BIC Sa Porrassa Primary News (11/12/21)

Ms Alison Colwell, Principal

Dear families,

Up there with education and reading, food is a huge passion of mine. Cooking. Eating. Learning about cooking and eating. The importance of meal time, sitting down, togetherness, discussion. Talking to some prospective parents today, telling them about the wonderful teaching that goes on at our school and the wonderful teachers we have, the prospective student cut to the chase when she enquired, "What about lunch?" Lunch time is a really important part of any day, and quite rightly she wanted to know what she would experience at BIC!

I have worked really closely with our chef, Jerry, since he took on being our provider of tasty, nutritious school lunches. He and I talk often about how we can ensure the best service and meal offer for our students. Earlier this week we met with a parent representative to get feedback on the menu and we are always keen to do this - to hear from yourselves about what your children like, what you as parents want and how we can ensure we make the important midday meal as delicious as possible. Where we eat also matters: this weekend the fabulous PTA are starting work on the overhaul of the canteen. We are highly appreciative of the grand design that has been provided by Robert Persson of Team BIC, and also to the parents who will be working with our site team to bring this project to life.

With the relentless rain this weekend, enjoy sitting around the family meal table.

Alison Colwell

Principal

Baleares International College, Sa Porrassa

Ms Laura Hodgson , Acting Head of Primary

Dear families

As you are aware, one of our school’s values is compassion and this week the pupils have shown their compassion in many ways. Compassion can arise from empathy, and it is clear that a better understanding of the perspective of others gives children the chance to practise compassion in their lives. Schools have a golden opportunity to cultivate the compassionate side of children, and Baleares International College is focused on creating a culture in which compassion is valued and practised every day.

This week your child may have brought home a piece of poppy related art and craft or asked questions about these vibrant flowers. In yesterday´s assemblies I discussed the importance of Remembrance Day with the children, and was touched by their compassion for others. Afterwards at eleven o'clock, we commemorated the day by playing The Last Post and by having two minutes silence.

At times, compassion can lead to action, which we often call kindness. Kindness always includes the intention to help other people. Research has shown that compassion and kindness are deeply rooted in human nature, and this is evident when watching the children interact with each other. The best part of my day is being with the children, listening to them and observing their wonderful random acts of kindness to one another.

I truly believe that all our young pupils at Baleares International College are well mannered, considerate and kind. Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity to give a special mention to some of those pupils who are extraordinarily compassionate and extraordinarily kind at all times.

1. Dylan (3W) makes sure everyone is included. She shares her resources and helps others when they find something difficult.
2. Tia (3X) and Joe (4W) are always kind and polite to others and offer to help their peers.
3. Tristan (1F) consistently shows kindness and compassion at lunchtime. He often looks out for and comforts the younger children in the playground.
4. Eliana (6D) always puts others before herself and wants to help people in need.
5. Villi (R) and Mehetable (R) always think of others, checking that they are alright, helping them get what they need for the lessons and generally taking care of everyone in the class.
6. Galatea (2B) is always there for her peers with whatever they may need, often offering her help without being asked.
7. Mia (5D) has been especially helpful to new pupils and is great at sending “thoughtful compliment notes.”
8. Oliver (3W) often congratulates others for good work and is always polite and kind to staff and children.
9. Kitty  (5H) is a thoughtful, kind and considerate friend to others at all times.
10. Miguel (2B) shows compassion to all his peers whenever they are hurt or upset and is always the first to ask someone if they are okay.
11. Imogen (4A) is extremely kind and sensitive when looking out for others. She goes out of her way to help everyone and will happily lend them her pencils.
12. Charlie (5H) is always very polite and is a kind friend to everyone.
13. Zeke (5D) always thinks about how others are feeling and helps to resolve any arising issues.
14. Jane (6W) is always kind and considerate towards others, loves to promote the class ‘kindness notes’ and cares passionately about the environment.

I hope that you have a weekend full of random acts of kindness

Laura Hodgson

Dates to remember!

Whole School House System news

House Points Totals Update - Term 1

A message from your Heads of House

House Competitions!

We are starting off this second half of term one with announcing our next two upcoming House competitions.

We have the Talent Competition, for which we are already taking entries. In primary, your class teachers are organising entries and auditions. In secondary, your form House and vice captains are organising your entries. All entries will receive House points. Finalists will be confirmed by Wednesday 24th November, and all finalists will be taking part in our after school talent competition on Thursday 2nd December. Who will the judges pick as the winners? And which House will have the most talent? It's all to play for in this next whole school competition.

We also have our ´compassion at Christmas´ Christmas ecard design competition. For this we are asking all students to create a design for the front of our ecard which displays compassion at Christmas. Perhaps it could be the gathering of a family, a choir singing carols for a local community, Santa Claus giving out presents to all children. Your entries should be sent by email to your Head of House by Tuesday 30th November. All entries will receive House points, and the winning design will be used on the front of our Christmas ecard which will be shared with our families this year.

Early Years news with Mrs Wardle

Reception class are making fantastic progress with letters and sounds. They are beginning to put the letter sounds together to make words that they can read. Reception class are learning new sounds everyday, learning how to recognize them, write them and blend them together for reading. On a daily basis we play phonics games, practise letter formation and use our blending line as well as online learning sites to practise our reading skills. We were delighted to welcome the parents of EYFS, KS1 and Year 2 this week to a phonics and reading workshop to share our love for phonics and reading. We shared some techniques and ideas for parents to be able to help the children more with reading and writing.

Year 1 news with Mr Fairless

Year 1 have had a great start back after the half term holiday and it has been a pleasure to see that they have transitioned well into Year 1. I am very proud of all their recent achievements, here are just a few.

The children have had fun and worked very hard beginning their learning of the story ‘The Little Red Hen’. They are enjoying creative speaking and listening activities to help them learn the story.

Similarly, in our maths lessons over the past two weeks they have been quickly getting to grips with the ‘whole part diagram’ and the ‘bar model’ as a way of representing number bonds.

Year 2 News with Ms Bakes

The highlight of last week was our much awaited trip to Palma Aquarium. Blessed with a truly wonderful monitor named Mara, she guided us through every part of the aquarium, providing us with so much interesting information about the many different types of sea creatures. Our highlights of the trip had to be the 3D humpback whale cinema experience, which the children described as simply “amazing”, as well as the sea turtle rescue role-play activity. The children now know what to do if they ever find themselves coming across a sea turtle in danger on the beach.

A wonderful, educational and memorable visit was had by all.

(We have uploaded a wider selection of photos of this trip onto our Canvas page).

In PE, we enjoyed a fun team building game, which involved the children having to get a hoop from one end of the line to the other without letting go of each other’s hands. The children showed super flexibility as they figured out together how to pass the hoop down the line.

Most children generally love art lessons, and experimenting with different colours, textures and patterns. This week they really enjoyed using paints to mix colours. They learnt how to mix the primary colours to make the secondary colours, and which colours we call cool and warm colours. They made a colour wheel to show what they had made.

In maths we have been learning what 1 more and 1 less, and10 more and 10 less is, of any 2-digit number. The children have been using money to help consolidate and visually see this, and also as a way of learning how to count amounts of money together.

Year 3 News with Mrs West and Miss Xidakis

In art we have been learning about African patterns. The Maasai tribe of Kenya and Northern Tanzania adorn themselves with the Shuka. Shukas are sheets wrapped around their bodies that are bold and beautiful. Year 3 began by sponge painting different colours onto A3 paper and, once dried, cut them out to make ´Shukas´, finally adding detail with a black felt pen. The final pieces look amazing and very effective.

In English this week, Year 3 have continued to read more of The Twits by Roald Dahl. They were introduced to the Roly-Poly bird who sings to warn other birds about the sticky glue. The children wrote their own verses for the Roly-Poly bird’s song using rhyme and rhythm.

Year 3 learned about Remembrance Day, and how important it is to not forget the past.  In art they made beautiful poppy wreaths by drawing around their handprints and sticking them into a wreath shape. Lastly, they added red poppy flowers on the top.

Year 4 News with Mrs Alonso McGregor and Mrs Walsh

Another fun packed couple of weeks in Year 4 have taken us from sock puppets to mummified tomatoes!

Activities afternoon saw more creativity with Mrs Walsh's class getting to grips with mod roc, making their own model animals and bugs. Next door, Mrs AM´s class created some fantastic fun sock puppets. We can't wait to create our own puppet theatre and begin our puppet shows.

In our humanities lessons, we unwrapped the process of mummification and understood how the Ancient Egyptians prepared their rich and famous for the afterlife. In a cross curricular fashion, we used this newly gained knowledge in science to mummify tomatoes. Let's see how long they last!

We all loved getting messy this week too, when we created our own version of papyrus. Whilst it dries, we are learning how the Ancient Egyptians painted people and are planning our own scenes to paint. 4A enjoyed creating their own cartouches too, using hieroglyphics to paint their names.

Year 4 enjoyed their time with Mr Wolfenden, who visited us from Secondary to deliver a fun lesson based around the fireworks fun of Divali. The children were mesmerized by the array of different coloured flames that different chemical elements could produce.

Year 5 News with Ms Hodgson, Ms Cortes and Ms Demangeat

Our Year 5 classrooms are full to overflowing with amazing examples of our students’ creative efforts and they have really impressed us with how skilled and imaginative they can be; making Viking Longship models or collages, dragons’ eyes from clay or even the “simple” sketches of an eye using pencil.

Much of our art work is cross-curricular; our history this term is the Vikings, and the students have been incredibly enthusiastic about all we have done.

Many children are able to express their creativity using words when writing, however others, for whatever reason, find it difficult to put their ideas down on paper. Some of these children find it much easier to use physical mediums such as paint, clay, pencil or crayons to be creative.

Oracy is also an important skill and we asked all the Year 5 children to stand in front of their peers, a daunting task for some, and explain briefly how they designed, then created their model or collage. One or two children who were more nervous or thought they lacked sufficient English to speak had some help from a friend but every single one of them managed their presentation and then answered questions.

Year 6 News with Mr Darlow and Mrs Von Waberer

We have been overwhelmed by the effort and creativity of our children, who produced such spectacular Ancient Greek crafts. We could see that a lot of time and hard work was put into creating these masterpieces. Many House points have already been awarded and Friday the final winners will be announced.

Year 6 showed respect and compassion when learning about why we celebrate Remembrance Day. We discussed the lives that were given and the effects these horrendous events had on future generations. We read poignant poetry and enjoyed performing a beautiful poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae.

Sports department news

The PE department is delighted that Mr Somers has joined the PE teaching team which means that all primary PE lessons are taught by specialist teachers.

The weather might have been bad on the island this week but the PE department has still continued to get outside and teach in the outdoors whenever possible. Below you can see Year 5 involved in their tag rugby lessons, a new addition to the PE curriculum at BIC.

Year 6W are currently playing volleyball and you can see them practising their skills in our newly painted sports hall in the pictures below.

Volleyball continues to go from strength to strength in the school thanks to Miss Izabela. If your son or daughter hasn’t already signed up for the volleyball extra curricular club then please contact Mr Fitzpatrick or Miss Izabela for more details.

Languages and EAL department news

Year 3 students have brought Spanish topics to the playground! They have played two traditional Spanish games in which they practised the vocabulary covered so far: "El patito inglés" and “El pañuelito". They had a great time!

Year 5 EAL children re-telling Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', using time connectives to sequence the play.