Each week in BISS Puxi the stuff that is going on is so varied and provides each child with such a rich education, academically, socially and physically. When I consider what has being going on in the last week (which is typical of any week) you will see that the learning experiences of our students are not limited to classroom based reading and maths lessons but are so much more!
We love to extend learning beyond the classroom and take the students out into Shanghai on educational visit and this week we had 4 year groups out on interesting visits; our tiny Nursery children had a really exciting trip to the Fire Station where they got to explore the Fire Engines and see how a real life fire station works; our Y.5 students considered urban planning and architecture on their visit to Thames Town; the Year 4’s became art critics at the Shanghai Art Museum and the Year 2’s became Historians at the History Museum.
We also place great emphasis on children gaining the confidence to present and speak in front of an audience and our 5 Paddington Competition winners were a great example of how socially able our students are - they presented themselves impeccably, confidently talking to Prince William, the British Consul General and the film producers. The 2 class assemblies this week were also a great example of our students’ presentation skills as children and parents greatly enjoying the dynamic volcano assembly from Year 4b (complete with erupting volcanoes and time machines) and Year 2s wonderful bringing to life of classic Myths and Legends. The KS2 Drama group are also working hard on their preparations for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory production and this is shaping up to be a great event with children developing their talents in drama, music and dance.
We also want to link learning to real life contexts and so our Year 3 students have been learning science via cooking. They had a great time in our wonderful cooking room making all sorts of bread and exploring chemistry; seeing how yeast makes the bread rise and exploring what conditions are needed to activate the yeast. Meanwhile our budding business tycoons and eco activists in Year 2 ran a very successful bake sale and raised a lot of money to donate to a Rainforest Charity.
As if that was not enough, we are hosting a huge Fobisia Maths competition with over 30 schools attending. A group of 8 BISS Puxi mathematicians will be competing in a range of exceptionally tricky tasks, problems and maths quizzes that will challenge their mathematical skills, knowledge and application both as individuals and working as a team. We know they will do a great job and be perfect ambassadors for their school. Good luck to our mathematicians!
So when your children tell you they have been doing stuff do dig deeper and find out more about this stuff but also be confident that they are having really impactful learning experiences that are helping them to grow in all sorts of ways.
Niki Meehan
Head of Primary