Newsletter for the month December 2020

The Juniper Times December 2020

Beaconhouse Juniper Campus Quetta Samungli Road, Quetta

Phone no: 081-2826277

NEWSLETTER Inside this issue: TOP STORIES  A-Level students received acceptances from prestigious universities owing to their outstanding academic achievements  An exceptional CAIE 2020 result with 28 A*s and 137 As  Positions in BEC Declamation Contest & IKMC  Students working on a collaborative global project “Educational Inequality for Women”

Bhawish Kumar Liverpool Hope University

The First Word

1

News & Events

2

Achievements

3

BCP ACE Program 4 School Activities At a Glance

5

University of Stirling Liverpool John Moores University

The First Word

Dear Parents

Zawar Bazai Oxford Brookes University

Naseebullah NUST

Syed Shehryar SZABIST

Through participating in sports tournaments, inter–school debate I trust you & your families have kept competitions, collaborative projects well & safe during the difficult time of with partner schools, online trainings, pandemic. internships & attending sessions with This unprecedented pandemic situation professional speakers, they developed has completely transformed teaching & new interests & skills. Career learning in less than a year. Under these counselling sessions & the college/ unique circumstances, Beaconhouse university placement program also conremains committed not to compromise tinue without any interruption. with the quality of education, whether it In the current situation, it was our is face to face teaching or remote top priority to take strict measures for learning. To achieve this purpose, the the safety of the students & staff by school has trained its teachers in the use developing awareness with the of online teaching tools & invested in necessary provisions. I take this essential resources for effective opportunity to thank you for your implementation of hybrid model of cooperation in enforcement of the SOPs teaching. in the school.

The pandemic brought a global As we approach the end of 2020, I wish awareness that online learning is not a you & your families a relaxing winter temporary phase. Considering this break & a happy, prosperous & situation, Beaconhouse provided a wide peaceful new year. range of opportunities to our students to participate & compete virtually in new & exciting ways, to prepare them well Regards for an independent academic & social Riffat Naseer life in a changing & challenging future.

Principal 1

The Juniper Times December 2020

NEWS & EVENTS PARENT - TEACHER MEETING A series of the parent-teacher meetings was held in the month of November for all levels. It was a combination of online & face to face meetings, with the focus on need based cases. A very constructive & fruitful communication took place between the teachers & parents. The teachers appreciated parents' cooperation in successful implementation of the online teaching & learning. They highlighted students' achievements & the areas that needed attention. We are very thankful to the parents for their positive feedback on school's efforts in their children's academic progress & for their valuable suggestion to bring further improvement in the school system.

INDEPENDENCE DAY & DEFENCE DAY This year, celebrations of Independence Day & Defense Day of Pakistan were held online however, it did not undermine students’ spirits of celebration. The students’ patriotism was evident through their speeches, national songs, art activities and wearing cultural costumes, depicting themes of national flag and traditions.

GLOBAL DIGNITY DAY CELEBRATIONS “Every human being has the universal right to lead a dignified life”.

With this in mind, we at Beaconhouse celebrate Global Dignity Day each year. Dignity ambassadors were nominated and took oath in the month of October, for fulfilling their responsibility of promoting an environment of kindness, understanding, tolerance, and compassion.

Our students passionately participated in the week-long activities, celebrating dignity through writing stories, thematic drawings and making cards for our support staff to appreciate and acknowledge their contributions towards taking care of the students & school.

The students hosted a tea party for them and served refreshments as a token of gratitude and respect.

STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS Student council elections were held in October & November. The students had the experience of voting for the candidate of their choice through manual voting & e-balloting. The elections were followed by a well-organised oath taking ceremony of the newly elected student council while maintaining social distancing.

SCIENCE & LITERACY ACTIVITIES Story telling and reading is an art that students learn as a part of their language development.

Students of the primary section participated in a story telling activity presenting the characters of the stories of their choice using props, gestures & intonation to capture the interest of the audience.

Besides the literacy activities, the students showcased their knowledge and skill in presenting the science projects on “Water Harvesting” and confidently answered the questions of the visitors.

2

The Juniper Times December 2020

ACHIEVEMENTS UNIVERSAL CHILDREN’S DAY The month of November saw students of Early Years & Primary classes celebrating the Universal Children’s Day. The festive and colourful activities sparked a lot of excitement amongst the students. They wore thematic costumes of their favorite Disney characters, sang and enacted on nursery rhymes and exhibited their creativity through artwork in a vibrant parade. The day ended with the distribution of goody-bags to the students.

Defence Campus Universal Synergy (2.0) A team of 6 students of BCCJ enthusiastically participated in DCUS that included a debate on Privacy vs National Security, a presentation on fostering positive relationship between parents & children, and a slam poetry on Bullying. The documentary on “Drip Irrigation” by Zubair Malik 11C,in which he proposed solutions for dealing with water scarcity in Baluchistan, earned him the first prize in the virtual competition. Well done, Zubair.

IKMC 2020 International Kangaroo Mathematics Competition requires logical thinking and problem-solving strategies. Each year, a large number of students enthusiastically participate in this contest. This year, the contest was held virtually on 7th & 8th of October in which 3 students received two-star badges & 11 students received one-star badges. Abdullah Khalid 6B, Usman Uppal 7J & Gulnaz Bugti 7B proved their mettle by winning bronze medals.

A proud moment for BCCJ was the selection of the O/A Level students’ proposal on “Educational Inequality for Women in Balochistan” in the second edition of Beaconhouse Global Project in collaboration with UNICEF & partner BSS schools from Karachi & Lahore. The students are diligently working on this documentary, conducting interviews of the locals to understand the existing perceptions, prevalent practices, social biases, & cultural influences which govern the social inequalities.

The students’ wholehearted participation in this research project is instrumental in developing their research skills & teamwork.

GRADUATION CEREMONY The graduation ceremony O/A Level & Matric was held on 16th October to celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of our passing out class of 2020. Our students’ distinguished achievement in CAIE results i.e 28 A*s and 137 As, are a matter of pride for the school. Our matric results are equally commendable with two top positions in the Balochistan Board.

Students were awarded certificates and medals to mark their accomplishments.

Teachers were also honoured for their tireless & dedicated efforts with the students.

3

The Juniper Times December 2020

GLIMPSES OF BCP ACE PROGRAM FUTSAL TRAINING SESSION

On 12th November, A-Level Futsal team had a short training session with an international football player ,Dorine van der Wijk from Netherlands. She demonstrated useful tips & techniques for maneuvering the ball on the pitch.

It was a great learning experience & exposure for our young players with a professional footballer who had represented her country for 15 years as a team captain.

Virtual Declamation Contest A virtual declamation contest was organised by Beaconhouse Educational Complex Islamabad.

Competing with many strong debaters, Laiba Shahab won the 2nd place in the English category and did Juniper Campus proud.

A Chess tournament was organised by the BCP Chess Club in November. A lot of enthusiasm was seen amongst the participants. We congratulate the winners & runners-up of the tournament.

Nitesh Khurana (Winner) Aleena Lehri (Winner) Harris Khan (Runner-up)

Film Making Session The members of the photography & filmmaking club organised a session on short filmmaking & screenplay writing with BSS alumni Mr. Alai Naseer on 12th November, 2020, who has done his masters in filmmaking from Middlesex University , London & is a university lecturer on filmmaking.

Students displayed a lot of interest in the interactive session & asked pertinent questions on the technical aspects of filmmaking particularly on the short films which were part of Mr. Alai’s presentation.

A session on International University Placements As a part of our Access Program, Masooma Rajpoot, a graduate of Jacob’s University (Bremen,Germany) , was invited to conduct a session on international university placements. She guided our students through the necessary steps and procedures involved in getting admission in German universities, sharing her own experience as an international student. The students found this session very informative.

ECO Internship Program 2020 BSS emphasises on developing awareness on environmental conservation amongst our students. In this context, A-Level students were provided an opportunity to attend a virtual Eco-Internship Program with WWF in August 2020. A group of AS & A2 students participated in a week-long program and developed awareness about the major environmental issues Pakistan is facing & deliberated what role they could play towards preservation of natural resources & conservation of environment.

The school provided A level students with a unique opportunity to develop their leadership skills by participating in a virtual global exchange program organised by AIESEC. Students discussed the current social and global issues and gave creative solution in context to the part of the world they live in.

Weekly podcasts is a regular activity of the A-level Film & Photography Club which provides a forum to the students to express their views on various social issues such as importance of Dignity Day, women empowerment , tourism in Pakistan etc.

4

The Juniper Times December 2020

SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AT A GLANCE

BSS 45th Birthday Sports Activities Iqbal Day Celebrations Teachers Day Cultural Diversity Day Children’s Day 5