Juniors Archived News Term 1 2020-21

Headteacher's News Thursday 10 December 2020

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The Hour of Code

Report from Mrs Drennan and Mr Padden

The Hour of Code is a global movement introducing tens of millions of students worldwide to Computer Science, inspiring young people to learn more, breaking stereotypes, and leaving them feeling empowered.

What is the Hour of Code?

A one-hour introduction to Computer Science, the Hour of Code began as a coding challenge to give students a fun introduction to the subject. The Hour of Code has become a global event combining awareness, learning and celebration. HourOfCode.com offers hundreds of one-hour activities, in over 48 languages, for infants and upward. Activities require no prior experience and can be run on browsers, tablets, and smartphones - some don’t require any computer at all.

The Hour of Code takes place every year during Computer Science Education Week, in early December. With a huge groundswell of support and attention, it’s an ideal time for schools to put the spotlight on Computer Science programs and expand opportunities.

Why Computer Science?

Computer Science is changing every industry on the planet. Every 21st-century student should have the opportunity to learn how to create technology. Computer Science concepts also help nurture creativity and problem-solving skills to prepare students for any future career. Computing occupations are the fastest-growing, best paying, and now the largest sector of all new wages in the US and around the world. Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. Students also love it! Recent surveys of students’ favourite subjects have Computer Science and Engineering ranking near the top—only the Performing Arts, and Art & Design, are higher.

The Hour of Code has made huge strides in bringing Computer Science to all students. In the first Hour of Code four years ago, more girls tried than have tried in the last 70 years!

The Hour of Code at the British School of Bahrain

This week, all Junior students, from Year 3 to Year 6, participated in their Hour of Code activities during their Computing lesson.

Students in Year 3 and 4 have voted for their challenge and are showing off their skills on Code.org. A winner from each class will be chosen on 7th January 2021 (based on skill, attitude and effort). It has been lovely to hear how much the children have enjoyed taking part in this challenge. It will be a hard competition to judge, and I am looking forward to seeing the code that Year 3 and Year 4 students create.

Students in Years 5 and 6 had the choice of several computer programming activities ranging from Minecraft activities on code.org. Creating Google logos on Scratch to Introductory activities using the Computing language Python. I am extremely proud of how advanced our Junior students programming skills have become. The students at the BSB are truly 21st Century learners. Programming is relatively new to primary school education. Please ask your child to show you how to follow one of the Hour of Code Tutorials from HOUR OF CODE 2020 SLIDES. As you can see from these videos, the students from Year 5 and 6 were very busy coding this week!

National Anthem Competition

Last chance to have a go at the Bahrain National Anthem competition.

Click here for more information, or click the image.

The link includes a video from Mrs Carter, taking you through the words of the national anthem, with subtitles showing how to pronounce them. Don't worry if you can't read Arabic, because the words are spelled phonetically for you, and you can play Mrs Carter's recording as many times as you want, until you can remember each line. In the video you can see Xavi in 4.10, and Mr Carter, learning the national anthem together and having great fun.

Cycle Testing in Years 5 and 6

There is a Science cycle test next week, on Sunday 13 December for Year 6, and Monday 14 December for Year 5. Here is the cycle testing schedule for term 2, starting in January. Term begins on Monday 4 January. Cycle testing resumes in the week beginning 10 January.

Remember, cycle testing is just one of the ways teachers assess progress. Cycle tests are also a way for teachers to find out what students still need to work on - we call that formative assessment.

School Reports

The first of the academic year's two written reports for Years 3 to 6 is out today - check out the parent portal on iSAMS.

How to access your child's report on iSAMS

Log in to the iSAMS parent portal
Click on School Profile, then School Reports
If you have more than one child at BSB, select your child's name from the drop-down menu.

If you have any difficulty accessing your child's report, please email isams@thebsbh.com for assistance.

Head Teacher's Awards

In the last round of awards for this term, we have another impressive line-up. Keep up the great work next term and we'll see who's in the hall of fame then. Have a splendid weekend, a successful short next week, and a great winter holiday.

Headteacher's News Thursday 3 December 2020

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Online with Max Verstappen and Alex Albon

Fygo in class 4.01, his sister Pleun in 7C, and their friend Heidi in 8F, along with Mason in 7G and his brother Lewis in 11C, had a Zoom call the other day with the Red Bull Formula 1 drivers, Max Verstappen and Alex Albon. The families were successful in winning a virtual autograph session, and Fygo arranged a meeting by contacting the circuit and sending them a video message. Well done, Fygo and friends, for reaching out and making contact, and entertaining the drivers with jokes and music.

PE CrossFit Challenge - report by Mr Williams

Recently, students from Years 3 and 4 took part in an international schools CrossFit challenge competition. Students competed against schools from the Middle East and Europe to complete a circuit of fitness based activities in the fastest time possible. Entrants competed against one another based on their year group and the level of difficulty of the activities they chose to attempt to complete.

It was great to see so many of our students enthused by the challenge; excited to get involved and being supported by their parents to get active and take part. We hope all our students enjoyed the experience.

Congratulations to all participants who completed the workouts successfully and sent in their video entries. Shout-out to the following students who completed their workouts in some of the best times recorded in the whole competition:

Farida Tolba

Hamad Alayed

Leonard Chapoton

Seif Salem

Jack Delbos

Hamad Alharbi

Saba Hamad

Kashvi Srivastava

Renad Mokdad

Jakkaphat Meyer

Headteacher's Awards

Here are this week's awards. There are more awards on the way for Years 5 and 6; they will be presented at next week's assembly, and will appear in next week's blog, all being well. Congratulations to all award winners. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Headteacher's News Thursday 26 November 2020

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PE - more than just exercise for the muscles

My thanks to Ms Gray, Head of Physical Education in the junior school, for this informative article, which has convinced me that PE is as important for the mind as it is for the body. Twenty-first century skills are key to successful physical education. Building endurance - without going beyond a safe limit - is essential, too.

There are many facets to Physical Education (PE) that go far beyond just being physically active. As physical education teachers, we help children develop their fundamental movement skills (FMS) through a range of skills and activities that develop their knowledge, understanding and confidence to embrace a physically active, healthy lifestyle in future.

A really important element of physical education is the development of fundamental movement skills, of which we have been doing a lot in school and we have also been asking our online students to do activities at home to develop these skills. In our current unit, we have adapted our striking and fielding activities so students can engage in these at home. Please encourage your son/ daughter to complete the challenges we set and repeat them as often as possible in order to develop hand/eye coordination, balance and control.

As professional physical educators, we are providing activities for our students at home to develop their FMS - object control and locomotor skills - and ask that you encourage your children to develop these essential skills that are needed for team sports, dance and gymnastics. Experiences have often shown that children who have mastered these skills are more physically active than those who haven’t. Many physical educators would argue that there is a direct correlation between motor skill development and physical activity. There is an assumption that improved FMS competence accompanies increased physical activity (Clark & Metcalfe, 2002; Seefeldt, 1980; Stodden et al., 2008) or that “…a confident and competent mover will be an active mover” (Clark, 2005, p. 44)

We sometimes hear parents saying, “But my child does dance”, “My child likes to ride their bike”, “My child swims in the compound,” ... “So it’s ok for them not to do their PE lesson.” Whilst it’s great when we hear that our students are being active in the evenings, these should be extra-curricular activities; activities that are in addition to the PE curriculum that we design to develop specific skills needed for children to develop physical literacy.

In PE we also encourage our students to be creative thinkers, finding ways to solve problems and overcome difficulties, skills that have been so vital in order to adapt to recent world events. For our online learners, being creative thinkers is a really important skill that needs to be developed in order to adapt activities to suit the space you are in and the objects around the house that you can use for the activities we are asking students to do.

There are many important aspects that we need to address and questions for you to consider include:

Are they repeating the skills they can do or are they happy to make mistakes in their quest to reach the next level- are they risk takers?
Are they pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, challenging themselves to make the tasks more difficult?
When you see your son/daughter doing physical activity at home, how much sustained effort can you see being applied?
How often and for how long are they out of breath when they exercise - how many minutes can they run for before they have to stop?
How many muscular strength exercises can they do correctly before they lose body tension and demonstrate poor/ unsafe technique?

We know children should be aiming to achieve an hour of physical activity per day in order to achieve the many physical and mental health benefits we need and to prevent the onset of increasingly prevalent diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

We have been lucky enough in school to avail of the cooling temperatures and take some PE classes outside over the last two weeks: using the track to stretch our legs has been great, but what is noticeable is that children are very quick to stop if they are out of breath instead of pushing themselves a little bit more and adapting to the demands on their bodies. Set a physical challenge for your son/ daughter: get your child to complete a cardiovascular activity for three minutes, can they complete it? How long is it before they need to stop?

We appreciate it is not easy completing all activities at home, but hopefully we can all work together to ensure our children develop as fully as possible in physical education and avoid missing out on vital stages of their physical development.

Ms Gray

Head of Junior Physical Education

Arabic Reading Challenge

Arabic Reading Challenge Competition - message from Mrs Sana Mansour, Head of Arabic, Juniors

We have 225 students who entered the Arabic reading Challenge Competition. Their task was to read 50 Arabic books with summaries. this had to be completed in a deadline time of four month.

They had to achieve 5 different colored passport – red, green , blue silver and gold .

Four of our children from year 3 and 6 had done us extremely proud by completing all their passports and were ready to participate in the first round of the Inter-schools competition.

Thanks for your participation and Congratulations to the following students:

- 1- Sahar Hasan, Ahmed .2- Ahmed Amr, Ibrahem .3- Zainab Mohamed , Mohamed

Well done! Click here for more information.

Headteacher's Awards

Here are the awards that were read out by the Head Student Team in this week's assembly. Well done to everyone who was worked hard this week - hoping to celebrate even more super achievements in next week's blog. Have a lovely weekend; see you on Sunday.

Headteacher's News Thursday 19 November 2020

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Exemplary Students

At times, we can all feel we have a lot to do - daily health checks to upload before leaving home, pink and blue clothes to find for non-uniform days at school, keeping tabs on children's progress and commitment to school... it can all add to stress levels in busy families. When that happens, we are extremely fortunate to have over nine hundred people we can turn to for exemplary guidance - the junior students themselves. Each day, they exude an air of serene calm, as they adapt to the changing routines of school in the current situation. We adults can learn a lot from the children's philosophical approach to their daily life. They personify patience, positivity, peaceable harmony, diligence, helpfulness, cooperation and trust. It is truly a pleasure to work with the students each day, to admire and to nurture their many talents, and to help them grow into the guardian adults of the future. When we feel like sounding our horn in a queue of traffic, let's think how our children would handle the situation. They would keep a cool head, make the best of things and not let it spoil their day, just as they always do.

Talented Young Poet

I'm amazed by the poetic skill of Aarav in class 3.02. Aged 7, Aarav has had his work published in the Gulf Daily News! Check out his excellent poem about the beach. Aarav read out his poem in remote assembly for Years 3 and 4. Amazing achievement, Aarav! We look forward to seeing your work in the poetry anthologies of the future.

Headteacher's Awards

Again, a really strong line-up of awards this week. Keep up the great work everyone, and have a super, safe, healthy weekend.

Headteacher's News Thursday 5 November 2020

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Student Voice

Today's blog is not going to contain a lot of writing. Instead, I am going to hand over to the four members of the Junior Head Student Team; that's Vismaya, Taha, Lina and Jack. They are going to tell you, in their own words, what they like best about the BSB.

Vismaya 6.01_what I like best about BSB (1).MP4

Taha 6.02.mp4

Jack 6.03.MOV

Lina 6.02.MOV

Headteacher's Awards

Once again, we have an impressive line-up of Head Teacher's Awards this week. Congratulations to all award winners. Keep up the strong work and we shall see whose names are on display next week.

Have a safe, healthy and happy weekend. See you all next week.

Headteacher's News Thursday 22 October 2020

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Half Term

It has been a strangely quiet Thursday, with our half-term break starting earlier than expected. I would like to thank everyone for all the help and co-operation during yesterday's early pick-up, and I am extremely grateful for all the feedback we have received on how we can improve the process if we have to arrange early pick-up in the future.

Blended Learning

We are processing the responses to the recent poll regarding parents' preferences for in-school or remote learning. The curriculum in Years 3 to 6 runs in parallel, with classroom lessons streamed live, and assignments posted on Google Classroom for students learning remotely. As we did in the first half of term, we shall give as many in-school days as possible to those students whose parents have chosen in-school learning. In some cases, that will mean we can provide four in-school days per week, as the number of parents opting for in-school learning has increased significantly. In cases where the number of in-school days is less than five per week, we shall align siblings as best we can, to be in school on the same days. As always, we shall follow ministry guidelines on distancing, which limits the number of students in each classroom on any given day. We shall be sending everyone an email before school resumes, with full details of in-school and remote days.

Headteacher's Awards

There has been more super learning and commendable attainment this week, from our remote learners and our in-school students. Keep up the great work, everyone! Learning never stops.

Please have the pleasantest half-term break you possibly can.

Headteacher's News Thursday 15 October 2020

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Junior Head Student Team

Today, in online assembly, we announced the first Junior Head Student Team of the school year 2020-21. Clockwise from top left, they are:

Jack 6.03 - Head Boy
Vismaya 6.01 - Head Girl
Taha 6.02 - Deputy Head Boy
Lina 6.02 - Deputy Head Girl

They have already made a fantastic start, running today's online assemblies with me, and they will continue in their roles until early in term 2, when a new team of 4 will take over, and then a third team of 4 for the remainder of the year. Teams 2 and 3 have yet to be announced. Each of the three teams of 4 students will have equal time in their roles, as closely as is possible.

Congratulations to this term's team!

Young Authors

It's out - the book we've all been waiting for! This book contains stories written by young authors from various schools in Bahrain, including many from BSB students, past and present. The book will be proudly displayed in our school library, and you can find it in Elmia Bookstore. There are over 100 stories filling more than 300 pages.

If you would like to see your own work in print one day, keep working hard at those hot writes, and keep on reading as much as you can. That's how writers get their inspiration and improve their writing techniques.

Think Pink

It's October, the month when people all over the world help improve health by supporting the Think Pink charity. At BSB Juniors, on Thursday 22 October, you'll be able to wear 'a splash of pink' along with your normal school clothes. If you would also like to contribute to the Think Pink charity, you can find more information here. Any contributions to the charity should be made directly to Think Pink, please, not through school.

Ms Lydia Carter has this message for anyone with a propensity for Pink art:

To all our budding actors and artists out there. We are looking for fun family improv dramas based around the famous Pink Panther cartoon.

Make a video in landscape format with the whole family or minimum 2 family members and send in to carterl@thebsbh.com or large files by wetransfer.com

We will choose the most entertaining videos to feature in our BSB Think Pink Family Drama Showcase Film.

We also invite you to get out your art materials and create your own original Pink Panther artwork. Some of which will also feature in the above film.

Use the Google Form to submit your artwork.

Wishing you many Pink Moments,

Ms Lydia

Mobile phones and devices in Juniors

Since our afternoon pickup times have become more straightforward, and parents and carers are able to access the site to pick up children, there is no longer a need for children to bring mobile phones to co-ordinate afternoon pickup. For that reason, students in Years 3 and 4 should not bring phones to school, please, from Sunday 18 October onward.

In Years 5 and 6, students who have their phones in school have found them useful, when used responsibly, to help with their studies, since we are not currently permitted to use shared IT devices in school. Although we have found we do not need mobile phones to co-ordinate pickup, it would be a shame to lose the benefits that children have found in using them sensibly. Therefore, students in Years 5 and 6 who have shown they are able to use their phones responsibly in school, under their teachers' supervision, may continue to do so if their parents wish. The phones must remain switched off in bags when not in use, and should not be used at break times.

After the half-term break, students in Years 5 and 6 are welcome to bring a device to school to help with their lessons, if their parents wish them to. There is no compulsion for students in Years 5 and 6 to bring a device. Mrs Drennan will be giving more information to Years 5 and 6 over the coming days, including how to connect their device to the school's wi-fi.

The school cannot take any responsibility for devices brought in; it is students' responsibility to take due care of them throughout the day. Devices brought to school should be fully charged and ready for use. I reiterate that there is no compulsion for students in Years 5 and 6 to bring devices to school; it is a matter of parental choice.

Headteacher's Awards

Congratulations to this week's award winners! Keep up all the great work, either remotely or in school, and who knows - maybe your name will be on the awards list in a future week.

Have a relaxing weekend.

Headteacher's News Thursday 8 October 2020

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Keeping safe on the road

The tweet pictured is from a UK policeman, PC Martin Willis. I was reminded of PC Willis's tweets when thinking about the safety of the BSB community. We are all having lots of practice at keeping ourselves and others as safe as we can from viruses. However, we must not forget other kinds of safety. It would not be much use protecting ourselves from COVID if we then went on to get badly hurt in a car accident. I confess that I am terrified when I see children, in moving cars, not wearing seatbelts - sometimes even leaning out of car windows. Serious accidents can occur at surprisingly low speeds. We feel safe in our own cars, as though nothing can possibly go wrong. The problem is, it can. At just 10 km/h, a collision can have the same effect on a passenger as being hit by a mass of over 50kg. You can verify that here. I really, really don't want to be explaining to children why one of their classmates isn't in school because of an injury - or worse - caused by not using a seat belt. Please, parents and drivers, ensure that you and all passengers are properly restrained before you start your engine and drive away. Also, while in the school pickup/dropoff zone, only one speed is permissible: very slow. Many thanks.

Also on the subject of safety at afternoon pickup time:

Parking - a big thank-you to parents and drivers for superb teamwork in the u-turn area this afternoon - no-one parked in the pickup zone and it was much easier and safer for the students to reach their cars as they stopped briefly to pick up. Parents and drivers who needed to park all did so in the marked spaces on the far side.
Pickup zone - children should wait in the pickup area by the basketball court fence. As their car comes around, after the u-turn, they can climb in safely under supervision.
On-foot pickup - parents and carers, please maintain distance and don't stand in the area immediately outside a doorway, so the children can maintain distance when exiting the building.

Helping us all to stay healthy

Just a reminder that anyone feeling unwell in any way should stay at home, away from school, until fully recovered and cleared by school to return. Furthermore, if your child or a member of your household is awaiting a COVID test result because of contact tracing, symptoms etc. then your child should not come to school until cleared to do so - please contact us to check, if you are in any doubt, before sending your child to school. It is through teamwork, with everyone sharing the same goal, that we have the best chance to eventually beat the virus and return to a more normal lifestyle.

The Island Challenge - Awards Update

Here is a message from Ms Gray and the PE Department.

We had a tremendous number of students take up the challenge, receiving certificates for each of the awards they achieved for all the kilometres they covered. Whilst everyone who has taken part in the challenge so far should be congratulated, we have three students in particular who we would like to acknowledge for the number of kilometres they have achieved so far.

Our 'Island Challenge Rising Star' award goes to Khalid 4.01 who has continued to work through the awards since we returned to school in September. Having completed 129.8km so far in the challenge, he is now working towards his Bahrain International Circuit Award! Well done, Khaled, keep going all the way to Durrat!

Our 'Island Challenge Star' awards go to the following two students who have made it to Durrat Marina, completing all 337km of the Island Challenge Awards! Congratulations go to Faas 6.09

Jakkaphat 4.03 - I understand that Jack has actually covered 448km between May-September according to his sports tracker profile, which is a fantastic achievement - extremely well done!

'Island Challenge Star Staff' awards go to the following junior teachers who should also be congratulated for completing the Island Challenge:

Mr Graham

Mr Drennan

Mr Doyle

How Far Will You Go?

The Island Challenge continues! We will be re-launching the challenge before half term for our new students, but in the meantime, you can continue to work on your awards from where you left off. Who will be the next 'Rising Stars' and 'Star Award' winners?

PE Kit reminders

Please assist us in our efforts to maintain the utmost safety in PE lessons and ensure your son/ daughter brings an extra mask and vinyl/ non latex gloves for their PE lesson. We would also like to remind you that leggings are not part of the junior PE kit: students can either wear the school PE shorts or school PE trousers for their PE lessons. Slip-on shoes are to be avoided as sports shoes need to be fastened to ensure feet are secured and thus reducing the likelihood of soft tissue injuries. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with these items.

Headteacher's Awards

It is heartening to read through the awards and gain a flavour of the super achievements, personal development and various successes of this week, by those learning remotely and those attending school. Well done to all award winners. I am sure we shall see more great awards in future weeks.

Please have a safe, happy and restorative weekend.

Headteacher's News Thursday 1 October 2020

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This is the time...

As singer Billy Joel reminds us, in his song This Is The Time, no era lasts forever and, whatever the circumstances, there are moments that we shall remember and look back on fondly. I was delighted to receive a lovely note, pictured here, from Firas in class 3.04, which brightened up my afternoon yesterday. Firas, and all BSB students, it is a pleasure to do all I can to keep you safe, and your caring, kind thoughts are greatly appreciated.

An air of cheerful positivity abounds, all through BSB, from morning arrival until afternoon pickup. The junior students are doing a wonderful job during this phase of blended learning - those in school, and those learning remotely at home, whose faces smile out from the screen during their live Zoom lessons. Class elections to choose the school's Members of Parliament are in full swing, and next week we shall find out who will be the four members of this term's Head Student Team, chosen from applicants in Year 6, as explained to students by their form teachers.

Afternoon pickup

Sincere thanks to everyone for helping us maintain distancing at afternoon pickup time. One fact I try to keep in mind is that an area can only become crowded if people go into it. Therefore, we can all help by hanging back a little if a walkway or a part of the pickup zone is already populated, and passing through a couple of minutes later when the people ahead have cleared the area. There was a great sense of teamwork this afternoon, with lots of happy cooperation - it's amazing how it's possible to tell when someone is smiling when they are wearing a face mask.

Please also help us by remembering that the lane next to the white chain in the u-turn is for pickup rather than for parking - if your child's form teacher knows that you are picking up in that area, your child will be waiting there at 3pm, ready to climb safely into the car when you arrive. If you need to park, please use the marked spaces that are further away from the pickup zone. If the area is used as intended, a large number of children can be picked up in a surprisingly short time.

Headteacher's Awards

There is a splendid array of Headteacher's awards this week, earned by remote learners and in-school students - well done to all! Keep working hard, everyone, and perhaps your name will be in the gallery in the weeks ahead.

Wishing everyone a restful, safe and pleasant weekend.

Headteacher's News Thursday 24 September 2020

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Lots of Learning

At each of today's online assemblies, I asked the students to hold up one finger for each useful thing they had learned this week. I was delighted to see that most students held up many fingers - some were holding up eight, nine or ten. I am sure that if we had included toes as well, we would have seen evidence of even more learning. This reassures me that term is well and truly under way. Whether they are attending school or studying remotely at home, all active, engaged learners are making daily progress. Please keep that up as the weeks go by.

Yousif and Malak's Martian Colony

Little did we know, when Year 5 began their Science unit on Earth and Space this term, that we already had two accomplished astronomers in our midst. Malak in class 5.04 and her twin brother Yousif in class 5.06 recently won first place in an island-wide competition, organised by Bahrain National Space Science Agency, to design a colony for humans to live sustainably on the planet Mars.

This is an achievement of extra-terrestrial proportions; a truly giant leap by these two aspiring astronauts of the future. Perhaps, in a few years' time, we shall see the twins' design become reality, and humankind will walk the surface of the red planet.

You can read more about Yousif and Malak's achievement in this Gulf Weekly article and this Instagram post by the NSSA.

Yousif and Malak qualify for the first two Headteacher's Awards of the school year - well done!

End of the school day

As per the recent letter to parents from Mr Maguire, we are not able to use the pedestrian gate facing towards Hamala Hills mall at the present time. This has resulted in more cars driving onto the school site at pickup time each day. I ask parents and carers to exercise patience and to follow the directions of our security guards when driving onto the site. Please bear in mind the following points:

Security guards' priorities are safety and keeping traffic moving - please be prepared to park where they direct you.
Headteachers, Deputy Heads, Teachers and Learning Support Assistants patrol the pickup areas at the end of the day and we shall take care of your child if you are caught in the traffic or have to walk from another part of the school, so please keep calm and don't worry - your children are safe until you can reach them.
Junior parents wishing to pick up at 3pm without leaving the car should do so by driving around the u-turn to the pickup point. Please ensure your child's teacher knows that you plan to do this, so they can arrange for your child to be in the pickup zone.

Have a splendid weekend; looking forward to seeing everyone next week.

Headteacher's News Thursday 17 September 2020

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Learning forges ahead

It is wonderful to see students in school, learning and enjoying socially-distanced time together, on all five days of the week. Our remote learners are also thriving, as I can see from their eager, excited faces on the screen. Our morning entry checks have been going very smoothly and the children have grown used to the procedures.

We shall soon begin the process of choosing this year's Head Student Team, comprising a Year 5 Head Girl, Head Boy and their deputies, one team for each term. Y6 students who would like to stand for selection should start thinking about preparing their speeches. Mr Doyle and the Y6 team will give the students more information about the process soon.

A few points have arisen as the week has gone on:

Masks - all junior students should wear a face mask when arriving at school, when leaving at the end of the day, and when moving through the corridors. Staff wear masks all the time, in classrooms, corridors, outdoor areas and offices.
PE - you can find your child's PE days on the timetable via the iSAMS parent portal. On PE days, your child should come to school wearing PE kit, and should bring a pair of gloves (vinyl non-latex gloves are best) and an extra mask - this is because it can be unpleasant for a child to continue wearing the same mask after PE. The gloves are an extra layer of protection when handling PE equipment, which is wiped and disinfected between classes.
Staggered end to the day - it is essential that we spread out the traffic at the end of the day, which is why we have different finish times for siblings and bus children. This is an unprecedented time in modern history, and our first priority has to be safety. We are all looking forward to getting back to fully normal operation, with everyone finishing school at 3pm. At the moment we do not know when that can safely happen, but we shall all be glad when it does.

Wishing everyone a restful and restorative weekend.

Headteacher's News Thursday 10 September 2020

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We're back!

After a total of eighty-three days' virtual learning, from March until yesterday, we are back. And it feels as though we have never been away. BSB junior students, old and new, bounced eagerly through our newly-installed temperature gates on Sunday morning, hastening to their classrooms to meet their teachers and engage with their day's learning. It is simply wonderful to see the rooms and corridors alive once more with the children's joy, enthusiasm and zest for learning. Those who are studying remotely waved eagerly from the whiteboard in Ms Badassy's classroom when I popped in to say a socially-distanced hello.

We are grateful to parents, students and friends of the BSB for your forbearance as we embed and enhance our new, distanced procedures at this very challenging time. Next week, starting on Sunday 13 September, we plan to move to 5-day opening - details below - which will allow us to operate a more normal timetable. We have already added socially-distanced PE to our temporary timetable this week, as it is important for children to get their exercise and movement, a vital element of their learning.

IMG_5821.MOV

Additional days in school for Years 3 to 6

Further to Mr Maguire's letter of today, I'm pleased to give you further details of the additional days in school we are now in a position to offer students whose parents opted for in-school learning, in the survey we carried out.

5 days in school: From Sunday 13 September, students in Years 3 to 6 who have already been coming into school for classes, as part of our Blended programme, are welcome to attend school on all five school days of the week.
Specialist subject teaching will resume as per normal timetable, with teachers moving around classes instead of students moving. This applies mainly to Years 5 and 6, although Years 3 and 4 also have specialist lessons in some subjects. For all lessons except PE, the teachers will do all the moving around, maintaining social distance at all times. PE classes are also distanced, following a modified programme with safety uppermost, in line with MoE guidelines.
Students learning remotely will be able to take part in live-streams and interact directly with their various teachers via Google Classroom. The same Google Classroom pages will remain in use and, should others be added, we will share the join codes with the students.

Students who are in school will remain in their own classroom bases for the entire day, except for PE lessons. MoE guidelines do not permit mixing of classes into subject sets under the current circumstances. Therefore, in subjects that are usually taught in sets, the teachers will rotate so that the students of each set, in each class, get as much time as possible with their own set's teacher.

If you have any questions, please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance.

Wishing everyone a safe and restful weekend!

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