Charity boxes - We need your support!

This month, our Year 12 CAS students, as part of the Hopeful Youth team, are working together to make a big difference to the lives of children and families from less advantaged backgrounds. To do this, they will be gathering and distributing BISC Charity Boxes to less fortunate children to help them access education, good hygiene practices and learn through play. 

CAS is part of the IB course and stands for Creativity, Activity and Service, in which students are encouraged to develop different skills, inside and outside the classroom. Every year, our CAS team strives to bring out the best of our students in both their academic and leadership skills, achieved through projects that really make a difference in both their lives and the surrounding communities. As such, they are collecting a variety of simple items to include in the BISC charity boxes. A full list of items is on the poster below. The CAS team believes that access to education is crucial to building a community and that every child deserves to smile. We are very grateful for your participation in this event and anticipate generous donations from the whole of the school community, from Foundation stage all the way to Year 13!

There are drop-off points for items at the school gates in both Junior and Senior sections of the school; we have split the donations throughout the school as per the information on the poster. The school would ask that all donations of second-hand items be in good condition and have been cleaned. I would ask you to support our students’ efforts and a very worthy cause.

Punctuality Update

While approx 97% of all students are in school before 07:55, we still have not hit 100%. Although there has been a massive improvement (thank you!), this is somewhat disappointing. I would love to reach the 100%  goal next week and would ask everyone to aim for 07:45 to ensure this happens.

We received news this week of some wonderful individual IGCSE results in the examinations taken last Summer. 

Yassin achieved the highest mark in Egypt for IGCSE Geography.

Ronza achieved the highest mark in Egypt for IGCSE History. 

Hannah was given a High Achievement award for IGCSE Drama.

These Year 12 students will receive certificates from Cambridge Assessment International Education in a ceremony at the British Council in March. The school will also celebrate their success on 28th November in the GCSE Awards Ceremony.

Well done to the U13 BSME Squad & development squad for all their efforts in event 1 of the Egyptian Games featuring boys' football and girls' netball.

In the netball competition, BISC took first and second place, while our football team finished in third place.

Full results from the event can be found on this link.

Positive news from Year 13: another of our Cambridge University applicants has been selected for the interview stage, and one student has been selected for interview with Imperial College London, taking place tomorrow. We wish these students the best of luck!

The University of California applicants are also getting ready for meeting the deadline of Wednesday 30th November. 

Our Year 13 regular applicants are all working hard to submit their university applications by the deadline of Thursday 8th December.

Careers support sessions are offered by Mr Raza on the following dates: 

Mondays

Throughout term 1, Mondays after-school 15:15 - 16:25 (this has been offered since September 2022)

Saturdays

Saturday 26th November, 13:00 - 15:00

Saturday 3rd December, 13:00 - 15:00

Friday

Friday 9th December,  15:00 - 16:30

Looking ahead to Term 2, the Careers team will meet with the Year 11 students to discuss their IB options, and will meet Year 9 students to discuss their GCSE Options.

On Sunday 27th November, Year 4, Class 5S and Class 5O will watch the Egyptian film “Gharam Fi Al-Karnak”  “غرام في الكرنك”. Classes 5G and 5J and all Year 6 students will watch the same movie in the main theatre on Sunday 4th December. 

Next Tuesday 29th November, Year 7 and 8 students will watch the Egyptian film “Ice Cream in Gleem”, with Year 9 students attending on Wednesday 30th November.

All students, except non-native Arabic students, are expected to attend.

Next week we will start the lead up to Christmas with the Key Stage 1 production on Thursday 1st December: Christmas Around the World. 

Doors open at 12:30pm with final seating at 12:50 in the Theatre. We look forward to seeing Year 1 and 2 parents there.

During the last week of term, we will also have some other exciting events taking place; we hope that Father Christmas will make a surprise appearance and the pupils will take part in some festive activities!

Key Stage 2 are also busy preparing some musical entertainment with Mr Shaun which parents will be invited to - more details to follow. HO! HO! HO!

Children in Junior School start every day with a Wake Up, Shake Up dance to get the heart pumping. 

Last week, to celebrate Anti-bullying week, children in Years 1-6 joined together on the field for a huge rendition of 'Reach Out' that we recorded.

It was a special week in the Foundation Stage, as there were a number of 'firsts'.

We were finally able to go on our first class trips. For most of the FS children it would have been the first time they have travelled anywhere without their parents; it was also the first time some of them had travelled by bus. Their enthusiasm and excitement was palpable.

On arrival at the Pyramids, the FS1 children were awed by the size, shape and number. They were particularly fascinated by the spectacle of the camels, standing, kneeling, eating and sleeping. It was a very successful trip and we are already planning the next one.

Similarly, the FS2 children had their first trip, to Sara's Organic Farm. They had a very interesting day, even riding on a tractor and being given a special lunch. I am so pleased to report that the behaviour of all our children was exemplary throughout - they were a credit to the school.

Details of our next adventure will be announced in the New Year. For the remainder of the term, the teachers are busy making observations and assessments in order to give you an accurate progress report. You will receive this in a formal written document in the last week of the term.We are also going to be busy making seasonal decorations for our end of term Winter Wonderland celebrations; details about this will be in next week's Bulletin.

Finally, it is getting increasingly cold in the mornings and children are wearing more clothes. Please be sure to label them. If any children have borrowed spare clothes from the school, please could these be returned. Finally, please remember if you have any toys you would like to donate to the Whole School charity boxes, please send them to school with your child. Thank you.

FS1 have had a very busy and exciting week. Our trip to the Great Pyramids of Giza was very successful and enjoyable. The children's behaviour was exemplary, and they were a credit to BISC. 

This week the children built their own pyramids, made Papyrus paper and wrote their names in hieroglyphics.

Children of Foundation Stage 2 enjoyed a wonderful day out at Sara’s Organic Farm.

Students and staff across the school are encouraged to dress up wearing something that represents the Arabian and Egyptian culture on Wednesday 14th December.

Get ready, and be creative - prizes will be awarded for the best costumes.

Last week was Anti-bullying week, and as part of this we held a parent workshop on Cyber-bullying and Social Media.

As a result of this, 75% of parents are worried about the amount of screen time children are spending on IT devices. Therefore, we have decided to stop Junior School children using devices on the buses.

iPads should be kept in your children's bags and not used at all during their journey. Hopefully this will encourage the children to talk to each other more and develop their personal, social and emotional skills.

The PE and Sports Department would like to remind Senior School students and parents of the following expectations for those that represent BISC at competitive fixtures:

• Students must attend the assigned ASA Sports club without fail (please inform the teacher in charge if you have an issue attending)
• Consent letters must be returned the day after being received (parent emails or phone calls of consent will not be accepted) 
• Students must commit to representing BISC at local fixtures if they wish to attend international trips.
• Conduct, behaviour and organisation for PE lessons must be to the high expectations set by the PE department (correct kit must be brought and watches and jewellery must be removed).
• The teacher in charge of running the BISC sports team has the discretion to make the necessary call on a student’s game time, squad inclusion and team selection.      

We’re excited to announce that Elevate Education's next free webinar will be taking place on Tuesday 29th November at 20:00 Cairo time.

Elevate Education works with our students, delivering high impact workshops on study skills, motivation, wellbeing, and exam preparation. By tuning into their webinar series you will learn how you can help better support your children at home through reinforcing the skills they learn at school.

​​​​​In this webinar Elevate will be showing parents:

• What resilience means, what it doesn’t mean, and why it’s important;
• How to help build your child’s resilience levels, both in and out of school
• How to help your child break their ‘fear of failure’

Sign up by going to: https://get.elevatecoaching.info/uk/schoolwebinar

If parents would like copies of any of the photos you have seen in the Bulletin, please email s706@bisc.edu.eg.