TIV School Magazine Issue 2 - 2022

IBSB News & Views by the students for the students

July 2022 Issue 2

The International Voice

WHITEBOARD pg. 46 Year 6 Graduation & Awards Ceremony SPORTS pg. 76 Sports Day SCHOOL VIEWS pg. 124 University Destinations

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Table of Contents

contents 3. CAS

1. SPOTLIGHT

7. SCHOOL VIEWS

Student Editor’s note

04

CAS Gala Evening

48

SS Book Recommendations

84

Head Girl’s Message

05

Supporting Animal Welfare

49

Evolution and Genetics

86

Head of School Message

06

Sustainability Week CAS Activities 50

Book Review

88

HPL Accreditation

08

12 Days of Kindness

51

Parts for Your Gaming Setup

90

Speranta pentru tine Overview

52

Movie Reviews: King Richard

93

Top 5 Movies to Watch in 2022

94

Head of Secondary School Message 14

4. SCHOOL EVENTS

2. WHITEBOARD Head of Primary School Message

16

EYFS & Year 1 Botanical Gardens

17

Year 2C Learning Collaboratively

18

Year 2O What if I Got Lost?

19

Year 3T Pet Dragons

20

Year 4S Chocolate Factory

22

Year 5H Dragons’ Den

24

Year 6M Book Week

26

Year 6W Vertical Spirit

27

COBIS and Mangahigh Maths

54

International Star Wars Day

55

World Peace Day

56

Red Cross Appeal

57

Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

58

Primary School Literacy Events

60

IBSB Summer Show

65

End of Year Awards

66

30

Did Anyone Say Fiesta?

31

Primary School Residentials

32

Poesiae Success

35

Primary School House Games

36

Mega, Magic Mathletics

37

Romanian Kangaroo Contest

38

IBSB Choir atYoung Voices

39

Primary School Science Week

40

Sustainability Week

41

The Francophonie

42

World Religions Week

43

Primary School World Book Week

44

Year 6 Graduation

46

97

Misunderstood Vampires?

100

New Teacher Interview

104

GCSE and A Level Art

106

Alphabet Photography in Year 8

107

Interschool Chess

108

COBIS World Music Competition 109 International Economics Olympiad 110 UKMT Maths Challenge

111

Middle School European Debate

112

Middle School Debating Success 114 Winston Churchill Future Leaders 116

Cobis and Black Sea Art Competition 28 Cervantes Day in Primary School

Ideas to avoid feeling bored

5. SPORTS U18 European Championships

70

IBSB Sailing Club

71

U13 Boys 3rd Place in Lumina Cup 72 Achieving the Unimaginable

74

Sports Day

76

WOWSA Man of the Year Award

78

6. ALUMNI Fashion Design at Marangoni

80

Studying Engineering at Brunel

82

Exploring the Great Outdoors

118

Reading and Francophonie

122

SaySpeakSpell

123

University Destinations 2022

124

KS5 Francophonie Week

127

Proud WordFest Record

128

HPL German Milkshakes

129

Work Experience Programme

130

SS World Book Week

132

Year 13 Graduation

134

Year 7 German Cupcakes

136

Europa FM and Virgin Radio

137

Humanities Trip to Sinaia

138

Year 9 Tourism Projects

139

8. CREATIVE CORNER Creative Writing Competition

141

S P O T L I G H T

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Spotlight

Student Editor’s Note

by Maria Sticlea Whenever another school year comes to an end, teachers, parents, and students alike often feel a whirlwind of emotions as the summer holidays start; I myself feel relieved that exams are finally over and excited about all of my summer plans, but also stressed at the prospect of a summer full of university prep and the idea that I now only have one year left before I leave this school and its tight-knit community.

Our school has developed so much over the past year, and

spirited, hard-working individuals. It is truly a community

while life has not quite recovered yet from the grasps of the

effort, and I hope that when you read through the magazine,

pandemic, it is important to remember and celebrate all of

you will feel satisfaction and happiness at the fruits of your

our achievements, all of the emerging activities and initiatives

labour.

that have been started this year, and all of the efforts that have been put into slowly returning back to normal. The TIV

Being the Student Editor for the TIV this year has taught

serves as a diary in this sense, recording our progress and

me so much about journalism, time management, and

showcasing our flourishing extra-curricular scene, and I can

perseverance, and I can only hope that I have done the role

only hope that next year, we will have even more events to

justice and that my counterpart next year will learn from our

write about, more accomplishments to celebrate, and more of

mistakes and setbacks, and make the magazine even better.

what makes life at IBSB so enjoyable.

Until then, I wish you all a relaxing and refreshing summer Once again, I must thank all of the contributors to this edition,

holiday and all the best for the year ahead; I am sure,

because it is your hard work, openness, and creativity that

for those who have taken exams, that the results will be

has truly brought this school magazine to life. Thank you for

everything you hoped for and more, and for those who

your time and for the countless hours spent reporting on

haven’t, I hope you get to make the best of your time away

school events, writing articles, putting pen to paper hoping for

from school. As school ends and vacations begin, take

something amazing to emerge; trust me, it really has! Thank

advantage of every moment and experience, even with the

you also to all of the teachers who have inspired their students

many emotions you may indeed be feeling, and enjoy it all!

to become young writers, and the parents who raised such

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Spotlight

Another first was the tutoring scheme for IGCSE students,

by Melissa Aydogan

Committee. The scheme was a big success, as students who needed help said they felt more supported and much more confident when taking their exams, so a big thank you to everyone who was involved with this project.

Writing this piece as the Head Girl, I cannot help but feel an incredible sense of pride and gratitude towards the amazing senior prefect team this year, who have truly dedicated themselves to their positions and helped the IBSB community in so many ways. If the prefect team is reading this (and I hope you are), I am so proud of all the work you have all put in, even if it was not easy at times, and fortunate to have worked alongside you this year.

The school Community Action Service (CAS) programme also achieved a great deal of success this year, as the funds raised for the various cases matched and sometimes even exceeded the amounts pre Covid. The Light into Europe CAS group, for example, organised the first ever Comedy Night (hopefully of many, following its great success), raising enough funds to feed a guide dog in training for a year. All CAS groups did a great job in the whole school Christmas Fair and were thus able to support their various causes, ranging from animals in need to sick babies whose parents were unable to afford medication.

Another year has ended and once again the time has seemed to simply fly by.

It has been especially amazing to watch the community come together once again, helped in part by the return of whole school events just for students and teachers initially, and then in Term 3 the invites extended to parents and guests, and even interschool events such as the IBSB debate competitions and IBSBMUN 2022, which we hosted in March, and ESU Public Speaking Competition that we hosted in April, to name just a few.

It has also been a year of many firsts for IBSB and our community, with the first independent IBSB MUN being just one example, entirely student-led (with a lot of help from Ms Blessy and the school leadership of course), and a great success with attendees leaving feeling excited to explore the world of diplomacy further and keen to return for more in 2023.

On a far more personal note, coming to the end of my IBSB journey, after thirteen years of watching the school change in so many ways, I leave with a sense of excitement for what is to come, what the younger years will contribute, and what changes and improvements will continue to happen. I am also distinctly aware that the rest of my class also find themselves at the end of their journey through primary and secondary education, whether they joined us many years ago or more recently. To all, I wish an abundance of good luck in their future lives, at university or another path they have chosen for themselves - knowing you, I can say without hesitation that you are all amazing people, who I am sure will go to achieve great things in life, so I am excited for what the future holds!

I would like to wish all the IGCSE and A Level students good luck with your exam results and future endeavours, and if you are one of the more fortunate ones not yet nervously awaiting exam results, then I wish you a great summer before the next school year starts.

S P O T L I G H T

Head Girl’s message

organised by the pastoral branch of the Student Executive

S P O T L I G H T

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Spotlight

Head of School Message

by Kendall Peet

Looking back, not just over this summer issue of TIV, but the winter issue also, it is nothing less than miraculous to consider all we have achieved as a community, given the many challenges faced this year, including but not limited to the period of COVID enforced school closure in Term 1 and the continued restrictions in place until the later part of Term 2, and the uncertainty and complications associated with the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

Term 3 was therefore a veritable breath of fresh air for

the Year 7-10 students being able to once again enjoy

us all, allowing the return on whole school events like

educational visits to continental Europe.

our annual Sports Day (postponed from Term 1) and the Summer Show to finish off the year, and the welcome

Our Year 12 students, were thankfully able to benefit from

addition the Queens 70th Platinum Jubilee Celebrations in

the return of the Work Experience programme, taking full

between.

advantage of the many opportunities available to them, be it completing a two week internship at PwC or Deloitte,

The students in years 2-10 were excited to be able to head

working in the medical field at Regina Maria or Dr Reddy’s,

off on end of year residential trips once again, after a two

or getting creative at Creative Pro Design or Iza Van Dee, to

year hiatus, even if slightly restricted in terms of destination

name just a few of the placements on offer this year.

choices. We are all hopeful Year 6 will be able to resume

It was also nice to finally be able to open the gates to

their traditional end of year trip to the UK in 2023, with

enable our parents onto campus to enjoy celebrating

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assemblies and attend face-to-face class meetings across the school, not just enabling them to speak with the teachers directly, but equally important each other, to rebuild school community life. We now look forward to the return of regular PTF meetings in 2022-23.

In terms of the School Development Plan, there were also many positives in 2021-22, with the acquisition of yet more land annexed to our campus, enabling for further expansion, particularly in regard to the amount of outdoor space, as the focus of work being carried out during the summer break, for the enjoyment, health, and wellbeing of our student body, which is set to exceed 400 for the first time at the start fo the new school year. To this summer project work, you can also add a second medical room, a new parents’ waiting room, and a new enlarged uniform

keep, so to can this saying be extended to schools, and so by joining a select group of world-class schools at the very front of teaching pedagogy and educational reform, we will be better positioned to ensure we continue to grow, maintaining the highest educational standards for the benefit of our students.

All this you can read about in this issue, and much, much more, thanks to the efforts of our students and staff, supported by an extremely dedicated and talented editorial team. In this regard, special mention must go out to Alina Radu and the primary team for their many contributions to the Whiteboard section of this issue. Thank you also to our student editor Maria Sticlea, TIV Coordinator Peter Ennion, the many student writers in the TIV Club and otherwise, the graphics team, Andreea and Lea, and the many others, too many to name here and now It must be said that TIV started many years ago as a relatively

shop to service our rapidly growing community.

small school magazine ‘By the students for the students’, but

We, of course, passed our HPL accreditation visit with

whole school community, for the whole school community’.

flying colours, following a successful two-year journey as an HPL Pathway School. This means we are now able to join the World Class Schools Fellowship, an elite group of high performing schools, with all the benefits this brings, including valuable opportunities for the continuing professional development of our staff and sharing of good practice, and extracurricular enrichment for our students.

S P O T L I G H T

the achievements of their children in the primary school

Spotlight

has long since morphed into a magazine that is truly ‘By the We therefore look forward to the return of both face-to-face PTF meetings and articles in TIV in 2022-23, with the lifting of COVID restrictions allowing parents to once again resume their role participation in all aspects of school life.

Enjoy this summer issue of TIV, and your respective summers, knowing that next year will be even better!

Just as a person is often defined by the company they

The British Romanian Chamber of Commerce is the premier business-led organisation promoting bilateral trade and investment between the United Kingdom and Romania. Our mission is to facilitate and increase the trade between those two countries through business-to-business dialogue.

The British Romanian Chamber of Commerce plays an influential role in creating and sustaining an environment in which free-trade and investment flourishes. Through the facilitation of partnerships, and with an extensive network of influential corporate and individual members, the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce provides the resource, knowledge and infrastructure support vital to UK companies to make the most of emerging opportunities in Romania, and for Romanian companies to do business in the established markets of the UK. Established in 1998, the BRCC is an independent organisation, owned entirely by its members, with offices in London, Bucharest, Cluj and Sibiu.

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S P O T L I G H T

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Spotlight

HPL Accreditation A New Era in IBSB History

by Kendall Peet

It’s hard to believe that it was two years ago that we embarked as whole school community on the two-year HPL Pathway Journey toward HPL accreditation. How quickly the time flies by, and how much the world has changed in just two years.

Developing a ‘Growth Mindset’ For the five years leading up to the start of our HPL journey, we had been working hard to move from what Harvard University researcher Carol Dweck termed a traditional ‘Fixed Mindset’ school toward a ‘Growth Mindset’ school. The traditional ‘Fixed mindset’ holds true to the belief that a person’s basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are fixed traits, something that does not or cannot change over time. A ‘Growth Mindset’ school, conversely, firmly holds to the belief that talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching, and perseverance (or what Dweck referred to in her TEDTALK as Grit). This can perhaps be best represented by the following diagrams:

Traditional Schools and Education Systems

High Performance Learning Schools

9

the world today still adhere to the bell curve (to the left), labelling children within the school as low ability, high ability, or somewhere between, with the expectation that

encouraging all students equally to move to the right.

Becoming a successful lifelong learner

their ability is relatively fixed and that they will remain

Adopting a ‘Growth Mindset’ ethos, whilst having many positive

in much the same position as they progress through

benefits, does little to comprehensively identify the full spectrum

school. HPL schools, conversely, place children on a

of traits or characteristics associated with a successful lifelong

linear progress line (to the right), believing ability can be

learners. This is where the research carried out by Professor

developed, and set to work supporting their students to

Eyre comes in, articulating the 30 key competencies associated

move to the right toward achieving high performance.

with High Performance Learners.

In fact, the goal of and HPL school is to move the entire student body to the right so that everyone is performing

The High Performance competencies are presented in two

at a higher level. In a standard school, the % split has

main categories, being ‘How High Performance Learners

traditionally be around 20/60/20. In an HPL school, you

Behave’ (concerning their Values, Attitudes, & Attributes), and

are more likely to find 10/30/70, with everyone continuing

‘How High Performance Learners think’ (referring to their

to move at their own pace to the right.

Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics, or ACPs).

Maintaining a ‘Growth Mindset’ within a school

The 3 Key VAAs and 5 Key ACPS identified above are in turn

environment does not, however, mean that everyone

divided into further subcategories, to provide a comprehensive

possesses the same ability or talent or that anyone can be

list of 30 competencies that HPL schools actively promote

Einstein or a concert pianist, but simply that everyone can

and work to instil in their students, as they progress from their

become smarter and improve, moving to the right, if they

early years to graduation, to provide the very best opportunity to

work hard and persevere. As a school, we were determined

become successful lifelong learners.

to provide our students with a learning environment where they feel valued, view making mistakes as an important stage in the learning process, and develop the selfconfidence to believe effort determines outcome, not natural ability or intelligence.

Rewarding effort rather than ability In this way, we reward effort rather than ability or the outcome itself. This means it is not important who is at the top of the class, but rather that each student is making good progress, or as is typically the case at IBSB, above average progress. So instead of saying, “Well done on achieving an ‘A’”, which a traditional class teacher might acknowledge, devaluing the progress others have made, for example, the teacher’s feedback would sound more like this: “Well done on improving your spelling test score this week David, I can see you really worked hard and put in a lot of effort to achieve this result. Keep up the good work!”, sending the appropriate message to the class. In this way, a student who moves from a D to a C can be rewarded in the same way that a studnet moves from a B to an A grade,

S P O T L I G H T

The majority of schools (certainly more than 90%) in

Spotlight

S P O T L I G H T

10 Spotlight

HPL is not in itself a curriculum, however, prescribing what

sharing of good practice. Students we encouraged to

subjects or content to teach. HPL schools will each will

start taking more of a lead in the process, through project-

follow their preferred curriculum: IBSB, for example, follows

based work that inherently required a mixture of the

the curriculum of England. HPL is, instead, a methodology

competencies. Half-termly reports sent home to parents

intended to provide a common language and framework

now made regular use of HPL language and the rewards

to deliver the curriculum in order to develop the key

system was upgraded to reflect progress made in terms of

competencies that will enable students to progress steadily

the HPL competencies, with HPL badges given to students

toward high performance, growing in confidence with each

in recognition of progress made. It was a year requiring a

step taken.

rigorous process of self-evaluation against the standards in

The First Year – A Mindset Shift The first year of the HPL Journey was focused on introducing the High Performance Learning framework to the entire

preparation for the validation visit in June.

Measuring the Impact Behaviour, Progress, & Attainment

school community, with continuing professional development,

The adoption of High Performance Learning at IBSB has

parent webinars, and plenty of classroom focus to help all

undoubtedly led to a number of positive changes in both

stakeholders become familiar with the language of HPL. For

behaviour and outcomes achieved for our students and

the IBSB community, it was a relatively smooth transition as

staff. In particular, it was creating an increasingly positive

there was a natural progression from the ‘Growth Mindset’

culture within the school, which has been especially

toward an ‘HPL Mindset’.

important and advantageous during the two-year COVID pandemic, enabling our staff and students to face the

Teachers were placed into Professional Learning Communities

challenges with a ‘can do’ mind-set, resulting in levels

(PLCS) that offered staff the chance to discuss how they

of academic progress and attainment being maintained

would develop the various competencies within lessons and

during periods of online learning. In fact, many of the

across the curriculum. Lesson planning began to include

students became more independent and now take greater

references the HPL competencies, with medium and long

responsibility in the process of their learning as a result of

term plans also starting to refer to the HPL competencies.

both the pandemic and HPL. Progress and attainment have

Experiences were shared, and slowly but surely the profile of

also been reflected in the end of year GL assessment data,

HPL increased within the school week on week, helped by

indicating that IBSB students are on average placed in the

the placement of HPL posters in every classroom identifying

110-120 range for English, Maths, and Science, well above

all 30 competencies. HPL murals and displays were added to

the UK average of 100. GL feedback reports in general

the hallways, noticeboards exhibited examples of HPL work in

show that across the curriculum students are making

the classrooms, weekly assemblies focused on some aspect

expected to above average progress, with many students

of an HPL, members of the SLT referred to HPL in the weekly

across the spectrum of attainment making progress that

newsletter, and HPL articles appeared in the TIV and on our

is ‘well above’ expected levels. To view the wholesale

social media pages.

worldwide impact of HPL within schools, please refer to the

The Second Year – Embedding HPL @IBSB With all key stakeholders within our community becoming increasingly comfortable with the language of HPL, the focus in the second year moved to embedding HPL into all aspects of IBSB life to ensure we meet the High Performing School Award Standards necessary to join the Global Community of HPL High Performing Schools. New PLC groups were established to help generate ongoing dialogue, and the further

following impact report:

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Spotlight

Accreditation – A time to celebrate

With this in mind, we would like to thank all members of

Our accreditation visit, initially scheduled to take place on May

to, this rewarding journey, be it directly or indirectly. Your

by COVID. It was also decided, due to the complications of international travel requiring negative tests and forcing those who test positive to remain in the host country for up to 2 weeks, that the visit would take place in the form of an online visit. Our HPL Accreditor was confirmed as Charlotte Grieves, an experienced Head of School working in a GEMS school in the UAE, which had just itself gone through its second accreditation, and as such was much further along in the

feedback throughout the process has been invaluable and we look forward to receiving your continued support in the next chapter of our HPL Journey.

Looking to the Future – The World Class Schools Fellowship.

Having successfully passed HPL accreditation, we are extremely proud to be the first school in both Romania and

process of systematising and optimising HPL.

Eastern Europe invited to join the prestigious Fellowship of

During the visit itself, Charlotte spoke with all stakeholders,

number of key benefits, including continuing professional

including representative groups of students from both the primary and secondary school, the primary teachers, the secondary teachers, the PTF, SLT, and the board- thank you to all those who took time out of their busy days to speak with Charlotte. She was extremely impressed, referring to the confidence of the students in talking about their HPL experience to date, saying also that it is clear we have a dedicated and able team of teachers and involved and supportive parent community. Based on her overtly positive feedback, it is not surprising, therefore, that we not only passed our accreditation visit with flying colours, but received effusive feedback in regard to how much we had achieved in two years, especially taking into account that we were dealing with the challenges of a serious pandemic: “The International British School of Bucharest is a wonderful school with children placed firmly at the centre of everything they do. The leadership team are highly respected, possessing a performance mindset which seeks out challenges to improve the school year on year. I am particularly impressed by how they didn’t allow a pandemic to stop them striving for greater things for their community. The students are incredible in the way they articulate their thinking, their values, and their love for their teachers. They feel both supported and challenged, and clearly enjoy and thrive in the school environment.

The continued drive for High Performance is firmly embedded across all areas of the school, and as such the school has met the HPL Standards to achieve the World Class School Award. Congratulations!”

- Charlotte Grieves, HPL Accreditor

World Class Schools, providing IBSB students and staff a development opportunities and the sharing of good practice between high performing schools for the staff, and a growing variety of extracurricular activities facilitating an increasing amount of interaction between our students.

We will be drawing up a new HPL Road Map with David Rowsell, our HPL Coach and Mentor, who will be joining us in Bucharest for the Summer Induction Programme in August 2022, to help guide us through the next three years of our HPL journey toward reaccreditation in 2025.

During this next stage of our journey, the focus will shift from embedding to systematising and optimising High Performance Learning at IBSB, with a view to achieving greater consistency in our approach.

Overall, however, the aim is simply to remain true to our school mission, vision, and values, in providing a positive, supportive learning environment where health and wellbeing remain paramount, where students and staff feel valued and wake up each day looking forward to coming into school, and where ultimately students can dream, believing that dreams can and do come true for those prepared to work.

S P O T L I G H T

17, was postponed to June 10- yet another event affected

our school community for participating in, and contributing

S P O T L I G H T 12 Spotlight

S P O T L I G H T

13 Spotlight

S P O T L I G H T

14 Spotlight

Head of Secondary School Message

by Matthew Tansley

them a glimpse of our school and the types of experiences we offer. What was so great about this event, was the fact it was entirely student led, and also introduced so many students to the experience of MUN, and so hopefully

Since the last TIV article that I wrote, summarising the autumn

this will become a regular event on the school calendar.

term for issue one, the world has been turned on its head again,

There have also been several chess competitions that our

with the news that Russia had invaded Ukraine as part of what it

students have enjoyed participating in, with the support

would like to be known as a “special military operation”, but what

of Mr Kirk, as well as football competitions such as the

the rest of us would just recognise as blatant aggression and

“Coupe de Amite” at the French School and the “Lumina

warmongering. This has had an impact on our community, as well

Cup” at ISB. In fact, we have been rather successful in all

as Bucharest and Romania in general, but has reflected the entire

of these football competitions, with our U13 boys taking

country, as well as our own small community, at its very best, as

third place in the Lumina Cup, and our U13 girls winning

we have welcomed those who escaping the impact of this act

the competition! Thank you to Mr Iacob and Mr Georgescu

of aggression with open arms, supporting them as best we can.

for their support preparing the teams.

Our whole community has been amazing, as can be seen by the Peace Day events earlier in the term, along with the fundraising

As you will also have seen, academically, our focus has

taking place through bake sales and non-uniform days, alongside

been on our HPL accreditation, and by the time you read

our support of the work that “Light into Europe” have been

this piece, we should hopefully have received good news

doing and the vital funds and donations that our community has

that we passed with flying colours. This accreditation has

provided for the orphans that have been marooned in Ukraine

the culmination of busy two-year journey that has been

without real support.

uplifting in terms of what has brought to our community in terms of learning, and so I am looking forward to very

I had the privilege of meeting and speaking with two members of

much to process of continuing to embed, systematise, and

staff from the British International School, Ukraine whilst attending

optimise the HPL VAAs (values, attitudes, and attributes),

the recent COBIS conference in London, who said they have

along with the ACPs (advanced cognitive performance

been touched by the outpouring of support that schools within

characteristics) over the next few years.

the Black Sea Group of COBIS schools have provided, and it is fantastic to see that BISU is still moving forward and supporting

It is a fact of life, however, that things change and teachers

its community virtually, even if it is not safe enough for them to do

and students do move on, so with this in mind, I would

this physically at present.

like to congratulate our graduating class of 2022 for successfully completing their secondary school studies,

There have been many other activities that have taken place over

and wish them all the best in their future endeavours at

the past two terms, too many to mention, but highlights would

university and life thereafter, as well to thank Mr Orme, Mr

include the IBSBMUN, which was a resounding success, involving

Cooper, and Mr Kirk for their efforts whilst working at IBSB,

many of the high schools within the metropolitan area, offering

wishing them all well as they move onto new challenges.

W H I T E B O A R D

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Whiteboard

Head of Primary School Message

by Alan Cornish Welcome to the Primary School section of the Summer Issue of TIV. Thanks for taking the time to read about our exploits in Primary School this term, corelated by Ms Alina Radu and our talented team of teachers and pupils.

The summer term has always been my favourite and even

our pupils and they should feel proud too, as they look

more so this year as we opened our doors and invited parents

back on a year of progress and enjoyable learning.

into school once again. It has been lovely to have parents in assemblies and reading in the classrooms- it is what primary

So, take the time to look through all the special events

school is all about. We were also able to begin our day trips

shown in this TIV and remember that none of them

and brought back residential trips after 2 long years hiatus.

would have been possible without the teachers’ input.

They devised the activities, worked hard to organise

We are a great community at IBSB, made up from great

and coordinate them, making them fun, safe, and a more

families, great teachers, and great kids. The last 2 years we

creative way to learn. Hats off to our teaching team, they

have been on our HPL journey to become a World Class

have been brilliant once again this year!

Fellowship School, and we have all played our part on the road to accreditation. We have been hard working, resilient,

As always, there is much to look forward to next year. Let’s

adaptable, creative, and kept our sense of perspective,

see what we can achieve together in 2022-23.

thinking of others and embracing diversity. We are proud of

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Whiteboard

W H I T E B O A R D

EYFS & Y1F Botanical Gardens Adventure

by Madalina Soare With COVID restrictions finally lifted, EYFS and Year 1 had the opportunity to enjoy their first trip of the year. They went to the Botanical Gardens, with adventure starting when they found out they were going on the school buses. There was so much excitement in the room. Seatbelt clicks and they were off.

“Fast, fast! We’re going fast,”

cried Nati, as they started their journey (safely).

When they arrived, the security guard instructed everyone that they were not allowed to touch or pull the flowers and plants.

The children listened intently and were very careful to follow the

point they were ready for their lunch, finding the perfect

instructions as they commenced their visit.

shaded spot to enjoy a picnic lunch.

The children explored lots of different areas in the garden, and

With lunch over, followed by a quick toilet stop, everyone

especially enjoyed visiting the greenhouses, which housed rainforest plants, cacti, and even banana trees. Some of the trees were as tall as the ceiling, with leaves as big as some of

was ready to make the final trek back to the buses to head back to school.

the nursery children.

Seatbelts once again clicked, we were soon homeward

After the greenhouses, they saw the vegetable patches and

such a big adventure, especially the EYFS students - no

guessed what might be growing beneath the ground. By this

bound, with many of the students falling fast asleep after doubt dreaming of their next great adventure to come!

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Learning Collaboratively in Y2C

by Adelaide Owen In 2C, we love learning collaboratively and giving each other the opportunity to share our thoughts and ideas.

In English, we have recently been exploring word classes and the roles that different words play in sentences in order to expand some of the vocabulary we are able to use confidently. In the photos, you can see that we are organising words into different categories (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs). We were then able to try and form sentences using some of our new vocabulary, with the students having fun coming up with the interesting and creative combinations.

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Year 20 ask the question: ‘What if I got lost in the Indus Valley?’

by Orla O’Dwyer This year, one of the cross curricular topics Year 2O studied was ‘What if I got lost in the Indus Valley?’ We researched its location, who made the discovery of the Indus Valley civilisation, and the significant discovery of many artefacts within the valley.

The children loved learning about the different discoveries so much that they wanted to make their own artefacts. In pairs, the children chose the artefact they wished to create out of clay, selecting a sword, cooking utensils, or ancient seals. Before making their artefact, each child researched the history of it, keeping four key questions to the fore in their minds – What it was made from? What it can tell us about life in the Indus Valley? What it was used for? and Who might have used it? It was evident from the children’s open-mindedness and ability to link back to previous lessons, that they learned a lot of interesting facts on this topic.

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Year 3T - ‘What if Vikings had pet dragons?’

by Alison Tansley In Term 3, Year 3 learnt about the Vikings.

In the introductory lessons, we focused on the who, when, and where aspects of this stage of history by looking at maps and timelines to give more context.

It’s really important to begin the study of Vikings by first looking at their origins in Scandinavia and their day-to-day life and culture. We then generated discussions about archaeology and the study of the historical facts about Viking invasions in Britain and investigated what day to day life was like in Viking society, the journeys the Vikings took, and the impact and legacy of the Viking invasions.

Wherever possible, we endeavour to plan cross-curricular topic links between subjects such as literacy, maths, and science, enabling students to use and apply aspects of learning from one subject to another; which engages students more in the learning process, resulting in students making good and often above average progress.

The class novel that we chose to read was ‘How to train your Dragon’, by Cressida Cowell. This novel provided us with some wonderful linking opportunities with literacy because the story is full of fascinating and entertaining young Viking characters and many, many Dragons! We met Hiccup, the narrator of the story, who learns how to be a hero – the hard way. Hiccup and the other young Viking warriors-in-training have to pass a gruelling initiation test to become part of the Hairy Hooligan Viking tribe.

The first step being to capture and train their very own dragon.

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As well as reading and analysing the novel in some guided reading and vocabulary discussion tasks, we embarked upon a variety of writing activities. To write descriptively in Year 3, we want students to be using complex sentences with a range of interesting vocabulary and punctuation. In our grammar lessons, for example, we revisited using expanded noun phrases, fronted adverbials, figurative language, and prepositional phrases. We then began recapping on the features of instructional writing and narrative writing, which we had learned earlier in the year.

Finally, we embarked upon some focused writing tasks: a set of instructions to capture a dragon; the setting of the dragon’s cave/the dragon’s lair or home; a detailed character analysis of the dragon we designed, and the final task of writing a recount about the day we captured our own baby dragon.

I challenged the students to use the best descriptive language they could think of to ‘paint a picture with their words’ when they were describing their dragon characters and the setting.

To make this activity more interactive, I had found a ‘design your own dragon’ online application, which we used during an ICT lesson. The students could quite literally design their own dragon, which they were very excited about. They really enjoyed selecting what they wanted their own dragon to look like from a huge variety of options to choose from, such as hair, horns, wings, tail, skin colour, accessories, and so on. This level of engagement meant that they really enjoyed writing the final pieces of descriptive writing for this topic, their dragon’s character analysis, and the recount describing the day they captured it.

In further ICT lessons, the students created a mini project set of slides all about their dragons using some Google slide templates. Using word processing skills, students typed out their instruction texts, their dragon descriptions, and embedded pictures of the dragon they had created.

Another important aspect of cross curricular learning is art, because it enhances student creativity and imagination. An art lesson that we completed in class to match with our writing topic, was to draw and colour a ‘close up’ of a dragon eye. The main objective was to pay close attention to the detailing around the eyeball and to carefully size and draw the individual scales.

After they had sketched their outlines, the students could then

colour them appropriately using shading and tones in their choices of colour. They had some step-by-step guides to help them, but some students preferred to do an independent piece of work using their own ideas, which I actively encouraged as it is always pleasing to see individual interpretations of the same task.

It was really wonderful to see how engaged all the students were about the Vikings and dragon topic.

The students really impressed me with their creativity, producing great results that showcased their improving literacy, art, and ICT skills.

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Year 4S Fabulous, Fun Chocolate Factory

by Aliviana Sanders Do you adore chocolate? Of course you do, and so do the

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students in 4S. In PSHE, we learned about how fair-trade

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chocolate is made, from farm to table, and in Science, we

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learned about how matter changes between solids and liq-

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uids. Then, as a fun treat, on a Tuesday afternoon in May, the

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students of 4S made scrumptious, creamy chocolate right in

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our classroom.

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Ms Oana Cringasu from Șomartin Chocolate in Sibiu visited us and helped us create our own chocolate from scratch. First, Sophie and Eda measured 900g of sugar on a scale. Then, Aron and Erika meticulously weighed 750g of butter. Ms Oana helped us carefully melt the butter and sugar into a liquid mixture, using a hot plate, as we all took turns stirring the mixture to ensure it didn’t burn.

Next, we added milk powder. This created a thick gooey mixture, so we needed to use an electric mixer to make sure everything mixed together properly. Little did we know that we had already created something tasty: white chocolate! Everyone took spoons and tested it. Hmmm, yummy!

To make the milk chocolate, we had to add one final ingredient: cocoa powder. By this point, the mixture was starting to cool and became even more difficult to stir, so Ms Oana had to take over.

While she mixed in the cocoa powder, we were occupied learning facts about chocolate and preparing the containers for our very own chocolate creations. Each of us took a portion of chocolate and personalised it with toppings, such as hazelnuts, almonds, raisins, and walnuts.

At the end of the workshop, everyone got to taste their delicious creations and received a special chocolate making diploma. We all had so much fun! I bet you’re hungry now, aren’t you?

PwC România PwC este o firmă integrată de servicii profesionale, recunoscută pentru calitate, oferind soluţii specifice pentru fiecare situație cu care se confruntă clienţii noştri companii locale şi multinaţionale, precum şi instituţii publice: • Audit financiar • Consultanţă în afaceri şi management • Consultanţă fiscală şi juridică Avem o echipă de peste 800 de specialişti, condusă de 22 de Parteneri.

PwC este recunoscută ca firma cu cel mai puternic brand în România, în comparaţie cu cei mai importanţi competitori, într-un sondaj independent, anonima, printre utilizatorii de servicii profesionale, comandat de PwC la nivel global Cu o istorie de 170 de ani, PwC este prezentă în 157 de țări la nivel global.

PwC lucrează cu 429 companii prezente în Fortune Global 500 și cu peste 100.000 de companii antreprenoriale, bazându-se pe talentul celor 284.000 de angajaţi.

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Year 5H Dragons’ Den

by Lee Hawkins This term, Year 5 have been learning all about the Industrial Revolution and the impact it had on the world. It was a period that saw the biggest advancements in technology, ever.

We studied many different aspects of the Industrial Revolution, including timelines, important people, historical events, and the impact this period had on the modern world.

In year 5, we like to encourage a love for learning as well as an independent growth mind-set, via project-based learning, which incorporates our HPL values and attitudes. And so with this in mind, the teaching team decided that Year 5 would transform CrossCurricular lessons into the set of the famous TV show: ‘Dragons’ Den’ (Imperiul Leilor).

The students’ were given a brief and spent the next 6 weeks

working collaboratively to ensure they included aspects such as branding, detailed information about the product, history of the inventor, advertising, and costs & profits.

Eventually, they would pitch their product to a panel of ‘Dragons’ seeking investment to grow their ‘business’.

Each group of students needed to research important inventions and inventors before deciding which product they would be representing. Next up was creating a recognisable brand for their new product and company.

You can see some of these ideas here with some excellent logo designs and slogans.

Now with a product, inventor, and a company brand, the new entrepreneurs needed to advertise their world changing products. We used online design websites (as

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well as our innovative imaginations) to help us produce billboards and TV

Alongside the advertisement campaign, the self-proclaimed business magnates also needed to make sure that potential consumers knew all they needed about the product. We decided this was best done via eye-catching, professional and informative brochures (see images).

The only thing left to do now was to convince a panel of business moguls (our dragons) to invest in their company and product.

Parents volunteered to be our dragons and were welcomed in to school for the final pitch, where the students sought investment for their groundbreaking products.

The parents and students were amazing in their roles during the presentations. The students prepared expertly and executed the sales pitches so well that we saw investment in each product. In some cases, the ‘dragons’ even went head-to-head in a competitive bidding war, hoping to secure a percentage of the next big thing!

In the end, this project offered engaging and ultimately realistic way of learning about the past, and how it has affected our daily lives in the modern world, and was so much fun that the students can’t wait to start their next project!

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adverts (as you can see in some of the images).

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year 6M Book Week

by Robin Morrison 6M were extremely motivated during Book Week, completing an immense amount of reading mixed in with artwork, singing, story-telling and spelling. The students discussed their favourite authors and recommended their favourite books to each other.

They designed mega-sized book covers that were the size of a door. They sang songs and read to each other inside a cupboard with the theme being We Can Read Anywhere, and focused on the stairs, again reading anywhere they could.

All the students enjoyed themselves. Maintaining a healthy competitive spirit, with Cezar eventually winning the Reading Challenge and Stefan the Spelling Challenge. Well done to both students, and to all the students for engaging in the learning process to the level they did.

What the students said: “Reading is so cool! I love it!” - Deva “Reading gives you so many ideas!” - Tudor “We worked collaboratively all week. It was great fun!” – Karina

“I learned so much. It was awesome!” – Ioana “I wish I was an author. It seems like a really cool job.” – Dara

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year 6W aspire to reach new heights at Vertical Spirit

by Tom Wilson Year 6 recently spent a morning at Vertical Spirit, where they were able to challenge their fears, encourage each other, but most of all, have fun! As we had been working extremely hard in class, mainly getting ready for our end of year GL tests, it was a fantastic opportunity to get out of the classroom and go on a trip for the first time since COVID (over 2 years), so you can imagine how excited both classes were.

We were also lucky to have two students from Year 7 join us on our trip, who were able to support and join in with the climbing activities. There were some fantastic displays of perseverance and resilience throughout, with children showing sheer determination to get to the top of the climbing walls. We started on easier walls and then moved onto the more challenging ones.

Here are some quotes from the children about their experience at Vertical Spirit.

‘I enjoyed climbing to the top of the challenging

wall. It made me feel like a champion reaching the top, as I did not reach the top of easiest one

because I was scared. I really faced my fear of heights.’

‘It was really scary at first, but in the end I

really enjoyed the experience. It was such a relief that I did not fall, as I thought I would.’

‘I had such a fun time and it helped cure my

fear of heights, as I was able to climb half

way up without falling. The two workers were so helpful and encouraged us all the time.’

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The COBIS and Black Sea Schools Art Competitions

by Lucretia Gabroveanu This year, once again, IBSB students had the opportunity to express their creativity by taking part in two important Art contests: the COBIS Art Competition and the Black Sea Schools Art Competition.

For the COBIS Art Competition, the children had to make a drawing relating to the topic “Looking ahead” and, as expected, their work submissions were full of originality and beautiful details.

The Black Sea Schools Competition choose a theme that connects us the sea that unites us. The children worked in school and at home and showed resilience, perseverance, and hard work, along with creativity, and originality, which goes along with our HPL values.

We want to congratulate all the students for their amazing work; it was very difficult to choose which artwork would be entered into the competitions as we could only choose 3 pieces for each category. So imagine how difficult it was for the British Ambassador to Turkey, Sir Dominick Chilcott, who had the task of selecting the final winners. We are, therefore, extremely delighted to receive word that two IBSB students were chosen to receive prizes:

L e t i t i a I o n ( Y 2 ) 1 s t P l a c e , K e y S ta g e 1 M i h a i U r j a n ( Y 5 ) , 3 r d P l a c e , K e y S ta g e 2 A big thank you Ms Lucretia for arranging the IBSB entries for both competitions and to COBIS and the British School of Ankara for coordinating the competitions this year.

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Mihai Urjan (Y5), 3rd Place, Key Stage 2

Letitia Ion (Y2) 1st Place, Key Stage 1

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Cervantes Day Celebrations in the Primary School What is Cervantes Day? Spanish Language Day, also known as Día Mundial del Idioma Español, is a celebration of multilingualism held every year on April 23rd, the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the famous Spanish writer and author of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha.

At IBSB we marked this day with some fun activities, challenging quizzes, flamenco music, and a virtual tour of the most famous Spanish fiestas: La Tomatina, San Fermin, La Semana Santa, Los Castelles, and others.

Dressed in Spanish colours, wearing lovely flamenco and Sevillanas dresses, and spreading good energy and enthusiasm, the IBSB Spaniards had a blast!

The older students in Primary School-Years 5 and 6experienced the Latin vibe by attending lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. They danced, enjoyed the music, and greatly appreciated the return of cultural day trips.

Celebrating cultural events are an opportunity for students to acquire a big picture thinking - one of the ACPs of the HPL approach. They discover places, traditions, and acknowledge the importance of speaking a foreign language.

As we are moving one-step further in the direction of becoming a High Performance School, more cultural oriented trips will follow for our MFL department. Stay tuned!

The students learning Spanish as their Modern Foreign Language option started Term 3 with a special celebration: Cervantes Day.

by Alexandra Ivascu

Did anyone say FIESTA?

by Alexandra Ivascu The holiday spirit is still alive on our campus! Last week IBSB looked like a traditional Spanish fair with the children studying Spanish celebrating Cervantes Day dressed in flamenco and typical Spanish attire.

The older Primary School students (Years 5 and 6) also had the chance to enjoy a special Mexican lunch at a local Mexican restaurant: they tasted the delicious food, danced, and listened to music. What a great way to experience the Latino vibe!

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The return of Primary School Residentials

by Andreea Cazacu Having missed the end of year residential trips for the past two years, due to the COVID restrictions in place, it is understandable that our students were extremely excited to be able to celebrate the end of yet another academic year in keeping with school tradition, with the return of end of year residentials for the students in years 2-10.

For the Early Years and Year 1 students, and any students unable to join the residentials, a special week was organised in school that included day trip outings and a variety fun activities.

Years 2 & 3 – Constanta Students in Years 2 and 3 travelled to the seaside, to Constanta, for their 2022 Residential Trip. Among other activities, they visited the Histria Roman ruins and museum, the Delfinarium, spent some time on Modern Beach, and enjoyed walks to the old Casino. So much fun, and a great way to end school and start summer!

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After a wait of three years, the Year 4 & 5 students were very happy to be able to go on a residential trip, as were their teachers, knowing the children would all benefit enormously from the experience educationally, emotionally, and socially. The students spent a total of four days in Bicfalau, Covasna, taking part in a variety of fun outdoor adventure activities, including hiking in and around Mestecanisul de la Reci, Lake Sfanta Ana, and Tinovul Mohos, going to the adventure park in Balvanyos, orienteering, and joining in a Kurtos workshop. As you can see from the photos, the students all had a great time, arriving home with big smiles, a little tired, but full with many happy memories and stories to share.

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Years 4 & 5 - Covasna

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Year 6 - Cheile Gradistei In the final week of school, the Year 6 students headed off with their class teachers to enjoy their last official residential outing as primary school students, and as such it was a memorable trip enjoyed by all attending. There were to be no digital devices, no class lessons, no homework assignments to complete or class tests to prepare for, just a lot of outdoor fun in the sun. During the trip, the children enjoyed the hotel spa, climbing trees and zip lining across the lake at Parc Aventura, and as a special treat a day trip to Paradisul acvatic, the largest recreation complex in Romania, with both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, waterslides, and many other fun water activities. They returned with many great memories, having enjoyed a fun week together, saying it was the best way to end their time in primary. “Year 7, here we come!!!!”

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POESIAE SUCCESS For the first time this year, students in our school participated POESIAE- the first Global Modern Foreign Language poem recitation competition for children aged 7 to 14 years old.

by Daniela Momirleanu

in Packwood Haugh (home to our ex Head of English, Roy Chambers) by an MFL teacher, the contest brings together seven languages, including, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Welsh, English and Chinese, challenging students to recite poems in one of these languages, intended to spread a love of learning and speaking foreign languages, whilst opening an eye to other wonderful cultures and the value of communicating with people living in other countries.

We submitted videos from KS2 students for each of the 3 modern languages they study- French, German and Spanishand were very happy to discover that 3 of our students were placed on the winners list, from more than 200 schools taking part!

Rebecca Dumitrescu (Y3) and Anna Sophie Cioaca (Y4), both studying German, were the winners for their respective year groups, while Eda Cil (Y4), who studies French, received a highly commended award for her entry.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this years competition, with a special well done to our winners for their brilliant result!

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Started as an annual French poem recitation competition

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Primary School House Games

by Alan Cornish Following tradition, we once again organised a Primary School House Games to celebrate Children’s Day at the end of May with bean bag slaloms, handball with Mr Wilson and I as the goalkeepers, water runs and obstacle courses, to name just a few of the fun activities arranged by the team. Throughout the morning the children competed in their teams and house colours and had a lot of fun whilst earning valuable points for their House. It was a tightly contested event, with all three Houses doing extremely well and in with a chance to win. In the end, however, congratulations must go to all the students in Dobrogea on winning the House Games this year- they also won the Sports Day in April! Clearly, there are many very good athletes in the red team!

Mega, Magic Mathletics!!

by Aliviana Sanders On Wednesday, the 23rd of March, the primary students at IBSB were ready to exercise their maths muscles. Ms Sanders and the Curriculum Committee, being a smart group of students, set about organising this super fun day to keep the students interested in maths.

The first activity arranged required students to find the cards hidden in secret locations! Everyone was determined to answer the questions on the cards correctly and to find more cards.

“I really liked Mathletics Day because everyone had fun!”

Aron (Year 4) After the hunt came the next round of games, where students had to answer questions fast and correctly (the focus was on speed and accuracy). There were 4 parts. While the first part was relatively easy, climbing up to the 4th part was hard. We needed to go through some walls that were blocking us to achieve victory, and many people were extremely brave and succeeded!

Then it was time for the assembly, to announce the final winners from Year 1 to Year 6. Mr Cornish started calling out their names, and before I knew it, it was Y4S’s turn. Everyone’s heart was beating fast and loudly. It was like everyone’s body was pulled toward the certificate, but eventually Mr Cornish said, “Well done, Matei, with 612 points.”

When it was time to return to the classroom, it was great because I saw that everyone got a certificate for participation because we did a great job.

If you want to find out more information about next year’s Mathletics competition, be sure to contact Ms Aliviana Sanders, the Primary Maths Coordinator.

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Romanian Kangaroo Contest

by Ana Maria Boiangiu The Romanian Kangaroo Contest is always a popular event among students. There is a mixture of feelings that fully

The most impressive result was Maria Sticlea’s (Y 12), who got

engage them: the enthusiasm of being challenged by a

1st place, even if she has not studied Romanian in school since

new text, the desire to achieve good results, and a bit of

Y7. Maia Bucura (Y7) and Eva Nica (Y6W) achieved 2nd place,

nervousness as they line up to go in the exam room.

which again, is remarkable, as they competed with students from Romanian Secondary School and did a more difficult test.

The competition requires the children to read a four-page text

Finally, in the Secondary School, I would like to congratulate

and then choose the correct answer from 5 possible options.

Victor Sandu (Y6W) and Andrei Florea (Y6W) for their very

The questions refer to the text, but are often tricky because

good results.

mix reading comprehension with maths, geography, and history. The pictures related to the text are also very important, In Primary School, we also celebrated many excellent results. as they may provide the answer to different questions. After reading and making their first choice, the children have to

In 2nd place were Anisia Constantinescu (Y3T), Ianna Raclaru

colour the correct answer in a grid, which means they have

(Y4S), Matei Tudor (Y4S), Sonia Muthu (Y5H), and Andrei

to be organized, focused, and capable of jumping back and

Urjan (Y5H).

forth between the text and the grid. One mistake can affect

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the whole set of answers. However, I have to say that our

In 3rd place were Daria Muthu, Stefan Munteanu, Sofia Bartos,

students very rarely make this kind of error, which is a real

Rafael Bailer, and Victor Galani (Y3T), Sofia Matei, Yasemin Cil,

credit to their level of focus and ability.

Eda Cil, Matei Carstoiu, Aron Gherasim, and Erika Peet (Y4S), Maria Farmache, Sofia Peli, and Eva Popescu (Y5H), and finally,

Every year, I feel so proud of our student’s results, especially

Maria Postu-Plugaru and Matei Neagu (Y6W).

because they compete with students who have 5 Romanian lessons per week and study all their subjects in their mother

A special mention also goes to Alia Chayek-Patt, who got 3rd

tongue.

place, as she studies Romanian for Non-natives.

This year we had 38 children taking part in the Romanian

Congratulations to all our students for accepting this challenge

Kangaroo Competition and received 25 prizes, which is

and performing so well in the Romanian Kangaroo contest!

extremely impressive. So well done to all our students!

IBSB Choir returns to O2 Arena for Young Voices 25 Year Celebrations

by Mairead Lonergan This year, Young Voices celebrated its 25th year as the largest children’s choir in the world, with more than 1 million Young Voices visitors to the O2 Arena. It was also their 60th Young Voices show, which is more shows than Adele, Ed Sheeran, and Take That combined - and the IBSB Primary School Choir were there to celebrate and enjoy this incredible extravaganza! Not many people can say they have performed at the O2, so clearly, our YV choir are big stars, at least in their parents’ eyes. And certainly in mine- they were truly magnificent!

But more than this though, it was an Incredible experience for our parents, teachers, and most importantly, the children: the memories made will surely last a life time, as it was fantastic fun too to be a part of something so big, with 8,853 voices singing together from nearly 200 UK based schools, including IBSB as the only International School present, for the second year.

As always, we’re thinking outside the box to provide our families with the very best opportunities.

A BIG thank you to Ms Lonergan for preparing our students so well, and to all our children for being so talented and inspirational.

See you all there again next year!

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Primary School Science Week

by Robert Morrison This year’s Science Week was the best yet, with a multitude of mind-boggling investigations and excellent experiments.

Classes went crazy over science and all the hands-on activities, a variety of experiments happening around the school.

Starting with the youngest, down in EYFS and Year 1, we were preparing puffy paint and then painting with it, making fizzy cloud dough, and blending colours on the Colour Wheel.

In Years 2 & 3, we made lava lamps with oil and water and effervescent tablets and poured carbon dioxide (CO2) onto candles to put them out.

In Years 4, 5 and 6, we enjoyed blending colours by osmosis, getting 60 drops of water onto a 50 bani coin, making straw water pumps using centripetal forces and creating convection spirals, and sent egg parachutes drifting through the air.

There was even a crazy ‘Alien Machine’ competition and loads of students were also experimenting at home and filming their scientific adventures for all to see. Matei in Year 4 earned the most house points with the incredible number of science experiments carried out and in the end everyone learned something interesting about science.

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Sustainability Week

by Victoria Fay This year the Sustainability Committee was made up of a number of students committed to helping protect the environment in which we all live. The committee was set up with the aim of helping IBSB to become a more sustainable school, but more than that, it was set up to inform students and the wider community about what we, as individuals, can do to promote a cleaner healthier planet Earth.

As a sustainable school, our aim is to consume less natural resources (such as energy, water, and paper) and reduce waste.

This year we began by organising paper recycling. The committee members collected all our used paper each week and with the help of the secondary school students delivered it to the recycling centre. We also encouraged students to use less paper where possible, including using paper on both sides. In addition to this, we distributed bins throughout the school, which allowed us to separate and recycle paper, plastic, and our rubbish.

During Sustainability Week, which took place this year, from the 21st - 25th of March, we made videos and posters letting students know about the simple steps students can take to help improve our environment. For example, we asked students to use a reusable water bottle to cut back on plastic bottles and turn off the water when we are washing our hands or brushing our teeth. We also urged students not to waste food when possible and to turn off lights and unplug out electrical appliances when they are not being used.

In school, we also celebrated Earth Hour, turning off all lights and electric appliances for one hour. And many students and parents joined in Earth Hour at the weekend to help save our planet.

The CAS groups also came from secondary school to talk to each house group about sustainability and how we can achieve it.

Through our work this year, I hope we raised awareness of how we as individuals can help protect the environment and how we as a community can really make a difference.

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The Francophonie

by Daniela Momirleanu This year, students were encouraged to discover French culture by studying and learning about various aspects of life in France, exploring cities, finding out about different monuments, learning about food and some of the famous people throughout history.

As a part of the journey, we discovered that the students have favourite monuments and food.

The Eiffel Tower was the monument they were most eager to discover. Whilst in class, the children went on a virtual visit around Paris and even climbed up the monument towering over the city of Paris, which is the capital of France – they also demonstrated their skills in using Google Maps. They also rose to the challenge of drawing or in some cases redesigning the Eiffel Tower!

As for the food, la pâtisserie française was the most researched item, especially the macarons! The baguette and the French cheese also made their way into the list of popular items researched and discussed. Luckily, the lunch break was right after our lesson, so the students could all satisfy their growing appetites.

Bon appétit! as a community can really make a difference.

World Religions Week

by Orla O’Dwyer

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better understand and appreciate the differences in beliefs and customs, to foster tolerance and respect, and promote love for and toward mankind.

The central message we want to give to our students is that

Each year, the students at IBSB celebrate World Religions Week as a part of our PSHE programme, offering an enjoyable and valuable opportunity to learn about each other, as an important step forward in the process of building a stronger more supportive school community.

As a part of this week, each class group was given a different theme and religion to research, resulting in the students discussing various gods, symbols, and beliefs in action around the world, including reviewing the various pilgrimage sites to be found within their chosen religion.

This experienced was intended to encourage our children to

although people hold a variety of different beliefs, worshiping different gods, we are all members of a single community connect by our humanity, and that everyone is unique and special!

Students are encouraged to see the imperative need for dialogue among different faiths and religions to enhance mutual understanding, harmony, and cooperation among people.

Our students are taught above all else that we need to love and respect everyone, regardless of the religion we believe in.

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World Book Week 2022

by Alison Tansley We celebrated World Book Week for the 8th time this year from April 11-13, 2022.

As a part of the week’s festivities, the teachers organised many book-related in-class activities, which included a Pokémon themed six-week reading challenge, a poetry writing relay across the whole school, some ‘HPL in action’ STEM book analysis and follow up activities, and decorating their classroom doors with a book theme. Each class also took part in a USA-style Spelling Bee, with the most successful children progressing onto more challenging words during the event. It really was a fun-filled week!

At one point during the week the children also enjoyed the excited of the ‘Masked Reader’ activity, which involved staff recording videos of themselves reading an extract of a book/a short story/or a poem with their appearance hidden and their voice disguised. The students then had to work out who they were, by listening carefully to their voices. We also had some ‘Mystery readers’ visiting the classrooms as a surprise ‘unannounced’ visit in the form of parents, who had come in to read their favourite story aloud to the class.

For the at-home activities, it was time for the students to have fun being creative.

Students were encouraged to decorate a potato as a favourite book character and bring them in to school to display for everyone to see and enjoy. There was also a House Points Challenge entitled ‘You can read anywhere’, where students had to upload photographs of themselves to the Google Classroom House pages of them reading in unusual and entertaining locations.

One of the highlights of World Book Week was a non-uniform day, which took place on Wednesday, April 13, when everyone came to school either dressed up as their favourite book character or wearing Pyjama’s, bringing along their favourite book and a teddy. The campus came alive with colourful characters from our children’s favourite books - Harry Potters, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Yoda, and Little Red Riding Hood, to name just a few. There were a huge array of costumes and the students really enjoyed showcasing their creativity.

Huge thanks to all the staff and parents involved in making World Book Day a great event and being so adaptable, and to the students for participating so enthusiastically, making the week such a big success!

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Year 6 Graduation and End of Year Awards Ceremony

by Alan Cornish

turn stepped forward to receive their graduation diploma from their class form tutors, Mr Morrison and Mr Wilson, taking the opportunity to say a few words about their time in the primary

The Year 6 Graduation and Awards Ceremony took place this year on Thursday, June 16, bringing parents, students, and teachers together for a day full of joy. It was a chance for

school, thanking their teachers and parents for their support, as well as their friends for the journey shared.

the entire community to celebrate the achievements of our

Mr Cornish summed up the evening best when he said it

the Secondary School.

one of the best graduating classes we have had, not just in

We were especially grateful for the opportunity to celebrate

average achieved in their end of year assessment across English,

28 graduating students, now ready and excited to be moving had been an absolute pleasure to share the journey with the onto the opportunities and experiences that await them all in graduating class, going on to say that it was without a doubt

the success of our students without any restrictions or the need for social distancing this year, enabling the many families present to enjoy the evening, as each student in

terms of academic ability, reflected in the extremely high class Mathematics, and Science, but also in terms of behaviour and contributions made to the school community during the course of the school year.

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Special awards given out on the evening

COBIS Award

CIS Award

achievement, as the highest academic achiever in Year 6.

made toward the promotion of global citizenship and the development of international awareness within the community, demonstrating commitment to sustained interaction with students of the other nationalities, languages or ethnic backgrounds in the spirit of

House Captain Awards Dobrogea: Tudor Carstiou & Eva Nica Muntenia: Deva Stanca & Iulia Daianu Transilvania: Matteo Bianchi & Victor Sandu

international understanding and cooperation.

Primary School Ambassador Awards

IBSB Core Values Award

Martin Murillo, Karina Nitescu, Petru Pirtea, Lisa Savu, Malina

Presented to Matteo Bianchi whose overall behaviour and conduct best reflects the IBSB Core Values: Brave, Respectful, Innovative, Tolerant, Integrity, Sustainability, & Happy.

Ioana Comusi, Fia Cornish, Cezar Marinescu Netoiu, Diego Stoica Congratulations to all graduates and award winners!

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Year 7 next year!

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Presented to Fia Cornish in recognition of her contributions

Presented to Victor Sandu for outstanding academic

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Inaugural CAS Gala Evening

by Johanna Croci On Wednesday, April 6th, the sixth form students from the International British School of Bucharest came together to collectively present their Community Action Service projects at the end of year CAS Gala. Community Action Service is an important component of the Sixth Form Programme, requiring all students to select a charity project to perform weekly community service throughout the school year. The charity partners this year included Light into Europe, Touched Romania, Speranta pentru Tine, Punctul Nordic Corbeanca, Animal Welfare, and the Paper Tree Project.

Thank you to Ms Johanna Croci, our CAS Coordinator, and the team of dedicated staff working on the various projects, along with event partners, Ramada Parc Hotel, Neil McGregor & Partners, and Purcari Wines for their support on night, ensuring the CAS Programme was a great success this year and finished on a high note.

Well done to all our students for the incredible amount of support offered to the various charities throughout the year, overcoming a number challenges faced due to COVID19.

Together you have made a big difference to those lives of those less fortunate. You are in every way, ambassadors of the IBSB Spirit and Core Values.

CAS Supporting Animal Welfare

by Jayne Baker I had the largest CAS team I have worked with so far as a CAS supervisor, but given the challenge of the size of the team, we had great fun and worked well together. The start of the academic year means interviews of prospective candidates and this year I had about 25 students to interview. I chose a team that had different qualities - creative students, quiet students that were new to the school, and students that would have the opportunity to let their true colours shine - it was a huge success.

After the upsetting discovery of a desperately ill kitten on the pavement outside of the college building in my first week back to school after the summer, I knew that we had to try to do something about this situation in our local community.

We decided as a group that we would approach the local vet, who helped me with the kitten, about setting up a Catch, Neuter, and Release programme. This is still in its infancy, but managed to raise 1,800 ron toward this programme. The remaining 2000 ron raised was donated to the Bruno Shelter.

Our fund raising activities included The Winter Fair, a Bear Raffle, Virtual Vending in the College Building, and our annual Valentine’s Day Delivery.

In sum, I must say that I am very proud of my team and the hard work and dedication they have shown this year.

Here are some photos from our year, including the young kitten that started our new project and our visit to Bruno Shelter.

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Sustainability Week CAS Activities

by Johanna Croci

During Sustainability Week, a Secondary School CAS group visited a number of classes in the Primary School, engaging them in activities based on sustainability, such as carbon footprint or designing a sustainability brochure.

It was a fun way to show our students the importance of uniting people to take action on climate change and protecting the planet.

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12 Days of Kindness Collection

by Iona Tanguay I would like to share the letter of thanks from Touched Romania for the food donation we delivered to the Casa Agar. Our IBSB families were extremely generous this year, and many families donating food to the 12 Day’s of Kindness initiative. Below is a thank you letter form Casa Agar.

In attention to Students, Parents and Teachers of the British School We thank you very much for the generous donation that you have given us for the mothers and children from Touched Romania programs. Your donation was received on International Solidarity Day, which showed us that you care about those in need and that together we can bring them hope and joy.

With your help we will help approximately 50 single-parent families in difficulty, victims of domestic violence, poverty and social exclusion, in Bucharest and its surroundings. These families are very poor and value any help received.

We hope that next year, with your help, we will continue to help these families to overcome their difficult situation and together we can bring them hope for a better future.

Once again, thank you so much for supporting the children and mothers of Touched Romania!

Marry Christmas!

Natalia Ungureanu Director Executiv

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Speranta Pentru Tine CAS Overview

by Medeea Constantinescu, Year 12 This year got off to a rocky start when our traditional annual CAS Charity Halloween Party was cancelled due to COVID restrictions in place, meaning we had to seek out other opportunities to support our chosen charity, Speranta Pentru Tine, which helps kids suffering from terminal illnesses and offers shelter to seniors in need.

Being the determined team we are, we refused to let COVID impede us from attaining our targets for the year, and set about brainstorming solutions. What could we possibly do to make up for the Halloween Party? Less than 2 weeks passed before we put our first plan into action, offering weekly workshops in the Secondary School, including DIY tie-dye and jewellery making.

I took care of the tie dye (for which I spent 3 days finding special fabric dye!) alongside Kiki, and Iulia and Melissa were in charge of the jewellery workshops. Meanwhile, Calin was in charge of the heavy lifting for the buckets we would use to soak the t-shirts and Ioana and Vlad were taking care of attendance and the collection of money. The weekly Wednesday workshops were chaotic for us, having to set up and then clean up the mess after the club, but we knew it was worth it when we saw the money raised each week for those in need.

In addition to this, we also ran primary school Christmas workshops offering primary students the chance to decorate their own baubles for their Christmas Tree. We also offered milkshakes and DIY gingerbread houses, and a ‘Defuse the bomb’ game at the Winter Fair.

More recently, with the lifting of COVID restrictions, we have been able to visit Casa Sperantei in person to help with cooking, cleaning, and refurbishing the nursing home.

To finish off the work for this academic year, we had the opportunity to present our progress at the CAS Gala and to also appreciate the work of our colleagues from the other CAS charity groups. We were able to announce that we raised a total of 5005 RON this academic year and were all extremely proud of what we achieved given the challenges faced along the way.

With COVID rates now down, we hope to be able to accomplish all our plans for the near future, which include: visiting Casa Sperantei again, helping with the construction of a new centre for Casa Sperantei ,and helping with more maintenance work in the nursing home. In addition to this, we are also hopeful that we will be able to hold our annual Halloween Party next year.

I would like to thank the rest of the SPT team, Melissa Aydogan, Calin Constantinescu, Kiki Iordachescu, Ioana Aizic, Iulia Badea and Vlad Iliescu, for all the great teamwork throughout the academic year, and say a big thank you to Ms Blessy Savu for being an extremely supportive supervisor!

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The COBIS and Mangahigh Maths Challenge

by David Vincent and Mathew Kirk The COBIS Mangahigh Maths Challenge is a free, online competition that engages students aged 5 to 16 in maths through a fun, games-based learning approach.

During the competition, students from around the world use the Mangahigh platform to complete maths activities, scoring points for their school’s total on the competition leader board.

This year’s competition ran from the 24th to the 31st of January and IBSB placed and impressive 46th in the world!

Our students were excited by the nature of the platform, with its engaging hybrid educational-play format. Our year 7 and 8 students were particularly excited to hear about Mangahigh, many of whom had fond memories from their primary education.

Students were set age-appropriate challenges, which earned them ‘stars’ for completing.

In class, it was clear to see the competitive nature as students vied to get the most stars for their challenges. In this way, the Mangahigh Challenge was certainly a big success, promoting the application of mathematics skills, as the stars and rewards system made it seem like a fun, challenging puzzle game – which is arguably exactly what mathematics is! it was also a welcome change from their usual homework activities.

The school’s standout achievers this year were: Liam Pinco (2C), Gabriel Pinco (3T), Irene Sandulescu (4S), Matei Tudor (4S), Karthik Vijaykumar (4S), Sofia Matei (250), Ariel Shalom (5H), Mihai Urjan (5H), Justin Derveni (6M), Lucian Popa (8L), Matei Ivanescu (8L), and Andrei Urjan (8L).

We welcome the return of the Mangahigh Maths Challenge next year, aiming to move a few more notches up the rankings list, despite being a relatively small school!

Even if this year’s event was a little different to previous years, it was still extremely entertaining, and we hope that next year our beloved parents, the yummy international buffet, live stage performances, and colourful costumes will all be back.

We can’t wait!

May 4th is a day that fans around the world celebrate International Star Wars Day. At IBSB, our students had the opportunity to come to school dressed in Star Wars themed costumes, and the Secondary School CAS Club took full advantage of this celebration to organise a bake sale and arrange variety of fun activities, including having Star Wars character pictures taken, entering a Chewbacca Sound Competition, and the popular Pool Noodle Lightsabers Practice to help raise money for charity.

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International Star Wars Day @IBSB

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World Peace Day

IBSB’s World Peace Day was a special day for many reasons. Firstly, it was a day planned and organised by the Pupil Voice and Charity Committee members of our Pupil Parliament, and secondly because it brought us together as a school community.

by Alan Cornish

The pupils organised and delivered workshops to the

Parents were also able to make donations directly to Light into

younger pupils, prepared the gallery with the “A Piece

Europe with a number of parents making generous individual

of Peace” artwork sent in by many pupils, and organised

donations of up to 1500 ron. To add this this, we also collected

a bake sale with baked goods made and sold by the kids

more than 100 bags with food supplies and emergency

that was really delicious and showed their creativity and

sanitation and personal hygiene items, that were loaded onto

business acumen. It was also an impressive effort with

the Light into Europe truck to be driven north to the border and

so many cakes, biscuits, pancakes and a lot of hard work

delivered directly to those in need.

put in. They also had a lot of fun doing it and developed some important skills, like teamwork, meeting deadlines,

Thank you to everyone who donated so generously, as each

advertising, marketing, the importance of charity and giving

individual act of support and kindness added together makes

along the way, raising over 1500 Lei that was donated to

a big difference to the lives of those living through extremely

Light into Europe’s Ukrainian refugee support programme,

difficult times.

gratefully received by Rob Bousie and his guide dog Twinkle.

RED CROSS APPEAL RAISES MORE THAN 5000 RON

by Kendall Peet As a member of the Black Seas School Group, IBSB has committed to the task of supporting refugees from the Ukraine in Romania through the Red Cross (Crucea Rosie Romana), in honour of our member school the British International School Ukraine. Together we have raised more than 50,000 RON, with the goal of 100,000 RON now looking very achievable. ndividually we can only achieve a little, united we can achieve a lot!

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IBSB Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations!

by Sandra Curtis, Year 9E The day selected was Friday, the 3rd of June, the time 1pm, with an invitation sent out to all parents and select guests, inviting one and all to join us for a British-styled street party, complete with pennant flags and banners and British-styled food and beverages. The parents also added to the buffet, contributing a variety of food to reflect the international flavours of our multicultural community, much to the delight of all present.

Light into Europe brought two of their future guide dogs, which the students enjoyed patting, if they asked politely: one of the dogs was called Twinkle, with soft, dark fur, luscious to the touch. There were also a variety of stands present, including a local book shop, donating a percentage of the sales to the school library fund, and a new football academy call Total Football Bucharest, set up by Ms Baker’s husband, promoting their summer school programmes.

For 70 years, Queen Elizabeth has reigned over the UK, guiding It through some challenging times. Her official Platinum Jubilee was on the 6th February, 2022, however, the post COVID public celebrations actually took place in the UK over a four-day long weekend, from June 02-05, with the IBSB community deciding to join in with our very own festive celebrations to mark this important occasion.

There was even an ice cream stand present offering a delicious range of natural ice-creams, including exotic flavours such as basil and pistachio and salted caramel. It really was a fun afternoon, with a street carnival type atmosphere that ensured everyone had a great time.

Then, around 2pm, with everyone full with food and looking content, the summer show started. Everybody streamed into the PE hall and took a seat, ready to enjoy a programme brimming with speeches, skits, and a wide selection of songs presented by the primary and secondary students, guest visitors, and even the teachers.

to celebrate the Queen’s next Jubilee, when the time eventually comes...

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IBSB Primary School Literacy Events and Successes 2022 Throughout the year, the IBSB Primary School students have the opportunity to participate in a number of literacy competitions and events. Here are details about two of these events: the Black Sea Schools Creative Writing Competition and the English sSpeaking Union (ESU) Junior Public Speaking Competition.

Black Sea Schools Creative Writing Competition As a member of the Black Sea Schools Community, we were invited once again to spotlight our students’ creative talents by submitting entries into the BLACK SEA SCHOOL Creative Writing Competition 2022. The task of the competition was to write a short story or the opening to a novel connected to the theme ‘ ‘Hybrid ‘. Students were permitted to interpret this theme in any way they wished, as long as this theme was somehow reflected in their writing.

Prior to commencing the task, all the year groups from Year 4 to Year 6 had a focus on creative writing; this enabled our students to learn or refresh themselves on the key components of a good piece of creative writing, such as hooking the reader with a powerful ‘start’, using description to build up atmosphere, using dialogue to enhance a character, ‘show don’t tell’, and so forth. The students really impressed all their teachers, producing great results that showcased both their creativity and their literacy skills.

After internally moderating within the KS2 teaching team, we submitted three entries to the final competition and were delighted to discover, once the results were revealed in April 2022, that Sofia Peli (Year 5) had been awarded 2nd place in the KS2 category.

Sofia wrote this reflective response after she heard about her success: What inspired me during the writing process of ‘Dead Man’s Wish’? by Sofia Peli Year 5 Before and during the writing of ‘Dead Man’s Wish’ I was very interested in the Horror genre both in books and movies, and so the first thing that came to mind when I heard the word ‘hybrid’ was an experiment between two animals, because I was browsing the internet the night before and came across a laboratory where they mixed animal DNA to create different animals. This page encouraged me to develop the ‘Liztolotl,’ which was my chosen animal. It was a complicated thought process which involved various animal combinations; for example, in the first draft there was the ‘Dolgon’ creature, which was

supposed to be a combination of a Dragon and a Dolphin. During school breaks, I took a lot of exceptional inspiration from playing these SCP-based games with Andrei and Vladimir, which were designed to be survival/horror games. I lacked ideas at the start of my story, but they came with time (it took about 2 days for my actual good, exciting ideas to come to my mind).

My friend Alia and I also assisted each other by proofreading and providing feedback and ideas. Thank You! Well done to Sofia, we look forward to participating in the competition again next year.

Sofia’s story Dead Man’s Wish I’m sure he didn’t mean to let it out, it was his first week, he didn’t know what he was doing. I heard slight footsteps, it was coming towards me, but I still can’t figure out how they worked it out. Time was running out, as the roars of the Liztolotl approaching me.

Suddenly, someone pulled me into the shadows, it was her - Professor Cambridge. She put her hand through the side of her hay-coloured, brown hair and whispered, “Quick, Dr Hillside, follow me!”

She dragged me in the poison containment room where to my surprise Agents Wales and Milles were waiting. They looked stressed. Of course, I understood, my anxiety was apparent, so I looked into Professor Cambridge’s desperate eyes and said, “Listen, don’t give up hope. We’re going to get through this!”

“But how? It’s too dangerous to eve-” Professor Cambridge stopped abruptly.

The disturbing, monstrous screams of the Liztolotl took over the pleasant, quiet sound of the faint petter patter of raindrops.

Suddenly, Agent Milles screamed, with a look conveying her concern. I turned to her, staring at the troubling scars on her cheeks and chin. My eyes started twitching rapidly, moving from left to right uncontrollably, getting faster faster, until I eventually passed out.

I woke up to a blurry view of Professor Cambridge and agent Milles, steering down at me, but something seemed a little off. I asked quietly, in barely a whisper, “What happened?”

I noticed they had something in common: there was blood on Professor Cambridge’s face and Agent Milles’s hands. I started shivering.

A banging sound reverberated from the sealed door: a giant dragon-shaped figure was waiting outside- it was the Liztolotl.

“No time to explain!” Agent Milles hurried.

Quickly, they dragged me from the room, through the doctor’s door into the security room. I locked the door by admin, meaning only carded members could enter.

Inside the room, I noticed an old newspaper next to the monitors. I started scanning the pages, discovering something dreadful. The newspaper clearly stated that combining animal DNA was highly illegal. I questioned myself; ‘Why would agent Wales combine the 2 DNAs that were the most dangerous ones?’

I snapped as agent Milles started crying. At this point, she said she could finally tell me what happened.

“Are you sure, agent Milles?” Professor Cambridge replied.

But she was clearly ready to let it all out. Without a second of hesitation, she burst.

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“Agent Milles sacrificed himself to the Liztolotl!” she sobbed.

I was struck by lightning. I let my hand flow gently onto agent Milles’s shoulder, and in a comforting manner said, “Well, he did that for the greater good, so let’s at least try to escape!”

“Maybe you’re right, but I think the Liztolotl’s found us…”, Professor Cambridge whispered in a traumatized tone.

“Yeah… let’s RUN!” agent Milles shouted.

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We all flew into the corridors, stressed like it was an exam, deciding in a panic to hide in the infectious pool area, even though it was a risk… there was writing on the wall, which I hadn’t seen. I started reading the inordinate hand writing; The Solution is hidden within That sentence sent my mind into a spin, Hidden? Hidden where? I knew I couldn’t speak, it would risk all of us, so I hoped they’d remembered the signs from the last emergency safety conference. I signed ‘What do we do?’ They were confused at first, but then immediately realised what I’d signed.

I tripped over the crumbled pebbles and I dropped my notes into the poisonous pool, which instantly dissolved.

I was devastated, as I had no other proof of the breakthrough to hand to the head of department. I put my hands to my head and sighed, feeling stressed.

Both Professor Cambridge and Agent Milles sympathised with me and started comforting me quietly. They reminded me about the creature. My imagination took over my brain. I had so many thoughts, opinions, and plans, but the problem was that we didn’t know the weak and strong points of the monstrous being. Up until now we’d merely seen a figure of the creature.

Suddenly, Professor Cambridge took off her rose-golden framed glasses as her eyes sparkled with an idea, “The CS!” “Yes! How could I have forgotten!” I exclaimed.

To get to the control switch (The CS), we had to flee smoothly in a manner that didn’t attract the Liztolotl in any way.

There was a secret doctor’s door I remembered and announced to the others.

We sneaked through the restricted entrance, which appeared to be a cosy, library-type place. I picked out a book. The carved, golden title read, ‘THE MYSTERIOUS WONDERS OF MIXED ANIMALS’. I remembered reading this book a few years earlier.

I opened the book to page 73; the pages were a coffee-shaded colour, perusing the DNAs of several animals.

I scanned the pages, eventually reaching page 108, then glanced around and noticed a book that didn’t seem like it belonged with the others; it had a leather cover with a title in black reading, ‘MY WILL’. I hesitated to open it, as I’d never seen it before, but when I did…I froze. It said the author of this journal was agent Soren Wales. I quickly perused through the pages, time was running out. He had left nearly everything to agent Milles, ‘But why?’, I asked myself.

I snapped and remembered that I was looking for a special, peculiar-looking book, with eyes on the front cover and the title read, “DANGEROUS HALF-ANIMALS’. I found it, and froze. My thoughts and imagination took over, and I realised what I had to do, but Professor Cambridge rapidly caught on and tried to stop me.

I unlocked the door, but to my surprise, the Liztolotl wasn’t there.

I couldn’t figure out what was happening.

I felt a cold, intoxicating drop on my shoulder. It burned……..

To be continued....

The IBSB Primary school were delighted to host the ESU Junior Public Speaking Competition on Saturday, April 9, 2022.

The theme of the competition was to write and perform a short speech based on a line from, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, by Dr. Seuss: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go...”.

Students were permitted to interpret this theme in any way they wished, reflecting it in their speeches.

After being internally moderated and judged from a panel of Secondary school students and Mr Ennion, Secondary school English teacher, the 4 students selected to represent IBSB Primary were: Eva Nica, Deva Stanciu, Iulia Daianu, and Tudor Carstoiu from Year 6.

Their speech impressed the judges because they were able to persuade, inform, inspire and entertain. They had thoughtfully planned and delivered their speech with a clear purpose in mind.

On the day itself, 27 participants attended to deliver their speeches in front of an audience comprised of family, friends, and the judging panel made up of teaching staff from the schools represented.

All the participating students really impressed all the judges with their speeches and IBSB were lucky enough to end up having two students selected for special mention: Eva Nica came second and Tudor Carstoiu third.

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Here are some comments from the participating students: Iulia Daianu (Year 6) The thought of doing it was nerve racking. But the second I spoke, I felt free, like I was floating on air. I kept on talking and talking; I couldn’t stop, I was so happy, excited, and nervous! My mind was racing with thoughts as the words

flowed from my mouth. Then finally, the questions. I answered and took a deep breath, filled with a sense of relief. I was proud to be chosen to represent

the school, and I’m proud that I got to participate and received a participation diploma.

Tudor Carstoiu (Year 6) The Public Speaking competition went beautifully. I woke up at 7am, sat down

and recited my whole speech many times. When I got there, I was nervous and surprised to see so many people. Even though I was told that there were 27

students coming, I really didn’t think there would be 27! When Mr Cornish (Head of Primary) started talking I found out that there would be 2 groups. Group

one would be in the Lunch Hall, the second group in the P.E hall. When the names were read out, I heard I was in the lunch Hall with Iulia, a fellow classmate in my group. I enjoyed delivering my speech and got to witness all the other

speeches and some of them were really good. When the judges finally came to a decision, Mr Cornish read out the names of the people who would be getting a

participating certificate. I sat back relaxed and hoped I would make the Top

3. When I realised I wasn’t getting a participation certificate, I knew I would

receive a trophy, a teddy bear, a calendar and a certificate, I was really excited.

In the end, I came 3rd, accomplishing my dream of being in the top 3. Yay!!!!!

Eva Nica (Year 6) The public speaking competition happens once a year, which meant I had just

one opportunity to raise my voice. This was the day I’d prepared for the past

2 months, the ESU Public Speaking Competition. All I could think about was how

much I’ve worked for this chance. Too many thoughts in my head, scary thoughts, nervous thoughts, and maybe excited thoughts; I almost forgot my speech! When I got there, my friends had already arrived and that made me happier. I saw all the audience, and was looking forward to my grand performance. After

some time, my name was called out. I went in front of the room, and started

speaking. I was confident and natural, or maybe just felt like it. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I saw people smiling and laughing, and I guess that made me step up.

Well done to all the participating students and we look forward to hosting the competition again next year.

by Alan Cornish After a gap of three years, we were so happy to welcome families back into school to enjoy our final day together, in keeping with school tradition. Put simply, we missed you guys…and I’m sure you missed us too!

For some families, it was their first Summer Show, so how could they know the spectacle we had planned for them.

Each class performed a song and dance routine, many on the theme of summer, with the Year 5’s stealing the show with their energetic and gleeful performance of School’s Out! I think they really meant it, as it really was the last day of school before the Summer Break.

It was also our last day ever for the Year 6 pupils, and so many of them returned to help organise the show-they have been great all year and we wish them well as they move on the secondary school next year.

Happy Summer holidays to you all - will look forward to seeing you on August 29 for the start of the new school year!

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The Summer Show returns to IBSB

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End of Year Award Recipients 2022

by Kendall Peet

At the end of each year, we hold two very special ceremonies to recognise the special achievements of a select group of students from across the school in regard to both academic progress and attainment and outstanding achievement and contributions made in the areas of extracurricular enrichment.

recipients and their families, staff and guests, before offering

Before continuing on to the list of award recipients, I would

is one that encourages self-development on multiple fronts, and

like to take a moment to congratulate all our students on their progress achieved this year, as reflected by the GL end of year assessment scores. IBSB students have once again this year achieved a school average in English, Mathematics, and Science in the 110-120 range, placing us in the top echelon of schools around the world, well above the UK national average of 100 (100 indicates a likely grade outcome of C at both IGCSE and A Level). Possessing a school average above 110, however, gives us the confidence to continue to predict a far more positive outcome for our students, in the B-A* range of grades, as has been already been reflected in the actual grades achieved in external exams in recent years, enabling 95% of our graduates to receive offers from universities ranked in the top 5% of universities worldwide.

This is a wonderful achievement that we can all be very

an enlightening review of her time at IBSB, with a few words of advice added to future generations of IBSB students.

Finally, I would like to thank Shajjad Rizvi (MBE), President of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for Romania and both President and Founding Member of the Little People Association, for joining us to help present the Duke of Edinburgh Awards to this year’s 17 recipients. The DofE Award programme as such I cannot emphasise enough that this is a programme that all IBSB students should consider joining as a part of our Senior School Club programme from year 10 onward.

There are unfortunately too many award winners for me to name each individually here (please refer to the table below). I will, however, make specific mention of a few, thanking our Head Girl Melissa Aydogan and Deputy Head Girl, Ana Cristescu, along with the entire Senior Prefect body, for their service and commitment to the school community. More than the specific roles you performed within the Executive Committee, you have each been wonderful ambassadors of the IBSB student body, setting a high standard as role models of both the IBSB Core Values and HPL lifelong learners for those students that follow, for which we thank you. Thank you also to our House Captains

proud of and celebrate as a whole school community.

and Vice Captains for all you have done to support the students

I would also like to thank Medeea Constantinesccu and

the pastoral care of the students at IBSB, helping to everyone

Patrick Tansley for MCing the ceremony in such a thoroughly entertaining manner, and Head Girl, Melissa Aydogan, for her warm opening address welcoming the student award

within your respective houses. You have all played a vital role in to feel more included as valued members of our school community, for which I am eternally grateful.

Primary School Year 6

Middle School Year 7-9

High School Years 10-11

Sixth Form Years 12-13

CIS Award

COBIS Award

CIS Award

CIS Award

Fia Cornish

Anushka Laha

Andrei Stere

Medeea Constantinescu

COBIS Award

IBSB Award

COBIS Award

IBSB Award

Victor Sandu

Anushka Laha

Maia Hagai

Kathleen Hughes

IBSB Core Values

IBSB Core Values

IBSB Award

Matteo Bianchi

Daria Raducu

Nina Culea

Excellence Creative Arts

Sporting Excellence

Andrei Peli

Alina Barbu David Cernea Excellence Creative Arts Andrei Ghita

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HPL Awards

Primary School Ambassadors Award (Year 6)

Secondary School Prefect Awards (Y12/13)

EYFS Reception – Kiran Jayathas

Ioana Comusi

Melissa Aydogan (Head Girl)

Y1 – Zameera Ansari

Fia Cornish

Ana Cristescu (Deputy Head Girl)

Y2C – Orijah Chayek

Cezar Marinescu Netoiu

Maria Sticlea

Y2O – Alexander Lakatos

Diego Martin Murillo

Ioana Aizic

Y3 – Anisia Constantinescu

Karina Nitescu

Filip Stanciu

Y4 – Lucas Cornish

Petru Pirtea

Ronny Ben Yehuda

Y5 – Eva Popescu

Lisa Savu

Calin Constantinescu

Y6M – Stefan Popa

Malina Stoica

Medeea Constantinescu

EYFS Nursery – Natalia Lupsan

Y6W – Malina Stoica Y7- Adelina Oltean

Primary School House Captain Award

Y8 – Lucian Popa

Kathleen Hughes Merel Koek Ioana Museteanu

Y9 – Rucsandra Curtis

Dobrogea:

Daria Raducu

Y10 – Rex Cooper

Tudor Carstiou & Eva Nica

Nichita Rosca

Y11 – David Kiiovschi

Muntenia:

Patrick Tansley

Y12 – Maria Sticlea

Deva Stanca & Iulia Daianu

Elian Tetruashvili

Y13 – Daria Raducu

Transilvania:

Alexia Verdes

Matteo Bianchi & Victor Sandu

Andrei Vernon

Academic Top Achiever Award

Duke of Edinburgh Awards

Y7 Academic – Olivia Opran

Bronze:

Y8 Academic – Priya Vijaykumar

Andreea Albu

Y9 Academic – Anushka Laha

Alina Barbu

Y10 Academic – Alexandra Sandu

Andrei Stere

Y11 Academic – Maia Hagai

Maia Hagai

Y12 Academic – Bella Chen

David Kiiovschi

School Dux Award (Y13)

Rianna Tănase Ethan Ben Yehuda Liya Wechsler

Ana Cristescu

Rex Cooper

Silver: Daria Raducu Ana Cristescu Kathleen Hughes Ioana Mușeteanu Maria Sticlea Medeea Constantinesu Ioana Aizic Călin Constantinescu

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ALina Barbu to represent Romania at U18 European Championships, Jerusalem

by Kendall Peet Congratulations to Alina Barbu for winning the 400m and 400m hurdles at the Romanian National Athletic Championships in Craiova.

Alina, coached by Ana Gut, will now represent Romania in her specialty, the 400-metre hurdles, at the U18 European Championships, having meet the qualifying time twice, running 62.44.

The U18 European Championships will take place at the Givot Ram Stadium in Jerusalem, between July 4-7, 2022.

“Congratulations Alina for all the work done and the thousands of hours of training. Congratulations for all the will you had to always come back after each injury.

Congratulations for qualifying and being selected to represent Romania at the U18 European Championships for the very first time, which is the reward for all your hard work.

Congratulations, because above all else you have shown yourself what is possible, knowing and believing that from now on through your dedication and commitment and time invested in training that the results will continue to come.” Ana Gut

Well done Alina! We wish you well at the European Championships in Jerusalem, which will no doubt be just

Alina was the deserving female recipient of the IBSB Sporting

the first of many occasions where you will be representing

Excellence Award, presented at the End of Year Senior School

Romania at an international athletics level, hopefully

Awards Ceremony at Biblioteca Centrala Universitara.

culminating in you participating in a future Olympic Games!

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IBSB Sailing Club

by Kendall Peet

At IBSB, we understand that it is important to balance the demands of an academically rigorous programme with a wide range of extra-curricular choices. The IBSB Sailing Club, which happens each Friday afternoon on Herastrau Lake in Term 3, is just one example of the many clubs on offer at IBSB, where academic success and student wellbeing go hand in hand. This is just one example of the many Extra-curricular Enrichment opportunities available to the students of IBSB, making an IBSB education the incredible experience it is!

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U13 Boys Secure 3rd Place in Lumina Cup

by Luca and Dinu Pietruschevici Balan, Year 7

On Saturday the 28th of May, IBSB’s U13 boys football team arrived at the Lumina Football Cup tournament with high hopes of bringing home a trophy, which they achieved securing 3rd place in very competitive draw.

Our first match in the group round was against BSB, resulting in 5-0 win to IBSB. The next match against Lycée Français was a little tougher, but still resulted a 2-0 win for IBSB. Having already qualified for the next round, we next played the European School of Bucharest (SEB) to decide draw for the next round, starting confidently as we had not yet conceded a goal in the tournament. At half time we were 2-0 up, but then conceded a goal from a penalty. As the last few minutes approached, we worked hard to secure our advantage, with Deniz curling the ball beautifully into the top left of the goal from a corner kick. 3 games 3 wins! A perfect start to the tournament!

As group winners, we felt we were in a strong position to play the second placed team in group A: Aletheea. The first half finished goalless. Sadly, our strategy was not working and we were not able to pass with the same level of confidence from

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the early games; anxiety was taking its toll on us. Soon

Kicking off the match, we were able to quickly secure

a mistake came, and we conceded from a direct free

possession to get a few good shots at their goa and soon after

kick. Everybody seemed to lose concentration as winds

mounted a clinical counter attack, scoring a goal to make it

of fortune seemed to favour of Aletheea, with a slip-up

1-0 for us. Pass after pass, our game was running smoothly,

in our back line in the second half enabling Aleethea

placing SEB under constant pressure, eventually converting

to score again. The fate of the match was sealed, 2-0

that pressure into a second goal: a mistake from their defenders

Aletheea-IBSB. We were disappointed, knowing we

allowed us to make it 2-0 to IBSB. A few minutes later, the half-

could have played a much better second half. Team

time whistle blew. Our team’s hopes were extremely high, but

morale was lower than the Mariana trench. A third-place

our coach, Mr Ciprian, reminded us that the game was not over.

play-off was our only salvation.

We returned to pitch determined to find the back of SEB’s net a third time, eventually holding our 3-0 lead to secure 3rd Place in

After the second semi-final was played, we found out

the 2022 Lumina Cup!

we would be playing against SEB - the very same team we had beaten 3-1 in the group stage. Confidence was

Thank you our coach Mr Ciprian for his constant support before

building- we had a few ideas about what we were going

and during the competition and huge well done to everyone in

to do and were ready to make the choices needed to win

the team! A huge improvement on our result last year!

the 3rd Place cup.

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Achieving the Unimaginable

Saturday the 21st of May was the day of the U13 Lumina Football Cup, hosted by ISB. Our school called up 8 girls with no preparation or training, willing to show up on the day of the event to give it their all, and give it our all we did! In what way would our day possibly play out? To our surprise, and to a degree complete bewilderment, the day turned out to be the exact opposite of what we all expected.

Starting the day filled with a sense of nervous emotion and a touch of anxiety, we waited to find out who we would be playing in our very first match, hoping for the best. To our dismay, we were told we would be playing the hosts, who were apparently tournament favourites. A feeling of apprehension spread across the team, causing us to spring into action to come up with a strategy that could help us achieve our goal: tying or possibly even winning our first match as a team. Thankfully, we didn’t leave disappointed, as the match concluded in a 1-1 draw. Even better than this, was the fact that the game helped us to figure out the best way to work together as a team, each member of the team selecting a position to be able to play to our best advantage, giving us the confidence needed to prepare for our next match.

Having a little time available, we decided to pay a quick visit to the IBSB U13 boys’ team to cheer them on. They were playing

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better team, finishing the game with a resounding 5-0 win.

The game started with both sides fighting hard for possession,

Go IBSB!!!!

with loud calls of support from the sidelines for both teams. The

Now it was our turn to play the BSB U13 Girls Team, and we

ball moved quickly up and down the pitch, as both teams took

prepared with growing confidence, having drawn against

shot after shot at goal, seeking the early advantage. Thankfully,

AISB in our first game and seeing the IBSB U13 Boys thump

after a lot of running, shouting, and every member of our team

BSB in a convincing fashion. We knew, however, that the BSB

doing their very best defending and in attack, IBSB claimed

girls were a reasonably skilled team hoping for a first place

victory. Our confidence had grown game by game, transforming

result, so we got together to devise a simple strategy that we

our nervousness into a feeling of overwhelming excitement.

hoped would secure us victory.

Unbelievably, we had achieved the unimaginable, somehow With the referee blowing the whistle, we started the match

managing to go through all our matches undefeated,

still a little anxious, yet obviously more self-assured than our

maintaining a high level of energy and commitment throughout,

first game, and came out with an even more surprising result

and in the end successfully, and somewhat surprisingly, earned

and big beaming smiles spread across our faces. Our second

top spot on the podium!

match ended with a win! We were now firmly in second place

As the people cheered and the excitement spread amongst

in the group, with a large number of points accrued, one step

the team, the U13 IBSB girls’ team mounted on the podium

closer to the goal we could barely dream imaginable at the

together! Somehow, we had arrived that morning a newly

start of the day. Dared we to dream?

formed team of 8 year 7 girls, keen to do our very best to represent our school, shot some shots, and were now standing

Our third and final match of the day was against AISB,

on the top spot of the leaderboard! Nobody could’ve expected

being the match that would decide the outcome of the

the day to end so well! As our team raised the winner trophy

U13 Girls’ Cup. Still a little baffled at our already concluded

in well-deserved triumph, they left the ISB campus a stronger

achievements, we were now increasingly determined to

team, content in the knowledge they had ended the day

achieve a positive outcome. Luckily, there was little pressure

successfully and looking forward to the participating in the

on us, as AISB was a vastly more experienced team and the

Lumina Cup again next year!

clear favourites to win the match and the tournament. We were only a few points behind, however, so were determined

Special thanks to Mr Georgescu for putting the winning team

to give it our all knowing that the game would decide which

together and to all of the cheerful parents who were present,

of the two teams stood on the top of the podium.

which definitely helped brighten the mood and raised our spirits.

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BSB, and as we watched, it was clear they were by far the

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Sports Day returns to the IBSB Calendar

by Radu Nica and Robert Airinei, Year 8

Sports Day is the best way to end a term. Every student

however, the start is for most a pretty stressful experience,

battling to win points for their house, so it’s a competitive

because everyone is watching and you want to do well. Timing

day - and sports competitions are our favourite!

is therefore very important to ensure you get a good, clean start!

Sports Day for the secondary school students includes a

With the sprints over, the rest of the day saw both the primary

variety of events: 100m sprint, long jump, high jump, shot

and secondary school classes move into group rotations from

put, 400m sprint, football dribbling (all by yourself!), and

event to event. The first event in the rotation for Y8 was the long

the house relay races to finish off. For the Primary school

jump. The current world record for men is 8.95m and for women

students, the activities are less traditional in terms of

it is 7.52m. Each of us had one attempt to jump as far as we

athletic events, with more collaborative activities, including

could, and were instructed to start slow and slowly accelerate

a variety of relay races, such as the potato sack race,

as ran toward to the line, rather than starting with our maximum

beanbag tossing relay, and hoop running events, to name

speed, and to try to jump exactly on the line to secure the best

just a few. Individual events for the primary school included

possible result. Some of us messed up the jump, as you might

gumboot tossing and the long jump.

expect, with the longest jump for our class being 3.30m - just a little short of the world record mark.

Before any of the main events started, however, we all gathered with our friends for the aerobics warm-up

Next up, was the high jump. For the high jump, you simply need

session, led this year by our primary school PE Teacher,

to jump over a bar; if you touch it, you are out. The current world

Alexandru Lacraru, in preparation for the first event of the

record is 2.45m for men and 2.09m for women. Fortunately

day, being the 50-100m sprint.

for everyone, in the first 2 rounds there were retries. It got difficult very quickly, though, and so most of the students were

Everyone is excited as we walked toward the start line,

eliminated in the 2nd/3rd round. There were 5 people left in

your heart feeling like it’s going to explode. The primary

round 4 and then only 2 students went on to battle it out for 1st

school started first, so everyone in secondary were able to

and 2nd place, with 3 left to battle for 3rd place. They competed

enjoy seeing them compete, from the cute early students

for a further 7 rounds just to determine the 3rd place, with the

running a wobbly 50m line, to increasingly confident and

jumps becoming higher and harder each time.

competitive Y6 students running the full 100m distance as we cheered on the sidelines; it’s always exciting to see

Next came the shot put. The shotput requires you to throw a

your house colours crossing the line first. As a competitor,

3kg metal ball as far as you can. The world record for the longest

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throw for me is 23.37m (men through a shotput weighing 7.26kg) and for women it is 22.63m (Women throw a shotput weighing 4kg). We all had two tries, and some of us even managed 6m! In the end, we had 2 taking 1st place equal and one person taking 3rd.

After a short session of shot put, we had, in my opinion, the hardest trial of all, the 400m sprint (not to confuse it with the 400m relay race), which was all about resistance and consistency. The current world records for this event are women 52.16 and men 43.03.

The final rotation of competition for year 8 was football dribbling, which offered a nice break from the more traditional athletic events.

The events all completed, we gathered for the last round of medal ceremonies and the presentation of the Sports Day Cup to... DOBROGEA!!!

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WOWSA Man of the Year Award 2021 The World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) unveiled its 2021 annual award winners on Sunday, February 06, 2022.

In total, 77 nominees were selected from 37 nations for the WOWSA Man of the Year Award, including amongst others current Olympic gold medallists, with more than 12,000 people voting online for the eventual winner.

Congratulations must go, therefore, to our primary school PE Teacher, Paul Georgescu, eventual winner and recipient of the WOWSA Man of the Year Award, for this incredible achievement (improving on his First Runner up award last year).

World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year Winner: Paul Georgescu (Romania) First Runner-Up: Neil Agius (Malta) Second Runner-Up: Joel Matos Ortiz (Puerto Rico)

Nomination citation: Paul Georgescu, a 42-year-old multi-talented

triathlete, physical therapist, coach, referee, water

polo player, and teacher at the International British School of Bucharest, took ice swimmer to an entirely new level. Less than a year after completing his

first Ice Mile in 3.02°C water in a pool in his native

Romania, he travelled to Hanusse Bay, Antarctica and set a Zero Ice Mile world record in 0.0°C water and

2.0°C air in 22 minutes 44 seconds at the bottom of the world. He then completed the 104 km Iron Gates of the Danube Swim in the middle of the pandemic.

In a year of uncertainty and unknowns, Georgescu

continues to seek adventures to inspire his students and the next generation, giving them confidence to face challenges with a strength of character and

an air of positivity. For continuing to demonstrate a wide range of aquatic talents in cold and warm temperatures, including at the Antarctica 2020

International Swim, for inspiring and mentoring

swimmers of all ages in his native Romania with a

record-setting Zero Ice Mile, and for transforming himself from a water polo player and triathlete to

the fastest Zero Ice Mile swimmer in the world and an accomplished marathon swimmer, Paul Georgescu is a worthy nominee for 2020 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.

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Below is a list of just a few of Paul’s incredible

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achievements:

Also worth mentioning is a 100km pool swim that Paul completed for charity in 2021, raising money for www. centrul-aspera.ro, to support children with dyslexia.

In every way, Paul is a deserving recipient of this award, and a wonderful role model for the students of IBSB who has inspired and continues to inspire as someone who sets high goals and then works extremely hard each and every day to achieve them.

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Alumni

Studying Fashion Design @Instituto Marangoni MILAN

by Maria Dragomir, IBSB Graduate, 2021 After finishing IBSB, I moved to Milan, the Italian capital of fashion, which had been my dream for enough time to get me excited about it.

Admittedly, the first months were tough. I’m not gonna lie, it was during the time of COVID, with many restrictions in place, and I was alone in a foreign country, without my friends, without my family, without my boyfriend, and university was online, which made everything even harder.

Like every difficult experience in life though, this unpleasant period of time eventually passed, and I got to experience the real life of a fashion design student, going to school every day dragging my body weight in luggage behind me- only fashion students will understand why- getting to know the best Italian restaurants in town (in the beginning everything was closed), and meeting new people, amazing people, people who would soon become close, trusted friends from every corner of the globe, as Milan is a very international city that hosts people from all around the world.

The second year of uni has been my favourite until now, though, as I’ve got to know the city much better, its best places, where to meet quality people; I’ve also learned how to improve my time management,

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enabling me time to study and work on some small personal projects outside of school at the same time, that I am super excited about and I can’t wait to share with everyone.

really inspired me and influenced my style, such as Alessandro Dellaqua (Creative Director of No.21), Ideservecouture (instagram influencer and fashion critique), and Jason Derulo and his whole team (stylists, band, and dancers).

My life here has effectively been divided between going to school everyday and doing what I love, visiting museums and exhibitions every couple of weeks, and trying not to overdose on pasta and pizza.

Being inspired by everything, from the exquisite architecture to the streetwear outfits of everybody around me, and the sumptuous windows of high-end boutiques on Via Montanapoleone, provides the motivation I need to work towards being better and better everyday.

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I ‘ve been able to meet some important people from the fashion industry, as well as the music industry, who have

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Studying ENGINEERING AT Brunel University in london an Interview with Octavian Murea, IBSB Graduate, 2020 What did you decide to study at university and why?

had several friends who were going there, so it felt like the right choice for me.

I choose to study Electrical/ Electronic Engineering. It seemed like the logical choice coming from a family of electrical

What expectations did you have about the university and

engineers, including my mother, my father, and my uncle. I

the course you chose before you started?

used to joke with my father that the line of engineers ends with me, because I hated math, but then ten years later I

My expectations were very different to the reality I experinced.

found myself completing A Level Math and Physics, applying to study at an electrical engineering university. Nobody forced

Firstly, I expected my course to be more practical and hands-

me into this career or even pushed me in this direction. In

on content. Unfortunately, due to COVID, most of our learning

fact, I really don’t think my parents minded me choosing any

was online in the first year. Thankfully, in the second year we

other career path. I guess the idea just came naturally to me,

were able to get into the for 1 or 2 sessions every week doing

as I spent much of my childhood hanging around my parents

practical experiments and in the second semester I was also

while they were working on various contracts, listening to their

part of a group that built a mini weather station that enables

discussions, and in a way, I think it became a part of who I am.

you to collect the data remotely, which took up most my second semester every Tuesday and Thursday from 9.00am.

How did you choose your university?

This really helped me to better understand how electricity works in a real life environment.

I first learnt about Brunel University when I was in Year 8 or 9, from one of my older colleagues saying it was a really good university, and I think it kind of became imprinted in my brain, so that when I applied for university, I naturally choose Brunel as one of my university options. I actually applied for two courses at Brunel: electrical engineering with a foundation year, and a course without a foundation year, just to ensure I had the grades needed to get in. Thankfully, I got the grades I needed for Brunel. I also had an offer from Queen Mary, a Russell Group University higher up the league tables, but I preferred Brunel as their course suited me better and I also

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I also hoped there wouldn’t be so much homework, but that hasn’t been the case. Every day you are busy at university attending lectures and seminars and tutorials and doing write-ups for the lab work and seminars, etc., and compelte assignments, or prepare for tests, so you are always busy. I honestly thought I would have more free time, but this hasn’t been the case.

I thought we would get a more support from the lecturers and get to know them better, as was the case at IBSB, but the truth is you almost never see the lecturers, apart from when they’re giving a lecturer or running a tutorial. You really have to do the work yourself, or maybe work with a friend or group of friends from your course, so you really need to be a selfsufficient, independent learner.

Finally, on the social side of things, I unfortunately missed out on fresher’s week (when first students meet and socialise and enjoy lots of fun activities) and many of the normal opportunities to socialise throughout the year due to COVID, but thankfully this won’t affect any students starting university

the campus is really beautiful, and the courses are really well organised, with all the lectures recorded and loaded onto an online learning platform, so you can access them whenever you want and watch them as many times as you want, which is really helpful.

What advice would you offer someone choose a university course or considering applying for an engineering degree?

Firstly, make sure you are ready for it. I won’t lie, as I really wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t study as well as I should have at

next year.

high school and this made the transition to university level

What at some of the positives of studying at Brunel

IGCSE and A Level programme to acquire the skills and the

work a lot harder, so make sure you work hard during your

University?

work ethic needed to do well at university. At the end of Year

The biggest advantage is that we are an open university,

me to understand why I experienced some difficulties in

meaning we have a very large university campus, like the type of university you see in the movies, being located a little further out of London with more land and space available.

This means that we have accommodation on campus, which few other London universities offer, than Queen Mary. We also have all the bars and eating areas and student entertainment areas on campus, with lots of places to meet and socialise, which is convenient compared to the experience students

1 at university, I was also diagnosed with ADHD, which helped focusing and getting the work done at high school.

My final piece of advice is do a work placement as a part of your degree, if you have the chance. I started a placement this summer that will last until the end of my degree, up to September 2023, and it is what I have enjoyed the most so far about my course, as it has been a lot of fun. It’s extremely beneficial experiencing the day to day work in my future

have at other London based universities.

career, helping me to understand how the content I am

Are there any negatives?

life. I’ve on really been able to apply 5-10% of theory to real

Well, to be honest I can’t really think of any negatives, as I

a placement also means that you you will graduate with

have really enjoyed my experience at Brunel, and I’m the type of person who always looks for the positive in any experience.

The people are always friendly at Brunel, if you need help with something, there is always someone at the university willing and able to help you, if need something you can always find it,

learning at university is applied within the workplace in real life practice, but this has still been a positive motivator. Doing experience and a good reference, so finding your first job post graduating will be much easier and many people already have a job lined up before they graduate. It’s not easier to find a placement, so make sure that you start looking from Year 1, to maximise you chances of success.

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lab work, and then when you get home you have to do the

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School Views

Top 10 Secondary School Book Recommendations

by Priya Vijaykumar, Year 8V Are you bored at home and have you read all (yes, I do mean ALL) of your books? Well, here the top 10 books to read, according to IBSB students, available in our school library.

Airhead by Meg Cabot This tells the story of a girl who dies saving her sister from a falling TV, only to find out the doctors had transferred her brain into a supermodel’s body! Will she be able to adapt to her new lifestyle?

Or will she fail miserably?

Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan The adventures of Will, an orphan apprenticed to the Rangers: skilled trackers, archers and warriors in the service of the King of Araluen. Will strives to keep the Kingdom of Araluen safe from invaders, traitors, and threats.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

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when Einar was a young man with a wife, two small children, and a thirst to find gold in Nome, Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. But what exactly happened on the ice? Did Einar just fall? Or is there more to the story?

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkein The first part of J R Tolkien’s epic masterpiece is the story of young hobbit, Frodo Baggins, who finds himself faced with an immense and terrible duty. Sauron is gathered all the Rings of Power and intends to use them to rule Middle-earth.

The Secret River by Kate Greneville A historical novel by Kate Grenville about an early 19th-century Englishman transported to Australia for theft. The story explores what might have happened when Europeans colonised land already inhabited by Aboriginal people.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series) A a light-hearted fantasy about a modern 12-year-old boy who learns that his true father is Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Percy sets out to become a hero by undertaking a quest across the United States to find the entrance to the Underworld and stop a war between the gods. Can he stop it? Or will he die trying?

Maze Runner by James Dashner A story set in a distant future, where a group of teens are mysteriously teleported into a giant, stone maze. Not only has their memory been cleared, but they also have no indication as to why they have ended up in this position and what means they must take to escape. Sacrificing someone? Or killing each other?

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer.

And then there were None by Agatha Christie Considered the best mystery novel ever written by many readers, And Then There Were None is the story of ten strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived, the host accuses each person of murder. But did they actually commit the crime? Or was it all a cover-up?

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Revolver tells two stories, one in 1910 where Einar lies dead from a fall through ice in subzero temperatures and one in 1899,

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Evolution and Genetics

by Patrick Tansley, Year 13 Undoubtedly, evolution is seemingly both a very simple concept, but also immensely complex; and is still the subject of immense amounts of research to this day. Evolution is applicable in a wide variety of scenarios, from ensuring that your set of puppies will have a specific type of fur and ear shape, to ensuring that your crop delivers the largest harvest. Evolution is everywhere, and it’s important to understand how it works.

to better survive in their environment often live longer, and thus they produce more offspring to pass on the beneficial genes.

The idea of genetics is now attributed to Gregor Mendel.

Throughout his life he worked with various characteristics of a pea pod plant; for example, plant height, pod shape and pod colour, or flower shape and colour. By artificially adding the pollen of plants carrying a certain characteristic, Mendel found that traits can be passed from the parents to their offspring.

He even coined the terms ‘dominant’ and ‘recessive’ genes to explain why some traits always appeared if a parent had them, while other traits only become visible with certain combinations.

This work can be further extended from pea plants to organisms in general; our genetic code, DNA, contains the bases that determine what traits we have, our DNA being a fusion of the 23 chromosomes present in sperm and an ovum.

The discovery of evolution is arguably the most significant scientific discovery within the field of biology, and yet most people nowadays don’t realise how recently the idea of evolution came to be accepted. Charles Darwin, the man referred to as the ‘founding father of evolutionary biology’, published his work On the Origin of Species on the 24th of November, 1859; and unlike most scientific pieces at the time, it was written to be accessible to even those not familiar with advanced scientific ideas, therefore gaining a large following.

Darwinism is a theory based on the concepts of natural selection and adaptation, the notion that generations of animals and plants living in specific environments will naturally become better adapted to their habitat. This is because organisms with features or mutations enabling them

Variation within a population is largely quite easy to prove; simply look at a group of humans and you will see large amounts of differences between them; from height to weight to eye colour, to muscle mass, all humans are incredibly varied, but all still homo sapiens. Even within species of animals such as labradors, there are many fur colours, eye colours, and sizes of dogs. These changes can either be detrimental or beneficial to the organism, of course: giraffes with the longest necks can reach sources of food that no others can, while a shark with small flippers won’t be able to swim as fast as their conspecifics.

Evolution is the child of genetics and natural selection; simply put, all organisms eventually evolve to excel within their natural environment. Despite the logic and evidence backing evolution, people do still call it into question, even in today’s era, often citing an argument along the lines of ‘but if I put a group of

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idea of evolution, such as those mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible; according to theists (people who believe in a god or a set of gods), organisms were created perfectly by their god(s) so how could they have possibly changed over time?

These are fair arguments to make because evolution as a process can take millennia to actually have an impact on an organism, often due to animals having a long life span and taking too long to reproduce; but to quote Dr Richard Dawkins, in his book The Greatest Show on Earth, ‘If you placed any rabbit next to their mother, and the grandmother next to the mother and so forth, you would eventually notice small changes between the ancient rabbits and the now modern rabbits. Yet the rate of change is so slow it’s almost undetectable between generations, just as we can’t see the movement of the hour hand on our watches, just as we can’t notice a child growing into a teenager and eventually into an adult.’ All of these processes happen, just at a pace similar to that of your average snail.

To appreciate the magic of evolution, it is interesting to look at a term called common ancestry, the idea that through evolution all animals are linked by some means to one another via a split path in evolution. Extending from his rabbit metaphor, Dawkins also discusses this idea: if you were to follow the ancestry of rabbits millennia into the past, you would eventually find a creature, looking somewhat like a shrew or a rat but not really at the same time according to Dawkins; the next generation of said creature would then mutate to develop a trait that the offspring either did or did not have, creating a fork in the path of evolution. To then follow these alternative routes, we would find the modern rabbit at the end of one road, and a leopard at the other. This example demonstrates how small changes can have a butterfly effect on the fate of an organism, as naturally along the two paths of the fork the paths split off more and more with different routes for an organism to take.

Overall, evolution and genetics pair to make a fantastically interesting area of science, one in which I personally hope to learn far more about in the future.

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religious beliefs can often come into conflict with the

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bunnies in water, they won’t sprout flippers!’ Furthermore,

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Book Review: The Tale of Duelling Neurosurgeons

by Patrick Tansley, Year 13 The Tale of Duelling Neurosurgeons can be summarised in one word, ‘masterpiece’. It is the perfect balance of science and humour that so many books strive for, but fail to achieve. Reminiscent of Genome, by Matt Ridley, or Heroes, by Stephen Fry, the book offers you a wide range of information from it’s chosen topic, focusing on the brain and various neurological or psychological disorders, rather than chromosomes or the Greek mythos.

However, it’s mastery comes from the fact it doesn’t take itself too seriously, maintaining a light mood without sacrificing details. Expect plenty of links strewn throughout the book, linked to corresponding notes at the end of the book, offering relevant additional data or trivia about the topics, which allows the book to function both as a learning tool and a good source of entertainment.

Another interesting choice made by Kean is the fact that each chapter focuses on a certain part of the brain; ranging from the simple structure of the skull, to individual cells, and eventually reaching ideas of consciousness and the link between physical and mental health. The wide scope of the book, and the varying examples used, allow for even those educated in psychology to learn something new about themselves. As mentioned prior, there are several cases

within the book, one story per chapter, to encapsulate the theme of the segment. These cases vary from the infamous, such as H.M. and Gage, to the almost forgotten; who would ever remember King Henri II of France?

In this section, I will review the first two chapters of the book only, to not give to much away.

Chapter 1, ‘The Duelling Neurosurgeons’, is the chapter that the book is named after, revolving around the anatomists Vesalius and Pare’, and how they dealt with the injuries of Henri II of France. I personally found this chapter quite intriguing, as it provided insight into the medical knowledge they had at the time, Vesalius and Pare knew nothing of cells, neurotransmitters, nor bacteria, yet had to properly attend to Henri II’s traumatic brain injury. Kean likely chose this case due to its historical impact, as Vesalius and Pare concluded after an autopsy of Henri that a head injury, even when the skull wasn’t cracked, could be fatal, unlike what was assumed at that point. In fact, ironically, Henri II would have been more likely to survive his jousting injury if his skull had cracked, but died due the intracranial pressure caused by the inflammation.

Chapter 2, ‘The Assassins Soup’, is unique in that it shares two very similar cases, rather than just one, being the murders of the American Presidents Garfield and McKinley. Both men were killed by gunshot; this fact is, however, less important than the information about the two murderers, Charles Guiteau and Leon Czolgosz. Charles Guiteau pled innocent due to insanity at his trial, but was declined that offer due to basic functioning tests showing that he was sane. However, he was anything but sane, as shown by his autopsy which found little to no grey matter on the surface of his brain. The man was in fact schizophrenic. Leon Czolgosz made a similar plea at his trial 20 years after Guiteau, yet was also declined, because unlike Guiteau, Czolgosz appeared to have no damage to his brain when he died. Initially, the conclusion was that he was sane, until his brain was analysed under a microscope, where microscopic damage and decay was evident, leading the doctors to conclude that stress caused his erratic behaviour, a first in the field, making Czolgosz’s death a point of pioneering within psychology.

If all this was not enough to catch and maintain your attention, but you are a fond solver of riddles, you will be excited to discover that each chapter features its own introductory rebus to spark your curiosity about all things neurological.

Overall, ‘The Tale of Duelling Neurosurgeons’ is a fantastic example of scientific humour, and a great homage to the development of our understanding of our own brains, which this review will never be able to do justice, so please just read it.

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Best budget parts for your gaming setup

by Andrei Popescu, Year 7B and Dinu Pietruschevici, Year 7M Do you like playing video games? Would you like to buy parts to create your very own gaming setup?

Even if you do not have a large budget, you can still achieve your dream.

In this guide we will recommend you good budget options for your very own gaming setup.

Computer Parts Central Processing Unit (CPU) A central processing unit, or a CPU is the brain of your computer. The better the CPU is, the smoother your computer will run. In our opinion, the AMD Ryzen 3 3300X CPU offers great value for money. Although it still might cost a bit, it is much cheaper than most CPUs. If you are not a fan of Ryzen CPUs, then an Intel I5-11400 CPU is another option.

Don’t get scared by the numbers though, since both CPUs are equally good.

CPU Coolers If you pick any of the two CPUs mentioned above, then you won’t need any separate cooler as the Ryzen 3 comes with a cooler and the I5-11400 doesn’t need a cooler at all. But if you use another CPU, a Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB is the best air cooler for its price. All-In-One coolers (or AIOs) are not included in our review, as they usually cost more.

Graphics Card The graphics card or graphics processing unit (GPU) is another essential part of your PC. It basically determines how good your graphics are. I am sure you have heard about RTX 3090, since it is the most popular these days, but the price to performance ratio is awful. That is why we recommend a GTX 1660 SUPER for gaming. Because graphics cards can easily be the most expensive part, it is very hard to find a cheap one. But the GTX 1660 is not only one of the cheapest, but it is also very good for gaming or even streaming. There are many versions out there, but we recommend you get the Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB Phoenix OC, since it is the best version out of them all. If Nvidia is not your thing, a Radeon RX 6600 XT by AMD is also a very good choice.

Motherboard The motherboard is the place you will put everything together; however, that doesn’t mean you can just go into

a store and pick up any random motherboard. There are

(you don’t have to plug all the cables in the power supply by

many variables you have to consider. Don’t worry! We

yourself, they already did it for you), which is great for beginners.

are here to help. Out of all the motherboards we tested (that are compatible with the CPU), the Asus TUF Gaming

Peripherals

B560M Plus (WiFi), provides everything you need for a successful gaming experience at a very reasonable price.

Mice For a budget mouse pick, we recommend you buy the Razer

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Deathadder Essential 2021. It is very cheap at around 90 RON,

Random Access Memory or RAM is crucial to making a PC

compared to other mice and it is surprisingly good quality. It

work. It basically stores memory for a short period of time,

may need a mouse pad to work properly, but that is up to you to

like your chrome tabs. Now, unless you want to download

decide.

something like Call of Duty, Halo, or Assassin’s Creed on your PC, 16 GB should be enough. So that is why we

Keyboards

chose Patriot Viper RGB DDR4-3600 as the best RAM

Keyboards are as important as mice, but don’t get fooled

kit. This RAM kit is made from 2 units that you can store

into buying something like a HyperX Alloy (which is about

in your motherboard. If you choose the motherboard we

1660 RON). Instead, focus on whether you want it to be

mentioned previously, you will have another 2 slots to place

wireless or not. A wireless keyboard is cleaner, but sometimes

other RAM units of your choice. If you want to download

the connection might be interrupted and the keyboard will

one of the games we mentioned earlier, Crucial Ballistix

disconnect. That is not to say that wireless keyboards are not

3200 is your best option.

good though. A very good wireless option would be the Corsair K63 Wireless. However, it will take up some space on your desk

Storage

because of the wrist rest. A good wired keyboard is Logitech

Unlike memory cards, storage is the place where you

G413, because it is very cheap and has instant transmission to

store things forever (until you delete them). That is why

the computer.

we recommend the Crucial P5 Plus 500gb as your main storage, where you store apps and their data, and a 1tb Seagate Barracuda as your second storage to store photos, documents, and things you don’t use generally.

Case When choosing a case, it comes down to preference: a mid-tower case (which is a lot smaller and you can put it on your desk) or a full tower case (which is very heavy and you have to put it on the floor, but it has more space).

For a mid-tower case, we recommend the NZXT H510, since it has great airflow (which means the parts will get better cooling) and it also looks cool. For a full tower case, Phanteks Enthoo 719 or Pro 2 are an excellent choice for cooling and other aesthetics.

Power Supply Choosing the power supply is the last thing you do. You need to look up how much voltage each of these pieces needs and then you need to add another 100W to be safe. If you choose all the parts that we recommended, the CX450 power supply by Corsair is for you. It is not modular

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Headphones Ever since 2014, HyperX Cloud Alpha has been the best headset on the market. It was dethroned recently by Razer with their Blackshark V2, which is much more expensive and less durable. So, HyperX Cloud Alpha is still the best budget choice. If you would like a wireless option, HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless is the best on the market Monitors The monitor is a crucial part of your setup; without the monitor you cannot see anything. The monitor is the screen you play, learn, and do homework on. Top brand monitors are quite pricey; however, to be able to play for fun and take advantage of your pc’s framerate you do not need a top-of-the-range monitor. There are a few categories of the monitor’s refresh rate,measured in hz: 60-75 hz: these are cheap but they are not very good for gaming. You should look for higher.

The 120-165 hz, in this category there are three refresh rates: 120 hz, 144 hz and 165 hz, the 144 hz and 120 hz.

Monitors are not very different in price points, so we will recommend the 144 hz over the 120 hz. Overall we think that 144 hz is the best in terms of price to performance ratio.

There are also two more types of monitors: the 240 hz and

Gaming Chairs We won’t recommend chairs as they aren’t a necessity for you to be able to game, however, we will give tips on how to choose the appropriate chair that fits your room.

360 hz. These are currently considered top of the line in terms of monitors. As we said before, you do not need these monitors, they are a lot more expensive and simply not worth it.

We recommend two monitors, which we think are best, one will be 144 hz and the other will be 165 hz The Samsung Odyssey G3: this is the monitor we most strongly recommend from the two on this list. You can find it on EMAG for 1000 lei. This monitor is 144 hz and 27 inches

Tip number 1: Choose an adjustable chair. Especially if you are younger and haven’t had a growth spurt yet. This will allow you to adjust the chair to your comfort and size over the years.

Tip number 2: Pick a chair that looks similar to the other peripherals in your setup. Pick 2 or 3 colors and stick to those colors. This will make your setup look very neat.

in diameter.

The Asus tuf gaming monitor: this is also a flatscreen monitor, however it costs 1900 lei on EMAG. This monitor is also 27 inches in diameter. The only thing this monitor has that is better in terms of specs is that it is 165 hz.

Thank you for reading this, we hope you found this useful!

Happy gaming!

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MOVIE REVIEWS: King Richard

by Mia Opran, Year 10R King Richard tells the story of a 48-yearold father armed with a vision to make his two daughters, Serena and Venus Williams, tennis world champions.

Even though he had trained them both since they were little, he finally decided to get them a proper coach. That’s when the problems start to arise. After being neglected and ignored by everyone around them, they manage to get themselves a proper tennis instructor.... The movie portrays their journey to becoming world-renowned sports stars.

Follow Will Smith, Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton in this heart-warming, inspiring movie, which teaches us to never give up on our dreams, and to always come prepared with a plan!

I personally found the movie interesting. We can learn a lot from it, such as to never give up on our dreams, even though sometimes it seems as if the world is against you, remembering to stay strong. We most importantly understand that you are set up to fail if you launch into the world without a plan; if you do have one, the task will be easier to complete.

The director manages to portray the Wililams family in an enchanting way. He delivers the movie from the perspective of the father who watches both his daughters grow up. It’s obvious to see that life was not only hard for Venus and Serena, but for their entire family. The way that the director manages to place stark, real life facts into a dramatic and realistic movie is impressive.

Overall, I think that it’s most definitely worth watching, being both entertaining and educational about the struggles of tennis stars and the people around them.

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My Top 5 Movies to watch in 2022

by Felix Daianu, Year 8 Number 5: Encanto (2021) Encanto is a thrilling, culturally diverse animated cartoon.

Released in 2021, it feels like Disney’s response to Pixar’s “Coco”. Both movies take an in-depth look at Latin culture, but do not think that these movies are carbon copies of each other! NO! Coco focuses on the Mexican day of the dead Tradition and the importance of remembering them, while “Encanto” focuses on the importance of not having to be perfect all of the time, as well as Columbian culture. The cast absolutely smashed it out of the park with both music and voice acting. The music was composed by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also wrote the hit broadway musical “Hamilton”. The plot revolves around the Madrigals, an extraordinary family who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a magical place called the Encanto. The power of the Encanto has blessed every kid in the family with a unique gift - every child except Mirabel that is. However, she soon may be the Madrigals’ last hope when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is now in danger.

It had a 150 million Budget and grossed 228.4 million worldwide and is sitting at a comfortable 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.3 on IMDb. In the cinema as well as your home, there is only one rule: Don’t talk about Bruno.

Number 4: Death On The Nile This stunning movie is based on the famous Agatha Christie book. Acting as a “sequel” to the award winning “Murder On the Orient Express”, this movie thrives on creating suspense by using Agatha Christie’s Famous claustrophobic style of putting all of the characters in one room with one of them being the killer. I will not discuss the plot here as it is so full of twists and turns, that you simply MUST watch it for yourself.

Number 3: DUNE (2021) Dune is a PG-13 sci-fi movie about a boy named Paul Atreides travelling to the most dangerous planet known to them. This planet breaks out into conflict due to the most precious resource known to them; Spice. The very thing that fuels space travel. The cast contains some A-list celebrities like: Zendeya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and Ana de Armas. It was directed by Denis Villeneuve and it got a solid 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.2 on IMDb. I like the movie because of its jaw-dropping scale and stunning special effects. The Movie won 10 oscars for Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Picture, And Best Adapted screenplay.

Number 1: The Batman (2022) (13+!!!)

OH BOY!!! What A TREAT! The 2022 Movie “The Batman” single-handedly breathes new life into the otherwise rather stale franchise. Ever since the Christopher Nolan movies, the franchise has not seen any decent movies in over a decade.

This movie paints Batman in a much more flawed light as it also comments on the harrowing drug epidemic that the world is facing. The biggest revamp that any character got on the other hand was the Riddler, ditching his signature spandex and cane, he takes a more “Zodiac-killer” approach to the whole wardrobe thing. Robert Pattinson delivers another amazing performance as a broken, hurt, emotional Batman - something Ben Affleck

Number 2: 007 No Time To Die (2021)

didn’t do all that well. The plot revolves around Gotham’s

Daniel Craig’s last outing as James Bond certainly sent

violent, just emotionally impactful).

him out with a bang. A definite high point in the franchise,

Terrible drug epidemic as well as The Riddler’s murderous rampage. This movie should only be watched by people of 13 years or higher as some of the scenes are rather brutal (not

this movie carries a perfect blend of high-octane action and gut-wrenching emotional drama. The movie revolves around James Bond making his way through multiple countries like Cuba, Italy, Jamaica, England, Scotland and many others. 007 faces a new enemy called Lyutsifer Safin who is played by the golden globe winning Rami Malek, who also played the role of Freddy Mercury in the Academy Award Winning Movie “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

The ending is sure to make many 007 fans tear up, I can speak from personal experience. The movie had an absurd 300 million dollar budget with an additional 100 million put towards marketing. The risk turned out to pay off BIG TIME because “No Time to Die” is the most successful movie of the lockdown era, grossing a whopping 774.2 Million dollars. It has an 83% rating on rotten tomatoes, a 7.4 on IMDb and a PG-13 from the MPAA. This movie won an Oscar for Best Original song but received two more nominations for best Visual Effects and Best Sound.

Conclusion These are just some of my favourites! PLEASE, DO RESEARCH ON THE MOVIES THAT MIGHT NOT HAVE A PG RATING BEFORE WATCHING WITH A PRIMARY STUDENT OR YEAR 7.

Hope you enjoy the films!

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by sandra Curtis, Year 9E

Now that exam season is over and summer is approaching, you will most likely be feeling very excited. After all, you don’t have to wake up early and stay in a room forcing information into your head anymore!

However, in the second week of summer, you will probably start to feel bored - and so if you don’t want that feeling of boredom to last for two months, here’s a list of things you can do: Play with your pet Multiple studies have shown us that dogs and therapy dogs help people cope with stress and anxiety. Even just petting a dog lowers blood pressure, heart rate and breathing, and relaxes muscle tension. Scientists at Washington State University have discovered that just 10 minutes of petting a dog can have a significant impact on your general state of health. Although these studies focus solely on dogs, this can be true for any other pet, whether it’s a cat, hamster, ferret, bird, or even a turtle. Pet your pet, feed them food that’s safe for them, take your pet on a walk (or take it outside if you can), watch Netflix with your pet, play catch with them - they’re all fun. Plus pets are cute. If you don’t have a pet, you can try doing those things with a friend’s or neighbour’s pets.

Visit and volunteer an animal shelter.

Another thing that you can do if you don’t have a pet is visit an animal shelter. Bruno shelter is an animal shelter in Bucharest that has all sorts of adorable dogs there for adoption. Those dogs don’t have a home, and I’m not saying that those dogs aren’t properly taken care of, but they don’t get as much

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attention as they would if they had owners, so give them attention! You can easily volunteer at a shelter and help out with taking care of the dogs. Not only are you using your time better, but you’re actually contributing to society.

Go thrifting Thrift stores are interesting. Not only is the stuff there cheap, but you can find cool things that you wouldn’t usually find in regular stores. There are two thrift stores near school, which I’ve found snazzy things at. Don’t get discouraged when you first enter a thrift store and don’t see anything good - you just need to look and you will most likely find something. Remember to wash/ disinfect the things you buy when you bring them home, just in case! Also, don’t be one of those people who buy everything that’s good in the thrift store and then resell it for 3x the original price. That’s just annoying.

Go to the bookstore If you have a list of books that you really want to read, go to a bookstore and see if you can find any of them there. Don’t worry if you don’t: you can find something that piques your interests on the shelves. You don’t even have to buy anything - at most Carturesti stores there are chairs, and you can just sit on a chair and read any book you like there. Just make sure that you’re careful with the book and avoid damaging it.

Start a journal.

Find a notebook and write literally whatever you want in it.

You can choose whether you want your journal to be very aesthetically pleasing or just be a bunch of angry scribbles cursing people out (I suggest hiding that journal if you choose the second option). Many years from now, you can read it and remember what you used to be like (and get a lot of secondhand embarrassment).

Pretend to be a tourist in your own hometown People visit practically every tourist site in a city the visit, but very rarely explore the sites in their own town or city. You’ll be surprised how much there is to do in your home town, that you weren’t aware of, often very cheap or even free. A good place to start is dong a search on the interest – 10 best things to do in Bucharest.

Watch your favorite childhood movies

Go stargazing

It’s interesting to compare your current interpretation of

It helps if you have a telescope or binoculars, but those aren’t

the movie to the way you thought of it when you were younger, and you can pick up all the jokes that went over your head as a kid. You will also get reminded of when life sucked less.

Try to decide what career you want to do in the future You can do this by conducting internet research, applying for future internships, or talking to someone in the field you want to work in. This will make your summer somewhat more productive, and hopefully you’ll figure out what to do with your life.

mandatory for stargazing. Go to a park, the countryside, or your balcony and stare at the night sky. Further out of the city, away from the bright city lights is best. Look at maps of the stars, then see if you can spot any of them in the night sky. You can do this alone or with friends.

Go to a concert There are lots of concerts happening in Romania this summer.

Bands like Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Twenty One Pilots, Slipknot, Evanescence and many more are having shows. There are also local artists that you can go and support.

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there’s a YouTube video for it!

Learn a new language There are lots of websites online that can help you learn a language, such as Duolingo (make sure to remember to do your lessons or else that owl will come for you). You can pick up a completely new language, or practice the language you are learning at school.

Some other things that you can do include: Planning your next (real or imaginary) vacation Do a Wordle Learn a dance Catch up on sleep Play an instrument or learn a new instrument Try learning origami Watch a movie/start a new series Do online quizzes (some of them are awfully cringy, but there are others that are actually fun) Go skating/cycling Exercise I hope this article gives you a few ideas to help avoid feeling boredom this summer!

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Stimulate yourself by learning a new skill. No matter what you want to try—knitting, dancing, or cooking—chances are

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Learn a new skill

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Misunderstood Vampires?

by Amalia Anicescu, Year 11

What is Romania famous for? Well, if you type this on Google, you’ll get 319,000,000 results in 0.65 seconds…and almost all of them will contain one blood-curdling name: Dracula.

This could lead many to believe that the country has a prolonged, shared history with these restless, pale creatures, and that it is here where the Solar urticaria (sun-allergy) or allium hypersensitivity (intolerance to garlic) first started. But, in reality, legends about monsters who feed on the blood of men have been around since ancient times, throughout the whole world.

Ancient Mesopotamia, which existed for thousands of years BC, is considered to have had some of the first pieces of evidence regarding these sinister creatures: shards of Persian pottery vases which have been excavated seem to depict ravenous monsters drinking the blood of men.

Moreover, it was common for god-like, malevolent figures of that time, such as Lamashtu, Lilitu, and Gallu, who were

examples of such. Additionally, what’s more interesting is the

all demons, to be associated with such vicious rituals. Later

denomination they used to describe the creatures who carried

on, this habit led to a shared belief that these gory creatures

out these troubling acts: “striges”. This word would later

were, in fact, representing modern devils (such as Satan), or

influence the term the Romans used to label similar monsters,

merciless illnesses. Ancient Egyptians also had stories about

strix, and ultimately the Romanian word for vampires, which

the goddess of both war and healing, Sekhmet, who could

is considered to have also been used by Dacians to describe

only be tamed in battles if served blood. This quickly made

souls who wouldn’t be allowed by Zalmoxis (their god) to

lovers of contemporary gothic literature compare her practice

join the other world: strigoi. This is, however, only one of the

to that of a vampire.

versions of how the Romanian variant came to be. Another hypothesises that the word strigoi is actually derived from the

Ancient Greeks had plenty of resemblances between their

verb a striga (to scream) - which itself is linked to the Italian

mythological figures and vampires too. Empusa, the daughter

strega (meaning witch). In different regions of Romania they

of Hecate, or Lamia, a lover of Zeus’, would serve as good

might also be referred to as: strâgoi, strigoaice (female plural), moroi (used for referencing different types of monsters), vidme

(frightening creatures), vârcolaci (werewolves), or Cel-rău

frequent executions through impalement. Still, his actual

(The Bad One; often used to recount Satan).

name was Vlad Drăculea (Vlad III), thanks to his father (Vlad II) who was part of the Order of the Dragon, and had

As you may have noticed from the list above, Romanians

thus received the nickname Dracul, after the Latin name

from olden times, similarly to other nations, associated

of the order, Draco. Nowadays, he is called Vlad Dracula,

vampires with the devil. Not only that, but in the country’s

as that is what most foreigners know him as. Many people

mythology it was often considered that Satan was the one

believe that it was his severe punishments and apparent

turning children into the dreaded strigoi. As mentioned

thirst for blood and justice altogether which inspired Stoker,

in Tudor Pamfile’s book Romanian Mythology, this could

yet another theory, supported by plenty of Romania’s

have either happened if the mother accidentally drank

historians, states that the Irishman could have actually been

water poisoned by the demon or if she walked out of the

stimulated by some uncomplimentary propaganda about

house on a chilly night without wearing a hat. The latter

the Romanian leader. It seems that, during his reign, Vlad

was considered dangerous, because the devil would’ve

Țepeș had a number of feuds with the people of Brasov.

placed one of his own hats on the baby’s head, which, if

This prompted them to start rumours about him, so that they

not removed in time, turned him into a vampire. There are

could manipulate the public against him, and negatively

other myths which state that certain souls of dead people

impact his reputation. It was also widely known that Vlad

could return as strigoi if they had been sinful during their

Drăculea had a prodigious number of political enemies and

lives. Various legends also tell stories about how these

that it became a habit of the irked noblemen of Romania, or

vampires would often dance on the night of November,

other countries’ leaders, to launch scathing attacks against

30th (St. Andrew) and cause troubles for the humans to

him, spreading pernicious rumours, which could have very

wake up to. Sudden climate changes would have usually

well compiled into such a story even beyond the country’s

been attributed to them too. Peasants argued that the

borders. Whichever way it was, Bram Stoker’s novel played a

creatures would take away the cow’s milk, the field’s grains

huge part in transforming Transylvania (the Romanian region

or the people’s strength. They would also be blamed for

where Țepeș was born) into the land of rancorous vampires

stopping the rain while causing hailstorms and death

and gullible tourists. The main attraction of the area is now

amongst the cattle. During certain celebrations, priests

the towering Bran Castle - Dracula’s Castle. The sole reason

and villagers would have taken precautions to ensure

for that being that it fitted in perfectly with the description of

that nobody turned into a vampire. And how did they do that? By appealing to the most renowned myth of all - the feared garlic, of course! The odorous vegetable would have been rubbed on the surfaces of windows, doors… and sometimes even the owners of the household. At the same time, children would have been given garlic necklaces to wear at night for protection.

The strigoi were considered to have long tails and a hairy spine - characteristics similar to those of werewolves.

Nevertheless, no links can be found between their appearance and Vlad Țepeș. There once was a fallacious hypothesis claiming that the sensitivity to sun had actually commenced with Vlad the Impaler. However, that was quickly found to be utterly wrong, as the ruler was known to have fought gory, treacherous battles in broad daylight.

Bram Stoker’s hero, Dracula, was unfortunately a mere romanticised version of Wallachia’s ruler. The Romanian Voivode was nicknamed Țepeș (The Impaler) due to his

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the castle mentioned in Bram Stoker’s novel, as it was the sight that inspired the author. Other than that, there is no actual motive as to why Bran Castle would be known as Dracula’s dwelling, as Vlad the Impaler never actually lived there. Even so, this castle always represented one of Romania’s most successful marketing campaigns and became a top tourist attraction. On top of that, a figure of those times whose demeanour did in fact mirror that of Dracula, and who, therefore, could’ve made a better protagonist for Stoker’s novel, was the Hungarian Countess, Elizabeth Bathory. It is often believed that Dracula may actually represent an amalgamation of the erroneous propaganda about Vlad the III and this countess’ notorious crimes. That being true or not, there still isn’t any real proof of Vlad the Impaler being connected in any way to vampires.

So, even though you may not find real vampires in Romania, as most legends about them only serve to explain the random misfortunes of villagers, you can continue your search in other parts of the world, because almost every nation has legends about creatures similar to the Romanian strigoi - from the Albanian shtriga and dhampir to the Icelandic draugur (a corporeal ghost). Just make sure you have some garlic handy...

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NEW TEACHER INTERVIEW: Meet Ms Elizabeth Platt

by Alexia Verdes, Year 12S The latest addition to the Secondary School Team - Art Teacher, and Head of Secondary from August 2022

I also thought it was a subject that was forward-facing, allowing students to be creative, creating actual objects and liked to combine IT, creativity, and just about anything they can imagine.

Is this your first time working outside of your

Where are you from?

I lived in Wirral, in the UK, quite near to Mr Ennion!

Where did you go to school?

I went to school in Wirral, quite an old school which was mixed (both boys and girls), but it no longer exists as its now an academy.

What was your favourite subject at school?

Art, and design and technology!

Which university did you go to?

The University of Sheffield, doing media production as a degree, specializing in digital programming of plugins and animations (this was before apps existed apart from little java plugin things), and a master degree in Mobile technology (New Media technology).

What made you become a teacher?

I was woRking in the design and technology field and wanted a change from the commercial sector and thought teaching would be a good opportunity to share my industry knowledge and experience and inspire the next generation of designers.

home country?

No, I’ve worked in Russia, Brazil, Armenia, and China, so this definitely isn’t my first time teaching abroad.

Why did you come to IBSB?

I was working in China at the time and felt it was time for a change due to the problems faced in China with all the COVID restrictions in place and limited opportunity to travel. I knew I wanted to teach somewhere closer to home, potentially in Europe, so I started looking for schools offering the British Curriculum with a good reputation, but also one that offered multiple career paths, with a positive and supportive teaching environment, and a good lifestyle outside school. IBSB was a school that ticked all the boxes.

How do you like Romania so far?

I really enjoy Romania, and I have already started to explore the regions outside Bucharest, so I feel like to am getting to know it quite well. It has extremely beautiful countryside, an abundance of nature, amazing architecture, and kind very people. I’ve visited the Bucegi mountains, for example, and enjoyed several walks in the forests around Bucharest.

Honestly, this country is just beautiful.

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If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?

Here, because as an international teacher I have the freedom to work anywhere in the world. I’m here in Romanian because it’s a great country to live in, with so much to offer anyone choosing to live here.

Is there anyone in art who has particularly inspired you?

Many artists have inspired me, but there’s a quote by Picasso that I return to a lot: Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. It’s my favorite quote because it reminds me that there’s no point sitting around doing nothing - keep working and the answer will come!!!

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GCSE and A Level Art

by Elizabeth Platt

In Term 3, the Year 11 & 13 students were very busy completing their portfolios,, having already completed their preparation studies for their A’ Level and GCSE qualifications. These qualifications require students to develop and create artwork from their own experiences and inspirations. It is a journey the Year 10 students have just started this year, painting sketchbook studies, while Year 12 students are developing and exploring their individual ideas that will evolve into their final portfolios of work in Y13.

Alphabet Photography in Year 8 Art

by Elizabeth Platt

In Term 2, Year 8 were given a project to complete with the theme ‘alphabet photography’. This links directly to our SOW on street art, looking at typography and lettering styles. Their task was to photograph the alphabet based on found objects at home, on their balcony, or in their garden. It was a project designed specifically to encourage the students to think creatively about shapes, formats, and things that they would normally see everyday, transforming into letters. The results were achieved were inspiring, as you can see from the projects completed by Rex, Alexandra, and Liya. Well done Y8, you can all be incredibly proud of the work you produced!

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Interschool Chess

by Mathew Kirk On Friday the 18th of March, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Lycée Français Anna de Noailles for the first of (hopefully) many chess competitions, now that the pandemic restrictions have been relaxed.

The students and I met early at 8:30am at the designated meeting point and headed into a huge gymnasium full of students from the other international schools amongst rows of tables with chessboards already organised into categories; U16, U12, U10 and U8.

No sooner than we had put down our bags and carried out a minor exploration, with a complimentary coffee offered for the staff, that the first rounds started at 9:00am. The rules stated that there would be a total of 6 rounds with a 10 minute timer and 5 second increments per round, meaning that although the clock was counting down, after finishing the move the player had 5 seconds added to the time. If a player made three “impossible” moves, they lost the game by default. After each half an hour, a new round started and so the morning went by very quickly, with our players all managing a few wins (or valuable stalemates!).

One game that drew a lot of attention was our captain Rayan Badran and his opponent from the Deutsche Schule.

Rayan was in a great position, down one piece, but with excellent time discipline. He put his opponent under a lot of

pressure, as he had under a minute on the clock vs Rayan’s comfortable 5 minutes. The tense final few moves caused a lot of the hall to surround the two boys to witness Rayan winning his fourth game of the day!

Although, in the end, IBSB did not win any medals on that day, our students all said they had a brilliant time and an excellent experience overall. I know our students will be back next time looking for victory!

A special mention should be made of our students’ excellent behaviour and attitude during the day; they represented IBSB fantastically and I could not have been prouder of them, so a big well done to Rayan Badran, Alexandros Mandalenakis, David Philit Voinescu, Conor Xiang, and Erika Peet. They displayed great team spirit, were humble in both victory and defeat, and supported each other throughout the day.

The event also ran excellently, to the great credit to the organisers, who included our own primary school chess teacher Gabi Grecescu. We will definitely be returning next year, hopefully with an increased registration capacity, and our students primed and ready to say ‘Checkmate!”

IBSB Students reach Grand Final of COBIS World Music Competition 2022

by Mairead Lonergan

Congratulations to all 12 IBSB students who dedicated their time and effort to entering the COBIS - Council of British International Schools Virtual Music Competition 2022, hosted by Hartland International School, with 379 entries received from 54 schools across 4 continents.

We were told that the standard of entry this year was extremely high across all 14 categories, with just 4 participants chosen from each category to advance to Round 2, and just 2 participants selected to continue on to the Grand Final for each category.

It is therefore with a great sense of excitement and pride that we offer our heartfelt congratulations to both Andrei Peli (9K) and Ghita (11H) for making it through to the Grand Final of their respective categories, with Andrei Peli (Y9) eventually being awarded Runner up in the Middle School Piano category and Andrei Ghita (Y11), declared the overall Winner of the High School Contemporary Soloist category.

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IBSB Students Selected for International Economics Olympiad 2022

by Kendall Peet Congratulations to senior school students Maria Sticlea and Medeea Constantinescu, selected to represent Romania in the International Economics Olympiad 2022 – an annual international competition for high school students, focusing on the areas of Economics, Business, and Finance.

Successfully completing two rounds of national selection, it is an incredible achievement to have two students in the national team from the same school, and a tribute to both the students and the teachers at IBSB. We would like to wish Maria, Medeea, and the other three members of the national team every success as they now prepare for the competition taking place from July 26th – August 1st, 2022. We would also like to thank Ms Blessy Savu in her preparing and supporting the students throughout the selection process.

UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge 2022

by Cristina Marascu

be used to recognise a personal triumph for someone who has faced a challenge, or for young people who have pushed

In each subject, there is always a group of students who stand out, possessing either a special ability or that extra degree of passion, leading them to excel well above and beyond national expectations. This is certainly very true when it comes to mathematics, with an enthusiastic number of students always keen to enter the various maths competitions that take place each and every year. These competitions offer a colourful variation of challenging problems for young people to tackle, no matter their age and stage, and as such Mathematical Challenges and Olympiads can be both an excellent source of extrinsic motivation and an

themselves outside of their comfort zone, or may even be an opportunity to recognise the outstanding efforts they put into it.

The UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge took place this year on Wednesday, April 27, with over 30 participants taking part.

excellent opportunity to test one’s mathematical ability on the international stage.

Therefore, a big well done to all those

The Intermediate Mathematical Challenge is a 60-minute competition aimed

following students who received a bronze,

at students across the UK and aims to promote a love of problem solving. It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. The problems in the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge are usually accessible to all, yet still able to challenge those with more experience and are specifically designed to make

who took part and congratulations to the silver, or gold award: Aida Dragomirescu- best in school and gold certificate Karina Balasescu- best in year and gold

students think.

certificate

Achievement Awards are also not solely for academic achievement – they may

Lisa Tiplea- gold certificate

Andrei Peli- gold certificate Andrei Stoenescu- silver certificate Rares Saizu- bronze certificate Nina Culea- bronze certificate Oltean Alexandru- bronze certificate Alessia Grozea- bronze certificate

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IBSB hosts Middle School European Debate Championships

by Kendall Peet

On Thursday, March 22, 2022, IBSB had the pleasure of hosting the third edition of the European Middle School (U16) Debating Championships, after a two-year break due to the COVID restrictions in place. With travel concerns still present, the event this year was a strictly local affair, with the list of participating schools including Avenor College, the British School of Bucharest, the Cambridge School of Bucharest, the International British School of Bucharest, Ioanid, and Lycée Français Anna de Noailles.

Being a middle school debate competition, the focus on the event was less on winning, and more on learning the art of debating, developing as a debater during the competition, but most of all, having fun and making some new friends. To this extent, the competition adopted a format not traditionally used in debating competitions, with mixed-team rounds included to enable students from the various schools to enjoy the experience of debating together. There was also a considerable focus on feedback after each debate, identifying areas for each debater to improve on in the next round of debates. This does not mean, however, that students never debated in their school teams, as the first ‘prepared’ debate and final impromptu debate were both school team debates.

The following is a review of the day by Maia Bucura, Year 7.

The day began with a welcome speech and introduction offering a

debater a score to added to their team points, so each debater

brief overview of how the competition was going to be conducted,

did the best they could individually, aiming to both help their

and by the end of the short presentation, you could definitely tell

team and themselves in the race for the “Best Debate Award”.

that all of the teams present were both excited and a little nervous about the competition ahead.

With the second, third, and fourth debates over, it was finally time for everyone to gather in the main debate room for the

Everybody then headed off to find their assigned rooms, and

big news. The points gathered in each debate were added up,

the debating officially began. Reemerging from their rooms into

which paired teams for the final debate, with IBSB1 debating

the hallways an hour later, the result was clear, as some looked

IBSB 2. Coins were flipped, motions picked, and the final debate

disappointed in defeat, whilst others were elated in victory, with

was underway.

big beaming smiles on their faces. All debaters had one goal, however, which was to improve and do better in their next debate.

Then, after a long day of debating, the moment everyone had waited for…and the winners of this years middle school debate

The prepared debate now over, the next four debates were

coopetition are…Lycée Français Anna de Noailles.

impromptu, meaning all of the debaters had to eagerly wait for the motion to be drawn. The following debates, however, were

The trophy presentation over, it was now time to unwind and

special, as the teams weren’t organized how you’d expect them to

enjoy a social dinner at Taverna Sarbului, where everybody got to

be, with mixed teams consisting of students from the different

enjoy socializing with their new friends.

schools and varying ages. Added to this challenge, was also the need to agree on the position of each member in the newly

In the end, it was a great day enjoyed by all, as we all developed

formed team and to prepare for the debate in just 30 minutes

as debaters while having fun. As every single debater from our

without a digital device to help you, which some considered more

school was younger and less experienced than the debaters in

difficult and others actually preferred.

the other teams, it was a great opportunity to learn and grow, becoming more skillful debaters, better prepared for our next

Also, during the mixed debates, the judges didn’t simply have to

competition.

declare a winning team, but instead had to give each individual

Congratulations to the students from Français Anna de Noailles for their welldeserved victory. Congratulations also to Maia Bucura (Y7) and David Martin Murillo (Y7), for receiving ‘Best Debate Awards’, and to all our young IBSB debaters who participated in this years competition, all of whom were from Years 7 & 8 in their very first debate competition, debating against students 2-3 years older than themselves, showing incredible spirit and perseverance, but most importantly for enjoying themselves and finishing eager to compete in the next middle school debate competition, which will take place at BSB on June 16.

Thank you to the debate coaches from each of the participating schools for helping out with the judging in each round, providing the students with valuable feedback, and for contributing to a very well run event that ended with everyone feeling the day was a big success!

Finally, a big thank you to our event sponsors, Deloitte, Pro Business Solutions, and the Ramada Plaza, for making this event possible, contributing to education of the next generation of future leaders.

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IBSB Middle School Debating Success

by James Hudson Congratulations to the IBSB Middle School Debate teams for an outstanding performance at the International Schools Middle School Debate Competition this year, hosted by BSB on Thursday, June 16, 2022.

Building on their early experience at the European Middle School Debating Competition, hosted by IBSB in April, the returning debaters provided plenty of evidence to support the notion that ‘practice makes perfect’, or at the very least builds confidence.

For many of our junior IBSB debaters, however, it was their first debate competition, and therefore an unexpected surprise to find both IBSB1 & IBSB2 passing through the three rounds of morning debates undefeated, with IBSB1 eventually making it all the way to the grand final, based on the points gained from the morning debates.

More important that winning debates though, was the invaluably experience gained working together as a team, whilst developing the various skills relating to public debating, including developing good listening skills, building confidence speaking publically in front of an audience, forming clear, well-supported arguments, answering challenging questions with grace under pressure, learning the art of diplomacy, and establishing a sense of rapport with the audience, being just a sample of the skills associated with public debate.

A special thank you to the British School of Bucharest

The MS Debate Completion was an exciting yet challenging

for hosting the event, enabling students from

experience for both IBSB teams, as for many of us it was our very

international schools across Bucharest to meet and

first time debating against students from other schools!

make friends, whilst developing an important life skill. Our students are already looking forward to the

On the day of the competition, we were greeted warmly by the BSB

next interschool debate competition, which IBSB will

staff and had the chance to meet many new students and staff from

be hosting in November, 2022. Stay tuned for more

the various participating schools.

updates!

The morning started with morning tea and a short welcome and My first experience debating live,

introduction of all the participating schools, before announcing the

Maria Yang (Y10)

rooms for the first prepared debate on the motion “THBT a school curriculum should be designed by students not by adults”, with IBSB1 debating the Greek school Aletheea, and IBSB2 up against CSB2.

With the first round over, and both IBSB 1 and IBSB2 collecting valuable points, all teams enjoyed a short break before heading into two rounds of impromptu debates before lunch, with IBSB1 achieving 2 wins and a draw, and IBSB 2 a win and two draws – all in all a successful result from the morning round of debates.

After lunch, there was an light hearted impromptu showcase debate, with the best debaters from the eight participating teams invited to debate for the entertainment of all present, as a nice build up to the rather more serious grand final between IBSB1 and Avenor College.

For me personally, this was the highlight of the day.

Although many people in our teams were new to debating, we managed to pull through all the way to the finals where we had the opportunity to debate against Avenor! During the final, both teams showed a great deal of courage, presenting some truly outstanding arguments in front of a large, supportive audience, and although we did not win the final debate, we all agreed it was a great day enjoyed, with everyone feeling they had improved as debaters, feeling beyond grateful to have come so far in such a short space of time, and to be returning home with yet another debating trophy for our school collection!

All in all, the atmosphere was delightful and being able to work together with my colleagues throughout the numerous impromptu debates was an amazing learning experience. All opposing teams showed kindness and courtesy and so we were looking forward to sharing different insights and opinions regarding different topics.

This competition definitely helped me gain more knowledge and confidence over a variety of topics.

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IBSB debaters make Sir Winston Churchill Future Leaders Debate Final once again!

by Matthew Tansley As proud hosts of the annual Sir Winston Churchill Future Leaders High School Debating Championships, IBSB would like to congratulate all participating schools in this year’s competition. General feedback from all participating schools indicates that everyone was extremely happy to be back debating face to face, and that the quality of debating was once again very high, despite a two-year hiatus.

Special congratulations to Team IBSB for once again making it all the way through to the Grand Final undefeated, with Team Captain Maria Sticlea receiving the ‘Best Debater Award’.

“We had to take a two-year break from debating because of the coronavirus pandemic, so it was amazing to be back at the competition again! I really enjoyed meeting everyone and reconnecting with the old debaters I knew from previous events, and I have to say, overall the experience

and contributing toward the overall costs of running the

was truly unmatched.” Maria Sticlea, Team Captain

competition.

Thank you also to the Director of the British Council,

We look forward to seeing our students in action again

Andrew Glass, for helping to judge the final, and to our generous sponsors, Ramada Plaza for supplying the venue, complete with food and beverages, and Pro Business Solutions and Deloitte, for supplying the trophies

next year, as all team members, with the exception Melissa Aydogan (Y13), including Maria Sticlea, Sarah Iosiper, Alexia Verdes, and Andrei Vernon are currently in year 12, so will be back again next year to fly the IBSB debate flag high!

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What better way to learn than by exploring the great outdoors?

by Amalia Anicescu Year 11 It is no secret that Romania has a myriad of fascinating

map of the museum, which we had to use in order to find

sites to explore. Many of the country’s villages have an

different monuments dispersed all around the area. Once we

amazing, lengthy history, embroidered with a vast cultural

discovered where they were located, we chatted with other

heritage which never fails to astound inquisitive visitors.

tourists or the houses’ hosts, who provided us with generous

Piscu, a relatively small village situated only 45 minutes

insights which aided us enormously as we managed to

away from bustling Bucharest, is one such place.

gather all of the required information about how Romanians used to build their houses in days gone by. As expected,

Ergo, this April, some of the participants of the Duke of

each team encountered struggles as well - some of the

Edinburgh’s Award embarked on an enthralling journey

locations we had to explore were quite hard to find or even

to discover more about the pottery craft, traditions and

closed down, and, at first, gaining information from passers-

cultural heritage of this forgotten, peaceful village.

by was challenging. Nevertheless, through perseverance and determination, we all managed to find alternative solutions

Our tour began at the National Museum of the Village

and eventually completed the opening task.

“Dimitrie Gusti” in Bucharest. There, we finally got the chance to meet all of the participants and supervisors

Not long after, we arrived at our accommodation where we

and to form the teams. The first Bronze group included

were traditionally welcomed by the hosts with a basket of

Andrei Stere, Andreea Albu, Rianna Tanase and Emily, a

bread and salt. On our way there, we had already gotten our

student from another participating school. The second

first glimpse of the subtle beauties of Piscu. We couldn’t wait

one included myself, David Kiiovschi, Maia Hagai and Alina

to find out more about it in the next couple of days.

Barbu. There was also a Silver team which was formed by Maria Sticlea, Ioana Museteanu, Kathleen Hughes and Ana

The first evening was enigmatically dubbed ‘Fireflies

Cristescu.

Evening’. Accompanied by Miss Croci and Ms Senzaconi, we all ventured into the neighbouring area, looking for the

After the administrative aspects were completed, we were

overpass which crosses over the Ialomita River. As soon as

ready to start our first mission! Each team was given a

we got there, we expected to see dozens of lightning bugs,

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anxiously beginning to question whether we should walk all the way back to the principal road or not, we found an exit, and exhaled in relief. From there, we easily got to the Monastery, where Mother Pavelina, one of the nuns, told us all about the history of the sacred location, offering to also lead us on a guided tour of the church’s museum. I was amazed by some of the artefacts we saw there: books dating back to the 1600s which were still in an intact state, and even one of the first successful attempts made by a Romanian painter to create a realistic portrait. Astonished by everything we saw, we walked back to the accommodation, with the teams racing each other to get there first for a relaxing, well-deserved break.

After a satisfying lunch, we visited the renowned Piscu Pottery Museum. The bewitching, grandiose construction is situated on the top of a grassy hillock in the middle of the welcoming however, we were quickly informed that the actual fireflies were ourselves, since we all wore headlamps. Slightly surprised yet amused, we returned to the accommodation, excited to find out what other challenges awaited us.

The next day’s programme commenced early: we first had to prove that our knowledge of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award’s procedural matters was crystal clear, as many of us were on our first ever ‘Adventurous Journey’. After conducting the appropriate research through a fun, enticing game, we were finally ready to start mapping out and planning our route for the day. Each team heedfully studied the trails across the landmass which surrounded us and identified a circuit based around the touristic locations we had to visit and investigate.

We first stopped at the Piscu Orthodox Church, waiting for all the groups to reunite. However, our main aim was to find out more about our next meeting point, the Tiganesti Monastery. In order for us to get there, we had to pass an abundance of hurdles. We were on a tight schedule, therefore, we all decided to take a shortcut to the Monastery.

Instead of walking all the way around a field which was spread over a vast area, we decided to pass right through it. It was all going well at first, we were all proud of the initial decision…Unexpectedly though, as we were nearing its end, the realisation that the land was bordered by a riverbed hit

village. Exquisite details can be noticed both on the outside and inside of the museum; no one can underestimate the prodigious amount of effort put into constructing the building.

As we walked in, we saw that - unlike other museums – there was no conservation glass to frame the artefacts. They were all laid out on different shelves that encircled the principal area of the ground floor - a conversation pit, in the middle of which the roots of a chunky tree trunk were firmly secured.

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Still, the greatest amazement came when we visited the second floor. There, we went into the workshop and also viewed many of the paintings the artists there made. In the end, we reached the captivating 3D Infinity Mirror Room, where they display documentaries about the area’s cultural heritage.

The owners of the amazing gallery welcomed us and told us a bit about how the project came to life. We discovered that Piscu had been occupied by potters for centuries on end, as many of the materials used in pottery were conveniently available in the area. Even so, nowadays, the craft has become less of a necessity, thus the number of craftsmen is decreasing. That’s why this museum plans to revive the village’s history, and possibly to bring about another generation of potters. They wish to do this by engaging young people in activities similar to those we conducted while we were there. We had a chance to try pottery with the help of experts who were of a similar age to us, and built our own functional pieces of artwork. In addition to this, we also painted flowerpots and worked hard to make engravings; developing new skills and consolidating already existing ones.

It was a busy, full day for all of us, nonetheless, we were all excited about everything we had accomplished and created during the day. Back at our accommodation, we built a campfire, roasted marshmallows, and laughed heartily, remembering the silly obstacles we had encountered earlier on.

On the last day of our trip, we attended a workshop where we made all kinds of mosaics. The materials we used were all recycled, and our host, Ms Elena, shared with us information about how she came up with the concept. Since she was in the property development business, building ecological houses, she noticed that extra material which could be used to create different artwork, was always left behind. Therefore, she came up with the idea to model mosaics from them.

She also shared a wealth of information about the benefits of ecological houses and offered us the opportunity to learn more about how they are built. She even invited us to assist her and the team on the construction site during the summer if we wished to do so!

As the day was coming to an end, we had to write our final

reports and then present them in front of everybody. All of the presentations were assembled joyfully and then displayed in humorous ways. Once the ending ceremony was over, we all erupted in rapturous applause, pleased with everything we had attained over the course of the three days, and excited to know that through this exploration camp we all triumphantly completed the ‘Adventurous Journey’ section of the Award.

Soon after, we all packed our bags and headed back home, looking forward to the next opportunity to set out on a thrilling jaunt.

What is a Nestler?

When global talent needs a new nest to settle, to take root, to thrive, we make sure every detail is taken care of. In corporate mobility, every new posting is a rite of passage. We are the ones handling the unfolding of these rituals, be them legal, cultural, organizational or simply regarding day-to-day life. We are the Nestlers.

What can a Nestler do?

We help expatriates nestle up into their host country by offering comprehensive first-class immigration, taxation and relocation services to our corporate clients. Our team has over thirteen years of experience in the field and is highly professional and dedicated, as we know that through our shared commitment we offer valuable support to hundreds of families who choose to go through the complex process of relocating from one country to another, worldwide.

Our team is well-versed in taxation, labor law, immigration, payroll, global mobility coordination. Our experts can offer clear guidelines for even the most intricate of problems, but their professionalism goes beyond pure expertise and adds a much-needed human touch.

Our vision, our values Each of our experts is a nest weaver for expatriates. The raw materials like straws and twigs are the legal bounds and the binding earth is the cultural and organizational framework within which the expatriate is posted. And of course, there are many other things that help expatriates claim this nest as their own, and it’s no wonder, since we tailor everything to their needs: immigration essentials, tax assessments, area orientation, house hunting, intercultural training and legal support for their spouses.

Our mission is to help expatriates nestle up in their host country and provide them with all the requirements they need to make the best out of such an experience.

We dream of a world of diverse mobile workforce for which legal, geographical, social and cultural constraints can turn into opportunities with our help. We want professionals to fulfill their dreams, but most of all to pursue the career that can turn their expertise into vision, innovation and change.

we are the

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Celebrating Reading and Francophonie!

by Daniela Monirleanu

It was something new and exciting, which brought us all together.

We enjoyed a conversation about the book we were reading as we drank some tea and ate biscuits, we were reading, which was nice

Tea, cookies, and a book – the perfect recipe to celebrate the Francophonie and the World Book Day. Since it was about books and languages, the Spanish group was there too with its reading corner. The students all said it was a great way to start the week:

and relaxing. It also broke the routine of sitting in a classroom

listening to the teacher. It honestly brought a lot of joy to our day!

Anastasia Iortoman 9K Mondays are usually a big no for me, especially in the morning; today

Today in French we deviated from our usual schedule and

was an exception! Ms Dana, our French teacher, had the brilliant idea

pleasant experience reading “L’arbre et les lycéens” and

school cafeteria while serving baked goodies and a cup of hot tea.

important for us to leave our classrooms once in a while

with my classmates and teacher!

went to read and eat at the lunch hall. It was a very

of letting us read our current book, “L’arbre des lyceens”, in the

eating cookies and brownies and drinking tea. It is very

I really enjoyed speaking in French while sharing thoughts and laughs

to study in different locations because not only is it

Maria Yang 9K

hope we will be able to do this again.

Where to begin.. Fun reading activities, writing, tea and snacks,

enjoyable, but also it also gives us a changed mindset. I

Anushka Laha 9K

describes one wonderful, diverting, lesson. We read about the

It felt like we were no longer in school, and drinking tea

individually and then as a group. We also enjoyed eating snacks

Ecaterina Botan 9E

on a Monday morning. I couldn’t have imagined a World Book Day to

added a nice touch to the reading.

famous city of Barcelona and did some short exercises, first

together with a cup of tea and relaxed; just what a student needs have gone any better, having fun together as a class and learning some new vocabulary at the same time.

Natalie Kandelaki - 9E Today in Spanish, instead of studying in our usual classroom, we

went to the lunch room to have some tea, cookies, and crackers

while we took turns reading a book about Barcelona, which was a

lot of fun. We also did some exercises, learnt some new vocabulary

words, and also improved our pronunciation, so it was a great start to the week.

Aida Dragomirescu - 9K

by Matthew Tansley I would like to thank the English team of Tara Rose, Peter Ennion, and Michelle Gourley for a fantastic event that took place on Friday, June 17, which was our inaugural “SaySpeakSpell” competition.

This event involved public speaking, a spelling bee, and live performance, and was absolutely fantastic to behold, once again confirming that the quality of public speaking at IBSB is of a very high level indeed.

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in this event, but in particular to the following students:

1st Place Y7&8 Public Speaking - Maia Bucura 7B 1st Place Y9&10 Public Speaking - Nina Culea 10R 1st Place IBSB Spelling Bee - Maia Bucura 7B 1st Place Performance - Augadh Arora 10R, Nina Culea 10R, & Andrada Samoila Zamfirescu 10O For those who participated, but did not receive an award, here is always next time: “If at first we do not succeed, we must try, try, try again!” As learners we must be resilient, able to bounce back from disappointment, so that that is not a case of ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ we succeed. This was the theme for my graduation speech, dealing with adversity and disappointment at different points in our life, noting that those who are successful, those who perform, are those who are resilient and can deal with those challenges.

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University Destinations 2022

by Jayne Baker

Another year over - and the process of university applications is finally complete!

With Brexit now a reality, I am finding non-UK students, particularly those holding an EU passport, are increasingly considering their university options within the European Union, where fees are substantially reduced, typically in the range of 2,000€-10,000€ per annum (as opposed to £20,000-£35000 in the UK).

Last year, for example, approximately 75% of our students selected a UK based university for their hihger education studies, as opposed to less than 50% this year. This change has meant that our students have needed to be much more organised with their time to be able to explore the many options available across continental Europe, whilst being careful to check they fulfil the relevant admissions criteria and submit their applications on time- admissions criteria and deadlines can vary greatly from country to country, and in some cases university to university.

It is also interesting to note that several of our students from the 2022 cohort have opted for a ‘Gap Year’ next year, which is not uncommon in western countries, wishing to gain some life or work experience or simply wishing to enjoy their new found freedom before committing to

a programme of higher education. There is no doubt that COVID has had a hand to play in all this, being the first group of post pandemic graduates, aged just 15-16 years old when the pandemic hit three years ago, who did not sit formal examinations in Years 11 or 12, so face the reality that their university applications will be based entirely on their Y13 results. Added to these various difficulties, is the fact that there are also fewer places available in some courses in the UK, due a sizeable number of COVID deferments from last year, resulting in higher entry requirement for certain subjects and universities.

In the following pages you will find a selection of the confirmed university destinations for 2022, reflecting the types of courses and university destinations our students are currently selecting.

As always, we wish all our graduating students the very best with their future endeavours. They have been a pleasure to work with this year.

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by Daniela Monirleanu Our KS5 French students celebrated the International Francophonie Week in a unique way. Imagination and kindness have no limits and our students discovered new ways to offer messages of hope, gratitude, and peace within our community. Delicate spring flowers with letters of encouragement in French were shared with parents and teachers - a beautiful reminder that different languages and cultures can unite us despite our differences.

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KS5 Francophonie Week

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IBSB students maintain proud WordFest record!

by Peter Ennion WordFest is a spoken word contest held between

second place. This is all the more impressive when you consider that

international schools in Romania. Due to the

neither Felix or Sonia had any previous experience of impromptu

pandemic, the fourth edition of this annual event was

speaking and that Sandra wrote and performed her own monologue

postponed, finally taking place on Saturday the 19th

against students who were using the scripts of established

of March, 2022. The last time it was held in 2020,

playwrights! Priya also delivered a fantastic speech about climate

around 100 students gathered at the Romanian-

change in the most competitive category of all (persuasive speaking)

American University to enjoy the performances,

whilst Andrei put in a valiant effort delivering an impromptu speech

workshops, and prize-giving ceremony, and so it was

with a topic that didn’t quite suit him... If you ask him, he’ll tell you all

heartening to see so many enthusiastic students from

about it!

the various participating schools assembling at King’s Oak to take part this year.

So, IBSB can be very proud that the six students walked away with four of the top prizes. It just goes to show that even in a field with

IBSB was represented at this event by Priya, Felix and

such high standards, the talent and hard work of our students shines

Sever (Y8) along with Sonia, Sandra and Andrei from

through.

Y9. The students deserve a lot of credit for the way they approached the competition during such a busy

Well done and thank you to Priya, Felix, Sever, Andrei, Sonia and

time of year, as several of our contestants also took

Sandra!

part in IBSB’s MUN the previous week, so it was the second consecutive weekend that they were devoting to our school’s extensive cross curricular activities. It was also very pleasing to see Felix and Sever, who are members of Ms Rose’s English Ambassadors team, showcase their talents in this English-based event.

One thing that hadn’t changed was the high standard of the competition across all the categories, including speeches, poems, stories, and drama performances, setting the judges an extremely difficult task. In the end, however, Sever and Felix took first place prizes in their respective categories for group acting and impromptu speaking, while Sonia (impromptu speaking) and Sandra (individual acting) achieved

by Olivia Opran, Year 7 For one of our lessons, Ms Anghel decided that the best way to learn recipes in German is to actually make something following a recipe in German. With this in mind, the year 7 German class set out to learn how to make a delicious milkshake, and at the end of the lesson got to test that had learnt the recipe correctly.

In preparation for the lesson, the students were each asked to bring items for the milkshake to school, including strawberries, bananas, milk, cream, ice cream, cups, straws, and decorations, to make the milkshake. Ms Anghel brought the blender to mix everything up.

As a part of the lesson we talked about the importance of teamwork, with everyone contributing in some way to the final outcome. We all understood that this would be very important later in life when we are working and need to be a reliable in a team.

Another important aspect of this activity was being generous, because we shared our ice cream with the other German class, and then when the other group had a desert making activity, they brought us cupcakes, teaching us that a good deed is always returned.

In the end, this interactive l milkshake lesson was a huge success, enjoyed by all, especially as we all go to drink our well-deserved milkshakes.

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HPL German Milkshakes

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IBSB Work Experience Programme 2022

by Kendall Peet Working for a renowned international corporation is a

dreams. In this way, work experience places the work being done

dream come true for many of our students, being an

now in class in the clear perspective of very real and measurable

opportunity that opens the road towards a successful

goals our students wish to achieve in their future, providing a

future career.

powerful mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

PwC Romania and Deloitte are two such companies

It is with this in mind that we thank the staff involved in organsing and

that welcome IBSB students each year to join their

running this programme, especially Roxana Anghel the IBSB Work

summer internship programme, offering our students

Experience Programme Coordinator.

valuable insights into the corporate world of finance, along with the chance to simply experience what it

We also take this opportunity to formally thank our Work Experience

feels like to work a 9-5 job, which is equally valuable

Partners for 2022 for their ongoing support and commitment to

and important.

education. Please know that the programmes and opportunities you provide our students have a big impact on their current lives and

For many of our students, Work Experience provides a life-changing opportunity. For some, it confirms their dreams of being a future doctor or engineer, for example, whilst for others it is an opportunity to realise that the dream does not always match the reality, and as such, it provides the inspiration to re-orientate their dreams toward a new career more suited to their specific interests and talents at an age where this is very easily done.

Work experience also provides an important stimulus to mature and adopt a more professional approach to study. Once students have selected their career, they feel more motivated to work towards achieving it. They begin to actively plan out their future, researching higher education opportunities, universities, and technical institutes, or in some case apprenticeships, knowing exactly what courses and grades will be needed to enable them to move on to achieve their

future career choices and success.

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IBSB Work Experience Partners 2022

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World Book Week

by Amalia Anicescu, Year 11 In the words of Stephen King, “Books are a uniquely portable magic”. A few pages, heedfully sewn together, can enable any ordinary individual to travel through a myriad of countries, galaxies, and even dimensions - within a few minutes, from anywhere in the world. They can empower the upbeat dreamers to visualise themselves as their best-loved characters, or to join their favourite historical figures on incredible journeys.

In March, we celebrated World Book Week each morning by bringing a book to school to enjoy the little time we had before the lessons would officially kick off, reading. Mr Ennion organised a Book Exchange, encouraging students to swap their books for a voucher, which could then be used on Friday to acquire new ones. Ms Rose and the English Ambassadors also helped enhance the animated atmosphere of these five literary days by working hard to create various quizzes and fun activities for their schoolmates to complete during form time.

In this manner, plenty of the eager, knowledgeable readers around campus got the chance to share their excellent recommendations far and wide and discover intriguing volumes which could become their new favourites.

On Monday, our form tutors introduced us to all of the contests prepared for us by our English teachers: the Extreme Reading Challenge; the Cooking the Books Competition; the Emoji Challenge; and the Costume Competition. Each involved an utterly different, entertaining task to complete. The Extreme Reading Challenge dared the venturesome to take a picture of themselves reading in a peculiar location, while the Cooking the Books Competition aimed at the talented

Master Chefs of IBSB, ready to test their skills by trying to reproduce craved delicacies from famous stories. The intricate Emoji Challenge commenced immediately on Monday, with each student given a paper sheet to write what book the emojis each teacher had affixed to their badge card represented. The end goal was to identify all of them, and so, throughout the week students comically chased down teachers, trying to match the emojis with a potential title. Finally, there was the Costume Competition, set to take place on Friday, inviting students to dress up as their beloved characters.

As Friday was the official World Book Day, form groups celebrated the occasion by crafting personalised bookmarks in vibrant colours during Life Skills lesson, whilst others prepared their costumes for the competition for the assembly, their faces painted to imitate different mystical characters.

The assembly started with projections of several entries from the Extreme Reading Challenge and the Cooking the Books Competition.

Then Ms Gourley, Ms Rose, and Mr Ennion each took turns to congratulate the winners of different challenges, and to thank and

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Next up, the Costume Competition, with Ms Gourley cheerfully inviting the children dressed for the occasion to join her on stage, as the team of designated judges, pleasantly surprised by the meticulously assembled attire, scrutinised their appearances, with multiple prizewinners walking off the stage victoriously displaying their rewards. Then, as an unexpected surprise, the teachers were also invited to the front to display their costumes, inspired by their favourite characters. This time the power lay with the students - whoever received the loudest applause was to be declared – the audience crowning Mr Vincent, aka King Arthur, as the rightful winner.

As the assembly drew to a close, Ms Rose took a moment to thank the English Ambassadors for all of their hard work, gathering them on stage to applaud their efforts. World Book Week was officially over, being an enjoyable way to honour books, writers, readers, and language as a whole. It reminded everybody of how fun reading can be, encouraging all to make more time for it! In this respect, the week was a resounding success, to the point that I am already keenly awaiting next year’s World Book Week, curious to learn what fun activities await us!

Happy World Book Week, everybody!

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praise the students who helped organise the activities. The audience erupted in rapturous applause each time a winner

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Year 13 Graduation Ceremony 2022

by Matthew Tansley The Year 13 Graduation Ceremony was once again held at the Central University Library (Biblioteca Centrala Universitara “Carol I”), providing the perfect setting for what is arguably the most important event on the school calendar. And is always the case, in keeping with tradition and the formality of the occasion, our students, parents, family guests, and staff all turned up dressed for the occasion, donning their regal best, with flowing ball gowns, tuxedoes and bow ties, and cameras at the ready; after all, you only graduate high school once, right!

As a precursor to the evening, Head Girl, Melissa Aydogan, offered a warm welcoming speech, as the opening address to the End of Year Awards Ceremony that took place just prior to the Graduation Ceremony, which you can read about in this issue, so we won’t go into detail about this part of the programme here, jumping straight to the graduation ceremony itself instead.

Doing a great job as MCs for the evening, Maria Sticlea (Y12) and Patrick Tansley (Y12) welcomed all in attendance and then promptly invited Deputy Head Girl, Ana Cristescu, to the podium, as the first speaker for the evening, to offer thoroughly entertaining Valedictorian speech, reviewing her time at IBSB, and on behalf of the entire graduating class, noting how much life at IBSB had changed since she joined the school in Year 1, when the buildings were all painted pink and with an Astroturf football field where

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humorous anecdotes, much to the enthusiastic applause of all students present.

It was then on to our Head of Secondary, Mr Tansley, who thanked Ana for her enjoyable speech and the parents for entrusting the education of their children to the staff of IBSB, saying it had been both an honour and a privilege to bear witness to the journey of each and every student, thanking the students for their journey shared and many contributions made to school life across the curriculum, and rather humorously for the additional grey hairs gathered in his maturing

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years.

Finally, Reverend Nevsky was invited to the podium as

stage one last time age for the official group photo and

our guest speaker for the evening, offering an endearing

cap toss, before group and family photos and Mr Tansley’s

account of his experiences at Cambridge University,

Champagne toast to the graduating class of 2022.

complete with some wise words of wisdom for our graduates, advising them to start their assignments early

Hugs and kisses were in abundance and fond farewells

and to seek out every opportunity available to them whilst

heard above the maelstrom of social interaction as the

at university, as they prepare for the next chapter of their

students and all attending filtered out into the night,

educational journey.

carrying many warm memories and high hopes for the future.

Shifting to the main focus of the evening, each graduate was then invited to the stage to receive their graduation

To the graduating class of 22, we wish you every success

diploma, taking a few moments to thank friends, family,

for the future. May you always possess the courage to

and teaching staff for all the support received during their

follow your dreams, and the inner strength and self-belief

time at IBSB. They of the future with a sense of optimism

to speak your truth and live life true to your values and

and excitement, wishing their peers every success in the

convictions.

next chapter of their lives, and then gathered together on

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the gymnasium is now located, pointing out some quirky highlights of the students’ experience, spiced up with a few

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Year 7 German Cupcakes

by Rodica Ursu Students in Year 7 enjoyed a special German lesson that involved baking cupcakes. In order to make the cupcakes, the students had to copy the recipe into their books and then carefully follow the instructions to ensure success.

The class teacher, Ms Ioana Anghel, said it’s the type of lesson she really enjoys preparing, and the students all agreed! It was a lesson that moved from the theory of language learning to a real-life situation, providing a clear context and motivation for the students to use German, which the students all clearly enjoyed.

The lesson also provided the perfect opportunity to assess the students’ ability to follow instructions in German, whilst working closely together in groups, building and reinforcing the schemata of vocabulary relating to cooking, baking, using kitchen utensils, and the ingredients needed to bake the cupcakes.

Clementine, Teodora, Sofia, Iulia, Tudor, and David all said they really enjoyed the experience of making the cupcakes, saying the process was extremely fun, but more importantly, they were happy because they got to test out the end product, saying they tasted delicious! Their teacher agreed that the final result was better than expected, apparently even good enough to appear amongst the Starbucks range of special treats! Who knows, maybe a student from Y7 German will end up opening a café in the future and grow it into a worldwide brand name! Only time will tell!

OuR Visit to Europa FM and Virgin Radio

by Diana Lia On Tuesday, May 17, our French class visited Europa FM (the

I have to admit, the radio station looked totally different to

radio station) and Virgin Radio, where everyone was super

what I was expecting! We had an amazing time and the hosts

enjoyed a tour of the studio and got the chance to talk

recording ourselves in a soundproof studio with professional

nice and welcoming. We were explained how things worked and live on radio with thousands of people listening. Later, in

small booths, we recorded our news in French to really get a feel for how it would be to work there. It was a fun trip - hopefully we will have more of these as they’re insightful,

unique, and memorable, especially now with restrictions lifted, as they provide a nice contrast to being in school each day.

were truly welcoming! We prepared a news article in French,

equipment, and at the end of the tour, a very kind member of

the staff gave us a bag full of merchandise goodies. Thank you Ms Dana for accompanying us on this trip!

Heng Yang – Maria I really enjoyed this trip. Not only were there educational

Anastasia Iortoman

aspects to it, but it was genuinely a lot of fun to meet new

Virgin Radio was very different to Europa FM; you could sense

kind and their show was interesting. We also listened to Virgin

a noticeable shift in the atmosphere; with a lot more colour

and vibrancy, as Virgin Radio is aimed at a younger audience.

The main host of the show greeted us with a lively, excited welcome, and there was much more humor integrated into

the show. During our visit we got to tune in while the news

presenter read her script and immerse ourselves in how the show played out. We then got to record our own news flash in the recording rooms next to the offices, with Ms Dana’s expertise and help in working the intimidating (at first)

equipment, taking turns to read the script we had prepared, which I found really intriguing. I was especially touched by

how friendly all the staff were and eager to make us feel comfortable. We even got to meet the French Director and his assistant, and ate some delicious food in the building’s

café, which was tres chic! Thank you Ms Dana once again for giving us the opportunity.

Sonia Marta

people and see a live session of EUROPA FM. The hosts were very Radio, who were very cheerful toward us, and got the chance to record ourselves talking in French in the studios, which was an

interesting experience. I would definitely recommend going there again, for educational purposes or just for fun.

Anushka Laha

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Year 9 Humanities Trip to Sinaia

by Mara Mestecaneanu and Marc Paraschiv, Year 9 On the 12th of May, a Y9 Humanities Business Studies Trip

instructed to walk around the main Sinaia avenue together

was scheduled. The whole purpose of the trip was to obtain

asking visitors about their stay in the city. And yes, there was a

information about travel and tourism in Sanaia, one of the

punishment for separating: spending the rest of the trip by the

busiest tourist towns in Romania.

side of one of the teachers, who reassured the students that they too wouldn’t be very happy with the arrangement.

08:40, Gara Nordului: we started arriving at the designated time, huddling up with their friends, frantically looking around

12:30, Sinaia Main Avenue: all the students were required

for the teachers. Well, not so frantically, more like, ‘relaxed,

make their way back to the centre to report back to

but where are they?’ sort of looking around. Some students

their teachers, having completed most of their printed

had chosen to arrive earlier, in order to place their Starbucks

questionnaires, and eaten lunch.

prior to departure. Yes, I said it, 14-year-olds, up earlier than they needed to be that morning to order coffee and

13:00, Sinaia Centre: All of the students gathered, registered,

breakfast from one of the many coffee shops present at the

and were counted twice to ensure we were all back safe and

train station (the only acceptable one in our eyes).

sound. The plan now was to head up to Peles Castle, to visit it both inside and out. However, during the time the students

09:00, Gara Nordului, train wagons 2 and 4: with Starbucks

had been walking around the city, the teachers and as well as

in one hand and clipboards in the other, we boarded the

the students had received an alert about a bear seen around

train as instructed by our teachers. The train ride itself wasn’t

the premises of the castle, so Plan A was cancelled. Plan B

that bad, just a small rumble now and then that didn’t stop

was to spend the rest of the time in the park, which we did.

us from talking, eating, drinking, blasting music loudly (you know who you are), and other such activities. The level of

14:40, Sinaia Park: With the train leaving in 20 minutes, the

excitement was slowly building, and as the train neared our

teachers prepared for departure recalling everyone for the

final destination, we rose looking out the windows, smiling

homeward journey. Having instructed us not to leave the

ear to ear.

boundaries of the park, we weren’t too hard to find: some of us we down by the fountain, some were lying on the

10:20, Sinaia Centre: having climbed several flights of rocky

grass, some playing volleyball in a small clearing, and others

stairs, we arrived at the entrance of Sinaia’s main park, with

were just walking around the park. Gathered, a head count

one teacher leading, one at the end, and one in our midst.

was completed and we all headed off to the train to begin

Several students who had already visited the city recognised

the journey home, having enjoyed a nice day out in one of

a few of the key familiar sights. Once in the park, we grouped

Romania’s most beautiful mountain resort towns, as the basis

together as the teachers explained our tasks and the

for designing our own tourism package holiday experiences.

purpose of our trip. Each group, of 4 to 5 students, was then

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Each year we host our own Tourism Fair, to provide an opportunity to our Year 9 students to showcase their exciting projects promoting one or more travel destinations within Romania. As preparation for the Tourism Fair, the students enjoyed a field trip to Sinaia, to gather information about tourism in Romania in order to better understand the needs of their potential future customers. They then developed a concept for their project, carried out research and collected content, designed a website, and put together package offers, which they presented at the showcase Tourism Fair, with a panel of three parents invited to judge the entries, selecting an overall winner.

As you can see from the pictures below, they were in charge of everything from the design to the promotion, exactly as a professional tourism agency would be. Great job everyone!

Thank you so much for the various contributions everyone made in preparing for this event. It was lovely to see so many parents visiting and to receive such kind words of feedback from the three external judges.

When asked, the students all said that they enjoyed the day and the project this term. They especially enjoyed the style of learning this project provided- spearheading HPL, before they even knew what HPL was!

Black Sea schools is an association founded by the British International School of Tbilisi, with a total of more than twenty member schools from the nations that share the coast of the Black Sea and nearby neighbours.

We are extremely fortunate in that there are now a number of BSS competitions organised and run each year by the various members, with the students from IBSB having the opportunity to take part as a part of our growing extracurricular programme.

In this issue, for example, you have the chance to read about two of these competitions, including the Black Sea Schools Art Competitions and the Black Sea Schools Creative Writing Competition.

Here, specifically, you can read a few of our secondary school short story entries for this year.

We are very proud to announce that Nina Culea (Year 10) achieved 3rd place in the Key Stage 4 category, whilst Sofia Peli was awarded 2nd place in the Key Stage 2 category (you can read Sofia’s entry in the Whiteboard section of this magazine).

Congratulations to both students and to all of our young writers who participated in the competition this year.

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The Black Sea Schools Creative Writing Competition 2022

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HYBRID

by Maia Bucura It’s been twenty years since the last regular human evolved

puzzled in my entire life. Could they even talk? Would they hurt

into a hybrid cyborg, or so we thought. We naturally turned

me? There was no way to describe the number of thoughts and

into hybrids as technology developed, or so we thought. The

questions I had.

monarch of Earth only means well, or so we thought.

There was a moment of silence. The thing that broke it? Not Nothing we thought was right.

answers, not questions, but my friends screaming as they went through the tunnel. Good, I wasn’t going to be alone with these…

Every single thing we knew was made up…

people. As all my friends fell to the bottom of the tunnel, I could see the terror and confusion on their faces. That must have

Sometimes I wish I hadn’t explored that forest with my friends. been what I looked like too. Another moment of silence… great.

I wish I had stayed home and downloaded new software into my brain like my mother told me to do. Whenever I begin to

Suddenly, all the humans moved out of the way to reveal a

regret, I remind myself that I’m here for a reason. I discovered

powerful-looking woman. As she walked towards us, I couldn’t

this place for a reason. Everything that led to me being here

help but notice the sizeable scar positioned across her face.

has happened for a reason…

That’s where our human faces split into robotic faces.

I remember that day perfectly. Me and my friends were

“I see you’re looking at my scar.”

suspended from school for hacking into the school system and making the school lights become party lights. You

Shoot, it was too obvious.

couldn’t blame me for it, it was like the school’s system was asking to be hacked. Anyway, my mother told me to stay in my “Don’t worry kids, we won’t hurt you. Please, make yourselves at room and download the “Good kid” software into my brain. Of

home, you might be here for a while.” the woman told us as she

course, I didn’t do that. I had plans.

turned towards one of my friends.

I took my father’s jet car and headed to the dark woods where

She looked as if she was analyzing him, and she was. “I’m sorry, I

I planned to meet up with my friends. I was the last to arrive,

might look confused, it’s just that we have lived here for so long,

so we left as soon as I landed. Curiosity always got the better

we’ve forgotten what you guys look like.” she stated.

of us, so we explored the forest, pretending to be researchers.

I was casually walking when “Aaaaaaaaaah!” I fell into an

What WE look like? This is what everybody looks like, everybody

enormous, coiled tunnel and slid through it as if it were one of

except these people.

those ancient slides we learned about. As I got to the bottom and opened my eyes, I was greeted by many confused

She told us to follow her to the main hall, where she would

gazes…

explain everything to us.

They weren’t hybrids. They were… humans? I let out a shriek

We had no choice but to do so, so we complied.

as I looked up at them once more. I could tell they were as frightened as I was, but too many thoughts were running

As we entered the main hall, a guard told us to state our names

through my head to care. “Who are you? No, what are you?

and on whose behalf we were there, but the woman told the

No, where am I? No, am I dreaming?” I had never been so

guard there was no need for that and led us to a room with

Creative Corner

an office table and 5 seats, just enough for all of us. She gestured for us to sit and began to talk. “I am Lady Astra Annora, but you can simply call me Miss Annora. I am the monarch of the last clan of pure homo sapiens there is and this is our bunker. Everything you have ever been told is a lie. We never “naturally” evolved into hybrids, that isn’t even

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“How are we even meant to trust you? We fall through a tunnel and encounter creatures which we only learn about in history lessons and are suddenly safe?

How do we know you aren’t planning to harm us?” My friend raged. He was right though, we had no way of knowing if she was trustworthy.

“Two things. You have my word. Ask anybody here and you’ll see that I’m serious when it comes to that. The second thing? You see this scar on my face? I escaped from the people who wanted to forcefully turn our species into what you five are. Now, if I may resume, all of the people alive then were built into hybrids and coded to forget. We are the ones who escaped. You guys weren’t born like this, you were turned into robots when you were still newborns.

It’s all the monarch’s plan to control you.”

More thoughts were running through my head, I was able to stop all questions but one. “Why are you telling us all of this?”

“I have nothing against becoming a hybrid, but I do have something against being forced to do so. Living in this bunker for 20 years has made me realise that humankind should have liberty of choice. You should be able to choose whether you want to stay a hybrid or become human again.

My people and I want to give the above-ground world this freedom. However, to do that we need a hybrid voice, someone who can break the barrier between hybrid and human. We really need your help, all of you!”

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possible,” she told us.

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HYBRID

by Rita Bartos, Year 9E On the wall, there is a blue plastic clock that moves slowly. I don’t think it’s even working. I’ve been staring at it intently for

We enter a large stone hall with the same gliding lamps and a

what seems like hours, although the clock has barely moved

wide range of tables in the center. The Alki points up toward

a minute. The more I study it, the more I realize that this isn’t

what appear to be millions of little glass condos stacked on top

my room, or any other room I’m familiar with, even if it at first

of one another.

glance it appears to be.

We walk in silence for a while, until we reach an elevator that I look around the room as I swivel my head. The room appears

looks modern. “So, what are you-” The elevator’s ding signaling

strange. The infinite ceiling is lit by gliding lamps, and the

that we had arrived at the top floor, cuts me off. The doors open,

chamber has no doors or windows, only plain white walls. I

and without a word, she quickly walks past me into the dark

extend my hand, but it is withdrawn by something. I take a

lobby.

quick scan around my body and discover I’m tethered to... nothing. I am practically levitating, since there is nothing

Someone, I assume the Alki, claps their hands, and the chamber

underneath me. I begin to shake my body, hoping to get out of

is immediately flooded with light. The room is cramped, with a

whatever this was.

desk at the far end and a slew of little drawers spread over the walls. A door randomly appears, and now, at the counter, there is

“No need to do that,” a glacial voice echoes behind me. I

another Alki with the same glowing hair as the Alki next to me.

twist my head, but instead of being relieved to hear another human-like voice, I am horrified. This thing standing behind

“I see. Rumour has it that a new Alki has come to our planet.

me was not human or anything near that.

That doesn’t happen very often.” Alki says in a deep voice. “Oh, and how impolite of me. I am Keres, the leader of the Alkis.”

If you imagined extraterrestrial beings as green things with big black eyes and egg-shaped heads, think again. Whatever this

Keres takes my hand to shake it, but I quickly tuck it behind my

is, it has paper white skin and glowing purple hair. Her eyes

back. What is he saying?

are cat-like, bright purple. She looks almost human.

“Good, I’ll let Odalis take you to your apartment,” Keres says, Once I am all untied and standing up, my curiosity builds.

pointing at the girl next to me, and whispering something in her

“You’re not human?”

ear. Odalis whispers something back to Keres and then turns to me.

The tone of her voice is serious, but with a tinge of amusement. “Not really. I mean, we are, but not fully. We’re a

“Follow me.” Odalis waves her hand at me, instructing me to

combination of Alkinis and humans. We were banished from

follow her.

our planet by our species, or well, half of our species. So we relocated here. We call ourselves Alkis. We pretty much do

The walk back appears longer this time, as we travel through

the same as the Alkinis. Telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation,

corridors and little rooms interminably. But it doesn’t bother me.

you name it.” Then she turns around.

Keres and Odalis both mention that I was an Alki, and it stayed with me. I’m not foolish enough to just claim I don’t understand

A door opens out of nowhere, and the hybrid begins moving

and dismiss the situation as a “mystery.” I understand, but I

towards it; I follow without saying anything.

believe there is a mistake somewhere; after all, I was going to

sleep in my bed yesterday, and now I’m here, in a foreign

Annora, but you can simply call me Miss Annora. I am the

area that may or may not be on planet Earth.

monarch of the last clan of pure homo sapiens there is and this is our bunker. Everything you have ever been told is a lie. We

I am so absorbed in my thoughts that I don’t even notice

never “naturally” evolved into hybrids, that isn’t even possible,”

we have arrived at what appears to be a glass apartment,

she told us.

identical to the ones I saw for the first time in the main hall.

Odalis enters the flat through one of those floating portal

“How are we even meant to trust you? We fall through a tunnel

doors. I quietly follow Alki around the flat, glancing around. It

and encounter creatures which we only learn about in history

is nicely decorated, much like a human’s.

lessons and are suddenly safe?

As I slide my palm over a dark wooden table, Odalis turns to

How do we know you aren’t planning to harm us?” My friend

me suddenly. “We need to talk.” A serious tone replaces the

raged. He was right though, we had no way of knowing if she

sweet and amused one. I look at Alki’s face and the smile

was trustworthy.

is no longer there. Without taking my eyes off her face, I sit down at the table, and so does Odalis.

“Two things. You have my word. Ask anybody here and you’ll see that I’m serious when it comes to that. The second thing?

“We need you. Literally. You’re a powerful Alki soldier, and

You see this scar on my face? I escaped from the people who

we need you to finish this war, Silas.” My mouth falls open

wanted to forcefully turn our species into what you five are.

at the sound of my name. How does she know my name?

Now, if I may resume, all of the people alive then were built into hybrids and coded to forget. We are the ones who escaped. You

“I’m no soldier,” I mumble, shaking my head.

guys weren’t born like this, you were turned into robots when you were still newborns. It’s all the monarch’s plan to control

“I’d say otherwise.”

you.”

“And what war? What are you talking about? To whom?”

More thoughts were running through my head, I was able to stop all questions but one. “Why are you telling us all of this?”

“Let me show you.” Odalis stands up, touches her bracelet, and with that we are teleported into what looks like a

“I have nothing against becoming a hybrid, but I do have

balcony. I can see everything, and we are indeed in space.

something against being forced to do so. Living in this bunker for 20 years has made me realise that humankind should have

Odalis points down with one finger. “With them,” she said,

liberty of choice. You should be able to choose whether you

following her finger and looking down.

want to stay a hybrid or become human again. My people and I want to give the above-ground world this freedom. However,

My heart skipped a beat as I saw what was there. I looked

to do that we need a hybrid voice, someone who can break the

back and forth between Odalis and the planet.

barrier between hybrid and human. We really need your help, all of you!”

“You want to-No you can’t. It’s not true, is it? “ No, no, no. I cannot comprehend this. It is impossible. She can’t declare war on this planet. No, not like this.

Odalis turns to me, an evil grin resting on her face, all sweetness disappearing. As if she is reading my thoughts, she says: “Yes, we’re declaring war on planet Earth.” an office table and 5 seats, just enough for all of us. She gestured for us to sit and began to talk. “I am Lady Astra

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HYBRID

by Nina Culea, Year 10R It should’ve been me.

the biggest fool here. A country controlled by a faulty, unjust government was the least of my concerns when I was forced

As I sat on the ledge of the staircase on the narrow hallway,

into a corner and had to start a new life where nobody knew me.

I clenched my fist at the thought of her misfortune. It’s been more than a year since; more than enough time to wail in self-

I was barely of age when I was first approached to join a sort of

pity and get over what happened.

‘movement’. I immediately declined; my innocent self had other plans for my future at that point. They approached me again a

This wasn’t my first time either, it’s not like I had much of a

couple of months later, and while flustered and flattered by their

choice, she just happened to have been born in the wrong

attempt to recruit me, I refused their offer again. Another couple

place at the wrong time.

of months later, I was approached one final time, and with hesitation and curiosity lingering in my infantile stare, I asked:

God, why even bother to lie at this point, what happened to

“Why me?”. Awkward silence floated in the air before I heard a

me? I used to be the best at what I did, ‘professional’ they’d

voice announce: “Because you’re like us”.

call me ‘separates personal feelings from the job’ they used to speak when recommending me, and I lived up to those

Hybrid warfare. This is a fancy term used to more or less

expectations for over 10 years.

describe what they were doing, what I was doing. Exploiting our old home country’s vulnerabilities to bring down the remains of

Am I growing softer with my age? What am I even talking

any party still standing. There were blind spots everywhere; my

about, I’m not over the hill just yet.

job was simple: infiltrate, get the ‘task’ done, and get out. I’ve had so many aliases over the years to the point that I have quite

I sighed and rolled my eyes at the conversation I was having.

a hard time remembering my name sometimes.

‘What am I supposed to do now…’ I murmured to myself, lost

Everything was going just as they had foreseen it; aspects of

in thought.

our society started crumbling to ashes before our very eyes, all except one that is, being that run by her father. As said before,

She was born rich, supposedly a spoiled brat, or at least

he was well known for being impeccable at his job, leaving no

that’s what I had heard. A narcissist who had never worked a

traces whatsoever. We didn’t have a lead on him, no known

second in her life and still got whatever she wanted. She was

weakness that we could attack to turn our country’s government

everything I stood against; her very existence disgusted me to

upside down. Until I so foolishly suggested the logical sequential

the point where hearing her name made my soul cringe. The

step: going after his daughter.

daughter of a powerful man in our country. A ‘generous’ man, an ‘honest’ man, and a fine fool to think that he could ever

Having been previously injured, I was forced to sit this one out;

escape his poorly assigned fate.

I sometimes wonder how things would’ve turned out had I gotten to deal with her myself. As it was, they sent somebody

As much as I hate to say it, I must admit that he was indeed

else instead, a larger frame and an off-putting aura were only

an expert at his job, doing what our nation’s leaders have

some of the differences between us. And of course, the way we

done best: stealing from the poor to make the rich richer.

treated our victims. He had been given two weeks to get the

‘Sometimes you have to play the role of a fool to fool the fool

job done, ‘I could’ve done it in one week’ I thought to myself at

who thinks they are fooling you. But based on that logic, I’m

that time. How could I have known what was about to happen?

All I had was a trashy screen showcasing the CCTV footage of an old camera and the blessing of a fool who had been kept in the dark about the ultimate goal of this whole excuse for a movement.

I had to watch her lose herself. She was so young, too young to be pulled into this, but all I could do was watch as she slowly but surely lost her mind. With every word she spoke, she revealed that she was nothing like the image I had of her. She was graceful and sweet and still held onto that innocent childish gleam of hope, I could see it in her eyes. If only I had noticed sooner, before that glimmer of hope went out. Only if I’d have been stronger, I could’ve stopped him…stopped him from destroying her. Stopped the ever-growing voices that she swore would swallow her alive.

“They keep haunting me!”, she used to scream in agony. “Please make them stop!” was one line I had heard once too many times.

Anguish was too faint of a word to describe what I was feeling, and yet I never to action to stop him. I never stopped this, even though I had started forming an image of what I had gotten myself into.

I slowly raised my sore body from the ledge and made my way heavily up the stairs to a poorly lit room.

I turned on a lamp, closing my eyes at the sudden wave of light blinding my face, as I leaned on the doorway looking towards the small figure lying on the old mattress.

I took in a deep breath while staring in the direction of the frail body lying under a thick blanket.

“What have I gotten myself into...?”

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HYBRID

by Vlad Nedelcu, Year 11P The brisk morning breeze rumbled through the air as the ash-

failed to realise. There was one major obstacle in the way of

coloured sky cast its menacing embrace upon the city down

reaping benefits for everybody: the possibility of choice. The

below. Alexander was sitting at his table in his office, filling in

idea of choice inherently went against the collective, therefore to

all types of paperwork concerning important matters. He ran

make “we”, choice had to be destroyed.

a hand through his hair and quickly set his glasses down on the table, before averting his gaze from the table. After signing

The obsidian night sky had given way to the slate-hued

off on the final order (something about increasing productivity

morning. As the amber tiptoed over the horizon, its majestic

quotas), he rose rapidly and strode calmly over to the window,

golden rays made the city glimmer. The gigantic digital clock

to marvel at his city, his magnificent creation.

displayed the time for all to see. It was time for the workers, the backbone of his society, to rise from their slumber to start

From his office, he had an almost perfect view of the entire

the day’s work. Alexander knew that, like the spinal cord of

city and took immense pride in looking over it, watching,

a conventional person, the state’s spinal cord was a critically

observing and basking in the unstoppable march of the

important segment of a well-ordered system. As such, the

machine of collective progress. As he approached the

backbone of his perfect system had to be treated tenderly and

window, the sight of the immaculate buildings appeared.

with care; without being exploited and taken advantage of. He

The separate sectors of the city were carefully distinguished

thought of the constant, unchanging schedule of a worker in

by the subtle differences in the structure of the buildings.

the city: they would all wake up as the sun rose, make their way

To the untrained eye, all buildings appeared identical, even

to the factories, start working, have several breaks throughout

to the most minute detail. To Alexander, this symbolised

the day, and then return to their houses after the eight-hour

the foundations of a perfect society; there was no way to

shift was over. It was a simple, well-coordinated, and, above all,

distinguish the rich and poor from each other, and even if

efficient scheme of time management to achieve the maximum

there were, the rich and poor did not exist. The only thing that

output without sacrificing human wellbeing. To that extent,

existed was the collective. There was no “I” no “you”, only

Alexander’s society made extensive use of machinery to assist

“We”.

the workers.

Ah, the collective, Alexander’s true driving force, the base of

If the workers were the backbone of society, then the

his motivation, and the foundation of the new city and state.

machines were the beating heart, the most important organ

For too long, society was held back by poverty, class divide,

of the city’s body. Just as a heart beats automatically, so do

loneliness, hunger, and a host of other reasons. It was true

the machines automatically work day and night, never tiring,

that the countless evolutions of past societies did alleviate

always performing at their peak level. Alexander reasoned that

some of the pressure holding society back, but only the bare

machines were an absolute necessity to ensure his city was the

minimum was done. All of the past idealists were the same in

happiest it could be. If machines took over routine jobs and, in

his eyes: Socrates, Voltaire, Washington, Hegel, Marx, Lenin,

some cases, worked at factories with a lower priority, then more

the list goes on and on. Every single one of them would

of the population could contribute to the efficient functioning of

speak or write of great change or do something intended

society. It was the most important part of his hybrid society; the

to make things better, but they all stopped short of the final

people would work in the factories and the machines would take

step. Most of their plans and philosophies would only truly

care of the necessities to run a city and by extension a state.

benefit a select few. Alexander was determined to benefit

Gradually, over a lengthy period of time, the machines would

the collective. He had done what all of the past great thinkers

take on more and more of the workload starting from the bottom

and building up to the top. This would result in the pinnacle of efficiency and happiness at the same time. Alexander had even had thoughts of the machines running his city at some point in the far distant future.

The creak of the mammoth walnut wooden door to his office snapped Alexander back to the present. He turned around and saw one of his assistants moving to hand him an envelope.

“The report you wanted, sir” the assistant said.

“Thank you, Jordan. You are dismissed”, Alexander replied. With that, Jordan left the office.

Alexander walked back over the pristine basil coloured carpet, sat down at his desk and began to read. He smiled briefly. The report’s contents could be summarised as: “To remove any distinction between people and machines, people must have their names erased, to be replaced with numbers just like the machines.”

Alexander was delighted. It was then that he finally knew that his machine-human hybrid city would stand the test of time and live on for generations to come.

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TIV #2 2021-22 List of contributors Student Editor: Maria Sticlea

IBSB Staff

IBSB Students

Kendall Peet

Melissa Aydogan

Alan Cornish Matthew Tansley Madalina Soare Adelaide Owens Victoria Fay Orla O’Dwyer Alison Tansley Aliviana Sanders Lee Hawkins Robin Morrison Tom Wilson Lucretia Gabroveanu Alexandra Ivascu Andreea Cazacu Daniela Momirleanu Ana Maria Boiangiu Mairead Lonergan David Vincent Mathew Kirk Elizabeth Platt Cristina Marascu James Hudson

Medeea Constantinescu Sandra Curtis Luca Pietruschevici Balan Dinu Pietruschevici Balan Radu Nica Robert Airinei Maria Dragomir Octavian Murea Priya Vijaykumar Patrick Tansley Andrei Popescu Mia Opran Felix Daianu Amalia Anicescu Alexia Verdes Olivia Opran Mara Mestecaneanu Marc Paraschiv Maia Bucura Rita Bartos Nina Culea Vlad Nedelcu

Jayne Baker Peter Ennion Rodica Ursu Diana Lia

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