I am sure that you are all looking forward to a well-earned break as we come to the end of the half term. It has been a great week for us and we have had a very musical experience over the last few days. The Band of the Brigade Gurkhas performed for us on Wednesday and gave us a rousing rendition of some modern classics as well as some more traditional pieces. It certainly helped our day to start with energy and vigour. We also had the opportunity to watch our very talented students perform in the Spring Showcase. I feel very proud of all of the students who performed so well and with confidence. Their contribution to the wider life of the school is highly valued by us all.
Please remember that when we return after half term all students and staff members will need to have had an antigen test. This is especially important after a holiday as people will have been mixing more in different circles and will have been exposed to different risks. Please do this at home with your child before coming to school and log the results .Ìý
Enjoy a restful break and stay safe,
Caro Drumm
Principal
Recent and future updates
Withdrawal Notice
Thank you to those parents who have confirmed that your child/children will be leaving this term. Early notice is a compulsory requirement as per the school’s policy as it does allow us to plan ahead for the new term and we can refund your deposits on time. Please let Ms Bajracharya in the Admissions Office know should you require any school documents/references to provide in the new school. The last day of providing the formal notice either by email or in writing regarding the withdrawal of your child/children would be Tuesday, 8th March 2022.Ìý Parents shall receive a clearance form to complete the withdrawal procedure nearer the end of this term.
Late notification and failure to submit the form or return the resources may fully or partially affect the deposit.
Eco Community
We hope you feel inspired by our . We would like to invite you to express your ideas on how we can make Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ and our community more Eco friendly. Please share your suggestions on Padlet or Seesaw. Primary students can share a short (max 20 seconds) video on Seesaw showing us how they are Eco-friendly at home.
Primary and Early Years Spotlight
What a fantastic week of learning we have had back on campus. It has been a pleasure to see all the creativity and enthusiasm from all of our Primary and Early Years students and to see them taking advantage of the learning opportunities available.
We have seen our F1 and F2 students learning through messy play, using different textures and colours to develop their vocabulary. They were able to describe the feel of the oobleck as well as the different textures of the shells. They also described the colours and patterns on the shells using great adjectives!Ìý
Our Primary students have also been enjoying the opportunity to learn in class, collaborating with their classmates and discussing their ideas and reasoning during their Maths and English activities. It really supports their understanding and progress to verbalise their ideas and to explain their thinking.
Year 3 have also been using interactive games to learn during their world language lessons matching colours with their Spanish names, looking at the pronunciation or different sounds and how they vary in different languages.
We have also been very excited to see such creative IPC lessons where students have been making collages, looking at the world around them and learning about geographical features. Some year groups have also been learning about how we can keep ourselves and our environment happy and safe, as well as looking at the impact humans have on the world.
Mr Sands has welcomed Year 6 to the secondary Art studio where they have been creating 3D sculptures of clock faces based on the surrealist, Salvador Dali. They have learnt to prepare, handle, manipulate and sculpt clay and have produced some beautiful pieces so far.Ìý
Year 4 finished their IPC Street Art topic by designing and creating a piece of Street Art with a message!
PE sessions have been based around team sports, helping to develop technical sporking skills alongside teamwork and communication skills. EY have also been following instructions and developing listening skills. It has been wonderful watching the students gaining confidence and accuracy; we have also been most impressed by their support of their peers and their supportive attitudes.
All of our students have thoroughly enjoyed their practical music lessons and being able to use the library again.
We are all very much looking forward to World Book Day on our first week back, don’t forget to get your costume ready!
Year 8 Spotlight
Although we have had a change in situation over the last couple of weeks, it has not stopped Year 8 creating exceptional pieces of work and thriving in a different working environment. It has really demonstrated the resilience that our students have. The way that they seamlessly transitioned to Online learning and as the situation improved, moved back to campus, was absolutely incredible to see. Our Year 8 students have demonstrated, in abundance, our school’s key values and have been looking to implement the 5 C’s in numerous ways. This includes not only their academics but also in their everyday life. Seeing them thrive and mature over the last year is a real testament to themselves and the whole year group should be proud of what they have achieved. Some highlights over the last couple of weeks can be seen below.
In Year 8 Music, the students have been looking at music that could be used for games. They have been composing and creating their own pieces to suit the theme of a game. They worked extremely well together to come up with a Jamboard that broke down particular pieces of game music.
In addition to this, our Year 8 students get to take part in our Performing Arts Workshop (PAWs) that combines all of the creative arts together. Recently, the students have been looking into Shakespeare and in particular, Macbeth for the upcoming Shakespeare festival. The students have two casts and all of them have been working extremely well to ensure they are ready for their performance. The students have made great progress towards designing costumes, sets and character cards for the show.Ìý
Finally, Year 8 have been learning about heraldry and family crests as part of costume design and understanding of the context of our play. They have created their own family crests after learning more about the meanings behind the symbols. Look out for them in the show!Ìý
Year 8 Chinese have been enthusiastic about using Chinese in their video production! As an end-of-module pair production, they created a scene where a dialogue of ordering food and expressing preferences was displayed. Ms Wong is particularly impressed by Manasvee and Prapti, who created a dramatic plot of having some very nasty food in a Chinese restaurant! Vivaan and Kaustubh were excellent in their research of background pictures and all the transitions, making their video so much richer!
In the KS3 Lunar New Year Voki Competition, Year 8 also secured three winning places out of five – they are Shaivee, Aryanna and Prapti! Well done, they were very creative and expressive, Year 8!
In Spanish, Year 8 have made party invitations practising the near future tense. These are some great examples by Kashvi, Yosr and Pavitra.
In PSHE, our KS3 students have been looking into anti-bullying campaigns and are designing their own wristbands for this. They were tasked with thinking of something catchy that grabs people’s attention and immediately makes them think or even ask a question about an extremely important topic.Ìý
A huge congratulations deserves to go to Year 8. Thank you for all the hard work you have been putting in and keep it up.
Message from the Secondary Student Leaders
Hello everyone,
We hope you’ve enjoyed your week! It’s been really great to see the whole school back on campus after being online for the majority of the Term so far.Ìý
This week:
The Prefect team met to prepare and plan some personal projects to go ahead after the half term; we can’t wait to show everyone what we have in store for the coming weeks! We’ve also been having focus group meetings with the KS4 ambassadors and KS3 aspiring leaders to reflect and discuss our respective areas of focus. We hope that these meetings will be able to gauge student consensus on a variety of different topics and help facilitate improvements for the remainder of this year and the next school year.Ìý
Prefect Applications:
Information about the KS5 Prefect and KS4 Ambassador applications for the next academic school year have just gone out. Please keep an eye out for submission deadlines and don’t hesitate or be afraid to apply if you are interested. We wish you the best of luck if you are applying!
We hope that you’re able to rest, relax and enjoy with family and friends over half term. We look forward to seeing all of you refreshed and back in school after a well deserved break. Happy Half Term!
Some Photos from BGN Band performance on 16th February 2022