Seniors Latest News
All the news from this half term
Thursday 14th February
BSB World Scholars have outstanding weekend
Mufti Day
On Thursday 14th February the senior school hosted a mufti day to raise funds for the School' World Challenge charity drive. This summer ten 6th former's along with Miss Williams will embark on a trip to Cambodia. The trip involves lots of different elements but one of the most important and rewarding parts of the trip is the charity and project phase. Last year the school went to Nepal where we spend 5 day working at a local school and charity. The money we raised last year went to lots of different charities within the Nepalese community in which we were working as a group. A donation was also made to the Nepal Autistic Society which used the money to support 3 Nepalese families who have children with Autism.
Thursday 7th February
Two weeks to go!
Staff finally feel like the end of a hectic half term is in sight. The workload that BSB teachers have taken on since early January has been massive: marking mock examinations and cycle tests, producing reports for several year groups, attending parent evenings and option evenings, and all on top of the normal teaching workload. On behalf of the school, thank you!
The Year 9 and Year 11 options evenings were both lively events, with parents and students taking full advantage of the opportunity to meet subject teachers and discuss the various courses open to them. This follows on from a lot of previous work to inform students about their options, and from this point on the focus shifts to students, who finally need to make their choices. The deadline for both Year 9 and Year 11 students, is February 19th.
This week the Year 11 Geographers enjoyed a visit from Laurelle, a New Zealander who had lived through the earthquake of 2011. The students are currently studying this earthquake and its impact for their IGCSE exam and thoroughly enjoyed the visit. They were able to hear first-hand how the earthquake affected Laurelle, her family, and her country. They were able to ask any questions they had about the earthquake which helped cement their learning immensely. Many thanks to Laurelle for spending her afternoon with us to help the students with their studies.
Thursday 31st January
Report writing season is here
With the mock exams for both Year 11 and 13 finished, marked, moderated, and analysed, parents will soon be receiving the reports for these critical years, as well as for students in a number of other year groups. This is often the busiest time for teachers, and judging by the early starts and late finishes, BSB teachers have worked their metaphorical socks off to ensure that all of this important work has been done on time.
This is despite the fact that lessons continue unabated, and this week both Arabic and Art students have explored new topics. Year 9 artists had their first taste of mono-printing, and judging by the results, they have a natural flair for it! Meanwhile, Year 10 students have been exploring Arabic in a collaborative way, presenting their results to the rest of the class.
Finally, for an easy way to stay up to date with the awesome work of our World Scholars and their equally awesome teachers, please use their Twitter feed. We have included the feed on the Senior School blog homepage.
Thursday 24th January
Informed options process for Years 9 and 11 in full swing
This week our Year 9 students had their first taste of GCSE lessons, in preparation for the next few weeks when we hold our Year 9 options evening and then ask students to make their options choices online. Meanwhile, our Year 12 students continued their sterling work helping our Year 11s make informed decisions about what to study next year.
Meanwhile, our Year 8 Historians have experienced medieval crime and punishment by re-enacting trials and punishments that were common during this time. Can you guess what punishments are being meted out?
Thursday 17th January
Mock exams over
As this is written, the last Year 13 students will be writing their last words of their last mock exams, meaning that both our Year 11 and our Year 13 students have now completed a full series of mocks. This is the opportunity for students to practice in earnest, in preparation for the real exams in May and June, and now the mantle passes to our hardworking teachers, who have yet another mountain of tests to mark! Results for the Year 11 students are already out and the results for Year 13 will be out in due course. It is important that students pay attention to the feedback they are given, as we get ever closer to the sharpest point of their educational experience to date.
Meanwhile, Year 11 students have been visited by Year 12 students, who are explaining their experiences in the Sixth Form, as part of our options process. The Year 12 students have been fantastic, explaining in detail how their courses have gone and what they have learned so far, and we hope this will prove an invaluable experience for students. Next week, the Year 9 students will experience GCSE-style lessons as part of their options process.
Meanwhile, students in Year 12, whatever their subject, have been hard at work this week. Our Biologists have carried out some of their core practical work today, calibrating a microscope and measuring the size of their cheek cells. Also, AS Drama students used puppets in a workshop to explore the play 'Caucasian chalk circle' by Bretolt Brecht: their work will be performed and assessed as part of the course later in the year. They will also be working with Y10 IGCSE students in the near future, and it is great to see so much peer-to-peer teaching taking place in Drama.
Finally, some parents have been asking about what the uniform rules are, as the weather is a little colder and students are now being asked to remove their hoodies, jackets, and so on. The uniform is available on pages 34-36 of our Parent Handbook - please note that students must wear blue BSB jumpers only; even BSB hoodies are considered outdoor clothing only.
Thursday 10th January
Happy New Year!
Another busy half term started on Sunday, and even in the first week there was plenty going on. For our Years 9 and 11 students, the options process got underway with assemblies outlining the process that you can find here. For students in Year 9 and their parents, we are pleased to announce that we have added iGCSE ICT and GCSE Psychology to our already-broad range of subjects on offer next year! Our Year 11 students also received their mock exam results today, and teachers will be hard at work analysing the results and working out how best to support and challenge the students from now until the final exams. Meanwhile, our Year 13 students have 'enjoyed' their first week of mock exams, and many of our Year 12 students have joined them in the exam hall for their A-level modular exams.
Today the school was privileged to have two outstanding speakers in to enthuse our students. This morning, Chauncey Lo from the World Scholars' Cup Organisation came in to school to talk to existing and prospective BSB World Scholars about the programme and what it means to be a World Scholar. Aided by his trust Alpaca, Chauncey continued our excellent and ever-growing relationship with the WSC. Later on today, after lunch, many of our Year 10 students enjoyed a talk by Mr Khan, a world-renowned Quran expert. His talk, based around young people's 'pursuit of cool', was a fine way to end the week for all of us - students and staff have all been getting into the rhythm once more, after a long holiday away from school! Thanks to Mr Motara, Ms Bouroubi, Mrs Hughes-Swick, Ms Khurshid, and Mrs El Barbary for helping to organise the events - and of course, to all the students who attended and listened so attentively to our guests.
