Primary Wellbeing Magazine

Welcome to another excellent edition of the Primary Wellbeing Magazine and the opportunity to share our hard work and passion to promote wellbeing at BSAK. It has been wonderful to have our trips and visits in full flow, particularly our first residential trip for many years. These really add a great deal to developing independence and confidence in our children.

Please note the very important information and date on page 12 regarding classing for next year. It is imperative that only significant concerns are raised as it is only these concerns that can be considered during this complex process.

MESSAGE FROM THE ASSISTANT HEAD

Wellbeing & Pastoral Care

This issue highlights the work our Inclusion team are putting in to creating a brilliant awareness raising Neuro Diversity week and Kate Lewis, our Lead School Counsellor, shares our most recent success with Messy Play, as we continue to develop the provision for our children to support with social and emotional needs.

You’ll have an opportunity to catch up on what our student leaders have been up to with their new roles and responsibilities and you can see that our House system continues to grow from strength to strength with ever increasing house events being built into our school day.

We are also extremely proud to share two of our successful collaborative projects.

1. Sharing Parenting with Suzanne Pearson.

2. Our library and Nursing teams collaborating on creating our first outside library.

SPOTLIGHT ON NEURODIVERSITY

WEEK - 11-15 MARCH

We will be celebrating Neurodiversity Week at BSAK from 11th-15th March this year. This will be a whole school event with the continuing theme of ‘Time to Shine’. This special week will be a celebration of how we are all diverse and unique and we all belong at BSAK.

The word neurodiversity refers to the fact that there are differences in the way that some people’s brains work and this is amazing! We should celebrate the fact that people can experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways and understand that there is no one right or wrong way of thinking, learning, or behaving. The world is beginning to understand that differences are just that, they are not deficits.

https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/

We will be celebrating Neurodiversity Week in both the Primary and Secondary schools and there will be many different activities, for both students and staff, happening across the week. More information will be shared after half term but we’re really excited about the following events:

Scavenger Hunt

Dress up day on Friday 15th March House competition

Kahoot Quiz

https://youtu.be/rCcgXRNoAZA

Briony Emery

Primary Head of Inclusion

RELATIONSHIPS MESSY PLAY

As school counsellor, I am so fortunate to experience many special moments throughout my days and weeks at BSAK. Currently, lots of these funny, memorable and meaningful moments happen during our Messy Play Groups.

In our drive to develop our provision for the social and emotional needs of our primary children, myself and Teddi have completed training in facilitating ‘’Messy Play Groups’’. We have now completed 6 sessions with 2 groups of 6 children from year 3. These groups were selected in consultation with parents, teachers and the children themselves.

Our new messy play room is equipped with a variety of equipment to promote self-expression through play. This includes arts and crafts, construction, small world objects and role play materials as well as a new Messy play tray each week. The children have enjoyed playing with sand, slime, play dough, cloud dough and spaghetti!

The groups have proved to be an exciting new way of working with the children, helping them to learn valuable social and emotional skills, such as taking turns, sharing, empathy, and problem-solving. Via interactions with their peers, they have developed a sense of belonging, and gained confidence in navigating social situations.

Freedom to Play

The sessions are non directive, meaning that children lead the play. As the quote states, we allow the child to ‘’play out’’ their feelings, and respond to them with empathic communication and acceptance. Our only rules are to have fun and stay safe, and we adhere to the latter with limit setting and boundaries which we implement through kindness and empathy.

Teddi and I have been enlightened in witnessing the children explore their world and begin to understand their senses and emotions. We have seen them connect with their feelings and each other in a meaningful way.

ENGAGEMENT/RELATIONSHIPS STUDENT LEADERSHIP

ETHAN

Amelie Price-Head Girl

Ethan Nath-Head Boy

It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I take on the role and responsibility of Head Boy. I am very much looking forward to representing BSAK whenever and wherever required. I hope to be the voice of all of the primary school, listening to innovative ideas and sharing the same with the BSAK Leadership Team. I would love to help introduce exciting new activities and clubs in line with students' interests. It would be an absolute honour to lead by example, always striving to be a role model by being responsible and respectful to all around me and also demonstrating a positive work ethic. I am also looking forward to encouraging and working in collaboration with all in Primary School.

I am extremely grateful and excited to have this amazing opportunity for Head Girl. I wouldn’t say I am nervous but I do have butterflies, which is a good thing as it is a huge responsibility. However, I hope I will be a positive influence to my classmates and the younger years. Being Head Girl will give me a chance to grow into a stronger leader, a more responsible, more mature student and will help prepare me for secondary school. I look forward to being a role model in my classroom, school and BSAK community. I feel it is important for everyone to be in a positive, encouraging environment and I feel that I have the qualities to bring out the best of people. I have many inspiring ideas for positive changes for BSAK and the community.

AMELIE

Jake Adams-Deputy Head Boy

Cara FinucaneDeputy Head Girl

STUDENT VOICE

Dave Rutland Head of Student Leadership

The student roles and responsibilities are always growing. In the morning, student leaders embody this spirit of responsibility and community engagement by warmly greeting parents and students, and fostering a welcoming atmosphere at the school entrance.

Beyond pleasantries, our leaders actively contribute to the school's physical environment by assisting in organising playground equipment and ensuring a safe and enjoyable space for everyone.

STUDENT LEADERS MEET & GREET!

During House Assemblies, their voices resonate as they play a pivotal role in representing the student body and sharing concerns, ideas, and achievements. The student leaders leave an indelible mark by contributing to the outside design of our storage shed, watch this space for updates. Their engagement with BSAK life showcases the integral role that student leaders play in enhancing both the functional and communal aspects of the school environment.

CELEBRATION

PRIMARY HOUSES

Kdavies@britishschool.sch.ae

MONTHLY HOUSE COMPETITIONS

Our monthly house competitions have become a highlight, capturing the enthusiasm and creativity of our students. The recent Climate Action Superheroes contest saw remarkable entries, with students showcasing their artistic talents by crafting superheroes from recycled materials.

Congratulations to the outstanding efforts of the 1st prize winners

Tain from Year 2 in Dhabi

Dafni from Year 4 in Oryx

Jasper from Year 5 in Oryx

TOGETHERNESS AND TEAMWORK

Dressed in their respective house colors, the children radiate a sense of unity and team spirit, emphasising the importance of togetherness and teamwork. The assemblies not only recognise individual efforts but also reinforce the values of collaboration and teamwork that define our vibrant school community.

HOUSE ASSEMBLIES

Our monthly house assemblies for both Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2) have become vibrant celebrations, resonating with enthusiasm and pride. These gatherings serve as a platform to joyously celebrate success, acknowledging the achievements of our students and fostering a sense of collective accomplishment. The assemblies feature the exciting revelation of individual top house point scorers in each year group, showcasing the dedication and excellence of our students.

CELEBRATION PRIMARY HOUSES

MILE A DAY

BINGO

This is a weekly highlight event taking place every Wednesday at 7:15am. Staff and children are encouraged to lace up their running shoes and embark on a journey of fitness and camaraderie as they strive to complete as many laps as possible during the allotted time.

At the end of the month, the scores are tallied, unveiling the victorious house that boasts the highest collective mileage. Beyond the thrill of competition, Mile a Day promotes great fun and also a commitment to regular exercise. January saw Dhabi run for victory with a fine total of 1162 combined laps!

In January, the school hosted its inaugural lunchtime House Event, featuring the timeless delight of Bingo. The children gathered in the dining hall, relishing their lunch while engaging in the excitement of calling lines and houses. Laughter filled the air as memories of seaside Bingo games were shared among both students and teachers alike.

The event proved to be a great success, with many house winners emerging and earning valuable points for their respective teams. Falcon emerged triumphant as the winning house, closely followed by Dhabi in a competitive race.

HEALTH JOINT VENTURE

In October the Pediatric Ophthalmology team at Cleveland clinic came in to provide Staff from across the school training on vision and link to behavior and learning.

Undiagnosed eye conditions in children can lead to permanent, irreversible blindness if not detected, and treated in early years. Untreated vision disorders can also impair student development, lead to behavior problems in the classroom, and interfere with learning.

The session was aimed at specific staff in key areas and explored the importance of vision screening in children, the impact of screen time on children’s vision health,

look for that may cause you to suspect a vision problem.

It also highlighted the importance of natural light and time spent outdoors by children can slow myopia progression and may decrease the risk of new myopia onset.

Reception.

Cleveland Clinic Vision Information

Read BSAK Full Article Here

HEALTH

JOINT VENTURE - Nursing-Library

In response to the training, the Nursing Department and the Primary Library team have worked together to create a new Outside Library in the primary playground. With generous funding from the Wellbeing team, Primary Library, Student Leadership and House Leadership teams and the Friends of BSAK, a dedicated area was redesigned to provide shade and comfortable space for students to read outside and have a positive impact on students eye health.

The Outside Library has a dedicated catalogue comprised of picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, fiction and nonfiction, all checked to make sure they are age appropriate for any user.

We have an extremely generous school community, who regularly donate wonderful books by the boxful, many of these are being used in our Outside Library so that every student has a chance to read outdoors, whether they have a book with them or not.

Borrowing from the Outside Library operates on an honour system. The books are not scanned out to students and the space is not monitored beyond the regularly duty at break and lunchtimes.

If readers want to take a book home, they are asked to fill out a sheet with their name and the book, which they then mark as returned when they bring it back.

The space has proved to be a huge success with students and teachers alike. Students can use it as a quiet zone during breaks, class teachers conduct lessons and have reading time in the Outside Library and the Primary Library team have story time outside as often as possible.

CLASSING - IMPORTANT PROCESS 2024-25

Sam Walter swalter@britishschool.sch.ae

The process of classing our children will soon be upon us.

For your awareness we generally look at moving classes around at key transition points, in particular:

● Nursery to Reception,

● Year 2 moving into Year 3

● Year 6 moving into Year 7

We may also move children in other year groups to address imbalances that may occur within certain individual classes due to leavers or lots of new arrivals.

Mixing classes has the benefit of expanding friendship circles, developing social skills whilst building confidence and resilience. Please trust in the process. We have a fabulous team of teachers who will meet the needs of your child as and when they move class.

COMPLEX PUZZLE

Classing is an incredibly complex jigsaw puzzle, where we are juggling a number of factors, such as girl/boy ratio, Arabic A and B, social and emotional needs, learning needs, personalities, previous conflicts or long established friendships.

The process from start to finish takes between 6-8 weeks to complete and involves the whole teaching staff. Receiving last minute requests from parents, places enormous pressure on the teams and unfortunately can not be accommodated.

ONLY SIGNIFICANT CONCERNS

Classing requests can only be considered if they are based on previously documented issues. We have a robust system of recording wellbeing concerns, so should already have taken these into account. Requesting specific friends for example is not considered a concern. Please complete this Google Form HERE if required by:

Friday 22nd March 2024

There is NO guarantee that requests can be accommodated but we will do our utmost if requests are received in time and are deemed to be significant.

CLASSING PROCESS - 2023-24 YEARS 6 & 7

Nichola Cooper Assistant Head Secondary

Whilst communication regarding transition will begin in earnest in Term 3 from the Secondary school, it may be that some of your children are already thinking about what it will be like moving up to Year 7. It is natural to experience a mixture of excitement and nerves about any big change and in Term 3 our current Year 7 students will be visiting the Year 6 area to talk to them about what their experiences have been like and answer any questions they may have.

Your child will be in a new class in Year 7 as the five classes in Primary need to form six Houses (and six form groups) in Secondary. These groups need to be balanced in number, gender, nationality and

pastoral and learning needs in order to facilitate high quality teaching and care to all. Whilst this can be daunting at first there are a great deal of benefits to the students and with the support on offer in the Secondary school we see Year 7 secondary students thrive every year, even if they were worried to begin with.

One of the main benefits that Year 7 students mentioned to last year’s Year 6 was that they had made friends with people they had never met before. This is a vitally important skill for Secondary students as unlike in Primary, your children will begin, as soon as the end of Year 7, making subject choices. When that time comes we want them to have the self confidence to be able to select the subject they want to study and not choose the path based on where their friends are going. Our comprehensive transition programme provides them with the opportunity of a structured and supportive environment to go through that process for the first time.

During Term 3 the Year 6 team provides us with information on all current Year 6 students, whilst this may not directly impact classing decisions it helps us to build up a picture of needs and helps us to deliver targeted support during transition week and in September. The BSAK Padlet has 2 resources under the heading “Transition to Secondary School” that parents may find useful and during the first half term of Year 7 our registration and MELs lessons are tailored to focus on settling in, friendships and routines.

If you have any significant wellbeing concerns that we are not already aware of and that need to be taken in consideration when moving from Year 6 - Year 7please

complete the Google Form on Previous page.

SHARING PARENTING - TASTERS

Taster Sessions:

We have been delighted to be working with Suzanne Pearson - a trained psychologist with over 30 years years of experience delivering programmes for parents and families in a supportive and informal environment.

Working on the premise that the BEST thing you can spend on children is TIME Suzanne has been working with a group of Nursery and Reception parents who have signed up for our 4 free taster sessions.

Areas Covered:

Children’s needs/behaviourlooked at children’s social and emotional needs and how they link to behaviour and what we can do to promote these needs as children grow.

Effective Communication

Which is crucial to building a positive relationship with children, looking at how to talk so children will listen and how to listen so children will talk.

Effective Discipline

Looked at Discipline as a learning tool and how this support children’s self esteem as they grow.

Raising Self Esteem

Looked at the 4 Cs. Connect, capable, count and courage and how this support self esteem as children grow.

For more information on courses, contact Suzanne on: Suzanne@sharingparenting.

Suzanne Pearson

MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF PRIMARY MRS ELAINE RAWLINGS

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Belonging - EDIB

We are always looking for ways to ensure that our children feel like they belong and are part of our school. To help strengthen feelings of belonging, as a whole primary school last year, year groups either created culture quilts or took inspiration from Wendy Ewald’s work The Best Part of Me book

Moving forward we are setting up an area of our school library to showcase our wonderfully diverse community. If you wish to contribute to a display that celebrates your culture then please do get in touch with our library team. Akhwaja@britishschool.sch.ae. This will be done on a rotational basis and we hope to hear from parents wishing to share aspects of their countries, languages, festivals etc.

Display of A Culture Quilt

MESSAGE FROM THE ASSISTANT HEAD Wellbeing & Pastoral Care

I am delighted to share our first edition of our wellbeing magazine for this academic year with you. For our existing parents, you will know that we have introduced a number of wellbeing initiatives over the last few years. This year, our focus is on embedding these programmes and monitoring impact.

In this edition we will give the following updates:

● Girls on Board

● Our EAL department, what they do and who they work with

● What inclusion is

● Hear from our new Head Girl/Boy and Student Leaders

● Share how to access our Wellbeing One Stop Shop more easily

● Library Update

Building on last year’s work, when we introduced Girls on Board to Year 4,5 and 6, a new year and new term sees Year 4 being introduced to Girls on Board for the first time.

For those parents who are new to the School, Girls on Board (Click on this link to give you further information) is an approach that empowers girls to navigate the choppy waters of friendships, for themselves.

Feedback from children, parents and teachers last year was really positive. Children said they had developed a common, shared language to use when talking to teachers and their parents, when experiencing upheaval within friendships. Calling responsive sessions as and when necessary helped the class to adapt to the changes that were taking place amongst the girls.

As a school, we see this approach as vital in equipping our girls to deal with inevitable conflict that arises. With this in mind we have invested in another 10 Primary Staff who have been trained up, to be able to deliver the training, and hold subsequent responses.

SPOTLIGHT ON EAL

Debbie Digby-Johns ddjohns@britishschool.sch.ae

SUPPORTING CHILDREN FROM FS1 TO YEAR 6

Our EAL department supports children from FS1 all the way through to Year 6. Supporting EAL children in school is essential to ensure their academic success and overall well-being. All our EAL students have individualised learning plans that take into account their specific needs and goals and help incorporate activities that promote all four language skills. Our children can receive 1:1 support, where we are able to address specific language needs. We also support small groups of children, this not only helps them with their language needs and development but also encourages peer-to-peer interaction and helps build their confidence and communication skills. Finally, we support children in class and assist them with their curriculum work.

USING VISUAL AIDS

We use a lot of visual aids, such as realia, story sacks, diagrams and flash cards etc to aid their understanding of the topic. We have EAL vocabulary groups, where we introduce the key vocabulary words and concepts before they appear in their lessons. This can help EAL students understand and engage with the curriculum more effectively.

INCORPORATING FUN

We really believe in incorporating elements of fun, play and creativity into our EAL sessions to make it more enjoyable for the students and creating a positive, engaging atmosphere to encourage active participation from them.

Bridie McDonnell bmcdonnell@britishschool.sch.ae

THERE ARE 2 WAYS TO ACCESS ALL THINGS BSAK WELLBEING ONE STOP SHOP

Click on the image above for updates to our recommended resources for all things wellbeing. This Whole School BSAK Wellbeing One Stop Shop for Parents will be updated monthly with contributions from our Inclusion departments, school counsellors, digital leaders and Assistant Heads of Wellbeing and Pastoral care.

At the bottom of any email you receive from staff in school you will find a live link to our BSAK Wellbeing One Stop Shop. Hover your mouse over the link and then click, this will take you to your Parent Portal where this resource is saved.

INCLUSION DEPARTMENT WHAT IS INCLUSION?

As part of our ongoing conversations about Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) at BSAK we asked some of our children and staff: What does Inclusion mean? How does it feel to be included and how do you know that you’re included? Here are some of their responses.

Inclusion Means:

“Not being left out” “To feel part of something without being judged or labelled” “Having a level playing field” “Adaptive teaching” “Strength in differences not similarities” “Enabling everyone to access the curriculum at school” “not being sad” “When you are a part of something. I know I’m included because I have friends that play with me and teachers that like me” “including people who want to be included” “cultivating an environment for people to learn and grow together whilst developing their unique strengths” “not being discriminated against” “being able to just be” “to be included regardless of race, ability or ethnicity” “feeling important because everyone cares about you” “to be part of a community” “being part of the BSAK team”

What do you and your children think? Do the images on this page make it easier to understand Inclusion?

STUDENT VOICE NEW HG/HB AND STUDENT LEADERS

We asked Lucy and James to tell us why they applied for this role.

JAMES

‘I wanted to apply for the position of Head Boy to give back to my school and my community that taught me responsibility, resilience and respect.  I know I can be an ambassador for BSAK, both inside and outside the school. I have represented the school in Primary Swim Squad, U11 Football and Biathlons.

As Head Boy, I want to make sure every student enjoys school as much as I do - from making lifelong friends to being taught by the best teachers in the UAE’.

LUCY

‘Hello, my name is Lucy and I am the Head girl of BSAK Primary. I have attended BSAK since Nursery and have loved it very much. I first wanted to become Head Girl because I am so proud of BSAK and I knew it would be such an honour to take on the Head Girl role.

I think that the most important thing to be in life is to be kind. BSAK offers us many opportunities, so my advice to all my fellow students is to grab those opportunities and make the most of them’.

PRIMARY LIBRARY WHY WE DITCHED DEWEY

Anna McCormack AMcCormack@britishschool.sch.ae

We have been making some pretty major changes in the Primary Library over the last couple of years. We wanted to lean more towards enabling our students to have more independence when choosing their own books. We noticed many readers stuck in a rut, choosing the same series or authors time and again. It’s not so easy to find something new when you don’t know what to expect from all the other books in the library.

First we genrefied the downstairs Fiction collection, so now all the funny books are in one place and all the mystery books are together in another. It made such a significant impact to the breadth and depth of borrowing, not to mention the increased independence the students have shown in navigating the shelves, that we decided to try out a similar shift for the Non-Fiction section upstairs.

Previously the Non-Fiction books were catalogued and shelved according to the Dewey Decimal System. This is a numerical system, historically used by libraries to categorise and shelve their books. The Dewey Decimal System was created in the 1870s, and the world has changed significantly since then. So much so, that many of the categories no longer make sense or apply to our student’s lives (if you’d like to find out more about the issues with Dewey you can start here).

We tackled the infant (KS1) books first and started with a big “weed” where we removed the old, dusty, never borrowed books from the catalogue. This was a necessary step to make room for new materials and so the shelves aren’t too crowded for the books to be seen. Then we grouped them by large categories such as Animals, Geography, History, Hobbies, STEM and experimented with how best to split those categories up into smaller sections that the younger children would be able to navigate.

Upstairs in our Non Fiction Section

Once we had our categories and subcategories, we updated their new location in the catalogue and stuck cute stickers on the spines to make it even easier for the students to find what they were looking for - and for us to return the books to the shelves!

The biggest job was moving all the books to their new addresses on the shelves. We did this while the library was closed in order to minimise disruption to borrowing and finally we were ready to introduce the new layout to our students.

Immediately we saw an effect. After only a little guidance at the start, students were able to navigate the library independently, borrowing a much greater variety of subjects than we had seen previously. Their confidence in exploring new sections was inspiring and exciting. It was definitely the right move to ditch Dewey.

After only a short rest, we made a start on the junior (KS2) section. The process was mostly the same, but a little more complicated because we wanted to accommodate CUSP topics to support the curriculum. It was a big undertaking, but it was absolutely worth it.

UPDATE STUDENT LEADERSHIP, LEADING GAMES CLUB

drutland@britishschool.sch.ae

kdavies@britishschool.sch.ae (Maternity Cover for Fiz

Nurturing Leadership

Our student leadership after school club plays a crucial role in nurturing leadership skills among its members. Through its commitment to organisation, it provides a structured platform for students to develop their abilities in decision-making and teamwork. Emphasizing student voice, the club ensures that all members have a say in shaping its activities and goals, fostering a sense of ownership and inclusivity.

Through its use of fun interactive playground games the club, reinforces the importance of effective leadership, teamwork and above all fun!

Now that the weather is cooling down we are going to be able to bring these games to the KS2 playground during break times now. We

Dave Rutland

Mehmood)

COMING UP …

In the next Issue of our BSAK Primary Wellbeing Magazine for Parents we will share with you:

● Sharing Parenting Workshops

● Update from our Student Voice

● Vision Training from Cleveland Clinic and our New Outside Library

● Restorative Practices Update