the british international school

EYFS & Primary Newsletter

October 2022

director's note

Dear Parents,

I would like to wish you all a wonderful half term. Our teachers and parents worked together to create a fun-filled Halloween event and it was a lovely note to end on. I would like to specifically thank Ms Lynne, our Head of Pastoral, and the PTA for organising and setting up the activities. The children were very excited and happy.

Sport’s Day for each of our year group cohorts was energetic and our students were happy to share the skills they had been learning in PE in the build up to the event. Our choir concert, led by Ms Newman was a wonderful way to celebrate our students’ diverse talents.

I’m sure you will join with me to thank our dedicated and wonderful teachers. It has been a long half term with many new challenges but they make it look easy. I will be further expanding on this in our next newsletter and sharing with you the action plan for the next 12 months. I would like to personally thank the SMT for their support and good humour!

With best wishes,

Natalia Ambridge

World Food Day

During our KS1 and KS2 assemblies on Monday 10th October, we were excited to launch United Nations 'World Food Day' 2022. Children were introduced to the issue of global hunger and began to learn about some of the causes, such as: poverty, climate change, food waste, war/conflicts, and pandemics. We then discussed how the United Nations 'Global Goals' are targeting this issue and the actions that the children can take to help, including; buying local and seasonal food, not throwing away food, donating food to people in need, and spreading the word. You can view the assembly presentation here.

Following on from the assemblies, Miss Lynne launched our annual autumn food drive for TIDER charity, which provides food for Turkish people in need. You can find out more about the amazing work done by this organisation here; https://www.tider.org/

Children were encouraged to donate one item of food each, according to their year group: EYFS Tea, Year 1 Rice, Year 2 Flour, Year 3 Pasta, Year 4 Sugar, Year 5 Pulses and beans, Year 6 Tins of tomato paste, Staff Cooking oil. Student councillors were involved in sorting and counting the items. Congratulations to Year 4 for donating the most items!

House captains got involved during lunchtimes by praising children for being mindful about food waste.

A poster competition was also launched to help children envisage a world without hunger. https://www.fao.org/world-food-day/contest/en

Congratulations to the winning poster entries in each age group, who were awarded a certificate along with the prize of geographical non-fiction book:

Ages 5-8: 1st Place: Anzhelika 3A, 2nd Place: Yeoreum 1S, 3rd Place: Ruqayya 2A

Ages 9-12: 1st Place: Daniel 6C, 2nd Place: Mohammed 6C, 3rd Place: Alparslan 5L

We look forward to more special events this year during which we'll learn more about the UN Global Goals, and have opportunities to take action in order to make a difference.

Lynne Jenkins, Head of Pastoral and Emily Newman, Head of Humanities

EYFS

Miss Lynne: EYFS1

We love Playdough in Fish class. This half term we decided to make some for ourselves. We had so much fun, mixing, mashing and stirring.

Miss Lauren: Reception

EYFS have been busy talking about healthier foods. We labelled our fruits. We learnt how to safely cut and prepare some fruits and vegetables and then made a rainbow. We really enjoyed eating our rainbows!

We have been learning about the composition of different numbers and made giant numbers in the playground!

We have been labelling, writing CVC words and practising how to write our names.

And having fun!

Year One

Miss Katrine: 1D

This month, Toucan Class and Flamingo Class went on their very first school trip. We visited the Ataturk Arboretum, where we had the opportunity to see a variety of different trees and plants. The children were particularly excited to hear where the different trees were from and discover the trees that were from the same places as themselves. We also saw wildflowers, acorns, mushrooms, conkers, pine cones, swans, bunnies and beetles. The children also observed signs of Autumn and collected leaves to use in their school activities.

Miss Lizzie: 1S

Year Two

Ms. Verralls: 2V

This month, Year 2 went on their first trip. We visited the Sabanci Art Gallery to see the Living Pyramid Exhibition by Agnes Denes. We had a great day looking at all of the different plants. We also visited the gallery to view portraits, landscapes and still-life paintings. Then we walked to Emirgan Park to eat lunch and play on the equipment.

PSHE

2V have been practicing weekly positive affirmations. We made a video. Scan to watch!

Ms. Aycan: 2A

October has been another busy month in Year 2. In Science we have been investigating rocks and their features. In Mathematics, we have learnt about 3d shapes, 2d shapes and symmetry. In Art we have continued the drawing and painting unit by focusing on the work of artists such as David Tazzyman and Jean-Michel Basquiat . In PHSE, we worked on friendships and showing respect. Discovery time provided the time to explore shapes and to create collages. In Humanities, we have learnt more about Australia by looking at different types of maps and satellite images.

Year Three

Mrs. Robbins: 3R

The students in 3R are learning about patterns in art. The students created a template in which they duplicated a silhouette multiple times. Then the students had to make each silhouette follow a specific pattern while creating an over all pattern across the entire piece of work.

Ms. Adesanya: 3A

In class 3A we have been conducting investigations to answer non statistical and statistical questions.

We threw a dice 12 times and tried to find out how many times each number would appear. We repeated a few times and compared our answers and findings with our partners.

Year Four

Ms. Newman: 4N

Year 4 International classes have enjoyed their first humanities trips to districts along the Bosphorus. Over two days we visited Besiktas, Bebek and Sariyer on the European side, as well as the fishing village of Anadolu Kavagi on the Asian side. They made geographical observations of these areas in order to discuss the similarities and differences between them. They also were able to use a variety of maps to locate the areas and identify the human and physical features in those districts. Highlights of the trip included having a picnic, playing on the Bebek playground, taking a ferry, walking up to the Yolos castle to view the third bridge and buying an ice cream! We look forward to more educational trips this year.

Ms. Lincoln: 4L

Year 4 have covered a humanities unit, learning about the Bosphorus. We have been so lucky to have 2 brilliant trips along the Bosphorus, visiting and studying different geographical localities. We have applied the beauty of the Strait to art where we have painted collaborative seascape scenes incorporating our wonderful buildings that look so much like the Istanbul we live in!

Year Five

Ms. Lloyd: 5L

As part of Year 5's DT unit ‘Yummy Pizzas’, students have been learning about the design/make and evaluation process of seasonal and nutritionally balanced pizzas. 5L students prepared and cooked their own healthy pizzas at school. This week we will visit Little Caesars Pizza Restaurant in the Sariyer District to observe how pizzas are made in a professional establishment. Our students will assist in making pizzas and eat and try different flavour pizzas that have been made...Yum, Yum, Yum!!!

Mr. Fawcett: 5F

In Design and Technology this month, 5F have been designing, making and evaluating their own seasonal and nutritionally balanced pizzas. They also enjoyed an authentic experience of visiting Little Caesars Pizza restaurant to see how pizzas are made! In Science, 5F have been studying germination by growing their own bean plants and investigating the different conditions that a plant requires to grow.

Year Six

Ms. Cosnett: 6C & Mr. McCann: 6M

As part of our Macbeth unit, the children have been performing various scenes from the play and we really have some professional actors in the making.

In this scene, the Norwegian army, allied with some treacherous Scots, has invaded Scotland. King Duncan, the king of Scotland, must repel the invasion. With the aid of his brave countrymen and the heroics of Macbeth and Banquo, he is able to do so.

The children were tasked with choreographing the battle themselves in the form of a six frame tableau. The children worked in pairs for this task and had to portray a gruelling, hard-fought battle resulting in the ultimate death of the unfortunate Norwegian.

Mr McCann's photographs of 6M depict the whole battle in the tableau of six scenes, while Ms Cosnett's photographs focus on the individual displays of valour, desperation and anguish in head-to-head clashes.

Mr. Dennison: Music

If you have any questions about Music class, please email Mr. Dennison at s.dennison@bisistanbul.org!

Year 3 does a great job demonstrating how we can move our bodies to connect rhythm and pitch, while still having a little fun.

Our EYFS classes have had the opportunity to experiment with several instruments. We are finding high sounds, low sounds, high voices, low voices...and everything in between!

Some classes shared their own personal musical skills during Music Sharing. We have these days about every 4-6 weeks to show off any music that students are learning outside of school.

Languages

Mrs. Gwilliam: ESL

ESL October – International

In ESL, KS2 the elementary group children have been getting to know new friends and practising language with interactive tasks. We worked outside and inside interviewing the class using a wide range of adverbs of frequency. Then they wrote a report using the information we had learnt. Year 6 did a jigsaw reading and practised questions too. Tilda was the teacher for a game of hangman. Year 3 finished their story books and read them to the class.

A proud moment: Doyoon and Jemma in year 5 graduated from the ESL programme. Congratulations!

Ms. Hatice: Turkish

We continue to learn Turkish with activities. We learned greetings, numbers, colours with small age groups. KS2 topics are a little different. 6M learned personal pronouns. 3R learned months and days and made birthday cards.

Republic Day marks the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. After Turkey’s victory in the War of Independence (1919-1923), the Turkish parliament proclaimed the new Turkish state as a republic. A new constitution, which the parliament adopted on October 29, 1923, replaced the constitution of the Ottoman Empire. The leader in the Turkish War of Independence, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, became the country’s first president on the same day. According to Atatürk, Republic Day is Turkey’s most important holiday.

Mr. Vincent: French

This month French students have been studying, writing and completing end of unit assessments about the following topics:

months of the year, days of the week, numbers, physical description and saying how they are alike, animals and classroom objects, and finally sports, opinions and how often they are doing sports. Bravo et félicitations à toutes et à tous.

Mr. Jeremy: Spanish

We had a lot of fun in Spanish this month learning about the weather, the seasons, verbs in the present tense and clothes.

O.W.L (Outdoor Woodland Learning) ECA with Miss Lloyd

In the after school club every Tuesday, our learners are becoming very knowledgeable about woodlands and are developing a new set of outdoor skills including muddy puddle jumping, picture frame making, wild berries and mud painting, shelter-building and teamwork games. Read our leaflet which explains more about our philosophy, its link with Forest School and well-being. You can view our slideshow of photos from this half term’s ECA club here. All learners receive an O.W.L participation badge.

I look forward to new recruits joining our Forest School taster sessions next term from Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Email Miss Lloyd for more information k.lloyd@bisistanbul.org.

Mixed Media Art Club with Miss Katrine

In the Mixed Media Arts club this half term, KS1 children have been working on some spooky Halloween-themed projects. The children designed their own pumpkins using colouring pencils, felt tips and collage materials. They also painted their own moonlit backgrounds and made a spooky night scene, cutting and pasting trees, pumpkins, bats and other Halloween objects.

Sports Days

Many thanks to the PE department for organising three exciting sports days for Primary! Y1-Y6 students enjoyed participating in a variety of competitive events to earn points for their House. Students showed excellent effort and teamwork! It was wonderful to have parents cheering on and supporting the children. Thank you to our Secondary Y8 and Y10 students for their assistance; you were fantastic!

Halloween Celebration

Primary Students had a spook-tacular time celebrating Halloween! The children participated in a variety of autumn themed activities and events including Halloween crafts, games, and a costume fashion show. A huge thank you to our wonderful PTA parents for their time and efforts in assembling an incredible Haunted House and making this event memorable for the students!