponsored events during World Book Day raised over 3,800 Lei. With this money we purchased books and furniture to make a reading group for the children in the village Negoiesti and our prefects took them to the children personally and were treated like VIPs. It was an eye opener for our children to see the conditions in this community. This is something I wish to encourage more of next year, so our charity work is not abstract, but the beneficial impact of charity is clear.

The last term has flown past, faster than a Djokovic forehand winner and just as inspiring. Since our last issue of the TIV, we have excelled ourselves in the diversity of experiences we present to our pupils. The highlight has to be our triumphant return to the Elisabeta Theatre for the KS2 production of Fiona and the Fiction Factory. The large cast performed beautifully, especially the dance routines which had energy and grace. The evening was memorable, as it should be, for all the right reasons. Following the success of Burns Night, we were invited to read two Shakespearian sonnets and Wordsworth’s famous daffodil poem at Light into Europe’s St George’s Day celebrations at the Hilton. 27 children from Year 2 to Year 6, brought the words alive with expression and clarity to the distinguished guests. They also enjoyed playing the traditional English fairground games and their behaviour was a credit to

Many of these events have been captured on our Facebook page, on the website and on Twitter. We publish the amazing exploits of our children every day on social media, so the world can see how brilliant they are. Please follow us on Facebook or on Twitter @IBSBprimary and you will get up to the minute updates on the brilliance that we see every day and an opportunity to interact with the daily life in the Primary School at IBSB. We have many more events planned next year so keep tuned…

Alan Cornish Head of Primary

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EYFS

Under the water under the sea During the last school term children in EYFS have been learning about Water. They learned about life cycles and water cycles and made connections between different parts of their life experience. They were able to name some sea animals and describe them. We encouraged them to discuss about the beauty of nature and their responsibility to care of it; the importance of water and keeping the waters clean and to show care and concern for others, for living things and for the environment. Children were engaged in various activities to support their understanding. They investigated waterproof materials and learned about float and sink. They were involved in many fun activities, eg. fishing games, playing with shells in water and sand, making soap bubbles and Feed the shark.

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Year 1 Culinary Adventure in China In Term 3, we have been looking at ‘Passport to the World’.

Each week we have been studying a different country, such as Romania, UK, China, India and Brazil. We looked at maps to see where the country was and learnt some key words from their language. For the time we had reserved for studying about China, we decided to taste some traditional Chinese food. Children discussed the taste and our opinions about the food.

We had a great time!

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Year 2C

Year 2 Oxford Reading Tree Competition This term the Year 2 children have published their own adventure stories. As part of the Oxford Reading Tree’s 30th Birthday, Oxford University Press hosted a book writing competition. As we all know our children love to read about Biff, Chip and Kipper’s adventures and where they might go next when the Magic Key glows. This could be back in time to make Pizzas with the Romans or on to Mars. The children really enjoyed thinking of creative ideas, planning their story and then finally publishing their story in best. We were impressed with the effort the children put into their work and some of the illustrations were brilliant.

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Year 2D

Once the year 2 children were finished, we passed all their books on to Mr Peet and Mr Cornish to help choose the best books. They both said they really had a very difficult time judging the books as we have so many amazing authors and very imaginative stories in both classes. On Wednesday the 11th of May we held a celebration assembly for Year 2 and we gave certificates for: Best story (1st and 2nd) Best handwriting Best illustration Best well-structured story with a beginning, middle and end.

Well done to everyone for creating the best stories they could!

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Year 3

Year 3 Cinema Trip to see Zootropolis and learn about tolerance Year 3 joined forces to go to Cinema City and see Zootropolis as part of our work on Significant People. The children were excited to see some of their favourite animals in the movie and as we had been learning about prejudice in class they began to see that both characters in the movie had inner prejudices of each other, and over the course of the film they learn to overcome them. We saw that many creatures and humans can co-exist in the one world. We were excited during the movie to hear the theme song for the movie “Try Everything” as we had sang it in assembly. We learned from this movie that people from certain backgrounds are capable of making their way in untraditional fields for them, and that we all sometimes make unintentional mistakes that could be

seen as disrespectful to others. We ended our day with a visit to Pizza Hut and ate our favourite pizza along with ice cream!

We boarded the buses to head back to school happy while humming “Try Everything”!

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Extreme Children!

What a brilliant day out! And what an adventure! Year 4 spent the day in Cernica Extreme Park. The purpose was to overcome difficulties and challenge themselves as Olympic athletes have to do throughout their careers. The children spent three hours on the high ropes courses in the middle of a beautiful wooded area. It was great to see all children overcome some level of fear and some even created new challenges when the route was not complicated enough. They supported and cheered each other and were very understanding about the different limitations everyone has. To make it all even better, the sun was shining, we had a picnic, all of us were given shawarmas and aryans, and to complete the day the children had an ice-cream!

Well done Year 4, it has been an excellent year of learning and growing up. Remember to reach high, always!

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Year 4

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Year 5P Young Artists Art lessons for Year 5 students are always interesting and creative. This term our students have learned about Vincent van Gogh and Henri Rousseau, both post-impressionist artists.

The children focused on an important piece of work from each artist, namely Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and Rousseau’s “Jungles”.

The children thoroughly enjoyed learning about these artists as well as recreating their work.

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Year 6E We are always on the lookout for new ideas in art that we can bring back to the classroom, and the idea of carving sculptures from soap was discovered on the website of the world famous Tate Gallery.

The workshops offered by the Tate are based on the sculptures of British artist Barbara Hepworth. After introducing techniques, we based our work on trophies, medals and symbols of the Olympic Games.

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Young Photographers

“For

me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.” ― Henri Cartier-Bresson

The Photography Club started as a personal quest to get to see through children’s eyes, to understand how they look at the world. The results were beyond my imagination as children armed only with their pocket size cameras and tons of curiosity, managed to reimagine our playground through the pictures they took. The playground, this place we all know so well and apparently cannot keep any secrets from us reveals its beauty in pictures taken by Primary School children. The young photographers’ club challenges you to look at ordinary things in an extraordinary way!

Dora T. from Year 5

By Andreea Rus Primary School T.A

Petru B. from Year 3

Li W. From Year 5 Ana S. from Year 4 28

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SCHOOL EVENTS 30

Spring Show Behind the Scenes One of Primary School’s most exciting events took place on the 27th of April this year at the Elisabeta Theater.

It was of course the Spring Show where our primary school children presented this year’s play, Fiona and the Fiction Factory and took us teachers and parents alike on an adventure we’re sure to remember.

After the show, I sat down with some of the main actors, Alexia V. (Fiona) and Maria S. ( Billy Bonkers) from Year 6 and Rares P. (Grandpa) from Year 5 and we talked about their experience of being in the show, about what theater means to them and much more.

AR - The Spring Show was delightful and entertaining to watch from the audience’s side, how was this experience from your point of view as students/actors?

usual school routine. I remember getting excited every Tuesday and Thursday when realizing that besides the usual Maths, Literacy and MFL lessons we had rehearsals!

Alexia- Yes definitely, it was fun to vary our schedule that way. Also, rehearsal time meant fun time, we would meet and learn our lines by saying them many times together which made learning our parts much easier than just reading them alone.

AR – Great point Alexia, so how was it to learn so many lines, how did you manage to remember them?

Maria- Well as Alexia was saying ,we met and read the lines together many times; by the end we knew not only our lines in that scene, but all the other character’s lines also !

Alexia- Yes, we learned together and this sharing process was one of the things I really enjoyed. Anyway, don’t believe that we weren’t terrified when we got on stage– a couple of minutes before I felt like I forgot all my lines!

AR- Oh dear! So how do you deal with stage fright?

Alexia- Well, you learn to deal with your emotions, you calm down and focus on the show, and it all comes back to you.

Rares- For me, learning lines was the easy part. What I found more challenging was playing an old person, learning how to act my character in a convincing way. You know, I’m only 7 and I played a grandpa.

AR- It seems you learned a great deal from being actors in the Spring Show, can you tell me more about it?

Rares – Well…First of all, it meant a lot of extra work rehearsing the scenes which brought a nice change to our

Maria- What I found in theatre is freedom. Actors have the freedom to change roles, to change personalities all the time.

As part of a theater performance you get to see children 31

..continued playing adults, adults playing children, women playing men Alexia- That is true. I found it interesting to see one of my and men playing women; there is much freedom through role classmates, who is usually such a sweet girl, play the part of changing. an obnoxious spoilt child in the play and she did it so well! I think being part of a play, you get more confident about what you can do, you learn to express yourself better, and also you learn to better communicate.

AR – So acting helps you better communicate, how did it change the relationships with your colleagues?

Alexia- Being together in the Spring Show, rehearsing and acting all the time, brought us closer somehow. Before the show, I didn’t even know who Rares was; I only knew he was a boy from Year 5. Now, we have become friends! It is great!

AR- Finally, what would you say to children who haven’t been in the Spring Show yet?

Rares – It is true. Take me for example; I am only 7, but I got Maria- You need to give it a try. Come audition, you’ll get a to play a 70 year old man! That was very challenging! smaller part at first, especially if you are younger, but as ( laughs). times goes by you progress, and you get better parts each time.

Alexia- I learned that acting is NOT pretending, acting is being a completely different person. And that by itself is very Look at us, we started off as flower girls and now, two years exciting! When you get a part, you learn your lines, you then later, we played the main parts in the show! So don’t give up, make an effort to understand your character and finally for it’s really worth it by the end! the time you are on stage you need to become that person.

Alexia- Yes, it is worth it! Having been part of the Spring AR- That is a great reflection on performance! So how do Show helped me pursue my dream of becoming a Hollywood you become a character, is it enough to put on different actress, and also it meant lots of fun and making new friends! clothes and change your accent?

Maria- Not entirely, it’s more about giving depth to you character through real emotion on stage. Personally, I get inspired for my role from the people around me as well as from closely observing myself. When I get angry, I try to visualize how I look, how my eyebrows look, how I hold my lips, and I try to recreate that when I’m on stage.

So what are you waiting for? You get a chance once a year to make new friends, have unlimited fun, learn about others and about yourself! See you at the show next year!

By Andreea Rus Primary School T.A

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Historian Day 'For Two Thousand Years': A Visit to Year 10 History Class by Award Winning Irish Author, Philip O'Ceallaigh

The Year 10 Historians are, to use a suitably historical term, a horde of History mad youths full of questions who usually come up with the correct answers! Their interest in the subject rather wonderfully goes beyond their curriculum, which is Cambridge Modern World History, but with quite a sharp Western European focus. Therefore, the historically thinly-populated and pastoral country known as Romania, and its rather over-sized geopolitical significance is neglected on the course, and Romania is reduced to a mere paragraph in the otherwise outstanding CIE course textbook.

This is not lost on our young historians, many of whom have been giving me a year-long refrain on the lines of 'why don't they talk more about Romania?', for example when we did a brief segment on the Treaty of Trianon, the key post world war one peace treaty that led to full international recognition of Romanian Unification in 1920. Or during Stalin's Takeover of Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, Romania is given a brief paragraph concerning the underhand and unscrupulous means by which the Communist Party manoeuvered itself into the position of power.

My own knowledge of Romanian history is embarrassingly poor. Therefore, when I recently read a wonderful book I am sure a number of IBSB parents and teachers have either read or are aware of, ‘For Two Thousand Years’, by the author Mihail Sebastian, newly released in English by the famous Penguin Classics publication, and translated to great international acclaim from the London Guardian to the New York Review of Books, by the internationally award winning Irish and Bucharest-based author, Philip O'Ceallaigh, who is in

the line of great Irish expat authors such as Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, I saw an opportunity!

I jumped at the chance to get in touch with him, especially as the book is a crucial account of interwar Romania and the experience of Bucharest's minority of Jews and the growing anti-antisemitism of both the intellectual and state spheres, something linked to the Year 10 Depth Study on Nazi Germany. He very generously came to the school at short notice, having just come back from a lecture tour in London, to give his time and wealth of knowledge from his 15 years research and writing about Romania to the Year 10 class.

Moreover, Philip not only shared his knowledge and passion for contemporary Romanian history and the writers who made up Romania's considerable intellectual circles, but his skill at story-telling really came through too. The students were rapt at how he explained the rise of the fascism in Romania through the prism of Mihai Sebastian's almost tragi-comic life (his closest friends became the Vanguard of intellectual fascist Guardism). Moreover, as part of a trio of evil sisters plaguing Interwar Europe, with Romania and its Iron Guardism, Philip succinctly showed how the rise of Mussolini in Italy and the Nazis in Germany had overshadowed the importance of fascism in Romania to the overall European political context, as shown by its neglect as a topic on the CIE course that the students follow. Philip also passionately deconstructed some of the students' popular misconceptions around the Holocaust in Romania, leaving some students with much food for further thought.

Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive and made me realise the importance of outside expert speakers. An afterword must be said about my colleague, Dr Silviu Nastase, resident Chemist, teacher and Photographer...in short a Polymath. Dr Silviu, himself from Braila, presented Philip with a painting from the author's hometown of Braila. The painting showed a building that is presented as the first image of the protagonist in the novel, as a present for Philip's work in publicizing the work internationally of Braila's famous son.

Philip said he was 'overwhelmed', at the gesture. So was IBSB at his great gesture in coming in to contextualize and consolidate the Cambridge CIE course with a local, native insight, a key aspect for furthering commitment and knowledge as UK educationalists have recently acknowledged.

By Afzal Shaikh History Teacher

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Francophone Week This year, IBSB students were invited to take part at the Francophone Workshop, a cultural event organized by students and teachers. Our department decided to celebrate the Francophone Week in a different way; embracing the French values of unity, fraternity and cultural awareness.

activities from haiku poem writing in various languages to making origami and painting some of the simplistic natural motifs and beautiful natural serenity found in the famous Japanese poems. Special thanks to Kevin, Albert, and Rei who provided the materials and their expertise. Great support from Ms Raluca Barbu, who promoted the event amongst The Workshop took place on Tuesday, the 22nd of March students. Even though it was a very small gathering, we hope during lunchtime and included making traditional Japanese that everyone enjoyed the activities. There will be a lot to poems in French, Japanese, English and other languages. come next year!

Those passionate about the French language and culture as

By Diana Lia well as of Japanese traditions had the opportunity to join the French Teacher workshop where there was a great choice of creative Finding out from our two Japanese students that on the 20th of March the Japanese people celebrated the Cherry Blossom Sakura, we proposed a Haiku Workshop celebrating the combined Francophone Language and Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival.

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Years 7 & 8S Fratii Jderi Fratii Jderi, so difficult to pronounce for a non Romanian speaker that it became renamed Fratti Jedi, and with the activities lined up for our intrepid Year 7s and 8s, we were going to need every ounce of “the force� to get through this trip.

A sizeable dinner followed, with not wasting food a key lesson for our students, before heading out to a campfire and the chance to share stories. With a busy two full days coming up, stories were brief and before long students were becoming familiar with their comfortable rooms in preparation for the morning exercise.

Day two began energetically with plenty of warming up through running and stretching parts of our body we did not even know could be stretched. The benefits were felt by everyone as we settled in for a hearty breakfast before heading out to the climbing wall. Many of our students have tried climbing on other trips and so they all gave it a go, every student pushing themselves to climb a little bit higher than they had done previously. Some were so enthused they wanted to keep climbing again and again. In a display of teamwork, students also helped prepare each other for the climb, checking harnesses before the final check from Cesar.

The afternoon took us from one height to another as we trekked to one of the highest waterfalls in Romania, a good hour long walk, following the river, (in the rain) led us to the impressive sight of Cascada Scorușu tumbling down into the valley. Year 7 were quick to remind us of the processes of erosion occurring and learnt that over time the waterfall will

A gentle easing in on Tuesday was ideal after a long bus ride of seatbelts and toilet stops. As we walked out of our home for the next few days we followed the small stream picking up sticks and taking on water from a local spring.

Of course when a river is involved, things are going to get wet.

Inevitably some feet made it into the water to find it refreshingly cool to the touch and after the stuffy bus, a welcome relief.

Upon reaching our destination our host Cesar set students the task of gathering dry twigs and materials to build a fire.

Suddenly the joke about catching our own dinner looked like a reality. Thankfully, Cesar trimmed the lesson and taught us how to make a fire in the wild and the importance of boiling water for a long time before attempting to drink it; a task made more challenging by his four canine companions excited by 16 students and dog loving teachers.

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..continue continue to move back into the valley. Sadly, the weather prevented us from paddling in the waterfall’s plunge pool; the view alone was worth the walk and those tired legs picked up life as they approached the end of the walk (and chocolate).

let-up in the bombardment of water and whooping of children and adults as direct hits tested the wet suits and laughter greeted the misses. Eventually though, the fun had to cease as we neared the end of the route; a few final buckets were shared as rafts were pulled out of the water One of the highlights of the trip was reserved for the and we headed back for lunch.

Thursday, as we headed out to the Olt River and a session rafting over 10km with our guides at the helm. As students Water turned out to be a recurring theme for Thursday, as zipped up their wetsuits, clipped on their life jackets and the final part of the day was spent zip lining into the small strapped on their helmets, did they notice the buckets being lake on site and for those willing to stay in the water a bit loaded into each boat? This was to be no ordinary raft longer, a paddle and a swim. ride. As soon as the rafts hit the water the buckets were full and the water was flying, no one was able to escape the Of course, all good things must come to an end. Friday water raining down from boat to boat.

Students morning was a much more sedate affair. After a brief exercise remembering the extra homework set this year found two session, students had time to check they’d packed their obvious targets and in their delight failed to maintain control toothbrush and had time to play a few games before the of their buckets leaving themselves defenceless to the point arrival of the bus back to Bucharest, our friends, and family. that one student decided to abandon ship for a short while, in the process getting far wetter than if he had stayed in the Overall, what a fantastic trip! A huge thank you to Cesar and boat. As we approached some white water the order to get all his staff at Fratii Jderi. We hope to come back for even inside the boat was followed to a T as we all bounced more activities soon, and we didn’t even notice we couldn’t through like a skipping stone over the water. There was no have our phones during the day (well most of us didn’t notice). Well done Year 7 and 8S! What a fantastic trip and a final thank you to Nico for recommending Fratii Jderi and Ms Katie and Mr Storey for giving up their time for a memorable experience!

By Mark Storey Geography Teacher

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Greece Trip With their last class trip being in 2014 to the Delta, the Year 10s were thrilled to be out again as a whole year group and to exotic Greece as well! It was a much awaited end of year trip with Ms Broadhurst and Ms Savu, with lots of fun activities planned and opportunities that opened up as we got there.

a lazy day cruising along the Toreneos Gulf. The boat ride started off seeming uneventful… while we quietly enjoyed the views… but before we knew it, we found dolphins swimming along beside our boat, as we were promised! Sadly, we didn’t manage to capture that on camera. We stopped over at a lovely beach, though only a few of the students chose to go out for a swim, with many opting to explore the village. It was a lovely picturesque village with spring flowers in bloom, cafes tucked around narrow winding streets, and several boutique stores.

Returning for the light lunch on the boat, all students could think about was the dives they were promised off the boat.

The stopover at Kelyfos Island, was the highlight of the day – everyone went in for a dive. Yunus left with more than he bargained for – one step in the wrong direction and he was standing on a sea urchin. No major damage done – just interesting experiences.

We were housed in a hotel with a lovely complex, with a swimming pool, its own beach access, and with space for basketball, soccer and beach volley. Our students formed teams, with others who were staying at the hotel, to compete in friendly matches.

Curious year 10s wondered what a “Jeep Safari” in Greece could really mean: “Miss, are we going to see wild animals?”

Day 3 we had a full day on jeeps, which gave the bubbly year 10s a rush they weren’t quite expecting. Some of them even compared the ride to their previous dune-bashing experiences on their own excursions in the Middle-East – saying that our rocky nature drive was more of a thrill! Exploring the landscapes, flora and fauna of the peninsula, stopping at remote beaches, feeding turtles in a local pond … soon the

After a first day enjoying the hotel facilities, many students felt that they wanted to spend the rest of the trip at the hotel, concerned that it probably couldn’t get much better.

Day 2 of our trip had us on a “Fun Cruise”. We were promised

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..continue

Year 10s were claiming the safari to be the new highlight of

the trip!

With a visit planned to Meteora, we had an early rise and long bus ride on the 4th day, which no one was looking forward to After an exhausting 5.5 hours on the bus, we finally reached Meteora. The geological marvel clashed with

this excursion, before we headed back to the hotel.

the ad hoc plan some of the students had – there was an important match that night: Romania vs Switzerland.

Changes were made, trip cut short, with visits to only one of the planned 3 monasteries and to a natural fountain dedicated to Saint Parascheva. The students took the Our last day of the class trip to Greece saw us enjoying the opportunity to light candles and rekindle some spirituality in beach, the little town of Halkidiki, and saying our goodbyes 38

Winston Churchill Debate Words were clearly weapons to Churchill and it’s not surprising that IBSB’s annual senior debating tournament is named after the great elder statesman of British politics.

However, fewer people know that the young Winston Churchill was also a famous man, a great soldier, famous journalist, explorer and author, who was an instrumental politician in the First World War and after in resisting communism in England.

Therefore, we decided to have a Middle school debating competition during the summer term, to follow the Senior competition in the winter. This would give the younger students not eligible to participate in the original Sir Winston Churchill competition a chance to learn the ropes of debating.

The Middle school Competition became ‘The Young Sir “Courage is what it takes to stand up and Winston Churchill Debating competition’. And just as youth is speak; courage is also what it takes to sit about preparing an individual human for adult life, the Young Sir Winston is about enabling younger students to gain down and listen.” - Winston Churchill experience of competitive debating and develop their The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953 was awarded to Winston rhetorical skills.

Churchill "for his mastery of historical and biographical The portmanteau competition consisted of, firstly a group description as well as for brilliant oratory [speeches] in stage in which IBSB had two prepared debates (that is when defending exalted human values". the teams know before the competition the motion that is Churchill was already nearly 80 by then, a living monument to the Bulldog nature of British grit and determination, through his totemic speeches (e.g. ‘’this is not the beginning of the end’, but the end of the beginning’’, ‘’never have so many owed so much to so few’’, ‘’never, never, never give up’’ and of course, ‘’we shall fight them on the beaches’’) which steeled the British people to resist Hitler in the Second World War.

“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” ― Joseph Joubert

being debated) and then a Final knock-out round, which was impromptu (i.e. when neither team knows the debated motion until it is given them with only 30 minutes to prepare, without internet access, their debate).

For their first motion, This house believes that testing products for humans on animals is not beneficial to society, our IBSB team, consisting of Max Mihailovici (Year 8S), Tamara Minea (8C), Christie Vernon (8S) and Luizia Ruptureanu (Year 10MS), had prepared their speeches under the guidance of Team Coach Ms. Blessy Savu. They were opposing the motion, which meant that they had to argue that testing was beneficial to human society, which they did admirably, winning the debate convincingly against a tough and competitive BSB team.

For their second prepared debate, IBSB was this time proposing the motion, This House believes that the display of all religious symbols should be banned from state schools, therefore our team had to argue that religious symbols were right to be banned from state schools. Our team went up against the inexperienced but still full of Gallic flair Lycee Francais team, and again won 3-0 (i.e. all three judges decided IBSB were the better team).

Therefore, IBSB moved comfortably into the Final as the frontrunner to win against traditional competitors, BSB. Following a 39

..continue naturally copious lunch, testament to the fantastic hospitality World Debate finalists such as Andrei Dogaru and Zoe of our French hosts, IBSB settled down to a highly friendly but Smarandoiu to worry about: the next generation are ready to still competitive Final with BSB, debating after losing a British fill their debating shoes!

Pound coin toss (Captain Luiza said Tails but the coin ended up Heads), the motion This House Believes That the heart should rule over the head.

Thirty minutes of isolated deliberation later, our Finalists emerged and there followed a debate the quality of which would have rivalled the quality of debating in the Senior competition. Moreover, having lost the coin toss, IBSB were left debating the harder side of the motion. For BSB had only to prove that the head and heart should rule equally, a fair assumption that would be an easy ‘sell’ to the judges.

However, spirited performances from our team, with the cool and calculated Christie, the impassioned and hard-hitting Luiza, the tame-seeming but tenacious Tamara and the marvellously motivated Max, won the day with, yet again, a clean sweep of wins among the judges!

All of this points very positively to the future of IBSB debating. Clearly there is little for the exiting debate veterans and Sir Winston Churchill twice-senior winners and COBIS

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Thanks to Ms Blessy Savu for preparing the team so well and to Mr Peet for help with organising the Tournament and providing the inspiration for the overall ethos of the competition.

Afzal Shaikh Debate Coordinator

KS3 Performance And here we are again at the end of another academic year looking back at what we have achieved. I must say that I am very proud of my KS3 students, who were involved in the production.

It took me long hours to find a script which would be neither a comedy, nor a musical; I just wanted something different, which the kids would find appealing and, indeed, the Year 8 team found the script very interesting—made them think

remember later in life because Drama, amongst other things, is not about becoming a professional actor, it is fundamentally about learning to become a good social actor and communicator.

about serious things with a positive view.

“Teen Angel” was a great opportunity for them to explore more complex characters and think of how the world we live in functions. Since the play was based on various fundamental Christian values adapted to our modern times and for the understanding of young minds, it has made the kids develop a greater tolerance and understanding which is crucial in an international environment. The reason why I am saying this is because they asked me various questions related to why the characters think the way they think and there were quite a few issues I had to explain so that they understood what they were doing.

I could see during rehearsals that some of them really enjoyed the characters they did. There were some challenges they had to take head on: it is not easy for a Year 8 boy or girl to express complex feelings on stage and they had to express love, fear, apprehension, nervousness, indifference and wickedness, guilt, etc. We laughed, we argued and we had fun during rehearsals. For me, as their teacher and director, the funniest experience was to teach the boys in the play how to politely invite a girl to dance because there are some social conventions they had no idea about. I just hope they will

It was a pity we didn’t have a larger audience. The show was a success nevertheless, despite some of the kids forgetting their lines at some point or not remembering when to come on stage, it was all part of the experience. As a team of children their age, they did very well because they were basically on their own and I will say, again, that I am very proud of them all.

I would like to thank Mr Angel for his support; he always casts a healthy critical eye on everything, and it helps us stay focused and avoid getting carried away. I am also grateful to Ms Broadhurst whose Year 10 Art Team did a great job with the props. Thank you! I wish you all a great holiday.

By Ioana Dumitrescu Drama Teacher

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Maramures church. Then the kids had some free time to lunch in the city of Sighet. They chose a local restaurant serving traditional food recommended by our guide, and agreed it was not only delicious but excellent value. Following lunch, they had a guided tour of the impressive but sobering Memorial Museum of Sighet. This imposing edifice is dedicated to the many lives lost during the Communist crack down and the kids learned about the often painful history of their country.

On the last day in Maramures, the kids went swimming in a salt water pool for a spell then stopped at the local shop for refreshments to make the long train ride (about 15 hours Maramures was an adventure we will always remember. thanks to a broken engine along the way) back to Bucharest Twenty-one students, Ms Carman and Ms Aida, arrived safely more enjoyable. at the hotel in Sighet after a 14 hour train trip, where the kids all enjoyed sharing the overnight "cabins" and sleeping to the clickety- clack sway of the train. We were met by our friendly tour guide at the Sighet train station with a comfortable bus and arrived to our well-located Hotel Nova in less than 10 minutes. The weather was so beautiful--about 18’C and sunny outside, with a gentle breeze. Plans for the first afternoon included a walking tour of the village museum but the real excitement came the next day with the old fashioned Moganita train trip by steam engine through the mountains.

The train dates from the 1920's and is fired entirely by wood.

Halfway through the journey we stopped for a picnic lunch down by the river and the kids spent some time skipping stones, exploring the surrounding woods or playing cards because, deep in the valley, there was no phone signal!

The next day, we visited the famous "Merry Cemetery" and then walked to the home of its creator, Ion Stan Patras, where the kids met the man currently carving the unique crosses (trained by Patras) and learned about the process which is truly a fine art known only in this area. Soon it was off to Maramures' tallest wooden church where the kids got to climb the stairs for a view over the gardens and forest.

They met the resident goat and got plenty of fresh air wandering around the 22 hectare woods surrounding the A huge thank you to Ms Aida for her support and to our wonderful guide, Ms Ilonka Cuth, for her excellent recommendations and guidance. I hope to return very soon!

By Andrea Carman English Teacher

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Student Review Our Trip to Maramures This past week we had the great opportunity to visit the mystical lands of Maramures. Together with Ms Carman and Ms Aida our group went through many adventures and managed to disconnect from the internet, and have fun in nature. Sophia and I considered the trip a great opportunity to create new bonds and make new friendships; this teambuilding trip left us with hundreds of exciting memories and fun times. We are sure everyone had different opinions but our personal favourites were the Barsana Monastery and the Merry Cemetery. We also enjoyed the Mocanita train that showed us the breath taking mountains and allowed us to breathe in the cool, clean air. The Merry Cemetery makes you feel happy about the afterlife; the exquisite colours and the marvellous carvings astonished us from the moment we entered. Another interesting thing about this special place are the inscriptions on the graves; they represent the best qualities of the people resting there. In the Barsana monastery you get a very strange feeling when you enter, at least Anda and I did; a sort of magic surrounds you as you walk on the beautiful paths framed with the most colourful flowers, as you cross the wooden bridges and listen to the sermon. Another special place inside the monastery is where you light candles for the deceased. There is a special kind of quiet over there you do not get anywhere else. As you can see there are a lot of sites to be seen in Maramures so the trip was well worth it and gave us a lot of new knowledge along with many memorable experiences.

By Sophia C. and Anda I. Year 8C

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Awards Ceremony As always, the Central University Library was jam-packed with students, parents, staff, and guests, dressed in their evening’s finest for the annual IBSB Senior School Prize Giving Ceremony and Year 13 Graduation, which took place this year on Friday, June 17.

swim across the English Channel, July 26-30, finishing with a message to the graduating students to approach life as a journey to be enjoyed, and not race, and to hold onto that feeling of childhood happiness as they go out into the world of adulthood that awaits.

Head of School, Mr Kendall Peet, once gain kicked off the proceedings with his traditional welcoming speech, offering a short review of some of the year’s highlights, including presenting the middle school debate team (Maximilian Mihailovici , Luiza Ruptureanu, Christie Vernon, and Tamara Minea) with the Junior Sir Winston Churchill Middle School Debate Champions trophy for 2016. He thanked the staff for another very successful year and wished Mr Paul Georgescu the very best in his final preparations for his record breaking

Our special guest speaker for this year’s event was Mr Charlie Crocker, CEO of the Romanian British Chamber of Commerce, who offered our graduates some words of wisdom, collected along the way With the speeches out of the way it was on to the focus of the first part of the evening, being the End of Year Award Ceremony, which commenced with the School Prefect Awards and Head Boy and Girl Awards, followed by the individual Student Awards:

2016 Recipients Award

Student

Head Boy/Girl Award

Andrei Dogaru/ Zoe Smarandoiu

Senior Prefect Award

Maria Miha/Kevin Zhan/Adriana Bajescu/Catrinel Craiu/Dilara Yildiz/Maria Ion/Matei Surdu

Academic Achievement Awards (Top Academic Achiever)

Year 7 - Ana Cristecsu/ Matei Atimariti Year 8 - Maximilian Mihailovici Year 10 - Lisa Puiu/ Luiza Ruptureanu Year 11 - Elena Urzica

COBIS Award (Top Academic Achiever) Dux Award (Top Academic Achiever) IBSB Award (For outstanding contributions to school life) Middle School Diamond Award (Highest number of House Points achieved) ECIS Award (For the ability to bring differing people together into a sense of community, thus furthering the cause of international understanding) CIS AWRDS (For promotion of global citizenship and the development of international awareness) The presentation ended with the presentation of gifts to the leaving staff, which this year included Mr Robert hewett, Mr Neil Lee, Mr Afzal Shaikh, and Ms Mihaela Poienariu- see leaving staff section of the TIV. The Senior Graduation was once again an emotional affair with a mix of laughter, tears, excitement and just a touch of 44

Middle School - Alexandru Ioancio Y9 High School - Catrinel Craiu Y12 Zoe Smarandoiu Y13/Andrei Dogaru Y13 Middle School- Khurana Vinayak Y9 High School -Adriana Bajescu Y12 Irina Chemencedji Y8

High School- Matei Surdu Y12

Middle School - Adela Ciobotaru Y9 High School - Kevin Zhan Y13

sadness as Mr Lee for the last time read out the names of the graduating students who one by one ascended the stage, taking their turn at the lectern to say few words about their experience at IBSB and to thank those people who helped them along the way before receiving this graduation diplomas.

Photos were taken, caps tossed, and the graduates of 2016

Graduation 2016

moved out into the night, onto their graduation dinner (this year on Level 21 of the Intercontinental Hotel) and a night of celebration that no doubt for many went on to the early hours of morning.

On behalf f the entire IBSB Community, a heartfelt congratulations to the graduates of 2016! We look forward to tracking your progress as you join our ever expanding Alumni Community.

May you each achieve ever success in life and your dreams become your reality!

By Kendall Peet Head of School 45

Mud Volcanoes

On a sunny Thursday in May, Year 7 ventured up country to the mud volcanoes of Buzau.and had some fun! When we arrived we scattered far and wide like a hoard of sheep and saw how the moonscape under our feet was like the scaly skin of a giant chameleon: everywhere there were craters that shot out blobs of thick, grey mud. Year 7 couldn’t resist the temptation and shoes and legs and arms and hands were stuck in the gloopy, slimy, slippery mud; there were cracks and rivulets running down the hillside and mud slowly oozed down the valley.

By the end of our visit, some students looked like mud zombies but a quick change of clothes made us as good as new and we could look back as we drove away at a remarkable natural phenomenon and look forward to 3 hours of incessant chatter and networking in the coach. Paradise!

Thank-you to Mr Jennings for coming with us but particularly a HUGE thank-you to Mr Storey for organising the trip.

By Kathleen H., Meea S., Utku B., Bogdan D., Pietro B., Ana C., Melissa A., Ronny B., Filip S. & Gruia P. Year 7

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Stock Exchange

Hello All, I’m Matei from Year 10 and this is a brief description about our stock exchange experience. On May 23rd, Year 10 business and economics students had a guest speaker for two hours who came from the FSA (the Romanian Financial Supervision Authority). The guest speaker showed us what the capital market is and how the stock exchange works. This was an amazing opportunity for us since we will go over the capital market in year 11, and we looked at public limited companies this year in Business lessons.

The next day we visited the Bucharest stock exchange. There they showed us what a broker does and how he buys and sells shares on the Stock Exchange.

Basically it is pretty simple. The companies are financed by selling shares and listing them on the Stock Exchange. After that any investor can buy or sell the shares through a broker.

For every transaction made, the broker receives fees.

This is just a small example of what we have discussed. In my opinion it was a great experience.

Here are some comments and opinions from some of my colleagues: Tudor Mihai – It was nice to see the programme a broker uses – the stock exchange had a special programme of their own.

Anghel Stefan – The presentation of the beginning of the trip was okay and the way that they presented was okay as well, but the important thing was to visit a real Stock Exchange.

Ioana Serban – The presentation was interesting and I learned some important aspects of business life.

Roxana Pascu – The visit was a new experience. They told us many things I didn’t know before, it would have been nice to see more of the business, not just information over information. If they showed us the inside of the business it would have been more entertaining.

Szabo Mihai – The stock exchange visit was very educational and inspirational for those who want to get further into this business topic. The people there were very welcoming and introduced us to the concepts step by step.

By Matei Constantinescu Year 10

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UKMT Math Challenge The UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) is a registered charity whose aim is to advance the education of children and young people in mathematics. The UKMT organises national mathematics competitions and other mathematical enrichment activities for 11-18 year old UK school pupils. The UKMT supports a policy of mathematical enrichment rather than acceleration through the examination system. Talented students, who are likely to specialise in mathematics, should experience a deep, rich, rigorous and challenging education in the subject.

Junior Challenge: “Three boxes under my stairs contain apples or pears or both. Each box contains the same number of pieces of fruits. The first box contains all twelve of the apples and one-ninth of the pears. How many pieces of fruit are there in each box?”

A.14 B.16 C.18 D.20 E.36 In total 17, students achieved certificates, which is a fantastic achievement! Well done to all who took part and congratulations to all the award winners.

The UKMT Individual Maths Challenges are lively, intriguing multiple choice question papers, which are designed to stimulate interest in maths in large numbers of pupils. The three levels cover the secondary school range 11-18 and together they attract over 600,000 entries from over 4,000 schools and colleges. A large number of students get the opportunity to participate in the individual Maths Challenge.

This comprises multiple choice questions designed to test the problem-solving skills, rather than the command of the school curriculum.

On the 4th of February, 2016, 11 pupils from Years 9 and 10 took part in the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge, and on the 28th of April 2016, another 15 students from year 6, 7 and 8 took part in the Junior Maths Challenge. The challenges take the form of a one hour paper and are externally marked, similar to a GCSE examination. The full challenge lasts an hour and consists of 25 multiple choice questions. That’s an average of 2min 24secs per question. Use of rough paper is allowed. Oh, and calculators are forbidden! The pupils’ preparation and participation in these competitions is one of the reasons that IBSB maintains its high levels of attainment in maths.

Luiza R. - Certificate

How would the rest of us get on? I thought it would be fun to find out…

Want to try a challenge? That’s the spirit! Have a look at the following questions: Intermediate Challenge: “Tegwen has the same number of brothers as she has sisters. Each one of her brothers has 50% more sisters than brothers. How many children are in Tegwen’s family?”

A. 5

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B.7

C.9

D.11

E. 13

Matei A. - Gold Certificate

By Cristina Marascu Math Teacher

Cooking Experience

Year 8 gathered at the “London Street Bistro� on the 24th of May, for a great opportunity to learn some fun and interesting new cooking skills! The students started making Tagliatelle from scratch. The recipe was and still is used by many generations of Italians. Just by using three ingredients the neochefs managed to make different coloured pasta. The colourings were made from natural ingredients, such as tomatoes, spinach and radishes. The children learned how to work the pasta machine, and each kid had his own job and responsibility in the kitchen. The students were separated into different groups and made a variety of sauces to accompany the Tagliatelle, including tomato, pesto, and carbonara.

Appetizers were prepared and served. Drinks were also available, and they even got to make their own non-alcoholic champagne.

To make things even better, dessert was also made. The students were very proud of their exquisite tiramisu, which they got to enjoy on the ride back to school. All in all, it was a great experience.

By Milena V, DoÄ&#x;a S, and Stephanie L. Year 8 49

SCHOOL VIEWS 50

Book Review Riverbend is a well-educated young woman in Baghdad who is frustrated and struggling to understand the incompetence of foreign nations, the Iraqi government, and even nongovernmental organizations in restoring Iraq to its former state. She offers candid eyewitness accounts of her everyday experiences and observations as her and her family struggle to survive the war. Riverbend is forced to watch and experience the country around her being continuously blown apart and pillaged in the ongoing battle for political power and the defeat of terrorism. She narrates the unspeakable actions committed by the American soldiers and Iraqi terrorists alike, and discredits the inaccurate portrayal of the state of Iraq that is depicted in international media.

The blatant honesty about the circumstances surrounding Iraq, as told by Riverbend in Baghdad Burning, paints a picture that is incredibly upsetting. However, it is a ‘must-read’, as it provides intelligent and thoughtful commentary from someone who has witnessed all these traumas first hand, unlike many world politicians and news reporters that have since offered commentary on the invasion. Baghdad Burning is an eye-opening read, and in it, Riverbend really succeeds in raising awareness about the atrocities that were experienced by so many Iraqi civilians during and after the war.

Baghdad Burning, by Riverbend Baghdad Burning is a book Mr Shaikh gave me to read after I asked him for any extra reading I could do over the Summer, to help prepare me for the A2 Paper 4 in International History, which I will study next year, specifically: Theme 4: Conflict in the Middle East, which is of particular interest to me.

Baghdad Burning is an enthralling blog written under the pen name Riverbend, that was later compiled into a book. It recounts the harrowing experience of a young girl in Iraq during the American occupation in August of 2003. Although there are many sources that attempt to cover and explain this event, Baghdad Burning is truly unique in that it provides a perspective that was, and still is, not widely accessible- the perspective of an anonymous, young (she is in her early 20s at the start of her blog, and recently graduated from Baghdad University in Computer Science) female Baghdad resident, devoid of any political affiliations and motives. Throughout the book, her identity is concealed for her own protection, and she is known simply as Riverbend.

I asked Mr Shaikh what happened to Riverbend, as the book finishes in the late 2000s. He said she has preferred to stay anonymous and occasionally still updates her blog. Her last entry was from a few years ago and she told how she had become a refugee in another Middle Eastern country, which she didn't name. Has she since become one of the many, nameless illegal immigrants to Europe? No one knows, but it does show us these people have lives just like ours, and yet some of our politicians call them, and even treat them, like unwanted animals, these people who are just like us.....

By Dilara Y. Year 12

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Book Reviews Bookshop next to the splendidly orientallooking Kretzulescu Church, on the historic avenue, Calea Victorei. The brilliant photograph of the Calea Victorei made me pull it off the shelf. I read the book over the long (but we teachers would never say too long!) summer vacation, and After Dilara's wonderful book review above, I thought I would found it stunning. write my own, although her review of Baghdad Burning is so precociously wonderful, it will be a hard feat for teacher to It was stunning because it showed the links that existed before the dark shadow of communism threatened Romania, match student! during what I soon learned the Romanians called the Interbelic, the interwar period that is famously studied intensively in English schools such as the ones I attended as a boy, but rarely through the prism of Eastern Europe.

Timeless and Transitory, 20th Century Relations Between Romania and the English -Speaking World, by Dr Ernest Latham, Jnr.

During this period, as many of you know, Romania, and specifically Bucharest, grew in prosperity and ambition fueled by the oil wealth coming out of Ploesti, which I would soon learn was the first place oil was refined along with the beautiful sounding PETROLA in Ontario (big up Ms. Carman, Katie and Mrs. Avram!). So Romania, a little like the later Oil Sheikdoms, was soon awash with British and American experts and salesmen, such as the Baldwin Locomotive Works Company, that brought modern trains to Romania.

Dr Latham presents a series of brilliant articles outlining some of the above figures. In 'Three Ladies', he also presents the wives of Expats who came during the Interbelic. This is when I almost literally jumped out of my seat. One of the 'Three Ladies' Dr Latham talks about was an article on Sylvia Pankhurst. Sylvia Pankhurst was a local historical celebrity of the London suburban town, Woodford (you can read my wikipedia article on it here ,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Woodford,_London).

The book I chose for my History Book review is Timeless and Transitory, 20th Century Relations Between Romania and the English-Speaking World, by Dr Ernest Latham, Jnr., a former American Cultural Attache in Bucharest and a Visiting Professor of the University of Bucharest.

A middle class girl albeit from a famously liberal English family (her parents were pioneers of the famous Suffragette movement), Sylvia Pankhurst helped found the British communist party (which kicked her out of the party soon after as she had annoyed Lenin, making her both one of the first and ex-first British communists), suffragette of the famous Pankhurst clan, lover of the founder of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie, and then long time resident of Woodford Green, before she finally decamped in the 1950s to Ethiopia to be Emperor Haille Sellasie's Minister of Women, where she is buried today!

But, if you think this is some dry academic account, as you may be lead to conclude from the book's rather academic title and Dr. Latham's rather impressive sounding credentials, once you read a few pages, you would soon be disabused!

I had no idea Sylvia Pankhurst had any links to Romania until Dr. Latham explained that Sylvia Pankhurst was the first I picked this book up after my first year in Bucharest, during person to translate Mihai Eminescu (Romania's version of the long, harsh summer holiday. I was leafing through the Shakespeare) into English, with a bizarre preface by George books in the wonderfully quaint Anthony Frost Bernard Shaw and Nicolae Lorga, the famous Romanian 52

More... historian and politician, and a deeply revered host to Romanian exiles during the Second World War. She also went on a frenetic tour of Romania in 1934, where she invited herself to an unveiling of Eminescu's bust in Constanta and had tea with the Royals, despite fears she would argue with them about communism. That lady certainly got around!

The other 'Ladies' Latham writes about are equally fascinating.

One is the Countess Waldeck, of Athenee Palace Hotel fame, a small exhibition about whom you can see in the Hilton Hotel that now owns the hotel. Waldeck was a very interesting, even shady character, straight out of a Hitchcock Mystery novel...a continental European femme fatale. A German-Jewish runaway from her bourgeois Banker father who ended up with a personal fortune after marrying and then divorcing a rich Doctor and then obtained her title of Countess after then marrying (and then quickly abandoning) a Hungarian aristocrat, the Countess Waldeck lived a classic Interbelic life of intrigue as a war correspondent and possible spy, while even managing at the same time to obtain a PhD in Sociology!

Her classic novel, Athenee Palace, is the biography of the hotel when it was a nerve centre of Allied operations at the beginning of the Second World War, when Romania was a key part of the jigsaw puzzle of this second great war; Latham writes:

War (an award winning BBC TV adaptation of which is available on Youtube, starring Emma Thompson as the fictionalised version of Mrs Manning, the waspish and forlorn Harriet and the awesome actor Kenneth Branagh as her mischievous and irresponsible teacher husband, Guy, based on Manning's real husband) . I read Fortunes of War immediately after reading about Manning in Latham's book, and can safely say it is one of the best works of fiction I have ever read: wickedly funny and also painfully tortured. It is not at all surprising to me that Anthony Burgess, the writer of the classic novels Clockwork Orange and Inside Mr Enderby, described it, as ‘the finest fictional record of the war produced by a British writer’.

‘De Waldeck checked in in 1940, the day when France surrendered, which was a tragic event for Romania, historically connected to the West through France. Following this, France ceased to be a military force and flees Romania at the end of January 1941, soon after the rebel legion.

On the 28th of June 1940, Romania received USSR’s ultimatum requiring the government to give up Bessarabia, Bucovina and Herţa and recall their troops in 4 days. De Waldeck was at Athenee Palace looking out the window at the lights of the Royal Palace when Antonescu told King Carol II that he must step down from the throne. He learned very quickly what a king’s entrance would mean.’

As well as businessmen, teachers, foreign correspondents, teachers and their wives, Latham also writes about other interesting figures, such as Henry Baerlain, a British travel writer who explored Bessarabia in the 1930s, and going the other way, Romanian diplomats who lived in London and The last English Lady is also, albeit more peripherally, Washington D.C., such Dimitri Demetrius Dimancescu, of connected to the Athenee Palace at the height of its fame. Her whom Latham outlines his fascinating biography. name is Olivia Manning and she was a working class Overall, Latham has written a fantastic book for British expats Englishwoman and aspiring novelist, who came to Bucharest in as well as Romanians interested in the international 1940 to join her husband, an international teacher working for dimensions of their fascinating country and its recent history. the British Council. Manning's experiences of Bucharest at the This is a book I recommend to anyone interested in the history eve of the second World War would provide the material for of Romania. the first two novels, The Great Fortune and The Spoilt City, in her great sextet of novels about life in the Second World War,

By Afzal Shaikh which came to be known by the collective name, Fortunes of History Teacher

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Bucharest History challenge. I remembered my time when I was their age, in the stern, joyless and regimented education system of communist Romania. To my delight, the friendly gazes and hails which I received, dispelled immediately those concerns.

This was the auspicious atmosphere in which I started my presentation entitled “How to read Bucharest’s old houses”.

The opportunity to speak to students and teachers at the International British School of Bucharest came through Facebook, where for some time now I have conducted a lively and captivating dialogue over my architectural and history subject postings with Mr. Afzal Shaikh, the history teacher at the school. He kindly accepted my proposal to present there and arranged the time, space and logistics through the administrative chain to allow it to happen.

The town had humble beginnings as a fording place among the swamps that existed here in the early Middle Ages, for sheep being herded between mountain and plain pastures.

Bucharest is also midway between the Transylvanian Alps’ foothills to the north and the Danube to the south. What made it a capital for the Principality of Wallachia initially, was the power of the Ottoman Empire, the overlord of this part of Europe, who could control it more easily from their mighty garrison on the Danube at Ruse, now in Bulgaria. The architecture was thus Ottoman for an important stretch of Bucharest’s history. There are just a handful of remaining examples nowadays, most famous being Manuc Inn in Lipscani quarter. This first major architectural development of the town culminated in the 18th century with the Brancovan style: a mixture of local, Ottoman and European baroque motifs, seen today in its glory in the building of Stravopoleos church, for example.

Bucharest is the sixth largest town of the European Union. It is my job, as an architectural historian, to make “order” of the jumble of building shapes, design fashions, and layers of urban history. I write a blog called ‘Historic Houses of Romania - Case de Epoca’, and am also active on Facebook and Instagram. I also conduct tours, courses and seminars on this subject; trying to spread the word as much as possible among the public about the ‘built heritage’ of this corner of South East Europe; a fascinating, but less known chapter of the world’s architectural history.

I trained in the history and civilisation of South East Europe, (a region also known as the Balkans), at The London School of Economics and Political Science, my alma mater. As I began to write, I was told that your output should be easily understood by people from all walks of life, and by all literate age groups. That is in my opinion one of the main strengths of the British academic system: the ability to communicate with the wider public. I tried to put this principle to good use in this presentation!

Brancovan Stravopoleos Church

The geopolitical upheavals of the 19th century when the Habsburg, Russian and Ottoman empires clashed in the area which would become Romania, left also a visible mark on the architecture of Bucharest. The town dwellers started to adopt European building styles, in a quite provincial manner.

There was another process happening at the same time At about 9.30am the students started to arrive and fill up the whereby Bucharest was also adopting western ideas of classroom. Meeting their eyes I thought of it as a bit of a nationality and culture, such as the French language, which

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Spreading the word initially was popularised among the middle classes by the Russian imperial officers, themselves speakers of French. It was the language of the European aristocracy, and the officers stationed in the capital embraced the exotic new language.

That trend culminated with the formation of the national state, (Bucharest being upgraded as the capital of new Romania), and independence from Istanbul in 1878. The architecture for the period until The Great War, known as ‘La Belle Epoque’, was built with money resulting from the massive grain exports to industrialising Western Europe. There was a conscious emulation of the types of buildings in France, the country considered by the locals as the beacon of civilization: the bigger Latin sister: it was a period of rapid Europeanisation after nearly half a millennium of domination by a Middle Eastern power and civilisation. This period imprinted the identity of the town as the ‘Little Paris of the Balkans’, and, in my opinion, its provincial aspect, (in-between textbook architecture and vernacular), deserves the umbrella term of ‘The Little Paris’ style.

The drive to Europeanise started to be met with resistance towards the end of the 19th century, with calls of nationalism and pride in the local traditions and culture. In architecture it meant the emergence of the national style, called ‘NeoRomanian’, reflecting the national identity in the field of building design. The emergence of national architecture is not a process specific only to Romania, but something also encountered in many East European countries dominated for centuries by empires. It started in 1886, with the first ‘NeoRomanian’ style house, designed by the architect Ion Mincu, (whose name is now given to Bucharest’s university of architecture), and it reached a peak of popularity in the decade after The Great War, on the back of the enthusiastic wave at being among the victors of the war.

The unifying of the territories inhabited by Romanian speakers also fed into changes in architectural developments. ‘NeoRomanian’ is a style unique to this country, which expounds the national-romantic message seen also in literature and painting and other visual arts; of the nation being the defenders of Europe against the advance of the Ottoman Empire. That is why a ‘Neo-Romanian’ style house looks like a citadel, often having incorporated a tower within the overall massive structure. A ‘Neo-Romanian’ building is also full of motifs expounding the local form of Orthodox Christianity, as opposed to the Islam of the Ottomans; things such as elements grouped in three: windows, arcades, arches, as an echo of the Holy Trinity, or Greek cross motifs. The ‘NeoRomanian’ also includes an ethnographic component, seen especially in the elaborately carved wooden verandas, doorways or jardinieres, inspired from the countryside houses of the peasantry which were considered the backbone of the nation.

Building in such an elaborate style is expensive, that is why the ‘Neo-Romanian’ reached a crisis point in the early 1930s, when cheaper technologies and international styles prompted a synthesis and outright competition with the international Art Deco style and interwar Modernist style. The style continued its decline until 1947 when the communist regime took over, replacing it with their collectivist, Stalinist, triumphalistic architectural vision.

A Neo-Romanian House The Great Depression of 1929 - 1933, was marked by relative 55

Bucharest History tranquility in the local architectural scene, which came roaring back to life once the economic climate improved and Romanian oil became the main export commodity of the country. The money from oil was put to good use in the Art Deco and Modernist architecture, of which Bucharest is now considered a sort of local design “superpower” if I can call it that way. Art Deco is a modern reinforced concrete technology design with abstract decorations, inspired especially from industrial design, such as ocean liners or factory elements, which emerged on the back of the massive industrialisation and mass production for the war effort. It had a global spread, marking the development of a new internationalist mentality for the people of Bucharest and Romania, after the inward looking ‘Neo-Romanian’ period.

lurking underneath and later taking over, namely the rise of Fascism. The subsequent installation of a military dictatorship and the pain of the Second World War led, in the end, to the onset of the communist Dark Ages.

Modernist House I tried thus to put order in Bucharest’s architecture landscape and sensed a keen interest from the students, and through questions peppered in along the speech, which showed that they were following me with a great deal of attention, (which was pleasing and encouraging)! That impression was solidified after the end of the presentation when I had enquires from students of different years about styles of particular buildings in Bucharest, or about intentions to follow the architectural profession, for which I Art Deco Ocean-Liner style Ship Building recommended, of course, the high quality British universities The interwar Modernist style has many overlaps with the Art and the resources of the Royal Institution of British Deco style, but mostly in its lack of ornamentation. Its Architects. attractiveness being the play with volumes, like a cubist sculpture on a massive scale. The town can be proud of its ‘built heritage’ in this style, seen in apartment houses looking like an ocean liner, or grandiose buildings, such as Hotel Union, Lido or Ambassador: they are witnesses to the prosperity and cultural sophistication of Bucharest in the 1930s.

Remarkable among all were the Modernist designs of architect Marcel Iancu, an artist and a member of the famous ‘Cabaret Voltaire’ circle, which formed the basis for Surrealist art. Those effervescent years are also considered Bucharest’s golden period, although, as always, there is also a dark side 56

By Valentin Mandache Architectural Historian

Mindfulness Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child, is one of increasing number of parents fighting for a "mindful revolution in education," explaining mindfulness programs can It's not just adults that can stand to benefit from cultivating a aid kids in developing good habits that will help make them focused awareness on the present moment. Research is happier and more compassionate. beginning to shed light on the power of mindfulness as an More and more of these programs are beginning to crop up. intervention for a number of behavioral challenges that ‘The Mindful Moment’ program in Maryland high schools has children face. We're also starting to recognize that students start and end each day with a 15-minute yoga and mindfulness practices could be beneficial for children for the meditation session, and provides a mindfulness room available same reasons it helps adults, contributing to reduced for personal use throughout the day. The program aims to stress, improved sleep quality and heightened focus. reduce stress among students and teachers, and to increase

The importance of mindfulness in the modern curriculum

At increasingly younger ages, kids are facing higher levels of the students’ grades. stress, and it may be taking a significant toll on their health.

Stressful events in childhood can increase the risk of developing health problems as an adult, but the impact may hit much earlier. A recent University of Florida study found that stressful events can impact a child's health and well-being almost immediately, and can contribute to the development of physical and mental health problems and learning disabilities.

Learning mindfulness practices - including meditation, breathing exercises, yoga asana (postures) and chanting - can have a significant long-term effect on a child's development.

A mindful family upbringing encourages children to selfactualize.

Mindful parenting, as defined by Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction founder Jon Kabat-Zinn, consists of "paying attention to your child and your parenting in a particular way: intentionally, here and now, and non-judgmentally." Creating a mindful family is about "healing the environment and healing the relationships."

Mindfulness can help kids to thrive at school.

To begin to create a more mindful family and incorporate mindfulness into their children's lives, parents can start with a daily meditation, yoga or breathing practice. Family dinners can also become mindful by not allowing phones at the table and having a moment of gratitude for the food.

Most of the research on mindfulness for children has been Even simple things like positive affirmations and encouraging conducted in a school setting. Recent studies have shown children to think before they speak can foster an environment school mindfulness programs to be effective in reducing of calmness, presence and compassion. symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety among secondaryschool children for up to six months after the program. Such

By Aida Ivan programs can also help students focus during exams, as well Student Counsellor as reducing stress and boosting happiness among high-school Source document: Huffington Post students.

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Why Drama?

Why Drama is such an important subject for ALL students to try!

Drama is a subject which has a long established reputation in the British educational system and I am happy it has been reintroduced at IBSB so that the students have the opportunity to experience a broader curriculum.

Drama has always worked closely with English, Music and Life skills or Pastoral Care. Art and History are also very important because we cannot understand a play if we know nothing about the context and about how the author intended the play to look and feel at the time it was written. There is a common misconception that Drama is only related to school plays and superficial entertainment. This is so wrong! Drama is a very complex subject which can be both difficult to teach and to study.

At IBSB we decided to introduce Drama for KS 3 because its primary focus is to improve our students’ communication and team work skills. All the games we play have precise purposes such as improving coordination and spatial awareness, improving voice and speech and understanding emotions and circumstances and status of characters. It is a bit like trying to become somebody else and to walk in their shoes and see what it feels like. These exercises develop the children’s ability to work together and it tries to make them look at the world from a perspective different than their own.

This is a vital life skill to have because communication is about understanding where the others are coming from, regardless of the environment in which we meet, and finding common grounds so that we can live and work together in harmony. In year 8 and 9 we did brief character studies and these objectives are later enhanced for the ones who wish to take Drama as an IGCSE option.

learnt in class. This is how they realise how difficult it is to build believable characters. Acting well requires preparation and talent, but it is an experience every kid should have at least once in their academic life because being in front of an audience is a challenge and a memorable experience. We must all admit that as we grow older, we forget the average lessons of this or that particular subject, but we do remember vivid emotions triggered by various events which take us out of our comfort zones and make us accomplish something by exposing ourselves; being in a play in front of an audience is eventful and it is something we may never forget and it may always be part of our school life related I have tried to use the school shows as an opportunity for the memories and life lessons. students to put into practice some of the things they have I could write a lot more, but I am sure that any IGCSE student who has genuine interest in studying a subject which can challenge both your general knowledge and your physical abilities, they will find the time to ask me. In the meantime I wish you all a great holiday and I am looking forward to starting anew in September in a refurbished space especially designed for Drama and Music.

By Ioana Dumitrescu Drama Teacher

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Summer Programme The Language Department would like to launch an educational offer to all our language students regardless of their level. We believe that language immersion programs may provide excellent opportunities for students to learn to let their fears go and reduce the chances of slipping back into the safety net of own native tongue. Students can also become acquainted with the way the language is spoken in "real life" by learning aspects of language that cannot be replicated in a foreign classroom.

One traditional way to find a complete list of excellent French educational centres certified by CIEP (the public institution for educational and training cooperation within the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research) is on the following site www.qualitefle.fr/liste-descentres. If you want to find useful French courses in your own language, ‘IMMERSION FRANCE’ is an application for mobiles and tablets which is multilingual, free, and easy to access. You can find a directory listing the best offers of language centres in France: Qualité Français Langue Étrangère (French as Foreign Language Quality) label, Qualité Unosel (Unosel Quality) label, and Office quality contract and institutions member of the ‘Campus France Forum’.

Anyone interested in studying in Germany, can easily search on the ‘DAAD’ global network www.daad.de/en/ and find out more about the 413 current programmes of language and short courses in Germany. With 15 branch offices and 55 information centres across 58 countries, ‘DAAD’ provide their expertise in almost every corner of the globe. You can either visit the local office in Bucharest (Buzesti Street 61), give them a call (phone number +40 21 3101 540), visit the following website www.daad.ro or send an email to info@daad.ro.

a foreign language with international recognition, international promotion and diffusion of courses is Instituto Cervantes with a database of 152 Accredited Centres for 2016.

For guaranteed quality tuition in Spanish, look for the Instituto Cervantes logo that identifies an Accredited Centre. Different types of courses are on offer, from Taylor-made courses, Hispanic culture courses to Spanish language and work experience. Browse the directory of language programs http://eee.cervantes.es/en/resultados.asp or contact the language class teachers if you need any more help.

By Diana Lia MFL Coordinator

The only accredited international centre of leaning Spanish as

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New Wave Cinema Mr Shaikh Discovers the Delights of Romanian New Wave Cinema Eleven years ago, when I was an overgrown postgraduate student (which means, kids, I was an adult who basically wanted to stay a student and not get a proper job!) in London and never imagining I would one day end up spending most of my time in a school, least of all in a place I had only vaguely heard of called Bucharest, I heard about a Romanian film called The Death of Mr Lazarescu,a big prize winner at Cannes. It's about a pensioner in Bucharest who one night falls ill and fails to get treated properly in various hospitals and dies, based partly on the young director's own experiences of Emergency Care in this country and on an infamous incident in 1997 when a 52 year old man was left to die in the street by paramedics in Bucharest after he was refused admittance to several hospitals. It was part of a new tranche of daring and original films coming out of Romania called The Romanian New Wave, in homage to the great films that came out of France in the 1960s, gritty and realistic, showing slices of actual life and not the make-believe of Hollywood-inspired movies. In 2005, Mr Lazarescu heralded a brave new brand of European arthouse cinema. Now the Romanian New Wave cinema is a firmly established and leading part of world cinema, as shown by the current retrospective in the famous London Southbank BFI Film institute, part of a season run, Revolution in Realism.

Knowing next to nothing about Romania back in 2005, this film really intrigued me, but I never got around to watching it. I'm glad in a way, as I finally got around to seeing it last weekend, and now having lived and worked in Bucharest for 3 years (and leaving with something of a heavy heart), I found I understood the context of the film much better. For instance, the ongoing scandals concerning the Public Health system, most recently the shocking news about diluted disinfectants that may have killed many of the Collectif fire victims by allowing them to catch deadly infections (and reminiscent of the medical scandal at the heart of the classic movie, The Third Man), made me much more aware of the fear and distrust of public hospitals. Moreover, the harsh, brutally-honest and black sense of satire and lonely Bloc life for especially older people, now makes much more sense to me having spent 3 years in a large Communist-era Bloc near the school myself!

I am also glad that I recently saw another classic and Palme d'Or Cannes winner, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which really cemented Romania's position at the forefront of world

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cinema, a contemporary historical movie set in the dying days of Communist Romania about a woman trying to help her College room-mate with an abortion. Of course, that time is part of the history of many parents and teachers at IBSB who, of course, know far more about those days than I ever could, but what I loved about the film is that it gave me a vivid insight into life in Romania at the time, more than the introductory books on Romanian history could ever provide as they discussed Ceausescu's megalomaniac and classic Stalinistic Romanisation policy which led to the end of abortion in an effort to push up the Romanian population (a public policy that is currently being aped in a supposedly free Poland now!).

I also managed to see another fantastic, and this time new, Romanian movie here in the cinema (at the very cineaste Elvire Popescu cinema housed in the Institut Francais on Bulevardul Dacia) last year (thanks to a great colleague who helped find the one English subtitled screening). It's called Aferim!, and was another big winner, this time of a Silver Bear (a trophy NOT a real bear kids- that only happened at the end of Tournaments in the Middle Ages, and there is no such thing as a Silver Bear!), at the Berlin Film Festival in 2014. Aferim! is a proper historical epic, a Balkan western set in nineteenth century Turkish ruled Dobrogea, about a Romanian policeman who has to deliver a runaway Roma slave back to his Boyar owner, and the dilemma of knowing that the Boyar will almost certainly torture and kill him. It is a brutal film, shot in Black and White and I felt like I was really there, which is something the history books again can't give you. You felt the harshness of life back then and the difficult accommodation Romania had to make, squeezed between East and West and the major powers of the nineteenth century such as Turkey, AustriaHungary and Russia, before it discovered wealth through Ploesti's oil and Unification.

I look forward to watching many more films of the Romanian New Wave in the coming months and they serve as a reminder of the rich culture of Romania after I leave the country. There is one in the cinemas now, another Cannes winner called Bacalaureat by the same director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, although alas I can't see it until Elvire Popuscu hopefully screens an English Subtitled version like they did for Aferim!

By Afzal Shaikh History Teacher

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Primary School

Ana, in Year 4, was asked to describe the two pictures you see below and now you will have the pleasure of reading this amazing piece of writing by a very talented 9 year old student. Enjoy it!

Wild forest

The unbearable light of the blazing sun crept through the tall trees of the deep forest. Plants filled the muddy ground near a rushing river that splashed on giant rocks. The sound of birds chirping echoed loudly. You could barely see the clear sky as the green leaves of the trees blocked the view. On some thin trees you can see soft moss that grew on their rough bark.

Creepy forest

The dim light of the full silver moon glowed in the dark night sky above a deserted forest. The trees were tall and thin and mist crept through them. Owls sang loudly from their unseen nests and darkness spread out so that you could barely see where you are walking. Leafless branches and twigs erupted out of the bark of the trees touching neighbouring branches.

By Ana Year 4

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