Welcome back to school! A look at the upcoming academic year

" Welcome back to the Academic Year 2018-19.  I hope you have had a great summer. It was fabulous to see so many smiling faces starting school this week and they all seem to have settled well into the routines of the school day. A very special welcome to all our new families.

Summer at BISB is a time to make sure improvements are carried out and this holiday was no exception.

In response to a number of comments made by parents in our annual parent survey, the cloakroom areas have been redeveloped, Phase 1 of our air-conditioning programme is now complete, a new social area for our students and a new learning resources center has been developed. We have been very busy getting ready for the new year." 

Karen Eastwood, Principal of BISB

Furthermore, as Nord Anglia Education school, we continue to enhance our curricula thanks to collaborations with world-leading institutions.

"  We are very excited to be welcoming the Juilliard Dance Program into our school this year.  As part of our special connection with Juilliard our students in Years 1-9 will begin receiving dance lessons as part of their PE programme. We look forward to seeing performances from students later in the year.

Juilliard is still going strong in Music and this year our school will be host to the first European and Middle East Music Festival at the end of March 2019.  Students from across the two regions will come together to perform under the baton of Jesse Brault Juilliard Alumni.  

At BISB we are creating a new jazz band this year as an extra-curricular activity for both primary and secondary students alongside our usual offerings of orchestra, flute choir, brass ensemble, string orchestra, hand bells and various choirs.  There will be regular concerts both in and out of school and we are looking forward to seeing everyone at Bratislava Big Sing 2019 on 15^thMarch.  Also, curriculum specialists/artists from Juilliard will be visiting BISB this academic year." 

Rachael Howarth, Regional Lead for Performing Arts Europe & Middle East

Moving on to the STEAM programme, this academic year the BISB students are going to take part in plenty of exciting challenges and events. 

STEAM is Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths, but as our students know it, it’s “Making Awesome Stuff”, things that are not only purposeful but are aesthetically pleasing as well. 

This academic year, the students at BISB will be involved in several STEAM challenges around the concept of Super Heroes, inspired by the work done by research professors at MIT. However, before then, the students from Years 7 – 13 will be involved in a “taster” STEAM Challenge as part of their Challenge Day – working collaboratively to make musical instruments from a selection of recyclable and reusable materials. 

Later in the term, the students from Reception – Year 8 will be involved in the first of the official MIT Challenges: Epic Identity. The children will work together, thinking about how technology can be worn to give a human almost “superhero” qualities. 

In June 2019, we have the opportunity to send twenty students to the European STEAM Workshop (delivered by staff from Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Warsaw but before then, we will be lucky enough to see the completion of the STEAM Room in school (a creative space that can be booked and used by classes to design and create things, using all the latest technology - as well as lego and plasticine!).

Charlotte Trout, STEAM coordinator at BISB  

Overall, more and more teachers are experiencing professional development with Juilliard and MIT, meaning more students are able to benefit from the collaborations. 

" In terms of Global Campus, this term BISB will be launching the Global Challenge through assemblies, looking at UN Goal 4 (Quality Education) and Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).  We will then conduct a series of activities during the World's Largest Lesson, which will be completed by the end of September.  In October we will enter the Photography competition and Creative Writing Competition. We will also produce a set of questions for 'Ask the Artist'.  In term two we will do the Creative comic book competition and Visual Arts competition. " 

Simon Thorpe, BISB Global Campus Lead

Let's be truly ambitious for the year ahead!