DISTANCE LEARNING EDITION 2019/2020
THE BRITISH SCHOOL AL KHUBAIRAT
PRIMARY NEWSLETTER britishschool.sch.ae
CONTENT P03 P04 P06 P08 P10 P12 P14 P16
A Message From Head Of Primary Nursery at BSAK Reception at BSAK Year 1 at BSAK Year 2 at BSAK Year 3 at BSAK Year 4 at BSAK Year 5 at BSAK
P18 P10 P21 P22 P23 P24 P25
Year 6 at BSAK Music at BSAK PE at BSAK Nursery & Reception Sports Day Year 1 & Year 2 Sports Day Bedtime Stories World Book Day
A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF PRIMARY ‘Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude .’ Denis Waitley
Dear Parents I hope you are all keeping safe and well during these challenging times. I am without doubt looking forward to September 2020 and the return of our children to BSAK Primary School. You have all been greatly missed during these months of isolation and Distance Learning. I do however hope that we can look back and take some very positive messages from this difficult time; such as looking after friends and family, being grateful for our health and well being, realising what is important to us and appreciating all that we have. We thank you all for the immense support you have given to us all and your children during this time. For those wonderful children and parents leaving us we wish you every success and happiness. This newsletter shares our interesting pictorial journey through 2019/20. Stay Safe and well! Elaine Rawlings Head of Primary
NURSERY AT BSAK What a year this has been! When we started our year in Nursery, we never anticipated we would be ending the year this way. The Nursery Team cannot express just how much they have missed their classes this term but everyone has been blown away with the engagement, enthusiasm and success of our distance learning. Who would have thought with the youngest children in the school we would be able to achieve so much through online learning. We are incredibly proud of each and every one of our Nursery students and we cannot wait for them to return to school in September and join their new Reception Classes. We are so excited for them! Have a wonderful Summer everyone. You deserve it! Your Nursery Team
NURSERY & RECEPTION
RECEPTION AT BSAK The children and parents in Reception have amazed us this year with their hard work and positivity. They settled in very quickly in September, showing great independence in their learning and getting to know their new environment. Over the first term they started reading with confidence, developed their creativity and had lots and lots of fun outside as the weather improved! In Term 2 we all enjoyed a whole year group trip to the park, started learning songs for our assembly and continued to become more confident across all our areas of learning. When school closed towards the end of Term 2, the children were wonderful. They adapted to the changes remarkably well and it was wonderful to see them continue their learning journey at home. The support of our amazing parents has been instrumental in making distance learning such a success. The children have continued to join in with so many learning experiences - PE, Music, writing, Art, Maths and so much more. We enjoyed special days such as Rainbow day, Colour day and we are very much looking forward to our party days on the last day of term.We are so proud of all that the children have achieved in such different circumstances and know they will continue to shine as they move to Key Stage One. Your Reception Team
NURSERY & RECEPTION
YEAR 1 AT BSAK What a year it has been! Term 1 began at a whirlwind pace with children experiencing "Learning for Life" where they immersed themselves in activities from across the curriculum and became experts on our theme of Living Things. We created habitats, visited the falcon hospital and ďŹ nished our term with a smash hit festive performance. However, it wasn't all plain sailing unfortunately! In term 1, we were visited by the notorious "breakfast thief" but thankfully even that story had a happy ending. A shortened term 2 saw no let up in excitement. We explored the world around us by visiting our local neighbourhood and Umm Al Emarat park, along with a visit to Kidzania where the children practised their future profession. Once again we had a visitor, this time the giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk" came to Year One but thanks to some excellent maths skills, our Year One children were able to help him. Term 3 has shown what fantastic learners our Year One children are. They have mazed all of us teachers by showing their independent skills and technological prowess. Children have been busy documenting world travels, coding games, becoming masters of time and writing like true authors. The amazing Year 1 parents deserve much credit for all their hard work, support and encouragement also in this most tumultuous of years. Have a fantastic summer everyone. The Year 1 Team
YEAR 2 AT BSAK Although a little unusual it has been a brilliant year in Year 2! Term 1 was as busy as ever and we enjoyed learning about the UK and the UAE, comparing the two fantastic capital cities of London and Abu Dhabi. We also made some brilliant news reports about the Great Fire of London. Of course, the grand finale of the term was the fantastic festive show ‘Penguin Pete’. I think we all agree that the singing, dancing and acting was brilliant! This showed that everyone has a part to play in ensuring that we are successful in our learning. Although term 2 was cut short, we still had time to learn lots of interesting facts for our Amazing Animals topic and a highlight of this term was another amazing display of teamwork and enthusiasm during Sports Day. We Zoomed and Seesawed our way through Term 3 enjoying lots of different activities, especially the appearance of Willy Wonka to answer our questions. Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their support. The learning in Year 2 would not have been possible without the community spirit and fantastic efforts of you all! Well done everyone! The Year 2 Team
YEAR 3 AT BSAK In Term One, Year 3 went on a trip back in time to visit a Roman Emperor, plan and perform Roman marches and even showcased amazing costumes in a Roman Day fashion show! Back in the classroom the children made beautiful Roman mosaics with the most intricate detail and designed, made and raced Roman chariots! The Year 3 children were also very busy taking good care of our teeth and learning about the impact various liquids have on our oral health. They all become experts after a visit from a local Dentist, they even gained a new toothbrush to perfect their new techniques! After the Winter break the Year 3 children put on their performance hats and entertained children, parents and staff alike during a wonderful assembly with a very important message! During the rehearsals and performances, we learnt a lot about how to keep our planet green and animals as safe as possible. It was amazing to see the passion and enthusiasm that the show sparked in the children and they delivered a serious and critical message with humour, clarity and a lot of beautiful singing! The fun did not stop there, Term Two also brought a team building trip to Umm al Emarat Park, erupting volcanoes and some fabulous costumes for World Book Day! Term Three was certainly a term with a difference, Year 3 along with many children around the world took their learning home! We have seen some outstanding work across the year group; we are so proud of the resilience and determination shown. Distance Learning in Year 3 has taken us back to the Stone Age, where children have designed and made Stone Age weapons, built or drawn the Stonehenge and created a timeline across the ages! Year 3 have finished the school year with the most unbelievable Hokusai ‘Great Wave’ painting. The detail and creativity shown has blown all of the teachers away!
YEAR 4 2019-2020 So many wonderful things have happened in Year 4 this year, both in the first 2 terms and then in the Distance Learning period. The highlights of term 1 have to be our amazing Egyptian assembly, the first time that Year 4 had ever done an Egyptian assembly, and the day before our rehearsal was cancelled due to the rain but we carried on and the children did a fantastic job! Thank goodness we moved our assembly to term 1 or we would have missed doing one completely! We followed it with our wonderful Egyptian Day, complete with mummified tomatoes and Canopic jars! We had many events and great curriculum subjects in Term 2 including two wonderful trips, the first to the Park and the second to the Desert. We did so many activities that there are almost too many to list. Favourites included: playing rounders, yoga, playing in the water fountains, archery and sandboarding not to mention squid dissection!! We finished the term, even though we didn't know it at the time, with World Book Day and some more fabulous, inventive costumes. Term 3 has been a very strange one for all of us but Year 4 have really risen to the challenge and shown their resilience and determination in everything that they have done. The children's responses to the activities on Seesaw have been amazing and varied, some of the highlights have been learning about the Titanic and writing Newspaper reports about the sinking of the Titanic as well as learning all about Sound and making videos for Science. The animation work for Computing has been fantastic as has the art and the creativity that the children have shown. It's been a weird year and being a teacher without children has been strange but the Year 4 teachers couldn't have asked for a more enthusiastic, caring and hardworking group of children to have experienced this with.
YEAR 5 AT BSAK How lovely to move back to Year 5 and all the exciting learning opportunities it has to offer. Even though this year has looked very different to normal there have still been an abundance of fantastic events that will stick in my memory for a long time. Every year has so many stand out moments it’s impossible to list them all, but some of our favourites are: Term 1 was full of all things Viciousness and Viking! Starting with your amazing portraits of Viking fighters, swiftly followed by a range of superb creations from your optional home learning. Detailed and to scale Viking Long Ships and Viking Villages were some of the standout creative masterpieces to adorn the Year 5 area and bring the topic to life. A hot and furlined Viking Day was kicked off with our very own in-house Viking Specialist, our Bursar, Mr Church, who gave us new and fascinating facts about famous Norse characters, beyond our wildest dreams! Our Design and Technology Viking Helmets were put to good use on the day too. The end of Term 1 saw our two day team building Ecoventure trip take place, where it was fantastic to see the Year 5 children out of the classroom environment, learning strategies and techniques to work together with lots of new people and develop new friendships. Linked to friendships and international relationships, we had our annual Japanese School visit to BSAK as we have done every year for the last 10 years, where the Japanese students get to come and enjoy and take take advantage of all the amazing facilities we have on offer at our school as well as meet our children and make new friends. Term 2, started with a bang and lots of visitors. Julia Johnson came and shared her passion for her book the Pearl Diver and the Space Dome arrived to BSAK to help bring a far away place nearer to earth! This was swiftly followed by our fantastic Year 5 Space Assembly which pulled all our learning together and showcased it whilst being able to sing our hearts out to a variety of Space inspired songs! Term 3, whilst it has not necessarily been what we had initially planned and has been lacking in human interaction and personal contact has been amazing in so many other ways. We have regularly checked in with your children to see how they want their learning to look and we have adapted our curriculum to meet their needs and desires. This has led to the weekly highlight for teachers and children (but maybe weekly low light for parents, as every pot and pan in the kitchen is used and every surface area covered in creative matter!) our Creative Tuesdays. The whole Year 5 Team has been blown away with quality and creativity that has consistently been achieved for the last 15 weeks! This is something we will definitely look to include more of, upon our return to full time school.
YEAR 6 AT BSAK The 2019 20 academic year has been rather different to the one we were anticipating back in September. Nevertheless it has been full of plenty of learning opportunities and has certainly offered the Year 6 children a wide range of experiences in preparation for their transition into Secondary School. The most recent Distance Learning phase has enabled the children to develop their skills using a wide range of technology that will stand them in good stead for their future education. The resilience and determination that they have shown has been very impressive and they have risen to every challenge that they have faced. An unforgettable experience that will be featured in humanities lessons for many years to come, it has certainly been a reminder of the importance of the holistic aspect of education. We should never take for granted the value of the security of the classroom learning environment and the wide range of social interactions that being within the school offers. Through our conversations with the children this is by far the area that they have missed the most although they have not missed the early morning alarm call! It did not take the children very long to settle into the new routines of Year 6 and they grasped every opportunity with gusto. From Student Leadership to everyday life in school, they rose to the challenge of being excellent role models and were clearly very proud to be part of the BSAK community - wearing their uniform with pride. Term 1 is always a busy learning term. During the WW1 topic, the children developed an empathy with life on the Front Line and wrote some very mature and poignant poems and persuasive speeches. The maturity they showed whilst performing the Remembrance Assembly to their Key Stage 2 peers was testament to their appreciation of the impact of conflict. The Living Museum event showcased their skills in autobiographical writing and they were so delighted to transform into their chosen famous person. The stairwell became a timeline in history ranging from early Egyptians to the Modern Day. Our National Day celebrations included a sumptuous sit down meal provided by one of our Emirati families as well as the opportunity to learn a little more about the country we call home. The term ended with the inaugural End of Term 1 Social - a festive movie and supper in the Dining Hall. In Term 2 the focus switched to South America - it’s countries and environment. South America Day was an opportunity to immerse themselves in culture, food, Geography and Art and culminated in an impromptu drumming session led by Mrs Smith. Our Amity Survival Day was enjoyed by all. Whether building shelters and rafts, or honing their archery skills a great deal was learnt about working together and having fun. Judging by the screams from the rafts, the water was a little chilly! The Zoo Experience was also a great learning experience with an environmental focus to link with our topic. We fed giraffes and elephants, discovered all sorts of ways to recycle and found out about some of the world’s most endangered animals. Who would have thought you could make paper out of elephant dung! World Book Day gave another opportunity to showcase their dressing up skills and the wide range of characters and ingenuity of costumes was brilliant to see. The recent transition activities allowed the children to spend some time with Secondary staff, finding out more about the Secondary School and interacting with their tutors. The first ever virtual transition at BSAK, the children have clearly enjoyed the range of activities and have impressed their new teachers and their new Head of Year. They are certainly ready to make the move in their Year 7 Forms in September and we wish them all the best as they leave the Primary School. Aim high, follow your dreams and never give up!
PRIMARY MUSIC The year started with a wonderful opportunity for the Junior choir who were asked to sing as part of "The Tolerance Choir" at Mushrif Park. This was a huge collaboration between the schools and musicians of Abu Dhabi, coming together to sing songs and perform. The whole event was covered on live TV too. We saw some wonderful performances in school with Penguin Pete in Year 2, The Bumblesnouts in Y3 and A Glint of Gold all about the Egyptians in Year 4. The Primary concert saw the first fabulous performance of the newly formed Junior Orchestra and our 100 strong choir. The choir also performed at our Carols by Candlelight service to a packed St. Andrew's church. All things considered, term three has been a remarkably successful term. The students in the Primary School have enjoyed engaging with singing, dancing and instrumental activities via the learning platform Seesaw. The EYFS children have sung nursery rhymes and action songs, listened to Radetsky’s March while playing wooden kitchen spoons. They have sent countless videos of their families from babies to nannies joining in and enjoying the learning. The students in Key stages 1 and 2 have had the opportunity to engage with some digital music making through the website Chrome Music Lab while also enjoying singing, instrumental and composer research projects. Many of the Primary students are also learning an instrument and performed in one of the many virtual concerts produced this term. We have ended with a house singing competition which has seen students from the Nursery up to Y6 sing some Disney favourites. It has been a very positive experience considering the circumstances however Mrs Smith and I can’t wait to get back and get back to making Music together.
PRIMARY PE AT BSAK It has been a wonderful year of Primary Physical Education; EYFS and Years 1/2 students participated in fundamental movement skills, fundamental sports skills, gymnastics and sports day preparation before the lock down. Learning how to run, jump, throw, catch, hit, balance and roll in lessons. EYFS and Year 1/2 pupils also practiced and performed in their Sports Days. Key Stage 2 students from Year 3/4 were all taught Gymnastics, Football and Athletics in school while Y5/6 received lessons in Gymnastics, Athletics, Handball, Football & Netball. During distance learning students have continued to be taught fundamental movement and sports skills, a range of fun and engaging dance's, closed skills related to football, netball, basketball, rugby and athletics. Y5/6 students have learnt through exercise the scientiďŹ c names for the major muscles of the body. Recently the PE Dept. have begun delivering live lessons to Y1-6 years groups, engaging students in dances, sports speciďŹ c actions, skill development and whole body exercises.
BEDTIME STORIES
WORLD BOOK DAY