Newsletter
Issue 1 - Term 3 - 2013/2014
The British School of Guangzhou
To download a copy of this newsletter, please visit: www.bsg.org.cn
Head’s Message Dear Parents, This has been a particularly busy year for our school as we deal with the transitional issues involved in joining the world’s premium schools organisation. I would like at this point to note the impressively supportive approach of Nord Anglia Education in helping us to deal with this transition. I am personally very excited by the opportunities that this has opened up for our staff and students. A number of teachers have already benefited from professional development opportunities through Nord Anglia Education and this will undoubtedly increase next year. Our students are now part of an organisation that teaches over 17,000 children. The global classrooms initiative is providing students with an increasing number of opportunities for collaboration across the world. I would encourage parents to visit the Nord Anglia Education website (http://www.nordangliaeducation.com)to find out more about the way Global Classrooms can impact on your children’s learning. You can find out about online learning and inter-school student challenges and the amazing Tanzania project, which provided students with an opportunity to take part in a challenging and hugely valuable community service in Africa. I cannot wait to see BSG students join this project next year and would encourage parents to watch the film from this year’s. This an important time of year at BSG with Secondary students involved in their IGCSE and A-level examinations and Primary students about to undertake their SATs tests. We are extremely proud of the academic successes of our students and encourage all students to ensure they follow the advice of teachers to prepare for these external examinations. As soon as we get the results, we will be notifying the individuals involved and providing the parental community with a statistical breakdown of our overall performance. This type of external validation of academic achievement is extremely valuable for teachers and allows parents to measure our school against the best UK independent schools and against other schools within the Nord Anglia Education group.
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“Work on a purpose built KS1 building is ahead of schedule. This new building has been specifically designed to meet the needs of KS1 students but also provides a library, music suite and outdoor play area.” A special thanks goes to the PE department for organising the Sports Day events and to parents for coming along to offer their support. We are keen to look at ways to increase parental involvement in the life of the school so any suggestions from parents as to how we can involve them in this type of event is greatly appreciated. At the moment our admissions department are experiencing unprecedented demand for places and next year we will be opening additional classes in a number of year groups. Work on our purpose built KS1 building is ahead of schedule and with Melody and Mr. Cunliffe overseeing the project, I have no doubt that the finished results will be spectacular. This new building has been specifically designed to meet the needs of KS1 students but also provides a library, music suite and outdoor play areas. Next year is the 10th anniversary of the school opening so we are already discussing ways that we can combine an official opening of the new building with a 10-year anniversary. Further details will be provided in due course. We are fast approaching the end of our year but have a number of events still to take place including the Primary production of Mulan with auditions underway. The Secondary students have set the bar very high with their recent performance of ‘Bugsy Malone,’ but I know that Mrs Schroeder and the Primary team are gearing up for another amazing performance. We are expecting a big turn out so please look out for advance ticket sales and book early to avoid disappointment. Yours truly,
Important information is often sent via email through school. If you’re not receiving emails, please contact our receptionist, Rainbow Chen, at rainbow@bsg.org.cn.
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lower school
Captain Vegetable to the Rescue! By: Bronwen Fleck “It is I, Captain Vegetable With my carrot, and my celery Eating crunchy vegetables is good for me And they’re good for you, so eat them too For teeth so strong, your whole life long Eat celery and carrots by the bunch Three cheers for me, Captain Vegetable Crunch, crunch, crunch!” A crisis has happened at BSG! Children are not eating enough fruit and vegetables. Thank goodness our local superhero Captain Vegetable came to the rescue. The children have learnt all about choosing different colours of the rainbow to eat from the salad bar at lunchtime to help keep their whole body healthy. There are already quite a few children who bring in strawberries, bananas, oranges, apples and blueberries for snack time but after our visit from Captain Vegetable, we all learnt how important it is to have something crunchy on our plates at lunchtime as well. Captain Vegetable surprised us with his carrots, cucumbers and aubergines, ready to hand out to the children and Miss Kathy. The children were so excited to see Captain Vegetable in person after seeing him with Elmo on Sesame Street. We were also given a special gift from our healthy eating superhero to remind us to eat a ‘rainbow of colours’ on our plates every day. Now, when the children eat vegetables and fruit aplenty, they will receive a special rainbow merit point for healthy eating. Keep up the great work Lower School students… crunch, crunch, crunch! Lyrics courtesy of http://www.songlyrics. com/sesame-street/captain-vegetable-lyrics/
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lower school
Spring has Sprung in Nursery By: Ellen Richards With the weather warming, Nursery have been having lots of fun learning all about Spring! We have shared books about growth in the garden, learnt about spring colours and created pretty daisy and daffodil crafts. We have particularly enjoyed planting beans and seeds and caring for our growing plants by watering them and ensuring that they get plenty of sunlight. It has been so nice to see the children excitedly running to check on their plants first thing in the morning as they arrive at school. The highlight of our Spring topic has been a walk through the trees. We listened to the birds tweeting and spotted all sorts of sights like flowers, butterflies and dragonflies! We eventually made it to the big pond at the top of the hill where we found bright orange and black carp fish. Upon closer inspection we spotted lots of little tadpoles and with gentle hands began to carefully catch them in our nets. Back in our classrooms we decided that the tadpoles would need a little more space to swim. We worked together to collect, stones, water, leaves and plants to create our very own ponds. We will spend the next few weeks carefully observing our new little friends as they grow and transform from tadpoles into frogs!
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lower school
Year 1 Chocolate Museum By Janine Campbell The 28th March saw the culmination of the Year 1 ‘Chocolate’ topic, with the opening of our very own Year 1 Chocolate Museum. The children had spent the previous six weeks producing an array of work, after Miss Choco Chomps had set them the challenge of creating their very own Chocolate Museum. The work included; chocolate wrapper designs, posters detailing how the Aztecs first made chocolate, chocolate inspired poems, posters showing the chocolate making process, plus much more! The parents had a wonderful time sampling chocolate goodies that the children had made, while also having the opportunity to look at all of the work that the children had completed during the topic. The children made Willy Wonka inspired Golden Tickets for their parents to enter the Museum and took great delight in showing them television commercials from around the world. A particular favourite of both the children and teachers was the Cadbury’s Gorilla commercial! Miss Choco Chomps herself also came to visit the Museum, and was amazed with the quality of the work produced. All the chocolate has finally been eaten and the children are ready to embark on the next fun topic of ‘Comics.’ Well done Year 1!
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lower school
ASA Fun By: Monica Daryani After a busy day at school, we try to keep our after school activities (ASAs) for our Nursery children fun and relaxing, at the same time embedding a variety of learning experiences for them. We have the children strengthen and build on their ‘gross motor’ skills through our ‘Ball Games’ and ‘I Can Climb’ club. We also have a ‘Fine Motor Skills’ club for the children to practise using an array of resources to grasp and manipulate with their little fingers, such as threading, beading, coluring and cutting. The children also engage in ‘spatial awareness’ and ‘mathematical’ skills through building blocks during our ‘Construction’ club. We encourage creativity and imagination for the students through our ‘Role Play’ and ‘Fun with Colours’ club. Through our ‘ICT’ club the children tie in technology with ‘fun and learning’. We are also very fortunate to offer two very popular activities during our ASA time - Kung-Fu and Ballet, where external professionals come into school to work with the children to help them bring out their talents. This is just a small glimpse into what goes on during our Nursery ASAs!
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lower school
Doors of Distinction By: Helen Jones The BSG tradition of decorating doors to resemble huge book covers became the main activity during Book Week this year on the Lower School. The competitive spirit reached new heights with teachers staying tightlipped about their door design in the first few days. Mr Thomas had the very difficult decision of choosing a winner. The teachers and children spent two very busy days designing, decorating, painting and having fun creating a door of distinction that would catch his eye. The doors were so impressive that in the end five winners were chosen! The Year 1 Puffin’s book cover was “Monkey Puzzle” by Julia Donaldson. It was interactive with voice recorders dotted on the jungle covered door. The children had recorded their favourite parts of the story for everyone to hear. The Year 1 Zebra’s door was a book cover of “The Smartest Giant in Town” by Julia Donaldson. George the Giant shared his lovely new clothes with his new animal friends and the display included a real sock for the fox and a real shoe for the mouse attached to the door. The Reception Dragon’s class had a 3D collage book cover of “Five Minutes’ Peace” by Jill Murphy. Mrs Large was in the bath needing just five minutes peace from her rambunctious children playing about in the bathroom, who were so desperate for her undivided attention.
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The Nursery Ladybird’s class had a unique door; it was double sided for twice the fun! Their chosen book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” by Bill Martin Jr involved lots of brightly coloured animals carefully placed on each side of the door. Finally, the Pre-Nursery Butterflies class chose the story, “I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean” by Kevin Sherry as their book cover. They had a giant squid toy and a whale toy, hand stitched with care, a pink octopus and a big shark decorating their door. Other doors had oodles of noodles stuck on them, fabulous fruit that looked good enough to eat, a checkerboard pattern of collaged pieces of chocolate cake decorated with cherries, a beautiful spider’s web and a colourful noo-noo tree dripping with noo-noos (baby dummies) for Marlon the Monster. The long corridor looked so bright and colourful and it was full of surprises. The children were eager to see all of the doors and talk about what they could see and what they liked the best. I can’t wait to see what happens next year!
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PRIMARY
Year 2 Camp Out By: Douglas Allan On Friday 11th April, the Year 2’s had their long awaited residential trip. But this trip involved no planes, trains or automobilesinstead the children had the opportunity to escape the wrath of their parents for the night with a sleepover at BSG…. and what a great time we had! After a long day at school, the children were excited to change and set up their tents. After much deliberation and hard work, the tents were finally erected and sleeping bags, torches and teddy bears were placed inside. Next, the children had the opportunity to do a variety of afternoon activities such as handball, parachute games, rounders and some drama - not that that they needed any further encouragement to act, scream and shout! We then settled down to a delicious BBQ provided by Titan and his team. The children loved tucking into a selection of burgers, chicken wings and healthy salad. After this, we embarked upon night activities. The favourite (judging by the children’s detailed recounts they have done this week in class) appears to be Mr. Will’s. game of ‘Ghost in the playground.’ Two ‘ghosts’ hide in the (adventure) playground whilst the others then look for them. Remember, this will have been played in darkness and the children only had torches to illuminate their paths. A scary game of the ghosts catching the others followed: cue loud shrieks, blood curdling screeches and terrifying screams! Next was our bonfire, which was expertly made by Mr. Andrew. Everyone was impressed by his skills here and came to the conclusion that he had a past life as a boy scout. After a sing song, some marshmallows and a “scary” story from Mr Laird, the children went to their tents for a well-earned sleep. Some children tried their best to stay up as late as possible before the exertion of too much fun finally took its toll- night night!
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On Saturday it was not the sound of frogs and birds waking us up- it was children rising at 5am! After getting everyone up, we had some chill out time and then a tasty breakfast of pancakes and bread. After packing away all our things, we went outside to play whilst waiting for grateful mums and dads to pick up their missed love ones. The children and equally the parents have commented upon what a fantastic time was had by all at the camp. It really was a great success and us teachers hope the children have taken away some valuable life lessons from it. I feel it should be commented upon how well behaved the children were throughout the whole event and what ambassadors they were for BSG and for each other. Congratulations to everyone involved in such a successful camp!
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PRIMARY
Year 3 Rocks! By: David Barton When Mr. Barton mentioned that the class would be looking at rock, George He suddenly jumped up and started dancing. Before he knew it the whole class was mimicking air guitars and dancing the night away! “Whoa! Not that kind of rock, we are looking at rocks and soils!” said Mr. Barton. As I’m sure you can guess this is our latest topic in Science and we have been looking at different rocks, soils and their properties. One particular rock was very interesting to Year 3. “Mr. Mooney, why are there lots of people playing didgeridoos over there by that big sandstone rock?” “Well that is Uluru and that is where the Aboriginal people believe dreamtime came from.” “Dreamtime? Is that one of Mr. Laird’s assemblies?” “I understand why you would say that but actually no, this is where Aboriginal people believe everything in the world started.” This is just one of the ‘Myths and Mysteries’ which the children have been looking at in Topic. They have been doing some pieces of excellent work, especially the Aboriginal art which is on display. Please take time to have a look outside Miss Hales’ classroom, as the display is especially good!
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PRIMARY
Year 4 Book Week By: Andrew Newton From 17th to 21st March, there was magic in the air. Year 4 experienced some fantastic activities during Magical Book Week! In preparation for all things book related, the students had been reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. A wonderful fantasy adventure set in an alternate version of our own reality, which set the theme for many tasks throughout the week where the children conjured up their own ideas about the characters in their imagination. This novel wasn’t the easiest for everyone to understand due to some spellbinding concepts and inventions created by Pullman – so what better way to bring the story together than to watch the film in class? Maybe watching the film while drinking hot chocolate and eating marshmallows? Or even watching the film in their pyjamas? Well, Year 4 did all of this on Monday morning! Some of the luckier ones even took advantage of beanbags and sleeping bags that supernaturally appeared! The magical themed activities continued in class on Tuesday, with some wonderful pastel work depicting the Northen Lights (the original title of the novel) and even some adverts for “Bear Armour” created on iPads. Wednesday saw Isabelle Ng of 4AP hold her nerve to be crowned Year 4 Spelling Bee champion. While her teacher, Miss Paul, managed to scrape a victory in the teachers’ very own competition, although the standard was arguably a lot lower! Spellbinding stuff! Throughout the week each Primary class was tasked with decorating their doors. The rules were simple. The theme had to contain a book, a concept lost on certain teachers (Note to Miss. Torrens, Dr. Who is not a book!), as well as being truly magical. Along with 4NT’s controversial
tardis Year 4’ entries were enchanting and charming in equal measure. The Wizard of Oz, How to Train a Dragon and 4AC’s favourite book; The Pencil were all wonderfully recreated and desperately unlucky not to scoop first prize. It was back to the Golden Compass on Thursday for a mysterious treasure hunt across the school. Pupils tried all the tricks in the (spell)book to win but not to worry, there were plenty of prizes conjured up. Abracadabra! Bendy pencils, magic books and sweets for all! On to arguably the main event of the week. Fancy dress day! A massive thank you to all the children (and parents) who put in a huge effort with their costumes. The effect was mesmerising. Especially to Liam O’ Callaghan who walked away with an Amazon gift voucher for his incredible Mad Hatter costume. Including a bright orange wig! Other prize winners on the day included Elliot Seet of 4MM, for his wizardry with a pencil in the poster competition, and 4NT’s Alex Hawes whose superb “Magic” story charmed the judges. We also had a very special visitor in the form of children’s author David Bedford. David had been at BSG all week, working with each Year Group, using his own brand of sorcery to help the children hone their story writing skills. A simple but effective “Rule of 3” allowed the children to create stories in the same mould as a published author. Basically, each character had to have three attempts before being successful in their quest. And HEY PRESTO! A best-selling children’s book is written (If only it was that simple!) Again, I’d like to thank everyone involved, from staff, parents and of course the children themselves for contributing to such a wonderful week at BSG. Let’s hope next year meets the same lofty standards. Although it’ll be trick-y! 15
PRIMARY
A Magical Story by Alex Hawes, Book Week Competition Winner I threw my suitcase on to floor and sank into the sofa. “Alex, why don’t you go pick out your new bedroom?’ suggested Mum, “Here are the keys. Pick which ever you want.”I reluctantly wandered round the house, peering into the different rooms on each of the floors. I don’t know why my parents even wanted to buy this place, it was so old and musty; nothing like our city apartment on the 36th floor. Now I lived in the middle of nowhere with no friends, a new school and so far, not even a bedroom. After visiting all the rooms, I figured if I wanted a view as good as my last one, I needed to get as high up as possible, that only meant one thing: the attic. To get to the attic of the new house you needed to climb a set of iron stairs and unlock the door with a gold keyhole at the top. No one had been into the attic yet, Mum and Dad had been far too busy unloading all the boxes from the van. As I walked up the attic stairs I could feel the air getting colder and at the very top, I swear it felt like I was walking on ice. I looked at the chain of keys in my hand, a small gold key seemed to shine out from the rest. I decided to try my luck. I turned to key and the attic door popped open, as if by magic. Inside the room there were hundreds of ancient looking painting, all covered in dust. My favourite one was of a brightly coloured chameleon with pointy eyes that seemed to follow you around the room. As I reached over to wipe away the dust I swear one of its eyes twitched but I told myself I was imagining things because I was so tired from the move
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The next painting I looked at was of a stormy sea with colossal sized waves crashing against the shore. I wanted a closer look at the foaming waves, so I brushed the canvas lightly with my fingers. Suddenly, the water started bursting out from the painting and flowed through the room. I tried to shout for help but soon the water rising past my mouth. Just as I was giving up hope, a multicoloured chameleon swam up past my shoulder, opened his mouth and swallowed all the water in one gulp. After he had finished, he let out a humongous burp and said, “Well, that was a close one.” Is this a dream? Am I going crazy? I was so shocked about what just happened that I just screamed. Then he screamed. Then we just stared at each other. “I suppose I should introduce myself,” said the chameleon breaking the silence, “my name is Paul the chameleon but you can call me Paul the Great. Now little girl, I must ask, why did you pull me from my painting?” “What are you talking about? I never meant to pull you out. I was just exploring my new attic. Anyway, how are you talking, you’re just a painting.” I cried. “No I am not. I am a phalamankius, that means I am a picture that can come alive when someone touches me. All of the pictures in this attic are.’’ I began touching the paintings one by one (except the picture of a T-Rex hunting in the jungle!) and left the attic feeling much better about our new house. I definitely knew which room I was going to pick now.
PRIMARY
A Story Inspired by David Bedford Written by Jacky Huong, Year 4 Max was an alien; just an ordinary alien from Mars. The difference with Max was that he had a dream. Max came to live on Earth for his invention and to make his dream a reality. His dream was to make the first UFO ever. He wanted it more than anything, so he decided to try. For his first try, he went to study science. But, Max was a clumsy alien and one day he accidently combined three chemicals when he was supposed to mix two…….. BOOM! The chemicals exploded into splats and shot up at his face. His skin was disfigured and burned, but he never gave up! What did he do? He tried again. For his second try, Max visited NASA and started to build a rocket. When he finished it, he realized there was a piece missing. He panicked and tried to fit it in, but it was too late. The rocket collapsed and the lab was destroyed. NASA kicked him out. But, what did he do? He tried again. For his third try, Max went to the Space and Technology centre and was immediately asked to leave. “Why?” cried Max. Suddenly, he saw a sign, ‘No aliens allowed’. “I will never succeed”, Max cried out again. What did he do? Max felt helpless and deflated and decided to give up his dream and go back to Mars, a place he never felt he belonged to. But, that night as he walked out of his front door on Earth, he saw a UFO with his name written on the front of it. He saw the letters in a moment of light and then the UFO disappeared into the distance. Max thought about what he’d seen for a long time and realized that what he’d seen must have been a figment of his imagination. He had used his imagination to create something he wished to see and from that day forward he knew the power of his own mind. He was so happy and felt content and never left Earth again. Everything he wanted was right there in front of him. 17
PRIMARY
Year 5 Play Quidditch By: Brian Schroeder In Year 5 we read ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ as our Magical Book Week fiction text. We used the book to improve our reading comprehension by answering weekly homework questions about the chapters we had read. We also used the story to inspire our Target Writing lessons, for example, ‘If you could make a spell to use at Hogwarts what would it be?’ For our final writing piece in our ‘Recount’ unit of work, we pretended that we were sports writers for a local newspaper. We watched the main quidditch scene from ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and then wrote an article recounting the event for our subscribers. Some of the children then used Microsoft Word to word process their article and add a picture of the match - just like a real newspaper! We ended the unit with a fun and memorable event; we played our own version of quidditch! Students were arranged in teams comprised of two golden snitches, two keepers, two seekers and two chasers. They had to hold a broom between their legs at all times and try to score goals using a basketball. It was hilarious to watch and fun to play! Year 5 students learned many new skills during this unit of work and, as for the teachers, we can’t wait for another quidditch match next year!
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PRIMARY
Year 6 Magical Book Week By: Jude Schroeder Pyjamas? Check! Sleeping bags? Check! Pillows? Check! Hot chocolate with marshmallows? Check! Cookies? Check! What a deliciously sweet and super snug start to Magical Book Week 2014 we had in Year 6. We kicked off our magical week with a morning of fantastical adventure as we watched the first installment of renowned book-to-movie trilogy, ‘The Lord of the Rings’. The Y6 girls swooned as elvish heartthrob Legolas fired arrows and flung his gleaming golden locks around Middle Earth. The Y6 boys trembled with barely contained adrenaline as dwarvish hammers wrung and devilish orcs pursued the pint-sized hobbit heroes in their quest to destroy the ring of power. Our students were already in agreement; this was going to be the best book week EVER! Day 2 of book week saw our Y6 students sharpen their non-fiction research skills as they sought out credible information about our chosen author, Maile Meloy, and her novel (and our book week pick), The Apothecary. We launched our Wednesday activities with a fiction-themed treasure hunt extravaganza! The search led our students up trees, under tables, beneath sand, behind dragon wings, inside atlases and to many more cluerevealed locations. By the end of the hunt everyone was exhausted and ready for the final anagram challenge,
which ultimately led to ‘The Demon Headmaster’ - aka Mr. Laird! A basket of magical treats, claimed by the anagram winners, awaited each class as a reward for their hunting efforts. With just two days to go, Y6 honed their interviewing skills when they held a ’20 Questions’ session with our visiting author, David Bedford. We were very impressed with the maturity Y6 showed when asking probing yet tactful questions to Mr. Bedford. They went on to use his answers for their SAT assessment writing, ‘David Bedford: A Biography’. And then Friday dawned…Storybook Costume Day! Little Red Riding Hood, Gandalf the Grey, Queen Elsa, Bilbo Baggins, Captain Jack Sparrow, Monkey King, Hulk, Thor, Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter and Pippi Longstocking and many more wonderful costumes were on show in Y6. As the day drew to a close, Y6 waited with baited breath (and raucous laughter as Mr. Champness and Mrs. Schroeder took to the catwalk for the staff costume parade!) to see if any of our year group would win Magical Book Week 2014 awards. Drum roll please… Angela Kim: Poster Winner Aisling Ryan: Short Story Winner Gia Tan: Costume Winner John He: Spelling Bee Winner 6JS: Storybook Door Winner It was a wonderful week for every student, teacher and TA in Y6 and it gave us all a chance to relax, have fun and celebrate our love of reading.
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Year 6 Rangoli As an introduction to their art project exploring Indian decorative arts, pupils from Year 6 produced a Rangoli in the reception area of the Nanhu campus. Rangolis are traditionally used to decorate homes during Hindu festivals, their geometric designs are most commonly seen during the ‘festival of lights’, Dewali. The designs can be simple or highly intricate with rotational symmetry. Coloured sand, rice and even flower petals can be used to fill the patterns with vibrant colour. A huge thanks to Mrs Vasudev for her enthusiasm and expertise in helping our students in producing our Rangoli.
chinese update
The Qingming Festival By: Ame Yu Introduction Qingming Festival (also known as Tomb-sweeping Day), which falls on April 5th this year is one of the Chinese Twenty-four Solar Terms. From this date, temperatures begin to rise and rainfall increases, indicating that it is the crucial time for plowing and sowing in the Spring. Qingming Festival therefore has a close relationship with agriculture. However, it is not only a seasonal symbol; it is also a day of paying respect to the dead, a spring outing, and other activities. Foods for Qingming Festival The sweet green rice ball is a Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) food popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. It is also a must-have offering at ancestral rituals in the south of the Yangtze River. The custom of making sweet green rice balls dates back to the Zhou Dynasty over 2,000 years ago. One or two days before the Qingming Festival were designated as “cold food days�, during which hot cooking is banned. Activities for Qingming Festival: Tomb Sweeping Tomb sweeping is regarded as the most important custom in the Qingming Festival from which the name of Tombsweeping day got its name. Cleaning the tomb and paying respect to the dead with offerings are the two important parts of remembering past relatives. Today, with cremation taking over from burying, the custom has been extremely simplified in cities. Only flowers are presented to the dead relatives and revolutionary martyrs. No matter how respect is shown, good prayers for the deceased are expressed.
Spring Outing Not only is it a day for commemorating the dead, is it also a time for people to enjoy themselves. During March, everything in nature takes on a new look, as trees turn green, flowers blossom, and the sun shines brightly. It is a fine time to go out and to appreciate the beautiful scenes of nature. Flying Kites Flying kites is an activity favoured by many people during the Qingming Festival. Kites are not only flown during the day time but also in the evening. Little lanterns are tied to the kite or to the string that holds the kite, and when the kite is flying in the sky, the lanterns look like twinkling stars that add unique scenery to the sky during the night. What makes flying kites during this festival special is that people cut the string while the kite is in the sky to let it fly free. It is said this brings good luck and that diseases can be eliminated by doing this. All in all, the Qingming Festival is an occasion of unique characteristics, integrating remembrance and spring outings.
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PRIMARY book week
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PRIMARY book week
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SECONDARY
Psychology: Observing Play Behaviours By: Siobhan Dunningham As exam preparation heats up, it was an appreciated change of scenery for the Sixth Form students as they visited the Lower School campus to conduct a naturalistic observation. As part of their A-Level Psychology course, students must learn about the different methods used by psychologists to study human behaviour. Students had to plan and carry out an observational study of children playing. Previous research suggests that children are influenced by role models and will develop their gender identity according to these. We hypothesised that the children would choose toys that are stereotypical of their gender (e.g. boys will play with cars and girls will play with dolls). During the observation, the frequency of these play preferences was recorded using a tally system and here’s what we found out‌ We observed boys playing mainly with toys that are stereotypical of their gender, where as girls tended to play with gender neutral toys (such as play dough). However, when we conducted a statistical analysis of our data we found no significant difference in the results and therefore the findings are inconclusive and could be a result of chance. It was fun visiting the Lower School and seeing the young children. It has helped the psychology students to learn about some of the practical issues with conducting observations, for example the difficulty in remaining objective and not getting involved by playing with the children. We offer our thanks to the whole Lower School team for welcoming us and allowing us to visit.
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SECONDARY
Scholarship Awarded By: Rachel Ellis Another Scholarship! Congratulations to Valerie Lye! Valerie in Year 10 has been awarded a scholarship to go to the Kingdom Education Summer Programme in the UK. The award is based on her demonstrated academic excellence and leadership, contribution to her school and community, and the promise of continued growth. Valerie will be based at Oxford University for two weeks in the summer where she has elected to take courses on ‘The Country & the Culture’ and ‘Economics and Business Studies’. We wish Valerie every success and congratulate her on this achievement!
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SECONDARY
IA Bronze Award Adventurous Journey: Sai Kung National Park, Hong Kong By Tae Kyu Lee 10A and Anzal Amin 11B It was Friday, the end of another school week. Everyone gathered in the gym, where we were registered by Ms. Welch and given our equipment necessary for the trek: tents, stoves, gas canisters, compasses and maps. We were soon on the bus that would take us from school to Sai Kung National Park in Hong Kong. But before that, we had to negotiate the border crossing and immigration. After successfully getting through our huge bus was waiting to carry us to our lodgings for the night before starting the trek early next morning. It seemed like a billion years had past when we finally caught a glimpse of the cream coloured ‘hostel’. To be honest, the hostel was pretty amazing. The entertainment facilities it had were great such as foosball, basketball courts, tennis courts, pool, snooker and much more. We ate dinner – not that good – in the canteen, and moved on to relax and have some fun. By 9:30pm we were asked to return to our rooms and turn the lights out so we could get some crucial sleep. Early the next morning, our bodies wouldn’t move. Thoughts of the ten hours ahead, walking endlessly on long uphill sections, brought back memories of Northern Guangdong and our practice trek. However, we knew that we couldn’t just lie there all day, so we got up, brushed our teeth, took a shower and braced ourselves for the trek. We strapped our bags on to our backs, which felt like a ton of backbreaking bricks and made our way to the meeting point. On seeing the bus we were all very confused. How were more than twenty
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students with huge bags on their backs going to fit into a bus that looked like a small van? Once inside we were squashed and more than one face was pushed onto the glass window like pancakes. Before we knew it, we were somewhere in the mountains, just next to the entrance of the MacLehose Trail. Our group was the second last to start and it wasn’t long before most members of the group were showing signs of fatigue, as we were constantly climbing uphill…even worse up hundreds if not thousands of steps and stairs. There was lots of laughter and talk between us, which lightened the mood and kept us motivated during the arduous trek. Considering the lack of stamina in our group we took a lot of breaks and hungrily consumed energy bars, snacks and candies. Anything that had some sugar in it was ideal to keep our bodies moving forwards. After three to four hours of endless uphill and some tricky downhill sections, we arrived at a ‘shop’ that sold all sorts of stuff, from energy drinks to hot noodles for lunch. As you can probably guess, we ordered noodles and drinks to last us for the rest of the trek. Oh yeah, not forgetting, there were a LOT of cows in that shop, which frightened some people. Following our paradise-like lunch break, we had to move on as we were one of the slowest teams and night was quickly approaching. Along the way we met some challenges, such as when the trail split into two different tracks, but we managed to maintain the correct pathway, eventually leading to our campsite on Ham Tin Beach.
We could not dare to describe how great it felt ten hours after having started. In front of our eyes was the most perfect beach and headland where we would be camping for the night. The end of our first day was a turning point for many of us during the trek and the IA Bronze Award in general. We set up our tents as we had practiced in the form of a circle, so that they were all facing each other in our group and the middle space would be our dining area. Once the tents were erected, we unpacked our food: noodles, rice, curry etc which we were going to cook and share. However, our dream of eating warm, tasty noodles together on the beach was utterly destroyed. Someone, whom we are not going to name, spilled a whole pan of noodles on the sand, leaving it inedible. We fell upon the floor in despair realizing that our noodles and source of energy had been wasted. This meant we had to clean up the mess, go and get some more water and cook some other food. Around the bonfire that night, Adam, one of the trek’s supervisors arranged a ‘Mafia’ game, where each player is secretly assigned a role. Players try and work out and vote who are Mafiosi and who are innocent. We played for a bit but became too tired and retreated to our tent to sleep. The next morning, we ate breakfast, brushed our teeth and packed up camp ahead of the final journey. We took down our tents half asleep and took a group photo with the sun and the sea as the background. This will be a nice photo to keep as a memory of what we have been through together. The trail which awaited us was – surprise, surprise – another huge staircase that ran uphill winding its way around the edge of a cliff. The second day’s trail seemed even more challenging than the previous day’s. Nothing in particular happened for the
first two hours or so, just endless climbing up concrete stairways and stopping for breaks here and there. Approximately three hours into the trek we faced our biggest challenge yet: another set of steps. But this was no ordinary set of steps. They were at least three times higher and steeper than any of the ones we had climbed so far. With every step pain shot through our knees as we clambered up. So many other walkers really encouraged us which was great. Their bright smiles and kind words no doubt helped us to overcome the steep steps. Hellish steps completed we continued walking towards our final destination. However our next challenge involved navigation: we had to decide which way to go. There was a large road that appeared to continue in the correct direction, and there was an alternative trail that looked a bit rough. Despite being told to check coordinates and bearings, we were completely exhausted and ignored that advice. We decided to ask another trekker that came up from the rough looking trail. He told us this trail would take us to where we wanted to go. But, guess what? We ended up off-track for almost three hours, we even came out of the wrong exit from the mountain and had to walk for another twenty minutes to the bus stop, but we had made it safely and in our opinion successfully back. At last we were able to unstrap our heavy bags and load them onto the bus and run for any available seat. We told ourselves: ‘It’s finally over now’. Despite the tiredness everyone found the trek very fulfilling and a valuable experience. We learnt two things from the trek: that we should never give up, no matter what the circumstances are. And secondly that sharing and helping other people in need of support is also really fulfilling and gives you as an individual the motivation to continue. The sense of achievement from having completed this trek made the exhaustion seem like an ant compared to an elephant. We are very thankful for all those people who invested their time, effort and support into making this trek successful. We are very thankful for this great experience that taught us lot of skills for life. 29
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Year 13 Destinations By: Francine Hearn As secondary has grown over the years, we have watched our first cohort of IGCSE students become our first A Level students, and now we wave farewell as they prepare for university at the end of this academic year. It has been a privilege to help our students develop into confident, independent young adults and we have been thrilled to see our students receive some remarkable offers from top universities around the world. These offers would not have been possible without the hard work of our students in achieving excellent grades and taking full advantage of the enrichment opportunities and support available in school. We hope you enjoy reading their stories and learning about their plans beyond life at the British School of Guangzhou. Name: Fleur Wang A-level subjects: Geography, Maths, Psychology, Physics (AS) & Extended Project Qualification University: University of Edinburgh (in the top 20 in world rankings www.topuniversities. com) Degree: Geography (BSc) Requirements: AAA Hello my name is Fleur Wang and I am planning to study BSc in Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Geography is a subject that I have immensely enjoyed since IGCSE and now in A-level it is more exciting than ever! After doing some initial research into universities early in sixth form, I decided upon my chosen degree at the end of Year 12.
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From then on I took part in a number of work experience opportunities related to Geography such as volunteering at Ark Eden in Hong Kong and joining WWOOF (Willing Workers On Overseas Farms) in Japan during the summer. I also took part in an Extended Project where I carried out fieldwork and wrote a 6000 word essay on a geography topic that I chose. Taking part in these opportunities have certainly made my personal statement stand out. I would recommend those going into sixth form to do as much work experience and extra-curricular activities as possible because universities do not merely look at your grades anymore. Therefore having a good personal statement is something vital to your university application. The application process itself was simple and if you have any troubles, Mrs. Ellis can straighten them out for you before you know it! Finishing the applications really early on gave me the ability to direct my focus entirely on studying and making sure my exam scores meet Edinburgh’s requirements (AAA!). Finally, remember to always be nice to your teachers because they will be writing your university references! Name: Yu-Chin Chien A-level subjects: Physics, Chinese, ICT & Maths University: University of Manchester (in the top 50 in world rankings www.topuniversities.com) Degree: Computer Science (BSc) Requirements: AAB
I have always been fascinated by the study of Computer Science and wish to take it at degree level so I can create software that no one has invented before. When applying for university, the school provides us with a lot of support, such as helping us to choose our university and set up university talks to give us some idea of what university life is like. In addition, the school also arranged my work experience at Medici Software and KPMG, which allows me to build up my resume and personal statement when applying for university.
enough knowledge to pick schools that I would be happy to study at.
There are several reasons why I am applying to universities in the United Kingdom. The UK is multi-cultural and is highly developed in the IT industry. Since I have studied in several international schools, travelled around the world and am fluent in English, Chinese and Taiwanese, I believe if I am successful in my university application, I hope to be able to act as a bridge, connecting the UK’s IT industry with Asia.
Name: Carol Ye A-level subjects: Psychology (AS), Business Studies, Maths & Chinese University: University of Manchester (in the top 50 in world rankings - www. topuniversities.com) Degree: Business Studies (BSc) Requirements: AAB
Name: Jennifer Chen A-level subjects: Psychology (AS), Art, Chinese and Maths University: University of Leeds (in the top 100 in world rankings www.topuniversities. com) Degree: Psychology (BSc) Requirements: AAB I’ve always had in mind what I wanted to do in the future, so I didn’t find it difficult to choose a course. Choosing the schools however was challenging, because at the beginning I hardly had any knowledge about how to make my choices. The school offered me assistance on what to consider and where to look. By the end of the research process I had more than
The only other difficulty that I faced was choosing between two possible paths that interest me equally: Animation and Psychology. I was glad to receive help from teachers and friends and ended up applying for both to see what would happen. My decision was made when I received a rejection from the school had I applied for Animation. At first I felt it was hard for me to give up the arts I’ve been doing so long, but I understand that this doesn’t have to be the end of it. Thank you teachers! Psychology, here I come~~
Career mentoring started when we were still in Year 12 and this gave me time to really think about what I wanted for myself in the future. We used UCAS to apply to universities in the UK. We had guidance on writing our personal statement right at the beginning of the academic year; this allowed us to enter the early application and many offers were received within the first week. I hope to make use of resources and support from university to start up a small business. I am certain that university life will provide me with a platform for my future business by making me more independent, allowing me to gain both knowledge and experience and help me build a strong social group. After graduating, my plan is to work at several multinational firms to not only gain experience and meet all kinds of people, but more importantly, to learn from each of their strengths and weaknesses. 31
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I would say things that helped me the most when applying for university were work experience, volunteering, summer schools and school performances as well as the support from family, friends and the school. If I could choose again: Always have a plan B – I would do more research on the universities I was applying to and made sure that even my second, third or fourth choices were ones that I actually would want to attend. Name: Avinash Kundnani A-level subjects: Physics, Biology, Chemistry & Mathematics University: University College London (ranked 4th top university in the world - www.topuniversities.com) Degree: Engineering (BSc) Requirements: AAA Engineering was a natural choice for me, since I was taking the three sciences and maths. I got a lot of support from the school with my personal statement even though mine was very poorly done. The only reason I got accepted into these universities is probably because of my very high AS grades and my references. I got 3 A’s and a B in my AS, which I am content with. The school helped me get an insight into what university would be like by giving us the opportunity to meet with university representatives from all over the globe. This also helped me decide which university I wanted to go to. Another way we were supported was through the career’s mentoring programme, where we got grilled to make
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choices about our future. Through this, our work experience was tailored to our needs – I went to a LED manufacturing and research factory, which gave me an appreciation for electrical engineering, and the career opportunities open to me. The advice I would give to younger students is to ensure you manage your time well to achieve your goals. Name: Chris Lin A-level subjects: Chinese, Music, PE & Psychology University: University of Sydney (in the top 50 in world rankings - www. topuniversities.com) Degree: Sports Science (BSc) Requirements: ABB I enjoy studying and being able to apply knowledge I have learnt from each aspect of sport science. This is my choice of course because I wish to gain further understanding of biomechanical, biochemical and neurological processes in the human body. Furthermore, I wish to tailor such knowledge in order to help others and myself meet specific demands of specific environments. I haven chosen Australia as my country of study due to the growing industry that is the sports and fitness industry. This will provide me more opportunities and resources to educate myself and find a fitting job in the field of sport science.
Name: Stephanie Xie A-level subjects: Psychology, Geography, Business Studies, Chinese (AS) & Extended Project Qualification University choice: Massey University (in the top 400 in world rankings - www.topuniversities. com) Degree: Psychology (BSc) Requirements: CCC I went to my career mentoring sessions in a complete mess, I was clouded with a variety of options regarding where I wanted to go for university. At this present day, my options are clear and it was made easier with the advice and research carried out with my careers mentor, Mrs. Ellis and suggestions from my sixth form tutors. We were regularly offered university talks, encouraged to attend career fairs, prompted to fill in online questionnaires to find out our idea career type... the list goes on. I also carried out work placements organised by the school that were relevant to our ideal subject areas. I went to a financial law firm, Adidas and spent a week observing nursery children at the lower campus. These are excellent features to have on your CV and not something that’s on every prospective student’s application. I’m excited to be part of the first graduating class at BSG!!
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Bugsy Malone By: Ted Moore The last week of March saw the culmination of eight months hard graft, as the cast and crew of Bugsy Malone took to the stage (and the corridors) to tell the story of gangsters, molls and something called a ‘Splurge Gun’… Both evenings were perfectly set up by Mrs. Ellis and her fantastic team’s warm welcome. As they waited for the show to begin, audiences were treated to jazz, hotdogs, candy floss and even a little drop of moonshine! Before the curtain opened, the wonderful BSG student band (arranged, rehearsed and led by the brilliant Miss Rowan) played an overture featuring many of the show’s songs. Then, once Phillip Sumner had entered as Bugsy, we were off! Having seen just how much work had gone into every rehearsal and element of the production, it was a proud moment watching the scenes unfold and delighting our audience with the show. Whether they had a part that required learning pages of lines, singing solos or learning numerous dances, each and every member of the cast demonstrated amazing dedication to the cause – even giving up two whole weekends to make sure that this year’s production would be remembered for years to come. Our student crew were equally fantastic, and even though they joined the process late on they really got to grips with making sure every chair was in the right place and every gun had a fresh can of splurge ready to go! Energy, maturity, confidence, performance skills – our cast and crew had it all. The audience response was fantastic, with many people coming to see the show twice! Here are just some of the comments I received: “A real treat!” “We’re tempted to come again it was so good!” “A really memorable performance.” “Fantastically funny – a big pat on the back to the cast!” I would like to thank other members of staff who gave up so much time and effort to make it was such a memorable show: Mr. Delmotte for his beautiful set design and general craftsmanship; Miss Asbury for choreographing the dances; Miss Dunningham for sourcing and collecting such vibrant costumes; Mrs. Chainani and her team for their work on the hair and make up; Mr. Sinclair for setting up and operating the sound system; Mr. Marwaha for designing the lights and not least Mr. McDaid, who offered to do a bit of painting for us and ended up as our Stage Manager! These shows only work through a team effort and we had one of the best I’ve ever known. Thanks to everyone who came and supported the students – we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. DVDs of the show are now available; so if you reserved one on the night, or would like to order your own copy, please do email me. Here’s to next year!
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Encouraging Responsibility
Stimulating Learning Environments
Inspiring Leaders
Embracing the Future
Self-Confidence
Independence
Creative Learning
Diversity
www.bsg.org.cn Engaging Curriculum
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