BIC Sa Porrassa Primary News 12

Ms Alison Colwell, Principal

I was very struck by a quotation from a poem that Mr Brown has on his wall -

"It matters not the subject taught,

nor all the books on all the shelves,

What matters most, yes most of all,

is what the teachers are themselves".

How true! We are very fortunate here at BIC to have so many exceptional teachers. We have a team here that is highly qualified, experienced, caring and professional. As I visit classrooms, the sports field or pool, the drama and music studios, the wonderful new science labs, I am constantly humbled by the quality of teaching and learning I witness, by the skill, dedication, hard work and high standards of our teachers. As Mr Brown, Mr Barter and Ms Compton write about in this newsletter, the talent of our teachers goes beyond their extraordinary talent in the classroom, it extends into the creativity and passion they put into our Activity Afternoon, our Awareness Afternoon today, our inter-House events and competitions - the final today of University Challenge was a wonderful, spirited spectacle! It is shown by the trips the staff run, creating opportunities to enrich and extend the students' learning and curiosity. It is shown by the opportunities they create to develop student leadership, and to develop our young people's characters and values. It is shown in the care and compassion our staff have for your children, how we all put their well-being and safety centre stage, and how committed everyone in our school is to give your children the best, most inspirational, most stimulating and enjoyable education possible. It is an honour to lead this school.

Thank you to those who attended our charitable coffee and cake morning today, and a huge thank you to all those of you who donated the incredible array of cakes and tasty treats. Have a lovely weekend.

Ms. Elizabeth Compton, Head of Primary

Dear families,

As you read this week's newsletter I hope that the importance of enriching the curriculum shines through. In the Primary department we have such an important job to ensure that the foundations are laid for future learning. Our core subjects of English, maths, science and languages are essential to an all round education. However, we must also ensure that our students themselves have their feet firmly on the ground to weather a storm, show resilience, grit and determination.

This comes through enriching the curriculum with excursions, Awareness and Activities Afternoons to name a few. This year we held the first whole primary school bonding trip, such a wonderful experience for all students to be together as one team, consolidate friendships, and have fun in a new or out of school environment. In addition to this, we returned to Palma for the fantastic La Caixa Forum exhibitions, enriching our knowledge of the moon landings. I definitely learnt something new and found the dehydrated space food fascinating! We have set up our buddy reading scheme and have 6th form students supporting younger learners in a variety of settings.

We celebrated the Macmillan Coffee Morning in aid of cancer research and “Jeans for Genes” day today. Students have reflected on how to show compassion to others in a variety of situations and that, no matter our differences, we are all equal.

We wish you a caring and kind weekend,

Ms Elizabeth Compton

Head of Primary

ACTIVITIES AFTERNOON

During Activities Afternoon some of our older students (Year 11-13) have been helping out, running activities and mentoring our primary students. Activities include chess, arts and crafts, upcycling, scrapbooking, outdoor games and knitting. It has been lovely to watch the interactions between our students. Both our primary and secondary students have really enjoyed the activities and are learning a lot from each other.

Whole School House System news

House Points Totals Update - Term 1

A message from your Heads of House

Early Years news with Mrs Wardle

Early Years are having fun getting to know numbers and number patterns. We have played games using ducks, dice, dominoes and sorting jars to start to recognise numbers 1-5 not only as numbers, but also as number patterns. Counting numbers, claps, drum beats and actions have formed part of maths lessons this week. Counting as you plan and playing games with dice are very good ways of helping children form strong foundations of recognising number patterns. We have started to take a look into patterns around us, especially repeating patterns. Look out for some number patterns around you this weekend!

Year 1 news with Ms Bakes

The children in Year 1 are thoroughly enjoying our English lessons, and our class book, “Sharing a Shell”, has taught them about the importance of kindness, forgiveness and friendship. It has also lent itself to some very fun role play activities and hot seating, in which the children acted out characters from the book. We have also been learning how to write a letter, in preparation for one that we may be sending in the post very soon…

In maths, the children have been learning number bonds from 5 and 6, all the way up to 10, with the help of counting teddies, stacking cubes and singing songs. They have impressed us all with their super number work.

Our trip to Katmandu was the highlight of last week! Together with the children in Reception and Year 2, they had fun in both the splash park and soft play park, sliding, bouncing, jumping, shooting, running, and most importantly, smiling and laughing lots!

Year 2 News with Mrs West

We have been reading, “The Great Sheep Shenanigans” in class and we have enjoyed using role play to help us understand and explore the main characters. We used hot seating to answer questions which we had about the characters, and used a conscience alley to help understand the dilemma that the wolf faced. We have also been learning to skip count in maths, and we had a fabulous time at Katmandu!

Year 3 News with Mr Fairless and Miss Xidakis

House University challenge

Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed working in House teams to answer the quiz questions. The winning House team in Year 3 was Rooselvelt. Congratulations to all participants, the team work and resilience were clear to see.

The Katmandu trip was thoroughly enjoyed by all, a valuable bonding trip.

In maths this week we have learned about the passing of time, focusing on analogue clocks.

Year 4 News with Mrs Alonso McGregor and Mrs Walsh

It has been a busy time for Year 4 with no less than two trips in a week. The children enjoyed seeing several historical buildings in the old part of Palma on their way to the fascinating Apollo 11 exhibition at La Caixa Forum. The children did not disappoint the guide with a plethora of questions and many answering questions on what they already knew of this historic event.

Following the very enjoyable trip to Palma and to the Apollo 11 exhibition, the children practised their observational drawing skills and created their own pictures of the very impressive Palma Cathedral. They took time and patience to draw the cathedral with as much detail as they could. We were very impressed with their efforts.

The finished work.

Over the past weeks, our knowledge of the digestive system has grown and developed and this week, the children enjoyed creating their own collage of the different parts and processes that take place, choosing appropriate materials. They enjoyed becoming the digestive system too, acting out each part.

We have spent time this week thinking about the school values of excellence, compassion, integrity, responsibility and respect. These are difficult words to understand, so the children created little sketches to show these in action in everyday school situations. They did a great job!

The whole primary trip to Katmandu was a great success. The children were able to play freely with children in other Year groups in the splash park and the soft play area. Many new friendships were made; a fabulous bonding trip to start the year.

Year 5 News with Ms Hodgson and Ms I'Anson

Year 5 have been extremely busy over the last two weeks with two trips, lots of learning and a lot of creativity. On our way to visit the amazing Apollo 11 exhibition , we enjoyed a sightseeing tour through the historic old town of Palma.

As Earth and Space is our science topic, we confidently asked and answered lots of questions about the first successful landing on the moon. We are all looking forward to Space Week next week!

The primary bonding trip to Katmandu was a great success, and all of the Year 5 staff had as much fun in the soft play as the children!

This week, the whole school participated in a `University Challenge´ style House quiz to promote our school value of excellence. Year 5´s general knowledge was superb and they thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to shine.

Year 6 News with Mr Darlow and Mrs Von Waberer

Year 6 had a wonderful time at Katmandu last week, enjoying bonding with each other as well as with other Year groups. We all had a lot of fun in the soft play area (teachers included).

We have been very busy over the last two weeks, immersing ourselves deeper in Greek mythology, cementing our knowledge of place value in maths and developing our artistic skills when drawing with perspective.

On Friday Year 6W got together with Year 3X to share stories and develop reading skills. This was hugely successful and it is a delight to see them now playing and conversing with each other at break time. Year 6D will also be enjoying paired reading with Year 3 in the coming weeks.

We have set the children a challenge to produce a presentation on something they are passionate about or feel passionate about and are looking forward to helping them build confidence and get to know each other even better.

Languages department news

French

The Year 6 group has started the year by learning a song in French. Now, they know how to greet, so they will certainly ask you “bonjour, bonjour, comment ça va?”

Drama department news - BIC Rocks You

This is an update from our Marketing and Journalist team!

- Singers and dancers from Year 4 and Year 5

- Prop and costume design

- This is Maya (Killer Queen)

- The teachers hard at work

Sports department news

JUNIOR CHALLENGE MALLORCA RUN RACE

The Junior Challenge Mallorca run race is for children from 0 to 13 years old. The event is part of the Challenge Peguera Mallorca triathlon side events program.

Start: 14th of october 2022 (Friday)

Hour: 17.30 h

Place: Torà Square, Finish line

Registration fee: 1 € (fAll money raised from registration fees for this race will be donated to a local organisation that carries out community development projects.)

Categories (Boys and girls)

The Junior Challenge Mallorca running courses lead around the boulevard of Peguera with start and finish near the CHMALLORCA finish line, on the Plaza de Torà. The circuit will be completely closed to traffic.

14TH OF OCTOBER (FRIDAY)

14TH OF OCTOBER (FRIDAY)