BIC Sa Porrassa Primary News 16

Ms Alison Colwell, Principal

Dear families,

It was my privilege to be one of the judges at the Talent Show this week. I was hugely impressed by the array of talents we watched, and it was very hard to rank, and find the overall winners, who in the end were Amber in Year 12 and Martin in Year 4. Well done to everyone who had not just the talent but the courage and confidence to step up and perform.

It occurred to me, as I watched the performers, that the show encapsulated so much that is important in a school, beyond merely showcasing talent. It embodied the spirit of a great school, where the arts are as important as other academic studies, and discovering and developing students' creative skills is so vital. It embodied student leadership, as some of our House Captains had worked tirelessly with Ms Mayes on all the backstage production work that is required to put on such a show. It embodied the extra mile so many of our staff go, not just Ms Mayes who puts so much time into events and performances outside of the school day, but also those staff who stayed on to cheer and applaud, or to judge. And it embodied the spiritual and emotional development a great school prioritises, the character building and values work we think is so important here at BIC, standing up in front of an audience, rehearsing, battling nerves, carrying on even if you make a little mistake, persevering, trying, challenging oneself, learning that not all can win prizes.

We also enjoyed this week the wonderful gifts that our kind PTA brought to the staff room for Teacher Appreciation. As last year, the culinary talent of our parents was incredible, the vast spread of tasty treats hugely appreciated by all staff. On behalf of us all, I thank everyone who contributed, the impact of the kindness and the enjoyment of the fabulous feast has kept people feeling buoyed up all week.

Have a lovely weekend,

Kind regards,

Principal

Baleares International College, Sa Porrassa

Ms. Elizabeth Compton, Head of Primary

Dear families,

As the Christmas tree arrived in reception this week, it marked the start of our festive season, a time for celebrations and to reflect on the successes and achievements of the year.

However, before we begin to look back, primary students looked to the future for our latest Awareness Afternoon. Our theme was ´Future Me´ where we asked children to think about the future, their aspirations, the careers they are interested in and how the school value of excellence is achieved. Activities included using their imaginations whilst writing to or drawing their future selves for our primary time capsule, with our ceremony planned to take place in the new year!

As Ms Colwell mentioned in her piece this week, the talent show brought together our community and highlighted not only the talent but the confidence and mindset of our students, many of whom have not had the opportunities for such performances as previous generations due to the pandemic. Well done to all students but in particular to the winner of the show, Martin Vesely in Year 4W for his piano performance.

Continuing with the topic of talent I am very excited to announce the appointment of a fantastic new primary music and performing arts teacher. Trewlawney Bresic, who you may know from our admissions team, is a highly experienced performing arts teacher who will be starting in the primary department from January.

Teacher Feature

Mrs Bresic trained in performing arts at London’s iconic ‘Poor School’ in Kings Cross and was the Principal of a Performing Arts school for 11 years in the UK. Her students performed in London’s West End, New York and Europe in musical theatre and drama performances . Mrs Bresic has won 12 international film awards, including a Gold Award at the New York International Film Awards.

As the end of term draws near, below is a reminder of our up and coming performances:

• Saturday 10th December at 3pm we will be performing at Son Amar Winter Wonderland. Students that are invited to attend are Years 3 - 7, as well as our featured performers from Years 8, 10 and 12.

• Thursday 15th December at 2.45pm we have our Christmas Concert here in school. This will feature all students from Years 5-7, as well as our drama club and our featured performers from Years 8, 10 and 12.

• Monday 19th December at 5pm we will be performing at Portals Christmas market. Students that are invited to attend are Years 3 - 7, as well as our featured performers from Years 8, 10 and 12.

• Monday 19th December - Singing on the Steps with Year 3. Come and join us for some festive singing at pick up on Monday from 3:30pm.

• Tuesday 20th December - Singing on the Steps with Year 4. Come and join us for some festive singing at pick up on Tuesday from 3:30pm.

• Tuesday 20th December Early Years, Year 1 and 2 Nativity ´ Whoops-A-Daisy Angel´ 9.20 - Reception and Year 1 Parents (Ms Wardle and Ms Bakes’ classes) 10:20 - 2W (Ms West’s class).

Please find the link to the letter which was sent to all parents of students that are performing below. If your child is involved in any of these performances, please complete the Google form in the letter, which confirms whether your child will or will not be attending Son Amar and Portals, and how many seats you would like to reserve for the Christmas concert. Please note that we have a limited amount of seats available for the Christmas concert. A notice will be sent to parents when we are fully booked, but please book early to avoid disappointment.

Christmas performances letter 2022

Wishing you a peaceful weekend,

Ms Elizabeth Compton

Head of Primary

Whole School House System news

House Points Totals Update - Term 1

A message from your Heads of House

Christmas Tree Decorations

The Christmas tree arrived this week so we would like to remind everyone of the House competition that is running now in collaboration with the science department. Students are to make a science themed Christmas tree decoration. Entries will receive House points and the decorations will go up on the tree. We will announce the winner nearer to the holidays.

We received our first entry today from Rebecca in Year 5. They have been studying space in their science lessons and she has taken inspiration from this.

Early Years news with Mrs Wardle

We had a wonderful Awareness Afternoon talking about Future Me in Reception class. The children were very knowledgeable about the things they wanted to be when they grew up. They told us in the morning what they wanted to be and by the afternoon they had their new work spaces set up and ready to work in. We were very impressed by the work of our dentists, vets, firefighters, bakers and teachers.

Year 1 news with Ms Bakes

Year 1 had a wonderful Awareness Afternoon talking about Future Me. They were all very confident in telling us all what they wanted to be when they grew up. We have a class of future doctors, footballers, tennis players, artists and police officers! Children should always be encouraged to be anything that they want to be, and that is what we kept the focus on for our students.

In maths the children enjoyed learning about length and measuring some items in the classroom using cubes. We have also been consolidating some addition and subtraction work using counting on and counting back. We are always very impressed with the children’s number work; we have some excellent mathematicians in Year 1 with very secure arithmetic knowledge.

For our current class reader, The Snail and the Whale, we have been making a story box to retell the story, we have been gaining a deeper understanding of the wonderful description used in story, and we even received a visit from the snail herself, in which the children asked her some very well thought out questions.

Year 2 News with Mrs West

We have been examining sticks in art to practise our sketching skills. We have planned how to make a stick figure which we will make in the coming weeks.

The Kindness Elves came to visit us in our English lessons and we have been communicating with them through letter writing. We have also written kindness notes to our friends in our class.

Whilst learning about the Gunpowder Plot, the children had lots of questions to ask Thomas Percy about his role in the great plan.

Year 3 News with Mr Fairless and Miss Xidakis

Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed the parent presentation during the Future Me Awareness Afternoon, about hotel work and were extremely excited to roleplay the checking in routine with props.

In English this week we have been focusing on improving a poem adding synonyms and sentences to enhance the vocabulary used in the poem. The students volunteered to read out their work .

In art, Year 3 worked with a partner to use the collage technique to create a winter scene to match the winter poem we had been reading and enjoying.

Year 4 News with Mrs Alonso McGregor and Mrs Walsh

Year 4 have been getting vocal in maths by practising our 8 times tables through songs. We aim to practise using our visual, auditory and kinesthetic skills. They particularly liked the Adelle version of the 8 times table and this song lifted straight out of Encanto.

Both classes have had practical lessons in mummification this week! The children have started the process of mummifying a tomato. We started by each of us cleaning our fruit as we would if it were an ancient body. Then we carefully made an incision along the side to enable us to extract “the organs”. After this, we dried our empty “body” with tissue paper before stuffing it full of natron - the same salt based material that the ancient Egyptians used to dehydrate their bodies during mummification. Finally, we settled our “body” (tomato) in a nice bed of natron and covered it over to ensure no air could reach it as it dries out over the next 2-3 weeks. The children have made predictions on what they expect to happen when we next look at the tomatoes.

Continuing the theme of all things Egyptian, 4W finally finished their papyrus art. We made our own version of papyrus with brown paper and glue. Then we studied the peculiar way Egyptian art was presented by doing drawings in our sketch books before copying onto their papyrus and finally painting. A work of patience if ever there was! Look at our finished pictures below.

Year 5 News with Ms Hodgson and Ms I'Anson

Year 5 have been delving deeper into the lives of Vikings, in particular the Viking alphabet. Vikings had a form of lettering, known as runes. Runes were normally carved, rather than written (which is why straight lines were easier), and were therefore mostly used for fairly short inscriptions. Year 5 loved the challenge of deciphering and writing messages in runes.

In mathematics, the pupils have been sharpening their times tables skills, learning more about perimeters and investigating fractions.

Year 5 were fortunate to be taught yoga by two amazing professional yoga teachers from Britain. The children loved learning to meditate, stretch, breathe and fly like a dragon. Living on a Mediterranean island meant that we were able to hold our yoga session outside and we were favoured by the appearance of a stunning rainbow.

Year 6 News with Mr Darlow and Mrs Von Waberer

Year 6 have had a wonderful week discussing excellence and how they see themselves in the future. We were so delighted to welcome 4 mothers from Year 6 to talk to us about their careers and adventures on the way. They were so inspiring, and shared the important lesson with us all that there are so many paths we can all take if we work hard and have our own high standards. Thank you again for coming in.

To ensure we continue to promote the importance of reading we have been sharing book recommendations by way of presentations to the class. We also continue to participate in paired reading with other year groups. Please encourage your children to read as much as possible at home.

We are still working hard on our masterpiece Greek myths and continuing to enjoy our lessons on Ancient Greece. We are also learning Christmas songs for the upcoming concerts which we hope you can all attend. We’ve made beautiful snowflakes and are definitely feeling the festive season approaching fast.

Languages department news

Y5 Spanish. Sell the book. Tell me a story

The study of literature can lead students to new levels of creativity and reading comprehension, while helping them to appreciate it as an art form.

Year 5 students highlight the most interesting parts of a book to entice an audience to read more.

The aim for them was to provide a practical book recommendation and to spark a natural sense of curiosity and wonder.

To tackle this challenge, they advertised their Spanish desert island´s book by doing a presentation and exploring the power of words.

We would be grateful if you have unused Spanish books to donate to start building up the Spanish library.