Newsletter
Issue 3 - Term 2 - 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, I would like to start off this edition of the newsletter by thanking everyone who has taken the time to provide feedback in the recent ‘Parental Lens’ initiative. All your replies have now been analysed and we will provide parents with feedback soon. It is our aim to increase parental involvement right across the school and we certainly welcome your comments. The British School of Guangzhou has benefited from excellent parental support over the last 6 years, and we are keen to ensure that this continues in the future. As the school has grown, it has become apparent that the EFC (our current parental group) needs to be restructured to meet the specific needs of the different phases of the school. This month, Miss Kathy, Mr. Cunliffe and I met with lower school parents to discus the setting up of a parent teacher group to meet the needs of the Early Years and Key Stage 1 students. We will be arranging meetings for Key Stage 2 and Secondary parents soon and urge everyone who is interested in being more involved in the life of the school to attend. On the last day of term 2 we said goodbye to three Secondary students in an assembly. In any International school you get used to students joining and leaving throughout the year. However, the students who left on Friday deserve a special mention for their impressive contribution to the life of the school. Schools are about much more than academic study. Secondary teachers are constantly encouraging students to get involved in extra-curricular activities. Rebecka Dahlgren, Harry Cha and Justin Park have been excellent role models since joining the school. Not only have they applied themselves diligently to their studies but they have also represented their school within sports teams, have been selected to take part in the FOBISIA games, have been involved in promoting environmental initiatives and in Justin’s case, has performed in the recent production of ‘Bugsy Malone.’
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“Rebecka Dahlgren, Harry Cha and Justin Park have been excellent role models since joining the school.” We encourage them to keep in touch and wish them every success in the future. It was noticeable just how many students took the time to say a personal goodbye to all three students. It is so important that our students get the opportunity to say goodbye to their friends and we encourage parents to ensure they give children as much notice as possible of any move to allow them time to say their goodbyes. For those of you who were fortunate enough to get a ticket to see ‘Bugsy Malone’, I am sure you will have thoroughly enjoyed the evening. It was an impressive performance and many parents commented on just how professional it was. I would like to take this moment to thank all the staff that gave their time and energy to enable the students to achieve such high standards. The students have also worked incredibly hard but I was personally struck by the amount of fun they had and the sense of team spirit amongst the cast. It was a truly impressive performance and anyone involved should feel incredibly proud. Next year’s calendar is now available, on the website, for your information. In response to those parents who contacted us to say how much they appreciate the longer CNY holiday, we will be keeping this celebration at two weeks again next year. The 27th June has been confirmed as the date of our Awards Day. This will be the first year that we say goodbye to a graduating class, which is a significant moment in the growth of our school. We really encourage you to keep this date free in your diaries, as it’s always a great celebration of the year we’ve had.
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community
Community Action & Fundraising Update By: Amanda Boby Remembrance Day Back in November BSG took part in Remembrance Day, where events included assemblies through the school and also a procession led by the music department, which were not dissimilar to how Remembrance Day is focused on in the UK. I am pleased to announce that due to the joint efforts within the BSG community we raised a magnificent RMB 3622! The money raised contributed to the donations made to The Royal British Legion through the British Consulate-General in Guangzhou. The Royal British Legion is a registered charity based in the UK. Formed in 1921, their main aim was to care for those who had suffered as a result of service in the Armed Forces in the Great War. Today the Royal British Legion continues to support individuals and families that have been affected by serving their country. This includes help with housing, education, employment, caring for medical needs and other support needs that have been identified, as a result of duty. Please accept our gratitude on behalf of the British Consulate-General and the Royal British Legion. Upcoming Fundraising Events GETCH FESTIVAL, APRIL 26TH 2014 This year the Charity Committee will be taking part in the annual GETCH Festival at Golden Arch. They will be continuing their efforts in supporting GETCH by running their own games stall, as well as selling the postcards created by GETCH students earlier in the year. Further information will be available on the community board in reception.
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Lower School Activity Room & Coffee Shop Available for Parties
We’re offering the chance to use our wonderful facilities on the lower campus for birthdays or other special celebrations that may come along. The Activity Room is available to hire for either a morning (9:00am-1:00pm) or an afternoon (2:00-6:00pm) with a fee of 1000RMB per session. The Coffee Shop will be open and a variety of hot drinks and delicious snacks will be available for purchase. Alternatively you can arrange your own catering for your party. Due to the nature of the equipment in the Activity Room, we must limit the ages of children using it, therefore all children must be 8 years old or below. If you would like to celebrate your child’s birthday party in our exciting and very spacious Activity Room, then please contact Miss Kathy (Head of Lower School) for further details Katherine.weir@bsg.org.cn.
Important information is often sent via email through school. If you are not receiving emails, please contact our receptionist, Rainbow Chen, at rainbow@bsg.org.cn.
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community
Events & Fundraising Committee Update By: Christie Greenhill We have been working quietly in the background. The last half of the school year always feels very quiet in comparison to the first, where there are so many big events to organise - Halloween, International Day and The Christmas Lunch. Now is the time when we put all that hard earned money to work!! Giving our children a good education is something we all take for granted. Through Couleur de Chine we help children who are not so fortunate. This year we have taken on three more students making our total six. We have helped one of our girls, Xie Fengling, through most of Secondary, she will graduate next year. We may have not been performing in front of the scenes, but if you go and watch the Secondary performance of Bugsy Malone you will notice the super new lights that have been installed. I hope all you kids enjoyed the hot chocolate during book week, thats our favourite way of giving back‌‌. something yummy!
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Congratulations on a great performance!
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lower school 8
Old MacDonald Had A Farm... By: Prerna Nankani Farm animals are a great theme for preschool and that’s what our Pre-Nursery children have been learning about. In the ‘Teddy bears’ and ‘Butterflies’ class we have had many discussions, sung songs and read books all based on our theme ‘Farm Animals’. We have ‘moo-ed’ and ‘baa-ed’ around with much laughter and energy. We also did a lot of arts and crafts activities which reinforced our learning. It was such fun constructing our own farm in our classroom using the small world resources. We substituted hay with oats and used grass mats to create a farm effect. We ended our theme about farm animals by pretending to shear sheep by smearing shaving foam on a balloon and taking it off using lolly sticks. What a great sensory experience! We are now ready for all the other excitement this month of April has in store for us!!! We look forward to all the upcoming events such as ‘Book Week’, our ‘Field Trip’ and also the much awaited ‘Family Tea Party’.
lower school
Doctor Dogs By: Sophie Corr All the Nursery children have been learning lots about animals and we were very lucky to have 2 special visitors come into school, 2 dogs called Duo Duo and Bao Bao. Both of these dogs work for an organization called Doctor Dogs. Doctor Dogs is an organisation that provides innovative animal-assisted therapy programmes for people in need. These trained dogs go to visit people in elderly homes, disabled centres, orphanages and schools in three mainland Chinese cities and Hong Kong. Since opening up in Hong Kong they have also introduced Doctor Dogs to Taiwan, the Philippines, India, Japan and Malaysia by providing local animal welfare groups with training and advice to run their own programmes independently. So, we felt very lucky to have these very special dogs come in to help teach us all how to care for them. We learnt how to say hello, how to feed them and how to groom them. All the children had a wonderful time as you can see from our photos. If you would like to learn more about this organization then please feel free to look on their website: https://www.animalsasia.org/hk-en/ourwork/cat-and-dog-welfare/
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lower school 10
Colourful Animals By: Iwona Jezierska
Excitement
If you asked a nursery child what they have learnt recently, they would probably tell you that they’ve learnt about colours and animals or, as one of my pupils wittily described, ‘colourful animals’. Both answers would be correct as that is exactly what the Ladybirds, Fishes, Stars and Dragonflies focused on during the last couple of weeks-‘Colours and Shapes’ and ‘Animals’ . Both themes brought wonder, excitement, and delight into our Nursery.
Learning about jungle animals and pets was super exciting. Especially when the children could learn through practice whilst feeding our school pet, Bubbles, the chinchilla or grooming friendly pet dogs from Doctor Dog which came to pay us a visit. The excitement was at its highest when nursery students were taught how to approach a dog and then were allowed to pat and cuddle a huge Old English Sheepdog and equally when they fed real giraffes at the Zoo! Delight
Wonder Have you ever seen the look of surprise in a child’s face? In Nursery we had many opportunities to enjoy this. Mixing primary colours to teach secondary ones was just one of these occasions. Every time we dipped a paper towel into a bowl full of food colouring, all you could see was glittery eyes and open-mouthed amazement as two primary colours blended into a secondary one. The same sort of look was present on most of the children’s faces when we were discussing shapes in our world. Their eyes opened wider and a beam grew bigger as they were beginning to realise that familiar shapes are pretty much ubiquitous and they are able to name some too. They enjoyed matching the shapes with real life objects, like a circle with the Moon or a rectangle with their teacher’s desk.
This was also a very frequent emotion present in all Nursery classes during the last month as all our planned activities were tailor-made for the pupils to provide as many joyful and pleasurable moments as possible. Learning doesn’t have to be boring and we strongly believe that ours is not. Fun and exciting themes were topped up with numerous action songs that made us dance the boogie woogie and shake like a bear, stamp like an elephant or leap like a leopard bringing even more joy and delight! Last month we went absolutely mad with shapes, colours and animals. I can proudly admit that not only our students experienced ‘jungle fever’ also the Nursery teachers let themselves be drawn in too! What an amazing time that was!
lower school
Fancy Frocks & Snazzy Suits By: Bronwen Fleck The Reception children have been learning all about clothes. To kick start our unit, the children walked the catwalk in their favourite fancy clothes. Our fashion parade was a great success! Even Mr. Thomas and Miss Kathy strutted their stuff down the runway sporting scintillating sunglasses and wooly hats. The children strode down the runway showing off their favourite outfits, stopping, twirling, moving and grooving to the music. Ms Helen was a great MC, describing the combinations of colours, frills, and thrills of each fashion guru. There were actually eight fashion gurus in Reception who were exceptional at gliding down the runway, standing out from the rest. Congratulations to Jia Yue and Rebhi from the Styling Seahorses, Bell and Sophie from the Dynamic Dragons, Sofia and Eoin from the Radical Raccoons, and Andy and Natalie from the Rocking Rabbits. The lucky winners claimed a special koala treat as their prize. We continued to explore clothing by celebrating costumes from our countries. Everyone, including teachers and TAs, dressed up to represent their countries. The children proudly paraded to their national anthems, showing off their national dress. The patriotic teachers serenaded the children with their own national anthems, although some children clearly thought the teachers needed singing lessons as they covered their ears. They then enjoyed drawing pictures of each other, complimenting each other on the colours of their costumes and their favourite outfits. After reading “The Queen’s Knickers” by Nicolas Allan, the Reception children designed a lovely pair of Chinese themed knickers, which would be suitable for the Queen to wear should she decide to visit BSG. Their knickers incorporated beautiful bold colours and designs of dragons, pandas, bamboo and crowns. Some knickers even had a lovely lace trim. We will be sending a few samples to the Queen to see if they strike her fancy. 11
lower school 12
Chocolate! By: Aimee Bainbridge Lock up your dentists and throw away your disclosing tablets! For the past 5 weeks, the children in Year 1 have been learning all about the history, science, culture and industry of chocolate. To begin our topic, we first had to make sure our senses were in good working order. We learned what the 5 senses were and learned some specific describing words so that we could talk about what we were “sensing”. The brave boys and girls of Year 1 pushed their senses of taste and smell to the limits, sampling the sweet highs of honey before being hit with the crushing lows of chilli sauce and coffee. This was all to prepare them for the next stage of our Chocolate topic; the tasting of chocolates! That’s right, all the Year 1 children came to school and ate, what can only be described as a terrifying amount of sweet, sugary, chocolate. Isn’t that what every parent wants to hear? No?! Well, have no fear! In Year 1 we only indulge in this, not for the delicious taste you see, but for science! And it wasn’t just taste either, we endeavoured to use as many senses as possible. We described not just the taste, but the appearance, smell and feel of the numerous treats.
The children sampled 8 varieties of chocolate as part of their experiment and did so using the proper use of rigorous scientific method. They made predictions, recorded their results and their opinions and noted any surprising reactions. Towards the end, they discovered that chocolate could vary in all sorts of different ways. It could vary in colour, from creamy white to almost jet black. It could vary in texture, from silky smooth to rough and crunchy. And it could vary in taste, from truly scrumptious to absolutely disgusting! For a change, the children welcomed their weekend break, eating juicy fruits and crisp vegetables, trying to forget all about the awful surprise that had been spicy chocolate. On the following Monday, word of our chocolate prowess had reached the ears of Guangzhou’s premier expert on the subject, Miss Chocolate Chomps. She decided that the children of Year 1 would be the perfect people to help her solve her Auntie Frauline’s mystery and create a real Museum of Chocolate. When asked for help, the children, as always, responded with a resounding “YES!” and set immediately to work, opening the parcel she gave them and beginning to research its contents. So far we’ve learned about the origins of chocolate and the strange, ancient peoples who first learned to cook with it. We’ve created a timeline and have placed our Mayan and Aztec facts on it. We’ve learned how chocolate used to be made and how it’s made now. Soon, we will even be making our own chocolate treats to eat and sell. All this will culminate in the creation of the first ever BSG Museum of Chocolate. We can’t wait to find out more and invite you all to it. Get your tickets quickly, as they will sell like, well, hot chocolate!
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lower school
House Events By: Graeme Hopkinson Whether your child is in the Normans, Vikings, Saxons or Romans, we can honestly say that each team has thoroughly enjoyed the activities that were organised for the previous Lower School House Events. Up and down the corridors, and out on the playground, cheers for victory could be heard echoing throughout the school as each child put all their effort in to the activities. The recent block of House Events for Lower School have included:Treasure Hunt – The children worked in small house groups to answer riddles and find tokens to get to the Golden Riddle as fast as they could, racing against other treasure hunters. Once the Golden Riddle was solved, the race was on to hunt down Cpt G’s treasure, finding gold coins, diamonds and jewellery. Team Games – In the New Activity Room, the children (and staff ) enjoyed trying to work in 2s, 4s, and 8s, and as a whole team, sitting back to back and trying to stand up, while keeping their arms linked together. I know the children enjoyed seeing the staff demonstrate this activity with one teacher being squashed by another. Team Races – Outside, on the running track, the children got show their speed, stamina and balance as each team ran for victory. The races included for this event was a relay race, running up and down the track to pass a baton, the balancing of a quoit on your head and a hurdle race. The children excelled in these races, so sports day will be very interesting!
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Javelin and Bounce ‘n’ Balls – The football pitch probably hosted the most interesting activity. The children were required to bounce on space hoppers from one side of the pitch and back again, but it wasn’t that simple. On their way back, they had to bring as many small balls back with them as possible. The Javelin contest allowed the children to put all their effort in throwing a foam javelin towards any teacher willing to stand at the front and shout “GO!” We were very surprised with some of the distances achieved by the children. Both students and staff clearly enjoy taking part and watching the House Events, whether it is problem solving, team games, races, or just being able to run up and down the corridors screaming and shouting.
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lower school
Chinese with the Ladybirds Use your imagination and have fun! If you want more information please follow the links Characters game: http://www.61flash.com/flash/10273.htm
The missing rainbow: By: Lily Tan In the Nursery Ladybird’s Chinese classes, we have been learning about ‘Colours and Shapes’, ‘Jungle Animals’ and ‘Pets’. All the children loved playing an on-line game that helps them to recognize ‘Colour’ characters then asks you to make a match. We shared the story of ‘The Missing Rainbow’ which made us understand that colours make the world a beautiful place. We also had good discussions when we read the story ‘Maggie’s triangles’. We thought of different ways to use triangles to make lots of different things. The topic ‘Jungle Animals’ and ‘Pets’ was exciting. We explored all kinds of jungle animals. One of our favourite activities was the nursery rhyme ‘Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree’. The children loved to pretend to be a monkey or the crocodile which gobbles up each monkey one by one! We have also enjoyed playing our favourite finger games. The children used their hands imaginatively to play magical music that transformed them into different animals such as snakes, rabbits, birds, cats or tigers! We were all great magicians!
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Please follow the magical words and play this magic game with us: One little finger, one little finger, change, change, change, change to a snake. (show 1 finger, then roll your hands together, show your finger again and pretend it is a wriggly snake, etc).
http://www.iqiyi.com/ dongman/20111020/d0b3442724bd9e06. html Magie’s triangles: http://www.iqiyi.com dongman/20111020/fe06e03fc307e43e. html Animal game: http://kids.beva.com/72/385?from=bao Five little monkeys swinging in the tree: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/ tSvuD-5Wvxg/ Song of Pekingese: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/ uhAL8xrteTs/
PRIMARY
Active Earth By: Andrew Cunliffe Not only is the Earth active – so are the Year 2s in our new topic! In learning about how our planet moves and changes, we have made a study of volcanoes and the Ring of Fire. Children have studied how volcanoes are formed, the effects they have on the environment and the destruction and benefit they leave. We have located places using maps and have compared and contrasted them. In art children have explored using a range of materials to construct a volcano. Starting with a simple base made from recycled paper, children investigated constructing a stable structure and proceeded to evaluate its stability. Using papier-mâché techniques, layers of paper and a mixture of glue and water were added to make a surface layer before adding paint to make a wonderful finished product. Another art activity involved developing the skill of block printing using the famous ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa” (c1830) for inspiration. Children explored positive and negative block printing techniques which you can see in these photos.
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PRIMARY 18
Viking Warriors Are We! By: Clare Hales This term, in 3CH, we have been learning all about the Vikings. Vikings came from Scandinavia where it was very cold and mountainous. The Vikings left Scandinavia in search of more fertile farming land to grow their crops on. They travelled very far in special boats called longboat. They were impressive sailors and fishermen who could navigate the seas with ease. On the long and arduous journey, Vikings would often catch a large haul of fish to trade with when they came to shore. Sometimes the Vikings did not want to trade items with local people; they wanted to raid! Raiding is another area where the Vikings excelled. Vikings would arrive at night and come violently ashore. They would slaughter the local residents, take their belongings and claim their land
for themselves. Some historians say that the Vikings were the cruelest and most feared people that have ever lived. Our class assembly was all about the Vikings. We had a really good time learning traditional sea shanties and singing them like raucous sailors. We acted out a few traditional Vikings scenes, exploring Viking funerals and battles. Both the boys and girl did dances, to express the different roles of men and women in Viking society. We also had a lot of fun using the green screen, which allowed us to superimpose ourselves into Viking lands. The excitement was topped off with a violin duet by our wonderful violinists Edward and Lily. Well done 3CH, you did a wonderful job.
A Victorian Tale by Isabelle Ng, Year 4 It was 1839 in the month of June. It was Queen Victoria’s coronation day. “Look at all those going by,” Timmy whispered to his younger sister, Polly. Timmy was eight and Polly was five. They were both orphans, who went around the city, in search of someone who would take care of them. “I just wish we were one of those happy people. Look at us, we wear rags and struggle to find food whilst the Royal family wear fancy clothes. It would be no problem for them to find food!” Polly softly replied. After the procession finished, Timmy and his sister walked away slowly. The streets were dirty and rats scurried here and there. People were hanging their clothes up and their houses were covered in dust. “Timmy,” Polly suddenly said. “Will we ever find our parents?” Timmy said, “Maybe. We’ll just have to keep on hoping.” Then, before anybody could notice, a carriage went past them. Unfortunately, the carriage knocked Polly onto the road. “Polly!” yelled Timmy, anxiously rushing towards her. Polly’s black hair was covering her face. Timmy pushed her hair aside, and he let out a shriek. Red streaks of blood were pouring down her cheeks. “What has happened to my sister?” Timmy quietly said in shock. A rich man was in the carriage and shouted, “Street rats like you do not deserve a home! You are filthy, smelly and rotten!” He let out a snort and rode away. Tears were rolling down Timmy’s face. “I only have my sister, and she is at the moment extremely hurt. Who will help me?” Timmy cried. “I will help you,” said a voice. Timmy froze and looked back. It was a man, with a kind but wrinkled face. He smiled.
“Knocked over,” Timmy faintly replied. Doctor Jones immediately carried the silent Polly into his comfortable carriage, and Timmy curiously followed him. “Right, I will give your poor sister an operation,” the doctor said. Timmy gasped. “Will it cost a lot?” he spoke in a small voice. Doctor Jones gave him a little cuddle. For once, Timmy felt that at least someone understood him. “No Timmy, my dear. It will be for free,” he answered. During the operation, Timmy could feel the pain for his sister. The silence continued for one hour and then a miracle happened. Timmy was now exhausted with worry and was feeling very weak. Suddenly, he looked around and Polly was standing there, with her usual cheeky smile, with just a few cuts. Timmy ran to hug her. He was overjoyed! “Are you pleased, Timmy?” the doctor said calmly, appearing from behind a brown curtain. “Of course!” Timmy giggled. Timmy couldn’t have been happier but he was concerned they would now be back on their own. Doctor Jones had grown very fond of the two children and couldn’t stand the thought of them going back to the streets. “You are to stay with me and my family,” the doctor said proudly. “I will take care of you as my own.” And indeed they did have a happy life. Timmy and Polly went to school with their adoptive father’s children, two lovely children called Peter and Jane and Doctor Jones’ kind wife became a wonderful mother to them. Timmy and Polly’s fate changed with the kindness of one man, who they forever loved.
“I’m a doctor, Doctor Jones. Or as people call me, red nose.” he joked. He wanted to see a smile on Timmy’s face but then his face grew serious. “Now boy, please tell me your name,” he said softly. “My name’s Timmy and my sister h-has just b-been …” he paused. “Continue Timmy,” Doctor Jones insisted. 19
PRIMARY
A Fine Act To Follow By: Nicole Torrens This term in English Year 4 have been studying play scripts with a Despicable Me theme. So far in this unit, we have learnt about the features of a play script, its layout and even had a go at acting! Using some very fetching character headbands, Year 4 used the Despicable Me script and stage directions to preform scenes from the movie. Here are some stills from their Oscar worthy performances: Over the next few weeks we will be writing our own script about a minion revolution in Gru Industries. Who knows, if things go really well, it could be a blockbuster smash for 2015!
Gru despairs when he realises old Dr. Lothario has built him a ‘fart gun’ instead of a DART gun.
Morgo, Edith and Agnes refusing to miss a dance rehearsal for Gru.
Vector agreeing to buy cookies from the girls while Gru and Kevin secretly watch from a distance.
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PRIMARY
Budding Tennis Stars By: Andrew Newton Year 4 have been making a racket in their P.E. lessons recently. That’s right, it’s tennis time folks! Are there any budding Andy Murrays? A future Venus Williams perhaps? The early signs would definitely (match) point to yes. The initial lessons served to test the children’s hand eye coordination before grasping the basics and then refining techniques. Looking to challenge all abilities, Miss Paul and the rest of the Year 4 team came up with some very interesting challenges including relay races, catching balls in cones and even a mini house competition. Alisha Lowe of the Normans won 4NT’s version with a truly ace effort. In fact if Miss Torrens hadn’t stopped her, she’d probably still be juggling her ball today! As with any subject, the difference in ability throughout the year group was evident but everyone soon got into the (back) swing of things! “The children absolutely love it” quipped an enthusiastic Miss McCarthy, “and you can see the improvement throughout the class”.
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PRIMARY 22
Good Vibrations By: Victoria Brooks Considering Year 5 students are such a noisy bunch we thought it would be best to teach them about why these loud sounds come out of their mouths! First we stepped back in time and used some old fashioned technology and made a string telephone to learn about sound waves. The students experimented with various sound sources, including their own voices (which they do on a regular basis), to gain an understanding of the connection between sound and vibration. They also had lots of fun trying out various instruments to discover what caused the vibrations, now that was a noisy lesson indeed! The students even had the opportunity to make their own instruments. They have made their very own windpipe and also a guitar! We are almost ready for a Year 5 rock band!
Perhaps now the students know why sounds are loud and quiet they might be a little less noisy…wishful thinking!
PRIMARY
Extended Narratives: The Hobbit By: Matthew Champness One of the extended narratives we have looked at in Year 6 this year is JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. For some of the children, this was longer than most other book’s they had read before and it took some perseverance. Having watched the first film (An Unexpected Journey), Hobbit fever was firmly cemented when, on the 25th of February, Year 6 went to see part two – The Desolation of Smaug – in glorious 3D. Don’t worry; there are no spoilers here. However, if you haven’t seen the film, the overwhelming message form Year 6 is, ‘Why not?!’ The scenery is spectacular, the plot is gripping and the action scenes are plentiful (which is just as well, as it clocks in at just under 3 hours). All of this made for a very enjoyable outing and, to cap it all, there was pizza waiting for us back at school! A couple of weeks on, the Year 6 teachers and TAs were inspired to dress up in ‘Middle Earth’ style for Book Week. We also began reading another extended narrative, The Apothecary by Maile Meloy. This, again, is a magical story, albeit of a very different kind. Of course, the children are now asking, “Is the film coming out soon?”
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PRIMARY
Chinese Excellent Work By: Lynn Lin Starting this month students have been working very hard on their Chinese excellent work. Ms. Luo’s Year 2+3 CFL3 class are writing creative stories and then drawing pictures based on the story. Ms. Liu’s Y6 CAL2 class has created excellent work about their current topic “fresh market”. Ms. Susan’s Y4+5 CFL1 class has summarised the text, “Fish goes onto the paper”. I think you will agree with me that they look awesome. The students have put all their learning into practice, writing articles and drawing pictures. The children are very proud of the work they have produced.
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SECONDARY
Learning Through Context: Year 7, Amazing Places By: Sam Ryan Year 7 has been extending their descriptive writing and knowledge of vocabulary, building on presentation skills and developing writing through the context of ‘Amazing Places’. Our students firstly developed their use of descriptive language through learning about amazing places around the globe. This took the form of a discussion; reading fact files for specific information and identifying parts of language in text. Students then researched their own amazing places; places that were special to them in some way and utilised newly found language. They then built descriptive reports of their places with scaffolded support from the EAL teachers. This classwork was then put into the software, Flowboard, which all students have access to on their iPads. Set as a homework task, students created presentations using their written classwork as a skeleton. They then all had the chance to present in front of the whole year group. This was a great opportunity for children to share their written results with their peers and practice their oral presentational English skills. Through this process, students gained a large amount of new vocabulary, an understanding of extending writing with detailed descriptions and appropriate language for oral presentations. We then turned to a focus on writing so we could evaluate how much students had retained from this unit of work and how much of this new English they could apply independently. Students learned about informal writing in the context of writing a postcard to their friends from an amazing place of their choice. Students had to imagine they were on holiday and use a range of tenses, a specific structure and descriptive vocabulary to independently write a post card to a friend. The results of this process have been fantastic with all children taking pride in their work and developing skills in all the four domains. This is what we call an integrated skills lesson.
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SECONDARY
Top Scholarship Awarded for UK Summer Programme By: Sarah Burgess & Rachel Ellis Andrea Solis in Year 11 has a lot to smile about. Not only has Andrea just secured a place on the popular UK Global Paths Summer Programme (GPS), she was so impressive they have awarded her a top scholarship to attend. The GPS brings together a number of students aged 15-18 years old from around the world. The group spend time living on different university campuses, sharing their goals and career aspirations whilst receiving guidance from a range of professionals to help identify future paths. The students are also challenged with an enterprising business project to help develop presentation and business skills. Andrea had to undergo a rigorous selection process in order to earn her place, which involved a detailed written application as well as an interview. The selection committee was so impressed with Andrea’s excellent preparation and ability to sell herself throughout the process they just had to accept her onto the programme. The key things that helped Andrea to stand out, and other students thinking of applying to a programme or internship should consider are: - Do thorough research about the programme. What will you be doing? Why do you want to attend? How will you benefit and learn from the experience? If you don’t know these things you will find it difficult to convince someone to accept you.
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- Be positive and friendly when talking to the people in interviews or when enquiring about an opportu nity. People want to work with students they will get along with and who will be enthusiastic about being there. - Demonstrate excellent communication skills. Take care to write thoughtful answers on the application forms after doing your research. If an application is rushed it gives the impression you don’t really care and the place will almost certainly be offered to someone else who does. Andrea managed all of these things in abundance and has even been asked to take on a leadership role during the programme. Andrea is heavily involved in all aspects of school life and the experiences she has gained at BSG such as leading social and charitable events have prepared Andrea for this moment and have allowed her to grab this fantastic opportunity with both hands. A word from Mrs Ellis, the careers advisor… Andrea is an extremely deserving student of this scholarship. It means a lot to her to be accepted onto this programme and I know Andrea will be a fine ambassador for our school. She has to go through a fairly tough process however: firstly a lengthy application form with several essay questions and then a Skype interview before we heard they had offered her the top scholarship. Andrea’s success would not have been possible without her undying motivation and positive attitude and we are very proud of her.
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THE OFFER… Dear Andrea, I am delighted to inform you that you have been accepted to Global Paths 2014 with the top scholarship award. Congratulations! As a top scholarship awardee, we ask for you to take a lead role with a particular activity during the programme. We felt that Student Social Media Coordinator would be of interest to you and would help you to develop some key skills for your career aspirations. However, I am willing to discuss this with you to come up with a relevant role for you and GPS. Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions at all. Congratulations again! Kind regards, Global Paths WHAT SHE SHOWED THEM…. Dear Rachel, Yes, Andrea did really well! Here’s what we were looking for: 1. Excellent research of the programme and a clear understanding of why they want to attend and how they will benefit from GPS. 2. A positive, social attitude - someone who can get along with and bring different characters together. 3. A proactive person to whom we can give a definite responsibility. This year, I was looking for someone to play a key role in the social media aspect of the program. Eg. Writing/coordinating a student blog throughout the program, adding photos to the FB page etc. Andrea demonstrated the ability to motivate/lead others, creativity, good writing skills and an interest in Marketing. 4. Excellent communication skills - Andrea’s written application answers were very strong and her conversational skills were great! Kind regards, Global Paths
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Year 7: Henna Tattoos By: Jone Barrenechea Year 7 Art students are working on the topic of India, learning different cultural aspects of one of Asia’s most diverse and colorful countries. Henna is a natural temporary dye, used in a variety of countries including India to decorate hands, arms and feet with intricate and detailed patterns. After researching and sketching different henna skin designs the students had the opportunity to bring them to life as real henna tattoos.
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Year 8: Building Volcanoes By: Hannah Watson Year 8 students are currently studying tectonics and were given two weeks to create a model volcano using materials of their choice. The results were outstanding and showed a high level of creativity. Seven volcanoes reached the final of the competition held during lunchtime where judges and other students could view the work on display. The models were judged on how creative and informative they were and if they had the X-Factor a unique element that made it different to all the other volcanoes. Our judges, Mr Edmanson and Mr Ellis, found it very difficult to select the best volcanoes. After much discussion and deliberation the top three were chosen with Emma Mo and Kelly Yang coming third with their model and winning 15 house points. The judges decided on a joint first place for Sean Kiew, winning 40 house points for the Vikings and Miguel Santos, Oscar Ma and Peter Chong winning another 40 house points for the Vikings. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all the students who took the time and effort to make their volcanoes. I was very impressed with the results!
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Year 9: Coastal Cakes By: Kevin McDaid As part of the Year 9 ‘Coasts’ unit in geography, students were asked to consolidate some of their knowledge of coastal landforms by creating a cake in the shape of a coastline. Everyone involved put in a fantastic amount of effort and the end result was some very imaginative - and tasty - cakes! A big well done for the wining cake made by Reece and Seung A from 9B.
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Year 10: Teaching Plate Tectonics to Year 2 By: Kevin McDaid It isn’t often that Year 2 and Year 10 study similar topics in their lessons. But when we realised that both year groups were studying the structure of the Earth and plate tectonics, it was an excellent opportunity for Primary and Secondary to collaborate. How? By Year 10 becoming Primary teachers for a lesson! Year 10 worked hard to plan a fun, engaging and informative lesson about the structure of our planet. The Year 2 pupils responded with enthusiasm and participated brilliantly in the lesson. The chocolate the Year 10 had kindly bought them may have also helped. For Year 10 it was a nerve-wracking but ultimately rewarding experience not only for their planning and presentation skills, but also in terms of revision for the IGCSE course. Well done Year 10!
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30 Minute House Challenge By: Debra Fish We finished off this term’s ASA block with an awe-inspiring 30-minute challenge for Year 7-10. Students were kitted out with three different tasks: create an egg parachute, build a bridge out of newspaper and build a catapult to project flying water balloons at the brave Mr Ellis. All house members threw themselves into the challenge and the results were astonishing. The tight turn around meant all students were engaged and participating. There was squabbling, laughing, panic and some fantastic leadership skills on show. Shing Tak Lam in Year 7, Harry Cha in Year 10 and Muskan Sharma in Year 10 stood out as displaying excellent leadership skills and managed to gain extra points for their houses. The results were a mixed bag with Saxons being triumphant overall! The Romans won the Egg parachute task, the Vikings won the catapult challenge and the Saxons built the strongest bridge. A fantastic time was had by all!
Saxons Sweep Success By: Jan Janeczek, Saxon House Captain As the eggs parachuted, the catapults hurtled and the bridges laboured, there was only one winner as three intriguing challenges united our house. The triumph for Saxons was great - in fact amazing. A belief and motivation was injected into our entire house, not least from our passionate leader Ms Fish. The romping victory came just a few weeks after Saxons had dominated Book Week and the House Debate, putting us in the firm mix for the title at the end of the year. The collaboration of young brains, all involved in a mad frenzy, desperately trying to complete the tasks brought out the very best in every student. In the end the hard work paid off as Saxons blew away the other houses by coming no lower than third in any of the challenges. After all: we aren’t the smartest house… we aren’t the sportiest house… and we aren’t the most musical house: but we are the best house! This was a truly great moment that makes me especially proud to be a Saxon. 32
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‘Where I Come From’ - World Book Week Poetry Competition By: John Joyce Inspired by Canadian poet Elizabeth Brewster’s poem ‘Where I come from’, a Poetry Competition was held to encourage students to write about the amazing places they come from. We wanted to celebrate the truly international make up of our student body as well as promoting poetry. The competition proved highly successful and an overwhelming number of entries were submitted with vivid verses written about homelands from all of the earth’s continents. Drowning in similes, metaphors and personification I had a tough time choosing the winners. After some deliberating the following poets were shortlisted but I would like to take this opportunity to thank all students who took the time to share a poem with me. Y7 Caitlin Jones – Where I come from: USA Y8 Jojo Guo – Where I come from: Dongshan, Guangzhou Y9 Pranika Agarwal – Where I come from: India Y10 George Lo – Where I come from: Hong Kong Y11 Andrea Solis – Where I come from: The bigger picture The overall winner, Jeffrey Lam (8A) wrote emotively about Hong Kong and bravely read his winning poem aloud to the entire Secondary School in the final Book Week assembly. A big well done to Jeffrey and everyone who participated.
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Where I come from: Hong Kong By Jeffrey Lam, 8A I come from a city covered in metal There’s only work in our mind Our steps are as fast as a cheetah’s Because we don’t want to lose any moments. It seems like our life is as fast as a firework: Beautiful but short. Sometimes I might think: Why do people live so crazily? The answer is: For lighting up their own dream There is no impossible Because people desperately go for it. In this city, Chance will never disappear Because people always catch it when it comes Once they’ve caught it It will never escape again. People say that: Hope is the pillar that holds us up It holds up our action As long as it stays with us. Our will, will never fall.
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World Book Week By: Emily Hardwicke To banish the contentious impression of Secondary just not being ‘fun’ enough, the English Department decided to celebrate International World Book Day in style this year. Shockingly, we managed to prove to Primary that despite all our focus on the dreaded ‘e’ word (exams), we could still rival them for pure, undulated enjoyment and the ‘f’ word (‘fun’) is still very much alive. With Key Stage 5 mock exams around the corner and Year 11s gearing up for their iGCSE exams, they could have been forgiven for leaving the face paint at home and adopting a more sober stance to the day. Luckily, many of them saw it as a chance to leave their ties and smart suits at home, Fleur Wang even coming in dressing gown and slippers as Arthur Dent from ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, and Marc Santos almost forgetting to get dressed with his daring leopard-spotted interpretation of Tarzan. All week, excitement had been building with Year 7 and 8 participating in tutor time Scavenger Hunts and a range of book-related competitions open to all. Teachers had nominated a favourite book and students raced around the school, finding clues and trying to match the teacher to the book. Kinder teachers had left small clues in their descriptions (‘The Alchemist’ was clearly the Science Department’s very own Mrs. McKenna!) but others were more difficult to spot. Once the rules had been fully explained (one
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student initially began by ‘stealing’ all the clues he could find…) the Year 7 Normans scraped a victory and the Year 8 Saxons stormed ahead to win valuable House points for their teams. An ‘Extreme Reading’ competition also proved popular with students. With the aim to take a picture reading in an unusual or creative location, students found an amazing array of places to enjoy a novel or two. Reading upside-down, on a horse, under a pile of soft toys, on a roof and even in the shower, all featured but Karina Chiang and Rachel Moon, two audacious Year 7s, won the competition with a last minute entry. Their location of choice was Mr. Ruck’s office and they seemed to be very much at home there…
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It was World Book Day itself, however, which provided the highlight of the week. Celebrated all over the world, this is a chance to set a day aside to enjoy books and reading. Students were asked to come dressed as book characters and they did not disappoint. There were a plethora of Alice in Wonderlands and comic book characters were also a popular choice. However, there was an amazing array of creative costumes with Cinderella having lunch next to the White Witch from the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ and Harry Potter playing football with Julius Caesar. Heads of Houses led the way with their own amazing costume choices. Ms. Dunningham was unrecognizable as a childhating Roald Dahl witch and two-faced Ms. Fish cleared the corridors with her lolloping Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde hybrid. Mr. Joyce went for a more refined choice as BSG’s very own Bard. His Shakespearian quill was kept busy marking poems as Mr. Delmotte bumped his way round the school in his self-designed car, as Toad from ‘The Wind in the Willows’! The final assembly proved popular with students as they listened to readings given by Mr. Edmanson as an eccentric Willy Wonka; Mr. McDaid as an overgrown Oliver Twist; and Mr. Moore as a frying-pan carrying Bilbo Baggins. This was also a chance to see the costume competition entries from each House. A panel of critical judges was poised to award the scores as Mr. Joyce introduced each House’s entries. The Year 7 winner, Sanne Hoffman, batted off the Cheshire Cat (Sonia Blit) with the aid of her Pinocchio nose and marched through to the grand final. She was followed by Lilith Randahan as ‘Harlequin’ (the Joker’s girlfriend) and Sarah Ryan who looked stunning as ‘The White Witch’. The Year 10 winner was unanimous as the judges were treated to a buy-one-get-one free with Valerie Lye as Cinderella, ably assisted by her doting Fairy Godmother (Daniel Jeon). Each House was allowed a Bonus entry and Fleur Wang was narrowly inched out of the competition by the enigmatic Mad Hatter (Andrea Solis).
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Tension was building for the Grand Final, and with 50 House Points at stake, the judges were under pressure to pick a worthy winner. After a lengthy consultation the winners were chosen, with triumphant cheers from the Saxons resonating around the theatre as Pinocchio reigned victorious. Book Week was a success and the students (and perhaps even the teachers…) had a lot of fun. But the key message is nicely summed up with a quote from Dr. Seuss, who said: “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” So, Secondary, pick up a book and find your own little bit of magic in the world and remember: “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” (J.K. Rowling).
World Book Week Costume Winners:
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