Primary Newsletter - End Of Year 2022

2021/2022 END OF YEAR

THE BRITISH SCHOOL AL KHUBAIRAT

PRIMARY NEWSLETTER britishschool.sch.ae

#AYearAtBSAK

A MESSAGE FROM THE

HEAD OF PRIMARY Dear Parents As we come to the end of another year the Primary Team wish to share some of our developments, successes and fun times.

Please do engage with the video information as well as seeing the lovely pictures of the children in action.

We are already excited to be planning for the next academic year with many wonderful opportunities for activities, trips, visits and performances. Back to the BSAK we all know and love!

I wish you all a wonderful summer break and look forward to seeing many of you in September at the Welcome Meetings.

If you are moving on to pastures new, we hope to see you again in the future; remembering the world is a very small place.

Kindest wishes

Elaine Rawlings | Head of Primary Please find the Parent Handbook here.

WELLBEING PARENT MAGAZINE If you haven’t already had a chance to look at our Primary Wellbeing Magazine for Parents - please click on the link HERE. These 3 issues shine a light on all things wellbeing in the Primary School, that have taken place this year. Our children’s wellbeing continues to be a priority next year and we look forward to sharing our plans with you in the new academic year.

PRIMARY INSIGHTS Welcome to our second edition of Primary Insights, an opportunity for you as parents to take a glimpse into the teaching and learning practices that your child experiences as they journey through BSAK Primary.

This term’s edition focuses on pedagogy, which means the teaching practices that support your child to learn most effectively. You will get an insight into how our EYFS/KS1 outside environments have been carefully constructed to promote age appropriate learning opportunities; the use of visualisers across the Primary School to reduce the load on the working memory of our students and promote support and challenge; see the carefully selected resources in Arabic A and Learning Support to best meet the needs of all learners and see how we continue to review teaching and learning across the Primary School using the Pupil Learning Study model. We hope you enjoy this insight into teaching for learning at BSAK Primary.

OUTSIDE LEARNING AND ENVIRONMENT

Miss Turnbull Reception Year Leader

Mrs Judi Crockett Year 1 Leader

In Reception and KS1 the outdoor learning environment is as important as the learning environment the children experience indoors! We are trying to move away from the traditional ‘playtime' and create an environment where children can continue to learn and develop while outside. You will notice the resources are much bigger and sometimes a little messier than what the children use indoors. This is deliberate, it is important that the children get a different experience from outdoor learning. Physical development is a huge area and is the foundation to many learning skills, such as concentration, focus and writing. Developing muscle strength and proprioception is a vital part of a child's development and the resources we have in the playground support this. Careful planning goes into the resources used in the outdoor area and links with curriculum outcomes.

PUPIL LEARNING STUDIES

Mrs Edgar Deputy Head of Primary

This year we have introduced Pupil Learning Study. This is an evaluation tool that supports us in developing areas of the curriculum and our Teaching for learning. We are able to identify aspects that are going well and also pinpoint areas for development across all subjects. This evidence and information then feeds into Year Group action plans to inform future planning and provision to ensure we continually support and challenge our children to make progress in their learning.

TEACHER MODELING & THE USE OF VISUALISERS

Mr Payne Year 5 Leader

During the instruction phase of a lesson, teachers model knowledge and skills using a teacher example book and a visualiser. This helps reduce the cognitive load for students and avoids what is known as the split attention effect. Children can focus on thinking hard about the learning, rather than the task organisation being the hard thinking.

This equips the children with the skills and knowledge they need for independent practice

PRIMARY LEARNING SUPPORT

Mrs Emery Head of Primary Learning Support

We are so fortunate in BSAK to offer the Nessy Reading & Spelling programme. This is a fantastic resource that helps to target a child's reading and spelling skills. The programme can offer amazing results when practised for 20 minutes every day. One of our Year 6 learners has been using Nessy for about 4 years and both his reading age and spelling age have improved dramatically over that time.

In one 6 month period his reading age increased by 2 years and 7 months and his spelling age increased by 3 years and 4 months! A truly fantastic result achieved by hard work and perseverance. If your child has a Nessy account from school please encourage them to log on daily at home and they too can be Nessy Superstars!

(Remember - the 'secret word' to logon is RADICALAVOCADO)

ARABIC A In Arabic A, language learning is enriched through a wide range of fun and interactive resources.

Mrs Hammoudeh Head of Primary Native Arabic

Our video shows some of our youngest students, in Years 1 and 2, using games to learn letters.

BOOK WEEK

View all photos on

BSAK Flickr

NURSERY: MEET THE TEACHER

INSIDE OUT DAY

BSAK NURSERY

Our Nursery children have had a wonderful start to their very first year at BSAK !

At the start of this term our Nursery children really made the most of our wonderful outdoor space - the highlight was definitely SPLASH DAY, where the children had so much fun splashing their friends and their teachers. Our In The Moment Planning approach has continued to help us to get to know the children - to find out what inspires them, what they need a little support with, and most importantly, has helped them make their own personal progress as we start to think about Reception and beginning to read and write. As Covid restrictions have gradually eased, it has been wonderful to see the children moving beyond their class bubbles and getting to know children from other classes outside. By mixing up our classes and forming new ones in RECEPTION, we are able to help children to develop resilience and become more confident when making new friends. It was wonderful to see so many happy and excited faces when they met their new teacher and visited their new classroom.

This term we have had some very memorable special days, such as our ROYAL JUBILEE TEDDY BEAR’S PICNIC, our WORLD OCEAN DAY and our first trip to the SWIMMING POOL. In Phonics, lots of us are now super confident at recognising rhyming words, can hear all the sounds in short words and some of us are even writing our names! We know that our fabulous Nursery children are more than ready for Reception!

OCEAN DAY

SPLASH DAY

TEDDY BEAR PICNIC

GARDENING

BSAK RECEPTION Reception have had a truly incredible year.

Reception children are finally ready to fly the Early Years nest and embark on their new adventure in YEAR ONE. We are so proud of each and every child and how they have progressed through challenging times while enjoying every moment of their Reception year. We have had an exceptional term filled with exciting learning, play and events, and we cannot wait to finish the school year with our first school trip to THE NATIONAL AQUARIUM in Abu Dhabi. What a way to end a fantastic year.

Have a wonderful summer and good luck for the new school year.

AQUARIUM TRIP

BSAK YEAR 1 What an amazing year!

What an amazing year the children in Year 1 have had! It is hard to believe that the year has come to an end, it seems to have flown by.

However, the Year 1 children are now ready for the exciting new challenges of YEAR 2 and the Year 1 team could not be more proud of them. They are leaving Year 1 as brilliant writers, amazing mathematicians and super scientists! Their knowledge of the world has developed and their problem solving and creativity has flourished! This term we learned all about animals and became engineers; making the most amazing habitat boxes that included a slider mechanism. We learned all about the 5 SENSES; the taste experiment was a favourite with some!

We are looking forward to exciting end of term celebrations where the children can cool off during “SPLASH DAY” and have a fun day out at “LITTLE WORLD”.

The children leaving Year 1 have been a delight to teach this year and Year 2 are very lucky to have them!

We wish you all the very best for Year 2!

SPLASH DAY

BSAK YEAR 2

What an exciting time to be in Year 2!

We have been so busy learning in Year 2. Our AMAZING ANIMALS DAY was so much fun with everyone dressed as our favourite animal and we learnt so much about different habitats and what is essential to survival.

This term we went on our first school trip for 2 years.

We visited the wonderful SHANGRI-LA HOTEL and had a tour of their kitchens, and then we all made a car made completely from chocolate. It was the best day!

We are looking forward to ending the term with our CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY DAY and hopefully a visit from Mr Wonka himself!

SHANGRI-LA CHOCOLATE TRIP

AMAZING ANIMAL DAY

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY DAY

LEARNING SHOWCASE

ROMAN DAY

BSAK YEAR 3 As we reach the end of Year 3 we are able to reflect on a busy but wonderful year. We are incredibly proud of the personal and academic progress the Year 3 children have made; they have approached the year with enthusiasm, determination and an innate willingness to learn.

As we continue the journey to complete normality in school, it is a joy to celebrate the achievements of our students and the resilience they have shown over the last few years. They have continued to develop a growth mindset to school life and have fostered the values of our wellbeing curriculum; demonstrating empathy, confidence and resolve on a daily basis.

ROMAN DAY was a highlight in the Term 3 calendar as our fashion show saw Emperors, soldiers and Roman people dancing their way down the catwalk. The independence and enthusiasm towards writing this term has been exceptional, using story writing techniques, poetry writing and advanced instructional texts the children have showcased an array of talents and skills revealing budding performers, authors and poets.

From maps and compass directions to forces and magnets, the depth in knowledge and vocabulary has amazed the Year 3 team. We are extremely sad to say goodbye to a wonderful cohort of children but wish them luck, fun and laughter as they continue their learning in YEAR 4.

As always, support from home has made this such a successful year. Thank you!

Have a wonderful, restful summer.

BSAK YEAR 4 Where has this year gone? It seems like only yesterday that the children were coming back into school and we were coping with single desks, social distancing and all of the many other Covid restrictions! All of the terms have flown by and this term has been no exception.

We have continued to try to make the curriculum as varied and exciting as always and to give the children many different opportunities. This term has seen us learn about the Ancient Egyptians culminating in our ANCIENT EGYPTIAN DAY. The children looked fantastic - we had Tutankhamuns, Nefertitis, mummies and even a pyramid joining us for the day! Great fun with lots of learning taking place.

We have visited KIDZANIA and used the experience to help the children learn valuable life skills, hugely enjoyable and rewarding for all and wonderful to be able to take the children to a different learning environment.

Of course we have carried on with our usual curriculum: looking at STATES OF MATTER AND SOUND IN SCIENCE - ask your child about the water cycle or how string telephones work and you will be amazed at the technical and scientific vocabulary that they can use to explain. Diary writing, poetry and explanation texts are just a part of the English we have looked at this term. Then there is maths: multiplication tables have remained a focus along with shapes and their properties, position and direction, using money, graphs and decimal place value. We’ve used turtle logo, celebrated the QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE, used clay to make CANOPIC JARS and even made replicas of TUTANKHAMUN’S FAMOUS MASK! It’s all been so busy, no wonder the term has flown by!

The children have had a great year and we will be sorry to see them move on away from us. They have been a credit to you as parents, us as teachers and to themselves. Thank you to everyone for all of your help and support this year.

We wish you a safe and happy holiday.

KIDZANIA TRIP

EGYPTIANS DAY

BSAK YEAR 5

What a year it has been! The children’s progress in their learning has been wonderful to witness. They have excelled across all areas of the curriculum and are a credit to themselves, their school and their families. From some outstanding story writing, to poetry, to creating fantastic balanced arguments and formal letters around the theme of single use plastic, the children have at all times consolidated and enriched their curriculum knowledge.

The children’s maturity and ability to empathise and discuss important issues was highlighted with our reading of class novels such as ‘I AM NOT A LABEL’ and the excellent ‘BOY IN THE TOWER’. As teachers, we were delighted by their progress at inferring, summarising and making connections with their own knowledge and experiences. Katherine Rundell’s book The Explorer, reinforced our History, Geography and Social Studies work on Central and South America,

gave the children a context to where the story was set, and helped consolidate and enrich our understanding. Scientific knowledge, understanding and skills have been continuously developed throughout the year and it was great to also see the children utilising their curriculum knowledge in investigations once again.

The creativity and perseverance they showed in designing and creating a GREEK LABYRINTH and MAYA MASK was again a highlight and we hope their creations will take pride of place on a wall somewhere in their house!

The excitement around the restart of CLUBS has been palpable, and the vast array of activities the children have engaged with was amazing. It was heartwarming to see such joy in the faces of children who have engaged in cooking or been able to follow a passion, as well as the countless number of children re-engaging with physical activity and having the opportunity to represent their school in sport.

We, in the Year 5 team, are very grateful at having had the opportunity to work with this lovely group of children and wish them every continued success in the future.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ULTIMATE EXPLORER AD - TRIP

BSAK YEAR 6 .

How quickly the year has flown by!! It must be hard for you to believe that your children have now reached the end of their Primary school adventure. However, they are now more than ready to embark on the next chapter of their lives. The Year 6 team are so proud of the way they have developed into excellent BSAK citizens.

This term has seen more fantastic learning in Year 6. The children have continued to show their resilience, perseverance, and enthusiasm during their learning.

The children enjoyed making and investigating ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS and the teachers were not shocked by the fantastic results that came from this activity. The children researched several street artists which inspired them to create their own designs and quotes. Which will soon take pride of place around the school.

It has been great to return to the weekly COMMUNAL ASSEMBLY events this term. This has given the children the opportunity to gather in the area and celebrate their weekly achievements as a year group. One of their most popular awards is the “CLASSY CLASSMATE”. The children love to hear all the positive comments about themselves from everyone in their class.

The delivery of the year book and HOODIES caused great excitement amongst the children and these will a fantastic keepsake for them to cherish as they look back on their memories of their primary years. Thank you to all the parents who were involved in organising these special treasures.

Finally, the Year 6 team would like to say it has been a real pleasure and a privilege to watch them grow academically, socially and emotionally this year.

Wishing you a safe and restful summer

Y6 TO Y7 TRANSITION

SCIENCE SHOW

TRANSITION: RECEPTION - Y5

WARNER BROS TRIP