BSG Newsletter - Issue 2, 2014/15

The British School of Guangzhou

Newsletter

Issue 2 - Term 1 - 2014/15

The British School of Guangzhou

“International Day is at the heart of what we do here at The British School of Guangzhou, and we are very grateful to everyone for making the day a great success.” Mark Thomas, School Principal

To download a copy of this newsletter, please visit www.bsg.org.cn

message from the principal 2

Dear Parents, This has been a significant few months for The British School of Guangzhou. In October, I was in Tanzania for the Nord Anglia Education annual conference, along with the Principals of all 31 international schools. This was an opportunity to see at first hand the impressive residential camp that Nord Anglia Education run there. This camp is an excellent resource that can be used by our students as part of the residential programme. Principals and Nord Anglia directors would take part in the activities that are usually reserved for our students. That meant camping, spending a day painting an orphanage, visiting NAE supported schools and enjoying the sights and sounds of a safari within Tanzania’s world famous game reserve. This was a tremendous opportunity and one that our Sixth Form students will get the chance to experience in February. It was only by being there with the other Principals that I really got a sense of being part of a globally connected group of international schools.

Congratulations to Eric Wei, Year 10, whose photograph was chosen to be part of the next NAE calendar. Eric is the first student from BSG to gain a prize from the Global Classrooms initiatives, but I am sure he will not be the last. If you are keen to see the winning photographs, read the article in this edition or log onto Global Classrooms and see what is happening around the world.

On Thursday, 30th October, the British Consul-General, Alastair Morgan, visited our school to unveil a plaque commemorating the official opening of our Hillside building. Guests enjoyed refreshments in the outdoor amphitheatre, while listening to two Year 5 students, Isabelle and Christabelle Ng, performing a piano duet.

Guests then moved inside, where they enjoyed listening to the Primary choir and speeches before the plaque was unveiled. The Hillside building provides improved facilities for almost 200 Key Stage 1 students, and the opening marks a significant day in the history of BSG. Our thanks goes to the British Consulate for their ongoing support of the British School since we first opened in 2005.

Now that the weather has begun to get cooler, we will be encouraging students to wear their winter uniform. Please visit the uniform shop in the Nanhu building if you need to purchase sweaters or school blazers.

It seems that International Day on 1st November used up the last sunny day of the year. I would like to thank everyone for their efforts to ensure the day went so well. It truly was a team effort with academic and administrative teams working alongside parents, security and outside vendors to make it a special day. As always, we will review the day to see if we need to make changes for next year, but now is simply a time to say well done to you all. International Day is one of the most important events on our calendar and is an opportunity to celebrate the vast array of cultures and traditions that makes our students and our school so unique.

WORLD EDUCATION NEWS: 4 British institutions ranked in the top 6 of the world’s universities.

SOURCE: The Guardian, UK CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Finally, as we prepare for the next FOBISIA games, I am pleased to note the efforts of our students. Their desire to be fully prepared for this competition is so high that they have been coming into school even earlier to get in some extra training sessions. This level of commitment and team spirit deserves special mention and is already starting to have an impact on their levels of performance. Our thanks goes the PE staff for their support and commitment, as well as to parents who are offering their support with transport and fundraising efforts. With this kind of commitment, there is no doubt that our performances will improve year on year.

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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community

Charity Update By: Gemma Campbell Thanks to the help of our school community, last year (Sept 2013- June 2014) we managed to raise 69,113 RMB for ActionAid International.

We have now signed a contract with this organisation that will fund a project in Jie’an Primary School, Tiandeng County, Guangxi. The goal of this project is to enable rural children in Guangxi the chance to enjoy high-quality education.

Some BSG students went to Guangxi last year to visit the school. This donation will also be funding a trip, later this year, for more of our Secondary students to visit Jie’an Primary School and their community.

Thank you very much for your support with our charitable work throughout the course of the year. We truly couldn’t do it without you!

What’s Going On Hair Then?!

Don’t be bemused if you see many of our staff donning wacky whiskers or bristly beards - it’s Movember 2014!

To raise awareness of Prostate Cancer UK, a number of male staff members are growing unique moustaches and beards to support the cause. All sponsporship and donations will go to charity.

MOVEMBER CHOOSE YOUR STYLE FROM OUR MOUSTACHE MENU “What’s going on hair then?!”

THE TONY STARK

THE GABLE

THE SELLECK

BESTIE’S BEAST

HOGAN’S HANDLEBARS

THE SPARROW

CASTAWAY

THE GENERAL

THE FLYNN

CHOOSE ONE OR CREATE YOUR OWN

A PRIZE WILL BE AWARDED TO WHOEVER RAISES THE MOST FOR CHARITY

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Ma Nian Performance The British School welcomed the musical performance group, Ma Nian, on Wednesday, 12th November.

A Norwegian cultural exchange programme, the group travels the globe combining music and dance from Norway and China.

Students were delighted to watch a special performance with the Ma Nian band and dancers, followed by a string quartet, who played a variety of classic repertoire.

Their virtuosity and skill was a wonderful treat for all our students and we wish Ma Nian well on the rest of their tour.

Long wei plaza a-3a08, long kou zhong rd, tian he, guangzhou 3809-5020  info@whyvillegz.com  whyvillegz.com school bus service

early years foundation

EFC Donation By: Katherine Weir-Davis The Events and Fund Raising Committee (EFC) has been an integral part of our school community for many years and during this time the parents involved raised an impressive amount of money, which was shared across a variety of charities and substantial donations offered to the school.

As the school has grown considerably over the years it was decided to create phase specific Parent Support Groups (PSGs) and sadly we had to say goodbye to the existing EFC. As a final gesture of appreciation towards the school, the EFC donated a very healthy amount of money to each phase to purchase something of quality that all students would benefit from.

In the Early Years, it was decided that we would like to purchase something that would increase the children’s language, creative, social and emotional development and of course offer opportunities of pure enjoyment.

All young children love to role-play, and with the money that the EFC donated to the Early Years department we bought a ‘role play’ structure for each classroom. The Teachers and TAs then set about turning their role-paly centre into a wonderful world of imagination. Our PreNursery, Nursery and Reception classrooms now have features such as a Cup Cake Shop, a Beauty Salon, Fairytale Castles, Pet Shops, Doctors Surgery and so on.

The children have the most wonderful fun in these role-play areas and the language development that these areas encourage is never ending.

The EFC have also donated 5,000RMB to each Parent Support Group to help them on their way to raising further funds for charity and the school.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the parents of the EFC for their time, enthusiasm, hard work and support of our school and your very kind donations.

If any parents are interested in joining our Early Years PSG, please do not hesitate to contact me at the following address: Katherine.weir@bsg.org.cn

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early years foundation

High Performance Learning By: Alfred Creissen In order to make sure that every child has the best start in their schooling, we focus on a strategy called High Performance Learning (HPL). This way of teaching focuses on two key approaches to supporting children’s development. As children learn new skills it is important that the teachers focus on helping them to develop Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics (ACPCs). These characteristics are designed to challenge them to look deeper and be critical about what they see and experience. These ACPCs encourage children to be open to new ideas and to create links to other areas of their learning.

In the Early Years program, we focus our work on developing the right values, attitudes and attributes (VAAs) to ensure that they can grow as open-minded and determined learners. Each of the VAAs has a particular focus and we have adapted these to meet the needs of our youngest students in the school.

Every two weeks, we focus on a different VAA to highlight the special features that it brings to the work of the children in their learning. By doing this, we can give our children a chance to fully understand the meaning behind some of the more complex words that are more focused at our older students. As a team, we have come up with some simple phrases to go along with the words used for the VAAs and the children are responding to these with great enthusiasm.

These are the eight VAAs used to create high performance in learning for all of our students: • Confidence (I can do it) • Collaboration (I can share) • Persevering (I never give up) • Risk taking (I am brave) • Creative and enterprising (I can explore) • Open minded (I can listen) • Concern for society (I am kind and caring) • Inquiring (I can find out) All the staff have done an amazing job to make sure that all the children are performing to the best of their abilities.

If you hear the children say “I can do it” or “I can share”, we know that the children understand that there is no limit to their learning and the Lake Front staff are giving the children a fantastic start on their learning journey to be the best they can be.

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If You’re Happy And You Know It...

By: Prerna Nankani For our Pre-Nursery children, coming back to school after a week’s holiday can be very unsettling with their emotions fluctuating back and forth.

What a better way to help them than by starting with the theme on feelings and emotions! The two year olds need guidance to help them interpret their own feelings and emotions and to interact appropriately with others. They learn about feelings and emotions not only through their own experiences, but also through observation. So we introduced this concept during our carpet time, using pictures, emotion puppets and facial expressions to help the little ones better understand the connection between feelings and self-expression.

This produced a lot of smiles and giggles from the children as they watched all the adults make a ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘silly’ and ‘scared’ face. The children also enjoyed making all kinds of expressions while singing their favourite song, ‘If you are happy and you know it’.

By providing the children words for their feelings and emotions, some could even tell how their friend was feeling based on their facial expressions. Learning to understand and manage feelings and emotions is a social and emotional developmental milestone, and our little ‘Teddy bears’, ‘Bunnies’ and ‘Ducklings’ are doing their best to achieve this milestone.

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early years foundation

Once Upon A Time In Nursery...

By: Marianne Neel The Nursery Five have been super busy.

Our new unit is ‘Once Upon a Time’, and we have been looking at traditional tales. We began with Goldilocks and The 3 Bears.

The classes used wet and dry porridge to spoon, stir, squash and sieve. We counted everything in the story; the bears, the bowls, the chairs and the beds. We then discussed how we would feel if somebody came into our house and used our things without asking.

In assembly, the Nursery Five teachers treated us to a performance of Goldilocks.

The children all enjoyed the show, as did Miss Kathy; there was lots of laughing.

Mummy Bear’s performance deserves a special mention - well done, Miss Jude.

By the end of the week, the children who had worked very hard were ready for the Teddy Bears’ Picnic. Sandwiches were prepared, and then after sleep time, we put our bear ears on, grabbed our teddies and went on our very own bear hunt through the forest. Were we scared? No, of course not! The children enjoyed finding bears along the way; they were hiding in the bushes, up trees and one bear was even sunbathing. After finding the bears, we tiptoed through the cave (the tunnel) and then finally settled down on the picnic blankets for a well-deserved rest.

My, what a beautiful day! We overlooked the lake and our honey and jam sandwiches tasted simply delicious. Together we then sang a few songs before heading back in time to go home. Only one thing was missing - a real bear!

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Reception Bake Sale By: Christopher Eales Partaking in my first bake sale at BSG, I was amazed at the standard of baking on display from the parents! It was clear that a substantial amount of time had been dedicated to creating these culinary delights, and the look on the children’s faces as they locked their eyes onto these feasts for the taste buds was clear for all to see.

As with all of our bake sales, the money raised is donated to charity, and it’s great to see the enthusiasm with which the parents take part. Events like these are not possible without the collaboration of our fantastic parents, and I would like to personally thank all of my Rabbit parents (and the parents from the Squirrels’ and the Owls’ classes!) for taking time out of their busy schedules to make this event so special for the children. Their tummies will not forget in a hurry!

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early years foundation

House Team Event By: Jill Stenburge The Reception year group had their first House Team Event last month! The children came to school in their team t-shirts and took part in an afternoon of fun-filled games! There were four varied activities on offer and the children rotated around the activities in their teams. The aim of this event was not to have the teams competing against each other for points, but in fact, to promote team spirit and morale. All the activities on offer involved team skills, such as collaboration and turn taking. The activities were: • Circle Games with Ms. Helen in the green team.

• An obstacle course with Ms. Jill in the yellow team.

• iPad Games with Mr. Alfie in the red team.

• Team sport skills with Mr. Gavin in the blue team.

Circle Games Miss Helen sang circle song games such as ‘Blue Bird’, ‘Love Somebody’ and ‘Bug in a Rug’ in order to practice their turn taking skills.

Obstacle Course Four teams had to ride bikes, jump over hurdles and balance bean-bags on their heads in order to race each other to the finish line. This got quite competitive and fun, especially when Miss Jill and Ms. Amanda had to demonstrate to the children how to complete the course! iPad Games The children worked in pairs and played two-player iPad games, such as a Nemo counting game, in order to promote discussion and a healthy competitive spirit!

Team Sport Skills The children worked in teams to compete against each other in egg and spoon relay races!

It was a superb afternoon and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

We cannot wait until the next team event!

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early years foundation

A Week In Reception Chinese By: Mia Zhu & Abby Lee Our goal is to help students to learn Chinese, to improve their ability and build up their interests in the subject.

We have four lessons per week. We use the following tools in many ways and for many different purposes. We have a smart board, iPads and mini whiteboards for each student. We use google drive, children’s songs, websites and photography. We sing, we have fun and we learn about things we have been doing in the CFL class.

Getting to know through games and songs: Fly swatter - I will print out the Chinese words and let the children have a go at hitting the word when I ask, “Where is “ 天空的天”?” Before they get to know the words, I will teach them the song or poetry on the smart board.

Writing with stroke practice: We have a small CFL class but Reception students are learning basic writing skills. We use iPads or markers on their whiteboard to write one or two words in a lesson. Marker pens and fingers are easy ways to help them to write. 点dian (dot stroke) ,横 heng(across),竖shu (vertical) 捺na 撇pie (down firmly) is important for Chinese characters. Now we just need to help the students to get to know it, and they can then enjoy it when they are writing.

Library time on Wednesday: We change our Chinese library book every Wednesday in our school library, and there is a story book for our parents to read with them every week. Each Wednesday, two to four students share a story in front of our class, and because they are young, we use smart boards to google the story characters and use assisted learning techniques to give them two options concerning one part of the story. Then, they can give me the answer.

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Lakefront Halloween!

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PRIMARY

Year 1 CAL1 Chinese By: Lily Tan In Year 1, CAL1 we have been learning about Greetings and Numbers. All the students are busy studying their first formal Chinese lessons.

We began to understand basic classroom language and enjoy learning the Topics. We enjoyed singing the songs ‘Hello! My friends!’ and ‘What’s your name?’ We loved playing the puzzles, which contain the conversations of the topics. We were excited to write simple Chinese characters. We liked the matching activity: Match the pictures and the Chinese characters.

One of our favourite activities was the nursery rhyme ‘Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree’. We loved to pretend to be the crocodile which gobbles up each monkey one by one!

Follow the words and have fun with us: 五(wǔ) 只(zhī) 猴(hóu) 子(zi) 荡(dàng) 秋(qiū) 千(qiān), (Five little monkeys swinging in the tree) 嘲(cháo) 笑(xiào) 鳄(è) 鱼(yú) 被(bèi) 水(shuǐ) 淹(yān) (Teasing Mr. Crocodile: ‘You’re flooded) 鳄(è) 鱼(yú) 来(lái) 啦(la)！鳄(è) 鱼(yú) 来(lái) 啦(la)！ (Along came the crocodile) 唔(wú)啊(a)！唔(wú)啊(a)！(Yum! Yum!) For more information, please follow the links below: Five little monkeys swinging in the tree: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/tSvuD-5Wvxg/ Chinese Character recognizing games: http://www.gongfubb.com/home/wksz.php Reading program: www.mandarinmatrix.org www.mandarinmatrix.com

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Key Stage 1 Sports Day By: Samantha Mitchell Years 1 and 2 took part in their annual Sports Days on 15th October 2014. Races incorporated all students, parents and teachers.

Students participated in traditional races, including the good old-fashioned egg & spoon, sack race, hoop through and relay race.

Fun was had by all, including Mr. Laird, in the space hopper race against the other fathers.

Results Year 1 Champions – Romans Year 2 Champions – Normans

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PRIMARY

A Fairy Fun Time In Year 1 By: Antony Schaverien What a magnificent few weeks it has been in Year 1! You may remember that at the beginning of the year, we received a letter from a very sad dragon telling us that Fairyland had disappeared. Well, thanks to all of the children’s hard work, Fairyland has been restored to its former glory! The Three Little Pigs have their houses back, Cinderella has found her glass slipper and Jack’s beanstalk reaches up amongst the clouds once more.

To celebrate Fairyland’s revival and to say farewell to the friendly dragon, Year 1 threw a huge party! We all got dressed up as our favourite fairytale characters, played musical statues and ate some yummy party food!

When he heard about the party, Mr Laird couldn’t resist popping up for a bit of a dance.

After all of the excitement of Fairyland, we could not wait to get started on our new topic, Light and Dark. We have learnt that diurnal animals are most active in the daytime and nocturnal animals are mostly active at nighttime.

We have learnt all about different nocturnal animals, including foxes, hedgehogs, badgers, owls and bats (which are coincidently the names of four of the five Year 1 classes).

Every class has also enjoyed making crafts related to our new topic, from sparkly stars to wide-eyed owls.

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Year 2’s International Food Day By: Laura Asbury It appears that international fever has gripped our Guangzhou community and inspired a wonderful array of cultural celebrations happening throughout the school.

With Mr. Doug at the helm of Year 2, naturally our staff planning discussions delved into the topic of FOOD! As images of tasty global delicacies were cooked up, we decided to initiate our new science topic with a truly delicious ‘Intriguing Introduction’. With a sprinkle of imagination from Miss Melissa and a generous portion of enthusiasm from our ever-supportive parents, the idea of an International Food Day was ready for the oven!

From Korean GimBap and Malaysian fish balls, to Russian breakfasts and English sausage rolls, our parents flocked to Hillside armed with bags of delights from their homelands. Excited and curious, our children listened intently to the stories and traditions behind the diverse cuisines on offer. A particular favourite dish was Minnie’s (mother of Justin from the Dragonfly class) Bulgogi; we just couldn’t get enough of the Korean BBQ goodness!

Mr. Will’s class had an interesting learning experience with a Cantonese tofu and syrup drink; at first they didn’t want to try it because of it’s unusual appearance, but the children were very brave and respectful and decided to give it a go. The result?

“So yummy!”

“It’s actually really nice!”

Other dishes included: Indian samosas, Swedish meatballs, New Zealand Pavlova, Spanish paella, Japanese sushi, Chinese quail eggs and so much more.

The Year 2 team would like to thank all the parents and children for making this day so memorable, educational and fun.

A definite event for next year’s calendar!

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PRIMARY

Year 3: Modelling With Bite!

By: David Barton If you ever find yourself in need of a highly skilled prosthodontic, then look no further than the new BSG Dental Clinic.

These highly skilled dental lab technicians are able to create impeccable examples of incisors, canines, pre-molars and molars out of the finest quality materials.

As you can see from the pictures, creating threedimensional models of teeth proved to be an entertaining and great kinesthetic way of learning about the anatomy, function and location of individual teeth.

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My Science Day By: Aashika Suresh, Year 4MM On Science Day, we learned lots of interesting scientific facts as well as having lots of fun!

We got to make a marshmallow tower in Ms. Thomason’s class and we even got to eat some of the marshmallows!

We also got to recreate volcanoes and their explosions in Miss McCarthy’s class. Lastly, we made lava lamps in Miss Torrens’ class.

We got the chance to look at the science projects that Year 5 and 6 had made for the day in the gym. The children had put in so much hard work. I would have found it very hard to pick a winner as they were all brilliant! Everyone in Year 4 had a great science day!

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PRIMARY

Years 5 & 6 Football By: Richard Marwood On Saturday, 11th October, a selection of nine boys from Years 5 and 6 proudly represented BSG at a football tournament hosted by Utahloy international school. Not only were the children playing together for the first time, they were also playing against opposition two years older than them! The children played a total of five games, claiming an impressive two wins and two draws.

Arriving by coach for an early 8.30am start, the children were raring to go for their first game. Following a quick warm-up (and an inspiring team talk by Mr. Marwood and Mr. Carr) the team drew 1-1 against strong Year 7 opposition. After another draw, win and loss in the group stage, BSG had qualified for the 5th place play-off final!

During a tense final game, BSG, led by captain, Harry Carlin, finally broke the deadlock when a Marco Zanardo long range effort wriggled past the opposition’s goalkeeper.

Further goals helped BSG to a 2-1 win and a 5th place finish in the tournament – an outstanding achievement for such a young side. On top of this, the fellow competing schools had voted for BSG to win the Sportsmanship Award – presented to the team that showed the most respect to coaches, referees and teammates alike.

Following the success of this tournament, the future looks very bright for the Year 5 and 6 football team. Watch out Guangzhou!

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Año 5 Panaderos By: Alasdair Carr In Year 5, we had a fantastic start to our new topic this half term. We learned all about a traditional Mexican food called Empanadas. Surprisingly, these were taken over to Mexico by tin miners from Cornwall, who were sent over to Mexico to help teach them how to mine more effectively.

As a snack in the mines, Cornish miners used to eat the famous ‘Cornish Pasty’. The Mexican miners saw these and saw them as a great, handy fast food. They replicated these using local ingredients and the empanada was born!

After these lessons, all of the pupils (and teachers!) complained of extreme hunger and a craving for one of these filled pastry delicacies. Mr. Marwood answered all of our prayers by making this our ‘Intriguing Introduction’.

For the whole day, Mr. Carr took all four classes on a carousel, teaching them how to safely chop vegetables, be hygienic in the kitchen, and how to make, fill and crimp their empanadas.

There was a lot of fun (and mess) as well as some delicious treats to savour. Mr. Stallwood was very upset however, as we forgot to save him one!

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PRIMARY

iPad Photography Club By: Sabrina Chu, Year 6AP During Wednesday ASA sessions, pupils in the iPad Photography Club have been working hard to become photographers.

Every week, we walk around school, taking photos using the tips from our teacher, Miss Paul.

In the first week, Miss Paul taught us to use the rule of three to take better photos.

On the second and third week, we learnt to think like a photographer and choose a clear background and a focal point. Miss Paul also taught us to think about shooting from a good angle and using space and lines to improve our picture composition.

In the fourth week, we began to think about techniques for framing our photos.

We are looking forward to learning about photographing people and taking portrait photographs. Every week, we learn new things and add to our knowledge and skills, taking another step closer to being a great photographer.

Sabrina Chu

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Alex Ling

David Yang

Year 6 Science Day By: Joshua Habos, Year 6DM On Science Day, all year groups had a very fantastic time! There was so much fun that even the teachers were having fun!

Here is what we did in Year 6 on that day…

Year 6 Rocket Science Year 6 had a great time making flying rockets - it really was rocket science!

We learnt about how the rockets will fly by mixing chemicals that give off a gas. The gas is trapped in the bottle by a bung and when the pressure builds up too much, the bung is fired out and the rocket launches.

We spent quite a long time thinking about the design of our rocket so it would fly well and look good.

When it was time to test the rockets, all three Year 6 classes went down to the football pitch to launch them.

They looked at each and every one of them, tried the stuff on all of them and even asked people what their projects were? They all had a good time and that’s what everyone likes!

Here are some quotes from people in Year 6 about Science Day....

Joshua’s Quote: “I loved the Science Day we had this year! All of the projects were very good and all the rockets that the Year 6 classes made were amazing! Too bad that the rocket I made with Schumi didn’t work...”

Aaryan’s Quote: “I really liked all the science projects and the really cool rockets because everyone was very imaginative.”

Some rockets flew high, some flew quite high, some flew quite low and some didn’t even work! Well, even if they didn’t fly too high at least they used their hard working skills to make the rockets look beautiful, making sure there were no leaks and also using teamwork!

A group from each class was chosen for the best teamwork, design, and of course, how their rocket flew. This year all the groups were girls.

Science Projects Everyone knows about the science projects and making them is hard, so they are put on display in the hall so that all the Primary School can come and see them and the parents too have an opportunity to see them.

Everyone loved all the science projects that were made by the hard working Years 5 and 6!

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PRIMARY

Making A Splash!

By: Matthew Champness When Miss Elliott was told she was going to spend the morning by the pool, she quickly ran home and got her swimming costume, sunglasses and sun cream. However, Miss Elliott didn’t have time to relax as she was too busy watching the marvellous things that were going on in the swimming pool.

The Year 3 Swimming Gala can only be described as a sporting spectacle.

Even Mr. ‘Torpedo’ Laird popped on his Speedos and jumped in! The children competed in lots of different events focusing on different strokes, including the tricky butterfly. It was great to see everyone not only being competitive, but also having lots of fun and enjoying the day.

There was also a great turn out from parents, some of whom I think wished they were back in Year 3! A great morning all round and a big well done to all the children who took part.

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Year 6 Swim Gala By: William Su, Year 6AP This year’s Swimming Gala was the place to be for everyone. There were activities for both adults and children. The Year 6 Swimming Gala took place on 23rd September from 8:30 until 10am, and there were both fun and competitive events on this day.

As we entered the pool, my heart started to thump. The Normans had to win! The first event was the 100m individual medley, which I was participating in. Nervously, I stepped onto the jump board. The first lap was hard, as my opponent Terry was very fast at butterfly. He overtook me but I managed to gain back my position during the freestyle.

After the competitive events, the fun events came and included activities like the boogie board and the tyre race. In these series of events, it was all about having fun, not which position you came. Finally, there was the teacher’s race, and students were able to compete against the teachers!

It was fun participating in the swimming gala, everybody was very happy. Everyone tried hard and had great fun; that was one of our core values - love of learning. At last, the winner was announced - the Vikings won! Congratulations to the Vikings!

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PRIMARY

Swim Gala Champions By: Samantha Mitchell Rather than taking part in a combined gala, this year we split up in to year groups, enabling all students to play a part in these events.

The swim galas consisted of serious races for the more competent swimmers, as well as fun races for everyone to take part in.

Teachers and parents were also encouraged to play a part in the galas by participating in races to score points for their designated houses.

A lot of fun was had throughout the week, seeing massive support from everyone.

Results Year 3 Champions – Saxons Year 4 Champions – Saxons Year 5 Champions – Saxons Year 6 Champions – Vikings

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BSG’s Halls Haunted For Halloween!

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PRIMARY

Official Opening Of Hillside Our new Hillside building was constructed during the summer for our Key Stage One students (aged 5 to 7). With its ten classrooms, library and media centre, outdoor amphitheatre, specialised music and art studios and play area, it is a truly wonderful learning environment.

On 30th October, to celebrate this addition to the South Lake campus, we held an official opening with invited guests, entertainment and speeches, plus the unveiling of a plaque.

Our Principal, Mark Thomas, and the British Consul-General to Guangzhou, Mr. Alastair Morgen, led proceedings with guests enjoying a pleasant evening overlooking the lake.

A special lion dance, piano duet from Year 5 students, Isabelle and Chrystabelle Ng, and a choir performance also marked the occasion. There was also a few words from our Head of Primary, David Laird, and Key Stage One Leader, Andrew Cunliffe.

We would like to thank everyone who attended, in particular, Mr. Zhang Liqiang, who was the driving force behind the construction of the building, and whose complete support for the project, led him to donate money towards our commemorative badges, offered to all during the event.

We would also like to thank our very own Facilities Manager, Melody Ruan, for her continuing dedication to the school and its development, and Gemma Campbell, Events Manager, for making the evening possible.

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PRIMARY

RESIDENTIAL TRIPS SPECIAL: Year 3 - Cheng Chau, Hong Kong By: Matthew Champness “I liked building the raft because it was my first time to do this. I was also excited to try it with my buddies! First, we were given 8 pieces of bamboo, 4 tyres and 20 bits of string. We had to draw a plan of the raft in the sand.

Then, we learned how to tie the pieces of string together tightly.

Soon, we started building. We were hot, but excited. After some time, we finished! At last, but not least, I was playing with my buddies IN THE SEA!!” Rou Yu Yap “I really enjoyed making the raft.

It was fun because we got to tie knots. The way we learnt to tie the knots was very interesting.

Taking the raft into the water was the best part because I got to row it. After we went quite far out, we got to go for a swim.”

Jonn Teoh “Last week, we went on a residential trip and did a lot of activities. The company was called Learn With Dragonfly.

The boss was Mr Tony and he had very long hair. My group leader was Ms Laura and she was very funny. We played lots of different games.” Homi Pan

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“I was in my room with the girls.

While we got ready to have showers and brush our teeth, we were very noisy. Mandy, Shirley and I decided not to wash our hair! After the shower I went back to my room to change into my PJs. It felt like I was awake the whole night telling stories while others were snoring (very loud).

Eventually, I fell asleep.” Fiona Liang “I liked the beach games because it was my first time to build a sandcastle. We got split into groups. Nearly everyone built a sandcastle but only two groups didn’t because one of them made a gingerbread man and the other made a mermaid!”

Priya Panicker “On the first day in Hong Kong, we joined a company called Learn with Dragonfly. On the first day at our base we had a barbecue. We had a campfire with lots of marshmallows. I really liked it and I enjoyed the food, like sausages, corn etc.

In my room, Maximus told very funny jokes!”

Preston Zhong “I liked raft building because I learnt how to make a raft and tie different knots. We used 8 bits of bamboo and 20 pieces of string.

The thing that I enjoyed was when my shoe fell off when we rowed the raft! After we finished we got to swim for a while. When we were swimming, we had to wear a lifejacket so it was very hard.” Sophia Geng

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PRIMARY

Year 4 - Cheng Chau, Hong Kong By: Geraldine Thomason Cheung Chau is a great little island just 25 minutes by fast ferry from Hong Kong Island. There was much excitement as we loaded up the buses with our backpacks and set off for our 3-night adventure.

Our first afternoon saw us playing lots of games on a lovely quiet beach! Well it was quiet before Year 4 arrived! Half of the year group then had to set up camp for the night, as they were sleeping in tents! It was great to see the camping groups working as a team to get themselves all set up for a good nights sleep.

We took part in so many great activities, but one of the highlights for the students included jumping from a sampan boat. It was very scary but also a lot of fun. We then had to swim to the shore and do a beach clean! After the hard work of cleaning up what felt like all of Hong Kong’s plastic rubbish, we then had to swim back to the boat! It was quite a challenge but everyone managed it and spent time encouraging and congratulating others on their great efforts.

Other activities included coastering, a night hike, organic farming and a historical/cultural walk around the local town! We managed to pack in an awful lot into a very short space of time, and before we knew it, it was time to head back home. A fantastic residential that included lots of learning, lots of challenges and lots of fun!

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Year 5 - Sai Kung, Hong Kong By: Aidan Stallwood Just a few weeks ago, the Year 5 pupils went on their annual residential trip. This year, it was to the amazing Sai Kung, Hong Kong, where the children had a whole island to themselves! After arriving by private boat, the children were soon into the activities, and over the course of the week, had the opportunity to take part in a range of pursuits. If they weren’t kayaking off into the sunset, they were out snorkelling among the nearby coral. At other times during the week, they were able to apply their scientific knowledge when exploring mangroves, completing a treasure hunt or coastering on another of the islands.

During their stay, the children were challenged to camp out in the wilderness, having made camp fires, and after roasting their marshmallows, they were soon drifting off to the sound of nature outside their tents.

All of the children and staff had a great time, demonstrating all of the core values as they had a chance to see their friends (and teachers) in a whole new light. It was a real pleasure for the staff to enjoy these moments with the children.

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Year 6 - Yangshuo By: Sophie Morath & Hannah Teoh, Year 6VB “This has got to be the best residential ever!" says Sophie. We kayaked, climbed a mountain, and we also jumped in a big mud pool! That was a messy experience! We camped outside for one night, and even made our own campfire! One day, we went to a local school to learn about different cultures from the children. We had great time meeting some new friends.

One of our favourite parts was when we did the caving; we got to see a whole new world underground! Absolutely loads of stalagmites, stalactites and columns. There was a stalactite and a stalagmite right under each other and it looked like a bear trying to eat a dolphin! Deeper into the cave, there was a mud pool and everyone jumped in to get a little bit muddy! (More like as muddy as a mud monster!)

We also went kayaking; it is way harder than it looks! Your arms and legs get so tired and they feel like they are going to fall off! We kayaked down the Li River, which is about 2km. We had so much fun! At one point, Steve bumped Harry into a clump of seaweed by the riverbank and he got stuck!

That was pretty funny and actually turned our to be good for us because we were racing, so that seaweed slowed him down a lot!

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The visit to the Chinese school was a unique experience, which we all enjoyed. Everybody made friends with the local students. The dragonfly staff taught us some games to share with the children. Afterwards, we went into their classrooms and asked them about their life. We learnt a lot about what they did, their hobbies, and it was a good chance to know more about their lives.

The camping night was totally awesome! We camped in groups of three, and the dragonfly team told us stories around the campfire. Luckily, they were not scary ones! We then had some delicious hot chocolate, and a banana boat (which is a banana in melted chocolate!). Yum...

It was a great night. Climbing was probably one of our other favourite parts! Although it was hard, we carried on and got to the top! It's not the type of climbing wall that we have at school; it's a proper mountain!!! At the top, there was a long cave, which we were allowed to look in but we weren't allowed to go inside. Harsh got stuck at one point; there was a section that was hard to climb over. After watching him, we decided to take a different route!

We would like to thank all the dragonfly staff and out school staff for planning out all these wonderful activities. We absolutely loved it. It was a really great experience to have, with all the great teamwork, and an amazing time.

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Global Classroom: Focus On Photography Competition 2015 The Global Classroom initiative gives students the opportunity to connect with other NAE students around the world. This helps to create a truly international learning experience.

The Focus On Photography competition offered students the chance to have their photograph become part of a calendar to be released in the new year. The theme is ‘Adventure.’

200 students from across Nord Anglia Education’s 31 schools took part, and 12 winners were selected. Several BSG students joined the competition and one of them managed to become a winner!

Name: YEO Hearin Year Group: 10 Title: Ocean Cruise Description: My photo communicates the theme, ‘adventure’, because when I think of adventure I think of travel. These boats cruise the world, taking people on adventures to see new and exciting places.

Name: Kitty SU Year Group: 10 Title: Mongolia Description: I took this photo at the top of a hill in Inner Mongolia.

I took a long time to walk there through the wide, open landscape.

The structure at the top of the hill is covered with colorful flags and a beautiful sight. At time of war, these structure were set on fire so other people could see the warning from miles away.

Name: Steven LIU Year Group: 10 Title: Divide Description: Graffiti is illegal in some places. This street art was on the Berlin Wall, which I thought showed that the artist’s were taking risks and being original. I believe taking yourself out of your comfort zone is adventurous.

Name: Minjae KIM Year Group: 10 Title: Endless Journey Description: Tops of mountains point out of the misty area, showing that the journey through the mountains is risky and steep.

Seeing all the mountains that are in the distance, all the way to the end, makes us think the journey isn't done - it just started. That feeling gives me the idea that "adventure" is endless.

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Name: Amy Wong Year Group: 10 Title: Trapeze Description: Doing Trapeze is always a challenge for me, and it’s astonishing to see what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. This was quite a random picture of my friend, but it turned out to look amazing, and it definitely captured one of the best moments of my summer Name: Sanne HOFFEMAN Year Group: 8 Title: Venice Description: Adventure is riding through the canals of Venice.

This is an adventure because not everyone can experience this.

The beautiful canals, the weather and the great views that you see around every corner. It blows your mind just how beautiful it is to be in Venice.

Name: Marlie GREENHILL Year Group: 8 Title: Patonga Description: This is Patonga. In this amazing place, you can do anything and go anywhere. It’s adventurous because you can explore and go on walks that lead you to hidden places. There is this one place called Elephant Rock. From this massive rock, you have a beautiful view of the whole of Patonga.

Name: Tim HUANG Year Group:10 Title: Contemplation Description: The visitors to the World Exposition in Shanghai immerse themselves into the exposition. People enjoy visiting new knowledge and perspectives of different nationalities. They see here as an adventurous place. My photo shows the exposed structure in the German exhibition hall.

Name: Audrey CHAN Year Group: 8 Title: Dessert of Dubai Description: I went to the dessert of Dubai with my family. There were miles of soft sands with a beautiful sunset. We drove the Jeep and appreciated the scene. There was an interesting thing that if you put your phone on the sand, the sand will cover your phone.

You will never find your phone!

Name: Angie WONG Year Group:10 Title: SONY & FUJI Description: My photo is the roof of the Sony Centre in Berlin.

The roof is built so it looks like Mount Fuji from the outside. I enjoyed my visit to Berlin, it is a very interesting city that reminds us of important historical events and also encourages us to move forward.

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AND THE BSG WINNER IS...

Eric Wei, Year 10 Title: Scavenger

“The view over Darling Harbour’s Sydney Opera House is peppered by the hasty swoop of these spectacular scavengers on the hunt for their daily feed.”

Eric Wei

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Room To Read

By Advaitha Reddy & Anjelica Polychronopoulos Reading: Something that we all love to do! Comical, fictional, factual or creative, there is certainly something enjoyable for everyone. No matter how young or old, the BSG Book Sale can fulfill your demands!

We at BSG wanted to give back to a particular charity known as ‘Room to Read’ by selling second-hand books that we collected from students. It was wonderful to see all of the students take time to find and bring in old books, which they have now out-grown. Each book was carefully considered by us, the English literacy leaders: Ivy and Anjelica, and together with Miss Hardwicke, we priced the books suitably and segregated them based on age and genre.

Room to Read is a non-profit charity organisation that strongly encourages young girls to read and secure an education.

They help young people all over the world, particularly in Asia and Africa, striving to provide them with a better chance at acquiring life skills and a way out of poverty. What most students, like ours at BSG, take for granted, is having a wide range and ever-lasting supply of books that we can easily access.

However, there are children (particularly girls) out there who are much less privileged than any of us here at The British

School of Guangzhou. This charity initiative by the English Department served not only to support the incredible work Room to Read has been doing, but also to provide our students here, with the opportunity to give back to society and empathise with those less fortunate. What’s more, we got to do all of that while spreading our love for reading and giving out great books for great prices and finding them a better home.

Much time was spent with announcements and reminders in assembly, lunchtime preparation work, and finally during the lunchtime book sale, when students and teachers gathered to help sell books to other students, teachers and even some visiting parents from all year groups. Considering that we sold books to everyone ranging from Pre-Nursery children to Secondary students to adults, there was truly something for everybody.

Overall, through our combined efforts and the support from our book donators and customers, we raised an astonishing 2027RMB, which is way more than last year’s amount. It was a huge success and we could not be more proud of what was accomplished.

We would like to thank all parents, students and staff alike for their donations and their time spent visiting our sale.

For those wondering where all the leftover books went, they were taken by Year 6 students to a school in Yangshuo, as part of their community action project during their residential trip. We are grateful that the Year 6 students are helping us contribute further and give every last page of what we collected back to society.

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The Ig Nobel Prizes By: Debbie Lee Surely you have come across the Nobel Prizes before; but have you ever heard of the Ig Nobel Prizes? Strange as it sounds, the Ig Nobel Prizes is a parody that honour ten unconventional or trivial achievements in different fields of science. According to the magazine Nature, “The Ig Nobel awards are arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar.”

The first Ig Noble Prizes were organised in 1991 by Marc Abrahams, who edited and co-founded the Annals of Improbable Research. The initial aim was “to honour the discoveries that cannot, or should not, be reproduced.” Now, the aim has changed to “honour achievements that first make people laugh, and then make people think”.

Likewise, the ceremony itself is entertaining too. Ms Sweetie-Poo, an eight-year-old girl will cry out, “Please stop! I’m bored!” if briefings get too long; the ceremony closes with the words: “If you didn’t win a prize – and especially if you did – better luck next year!”

This year, the winners were awarded on 18th September at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre.

Actual Nobel Prize winners, such as Carol Greider and Eric Maskin, presented the prizes on the day. Here are some of the winners of this year’s prizes: • Physics - Kiyoshi Mabuchi and three others: Measuring the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin, and between a banana skin and the floor, when a person steps on a banana skin that's on the floor.

• Neuroscience - Jiangang Liu and five others: Trying to understand what happens in the brains of people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast.

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• Psychology – Peter K. Jonason and two others: Amassing evidence that people who habitually stay up late are, on average, more self-admiring, more manipulative, and more psychopathic than people who habitually arise early in the morning.

• Arctic science - Eigil Reimers and Sindre Eftestøl: Testing how reindeer react to seeing humans who are disguised as polar bears.

• Public health - Jaroslav Flegr and five other: Investigating whether it is mentally hazardous for a human being to own a cat.

Aren’t these awards awe-inspiring and thrilling? If you’re further interested, you can read the book The Ig Nobel Prize. You could also watch past ceremonies on https://www.youtube.com/user/ ImprobableResearch/videos.

Live ceremonies will be available over the Internet, so search for the event near September/October next year!

Art Teachers Of Asia Unite!

By: Philippe Delmotte Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Pineapple It’s not often that you get an opportunity to connect so many creative minds in one room, but when 100 art teachers from around Asia gathered at the United Nations International School Thailand (NIST) in Bangkok for a weekend of networking and sharing good practice, the creative sparks flying about were hotter than the papaya salad!

Art teachers in international schools don’t often get many opportunities to gather together in such an art-specific environment, and the ARARTE conference allowed us to indulge our passion for art and education. In the spirit of sharing, there were workshops in 3D printing, typography, art activism, lino and stencil print-making, paper cutting, digital art, mixed media painting, film and critical thinking.

On top of that, we enjoyed group visits to The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), and Jim Thompson’s (JT) house and museum.

We met with the artist in residence at NIST (a famous Australian artist, Pamela Irving) and reconnected with our inner-5-year-oldselves at an art therapy session. There were also plenty of opportunities to fill our bellies with delicious Thai food, and we were even treated to a dinner date with Elvis!

Miss Barrenechea and I are extremely grateful to BSG for sending us on the ARARTE conference in Bangkok, and are super excited for all the Art projects we have planned for our students.

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Redtory Tour By: Philippe Delmotte Year 10 art students visited Redtory to look at the contemporary art exhibitions and to apply their understanding of one and two point perspective when producing observational drawings of the old factory buildings, that now house galleries, boutiques and cafes.

Redtory is a unique space within Guangzhou and I am hoping that the intaglio prints that the student’s produce based on their visit can be exhibited at Redtory and used to secure its future. Mr. Delmotte For me, Redtory was a place that successfully preserved an old part of the city and gave it a new creative spirit. It was both a place for past generations to remember the old time and a place for us to experience art and culture in our modern lives. Redtory was originally a canning factory in Guangzhou, so while I was there, I recognised that the structure of its buildings was very unique and that the inner structure of the exhibition rooms was different from other art museums. I could see the tracks of them being of factorial uses, and perhaps this gives Redtory a more artistic sense. Also, the streets within Redtory appeared to be very traditional and tranquil; the long streets are good material for a onepoint perspective drawing.

“I saw an ink painting by the Chinese artist He Wei Ming. It is entitled “Xin Lin”(心林), which means ‘the forest of mind(heart)’ The emotion of the girl in this painting is the reason why I particularly liked it- the way that the serenity and calmness of the girl is shown through really simple outlines and tonal range is very masterful.” Angie Wong “Guangzhou is a noisy and active place, Redtory is more of a chilling and tranquil place, so everyone needs a place to calm themselves down and enjoy their time.

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I liked the art work I saw, some of it I really loved it and wanted to buy them and hang it on my wall. I want Redtory to be kept open for a long time so more people will visit, every artist and student who wants to study Art would definitely like a visit here.” Minjae Kim “Redtory is a very creative and interesting place, it used to be a factory complex and now is filled with Art exhibitions and cafes, I also saw many creative Arts that I've never imagined. There was traditional style, modern funky style and cool design. I think Redtory is very important because it is a very beautiful and spacious place, Guangzhou is mostly a busy city so Redtory can be a place for walking and enjoy more fresh air.

There is also beautiful scenery like old trees, interesting factory buildings and you can enjoy the arts done by people that's living in China.” Jerrine Ng “People are very busy but in Redtory people enjoy their time eating lunch, looking at exhibitions, and having a break from busy life. I think it was really nice, because I could see lots for paintings and creative things that I haven’t seen before. There were lots of trees and grass that made Redtory seem friendlier than it was when it was a canning factory.

They kept some buildings, machinery and containers that gave me a feeling of how it was in the past.” Haerin Yeo “It's bad if Redtory is closing, because students like us need to have the experience to view artwork. I believe that Redtory is a perfect place for studying and relaxing. And it has its timeless atmosphere, fresh air and its own characteristic of a fantastic Art and Design Factory!” Kitty Su “In my opinion the spaces are important for people to investigate what other people have done for their art.” Nayoung Km “Redtory has a unique style and many different types of Art. It is littered with restaurants and overall a very nice place. There were Art from various artists, including some from Hong Kong. My favourite was made by an artist named Husky. I like these pieces of Art because they show lots of texture and have a range of different colours.

“It would be a bad thing to close a place like Redtory due to the fact that redtory is useful for students like us to see and experience lots of beautiful pieces of art with no cost.”

Yiu Sum Yi “The area was very big. It doesn’t feel same as other Art galleries. The Art there feels very open-minded. I saw many foreigners in the Redtory. There were more foreigners than Chinese so unfortunately I don’t think Redtory is considered important for Guangzhou people.” Charlene Lim

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Ghosts, Ghouls & Ghastly Dancing By: Sarah Burgess On Thursday, 30th October, the theatre was transformed for the Secondary Halloween Disco. As the first social event of the year, it promised to be fun, and with over 85 students in attendance, the night did not disappoint. The Halloween costumes were impressive, and after much deliberation, Sonia Blitt (8C) and Dawoo Yoon (8C) each won the ‘best dressed’ title.

With Tyrek (Yr 11) as DJ, the tunes were pumping and students (and teachers) were up on their feet. At one point, all the students joined in to make a giant line and danced their way around the room, somehow managing to avoid being trapped in the giant spider web or the severed limbs swinging from the ceiling.

The night ended with some fun halloween games before everyone headed home full of pizza, smiles and stories from a fantastic night.

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Cross Country By: Ryan Davies We had to travel to Utahloy International School for the cross country this year. This was one hour away and we had to get to school and leave at 6.45am. We had a strong team of runners from the British school, which we hoped we would do well with.

There were many runners from all of the international schools in the area, and there was some tough competition. This made everyone feel very nervous, but more motivated to do well in the race.

When all the teams had arrived at the school, we then had to walk the course. This run was going to be 5km long. We went from dirt tracks to roads, fields and really uneven ground where there was a possibility of people getting injured and twisting some ankles. The track then split. The younger runners were going to do a 3km run and the older runners had to do 5km. The split meant we had to do a longer run around the lake, which was in the middle of the school campus.

The 3km race began at 10am and the younger runners from BSG were very nervous about going first. We all wished them luck as they went to the start line. The race began and the rest of the BSG team was waiting at the finish line to cheer our team on. After a while, the first runners started to come around the corner and down the hill. Some of these runners were our own runners shortly followed by the rest of the team. This was great, our team had done great in the first race, but now this added more pressure to the older team, and we were all nervously warming up at this point.

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The time then came for the senior team to head to the start line. We were nervous but ready. There were so many people taking part in this race from all the schools in the area. There was a countdown and then we were off. People set off at all different paces. There were people that sprinted off the line and there were people that started off slow. After the first 100m of the race, I was overtaking the sprinters and moving up to the top of the pack. We were making our way up hill, which meant I really had to push to keep my pace up. As I reached the top of the hill, which was also the half way point of the race, I really started to get tired, but I was focusing on the person in front of me and that I had to take over him and this really encouraged me to keep on going.

It came to the split-off point after 3km, after which, the 5KM runners kept going, as we only had 2km left.

The pace then really started to speed up. I had just passed the person who was in front of me, and I now had a new challenge, which was to keep my position and not lose it. We made our way around the lake and around the final hill we had to run around before the finish line. This was the most challenging part of the race, as I could hear the runners behind me getting closer, but I really didn’t want to give up my position. It was coming to the last corner and one of the runners from behind me ran passed, so as it came to the final straight, I accelerated up to a sprint and managed to get past the runner that was in front.

We were then given our times and asked our names. They were then put down on the timetable ready for the awards ceremony happening later that day. But the main thing was, we had finished.

The award ceremony came around and we were all excited to find out what our positions were. The junior girls were first to receive their medals. BSG got third place and for junior boys, we got 4th overall. The senior team didn’t get the top three positions, but we did have people get in the top 10 or close to it.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable, but very challenging day. The BSG team worked very hard to get the positions they did. We hope more students can join the cross-country team for next year.

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Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards Awarded by Cambridge International Examinations, UK, this certificate is only given to those achieving the highest IGCSE grade in a subject out of the entire region.

We would like to congratulate three of our students who have gained the highest IGCSE mark in China for the following subjects:

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MoonTrekker: There Is Only Power!

By: Emily Hardwicke “Let me get this right…you’re ‘moon walking’ like some kind of weird Michael Jackson tribute act, at night, over the hills of Hong Kong…and you want some kind of charitable payment for it?!”

It was going to be a tough sell!

Surprisingly, getting the MoonTrekker teams together wasn’t the difficult part. With six volunteers signed up from Secondary, and one each from Primary and Lower School, it was clear who considered themselves the most intrepid and perhaps the most deluded…

The event itself is described as ‘Hong Kong’s most exciting night-time endurance competition’.

Teams push themselves to the limit to complete either a 30km or 43km course with a small catch being that this all takes place at night! The only good news was that the term ‘moon’ appeared to be referring to the rocky and moon-like terrain en route that makes staying upright difficult, rather than an expectation that we break into Jackson-esque moves.

Mr Wright (more of him later), initially set himself a challenging goal: “I’ll be disappointed if I don’t do it in less than five hours,” he was heard to remark in the canteen, whilst carb-loading one lunchtime.

Ms. Corbett and Ms. Hardwicke were working on a different kind of nutritional plan and spent many hours discussing the various merits of different types of ‘Haribo’, coming to the pleasing conclusion that all sugar was good sugar and an extremely necessary part of a racing diet.

Mr V. decided that denial was the best approach, whilst Mr McDaid went into practical-manlike overdrive, printing out copious copies of laminated A4 maps and meticulously discussing gradients with anyone who would listen.

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Mr Allan stayed strong, stoical and silent through all of these pre-race jitters, while Mrs Ruck spent her time baiting Mr Ruck over his alleged inferior running speed, carefully playing down her own chances of bossing the field.

The day dawned a lot quicker than anyone had expected, and with the sudden realisation that our training had possibly not been up to scratch and definitely hadn’t included any of the recommended ‘night treks’, we made the trip to Hong Kong with some trepidation.

The ‘elite’ 43km team barely had time to scoff a couple of sandwiches before they were in their kit and raring to go. Leaving the ‘fun’ team, less concerned with accolades and more focused on food and sleep to indulge in a bit of both back at the hotel. Mr Wright, Mr Allan and the indomitable duo of Rucks set off into the night, not to be seen again until after a series of individual triumphs (Mrs Ruck) and farcical adventures (Mr Wright).

The ‘fun’ team, meanwhile, were taking things at a steady pace, beginning their race at 11.20pm and letting the serious runners go by before proceeding at a merry trot. The Olympic style walking couldn’t be kept up for long but nonetheless, by 2am they were still in high spirits and enjoying the atmosphere along the way.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the elite runners had eaten most of the snacks at the regular pit stops but they still managed to pick up a handful of bananas to keep them re-fuelled.

By 4am, positivity was starting to wane and the perpetual darkness, plus a bit of exhaustion was starting to play havoc with the minds of competitors. Ms. Hardwicke was relieved to find out that she wasn’t the only one seeing faces in trees, although she didn’t go as far as Mr. Wright, who started shouting exuberantly at a shadowy figure, only to find that he was expending all his energy discussing the route with a rock.

As the night wore on, the end point seemed further and further away. A terse Australian began shouting that the sun was rising and if we wanted to ‘beat it’, 53

we needed to get to the top in less than an hour. The ‘top’ turned out to be 900m Lantau Peak – whoever planned the route had really saved the best till last….

Step after weary step, the ‘fun’ team trudged up the ridiculously steep gradient. Not feeling quite so ‘fun’ now, Ms. Hardwicke began shouting crazily at the birds, who were just beginning to rise from their slumber. “You lot have had your sleep, you little blighters! We haven’t been to bed in days!” (She didn’t say ‘blighters’.)

Amazingly, getting to the top was more than worth the energy. With the sun an orange ball on the horizon, and the whole of Hong Kong at their feet, it truly was a spectacular moment.

Until they realised they still had to get down.

With all the agility of a pack of arthritic mountain goats, the team slowly descended the rocky tundra to Pui O Beach. There were promises of burgers, a utopian English breakfast, even a cold beer. Instead, they were handed a soggy box of pasta. Turns out the race had been well and truly won by then.

Exchanging stories later that evening, both teams had a chance to reflect on their experiences. The ‘fun’ team concluded that things had been…well… fun! But they probably wouldn’t do it again….

The ‘elite’ team were a different story. Congratulations must go to Mr Ruck and Mr Allan for finishing an amazingly difficult race, however, the real stars were Mrs Ruck with her incredible finishing time of 7.00 hours, which saw her placed as the 11th fastest woman, and Mr Wright….for entirely different reasons.

Not content to do the required 43km, he had made a fatal error of judgment when it came to a tricky piece of navigation. Rocks couldn’t help him at this point and instead of trusting in his surname, he chose to turn…left. SIXTY-FIVE kilometers later, he finally made it to the finish in 9 hours, less time than the ‘fun’ team took to do their 30km. You’ve got to admire the commitment (and question his sense of direction).

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All in all, the ‘MoonTrekker’ was a fantastic experience for everyone involved. Mr. Gomm from Primary also competed as an individual and ‘BSG’ was certainly well-represented on the night.

The teams would like to thank everyone who donated to the charity ‘Room to Read’ and supported the competitors. Along with proceeds from the recent ‘Book Sale’, we were able to donate over 5,200RMB. That definitely makes the blisters worthwhile.

Swim Gala By: The House Ambassadors As a Roman house ambassador, I would say with no doubt that I was extremely proud of our house during the swim gala last week. Everyone worked hard and pushed themselves to their limits by taking part in as many races as they could, and so we, as a team, managed to compete in every single race during the day, even though we did not have as many swimmers as the other houses did.

Although we did not win the swim gala, I think that the Romans had one of the strongest team spirits during the day because we cheered for every single Roman swimmer whilst they were competing. We also accompanied our cheering with drumbeats to allow our swimmers to be more motivated. Outstanding Romans on the day were Steven Liu, who exploded out of the blocks in the butterfly races, and Peter Park.

So overall, I would say that the swimming gala was a great day for the Romans because we had a chance to bond with our house members and to improve our team spirit, as well as pushing ourselves to our limits.

Valerie Lye, Roman House Ambassador Stormin’ Normans! Our day started off with all the cheering as the first match started. It was a really good day for us. Our first gold medal of the day was from Wayne Chen (Yr10), for his Individual Medley. Throughout the day, Wayne swam in a maximum of 5 events, and incredibly, he came first in every one of his events!

The Normans went wild cheering for him; we were so proud. Junior House Captain, Peter Chung (Yr9) also made us Normans really proud, coming first in the 100m breast-stroke and other events! At the end of the day, these two amazing Normans were both awarded the best male swimmers for KS4/5 and KS3, respectively.

Furthermore, not to forget two KS3 members, Eunis Cheung (Yr8) and Mike Yoo (Yr7), who both swam against KS4/5 swimmers. It was a tough thing to do but they tried their best. What was our ‘champagne moment’ of the day? Our unstoppable KS3 girls winning against the other KS3 girls! Overall, we saw a higher number of Normans participating in the day … This could be our year! Emmelyne Li, Norman House Ambassador

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Stunning, magnificent, dominant. Three words to describe the superior Saxons. The swim gala was not perhaps the most popular of hunting grounds for the Greens, however, the mood was optimistic, and in fact, the atmosphere was electric as we were hungry for success. Elegantly presented, the green army stepped out onto the field, or rather into the water. The electricity buzzed through the camp, enabling crucial early wins in races to build the momentum going forward.

Despite swimming being perceived as an individual sport, the effort was very much a team one, although above all, exceptional swimmers like Dylan and Naomi clearly excelled. Numerous wins, including relays (not forgetting the immense anchor leg swim by Mr Howe to clinch the inaugural teachers relay) summed up the victorious day: ‘We are the champions’. The biggest and grandest price - the trophy, felt indifferent. It could have been the Olympics, the World Cup, but no, it was something better. Competitors and fellow houses take note; the Superior Saxons are here. Here to win…

Jan Janeczek, Saxon House Ambassador Like most sporting events, the swim gala brought joy and excitement across the school! It united Vikings for the first time this year as a whole house to compete as a family. The Vikings set the tone for the day by winning the first race and the cheers were deafening. All houses swam well on the day, and although we were narrowly beaten into second place, we know for a fact that our amazing swimmers gave their best and we had 100% participation in every event. We had star swimmers in every key stage, especially Eric Li, Eric Wei, Kitty Su, George Lo and Justin Li. Special thanks to the house captains Sarah Ryan, Justin Li, Rachel Moon and Henry Wong for organising our victorious Vikings. Also, a huge thank you to Mr. Delmotte for being, well...Mr. Delmotte and representing his house with a glorious Viking victory in the House Leader’s Teacher Race!

VIKING - VIKING – VIKING – WIN – WIN – WIN!!

Tyrek Richards-Morris, Viking House Ambassador

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International Award Adventure By: John Joyce Last Friday, 38 BSG students headed out into the hills of southern China for a gruelling, yet enjoyable weekend of adventure. The purpose of this jaunt into the unknown was to complete a practice ‘Adventurous Journey’ for the International Award. 24 of these daring young people were embarking on a two-day, one-night hiking and camping expedition for the Bronze Award.

The remainder were on a three-day two-night hiking, kayaking and camping adventure for the Silver Award.

For many of the students, the weekend was a challenge: personally, physically and mentally. However, the benefits were numerous, as they will have developed their resilience, persistence, resourcefulness, flexibility, communication skills, empathy, practical problemsolving, leadership and collaboration. All of these are worthwhile life skills that need to be honed ahead of embarking on adult life. Added to that, hopefully this type of experience creates a connection with the environment that will last forever.

For Kitty Su (10B), the hardest part of the weekend was navigation and being able to agree on a direction to walk in. The best thing was “sharing the experience and spending time with friends”.

The biggest challenge for Tae Oh Kim (10A) was sleeping outdoors in a tent, something he found uncomfortable due to the ground conditions and the muggy temperature. However, TaeOh’s highlight was “climbing up the mountain while talking to my friends”.

Another having a navigational nightmare was Haerin Yeo (10B), who said: “Map reading and choosing the right direction was definitely our number one challenge. My highlight was cooking rice and curry outside with friends.”

All of the students deserve a pat on the back for successfully making it through the trip, stepping out of their urban comfort zones and into the wild. Overall, this was a weekend of collaborative learning outside of the four walls of a classroom and very much whetted our appetites for the qualifying Adventurous Journeys in 2015.

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SECONDARY

24-Hour Swimathon IDAY R F PM

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The 24-hour Swimathon helped to raise money for FOBISIA and ActionAid. Over 30 Secondary students took part, including 12 swimmers who stayed the night and swam every two hours for eighteen minutes during the cold of the night.

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The total raised so far is 20,000RMB, but donations are still coming in.

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EVENTS

International Day 2014 On Saturday, 1st November, our annual event attracted over 3000 people for a fantastic day of family fun and frolic.

The sun shone brightly as kids enjoyed the NFL quarterback challenge, bouncy castles, games, mini-golf, live performances from fellow classmates & friends on the main stage, plus lots more. Others indulged in delicious cuisine from around the world while shopping, greeting familiar faces and taking part in an amazing grand prize raffle draw that included 5* hotel stays, an iPhone 6 and lots of food and beverage vouchers to some of the top restaurants in Guangzhou, amongst the many wonderful prizes.

The annual event raised a grand total of RMB109,102 that will be directly donated to this year’s nominated charities, that include ActionAid International and Guangzhou English Training Center for the Handicapped (GETCH), proving that a great community spirit exists in Guangzhou.

“As well as vital funds and awareness raised for our charities, International Day is a fantastic opportunity to bring our community together. This at the heart of what we do here at The British School of Guangzhou and we are very grateful to everyone for making the day a great success.” Mark Thomas, Principal.

International Day 2014 would not have been possible without our ‘diamond sponsors’. We would like to send a special thank you to NFL China, Social and Co., Chimelong Hengqin Bay Hotel, Marco Polo Lingnan Tiandi Foshan, The Garden Hotel, Free and Easy Travel, Whyville Education, Jia Cheng Dance Cultural Center, Golden Lake Garden International Community, Galactica Laser Tag, Peregrine Law Consultants and Changleshao Co., Ltd for their wonderful support.

In addition, huge thanks must go to all the fantastic sponsors, partners, vendors, volunteers, parents, students, staff who worked throughout the day; and last but not least, valued guests for making The British School of Guangzhou’s International Day 2014 a fabulous event for one and all!

For information and details of forthcoming events, please visit www.bsg.org.cn or email Gemma Campbell at gemma.campbell@bsg.org.cn.

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EYE IN THE SKY

To watch the video, please visit our website at www.bsg.org.cn

The British School of Guangzhou

Choir Concerts for Christmas British School students are touring Guangzhou

INCLUDES A SPECIAL PERFORMANCE FROM OUR NEW ORCHESTRA Sacred Heart Cathedral Carol Service Friday, 28th November, 6:30pm

Shangri-La Hotel Tree Lighting Friday, 5th December, 6pm

Family Christmas Lunch (Venue TBC) Sunday, 7th December, 11am

ISMAG Community Tree Lighting Canton Place Saturday, 29th November, 6:30pm

Garden Hotel Tree Lighting Friday, 5th December, 6pm

Tai Koo Hui Mall Sunday, 14th December, 2 to 5pm (Orchestral performance at 3:30pm)

www.bsg.org.cn