ISB Insight Magazine - January 2017 - Issue 8

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ISB International Week CELEBRATING DIVERSITY

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

We hope that the magazine will help parents with practical solutions related to their children’s education and share best practices with professionals working in education. We will continue to write about all the fun we experience at school and about all our planned events and activities.

Every start of the year brings with it the challenge of another brilliant learning journey and the promise of yet another busy year at ISB. SİNAN KOŞAK / DIRECTOR

JANUARY 2017 ISSUE 8 International School of Bucharest’s Periodic Magazine Director SİNAN KOȘAK director@isb.ro Editor MADALINA CIOC admissions@isb.ro Design AHMET YOLACAN ahmet.yolacan@lumina.ro Print ROMPRINT www.tiporomprint.ro 1R Sos. Gara Catelu Str, 032991, Bucharest, Romania (+40) 21-306 95 30 info@isb.ro www.isb.ro

Every year we make a promise to ourselves and to our community to maintain our high academic standards as well as to develop and improve every aspect of the school life. With this in mind, we had a look at our Insight Magazine and we came up with a new design and a new concept this year, which we hope you are going to like.

Starting with this issue, we included articles of good practice which are meant to offer guidance and support to both professionals in education and parents. We also included samples of the students’ excellent work, such as essays, projects or campaigns they are involved in.

It has been a very busy first term, with numerous school activities and school events which involved both our students and teachers and our beautiful community.

In early September we celebrated our students’ excellent achievements in the IGCSE and A level examinations.

The Awards Ceremony brought together teachers and students where they all celebrated their success. We organised educational and cultural activities at International, Health and Fitness, Books, Humanities and Art Weeks and we celebrated 20 years of ISB and excellence in education with

our diverse community. Following the CIS evaluation in November, our CIS accreditation has been renewed for another 5 years and we have received a very successful IB consultation visit before the final verification in February.

Thanks to our very dedicated members of the PTA, Primary School students enjoyed the Autumn Fair and the Winter Holidays with Santa’s visit, while our Secondary School students had lots of fun at the Christmas Party.

Secondary Prefects organised a Winter Fair again this year for the Primary School students. Going through the pages of the magazine one more time before it goes to print, I am amazed with the amount of work everyone in the school has put in this term and I am grateful and honoured to work alongside such a wonderful team.

Thank you all for all your hard work and commitment to the school’s overall success.

I hope you will enjoy reading the magazine as much as I did. I would like to express my special thanks to the authors of the articles, the members of the Journalism Club and of course, the editor of our magazine, Ms. Madalina Cioc for their huge effort and excellent work to make this possible.

Your feedback is very important to us.

Please send us your feedback or any topics you would be interested to read about to admissions@isb.ro. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year!

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The Primary School Began the New School Year with a Flourish of Activities MRS. KERRY HARRIS HEAD OF PRIMARY SCHOOL

The Primary School began the new school year with a flourish of activity. As part of our induction week the primary school welcomed Ms. Clare Stockley, an experienced teacher trainer from the UK. Ms Stockley led a training session entitled ‘Teaching Guided Reading in the Primary School Classroom.’ It was reassuring for our teachers to see that our current practice is secure but the course also suggested new strategies to trial in our class rooms.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an area in which the International School of Bucharest excels. Our teachers benefit from a range of courses and training to upskill and maintain the most current practice in education. Many of our primary teachers return to the UK or attend courses in other European cities for training every year. The teachers are motivated and keen to return to school

and introduce new ideas into their classrooms and share ideas with their colleagues.

Our curriculum and teaching and learning is dynamic and evolves to meet the needs of the students and current educational thinking.

term our primary parents are invited to participate in several workshops and lessons with the children. Our workshops inform and educate parents and guardians on the strategies teachers use in the classrooms to teach reading, phonics and number skills.

In a similar way, we offer courses and training to our parents. During the first few weeks of the Autumn

Parents attended a workshop on how we teach phonics: learning the letter sounds, the blends, segmenting words

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and early reading. Our numeracy workshops have informed parents how teachers use Numicon and teach basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, introducing partitioning methods and strategies to solve word problems; following the workshops the parents are invited into the class rooms to see the teachers working with the students and applying the methods. We strongly feel that

educating parents in the strategies we use in school not only helps to support the children in their teaching and learning but also helps to cement the partnership between home and school.

In addition to academic based workshops, parents are also invited to presentations organised by the Student Support Services team. The themes of these can vary. A sample of such

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is ‘Keeping Children Safe in a Digital World’, ‘Communicating with Children and Teenagers’ and ‘Positive Parenting’.

Our workshops are always well attended. At the International School of Bucharest, we feel very fortunate to benefit from such a supportive parent body and we are convinced that this is what helps to make the Primary such a welcoming, friendly and successful school.

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Six Key Tips for Preparing Your Child for School MS. HELEN DIXON, FOUNDATION 1 TEACHER

Starting school is a huge step in your child’s life. It is probably going to be the first time they have spent such a long time away from you. So how can you prepare them for this?

• The first thing is to talk about how exciting the experience of school is going to be. Explain to them some of the things they will be doing: for example, they will be meeting new friends, playing with lots of different toys, playing outside, and more. If you sound excited and positive, then your child is likely to feel the same.Encourage your child to be excited about the new school uniform.

• Take them for a visit to school let them try out some activities whilst you are still around.

• Make sure they are confident to ask when they need to use the toilet.

• When the day comes and it’s time leave them at school, remember to explain that you are going to go, and that you will come back to take them home later. It is a good idea to outline the things they will do before you collect them, such as: “you are going to play, have some lunch, have a little sleep, and then I will be back to take you home.” It is very important that you tell them you will be coming back.

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There are lots of things to keep us busy at school

• Once you leave them it is also important that you don’t keep popping back to have a look, as this confuses the child and is likely to upset them. Once you return you need to do as you said, and take your child home.

Most children will cry when you leave them at first. This is absolutely normal and nothing to worry about. The majority of children soon settle down and start to join in with the class activities.

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We enjoy many different activities.

As teachers we find that the sooner we establish a regular routine, the happier the children are, so starting on time is also important. Trust the teachers to look after your child, and to let you know if there are any worries. They have all experienced the beginning of the school year many times.

Some children (and parents) do find the process of separation much more difficult than others, and in these cases

it can be a good idea to start by leaving your child for a short period of time and increasing the time until they are confident to stay for the whole day.

Children with parents who approach starting school with positivity and confidence will find that their children will settle in very quickly. So even if you feel worried or sad, it’s important that your child does not see this.

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Partnership with Parents MS. VICKY SEESHAAN DEPUTY HEAD EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE

‘Young children do best - now and later - when they are nurtured within a tightly woven web of love’ (Baker, A.C. & Manfredi Petitt, L.A., 2004)

In Early Years it is essential for our staff to form positive relationships with both the children and you as parents since this provides us with opportunities to share discussions on the children’s development and wellbeing and how best to meet their individual needs. As parents you know your children the best; once they start school, we, as teachers, will also develop a good understanding of your child’s strengths, personality and development. We can then share this information together to best meet their needs.

At ISB we feel it is important to keep the lines of communication open and we have several methods of doing this: we send home a weekly bulletin detailing what the learning has been and what is planned for the next week; each class has a Seesaw account to share photos

and messages with parent throughout the day/week; our staff are also available daily for any questions you may have or information you would like to give us. In addition to this, we have more formal parent teacher meetings and written reports in Term 1 and 3. An effective partnership between you as parents and us as teachers allows children to see the important people in their lives working together. When children see positive communication between their parents and teachers it provides a good understanding of the importance of building positive relationships. For example, if children see their parents and teachers being open and friendly with each other and speaking in a polite way they will come to realise this is how to interact effectively with others. If there is mutual trust, respect and support between parents and teachers, children are more likely

to build trusting relationships with their teachers and peers.

When we as teachers develop positive relationships with families in the class, it facilitates more open communication and helps us to feel connected, valued, rewarded and appreciated. When information is shared freely between home and school, we can easily respond to children’s needs by understanding a child’s relationships within their family.

Teachers can also develop a deeper understanding of different cultures and expectations. Having a ‘bigger picture’ allows teachers to relate to the children in a way that makes them feel understood and valued.

We feel it is important to include families in some activities that go from school to home and back again.

Some of these activities include:

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Being Maker Baker is so much fun

Maker Baker:

Mr Penguin and Antoinette Hen:

Seesaw:

Maker Baker is a wonderful opportunity for you and your child to spend some quality time preparing something to share with the rest of the class; this is both educational and fun.

In Foundation 2 during assembly on a Friday we celebrate achievements of the children and award a ‘Star of the Week’ certificate to one child from each class. That child then gets to take home Mr. Penguin for the Ladybirds class and Antoinette Hen for the Busy Bees class.

Seesaw is a website that allows us to share pictures with you of your children engaging in activities within the classroom and school. Each day/week we keep you informed of achievements and events so you can feel part of your child’s school life. You are able to comment on these pictures and share what you children have been doing at school with them.

All of these activities are designed to strengthen the bond between parents and teachers so that we can continue to provide the best possible care for your children. We hope that you all enjoy your time with us in Early Years and that you feel welcome and a part of your child’s school life.

Sharing the food they have prepared at home with their friends helps to raise their self-esteem and builds relationships within the classroom.

It is a special time where your child gets to share with the other children and teachers a little bit of their home life.

These class mascots then get to spend the weekend with you and your child.

While enjoying some quality family time you can take some pictures to place in the special ‘diary’ and write a short caption for each.

After the weekend the children then bring this back to school to share with the class.

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Experimenting during the ‘Touch’ senses session

Learning Through Routines in Early Years MS. JESSICA DUVAL RECEPTION TEACHER

Routines support and promote personal care, independence, social skills and language development.

Personal care

their hands. Repeating skills of hygienic processes helps to develop personal care skills. Snack and lunch times are also a great time for young children to feed themselves, and practice using cutlery and drinking from cups. When children are preparing for outside play, especially during the cooler seasons of year, the children must learn how to properly dress themselves. This is a great opportunity to exercise fine motor skills, to button or zip coats, and practice putting all the fingers in the correct parts of a glove.

Young children are working to develop their personal physical care, such as toilet training, dressing, and hygienic skills. Through the daily routine such as going to snack time and lunch time, the children recognise that before these events they must take care to wash

Children learn how to tidy-up after themselves and keep their environment clean. The classroom becomes the safe environment, and routines of entering and leaving the class help teach children the environment must be respected. Respected by cleaning up the toys, tables that might

When young children first enter school at the beginning of the year it can be a stressful time, because for most it may be their first time away from their families and the care of their home environment. As young children begin to understand their daily and weekly routines at ISB, the children are able to build strong bonds of trust with teachers and from that can feel a sense of security in their new environment which will foster a positive and enabling environment for learning.

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Calculations workshop have snack on them, and turning off the lights when leaving a room.

Independence Working through routines promotes confidence and leads to more independence in young children. As mentioned before, going to school during the Early Years may be the first time the child is leaving the family home. However, through the routine of saying goodbye to a parent or carer in the morning, the child begins to understand that they are loved and the parent is supporting them in the transition to begin their school day and will return to collect the child. As children become familiar with the routine they feel more confident

in the class. With this boost in confidence, the children become more independent and willing to explore the new classroom and tools that are inside.

This independence will lead to more self-learning and focus in engaging activities in the class.

Social skills and language development Through routines such as a morning circle, afternoon meeting times and coming together for other group activities, social skills and language development will occur. Children understand routine vocabulary and language, and build upon the routine language used every day in the class. Children repli-

cate the songs during the morning or afternoon circle time with their friends in the class, and may also build upon the language used during the daily routines. Children enjoy role playing the daily routines and situations which they already identify with. This promotes increased usage of language and builds upon their prior knowledge.

Routines allow children to feel comfortable and settled whilst in the learning environment as they know what is happening next. In addition, young children get personal satisfaction from being involved with day-to-day activities.

When children feel this sense of trust, safety, and personal satisfaction they are free to play, explore, and learn.

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Who Am I? CROSS CURRICULAR LEARNING IN YEAR 1

MS. ROSE MAJOR / YEAR 1 LEADER

Year 1 have really benefitted from the cross curricular learning to start this term; hopefully the level of enthusiasm from the children towards their learning will continue throughout this year!

Year 1 began this year by studying ‘Who am I?’ throughout their Humanities lessons. This gave the children the opportunity to be able to discuss their own experiences and likes and dislikes.

During PSHE lessons the children were encouraged to form their own opinions and feelings, in Science lessons the children thought about their bodies and the different senses and in English we used vocabulary skills to be able to label parts of the body. When the school took part in Roald Dahl Day, Year 1 looked at the story of the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and took the opportunity to create dream jars and even make a pair of huge ears to link the book to their work on senses. To end last term’s learning the children took part in three ‘out of class’ learning experiences - a senses activity, a Year 1 picnic and International Week. The senses activities took place in the three Year 1 classrooms and gave the children the opportunity to experiment

with smell, touch and sound. Following on from that, the Year 1 picnic was an opportunity for the children to bring their favourite food to school and explore different tastes. The children also brought their favourite toy to school which linked well to their second Humanities unit ‘Toys’ which we started this term. During International Week children learnt about other countries around the world and enjoyed being given the opportunity to also celebrate where they are from and foods from their home country. Year 1 have now completed their first term. The children have worked hard to adjust to the different structure of the day and have settled well into life on the first floor. As the children move further up the school they are introduced to more and more subjects; the teachers across the Primary School work hard to ensure that there are links between the different units and that the children really engage with their learning.

Experimenting during the ‘Touch’ senses session

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How long is a giraffe?

A Breath of Fresh Air! MRS. VIKKI PEALL / DEPUTY HEAD OF PRIMARY KS1 & YEAR 2 TEACHER

Learning takes place all the time and everywhere.

The children of ISB enjoy activities which take them outside of the classroom and into new environments. For this reason the teachers in each year group plan an excursion out of school once every half term, as well as many other opportunities to complete tasks in other areas around the school.

In Year 2 the children began the year learning while they played. We gave them empty packing boxes to use at playtime and their imagination and communication skills soared. They built rockets, houses, cars and sub-

marines. They travelled to the moon, new countries, new lands and back home. This simple activity encouraged discussion as they agreed where the box should go and how it should be used. New friendships were formed

as the children shared and cooperated in their play world. In this modern, technical world we often overlook the simple pleasures and delights found in an empty box and the wonders of what we can do with it.

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Enriching imaginary play with boxes

During the term Year 2 went on a shape hunt around the school finding squares, oblongs and circles literally everywhere we looked. We kept a tally of what we found and found that squares and oblongs were the most popular shape used in creating the school. We discussed why this might be and shared our ideas.

Later on in the term we discussed another problem- How tall is a giraffe? Would it fit in the classroom? We researched the answer (6m in case you are wondering!) and then went to measure this distance on the playground because we found it definitely would not fit in the door!

As part of humanities and art work we took a trip to the Village Museum in Bucharest. The children were very excited as they explored the village and the inside of the houses. They used words to describe the building’s age, size and materials it was made from, as well as how they felt looking around and exploring. Not only were the children’s historical and geographical knowledge being developed, but their personal and social skills were too. The children were respectful of the other visitors to the museum waiting their turn to view exhibits. They observed respect for the buildings and artefacts understanding

that we do not damage the property of others. They used manners to thank the staff of the museum who patiently answered our eager questions and they cared for the environment by disposing of rubbish carefully at the end of lunch.

The best part of all of the activities mentioned is the children have not even realised they are learning and developing- if you asked them what they did in school the answer would most likely be “I played and I explored!”

That’s why learning is fun in ISB and why we encourage our children to explore the world outside of the class.

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Celebrating

Roald Dahl Day MS. LIANE MOLDOVEANU HEAD OF ENGLISH, PRIMARY

“The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives….

She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling.

She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.”

Roald Dahl, ‘Matilda’

Exploring using Big Friendly Giant ears

13 September 2016 marked 100 years since the birth of Roald Dahl, the children’s much-loved storyteller, so we had a splendiferous time celebrating it!

Throughout the day, the different year groups carried out activities based around Roald Dahl texts, such as ‘BFG’, ‘The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me’, ‘Matilda’, ‘George’s Marvelous Medicine’ and ‘Esio Trot’.

Year 1 created their own dream jars, Year 2 used interesting adjectives to describe their favourite animals, Year 3 focused on writing from a character’s

point of view, Year 4 wrote their own magic chant, Year 5 learnt about palindromes and Year 6 looked at events from Roald Dahl’s autobiographies.

Problem solving was also fun when students in Year 5 had to figure out where Mr. Fox’s guests needed to sit at the dinner table and Year 4 students had to choose the right unit to measure George’s Marvelous Medicine. We absolutely loved our Dahlicious day and I hope our students are now inspired to read more Roald Dahl. Do not miss the new ‘Big Friendly Giant’ film!

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JANUARY 2017

Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader MS. LIANE MOLDOVEANU HEAD OF ENGLISH, PRIMARY

At ISB, we believe that the development of good reading skills is essential for success. This is because it is a skill that is not only an essential part of the student’s English lessons, but a vital element of every lesson across the curriculum, and beyond.

Mrs. Vicky Seeshan, Deputy Head of Early Years, running a phonics workshop for parents Parents and other adults can play an important role in encouraging a love of reading and an interest in books to provide a strong foundation which we can build upon at school. This will set children up for a lifetime of pleasure from reading. This is why, for the past two years, we have supported parents by organising EY/ KS1 Phonics and Reading Workshops in order to share strategies and resources. Parents use the occasion to ask questions about how our Phonics Programme, based on Phonics International, works. After the workshops, parents are encouraged to visit their own child’s class where

they are able to see all the strategies in practice.

In Primary, all parents and children are familiar with the Reading Record which, hopefully, helps the children to settle into the great habit of reading every day. It is a way for students to number their reading nights and record their thoughts on what they have read.

Parents and teachers may comment on reading progress. Children’s reading choices include books from the Oxford Tree scheme, BugClub and library. The first readers, who will have recorded 100 nights by 13 December, will be awarded with a…surprise!

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Problem Solving in Key Stage 2 for Children, Parents and Teachers

Daria and Maia from Y3V were learning to recognise, construct and name different types of quadrilaterals

MRS. CAROL NEW, PRIMARY MATHS SUBJECT LEADER

On Tuesday 27th September the Year 4N classroom did not have any children in it. Why, you may ask? Well, that was because it was full of parents who had come to the ‘Problem Solving in Key Stage 2’ workshop run by Mrs. New with the help of Miss Eva for translation.

During the workshop, the parents learned how problem solving is taught at ISB. Did you know, for example, that there are more than nine different skills taught which may need to be used during a problem solving lesson?

Some of these include trial and improvement, working systematically, pattern spotting, reasoning logically and working backwards as well as

the more complex skills of visualising, conjecturing, generalising and proving.

The parents were given the opportunity to answer a couple of problem solving questions themselves, although only one or two brave parents put their hand up to answer the question.

Once the workshop had finished, the Mums, Dads, Nannies and other family members went to watch their children who were being taught a problem solving lesson in their classrooms.

This gave them the opportunity to see a lesson taking place, work with their children on the task and realise just how many mathematical skills are needed to solve a problem. Problem solving is probably the most difficult

area of maths for children to learn as it involves so many skills, not just number operations and knowledge of shape, measures and data but also the specific skills mentioned above. This is why, one of the main ways to help children become confident and competent in this area of the curriculum is to give them as many opportunities as possible to practise the skills and also, an important point for children learning maths in a second language, is for them to talk about these skills in context. That is also why, here at ISB, in Key Stage 2 we teach a separate problem solving lesson every week, as well as our five maths lessons, during alternate half terms.

Y4B were challenged by Ms Dana to apply their knowledge of 2D shapes using jelly beans –Maths and sweets combined, what fun.’

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Mrs. New and Ms. Eva explain why we teach problem solving in KS2

Parents are the learners at this workshop

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ISSUE 8

Going past Herastrau Park

Linking Fieldtrips to School Based Tasks MRS. REBECCA FOX / YEAR 5 LEADER

Last half term in Year 5 we looked at tourist attractions. To begin with, the children worked in small groups and used their electronic devices, to research famous landmarks (this lead to lots of excitement but plenty of high quality work.) These included the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Hollywood sign in the USA, the world’s tallest building in Dubai and Stonehenge in the United Kingdom.

The children worked in small groups to create booklets and posters; the results were so good that during the Wednesday assembly, they got to present their work to the Year 6 students as well as all of the Year 5 and Year 6 teachers and teaching assistants. The Year 6 children then voted on where they would like to go on holiday. The most popular country was the USA. Well done to Emilia, Daria, Anita, Sarah, Maia and Aurora from 5E and Luca and Stefan from 5F who presented the information on this country. All of this research was well used as during International Week the students took part in an online quiz about countries around the world.

Many of them scored high marks in this with some even beating the teachers, Mr. Peall, Mr. Mark and Mr. McAllister!

After looking at attractions around the world the focus became tourist attractions closer to home. The children used their electronic devices as well as their knowledge of this country to find out about tourist attractions in Romania, but not located in Bucharest; some of these were Bran Castle, the home of Dracula, Rasnov fortesss,

the Black Sea, Peles Castle and the Transfagarasan road. Finally, children began their research of the many different tourist attractions right on our doorstep here in Bucharest. These included the many football stadiums, the Parliament building, the statues and sculptures that remind us of the past, including the monument to all the aircraft personnel killed in the World Wars and the Revolution which brought an end to Communism in Romania in 1989. This work ended with a successful, if a little chilly, trip around Bucharest on the open top bus. This allowed all the students and teachers a chance to see up close, some of the famous attractions that bring tourists to this wonderful city and some even used a city map to find out whereabouts in the city they were. Particular mention should go to Stefan and Levent, both in 5F, who used their knownedge of tourist attractions to become tour guides for the afternoon; they were able to share their knowledge of Bucharest with members of the public sitting on the lower deck of the bus as the usual bus commentry was not working!

All of the children worked extremely well during this unit, sharing electronic devices, maps and atlases and even their own knowledge both in the classroom, as homework tasks and outside of school on their school trip. They also showed that they could work in a sensible, mature and kind way both in and out of school. I hope that there will be more successful field trips and group work in the next term.

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How Can Mobile Devices Support Learning?

MR. JAMES PEALL DEPUTY PRINCIPAL KS2 MRS. CIGDEM KARAMAN MATHS TEACHER

The children in Year 6 are thoroughly enjoying their learning as always, but this year they are doing so with more interactive engagement using their mobile devices.

In Upper KS2 the children are allowed to use their mobile devices (iPads, tablets or lap tops) to participate in the lessons, and their focus and enjoyment is evident to see.

So far the children have used their mobile devices to do research on famous explorers on 16th Century Explorers, Shakespeare, and about the human body in Science. This has enabled the children to find out more information themselves, and has given them ownership of the facts they have chosen to include in their projects.

We have used both EducationCity and Bug Club in the classroom so the

Students using tablets as part of their lessons

children can complete activities learning about the objectives at their own pace before completing paper based tasks to practise the skills. YouTube videos have been incorporated into English, Humanities, Maths, Science and Art to demonstrate techniques, animate the learning and engage the children. The benefit of the mobile devices is that the children can re-watch sections of the videos as they require during the lesson to ensure understanding. This is especially evident in the art projects produced by the children, as they could re-watch the techniques taught to complete excellent portraits and clay models.

This year we have also used Nearpod as a teaching tool. This is similar to a slideshow, but incorporates activities, websites and videos for the children.

The Nearpod lesson can be led by the teacher so the children’s answers can be shared with each other, or it can be led by the students and providing each individual with level-appropriate activities. This has proved to be very useful and interesting for the children.

Recently the children have started to make their own videos. We plan on incorporating movie making into the Guided Reading sessions more regularly to aid the written work and class studies.

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Year 10 students using ebooks on their iPads ISB has made an important decision in choosing to implement the use of iPads within the classroom. This technological innovation has brought a different approach to the education of our students. Beyond the immediate benefit of engaging students with the wide range of applications, iPads are also improving educational efficiency.

Although some difficulties have arisen, with the hard work of the ISB team, these obstacles have been set aside and the use of iPads is turning out to be a great success.

In Maths, video lessons and interactive demonstrations help students to develop a better understanding of algebra and geometry. Making graphs and tables is no longer a laborious process; iPads help students save time, gain a lot more understanding and a

different perspective compared to the limitations of using rulers to draw all required graphs and tables on paper.

It is amazing to teach using technology; with an e-book in my hand, all students have access to my screen on their iPad, plus the text is reflected on the Smart board. Moreover, whilst explaining the concept, monitoring the students has become easy, quite unlike writing on the board and having to turn around frequently to check the class is on task.

students to interact in the classroom and have fun while learning - iBooks encourage them to read, solve problems and make notes.

Students are now able to share their work using the apps and it allows us to have effective team work and class discussions. Students can take pictures of the lectures and whenever needed are able to learn at the pace that best suits them.

iPads are being used in educational environments all around the world with great success. Teachers can have paperless classrooms: take attendance, share interactive presentations and test their students—all using the iPad.

New generations are born in a digital environment, so are highly engaged with digital devices. Therefore, a child who has the chance to practice Maths on an iPad is likely to be more engaged, than one who is working from a textbook.

Some research suggests that iPads are effective too in prompting demotivated

A big thank you to ISB for bringing life to education!

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KS2 Stars of the Month

Promoting Positive BehavÄąour MR. JAMES PEALL DEPUTY PRINCIPAL KS2

At ISB our behaviour policy is deliberately called a Positive Behaviour Policy as we want to celebrate and focus on the positive behaviour shown by the students.

The students at ISB are extremely well-behaved, but every school needs a behaviour policy to ensure actions and consequences are clear. This is done in many ways with positive comments; verbally, within the marking of work and via the Educare Daily Reports; as the first level of celebration. For good work and manners House Points are awarded, with weekly celebrations of the House Team scores and a trophy awarded at the end of the year. We also award Stars of the Week (Class Teachers) and Stars of the Month (Specialist Teachers) certificates. These are awarded by the teachers to children who have continuously followed the Golden Rules, produced excellent work or displayed a super effort.

The Stars of the Month certificates are particularly valuable as there is only one given per two year groups

by each specialist teacher. The most exciting reward for positive behaviour we currently give on a regular basis is the Deputy Head Golden Awards. Each class has a Learning Rainbow in their room and the children all begin in the middle, at the start of the week, on Ready to Learn. The children can move up or down the Learning Rainbow depending on their behaviour and efforts in school. Those children who manage to move to the top of the Rainbow by Friday afternoon get to visit their Deputy Head and chose a small award as a token of well done.

The children love to come and look in the box of goodies, and often promise to come again the following week in order to choose the prize as they want so many of the gifts!

We hope to see your child soon for their reward!

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JANUARY 2017

House Points and House Captains MR. JAMES PEALL / DEPUTY PRINCIPAL KS2

Every child loves to earn house Points at ISB. House Points are awarded for good work, behaviour or effort.

The children can earn them in class, for homework, reading, the playground or even the canteen and assemblies.

In fact they can earn House points anywhere in school.

The children earn lots of House Points too, with over 1800 House Points earned most weeks!

scores updated weekly on our website, http://www. isb.ro/Student-Life/Houses. aspx

You can see the House Points

Each House Team has Captains that were voted for by the children at the start of

Bears House:

Lynxes House:

Hares House:

Mina 6P Ana Maria 6A

Amar 6A Ana 6M

Daniel 6M Bianca 6P

term. There were twenty or so nervous Year 6 students who stood up and said why they wanted to represent their House as the Captain and the lucky chosen eight were:

Foxes House: Alois 6P Alexia 6A

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ISSUE 8

The Student Council MR. EDWARD SMITH / HEAD OF YEAR 4

This year our first challenge has been to improve the participation in after school clubs. We have carried out a class survey with all primary classes to find out the more successful clubs and have created a ‘wish list’ for teachers to choose from next term.

The Student Council is now up and running, we have Class Representatives from each KS1 and KS2 class as well as Secretaries from KS2 classes.

Following this, our next objective is to improve reading for enjoyment and re-

laxation in our free school time through a variety of ways decided upon by us.

Well done to this year’s Council members: David 1O, Amedeo 1R, David 1S, Laszlo 2A, Le Le Li, 2C, Anastasia 2P, Daria & Maia 3V, Teo & David 3C, Lara &

Jade 3A, Daryus & Mihaela 3Q, Vladimir & Hana 4B, Alma & Aida 4E, Shayan & Theodor 4N, Rares & Alex 4D, Sofia & Matei 5E, Alice & Erik 5F, Iasmin & Rui 5L, Vlad & Khaled 6M, Alex & Niccolo 6A, Elizabeth & Daniel 6P.

25

JANUARY 2017

Head of Secondary School Message MR. DAVID NEWSHAM / HEAD OF SECONDARY SCHOOL

It is with some excitement that I write an overview of the Secondary school for this edition of the Insight magazine. 2016/17 sees the school reach 20 years of providing quality education.

This first term has seen the introduction of iPads to mainstream education in Year 7 and 10, an extremely useful visit by our IB consultant, a very successful review by the Council of International Schools and 3 activity packed subject weeks (Health & Fitness Week, International Week and Humanities week). As we approach December we can look forward to our Arts week as well as our official 20th Anniversary celebration. I have taken over the reins as Head of Secondary at a time when the school is moving forward at a magnificent rate!

Last year, ISB settled on 3 words to act as our guiding principles. These are now very publicly displayed in each classroom and office and really do guide our thinking. These words are: LEARN, RESPECT, SUCCEED All of our teachers are continuing to work hard to make our classrooms more enquiring. We hope our students feel encouraged to ask the big questions relating to their studies. We don’t want them to be satisfied with simply knowing and accepting what it says in the textbooks, we would rather they appreciate the why and the how. As we continue to work towards IB authorisation this year, we want our students to become more appreciative of their own learning and more aware of the interconnectedness of everything they study. In this way, not only will they learn, but they will truly understand.

We are a community encompassing over 40 different nationalities. Our students bring massively diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences. These come from their families, from their home nations and from their religions.

As a school, we support and celebrate this diversity. Our diversity is on display in the Gallery, is celebrated in our National day celebrations and International Week. It is the recognition of our similarities and appreciation of our differences which makes our community stronger. Our students appreciate the importance of compromise when dealing with other people. Looking out for yourself is a very lonely position, we are stronger when we work together. In this manner we all understand how to give and receive respect.

To many, the reason for school is the exams taken in year 13 in order to gain entry to university and I am sure these are already very firmly in the minds of our senior students. There is more to school than academic exams and report grades. We are preparing our students for life in a rapidly chang-

ing world. I started teaching in 1994 when a computer was a massive box that stood on your desk and was used, mainly, for typing letters and storing data. A phone was connected to the wall and a mobile phone was one with a very long cord. The EU was the EEC, Eastern Europe was only just emerging from the communism. In the years that have followed, the world has changed immeasurably. Careers which were seen as lifetime jobs have disappeared and opportunities not even dreamt of have appeared. It is hard for me to think that when I was at school, the World Wide Web was still simply one of Tim Berners-Lee’s ideas. Little of the “content” I was taught at school is still relevant to me today. It is impossible for school curricula to keep up to date with what’s needed now let alone what might be needed in 5, 10 or 20 years’ time. The content I learnt may not still be relevant but the skills I developed are, the ability to think, the willingness to ask questions, the ability to listen to others and to make suggestions. These were taught to me by inspiring teachers along with a love of learning and an open-mindedness which hasn’t left me yet and has enabled me to forge a career which has taken me through 6 different schools in 4 different continents in both the northern and southern hemispheres. At ISB we value these skills, which combined with traditional subject knowledge, will help our students succeed now, and for the rest of their lives.

I am immensely proud to be a part of this very special school and I hope and trust that all of us, students, staff and parents will continue to learn, to respect and be respected, and to succeed.

26

ISSUE 8

IB Meeting: Mr. Yusuf Orhan - IB Coordinator, Mr. Jose Azcue - IB assessor and Mr. Sınan Koşak School Director

ISB Secondary Completes the Final Step Before the IB Authorisation MR. YUSUF ORHAN / IB COORDINATOR

The ISB consultant for IB authorisation, Mr. Jose Azcue, paid us a visit at the school on Friday, 23rd September and Saturday, 24th September.

Mr. Jose Azcue, who is also a Headmaster of an IB school in Portugal, is guiding us through our final phase of the approval process as an IB World School. He had a very busy schedule over the two days he was in school. He met the management team, teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as students and parents.

On his first day at ISB, Mr. Azcue had subject group discussions with several

ISB teachers. He discussed ideas with some IB candidate students in years 10 and 11, and he was happy to see that the students are highly interested and excited to embark on the prestigious Diploma Programme.

While taking a tour of the school, Mr. Azcue expressed his appreciation of the excellent facilities and the international ambiance which stands out as a strong characteristic of ISB. On the second day of his visit, Mr. Azcue had a meeting with Mr. Yusuf Orhan, IB Coordinator, and with Mr. Ahmet Dundar, Deputy Principal. Mr

Orhan briefed Mr. Azcue on the school’s progress towards authorisation, while Mr. Dundar talked about the Diploma Programme course selections and university admission procedure.

The next and the final step of authorisation is the verification visit, which will take place at the beginning of the second trimester.

Many thanks to Mr. Jose Azcue, for his valuable support, and to the ISB secondary teaching team, who are working hard to complete the planning and the training workshops in order to get the IB authorisation.

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JANUARY 2017

DEVELOPING BUSINESS SKILLS:

Dragon’s Den Competition MADALINA CIOC / PR & ADMISSIONS OFFICER

Dragon’s Den 1st prize trophy goes to ISB after a very tight competition between international schools in Bucharest.

Business Studies related competitions are the perfect opportunity for our secondary students to develop their business skills and consider the practical application of business concepts which later in life will make a firm foundation if they would like to run their own successful business.

Dragon’s Den competition, organised by the British School of Bucharest, which gathers teams from the international schools in Bucharest is the perfect opportunity for our students to prove that they have the required

entrepreneurial skills: they have a vision, they set and pursue their goals by planning ahead and being consistent, they are able to quickly adapt and they have excellent communication skills.

During the competition, three international schools in Bucharest presented four ideas each, before a panel of 3 judges, carefully selected to represent each competing international school.

The products ranged from stuffed toys and a theme park to a fully automated temperature controlled shirt and a brand new designer pencil case. Stu-

dents from Years 7 to 10 demonstrated an impressive use of resources to help convince the judges that their idea would be the most profitable.

Congratulations to Ingrid D., Cristian A. and Dragos A. in Year 10I for swiping the 1st prize trophy so masterfully.

Well done also to Ilinca S, Adina P. and Thomas F. in Year 7 and finally to Ana C. and Kevser E. in Year 9, all of whom, yet again, showed just what ISB can achieve.

We are all looking forward to the next edition.

28

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain in Year 10 MS. LAURA BLUE WATERS ART TEACHER

Drawing is generally considered to be the backbone of artistic skills, yet some students feel an anxiety about their perceived lack of skills in this area. Drawing is a skill, and skills can be learned.

To learn to draw, you must do one thing: turn off the analytical, language-andmath left side of the brain, and turn on the creative, intuitive right side of the brain.

In art class we practice this skill regularly as we approach drawing from original sources, or real objects in space.

By now you might imagine that learning to draw from the right side of the brain is some kind of magic. It requires time, attention, and practice, like any skill. And, yes, it is also magical!

ISSUE 8 • JANUARY 2017

Pretend that you are a space alien who was beamed down to Earth from a yellow, sticky planet. You see some strange objects in the Art Room of ISB, and you do not know what these things are, so you do not have words for them.

To research the new things and share your experience back on your planet with your peers, you decide to describe them with lines on paper. There is also the shapes between the objects, or the negative shapes, that help to define the things, so draw what’s not there (the holes), as well as what is there. Just draw what you see, and don’t worry about what it looks like. To fully understand an object and its relationship to its surroundings, you will change your

position and! draw it from different angles. Now you are thinking like an artist There’s been a lot of research conducted on the role of the right and left hemispheres of the brain in relationship to learning and art. Back in 1979, Dr. Betty Edwards documented the profound progression of art students’ drawings after they were taught to utilize the right hemisphere and turn off the left hemisphere of the brain.

For students, exercising the right hemisphere of the brain in art class makes for a cohesive, whole-person educational experience. After Math, Geography, Science, and Language classes which exercise the left

28 – 29

hemisphere, it is a different experience to come into Art and be told, “Don’t think. Just look and draw.”

Some unusual things happen when students work from the right hemisphere of their brain. It is delightful for an art teacher to see the usually slouching teenager slowly, without thought, sit tall on the edge of the chair fully immersed in looking at and drawing the subject. The breathing slows down, and all thoughts outside of the drawing experience drift away.

This experience has been called flow, when we are fully in the moment and engaged. I tell students that, if you are doing this right, you feel great.

Where Your Dreams Coming True MRS. DERYA KARABULUT SCIENCE TEACHER

Everything started as a dream: the dream of achieving a place in the competition. We were honored with a gold medal. Not only that-we returned with a gold medal to our school, but with a better wisdom of the meaning of life alongside with many new friendships from every corner of the world.

We were so passionate about this, and we did everything it would take to go.

We thought we could win Firstep and

have an opportunity to participate at Genius Olympiad held in New York in the US. We were hosted so well by the Genius Olympiad team. Everything was so perfect; the food, the campus, the judges and of course all the activities.

As a result of all, we spent maybe the most amazing 5 days together.

Every minute there was so precious, that the day being only 24 hours wasn’t

enough for us. One of the activities was the International Fair, where we had a chance to visit a lot of world countries in one room and introduce the Romanian culture we are connected to. It was terrific. Then we had a trip to Niagara Falls which is a world beauty, a magical scene and a breathtaking view.

Genius Olympiad is not only science, design or work only, but an experience fulfilled with unforgettable memories.

FUTURES BY REGENT’S

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES Regent’s is an independent university with campuses in royal Regent’s Park and Marylebone.

Offering small class sizes, individual attention and a truly global perspective, our close connections with business and industry make it the perfect environment for independent thinkers.

Find out more about our undergraduate degrees.

Call 020 7487 7505 or visit www.regents.ac.uk/ibs

32

ISSUE 8

The 3D room is a very fun place.

You can let your imagination go and see reality in a new way! You can visit the 3D room during science lesson and other special lessons

ISB Students Enjoy 3D Science Lessons and Hands-on Experiments MR. MUSTAFA KARABULUT / SCIENCE TEACHER

This year we have added lab lessons into our timetable so that students will have hands on activities. These lab lessons are held one lesson per week. Here is the Year 7s’ idea about them.

Thanks to school administration, the science department has a brand new 3D room and 3D science visuals for our students.

Starting the beginning of the school year we are having one 3D science lesson per week. It is a really good way to teach visual learners.

Here we have some ideas about 3D science lessons from students;

“I think the 3D room science lessons are very cool because we can learn in an easier way, by watching very interesting videos. It’s very fun and exciting and the information can be learned easier. We learned a lot including things about the organs, plants and forces”.

Mihail V. 7B “The thing I like the most about 3D Room is that we see how human organs look like or how the objects are illustrated as

they are in life. It is a fun lesson and I think our school is the only one with 3D room”.

Mihnea 7B The room is easy to control. You just put one of your glasses, let the teacher put the massive archive of videos and enjoy. The 3D room has desks, so you can receive and write information while you watch. In the end the 3D room is a wonderful place to learn”.

David 7I

33

JANUARY 2017

How to Save Money During French Lessons MRS. SIMONA NEGREA FRENCH TEACHER

The French government gives your university the money to cover your studies – and you don’t need to pay that money back.

Well, yes. You’re paying for that French lesson, but at the same time you can save money if you’re really studying and learning French. How? By going to a French university after high school; the annual fees (including the medical insurance, which is compulsory and gives you full access to the medical system in France) are less than 1000 EUR, although the real cost is much higher. No debts after your studies – how good is that?! Of course, you will need to pay for accommodation and food, but, again, the French government helps you (it’s such a nice government!) as it gives you back part of your rent.

So, what do you need to do if you want to study in France?

First of all, learn French – preferably during your French lessons. From year 7 to year 13, you have a total of 770 hours of French (including years 12 and 13 at a higher level in the IB Diploma Program), that’s more than enough to be able to speak and write good French.

Then, go to the French Institute (it’s on Boulevard Dacia, a nice old building not far from the University of Economic Studies, also known as ASE) and take the exam for the DELF certification.

What’s the DELF? It’s the Diplôme Élémentaire de Langue Française (elementary diploma in French), on 4 levels: A1, A2, B1, B2. To get accepted to the university, you need the B1 level, which is lower intermediate – you can

reach it at the end of year 11 (if you study, of course). Naturally, B2 (upper intermediate) would be better, and you can reach it by the end of year 13. The exams are not as difficult as you think; they are like any other language exam (listening, reading, writing, speaking) and you need only 50/100 in total, with at least 5/25 in each paper. I know the speaking exam seems scary, but you can compensate with your listening and reading skills.

Once you have your DELF B1, in year 13, you go to www.campusfrance.org, choose the course and the university, follow the procedure for the application, and that’s it, in 5 years you will be a Sorbonne graduate!

34

Study Visit to the European Parliament in Brussels MS. IULIA MUSTĂȚEA / HISTORY TEACHER

The workshop on EU institutions was held as a preparation for the study visit the students are going to have to the European Parliament in November

As part of an interdependent world, our young generation has the chance to meet tremendous opportunities, but they will also face many challenges.

It is our duty as teachers to prepare students to be responsible, informed members of the society. This is the philosophy that lies within the decision I have taken to include some year 11 History students (Ioana, Joanna, Julia, Borcsa, Aris and Alex) in a project called “Closer to Europe. I am EU.”This

is in collaboration with the youth organization from Romania – Young Partners for Civil Society Development Association.

“Closer to Europe. I am EU” aims at bringing future decision makers closer to the EU structure and organization, starting with the European Parliament.

It was imagined as a three - step activity: 1. one day workshop in Bucharest “Let’s get to know Europe”, 2. guided visit to the European Parliament, and

3. dissemination workshop organised by the participants after their return from the visit in Belgium. They worked together with students from other schools in Bucharest and cooperated during some role-play games in order to achieve a common goal. The games were followed by a discussion on the European Parliament’s opportunities and difficulties when it comes to decision-making within the institution.

Julia and Ioana shared their experience:

ISSUE 8 • JANUARY 2017

34 – 35

eeting en so far! The m be s ha it t ea gr erent e, how people with diff t “It’s unbelievabl en er ff di y an with so m t to know and workshops The people we go e. bl ta et rg fo un school e e meet on the personalities wer w es on e th ones t from I were the only d were so differen an ris A as id I was afra t it would be corridor. Firstly erefore I though th n, ia an om R k thankfully who didn’t spea the others, but ith w lk ta to e had for m groups and they uncomfortable in er th ge to d e worke glish. I’m very I was wrong. W eaking only in En sp ith w m le ob Parliament absolutely no pr d the European an s el ss ru B g out the sitin to learn a lot ab excited about vi ce an ch t ec rf pe to it as a great opportunity e with them. I see th is ip tr is th . For me, anymore to European Union t. I can not wait ou ab t lo a d ar he e .” see the place I’v tal city of Europe pi ca e th e se d go there an Julia, 11B

“Having the oppo rtunity to visit th e European Parliam step in learning ab ent was a huge out international relations and the to make our world w ay they function a better place. W e began our journe workshop held by y by attending a Ms Iulia, our Histo ry teacher and he the youth organisa r colleagues from tion. During our pr esentation, my fr told to split in diff iends and I were erent groups. Each group was based culture with part on a distinctive icular characteris tics (for example, supposed to expr the way we were ess our feelings, according to the Continuously, ou assigned culture). r groups were an nounced that we together and build had to come up a house out of pa per. Everything se at the beginning w emed to be easy hen the tutors ex plained the instru proved to be quite ctions. However, it a challenge as we faced confusions process that were during the working all related to our be liefs and ideas rega world. Finally, as w rding of a better e were able to finis h the construction sometimes we sh , we learned that ould make compr omises in order fo despite our differ r things to work, ences. I would like to thank Ms Iulia introduce us towar for the initiative to ds this project and for the new people we met.”

Ioana, 11I

36

36

Macbeth, Three Witches

The Wonderful World of Theatre MS. CRISTINA PURICI DRAMA TEACHER

Through drama activities the children are gradually accumulating experiences, concepts, skills and communication tools which will be involved in their further development.

Arts Week is near, and students are preparing for selected activities where fusion between all the Drama clubshelped by Ms. Cristina Purici-will form an imaginative artistic performance.

Before this creative event, we would like to introduce you to the wonderful world of theatre, to reveal the creative process which students go through in their dramatic development.

“We are born actors. To do is the first verb that suits us when we open our eyes to this world.” These were the opening words of the workshops held

by Jeanne Burger, American specialist in psychodrama. The purpose of this Drama Class at ISB is to let the children identify their own communication skills through theatrical play.

All children are talented and should be encouraged to show us the gifts they have received. I am trying to maintain and develop the children’s creative grace, directing them to use it for the purpose of personal development.

Drama workshops involve techniques and learning mechanisms borrowed

from the theater, and which are used for the development of a child’s personality.

Each activity is adapted to the existing personality types in the group, and stimulates disinhibition, as well as strengthening group relationships, memory, perception and orientation.

Children have much to say. Let’s listen!

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36 – 37

Preparing for Arts Week! Shams, Berta, Adina, Ilinca and Sireen are experiencing special make-up techniques for creation of the well known stock character of pantomime and Commedia dell’Arte, Pierrot

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ISSUE 8

ISB Teams on Their Way to Victory MRS. INGRID STANCIU HEAD OF PASTORAL CARE

All for one and one for all

The boys U9 and U11 teams made a strong, positive start to the new season. A lot of new players joined the teams, and in only a few training sessions, players are displaying good teamwork. With each match players have improved their communication in passing. As a result teams are scoring more and more goals. They have been great ambassadors for ISB during each match, and it has been a pleasure to coach them so far.

U9 and U11 girls played several matches, and have shown the best skills and

teamwork in all of the 4 years of girls’ teams at ISB. Their attitude is that of champions. Teams have also learned to use intelligent football tactics, showing strong offense and defense skills.

Practices are now high-quality and it shows! Keep up the great work, U9 and U11 girls!

Secondary teams, U14 and U18 boys and girls also had a fantastic start of the season, with victories contributing to an enthusiasm about training and upcoming tournaments. Persevering to improve the skills, focusing on new

strategies for attack and defense, and strong team spirit are the aspects helping them to become a more mature, better prepared team.

The games played at home and away followed the BISAC Autumn season schedule, and everyone accumulated 4 games in total. Parents and friends were very supportive through victory and defeat. A very big thank you to our devoted coaches, Scott Cable, Aidan McAllister, Mark Eady, Anthony O’Brien and Isa Gecal as well as to our referees, Mark Eady and Ana Cuatu!

ISB fantastic U18 football team in action

40

Secondary Health and Fitness Week PE DEPARTMENT

We had a wide range of activities running during the week. Some were organised by the PE Department. Outside experts came in the PE lessons to work with our students. Other Secondary departments ran activities based on the theme of Health and Fitness. We also had large number of students off campus for a day of competition.

During the final week in September, while the sun was still warm, our Secondary students had the opportunity to enjoy the Health and Fitness activities. The festivities kicked off with Miss Ana’s Lunchtime Aerobic held in front of the main building. The whole of the Secondary School participated before heading off to afternoon lessons. In Years 10 – 13 we had the keenly contested Interclass Football Competitions. These took place during lunchtime as well as in PE lessons.

Congratulations to 10B for outstanding play!

The Secondary Departments also held their own Health and Fitness themed lessons. These included Kung Fu Panda. Students investigated Renaissance health and medicine, and how the League of Nations attempted to combat disease after WW1. They learned about muscles and respiration, and the harmful effects of smoking and alcohol consumption. There were numerous other activities, and the PE Department thanks you all for your support.

Experts from the local community came into school for a number of ses-

sions, including Pilates and Body Combat. The Blue Ribbon Event was the Athletics Challenge which took place at Dinamo Stadium. The entire school from Year 7-10 took part in a variety of races. Boys and girls were separated into Year groups and ran 100m dash, 200m, 400m. If there was any energy left, the 4 x 100m team relay race was waiting for the final event.

Congratulations! Well done to all the students who took part in any of the activities. Thank you to all staff who supported us during the week.

ISSUE 8 • JANUARY 2017

Body Combat

40 – 41

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44

ISB Academic Awards Ceremony, a Celebration of Academic Success ISB celebrates 20 years of excellence in education this year. With this special occasion, we organised the first edition of ISB Academic Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, 28th September at Double Tree by Hilton.

The main objective of this event is to motivate and celebrate the excellent exam results of our IGCSE and A Levels students.

for the students and to DoubleTree by Hilton for sponsoring the venue. It was a memorable night thanks to everyone involved.

46 students were awarded at the ceremony on Wednesday and the value of checks offered by Lumina Educational Institutions was over 7000 Euros.

“I am extremely happy and touched by the school’s initiative. It is very important for us to see that our exam results are appreciated and encouraged and I would like to thank the ISB senior management team for this. I would also like to say thank you to our teachers who guided us and helped us to achieve these excellent results at the IGCSE

The Award Ceremony ended with a music recital of the ISB rock band, followed by a reception.

Thank you to Lumina Educational Institutions for sponsoring the checks

ISSUE 8 • JANUARY 2017

and A level results this year”. Ana Maria A, Year 12 student At ISB we appreciate our students’ efforts and we encourage them to be the best version of themselves and to achieve very good exam results. Our students’ excellent results inspire us to continue the excellence in education path we committed to 20 years ago”.

Mr. Sinan Koșak, ISB Director

44 – 45

46

ISB International Week CELEBRATING DIVERSITY

MS. MADALINA CIOC PR & ADMISSIONS OFFICER

ISB International Week aims at making the students more familiar with the world’s wonderful cultures and traditions.

ISB beautiful choir members

Both Primary and Secondary school students learnt about different countries and about people around the world, they participated in quizzes and they “spoke” about their countries through artwork which has been displayed in the school’s gallery.

Thanks to our wonderful members of PTA, the students learnt traditional dances and they enjoyed delicious traditional food.

The highlight of this intense week was the celebration of the International Day which took place at the school on Friday, 14th October. Starting with 9.00 am parents were invited to watch the very popular and colourful annual Traditional Costume Parade. Students were proud to wear their national costumes to school on Friday and to be the ambassadors of their countries.

The parade was followed by a delicious Traditional Food Fair which brought

ISSUE 8 • JANUARY 2017

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We have celebrated cultural diversity through our large display of traditional costumes from around the world

together the parents and the friends of ISB. Many thanks to all our parents for organising the food stalls full of tempting delicious food enjoyed by all.

Our special guest, the well-known and charismatic Chef Foa captured the audience with “a live” cooking session.

Students, parents and staff kept coming back for more of the creamy and fruity Pavlova cake and for the traditional bread.

Each year, the ISB International Week is a celebration of the world’s diversity and beauty, of the things that differentiate us and yet bring us together.

It is a celebration of our community represented by 800 students and their families from 40 different countries.

EYFS Students had a great time on stage

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The costumes parade was as popular and entertaining as always

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ISB Students have proudly represented their countries

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ISB Open Days MS. MADALINA CIOC / PR & ADMISSIONS OFFICER MR. DAVID NEWSHAM / HEAD OF SECONDARY SCHOOL

Here at ISB, we are very happy to welcome parents and visitors to the school and answer their questions. We frequently organise Open Mornings followed by workshops or presentations for parents, in order to encourage an open home-school communication.

We strive to involve parents as much as possible in their children’s school life and we are committed to offering “hands-on experiences”, when we are selecting workshops and presentation themes.

On Open Mornings, parents have the opportunity to see the school in action on a regular day. Students follow a normal timetable and parents are able to see their children learning and being active during classes. Participating in their children’s lessons, as well as the following workshops or presentations are excellent opportunities for parents to share ideas and learning strategies.

This year we were pleased to welcome a big number of parents on both our Primary and Secondary School’s Open Mornings.

In the Secondary School, parents had the chance to visit 26 lessons across the school. Classrooms were open in each of the school’s departments and covering all of ISB’s Key Stage 3 and 4 year groups.

Parents gathered in the presentation room to hear the Secondary Management Team explain the workings of the school and their own areas of responsibility. Many topics were covered in what was a long session, but it was useful for parents to see and hear how the various parts of the school function. We hope it gave all of those present a better understanding of the complexity of the school and the interlinking of the various stages of education. A copy of the presentation is available on our school website. We were also very pleased to use this day to issue iPads to those students in Year 7 and 10 who form our iPad pilot programme.

The scheme allows our teachers to make use of a far wider set of resources and encourage our students to become more involved in their own learning. True blended-learning classrooms, which is what we are aiming for, provide greater opportunities for individualised learning and improved differentiation under the close direction of the teacher, as compared to what traditional classroom work offers.

In the Primary School the parents’ attendance to open lessons was followed by a very interesting presentation for parents on digital safety, organised by the Student Support Services team.

We have received very positive feedback from all of those involved and we are very happy to see an increased number of parents each year who are very keen on getting involved in school life.

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Thank you to all the parents who joined our classes during Open Morning

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Many Thanks to our Wonderful PTA

The food was delicious.

Thank you ladies.

MS. MADALINA CIOC PR & ADMISSIONS OFFICER

Many thanks to our very active PTA team who came on board with amazing creative energy this term. They have dedicated their time and effort to organise brilliant events for our students and for our community, as well as to running a Charity Campaign for the children at the Fundeni Oncologic Hospital and for an elderly people’s home in Suceava.

The Summer Fair organised by the PTA in June 2016 was a huge success. The PTA generously offered to sponsor a couple of our school’s projects like paying for the Common Room furniture or sponsoring the 20th ISB Anniversary Gala.

The Autumn Fair followed at the end of October when our Primary students enjoyed a whole day programme laid out for them by the PTA: Pumpkin Carving Competition, Trick or Treat, Costume Parade and Photos in the specially designed Autumn Fair Photo Booth.

In December, the ISB Gallery became the home of 10 Christmas Trees which were creatively decorated by the Primary Classes who entered the Christmas Tree Decoration Competition.

The EYFS and Primary students did an amazing job and they ingeniously decorated the Xmas trees during the very tight competition. Congratulations to Year 5E for winning the competition and the very big delicious cake they were awarded.

Santa visited both classes and offices on Friday morning, 9th December,

putting a big smile on everyone’s face.

The children took photos with Santa in the beautiful photo booth specially designed for this occasion. The Secondary School party followed in the afternoon.

The students enjoyed an afternoon filled with excellent music, dancing, delicious food and refreshments.

The Charity Campaign was a huge success and we would like to thank all the parents for their generosity. The presents were delivered just in time for Christmas.

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All of the Primary Classes visited the Autumn Fair Photo Booth

Congratulations to Year 5E, the winners of the Christmas Tree Decoration Competition!

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Army Recruitment Age JULIA, YEAR 11 / SECONDARY STUDENT

The English Department have focused on public speaking this term and Year 10 have written speeches. Here are some fantastic pieces of writing from Julia and Alexandra in Years 11B and 10I.

My name is Julia. I’m a secondary student and a few months, if not weeks, I could join the British army. There are a number of things I still wouldn’t be allowed to do. For instance, I would not be allowed to watch Dead Pool and other R-rated movies, I could not play PEGI 18 games on my console, I would not be allowed to smoke or drink alcohol and last but not least, I would not be allowed to vote for the government of the country, yet I would be allowed to fight for it.

If I, as a young adult or teenager am not legally allowed to see much violence in the media, why am I allowed to be trained in, let’s face it, killing people? It’s proven that the army destroys people.

In the army, people are 64% more likely to commit suicide than the general

population. How come young people under the age of eighteen cannot make decisions about who is in government but are allowed to decide if they want to fight, die or kill for their country?

Military service is dangerous for youngsters, not only because it destroys them mentally but because it puts them at risk of losing their lives or health. 22% of recruits are in that increased danger and the majority of them are aged 16 or 17.

Therefore, I ask: Why? Why do they give young people weapons, yet not cigarettes or alcohol? Don’t they trust that we will control drinking or smoking? Do they trust us enough to have weapons in our hands?

What kind of logic allows me to be trained to kill people but does not allow

me to see an actor dying on the screen surrounded by green screen and special effects? Where is the censorship when it comes to real life events?

How come they put us at risk of trauma at this age, where we are nothing more than children? Almost 77% of Britons agree that the army recruitment age should be raised to 18! How often do we agree on something so strongly?

Almost never! In any democratic country, 77% should be more than enough to change the law.

Therefore, I beg and demand…let the children be children and if you want to protect us, protect us in the way that does not make a hypocrite out of you!

If you see that violence is wrong, don’t allow young people to see it as something valuable or honorable!

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Ideal Society ALEXANDRA / YEAR 10 I STUDENT

An ideal society is a beautiful concept indeed. The term “ideal” itself indicates a state of perfection which many assume to only live in our imaginations.

Many different creative thinkers contemplated an ideal society, Such as Sir Thomas Moore and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who were both driven to create an image in people’s minds yet never quite succeeded. I don’t believe that this utopian concept can ever be achieved, although we can manage to get close to it.

In an ideal society the air would be fresh and clean, free of any toxins.

Nowadays we can only enjoy this in the countryside as the city is too hectic and polluted to let in toxin free air. In an ideal society, the ocean water would be

crystal clear and pollution less and you could lie in the sun all day without the fear of skin cancer.

In this ideal society. There would be no racism present and all types of people would reside together in harmony, accepting each other’s religions. No matter if you were African, American or any other race, everyone would be treated the same.

If the “utopian” concept was achieved, there would be less hunger. Currently would agriculture produces enough food for the billion people alive on planet Earth, yet according to the World Health Organisation, roughly 850 million people worldwide are malnourished, while 16 billion are overweight. A world where people

wanted less would result in a world where food was distributed equally.

In an ideal society, there would be less poverty. According to the World Bank, the richest 20% consume 82.7% of the world’s resources, while the world’s poorest 20% consume only 1.5%. A world where people wanted less, would result in a world where are resources would be distributed equally.

In an ideal society, there would be no greed or selfishness and because of this, crime would reduce.

Unfortunately, we live in a world inhabited by people and people always want more than they have. What if we truly could learn to desire less? The effect could be drastic.

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ISSUE 8

Humanities Week November 14-19th 2016 Humanities Week has been a great success, with almost all Secondary School students taking part in trips, assemblies and form time activities.

To start the week, Mr Bogdan Manu took the Year 12 Business Studies students and the Year 13 Travel and Tourism students to the Sheraton Hotel where they experienced first-hand the running of a 5* Business Hotel.

After a presentation from the Deputy Manager the students undertook practical activities organised by the marketing department.

Thanks to Miss Iulia, the Year 11 History students visited the European Parliament in Brussels. They had a unique opportunity to be shown the structure and function of the institution by one of the Parliament’s employees. They visited the famous Plenary Room; where final debates are held and votes are cast. During the trip, they also visited Ghent; a small city known as ‘Belgium’s Best

IGCSE Geography trip to Lipscani

Kept Secret’, the Waterloo Memorial, and several other attractions. Friday was an extremely busy day! The ISB Debating Team (Cristian, Ingrid, Paul, Nur, Ana-Maria, Calista and Filip) took part in the prestigious, Sir Winston Churchill, European Public Debating Championships. The students had a wonderful time and were runners up in the Silver Plate competition. Mr Piers Posner and Mr Brendan ClarkeSmith, who worked very hard preparing the team for the debate, were very impressed with the students who had put in an enormous effort and did a superb job of representing the school.

As a department, we are particularly proud of the Year 12 Travel and Tourism, students who assisted with the organisation of 4 of this week’s trips; the IGCSE Geography trip to Lipscani,

the Year 7 History and Geography trip, the Communism Tour for History students and the Alternative Walking Tour for Art students. Planning and running a tourism event is an essential component of their AS course for Cambridge.

They created excellent trips and they ensured that the younger students leant a lot, were safe and had fun.

Finally, on Friday afternoon, Year 10 and 11 students had the opportunity to showcase their IGCSE Global Perspectives work to Year 9. Hopefully, Year 9 are excited about the course that they will be starting next year and Year 10 and 11 have inspired one other to produce even better coursework.

A fantastic week all round thanks to the commitment of the Humanities team and the enthusiasm of ISB students.

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JANUARY 2017

Student Leadership

HALIME: I’m Halime and as a head girl I am determined to spend my time and skills to help others and motivate people to become examples in this world. I am currently studying Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Spanish and I want to do medicine. This way I will be able to help people and give them more chances to do something good with their life.

I want to induce a positive effect on everyone surrounding me and I want to inspire people.

KINAN: Hello, my name is Kinan S. I chose to become head student at ISB because I wanted to make a difference. I want to make sure students at ISB where comfortable at school, and I want them to feel at home. I want to make sure that the relationship between the teachers and students is based on mutual respect so no one may feel like they are being treated unfair. I plan on doing so by engaging the students and making sure that they know that if they ever have any issues they are more than welcome to come talk to me about them, to reach a mutually beneficial solution.

CLOD: I’ve been in ISB since Year 4, making this my 10th year. I currently study maths chemistry and biology. I look forward to helping with many activities during this school year.

My name is Akyniyaz A. This is my 4th year in ISB and I am in Year 13 studying Maths, Physics, Geography. I am grateful for being chosen as a prefect in ISB. Being a prefect is an opportunity for me to improve myself in many ways and help around the school with various tasks.

YAKUP: I noticed that I had no prior activity in this school that I directly contributed in so I thought, why not become a prefect?

Not only would I start contributing but also polish my social skills along the way. Hope it works out.

AMER: Hello my name is Amer. I take 3 A levels, Business, Economics and ICT. I became a prefect so that I can help the school where it is possible. I also have many ideas to share with the school in order to improve the student life in the school and organise many sport activities for students.

AKIN:

STEFAN: My name is Stefan, I’m Serbian and I’m currently in Year 13. This is my fourth year at ISB and I’m taking Mathematics, ICT and Business. The reason I chose to become a Charity Prefect is because of the interesting things it offers. I’m always open to new challenges as well as participating in various activities.

This will improve my organisational and management skills. I will also obtain experience which can be useful in the future.

AYLA: Hi my name is Ayla from Year 13. I was born in Romania and I’ve been attending this school since kindergarten. I’m talented in arts and hope to become a graphic designer. The subjects I take are art of course, ICT and English. I am glad I was accepted in ISB’s prefect team and I hope I can help them make ISB a better place.

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EMMA:

FIVOS:

MERYEM:

Hello! My name is Emma and I’m 18 years old. I was born in Johannesburg/ South Africa and came to Romania when I was 8. The decision to move to ISB came when I entered in Year 11 and haven’t regretted a single day this decision. ISB has brought to me amazing opportunities to a higher education, but also friends and memories to dwell on for years to come. Becoming a Prefect means to me responsibility and the ability to help anyone at any time regarding certain concerns or by simply helping out to improve and promote the standards of our school. I chose to become a sports prefect because I feel like it fits my truly enthusiastic eager towards sports, but it also enables me to tap into the facilities we have got and improve on them in order to promote ISB’s sports pride. Above all, becoming a prefect will help me develop my social skills, team work and shape up as an individual in the same time.

My name is Fivos, I’m Greek and I have been a part of ISB for 5 years. I am currently in Year 13 dreaming of becoming a future electrical & electronics engineer to innovate the world. I became a Charity Prefect as I find it important to get exposed to a range of activities and experiences that can teach me to assume responsibility and give me the opportunity to raise funds for people in need. A key skill that I feel I can bring to this position would be the ability to work as an individual and as part of a team, although it is worth mentioning that this is my first year as a Prefect.

My name is Meryem and I’m a senior student. Since Year 6, I had unforgettable memories and priceless experiences here at ISB which makes me very thankful. Even though it will be hard to leave this amazing place, I feel very special and proud to be a student here. My biggest goal this year is to improve my art skills and I will do my best to achieve it. Being a Prefect will help my desire to be more responsible, communicate and help others.

STEPHANIE:

MOHAMMED: ROMAN: My name is Roman; I am currently in Year 13. It’s my second year in ISB and I am interested in studying Economics, Math and ICT. I consider a finance prefect position as a good opportunity for development of my skills, such as organising things, accounting and team work. Finally, I would like to participate in the life of ISB and do my best to help to improve our school.

Hello, my name is Mohamed Ali Ahmad. I am in 13B and I study 3 main subjects, them being travel and tourism, geography, and sociology. I would like to continue with business and tourism further on at university.

I am an events prefect because of the simple fact that I like to organise events and communicate with people.

I think that being an Events Prefect will also help me in the future for being an events manager.

Hi, my name is Stefani and this is my second year at ISB. I’m half Romanian and half Bulgarian but honestly feel that I don’t belong to a particular culture because I’ve met so many people from different countries that I’ve taken a bit from each one. I lived in Turkey for 4 years and this taught me responsibility, which is something that I believe helps me as a prefect. I love helping and organizing school events as well as taking on leadership roles. Being a Prefect means a lot to me and looks really good on University applications but allows me to be a more active member of the school.

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BELLA:

ANTONIA:

JAMIL:

My name is Isabella, but people call me Bella. I’m an enthusiastic science student; in fact I take two out of the three science subjects offered at ISB.

My name is Antonia i am in year 13, this being my second year in ISB. I am currently studying Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry. I wanted to become a Prefect because last year liked helping out with the organisation of the winter fair, so i decided this year i wanted to be involved in more school activities and organising events.

My name is Jamil and I’ve been studying in ISB for 4 years. I’m a senior student, passionately studying Math, Physics and ICT. I wanted to become a Prefect again this year because I enjoyed working together and organising events with the other prefects last year. I’m confident that the experiences that we will gain this year from our exertions this year will be preserved for a lifetime!

Being that this year will be my last year of a three year long journey with ISB. I decided i wanted to do something meaningful and positive to give back to the school so I was honoured to be chosen as the Math and Science Prefect. With this position i can help organize activities that are not only fun but educational to further boost my peers enthusiasm about the sciences.

SARA: Hello, my name is Sara; the three subjects I take are Art, Global Perspectives and IELTS. I want to become an interior designer and this is why I chose to be an Event Prefect. I have lot of original ideas and I think I could help people socialising more through having fun together.

RUVEYDA:

ALEX:

Hi, I’m Ruveyda from Year 13; I’m currently taking Maths Biology and Drama for A Levels. I’ve been in ISB since kindergarten; I know the school inside out. I’m looking forward to become a Psychologist (hopefully) and help as many people as I can, which is why I want to start early and do this by being a Prefect this year. This will help me develop my organising and leader ship skills as well as enhancing my ability to help others.

My name is Alex and I’ve been in ISB since Year 7. I’m currently in Year 12, preparing myself for my Economics, Mathematics, Physics and ICT As level exams along with my scheduled SATs since I really want to study in the USA. I’m much honoured to be a Sports Prefect as I am really looking forward to contribute in organizing and helping with sport related events, as I have always loved sports and I am a professional athlete.

HAODI: Hello my name is Haodi and I am a student in Year 13. Currently I’m taking Math, ICT and Business. The reason that I applied to becoming a Prefect is that there are more and more Chinese students in this school, so I was thinking if I become a perfect, I would help them to solve issues they may have.

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Celebrating 20 Years of Excellence in Education MS. MADALINA CIOC PR & ADMISSIONS OFFICER

ISB’s success story was celebrated with parents, teachers and friends of ISB who enjoyed an evening filled with wonderful memories, excellent music and good food.

20 years of excellence in education were celebrated on the 7th December at the Willbrook Platinum Convention Centre. The programme of the evening started in the conference room, where Mr. Sinan Kosak, the Director of ISB, talked about ISB’s history and about its mission, about the achievements and all the future plans. We all took a walk down memory lane and remembered about all the people, the places, the experiences, the achievements and the dreams which contributed to this incredible story.

Certificates of appreciation were awarded to the members of staff who have been working with us for more than 10 years, former directors, as well as valuable members of our community who have contributed greatly to our success.

On the same stage, Mrs. Mihaela Maris and Mr. George Apostu, representatives of Duke of Edinburgh International Award Romania, awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award to both ISB participant students and students from other Romanian schools.

The ISB Rock Band entertained the audience with an excellent recital. Our guests also admired the amazing Art Exhibition put together by the Secondary students and their wonderful teacher, Ms. Teodora Varzaru.

The delicious food cooked by Chef Foa and his team was very much appreciated.

Thank you to everyone for honouring our invitation and many thanks to all involved in the organisation of this event.

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Duke of Edinburgh Awards

The Secondary School Art Exhibition was a huge success

Thank you all for honouring our invitation

Awards Ceremony

Thank you to Ms. Andreea Marin for her continuous support

The ISB band rocked the party