BELVEDERE NEWSLETTER 29 October 2015 – Edition (79)

News and Events

Diary Dates

Week 9 ECP continues

Tuesday, 3 November 12-12.20pm Flag Day

Parents welcome

Wednesday, 4 November BBS Parent Team Meeting

6pm

Monday, 9 November Board of Governors’

Meeting 6pm (postponed from

2 November)

Monday, 9 November First Round of the Royal Spelling Bee

Competition (entries now closed)

First week in November

Arabic Department’s Competition for Memorizing

the Quran

Thursday, 19 November Yasalam Parade 4pm

Support welcome Come to the Corniche

Thursday, 26 November

BBS celebrates National Day

Dear Parents,

This week the school has been privileged to have our Community Police and support personnel - Mr Jasin AL Zaabi, delivering aspects of the 'My Identity' programme. Our Year 7-10 students have been provided with information about what it means to live in the United Arab Emirates and what makes it so special and unique (photographs on the following page). This is timely with our upcoming Flag Day and National Day celebrations, which are being organized by our staff and parents.

Thank you to our parents who are supporting the school with continued positive and constructive feedback. Please feel free to email the school and teachers.

Flag Day: On Tuesday, 3rd November the school will celebrate UAE Flag Day from 12:00-12:20. All parents are welcome to join us in this celebration event. All children are encouraged to bring a flag.

Parent ID badges: The school is reinforcing the display of parent badges to enter the school. If you do not have a badge, or you have left it at home or in the car, you will need to sign in at Reception and produce another form of identification. This will be time consuming for both the school staff and parents, but we must ensure the security and safety of our students. Your co-operation in this matter is appreciated and will be paramount for the security procedure to be successful.

Front Gate Safety: Please be informed that we are working with the Traffic Police to formulate an action plan to ensure our front gate area is safe for everyone. Last week there was a vehicle collision in the car park area, and damage was done to several cars through careless parking. Therefore, in the meantime:

Do not park on the kerb or walkway.

Use the pedestrian crossing.

Park respectfully in the parking area. Thank you.

Mobile Phones at School: Please be advised that using cell phones during school time is classed in the ADEC Guidelines for Managing Student Behaviour as a Disciplinary Action Level 2. The school will seize any phones that are being used in school time and they will be kept secure until the end of the school day. Parents please support this by:

NOT contacting your children via their mobile phone during the day. If you have the need to contact your child use the school number.

ALL end-of-day organization must be finalized before the start of the day so the students have no need to be contacting anyone to confirm arrangements. Students will not be allowed to make arrangements during school time for after school engagements.

Thank you for your support with this matter.

Congratulations: The school is proud to have a Middle East Touch Rugby Champion in its midst. Well done to Lyella Thomsett-Taylor in Year 9 whose photograph is on the following page.

Mrs Kellie Jepsen Principal

Police Visit for the ‘My Identity’ Programme

Well done, Lyella Thomsett-Taylor.

I have been really pleased to see so many children this week for Head Teacher’s Awards, especially when some children are awarded more than one certificate in a week. This is fantastic. These children have worked very hard in school. Congratulations to: Bakheet 5C, Pamela 5C, Hamdah Al Aydaroos 5C (2), Shahad 5C, Elene 5C, Rowdha 5A, Aisha 5A, Jenna 5C, Hamda Abdulla 5C, Obaid 2D, Abdulla 1C

Head of Primary

Mr Nick Garrett

Homework for Pupils: All Primary pupils are set regular homework every week. Please will parents check their children’s books which will show the homework tasks that the children need to complete.

For FS2 pupils, homework is set on a Wednesday and is expected back in on a Monday. The FS2 teachers will shortly begin sending spellings and reading books home on a weekly basis.

KS1 send homework on a Wednesday and expect it back on a Monday. Spellings are also sent on Wednesday and expected back on Monday, but are sent by the RWI (Read, Write, Inc.) teacher in KS1. Reading books are sent home each day, changed once a week and expected to be in bags everyday so that pupils can read to their teachers.

KS2 also send homework out on a Wednesday and expect it back in on a Monday. In addition to this, children are given spellings to learn, which are issued at the discretion of the teacher, depending on sets and the timetable.

Meetings with Parents: The teachers and I are always very happy to meet with parents to discuss any concerns, or any aspect of your child’s education, but we are not always available during the day owing to teaching and other school commitments. If you have any quick questions, I am in the Main Foyer at the beginning and end of the school day (as are Mrs Garrett, Primary PA and Mr Davies, Secondary PA). However, if you would like a longer meeting, please could you make an appointment with the class teacher directly, or if you would like to meet with me, please contact my PA, Mrs Ruth Garrett. It is very important that you are able to discuss anything with us and it will save an unnecessary journey if you are able to make an appointment in advance. Thank you.

I have been really pleased to see so many children this week for Head Teacher’s Awards, especially when some children are awarded more than one certificate in a week. This is fantastic. These children have worked very hard in school. Congratulations to: Bakheet 5C, Pamela 5C, Hamdah Al Aydaroos 5C (2), Shahad 5C, Elene 5C, Rowdha 5A, Aisha 5A, Jenna 5C, Hamda Abdulla 5C, Obaid 2D, Abdulla 1C.

FS2 News

Stars of the Week

Our FS2 children are really trying hard with everything they do in school, which is wonderful. Previous ‘Star of the Week’ awards have been given to Bana, Adhitya and Arun. Well done and congratulations for doing so well in school.

Year 1

Every Sunday afternoon Year 1 pupils have their library slot and the children get to read a book of their choice in the library. We share this slot with Year 5. Every week the Year 5 pupils listen to and help our children read and this is a really enjoyable time for the them.

Year 2’s Marvellous Maths

Frantisek in 2B received a certificate for Marvellous Maths.

Year 3 Maths

This week, Year 3 pupils have been learning all about shapes. We went on an exciting shape hunt where we

spotted a variety of 3D shapes around our school. Year 3 pupils are now fantastic shape detectives.

Scrumdidlyumptious

To start our new topic, ‘Scrumdidlyumptious’,

Year 4 engaged in three activities, based

around the book we are studying in English,

‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

The activities engaged the children in 3 main

activities, where collaboration/teamwork,

communication and creativity were key skills

that were focused on. The activities consisted

of designing and making a milkshake, creating

year group art work and designing and making

chocolate biscuits.

The children enjoyed the activities and have

linked up the tasks into new learning across

Topic, Science and English lessons, For

example, writing detailed descriptions about

the chocolate factory and collecting data

about chocolate in Science.

In Year 5, our new topic is called Extreme Earth. Children will be learning all about the Earth's extremes, from raging tropical storms to violent erupting volcanoes and terrifying towering tsunamis.

We will explore how these extremes affect people, communities and landscapes across the world.

Over the weekend, children completed some wonderful projects for our new topic. The children were allowed to choose how they would like to present their projects.

YEAR 6 AWARD WINNERS

Congratulations to the Year 6 award winners this week:

Mohand –for vast improvement in his listening and contribution to class discussions.

Raneen - for her work in Islamic Studies.

NEWS FROM THE SECONDARY DEPARTMENT

100%

Congratulations to our Year 7 to 10 boys and girls, for achieving 100% attendance and punctuality since the start of the academic year. In recognition of their committed efforts to attend school every day and on time, the school will be providing a celebration ‘party’ to thank students for their achievements (pictures to follow). We wish to encourage all our students to attend school every day and to be punctual when attending Belvedere British School. Being absent from school, or being continually late and missing lessons, can have a huge impact on the learning and progress of any student. We will be holding a second celebration for attendance and punctuality at the end of this term. Students will be monitored from the end of the last report, to the Winter Holiday.

Boys’ Assembly Awards

Congratulations to Basil, Moeed and Marc in 7B2 who received awards in the Boys’ Assembly on Sunday, 25th October. The awards were for their understanding and reflection on assessment. All secondary boys now have the opportunity to receive awards every week for their tutor group activities towards their competency skills. Well done. Mrs Tracey Campbell

ART

The Year 7 pupils have been looking at the works of the modern artist, Patrick Caulfield. They studied his work to see a different style of painting of a still life, to understand how to create distance with size and also the balance of colours in the work from foreground, middle ground and background. Juoanna Alvin Karuna, Dalia Malik, Seham Hamadon and Safea Suhaib created these striking pieces of work.

Juoanna Dalia

Seham Safea

The Year 7 Girls studied how to mix paint to create tints and tones of colour. Fatima Muzaffar, Nora Osama and Alyse McDonald have produced these creative pieces:

WORD OF THE WEEK

This week’s Word of the Week is

FERVENT

Meaning: extreme devotion or

enthusiasm.

MUSIC

In Music this week Year 9 pupils have been learning about the history and development of the piano, as well as developing their own performing and composing skills. Ian Ching, 9B1, completed an outstanding presentation of his research for homework which is now on display in the Music Room. Good work Ian!

SCIENCE

HavHaveh

Meet Your Science Prefects

Carly: Hi! My name is Carly Miller and I’m one of the new Science

prefects! My dream for the Science Department is to develop it and to

make it bigger and better in so many ways! I hope to help put our

school on the map by getting into contact with other schools in order

to get new ideas. I guarantee that the prefects and our two amazing

science teachers can make this a reality soon enough!

Casey: Welcome parents, I am Casey Aurin a new Science

Ambassador. I welcome you to the Science Department. It is a

pleasure to be a science ambassador this year. I hope to make

science fun and enjoyable for our school.

Sarod: I am really excited to be a science prefect this year as I will

be helping to improve the Science Department in any way possible. I'll

be coming up with new ideas and projects along with the rest of my

team which will help the science community grow. I'm looking forward

to organizing science events, competitions and other fun activities

which will help other students to be more committed and engaged

during Science lessons. I think I will be great for this job because I

like to be involved in all aspects of the school, and I know the

commitment, leadership and responsibility it will take to be a science

prefect.

Mahmoud: Why do I want to be a Science Prefect? I want to earn the

respect of my teacher and show her that I care about being an active

part in her subject. It is a nice thing to spend time on that which will

help my teacher and help the students. What qualities make a good

prefect? I can stay after school to organize some projects. Science is

my favorite subject, especially chemistry. I love science and this

opportunity will push me to do the best I can in the projects. Thanks

for your time.

Stayed tuned next week to hear from 2 more Prefects!

Here are

some of your

Science

Prefects

Year 7,8 and 9 Girls Help.

On Wednesdays the Year 7- 9 Girls can

come to get help with any science work

at lunchtime assisted by our Year 10

Helpers!

Fantastic Progress for all Students

Well done to all students who

received an effort and behaviour

grade 1 in their report cards in

Science. Your efforts are clearly

seen in lesson and in your H/W.

Make sure to keep checking the

Scientist Wall of Fame in the

Science corridor, there are some

amazing pieces of work on display.

Have a fabulous week! Miss McCann and Miss Revel Science

Student Competency

This week’s Student Competence focus is:

Global and Environmental Awareness

Global and environmental awareness is about appreciating the social, cultural, economic and environmental background of other nations and knowing how to act responsibly and ethically in a local, national and global community.

Belvedere secondary students will engage in numerous tasks over the course of next week, to challenge and extend their knowledge of what it means to have Global and Environmental awareness.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This week secondary school students were asked to create a business plan as part of the student competency

focus ‘Entrepreneurship’. Pupils were asked to work out the costs of their business and how much profit they

would make over different time periods, taking into consideration outgoing and incoming costs.

The Year 7 boys certainly showed enthusiasm with the topic. Miss Gallagher’s form group, 7B1, proved to be

outstanding mini entrepreneurs when putting their business plan into practice and advertising their products.

Monsoor Hamad Mohamed Yousef Alrashdi, Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Al Quati, Khalifa Jasim Mohamed

Abdul Hamid Rashed Al Hosani and Zayed Saleh Abdulla Basulaiman were all awarded certificates of appreciation

for their efforts. Keep up the great work, well done.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR

COOKERY CLUB

This week the children designed and made their own fruit kebab! The children are learning about healthy food to eat as well as enjoying making the kebabs.

DESIGNS FOR THE BELVEDERE FLOAT

The Art Club has been very busy creating designs for the float for the parade along the Corniche.

The girls have been working hard on the construction of the float.

Information Regarding the Use of the School Library:

Rules and Procedures for Students Borrowing Books

1. FS2 – Y3 students can borrow books through their class teacher. 2. Y4 – Y10 students can borrow books directly from the School Library by presenting or

providing their eSIS number, or their name and date of birth. The book is scanned and put into the system.

3. Students are advised by the school librarian to return the book within one week

maximum period. 4. If the book is not returned within the maximum period, the school librarian will visit the

class to follow it up with the student/teacher. 5. If the student does not return the book within two weeks, the student will receive a

letter (Borrowed Book Overdue Notice). This letter will provide the details of the book borrowed and the corresponding amount in case the book is lost or damaged. This letter needs to be signed by the parent and returned to the school librarian the next day.

6. If you have any questions regarding a charge for a book that is lost or damaged, please

notify the school librarian as soon as possible, otherwise the cost for replacing the book will automatically be added to the student’s account in the termly period.

7. Please be reminded that students are only allowed to borrow 1 book per week. Another

book cannot be borrowed unless the first book is returned.

AND FINALLY…

The pupils are learning about being part of a team and the importance of working together. Teachers like to

lead by example and what better way to show how everyone can work successfully as a team than to enter the

annual Dragon Boat Race. All ages and abilities in the Belvedere staff formed the Belvedere Bulldogs and were

supported by other members of the staff who went along to cheer them on. We even had cheer leaders’ pom

poms in the Belvedere colours. Here is our team in action getting ready for their heat:

Mr Simon Tarr reports:

A big ‘well done’ to the Belvedere Bulldogs this week at the Abu Dhabi Dragon Boat Festival. The team was

made up of teachers from across the Primary and Secondary departments and everyone was a real novice. But,

by working as a team, we managed to reach a final, although, alas, we won no prizes. However, if the

enthusiasm was anything to go by, we will be back next year fitter and faster than ever!!

BBS PARENT TEAM

November Meeting for 2015-16 When: Wednesday 4th November Where: BBS Main Hall Time: 6:00pm Topics for discussion Term 1 events: National Day organizing Market Day organizing Drawings by Me - update

Everyone is welcome. Come and support the team to organize these days,

your input is needed.