BSG Newsletter - iSSUE 6, 2014/15

Newsletter

Issue 6 - 2014/15

The British School of Guangzhou

“Kitty Su, Gia Tan and Cindy Lin will travel to the Juilliard School, New York, as part of the Global Orchestra initiative. This is a wonderful opportunity, as they will spend time with students from all over the world, attending Juilliard’s prestigious music programme workshops.” Mark Thomas, Principal To download a copy of this newsletter, please visit www.bsg.org.cn

message from the principal

Dear Parents, With any luck, by the time you read this, the storms that have characterised the start of May will have moved on and we will be enjoying a few more blue skies. The examination season is now upon us with Secondary students involved in their IGCSE and A-level examinations and Primary students sitting their SAT tests. We are confident that the work students and staff have done over the last 2 terms will have prepared them for this moment. As always, we encourage parents to ensure that students get enough sleep to help them to do their best.

I would like to add my congratulations to the talented musicians who were chosen to represent our school in the inaugural Nord Anglia Global Orchestra that will take place in New York during the summer holidays. I have no doubt that Cindy Lin, Gia Tan and Kitty Su will be excellent ambassadors for the school, and am looking forward to hearing about their experiences when they return. I am sure that their success will inspire their peers to show even greater musical commitment and impact positively on our own orchestra. They will be joined on this trip by our very own Peter Sinclair, who will be using his skills to help conduct a Nord Anglia combined choir. Peter will then return to New York with the music department in August to participate in workshops with teachers from the Juilliard School as part of our efforts to provide a truly world-class music programme in The British School of Guangzhou.

This year, our Primary performance is breaking new ground by taking the production of ‘Oliver!’ to a Guangzhou theatre. Over the last few years, demand for tickets has meant that we have outgrown any of our school venues. They have therefore taken the decision to perform for one night only in the BUD Theatre, Guangzhou (http://www.beileitheatre. com/hall_about.php). This will mean that there are enough tickets for all the family to come along and enjoy our performance, so do note the date of Wednesday, 17th June, in your diary. Please look out for advance ticket sales and book early by contacting Gemma.

Campbell@bsg.org.cn to get the best seats in the house.

Work on our new Secondary building is going extremely well and the facilities team are meeting regularly with Secondary management to check plans and ensure that we create a space that meets the needs of our oldest students. We will be providing you with photographic updates soon and know that students and parents will be keen to make this new facility their own.

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Preparations for the Primary FOBISIA games are continuing with our young athletes putting in lots of additional training sessions with our dedicated PE teachers. FOBISIA sports events are extremely competitive and they will face stiff competition. However, I know that teachers and students have done everything possible to prepare for this competition, and I am sure that they will do themselves justice. This year we have a larger contingent of parent supporters flying out to enjoy the event, so I am expecting to receive lots of photographs of students in action.

I am sure that like the rest of us, you have all looked on with horror as events have unfolded in Nepal. We are currently organising a fundraising event to help the people of Nepal rebuild their lives. Any funds raised will be channelled to aid agencies recommended by the British School of Kathmandu, a fellow FOBISIA school. I cannot imagine what the staff and students there must be going through, but would urge everyone to get involved and provide what support they can.

Kind regards,

Mark Thomas Principal

Farewell, Audrey II Secondary’s production of The Little Shop of Horrors was a fantastic success, and so much so that Audrey II held prime position in our reception area. Time had come though for the art team’s creation to bid farewell over the May holiday. Audrey II left on a motorised kart with a wave from our gardener, Meizhen Wang.

Congratulations to Kitty Su, Gia Tan and Cindy Lin! The inaugural Nord Anglia Global Orchestra is a truly exciting opportunity for our young musicians. We look forward to hearing about their experiences when they return for the new academic year.

Important information is often sent via email.

If you are not receiving emails, please contact our receptionist, Rainbow Chen, at rainbow@bsg.org.cn 3

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NEW Secondary School Building & Lakefront Campus Developments Announced New Secondary Building Opening January 2016!

We will have a major addition to the South Lake Campus next year with the addition of 6200m2 of green land that will house a 2600m2 building specifically designed for our older students. Mr. Ruck has been working closely with our Construction and Facilities Teams and we are pleased to announce that work is on schedule.

The exciting new purpose built annex is located on the Nanhu Lake behind the current Secondary football pitch.

Additional facilities will include: ~ 14 Secondary Classrooms ~ Senior Library & 6th Form Centre ~ ‘Tuck Shop’ area ~ Canteen & Activity Rooms ~ Art Studio with a Ceramics Room ~ Outdoor seating & spectator areas

Lakefront Gets a Make Over!

Our Early Years Centre will see a completely redesigned interior over the summer.

The new look will compliment the recently refurbished outside playground, offering our youngest students a brighter indoors with some ‘funky’ work and play areas plus the addition of air purifiers throughout the building.

Swimming Season Just Got BIGGER The swimming pool on the South Lake campus will see the addition of heating and a removable cover. This will allow swimming practice and classes be extended quite considerably from September 2015. Changing rooms and the pool area will also be renovated to offer our students an upgraded swimming experience from next year.

“The new Secondary wing will have a park area outdoors overlooking the lake with its own coffee shop.”

“The Sixth Form centre will provide worldclass facilities for students on the path to university.”

focus

2015 University Destinations With the growth of the Secondary school, we are preparing to say goodbye to our second group of BSG graduates who this summer are due to complete their A-Levels and head off to universities all around the world. It has been a privilege to help our students to develop into confident, independent young adults and we have been thrilled to see our students receive some remarkable offers from top universities around the world.

In addition to preparing students academically, we also see the importance in students developing independence skills since many will be living away from home for the first time. During term 2, we held ASA sessions that aimed to prepare students as much as possible for university life. These sessions included cooking, ironing, furniture assembly, drugs and alcohol awareness, idioms and personal relationships.

The university offers received would not have been possible without the hard work of our students in achieving excellent grades and taking full advantage of the enrichment opportunities and support available at the school. Come with us now on a journey through some of our graduates’ choices‌ Name: Dalbert Ma A-level subjects: Maths, Further Maths, English, History & AS Business Studies University: University of Durham/Pamona Degree: Philosophy, Politics & Economics I decided to simply pursue what I loved in school - liberal arts. Both History and English Literature A Level gave me a means to express my voice, and with interest came passion, and with passion came direction.

This is precisely where I landed on the PPE Course (Politics, Philosophy, Economics). I wanted to choose a course which would balance my interests whilst at the same time give me considerable direction for the future. Looking at universities which incorporated this considerably new course,

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I applied for the ones which reflected my goals and reciprocated my passions. Cheesy as it may sound, sometimes you just need to take the cliché path and go for what you enjoy - because that’s the path you won’t regret.

Name: Anjelica Polychronopoulos A-level subjects: English, Art, Psychology & Geography (AS) University: University of Melbourne Degree: Journalism Picking the right university for me wasn’t as difficult as I anticipated.

However, not everything was smooth sailing. Picking the course...now that was my biggest challenge! Entering into the world of media and communications there are so many different courses and many different career paths that need to be consider. One of the most valuable pieces of advice that I was given at BSG was to keep my options open when applying to a course and specifying, which stream of journalism I wanted to enter into.

Name: Toluwani Omibiyi A-level subjects: History, Psychology & Chinese University choice: The American University Degree: International Studies For me, it was figuring out what degree I wanted to do that was the hardest. I looked to my interests (both subject wise and extra curricular) for inspiration and searched for degrees relating to them. I have always had great interest in different cultures and travelling so studying international studies/relations will give me a great platform to explore my interests further. The key is to think about things you are passionate about, and enjoy, then find a way to turn them into a career.

Name: Caleb Habos A-level subjects: Business Studies, Physics & English University: National University of Singapore/Singapore University of Technology and Design Degree: Industrial Design I knew very early on that Industrial Design was what I wanted to major in university. However, it is one of the rarer courses. Applying to Singapore is a tough process. It took me a while to realise, but each school has very different requirements and it takes frequent visits to their websites to fully understand their application processes. You will truly need all the help you can get to simply organise your applications and identify every little requirement from each university there.

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Name: Lorraine Liao A-level subjects: Maths, Further Maths, Chinese & Physics (AS) University choice: Kings College London Degree: Mathematics For me it was not very difficult to choose what I wanted to study in the university. I’ve always enjoyed studying Maths, considered Maths easy and liked solving Maths problems, so I was definitely sure that I wanted to continue Maths as my career in the university.

During the course of studying A-level, the school gave me various opportunities such as the Student Prefect. My advice is that take these opportunities to incorporate them into your personal statements. As for choosing the course for university, choose what you enjoy.

Name: Kelly Wong A-level subjects: Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry (AS) & Biology (AS) University choice: UCL Degree: Civil Engineering (MEng) It had been very difficult for me to choose what I wanted to study in the future. At the time I thought the reason why I was so fickle was because I was ‘finding my passion’, but later on I realised I was only scared of the idea of having to fully commit to a decision. After that realisation somehow it became much easier to see what was right for me. I knew that I just wanted to be someone useful to the society, so combining my strengths - mathematics and physicscivil engineering just seemed like the best way for me to do that.

As for universities, I believe the location and the size of the university will directly affect your experience as a student there. I have always been a city person, and so that was my main discriminator when choosing universities. Apart from all the ranking tables and university websites, you may also want to go on some student forums (e.g. the student room) where you can learn more about what current students think of their course.

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Name: Linda Kim A-level subjects: Business Studies, History, Maths, Chinese (AS) & English (AS) University choice: University of Hong Kong Degree: Business Administration Until the end of Year 12, I wasn’t quite sure which major I actually wanted to take since I still didn’t have an idea of what I was good at or interested in. I had to make a decision between Journalism (as I like writing) and Business Administration (which was my parents’ preference). However, at the start of Y13 I decided to drop Chinese and English Literature and take the two-year Business Studies course in one year. Even if this seemed challenging at first, I strongly believe that I’ve made the right decision because I found that I really love the subject and have interests in the business world. From then on, I was convinced that I should take Business Administration course at university, which made choosing the major easier. In terms of location, I only applied to universities in Hong Kong as I wanted to remain in Asia and my family is going to stay in Guangzhou even after I left for university. I believe that advice from teachers on personal statement and career mentoring had helped me through the whole application process, and I’m convinced that the future Y13s would also be able to make their decisions in due course!

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Global Classroom: Outstanding Contribution Award Jojo Guo, Year 9 By: Aidan Edmanson We have recently found out that BSG achieved runnerup for ‘Biggest Impact’ for the Global Classroom and Oxfam-affiliated ‘Make it Right’ project, which was carried out in January of this year. This is testament to the effort and dedication of our students, from Primary and throughout Secondary, in terms of their desire to spread awareness of every child’s right to an education and their commitment to make a difference.

However, one student in particular, was a stand-out star!

Jojo Guo, one of our Year 9 students, was truly inspirational throughout. She was involved from everything, from taking a leading role in her House during the challenge; delivering an awareness lesson to Year 5 students; translating articles from Chinese into English for Oxfam; carrying out the sponsored walk into school; opting for the rice-only lunch to raise funds, and even taking a leading part in writing the submission for our ‘Make it Right’ whole-school entry. More than this however, she took it upon herself to organise a trip to a local Chinese Primary school: Puiching Primary. Her, and a few other year 9 students (Elif Yolcu, Peter Chong and Jimin Chung) delivered an entire lesson in Chinese to promote the need for every child to receive an education. As well as this, Jojo set them the challenge of initiating their own project to promote the cause, which Puiching gratefully took on. They ended up hosting a Saturday fair where all funds raised went towards their two selected educational charities: ‘Yuexiu district foundation’ and ‘Guangdong Province Red Scarf foundation’. They ended up raising an astonishing 168,662RMB! Jojo, this is phenomenal and would not have happened without you and the time, passion and commitment that you demonstrated from start to finish. Well done and we are extremely proud of you as a school.

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community

Serving the Community By: Gemma Campbell Our mission is to encourage a sense of responsibility and respect amongst students by involving them in a range of community engagement activities.

The impact of community engagement activities on your child The school aims to develop students to become well-rounded individuals who are active participants in the local and global society. Through participation in community engagement students will gain a good understanding of the issues that face the local and wider community and will be armed with the skills to make a difference or influence change.

The impact of BSG on the community We are in the fortunate position to be able to support local charities in Guangzhou as well as charities on a more global scale.

We plan events throughout the year to help raise money for a variety of charities.

In particular we have favoured those that focus on supporting children who are less fortunate than ourselves. ActionAid and GETCH are our school’s affiliated charities that have benefited from such fundraising activities.

Our current priorities and activities We aim to continue working with our affiliated charities (ActionAid and GETCH) by supporting them through activities such as art projects, visits and fundraising.

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This academic year we offered Secondary students the chance to apply for charity leadership positions. These positions gave students the responsibility to create fresh innovative ideas for the continuity of fundraising within the school.

Money is raised throughout the year from a number of different events held, in and around school such as International Day, BSG Backstage magazine, selling second hand uniform, the Make it right campaign, non-uniform days, Movember and many more.

Summary of the initiatives and charities we support: Action Aid 62,918.62 RMB As in previous years, this money will be donated at the end of the academic year once a contract has been drawn up between Action Aid and The British School of Guangzhou explaining in detail where the money will be spent. The Secondary student charity committee are also given the opportunity to visit the Primary school in Guangxi province and see what the donated money means to them. The funds help to provide The Jian Primary School with resources that help to improve the learning environment within and around the school.

GETCH 35,405 RMB We recently invited some of the students from GETCH to The British School of Guangzhou to participate in an Art ASA. Together with our students they created 4 large canvas paintings. We will be giving them mini postcards of the canvas paintings for them to sell at future events. The students were able to keep the art resources that were purchased in order to continue their love of art.

With the help of some very generous parents and teachers our school ran a fun activity stall at the annual GETCH charity fair on Saturday, 9th May. Unfortunately, the heavens opened at 12pm and it relentlessly rained for the rest of the day. This didn’t put a dampener on everyone’s spirits and there were still smiles and a great sense of community throughout. Through the glimpses of sunshine we managed to raise 405 RMB, which was donated directly to GETCH. GIVES 1045.5 RMB This money was raised and donated to GIVES at the GIVES International Food Festival earlier this year.

The Secondary student charity committee joined forces to run a fun activity stall at the festival. This gives them ownership and responsibility of their own stall. Funds help to support children with autism in China.

OXFAM 19,316 RMB As a result of the Make It Right campaign money was raised from a number of events including a sponsored walk from The Sofitel Hotel to The British School of Guangzhou. The money was donated to Oxfam, which is a charity dedicated to fighting poverty.

Movember 12502.3 RMB Some of our male members of staff decided to grow their moustache throughout the month of November (Movember) in order to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer.

Room to Read 34540 RMB This money has been used to build a library in Nepal and fund 8 children through Primary school in Vietnam.

Shenzhen Longgang Society Welfare Centre 2000 RMB + 400 Shoeboxes The money was used to help with the delivery of the shoeboxes from The British School of Guangzhou to the children’s orphanage. The shoeboxes were greatly received by the Children at the centre, their children’s faces lit up with delight when they opened their gifts.

The whole school community united and demonstrated tremendous generosity with the incentive to provide children less fortunate a small gift during the festive period.

Help The Homeless Earlier this year, Secondary students brought in various toiletries e.g. toothpaste, shampoo, soap etc… The items were later distributed to homeless people in Guangzhou through a local parish.

Young Enterprise A group of our Secondary students carry out various fundraising activities throughout the year e.g. bake sales, selling greetings cards for special occasions and running food stalls at various events. This year they decided to donate their proceeds to Action Aid. Upcoming Charitable Initiatives: Help Nepal 2015 As a school we feel it is important to help areas affected by natural disaster in any way possible.

On Thursday 21st May we will be holding a charitable event to raise funds and awareness for the earthquake in Nepal.

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early years foundation 14

Best Dressed Student Kaidong Huang Reception Seahorses

Maths Festival By: Sarah Sheppard The children in Pre-Nursery, Nursery and Reception engaged in plenty of activities related to our ‘Maths Festival’. As part of our ‘maths day’, we had a house event where we split into our house colour teams and participated in various ‘maths themed’ activities.

Some of these activities included singing songs, play dough fun, playing games on the interactive whiteboard, colouring, puzzles, creating patterns, ordering and matching numbers and even using the iPads to enhance our learning of ‘mathematics’! It proved to be extremely rewarding and fun for the children.

early years foundation

We All Go Travelling By! By: Victoria Wheildon “Beep Beep!” “All Aboard!” “Blast off!”

If you recently took a stroll through PreNursery’s free flow indoor and outdoor learning then these are a few of the things you may have heard. This is all due to our popular topic of ‘Transport’.

We have had a wonderful time learning all about transport by land, sky and sea.

We had fun creating our own role-play train area, complete with train drivers and ticket collectors. The children took turns to decide upon a destination (often Hong Kong) and to make sure all on board held the correct ticket.

During our outdoor learning time, we practiced our fine motor skills by folding colourful paper airplanes and sending them flying into the sky. We also enjoyed lots of sensory transportrelated experiences, from rolling cars in shaving foam to sending our homemade paper boats down the water run slides.

We also had tremendous fun playing stop-go games with our very own traffic lights – the children had to listen carefully to the instructions so that they knew when to get ready, set and go!

The highlight of our activities had to be the car washing service that was on offer daily. Anything with wheels was cleaned to an excellent standard for an excellent price. Great job Teddy Bears, Bunnies and Ducklings!

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early years foundation 16

Bathing Babies By: Marianne Neel Nursery have been busy learning about how things grow and change over time. We have even been looking at how we have changed in our short lives by making photo frames with pictures of ourselves as babies, toddlers and a recent shot.

Wow we had fun guessing who was who in our classes. The TAs and Teachers laughed a lot too and had to make sure all our pictures were carefully labeled because it was not always easy to tell the children apart.

We had a special visitor Ana-Sofia who was just 5 months old. AnaSofia came in with her Mum Charo to show us how a baby is bathed.

In Nursery we can do lots of things for ourselves but looking back just 3 years ago we were very reliant on the people who loved us to do things for us. Ana-Sofia was an absolute star and allowed us all to watch how she took her bath. She loved being in the water and never cried once. Her big sister Natalia assisted with the bath and proved to be a good help, wiping away soapy bubbles and pouring over water to rinse Ana-Sofia. We watched how Ana-Sofia was dried and how a nappy was put on. Somebody even got to comb her hair for her and put on special moisturiser.

Nursery than sang ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ to Ana-Sofia which she loved. The song worked like a charm and when Ana-Sofia came back to class she slept quietly whilst her Mum, Charo and helper Aiko ate their lunch. What a perfect baby.

We also had baby George visit with his Dad Mike. George had a lot of fun splashing around in the bath and showing us how he helped his Dad with bathtime. He enjoyed showing us his towel and how he could help himself to get dressed. George was a little bit older than Ana-Sofia so was very keen to show everybody how he liked things to be done.

After watching a real baby being bathed we practiced a lot washing babies in our class. No don’t worry – not real ones!

We had fun and tried to remember to use gentle hands.

We all realised that when we were tiny we were a lot of work for our parents. So thank you Mum and Dad!

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early years foundation

Born to be Wild Since the beginning of this term, it has been a little wild in Reception classes! I’m not referring to the behavior of the teachers or students. Things have been a little different since the children were introduced to their new topic ‘Born to be wild’.

The focus of the topic has been animals from around the world.

Every week the children have had the opportunity to explore animals from different areas around the planet.

In the first week the children were introduced to Jungle animals. They started by watching a section of the Jungle book and developed their understanding of animals that live in the jungle. It gave the teachers the opportunity to correct the misconception that the lion is king of the jungle! The children started their weekly animal craft by making fantastic jungle animal masks.

In the second week we introduced the children to animals that live on the Savanna. We used the Lion King movie to provide the children with a familiar story that introduced Savannah animals. The children wrote about the different characters in the story, giving a little description of the character.

In future weeks we will explore animals that live in the sea. We will use the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ in order to provide the children with a context of animals that live in the sea. The children will also use non-fiction texts not only to look at, but to research and discover facts about different animals. This will develop their general knowledge of the world around them.

Using familiar movies in our topic has been really beneficial to the children’s learning. By giving the children content that is already familiar to them, teachers have been able to focus on very specific skills. At this time of the year in Reception a big focus is on the children’s writing. We have worked on finetuning the children’s ability to form letters, represent phonics when writing and to begin writing with an awareness of finger spaces, full stops and capital letters. The hard work is really starting to pay off and in both adult directed and independent writing, the children are really starting to shine. It is our hope that we are equipping the children with the skills that will allow them to make fantastic progress as they transition to Year 1 and Key Stage 1.

So if you happen to venture into the wild world that is Reception, we are sure that you will be impressed with the different species of learner that you will be able to see.

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Key Stage 3 Takeover By: Alfie Creissen On Tuesday, the 28th of April, the year 9 students were challenged to take over the Reception classes for the day.

They were asked to plan and arrange activities to suit the needs of the Reception classes.

The year 9’s were set a task called GIVES. They were to cover for the Reception teachers for the day. This comprised two topics - Eco awareness and healthy lifestyles.

The year 9 students started with some simple starter/getting to know you games and these were pitched perfectly to the children who all seemed to have a great time.

They then set the students to the main activity in this session which was to create a sculpture out of scrap boxes and bottles that we may have normally thrown in the rubbish. This was followed by a short presentation that explained about the pollution we cause by wasting resources.

These looked fantastic and were judged by Mr Thomas, Mr Ruck and Ms Kathy.

At lunchtime the year 9 students served the reception children and Nursery their lunch.

In the afternoon the Year 9’s introduced reception to the importance of a healthy lifestyle, the children were challenged to a series of activities promoting different areas to improve physical health.

It was a brilliant day for everyone involved. A big thank you to all the future teachers in year 9 and we look forward to welcoming you back in the near future.

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early years foundation

Welcome to Toddler Class Our first ever toddler class will open this August for children aged 1-2 years, offering flexible morning classes taught by our fully qualified UK teachers. Using the British early years curriculum, young children will make their first steps into education, finding their feet for the first time for a smooth transition into school life.

Our first class, the Toddler Cubs, will be taught by Sophie Corr in our new ageappropriate classroom being devleoped in July.

Sophie Corr is a qualified early years teacher from the UK who has been working at the British School of Guangzhou leading the Nursery team for the last 5 years. She is here with her husband and two children, Scarlet aged 10 and Thomas aged 7, and they are all very happy and settled here in Guangzhou. Sophie will be leading the teaching team within our new ‘Toddler Cubs’ class that will be opening in August 2015. This will be a half day programme that will be available as a 2/3 or 5 day sessions a week open for children between the ages of 1 and 2 years of age. If you would like any further information about this programme, please contact our admissions team directly at admissions@bsg.org.cn.

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early years foundation 22

Sports Day At Sports Day, Pre-Nursery, Nursery and Reception joined together in competing for the House Cup. The fun games included an obstacle course with egg and spoons, balancing with various sports equipment, invasion games, flying over hurdles and many other fun activities. Some parents even joined in at the end sprinting to collect as many bean bags as they could. A fun filled day was enjoyed by all!

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PRIMARY

Dr. Dangerous Must Be Defeated!

By: Aimee Bainbridge 5 weeks ago, Year 1 were beginning their Monday morning lessons as normal, when all of a sudden, a crazed villain called Dr Dangerous stormed in. He told the Year 1s of his plans to kidnap Mr Thomas and take over the whole school!

Obviously, the children were shocked, but as time passed their shock quickly turned to outrage. They decided, and demanded, that something must be done to stop him.

Over the past 5 weeks, they have created wanted posters, written letters to warn Mr Thomas of the danger he’s in, gone on a terrifying adventure to deliver a special potion to Dr Dangerous that might rob him of his powers and even taken part in numerous scientific experiments in order to be able to design the perfect superhero disguise.

Now, Dr Dangerous has become even more dastardly. Over the weekend, he kidnapped both Superkid AND Superkid’s pet hamster, Fluffy. As all our preparations for dealing with Dr Dangerous, draw to a close, the Year 1s are asking themselves questions like, “Have we done enough?” and, “Will we finally be able to defeat Dr. Dangerous, save the school AND rescue our friends?”

All will become clear on Friday when, dressed in our freshly made superhero disguises and armed with our in-depth knowledge of villains and the comic book genre, the Year 1 children will bravely sneak down to their nemesis’ lair and discover for good or ill, just what they’re made of.

Wish us luck!

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PRIMARY

Active Earth Year 2 celebrated the end of their unit ‘Active Earth,’ by erupting the volcanoes made in class. As you can see the children had a fantastic time and was a suitably fun way to finish our topic.

For the people who want to make a volcano at home, follow the instructions below.

1. Put a bottle with the top cut off on a square base.

2. Cut strips of card to stick from the bottom of the base to the top of the bottle.

3. Push newspaper inside the strips of card to give it a ‘full’ effect.

4. Cut strips of newspaper and papier-mâché this onto the strips of card.

5. Allow the volcano to dry.

6. Paint the volcanoes and allow it to dry again.

7. Put hot water, red dye, washing up liquid into the volcano bottle and finally add vinegar.

8. Watch volcano erupt!

Our planet’s activity plays a huge part in the lives of many people around the world. The children have thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about volcanoes and earthquakes and on this note all of Year 2 wish to send our thoughts and prayers to victims of the Nepalese earthquake.

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PRIMARY

Oliver! Print Design Winners By: Stuart Geraghty After much consideration and reviewing, the winners of the Oliver production print design competition were announced: ~ Amelie Piggott, Year 5JC Ticket Design Winner ~ Sean Joe, Year 4MM Poster Design Winner ~ Siwoo Yoon, Year 5AC -

Programme Cover Design Winner The designs were transformed into the print material that will be used for the advertising of the performance.

There were so many wonderful entries that a couple of other students’ creations were added Rafael from Year 4GT and Aashika from Year 4MM. The winning students had a special Photoshop design session with the school’s marketing department, watching their hand-drawn illustrations become graphics on an Apple Mac. The children were also given official staff badges with the title, ‘Designer’, and a small gift.

The students showed a good eye for design with some simple but effective images, combining their unique style with a real understanding of the spirit of the Oliver musical.

Siwoo Yoon

Sean Joe

Well done to the winners and everyone who submitted an entry!

Amelie Piggott 26

PRIMARY

Year 3 Get Sporty!

By: Amy Stather The Year 3’s have had an active few weeks.

Luckily we managed to fit in all these activities before the weather took a turn for the worse.

The children have just finished their Block of T-Ball lessons in PE. The last few sessions have been used to participate in some highly competitive inter class matches. The teachers often being the most competitive, striving to claim the unofficial title of Year 3 T-Ball champions! (I think it is pretty obvious that class 3AS should be crowned the champions, not that I’m bias!)

The children then had a nail gripping House Hockey tournament.

Each match was thrilling to watch, with some amazing stick skill on show. The whole event was made even more enjoyable with the House support that was shown by the whole of Year 3! As the matches progressed the lead teams kept changing, such was the quality of play and it came down to the last match to determine the winners. Well done to the Boys Viking team and the Girls Saxon team for their well deserved victories. (Mr Barton’s victory dance was my personal highlight of the afternoon!)

Later, the Year 3’s were in action again, taking part in the House Climbing Competition. I have never seen so many children scurry up a wall so fast. They showed great team spirit again, and there were some outstanding demonstrations of personal courage, with some children achieving heights they had never before reached. I was certainly a very proud Year 3 teacher that day, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.

If these events are anything to go by, Sports Day will be an exciting and memorable event.

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PRIMARY

Victorian Homes

By: Yvonne He Year 4 have been exploring the Victorian Times in Topic and circuits in Science. The children were then challenged to create a model version of an authentic Victorian room with a working electrical light.

Students were encouraged to work in groups to draft their interior design. It was impressive to see how they applied the pattern drawing to make the wall paper, which characterized the houses back in that time.

Students used circuits to assemble the ‘lights’ to demonstrate how rich Victorians first had electricity as a luxury daily appliance.

This experience enabled students to have a cross curricular understanding of life in Victorian times.

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PRIMARY

Practice Makes Perfect

By: Richard Marwood Year 5 took their Maths learning outdoors this month as they investigated the hypothesis ‘Does practice make perfect in Physical Education?’. Over the course of a week, the children jumped, hopped and sprinted each morning, carefully recording their results in a table for comparison later in the week.

LO:Can I use an iPad programme to present the results answering the hypothesis on Monday.

6

L 4.5 e n 3 g t 1.5 h 0 Monday

Wednesday

Days of week

Friday

Day Monday Tuestay Wednews day Thurstay Friday

4.16m 5.64m 4.81m 5m 5.09m

Hypothesis "Does practise improve performance in PE?" A:In my result, I compared Monday to Friday and by practising,I improve from 4.16 to 5.09metres. So, yes, practise make perfect.

Back in the class, we used our table to discuss whether we had proven our hypothesis, then used this data to create a graph of our results. Although the children mostly found that their performance improved as the week went on, some of the results actually worsened (blame the second helping of pizza and chips on Wednesday!).

Here you can see some of the completed work, as well as some of our children in action – based on our results, we may have some future Olympians amongst us here at BSG!

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PRIMARY

3D Contour Maps

In Year 5, the children managed to convert Climbing Colin’s topographical map into their very own 3D contour map. Here is just a selection from the year group.

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PRIMARY

Speed Climbing Competition By: Colin Wildy All Primary students took part in the Inagural House Climbing Competition; although the day was threated by thunderstorms it turned out to be a hot and suuny day. This made the students task that bit harder to ascend a challanging route in the quickest possible time.

Every student took to the challenge eagerly and everyone either reached the top of the climb or pushed themselves higher than they had ever been before. The event was a great success and I am very proud of how everyone did. However there has to be a winner and I can announce that the VIKING & ROMAN HOUSES tied what was a very hard fought competiotn.

Akimi Liu from 5D was the stand out climber with a time of 9 seconds, although many others were very close.

RESULTS Year 1 Year 1 Year 2 Year 2 Year 3 Year 3 Year 4 Year 4 Year 5 Year 5 Year 6 Year 6

Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl

Rupert Lian Isabella Ling Nemo Yuan Zoe Dewar Kenneth Kwan Young Yu Kwong Cohen Langford Amanda Pimental Marko Zanardo Akimi Liu Eduardo Bueno Selin Eichnau

1D 1C 2C 2B 3E 3A 4A 4A 5C 5D 6A 6A

14.81 sec.

18.66 sec.

12.19 sec.

18.02 sec.

12.06 sec.

13.88 sec.

11.63 sec.

10.00 sec.

9.21 sec.

9.00 sec.

9.65 sec.

9.78 sec.

(R) (S) (V) (R) (N) (R) (N) (V) (V) (N) (R) (V)

TIE BETWEEN VIKINGS & ROMANS !!!!!!

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PRIMARY 32

Sports Day

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A selection of BSG students have made a short video about the e-suggestion box, which you can watch through this QR code.

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SECONDARY

Nord Anglia-Juilliard School Collaboration Launch On Friday 17th April, BSG held a launch event for the new Nord Anglia-Juilliard collaboration. The evening showcased the talents of BSG students from across the performing arts subjects and provided an insight into proposed curriculum developments within performing arts and future links with Juilliard alumni.

To create a welcoming atmosphere for our parents, friends and special guests, a variety of students performed solo and ensemble pieces in the school foyer. Our guests enjoyed a glass of wine and canapés upon arrival before being escorted into the gym for a performance from the newly formed BSG orchestra. The orchestra and chamber group (Opus!) played a variety of pieces from their repertoire, including a Scottish Traditional folk song called Dark Island, Abdelazar by Purcell, and In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg.

After the short performance, everyone made their way into the theatre for the main event. The audience received a presentation by Ms Tricia Ross from The Juilliard School outlining the details of the new collaboration. They were also treated to a performance from our year 4 students, with their rendition of ‘Uptown Funk’, and a scene and song from our recent production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’.

Stephanie Song, violinist and Juilliard alumni, was the guest performer for the evening.

Before performing Stephanie gave a brief speech about how she has been inspired by music and the importance of promoting creativity through the performing arts for our young people. She performed three pieces by composers Massenet, Bach and Gershwin, accompanied by Ms Jennifer Li on the piano. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the excellent performances and showed their appreciation with thunderous applause!

The evening was a huge success for both the students of BSG and our guests from Julliard. We look forward to the future developments and links through this exciting collaboration. Well done to everyone involved!

By: Anjelica Polychronopoulos, Year 13, & Jessie Ng, Year 12

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Global Classroom Illustration Competition 2015: ‘Somewhere Unforgettable’ My illustration combines Hong Kong at the time I was born and the Hong Kong today. I wanted to illustrate all my memories of this unique place from the day I was born till now, which makes it so unforgettable and special to me.

Emma Mo

My painting shows a small part of a beach where there are rocks and sand meet the sea. I decided to paint this because it reminds me of my hometown in Taiwan, which is surrounded by the clean and peaceful sea. I feel it is unforgettable because I like to remember happy times when I go to the seaside with my family and have fun swimming in the sea and eating food on the beach. Selina Wang My ‘Somewhere Unforgettable’ is the beautiful city of Krumlov in the Czech Republic that I visited with my mum and dad in the summer holidays.

This intriguing city has been around since the 13th century, and was listed in the world cultural heritage in 1992. Luckily it has stayed peaceful for 5 centuries while war raged on, so it has never lost its’ fascinating original Gothic architecture.

In my drawing I wanted to show how beautiful Krumlov is. I loved the sight of the meandering river surrounded by the terracottatiled roofs of the houses. The temperature was moderate and I highly recommend friends to go. Terry Chan

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SECONDARY

Maths Global Classroom Competition By: Hannah Watson Since Christmas a large portion of the BSG students have been competing against the other Nord Anglia schools across the world, in the Mathematics global classroom competition. The competition has consisted of two levels, junior and senior, and has tested pupils in their problem solving skills over a grueling 4 rounds.

Each round consisted of 7 questions that the pupils had 35 minutes to work on with a calculator, making the whole competition out of 28 marks.

For every round, along with the other schools competing, we put our best 8 scores forward to go towards our schools final score.

As a school after two rounds we were doing particularly well in the junior competition, however the seniors, which consisted of only 20 pupils, were finding it much more difficult. The final scores are not yet in so I look forward to reporting these to you when we get them!

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I wanted to take this opportunity to personally congratulate all pupils that competed in all 4 rounds and also highlight some of our best pupils, as we had some quite outstanding performances!

SECONDARY

Maths FOBISIA, Vietnam By: Angel Lee & Caitlyn Yap We had an amazing, unforgettable trip to Vietnam. We were greeted in the reception area of the hotel, it was grand. We each received a bag, containing interesting objects including a Rubik’s cube (we tried to solve it later on, but with little success).

Additionally, we also got a Vietnamese hat, called do’un! We ended the first day with some ice-breaker activities and listened to the welcoming speech.

The next day, we woke up - the bed was just too comfy! We headed down for breakfast where we feasted upon delicious food such as: traditional Vietnamese noodles, omelets and pancakes. We started with an individual round. It was easy since we did half of the questions before (thanks problem solving club!). Next was the Maths trail like a treasure hunt but instead you have to find the clues and solve them in a certain order; you are also graded on how many you managed to solve. It was exhausting!

We had to run around the huge resort nonstop for two hours to search for clues. The other team, which was Shing and Dawoo’s team, were smart enough to make a map of the resort, so they could find the clues quicker. After we reached the hotel, we took quick showers as we were going to meet at Shing’s room to have a Minecraft party. We had a blast and Terence ordered room service, which was pizza!

On Saturday, we had our delicious breakfast in the hotel, and gathered on the for the last few rounds of competition. Our first round of competition was to split the four of us into two pairs. Pair one has to answer a question, and their answer will be required in order for the second pair to answer the second question. At first, it was easy, however it got a lot harder! The next competition was cross-number. In the end, we achieved a high score and came third overall. At ABCIS in the afternoon, we did a maths carousel - it was great fun! After that, we had probably the most exciting competition we had yet: a relay race. The scene was magnificent yet hilarious; 41 teams sprinting around the court, whilst there teammates tried as hard as they can, all trying to be the first to finish all the questions. The difficulty of the questions varied: some were extremely hard, some were very easy.

From this trip, we gained a lot: not only did we get better at problem solving, found out that Maths is absolutely extraordinary and fun, but we also made lots of new friends, met lots of people that are amazing at maths, and learned that if we want to do better next time, we need to practice more, do more questions. It was an incredible experience, and something that will stay in our memory forever. We tried hard, and gained a lot. Hopefully, next time, we can do even better!

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SECONDARY 40

Year 8 Volcano Experts By: Hannah Watson In Geography this week, 8A became “Volcano Experts” for Year 2.

Year 2 and Year 8 are currently studying volcanoes, so the Year 2s questioned the Year 8s knowledge on lots of different facts about volcanoes, especially Mount Fuji in Japan.

The year 2s had prepared a whole range of questions, which varied in difficulty and the Year 8s gave some very good answers, drawing on their knowledge and understanding from Geography lessons. I was particularly impressed with Monica Mok, Eunis Cheung

and Cameo Li who confidently answered questions in front of the whole year group!

This experience was beneficial for all as the Year 2s practiced their questioning and enquiry skills, and the Year 8s consolidated their understanding of volcanoes, as well as learnt more about Mt Fuji from the Year 2s. This event demonstrated a real ‘love of learning’ from all students!

SECONDARY

Volcano Competition By: Hannah Watson Year 8 are currently studying ‘Plate Tectonics’ and were given a 3 week, independent research project, to create a model of a volcano using any materials of their choice. The results were outstanding and showed a true love of learning and commitment.

9 volcanoes reached the final of the competition. They were judged on how original and informative the volcanoes were as well as whether the volcano had the ‘X-Factor’ (the unique element that made it different to all the other volcanoes).

Our judges, Mr Edmanson, Mr Howe and Miss Burgess, found it very difficult to select the top 3 volcanoes. However, after much discussion and deliberation, the top 3 were chosen.

In third place, was Trixinne Silangan from 8A (Viking).

In second place, was Mahek Kalwani from 8B (Roman) The winning volcano was created by a group of girls, Monica Mok (8A), Karina Ching and Caitlyn Yap (8C) (Normans/Viking) I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all the students who took the time and effort to make their volcanoes. I was very impressed with the results!!!

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SECONDARY

PSHE Snack Attack Challenge By: Sarah Burgess Year 8 students recently spent time during PSHE looking at healthy eating and how to make healthy choices. As part of the topic, students were put into teams and had to create their very own healthy snack. Last Thursday, Year 8s brought in their tasty snacks, which went on sale during morning registration and break time.

A number of judges were given the difficult task of sampling all twelve snacks and choosing two winning teams. The sampling was the easy part but the decision-making was much more difficult with four teams battling it out as contenders for the top spots.

Off course the taste mattered, but it was also the effort students had gone to and how well they worked together as a group.

Finally, the two winning teams were chosen and they will enjoy a reward next week. These were: Muffins and smoothies- Jazzie, Eunis and Kristina 8A The tasty Pi- Angel, Jenna and Selina 8C Well done to all Year 8 students for making the effort with this challenge.

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SECONDARY

Enterprise Week By: Francine Hearn Enterprise week held on 20th – 24th April was a very successful enterprise project offering Year 10 Business Studies and Economics students a chance to unleash ideas and make their mark.

The event was held in NC35 and the coffee shop area during break and lunch time and was opened up to Primary and Secondary students and staff.

Students formed partnerships and sold various goods and services from homemade cupcakes, brownies, pancakes and waffles to bouncy balls and lemonade. Prior to the event, students were responsible for planning Enterprise Week including marketing the event as well as their own goods and services.

Entrepreneurship is exciting, challenging yet risky, students invested their own money in the products they sold not knowing whether they would break even let alone make a profit. With the right marketing mix most groups had broken even by Wednesday.

A trophy has been awarded to Bianca, Lisa and Bethany for ‘Entrepreneurs of the Year 2015’ as their vegetable sticks and homemade hummus and cupcakes were the fastest selling products and most profitable.

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

Students also donated a percentage of their profits to the Nepalese Earthquake appeal raising over 2400rmb. I would like to thank the following students for their generous donation of 100% of their profits: Apple Lee, Yanly Ying, Grace Xie, Alexandra Achilli, Andrew Ding and Steven Xie. 43

SECONDARY

Honda Car Factory Visit By: Francine Hearn Year 10 Geography, Economics and Business Studies students visited the Honda car factory in Zhengcheng to learn about the business and the environment, 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 Honda’s policies and procedures and their aim to protect the environment through waste management.

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 opportunity to visit the assembly line and fitting shop, the knowledge gained will benefit them greatly as they progress through their Geography and Business Studies IGCSE.

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KS3 Challenge: Give! Project By: Aidan Edmanson The end of April saw our KS3 students take on their final KS3 Challenge of this academic year. This challenge in particular called for them to draw on the school’s five Core Values: love of learning, commitment, respect, responsibility and especially integrity. The reason for this was that it revolved completely around the idea of giving something back to another group of people… whether this was through giving experience, time, passion or even friendship.

In one sense, this was the toughest KS3 Challenge to date, as our students also had so little time to meet their objectives. Monday was all they had in terms of planning and then the expectation was that all students would be ready to deliver their Tuesday project in year group-specific House teams. Finally, Wednesday was where Houses had an opportunity to regroup as a whole Key Stage and prepare presentations that documented and reflected on all of the great work that was completed in the projects. These were carried out in the theatre in front of a packed audience on Wednesday afternoon.

The Projects: Year 7: ‘What makes a well-rounded Secondary student?’

The Year 7 projects involved the Year 7s working with their respective Year 6 House in the interest of transition.

Students were tasked with producing a video guide to being a well-rounded Secondary student, which was played to the Year 6s. As well as this they delivered personal speeches on their own experience, planned a mini-lesson and held a question-and-answer session.

The Year 6 students and teachers alike, commented that it was great to see the two year groups working together and, more specifically, seeing the Year 7s reflect on their own school experience in a way that benefitted and prepared the Year 6s for next year!

Year 8: ‘Core Values- GETCH art project’ Respect and integrity were key to the year 8 challenge, as once again, the school aimed to forge even stronger

links with the community and the charitable GETCH foundation. This involved BSG Year 8 students and GETCH students working together to produce a piece of artwork (on a giant canvass no-less), which successfully demonstrate our school’s five Core Values. Keep an eye out for the winning piece of art as it is to be displayed prominently in the school next year. The main area that students were being observed on in this task however, was not the art, but how well they cooperated with the GETCH students and how positively they welcomed and supported them. Year 8 should be very satisfied with how they conducted themselves and rose to the occasion.

Year 9: ‘Year 9 Reception Takeover!’

Without doubt, this was the toughest project of the three, as Year 9s, in their House teams, were given the monumental task of taking over the Early Years Reception site for a whole school day…and let’s not forget that they had to plan a whole host of activities for this in ONLY ONE DAY! The day itself was a massive hit and the Reception pupils found that working with the Secondary students extremely enjoyable.

The day’s activities included: delivering a morning assembly; running icebreaker activities in their House; delivering sessions on eco-awareness and healthy lifestyles; a House sculpture competition; serving lunch; settling students after lunch with an engaging ‘story-time’; planning and delivering active games in the afternoon, and finally allowing an opportunity for Reception pupils to reflect on what they had learnt. Needless to say, by the end of the day we had some very tired, yet very proud and pleased, Year 9 students. Well done!

The Results: Our eventual victors, taking into account scoring from the Wednesday presentations and especially the Tuesday projects, were the ROMANS! With that said however, it was clear to see that all students involved gained enormously from the experience and they truly conducted themselves with dignity, demonstrated commitment throughout and acted as ambassadors for our Secondary school!

Congratulations Key Stage 3!

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SECONDARY

International Award: Silver Journey Last weekend Mr Joyce, Mr Wildy and Miss Troughton took nine students up to the Hills of Southern China, on a gruelling three night two day, selfsufficient qualifying expedition for their Silver ‘International Award’.

Waking up at 05:15 am on Saturday morning was miserable. Outside was blanketed in heavy darkness, thunder rumbled and grumbled and the rain drove down like spears. The street was also pitch black and there were no taxis. Walking down to the main road to try and hail a cab meant I’d got soaked before I’d even started hiking – the omens weren’t good. In my head all I could think was “geez this is going to be grim” and “geez if I was a student and getting up to this I’d not be looking forward to it”.

Arriving to school just after 06:00 am everyone else was already present – apart from for Judy – and surprisingly sprightly which was refreshing and we soon boarded the coach and made our two-hour journey north.

The mood on the coach had definitely been dampened by the weather as most opted to sleep.

Alighting the coach visibility was limited as the bamboo forests and peaks of the mountains were shrouded by mizzle. Even the dogs that could barely mutter a growl were cowering under the porch of a house come restaurant. At this point I think everyone was feeling a little bit nervous. Even Mr Wildy doesn’t like three days of being wet from head to toe. Nevertheless my group – Cindy Lin, Judy Huang, Jan Janeczek and

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Tae Kyu Lee – were ready to depart and we set off on our climb up-hill.

And that’s how the morning went until lunchtime: up-hill.

In the dry this was a challenging route, but in the wet it was treacherous and the students did a great job overcoming such testing conditions.

Both groups met up for lunch in a dip between the two peaks of Chicken Pillow Mountain and traded stories of the difficulties of their ascent. It was at this juncture when Ronald Zheng first introduced us to his selfheated military ration packs, making no need for any cooking equipment – surprisingly the food was edible!

Sadly the normally staggering views from the peaks of Chicken Pillow Mountain were limited to a wall of white cloud. What was glaringly visible was just how dirty we all were, but spirits were high and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

The first cohort to make it to Day 1’s campsite was Mr Wildy and Miss Troughton’s group comprised of Daniel Jeon, Eric Tai, Rondald Zheng, Valerie Lye and Ann Yu. My group arrived exhausted and in the dark.

Fortunately there weren’t too many distractions in the bamboo forest and we were all early to bed.

Unzipping the tent on Sunday morning the transformation in weather was remarkable: bold blue skies and sun. By 08:00 am breakfast had been eaten and camp packed away. Before long we were pounding the trail with the students navigating their way through waking villages,

the sleepy inhabitants surprised by the fresh-faced foreigners and their massive backpacks. An abundance of steep switchbacks and short ups and downs had us all out of breath and we enjoyed a couple of drinks stops to refuel ahead of the long walk to the campsite.

Pleasingly, my group made it to the campsite first after overtaking Mr Wildy and Miss Troughton’s group while they were dressing blisters with plasters. They proceeded to get lost and didn’t make it to the campsite until night was beginning to fall.

Another early night was needed ahead of a massive climb the next morning.

Having arrived at the campsite first out of the teachers, I’d took first dibs on pitches and had positioned my tent looking down a single-track trail meandering off into the bamboo.

Poking my head out of my tent’s front door on Monday morning I wasn’t let down by the view, nor was I saddened by the strong morning sun. Saturday was becoming a distant memory and we were all set for the final push.

There was no escaping the first climb of the day; it was brutal. Less than one hundred metres from the campsite we were into it, hauling our weary bodies and heavy backpacks up a relentless slope. Finally we broke out of the never-ending tree line and the views were spectacular. Even the tired students could appreciate we were very lucky to be traversing along such a beautiful ridgeline on a Monday morning.

After topping out many of the biggest mountains in the Conghua area the trail finally started heading down and back towards our pickup point and the finish line: a little noodle shack overlooking a gorgeous lake in the Dalingshan National Forest Park.

For my group the end seemed like it was never going to arrive as fatigue and dehydration was taking over, but they weren’t for giving up and a lot later than the other group we made it. Arriving at the noodle shack we were greeted by celebratory cheers from the other group.

With a belly full of noodles and fizzy pop, we all began to feel rejuvenated and headed back to Guangzhou feeling very proud of our achievements. For Mr Wildy and I, we were chuffed that the trip we had planned had worked out so well and had offered the students a perfect level of challenge.

For the students they were traveling back with a feeling of self-satisfaction; they had completed a demanding three-day, two-night self-sufficient hike in a rugged landscape. This was no piece of cake and the students’ attitude and levels of resilience demonstrated will set them in good stead for life’s challenges.

For additional information about the ‘International Award’ or trekking in the Conghua area contact john.joyce@bsg.org.cn

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SECONDARY

Battle of the Bands Winners!

By: Jojo Guo The stage was set in a quaint bar with an outwardly-bluesy atmosphere, levelled in a position of focus for the audience’s optimal visual and audio reception. As our band sat down in our designated booth, it was difficult not to weigh up the competition sitting alongside us as a few side glances to the left proved only to create a skittish yet apprehensive table environment. Each band member sitting quietly, we each tried to fill up the void of anxiety with any abstractions we could conjure up - whether it be Ryan listening to our playlist over and over; Caleb tapping along to the rhythm from memory; Dalbert staring at the clock with an awkwardly rigid stance; Jojo playing riffs on an unplugged guitar. The silence served to portray the tension, and the ticking seconds signified the inevitable end of an era...

Caleb: The entire experience was almost surreal. We’d been asked if we wanted to join this year’s Battle of the Bands just a week before the event, and it was about a few days after being asked that we found out we had to write an original song - something the band has never done before. We scrambled for material and spent every spare minute writing parts, on top of practicing our other songs after school and doing schoolwork.

But it was immensely exciting and a ton of fun. I would do it all again a dozen times over in a heartbeat, especially having the band come out of it in 1st place.

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Ryan: I’ve been in the band for 2 years now.

I started when I arrived in BSG. I met Dalbert for the first time and I told him I played guitar and I was automatically joined to the band.

I really enjoyed it as I had moved all the way to china and joined a band that played all the music I loved from British bands such as the Artic Monkeys, The 1975, Muse and many more.

Performing at battle of the bands was a great experience, as well as watching the performances from the different schools. We were all very nervous before the performance, but as soon as we started playing, we all started to really enjoy ourselves.

It was amazing to take part in this event let alone win it. I’m really pleased that we were able to win on our last year here at BSG. Jojo: Everything was a real thrill to me, as I’ve only been asked to join the band a week before the competition. I could never forget how excited and anxious I was when I realized I was going to take part in this competiton, as a member of this band which I’ve always admired.

It was absolutely the coolest experience I’ve had and It’s certainly impossible to get any bit of it out of my memory: the unspeakable nervousness, the collaborative attitude, the sudden blankness followed by an extreme excitement and left with an emotional ‘aftertaste’ when we knew we’ve won. I’m already missing every second we’ve spent together, it was unbelievable.

Dalbert: With the end of this battle signals the finish line to what was perhaps the most emotionally chaotic activity of my high school journey. Words only go so far, but as Hetfield sings - “the memory remains”. Livewire 2015, never forgotten.

EVENTS

Sing Up!

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EVENTS

Senior Prom By: Kate Kielty Last Saturday night the Sofitel Lobby was awash with 47 BSG’ers in their finery for what promised to be the most fashionable and exciting night of the year. The event took place on the fourth floor, which gave all the girls (including myself) just enough time to touch up on some makeup in the elevator before making an entrance.

Upon arrival all were greeted with Shirley Temples.

The theme of the night; masquerade ball, was very evident in the wonderful decorations and the large array of masks which all students sported (although many of the masks were discarded after an hour, due to the fact that they proved to be a nuisance on the dance floor). The photo-booth, which was very popular with the Sixth Form, was run by Mr. Geraghty, some of theses photos are displayed on the next page.

First on the agenda, was the voting procedures, everyone had to vote for Prom King and Queen, Best Dressed and Best Dancer. The candidates for the Prom King and Queen had already been selected in a vote held at school the week before. The Prom King nominees were: Vil, Tyrek and Leroy, the Prom Queen nominees were: Anjelica, Emmelyne and Bethany.

After voting, most descended on the Buffet which offered lamb kebabs, feta and vegetable rolls and much more; all of which had everyone coming back for seconds, and in some cases thirds, not to mention the choice of three desserts which proved to be very popular indeed.

After the plates had all been cleared away, everyone made their way to the dance

floor and soon enough everyone was dancing. The BSG Prom Mashup which had everyone singing, was made by our very own Kwezi, Kotaro and Taku. There were a number of people displaying wacky dance moves… Ryan, Ivy and Kwezi, Kotaro and Mun Zheng to mention a few.

We were also treated to some live music; Keisha Rutega sang and played three songs on a keyboard. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed her versions of the songs ‘Rude’ (Magic), ‘Lay me Down’ (Sam Smith) and ‘I’m Feeling Good’ (Muse) and gave her a standing ovation.

After this it was time to announce who had won the various titles of the evening, there was utter silence in the room, everyone was intrigued to know who would be crowned. Best Dressed went to Angelica Polychronopoulos who looked spectacular in a sunset-orange coloured dress. Best dancer went to Kotaro who got a huge unified cheer from the crowd. Prom Queen and King went to Tyrek and Emmelyne, both of whom looked shocked to have won. When asked how she was feeling Emmelyne replied “speechless” and Tyrek made a very short speech; “I would like to thank my mum.” After the Prom King and Queen slow dance, everyone took to the floor and began to dance again, until the night came to an end.

The Prom was a major success thanks to the Prom Committee and its leader Kwezi Rutega, all of whom decorated early on Saturday, raised funds, booked the room, ordered decorations and much, much more. The Prom Committee would also like to thank all the teachers who chaperoned and Ms. Gemma who helped us organise the entire event. #BSGSENIORPROM2015