Issue 28

THE BULLETINBPS NEWSLETTER

The Bulletin BPS Newsletter

27 April 2018

‘TREAD SOFTLY, BREATHE PEACEFULLY, LAUGH YSTERICALLY.’ – NELSON MANDELA

International Day 2018 On Wednesday we celebrated International Day at TES, with all three sections coming together to celebrate the diversity and richness of culture at our school. In the morning it was certainly enjoyable greeting families in the glass tube as children and parents came to school dressed in traditional clothing, or the colours of their home country's flag. There were some very inventive costumes, even a red postbox from England! The large flags that have been standing in the entrance area have provided a lot of colour and have been a great photo opportunity. It is always amazing to see the numbers of countries represented among our community, covering countries from all continents (except Antarctica of course!). Altogether, 49 countries are represented by children or staff at our school. After registration, the whole school from Nursery to Year 6, and across French, German and British classrooms, children and staff went onto the junior playground for a photo opportunity. The flags of the 49 countries created a colourful edging to the group shot and with all children holding mini flags it really was a spectacle. The Head of the German Section spoke on behalf of the Heads to formally introduce the day and to explain to the children the importance of the opportunity to celebrate and share our culture and language, and to share in the diversity

by Mr Duncan Millward

that provides the richness and uniqueness to our school. This occasion was superbly captured by the new BPS drone, which we have purchased thanks to PTA money. Mr Mondal had been practicing all week, and had it flying around the area creating some incredible video footage and still photographs. Hopefully parents have managed to see this on our new Facebook page. A real highlight of the day though was the Food Fair that had been organised by parents. The atrium area was jam-packed full or tables beautifully decorated and displaying some wonderful foods from all corners of the globe. Parents supervised the tables, dressed in traditional costume and colours to represent the country, and shared the plethora of foods to every class in the school. The smiles and wonder on the children's faces was great to see as they tried and tasted as many foods and snacks as they could. It was great also to see lots of children bringing reusable plates and forks to follow in the school's mission to become an Enviro-school. A big thank you must go to the many parents who helped to make this food festival a success, with the time during the day and the many hours to prepare the food. It really was a super event. For the rest of the day many classes continued to celebrate the day through activities in their classrooms, and ensuring that at the children

really understood the reasons why we were celebrating our international community. It is important for our students to be global citizens, and in the British Primary Section Se at Taipei European School, what opportunities they have to appreciate, value and respect all cultures and language.

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Plastic Oceans by Mrs Alysha Adams In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, film makers found more plastic than plankton! A team of scientists were brought in to analyse these findings and the documentary - A Plastic Ocean was created. The film has become available to worldwide audiences and is one of the leading global educational resources for ocean protection. BPS have bought the licensing rights to hold screenings of this documentary for f Year 4 to 6 children. Our learner profile characteristic of Global Citizenship includes aspects of environmental awareness, our responsibility for our actions in the world, and to those who share it with us. It highlights the necessity to care for the environment, nvironment, act with integrity, and try and educate others about global causes that we feel are important. Follow up activities and discussions about the contents of the documentary will occur in class and coincide with World Ocean Day activities across BPS PS on Friday 8th June. Reducing plastic waste has been an ongoing focus across Learner Profile events this year and the screening of A Plastic Ocean will be a memorable event for those children involved.

TISSA Swimming Competition by Mr Kwok Chow It was a privilege to take 45 swimmers from Y3-9 9 to the first mixed primary and secondary TISSA swim meet at Kaohsiung American School. TES swam in over 130 races. Reached 23 out of 23 finals, placed top 3 in every final and won gold in 17 finals. Thank you to Katherine

Kyle, Julia Chow, Alice Juan, Wanda Frost and AJ Lee for coaching and making it a great success. Lastly a big thank you to the parents that came down to support and cheer on the TES Titans swim team.

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Foundation Stage age Parent Workshop by Mrs Jennie Bonnalie On Monday the teachers in Foundation Stage tage held a minimini workshop for parents. The afternoon was dvided into three sessions, each focusing on a different area in Foundation Stage. The three focus areas were: Language and Reading, Fine and Gross Motor Skills and Maths, and the Mastery astery Approach in the Early Years. They were both informative and interactive and provided an opportunity for parents to ask questions specific to this stage of development. We would like to thank the parents who were able to attend.

“If you go down in the woods today…”by Mrs Jennie Bonnalie Tuesday, Nursery went on a Teddy Bears Picnic. All of the Nursery children bought their special teddy bears to school, along with a picnic snack. In the morning the children walked over to the far playground. Everyone enjoyed their picnic snacks nacks in a new environment. They all then had a wonderful time playing on a different playground, which was full of new challenges. Thank you to all of the parents for supporting their child with this activity, and a special thank you to Logan for lending us his enormous teddy bear!

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THE BULLETINBPS NEWSLETTER

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(Tue) 1 May

- Labour Day (no school)

(Thu) 3 May

- Early Year Sports Day

(Wed) 9 May

- Year 6 Trip to Tamsui Forts and Maritime Museum

(Fri) 11 May

- Tri-Section Section Music Concert

For more details of the school online calendar, calendar please click the link below: https://taipeieuropeanschool.com/index.php?id=36&L=2%27A%2525252525253D0 s://taipeieuropeanschool.com/index.php?id=36&L=2%27A%2525252525253D0

The following links for the printable calendars: Academic Calendar 2017-2018: http://gg.gg/AcademicCalendar2017-18 http://gg.gg/AcademicCalendar2017 TES Event Calendar 2017-2018: http://gg.gg/TESEventCalendar2017-18 http://gg.gg/TESEventCalendar2017

TES 2017-2018 2018 Yearbook Order It is the time of the year to order your TES yearbook again! To order a copy of the 20172017 2018 school year, please logg onto your Activity Ordering System (AOS) before Friday 11th May 2018. There will be a charge of NT$400 for each book to cover the production costs. We will not print extra copies, so please make sure you reserve your child’s copy as no order will be accepted pted after this date. For questions, please contact the TES yearbook committee at [email protected]

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