Thank you and Happy Holidays!

I would like to thank everyone for your support this term. We have had some bumps along the way but it is clear that our students are making strong academic progress.

As always, we are trying to improve, and a key focus next term will be on the importance of positive relationships within the community. When everyone is working together with respect and trust, academic outcomes always improve.

Charity Bags and Boxes

Our student-led CAS initiative was an overwhelming success. The aim was to produce 300 bags for local charities but we actually managed to produce 450. Our Sixth Form team should be proud of this achievement and I would like to thank all those students who worked so hard. Of course, I would also like to thank the whole community for your willingness to support this with such enthusiasm.

In celebration of the World Arabic Language Day on Wednesday, students engaged in a number of fun activities organised by the Arabic Department.

Children in Years 1-3 were treated to some storytelling by Mr. Haitham Shokri.

Meanwhile, students in Years 4-6 enjoyed a talk with author Dr Amal Afifi, Vice President for International Relationship at the Thebes Academy.

Breaktime in the Nature Garden was full of fun and games.

Foundation Stage children were entertained by a magician, a clown - and a beautiful white dove!

We displayed the results of the Arabic Photo Competition, which Ms Wheeler had the pleasure to judge.

The winning entries below were taken by Ahmed (Year 12, Fire), Salaheldin (Year 9, Air), Keyan (Year 7, Water) and Adam (Year 13, Earth)

Students participated in a Tabla circle with the team from Jusour Cultural Centre:

Students learnt the art of Arabic calligraphy from Medad:

Our Year 10 students (supported by Year 12 as part of their CAS program) enjoyed a House quiz, hosted by actor Karim Abdelaziz:

 

And our Senior School students peformed beautifully in their Arabic assemblies. Here is a video of Year 7 for parents that would like to watch it.

Enjoy this video montage of all the fun!

Ms Clarke and Mr Bracey were delighted to present the annual Christmas Concert on Sunday night, with dozens of students performing songs, carols and poems to augment the festive spirit set by the school's fabulous decorations.

The show was a triumphant success, with congratulations due to everyone involved.

More photos can be seen here.

And the AV team were able to record the first half of the show, for those that missed it:

This week has been a fabulous end to Term 1, beginning with the Christmas Concert on Sunday organised by Ms Clarke and Mr Bracey; the students' performances were wonderful and truly showcased the fantastic talent in the school. On Tuesday morning, Senior students were each given a Christmas Cookie, something appreciated by all.

Throughout the week, the year groups have been celebrating successes in their Praise Assemblies. The House competitions have been in full swing both on the sports field and in lessons. World Arabic Day on Wednesday was a huge highlight, thank you to the Arabic team for organising the events especially the Tabla and feast of traditional foods. 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the students and families a restful break. The Year 11 students will be revising hard for their mock examinations in January; best of luck to everyone. It would be good to use the holiday to ensure that uniform and equipment are all ready for the start of the new term as checks will be completed when we return.

This week saw a great team effort from the Year 12 students to pack and sort over 400 charity boxes for a children's charity named Manaber Alnoor, and an old people's home.

This was made possible by the wonderful donations from all members of the BISC community, so thank you to everyone who contributed to the project. Mr Baxter would also like to thank everyone in Year 12 that played a role in leading and organising the project as part of their Creativity, Activity and Service work for their IB Diploma.

We would also like to thank Ms Sarah Elrify (CAS Coordinator) who has been working tirelessly to ensure this project was a success. 

Today, the group delivered the gifts, which were warmly received with thanks by the orphanage and old people's home.

Senior School students and their parents were invited to Praise Assemblies this week, where we celebrated their academic excellence and endeavour during term 1.

Below are links to more photos of the event.

Year 9 have been working on their Mahmoud Said acrylic paintings; below are great examples from Ryan, Jude, Amena and Layal.

Year 8 were working on their claymation figures ready for creating a stop motion animation. Below are examples from Haya, Hussein, Tamara and Selim.

Year 7 were working on their still life paintings of cakes. Below is work from Laila, Tatiana, Danya and Neva.

Senior School students were treated to Christmas cookies by their tutors in their morning registration. A sweet reward for a term of hard work.

At the end of Term 1, here's how the House Points are looking. Well done to Fire, who lead the way!

 

This week, the Junior School BISC Choir had the honour to sing carols at the British Embassy in Garden City, hosted by our Patron, Gareth Bayley, His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt.

It was wonderful to hear the children sing the selection of 15 songs that they had been practising for many weeks. We also had Rodaina play to welcome the parents and open the show, along with Yousif, Noor and Zaid from Senior School. 

Congratulations also to Mr Bracey, Ms Clarke, Mr Mika and Ms Jo for their roles in the band.

Junior School children enjoyed Arabic assemblies this week, performing songs and scenes to celebrate Arabic International Week.

Congratulations to all involved and to our wonderful Arabic Department.

Key Stage 2 children entertained us all with their wonderful singing, band and poem performances this week. It was great to see so many parents attend and join in the singing.

Special thanks to Mr Bracey, the KS2 Teachers and our TAs for preparing the children for these performance.

And for the parents that were unable to join, below are recordings of the two shows. More photos can also be found here.

Junior School classes were making decorations (and a mess!) in art class this week. Hopefully their stockings and baubles made it home in one piece!

Each class in the Junior School made a Christmas decoration which is currently hanging in the Junior School Quad.

All of them were fantastic, but the winning class was 5J for their amazing hanging decoration. A treat will be organised for their hard work.

Every term, we count the well earned dojos to see which House has earned the most House points! 5 dojos = 1 House point.

Well done to all of our students for their excellent work in achieving hundreds of dojos this term. The Junior School Heads of House and House Captains also want to thank everyone for their wonderful donations to the Christmas Charity boxes!

The clear winners this term were… FIRE, with a Grand total of 1,953 Housepoints!

Well done to Air House for winning the second half-term's Inter-house events. It was close!

Thank you to everyone for the spirit in which these games were played; pupils were very supportive of each other and were gracious and kind whether winning or losing. Great effort! Below are the final results. (1st place scored 5 points, 2nd place scored 3 points, 3rd place scored 2 points and 4th place scored 1 point.)

Following on from last week’s photos and reports from the Egyptian Games U11 Athletics event, below you can see photos of the athletes from Years 5 and 6 with their certificates for Gold, Silver and Bronze performances.

A group in Year 6 have reached an enormous 1,000,000 words using the Accelerated Reader programme.

Maria, Karim, Makram, Natalie and Nahla in 6M have been reading a selection of high-quality texts to develop their reading comprehension. They will have a treat in the new year and then continue their reading journey to try and reach a personal goal of 1,000,000 words. 

Congratulations to Hassan in Year 8, who recently travelled to the University of Southampton in the UK to receive an award. He collected the Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in their Mathematics Challenge 2022 from Dr. Graham Niblo, a Professor in the Field of Mathematical Science. Hassan's family enjoyed a tour of the campus and met Dr Adam Pound, The Director of Outreach in Mathematical Sciences.

BISC pupils have been winning medals in some recent gymnastics competitions.

Nathalie in Y3K won a gold medal with her rhythmic gymnastics academy in the Egyptian Gymnastics cup. She is now moving on to train with the professional girls in her academy. And Farida in Class 5S won two silver medals, one for her solo performance and one with her team in an Egyptian Aerobic Gymnastic competition.

Well done to you both!

Children in Foundation Stage enjoyed a Winter Wonderland in the Nature Garden this week, with games, gifts and snacks to share with their friends and families!

More photos can be seen here.

Congratulations to all the BISCuits who ran around the pyramids of Giza last week.

Here are a few photos of the runners - well done to all of you!

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