Ramadan Hours

The Holy Month of Ramadan is projected to begin on the evening of Wednesday 22nd March next week. As in previous years, the school will adjust the school timetable to recognise the cultural and religious significance of this period of time.

From Wednesday 22nd March, the school day will finish at 14:30; school buses will depart at 14:45. The starting time of the school day will remain 07:55. The Junior School and Senior School will follow the same timetable but some lessons and/or breaks will be shortened by 5 minutes. 

The last day of After School Activities will be Monday 20th March, with the exception of academic support sessions for our GCSE and IB examination groups. The canteen will continue to serve food as normal.

Leadership Conference

Creating effective leaders is a core aim of the school. This week we held our first Leadership Conference for over 100 BISC pupils from Years 3 - 13. While Ms. Ellis and Ms. Bukhari played a massive part in the organisation of this event, it was fundamentally led by our students, who should be very proud of their  achievements. I see this event expanding in the future especially given the level of engagement and enjoyment. 

I would like to thank Sarah El Batouty (Parent and BISC Alumnus) and Hossam Allam (BISC Alumnus) for giving up their time to describe their leadership journey and inspire our students. Competence, cooperation, collaboration and communication are key leadership skills which Minister Rania Al-Mashat shared when addressing our Sixth Form students; these skills link in to the aims of the IB Diploma and need to be encouraged both at home and in school.

Model United Nations

Also on the theme of leadership, the school is hosting the annual BISC MUN conference. BISC MUN has gained a reputation for excellence which again is down to the hard work of our student organisers, led ably by Ms. Lara Adly.

To be a successful participant in the MUN program, you need to be able to demonstrate all of the key leadership skills mentioned above as well as having an in-depth knowledge of the key procedures and rules. Many BISC students have been recognised at international conferences for their contributions and excellence.

“Model United Nations (MUN) simulations are popular exercises for those interested in learning more about the UN. Hundreds of thousands of students worldwide participate every year in MUN at all educational levels – from primary school to university. Many of today’s leaders in law, government, business and the arts participated in MUN as students.” (https://www.un.org/en/mun/model-un-guide)

Year 7 STEM day

On Sunday, Year 7 students participated in a STEM day, where they used their understanding of scientific techniques and geometry to create structures which stay stable in an earthquake. Students also used their algorithmic, problem solving and creative skills to plan, design and create a website or an app related to Earthquakes. Students had a lot of fun and impressed their teachers by the quality of their work and how well they worked together. 

One of the highlights of the day was a presentation by Mr. Ahmed Labib, founder and CEO of Labib Agri Park, who was the keynote speaker at our STEM celebration assembly. Mr. Labib provided an informative and entertaining overview about farming and sustainability in Egypt. He was joined on stage by Senior School students Salaheldin and Tony, who spoke about their acceptance to the New York Academy of Science's Junior STEM program and their current project focusing on the United Nations' Sustainable Development goals.

Congratulations to Yassin, Lana, Maia, Hana, Kenda, Tatiana, Hussein, Jessica, Yousif, Keyan, Zeinab, Johannes and Laila for the best earthquake-proof structure. Well done to Adam and Malaka for the best logarithms research projects. Congratulations to Natalie, Emma, Neva, Sereen, Zainab, Stanislava, Yousif, Yasine, Ahmed and Hussein who won the best app, website and machine learning projects. Well done to Lina and Omar for winning the best ocean acidification poster. Kudos to Zeina and Taliya for winning the best STEM exhibit presentation.

Yousif, Maia, Hana, Malaka, Rasheed and Johannes also received their certificates for the recent BSME Maths and Science competition, with a particular mention for Yousif, who achieved the 4th highest score out of nearly 5000 students worldwide! 

Pi Baking Competition

We had numerous entries into the Senior School Pi Baking Competition on Tuesday. Entries were judged on their presentation, taste and mathematicalness. The standard and creativity of the entries was very impressive. Well done to all our winners but in particular congratulations to first place winners Mariam, second place winner Abdelrahman and third place winner Mostafa. 

Interhouse Maths Relay Races

All Senior School students have been taking part in Interhouse Maths relay races this week. The winning house will be announced next week! 

Pi Memorisation Challenge

Year 7 students showed remarkable powers of memory by reciting Pi. Well done to winner Lucia, who recalled 20 digits!

BISC at the U15 BSME Games - Abu Dhabi 2023

25 of BISC’s Year 9 & 10 athletes travelled to Abu Dhabi for the U15 BSME Games  last week, where they competed in girls' netball, boys' volleyball, football and athletics. The squad of 13 girls and 12 boys produced some fantastic performances, playing against some of the most accomplished schools in the Middle East. 

Overall we came in 3rdplace out of 18 schools, which was a brilliant result, and we came back with medals in:

Boys Volleyball - 1st 

Girls Netball - 7th 

Boys Football - 2nd 

Girls Football - 4th 

Athletics - 6th 

Individual Medals:

Malak B  - Gold in the Shot Put 

Yaseen F - Gold in the Long Jump, Silver in the High Jump, Bronze in the 100m  

Most Valuable Players 

Hassan A - Football 

Mariam - Football 

A big thank you to the PE department, teacher and coaches for all their hard work over the year training and preparing the athletes. I would like to thank Mr Holder, Mr Walsh, Mr Yaqub and Ms McNicol for their efforts on the trip. 

An outstanding achievement that has set the standard and high expectations of sport at BISC! Well done all. All photos here.

Universities and Careers Updates

Year 13 students have started receiving offers from US universities. So far we have offers from the University of California (Davis), Purdue, and Virginia Tech. Well done to the students and good luck with the remaining offers. Three students have received unconditional acceptances from the Northeastern University. We are very proud of these students. 

Year 12 students will do an English proficiency assessment called International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic, paper-based) on Saturday 6th May in school. IELTS Academic test is based on four modules Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. It is a mandatory requirement for the majority of international universities and BISC students generally achieve within the range of 6.5 - 7.5 band out of 9. Our partner organisation IDP Egypt will support us in conducting this assessment. A support and extensive information session about the IELTS Academic test will be offered by IDP Egypt professional staff on Monday 1st May and we wish good luck to our Year 12 students.    

Key Stage 3 Wellbeing Day

Parents are invited to join a Key Stage 3 Wellbeing Day next Tuesday. The agenda for the sessions is below.

Student Achievement

Almantė in Year 12 was invited to The Lithuanian Embassy to participate at the National Day reception, where she sung the national anthem. Well done on receiving such an honour, Almantė! 

Senior Instrumental Concert

The Music Department is delighted to announce that we will be having an instrumental concert on Monday 20th March at 15:30. This is an opportunity for some of our highest achieving musicians to share their talent with an appreciative audience. The concert will take place in the Theatre. We look forward to seeing you there.

IB Visual Arts Exhibition

Parents are invited to join us for an exhibition of the work created by our talented IB Visual Arts students. Details are on the poster below.

Elevate Education Parent Workshops

It was great to see so many of you at the Parent  Teacher Consultation evenings this week. We hope that you found them informative and enjoyed seeing your child’s work. Thank you for the positive feedback about the specialist meetings being on a first come first serve basis, this seemed to work well and more parents had the opportunity to gain feedback.

no after school activities from Tuesday 21st March 2023 until the end of term. There will be ASA’s on Sunday 19th and Monday 20th March.

BISC Pupil Leadership Conference 2023

On Wednesday, we held the first ever Pupil Leadership Conference at school. This event was attended by pupil leaders in the Junior School from Years 3 to 6, and students in leadership positions in Senior School from Years 7 - 12. The day began with an excellent motivational speech by a BISC Alumni, Ms Sarah El Batouty. The children then attended workshops throughout the day: Leadership, Problem-solving and Communication, Anti-bullying Strategies/Kindness, Public Speaking & Speech-writing. Mr Hossam Allam, also an alumni, closed the event by inspiring our Junior and Senior leaders to persevere in life and follow their passions.

A huge congratulations to all the pupils who attended! Mrs Bukhari would like to thank all the members of staff who supported the event, in particular: Ms Ellis, Mr Issa and Ms Turner. She also highlighted that this event would not have been possible without the commitment of the PLC Planning Committee: Maryam (5J), Yehia (6B), Yassin (6W), Ahmed (Y12), Snigdha (Y12), Shahd (Y12), Laila (6B), Maryam (6B), Hala (Y12), Mustafa (Y12) and Nour (Y12).

Well done everyone, and see you again next year! All photos here.

Pi Baking Competition 

We had many fabulous entries for the Pi competition and the judges had a very difficult time deciding the winners. However, congratulations go to Nour and Mohamed B who were awarded the prize of most Mathematical Pi cake creation. 

Reading Successes

This week we celebrated our best readers in the Junior School, including Salma in Year 5 who has read more than 2 million words this year! Miss Ward and Mrs. Miah prepared lovely snacks and reading material in the Library, as Principal Dorran learnt all about the children's favourite books.

Children in Year 3 have been busy working towards the million-word target in each class. We are proud of their resilience and look forward to celebrating each class. Last week, Class 3D were the first to reach this exciting milestone and they look forward to a class reward. Well done to all the readers, including Aisha, George, and Hayel who were missing when the photo was taken.

In Class 6M, Yousef, Ethan, Mansour, Leo and Nathan have collectively read 1,000,000 words and are now working on individual targets to become word millionaires.

Accelerated Quiz Maker

Year 5 Girls House Basketball

The Year 5 girls had a hotly-contested basketball competition last week and the results are as follows:

Fire - 1st place

Air - 2nd place 

Water - 3rd place

Earth - 4th place

The MVP winners were as follows:

Haya - Fire

Nazly - Earth

Lili - Water 

Laila S - Air

Mila and Talia A both won Fair Play awards for their honest play on court.

Year 2's Great Fire

Year 2 students, with support from the Senior School Science Department, were able to recreate the Great Fire of London today, enriching their learning of this historic event. What fun!

Class 2B Assembly

Well done to Class 2B who performed in assembly for their parents and peers.  Special thanks to Mr Bailey & Ms Lana for their organisation. The assembly was a great showcase of the learning which has taken place on Ocean Habitats. Not only did the children share all the information learnt with confidence, they sang and danced wonderfully and had a variety of work which displayed their exciting topic.  Well done everyone!

Class 4W and 4E Assembly

Well done also to Classes 4W and 4E who performed a fun assembly this afternoon about being open-minded and brave. All photos can be seen here.

Word of the Week

Below are the words of the week that we've been learning in Junior School.

Junior School STEM Week

The first week back after the Easter Holidays will mark the start of STEM week.  During this week the children will work on a creative Maths enterprise where they will advertise, make and sell a project on Sunday and Monday; followed by Science activities for the remainder of the week.

The fun, engaging and informative activities in Science and Maths will evolve around the topic Connections. The children will learn about and discuss how connections are made between people, plants, animals, materials, countries and other things in their everyday lives; and will make connections within their class, our school and the wider community. 

All classes will be invited to Dress as a Scientist on Thursday 4th May.

Junior School ASAs in Term 3

Options for Term 3 ASAs will be shared in the next week. A letter will be sent via email to all parents in Years 2-6 with information on how to select your choices. Year 1 parents will also be contacted with an additional availability of Year 1 Arabic after school. There are a number of new ASAs being offered next term and we are very excited about this.

Student Achievements 

Songwriting Competition

Calling all young songwriters, singers, musicians, and producers: the Song Academy Young Songwriter 2023 Competition is now OPEN for entries!

All students in Years 3-6 are invited to submit their song and lyrics for this competition. To have an opportunity to be a part of the international competition, this must be submitted by Monday 20th March. To submit, please upload to Google drive, then share this link with Callum.watt@bisc.edu.eg or Shaun.bracey@bisc.edu.eg. Please see your class teacher if you would like support on sharing through Google Drive.

In FS1, we have continued talking about ways we can care for our planet. Our focus has been recycling. We talked about the impact on sea creatures when trash ends up in the sea, and we made models using recycled materials.

FS2 classes enjoyed a wonderful trip visiting ‘The Hub’ community. The children learned lots about all of the shops in our local community and they each enjoyed a delicious ice cream during the visit, which was the highlight of the trip. 

Keeping our students safe online is a priority at BISC. We are happy to share advice from the NOS (National Online Safety), to enable parents to understand the pros and cons of various social media, games and digital trends.

This week's advice is about the popular social media app Instagram.

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