ISB Newsletter - October 2007

Autumn Newsletter 2007-2008, Issue 1

The International School of Bucharest ISB Primary School Newsletter Dear Parents, I would like to extend a warm welcome to each of you to the Newsletter of ISB Primary School. We are looking forward to a fun-filled year of learning at ISB Primary School for the 2007-2008 school year.

As the principal, my goal is to work with the ISB Primary School Community in providing quality education, setting high expectations, and creating a caring community for all students.

My background includes fifteen years of professional experience in the field of education, working as a teacher and administrator with students, parents, staff, and community groups in diverse educational settings.

Our staff and parent community at ISB Primary School are what make this S. Ahmet SALGUR place so special. Our staff is student-centered, caring, and motivated towards the success of all students. Our parents are very supportive and actively help out with many activities throughout the school.

The students are why we are here. They not only excel academically, but are also learning about respect, ethical values, and social skills, which we consider to be equally important. We strive to create an environment where students feel safe, comfortable, and respected.

I welcome you to find out more about our wonderful school community at ISB Primary School.

Sincerely, S. Ahmet Salgur

Dear Parents These past eight weeks have undoubtedly been amongst the busiest and indeed rewarding of my working life. The ISB is continuing to adapt and change to the needs of our international community. The children are benefiting from the development of a more wide and varied teaching day through the British National curriculum. To help this even further we have recently recruited Mr Steven Pirie as our Key Stage 2 coordinator and year 3 teacher. Mr Pirie has a wealth of international experience working with the British National Curriculum and is a welcome addition to the staff. The music and physical education departments are successfully up and running and will continue to expand.

The children are working as a whole school on following our 'GOLDEN Keith JACKSON RULES'. The rules themselves were developed by the children and are used to promote respect for themselves and the wider school community.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many parents who I have met for their goodwill and personal welcomes. I look forward to meeting many more of you over the coming months.

Sincerely, Keith Jakson

The International School of Bucharest welcomes its new teachers!

Eve Keogh Nursery Ireland

Ismene Reeves Year 1 U.K.

Katy Gurash Year 2 U.S.A.

Pauline Durham Steven Pirie Year 4 KS2 Coordinator Year 3 U.K. Australia

Keith Jackson Year 4 U.K.

Richard Nesbitt Year 6 Canada

Bekir Bircan Year 6 Turkey

ISB Primary School Newsletter

Parents' Information Evenings Parents from all year groups were invited to parents' information evenings between 18th September and 27th September. An introductory speech was be given by Mr. Ahmet. Curriculum overview and policies were explained by Mr. Jackson. Then form teachers took turns to introduce themselves and explain about their teaching and the curriculum. An open buffet followed the event where parents tasted delicious food prepared by our chef and met the class teachers on a one to one basis.

We are pleased to see many parents at the meeting. Parents said the evenings very informative and useful. Parents' handbooks were also distributed at the end of the meeting.

After School Clubs (Ks2) There are two after school clubs which run regularly after teaching hours. The first one is Martial Arts Club (Tae kwon do) which meets every Monday and Wednesday under the guidance of Mr. Necati who was formerly the coach of the Romanian National Tae Kwon Do team.

The second after school club is the piano club.Students from years 3 to 6 meet our music teacher MissAdina to learn the piano. The lessons are held in small groups every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

School buses are arranged for both clubs where needed.

Canteen

Book Fair

The school canteen has We organized a very been improving the successful book fair at our quality of food and school last year. The service. Students seem to children were very like the school lunches enthusiastic and happy to more and tend to finish be able to choose their their plates. favorite books and buy New kitchen materials are them. Most of the books also liked very much by we had for the fair sold everyone. our in a very short time.

We decided to organize the second edition of our book fair in December.

We ordered a lot more books this time. Parents and students will be informed about the schedule of the book fair after half term break.

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Uniform

Year 5 Field Trip

We are proud to announce On October 16th Year 5 went on a trip to see that our uniform policy is Romania's famous mud working very well. All of volcanoes. The weather the student wear uniform was absolutely perfect with a few exceptions and the children were who don't have their size. amazed to see smelly We ordered more bubbles of gas bursting in uniforms since our the liquid mud. The number of students teachers were also increased above our amazed because expectations. New orders everybody managed to will be available after the stay quite clean! On the half term holiday. way back home a group of children helped Mr Essex pick some autumn berries - many hands make light work.

ISB Primary School Newsletter

Assemblies This term's assemblies have all been excellent. Many children and teachers now look forward to Fridays to learn more about another class's work. We have had children singing songs of joy and other classes showing how they start and end a day. The assemblies are also a time where we learn which house team is in the lead.

However, the highlight of the assembly must be the 'Star of the Week'. There is now one star in each class chosen for their good work and behaviour. The children compete hard throughout the week for this prestigious prize.

We now also have a Monday Musical assembly with Miss Adina. She has worked incredibly hard with all the children and has introduced a mix of new, traditional, and well known songs. She is a highly talented musician and has introduced both piano playing and singing in tune to the classes.

She is also a great help with the Friday assembly preparation.

Kindergarten The school year has started very well now that the new children have settled in.There is a warm and friendly atmosphere in the Kindergarten. We hope the children feel welcome and happy to come to school. Our teachers have taken every care to prepare the classroom environment and activities to provide your child with opportunities to learn. It is very encouraging to hear them say confidently, “Good morning” or “Please” and “Thank you”. This is tremendous because a lot of the children did not speak English.

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Clubs We provide a huge range of clubs for all students in KS1 and KS2. They run every Wednesday afternoon from 14:00 to 15:00.

This half term the clubs were more outdoor oriented since the weather was still warm and nice. Students will be offered to choose different clubs after they come back from the holiday.

Last year's ice-skating club was very liked with over 70 participants. Therefore, we are in touch with the National Hockey Federation to rest their ring to use for ice-skating club.

Football Tournament The International School of Bucharest was happy to participate in the American International School of Bucharest Football Tournament on 6th October 2007. Two teams from upper primary school participated in this friendly event. We are proud of our pupils who tried their best to achieve very good results during the tournament's day. We sincerely believe that encouraging children to play and be part of a team will give every pupil an opportunity to become a better person!

The International School of Bucharest Bd. Energeticienilor nr. 9-11 Sector 3 Bucharest - Romania 745681 +40 21 346 59 25/27 | +40 21 346 59 24 http://www.isb.ro