Archived News 201920 T3

Headteacher's News Sunday 28 June 2020

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The school year draws to a close on Thursday 2 July

Term ends at 12 noon on Thursday 2 July - we have begun the final week of the academic year, and what a year it has been. By the time we log off on Thursday - the school day finishes early at 12:00 midday on the last day of term, as is our custom - we shall have completed 80 days of virtual school. I congratulate the students heartily for staying with us online through this time, keeping their learning on track and getting ready, with the support and guidance of their teachers and learning support assistants, for the next school year. Teaching and learning are scheduled to begin on Tuesday 1 September. We shall be notifying parents when we are able to publish arrangements for the start of the new term. Class placements for the new school year will be shared with parents via the iSAMS portal when they have been completed.

End-of-year reports for students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 are scheduled to be released via the iSAMS portal on Monday 29 June, by 3pm. If you have any difficulty accessing your child's report, please contact the Data Officer via bsbmail@thebsbh.com for assistance.

Transition Day - on Thursday morning at 0830, junior students will be invited to take part in a class video meeting with a teacher from the year group they will be going into next term. This is not an opportunity to meet next year's teacher - it is a chance to hear something about what life is like in the next year group.

Final Assemblies - each junior year group will have a final assembly on Thursday morning; times to be announced on Google Classroom pages.

Wishing everyone the best possible of summers, and looking forward to a fresh start in September.

New Times Tables Rock Star

A teacher is no longer in first place on Times Table Rock Stars. She has been overtaken by a Year 3 student, Faisal in class 3.07. What an awesome achievement. Here is a video of Faisal in action. The standard on TT Rock Stars gets higher and higher - keep practising, and we'll see who can equal Faisal's performance.

FaisalTTRockStars.mp4

Joud my speech (save our home plant.mp4

Saving Our Planet

Joud in class 5.07 wrote a persuasive speech about saving our planet. Here she is, delivering the speech, like a true orator. Well done, Joud - a very important message which we all need to hear.

Headteacher's Awards

Another comprehensive collection this week. Congratulations to all award winners. Keep up the great work, for the final few days of this school year, and into next year.

Headteacher's News Sunday 21 June 2020

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Poem

Let's begin this week's blog with a poem about the current situation around the world, written by Gayatri in class 6.01.

Lockdown

By Gayatri 6.01

I’m in lockdown,

It’s not just me.

It’s the whole world,

you see.

It’s not much fun,

sitting at home.

It’s like we’re trapped,

inside a dome.

At least we are safe,

inside our small, tiny house.

Nothing can be heard,

not even a mouse!

Virtual School,

How long it can be!

When will it end?

I want to be free!!

What's the reason for this,

did you ask?

You can’t even leave the house,

without a mask.

But we do get movies!

And great popcorn!

Music that’s bluesy!

Oh, no! It makes me woozy!

Yes, it’s sad,

Being in lockdown.

But it has both,

Ups and Downs!

Eclipse education

This morning, it was became unusually dark for a while, between 0714 and 1000 Bahrain time. The Moon passed between the Sun and the Earth, and we experienced a partial solar eclipse. Efe in class 4.04 read my slides about the eclipse, and made his own special device to view the eclipse safely, without damaging his eyes. He made his device from a cardboard box with a pinhole to let the sunlight through, and a window on the side so he could see the image projected inside the box. Great job, Efe - perhaps we will see you working on the next Hubble Space Telescope one day.

Here is an image I took of the eclipse, with a pinhole in a cereal packet. Also, here is another view of Efe's eclipse-viewing device. It's really important to keep our eyes safe when observing an eclipse - a pinhole device, that projects the image, is a great way to do that.

Carson in class 6.10, and her sister Lila in class 3.04, also made a pinhole viewer to project an image of the solar eclipse safely onto a piece of paper - check out this video they made. Maybe Carson and Lila have astronomical careers ahead!

CarsonEclipse.MOV

The Island Challenge Week 3

Here's the latest video from the PE department. Which year group has clocked up the most kilometres in the Island Challenge? Play the video to find out. If you haven't started the Island Challenge yet, it's not too late. Here is the link to the slideshow that explains it all.

Saving Our Planet

Zara in class 6.02 made this stopmotion animated video about saving the environment. She has raised some excellent points, in a most skilful way. Our planet has to last for many generations beyond our own, so we ought to look after it as best we can.

Zara.mov

Headteacher's Awards

An impressive collection this week. Well done to all award winners. Keep doing your best in virtual school, everyone!

Headteacher's News Sunday 14 June 2020

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The Island Challenge

We’re two weeks into the Island Challenge and it’s clearly up and running! Here is a message from your teachers to show you how impressed they are with all your accomplishments so far:

The baton is now over to you. Parents, please fill out this form for your child, to show us how far you’ve gone. Keep clocking up those kilometres! Thank you, from the Junior PE Department.

Aimie Times Table Rockstars.mp4

Tables rock!

Here's Aimie in class 4.07, at work on Times Table Rock Stars. She's so fast, her fingers are almost a blur, and she still gets the answers right. Aimie is in second place on the leader board, and the person in first place is a teacher! By the way, Aimie wasn't listening to rock music while she was doing her tables. Mr Howe added the music to the video, to make it a bit more Rock-Starry.

Saving water

Mohammad Ibrahim in class 5.02 made this video to remind us how important it is that we all conserve water. Saving water is everyone's responsibility - please take a look at the video to see how we can all help.

SAVE WATER AD.mp4

Headteacher's Awards

Lots of awards this time. Well done, everyone! Keep up the great work. I was having internet problems when I uploaded the certificates to the blog - so, if you received one by email last week and yours isn't here on this page, please email me and tell me, and I will add it.

Headteacher's News Sunday 7 June 2020

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Very sad news

Many thanks for all the kind messages of support we have received, following the tragic passing of Mr Diogo Pires, a much-loved and respected Year 4 teacher, on Friday morning. Our thoughts are with Mr Pires's wife, and his relatives, at this most distressing time.

The students, parents and staff at BSB are being very strong and helpful to one another as we deal with our enormous sense of grief and loss.

Virtual Clubs

One more Y6 club has been added to the list - it's called Lockdown Fun With Challenging Adventure. It's a seniors' club that may be of interest to Year 6 students.

Headteacher's Awards

Here is the latest line-up. Keep working hard and perhaps you will be in the next set of awards.

Headteacher's News Sunday 31 May 2020

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Years 5 and 6 Online Cycle Testing

As per the email we sent on 14 May to parents of students in Years 5 and 6, online Science cycle testing takes place this week, on Sunday 31 May at 9:30am for Year 6, and on Wednesday 3 June at 9:30am for Year 5. Each test comprises twenty multiple-choice questions on the Science topics the children have recently studied. Students should log in to WISEflow, in the same way they did for their practice quiz before the Eid holiday, and find the green arrow to click. It will appear at 9:30am on the appointed day, and it will stay open for one hour. The participator password, to start the test, is 1234 and the invigilator password, to hand in the finished test, is also 1234. Well done to all who completed the practice quiz, so you know that WISEflow works on your system, ready for your proper online cycle tests. Remember, do your best, and keep smiling!

Virtual Clubs

It's worth taking another look at the virtual clubs list for this term, as some new Google Classroom club pages have been added. Remember, anyone can join a club page if you are in the right year group, and you can join as many club pages as you want. Teachers will check and update the club pages from time to time and you are welcome to post sensible comments and suggestions on the pages.

Headteacher's Awards

Last week was only two school days long, so there wasn't time for students to win quite so many awards as usual. Well done Gabriella, Ward and Yara!

Headteacher's News Wednesday 27 May 2020

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تحدي الاسبوع الاخير.MOV

Eid message from the Arabic Dept

As we return to virtual school after the Eid holiday, please see this video message from the students.

Virtual Clubs

Students and parents have asked us to set up Google Classroom pages as virtual clubs, to provide a co-curricular dimension during this period of virtual school. We have done that - please click here to see the list of virtual club pages. To join a club, students should simply join the relevant Google Classroom page.

We are not placing a limit on the number of students who can join each club. Any student who wishes to join, and to conduct themselves sensibly on the club page, is welcome.

Unlike the clubs we run when school is operating normally, virtual clubs will not have weekly live meetings. Students should check their club pages frequently for updates from club members and club teachers. Virtual clubs are like themed chat rooms, supervised regularly by teachers, where students with a shared interest can exchange ideas and report on their activities. In this way, we hope to provide a co-curricular element to virtual school life, without students necessarily being tied to the computer all the time.

Maths Week: report from Mr Drennan

17-21 May was a very mathematical week in the Juniors. Throughout the week, students tackled online mathematical challenges and puzzles designed to promote logical thinking and develop problem solving skills.

A little bit of maths has been sprinkled across all of their subject lessons, reminding them that they will come across many applications of maths in their lives - it’s not all about calculations and text books!

This year, the students were challenged to find examples of maths being used in real life inside their home - an indoor maths hunt! They have come up with some very creative videos which you can view using these links - Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6

While we are learning at home, board games are a great way to pass the time. Some of our students created their very own mathematical board games. During their Computing lessons, students were encouraged to program a mathematical game using Scratch coding. Their games can be accessed here if you would like to try them out.

Maths Week is the perfect time to share the recent success of one of our students in the Primary Maths Challenge, a global competition. Bhargav Karthik in 5.08 was successful in the autumn competition and qualified for the bonus round. He performed very well in a particularly challenging bonus round and achieved a silver medal. Well done, Bhargav!