Key Dates | Pastoral Update | University Offers | Science Week | Learning Showcase
Dear Parents,
There have been exciting opportunities to celebrate learning this week with International Pi Day as well as Science Week, which this year celebrated recent discoveries on Mars. Enormous gratitude from me to the teachers who were involved in planning and facilitating these learning activities. I know the students enjoyed them immensely.
In the coming weeks your child will receive their Term 2 report, a snapshot of their learning progress so far this year. Reports are an important part of students receiving feedback to inform the next stage in their learning progression. While reports are important, they are not the only form of feedback, as they form part of an ongoing conversation with teachers about skill development and knowledge acquisition. When discussing the report with your child, please ask them to share their reflections and thoughts about the next steps they need to take in their own progress. Should you have any questions regarding your child’s report, please do not hesitate to contact the subject teacher directly or if it is a broader question, your child’s Form Tutor.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Newman
Head of Secondary
The Countdown Begins…
As Year 11 make their way towards the formal exam season, our well-being sessions have focused on preparation and balancing well-being. We know that exams are a pressure point for many of us, and perhaps even more so given the exceptional year we have had, but with the right preparation, students can manage their response to the pressure of exams and begin to view them as an opportunity to showcase the knowledge they have acquired throughout their IGCSE journey.
Over the last few weeks, we have spent time creating a revision schedule and exploring effective revision strategies. It is important for students to understand what effective revision looks like: time revising needs to be focused and varied. They have practised techniques such as elaboration, brain dump and blurting as ways to explore and identify what they know and can retrieve, as well as what they still need to commit to long-term memory. Time is an important factor in revision. Instead of spending hours re-reading notes, students have been encouraged to revise in 25 minute blocks on a variety of subjects, using a variety of techniques.
As ever, sleep plays such a vital role, not just in revision but in emotional self-management and exam performance. In Key Stage 4, we have regularly explored the effects of poor sleep. After each PCT, students have spent time reflecting on their sleeping habits, completing sleep inventories, so that they are aware of the detrimental effects poor sleep has. Mindfulness has also been a regular component of our well-being curriculum to enable and empower students to self-manage during times of anxiety and stress.
Finally, as part of the preparation, we would like to invite Year 11 parents to the following online session: Supporting your child for examination success on Wednesday 23rd March at 5pm with Ms. Gemma Archer (Assistant Head). Details to follow.
Ms Marie Price
Head of Year 11
Our Year 12 students have now started their tailored university research and are in the process of reflecting on what and where are the best options for them. Our Year 13 students are on the other end of the process and are steadily receiving offers and the list is growing. Here is an update on the total known offers our Year 13 cohort has received:
Mars Week
This week we celebrated Mars Week, a week organized by the European Space Agency to recognize the achievements of those who have worked to send space shuttles to Mars. At BIS, students have participated in a range of activities in Science and also in other subjects such as STEAM, Maths, Computer Science, Drama and Music.
Click here to read more.
In their Spanish lessons this week, Year 8s have been learning how to make excuses! To put this into a real-life context, they have been using online tools to create their own Whatsapp conversations, asking and answering questions in Spanish. They have shown themselves to be very caring and reflective in this process, really thinking about what cultural differences there may be and how best to talk to different people in different contexts. Maybe Year 8s could even start texting their friends in Spanish!
Ms Dorr
Head of MFL
DIRT!
In the English Department, this week's one focus for Year 10s and Year 12s has been DIRT (The acronym stands for Dedicated Individual Reflection Time.) PCT 2s may be ‘over’ but an essential element of any summative assessment is the opportunity for students to reflect on their performance and take time to assess what they would do next time to further improve their responses. Other year groups have also been taking out their purple pens as part of DIRT to edit and proofread their writing in order to produce their very best work. Year 9s, for example, have produced polished diaries from the point of view of Mary Maloney, a character from Roald Dahl’s short story, ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’.
Monday 14 March 2022 was International Pi Day!
March 14th or 3/14 is celebrated as pi day because 3.14 are the first digits of pi.
Pi is defined in Euclidean geometry as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The first calculation of π was done by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world.
The number pi is integral to our understanding of geometry. Pi has uses in physics, astronomy, and mathematics. Pi is used in architecture, construction, and has been a vital part of everything from arches and bridges to the Pyramids of Giza, to name just a few.
People around the world were celebrating this very special number, pi, including some of our Year 7 students here at BIS. Using the digits of pi, the students created some “Pi city skylines” – they could choose between using technology or drawing by hand.
If you would like to know a few more fun facts about pi, click on this link: https://www.piday.org/pi-facts/
Kerry Fernandes
Head of Mathematics
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