Archived News 201920 T2:1

Y4 VE Day

Year 4's study of twentieth century history culminated today in their VE Day celebratory concert, when they recalled the immense relief everyone in Europe felt when the war ended on 8 May 1945. Thanks to everyone who was able to attend the concert. If, like me, you weren't able to make it, please take a look at the video.

Sports Day for Years 3 and 4

Congratulations to Pegasus on topping the table at our very cool - in terms of weather, as well as popularity - Sports Day for Years 3 and 4. Congratulations also to Griffin, Dragon and Phoenix (as well as to Pegasus) for being great sports and making the competition possible by taking part.

We also celebrated Bahrain National Sports Day on Tuesday.

Here is a Google photo album of the week's sporting events.

Science Fair: Years 5 and 6

The Science Fair combines so many areas of the curriculum: not only scientific research skills (those which we educators term 'AT1 Science', comprising observing, hypothesising, carrying out a fair test, recording results and drawing conclusions) but also public speaking, interacting with an audience of older and younger people, and designing a well-presented display board.

Check out this Google photo album of images from the week's presentations.

Safer Internet Day was on Tuesday

We all want to be safe online, and it's especially important that parents supervise children's online activity at home to make sure they stay out of any potential danger. Mrs Drennan and Mr Padden have put together a very comprehensive and informative slideshow about how to keep young people safe on the big, bad internet.

Click here to view the presentation. Please note that the presentation is intended for parents to read, as it contains information in grown-up language, about the possible dangers of unsupervised online activity.

Click here for a Google photo album from Safer Internet Day.

Identifying persons on site

Please remember to display your BSB ID badge and lanyard prominently while on the school site. It is not sufficient simply to show it at the gate and then put it away. It must be visible at all times, please, to comply with school safeguarding procedures.

If I forget my ID when leaving for school in the morning, I have to return home to get it. Effective security doesn't allow for exceptions. Thanks in anticipation of your support.

The explanatory notice, posted at various locations internally around the site, lists the lanyard colour codes.

Good Morning Performing

As usual, junior and senior students entertained us on Monday morning in the administration building, drawing a large audience who enjoyed and supported their playing. Grateful thanks to everyone in the building who thoughtfully put their morning routine on hold for five minutes while the children performed. There are three staircases up to the first upper floor in the admin building; if you have urgent business that can't wait until the performers have finished, please ask the receptionist to direct you to a staircase which is away from the performing area.

BSME Football Tournament

The tournament took place at St Christopher's School, Saar, over the weekend 31 Jan - 2 Feb. The girls' and boys' football squads both won matches, as well as experiencing some losses and draws, in what proved to be a splendid weekend of sportsmanship. The weather was perfect - cool and bright - a phrase that also fits perfectly the demeanour of the young BSB sportspeople who took part. Check out the video for some action from one of the Saturday games. Thanks to Mrs Drennan, Mr Williams and Mr Drennan, who coached the teams throughout the tournament.

Twentieth century history

Class 4.04 taught us about the history of the Second World War at their assembly this afternoon. We heard about evacuees - city children who went to live far from home, to escape the danger of air raids - and what life was like for young people at that time.

Y5/6 Paris Trip June 2020

We will have a few places available on the Paris trip, planned for 16-22 June, 2020. The trip is filling up fast. If you would like your child in Year 5 or Year 6 to participate in the trip, please check out the Google Classroom page, code dr37bvd where you will find the information and reply slip. Deposits need to be paid to the BSB Accounts office by Sunday 2 February at the latest, please, so that we can secure the accommodation and flights.

We last did this trip in 2016 and the students had a memorable time, learning lots about Paris and practising their French. Having been on the trip myself, I can recommend it as an opportunity not to be missed.

Y5/6 Science Fair update from Mr Travers

With just over one week to go before the beginning of the Year 5 & 6 Science Fair for 2020, most groups have completed investigations and experiments and are busy analysing results, drawing conclusions and preparing their storyboards which will showcase their term’s Science project.

This year, intriguing investigations include: the effects of various liquids on egg shells; the benefits of organic as opposed to inorganic fertilizer and the optimum conditions for bacteria to grow.

Y3456 Maths Workshops

The Maths Mastery approach, which Mr Drennan outlined in his curriculum webcast last term (click for part 1 and part 2 if you missed it), is yielding fruitful results, as students confidently grasp new mathematical methods and ways of solving problems. Our Maths Workshops provide an ideal opportunity for children to take on the role of teacher, with parents as their students. Many thanks to all parents who found time in their packed schedules to attend the workshops. I was impressed by how much the children had learned, and how clearly they were able to put that learning across and demonstrate it to us. One mum remarked to me that maths teaching is very different now from when we adults were at school. So often, we were taught one way to do subtraction, and that was that. I remember one of my teachers, when I was a boy in a UK senior school, telling me, "You don't need to understand it - just do it."

These days, children learn a variety of methods and strategies, together with the underlying concepts and the reasons why they work. Please check out this Google photo album of the workshops - and also this one.

Healthy packed lunches

Children who bring packed lunches to school are asked to remember the following:

• • Nuts and nut products are not allowed in school, because we have a number of students who have severe nut allergies.

  • Sweets and chocolate are not permitted in school .

This week, unfortunately, several packed lunches did include nuts, and I have found students sharing bags of sweets with friends at break time. Thank you in anticipation of your support in following the above important rules.

You can find some of our pictures from the photo walk online by searching the Instagram hashtags #tpich_textures, #tpich_shapes and #tpich_frames. You can also check out this Google photo album of the morning, featuring many of the photos we took.

We learned a lot about photography as an art form.

"You can take - and make - a picture out of anything. It doesn't have to be something special. Anything can make a picture." -Harris 6.05

"I enjoyed enjoyed taking pictures of the different textures the most."-Ahmed 6.06

"You get a more interesting picture from an unexpected angle." -Faas 5.03

"We took pictures from different angles and with different lighting." -Faye 5.03

Good Morning Performing

Ms Carter has resumed the Monday morning performances by students in the admin building, starting at the new time of 0740. Today's session saw pieces played by 5.03 Yasmine and 5.04 Miki, along with Yisi, Ryle and Han from seniors. We look forward to starting our Mondays with lovely live music every week from now onward.

Growth Mindset

Class 4.10 taught us about having a Growth Mindset in their assembly this afternoon. Growth Mindset is all about not being afraid to make a mistake, for it is only through trying, and getting things wrong sometimes, that we learn to do things we can't yet do. YET is the operative word. I can't score ten baskets in a row... yet. But I will keep trying until I can. If you ever feel you're never going to master a skill, talk to class 4.10. They are here to help you. Enjoy the video.

BSB Science Fair 2020

Report from Mr Travers

Preparations are well under way for the 2020 Year 5 and 6 Science Fair, scheduled for the week beginning 9 February.

Groups of around 4 or 5 students from all twenty classes involved have been busy planning investigations, organizing resources and devising stringent investigations to prove if their theories are right or wrong.

Once again, the Science Fair will take place in the atrium in the main building and each class will have around one hour to present their findings to an audience of parents, teachers and other students – as well as answering some very searching questions!

Storyboards are skilfully used by groups to display photos, graphs, reports and diagrams.

Investigations this year include finding out which material makes the best parachute; which brand of chip/crisp is the greasiest and if the weight of a ball affects the size of its bounce.

Check out this Google photo album. More details in due course!

Y5/6 Paris Trip June 2020

Exciting news - the opportunity has arisen to arrange a school trip to Paris in June 2020, from 16-22 June. The projected cost is approximately BD800 per student, depending on uptake. The maximum number of students will be 30. The trip will involve visits to a number of places of interest in and around Paris, with lots of opportunity to practise French. The trip will include a day at Disneyland, Paris. For more information, please contact Mme Charlotte Valenzuela, Head of French in juniors. We plan to hold a meeting on Tuesday 21 January, at 3pm, for parents interested in sending their child on the trip,

Foursquare

The four members of the Head Student Team this term have been thinking carefully about suitable games we could play at break times. It's not safe to play ball games that involve running about, such as football, on hard surfaces at break times. However, games such as Foursquare are much safer, as well as being great fun. A large number of people can play in turn, swapping around when someone is 'out'. The team's suggestion is that we mark out squares in various areas around the school grounds. You can see the team trying out the idea in the video clip and photos. Watch this space for updates. The next step is to determine the best locations. Then, all we need to do is mark out the squares and wait for the paint to dry.

Class 4.03 Assembly

As well as performing some splendid music, the students of 4.03 shared their dreams and ambitions for the future, inspiring us all to reach for the stars.

Modern technology featured in many of the students' career plans - the world has certainly changed since we older ones were at school.

Enjoy the video of their performance.

2020 is under way

The term began, in damp winter fashion, on Sunday. Undeterred by the rain, BSB junior students were raring to go after their invigorating holiday. We were delighted to come back to find a super new library ready and waiting, with shelved books, ultra-comfortable reading spaces and lots of natural light. We still have some work to do to finish shelving all the books and getting them properly ordered and indexed, ready for borrowing. My thanks to Mr Jacques, Ms Kadijha and everyone who helped move our tens of thousands of books over the holiday period.

All change: new Head Student Team

On Sunday, we said a huge thank-you to Hajar, Mason, Adam and Jesse, our Junior Head Student Team from term 1. They did a fantastic job, leading us all through the first stage of the school year, guiding VIP visitors around the school and impressing many. The retiring team announced the names of their successors for term 2 and welcomed them to their roles. Check out the newsflash to see the handover as it happened. Our new team is

Head Boy Harris 6.05

Head Girl Emma 6.07

Deputy Head Girl Leena 6.01

Deputy Head Boy Ahmed 6.06

The incoming team has made a great start and I look forward to a super term ahead.

Parent Community Committee News

The PCC wishes to invite you to the first coffee morning meeting where we would like to introduce the PCC members and to introduce our International Family Fair 2020 to you.

Our theme this year is CARNIVAL and we are very excited. As this is a parent-driven event, we would like to invite you to participate and help make this a successful event. There are many ways to participate, by joining a team or volunteering a few hours of your time.

Please join us on 14 January 2020 at 8 am in the Atrium and see how you can be part of this fun, exciting event.

You can also find this information on the PCC blog page.