The British International School, Cairo eNewsletter

A reminder that Sunday is a school holiday. As we approach the end of the term, the school would like to thank all members of the community for their commitment to learning, punctuality and attendance. While we still have work to do in some areas, the school has made admirable progress since the return to full time learning without restrictions.

One must remember that this is the first year since 2020 where we have had a normal school experience. The school has managed to reintroduce a robust After School Activities programme, as well as Model United Nations conferences, The Duke of Edinburgh award, numerous sporting trips, events and fixtures, the Christmas concert, the Creative Arts trip to London and the Junior School residential trips to Luxor and El Alamein.

Academic progress, by all measures, is also back at expected levels and many students have benefitted by the intervention programs put in place. The newly-introduced Egypt and Middle East Programme has made an extremely positive start with various events, trips and lectures being well received by all concerned.

None of this would have been possible without the efforts of the whole community and we should take a step back to appreciate the level of commitment and effort needed to make this happen.

Year 7 English - Dragons’ Den Competition

Last term, Year 7 students were working on their Dragons’ Den projects where they work on their persuasive skills by creating a new business idea or product and try to sell it to a specific audience. The best presentations in each class were nominated to compete in a final showdown last Sunday where they pitched their ideas to two dragons (Mr Khan and Miss Smith). All the presentations were interesting and some groups spent an incredible amount of effort creating their own prototypes. Congratulations to all participants and a special congratulations to Yasine for winning!

Year 7 Geography

Year 7 students have been investigating the concepts of dry and wet landscapes and weather in Geography this term. Understanding the distribution of features within a physical landscapes helps underpin the theory of Geography, therefore in Year 7 learning to discuss these is vital in building skills for future studies.

Today in class, students have been using various media to analyse and describe landscapes. Students made waterfalls from paper, which helps them to understand the feature within three dimensions and see it as an erosive feature on the landscape. More photos here.

Students also made storyboards about the lives of the Bedouin people, who live in the most arid environments of Egypt and the Middle East. This fascinating community have a nomadic existence, and are experts at living off the land. By doing storyboards of the typical lives of the Bedouin people, their lives are brought alive in the students' minds. More photos here.

Arabic History Quiz

To celebrate Ramadan, there was a quiz on Arabic History today, hosted by the Arabic Department and Year 7 students Maia and Magdalina.

Language Stars of the Month - March

We are excited to name 29 students from Years 7-13 as our Language Stars of the Month for March. Their names will be on display on the board outside S204 for the next month to celebrate this achievement. Well done to:

Spanish: Adam, Ahmed K and Tia (Year 7), Abdallah, Taleen, Sina and Adam (Year 8), Sahar and Zaine (Year 9), Mariam (Year 10), Nataly and Laila (Year 11), Adam and Hala (Year 12)

French: Johannes, Ali and Omar (Year 7), Malak and Nelly (Year 8), Hassan (Year 9), Giselle, Omar, Aisha and Khaled (Year 10), Lea and Salma (Year 11), Salma (Year 12) and Natalie (Year 13)

Careers Department

Year 13 students have received more offers in the last few days. Year 13 students will finalise the universities selection in the next few weeks and we will support them in the next steps of the universities application process. Out of 42 UCAS/UK universities applications, 22 students have received all decisions and 99% students in total have received conditional offers. One of our Medicine applicants has an interview at the end of April.

Well done to all the Year 13 students.

Mufti Day

We are excited to announce that we will be having a Mufti Day on Thursday 13th April - the last day of this term. This is a day where pupils can come to school out of uniform and wear their own clothes.

We ask that all clothing be appropriate for a school setting. Clothing should not have any offensive or inappropriate slogans or images. Pupils are also reminded to wear appropriate footwear for safety reasons.

Online Safety Parent Workshop

Keeping up with digitally aware teenagers and the risks they face online can be a challenge for parents. To learn more about internet safety and the issues that are affecting our young people, please join us for our Online Safety workshop in the Theatre.

This will be delivered by:

Mr Rashed Miah and Mr Ahmad Roomee, Computer Science Department, Senior School.
Mrs Jennifer Ibrahim, Designated Safeguarding Lead, Senior School.

Date and Time: Sunday 7th May at 14:00 - 15:00

Please register your intention to attend using the form below:

Register for the Parent Workshop

Class 1E Assembly

The children in Class 1E held a wonderful assembly where they sang a song and retold the story of The Rainbow Fish. The children spoke and sang with great enthusiasm. All photos are here, with a video replay below.

Classes 5G & 5O Assembly

During the great 5G and 5O assembly, the children showcased exactly what it means to be a principled and respectful learner. More photos here.

Year 3 Art

Year 3 students had fun learning to sew in their Art class this week, designing and making frogs.

Uniform Reminder

As a friendly reminder, we would like to stress the importance of ensuring that your child wears the correct uniform to school. This includes black shoes, with no bracelets, dangly earrings, heavily decorated headwear or jumpers/hoodies from brands.

Girls are permitted to wear stud earrings and simple headbands to ensure that their hair is kept tidy and out of their eyes. However, we do ask that any long hair is tied back to prevent any safety hazards.

Please note that we do not allow any form of nail polish or tattoos on pupils while they are at school.

We appreciate your cooperation in ensuring that your child follows our school's uniform policy. This helps to maintain a positive learning environment and ensures that all pupils are dressed appropriately for a school setting.

After School Activities

Please ensure that you have entered your requested ASAs by Sunday 9th April at 22:00. The Engage Portal will then close and we will start confirming allocations accordingly.

Pick-up Protocol - Reminder

Please be reminded that children need to be collected from the allocated pick-up area (by the umbrellas) at the end of the day. Children are not permitted to meet parents, drivers or nannies by any gate. This is for the safety of our pupils.

Individual and Class Photos

Next week we will be taking individual and class photos, as per the schedule below. Please make sure your child is well-dressed and arrives at school with a smile.

Monday 10th April

1E and 1H
4E, 4T and 4W
5O and 5G

Tuesday 11th April

1N
2C, 2B and 2M
3i and 3K
6W

Wednesday 12th April

2F
3D and 3M
5S and 5J
6F, 6B and 6M

Mufti Day

We are excited to announce that we will be having a Mufti Day on Thursday 13th April - the last day of this term. This is a day where pupils can come to school out of uniform and wear their own clothes.

We ask that all clothing be appropriate for a school setting. Clothing should not have any offensive or inappropriate slogans or images. Pupils are also reminded to wear appropriate footwear for safety reasons.

Young Songwriter Competition

Thank you for all of your entries! We have been very impressed with the creative talent within the Junior School. We hope to announce the winners during next week's assembly.

Junior School STEM Week

The first week back after the Easter Holidays will be STEM week.

KS1 & KS2 Maths: During this week the children will work on a creative Maths enterprise where they will advertise and make a project on Sunday and Monday.

From Tuesday 2nd until Thursday 4th May, KS1 & KS2 will have a focus on the SCIENCE element of STEM.

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 and other things in their everyday lives and will make connections within their class, the school and the wider community.

Key Stage 1 Science: the children will be carrying out the following activities over the course of the week:

A Science Transportation competition. Build a transportation model using any material and bring it to school by Thursday 4th May. The children should hand it to their class teacher.
Carry out a Science experiment at home and send a video to your teacher.

The 3 days of Science will involve:

Science investigations being carried out in classes.
A Science Magic Show and Workshop.

Key Stage 2 Science: the children will be carrying out the following activities:

A Science Craft Competition. The children will have to create a poster about ‘connections‘ using 3D materials. Full details will be shared with your child on Google Classroom. The deadline for this is Monday 1st May.
A range of Science experiments in their classes.
A Science Magic Show and Workshop

All classes will be invited to Dress as a Scientist on Thursday 4th May. The children can come as a scientist, an invention, a Science process - anything science-related or related to the year’s theme CONNECTIONS.

Swimming After Easter

Swimming will commence after the Easter Break, starting on Sunday 30th April. One of your child’s PE lessons each week will be a swimming lesson. Classes will swim on the following days:

FS1Y and FS1C: Wednesday - commencing Wednesday 3rd May

FS2G: Sunday

FS2F: Monday

FS2S: Wednesday

FS2H: Thursday

Year 1: Sunday - all Year 1 classes will swim on Sunday afternoons, starting on the first day back after the holidays.

Classes 2M and 2C: Monday

Classes 2B and 2F: Thursday

Year 3 Girls: Sunday

Year 3 Boys: Monday

Year 4 students will all swim on Tuesday afternoon

Year 5 Girls: Tuesdays

Year 5 Boys: Thursday

Year 6 Girls: Thursday

Year 6 Boys: Monday

Pupils will need a separate swim bag that they can carry to the changing rooms containing:

Swimsuit/swim shorts
Towel
Pool shoes
Goggles
Swim hat (essential for pupils with long hair - boys or girls)
Sun cream (although it is recommended to put cream on at home before school).

Please label ALL items of swimming equipment clearly with your child’s name and class. Swimsuits must be one piece, sporty style-swimsuits - no bikinis or extreme cut-out styles

Please note - there is not enough time or enough facilities to allow for luxurious showers after swimming. The children will just rinse off the chlorine, so please do not send shampoo and conditioner. If your child has a skin related issue, like eczema, send in a small travel shower gel, if you wish.

The children should come to school in their PE kit (shorts and t-shirt) on their PE and swimming days - to allow for easy changing (no wrestling with buttons or collared shirts or dresses).

Any questions - please email Ms Foley on Helen.Foley@bisc.edu.eg

Music Performances - Years 2 and 3

During the week commencing 7th May, parents will be invited to watch their child perform as part of their whole-class Music performance, showcasing the learning the children have completed in Music this term. A letter has been sent on Engage with the specific times.

Creative Arts Week

During the week commencing 14th May, the Junior School will be celebrating Creative Arts Week, promoting creativity and learning through a hands-on Art project.

The project will be divided into two parts. Firstly, each class from KS1 and KS2 will take and upload a range of photos of Cairo onto their Google Classroom. Secondly, the children will use their photos as the basis for their own original works of art. They will have the option to paint over their photos, or create a collage using different media (paint, oil pastels, add collage) in a different range of styles.

We have continued our Daily Run (except, of course, Miss Margaret!) and would like to congratulate the following children:

Ayah, Yehia, Liliana, Ezz and Ali K who regularly and willingly run 800m - well done. We are hoping that next term we can build on this and achieve the full mile.

Reminders:

Sunday 9th April - Holiday (Western Easter Sunday)
Thursday 13th April - Non-uniform day
Week commencing 30th April (first week back) STEM week, including Thursday 4th May - Dress Up Like a Scientist
Following the Spring Break, FS1 will have swimming lessons every Wednesday until the end of the term.

Individual and Class Photos

Next week we will be taking individual and class photos, as per the schedule below. Please make sure your child is well-dressed and arrives at school with a smile.

Monday 10th April

F2G
F2H

Tuesday 11th April

F1Y
F1C
F2S

Wednesday 12th April

F2F

In Class This Week

In FS2H, the children have been learning about Pirates! Each child made their own pirate hat and treasure map, which they took on a 'Treasure Hunt Adventure' around the school.

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 YouTube for Kids.

YouTube_Kids.pdf

YouTube_Kids _pdf 2.18 MB

9th April	Western Easter (no school)
10-12th April	Foundation Stage and Junior School Class Photography
13th April	Class 1E Assembly
13th April	Whole School Mufti Day (last day of term, finish at 14:30)
13th April	Year 11 and Year 13 Last Day of Lessons
28th April	Year 13 Final IB Exams Begin
30th April	Summer Term Begins
30th April - 4th May	Junior School STEM Week (Dress as a Scientist 4th May)
30th April and 1st May	Year 6 Transition Exams
3rd May	Year 11 Final IGCSE Exams Begin
7th - 11th May	Year 6 Alamein Trip
7th - 11th May	Years 2 and 3 Music Performances
12th May	Swimming Gala at BISC
14th May	Junior School Creative Arts Week
21st May - 8th June	Year 10 Exams
24th May	Year 6 Production - Oliver
25th - 29th May	Half Term Holiday (no school)
4th - 5th June	Year 4 Alexandria Trip
8th - 15th June	Key Stage 3 Exams
11th June	Earth Week

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