BSG Newsletter - June 2014

Newsletter

Issue 2 - Term 3 - 2013/2014

The British School of Guangzhou

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

Head’s Message Dear Parents, As I read through the articles in the latest newsletter I realise just how much our school has grown and just how busy a place it is. There are actually articles in this month’s newsletter about activities that I hadn’t even known had taken place. The number of events, initiatives and activities across our school is simply breath taking and is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the teaching staff.

Interestingly, we have just been provided with the feedback from the Nord Anglia Education Employee Engagement Survey. This survey aims to measure how engaged and enabled the staff of the British School are. I am absolutely delighted with the results that showed that our staff are one of the most productive in the Nord Anglia Education group. This really confirms that our staff are totally committed to the task of helping us to create, ‘a truly world class education’ for your children.

I am also very pleased to see that our efforts to provide parents with greater opportunities for involvement in the life of the school are beginning to have an impact. This week a group of parents met with Mr. Laird to celebrate the success of our Primary students who competed so impressively in the recent FOBISIA event in Hong Kong. As part of this meeting they are looking to set up a specific FOBISIA parent support group aimed at providing your children with even more support for future competitive sports events. This is exactly the sort of parental support we are keen to enlist. As committed as our teachers are, there are times they would really appreciate the support of an extra pair of hands.

This week we have seen Secondary students sitting their IGCSE examinations and Primary students undertaking their SATs tests. As soon as we get the results we will be notifying the individuals involved and providing the parental community with a statistical breakdown of our overall performance. This type of external validation of academic achievement is essential if we are to measure our progress against the very best international schools, and ensures that parents are fully informed of their student’s progress and future targets.

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“The number of events, initiatives and activities across our school is simply breath taking and is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the teaching staff.”

While examinations are certainly our main focus at this time of the year, last week our older students still found time to celebrate achieving their Bronze International Award with a presentation to staff and parents. The International Award is recognised worldwide as a truly valuable programme. At the British School we see it as an essential element of our Secondary programme and feel that it fits perfectly with our core values by helping students to develop a sense of responsibility, respect, integrity, commitment and a love of learning. I look forward to celebrating our first silver and gold award winners in the future.

We are fast approaching the end of our year but have a number of events still to take place, including the Primary production of Mulan with rehearsals underway.

This will be Mrs. Schroeder’s swan song and I am sure that she is determined to leave on a high note, so do make sure you get a ticket. KS3 students are excitedly planning their first Prom and will soon be departing for their residential trips. As you know, the residential programme is an essential part of the curriculum within the British School. This year we are very excited to have 40 students heading off to Germany on an extended trip that will give them first hand experience of History that is so much more powerful than reading a text book.

In our final week of the term, we will look forward to seeing parents at the Foundation Graduation and at our end of year Awards’ Days at the Sofitel. Please note that this year we will have two events; the first involving Y1Y3 and the second Y4-Y13.

Important information is often sent via email through school.

If you’re not receiving emails, please contact our receptionist, Rainbow Chen, at rainbow@bsg.org.cn.

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lower school 4

On The Move!

By: Prerna Nankani Get ready to get moving with our transportation theme! A very popular theme amongst our young ones as this topic lends itself automatically to their ‘everyday lives’.

Children love activities that include playing with all types of vehicles such as cars, trucks, airplanes and more. They drive or walk to school, have seen or ridden on a bus or taken an airplane to go on vacations. This natural interest in transportation is something that they experience in their daily lives and it brings life to the theme in our Pre-Nursery classrooms.

Children love to learn about how to get from here to there and this unit satisfies their curiosity in every way. The Teddy Bears and Butterflies, through ‘play’ and ‘learning’, have been engaging in a lot of fun activities based on this theme.

Our creative children made many crafts which included cars, hot air balloons, rocket ships and sailboats. We also learnt about road safety while driving our cars on the road maps drawn in our classroom.

While playing in the role-play area the children took short pretend trips, on our very own ‘BSG’ aeroplane, to ‘Disneyland’ and ‘Arendelle’ to meet ‘Mickey Mouse’ and ‘Elsa the Snow Queen’.

We added to the fun by learning and singing songs to go along with our transportation theme our favourites being ‘We All Go Travelling By’, ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ and ‘Zoom, Zoom, Zoom We are Going to the Moon….10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1…..BLAST OFF!!!’

lower school

Personal, Social & Emotional Development By: Ellen Richards We are now well into our third and final term in Nursery. It seems just yesterday that the children were arriving tentatively through the door and it’s heart-warming to see how much they have grown over the year, not just in size but as independent, caring and empathetic individuals.

Nursery is a time when children begin to look beyond themselves and accept the needs of others. They learn to share adult attention, tolerate delay and may attempt to solve conflicts with their peers independently. These are all important characteristics of a child’s Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED).

Personal development (Being me) – how we come to understand who we are and what we can do, how we look after ourselves.

Social development (Being social) – how we come to understand ourselves in relation to others, how we make friends, understand the rules of society and behave towards others.

Emotional development (Having feelings) – how we come to understand our own and others’ feelings and develop our ability to ‘stand in someone else’s shoes’ and see things from their point of view.

These are considered to be the three building blocks of future success in life.

Early PSED has a huge impact on later well-being, learning and achievement.

This term, the Ladybirds, Fishes, Stars and Dragonflies have been demonstrating real personal, social and emotional intelligence and never seem to go a day without making us feel incredibly proud of them.

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lower school

Shoe Collection Show By: Lucinda Elliott The Lower School was lucky enough to play host to The House of Reception’s long awaited debut shoe collection show. The show was a roaring success! Boring white plimsolls will no longer be relegated to the back of the cupboard; they will now be catapulted into the higher realm of unprecedented fashion heights.

With a focus on couture, premium fabric and avant-garde designs, these timeless shoe creations will suit any occasion or cutting edge outfit. The designs were carefully drafted onto a template and then painstakingly hand-painted, to an exquisitely high standard, by their inhouses artists.

These shoes are unique: no two pairs are the same and in fact, no pair matches. To understand further the success of The House of Reception’s latest shoe collection interviews were undertaken at their headquarters in Lakefront.

Senior accessory fashion designer Rebhi, felt strongly that the success of the House of Reception lay in his insect design, “…especially my black and red ladybirds were good.” Whilst executive artists Erica and Suri believe the triumph of the venture rested on the fact that now, “You can wear your pictures all the time.” Creative Director Eoin said, “Fun! I drew Spiderman and Spiderman would so wear them.”

Fashion designers Clavensa and Tiffany stated, “Butterflies, flowers and leaves are so beautiful.

Girls like them.”

Time will tell as to whether or not the Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos of this world will pick up on these top fashion tips for their next collections, but for now you can be safe in the knowledge that The House of Reception can definitely cater to your child’s taste.

These shoes will be perfect for either lounging around in at the weekend, or during the coming summer holiday, and can be found in all good Seahorse, Raccoon, Rabbit and Dragon outlets.

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lower school

Comic Capers By: Melissa Verdel Some people don’t believe in heroes, but they haven’t met Year 1!

When planning this topic, the Year 1 teachers came across the quote, ‘you are the hero of your own story’… And we can truly say that after six weeks of hard work – the students were all the heroes of this story.

It all began on a Monday morning, when the classes were visited by real live superheroes, or their teachers dressed up in ridiculous costumes. From that moment on, the children were hooked.

They were interested in sharing what they knew about superheroes and villains and were keen to learn all about comics. This led to children creating their own which included: characters of their own design, the parts of a story (introduction, problem, solution and ending) and using the key features of comics such as captions, speech bubbles and sound words. The Year 1’s were also introduced to the work of Roy Lichtenstein and created their own comics style artwork using pointillism and primary colours.

Now that the children have conquered Comics and Cartoons stay tuned to see how they tackle the Pirates…ARRGH!

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lower school

Chinese Update By: Yandy Chen In the Nursery Fishes and Dragonflies’ Chinese classes, we have been learning about ‘Growth’, ‘Minibeast’ , ‘Frog and Butterfly Life Cycles’ and ‘Dinosaurs’. All the children loved singing and acting out the song ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs’.

We shared the stories of ‘The Very Busy Spider’ and ‘Xiao Ke Dou Zhao Ma Ma,’ which helped us to understand the mini beast and frog life cycles.

We have learned how to order animals according to their sizes.. Nursery has loved exploring the Age of Dinosaurs.

We have talked about different types of dinosaurs, the sizes and the types of food that they ate.

If you want more information please follow the links as below: Stories about Growth: http://g.beva.com/gushi/wo-de-chengchang-ri-ji.html http://g.beva.com/xuetang/c10175-mao-mao-chong-bian-xing-ji.html http://g.beva.com/xuetang/bei-dexiang-ri-kui.html http://g.beva.com/gushi/xiao-zhao-mama.html#651 http://g.beva.com/gushi/jia.html On Line Games: http://www.61flash.com/flash/6093.htm http://www.61flash.com/flash/7303.htm http://www.61flash.com/flash/11086. htm Funny Songs: http://g.beva.com/kan-erge/wu-zhi-xiaoqing-wa.html#1619 http://v.ku6.com/ show/9bMyB6NDBKqRW-4h.html

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sports day

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PRIMARY

Maths Day By: Kathryn Champness I know how to measure time. I know how to measure distance. I know how to measure weight. But how does one measure the success of this year’s Maths Day? If I were to estimate the success, I’d say it was a pretty good day. But how could I be sure? I needed to gather some data. Conduct a survey. I started by asking some questions. ‘What did you do on Maths Day?’ ‘Did you enjoy Maths Day?’ I made some calculations. The evidence was mounting. The negatives (it was raining) were far outnumbered by the positives. I’d worked it out! Maths Day was, by many accounts, an enjoyable day for one and all.

Here are some of the highlights:

still even. It all came down to David Li (BSG’s very own ‘human calculator’) who, seemingly oblivious to the electric atmosphere and the sheer momentousness of the occasion, explained calmly to the audience – without even pausing for effect – that 4 cubed = 64. The Romans maths team won a mighty 200 points for their house.

The Primary Maths Book Competition

Year 3 - hunting for mathematical treasure and whisking up pancakes.

Children from Years 2-6 wrote brilliant maths themed stories involving a huge variety of maths concepts. These books were displayed in the library for everyone to enjoy. I liked so many that I couldn’t begin to choose my favourite, but a great prize awaited the winners, so they had to be chosen.

Congratulations to Homi Pan (winner from Y2&3) for Brownies Adventure, and to Diya Samtani (winner from Y46) for Riding the Rails. These stories will soon be ‘published’ and copies will be available in the library!

Year 4 - making parabolic drawings and Mobius strips.

Apparently if an ant were to crawl along the length of a Mobius strip, it would return to its starting point having traversed the entire length of the strip (on both sides of the original paper) without ever having crossed an edge.

House Mental Maths Competition The House Mental Maths competition was very tense. I really congratulate all who took part because the questions were tough and so was the competition. Romans and Vikings battled it out in the final but, even after a tiebreaker following the last round, the two houses’ scores were 12

Maths Day Activities Year 2 - counting thousands of Jiao for the Inter-House Jiao Competition, investigating paper aeroplanes, exploring shape & space with paper cups, and Easter egg hunting.

Year 5 - playing maths bingo and using Lego to create symmetrical structures.

Year 6 - creating a ‘random line vs geometric shape’ drawing.

This was followed by a BIG treasure hunt. The children solved a range of problems to give them 6-digit coordinates, which they located on a plan of the school. Hidden at each location were parts of a tangram puzzle, which then had to be solved once all the pieces were collected.

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PRIMARY

It’s a Mystery in Year 3 By: Thomas Mooney For the past six weeks Year 3 have been studying myths and mysteries from around the world. This has allowed us to study different cultures and how they interact with the natural resources of the world around them.

The first stop on our world tour was in Australia with a look at Uluru (or Ayers Rock to some) and its importance to aboriginal Australians.

We stayed in the southern hemisphere for our next stop and made our way across the Pacific to Easter Island. Here we took a look at the mysterious and majestic Moai, trying to work out how they were moved from the quarries of the interior to the exterior of the island. Easter Island (also known as Rapa Nui) proved ideal for us to use the map applications on the iPads to find evidence of human and natural features.

We then made our way North to look at the Black Hills of South Dakota where we looked at the presidents of Mount Rushmore as well as the Native American warrior Crazy Horse and the monument that is planned to become the biggest in the world.

After North America we made our way west to Ireland and the myths and mysteries of the Giant’s Causeway. We weren’t quite sure whether to believe the story of Finn MacCool or the theory of basalt columns being created by volcanoes with the help of glacial and weather erosion.

Finally we made our way back to China and took a look at the importance of jade to Chinese culture and the Spanish origin of the word jade.

Whilst looking at jade we managed to take a trip to the New Guangdong museum (or the Minecraft building as the pupils preferred to call it) and examine the precious stones on display there. We were very grateful to have loads of mums come along to help us learn about the rich resources of Guangdong on this trip.

This topic allowed Year 3 to “travel” around the globe, sparking a great deal of interest and enthusiasm along the way.

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PRIMARY

Going Bananas!

By: Nicole Torrens What do you get when you throw maths, topic, teamwork and bananas in the same bowl? …A recipe for disaster? Not when Year 4 are the chefs!

As part of their Lungs of the Earth topic, Year 4 have been learning all about foods produced

by Earth’s rainforests. Using a whole cupboard of ingredients such as bananas, vanilla, cinnamon, mango and chocolate chips, Year 4 made some absolutely delicious banana bread. I can tell you now, it was hands down one of the tastiest topic lessons I’ve ever taught!

This lesson not only helped the children appreciate how much the rainforest produces, but as one sharp student pointed out, also put their maths skills to the test as they had to carefully measure out each ingredients to get the perfect mixture.

So, take one lesson on the rainforest, add in a dash of mental maths and garnish with teamwork and Y4 discovered this is the recipe for perfect, banana bread. Yum!

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PRIMARY 16

Botanical Gardens By: Alexandra Paul On the 21st April, Year 4 became habitat explorers at the South China Botanical Gardens. We visited all the different biomes including the Desert, Antarctic and the rainforest. We discovered many strange, colourful plants of all different types and sizes and learned a lot about habitats and the rainforest biome, which has helped our science and topic studies this term. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and games in the gardens and as a special treat had ice-creams before we returned to school.

PRIMARY

KS3 Challenge comes to Year 4 By: Laura Asbury It’s been an action-packed time in Year 4 recently, but within all this excitement, there was a particular highlight on our school calendar: the Key Stage 3 challenge!

Secondary students faced possibly their biggest challenge yet: to teach our lovely Year 4 students for an entire day, with no help from staff! In house teams, they had only one day to prepare lessons in Maths, English, Art and Topic and also prepare a presentation on what they believe makes an outstanding learner. Our Year 4 pupils certainly provided examples of outstanding learning and it was an honor to witness the maturity and independence of our Secondary students as they delivered well-structured, creative and imaginative lessons with flair and confidence. It was a learning experience for all involved and proved what can be achieved when our students are pushed out of their ‘comfort zones’. Year 4 pupils were respectful, polite and hard working and they loved engaging and bonding with the older students.

The day ended with a fantastic BBQ and a huge celebration in the theatre. A special ‘congratulations’ goes to 4AC who were awarded ‘class of the day’ for their excellent participation throughout the day.

We hope this becomes a fixed date in the diary and look forward to next year’s challenge!

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PRIMARY

Rainforests By: Andrew Newton For those of us who saw 4NT and 4MM’s recent class assemblies, you’ll know Year 4 have been studying the rainforests of the world in their topic lessons. This topic was imaginatively brought to life in many vibrant and interesting ways, such as the above mentioned assemblies as well as a trip to the botanical gardens. It was only fitting then, with all this knowledge and research under their belts, that the children of Year 4 had the opportunity to put their wisdom into print. And that’s exactly what we did! With the help of their iPads, the World Wide Web and all the books of BSG library had to offer, the students have created four top quality eBooks. Each class took on this daunting task and passed with flying colours.

This wasn’t simply a case of jumbling together any information we could find. Oh no!

Each class ensured that the same font was used; the same layout implemented and even managed to use a recurring logo throughout these information texts to give that polished presentation. The results were truly astounding! Not only do these eBooks look sleek and professional but they include countless fascinating facts about an array of animals found in rainforests all over the world.

If you ever need to know the habitat of a howler monkey or the characteristics of a keelbilled toucan (even the coffee requirements of a Mr. Newton in 4NT’s case), Year 4 is the place to look!

The Windmill Farmer By: Alasdair Carr Target writing has been a major focus across primary this year. Teachers present their class with a writing stimulus and the students are challenged to meet level based targets across a range of different writing genres. These can range from writing instructions to a game we play in the playground to a letter to Mr. Laird to try and persuade him to make break time longer!

In Year 4, students were shown a short animated movie, ‘The Windmill Farmer’ (China friendly link) by Joaquin Baldwin and asked to write a diary entry as if they were the subject of the film. The students were inspired by the tale and produced some wonderful work.

The results of this were enough to prompt Mr. Carr into contacting the movie’s director, who is based in the US. To Mr. Carr’s delight, Joaquin replied asking to see some of the work that had been produced so he was sent Mila Carpano’s (4AC) piece of writing. The director was so impressed that he shared the work on his twitter account and it received praise from teachers and writers from across the world who couldn’t believe that the work had been produced by a Year 4!

This highlighted the potential that embracing technology in the classroom has and how small the world truly is becoming! As you can see, the work produced by Mila is wonderful and deserved all of the praise it got. Well done Mila. #BSGlearn 18

Target Writing: Diary Entries by Mila Carpano, Year 4AC

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PRIMARY 20

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow By: Craig Watson This month we have found a hero among the pupils. Romy in 5VB has done something that is so beyond her age that it made all of the teachers in Year 5 sit up in amazement!

Romy has had her hair cut ‘OFF’ and she has donated the hair to Cancer Research so that they can put her hair towards the making of a wig. I am sure that you will all agree that she has proven herself to be a thoughtful and inspirational young lady. At such a young age, she has sacrificed something of hers (her long wavy locks) to represent and support an amazing cause. Well done Romy, the teachers and students of year 5 think you’re a superstar!

PRIMARY

Children of the (Food) Revolution By: Matthew Champness Mother to 10-year old son: “What would you like for tea, Rex? I’ll get it on the stove.”

10-year old son: “How about a rainbow vegetable wrap or berry granola parfait?”

If this sounds unbelievable, think again.

Friday 16th May was Food Revolution Day and the children in Year 6 know all about healthy eating, thanks to their recent English unit (not forgetting a little help from Jamie Oliver).

Cooking along – sort of – with a not-quite-live broadcast by the ‘Naked Chef’, the children made themselves lunch from scratch. Yes, they peeled the beetroots; yes, they washed the parsley; yes, they grated the carrots, pears and cabbage. While the girls in 6MC did all this, the boys showed a particular talent for whipping up salad dressing. All rolled up in a big flour tortilla wrap, this was a colourful, healthy, tasty treat. Some children were hesitant at first and a few found it wasn’t exactly what they’d be ordering next time.

However, for most it went down very well. And if the rainbow vegetable wrap didn’t quite hit the mark, “Bowl and spoon at the ready…”

Time for the berry granola parfait. Having already toasted some rolled oats over a hot plate in oil and molasses (and mixed in sesame seeds and dried fruit for good measure) the granola was, by this time, cool. Layer upon layer of blueberries, raspberries, yoghurt and granola was heaped on and devoured with gusto. The combination of fruit, yoghurt and cereal was a revelation to many and it was widely pronounced to be ‘better than icecream’.

So next time you go out to eat, find out about the restaurant first, as your children might ask some tricky questions about the food.

How much fat is in this burger, Dad? Does this flavoured milk have loads of added sugar, Mum? Better get researching as you won’t fool the children of the (food) revolution.

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Chinese

Dragon Boat Festival By: Susan Jiang The Dragon Boat Festival on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, has had a history of more than 2,000 years. It is usually in June in the Gregorian calendar.

About 2000 years ago (the Spring-Autumn &War State Period), there were seven states in China and among these, Qing State was the strongest.

The Qing State sent a spy to the Chu State to infiltrate its court. This spy became an advisor to the Emperor and gave the Emperor unwise advice.

While this was happening, another advisor to the Emperor, Quyuan, gave the Emperor wise advice.

Unfortunately, the Emperor followed the advice and Chu State suffered.

Finally, Quyuan, a patriot, was discharged because the Emperor didn’t think his advice was wise.

Quyuan loved Chu State and after seeing the terrible situation of his homeland, he decided to sacrifice himself for his motherland.

As a result, every year the Chinese make special food, Zongzi (using some green herb leaves to wrap rice and tie it with a thread), then throw them into the river, wishing for fish and shrimp to eat the Zongzi and not Quyuan’s body. They also hold Dragon Boat Racing to drive away the fish eating Quyuan. In this way, the Chinese people pay homage to the patriot.

Today the custom has been changed a little bit.

Many folks can eat the green bean cake and the Zongzi and most importantly the family members reunite and enjoy the holiday together.

GOOD NEWS : There are almost 3000 Chinese books coming to our BSG library. You will see many popular series of books as follows: European Children Graded Reading Bridge, Southern Graded Reading, The Rainbow Fish, Bang Bang Teacher, Black Eyes, Wonderful School, Small Cricket Gree Gree and so on. We hope you will find it enjoyable to read all these new Chinese books!

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PRIMARY

Soul Djembe African Drumming: Exploring Rhythm & Pulse By: Craig Watson & Peter Sinclair Over the last month Year 5 students have been developing their musical skills with a particular focus on rhythm and pulse. During the unit they learned to sing an African chant in the Mandinka language and explored the popular instruments of Africa and how they are made.

As a year group they practiced very hard to perform the syncopated and difficult rhythms on a range of instruments including, djembes, claves, agogo bells and djuns. The students also used i-pad technology to create their own popplets on instrument classification and to listen to examples of African music. They also explored interactive software to learn about the region and the rich culture of the continent.

To finish the unit the children were extremely lucky to be visited by the professional African drumming ensemble Soul Djembe. Their leader and teacher ‘Old Cat’ led the Year 5 students in a traditional African Drum circle that involved listening games, movement and fun drumming techniques. All the students got involved and had the opportunity to play real African instruments – Djembes and Djuns together.

To finish the morning the children completed a master class with more complex drumming and singing techniques, and finally the ensemble gave a stunning performance to the school during lunch in the school library – very exciting! Overall it was a fantastic morning, one that the students and teachers very much enjoyed.

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soul djembe

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SECONDARY

GETCH Festival By: Valerie Lye, Emmelyne Li and Ann Yu – Year 10 Charity Committee members.

It was an overcast yet promising day on the 26th April 2014, when the GETCH Festival took place in the perfectly located ‘Golden Arch’ on ErSha Island. We set up the fully packed BSG stall and ran a variety of activities for the day until the heavens decided to open. Our stall had two types of games for anyone to enjoy; GETCH and BSG artwork to sell, and as well as this we also helped to promote our school. The two games we had at our stall were “Ping-Pong Toss” where the aim of the game is to toss the ping pong ball into a cup, and “Guess the Jelly Beans” where players had to take an educated guess at the number of jelly beans in the fully stuffed jars. We also sold postcards made by GETCH students themselves, which were pretty successful since it was the GETCH Festival after all.

The festival was in full swing, with a number of people from different communities in Guangzhou, celebrating the work that GETCH carries out all year round, providing education and also continuing to raise awareness and funds for their students and the centre. Even though the weather decided to take a turn for the worse, it did not dampen the spirits and a number of stalls continued to operate and the GETCH students seemed determined to sell raffle tickets and get round to all the stalls in the process. We admired their determination!

Although the weather prevented us from earning our full potential for GETCH we were still able to contribute a small amount. GETCH were able to raise an astonishing 130,000 RMB, which will fund two operations in the summer for GETCH students.

We did not let the bad weather wash-out our enthusiasm; we kept striving to support GETCH, one of our chosen charities this year.

Although we didn’t earn much that day, we still contributed to the money raised for GETCH and we also had a lot of fun!

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viking house lunch

SECONDARY

276 Stolen Dreams By: Philippe Delmotte In response to the shocking kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria, the Art department and Year 10 Art students planned an awareness raising Art project that involved the whole Secondary School.

To highlight the importance of education in achieving your life’s desires, female students were asked to write the name of a profession that they would like to do or think is important onto a sticker. Individual photographs of each girl were then taken with the sticker across their mouths, physically removing their voices and symbolically removing their ability to achieve their future aspirations.

These stickers were then attached to a patchwork quilt made from African fabrics to create a permanent visual reminder of the kidnaped schoolgirls, dragged from their beds and denied their education and future dreams.

At the same time male students were asked to think of an inspirational female and reflect on how they have had a positive impact on their lives. We hope that our Artwork stimulates thought, provokes discussion and reminds us of the importance of education for all.

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SECONDARY

Visit to Art Basel Fair, Hong Kong By: Taku Yamane Year 10 Secondary Art students were given the opportunity to attend the international Art Basel fair in Hong Kong. The event showcases visual artwork from well renowned, as well as up and coming, artists. The students had a fantastic few days and here is what one student, Taku Yamane, has to say about the trip...

“The Art Basel International Art Fair was absolutely astonishing! It was the first time I’ve seen so many artworks in one day. Not only the amount, but it’s variety was massive too, and it was exciting from beginning to end. I didn’t even get to see all in the time I had. I would love to go next year to, and be re-astonished!!”

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SECONDARY

Maths Enrichment Week By: Nicola Welch In the week before Easter students in Years 7 to 9 were put to the test in three different mathematical House challenges.

The prizes up for grabs included a pizza lunch and some all-important House points.

Teams faced a data handling challenge and were tasked with collecting, displaying and analysing data on a range of subjects. Each team presented their findings at the end of the week to their peers and four expectant mathematics teachers. The challenges were as follows: Year 7 – Body statistics: Pupils collected data of height, arm span, bean bag throw and number of strides for each Year 7 pupil and tested hypotheses such as, “pupils that are tall can throw the bean bags the furthest.”

Year 8 - Who’s better at estimating?

Pupils collected estimates such as the weight of rice bags and the size of two angles and tested hypotheses such as, “girls are better at estimating time than boys.”

Year 9 – Global statistics: Year 9 pupils were set the most challenging and open task inspired by the show “Of all the people in all the world.” If you haven’t already seen it I strongly urge you to watch the video clip about the touring show when it came to Australia, (http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/project-ofall-the-people.html#introduction).

Pupils had to come up with a topic that was current or interesting and gain secondary data from the internet to aid an investigation.

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It was all go in the corridor and outside on the basketball court as pupils hurried to collect data needed to complete their challenges. Some pupils hurried a bit too much resulting in a big pile of rice on the classroom floor, as the bag for estimating weight was broken. A few beanbags were also thrown suspiciously close to Miss Welch’s head out on the court much to her dismay. Eventually, most of the data was collected and the pupils had learnt a valuable lesson or two about working systematically and efficiently to collect data quickly. Back in the classrooms, students split into their Houses and worked on testing their hypothesis for the rest of the week…… to varying degrees of success.

House points were awared for efficiency in data collection, appropriate use of diagrams to test the hypothesis, presentation of data and interpretation.

In Year 7 there was a stand out winning House where as Year 8 and 9 were much more hotly contested, with two teams battling for first place in each. In the end it was a very happy day if you were in a yellow shirt, as amazingly Viking swept the board and won in all three Years, much to the delight of Vikings captain Mr Delmotte.

There were positives to be taken from the week, however, it did highlight to the Maths department some weaknesses in the pupil’s ability to apply what they have learnt in a project based setting that is less structured. The Maths department hopes to develop these skills in the next challenge and over the next academic year. The next enrichment week will happen towards the end of the year on the topic of shape and space, giving our pupils further challenges outside of the curriculum and a chance to improve their problem solving skills and ability to work in teams. Watch this space.

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SECONDARY

PRC Annual Basketball Competition By: Ben Furniss Earlier in May the boys and girls U12 and U14 basketball teams competed in the PRC Annual Basketball Tournament. Our teams displayed some amazing performances and we went on to achieve the best results BSG has ever had. It is hard to believe that the U12s had only been learning basketball for five weeks prior to this tournament. The level of play reached by all players was highly impressive and we are extremely proud of each and everyone.

The U12 boys lost in a tense playoff after reaching the semi final and took 4th place in the tournament. They were eventually defeated 18-17 with the final shot of the game literally balancing on the hoop and then falling out the wrong side. It was an exciting and memorable experience for the boys and they should be extremely proud of their progress and the close competitive games they played with every team.

The U12 girls were outstanding. Their teamwork, screening, dribbling skills and defensive play led them all the way to the final, where in a highly competitive game they eventually lost by only one basket. As well as brining back the highly impressive 2nd place trophy, the girls also won the sportsmanship trophy, which reflected their brilliant attitude and effort. A great bunch of girls with high ability, well done to all of you!

The U14 boys had a long journey all the way to Shenzhen against some tough competition. The team eventually ended up in the playoffs and in an extremely tight game showed great skill and determination to win. They finished with the 3rd place trophy, which against a tough level of competition is something they should all be extremely proud.

Finally the U14 girls achieved something that has never been done. Through a tight defence, some outstanding individual performances and a great team spirit they amazingly finished 1st in a very close final. The girls have shown they have great ability and that they are capable of a high level of performance. This superb result reflects the huge potential they have and with more training and coaching, next year could be a highly successful one for this talented bunch of girls. Outstanding stuff!

BSG is extremely proud of all the players that took part and the level of performance shown and we look forward to seeing them develop, compete and win more games next year.

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SECONDARY

Enterprise Week By: Francine Hearn Enterprise Week offered our Year 10 Business Studies students a chance to unleash their ideas and make their mark in school.

Students formed partnerships and sold various goods and services from heavenly homemade cupcakes and cotton candy to helium balloons and jewellery. The products were sold throughout the week at break and lunch time to both Primary and Secondary School customers.

The students were entirely responsible for planning Enterprise Week including marketing the event as well as their own goods and services.

Entrepreneurship is exciting and challenging.

As the students discovered it can also be risky having invested their own money into products not knowing for sure if they would break even let alone make any profit. Luckily, our budding entrepreneurs proved successful with the right marketing strategies and every group had broken even by the Wednesday.

The trophy for ‘Entrepreneurs of the Year 2014’ was awarded to Valerie and Emmelyne as their cupcakes were the fastest selling products and most profitable.

A certificate for ‘Best Sales Person’ has also been awarded to Sueda who remained motivated throughout the week and demonstrated outstanding sales skills.

I am pleased that we were also able to offer a donation from Enterprise Week to Action Aid.

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Honda Car Factory Visit Francine Hearn Immediately before breaking up for the Labour Day holiday, Year 10 Geography and Business Studies students finished the term by visiting the Honda car factory in Huangpu to learn about manufacturing and operations management in support of the topics currently being taught for IGCSE. The students were introduced to Honda through a presentation and a tour of the exhibition hall where they learnt about company policies and procedures and their aim to protect the environment.

Students were then guided through two workshops, the fittings shop and the assembly line where they learnt about the production process, location decisions and methods used to limit damage to the environment.

The Year 10 students thoroughly enjoyed the visit and the knowledge gained will benefit them greatly as they progress through their Geography and Business Studies IGCSE.

Encouraging Responsibility

Stimulating Learning Environments

Inspiring Leaders

Embracing the Future

Self-Confidence

Independence

Creative Learning

Diversity

www.bsg.org.cn Engaging Curriculum

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