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In my first post of the new academic year, I want to take the opportunity to share and discuss our IBDP results from our first cohort of students to complete the course. I am sure you will have seen the headline figures as they were shared on the BCB instagram. However, I hope to share some context about what these results mean and what we have learned from the experience.

It actually felt like my first day at BCB on Aug 16th, though I had joined a year back. For the first time, I saw most of the students, used a notebook and pen after a long time and actually had face to face conversations with my colleagues and students. Laughter, chatter, moving of furniture as the students settled into their classrooms all felt new but exciting. I know for a fact that the PE, ART and Science teachers were the most jubilant as finally they could actually do some actual practical teaching.

We are all aware of our core value at BCB of being ambitious and having a growth mindset as being part of the group of 73 Nord Anglia Schools but the purpose of education is not just about the self but wider society. Intercultural competence is something that has come to the forefront of international education but what does this mean for our teachers, students and parents as part of the BCB community?

Years 9 and above this week engaged in our first ever Careers Week at BCB where we enjoyed partnerships with The MET School in Panama, Unifrog, Daqui Pra Fora and some great parent keynote speakers organised by the BCB Parent Teacher Association.

To end this challenging academic year, Music Team has prepared with Primary Virtual Choir a song from the educational organisation "Sing Up", as part of the Sing Up Day 2021.

Dear Parents, As a school, our students, parents and staff are committed to supporting charities and to take action to help others. This week we have two amazing charities and stories to share. One is led by our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the other a food drive coordinated by a student for her Global Politics Coursework. This is being supported by other students in Year 12 sorting donations as an action for the CAS aspect of IBDP, something all students have to complete. It stands for Creativity, Activity and Service and is a compulsory aspect in addition to their academic studies. I will write more about IBDP next week as we will by then have celebrated our first graduation ceremony.

At the age of 11 years, children in many school systems transition from primary to secondary school. In most countries worldwide it has been depicted as “one of the most difficult in a pupil's educational careers”( Zeedyk et al., 2003) and a crucial stage in a young adolescent's life .The students are not only changing and growing in remarkable ways but also transitioning to a new phase in their education with much “diversity” both in academic curriculum and social settings . This transition symbolizes a significant life event characterized by various changes not just in the physical school environment, but also in academic rigor and social relations This change also corresponds to the onset of physical and emotional changes associated with puberty, making it one of the most challenging and exciting transitions.

What if you only had 5 minutes to flee your home? What necessities would you take with you? This is the reality for so many worldwide today.

As we approach the end of the academic year the Secondary team is busy organising the last week of term which is always a strange end in any international school i have worked in. The reports have been published with students receiving their end of year attitude to learning, attainment and comments whilst the tutor who has been mentoring each child for the year shares a comment for the year. So with the last of 3 reports published through iSams what should we do......?

Dear Parents, Lots of information and news this week, please read on.

Can machines think? — Alan Turing, 1950. Less than a decade after breaking the Nazi encryption machine Enigma and helping the Allied Forces win World War II, the great mathematician Alan Turing changed history a second time with a simple question: "Can machines think?"

Dear Parents, This week has seen the final IBDP examination take place and we are absolutely delighted that we had the opportunity to complete this session. It was a long and hard decision for IB to decide who could carry out exams and who might need to go down the route of self- assessment. Brazil thankfully was allowed to complete examinations. If not, it may have proved more of a challenge for us as this method relies on previous years data from the school, something we currently do not have. There was also a risk too that the pandemic may have affected us but with all the precautions we have in place, we have successfully reached the end.

What’s in a name? Are names important? The inspiration for this piece has come from a variety of sources, firstly from a part of the ongoing teacher professional development program about teaching in English in multilingual classrooms and from the Nord Anglia University course I tutor concerning EAL in mainstream classrooms. Finally, from a brief conversation with the Admissions department, where I was told the story of a potential family who were going to register their daughter with an ‘English’ name, ‘Cinderella’. This reminded me of some of the names I was faced with in my earlier days in South Korea; Otto, Harry (Potter) and AceKing, as a few examples.

Dear Parents, Each month we hold a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting and one of the continuing questions is about school development. This is something that was being discussed before my arrival, between much of the community and Nord Anglia, after the school become part of the Nord Anglia Education Group. Then came the pandemic and all businesses across the globe had to evaluate their position, schools were no exception to this. However, since my arrival there has been much work, developing various business cases and the paragraphs below explain in a little more detail the efforts we are taking for development.

Dear Parents, It is sometimes a bit tricky to find benefits of our current situation but every day I benefit from lessons that I would not normally see, and certainly not on such a regular basis.

One of the areas of exploration in IB Diploma for English is how literature fits into time and space. In other words, how a text may be interpreted and received by audiences across different time periods and cultures. We have already begun developing this kind of conceptual thinking at KS3 this year as we study Shakespeare in term 3.

What is the mindset of a mathematician? Is it someone who just follows rules? Or is it someone who has a mad sense of creativity like Mozart or Einstein? Alternatively, is it someone who has a deep sense of clarity and structure? Or is it someone who has a very fast brain? Is it someone who does extremely fast calculations or someone who takes their time with very deep understanding.

Dear Parents, Around the world last Friday, 23rd April, school’s celebrated World Book Day. This was no different at BCB where all Primary staff and children enjoyed a fantastic time together, celebrating the joy of reading.

Theodor W. Adorno, a renowned german philosopher, famously said: “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. And this corrodes even the knowledge of why it has become impossible to write poetry today”. This passage can be found in Cultural Criticism and Society (1949), and it is much cited by all the cultural critics since published. After all, how can we keep doing art in such a difficult time? After facing and experiencing tragedies, what’s the meaning of the art?