BIC Sa Porrassa Primary Weekly News (6/18/21)

Dear all,

As we look towards the end of term, there remains in school so much wonderful teaching and learning accompanied by a variety of exciting and enriching trips and activities, as well as in-school events celebrating success, such as our Olympics Week this week and our Awards Events next. The end of term is always so busy; whenever people (who don't work in schools!) suggest things wind down towards the end of term I am always at great pains to point out how it is quite the reverse, things wind up, and our staff and children continue to show fantastic commitment, resilience and character. Huge thanks as well to the PTA for the book and clothes sales that have been a great success, and we are so looking forward to next year's PTA growth (kicking off with a family and teacher event on Friday 10 September, save the date!)

Ms Tomlinson talks today of a holiday bucket list, and without wanting to steal her thunder - it is a fantastic newsletter piece, as always - I would add my own which is probably to be expected! I challenge our children and young people, through yourselves, to abandon the screens. We are all aware of the beauties and bounties of this lovely island, and my urge to our young people would be to spend their summer break playing outside, swimming in the sea, walking, talking, listening and learning, cooking, writing, painting, designing, creating, playing card and board games, if they are fortunate enough visiting and experiencing other countries and cultures, and - of course, another predictable one from me - reading, reading, reading. I urge them to abandon their social media on phones and tablets and communicate in person, to relax and to play, to learn a new skill, a new activity, to enjoy being children and young people.

And it can of course be done, because it was! I am sure to many I sound like a dinosaur, and I assure you I am no Luddite, technology certainly has its place, but for a child, the great outdoors and the joy of fun and friendship, well, these things are more important, every time.

Oh, and for a less predictable one, my own entry to Ms Tomlinson's list would be for every child between the ages of 5 to 15 (or maybe 5 to 95, actually) to read one from every series of Enid Blyton, the (in my view) great English children's author who has received, over the years, some bad press but whose books of adventure, escapism, fantasy and mystery were the backdrop to my childhood, ignited my imagination and curiosity, and which made me into the avid, passionate reader I remain.

Enjoy the weekend,

Alison Colwell

Principal

Dear families,

As the end of the school year draws closer we continue to embrace every moment and ensure students are engaged, challenged and fulfilled until the last bell! Last year you may recall we held some of these events virtually and it has been wonderful to now host these ´live´ and use our facilities to host the BIC Olympics, swimming, and the second of our Awareness Afternoons.

Mens sana in corpore sano - ´A sound mind in a sound body´ has inspired this ´Healthy Bodies and MInds´ week.

A huge thank you to all staff and students for their support and participation in the BIC Olympics this week. The children were developing skills and being active whilst ensuring sportsmanship and encouraging their peers in a range of track and field events.

During our second Awareness Afternoon, students focused on age-appropriate activities to support both their physical and mental well being. Read on to hear more about smoothie making, positive affirmations and the dangers of sugar and smoking to name but a few!

A highlight for me was on Wednesday when the whole school took time for yoga, it was a wonderful mindful moment to reflect and be calm in an active week.

Wishing you a healthy and happy weekend,

Laura Hodgson

Acting Head of Primary

It has been a wonderful week watching our amazing students compete in the BIC Olympics. We have been so impressed with what we have seen on the track, in the pool and in the team sports.

We will announce the winners in next week’s newsletter so make sure you take a look.

Wednesday was Wellness Day and we all really enjoyed our time together taking a yoga class, designing healthy living posters and a big circle time discussion about all of the things we CAN do, to help promote a positive self image.

Thursday was Sports Day. The children were delighted to be competing against their classmates and they all showed fantastic sportsmanship by cheering each other on, supporting their friends and really trying their best in every event. Afterwards at the award ceremonies, certificates and stickers were awarded, not only for the winners, but for the most improved and best effort. It was a fun day full of music, sunshine, smiles and laughter and of course ice lollies.

During our ‘Healthy Minds and Healthy Bodies’ afternoon, we made some highly nutritious and delicious smoothies. The children carefully chopped up their own fruit and decided on the ingredients they wanted for their healthy summer smoothie. Some children were very adventurous, choosing to try green smoothies, as well as a wide array of tropical fruits. Yummy!

On Wednesday we enjoyed a trip to Santa Ponsa’s Jungle Parc. We were incredibly proud of the children, who were praised by the staff there for their excellent behaviour. Many of the children showed great courage and pushed themselves out of their comfort zone. All of the children thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

On Thursday we all took part in Sports Day, followed by a relaxing yoga session. The children worked brilliantly in their teams and had lots of fun.

In science this week we learned about materials that are classified as translucent, transparent and opaque. Then we completed a class quiz to test our current knowledge. Lastly, we tested different materials to decide if they were translucent, transparent or opaque.

In art, we followed instructions carefully to complete step by step drawings of animals.

In PSHE we talked about positive affirmations and how it is important to start each day with a positive thought, as this thought can stay with you for the rest of the day. We had a great discussion highlighting what each member of the class is good at.

To end a wonderful Healthy Minds afternoon we enjoyed participating in yoga.

We all loved our fun swim session this week. We played lots of group games and enjoyed splashing around!

What a busy week! We have run, swam, jumped, cheered, celebrated, showed team skills, had so much fun and still had time to pack in an abundance of learning!

Mrs AM´s class took their maths lesson outside to practise calculating perimeter. Using trundle wheels, we measured the distance around the painted lines in the playground. We experimented with different ways to calculate the perimeter of rectangles.

In science, we continued our topic of electricity by investigating conductors and insulators. Great fun was had testing different materials in the circuits and finding out which allowed the negatively charged electrons to flow through them.

We are continuing to love our class reader, The Witches, and this week we have heard all about the potion that the Grand High Witch has created. There was great excitement from the children as we began to create our own potion recipes. Matching words relating to quantities and amounts with disgusting ingredients, we had great fun experimenting with the language to create the best (and most disgusting!) combinations. Listen to some of our ingredient lists!

Our Healthy Bodies Afternoon was a great success too, with the children loving their lessons with Miss West and Miss Xidakis learning all about sugar. They were clearly fascinated and surprised about the quantities of sugar in different foods and drinks! The afternoon finished with a calming and energising yoga session.

Year 4 Drop Down afternoon with Ms Xidakis

We discussed the amount of sugar in a variety of drinks and then weighed this out to visually see how much sugar was present in drinks. We also looked at food labels and ordered items from healthy to less healthy according to their sugar content. Lastly, we chose 4 of our favourite drinks to draw and label the sugar content in them and decided how we could make a healthier choice in the future. We were shocked at the amount of sugar content in a McDonald's milkshake.

Year 5 have had a very energetic time this BIC Olympic Week. They were lucky to be the first to jump into the refurbished pool for their Swimming Gala in which they were all extremely active and competitive. Wellness Afternoon saw them relaxing at the end of the day to do some yoga exercises and at the end of the week they participated in their hockey and volleyball tournaments and Sports Day. Every student had a role to play in the competition to earn points for their House as the school year comes to a close.

In PSHE this week we worked with different partners to interview each other and discuss identity. We also had a wonderful circle time discussing nature and nurture.

Year 5 and Year 6 had a wonderful afternoon of discussing and role playing the dangers of smoking. They then participated in some excellent yoga and mindfulness sessions. What a beautiful afternoon!

Year 6 played some amazing basketball and volleyball as part of Olympics Week. We were so impressed with their amazing sportsmanship, supporting and encouraging each other all the way!

In Year 6, we have been talking about food and French specialities. We have worked on the crêpe recipe.

No more words needed, watch the pictures!

Bon appétit!

This week has been BIC Olympic week. Every student in the school, from our very youngest in the early years, to our very oldest in the 6th form, have had the opportunity to take part in an event that will count towards the scores for the BIC Olympics. Students are competing in their House teams.

In key stages 2 and 3 (Year 3-Year 9), students have taken part in a swimming gala, a team sport and the athletics finale on Friday. Each event has scored points towards the BIC Olympic trophy which will be awarded on the afternoon of Friday 18th June (The winners will be announced in the newsletter next week).

The swimming galas have marked the opening of our brand new refurbished pool. Please check your Canvas pages for announcements about which lessons are swimming lessons in PE for the remainder of the year.

Below you can see some photos of the events this week. Year 3 are taking part in a hockey competition, Year 5 and Year 6 are playing basketball and volleyball.