TIV HIGHLIGHTS
Year 4 Residential Trip (Pg. 28)
Year 13 Graduation Ceremony (pg. 54)
Pg 2—Letter from the Student Editor
Pg 42—Year 7 MFL Trip
Pg 73—Student Spotlight
Pg 3—Head of Secondary Message
Pg 43—German Milkshake
Pg 74—Nasa Student
Pg 4—A Brave New School
Pg 44—German Cuisine
Pg 75—Staff Spotlight
Pg 6—ECIS Conference
Pg 45—German Year 9—11
Pg 76—Work Experience
Pg 9—COBIS Leadership Conference
Pg 46—Summer Fete
Pg 78—Travel Reviews
Pg 48—Cervantes Day
Pg 80—Teacher Farewells
Pg 49—Year 6 Transition Week
Pg 82—Year 7P
Pg 11—Head of Primary Message
Pg 50—Year 7 Trip
Pg 84—Year 7B
Pg 12—Author Visit in EYFS and KS1
Pg 51—Activities Week
Pg 85—Year 8
Pg 13—EYFS Science Week
Pg 52—Science Fair
Pg 86—Year 9
Pg 14—EYFS Visit to the Animal Farm
Pg 54—Year 13 Graduation
Pg 87—Year 10H
Pg 15—Year 6 MFL Teachers
Pg 55–New Challenges
Pg 88—Year 10T
Pg 16—Cervantes Day
Pg 56—Performance Morning
Pg 89—Year 11
Pg 18—EAL Students Progress
Pg 57—Tourism Day Project
Pg 90—Year 12
Pg 20—Year 1 Oraselul Cunoasterii Pg 21—Years 5 & 6 Cinema Pg 22—Year 2O Trip Pg 24—Year 3O Trip Pg 26—Year 4 Trip Pg 28—Year 5 Trip Pg 30—Year 6 Adventure Pg 32—Primary School Graduation Pg 34—Primary House Games
Pg 58—Bucharest Half Marathon
Pg 92—6:30
Pg 59—Student Spotlight
Pg 94—IGCSE A Level Art
Pg 60—Lumina Cup
Pg 96—Year 7 Creative Writing
Pg 61—Rugby Festival Pg 63—Triathlon Pg 64—English Channel Team Pg 68—7 Oceans Challenge
Pg 35—Juxi Magic Theatre Pg 36—Active Life Pg 37—Noi Orizonturi Familia Pg 38—Student Spotlight
Pg 70—Oxford University
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SPOTLIGHT Welcome
Letter from the Student Editor,
Lena S.
Year 12 I’ve realised from various travels and encounters that “experiencing” has proven to be my very best teacher aside from my beloved ones at school. Summer is a fantastic time to see new things, acquire a new skill, or visit a city you’ve always wanted to without the looming stress of other responsibilities (i.e. school); but that doesn’t mean life has to stop when school stops either and, well, it shouldn’t. Savour every moment, dearest fellow students, before you find yourself clutching a graduation cap and saying goodbye to an important chapter in your life. As summer begins, it almost feels like it will never end—until it does. While it doesn’t, experience life to the fullest. To me, summer also means the end of my year as Student Editor before I pass the mantle on to the next team of creative young minds. Who will they be? I can’t say just yet, but surely it will be at least one of you reading these words. I have faith that under the guidance of Ms Carman and Ms Lea, and with the talent this generation seems to have in abundance, each issue will outdo the previous one. With this, I would like to thank them both for their help and for what I have learned from my time as Student Editor. Come summer 2019, I too will set off into the world like my colleagues before me.
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SPOTLIGHT Welcome
Head of Secondary Message Being a new arrival to IBSB in August last year, one of the first things to strike me was just how supportive the teaching staff are, and how much of their time they are prepared to offer to their students in order to see them succeed. Our School Mission is to “Inspire, Support, and Celebrate” and I feel it is fitting to write my review of the year in such a way so that you can see exactly what we have done to Inspire, Support, and Celebrate the students within our small, close knit family. This year has been particularly inspiring with many events taking place over the course of the year. The two major events have been our BSO inspection, which was wildly successful with the school meeting all of the required standards quite comfortably. There are always areas of course that we can improve upon, and as a school we have now written a five year development plan which will enable us to meet these challenges head on, and further develop IBSB so that we remain the top academic international school in Bucharest, if not Romania. One of these challenges is to decide what our values are as a school, what we want our students to become and develop into as they stay with us before moving on into the wider world. In the coming months, you will hear more about these ideas of values, of bravery, respect, and tolerance, as well as many others as we seek to ensure that your sons and daughters develop the values that you as parents, and we as educators think are important. The second inspiring event, where many of these values were exhibited was the COBIS MUN, which we were lucky enough to host here in Bucharest for the second time. Having spent much of that weekend with the students from both IBSB and other COBIS schools around the world, I can safely say that it was a resounding success with many friendships formed between students of different nationalities, religions, and race, which always gives me hope for the future. The teaching staff have of course been extremely busy supporting your sons and daughters to achieve the best that they possibly can, and we are hopeful that they will achieve excellent results in their end of year examinations. Having spent my time in many lessons, I can assure you that the support your children receive is second to none and this can be seen in the time spent supporting children in the UKMT and Kangaroo events, the COBIS art competition, and Global Social Leaders events which our students have all competed in, been successful in, having been led and supported through the process by their teachers. We must also celebrate what has been achieved this year. We have, for the first time, won both of the male and female categories at the Interschool Athletics Competition, our students performed and won trophies at the international school talent show hosted by Avenor College. There have also been individual successes with Melissa in Year 9 winning an international NASA competition, which resulted in her being invited to the US to visit NASA in person. I am sure we are all looking forward to hearing about Melissa’s trip, which you can read about in this issue. We have also had students performing in music competitions, placing first in Romania, and achieving Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in the UKMT competitions. I hope this gives you a taste of what we have achieved as a school over the course of this year, and I am sure that I may have missed something out, as there is so much that has taken place. Next year, there will be even more to look forward to with renovations under way on the current main campus, and with the move to our new secondary campus on the horizon in 2020. I wish you all a relaxing summer and I hope that you all return refreshed and ready for the next new challenges that await you.
Matthew Tansley
Head of Secondary School 3
SPOTLIGHT Welcome
A Brave New School for a Brave New World
In the previous issue of TIV, I focused briefly on one aspect of the evolving landscape of education, discussing the need to rethink the classroom approach, moving away from the traditional one-size-fits-all knowledge-based curriculum toward a more individualised skillbased, communicative and creative curriculum , in order to better prepare children for the working environments they will graduate into. In particular, I focused on collaborative, student-lead, classroom models, where the children are not just central to the learning process, but take an active involvement in leading their own learning, learning independently and in some cases teaching one another, with a teacher available to provide guidance and support as needed. This model will quickly default to the norm as ELearning becomes increasingly prevalent, and with AI based educational technology just around the corner. Everything is changing: what needs to be taught or more to the point learnt, and community perceptions toward the process of learning. The reason why schools and teachers are struggling so much at present is very much related to this newly forming idea of individualised learning. We are now living in the digital age of the internet, in an era where the pace of technological change has moved the goal posts and raised the bar in so many areas of life. As a result, people now expect more in less time, with less effort, and they want it personalised. The problem that currently persists in education, however, which all schools are grappling with, is that we are placing young vibrant 21st Century minds into 20th Century schools, and offering them a curriculum almost identical to what was offered 100 years ago before the inception of the computer, and trying our very best to dress it up with bright lights, bells, and whistles, in a way that is palatable. Almost all curriculums around the world today, with few exceptions, are still offering a one-size-fits-all model of education for the masses, to an increasingly discerning population that is sounding the call for more personalised learning. The most recent wide scale solution to this problem has been to ‘differentiate’ learning, which in most cases simply refers to providing a system to allow students to develop at their own pace, but using the same content, within the same curriculum effectively. This is the innate flaw of current models of differentiated learning, as it is not simply the pace of learning that should be differentiated, but rather the curriculum content itself, and this is what we will see change more than anything else in the next few years with the continued development of ELearning and inception of AI based educational technology. For a brief glimpse of what the schools of the future will look like, I encourage you to watch the following video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZlgYiXzu58. The other catalyst for change within the field of education is the very environment we live in and share with around 8.7
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SPOTLIGHT Welcome million other species. Unfortunately, we are all currently bearing witness to a period in history where the present level of population growth, combined with currently unsustainable levels of consumption, is placing increasing stress on the ability of planet Earth to provide for all its inhabitants both current and future. We are seeing the very real effects of climate change on a daily basis, each bearing witness to the effects of extreme weather phenomenon, resulting migration, and a rate of extinction which scientists tell us is 1000 times higher than if man were not present. Students are very aware of this situation, and in some cases more aware than we adults as we go about the process of living our busy lives and providing for our families, leaving the process of saving the planet to the invisible ‘others’, and of course the children see us do this also. It is with this in mind that ‘Sustainability’ has become central the Curriculum of England, and will become increasingly relevant to the lives of students here at IBSB as we join the growing worldwide community of accredited ‘EcoSchools’ (www.eco-schools.org.uk) to begin the journey toward sustainability in 2018-19. In line with recommendations from ‘Learning for sustainability in schools’, this journey will become visible in our student’s daily lives as an “Exploration of the different ways in which pupils can individually or collectively take action to address sustainability issues in practical ways”. This journey will also require “Parental involvement in learning for sustainability activities which will involve linking activities related to sustainability between the school and pupils’ homes not only to provide greater relevance for the pupils, but also to help create improved understanding by the local community of the values and practices related to learning for sustainability promoted by the school.” In the wider school community, this journey will become visible as “A further development of ‘taking action’ in the organising of special projects or events related to sustainability.”
The ‘New’ IBSB, is therefore not just about new buildings, which of course play an important role in the School Development Plan, providing our students with additional facilities and opportunities, but is more fundamentally about a change in ‘mind-set’ for the students, parents, and staff within the community as we will all need to be open-minded, supportive, and patient, to best facilitate this process of change. It will also not happen overnight as schools work within given frameworks, set out by the various organisations and associations they are accredited with, so in some situations it is a case of patiently waiting for the accrediting bodies to themselves go through the process of change. The curriculum will need to change and the exam system (to measure attainment and progress) along with it, the approach to teaching will need to change and the resources used to support it, and the approach to learning will need to change and the students mind-set along with it. The difficult job of the Senior Leadership Team is to monitor and manage this process of change as best possible, seeking constant feedback from students, parents, and staff to try to ensure that the stress levels normally associated with any process of change are kept within acceptable levels. Humans are by nature creatures of habit who tend to seek to avoid change when and where possible. The French revolution is a good example of this. It is often not until we are starving that we finally rise up to challenge the status quo. Unfortunately for us, we live in times where there is no longer a status quo as the only constant is change, and so change we must. What then, if anything, should remain relatively constant? The answer to this is our ‘CORE VALUES’, which will also be a key focus for us in 2018-19. More on this in the next issue of TIV!
Kendall Peet
Head of School 5
SPOTLIGHT Conference
ECIS conference
Kendall Peet
Head of School
In April, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to join a number of Heads from many international schools around the world for the annual ECIS Leadership Conference. It was not only my first ECIS conference, but also my first visit to Berlin with a number of pleasant surprises in waiting. The focus for the conference was ‘The Language of Learning and Design’, seeking to answer one fundamental question, being “How can we best support student learning?’
Workshops and seminars ran across three days, with both Heads of School and educational specialists and researchers presenting their findings or an aspect of their learning journey on topics ranging from curriculum design to school design, from learner-centred leadership to notions about building leadership capacity, from bilingualism to multiculturalism, from enhancing virtual school learning environments to dealing with teens and their social media. It was a conference where, looking at the programme, it was clear there was more on offer each day than there was time in the day, and so invariably I found myself wishing I could duplicate myself like Michael Keaton in the film Multiplicity, to enable me to attend more than one session at the same time. Alas, life is not like it is in the movies, and so in the end I had to be satisfied with attending just a single presentation for each session slot.
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SPOTLIGHT Conference
Day 1 - Balance by Design: Enhancing wellbeing in schools through mindful leadership Day 1 was a full day workshop titled ‘Balance by Design: Enhancing wellbeing in schools through mindful leadership’, offered by Amy Burke and her partner Kevin Hawkins, author of Mindful Teacher, Mindful School. The workshop explored ways to best to promote positive mental health and socialemotional learning, addressing issues such as the need for improved teacher self-care to reduce stress in the classroom and cultivate an environment where students feel relaxed, engaged, and ready to learn. We also looked at the importance of wellbeing and connectedness in relationship to teaching and learning, discussing the latest research and various case studies in regard to practical application. It was an excellent session, primarily because you felt at all times that it was focused on both student and teacher wellbeing, showing how the two are interconnected and central to learning the process. Amy and Kevin will be joining us for the Summer INSET in August to run a training session for the staff as the first step in the process of our focus on Community Wellbeing in the coming year, which will include establishing a schoolwide ‘Wellbeing Committee’, comprised of students, staff, and parents, to sign off the new ‘IBSB Community Wellbeing Policy’, carry out an annual community wellbeing audit, and meet periodically to discuss aspects of community wellbeing and agree on recommendations judged to have a considerably positive effect of overall community wellbeing.
Coaching/Mentoring Completing a course
Peer observations
Lesson study
Action research project
Day 2 - The Language and Design of Learning in Professional Growth Although there were a number of valuable sessions attended on Day 2, one of the sessions that stood out most was the session on the new model of professional development being used by the International School of Stavanger, in Norway. Professional development is often a tricky area for the Senior Leadership Team to plan as schools too often apply an all-forone and one-for-all approach, bringing in a single instructor to run a session for all staff or having an in-house session run by staff, which invariably ends up frustrating staff present who feel their attendance is not good use of their time. As a solution, ISS implemented a new system intended to better support the professional development of all staff by offering staff a number of options to choose from to suit their professional learning needs or situation. The staff can choose one of following five options: Having listened to the presentation and the positive reception of staff, I presented the case study to the Senior Leadership Team, who in turn discussed the model with our Middle Leadership Teams, and will now as a result roll out a new IBSB Staff CPD Programme based on a variety of choices in the coming year.
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SPOTLIGHT Conference
Day 3 - Designing a Culture of Insight, Innovation, and Impact to Foster Future-Ready Learning Communities Again, Day 3 offered the opportunity to attend a number of valuable sessions, with many takeaways from each. One session in particular that stood out was that presented by Keynote speaker Christian Long, Founding Partner of WONDER, by design, who spoke of the importance of having clear values and behaviours. His underlying argument was that for us to be committed to designing learning communities that support innovative pedagogical goals, our design process must be unapologetically humancentered. He then took us on a captivating exploration of the core values of some of the key organisations around the world, including Airbnb, Uber, and Google to name just a few, showing how their firmly established core values formed a solid base for the success of each company. He then asked what the underlying core values of our organisations were, noting that it is especially important for us to get these right as the vast majority of our students attending private schools will go on to become industry leaders and world leaders determining the world our children will inhabit 20-30 years from now. This set the context for the SLT School Development Planning session, which followed my return from the conference, in which we successfully discussed and identified our CORE British Values. More on our newly identified CORE VALUES at the start of the school year.
IBSB CORE
Berlin Half Marathon
VALUES
It wasn’t all work though, as I rose early each morning to enjoy a run in Berlin’s central park, The Tiergarten, and on Sunday, the day of my departure, I was lucky enough to see some of the world’s fastest runners in the Berlin ½ Marathon. I could see the roads had been closed off with spectators lining the pavements, so stopped at the 4km mark to see the lead runners go by in a little over 11 minutes, then excitedly continued my jog across the park to the 15km mark to see a relatively unknown Kenyan runner, Erick Kiptaniu, running in Europe for only his third time, pass by at a blistering pace in 41.28, looking calm and relaxed, eventually finishing in 58:42 (just 19 seconds off the current world record- simply incredible!).
Brave Respectful Innovative Tolerant Integrity Sustainability Happy
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SPOTLIGHT COBIS
37th COBIS Leadership Conference
Matthew Tansley
Head of Secondary School
Founded over 30 years ago, The Council of British International Schools (COBIS) is the premium global association for International British Schools Overseas. Currently there are over 400 members within the COBIS family and the number will grow as the number of British International schools across the world is increasing every year. COBIS hosts a range of conferences and professional development events, both 'face to face' and online, for teachers, middle leaders, and support staff, as well as an Annual Conference in London in May for Heads, Governors (Board Members), and members of school Senior Leadership Teams. As a very much student-centred association, the theme of the annual conference this year was ‘Leading Learning’. This represents the core of what COBIS is all about, reflected through high quality student activities and competitions, professional development and research projects, and through their unshakable commitment to reducing risk to children and young people by the promotion of safeguarding and child protection. Two members of our SLT had the opportunity to attend the conference this year and as is the case every year, the feedback was impressive. COBIS again did an incredible job bringing together over 700 hundred delegates, including some very inspirational speakers, highly skilled trainers, and many exhibitors that presented a lot of valuable resources for schools. Some of the main foci this year were: Developing Creativity in schools at all levels and looking at Art from different perspectives, Students Wellbeing and Emotional Development, and the importance of Mental Health. During the three days of the conference, delegates from all over the world had the opportunity to attend a number of seminars where very important and valuable educational topics were presented and discussed, including for example: Future of Education with a focus on Technology and Virtual Reality, What does a Mentally Healthy School look like, Safeguarding in International Schools, Pioneering Arts Education and Nurturing Talent, What Successful School Leaders do to Maximise Students Learning, How to Build a School Culture that Supports Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing in Young People, and How School Leaders are Driving Improvement through Effective use of Assessment Data. All of this and much more has given us plenty of inspiration, valuable resources, and a keen desire to improve the experience of our students here at IBSB. We have already started to implement a number of points in our strategic development plan. For example, the SLT has agreed to start the next academic year with a training session for staff on Student and Teacher Wellbeing and Mindfulness. This will be delivered by two professional UK trainers, one of whom is Kevin Hawkins, the author of the book Mindful Teacher, Mindful School – a best seller and a base for many schools implementing programs related to developing wellbeing and mindfulness within their community. We are proud to be a member of the COBIS family and look forward to future collaborations offered through our COBIS membership.
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D R A O B TE
I H W 10
WHITEBOARD Head of Primary Message
Head of Primary Message The Primary School has had a year filled with diversity, growth, opportunities, challenges, triumphs, fun, laughter and learning. We have also failed every single day. And we have tried hard to embrace failure as a prerequisite for success and growth. We should not be afraid of failing, we should not consider ourselves a failure if we don’t know something, instead, we should consider the Power of Yet. It is important to understand that we are on a learning curve, a journey in which there are many things that we do not yet know. But we will know. With guidance, practice, and hard work, we will know. Mistakes are a part of the journey as we stumble along a path into a future that is as yet, unknown.
This is an exciting time in education. As the world continues to change, our job is to prepare our students for a life that we cannot yet imagine. That is our commitment to the children in IBSB. In a Primary School the focus is always on the child; we do all in our power to provide as many opportunities for them to shine, to grow, to be challenged, to do something they never thought they could, to achieve and reach beyond their potential.
We teach them, of course, in lessons each day, but it is during assemblies, presentations and shows that we see their confidence and personalities grow. It is during competitions, sports days, and residential trips that the real growth occurs, where the bonds of trust and friendship are formed, where character and personality are tested.
Throughout our final issue of TIV you will see pictures of children doing just that; we have deliberately focused on residential trips to illustrate this point. But, throughout the year the children have grasped the opportunities we present them every day, practice the skills and then perform them with smiles on their faces. If they take the time to reflect back on this year, they may remember that back in September, there were many things they couldn’t do or didn’t know. I would like them to remember this next year when they come across a challenge or problem they can’t do, YET.
Alan Cornish
Head of Primary School 11
WHITEBOARD Creative Writing
On Friday, June 1 st, Daniel Kearvell, author of the book, Maya the Mouse, visited EYFS and KS1. He read his story as the children listened attentively, then answered questions from the children about the book. For example: Why is Maya so special? Some children made connections between Maya the Mouse and themselves – forgetting her coat—understanding how their differences are what makes them unique, and ultimately understanding the importance of doing what they are told, as well as the "strength of being different”.
Daniel Kearvell Maya the Mouse
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WHITEBOARD EYFS
EYFS Week This term the children in EYFS took part in Science Week. The children were interested in sharing their findings and explaining why things happen and how things work. Science Week is intended to encourage children to become more fascinated by the world we live in through a wide variety of scientific demonstrations and experiments. To learn something new and enjoy science more. The children in EYFS took part in 2 workshops: ‘Oraselul Cunoasterii’, where they made toys from recycled materials and ‘Active Life’, where they learned about forces. It was a week of discovery and our children really enjoyed spending their time investigating and exploring the world of science and technology!
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WHITEBOARD EYFS
Old MACDONALD had a farm
When visiting a farm there is lot to do. At a farm there are many animals to see. We chose to go in Spring because it is the season when animals have their babies. The children in EYFS learned about spring changes and developed an understanding of an animal’s life cycle. The first stop was at the goat kids where the children fed and patted them. Next we visited the piglets, bunnies, chicks, ducklings, and many more. At the end of the tour, the children enjoyed a nice lunch and played on the trampoline. All the children had an amazing time visiting the Animals Farm!
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WHITEBOARD MFL
It’s to be a German Teacher! In June, the Year 6 German group had the opportunity to be MFL teachers for the Year 2 students.
During the German, lesson, the little ones listened attentively to a funny story told by their much more “experienced“ colleagues and were delighted by their accent and approach. This helped both groups in developing different levels of comfort in both listening and reading, as well as building good relationships.
Dressed in their gowns and ready for their graduation photos, the Year 6 children took their role seriously and gave their best to make a good impression on the students. At the end of the lesson, Year 2 shared their opinions about the characters and the story and what followed was the funniest part: group photos and exchanging impressions. The target for the Year 2 German group: to have the same challenging experience when they are Year 6, but not as students, as teachers!
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WHITEBOARD SPANISH MFL
Cervantes Day in Primary School
In celebration of Cervantes Day, which is celebrated on Monday, April 23 rd, the Primary School MFL Department organised a number of events and visits, including a trip to a Spanish Restaurant, to enhance our students’ awareness of the Spanish culture and cuisine. On Monday, April 23rd, we celebrated Cervantes Day. The children brought some traditional Spanish dishes to taste Spanish cuisine. All children learning Spanish at IBSB also wore a T-shirt with the colours of the Spanish flag or with a message written in Spanish.
Then, on Tuesday, April 24th, the Spanish students from Year 3 to Year 6 were invited to Pata Negra Restaurant for lunch. They had the opportunity to taste some of the most famous Spanish dishes, like pan tumaca, chorizo, paella with chicken, sangria without alcohol, and crema catalana. In addition to eating some delicious food, the children had the opportunity to speak in Spanish with the owners of the restaurant who said they have been living in Spain for many years. A moment to remember was the one when Andreea, the owners’ daughter, who was one of the people serving us lunch, explained in Spanish why she is helping her parents. The children were all really impressed by her motivation and hard work. Years 1 and 2 also celebrated Cervantes Day in school, on Tuesday. The Key Stage 1 children enjoyed some fun activities during the Spanish lessons together with the year 6 Spanish group. All of them loved this activity and we promised to do it more often.
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WHITEBOARD SPANISH MFL
It looks like it was a very successful event as the students enjoyed this celebration throughout the Primary School.
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WHITEBOARD EAL
Progress in The EAL students had an excellent academic year at IBSB this year, impressing their teachers with the progress they all made. Their GL test results were is definitely a cause for celebration, and the hard work of pupils deserves full recognition. At the beginning of the year many of the EAL students joined IBSB only knew a few basic words in English, but now after one year of studying EAL in an intensive programme, they are all confident motivated learners who can all be proud of their newly acquired language skills.
Here’s what some of the EAL students had to say about their year:
MAO TANAKA – YEAR 5T Hi, my name is Mao and I started studying EAL last year. This is my second year. EAL lessons have helped me a lot because now I am better at English and I can talk to my friends. It was useful for me because now I can understand most of the lessons taught in English. I improved my English and grammar by learning many things in EAL. I was happy to see my EAL test results because I got better than last year. I am excited about next year, too.
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WHITEBOARD EAL
AYSENUR YILDIZ – YEAR 5T Hi, my name is Aysenur and I am a student in Y5T. I have studied EAL since last year, September 2016. I think my EAL lessons were very useful because now I can understand lots of things in English. On the first day when I came to this school I was very shy. I didn’t know English, except a few words like some colours, animals, and sports, and that was it. This year is my second year of studying EAL, so now I can say that I understand much better than last year.
AYA MENNER – YEAR 5T Hello, I’m Aya and I have been learning EAL since 2016 when I joined this school. At the beginning of this year my mom wanted me to start studying French, but we decided to continue with the EAL programme for one more year. I was so happy to get more support because I didn’t think I was ready to start MFL and I think I improved my English a lot. When talking to my mom after school, she was really happy to hear that the EAL lessons were useful for me. My favourite moments were the lessons when we watched movies about different nice stories. Oh, and not to forget my best friends Mao and Aysenur, I had my best lessons together with them. And one more thing, saving the best for last, Thank you to my positive and beautiful teacher, Ms Luiza.”
EDUARD MARINESCU – YEAR 4M Hi, my name is Eduard and I started EAL in September. Through all these months, EAL has not only helped me to improve my grammar, but also my conversation as I am able to speak to people from all around the world where I travelled. It also helped me to talk to Ms Morgan in different lessons in class. My EAL lessons helped me as well to make more friends, play with other people, and understand what everyone is saying. In conclusion, EAL has helped me a lot throughout the whole year and so I am sad I won’t do it next year, but with the knowledge I got from EAL, I think I will be successful in life. And one more thing, the happiest moment for me was when I was awarded the star of the year for EAL.
KEREM ERKARACA – YEAR 4M Hello, I’m Kerem and I am an EAL student in Year 4M. I started studying EAL in September 2017. These lessons were very helpful because we had 6 EAL lessons per week. By studying hard and putting in a lot of effort, I became a better reader, speaking and understanding more. I feel confident now communicating in English and I am proud of my test results. We learned so many things in EAL, so now I am able to speak English better. My grammar is quite good and I can guess the spelling of words that I still don’t know and will now study even harder.
ANA SI BO WANG – YEAR 4M Hello, my name is Ana and I am in Year 4M. I began EAL in September 2017. I think all these lessons were very useful because when I came to IBSB I didn’t know anything in English, not even the letters of the alphabet. Ms Luiza helped me a lot. Now I can read stage 5 books in English. I like studying EAL. My favourite days were when we read stories. I am still improving my English skills.
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WHITEBOARD Year 1
Year 1 visit to Oraselul Cunoasterii For Science Week the children in Year 1 went to visit Oraselul Cunoasterii. They had so much fun exploring how the world works through a variety of interactive activities, such as learning about forces using water and air. The students also had a private lesson about optical illusions and were very proud making their own visual trick. In school, the children were enthusiastic about dancing raisins, salt paintings, and avoiding pepper. You should ask them all about their experience.
On the final day, we had a competition to build the tallest structure using only water and puff chips. All the children thoroughly enjoyed the activities during Science Week and had a great time learning.
From left to right: Ingrid G, Vladimir C., & Justin D.
Sofia P.
Year 1 Playing with Balloons
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WHITEBOARD Year 5 & 6
Years 5 & 6 Trip to the Cinema On a beautiful spring day, years 5E, 5T and 6M, were rewarded by their Romanian teachers with a trip to see the documentary Romania Untamed, at the Mega Mall. To celebrate their success with The GL tests, the children had the pleasure of learning about the wild life of Romania.
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WHITEBOARD Year 2O Residential
Year 2O Residential Trip
On Thursday, June 14 th, Year 2 enjoyed a one night stay in Casa Comana ...
‌ on our annual residential trip. We departed school on a bus at 9:00, arriving at Comana an hour later. The students were really excited to see their rooms and the parrot in the reception area of our hotel! After lunch, the afternoon was spent in the playground, having fun on the different types of swings, slides and striders. We then went on a nature walk around Delta Neajlovului bird spotting, listening to the calls of the swans and woodpeckers. We spotted many frogs and had the chance to observe the flora and fauna of the region. The evening passed with a bonfire followed by a game of charades. One of the highlights of the trip was the weather, which was beautiful throughout. A stroll around Casa Comana looking at the different types of wall murals was the perfect way to end our trip before we travelled back to school on Friday, happy and excited to see our parents.
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WHITEBOARD Year 3O Residential
Year 3O Residential Trip Before the residential trip had even begun, the sense of excitement from Year 3 was enormous! The countdown had been on for weeks for some children and once the day arrived, the smiles on faces were irremovable – even if some anxiety and nerves were starting to creep in.
Once the goodbyes were said, the children placed their luggage in the coach and boarded ready for the 4 hour ride to the foot of the mountains. On board there was a buzz of excitement as the children eagerly awaited the chance to reach Rasnov, find out who they were going to be sharing a room with over the next few days, and, in particular, get on with the activities! Tudor Pensuinea came into view, the coach was disembarked, suitcases were tidily placed in rooms (surprisingly), and Radu Travel were there ready to feed us and get us underway with our first activity.
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WHITEBOARD Year 3O Residential
The ancient ruin of Rasnov Castle was tough to reach with a lengthy walk in the heat. This would have been a struggle for many but, then again, Year 3 aren’t any old year group! The climb was navigated with little fuss and the children were soon in amongst the history learning about their ancestors. A guided tour full of information was followed by the chance to leave with souvenirs. This was a chance that was taken advantage of fully! Snow globes, models and other various items were purchased in the sunshine.
Rasnov Castle
The ride back was short and, after a quick rest, food was ready to be devoured. It did not take long for 19 very hungry children to return plates to their original empty state! Before the disco, Year 3 were given some relaxation time. However, once the playground, swings, football field and trampolines were spotted, relaxing was the last thing on their minds! Playtime ensued! Following this, the dance moves were on full display during the disco, with a few renditions of the popular Fortnite dance move that seems to be the new craze! Shower then bed!
Dino Park
The sun rose on Wednesday with the knowledge well set in the children’s minds that this was the day that we were going to venture to DinoParc. Radu Travel, once again, picked us up after breakfast and guided us back up the steep climb. We were in! Eyes were bright and wide as the children took in the sights! High Ropes was the first port of call for some and a tour of the various dinosaurs was awaiting the rest. Volcanoes and Earthquake simulators were navigated and lots of photograph opportunities were not to be missed. Once again, the souvenir shop was our last port of call before heading back for lunch. Horse riding followed shortly after, with the children getting the chance to jump on the back of some beautiful and calm animals and be carried around in the fresh air.
Over the course of the three days we were there, we got the chance to do other activities such as; sitting round a campfire telling jokes (there were some that were mediocre at best!), archery, a walk through the countryside, as well as plenty of time to play. One area that could not be planned for however, was the chance to build friendships, laugh, work as a team, support each other, and, most of all, create memories. And that’s exactly what Year 3 did. They showed an immense amount of courage and character, along with comradery. It was a superb week full of events to look back on in future.
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PRIMARY Year 4 Residential
Year 4 Residential Trip
Piatra Craiului We couldn’t have asked for a better end of term than this. Our residential trip to Piatra Craiului was fantastically brilliant! We woke up each morning to the glorious view of the mountains before heading out for our daily adventure. Many of us overcame our fears as we jumped from tree tops, sped down the zipline, and crawled up the surface of a gigantic rock. There was a great sense of sportsmanship as we competed against each other to win points for our teams and encouraged one another to try new things. Even our teachers took part! And how could we forget our Superman and Jacky Chan diving at the pool, or our Robin Hood style archery experience session. After all of that adrenaline, we were glad to be fed the most delicious, home-cooked meals, which gave us all the energy to dance to our favourite songs. It was such a memorable trip, and we cannot wait to go again next year!
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WHITEBOARD Year 4 Residential
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WHITEBOARD Year 5 Residential
Year 5 Residential Trip Despite the ominous weather forecasts, the Year 5 Residential Trip went off without a hitch and surprisingly little rain! During a packed schedule, a combined group of Year 5T and Year 5E students completed lots of enjoyable and interesting excursions.
Our base was just north of Bran, in a village called Tohanu Nou. Staying at the Wolf Complex, we had many great activities on site, including the bowling alley, which we visited on the first night after a short trip to Pestera Valea Cetatii, a cave just outside Rasnov. This was the perfect way to begin our trip to the mountains because we had a short walk through the forest before reaching the cave. The guide there was kind enough to translate his tour into English for us and the children really enjoyed the adventure of going deep into the hillside to see the rock formations inside. The cave also hosts classical musical concerts because its high ceiling and cavernous walls provide such excellent acoustics. Maybe next year we can try to get tickets.
Tuesday morning started brightly. From our
position, we could see rain clouds gathering over Piatra Craiului and the Bucegi mountain range, but mercifully they passed us by. We made the short journey to the Dino Parc at Rasnov, where the 9-D cinema was especially popular. It was also a chance for some children to complete a treetop adventure trail - a useful warm-up for later in the week. With the sun blazing down, we left Dino Parc and walked uphill to Citadel Rasnov, enjoying the spectacular views of the surrounding valley. We didn’t stay up there too long as the heat was increasing; instead we descended the hill, ate an ice cream and heading back to the hotel for a refreshing swim in the pool. After an excellent dinner, the students took part in our quiz night, which involved general knowledge, teamwork and some educated guessing! We spent most of Wednesday morning on site doing some team games. Teams that successfully preserved their water balloon were invited to throw it at Mr Ennion (quite a large target) but somehow Rares was the person who got wet‌ After lunch, we travelled to Sapte Scarii Canyon, where we enjoyed a relaxing walk along the river through the forest. Wednesday evening gave us a chance to finish the quiz and then have a little free time outside on the football pitch and a frisbee throwing extravaganza on the tennis court. Thursday was our last day before travelling back to Bucharest on Friday. We went to Brasov Zoo, where the children had a tricky factsheet to fill in (again in teams) and then we visited Parc Aventura. Clouds had been
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WHITEBOARD Year 5 Residential passing by all morning, with occasional showers, but when we walked to Parc Aventura the sun had come out and we were glad of the shade provided by the hillside forest. Unfortunately, after almost two hours of adventure trails, a thunderstorm hit and we had to retreat to the shelters through the pouring rain! Until that point, the children had been showing excellent cooperation and courage to follow the tracks through the trees.
With our visit cut short, we decided to return to the hotel and enjoy the warmth of the indoor pool. As you can imagine, we were all pretty tired, so Thursday evening was the perfect time for our movie night. The students shared popcorn and enjoyed a film called “Little Rascals” before retiring to their rooms to pack and get a good night’s sleep before our journey back to Bucharest. We arrived back at school tired, happy, and safe just after lunchtime. Another successful Romanian residential trip for Year 5 - next year they’ll be off to the UK!
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WHITEBOARD Year 6 Adventure
Year 6 Kingswood Adventure, Northern Wales The Year 6 Kingswood Trip to Northern Wales got off to an exciting start this year with a lost bag and a visa issue. With a calm and resilient attitude, however, the children dealt with these minor bumps in the road and it wasn't long before everyone was into the various activities on offer, including zip lines, orienteering, leaps of faith, balance beams, low ropes, team activities, abseiling, kayaking, caving, and so on. As you can see from the photos, the children were kept busy at all times - the top picks were bat caving and kayaking, and an exceptional visit to Chester Zoo. Everyone had such a great trip that we never really felt the time passing, and so it wasn't long before we were boarding the plane for home and landing at midnight - you would think the children would be half-asleep, but upon seeing their mums and dads, they suddenly had a new burst of energy, excited to be home and eager to share their many funny stories about their trip.
Year 6 students : Preparing to go on a rafting adventure
Photo Below : Alessia G. climbing extravaganza
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WHITEBOARD Year 6 Adventure
Year 6 students: learning to do rafting
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WHITEBOARD Primary Graduation
Primary School
Before Year 13 descended on the Carol 1 Library for their graduation, the Primary School held their own ceremony to bid farewell to a group of students who have always raised a smile on their teachers’ faces. Thankfully, most of Year 6 will still be on campus next year as they embark on their journey in Secondary School, but several will be leaving IBSB to start adventures elsewhere. The first part of the afternoon was a celebration of individuals in the school during this year. Our Head of School, Mr Peet opened proceedings with an enlightening reading of Dr Seuss’s The Lorax before Mr Cornish gave out the CIS, IBSB and COBIS awards, as well as a special award for success in the Romanian Kangaroo Competition. The winners were Xin Yi, Ioana and Ana Sporis respectively, and Ramzy, who completed the quartet because he achieved second place in the whole of Romania in the national Romanian competition. Congratulations to all four of the students who received individual recognition.
A fifth award was given to Ana Nanau for her achievements on the sports field and in the swimming pool. It has to be said that there were many rivals for this award, because the departing Year 6 contains many keen sportspeople, such as Ilinca, Luca, Catrina and Ana Sporis. Nevertheless, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, the whole group loudly applauded Ana as she deservedly received the trophy.
It was then that we said the first farewell of the evening. Mr Angel, who has taught students throughout the school for 14 years, will be moving on at the end of this year and Year 6 didn’t want him to go without saying goodbye. In a touching moment of appreciation, they performed the aptly named song Thank You For The Music by ABBA so that he could travel off to a new life in Canada with their cherubic voices ringing in his ears. Emotions were therefore running high as the Year 6 students went to change into their smart royal blue caps and gowns for their final hour as Primary School pupils.
As is now tradition, the students were introduced according to when they joined the school. Liya had to take to the stage by herself because her fellow newbies Emilia, Ayse and Shuchen were unable to attend the event. Fortunately, Emilia had recorded a video message, just like at the Oscars! On behalf of all the students, Liya was the first to thank Mr Morrison, Ms Maddie and Mr Cornish for teaching her and also for organising this end-of-year celebration.
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WHITEBOARD Primary Graduation Next up were the children who joined the school in Year 4 under the tutelage of Ms Hewett and Ms Ana. Zoe, Ana B, Carina and Alkyoni shared their memories of the three years they spent in Primary School, mentioning friendships, teachers and trips! Titi, who came to us in Year 3, was another who could not attend on the day, so Ms Maddie introduced the children who had joined way back in Year 2. The inseparable trio of Vlad, Ethan and Augadh were joined at the podium by Ana Nanau and Alessia to reminisce about their time at IBSB since they joined Mr Quysner and Ms Oana’s class.
They took their time to thank all their teachers, with Mr Georgescu getting a lot of mentions as a huge influence on their progress.
Finally, it was the turn of those students who had spent every year of their education career with IBSB. Xin Yi, Ioana, Ilinca, and Andrada are fantastic representatives of our school as they have grown up to embody all of the qualities we wish our students to have. Their final act as Primary School students was to be joined onstage by their classmates to throw their graduation caps in the air. A time of celebration and joy; sadly, Mr Ennion, who is a big fan of this Year 6 cohort, gave a speech also the last time the whole group will combine under the IBSB to introduce four of the longest serving members of the group: banner. Luca, Ramzy, and the twins, Ana and Catrina. These students have spent 6 years at the school and are known throughout the IBSB community as reliable, funny, and smart young people.
We wish all our Year 6 Graduates the very best of luck in their future endeavours and no doubt we will be hearing their names in the future as they continue to grow and achieve. It was a send-off to remember, but as Ilinca quoted in her speech: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end
of the beginning."
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WHITEBOARD HOUSE GAMES
Primary School House Games On a hot and sunny morning at the end of May, IBSB turned into a sea of colour with each child proudly donning their respective house colours. The yellow of Transylvania, blue of Muntenia, and red of Dobrogea were all on full display as the children competed eagerly and with a huge level of determination.
Along with a helping hand from Mr Georgescu, the House Captains from each team showed the organisation skills that have been apparent throughout the whole year to place each of their team mates into their role.
There were obstacle courses, beanbag throwing, water bottle refilling, and much more going on, on what was a hugely successful morning filled with smiles, encouragement and, above all else, a huge sense of family as everyone dug deep for their peers and helped to encourage one another throughout the whole morning.
A great morning in the sun here at IBSB!
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WHITEBOARD Juxi
Interactive theatre by
On Thursday, June 7 th, Juxi Magic, an interactive theatre show, visited EYFS, KS1, and KS2. Each child listened attentively to the interactive stories performed by the actors based on friendship, resilience, and courage. The children also played a part in the workshop by spreading sleeping stars all over the town and became characters in the show. The themes behind these shows were bravery, courage, admitting when you are wrong, and asking for help. KS1 sang a song for the Juxi Magic performers titled “A Million Dreams”. Each child felt the connection between the show and the lyrics they sang in their song 'Cause every night I lie in bed, the brightest colours fill my head, a million dreams are keeping me awake’. In return the Juxi Magic actors performed the song titled ‘If your happy and you know it clap your hands’. Dana, the actor in the show, also read one of her poems aloud to the children about smiles and happiness. All in all, it was a wonderful interactive show which supported each child’s creativity.
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WHITEBOARD Active Life
An active life in Primary We loved Science Week and all the visits and experiments we have done. Welcoming Active Life to our school on Tuesday was super fun and interesting.
We learnt a lot about the skeletal system and muscular strength and how important our posture is. Did you know that when we are born we have 270 bones, but they fuse together as we grow so that we end up with 206? Something else that was interesting was how our bones react to forces. For example, if you are hit with a basketball in your face, your body reacts in such an incredible way and can change and then revert to how it was! To demonstrate how the bones can act like both a solid and liquid at the same time, we had the chance to feel a cool corn flour solution. We enjoyed Science Week so much, that we can’t wait for it next year!
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WHITEBOARD Noi Orizonturi Familia
Noi Orizonturi 'Familia'
On Monday, June 18 th, IBSB had a show for EYFS to Year 5 performed by Noi Orizonturi Familia, a not-for-profit association in Romania. The goal of this charity is to enhance the quality of life for all members of the community, especially those who are poor, suffering, or are otherwise disadvantaged. The show presented to our school ‘The Miracle of Friendship’ was a dramatic presentation created and performed by the charity team: Alina (The Rainbow Fairy) and her dog (Gigica).
Through Gigica’s actions and Alina’s story telling each child learned the importance of saving trees, picking up rubbish and keeping our environment clean. The message was clear for every child, we can all do what we can to change the world. Everyone got an opportunity to rub Gigica and admire her bravery as she had been found abandoned and was now performing wonderful shows for children.
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WHITEBOARD Student Spotlight
My First Book of Poetry I first started to ask my mother to write poems with me when I was 3 years old. I loved the sound of rhymes as it was fun and easy for me to memorise them, so we ended up spending hours and hours together just playing with words making up poems that often made me laugh. We usually choose topics that were normal every day activities I we did together, which eventually grew into a collection of more than 300 poems over a period of about 4 years, from which 16 have been selected for my first book of poetry, titled ORACOL. I chose ORACOL as the title for my book because for me it is a journal, but in this case written in rhyme. The poems can be read and enjoyed by children of all ages, but can also be used as a source of inspiration by mothers with children aged 2-5 years to explain in a joyful way to their children what it is like going to kindergarten, where you have the opportunity to dance and draw and learn about animals and the many new and wonderful things I was experiencing each and every day. It’s also a book of poetry which captures the feeling of my time with my mum, which for me is always really enjoyable, as my mum always encourages me and makes me feel like I can do and achieve anything I set my mind to. This book is also a reflection of the encouragement and support I received at the International British School of Bucharest, especially in the Creative Writing Club, which I’ve attended with devotion since I was 4 years old. The teachers running these clubs really nurtured my talent, encouraging me to pursue my dream of becoming a writer. The beautiful illustrations in my book are by Ioana Rusu, an extremely talented artist who says the images were inspired by my poetry and my close relationship with my mother. The pictures are bright and colourful, full of warmth and sensitivity, and in my mind compliment my poetry perfectly, in a way telling their own story, so I hope the children who read my book will be able to relate to them and love them as much as I do. Finally, I would like to say thank you to Tinmar Energy, the International British School of Bucharest, Autograf, along with other sponsors who prefer to remain anonymous, because without your support this project would not have been possible. I hope my book will be a source of inspiration for my friends, my family, and for all children who have a dream. I realise now more than ever what it means to have a dream, and how with hard work and determination, believing in yourself and having the right people around you to support you, it can come true. If you would like a copy of Sonia’s book, it can be found in all Autograf stores throughout Bucharest.
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WHITEBOARD Student Spotlight
Romanian Kangaroo Competition My name is Ramzy H. and I am soon going to leave primary as I am in Year 6 moving into Secondary School. This year was very exciting and challenging. I have encountered a lot of challenges, including the Kangaroo Math Competition, the Kangaroo Romanian Competition, the UKMT Competition and the AISB Math Challenge. First of all, I would like to thank Ms Ana, my Romanian teacher, for helping me achieve an astonishing 2nd place in Romania. I was very honored to go on to the second round to represent IBSB. I was the only child who wasn’t from a state school. The national competition took place at Sfantul Sava, a Romanian school considered to be one of the best schools in all of Romania. It was much harder than the first round, but I still managed to get 2nd place in the whole of Romania. I got this score because I worked very hard at home and practiced a lot. Usually, I am not that stressed in competitions, but this time I was sweating a little. There were about 100 children separated into classes. I was the only child that didn’t have both native Romanian parents. Places 1 to 6 won trips to Bulgaria and Constanta. After the test, I actually thought to myself that I had won no matter what just by making the final round, and had fun too. The one thing I learnt from this experience is that even if you are not a native speaker of Romanian or any other language, you can work hard and excel and eventually go beyond those that use their native language every day. All in all, this was a wonderful experience for me and so I hope other students will follow my example and achieve the same or even better in the future.
From left : Ms Boiangiu, Ramzy H., & Mr Cornish
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WHITEBOARD Student Spotlight
IBSB Student Wins National Piano Competition Congratulations to Andrei P. Y5E for winning the National ‘Friends of the Piano’ Competition. Students and staff were lucky to be treated to a very special performance by Andrei following his competition success in the end of week assembly on Friday, after which Andrei received the loudest ovation for the school yearhopefully both his success and his incredible performance have inspired other students to consider learning a musical instrument and follow in his footsteps.
When we asked Andrei about his experience he said that he was feeling nervous before he played, but once he started he only focused on his playing and forgot about the competition. He also told us he has been playing the piano for 5 years and performing publically for 4 years, which is proof that practice does make perfect.
Great Job Andrei!
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Year 7 MFL
Year 7 MFL Reward Trip All of Year 7 went to the National Park to play games and do fun activities as a part of an MFL reward trip. We first went into the playground in the park and played there for around half an hour before going over the bridge and up the stairs to a fitness area to go play language related games. They were quite enjoyable. Finally, we went back to the playground to eat ice-cream before returning to school. I hope that we have more lessons like this because we all had such a good time.
From left : Abby O., Anastasia S., Andrei S., Li W. and David G.
From left : Alina B., Maria C., and David K.
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS German Milkshake
Making a German Milkshake
Ioana Anghel
German Teacher
After having learnt so intensively about food and drinks in German, participating in so many activities, the students from Year 7 had the chance to demonstrate they can understand and follow a recipe in German. The result was a delicious banana, strawberry, and wild frozen berry Milkshake with ice cream. Yummy! The first step was for the students to learn the instructions for making the milkshake, by matching them in pairs, both on the tables and on the Interactive whiteboard. After reading and translating the preparation instructions, they had to become more practical, use a mixer and make not only a tasty, but also a visually appealing desert, decorated with cream and colourful small forms. During all this time we were only speaking in German, giving instructions, and saying what we were doing. We had such great fun during this activity and for sure we will prepare this drink at home for our parents and siblings. It was very kind of Andreea’s family to provide us with a huge box of ice cream, frozen berries and fancy straws. Many thanks to Catalina also who brought the whipped cream and shared strawberries with everybody. It was an excellent idea from Abby to come with gorgeous craft decorations and from Maria C for her colourful candy decorations
Here are a few comments from the students: “In German, we had the best lesson ever today. We made fantastic milkshakes and ate ice-cream. We learnt to follow a recipe. We had all the ingredients and everything was well planned. (Maria C.)
“I rea lly en joyed today makin becau g mil se w kshak Germ e we an as es r e w ell. It espec learnin was r ially g eally liked cream fun. I eating .” (Lu ca s T the .) ice
“We learnt about the ingredients and how to do recipes. It’s better to have lessons like this because we can learn and memorize faster.” (Andreea A.)
“We le arnt a bout on ho recipe w to s and make to ha milks meth ve le ods h a s kes. I sons reme t is li k e this mbe bette r r becau activit more se w ies.” ( e A bby f r om O. ) fun
I think that teachers should do these types of lessons more because they are very enjoyable for the students and we get to learn in a more interactive way” (Orla T.)
“I really liked the lesson because we learnt the ingredients of a milkshake and how to do it. I prefer fun lessons like this.” (Catalina C.)
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS German Cuisine
KS3 Students Enjoy German Cuisine
Ioana Anghel
German Teacher
As the students in years 7, 8, and 9 had shown a great deal of interest and put in a considerable amount of effort throughout the year in improving their skills in German, I thought it would be nice to offer them a reward trip as a way of thanking them for all their hard work and to encourage them to continue to work hard next year. As they had studied a chapter about food this year, also about how to order in a restaurant (each year group at a different level, of course), they were offered the possibility of going to a German restaurant, where they could enjoy some German specialities, especially the desert Apfelkuchen with vanilla sauce, which was the highlight of the visit leaving them wanting more. The children also had the chance to get to know each other better while enjoying a special lunch outside school together. They all socialised and played the game “I have never ever………..” which helped them to learn more about themselves. Even on the bus back to school they continued to play it and proved to be able to organize themselves to take turns and listen respectfully to their colleagues. There is plenty to celebrate for each year group. We should all be thankful to the Year 7s for their enthusiasm in learning the language, for being open-minded and eager to try different kinds of learning activities, for collaborating well with their colleagues, and displaying a positive attitude towards learning throughout the year. They have made such great progress this year and are now able to talk with some confidence on familiar topics. Let’s hope they will continue to make such good progress in the years to come. As for the year 8 and 9 students, they continue to be very active, enthusiastic and keen in lessons, displaying curiosity and determination to improve, with many Year 9s already possessing the knowledge to pass IGCSE German, which might happen next year for some of them, one year early!
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Learning German
Learning German through Songs with Years 9 and 11 This year, the German students have had the opportunity once a week to enjoy an activity called “Friday Song”, which involves learning German through song based activities. This has been a great activity on a number of levels, enlarging their general knowledge as the songs refer to important historical figures like Napoleon Bonapoarte, the World War 2, famous actors and singers like Marlene Dietrich, France Gall, Reinhard May, famous writers and poets Goethe, Matthias Claudius, Elli Michler, and composers Beethoven, Mozart. Students have shown impressive curiosity relating to the singers of these beautiful songs and did extra research at home to find out more about the lives of the singers and the historical details. Students had to offer a literary approach to interpret the texts of the songs, analysing symbols and referring to history or scripts that were similar to those.
In addition to the offering a cross curriculum approach, the songs also offered ample opportunity to learn and revise aspects of grammar and vocabulary. The students found it more motivating to, for example, practice prepositions that require different cases, the perfect tense, the imperfect tense, etc. in the context of learning a song. Not to mention that a lot of activities involved developing speaking skills, working in groups, presenting male and female opinions on different aspects of everyday life.
Among the students’ favourite songs were “Ein bisschen Goethe, ein bisschen Bonaparte”-France Gall; “Im Wagen vor mir”-Henry Valentino und Uschi; “Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind”-Marlene Dietrich; and "Ich wünsch dir Liebe ohne Leiden”- Udo Jürgens and Jennz.
This has been a valuable experience for the students, inspiring them to make their own research and develop their own special appreciation of German music. They also seem to remember information better when learnt through this type of lesson as the learning experience is both more personal and more meaningful and therefore more memorable.
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Summer Fete
Summer Fete Brings Successful Year to a Close On Friday, June 22, we finished another successful academic year with our traditional end of year celebration, the IBSB Summer Show and Fete. This year we had a 'show" theme, with each year group taking a famous musical as their inspiration: Year 1 performed Oliver, Year 2 sang Abba's Mama Mia, Year 3 flew a kite with Mary Poppins, Year 4 performed songs from Hairspray, and Year 5 rocked us with their Queen inspired show. We also enjoyed a selection of piano recitals, dances, and heard some songs from our Romanian and MFL pupils. The karate kids also showed us their skills. A packed show, with a lovely summer carnival atmosphere, including a bouncy castle, book stalks, charity stalls, food, plenty to drink, and the always very popular ice cream stand. Thank you to all our parents and guests who joined us to support our children. I am sure everyone present left with many lovely memories, photos, and videos - I know I certainly did.
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Alan Cornish
Head of Primary School
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Cervantes
International Cervantes Day
From left : Ms Stroescu, Matei G., Milena V., Orel T.
Being a native Spanish speaker, I was very pleased to hear that our school was participating in the International Cervantes Day, in honour of the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, by reading a passage from his most famous story, Don Quixote. Together with many International Schools around the globe, Matei G. (Yr11), Orel T. (Yr10) and I recorded ourselves reciting a chapter in Spanish. The recording was played a few weeks later on the Spanish radio, where you could hear students from diverse nationalities come together to celebrate Spanish literature. I was impressed by the fluency demonstrated and am very glad to see students taking part in such activities. I hope to see more of such events in the future and that more students get involved. Choosing a foreign language provides countless benefits, from making new brain connections to learning a new culture. From personal experience, the most successful way to learn a new tongue is not only with different learning techniques, but also by joining projects outside the classroom. Reading in front of a camera and microphone is certainly a challenge compared to reading in class, which is why I encourage students to participate more, so that you can become more comfortable in a foreign field.
Milena V.
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Year 6 Transition
Year 6 Transition Week For a few days in June, the Year 6 students are invited over to the "big, bad" Secondary School for what's known as Transition Week. They attend a variety of classes, get to meet some of the teachers, and most importantly, dispel a few myths! Here are a few quotes from some of the participants: “I have enjoyed secondary school very much as everything was much better than I had anticipated, including the teachers and everybody in general. I didn’t expect it to be so fun and exciting. The lessons were also much nicer than I thought they would be!” “I loved the fact that the secondary pupils treated us so nicely, letting us play football with them.” “I played during the breaks with the older pupils and the teachers were very nice and supportive.” “I got around the school pretty well and loved all the lessons, especially English, Maths, and Science.” So, it appears Secondary is not as bad as people thought! Thanks to all the staff involved in welcoming our soon-to-be Year 7 group, ensuring that their first week in the Secondary School was a week leaving them all wanting more!
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Year 7 Trip
Year 7 Trip to
The Year 7 end of year school trip was bound for a lovely location on the Greek coast not far from Thessalonkiki. Amongst other things, we had plenty of time to chill in the pool and in the sea, relaxing on doughnuts, rode around on peddle boats, sat on a speed -boat-sofa and did our very best to wind up the teachers. The weather was superb and so most of us came back with a great tan along with many "good" memories. Two day trips saw us cruising on a sail boat, visiting some classic seaside villages, as well as visit some crazy monasteries on the tops of big rocks. Jumping off the massive boat into the sea with a spectacular view was a particular highlight for many of us. The food highlights included gyros and ice cream. In the end it really was a great trip, so we were all sad to board the plane for home, but were sure to continue our holiday antics by waking up Mr Richmond on the plane. It’s lucky Mr Richmond is an easy going teacher who always looks on the positive side of life, as he just smiled, turned over, and went back to sleep.
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Activites Week
Secondary School Activities Week: Day 1 Review Andrei Calin G.
Year 7P While most of the secondary students were out on residential trips, 7 students took part in the activities week: Andrei 7P, Eitan 7B, David 7B, Alexandros 7B, Alex 7B, Melissa 9J, and Ioana 9J On the first day we went to Mega Mall to go bowling. Ioana started the game fresh and was in the lead, I caught up, but to our disappointment, Ms Blessy surprisingly won. We had a fun filled 10round match.
Center : Alexandros M., & Alexandru V.
The next activity that we did was the one that we all looked forward to the most: PlayStation 4 and XBOX ONE. We all played for about one short hour and then went to grab some delicious lunch. Sadly, we then had to return to school, but thankfully more outstanding activities are planned for the remainder of the week, which is great‌ we can’t wait!
Center : Eitan M. bowling
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Science Fair
KS3
Fair Fun David Richmond
Science Teacher
On Wednesday, June 13th, IBSB held its annual Key Stage 3 Science Fair, showcasing the incredible passion our students have for science at IBSB. Therefore a big ‘Congratulations!’ to everyone that took part, as you all did an amazing job, despite the humidity and warmth on the day. This year, I had the pleasure of being one of the judges along with Mario, Rares, Matei and Minoru in year 10. We all had a fantastic time getting to observe everyone’s hard work. I personally thought that it was a great experience as we all learnt new things and got to witness some excellent teamwork between the participants. The prizes were awarded in a slightly different manner this year from previous years. Everybody received a participation award for all their hard work, great effort, and determination. There were also a few other awards for some of the groups/ individuals that we thought should get some extra recognition. These were:
Once again, congratulations to all the participants. You all did an incredible job and we all had a fantastic time observing and watching you present your creations. Minoru and I went round to interview a few of the participants about how they felt after taking part in this entertaining event, and this is what they had to say about the day: “I found the Science Fair interesting and fun because so many people did lots of different things, from baking to making Remote controlled cars”↝ Orla, Year 7.
“I really liked the science fair as we could come up with our own ideas and make them. Matei and I made The RC Car out of our own interest and we wanted to share this with other people. We Chemical Rocket - Most spectacular project - Patrick are also planning on making many more things. I also liked the Milk to Plastic - Most documented poster and details- Ishika, science fair as it required teamwork.”↝ Kacper, Year 7 Melissa and Maria S. “The science fair was a really fun experience. Everybody Chemical Chameleon - Best presentation and research - seemed to enjoy the experiments, which was good. What I Abby, Anastasia, Martyna really liked was that the judges didn’t just tell us that the work was good or bad, they set us targets and improvements that Homemade Terrarium - Best application- Maria, Alina we could make. It was really fun!” ↝ Andrei, Year 7 RC Car - Best practical skills - Kacper, Matei
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Science Fair
“I enjoyed the Science Fair a lot this year! There was a large variety of different experiments. I also like how the judges gave us targets and goals to set, as well as an honest review of the negative and positive aspects.” Stathis, Year 7
Center : Abby O.
From left : Alexandru V. & Alexandros M.
We also have some words from Mr Richmond himself teachers that came in to check on the science fair. Next about how he felt the science fair went: year I would like the fair to be bigger and preferably have “The final product was amazing and everyone that took part had something really good to put on show, which I was really impressed with. There was a great mix of activities and demonstrations, which was also fantastic. Some of the students hit some really high level topics, such as redox reactions, which they have done 4 years in advance. There was a lot of practice that took place beforehand which was Center : Andrei S. with his house box good. On the other hand, they did make a lot of mess, but it was still worth it. An improvement that we could take on half a school day to work on it so the students have more board for next year is making sure that we plan properly to time to show off all their hard work, but also so that more avoid last minute rushes. people can come and watch what happens as well. Looking I would like to say a big thank you to the judges. I think that at what we produced in such a short space of time was the students really appreciated you viewing and observing incredible, really outstanding. There is so much passion their work and taking interest. I would also like to thank the coming from the students and I am really grateful for that.”
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Year 13 Graduation
Senior School End of Year Award Ceremony and Graduation
The IBSB Senior School End of Year Award Ceremony is always a night full of excitement, emotion, and a few surprises, as the award recipients are announced and the graduates of 2018 step forward to receive their graduation diplomas. In keeping with tradition, Head Girl, Elena Urzica offered a touching farewell speech, before Head of School Mr Peet, surprised everyone with a reading of The Lorax, by Dr Seuss, as a timely reminder of the urgent need for humanity to live a sustainable lifestyle. Head of Secondary, Mr Tansley offered a review of the school year and heartfelt congratulations to the both the graduates and the award recipients for both the effort and their achievement. HE the Dutch Ambassador to Romania, Ms Stella RonnerGrubacic spoke about the opportunities offered at Dutch universities. Deputy Head Mr Tiplea and DOEIA Coordinator Ms Johanna Croci joined SLT on stage to help present the awards, and finally Ms Baker and Ms Croci joined forces to introduce the graduates as they individually came up on stage to receive their graduation diplomas. The night ended with the graduates tossing their caps in to the air to shouts of jubilation and everyone raising a glass to officially toast the graduates of 2018, who leave us to join an ever expanding group of IBSB Alumni around the world.
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS New Challenges
Moving on to New Challenges For Year 13, it feels like the year has just rushed past. It seems like only yesterday we all sat writing the letters to ourselves for graduation day. Our hopes and dreams for our year and the future are contained in those envelopes we received back on our Graduation Day; many tears were shed when writing those letters, on the realisation that our school days were coming to an end. And so, we are all heading off to different places around the world, joining a growing number of IBSB Alumni:
Loren B. – Falmouth University (England) – Film Production
Raluca S.– Lancaster University (England) – Media & Cultural Studies
Petru G.– Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands) – International Business & Languages
David S.– Carol Davila University (Romania) – Medicine
Emmy – Worcester University (England) – Drama Performance with Psychology Elena U.– TU Delft (The Netherlands) – Aerospace Engineering
Alex C.– Maastricht (The Netherlands) – International Law Ileana D.– Romanian Academy of Economic Studies (Romania) – Business Management Andrei M. – Groningen University (The Netherlands) – Psychology
Albert M. – International University of Monaco (Monaco) – Business Administration
Maria P.– Esade (Spain) – Business Administration
Rei N.– Tsukuba University (Japan) – International Studies
Stefani K.– Maastricht (The Netherlands) – European Law
Bianca S.– Bocconi (Italy) – Economics & Management in Arts, Culture & Communication
Sorana C. - Fabiz (Romania) – Maths Gai W.– Gap Year
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Performance Morning
KS3 Performance Morning Paul Jennings
KS3 Performance Morning Coordinator
In the U.K. we have things like ‘Britain’s got Talent’ and ‘The Voice’ but here, at IBSB, we have something far more prestigious: ‘The KS3 Performance Morning Annual Showing Off Of Assorted Talents!!!’ During the course of the morning the students presented original work from the year that they were proud of and their class mates listened and admired. It was a tremendous morning, well supported by parents and staff who were available. It is never easy to stand up in front of your peers and read aloud, so well done to all those who did; from a rap about ‘Pi’ to a memorised poem and from a ‘skit-script’ to a rather strange short story! Well done KS3 students and make sure that next time, if you are still in KS3, that it’s you standing up there showing the world your talents.
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SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Tourism Project
Tourism Day Project Presentations With the Check Point exams over, Year 9 had the opportunity to work on their Romanian Tourism Projects in their humanities lessons. Mr Hudson and Ms Baker taught them a few lessons on Romanian geography and history, and some introductory lessons on marketing. Once the theory was completed, the students were able to work in groups to create their own imaginative tours to entice visitors to Romania. As a part of the preparation, Ms Baker arranged for a member of last year’s winning team to visit during one lesson to offer some advice before the students set off on their creative journeys. One month later, a panel of five guest judges arrived in CODECS ready to witness and grill the students on their tourism proposals. As a part of their presentations, the Year 9 students had to answer questions from the visiting guests, teachers, and invited student groups. All of the presenting students agreed that the process was very enjoyable, but also very tiring. The visiting Year 10 students also noted that the bar had been set a notch higher than their inaugural project last year, with Ishika and Melissa receiving 1st Place for their ‘Hidden Treasures of Romania’ tour, closely followed by Ronny, Nandika and Giovanni of NRG. Well done to all participants!
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SPORTS Bucharest Half Marathon
Bucharest ½ Marathon Runners Enjoy Perfect Weather The Bucharest Half Marathon, which took place this year on Saturday and Sunday, May 12th and 13th, saw another excellent IBSB turnout and some excellent results across the board with the IBSB Teacher/Student Team, including Mr Georgescu, Alina B. (Y7), Ana N. (Y6) and Teodora A. (Y3) coming 23/460 teams – an incredible result considering they were running against adult teams. The other 4 IBSB teams entered all said they really enjoyed the experience of running in one of Bucharest’s most fun events on the calendar, with a number of teacher and parent individual entries in the 10km and half marathon events also. If you have not yet joined in a Bucharest Marathon, the next event is on the weekend of October 13/14 with children’s races on Saturday 13, and a fun run, 10km, 1/2 Marathon, and full marathon for the brave at heart, along with team relays, with 4 runners per team, for a great teambuilding event, on Sunday 14. This year we are also hoping to arrange some ‘parentteacher-student’ teams, so please contact me at the start of the new school year in September if you are interested in joining an IBSB team: walkers, joggers, and runners are all welcome, as we will arrange teams in accordance with ability. Less than 100 days to go!
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SPORTS Student Spotlight
An Olympic Dream IBSB is a community with many talented, aspiring students. In the coming issues we would like to spotlight some of the students in our school with big dreams. For this issue, we are shining the spotlight on Alina Barbu, who at just 12 years old already holds 8 national championship titles in athletics. Speaking with Alina, she says she developed a passion for athletics at an early age. She said she started to train with her current coach, Ms Anna Gut, at the age of 7, joining the local athletic club C.S. Olimpia Bucharest, a short walk from IBSB (the location of our annual Sports Day). She also said that one of the reasons for her early passion was the fact that she won the very first competition she entered; a cross running event organised by the City Hall in District 2. Since that first competition, Alina has gone on to achieve much success, winning medal after medal, including 8 GOLD Medals at the National Championships, 20+ gold medals at different contests, and an additional 25+ silver and bronze medals – quite a collection.
Alina B. : picture from competition
It would be easy to look at Alina’s early success and think that she is simply lucky to be talented, but life is full of talented athletes who have failed to go on to achieve success. Talent cannot achieve results without dedication and a lot of hard work. You also need the guidance and support of an experienced trainer and incredibly supportive parents willing to take you to training each and every week and competitions almost every weekend. She says she has had to work incredibly hard to achieve the results she has, training every day. “My dream is to participate in international competitions and maybe one day even in the Olympics. Just to be selected for a national team to represent Romanian would be an incredible achievement”.
What is clear to anyone speaking with Alina is her love for athletics. Big dreams require big sacrifices, and the lifestyle choices Alina is making early on in life are an indication that she is prepared to put in the hard miles to make it to the top. On behalf of the entire IBSB community, we wish Alina every success in achieving her dreams and hope one day to see her standing on the Olympic podium singing the Romanian Anthem.
Photos and Text Credits : Sorin Panait
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SPORTS Lumina Cup
Lumina Cup Football News
Every year we are fortunate to receive an invitation to participate in the Lumina Cup Football Competition. It is the final football competition of the year and one of the largest attracting over 50 footballs teams from across Bucharest and further afield. It was also a special year for the competition, as it was the first time that girls’ teams had been allowed to enter. It was therefore with a sense of excitement that our U9 and U11 boys and U9 girls’ teams headed off to the competition this year, which ran over two days, from Friday afternoon, May 25th to Saturday afternoon, May 26th. As always, the level of competition was very high and so our teams had a great opportunity to push themselves playing some very exciting football. All the students agreed that it was another successful competition, with everyone enjoying themselves and having a lot of fun and a lot of excellent football played. Our teams also achieved some excellent results, with the U9 Girls’ Team winning their competition, the U11 Boys’ Team coming 2nd in their competition, and the U9 Boys Team a very respectable 4th. Well done to all the students who played and special congratulations to David Cerna for receiving the award for ‘Best Goal Keeper’. Thank you to all the parents who came along to support our students, to Mr Saizu who volunteered to coach the teams on Saturday, and to Ms Magda who did the same on Friday (even though she is not a big fan of the beautiful game).
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SPORTS Rugby
National Tag Rugby Festival On Friday, May 11th, a number of students from IBSB had the opportunity to participate in the 15th National Tag Rugby Festival for U11 Girls and Boys and U13 Girls. The competition, which took place at the National Rugby Stadium near Herastrau Park, included a total of 410 students from 24 schools nationwide, and as such is officially the largest rugby competition for schools in Romania. For those of you who may not be aware, the rules for ‘tag’ rugby are very similar to rugby, with the main difference being that students only need to ‘touch/tag’ an opponent from the opposing team to stop play, rather than physically tackling a student to the ground. After a team has been touched 6 times, the ball is automatically handed over to the opposing team and the process begins again. The object of the game is to try to position the ball in a way that a member of your team can put it on the ground in the opposition’s end zone to score a ‘try’.
The three teams attending the festival this year included: Girls ‘Team 1: Alis A., Ecaterina B., Anastasia I., Sonia M., Maria R., Daria U., Maja S., Ioana D.. Girls’ Team 2: Ana N., Ana S., Catrina S., Ilinca D., Maria S., Dora Tiderle, Maria C., Alina B., Andreea A., Abby O.. Boys’ Team 1: Petru B., George B., Andrei R.Tudor U., Constantin I., Rares S., David C., Alexis C., Ramzy H., Lin Q. (Titi), Luca M.
A special thank you to our primary school PE teachers, Ms Magdalena Camenidis and Mr Paul Georgescu, for preparing the students and accompanying them to this event. Everyone had a great time, and who knows, maybe one day an IBSB student will represent Romania in international Rugby.
Running with ball in Hand : Anastasia I.
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SPORTS Triathlon
Triathlon season off to a good start Following on from the success of last year, the IBSB Triathlon Community again brought home a plethora of medals at the first triathlon for 2018, being the Fara Asfalt Triathlon on Saturday June 2nd at 2 Mai Beach. Paul Georgescu got IBSB off to a good start emerging once again 1st from the water, with his protégé Anton (Y9) close behind in 5th, and Mr Peet a few places back in 26th position from 294 swimmers. Podium results included Luca (Y3) U9 1st Place, Alina (Y7) U13 2nd Place, the IBSB Open Relay Team, 2nd Place, and Andrei P., an IBSB parent, placed 1st in his age group in the men’s relay. Well done to all the IBSB participants. You continue to inspire us all!
IBSB Triathlon Students : Alice P., Ana N., Anton Z., Luca P., David C., & Andreea A.
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SPORTS IBSB English Channel Team
IBSB English Channel Next summer August 29-September 05, 2019, a small group of students from IBSB will attempt to swim into the record books as the first Romanian relay team to swim the English Channel. The students, Ana N. (Y7), Andrea A. (Y8), Anton Z. (Y10), and Alice (Year 11, from Scoala Emil Rahovita), will be accompanied by our primary school PE teacher and swim coach, Paul Georgescu (Current Romanian record holder), and Dan Canta, the first Romanian to successfully make the crossing in 2015. The team will make their attempt aboard the Sea Leopard- the same boat used by Paul for his successful crossing in 2016- taking turns to swim for a period of one hour at a time, rotating in a given order. The swim is scheduled to start in the early hours of the morning, before the sun rises, and is
IBSB English Channel Team from left : Anton Z., Ana N., Alice P., Andreea A. & Mr Georgescu
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SPORTS IBSB English Channel Team
Dream Team - August 2019 expected to take somewhere between 15 and 20 hours in total to complete, covering a distance of anything from 3250km+, depending on the currents and weather conditions. The swimmers are allowed to wear a simple swimming costume only, speedos for boys, and single piece swimsuit for girls, with a swim cap and googles. No wetsuits or flotations devices are permitted and swimmers are at no time allowed to touch the boat or any object connected to the boat, with the new swimmer entering the water for each transition before the current swimmer exits. The water temperature is expected to be somewhere in the range of 14-18’C. To find out a little bit about the swimmers, you can read the transcripts from interviews carried out by our IBSB reporters on the next page!
When did your first start swimming? I started swimming when I was 7 years old. My dad took me to start swimming because he knew how beautiful this sport is. When did you decide you would swim the English Channel? I was at an inter school athletic competition and then my teacher, Mr Paul Georgescu asked me if I would like to join the school team that is going to swim the channel in the summer of 2019. I was quite surprised to be asked as I was in my first year in the secondary school, and I said yes, that I really want to. What is your training program to prepare to swim the Channel? Well I am currently swimming 3 times a week, and I do athletics 2 times and cycling 2 times also, so I can sustain myself.
What are you excited about the swim?
And what are your plans after the English Channel?
I’m excited about it because I will become a little bit famous as I’ve already been interviewed on television, which was an amazing experience for me, with more interviews to come as we get closer to the time of the swim. I’m also happy that after swimming the Channel, I won’t be afraid of open water swimming anymore because I think after swimming the Channel you can swim anywhere without fear.
I don’t know yet. It’s a long way off, so I’m concentrating on just preparing for the Channel swim for now, and then we’ll see. I’m only 12, so there’s still plenty of time to think about the future.
Is there anything that worries you about the swim? Jellyfish. I’m a bit scared about them and I’ve heard there are quite a few. Some days more, some days less. I’m hoping that there are less on the day we swim.
What's is your background in sport? I participated in my first sporting event in 2012, which was the Casiopeea Children’s Fun Run. I think we ran about 750m, and each year entered more and more events. In 2013 and 2014 I came 2nd Place in Casiopeea Children’s Fun Run and 3rd in both the RunFest and TriKids Challenge. From 2015 onward I’ve stood on the podium many times, including winning my first cycling event, the Concurs Ciclism Arena Nationala, andmy first Aquathon, Aquathlon Fara Asfalt. I usually enter around 40 local and national events a year, with podium finishes in about 50% of the races I enter. Swimming, running, and cycling are now a big part of my life thanks to my mum and dad who are always taking me to these events. Thanks Mum and Dad!
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SPORTS IBSB English Channel Team
When did your first start swimming? My first time swimming was at 6 months. I don’t have too many memories of my early swimming experiences obviously, but my parents tell me I’ve always really enjoyed being in the water, and this love of water and water sports has continued to be a big part of my life.
What is your training program to What are your plans after the English prepare to swim the Channel? Channel? I swim every week in the pool and our team arranges trips to the Black Sea to train in the open water. At the moment it’s not too demanding, but I expect as we get closer to the swim the programme will become more intense.
What are you excited about the swim? When did you decide you would swim The whole experience. I hope it will be a the English Channel? beautiful and memorable one. I think Well, Mr Georgescu gave me the idea it’s good to be doing it with a team the around February/March of 2017. I had first time as it will be a nice shared already done quite lot of open water memory for us all and it will be good to swimming: swimming in the Cupa have the team support also. Hamsia, which is an annual 5km open Is there anything that worries you water swimming event here in about the swim? Romania, and in the Oceanman Competition (http://oceanman - Nothing extreme, except for the fact openwater.com) both in the qualifying that I am not very good friend with the round at Lago d’Orta (Italy) and the in jellyfish. world final at Benidorm (Spain), so the idea of swimming the English Channel seemed like a logical step, so I said: why not?!. For me, open water swimming is fun and having Mr Georgescu with us, who has already completed a solo swim of the Channel, will be a great help.
A lot depends on how I do there. I might choose another similar challenge in the future as there are other channel crossings, such as those included in the Seven Oceans Challenge. I would also like to perhaps do a solo crossing in the future. What's is your background in sport? I’ve always liked water sports and have been swimming most my life. Five years ago I took up water polo and have been in love with it ever since, competing on a regular basis in the national league for my age group. This is now my main sport, with other swimming related events added on for fun. I participate in the occasional triathlon, mainly doing the swim section for a team, and have also done a few duathlons.
When did your first start swimming?
What are you excited about the swim?
I started swimming 2 years ago.
That it will give me more confidence swimming in the deep open water a long way from land. I also want to make everyone proud of us as a team by successfully completing the swim. Is there anything that worries you about the swim?
When did you decide you would swim the English Channel? When I received the offer to participate in this relay, I thought it would be a good experience and an opportunity to challenge my limits. What is your training program to prepare to swim the Channel?
I have been training seriously for triathlons for about 2 years now and in 2017 achieved some good results, including 1st Place in the National Duathlon Championship, 3rd Place in the National SuperSprint Triathlon, 1st I think one of the biggest challenges for Place in the Balcanic Duathlon st me will be getting used to swimming in Championship, 1 Place in the Tour of Tassos, 1st Place in the Municipal cold water. Athletics Championship, and 3rd Place What are your plans after the English in the Bucharest International 10K. Channel?
I currently have 4 swimming sessions per week and I will also participate with my teammates in some psychological I am currently preparing myself for this sessions to help us adapt to swimming project, but will also continue to train for triathlons and hopefully have the in the open water. opportunity to represent Romania again in future years.
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What's is your background in sport?
SCHOOL TRIPS & EVENTS Tourism Project
IBSB English Channel Team from left : Ana N.., Andreea A., Alice P., & Mr Georgescu
IBSB English Channel Team on Realitatea TV Channel from right: Ana N.., Andreea A., Anton Z., Mr Georgescu, & Alice P.
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SPORTS Oceans 7 Challenge
Join me for the 7 Oceans Challenge When I initially began my journey preparing to swim the English Channel, I didn’t realise at the time what lay before me. It was not just the many hours spent in the pool and outdoors in the lakes and along the Black Sea coastline getting fit and ready, or the preparation for swimming in the cold water, which included swimming in early spring in 10’C waters for up to 6 hours. It involved organising a team of people to help and support me on my journey, and the fundraising needed as a single crossing of the English Channel costs 5000-10,000 euros, which includes £3,000 just for the boat fee and CSA (Channel Swimming Association) Fees, with the cost of flights and accommodation for the team, and all the additional costs associated with the 12 month preparation period, travelling to the Black Sea to train, etc. added. You also need to take into account the fact that many swimmers do not make the crossing on their first attempt, which was also the case for me, and you quickly realise what is involved swimming the English Channel. Without a doubt one of the hardest moments I’ve faced in my life was making the decision to pull out of my first swim attempt. I had been swimming for around 10 hours and the French coastline was close enough that I could see the cars and the people walking along the shoreline, but I was tired and the currents were really strong and so as I neared the French coastline where the strong currents increased I found myself being carried further south, away from land. There eventually came a point when the captain said it was no longer possible to complete the swim, and so I accepted the situation with a heavy heart and exited the water feeling more tired than I had ever felt in my entire life. I had friends and family around offering comforting words of support, but I was deaf to their words, lost in my own thoughts and emotions of having failed in my attempt. In the weeks that followed my return to Bucharest, I was quiet and reflective. I could not stop my thoughts from returning to the swim and the emotions I felt, all the preparation I had done, and the feeling that I had somehow let everyone down, including myself, even though everyone around me was incredibly supportive and understanding. I also knew deep down that I could complete the swim as I was so close. I think if you pull out in the first half of the swim it is much easier to accept defeat, than being so close that you can almost sense the sweet taste of success. At IBSB we teach our students that it is okay to make mistakes or to fail. What counts is to have the resilience to pick yourself up and try again, to learn from your mistakes in order to return stronger and better prepared to succeed the next time. I remember reading a quote from Thomas A. Edison, who once said, "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb." In this light, failure can
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SPORTS Oceans 7 Challenge
October 2017 Current Romanian Record Holder 13.37
16 August 2018
be viewed as both the first step and an important step toward success. It was with this in mind, and the idea of wanting to be a role model of resilience for my students, that I returned a few weeks later to try again. Most of my friends and family tried to convince me not to attempt a second crossing so soon after failing in my first attempt, worried how it would impact on my state of mind if I failed again, but for me it was easier to return than to spend every minute of every day thinking about being so close and not being able to finish, going through all the what if scenarios. In the end, I managed to make the crossing. It wasn’t easier, and in fact I would say it was actually harder than my first attempt, as I had to swim through rough seas which caused me to vomit many times on the first half of the swim, and many times I considered giving up. But I didn’t! I held on with the support of my friends and family and the thought of my students in mind. I held on and kept going, minute after minute, hour after hour, and then suddenly the waters miraculously calmed, as if opening a pathway for me to swim into the history books setting a new Romanian record. It was an incredible feeling to suddenly find myself standing on the shores of France, after 13 hours and 36 minutes in the water, covering a total distance of 54km. There are no words that can do the feeling justice. The closest I can get is to say that I felt an incredible sense of relief and happiness mixed together with the feeling of complete exhaustion and emotional fatigue. I can also say that I had one of the best sleeps of my life when I eventually made it back to the hotel a little after midnight.
Become a Sponsor Help Paul to complete the 7 Oceans Challenge Email oceans7@paulgeorgescu.ro
What Next?
Only 11 swimmers have completed the Oceans 7 Challenge. Over 3000 people have climbed Everest.
Well, I have two projects that I am currently working on. One is to return with some of my students to complete a relay crossing next summer, which you can read about in this issue. The other project is a personal project, as I have now set myself the goal of completing the Oceans 7 Challenge. The English Channel was one of the 7, so I now have 6 more to go, with my next swim, the Catalina Channel, off the coast of California, scheduled for August 2018. It is going to be an incredible journey and I hope it is one that the entire IBSB Community and my fellow Romanians will join me on as I travel to all corners of the globe to swim some of the world’s most difficult channels. It won’t be easy, and I will need your support, but with your support, I know I will be successful, adding the Romanian flag to the small list of swimmers who have so far completed the challenge.
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ALUMNI Oxford University
My first year at My first year at Oxford has been unlike anything I could have ever imagined. Sure, it’s challenging; most degrees have 1-2 essays a week with up to 10 hours of reading accompanying each essay. Add to that the weekly lectures and tutorials (the latter of which involves being in a room with a tutor and a course mate and having to argue and defend your essay for an hour while challenging your tutorial partner’s essay – although this may seem daunting at first, it quickly becomes exhilarating) and you begin to get a feel for how stressful the academic side of life at Oxford University can really be. However, none of this takes away from the fact that being a student at Oxford has been a truly amazing and unique experience. At Oxford, you either apply to or are allocated into a college. Your college will be where you eat, sleep, and spend most of your time. Each one is distinctly different and has its own stereotypes and reputation. Despite being allocated to a relatively small college, St Benet’s Hall (www.st-benets.ox.ac.uk), my university experience has not been hindered. Like many colleges, we have formal meals multiple times a week where we dress up and attend a three-course meal while having the opportunity to interact with guests, many of whom are world-renowned scholars and intellectuals. In the warmer months, these meals are usually followed by a couple of games of croquet in the garden (very British, I know). There is also a huge array of clubs and societies you can join to add excitement to what can otherwise be a humdrum life of studying. Personally, I was part of the university’s second volleyball team, the Law Society, and the Oxford Union. The Union was particularly interesting as I got the opportunity to see and listen to many of the famous guests that are invited weekly, including Diplo, Alec Baldwin, Keegan-Michael Key, Ann Coulter, and many more. After I return from my year abroad, I hope to attend many more events and join more clubs, as it is a great way to not only make the most of your university experience, but also meet new people outside of your college. I have also attended many balls and black-tie events this year, all of which have helped me in my occasionally futile attempts to achieve a healthy balance of work and fun. All in all, my first year at university has been incredible, to say the least. Being thrown into an unfamiliar and academically rigorous environment, at first I was not sure what to expect. However, if anyone else is feeling this way I think that it is important to remember that almost every incoming fresher is feeling a similar sense of nervousness and apprehension, no matter how confident they may appear on the outside. Chances are, university will be completely different from what you’re used to, but in a (hopefully) positive way. In the end, it becomes what you make of it, and can be an opportunity to gain independence, meet like-minded people and most importantly, a time to enjoy your last few years as a student. In this article, I have included a couple of pictures from the past year. The one on the steps is a picture of my college year group after Matriculation, an event during which all first years wear their gowns (or as they are known in Oxford, sub-fuscs) and are officially “matriculated” into the university. This is usually followed by a day of celebrations. I have also added a photo of “trashings”, an age-old tradition during which students are sprayed with champagne, silly-string, paint powder, and whatever else is brought by their friends as they are exiting form their last exam of the year. As you may be able to tell from the picture, we also have to wear our sub-fuscs during our exams. Matriculation, sub-fuscs, and trashings are just some of the many quirky (or weird, as they are often described) traditions at Oxford. Lastly, there are a few pictures of formal dinners and some balls I attended.
Dilara Yildiz
2017 Graduate Class Alumni 70
ALUMNI Oxford University
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SCHOOL VIEWS Student Spotlight
Kangaroo Success
Maria S.
Year 8 This year, our students participated in a number of Kangaroo competitions across the different age groups. We participated in three of the categories: Romanian language, French, and Mathematics. These competitions are organised by Editura Sigma (a publishing house) and IDEE (Institute for the Development of Educational Assessment). On November 27th 2017, 17 of our students competed in the French Kangaroo (Cangurul Lingvist Franceză). Everybody got excellent results, and I even managed to pass into the next and final round (more on that later). Then December 15th came along, and this time more than 30 students from both Primary and Secondary participated in the Romanian language competition (Poveștile Cangurului). Ramzy Hassanain, from Year 6, also qualified for the final round of the competition. For the first time ever, the Mathematics Kangaroo (Proiectul Internațional de Matematică Aplicată Cangurul) was scheduled on two different dates: on the 26th of March for Primary and on the 7th of May for Secondary. This was going to be a challenge because we needed a minimum of 10 students enrolling on each date to host the competition at IBSB. Otherwise, the students who wanted to enter would have to go to a specialised centre and take care of everything on their own. So, I took it upon myself to give everybody in Secondary a chance to participate, and started searching for 9 others eager to learn more and compete in extra-curricular activities. Within a week, I managed to gather enough students who were all very excited about the competition. The school took care of all the logistics, collecting forms before the enrolment deadline. Although nobody passed to the next round, I am sure everybody would agree that we should be very proud of the scores achieved, and all the effort put in, and of course we now have next year to look forward to. The final round came on the 26th of May, all the students that qualified for the next round went to one of the three centres where it was being held: in Bucharest, Bacau, or Cluj. In Bucharest, where we went, it was held at the Sf Sava High School. I met a lot of the people who also participated last year, and it was pleasant talking to them and seeing what they had been up to lately. It was also a very good learning experience, because of the exam environment and the challenging questions, and we even had great successes! Ramzy got 2nd place nationally for the Romanian Kangaroo, and I got 1st place for the French Kangaroo! We both won a trip to Shkorpilovtsi, Bulgaria, at the end of August! But these competitions aren’t about winning a prize, or getting a certain score. They are about simulating what it’s like to be in an exam, and learning how to deal with the pressure and time management, challenging yourself to perform better and better, and being proud with what you know and can do. Everybody who has the courage and willingness to participate is a winner, in my opinion. I can’t wait to participate again next year!
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SPOTLIGHT NASA Student
Attending a Space Development Conference Recently, I visited the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Los Angeles. I had the opportunity to attend this conference because I won 1st place in the NSS (National Space Society) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Space Settlement Design Contest. So because I got an award, I decided to accept the offer to give a poster presentation as well as a speech about my project; I was giving my speech as part of a session with many other speakers including Al Globus, the founder of the contest. The first day was smooth sailing as everyone was out on tours. While the tours were going on, myself and a few other volunteers and staff helping with registration had the day free to relax . The second day, Thursday, was however super busy because everyone was coming into the registration room to pick up their badges as well as dinner tickets. Thursday was when I gave my speech as part of a session with many other speakers including Al Globus. The theme of the session was Space Settlements. On Thursday I had my poster presentation, which was very interesting to answer everyone’s questions about my project. It was really fun to also get to know the other teams by asking about their projects and, in turn, answering their questions about my project. Thursday was also the best day because one of the staff got me a “golden ticket” which granted me entrance to see Jeff Bezos in private. It was me along with another 20 students and chaperones which is a really small number seeing as there were around 500 students and chaperones in total. After that meeting, Jeff Bezos went outside and talked with some other people, which is when I found the perfect chance to tell him about my project. Later on, there was a dinner in which he spoke, which I also attended, so that made for a really good day! The next day, Friday, was again a busy day when it came to registration because 101 students from a school in India all had to complete a form for their certificate. Happily we had the student coordinator, Linda, and our volunteer coordinator, Lily, there to guide us. Saturday was really quiet in registration, considering the fact that it was the last day. Since it was a quiet day, I had more time to go to all the seminars and workshops available. Sunday was a chill day with an entertaining end. The dinner that day, which we also bought tickets to, was about space solar power and the good and bad part of it. The main reason it was about space solar power was because it was the 50 year anniversary since this idea was first raised. It requires using giant mirrors to reflect sunlight directly to earth from the Sun. The main reason I enjoyed this dinner so much was because five of the attendees got an original rectenna (a rectifying antenna)! Even if I didn’t get one, it was an amazing learning experience. On Sunday we also played Kahoot and one of the new friends I made won! That was the end of the conference. It was an amazing experience getting to know the behind the scenes of this incredible event, but it was hard to leave seeing as I made so many friends. Many people were also shocked at the fact that I was only 13 but that just added to my joy of being so helpful throughout the event. This event would not have been the same without all of the fantastic staff and volunteers.
Melissa A.
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SCHOOL VIEWS People @ IBSB
People in our Neighborhood: A Short Interview with our school accountant What is your name?
Nundika D.
Year 9
Elena Iliuta
Do you enjoy working in the school?
What is your favourite book, movie and song?
Oh yes, I love working in this school.
I like a lot of books. My favourite movie is ‘The Lake House’, and I adore Latino music.
How long have you worked at IBSB?
What is your favourite hobby?
My hobby? My hobby is definitely traveling.
I joined way back in 2006.
If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
I would buy myself an island and go there very often, but I would still work here as I love my job and the people I work with.
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SCHOOL VIEWS Work Experience
The Value of Work Experience There are many experiences at high school that can have a lasting impact on a future career choice, but few would compare with a well-chosen work experience programme. Luckily for our students, there was plenty to choose from with companies like PwC and Deloitte, St Mary’s Hospital and DENT ESTET, Vernon David & PeliFilip, to name just a few of the outstanding firms who signed up as a partner in the IBSB Work Experience Programme for 2018. A big thank you to all those companies that offered places to our students this year. Early feedback has been universally positive and so we look forward to reading the full review in Issue 1 of TIV out in December 2018. Here is just a taster of the feedback received from two of our students participating in the programme this year. Working at PWC Working at PwC has been a wonderful experience so far. As a part of audit team, I have learned many things, mostly about risk assessment, which determines a qualitative and quantitative estimate of risk related to a well-defined situation and recognized threat. Although risk assessment is as hard as it sounds like, the harder it gets, the more challenging it is and even if I get stuck, I have my obliging colleagues there to help me out- they are really kind and helpful. Overall, I feel like I am gaining so many skills by working here at PwC, such as teamwork, auditing skills, and most importantly a progressive mind-set. Thus, I highly recommend going to work experience at PwC. Blue Radical Tech Hub I think this year I was extremely lucky to carry out my work experience at “Blue Radical Tech Hub”, because they have been very helpful; they have taught me a lot of very interesting topics about the internet and how certain software applications and web applications work on the net, which I think will help me in A2 next year, and also at university. Not only that, but they also helped me with my goal over this summer holiday, that being of making a game and completing a course in game development. In addition to this, they have shown me how it is to work as a web developer and how it is to be part of the developing team of a company. I definitely recommend Blue Radical as a work experience option, for any junior programmer or anyone starting out in computer science.
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Center : Luca i. (Year 12) at Blue Radical
SCHOOL VIEWS Work Experience
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SCHOOL VIEWS Travel
Soaking in History
Andrea Carman
English Teacher When I moved to Bucharest close to nine years ago, I had friends write and say, "How are you enjoying Budapest? I've heard it's a beautiful city!" I didn't bother to correct them, but at the back of my mind, a plan to visit Budapest formulated and it took me all these years to finally put this Hungarian city on my list--I should have gone sooner. I won't bore you with a lengthy history, but when the Romans discovered the delights of its thermal hot springs back in 35 BC, they settled in the area and named it Aquincum (abundant in water) and promptly constructed a multitude of bath houses, amphitheaters, roads and bridges. Much later, when the Ottomans conquered the area around 1526, they built their elaborate baths and some of these, now over 500 years-old, are still used today! I didn't know that Budapest is only one of two world capitals that has thermal springs (the other being Reykjavik) but Hungary is a lot closer to Bucharest than Iceland. I found a hotel on the Danube, or should I say Botel. I love the water, which includes the mighty Danube, so this was the right choice, because the view from my boat's sundeck of the Parliament buildings was nothing short of spectacular. It was there, watching the kaleidoscope of river activity that I started to plan my thermal bath.
A plethora of cultures settled in Budapest over the centuries and left behind their influence, resulting in an incredible assortment of architecture from the Romans, Turks, Muslims, Christians, Jews and more. It was the Turks and their love of soaking in thermal water that contributed to the ancient baths you can find today. For 10 euro, you get admission and a private changing cabin, a selection of indoor and outdoor pools and, most importantly, a trip back in time. After a good soak, one needs some sustenance and the food is a literal melting pot of cuisines. I don't know who to thank for the divine duck dish I had, but I can thank the Turks for the outstanding coffee. I love a city with a mixed-up mad assortment of cultures with the best of each one surviving for travelers to experience. Put Budapest on your bucket list and take the plunge.
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SCHOOL VIEWS Farewells
Farewell to Mr Angel Paul Jennings
English Teacher I’d never met an angel before. I’d expected wings and a beautiful smile but instead got a dude: a ‘rock-man’ as cool as a sliced cucumber in an icebox. I’ve only been at IBSB for the twinkling of an eye but IBSB’s ‘Guardian Angel’ has been here much, much longer and seen it all. So…he was the obvious person for a ‘newbie’ like me to gravitate towards to find out the truth behind the headlines. Angel is an individual who does not have or need a ‘shouty voice’: he observes, analyses and considers and invariably sees the right and proper way of doing things.
Center : Mr Angel with Year 6 students receiving a plaque in recognition of his time teaching at IBSB
All of us owe him a great debt of gratitude for the extra hours he has given to the school in terms of shows, concerts, performances and the never ending technological support for assemblies. He has been a good guide and friend both to me the whole school community. He is one of the few teachers who teaches across the whole school and he has, without fail, managed to instil in the students he has encountered over the years, a love of music and a more general interest in, and appreciation of, The Arts.
Good luck, sir, with the exciting new adventure: you’re going to look great in a Lumberjack shirt!
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SCHOOL VIEWS Farewells
Farewell to Ms Broadhurst! Andrea Carman
English Teacher
From left : Mr Tansley, Ms Broadhurst , & Mr Peet
“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.� (Carl Jung) If there was ever a teacher that touched the heart and soul of her students, it was Ms Broadhurst. Her gentle spirit, dedication to her craft, and patience led hundreds of students to feel cared for. Was their ever a more centered and peaceful guide than Jane? Even students that didn't take Art classes could be found in Ms Broadhurst's room chatting and looking for a keen ear. She never turned anyone away and the students knew her concern was genuine. Jane arrived at IBSB over a decade ago and has touched hundreds of young lives, made numerous friendships with staff, and could always be counted on for wise advice whether you were planning a trip, in the middle of a crisis, or just curious to find a great local restaurant: ask Jane! She was always positive and her peaceful spirit often served as a raft to others. I feel extremely fortunate to count her as a close friend. Supportive: Ms Broadhurst was always unselfish and put others before herself. If a teacher was needed for the job, Jane was there. Pastoral Care? MUN? School Trips? Mentor? Charity? Citizenship days? Assemblies? Life skills? All that and more, and always without complaint. IBSB was fortunate indeed to have had this beacon of warm light and kindness for so long. She is off now on new adventures and there can be no doubt that wherever Jane goes, she will always be thought of with a smile because in one way or another, we all benefitted from her example. "Students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 7P
Quotes to summarise the year...
Year 7P
I am 99% sure it is not going to happen but that 1% keeps me going. Anastasia
This year was filled with ups and downs for me, but I still enjoyed it. I found new friends throughout KS3 and I also liked this year education wise. The thing I am most proud of this year was getting an A* in maths in a previous test we did and getting a perfect score in English on a test in October. I am happy that I fit in well in this amazing new school.
KS3 can be hard but if you have your friends and family, it would feel like time just flies by. This is how I felt!! Maria
Ilinca
This year was one of the best from Primary and Secondary. I made new friends and some I knew already. We know much, but we don't know enormous things. David
This year was really fun, calm and relaxing. I made a lot of new friends and I loved getting used to life in secondary school. At first, I thought that secondary school was going to be tough and hard, but it actually wasn't any of those things. Unfortunately, next year and the year after, lots of my friends are leaving and also some teachers, but I guess that's just part of life. I usually just try to keep my eyes on the goal no matter what lesson it is. Nevertheless, secondary school is just magnificent. "Not having a hobby is equivalent to depression and sadness, never look down, always keep your eyes on the goal.”
Let's live doing
Andrei
things we like. I haven’t failed, I found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Li Wen
Efstathios
Year 7 was like a room with 2 doors: one door leads to success and good grades, while the other leads to failure and bad grades. Luckily for me, I normally chose the good door. I would like to thank my teachers and family for supporting me. Remember, greatness comes from yourself, and failure comes from letting your EGO corrupt your soul. LONG LIVE IBSB. شكرا
لترجمة هذا الخط Haidar
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This year was really fun; I made a friend I would never have thought of having, Andrew, and also enjoyed my time around here. I loved this year so far and Secondary School is fun. Matei
SCHOOL VIEWS Year 7P
There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You'd think the dreamers would find the dreamers, and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true. See, the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun. And the realists? Well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.
I would like to thank Wikipedia and Google for all the work I've done. It truly saved me a lot of time :) Anastasia
Harsidak
This year was a ton of fun. There may be ups and downs, so keep moving on. Now it is time for some summer fun. Rinfela
Don't count the days, make the days count. Alexandra
I would like to thank Wikipedia and Google for all the work I've done. It truly saved me a lot of time :) Anastasia
I enjoyed roasting Mr Richmond every day. Martyna
Don't let the world save you; it’s your job to save it. Kacper
This year was exhausting in a kind of good way!! Dora
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 7B
Year 7B In Year 7B we have been working on different types of projects this year. In Humanities we have been doing research on rivers; we learned how rivers are formed and different types of landforms. We all had different ideas and a great time. We have also been interviewing some of the people in our class. We asked different questions, such as the following: what do you like the most in our class, if you have any hobbies, your favorite books and lessons and these are the results. Here is just a small sample of the replies we received.
I read books and play video games in my spare time. My favourite book is Robinson Crusoe. My favourite subject is French with Ms Antoaneta because she is a great teacher. David (All of Ms Antoaneta’s students agree with David.)
My favourite lesson is ICT. When I grow up I would like to live in New Zealand. My favourite teacher is Mr Richmond because he is teaching us great stuff and teaching us fun experiments. Ciprian
What I like the most in this class is how we get on with each other. The lesson I like most is P.E. because we play different types of sports and I enjoy playing them with my friends. Tony
Our class is a hard working class, and we respect and help each other all the time. Everybody has lots of friends; even if some of us are new, they easily integrated. We all enjoy learning in a nice environment; we always work as one to achieve our class goals. We have a great time together. Everybody can see from the interviews that we put a great amount of passion into what we do. We put a lot of love and trust in our friendship. Another wonderful thing we observed from the interviews is the love for our teachers. Catalina & Ilinca, Year 7
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 8
Year 8, a Vintage Year! Medeea, Kevin, Iulia , Maria, Patrick and Paul Jennings
Co-written by Year 8 students
We may not be the quietest class in the school, but we certainly know how to get involved!! Year 8 went for Gold, Silver and Bronze in Sports Day: shout out to: Alexia, Medeea, and Kevin. French singing at U.N. Day from Maria, Kyra and Medeea, and constitution speeches in Bulgarian and English from Calin and Patrick. Y8 turned their skills on cake baking this year followed by honourary mentions at the Spring and Winter Balls. Y8 also tackled the climbing wall with enthusiasm and were involved in the extremely high profile and prestigious COBIS MUN as note-passers, with Maria being the only Year 8 delegate at the MUN out of all the schools attending. Even more impressive was the representation in the IBSB Middle School Debating Team: shout outs to: Kiki, Ioana, Maria (again) and Millie. Interschool swimming honours to Iulia and Maria and even time to play the piano at a competition in the city! Finally, Y8 got their hands dirty with mucky science at the end of the year KS3 Science Fair. Year 8 are very much looking forward to their residential trip to Italy and even more to returning in August for a thrilling year as a (quieter) Year 9.
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 9
Year 9 Thoughts and Reflections
Finishing the exams was the best part of the year – Ana This year was tiring, yet I improved massively - Kathleen This year was the best so far! – Alecsandra Two months is enough to learn to like this school. Trust me, I know – Nundika
I had an amazing year, and I am look forward to next year – Lin I enjoyed this year more than any other; leaving will be surprisingly difficult – Tudor
Coming here in the middle of the term was difficult, but everyone is really nice and helped make my transition easy – Daria Way too much build up for the test, they were unsatisfyingly easy. – Ronny
I found this year an incredible and unforgettable experience. We had the most important examinations so far (Checkpoint), which were marked externally – Ishika Amazing year. It started easy, got harder, then became easy again. Great community! – Filip
I enjoyed learning science this year with Ms Laura, Mr Nastase, and Ms Senzaconi. They helped me a lot and made science easy for me – Dean Emmm…. I don’t know what to write, but I believe my English is improving – Giovanni
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 10H
Year 10H Comes to and End As Year 10H has come to an end, it is time we reflect on some of our favourite moments of the year. The students in my class wanted to make this article one to remember, so we all pitched-in with a quote about the following: our achievements, activities, teachers, lessons or our many inside-jokes, which you will sadly only understand if you ask a year 10H student. To start off, we have the infamous inside-jokes: “Aladel.net” (do not search online!), that was present at every single ICT lesson. “What’s a spandrel” a new favourite phrase from our class song. “Tira la basura” which translates to: take out the garbage. “Give me sand”, the class gamers’ most-liked go-to line in any circumstance whatsoever, and last but not least “C3”, Marius’s dearest phrase. In 10H, we have many Computer Science enthusiasts who wanted to share some of their most memorable phrases and opinions. To start off, we have Mihai with: “I think you have a voice,” then Matei with “Close the browser,” and last but not least Rares with “3/10 year. This school year was great because of our many computer science teachers.” Truly moving. Furthermore, we have Vlad with a concerning confession: “Psychology has revealed to me how grey the world is.”, but don’t worry Vlad, we still have a few more chapters left in the textbook (like criminal psychology) that will certainly colour it up!
Tamara “From debating to Public Speaking and MUN, this year was full of realizations and funny moments I will treasure forever. There is just too much to say in one quote so I leave you with a poem: Roses are red, Violets are blue, I’m on a schedule, so this will make do. This year was quite hard, and it went quite fast, but my colleagues are nice, so we had a blast.”
In 10H we pride ourselves on accomplishments, such as Milena’s: “This year had many achievements: winning the Silver Plate at the World COBIS Debate Competition alongside the debate team in Dubai and becoming the Student Council’s Head.” The debate team is one of Year 10’s most “prized possessions” so to say, as four out of the six members (Tamara, Milena, Christie and Maximilian) are in it, half in 10H and half in 10T. Some are delighted about their new subjects: “The new courses I chose this year: business and economics rock!”- Mario “This was a great year and I am very glad I chose Business, Economics and Spanish because of the great teachers.”- David. While others are content with their current ones: “I crushed my English as a Second Language IGCSE because I had an awesome teacher.”- Mihnea We have the new-comers with their experiences: “Participating in the Art Competition was a really good way to improve my drawing skills.”- Diana, the class artist “I only came this last month, but I got used to the system and I’ll hopefully catch up with the others.” - Minoru Unfortunately, our class will also suffer a terrible loss: “This year had its ups and downs but all things considered, it was a good year, and a nice final year before a break in Malta.”- Pit (Andrei). But we will remain positive as he’ll be returning in Year 12.
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 10T
A Year in the Eyes of
10T Max
Debating is an incredibly valuable skill that is relevant to the everyday: whether you like to argue with your friends, family members, or peers, it is a must-have. This year I was honoured to take part in two incredibly prestigious competitions: the Sir Winston Churchill Debating Competition - hosted and organised by our own school - and the COBIS World Debate, perhaps the most important competition in my life (in which we won the Silver Plate!). If you like talking a lot or are a confident publicspeaker, this is the club to join!
John I’m a new student at IBSB, and so far I like it here. Both the teachers and my colleagues helped me integrate smoothly, and the opportunities offered during my first year were exciting and plentiful. When it comes to my class, I think they’re great. They are very mature, open minded, and I love talking to them. My teachers are nice too. They helped me out with everything and really believed in me. I’m super excited for the upcoming trip to Barcelona - I’m confident we will get along very well and I am also really looking forward to getting to know everyone a little better.
Christie I’ve had a wonderful year, in no small part due to those around me. I applied for Student Council and got in, along with Milena and Jaime, who I’m so glad I get to work with as representatives. In February I joined the debate team (and Mr Hudson) for an amazing trip to Dubai full of exciting new foods, thrilling debates, and lots of new friends. I couldn’t have wished for a better trip, or a better team. I’m very excited to attend next time and to explore whatever city it’s going to be held in with them. Later on in the year, we all also took part in COBIS MUN; between meeting tons of fantastic people, eating surprisingly great hotel food, and the actual conference itself, I think that was probably the best school-related Jaime thing I did this year. Thank you to all my friends at IBSB who supported me throughout and made this a great and memorable year. My second year here in IBSB has been very busy but at the same time very enjoyable. I took part in the school play “Lady Windermere’s Fan” playing the role of Lady Windermere. It was extremely tough but a fun and exciting role to take on. I also entered the talent show with Adela, which was a very nervewracking yet exhilarating experience. This year, I had the pleasure of being able to work alongside Milena, Christie and the rest of the Student Council team. I am so grateful that I got this opportunity, it has been an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone considering applying. I was challenged with completing the Drama IGCSE in one year, I hope it has gone well! 2017-2018 has been a great year, thank you to everyone for making that way. Have a lovely summer and see you next year!
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 11
Year 11
End of Year Musings Gekko & Boldizsar
Year 11 students This year has been a great one for Year 11. Many have engaged in extra-curricular activities. such as debates, MUN, and even first aid courses. They have strived all year to do their best in their IGCSEs, and had a lot of fun doing it. Many have engaged in extra-curricular activities such as debates, MUN and even first aid courses. They have strived all year to do their best in their IGCSEs, and had a lot of fun doing it.
Here’s what a few of our peers had to say:
“It’s amazing to see how the numbers grew… year 5… year 11… I’m not sure when it all flew by, but I’m happy it was with my classmates.” – Ioana B “This year was a very important one for me, not only because I was able to experiment by doing new things, but also because I was able to teach myself new skills that will surely help me in future years.” – Gekko “As my final year in this school, I can say without a doubt it’s been one of the greatest ones.” – Boldizsar “With one more year gone, I think we have come one step closer to cultivating our responsibility and mental strength; I hope to continue to do so with all my colleagues in the years to come.” – Kyriaki “After this year I got into the habit of overcoming adversity more than being told to speak in English.” – Alex S “This year, I learned what responsibility is and how to cope with it thanks to the positive school environment.” – Radu “I’m really happy I’m done with my IGCSEs, and I can’t wait to see how life in the 6 th form will differ! Bring on the A Levels!” - Victor
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 12
The Year in Review Decked out in ties and office attire, this academic year was full of initiatives and colourful experiences for our Year 12 students. Some Year 12s became prefects, officially picking up the role-modelling posts in art, science, pastoral care and more – this has meant some targeted interventions and presentations, while practicing the fine art of balancing community involvement with academic rigour.
Three cheers to Lena for being an awesome Chief-Editor of our TIV this year! Luiza Ruptureanu has been spreading the gospel of debate and leading our school team for both the Sir Winston and the COBIS Debate Competitions that took place this year, where we walked away with the Silver Plate. With ever-growing numbers, we had quite of few Y12 students participating in the Bucharest marathon this year. Several Y12 students ran sessions in the first SS Citizenship Day – exploring languages and cultures through riddles, rhymes, songs and dance. There were a few trips attended by Y12 this year – the CERN trip took science enthusiasts to Geneva, the in-city BNR trip took them on a journey of currencies and history of the Romanian Leu, while some of our students went to the Paris MUN in preparation for our own conference. Several Y12 students continued their Duke of Edinburg journey, pushing their limits with expeditions, additional volunteering and self-development. A small group of Y12 students, Lena, Siena, Luca I and Qian Qian, started their own Wushu Club Fridays afterschool, inviting an expert to train them on martial arts. Lena and Lisa impressed the crowds and judges at the Interschool Talent Show, winning second place with their street dance number- the only dance performance to win a trophy! Dipping their toes, or in some cases being fully immersed in conference planning, COBIS-MUN saw almost half the Y12 class involved either as chairpersons, logistics team, press, or as delegates. The pièce de résistance, hallmark Sixth Form, is the level of CAS involvement. Raising funds for their projects in traditional and creative ways, raising awareness, using their skills in story-telling, acting, and at times sheer resilience – the Y12s undertook a wide range of tasks for the benefit of the less fortunate and the 8 different NGOs that we support. The Y12 students also benefited of accredited first-aid training. There have been visits from university reps, university fairs (in-school Dutch Fair and UK Uni Fair, along with other outside school fairs – like the visit from Oxford) and as well the CEO club talk – giving Y11-13 students opportunities to explore their career options and to have their questions answered by experts in the field. The last piece of the puzzle to end the school year: all Y12 students were enlisted in the work-experience programme, made possible through our parents and other community links. All these extra-curricular activities aside, the Y12 students have been hard at work in their chosen fields of study, drawing, photographing, conducting experiments, reading, researching, writing essay and more in preparation for their future careers.
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SCHOOL VIEWS Year 12
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CREATIVE CORNER 6:30
Life at My teacher told me to write something about myself… so I did. I am Anna, I am 6 and a half years old and in maths we are learning about time. Our teacher said that 6:30 is 6 and a half, so, I am 6:30 years old. I like maths, it is very logical. I understand maths. My sister Ava doesn’t like maths as she says that it is hard. I don’t like Ava so much, well, not any more. When she was younger (11:15 years old) she was much more fun; she used to play with me, and take care of me. Father seems like he doesn’t like her either, not any more. Yesterday, for example, he got into a fight with her for getting a bad score on a test. I don’t think that he likes her so much as they always seem to be yelling at each other. The last time I saw that he didn’t yell at Ava was a couple of years ago. They got dressed in black (except for the button-down white shirt that father wore). My sister wore a very nice black, long dress and a black hat; she does wear black quite often, however not long black dresses and hats. They were looking very smart but they were looking very sad. They left me home alone that day (being home alone is so strange: you can do whatever you want, but what if monsters come and eat you up?). So, father and Ava left me alone that day, said that they had to go run some errands (which means they had some jobs to do). The strange thing is that I‘ve not seen mommy ever again since then. Daddy said that she went to “a better place” (I think that she bought a new home to live in and is going to move us in it as fast as possible). Daddy says many rude things; he doesn’t shout at me like he does at Ava, but sometimes I can tell that he is angry. For example, when I tell him that I like it at school, he answers: “Well so you should, judging by what I pay for it!” I do like it at school. I have many friends, but my best friend is Becca. I really like her blonde hair. She is just so relaxed all of the time. Sometimes she says that I am uptight, tense and overly controlling, but I don't believe her. And I already know that we are going to grow up and be BFF´s. She is older than me, she is almost 7:30 years old, like how all of my class is older than me. When I ask daddy why the kids in my class are older than me he tells me it is because I am a very clever little girl, so I am, as daddy is a very smart boy. Daddy sells homes. I think that he gave mommy a home to live in and we will all move in there together and be a very nice happy family. The homes he sells are big. He takes me to these homes sometimes. There was one that I really liked, it had a girl´s room that had a pink princess bed and light pink and white walls. It also had a multi-coloured unicorn on one of the walls. And in the corner there was this huge purple teddy bear with a white bow on her head. The room even had a TV that had a crown on top of it! He makes a lot of money from his job. And I think that he likes it, even though he screams a lot when he comes home, that is if he comes home. Sometimes he comes home very late when I am already in bed. Sometimes I am asleep, although sometimes I can hear him opening and closing the front door. Last week when he came home from work, he screamed for no apparent reason, it was completely NONSENSICAL! Ava said that it was because he was very angry with work. I already knew that. I wanted a better reason why he was so angry. If you ask me, Ava is a little stupid. There was nothing wrong with her before (only got A´s or B´s) but now she seems to have
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CREATIVE CORNER 6:30
Kyra C.
Year 8 become dumb. Also a dumb boy keeps coming to our house when daddy isn't home. When I ask Ava about him, she says that he’s just a friend. “I shouldn't worry about it,” or “It’s none of my business” but she always says: “Don’t tell dad about him!” So I don’t. I hear them laughing in her room sometimes, so I guess she’s happy, but why doesn't she want to tell daddy about her friend? Sometimes, when daddy is super late from work, he even spends the nights here. Perhaps he doesn’t have a home? Because I am sure that daddy would just give him one, for free, as he is a friend. I only called him “dumb” because of the way he looks: he has oily hair that goes down to his shoulders; he has an earring in his left ear; he always seems to wear black (just like Ava); and always has an unlit cigarette in his mouth (I can see daddy with a cigarette in his mouth late at night sometimes, but what is the point if it isn’t lit?). So, the dumb boy seems bad and mean. I even remember that one day, I came home from school alone (as I almost always go home alone, except when Miss. Judy, my teacher, takes me home on a Tuesday) and she was in the house with him, even though she was still supposed to be in school. When I asked her about it, Ava told me that it was because the teacher was sick and they had been told they could come home. I told her that when a teacher is sick in our class, we write her a “get well card” to make her feel better. I said that she should do that too, but I don’t think that she ever ended up doing that. I used to write a get well card for mommy when she got sick. Well, Ava used to write it for me but I told her what to write. Mommy got sick quite often, at least that is what daddy said, whenever daddy said: “Mommy is sick again, please don’t make much noise, she needs her rest.” I would take Ava into my room and tell her what to write. After we were finished, I would gently knock at her door and walk in and go up to her bed. She usually had a bucket next to her bed where she would vomit. There was also a time when she didn’t have hair. I didn’t like her like that, here brown hair was so beautiful, why would she shave it off? A thing that bothered her was that all of a sudden she would be sad that she lost a lot of weight, but when she would be feeling better, she would always make a big fuss about how she was fat. When she was sick she would cough a lot and even though mommy and daddy didn’t tell me this, sometimes she would cough blood. She also didn’t really want to eat. I don’t know why, I just know that she didn’t. Mommy was very nice. We used to always go to the park. We had so much fun together and I can’t wait to see her again. So there you have it! My life at 6:30.
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CREATIVE CORNER Art
IGCSE/A Level Art and Design Jane Mihalache
Art Teacher
A number of our students have been working throughout the year on their Coursework and Examination preparation for the CIE Art & Design Examination which took place in April. For the exam, students are required to choose a theme and research artists/designers based on the theme or art techniques they would like to explore. Students are then required to draw either from direct observation or from their own photographs. The main part of the preparation is the experimental work, where students use their observational drawings and the artist’s research as reference points. The culmination of the project involves the final compositions through to a grand conclusion: a final piece is produced in an 8 hour examination for IGCSE and a 15 hour examination for A Level. As you can imagine, a lot of time, effort, and commitment is required both at home and at school. You can see some of the results of all their hard work here.
Congratulations to our students!
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CREATIVE CORNER Year 7 Writing
Year 7 Creative Writing The Cuckoo Story of the French Royal Family This year, students in Year 7 learnt a few facts about Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI of France. For their end of year project, students wrote a short play portraying the tranquil life of a king and the arrival of a crazy scientist with a time machine. Students created a complicated plot with suspense –filled moments of royal kids disappearing in a futuristic British school. Unsurprisingly, the three heirs Frafra, Floflou and Foufou are experiencing difficulties in pronouncing the name of a strange sandwich, hamburger. Students worked collaboratively on their writing techniques in order to create a simple but realistic dialogue between generations and centuries. After writing four scenes in French, including stage directions, they produced a new language Franglish/Franglais when the royal characters made an attempt at pronouncing the word hamburger in English. Difficult job when you never pronounced H in your life! Six scenes abundant in colourful characters and a spectacular turn of events. A lot of creativity, theatrical skills, and easiness to switch between languages!
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