BIC Sa Porrassa Primary News 8

Ms Alison Colwell, Principal

Dear families,

A few weeks ago we were inspected by the Council of British International Schools. This was a formal, 2-day inspection that looked at a number of aspects of the school, including the way we look after our students, and their safety, and how we develop values and British educational ethos. I was very pleased - but not surprised - that the school - the staff - came out glowingly. The inspector was extremely positive about the visit and what he had seen. He said it had been a real pleasure to be in the school and had been very impressed by how much the students genuinely appreciate what the staff do for them.

With regard to student welfare, it was very clear that our school provides a safe and supportive environment for all our young people. He described our pastoral provision as being, “very, very strong” and would be making commendations. He highlighted the way we link our school’s values and themes into assembly and PSHE/Global Citizenship, and said he had not seen a pastoral programme so carefully thought about, and well-integrated. Spending two full days in the school, taking lunch in the canteen, being around at break times and before school, and speaking with a number of student from across the school, he confirmed that behaviour is very good and said the students, “reported an almost total absence of any bullying thanks to the zero-tolerance approach” taken.

With regard to our ethos, it was clear that our school has an evident British educational ethos, is outward looking and promotes international mindedness. What this sort of inspection tries to measure is the heartbeat of the school and concentrates very much on British educational values and ethos. British educational values are about the developing the whole child, the wider curriculum outside the classroom and creating the conditions in which all children have opportunities and encouragement to develop human qualities and learner attributes. This includes the holistic

nature of what is offered, the extent to which the whole child is addressed in terms of their needs and in how their human qualities are developed, as well as the enrichment and extra-curricular opportunities on offer. He said that everything we do, “feeds back to the school’s values”, and that our students clearly understand what the values mean in action and try to live by them.

At a time when we here, along with millions around the globe, commemorate the Queen's 70 years on the throne, it seemed especially appropriate to also be celebrating our own students' values, British and otherwise, and the fantastic care and support our staff show to your children.

Alison Colwell

Principal

Baleares International College, Sa Porrassa

New staff:

We are delighted to introduce Trelawney Bresic who will be the principal’s new PA and the school's exams manager. Trelawney writes,

Ms. Elizabeth Compton, Head of Primary

Dear families,

Today we spent a magnificent afternoon celebrating the Queen's platinum jubilee. It was wonderful to see the whole school community together as one to celebrate this important event in British history. As a British International School we have reflected on our values and what we expect from our students in addition to her life, as a woman, a leader, her British values and those we see reflected in our school.

Having strong school values gives our students clear moral purpose and a set of ideas that guide them on their journey into adulthood. They give us roots to provide stability in stormy weather, the strength to grow and flourish and support when making decisions. Our school values feature in all that we do as we know that education is much more than simply academics. Our responsibility is to ensure your children are learning how to be a good student, friend, citizen and what qualities will stand them in good stead for the future.

Don´t forget we look forward to seeing you at our primary performances and events coming up this month:

Wishing you a jubilant weekend,

Ms Elizabeth Compton

Head of Primary

Whole School House System news

House Points Totals Update - Term 3

House Points Totals Update - 2021/22

A message from your Heads of House

Summer Concert

We are really excited to announce our upcoming Summer Concert, which will be taking place in the school canteen at 3pm on Friday 10th June. This will showcase a range of dance, music and drama performances from Years 5 - 13. Parents of those taking part have been sent a letter, but we would like to invite all parents to attend. Due to limited seating in the hall we do ask you to complete the Google form below to reserve your seats if you do wish to attend.

https://forms.gle/FXdhkPbxxjGg6vM2A

Early Years news with Mrs Wardle

Our superhero topic this term is proving to be a great success and a lot of fun. Thanks to Sue Hendra´s Supertato books we have had some fabulous story times, class discussions and writing activities, using adjectives to describe Supertato, describing superhero costumes and writing comic captions.

We have used our creative talents to make shields, wands, swords, walkie talkies and boomerangs to help keep the evil peas away from our classroom. Our binoculars helped us to finally capture some of the evil peas after they had been sneaking into our playground.

Friday was superhero dress up day. The children loved talking about their costumes and super powers. They had so much fun using their imagination and creativity building a city and making dens outside.

Year 1 news with Mr Fairless

Year 1 enjoyed talking and learning about our family pets as a starter to our learning about animal fact files in English.

The children have been working very hard this week and really pushing themselves in their learning. During English they learnt about a range of animals whilst similarly beginning to understand the features of information texts. The children grappled with new challenging vocabulary.

Year 1 have also been very excited this week as they have been preparing to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee by making lots of decorations and crafts to share at the Jubilee lunch.

Year 2 News with Ms Bakes

This week the children in Year 2 each planted some seeds in the hope that beautiful sunflowers will soon grow. We will watch the germination process closely and take good care of our plants, now knowing the essentials that plants need to grow - water, sunlight, and air.

Our trip to the Sa Porrassa garden centre was a wonderful and vibrant experience. After learning about some plants and trees in science lessons, the children were able to identify some of the pretty flowers, categorise some trees into evergreen and deciduous, and learn what greenhouses are used for.

They were happy to take home a beautiful plant, which they have promised to take good care of.

Wednesday was World Music Day, and a big thank you to those children who brought in a musical instrument from home or played us a tune on the school piano.

We thoroughly enjoyed listening to our talented musicians!

Year 3 News with Mrs West and Miss Xidakis

We thoroughly enjoyed designing and then making our very own Stone Age hut using what we learnt from our trip where we saw real Stone Age huts.

In maths, the children in Mrs West’s class have been learning about fractions. They have been working practically in class to help understand their methods and calculations.

In Miss Xidakis maths we have been recapping division skills this week, using a written method of short division and referring to our timetables knowledge to help solve word problems involving sharing. We recapped all of the times tables by completing a times tables challenge where we tried to beat our own personal time the following day. Everyone was resilient during the challenge and managed to beat their own personal time.

Year 4 News with Mrs Alonso McGregor and Mrs Walsh

It's been a busy week in the lead up to our fantastic Jubilee party. In preparation, the children have been busy making bunting, crowns and paper corgis, which we used to decorate our Year 4 picnic.

In maths , the children enjoyed learning about co-ordinates in a very practical way, using their new skills outside.

Science was equally practical. The children learned how sound travels through solids by making their very own cup phones and chatting, in some cases, across long distances in the corridor and playground.

Year 5 News with Ms Hodgson and Ms Demangeat

What a fantastic Jubilee party! Year 5 students had a great time, sharing typical English picnic food and enjoying board games outside under the shade of the trees.

As part of their humanities topic this term, The Twentieth Century, Year 5 students have been researching their chosen group topic and are now working on a presentation. Many of the students have brought their own devices which will prepare them for BYOD in Year 6. The children will be expected to use all they have learned in computing studies to make their own google slides presentation

Science lends itself to practical work and recently Year 5 students have learned about making “casein”, the first “plastic,” as well as using parachutes to investigate gravity and air resistance.

Year 6 News with Mr Darlow and Mrs Von Waberer

Year 6 are loving being entrepreneurial this term. We have created our own eco-friendly upcycled products and created a company identity, mission and branding. Now that we’re bringing our own devices to school, we even made our own business cards! Next step: write a persuasive sales speech, create a TV commercial and pitch our product to industry professionals.

Swim lessons have started this week to much excitement from both our students and the PE staff.

Please check the schedule below if you are unsure of when your child has swimming, as not every PE lesson will be a swim lesson due to timetable clashes.

The week commencing 6th June is week 1 and the weeks alternate.

Year 4

• Week 1 Monday - Swim
• Week 1 Friday - Swim
• Week 2 Monday - Land based
• Week 2 Friday - Swim

Languages department news

Years 3 and 4 German students are working hard on the topic “Build and Live”, where we had an insight to very different types of houses and discussed why people live in such a variety of houses. A very important learning technique included in this topic is checking for word families, as they help with correct spelling.

Starting from a short story in the textbook, Year 5 students were asked to change the main story including themselves as main characters and presenting the text in “Leporello” format. The students were very creative not only when writing their stories but also when they designed their Leporellos.

Year 6 were very creative writing their “Elfchen”. An elevenie is a short poem with a given pattern. Including the word “elf” - eleven - this poem consists of eleven words in total.