Student Leadership

This week highlighted the inspiring work and commitment of Years 12 and 13 at BISC. External visitors and workshop leaders during the PSHE day commented on the excellent engagement they witnessed by the Year 12 students during the wellbeing workshop. Ahmed M and Youssef S in Year 13 also demonstrated their leadership and presentation skills when they led a powerful session on phone addiction on Tuesday. They are really the very best of BISC; well done. 

Other student leaders also held several meetings with the Principal this week to discuss the many inspiring ideas they have. Noor in Year 13 passionately spoke about leading community events to reward positive behaviour; Hana and the You Go Girl team were very persuasive and prepared for any question when they presented on organising a BISC Colour Run to raise awareness of cancer; the You Go Green team will launch several initiatives next week to tackle recycling and to encourage BISC students to keep the campus clean and environmentally friendly; and finally Ahmed M and the entire Year 13 leadership team led a meeting where we brainstormed ideas on anti-bullying, inclusivity and mentoring to support their younger peers. Impressive and positive leadership in action. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It was wonderful to welcome so many BISC mothers to the Breast Cancer Awareness workshop. Our female staff also benefited from a similar workshop. Pink was the prominent colour on Monday, and our aim was to educate and raise awareness of the importance of early detection and screening.

Upcoming Events

PSHE Day

On Tuesday 10th October, students were invited to a PSHE (Personal, Social, Health  and Economic education) afternoon, designed to introduce the concept of mindfulness and positive wellbeing. As part of the day, Rania Fraij (Founder of Zen Soul) and Nermeen ElShakhs (Founder of Life and Beyond) offered some amazing sessions about responsibility and self-management as well as empathy and bullying. BISC would like to extend our gratitude to the facilitators; our students valued your time and expertise and we hope to find further opportunities to work together in the future.

The rest of the day was planned around putting mindfulness into practice by offering yoga and aerobics sessions, a deep body relaxation workshop, puzzles, card making and Zentangle, as well as a walk and talk session and running on the track. Students had the opportunity to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the strategies one can adopt in order to promote positive wellbeing and focus on mindfulness.

Years 10 and 11 were also offered a workshop on exam stress where the school shared practical advice to support mental health and wellbeing needs during exam time as well as providing revision techniques.

Key Stage 5 students showed strong leadership skills by planning and delivering their own workshop about phone addiction and challenging the cohort to reduce their screen time.

The PSHE curriculum is important as it allows our students to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and prepared for life and work. Well-delivered programmes such as this will have an impact on both academic and non-academic outcomes for students.

More photos from the day can be seen here.

Year 9 Photography

Year 9 Art students have been out in the Nature Garden, practising photography and editing techniques using just their mobile phones.

Year 13 Maths Support Sessions

Over the past few weeks, students have been working on their draft internal assessments for Mathematics. This is an important part of their final IB Mathematics grade. Many students have attended the twilight support sessions offered by the department in order to improve their work.

IB Drama Sessions

Year 13 are busy working on their Collaborative Project and directing each other in different scenes. Based upon the stimuli that they have come up with, they are creating and rehearsing - as an ensemble - an original piece of theatre for an audience. Each student has to make an individual and significant contribution to the performance resulting in some meaning to the audience.

You Go Green Team

The team is back this year, with an objective to raise awareness about environmental issues and promote a strong, conscious and effective collaboration that makes our school cleaner and greener. More details can be seen on the poster below.

Readers of the Week

Ali M in Year 7 has already read more than double the amount needed to complete his reading target. He has shown great enthusiasm for his books, which has inspired others to read too. Well done, Ali!

Yaseen H in Year 9 has made a huge effort this term to develop his reading skills by selecting challenging reading material of a completely different style to anything he has read previously. This was a bold decision with the Year 9 target period looming, and the risk has paid off! Yaseen has exceeded his target and gained new skills in the process. 

Sports Achievements

Congratulations to Hassan in Year 9 who won first place in the F class for Equestrian Show Jumping last weekend. 

Careers and Higher Education

University Fair

Last Sunday afternoon, we welcomed a large number of university representatives who visited BISC to meet our students and learn about the School community. A number of our students discovered new opportunities and have already begun their applications - overall a successful event! 

We also hope that students are able to visit target universities during the Summer holidays, to enhance their applications and help decide where they would like to study. Universities are very open to such visits and usually provide guided tours, and students are encouraged to contact universities to arrange such visits. This also demonstrates strong evidence of a student’s independence - critical for success at university. 

Career Development Institute

BISC is now an Affiliated Member of the Career Development Institute. The CDI is a UK-based organisation, with global outreach and is responsible for maintaining professional standards for career practitioners, supporting their ongoing professional development, as well as working closely with government and education bodies. 

We are looking forward to developing Careers education and counselling and guidance provision at BISC as we move through the year.

Year 13 Deadlines for October 2023

Upcoming Events

Maths Workshop for Parents

It was wonderful to see so many parents at the Maths Workshop last Sunday. We hope you enjoyed working on the different calculations and that this gave you some insight into what the children do in their Maths lessons.

Please find the BISC Calculation Policy and workshop presentation below, and if you have any further questions, please contact Mr Banton (Justin.Smith@bisc.edu.eg)

• Workshop Presentation
• KS1
• LKS2
• UKS2
• More photos of the event

Year 1 and Year 4 Buddy Reading

Classes 1N and 4E participated in a Buddy Reading session in the Library this week. The Year 4 pupils had the delightful opportunity to read to Year 1 pupils, sharing insights as they narrated stories. Both Mr Ellerby and Ms McNamara were full of pride at the teamwork they observed. 

Year 2 Music

Year 2 have been studying music that features slow (Largo), fast (Allegro), loud (Forte) and quiet (Piano) sections. Kila, one of our Year 12 students, helped them learn the meaning of the words and then did some work on drums with the class.

Year 5 Science

Year 5 has been investigating air resistance and learned to make parachutes to create an experiment. Pupils worked collaboratively to design four parachutes, with different sized surface areas, to understand the forces pushing up against the parachutes as they fell. Great fun!

Non-Native Arabic Classes

Pupils in Years 1 and 2 learned how to refer to male and female nouns using signal words, as well as how to use personal pronouns in the singular form.

Pupils in Year 3 learned to describe their daily routine using different verbs and nouns, while pupils in Year 4 wrote full phrases in Arabic to describe their feelings towards learning Arabic. They produced some amazing work.

Breast Cancer Awareness Day in the Junior School 

It was wonderful to see so many Junior School staff wearing pink on Monday, to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer. Lilly in 5S approached Ms Paget on Monday and advised that she had made a poster to help promote awareness of cancer, which can be seen below.

House Competitions in PE

House competitions will start next week for Years 5 and 6. Please could parents ensure that pupils wear House shirts for their PE lessons.

House competitions for Years 1 - 4 will take place during their swimming lessons. Please could you ensure that your daughter/son has a swimming cap and a hair tie as this can distract their learning.

COBIS Poetry Competition 

Children in Key Stages 1 and 2 are invited to submit a poem for the COBIS poetry competition. The submission date is Thursday 19th October. 

The theme for the competition is ‘A Future To Be Proud Of’.

After the entries have been submitted, we will award one winner per year group. The final entry will then be selected by the judging panel and sent to COBIS by Thursday 2nd November. Each entry will earn five class dojos, which equals one House point.

COBIS Art Competition 

There is also a COBIS Art Competition for the children in Key Stages 1 and 2.  Children are invited to submit a piece of art that they have created by themselves, not a group of students. The submission date is Thursday 19th October. 

The competition judges will be scoring the entries according to the following criteria:

• Imagination and originality
• Overall impact of the finished piece
• Technical challenges and use of material
• Sticking to the brief: ‘A Future To Be Proud Of’
• The pupil and school name should not appear on the image of the artwork submitted (the name and class should be placed on the back)

After the entries have been submitted, each year group will be awarded one winner. The final entry will then be selected by the judging panel and submitted to COBIS. Each entry will earn five class dojos, which equals one House point.

Reminder: Carers' Authorisation to Pick Up Form

For the safety and security of our Junior School students, we need to be informed of the people authorised to pick them up from School.

Please fill in the information on this form accurately and attach a clear photo per individual. Please select a minimum of two carers to pick your child up and a maximum of 3.

This information will be transferred to a pickup card, an example of which is below. We hope to start using these as soon as possible.

Upcoming Dates

This week, Foundation Stage pupils started each day with a run. You may be surprised to learn that some of our pupils can now run an entire circuit of the School track - 400 metres! This exercise is taken from a UK initiative called “The Daily Mile”. Next half term, we will be inviting FS1 parents into School to learn a bit more about this programme. We will send you the date and time next week, and remember to wear your trainers!

Foundation Stage One

This week, pupils in FS1 started learning about bones through the “Funny Bones” stories. The school skeleton visited the pupils, and he taught them some bone names and functions. The pupils made their own skeletons and bones using clay and straw. We have also been focusing on comparison language. Next week, we will continue with the same theme and objectives.

Foundation Stage Two

Our baseline assessments are completed and it was a pleasure to meet with parents to discuss pupils' next steps. The next update will be in December when you receive your child’s School Report. This will provide a detailed update of your child’s learning journey in the Foundation Stage.

Our reading programme is also well underway. Pupils are making good progress with the phonics scheme and have enjoyed taking their first reading books to share at home. This week we have been reading the story “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” together. 

Finally, we have been comparing object sizes and ordering items from the biggest to the smallest.

Egypt and the Middle East Programme: FS2 Arabic Workshop 

فى إطار أنشطة برنامج مصر والشرق الأوسط، تم عقد محاضرة بعنوان "بناء المهارات الأساسية لدى الطفل"، ألقتها أ. هاله عبد الله اليوم، الخميس 12 أكتوبر 2023، بحضور السادة  أولياء الأمور، بقاعة المدرسة. وتناولت المحاضرة كيف يتم تنمية البناء اللغوي، وتنمية مهارات ما قبل القراءة والكتابة، ومهارة التحدث والاستماع، وكيف يتم تحقيق الأهداف المحددة من خلال الأنشطة؛ فى جو من المرح والاستكشاف واللعب

Within the framework of the Egypt and the Middle East Programme, a presentation on “Building Children’s Basic Skills” was delivered by Mrs Hala Abdullah today to FS parents. The presentation focused on how reading, writing, speaking and listening skills are developed, and how specific goals are achieved through fun activities, in an atmosphere of exploration and play.

Upcoming Events

Keeping our students safe online is a priority at BISC. We are happy to share advice from the Safeguarding Training Centre, to enable parents to understand the pros and cons of various social media, games and digital trends.

This week we are sharing tips about Instagram.

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