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Welcome to the final Primary newsletter for 2023-2024.
As you can see from the following articles, it’s been yet another busy, positive month, in what has been a busy, positive year! The energy, enthusiasm and hardwork shown by our students throughout this year has never ceased to amaze me.
This year has seen the start of several new initiatives here on our Forest Campus. The Primary department has embedded a new programme of Wellness and IDEA lessons, focusing on developing the children’s emotional and social skills. This has been extremely effective and the children are now using these skills in their everyday school life. I think the feeling of community has also been extended by our weekly Community session. Each House group has met weekly across the year groups and have completed a variety of challenges, such as, lip synching, spelling bee, poetry slam, and paper aeroplane races. Our new outdoor classroom has enabled all of our students to experience the wonders of an OutdoorWoodland Learning curriculum, developed and implemented very successfully by Ms Lloyd. This initiative has been extremely successful and thoroughly enjoyed from EYFS to Year Six. The new swimming pools have now been brought into full use, and we are looking forward to developingour swimming programme further during the coming year.
Academically, we have continued to embed the Cambridge curriculum in Mathematics, English and Science, and have continued to use their summative and formative assessments. These have enabled us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student. All of these factors have contributed to ensuring that all of our students have grown throughout the year and reached their full potential, both academically, socially and emotionally.
This has been my first year as Director of Pre/Primary School and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of our BIS school community who have supported me; the students, who bring enthusiasm and energy to ensure my day always start off with a smile. The teaching staff, who have worked hard and ensured that are high academic standards have been upheld. The administration, maintenance and auxillary staff, who help ensure the school runs effectively on a day to day basis. And lastly, a very big thank you to the PTA, and all of the parents who have supported myself and our teaching team throughout the year. None of these above achievements would have been possible without the unwavering support of our parents and the wider school community. Your trust and partnership are invaluable to us, and I am truly grateful for your continued involvement in your child's education.
I have always been proud of the strong community spirit within BIS, and I feel that is an essential and special feature of our Forest Campus. As we come to the end of another year together, we have the sad task of saying goodbye to some of our teachers. Ms Talya will be returning to continue her career and studies in the UK. Ms Katrine, Ms Newman and Ms Lloyd will be embarking on new teaching adventures in exciting new countries, while Ms Ashley will be returning home to the US. Ms Adesanya will be retiring and returning back to the UK for a well deserved rest. We thank them all for their dedication, hardwork and care shown during their time at our school. They will all be missed by all members of our community, but especially the students!
I would like to say a special 'Thank you' to Ms Aycan, who has been an important and integral part of the BIS community since 1990. Ms Aycan has always been a caring and supportive teacher, colleague and professional. I'm sure you all join me in wishing Ms Aycan a very long and happy retirement.
For those students and families that will be leaving us, I wish you success and happiness in your future endeavours. I would like to wish you and your families a very happy, restful summer holiday.
For students and families who will be returning, I look forward to seeing you all in August and the start of another happy, and productive academic year together.
Kind regards,
Alison Jones
director's note
director's note
KS2 Choir with Ms Newman
We are proud to announce that our talented KS2 choir has been involved in an exciting worldwide singing event for the third year in a row! ‘Sing Up Day’ is celebrated every summer with a newly commissioned song for schools around the globe to learn and perform. Last year, over 25,000 children from 178 schools in 12 countries and 5 continents came together to create a unique musical experience. This year the new song was called 'I belong' written by the award-winning Scottish singer songwriter Roseanne Reid. The song touches on something every child and young person yearns for - a sense of belonging and connection, which we have all felt strongly during our time together as a group making memorable performances. On Wednesday 22nd May 2024 at 9am our 50 KS2 Choir members gathered in the amphitheatre to record their video entry to 'Sing Up' day 2024. They sang beautifully with energy and enthusiasm, and the video recording in our beautiful botanical gardens will be featured on the YouTube Digichoir for the world to enjoy! Let's celebrate the power of music and the international connections we have made through this incredible experience!
Primary Art Exhibition
Pastoral Care & Wellbeing
I have had a wonderful year in my new Role as Deputy Director Pastoral.
Everyday brings a new challenge and a lot of fun to go along with it.
I have been fortunate enough to teach a weekly Wellness lesson to each class in Primary, focusing on PSHE and SEL objectives including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The children have had the chance to learn many self-regulation skills, meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga as well as special breathing techniques.
Community circle time in our Wellness lessons has allowed us to discuss our feelings and many topics important to Primary students, growth mindset,empathy, resilience and happiness.
We have focused on areas such as Kindness, with a whole school kindness challenge, Random acts of Kindness Day, Anti bullying projects, and celebrating the International day of Happiness.
The Student Council have been wonderful, working on charity and fund raising projects as well as helping to organize some of the school events.
Student voice is extremely important to us and our children have had the chance to work on personal and group projects from their own initiatives. They helped plan some of the whole school events and designed a new Student Council logo.
This year we have had a fantastic group of parents who have helped out with events and been extremely supportive. Many thanks for this great community spirit.
My favourite part of the week is our Friday assemblies. It is always so much fun to watch the class assemblies and hand out the student certificates that celebrate our children’s learning and successes.
My door is always open and it is wonderful to have students (and staff) pop in to discuss how they are feeling, to share ideas or just for a listening ear!
IDEA in Primary
WELLNESS ROCKS!
It's been another busy month in IDEA! We enjoyed creating a Path to Wellness across Years 1-6 in preparation for our Primary Art Exhibition. After brainstorming what Wellbeing and IDEA look, sound, and feel like, we drafted a list of words we associate with IDEA and Wellbeing. Some words we came up with were: mindful, calm, happy, included, diversity, joyful, friendship, change, fair, equality, community, and together. From here, students got to work painting rocks to create our path. Following the exhibition, the rocks will live permanently in our Botanical Gardens!
EYFS
Miss Elise & Miss Tugba: Preschool 1
Ants are happy, summer is here, they can play everywhere! This month they went on a trip to the Ataturk Kent Ormani Park in order to see lots of different flowers, plants, and a different playground with a huge slide where they could exercise their ability to face physical challenges. They also had the privilege to practically see how to interact safely with strangers. They are discovering 3D shapes and their features, thus playing shape detectives and making their own plastic cubes. Finally they are developing friendships, bonding and enjoying teamwork more. Summer holiday is almost around. Ants are sad to say goodbye, but glad they met.
Miss Ogomoditse & Miss Hatice: Preschool 2
Summer is here and the Butterflies are enjoying story times at the botanical gardens. We spoke about the rain. We discussed where it comes from and where it goes after that. We looked at the rainbow rhyming words. We are working on our pencil control and writing our names. In Maths we talked about 2D shapes : square, rectangle, triangle, circle and 3D shapes: cube, cuboid and cylinder. We enjoyed our school trip to Atartuk Kent Ormani park and the EYFS Sports day.
Miss Lauren & Miss Melike: Reception
We have been learning about dinosaur skeletons and dinosaur fossils, we made our own dinosaur fossil cookies and dinosaur salt dough fossils. In Maths we have been exploring the composition of 10, adding and subtracting and tangrams. We have now started to learn about the local environment and the weather. We have conducted an experiment about clouds and rain, explored ice and flowers. We were lucky enough to go on a visit to Atatürk Kent Ormani and explore the flowers, trees and animals. We finished with some fun in the playground!
We continue to explore all topics in our outdoor classroom.
Year One
Miss Katrine & Miss Sena: 1D
As a combined ICT and Literacy project, students in 1D have been making a fact poster about an animal of their choice. In ICT, the students have been learning how to research facts using safe, reliable websites. They researched their animals and made notes during the process. In Literacy, the students have explored a range of features of non-fiction texts, which were included on their posters. They have also been talking about the editing process, completing a draft and final version of the information they included on their posters. The posters are almost complete and we are excited to see the final product.
Miss Belen & Miss Sena: 1G
In year 1 we have been busy preparing our art pieces for the art exhibition, we have used recycled materials that we have been able to find around our school in order to reuse and create something new. Kids have shown all their creativity and effort while working on the different projects. We also started swimming lessons and students have shown agency and independence while being extremely enthusiastic about this new learning opportunity. We have also worked on linking our ICT lessons with Literacy. We have been learning how to choose sources that present real information and have information that is kid friendly, we talked about the Internet as a neighborhood where we need to follow 2 main safety rules: visit sites that are just right for you and ask an adult first. After this, we used Nat Geo Kids to investigate and find out information about an animal of our choice. In Literacy we discussed non-fiction texts and their features, so we explored them on the Nat Geo Kids webpage as we took notes and made sentences of our own to create an informational poster. This task was demanding but the kids showed extraordinary effort and concentration, I am very proud of all of their work!
Year Two
Ms. Verralls & Miss Neslihan: 2V
2V performed their assembly all about Constantinople and the battle of 1453 with the Byzantine empire. They worked incredibly well as a team to put the assembly together. They guided their teacher to put a script together about all the things they had learned about the topic. They then learned their lines including some challenging vocabulary. Two class members narrated the script and did an excellent job at this. 2V created their own artwork for the stage, the Constantinople walls, boat and chain. Together as a class we organised the costumes, putting together what we could find from school and home. The children also worked hard learning two dances and a song in Turkish language. Miss Verralls was very impressed with all their team work throughout the preparation and also on the stage. Well done to 2V and a great way to end our history unit in Year 2.
Ms. Aycan & Miss Neslihan: 2A
This month has been dominated by our Humanities topic–Constantinople 1453. We travelled to the Panorama Museum on a trip and saw the walls that the Byzantines used to defend the city. We also had a Constantinople day where we built a mini city and reenacted the main events. We have also been busy testing materials in Science; interpreting pictograms in Numeracy; writing animal stories in Literacy and using Spreadsheets in Computing. We worked on our weaving which we decorated with our stuffed toys in DT for the exhibition.
Our final Humanities unit was looking at different Green Places and why they are important. We looked at satellite images of different large cities and discussed how each city had included green spaces for their citizens. In class, we discussed that not all city dwellers are as lucky as we are in Zekeriyakoy. We went on two field trips to explore different types of green places. The first trip was to Ataturk Arboretum and the second was to Emirgan Park. We enjoyed exploring the areas and agreed that preserving green areas is important.
Year Three
Mrs. Robbins & Miss Neslihan: 3R
In Design technology, the students designed healthy and balanced sandwiches. The students based their sandwich designs on nutrition, flavour, and taking into account that we live in Turkey and we need to to choose ingredients we can find easily. We had a lot of fun creating and then making our sandwiches. The students were able to critique their designs and describe the changes they would make for their next sandwich.
Year 3 Assembly: The students went above and beyond preparing for their Assembly this year. They put on the play, Osiris and Isis. It is an Ancient Egyptian story about how the god of Chaos plotted to get rid of his nemesis Osiris. But with the help of Isis, Osiris became one of the most well known and successful gods in the afterlife. The students worked very hard to learn ALOT of lines, help with stage management and bring this ancient story to life. A special thank you to Jonah in 4L for helping with the construction of props.
Ms. Adesanya & Miss Neslihan: 3A
In 3A we learnt about the poles of magnets and what they do. We learnt that magnets come in different shapes. We also found out that all magnets have a north pole and a south pole. We found out that magnets can push and pull, and this force is called magnetism.Materials that are pulled towards a magnet are magnetic materials. Materials that are not attracted to a magnet are non-magnetic materials. Sometimes magnets can push apart instead of pulling together. Magnets can repel. Repel is the opposite of attract.
Year Four
Ms. Lincoln & Miss Ödül: 4L
After hard work throughout the year and with Assessments, 4L enjoyed some slightly sticky time making muffins. They recorded the recipe and worked in small groups to produce amazing muffins. We have some aspiring chefs in 4L!
Artists in Action!
4L have been super busy with art projects for our art exhibition. Well done to them all!
Ms. Newman & Miss Ödül: 4N
4N's class assembly demonstrated how they have used the power of music to memorise a large amount of new vocabulary this year, particularly in maths and science. They sang songs to remember the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes, as well as the 8 planets in our solar system (plus pluto). The audience enjoyed participating in their 'kung fu' actions used to consolidate their understanding of lines and angles in geometry. The show finished with a choreographed dance around the sun accompanied by beautiful singing. The class worked very hard to learn all of their words, songs and actions, as well as making all of their own props for the show, and they performed brilliantly.
Year Five
Ms. Halabi & Miss Mos: 5H
As part of our statistics unit, students in 5H have been actively engaged in group work, conducting their very own mathematical investigations. Together, they have gathered data, presented their findings using graphs and diagrams, and carried out the intricate task of interpreting the data. Through their collaborative efforts, students have not only identified patterns but have also engaged in insightful discussions to draw meaningful conclusions. In our recent adventures in Art, we delved into the fascinating world of Op Art. Op Art, short for Optical Art, is an intriguing art movement that plays with perception, creating illusions of depth, movement, and dimensionality using geometric shapes and patterns. With boundless creativity and enthusiasm, all students explored this dynamic form of art, creating stunning and visually captivating pieces.
Mrs. Deufel & Miss Mos: 5D
This month we have been enjoying the nicer weather and taking the opportunity to spend time in the botanic gardens attached to school. We are very lucky to have this wonderful space. May started with assessments and now we are concluding our science unit on plants and sound. The students honed their observational skills when investigating seeds in different fruits and how they are dispersed. The students have been working hard on art pieces to showcase and studied the folk artist Karla Gerard.
Year Six
Mr. McCann & Mr. Furkan: 6M
The children in 6M have been learning about the forces acting upon a vessel in water as well as floating and sinking. They've been learning that if the mass of a vessel is greater than the mass of the water displaced by the vessel, then the boat will sink. As part of their learning, they've looked at how the shape of the vessel also affects its ability to float. In the pictured lesson below, they designed boats in groups using paper foil and entered into a competition with their classmates. The winning group was the group whose boat was able to hold the largest mass before sinking.
Ms. Ward & Mr. Furkan: 6W
Art Exhibition Preparation
Students were busy preparing one more item for their upcoming exhibition. They incorporated texture into their clay work, which will be painted once they’re dry. We’re looking forward to sharing these with you all!
Library Club
Anna has used her creativity to make the library a better place to spend your time. A book display, with a featured author (Roald Dahl) has been installed. Anna created the book stands herself, using recycled cardboard and pages from a book that was being discarded. We hope people will be inspired to take more care of the shelves and the books when they’re visiting the library. Please send us your ideas for future displays!
A Maths Challenge for Year 5
6W recently completed a unit of maths work to do with coordinates. They drew a map of the school, applied grid lines and created a path for somebody to follow. Year 5D were the willing volunteers. They all came back, so 6W bravo! You’re great at drawing, and giving clear directions.
Character Dress Up Day
We’re happy to take part in donations to the raffle basket when it means we can dress up too!
Languages
Mrs. Gwilliam: ESL
The ESL children have continued to work hard during May. Year 5 were very proud to finish their poems using the present perfect and past tenses. Before transition 6W and 6M worked in pairs to sequence a difficult reading text. They were pleased to succeed! At the end of the month 3A had some time to finish their pictures for the art exhibition and Year 4s were outside for transition to year 5. Our ESL students helped each other to complete the questionnaire. What good students!
Ms. Hatice: Turkish
In our Turkish lessons this month, students across all grade levels have focused on engaging and practical topics to enhance their language skills and cultural understanding
Reception, Year 1, and Year 2:
Students have been learning opposite words to expand their vocabulary.
They practiced describing animals using adjectives.
Lessons included understanding singular and plural forms of nouns.
They also learned how to make nouns plural.
Year 3:
Students learned the names of the months and reviewed numbers.
They practiced asking and answering questions about birthdays.
The class explored different types of weather.
Year 4:
Students focused on understanding various occupations.
They learned how to ask, "What would you like to be in the future?"
Year 5:
In Unit 5, titled "Fashion," students learned about different clothing items.
They practiced saying what they are wearing.
Year 6:
Students learned the suffix "-li" and how to use it in context.
They also studied the suffixes "-da" and "-de".
The class delved into Turkish culture by learning about Kız Kulesi (Maiden's Tower).
They studied its history and story and engaged in a charcoal drawing activity based on Kız Kulesi.
Mr. Vincent: French
Ms. Ana: Spanish
Hola amigos y amigas!
Year 6 students have focused on clothing. They have learnt the clothing items as well as giving their own opinion about clothing. As a final project, students described themselves using the new vocabulary.
Year 5 students have worked on the topic of family. Students have learnt the song and family members. As a final project, students have designed their own family tree presenting it to the rest of the class.
Year 4 students have learnt different types of transportation in Spanish. Firstly, they learnt the song to help them strengthen their pronunciation. They also worked on speaking activities to talk about transportation. Students presented a poster as a final project summarizing the new words learnt.
Year 3 students have worked on sports and hobbies. They have learnt the different sports in Spanish as well as learnt the song from the theme. Students have also learnt how to answer what their favourite sport is in Spanish.
Hasta luego, amigos y amigas
Learning Support
Mrs Bartola and Miss Jess
Exciting Summer Activity Ideas for Students!
Summer is a fantastic opportunity for students to explore new interests, develop skills, and create lasting memories. Here are some exciting ideas:
Summer Reading Challenge
Help students choose books from a variety of genres to broaden their horizons and spark their imagination. Set goals and reward them for reaching milestones to make reading a fun and engaging activity.
Outdoor Adventures
Summer is the perfect time to explore the great outdoors. Plan family hikes, nature walks, or bike rides to enjoy the beauty of nature. Visit local parks, nature reserves, or botanical gardens. Outdoor activities not only promote physical health but also help students appreciate and connect with their environment.
Creative Arts and Crafts
Whether it's painting, drawing, sculpting, or DIY crafts, these activities provide a great outlet for self-expression. Connect this activity to outdoor adventures and make it more fun.
Science and Exploration
Help students develop a love for science with hands-on experiments and exploration. Create a mini-laboratory at home with simple science kits or everyday household items. Visit science museums, planetariums, or zoos to inspire curiosity and wonder. Encourage them to ask questions, make observations, and conduct experiments.
Cooking and Baking
Try out new recipes together, focusing on healthy, fun, and seasonal ingredients. Cooking teaches valuable life skills and can be a great way to bond as a family. You can even start a mini-garden at home to grow your own herbs and vegetables for your culinary creations.
Summer Camps
Summer camps offer a structured environment where students can learn new skills, make friends, and gain independence. It can be a day camp that focuses on a specific interest, such as STEM, sports, the arts, or music.
We hope you and your family have a wonderful summer break and come back refreshed and ready for another great school year!
OWL (Outdoor Woodland Learning)
Ms. Lloyd
In our final month of OWL, the students have been busy preparing woodland items to share with parents and to display in the Art Exhibition. Each Year Group has utilised Forest skills and knowledge to create their art pieces using environmental materials. The skills and knowledge acquired through these topics are listed below:are listed below:
EYFS/Reception: Speaking and Listening, Exploration, Using Materials, In the Natural World
Year1 : Using Windy Weather, Understanding Forces
Year 2 : Planting, Using Windy Weather
Year 3 : Understanding the Earth, the Sun, the Moon
Year 4 : Understanding Shadows, the Sun
Year 5 : Seasons, Hibernation, Adaptation
Year 6 : Nocturnal Animals, Habitats
We look forward to sharing our work and learning with you at the Art Exhibition.
Music
Miss Rebecca: EYFS Music & Drama
Both KS1 drama and EYFS music classes have been busy preparing for their final show, African Tales. We hope you enjoy the show.
Mr. Dennison: Y1-Y6 Music
The Year 5 and 6 Music Assembly was a great way to finish May in style. This was 6W performing a swing style, jazz song that both the audience and performers enjoyed a lot!
Preparing for assemblies can be a long process, but it is really quite rewarding once we get to share our work with the audience.
The whole school was getting ready for our visual art exhibition and that included our Music classes. We decided to make a video presentation with interpretive movements using the music of Camille Saint-Saens and Edvard Grieg.
Year 2 worked together making sound effects to the the story book "Chicken Little". Every classmate had sounds to track and Lina, the narrator, did a great job.
ICT
Mr Hassan
Reminders & Upcoming Dates
Friday 14th June: Reports issued, non-uniform day, students dismissed at 12:00pm
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