Seniors Latest News

All the news from this half term

Monday 8th July

Graduation 2019

Please enjoy the highlights from our ceremony for the graduating class of 2019.

Thursday 4th July

Wishing you all a wonderful Summer!

As we end another academic year I look back with pride at the achievements of our students. From academics to sports, to arts, to charity work, there has been unparalleled success. A foundation has been laid to bring further success in all aspects of school life over the coming years. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful senior school teachers for all of their hard work this year, they truly have been amazing throughout, making sure that their students are constantly challenged to be even better. To those moving on to pasteures new, we will miss you and wish you all the very best.

These last few weeks have been all about celebration, with students receiving end of year certificates for attainment, progress, attitude to learning and attendance. We also had the Head of Year awards presented along with the Dhow awards for Key Stage 3, 4 and 5. Congratulations to Lucy Hassett (KS3), Maya Al Shanti (KS4) and Suad Ismail (KS5) for winning these prestigious awards.

I wish all members of the BSB community safe travels and a peaceful, enjoyable break; you deserve it. Looking forward to 2019-20.

Mr Ridgway

Lucy Hassett with Ms Jones and Ms Gay

Suad Ismail with Ms Porter and Mr McHugh

Maya Al Shanti with Ms Knight and Mr McHugh

World Scholars Cup Global Round

This year, we entered an outstanding delegation of twenty-two teams (66 students), into the World Scholars Cup (WSC) global round competition held at the China National Convention Centre (CNCC) in Beijing. The teams of three consisted of seventeen junior teams (Years 7- 9) and five senior teams (Years 9 -10). The competition was attended by over 220 schools and approximately 3500 students made up of 1800 junior and 1700 senior students. Schools that participated in the competition had travelled from far and wide, all competing to qualify for the prestigious Tournament of Champions (ToC) hosted at Yale University in the United States.

The WSC competition comprises of four events which test the students academically and also their ability to work with and rely on their team. The four main events were: the scholar’s challenge, a rigorous exam which tests individual learning across several subjects; debate against three different teams on motions across all the subjects, from policy to poetry; collaborative writing activity, where the scholars debated with the power of the pen. Scholars choose one statement from six different subject areas and either argue for or against them; ending on the fourth event, the Scholar's Bowl, each team in the auditorium is given a 'clicker' - the teams work together to solve analytical questions and multimedia challenges, each question getting harder than the one before. The teams also participated in a scavenger hunt (which took place at the Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park), the Debate Showcase, the talent show, scholar’s ball and the infamous international cultural fair.

Our students were great ambassadors for the school and for Bahrain. Talents from BSB included Luna Maronese, Year 8, who was the closing act for the first talent show, singing effortlessly to the tune “Dream Glow” by the South Korean boy band “BTS”. The scholars from the auditorium left with joy and impressed by the army girl. Jennika Bangunan, Year 7, who was the opening act on the final day’s talent show; was phenomenal and very eloquently requested to sit on the iron throne to sing “one day” by Matisyahu. We didn’t only have singing talents, BSB was also selected to participate in the debate showcase where Shaikha Rawdha Alkhalifa mustered the courage to debate in front of the thousands of scholars live on stage.

Scholars at the competition come from every corner of the world, represented in the flag ceremony which opens the award ceremony; the flag bearer for Bahrain was our very own Year 7 student, Mira Abdalla, who very confidently walked through the auditorium onto the stage proudly carrying the flag for Bahrain. The International cultural fair was one of the highlights of the week, where all our students were unparalleled in representing Bahraini hospitality and culture. The sweets and dates were given out amongst other souvenirs, flags and stickers. The girls, all dressed in traditional Jalabiyah’s were exceptional and were led by Shaikha Rawdha Alkhalifa and Mariam Ali in singing the national anthem throughout the event. They had their audience singing and clapping to the anthem too.

Building on the success of the regional round in Bahrain, and after a gruelling week of competition, the BSB’s delegation was ready to be rewarded. To everyone’s amazement in the audience and our delegation, the very first award was given to Mr Motara, for the Coach of the Year. This was in recognition of his hard work in organizing, planning and representing the BSB delegation with great honour and achievement over the last two years. The students were no less in being rewarded with a tremendous number of medals and trophies. Our junior team, consisting of Lucy Hassett, Alma Mahmood and Luna Maronese, were crowned the best team in the Middle East and won the third place overall from 600 teams. Our senior team, consisting of Rose Basilious, Kaviesh Kinger and Syed Yousaf Kamran, achieved third place in the Middle East. Pratham Mehrotra and Kaviesh Kinger were also awarded the school top scholars for BSB in their respective divisions. BSB students were also thrilled to find out that ten junior and three senior teams have qualified for the Tournament of Champions.

This was an unforgettable experience for all of our students, who enjoyed the experience of learning, interacting and having fun with other students from other cultures and other parts of the world. The students also got an opportunity for sightseeing, visiting one of the greatest wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China. Students also toured around Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City. Some of the comments received from the students and parents, Fatima Almosawi, Year 8 commented, “Thank you to everyone that made this trip the best trip I’ve been on! And thank you to all the teachers and parents who organized this and helped us with everything, I had so much fun so thank you, everyone!” Dia Nanda, Year 8, commented, “Thank you to all the teachers for supporting us through the year to get to Beijing – it was an amazing trip that none of us will ever forget”. Johanna Hassett, Year 8 parent, commented, “Thank you all for your hard work, excellent coaching and dedication to the WSC students”. Hala Amkia, a parent, commented, “Thank you for a very well organized event and bringing back so many champions!!”

Mr Motara said “It has been a great privilege and honour to accompany such talented and confident young individuals who have achieved excellence and done the school, their parents and their country very proud. I am absolutely thrilled with their outcome and would like to thank their coaches, Vikki Hughes-Swick and Yasmine Bouroubi, who worked alongside me throughout the year in preparing these students for this competition. Credit is also to be given to the parents who supported the teachers and put their faith in us, allowing us to deliver these outstanding results. Well done to everyone at the BSB WSC family”.

Qualified teams from the BSB will now start preparing for their trip to the USA to compete against the best scholars from around the globe at the much-admired Yale University. Their coaches will be supporting them in their preparations.

Battle of the Bands

What an amazing way to end the school year! On Tuesday 2nd July, 5 bands did battle for the ultimate prize of Battle of the Bands 2019 champions. Not even the perplexing after thoughts of Mr Bissell could dull the joyous mood in the room as the talented students belted out a number of rock hits. We were even treated to a number of songs by our staff band. Congratulations to all who took part and a big thank you to Mr Kerr and Mr Hughes for their organisation; you will both be sorely missed!

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Thursday 27th June

Triumphant World Scholars Return

Our amazing World Scholars and their teachers returned from the global round in Beijing this morning to rapturous applause from their families. Led by Mr Motara, who was awarded 'Coach of the Year' by the World Scholars Cup organisation, the students were delighted to show off the array of medals and trophies won. Many students were struggling to walk at the sheer weight of those medals around their necks. The extremely long flight and trip probably had something to do with the tiredness too, but the joy on their faces to receive such a warm welcome home was fantastic to be a part of. If you have not been following events, you can follow them on twitter, @BsbCup, and here to catch all the news from the trip. A full write up will be published next week.

A very big thank you to Mr McHugh, Mr Howie, Ms Porter and Ms Cole for accompanying the students and doing such a fantastic job. And of course, Ms Bouroubi, Ms Hughes-Swick and Mr Motara for the endless hours of preparation that they put in to prepare the students; such a successful return is by no accident.

And finally, the students; you did us all so proud. Your diligence, hard work and humility after so much success is a credit to you and your families. Well done!

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Year 13 Graduation Ceremony well received

On Monday night, our Year 13 students, their families and friends gathered to celebrate the formal end to their BSB journey. We are very proud of their achievements during their time at BSB, which have left them with some fantastic University offers, including New York University, Warwick, Durham, UCL, Imperial College and, for the first time, Cornell University. Congratulations to our graduating students, we wish them all the very best in their next chapter. They will always be welcome back at BSB. A large number of people made the event such a success, working together and thinking of the little details to make it a really special evening. Thank you to Smayan and Mehnaz, our Head Boy and Head Girl, for hosting the event, the Year 13 tutor team for their expert advice and guidance throughout their 6th form journey. And of course, Mrs Milnes, held in such high regard by the students, parents and staff for her tireless efforts for the good of each and every student. We are very grateful to her.

World Challenge trip to Cambodia

8 student' from Year 12 and Miss Williams depart this weekend on a 14 day trip of a lifetime to Cambodia. Whilst in Cambodia, the group will be completing a 5 day expedition through the steamy jungles, monkey filled forests, rice paddy fields and the beautiful Cardamom Mountains. As part of the trip the group will also be engaging in a 6 day community project where they will collaborate on a local led community initiative, which will help to improve the standard of education in a local community. The group have raised over 500BD for the community project. Next years World Challenge trip will be going to Vietnam. We wish them all a safe an enjoyable trip.

Whose Line is it anyway?

This week it has been the turn of Year 7 to share their work in drama. The have been working on improving their confidence and performance skills by rehearsing 'Whose line is it anyway' or theatre sports. This is when four actors are given topics and tasks to complete and they make it all up. This year Mr. Bissell and Mr. Holmes held a house competition with classes and awarded points for participation and comedy- lots of fun was had by all and the student certainly enjoyed themselves immensely. The Winning house was will be announced next week!

Year 11 Welcomed back for BTEC introduction

Our Year 11 students were back in school today for an introduction to the BTEC courses they have signed up to. Sessions were delivered on the individual subjects as well as more general sessions on University choices, academic honesty and plagiarism and time management. The students now have an assignment to complete over the Summer as they finalise their preparation for 6th form.

Making History memorable

Ms Timmer Arends and her Year 10 students have been making their revision memorable, creating their own twist on popular board games, with Cold War Monopoly, Cold War snakes and ladders and Anglo Saxon guess who, featuring a guest appearance. Can you find it? Their games have been filled with a wealth of knowledge about the topics studied

New Year 7s welcomed for transition activities

Our new students from Nadeen School joined us on Wednesday to familiarise themselves with the school, subjects and teachers. The students had a wonderful day and left even more about the prospect of joining the school in September. Our own Year 6 students also spent a morning in seniors with the pastoral team, getting to know them and preparing for joining us in September.

New Key Stage 3 Assessment

Last week, Mr Ridgway welcomed parents from Years 7&8 to provide further detail on the new assessment framework. The presentation was shared with all parents following the meeting, where a good discussion was held and many questions answered. I would like to inform all parents that this system is based on the latest GCSE assessment criteria, linking the skills required to be successful at GCSE. This will allow us to better track student performance and provide more detailed feedback and predictions for GCSE. We will, of course, still share quantitative data with regards to cycle tests and assessments as part of our discussions with parents about progress.

Thursday 20th June

Migrant Workers Protection Society

I want to personally thank all students, staff and parents for all the contributions towards the Migrant Workers Protection Society. I have been overwhelmed by the kind donations and we have once again broken our previous record. We have made over 280 shoe boxes and prepared a phenomenal amount of food as well blankets and clothing items. The total amount of money raised is over 2000 BD, which is phenomenal.

We had a mufti day last week as well as a bake sale, cookie and pizza sale to raise money for the air conditioning units. A special thank you to Ryle Hassett and his mum, who made 500 cookies at home to help raise money and Lucy Hassett, who donated 180 BD of her birthday money. Thank you for being such an inspiration to spread kindness.

I would also personally like to say thank you to Ms Tahir, Ms Hussain and a huge thank you to Ms Williams, who have done an amazing job in raising money. I have also included the list of my charity committee to the right, who have done themselves very proud.

Ms Vardalia

World Scholars Depart for Global Round

On Wednesday 19th June 65 senior students plus 6 members of staff departed on a trip of a lifetime to China to take part in the World Scholar Cup the Global Round. The World Scholar's Cup (abbreviated as WSC) is an international team academic program with students participating from over 82 countries. There are both senior and junior divisions in the competition and the teams from BSB will participate in the four main events: the Scholar's Challenge, Collaborative Writing, The Team Debate, and the Scholar's Bowl. Plus at the Global round the students take part in a scavenger hunt (Scholar's Scavenge), a cultural fair (Scholar's Fair) and a dance (Scholar's Ball) these added alongside the four, main events cultivates the sense of the global community of the program.

The Global Round' are taking place in Beijing China at the World famous National Convention Center from June 21 to June 26. We wish all member of the BSB team all the very best. To follow the BSB World Scholars on Twitter: BSB World Scholars Cup @BsbCup.

Good Luck from all members of the BSB community.

UKMT Success!

Our senior students from Year 9 and 10 took part in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust annual senior’s challenge which involves answering multiple choice questions on very challenging mathematics problems. To recognise the highest performers in the competition, the UKMT award the top-scoring 60% of participant’s bronze, silver and gold certificates in the ratio 3:2:1. Congratulations to the following students who all gained certificates and thank you to Mrs Gorick for organising the UKMT this year.

Year 10:

Matias Armengol – Gold certificate, Best in year and Intermediate Kangaroo Qualification certificate.

Ammar Kayani – Bronze certificate

Isa Alaradi – Bronze certificate

Year 9:

Pok Rui Lai – Gold certificate, Best in year and Best in school, Intermediate Kangaroo qualification

Pratham Mehrotra – Silver certificate

Karim Yaseen– Silver certificate

Arjun Arun – Bronze certificate

Heba Bangash – Bronze certificate

Zainab Alqassab – Bronze certificate

Aqdas Manjlai – Bronze certificate

Cristea Dragos – Bronze certificate

Marya Mohamed – Bronze certificate

Mariam Ali – Bronze certificate

Mohamed Al Saie – Bronze certificate

Lubna Aladhmi – Bronze certificate

Abdul Feroz Khan – Bronze certificate

Dana Almarzooqi – Bronze certificate

Grace Rodney – Bronze certificate

Year 8

Sifat Luther – Gold certificate

Dia Nanda – Gold certificate

Zahra Bandukwala – Silver certificate

Mohammed Hassan – Silver certificate

Vyas Pillai – Silver certificate

Mayyar Almubarak- Silver certificate

Aseel Alaraibi – Silver certificate

Naqiyah Lakdawala – Silver certificate

Maya Almoataz – Silver certificate

Reema Zowayed – Bronze certificate

Sara Alekri – Bronze certificate

Tala Attia – Bronze certificate

Abigail Roots – Bronze certificate

Nicole Agulay – Bronze certificate

Lucy Hassett – Bronze certificate

Sami Elbarshoumy – Bronze certificate

Shiza Simuyemba – Bronze certificate

Yassin Attia – Bronze certificate

Ahmed Alhalwachi – Bronze certificate

Shahd Allood – Bronze certificate

Diva Bhatia – Bronze certificate

Faisal Gosselin - Bronze certificate

Year 7

Joshua Hillman – Gold certificate

Vivaan Nair – Gold certificate

Aryan Ashwin – Gold certificate

Avikshit Upadhyay – Gold certificate

Pierre Obando – Gold certificate

Aadel Wish – Gold certificate

Xander Topp – Silver certificate

Gul Rukh – Silver certificate

Ayushi Srivastava – Silver certificate

Ahmed Azim - Silver certificate

Chirag Mehta – Silver certificate

Jacob Ingham – Silver certificate

Haniyah Motara – Silver certificate

Esteban Nieto Cuervo – Bronze certificate

Talha Ahmed – Bronze certificate

Lamees Eldabi – Bronze certificate

Ali Alhaddad – Bronze certificate

Lojana Abdelwahab – Bronze certificate

Daanya Malik – Bronze certificate

Yisi Gao – Bronze certificate

Hussain Mayoof – Bronze certificate

Drama Performances

This week has been a busy week for the drama department. They have been hosting a commedia dell arte and Shakespeare festival. Thanks to the senior staff and junior drama teachers for supporting the Year 8 & 9 students by being an outstanding audience. The Year 9 students directed, acted and crewed the performances and were responsible for pulling together to create a memorable experience for the end of KS3. They performed a thirty minute version of Julius Cesar by William Shakespeare in very different styles, from street hip hop to 1930's Germany. Well done Year 9!

Year 8 have been working on physical theatre and creating short comic interludes called 'Latssi' similar in style to the popular character of Mr. Bean. All the year groups have been supported and facilitated by Mr. Holmes, Mr. Bissell and A Level drama students; a true collaborative enterprise.

Look out for next weeks Year 7 'Whose line is it anyway ?' competition for house points!

Thursday 13th June

Staff feel the love

All staff have today enjoyed a wonderful lunch, organised by the PCC and provided by various members of the school community for the Staff Appreciation Day. It was a very generous buffet consisting of a whole host of sweet and savoury items. There was joy on faces as they filled their plates with a variety of tastes and textures. On behalf of all members of staff in the senior school I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all of the PCC members who coordinated the event, our generous parents who contributed various items for the staff, and also our students who make our job such an enjoyable one on a daily basis. I have spent the last few weeks reading through various emails and letters from parents and students to state their gratitude for the work that we do as a school and also to praise individual teachers that they have interacted with. It is a pleasure to read such positive feedback and for me is a constant reminder of why I chose to become a teacher, to generate enthusiasm, engagement and a life long love of learning. I am very lucky to have a team of dedicated staff who share that passion and do such a wonderful job on a daily basis. Thank you again to everyone who helped to show the staff how highly they are regarded within the community.

Mr Ridgway, Ms Jones, Mr McHugh

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Mufti day for the Migrant Workers charity

This week has seen charity bake sales and a mufti day in honour of the migrant workers, students and staff invited to wear something blue for the day. The volume of cakes, cookies and other goodies on sale was prepared by the students, to whom we are very grateful. Wednesday's bake sale was organised solely by Ryle Hassett, ably supported by his multi talented mum.

Without the dedication and passion of this groups of teachers, students and parents, it would be impossible to generate such a fantastic response from the community, who have given very generously indeed. Thank you to all of the team.

Student Aysha Al Qasimi said:

"Being part of the MWPS gives me such a good feeling, however tired I come out the end of the day working in breaks I know it’s worth it when I’m going home to a family and a house with nearly nothing to worry about. Nothing feels better than to give back to the people the work for us for very little money, and endure many hardships like not seeing family for years, living in cramped conditions and being mistreated in many cases. They work for many hours and deserve recognition and help, even if it’s as simple as a box of hygiene items which would save (to them) a large amount of money that they could spend on other necessities we could not provide for them, but for us it’s just a simple amount we may spend on a meal out. None of this would have happened without miss vardalia and other very generous students giving up their time to help organize- from wrapping, to making boxes, to transporting food items throughout the school to make sure everything runs smoothly. I would love to continue to help organize this wonderful charity hopefully until I graduate with miss vardalia as it gives me so much happiness working with all these kind hearted people to help the less fortunate of our community."

Well done and thank you to all staff and students who contributed to the organisation or simply contributed to the charity. A full report will be provided next week, including news of the incredible total raised.

Inspired Art Competition

Year 7 took part in the Inspired world art day competition. The brief was to design a stamp with the theme “Time”. We had many imaginative and creative entries and here are the overall winners.

Runners up were:

Yasmeen Al-Zurikat

Fatima Mansoor

Abhinav Mishra

British School Winning entries:

Lina Al Samahiji

Yousif Rashed

UK Year 7 Joint Winner:

Yousif Rashed

Thursday 30th May

Scholarships awarded

Thanks to the continued generous support of the French Embassy in Bahrain, two BSB students will have the opportunity to improve both their cultural and linguistic knowledge and understanding of the French language. Shamayel Qureshi and Rayan Zehana have received a scholarship to attend a two-week Summer camp to study the French language in Nice. We wish them well on their travels and look forward to hearing their tales upon their return.

Banking and Finance Jeopardy Success!

The Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance invited schools in Bahrain to compete in their Jeopardy quiz on April 27th It was a memorable experience to share along with my colleagues, Atta Yousafi and Karthik Arun. It was a good way to test some of the business and economic knowledge we had gained from school. Although ,at times, it was really challenging, with the combined effort and desire to succeed, our joint strategy helped us to come through the tough times and win first place. The honour of winning was enough, but we were also awarded a cash prize of 300 BD. It was an interactive event as well, enabling us to meet like-minded people from different schools and challenge them.

Kamal Haddad

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Thursday 23rd May

Art students wow their friends and family

Last Thursday 16th May, the Art department opened the doors to the annual Art exhibition, attended by the British Ambassador, HE Simon Martin. Both the Ambassador and his wife were truly blown away, along with the remainder of our guests. The students proudly talked about their artistic vision in creating the work, which was full of individuality, flair and skill to create such wonderful master pieces. A huge amount of credit must go to the Art department; Mrs Ridgway, Ms McKee, Mrs Holmes and Mrs Novik, who have all contributed to the wonderful displays we were treated to. We are delighted to invite visitors to view the exhibition over the next 2 weeks, we assure you that you will not regret it.

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Book Fair Sunday 26th-30th May in the BSB Gallery

From Sunday 26th to the 30th May students, staff and parents will have the opportunity to visit the BSB Book Fair hosted by The Bookcase. There will be a wide variety of books, gifts and educational resources available to purchase. So come along for a browse and see if there is anything that takes your fancy as to quote Ms Bouroubi Head of KS3 English ' There is honestly nothing better than putting your feet up and getting lost in a good book'.

BSB's stunning support for the Migrant Workers' Association

Just three weeks in to our appeal for the Migrant Workers' Association, and we have made 187 shoe boxes - easily enough for all the cleaners, security, maintenance and bus nannies already. We have also brought new shoes for all security, maintenance and cleaners. We are literally running out of space for all of the donated items - thank you so much for your generosity. The fabulous work in the Senior School has been matched by the efforts of Mrs Gilbert, Mrs Pollard, Ms Ingham, Mrs Rashid and lots of parents in Infants.

The Senior School want to thank the following staff and students who have done so much for this appeal:

Mrs Tahir, Ms Williams and Mrs Hussain
Everyone from the Sixth Form charities committee who has contributed, Kaviesh Kinger 10A, Shannon Ventura 10A, Zainab Shoaib 10B , Sara Mohsen 10F, Layaan Motan 10C, Rose Salib 10F, Oliwer Kolodziejczyk 10E, Laneash De Sousa 10D, Nawraa Ali 10F, Farah Al Aradi 10F, Maryam Mohamed 10E, Aysha Al Qasimi 10C , Noora Al Khalifa 10C, Ameena Toorani 10E, Tamara Eldabi 10C, Sahar Dadabai 10C, Eva Brusselmans 10E, Maryam Janahi 8C, Jood Al Awadhi 8D, Wedad Al Belushi 8A, Sara Khader 8D, Dana Nasralla 8C, Khadija Moussa 8A, Yasmina Eldemellawy 8D, Mohamed Elshamy 8A, Husain Radhi 8A, Haniyah Motara 7H, Fajer Marzooq 7H and Yasmin Al Fahad 7H.

Last, but not least, we owe a MASSIVE thank you to our Migrant Workers' Appeal Coordinator, Ms Vardalia, whose work has been superhuman. If any of you see her do stop to say hello and thank her for being such an inspiration for her students and colleagues alike.

Thursday 16th May

Novella November Short Story Competition

Each November the English Department runs the 'November Novella' Competition which is open to all year groups. This year the theme was 'Horror and the Gothic'. Pupils were invited to write chilling tales, or mysterious settings and characters to entertain and disturb the competition judges, Miss Saher and Mr Pollard.

By December we had over 30 entries from all Year Groups. Indeed the competition was so strong, we needed to have six prizes for the very best of the tales. The standard was extremely high, and demonstrated just how talented our students are at the BSB: many of whom - of course - are writing English as a second or third language.

In the end Miss Saher and I were unanimous in our decision and picked the following winners:

Y7: Joshua O'Neill: ‘Masked-Creature Massacre’

Y8 - Zahra Bandukwala: ‘Controlled’

Y9 - Pratham Mehotra: ‘Hallows Manor’

Y10 - Oliwer Kolodziejczk: ‘Demon Blessed’

Y11 - Bianca Capraru: ‘Freya’

Y12 - Mehnaz Maqbool: ‘Gone’

Below are the entries for you all to read and enjoy!

Mr Pollard and Miss Saher - 18th May 2019

The dangers of vaping

Further to our recent information to all parents regarding vaping, I would like to invite all parents to view this excellent Ted Talk by Suchitra Krishnan Sarin, a biobehavioural scientist. E-cigarettes and vapes have exploded in popularity in the last decade, especially among youth and young adults. From 2011 to 2015, e-cigarette use among high school students in the US increased by 900 percent. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin explains what you're actually inhaling when you vape (hint: it's definitely not water vapor) and explores the disturbing marketing tactics being used to target kids. "Our health, the health of our children and our future generations is far too valuable to let it go up in smoke -- or even in aerosol," she says.

Metacognition

A group of teachers in seniors have been working through an excellent guidance document regarding metacognition, meeting to discuss the practical implications for us as a school. They are planning to trial some of these ideas with their classes to assess the impact on student progress. Projects such as this keep our teachers at the forefront of good practice to ensure the best outcomes for the students. You can read the report below.

Migrant Workers Protection Society

On Sunday 16^th June 2019 the BSB will be donating items to the Migrant Workers Protection Society as part of our Ramadan charity appeal. The charity is for workers in Bahrain who earn as little as 80 BD a month. They live in poor conditions and we would like to donate shoe boxes which include the following items:

SHOE BOX ITEMS:

*THESE ITEMS SHOULD BE SEALED AND UNUSED

Toothpaste -1
Toothbrush -1
Shaving cream -1
Razor -1
Bar of soap-1
Washing soap powder

(260g OMO double concentrate)

Socks (ONE SIZE FITS ALL)-1pair
Small face towel-1
Comb-1
Nail cutter-1
Small hand towel-1
Shower gel - 250ml

Other items which you can also donate separately include:

FOOD (PLEASE CHECK EXPIRY DATES):

Rice 10 kg
Tang
Rose syrup
Chana Dal 1 kg
Masoor Dal 1 kg
Sunflower oil 1.8 litre
Sugar 1 kg
Tea (100 pack Lipton)
Salt 1 kg

Blankets (should be clean)

Three quarter trousers (M/L)

Towels (50cmx70cm – not used)

Therefore, as a school we are encouraging our students to donate empty shoe boxes and any of the above items. Please donate items to C29, B15 or outside the security office. The charity appeal shall begin on Tuesday 7^th May and will end on Sunday 16^th June 2019.

We wish to say a big thank you to Ms Vardalia, who has tirelessly gone above and beyond the call of duty in her charity efforts since her arrival at BSB and we are very proud of the work she does to support such wonderful causes.

Mr Ridgway, Mr McHugh & Ms Jones

EEF_Metacognition_and_self-regulated_learning.pdf

Ramadan Times

Registration - 7:45-7:55

Lesson 1 - 8:00-8:50

Lesson 2: 8:50-9:40

Break - 9:40-10:05

Lesson 3 - 10:05-10:55

Lesson 4 - 10:55-11:45

Break - 11:45-12:10

Lesson 5 - 12:10-1:00

Lesson 6 - 1:00-1:50

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Thursday 9th May

Parent Update

Students are firmly fixed on examinations as our external exams and Key Stage 3 assessments begun this week. All students have made a good start and we wish them well for the remaining assessments over the coming weeks. We have successfully implemented our shortened hours, which has been well received and is enabling our fasting students to continue to give their best despite the additional challenges that Ramadan brings.

Further changes to support students during this Holy month include the closure of the astro turf at break times, due to the hot weather and the provision of cool quiet areas at break times. For all students wishing to remain in the playground at break times to play basketball must be reminded that we are now enforcing our 'no hat, no play' policy for the remainder of the school year.

Curriculum Update

We will be writing to all parents over the coming weeks regarding some important changes to both the curriculum and assessment in Key Stage 3. We will also hold some information sessions for specific Year groups to go through the changes in greater detail. We are very excited about these changes and believe it will have a positive impact on academic progress and the overall student experience.

Migrant Workers Protection Society

SHOE BOX ITEMS:

*THESE ITEMS SHOULD BE SEALED AND UNUSED

Toothpaste -1
Toothbrush -1
Shaving cream -1
Razor -1
Bar of soap-1
Washing soap powder

(260g OMO double concentrate)

Socks (ONE SIZE FITS ALL)-1pair
Small face towel-1
Comb-1
Nail cutter-1
Small hand towel-1
Shower gel - 250ml

Other items which you can also donate separately include:

FOOD (PLEASE CHECK EXPIRY DATES):

Rice 10 kg
Tang
Rose syrup
Chana Dal 1 kg
Masoor Dal 1 kg
Sunflower oil 1.8 litre
Sugar 1 kg
Tea (100 pack Lipton)
Salt 1 kg

Blankets (should be clean)

Three quarter trousers (M/L)

Towels (50cmx70cm – not used)

Mr Ridgway, Mr McHugh & Ms Jones

Thursday 2nd May

Term 3 off to a flying start

In the space of a short first week back there has been a great deal of activity to get students back into their groove as they prepare for their upcoming end of year assessments. Parents and students should refer to the year group specific emails and documents shared for further information.

Our Year 11 and 13 students have now commenced their study leave in order to prepare for their final exams over the next 2 months. Year 13 celebrated with a leavers lunch organised by Ms Milnes and some of the Year 13s themselves. A variety of 'light-hearted' awards were issued to a variety of deserving students and Ms Milnes and the tutors also gave out a range of gifts to honour the memories made throughout their time in 6th form.

We, along with the whole school community, wish our Year 11 and 13 students all the very best in their final exams and hope that they achieve the results that they deserve.

With Ramadan just around the corner, we have shared our new school timings, which are also to the right. We wish all members of the BSB community Ramadan Kareem.

Mr Ridgway, Mr McHugh & Ms Jones

Registration - 7:45-7:55

Lesson 1 - 8:00-8:50

Lesson 2: 8:50-9:40

Break - 9:40-10:05

Lesson 3 - 10:05-10:55

Lesson 4 - 10:55-11:45

Break - 11:45-12:10

Lesson 5 - 12:10-1:00

Lesson 6 - 1:00-1:50

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Sports Awards Evening

The 8th Annual British School of Bahrain Sports Awards were held this week that included a VIP, a dance performance (Nooh Safi - Year 13), an MMA demonstration by local MMA international athlete Hussein Ayyad with certificates, medals and trophies awarded to our much deserving students. Mr Smith and Mr Ridgway opened the ceremony with special guest Sarah Al-Sammak providing information on how she became Bahrain's first ever international competitive female cyclist. The PE department issued a variety of awards to students who produced outstanding sporting performances every week, illustrating core BSB values such as commitment and desire. We would like to thank all coaches, teachers, students and parents for their outstanding support during the school sporting calendar.

Copy of Sports Awards 2019.mp4

Arabic Reading Challenge

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Ahmed Mansoor (Y10) joined Bahrain's elite after securing a place in the semi-finals, which saw him finish in the top 30 in Bahrain. He was the only student from an International school to make it so far in the competition and we are very proud of him.

He was well supported in today's ceremony by his peers from the school, who cheered him on and enjoyed their morning in the company of his excellency the Minister of Education and the Ambassador of UAE. The top 10 students are off to Dubai to represent Bahrain, which Ahmed fell just short of, but he has now set the benchmark for other BSB students to follow.

We would like to thank Ms Sana Mansoor, Mr Mahmood Mzoughi and Mr Magdy Attia, who have supported Ahmed throughout the process and ensured that he could get through the rounds as he did.

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