NL 17e by British School of Beijing

BSB News: Key Dates January 29

Joint French/ Art day trip

Ski Trip information evening

February 2

Year 6 Transition Evening, Sanlitun

Year 6 Transition Evening, Shunyi

Year 6 Ski Trip

Year 5 Ski Trip

8— 12

House week

Secondary Parent Teacher Consultations

Music Shunyi

Circus,

House week

Sports

March 3

Secondary house music competition

FS SLT Music Workshops

FS SY Music Workshops

Issue 17 22nd January 2010

From the Executive Principal Dear all, It‘s been a very busy week as ever. I‘m aware that secondary staff are busy working on the plans for a number of academically related day trips and also the senior residential trips are being planned. I also hear that a Ski Day is coming soon but I‘m avoiding that one as I would almost certainly fall on my face in deep embarrassment (often). This in addition to the ―big‖ Swiss Ski trip being planned for next year. I have just asked our teachers to begin a process of 360 degree feedback to the management team. The process is vital for the schools continued development. The process is part of a wider initiative to engage and involve teachers and to harness the power of the many great ideas that all members of our community can bring to the table for the benefit our of students. I will keep you updated on this process. I‘ve been very pleased with the results of the Mock exams that have been reported to me so far. Our performance so far has been very pleasing and I know the year 11 and 12 students have been working very hard. Well done to the students and teachers for all their commitment. I will be out of school all of next week in the UK joining our teachers who have been selected to take part in the National College of School leadership training this year. The programme will run yearly and I‘m already considering applications from teachers for next years course. The development and continued training is vital for any school and I‘m proud to be taking part in this initiative. It was my pleasure to meet with the Sanlitun Parents Group on Tuesday. A very welcoming and purposeful group which came forward with a great number of useful suggestions and a huge amount of organisational talent to boot! These meetings are a vital form of feedback that is both direct and immediate. More importantly those issues of importance to parents can be acted on swiftly whilst also allowing feedback to the parents from the school in a face to face situation. As I said...a very busy week! Best regards Michael Embley Executive Principal

Whole School, Shunyi and Sanlitun: rs Next weekn1 i d0est udents are p m e R ning to go to lanthe BBC Beiji ng bureau on Thurs day afternoo n, Jan 28. The stude nts are as fo llows… Djibouti: Min Jung Kang Ryder Kin Randy Zhan g Sylvia Vidunyu Puji Lkhagua suren

Year 1 Trip to Sony Sc ience Centre Your child will be br inging home a lette r today about our visit to the Sony Science Centre , in connection with our topic on Sound and Hear ing. Please complet e the medical cons en t form, and indicate whethe r you would be willin g to help.

Switzerland: Andre Sivest re Film Vichienth ong Hannah Jan g Prateek Pan dy

New Cashier My name is Su Su. The new cashier of The British School of Beijing. I got the accountant license in 2006, and have two years related experience in financial field. It‘s my pleasure to join in The British School of Beijing. Try my best to provide services for all of the students and staffs. Su Su.

Update on Mary’s cleft palate surgery We have had news recently about Mary who had an operation to correct her cleft palate following the money raised in October at the sporty non uniform day. Mary is making a great recovery as she is now able to eat and drink well. Dawn Ross

UPDATE : Special needs in the real world The program at both BSB and ISB has been a fantastic success so far, and we hope to continue it long into the future. At BSB the two students En Li (16 yrs) & Xiao Long Li (17 yrs) have been very happy working here and have learned many cleaning skills and interestingly enough, they both said they liked emptying the rubbish & changing the water bottles the most! They said all our Ayis & the kitchen staff treat them very nicely and they really enjoy their time here. In the future En Li says he would like to buy a mobile phone & Xiao Long Li says he would like to study English! The teacher Ms. Li is also very happy; she says the two boys have made lots of progress. Since they are both the only child in their family, they did not know how to clean at the beginning. However they‘ve been learning fast; most importantly, she added, through working at the school they have become quicker and can even communicate with people better. We will bring updates to all the parents throughout the course of their time at our school.

BSB News: Dear parents, Y2-Y6 Residential Expeditions The spring term heralds the start of the overnight trips for the Primary School. Below is an outline of the residentials for Years 2 to 6 so that families may note the relevant dates in their diaries. The trips are planned with the needs, interests and abilities of the different age groups in mind, but all offer exciting opportunities which will build on in-school learning and develop children‘s skills and knowledge of China. As important however, is the confidence building and independence that is developed on our trips and, with this in mind, we anticipate that all pupils will participate in these important BSB ‗rites of passage‘ which are the highlight of the year for our pupils. Year 2 Overnight Adventure, June 2010 One of the highlights for Year 2 children is our Overnight Adventure Sleepover in school. The children have a BBQ and games with their teachers and TAs, followed by a movie, hot chocolate and then a relaxing bedtime story. Then they are tucked up in their sleeping bags by staff, with a teddy for the night. It‘s a big step for some of our children but their sense of achievement and pride in themselves is clear to all parents when they are picked up at 11am the next morning. Parents are delighted to hear how well the children coped with brushing their own hair and teeth, choosing their own outfits and organising their belongings. The cost of this activity is approximately 150rmb. Year 3 WullinShan Mountain Adventure, June 2010 In the summer of Year 3 our students visit the countryside outside of Beijing, exploring the flora and fauna of the area for two nights. They stay in a local hotel each night and hike during the day, looking at the bug and plant life as they walk, and photograph the dramatic rock formations all around them. The sketches completed during the hikes are used to create t-shirt designs which the children then make. This expedition reinforces and extends the children‘s classroom learning on rocks and soils. (2 nights/3 days) 1300rmb approximately. Year 4 PingYao, late March/April 2010 PingYao is an ancient walled city east of Beijing and is the ultimate destination of Year 4‘s 4 night spring expedition. The children first visit the Yungang Grottoes in DaTong where they sketch and photograph the amazing Buddhist statues carved in the Wuzhou mountains. They then drive to The Hanging Temple and on to Wutai Shan, one of the 4 most important Buddhist mountains in China.

BSB News: They enjoy wandering through temples and along walks in the area. Finally they reach PingYao to explore the tiny walled city and learn about it‘s ancient past and development. The children sample local delicacies and try new arts and crafts while staying in a traditional courtyard hotel. (4 nights/5 days). 3700rmb approximately. Year 5 Xi’an, March 2010 Xi‘an is south-east of Beijing and the Y5 children fly there each March for the trip of a lifetime. Having studied the 1st Emperor of China, Qin ShiHaungDi, and the Neolithic settlement of Banpo, the children visit to see for themselves the remains of these great settlements and complexes. The children have guided tours of 2 funeral complexes from the Qin and Han dynasties (including ½ day at the Terracotta Warriors), along with a visit to the famous Shaanxi Museum and the Muslim Quarter of the city to visit the mosque there and haggle in Chinese at the market. They will also experience the splendour of the Tang Dynasty, at the Tang Dynasty Show one evening. (4 nights/5 days) 3800rmb approximately.

Year 6 Inner Mongolia, June 2010 Year 6 set out by overnight sleeper train due north to Inner Mongolia on their summer expedition each June. Their aim is to immerse themselves in the local culture and, with this in mind, they build their own yurt to sleep in on the grasslands, have a desert safari with sand surfing, eat under the stars, try Mongolian wrestling and really get a flavour of food of the region at a traditional meal. But as important, the children develop a keener sense of their own abilities as they are pushed out of their ‗comfort zone‘ and are encouraged to try new experiences. (4 nights/5 days) 3800rmb approximately. Further information regarding each trip (detailed schedules, trip rules, packing lists, contact numbers, parent meetings, staff emails and trip tasks etc) will be sent to the relevant parents as the residential approaches. However, should you have any questions ahead of time, please contact your child‘s class teacher. Kind regards Jane Smith Head of Primary

Dear Parents Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;m very pleased to announce that the very wonderful Beijing Family Box play and activity learning centre has made a very generous discount scheme available exclusively for BSB families. We are looking into further areas in which BSB students can make use of and enjoy the excellent facilities available at the Family Box center, so watch this space! Mike Embley

Click here for Sanlitun

Click here for Shunyi

News From Shunyi: From the Head of Primary, Shunyi Parents in the Primary The Primary School has been wonderfully busy with parents this week. Fred Baron from Eurest met with some of our mums on Tuesdays to explain the lunch service at BSB. The mums heard about the lunchtime routines and saw how the children so expertly organise themselves for their midday meal. Lots of questions were answered and all mums were invited to have lunch at school one day soon and taste for themselves the dishes served. Our talented parent artists met this week again for another oils lesson – we hope to persuade their arty mums to allow us to display their work for the children to enjoy and learn from – even grown ups are still learning! Reading mums play an important part in the Primary School; their weekly reading sessions with our younger pupils allows these FS and KS1 to have essential extra reading practice and to show off their wonderful new talent. On Wednesday FS and KS1 mums who have volunteered to help with reading in school, came in for a training session. We discussed how best to help new readers to feel successful and progress well. If you would like to help out, please get in touch as we have another training session running next Tuesday at 9am – all are welcome! Wednesday afternoon saw our youngest visitors arrive – tiny babies wheeled up to the Primary School in their strollers for a play session in the softplay room, organised by Sonia Buchan, Parent Society Chair. If you have a baby under 1 year come along or if you know someone who does give them our details for a fun afternoon out. On Thursday our newest class started - Tumble Tots. Led by ex-BSB teacher, Melinda Hand (now fulltime mum of 3), toddlers and their mums had fun and movement games to increase their balance and flexibility. It was a great success and if you would like to come along then please do so – 9am in the Foundation Stage. Year One led the assembly on Friday which showcased their musical skills and knowledge much to their parents‘ delight – what stars the children were playing their recorders and singing with their newly made shakers! Year 2 are next – Friday at 8.40am in the multipurpose room, with coffee afterwards. The coming months will see further ideas and events for boosting parental participation at BSB: if you have an idea for a parent event or need space for a workshop idea, please do get in touch – perhaps we can help. Have a super weekend. Jane Smith

Year 4 trip to Long Qing Xia Gorge This week year 4 was lucky enough to go on a fabulous visit to Longquin Gorge. After arriving at the Gorge we drank a cup of warming hot chocolate before setting off to explore. Our first stop was the ice and snow slides which was a much welcome run around for everyone – teachers included! We skated round an icy pond, slid speedily down the slippery slides and explored the dark depths of the snow cave. After burning off our energy we then ventured into a hall full of wonderfully crafted ice sculptures. This caused much ‗Oo‘s‘ and ‗Aa‘s‘ from the Year 4 party. We were lucky enough to see the ice carvers at work, which fascinated the children. Past the ice sculptures we came to another room, which this time presented us with a spectacular array of buildings each intricately designed to represent a particular structure. The last room really had everyone looking in awe as the water, created from the dam above, made beautiful icicles dangling from rolling snow and ice. A truly wonderful natural creation. After then tucking into lunch with yet another amazing view of the gorge we headed back. Tired, but more than satisfied with the day‘s outcome. The children were impeccably behaved throughout the day and were a real credit to the school. Janette Watt

BSB News: News From Shunyi: Foundation Stage Fun in the Foundation Stage Shunyi ‘Shiver Me Timbers!’ What a busy week we have had in Foundation Stage this week! Nursery classes have been having fun finding out about pirates! The children have been investigating letter ‗p‘ for pirate as well as having fun in their pirate role play area. They have also been looking at treasure maps and playing ‗pirate tag‘! Shiver-Me-Timbers me Hearties! Meanwhile in Pre Nursery the children have been learning about jungle and zoo animals. They have had such a good time making a giant panda by cutting and sticking. The children have also made giant lions, giraffes and tigers using paint and learnt some fun animal facts. At the end of the week they made animal cookies…yum! Reception have been enjoying the story of Cinderella. The children have been role playing the story, thinking of describing words for the characters as well as making glittery glass slippers and rags and riches dresses using collage. Reception are also learning their number bonds to 10 and have been finding fun ways to make a total of 10 all week. Jacqueline Bishop, Shunyi

Key Stage One Year 1 have had a busy week, largely due to practicing to make our Friday assembly perfect! It was greatly enjoyed by the parents and the Primary School! The children enjoyed decorating the shakers they made in literacy and shaking them in the Primary assembly too! They have also started making the instruments they designed last week in DT related to our Sound and Hearing topic. Finally, Year 1 celebrated their 100 marble reward on Friday afternoon with 15 minutes of well earned extra play. Well done Year 1! This week Year 2 we have been concentrating on Superheroes! We drew pictures, and used ‗wow‘ words to describe the characters in ‗The Incredibles‘ family. We discussed how they are different from a normal human being and from each other. Dawn Ross, Shunyi

BSB News: News From Shunyi: This week 2G enjoyed their 100 Marble reward which was 15 minutes of extra play. The children were very excited to have their first Marble Reward of the term.

Key Stage Two Year 3 Year three are moving full steam ahead with their new topic about Ancient Egypt. We have learnt how to use a timeline and place important dates from the time of the Egyptians in order. We have used this vast and exciting topic as an inspiration for our literacy work. This week we practiced aural instructions on how to make a mummy, we filmed these and the children reviewed the language and steps we used. We have now begun to write a draft set of instructions which will include time connectives and imperative (bossy) verbs. Ask your child for all the wonderfully gruesome details! In numeracy we have moved onto finding fractions of number by dividing and are using our multiplication facts to help us solve the dividing sums. We also revisited handling data when we made a giant bar chart to explain the results from our experiments on how strong different magnets are. Year 4 There is a real web of learning taking place in Year 4 this week. Literacy topics on ‗stories from different cultures‘ and poetry have inspired batik dragons in art. In Science the children continue to explore the properties of solids, liquids and gases. They are looking at how a candle appears to melt and will be using this very wax to again help with their Batik art work. All these links in learning will consolidate knowledge and inspire the children within a very motivating context. In Year 5 the Children have been assessing one another‘s writing and providing excellent constructive criticism. Year 5 students turned also turned science detectives, not only identifying solids, liquids and gasses, but also their properties. They also formulated questions that they want to answer in this exciting topic. The children are looking forward to conducting some more investigations next week. Year 6 have been completing their experiments in the science labs and have looked at the science related to global warming: evaporation and filtration; energy absorption and retention and changes of state. In numeracy, the children have been looking at real life problems involving fractions, decimals and percentages. In literacy Year 6 students have now moved onto a new study area of non-fiction; explanatory texts. Catherine Hall, Shunyi

EAL: Year 1 learnt all about Feelings and a trip to an ice-cream factory and acted out Handa‘s Surprise. Year 2 had loads of fun designing their Super Me characters and imagining what they would look like, and what powers they would have if they were a superhero. Year 3 practised some Parts of the Body vocabulary and read about a day at the beach. For Big Writing in Year4 the students learnt about the importance of the senses for descriptive writing. VCOP and Non-fiction texts: animals of the Gobi. Year 5 focused on Articles, descriptors, simile and metaphor. Year 6 practised Past tense verbs and finished ―No Luck Holmes‖ Andrew Morrissey, EAL

BSB News: News From Shunyi: Sports News U19 Boys Basketball BSB vs. IAB The boys came up against a very well orgnaised team and took time to find their feet, unfortunately by then the game had gone. However, there were very positive signs of improvement particularly with offensive rebounding. Final score 23-69L. Man of the Match: a very close call but Franklin gets this award as he finally made his presence felt under the boards. BSB vs. IST A close game with two evenly matched teams and the game could have gone either way. The team was effective on the fast break and began to look up and make passes at the right time unfortunately some poor decision making gave the game to IST although the team battled hard to make this a close game. Final score 36-31 L. Man of the Match: Randy BSB vs. TIS Another close game. Again the team were able to run their fast break and were very impressive with the organisation of their Man defence. It was also good to see the players more willing to shoot although they were not as accurate as they would have liked with many shots falling on the wrong side of the ring. Final Score 31- 22 L Man of the Match: Luke Werthiem U19 Girls Basketball BSB vs. IST After a neck and neck start IST eventually pulled ahead, their ability to capitalise on free throws and to win rebounds at both ends of the court provided them with the lead. However, our girls came back strong with a very determined finish, and were very unlucky not to come out on top. They created lots of scoring opportunities and showed they were not afraid to shoot. But unfortunately not enough fell for us, and the very worried looking IST side managed to hold on to their lead until the end. All of the girls put in excellent performances, showed great determination, and always tried to improve as the game went on. Final score = 18-14 Girl of the Games; a very close call, but with her accurate shooting, close marking, and her willingness to run back to defend opposition breaks, it goes to Rebekka Mannes. Both boys and girls teams will be in action in their end of season tournaments tomorrow; Saturday January 23. The boys play at BCIS and the girls at CISB. Games start at 2.00pm. If you are in the city and you have the time, please come and support the teams. ISAC Season 3 Senior Soccer Try-outs for both boys and girls teams will be held next Wednesday after school during ASA time. Interested players should confirm their attendance by signing-up on the ISAC Board outside the gym.

Sports News Continued Senior Badminton -all players Try-outs next Friday after school 3.40-4.45pm; sign-up sheets on the ISAC Board. At this time, Shunyi based players will need to make their own travel arrangements to get home. There is a bus from school at 5.00pm to take players to the Sanlitun campus for collection. U12 / U14 Basketball The boys started preparations for their season in a busy session on Tuesday. The players will be concentrating on developing their fitness for basketball, improving their defense, shooting and being able to complete a lay-up on both sides under pressure. Girls practiced on Thursday after school. I still need more players for both teams, if you would like your daughter to play ask her to speak with me or drop me an email. Practices are from 3.40-4.30pm players return home on school buses. GO BEARS! Julian Barnsley Athletic Director & Activities Coordinator

Music: This week has seen the resumption of individual lessons for many of our students who take this opportunity. We encourage all students who have been learning to play an instrument to get involved in a school ensemble as soon as possible. On Monday lunchtimes the wind ensemble rehearses and jazz orchestra meets on Thursday lunchtime. Students involved should remember to bring their instruments into school on these days in addition to when they have their scheduled lessons. Vocalists have the opportunity to sing as a member of choir on Monday and Friday lunchtimes so if students enjoy singing and like to keep warm they are welcome to join us, we would be happy to see more new faces. The jazz orchestra began the session this week by trying to play some short phrases by ear, a key skill for any aspiring jazz musician. This skill is referred to as ‗transcription‘ and I feel it is a neglected and forgotten art for many young musicians. It can be as simple as picking out one of your favourite melodies ‗by ear‘ on your instrument to writing out, in full, a complex improvised jazz solo by John Coltrane or Miles Davis. This can achieve an improvement in your listening skills and a greater understanding of the thought processes of the improviser; all good stuff! Paul England INDIVIDUAL MUSIC LESSONS This week all individual instrumental lessons have started. Parents should already have been contacted by their child's instrumental teacher by email, to inform you which day your child will be having lessons. Your child should also be bringing home a copy of the timetable for the whole term, and also a music communication book. This is a crucial tool for communication between you and your child's teacher, and is also where the teacher will be writing down what it is your child needs to be practising between now and their next lesson. Should you have any questions about the programme please contact the Director of Music, Mr Andrew Webb-Mitchell on webbmitchell@britishschool.org.cn Jennie Grierson From the Secondary Library... Library Coffee Morning Every Tuesdays and Fridays after morning drop off. If you have some time, or are able to help out, please stop by and say hello. Thank you Yan and Doris for your help so far! Secondary Library We joined an Beijing schools‘ reading program ‗Panda Book Award‘ in October last year. The voting to decide Beijing&Tianjin‘s favourite author out of 12 titles is coming soon. Next week will be the last spurt to finish the reading. Next week a special display and a voting box will be set up. The Launch of ‘The Battle of the Books’ The Battle of the Books is a friendly competition of book knowledge among six international schools in Beijing. Ten students joined BSB Reading group for their Wednesday ASA are preparing to enter the ‗Battle‘. They have started reading the books on the reading list, aiming to win the first session on 12th March. Read on! Tomi Barnsley,Secondary Library

BSB News: Heads up for next year! We are delighted to announce a fantastic opportunity for our secondary students: We are planning to run a seven-day Ski trip to the Swiss Alps next academic year (January 2011). The trip is open to all secondary students. If you are interested in your child participating in the trip, please attend our information evening (under no obligation) held in the theatre, at the Shunyi Campus, on Friday 29th of January 2010, at 5:30pm. Refreshments will be served. We look forward to seeing you!

Plastic bottles appeal There is so much you can do with a plastic bottle: Some choose to litter the planet, Some make crafts and pieces of art, Others manufacture clothes… … At BSB, we have chosen to RECYCLE THEM AND RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY! Every day, the Shunyi campus stocks around 250 plastic bottles. How many could you? Please join us in our effort and send your household plastic bottles to us, in Shunyi. Secondary students may bring their bottles to room B219, while primary students can bring theirs to the primary school lobby. We are continuing our effort! Many thanks for your support! Amélie Azeem, on behalf of the BSBCC

BSB News: News From Shunyi: On Friday 29th January key Stage 4 and 5 French and Art groups are coming together to visit the ESMODE Fashion Design School and then the art group will visit the regenerated art district 798 Space. Our Senior groups will experience French culture and have the opportunity to use and join the library at the Alliance Francaise; whilst the art students will experience contemporary and traditional art from a variety of cultures. Amelie Azeem (French teacher) and Charlotte Yearn (Art teacher)

BSB News: News From Sanlitun: Foundation Stage Foundation Stage have continued their busy days at school learning lots of new and exciting information about our topics. Read on to see what each area has been focusing on. If you should walk past Pre-Nursery classroom this week and hear strange animal sounds, do not be alarmed. We are in the last leg of our theme on Animals and this must be one of our favourite topics yet! We talked about pets this week and shared lots of stories about pets like cats and dogs. Hannah brought photos of her cat Socks to share. She was telling us that she plays with it and Mummy helps to feed it. We experimented with more paint effects and created a hamster by blowing on a blob of paint with a straw. It was hard work and we ended up with lots of interesting looking hamsters! ‗Ship Ahoy!‘ shouted the pirate children in Nursery as they jumped into role in their pirate ship. To start our ‗Pirate‘ topic we have made pirate hats and eye patches and we have sung some Jolly Pirate songs! We have started learning our sounds this week finding lots of ‗p‘ words such as pirate, parrot and patch. How many more can you think of? Once upon a time there lived a young girl called Cinderella… Reception have been looking at the traditional tale of Cinderella. The children have brought in their own copies of the story for us to share. We have made our very own magic wands and granted our friends with a special wish. We have also painted our own portraits of

Cinderella which you will find on display around the building.

Fay Smart Reception, Sanlitun

BSB News: News From Sanlitun: Key Stage One The children from Year 2I in Sanlitun have been busy preparing for their class assembly this week. They created props, practised reading their lines with loud clear voices, learned a song and became all round superstar performers! All their hard work was well worth it as they treated the school and their parents to a fabulous assembly all about different environments, with the audience having to guess which mystery animal guest might live there. In 2G the children have been talking about how Beijing has changed over the past 60 years. Having discussed and compared old and modern housing the children worked in groups to produce clay models of traditional courtyard homes. They learned how to join the different pieces of clay together so that they do not fall apart when it dries and carefully added details to their work to show all that they had learned. In Year 1 the children have forgotten all about the cold weather while working on the bright and cheerful book ‗Handa‘s Surprise.‘ Having become familiar with the story-line the children created masks of the different characters, using these to help them get into role as they acted out the story. Michelle Godber, KS1

Key Stage Two Year 3 Sanlitun had an interesting but gruesome week learning all about the gory process of mummification as part of our Ancient Egypt topic. We managed to remember the long sequence of ‗sandy‘ steps to prepare a mummy for the afterlife and we are currently rewriting them as instructions. The instructions will be part of a booklet for trainee embalmers 4,000 years ago. We have learnt the key features of instructions and will be ensuring that we have included them in our own instructional writing. Diagrams to demonstrate each step will also be included to make our instructions easy to follow. Some of the vocabulary for items used in this process are tricky words to say and remember but we are doing are great job! To make our embalming booklets more authentic we made our own Egyptian paper called ‗papyrus‘. The Ancient Egyptians made it using reeds from the banks of the River Nile but, due to obvious reasons, we used torn up paper and a gloopy, gluey paste. It was a messy but fun job resulting in some fantastic papyrus. When dry, it will be ready for us to write up our amazing mummification instructions. Hopefully our instructions and diagrams will be clear enough for embalmers to do a thorough job, enabling the bodies and spirits to meet again in the Ancient Egyptian afterlife! Jo Young Year 3, Sanlitun

BSB News: News From Sanlitun: Key Stage Two In Year 5 the children have been studying a famous poem called the Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. The poem was written over 100 years ago and contains language and themes that can be very difficult to understand. To begin with what is a highwayman? Gwennie Tan from 5Y provided some research that helped others to understand: ‘Highwaymen were people from about the 1610s-1830s. They rode horses mostly at night to wait by the road and stop every carriage that came by. They didn't really shoot the people but threatened them with the gun so that it would be easier to steal from them. A highwayman would normally ask for any money, clothes, weapons or horses. The highwaymen would usually be masked so that the people couldn't see their faces. They would definitely rob somewhere far from their home to avoid from being caught. A major highwayman’s crime was punished by death while a minor highwayman crime was punished by whipping, chaining to the pillory, branding or having one of their ears, nose or hands cut off. Some highwaymen were liked by a few number of people for their actions of stealing from the rich and helping the poor. Highwaymen were also admired as they were considered to be bold men who confronted their victims face-to-face and were ready to fight for what whatever they wanted.’ The poem also contains lots of description and metaphor which are also tricky to understand. We used our art skills to help us decipher the metaphors and then had a go at writing our own. Can you match these metaphors to the pictures? The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor All of Year 5 would like to thank Mr. Breaden for teaching them the poem of the highwayman and for helping them to enjoy it. Year 5Y Stuart Young

EAL: It‘s been a busy week in EAL. The EAL students are now grouped with other students in the same year, and every group gets 2 hours a week of EAL support. When we look back over the last three months, it is wonderful to see how much progress all of the EAL students have made. Some students have made such a lot of progress that they no longer need EAL lessons. Remember that the EAL department‘s doors are always open. Even if you no longer have EAL lessons, you can still come and see us if you need our help! My tip for this week is; don‘t forget to use your vocabulary books whenever you come to EAL or any other lesson. It is your own little dictionary full of the words you want to remember. If you write down new words in the book and translate them into your own language, you will remember the words more easily. So don‘t leave it at home! Mr. Kaz Michalak EAL Teacher

Library News

BSB News: News From Sanlitun:

Dear Parents Sanlitun Primary and Foundation stage children will bring a book leaflet home on Friday from ISBC— International School Book club. It‘s a good opportunity for parents to obtain books from the UK to support your children‘s reading. The School library will also be receiving a percentage of free books according to the children‘s order. We do hope that you and your child will want to participate. Attached with the leaflets is a separate order form indicating the book price in RMB. Please use this separate sheet to put your order in, and return it along with RMB cash in a sealed envelop marked with your child‘s name, class and ―Book Club‖ by Wednesday (27 th January) at the latest. I‘d appreciate you enclose the right amount of money as it will be easier to process the order. Thanks for your support. Catherine Mang SLT librarian

BSB News: The student body here in Sanlitun are becoming more and more thoughtful about the environment. We‘ve been considering the amount of paper we use in school and what impact this might have on rainforests. We tried to think of ways we could save paper. At school we remember to drink lots of water during the day to help our brain power! Every time we have a drink we use another paper cup! Just think how many paper cups that must be in a day! All of us on the School Council thought that maybe we could bring plastic flasks from home instead. With support from our teachers and Mrs Brock we held a vote in our classes about whether to use flasks or cups. Nearly every single child in the school voted to use plastic flasks from home. So now every child can bring one to school to use throughout the day. We are so proud that we thought of ways to help our environment! Imagine if every school did this! The School Council

Advice on Ways to Raise a Nonreader Now that we have begun to re-settle into our school routines and daily lives, our 2010 resolutions are hopefully sticking around longer than our holiday kilos. I hope you all had refreshing holidays! The lovely book fair and, for some of you, a trip home, offered many chances to give and receive books among your holiday gifts. Now, as the year lies before us, is the opportunity to include good, quality reading time into our schedules and to make regular reading a part of our resolutions. I think we all are aware of what encourages good reading, such as bedtime routines, good lighting, cozy nooks in our homes for children to settle down and explore a book, but sometimes we are unaware of the things in our homes and schedules that discourage reading. So, here‘s a little list of ways NOT to raise a reader. We all might find a few on the list that are a little too prevalent in our home. Perhaps we can consider ways to reshape our lives to make more room for reading! Ways to Raise a Nonreader Have the television on at all times. Make sure you have a television in many rooms of your house. Keep your house free and clear of ‗book clutter‘. Never share excerpts from your books with your child. Never recall fond childhood memories of reading or share your childhood favorites with your child. 5. Forbid reading in bed. 6. Don‘t read in front of your children. Save it only for when they are tucked in bed and you can read uninterrupted. 7. Read only books you think are easy for your child to understand. Don‘t bring out a challenging book now and then. 8. Never read aloud or talk about ideas over a meal. 9. Schedule so many activities and play dates that your children are exhausted and too tired to enjoy a good nighttime read. Mostly read books that you think your children ‗ought‘ to read and limit reading to only one medium of writing. I personally, would like to violate rule number eight and include more mealtime book sharing. I also would like to commend one of our own BSB teachers for violating rule number seven with my son‘s class. Well done, Mr. McSweeney. May your 2010 be filled with many broken rules! Holly Beier (Parent)

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BSB News: Primary House Names & Colours Normans

Saxons

Sanlitun House Points

Vikings

Secondary Merit Awards

Romans

Shunyi House Points

Key Stage 3 Mina Shin

183

Diana Park

128

Normans

265

Normans

296

Minori Yariwake

126

Vikings

351

Vikings

281

Sejin Kim

124

Romans

396

Romans

304

Saxons

438

Saxons

219

Congratulations to the Saxons on earning the highest House Points for the week ending 8th January. Well done, Romans

Congratulations to the Romans on earning the highest House Points for the week ending 8th January. Well done, Romans

Key Stage 4 Oceane Duprat

Andrea DeMatteis

Doris Sun

Silvia Vidinyu

Parents’ Page: BSB is pleased to widen the scope of our newsletter by including a parents’ page, items for this page should be in keeping with the ethos of the School and should be submitted to our Publications and Liaison Officer on newsletter@britishschool.org.cn before 4pm Wednesday on the week in which they are to appear. Please note we cannot advertise businesses, the aim is to promote charitable events and personal ads. Chinese and English teachers wanted I am looking for a Chinese teacher to come to Le Leman Lake 6.30 – 7.30, 3 times a week. I am also looking for an English Teacher for my Ayi (must also speak Chinese). Please contact Sally at sally@embley.net

Dear BSB Parents, As a mum of 3 lovely and energetic girls I found the PET method gave me the most helpful skills in parenting. As already shown in the Newsletter I would like to announce our next Parent Effectiveness Training starting in March! Do not hesitate to contact me. M: 13910024146, havasg@t-online.hu Susie Havas (Y3H, RB) and Donna Lai

BSB News: Parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Page: BSB is pleased to widen the scope of our newsletter by including a parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; page, items for this page should be in keeping with the ethos of the School and should be submitted to our Publications and Liaison Officer on newsletter@britishschool.org.cn before 4pm Wednesday on the week in which they are to appear. Please note we cannot advertise businesses, the aim is to promote charitable events and personal ads.