BIC Sa Porrassa Primary Weekly News (4/30/21)

Dear families,

Our students in Years 11, 12 and 13 have now begun their GCSE and A'level exams, and we wish them well. Our teachers have been working flat out to prepare them as much as possible, and the students themselves have been showing an excellent attitude to their learning and revising. We are confident of them gaining well-deserved success when the exam results are out in August.

Of course, formal exams are only one part of assessing the learning of our students. Great teaching - and at BIC we have truly great teachers - has the ongoing assessment of progress at its very core. Assessment takes numerous forms, including high quality questioning in class to ascertain what students know and understand, classwork, homework, oral answers, class presentations, quick quizzes, online tests, projects, portfolios, presentations, end of unit tests, essays, and creating diagrams or mind-maps to name but a few. Outstanding teachers use a wide variety of tools to allow them to evaluate and measure the progress of their students, and to plan lessons and units of work accordingly.

Our education system still places a lot of emphasis on formal exams, and there is, in my opinion, a place for them. Even in this internet age, I believe that we do still need to know things - when you go to the doctor you don't want her or him reaching for their manual every time, or saying they'll just need to google your symptoms. However, exams are not the be all and end all. This year we have decided not to have a formal exam week for students in Years 7, 8 and 9 as we would normally. This has not been a normal year, your children have, despite the challenges, received excellent teaching and their teachers are fully aware of the progress they are making, their strengths and weaknesses. We think that in this particular year, there is no need to add something that may cause additional stress - and for many children exams do cause stress. You will, of course, receive an end of year report, the format of which we are currently discussing, because the most important part of any school report is to be able to show where progress has been made, areas where there could be improvement, and - crucially - how your child can make that improvement. What does that level actually mean? What does that number or letter signify? What do they need to do to move up a grade? We will ensure that you have that total clarity when we report on the progress your children have made this year.

Wishing you a good weekend,

Alison Colwell

Principal

Dear families,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my delight in beginning my new role as Acting Head of Primary. It has been a joy; visiting classrooms, observing some inspirational teaching and seeing happy and motivated children.

Assessment in a primary school is about building a picture over time of a child’s learning progress across the curriculum. Our teachers use different ways to gather evidence about how and what your child learns on an ongoing basis. This information is used to celebrate the child’s current learning, and to help make decisions about the next steps for future learning.

This term from 10th May, primary students in Year 2 to 6 will be assessed in English and Maths. These online tests were used for Year 3 to 6 students at the start of the school year. Please be assured we do not require children to study for these tests, simply to do their best.

The information provided from these assessments, combined with our teacher´s knowledge of your child over the year, support us to create a full picture of their progress, strengths, and areas for improvement.

Your child will receive a full end of term 3 report to inform you of their efforts and achievements this year, however we encourage parents to contact any teacher if you require further updates before then.

Scholastic Book Club

Our new Scholastic Book Club is up and running and you can now browse the latest books and order online. There are hundreds of fantastic children’s books to choose from, all at great prices! Your child will be bringing home a scholastic book catalogue from which you may wish to order these books. Scholastic is a reputable, international educational company which offers a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books to enhance both your child's learning and love of reading.

Please place your order online at http://eu-schools.scholastic.co.uk/baleares-international by Monday 10th May 2021.

Ms Laura Hodgson

Acting Head of Primary

For our humanities topic “Hooray We´re Going On Holiday” we all enjoyed roleplaying, going to the airport and acting out the various jobs.

We have made some beautiful flower drawing for the start of our science topic all about plants and trees.

This week we have also used drama to help us understand the structure of the story Little Red Riding Hood. The children loved acting out various parts of the story.

This week in science we have been focusing on leaves. We took leaves from different trees in our school grounds and compared them. We can now talk about the different parts of a leaf and their function.

In our performing arts lesson we sang a fun song to go with our “Jack and the Beanstalk” story study, and we also acted out the story using freeze frames.

In Mrs West’s maths class, we have been learning about time. The children enjoyed learning to use and read stopwatches when taking part in mathematical games.

In Miss Xidakis´ maths this week we have been learning about fractions. The children played an interactive game to decide the numerator and denominator for each diagram, then the children played a match up card game.

In science this week, Year 3 observed how the seedlings had developed. The children made observations identifying that the seedling with plenty of water had not grown at all, whereas the seedling with some water had grown. We then played a quiz to test our knowledge and understanding of plants.

Year 3 children are loving our Stone Age topic. This week they were learning about where the Stone Age people lived. They then designed their own Stone Age house and had a go making replica models.

Drama, Drama Drama..! In drama, we have been learning about scripts. In groups, we have acted out short plays using stage directions to help inspire our movements and voices.

In art with Mrs Hatton the children enjoyed creating their own brightly coloured town.

The Year 4 children enjoyed finishing their money holder/purses this week. It has been several weeks in the evaluation, planning and making stages. For many of the children, this was their first time learning the important life skills of threading a needle, tying a knot and sewing.

Science was once again, all about how sound travels. This week we explored how sound travels through liquid and how the amplitude (the size of the sound wave) affects the volume and pitch of the noise created. What better way to learn this than through making water xylophones. The children even managed to play along to “Ode to Joy” on a video.

As we came to the end of our “All Around the World” unit, Year 5 celebrated all the hard work and effort that they have put into this by having an international picnic on Thursday afternoon. Each child brought in some of their favourite food from around the world to eat and share during the picnic in which we sat outside under the shade of the trees. We had a diverse range of tastes, both sweet and savoury to sample.

It was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some delicious food and also enjoy the beauty of eating outside!

6W appreciated the craftsmanship of retro game design, when they created their own pixel artwork using conditional formatting on a spreadsheet.

Year 6 are loving our new sport for the term netball. They have been strengthening their passes and have listened attentively as they learn the rules of the game.

We started our new humanities unit with a bang... literally: we looked at all of the ways our planet is constantly changing, from asteroids that brought us oceans to earthquakes that can make our planet spin faster. And that’s before we consider the impact humans have had!

In Year 6, we have been exploring the culture, history and geography of India. The students have written their own travelogues, exploring this fascinating country. 6W worked together as a team to create their piece:

In 6D, students were keen to film and edit their own travelogues and worked in groups to achieve this. Watch out Hollywood (or should we say, Bollywood!)

Yuna, Marlo and Elena

Sasha, Maximilian and Silvio

Check back next week for more travelogues!

Pupils from Year 5 group are currently practising and perfecting their hockey skills during their PE sessions with Miss Izabella. Well done to everyone!

Last Friday, in Ms Rodríguez’s Year 3 Spanish class, we celebrated Book Day in Spain. We learnt about the legend of Sant Jordi (Sant Jorge) which coincides with the death of the Spanish great author, Miguel de Cervantes.

Who said dictations are boring? The Spanish and Lengua Castellana Year 5 group of Señorita Lahoz had to blow up balloons to discover the different parts of their dictation.

Congratulations to all students who sent an entry in for our movie recreation competition. We were impressed by all your talent and it was so hard to choose! A lot of effort had gone into all the entries, including props, costumes, makeup, and even getting parents involved! Two House points have been awarded for each student who entered.

• In 3rd place earning 5 House points for Roosevelt we have Cheo Moran from Year 3 and his recreation of ´The Lion King¨
• In 2nd place we have Kai Cumber, Lyla Kibel, and Tia Brereton-Patel from Year 2 all earning 5 House points each for Galileo for their scene from ´Descendants´.
• And finally in first place well done to Geneveive Walsh, Beatrice Fernandez and Eliana Kibel all earning a huge 10 points each for Galileo for their scene from ´Mulan´.