Dear Parents

Dear Parents, My first message to Britannica teachers this morning was to wish them all the best for their very busy Friday: World Ocean’s Day Year 4 Trip to Sproutworks Nursery Trip to the Zoo 1C Assembly Entrepreneurial Activities in Secondary Reception Parent invite Day to Year 1 This was, of course, on top of the very many exciting, but more normal, classroom activities that were also planned to take place. The rest of our school calendar for the remaining three weeks of term looks similarly busy. There are a number of events coming up that Parents are also involved in. All parents will have by now received invitations to attend the End of Year Performance on 20th June, where we will listen to some presentations from year groups plus hear some music items from both our 1:1 instrumentalists and some of our musical groups. Parents from Friends of Britannica are also very kindly currently organising a Teacher Appreciation Lunch, which all staff are very much looking forward too. In Pre-Nursery, the grass skirts and Hawaiian T-shirts have been ordered ready for their Paradise island Party that is happening next week and to which parents have been invited to join. And in Secondary, preparations are being made for the Summer Ball on 26th June, to which parents are also being invited to act as Chaperones! When 28th June arrives, I think we will all be ready for some rest! Enjoy this week’s newsletter articles and pictures.

This week, Pre-Nursery has been full of fun and action as children enjoyed our focus on boats, ships and pirates. Children made treasure, buried treasure and searched for treasure hidden by their friends. Pre-Literacy skills were developed as children made their own treasure maps, quickly learning that “X” is used to indicate where treasure is buried. The children also enjoyed following arrows, building their understanding of these symbols being used to indicate direction. The Pre-Nursery children were excited to play with a variety of toy boats and constructing their own pirate ships. We undertook some simple science experiments, placing objects in water and testing if these would float or sink. This week’s song, Row Row Row Your Boat involved children singing and moving in pairs while holding hands. It was great to see how well they were able to coordinate their actions with their peers. Next week we begin our final topic for the year, Islands and Jungles. We are looking forward to welcoming parents to join us for our final Pre-Nursery celebration, the Island Paradise Party on June 15th.

The Pre-Nursery Team

Lions, tigers, birds and giraffes are just some of the animals that we saw at the zoo today! The Nursery children and parents enjoyed a wonderful morning at Hongqiao zoo where we found our favourite animals and enjoyed a picnic lunch together. This week we read the story Dear Zoo to prepare for our trip and we even made our own lift the flap pictures of our much-loved animals! It is so lovely to teach a topic that the children are so passionate about and it has been a joy to share the children’s joy and excitement in the lead up to the trip- we have been counting how many sleeps until the trip for the last two weeks in class! Thank you to all you for your continued support and enabling us to have a safe and enjoyable trip today. We hope you enjoy the photographs from this week.

The Nursery Team

This week, the water excitement has continued in Reception as we delved deep into the Ocean to explore all of its wild wonderful creatures. Through the book Commotion in the Ocean the children have learnt about the different sea creatures, comparing their characteristics using descriptive words. In Mathematics, the sea creatures helped us with our data handling as we deepened our knowledge of Venn diagrams, tally charts, bar graphs and much more. The excitement in the Ocean came to its pinnacle as excited Reception children explored the wonderful world of the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium. There was lots of ‘wooooos’ and ‘arrrrrs’ as the children marvelled at the many striking sea creatures they could find, ticking them all off on their checklists. There was the Giant Japanese Spider Crab, the beau- tiful floating Seahorse and the enormous ugly Electric Eel to name a few. Calmness came as we chilled out with the Jellyfish, watching them float around in happiness as the children drew their favourite one. However, excitement built again as we had a picnic with the Penguins and lunch with the Manta Rays. So much underwater fun has been had for one week! I wonder if Water Science week will bring as much excitement next week?

This week, Year 1 visited Changfeng Park and Changfeng Ocean World, also known as Sea Life Shanghai which is the main attraction within Changfeng Park. Here is what some of the Year 1 students had to say about their field trip:

‘We visited Chang Feng Park for our field trip and it was a lot of fun!’ – Ryan

‘I learned that different fish live in different kinds of habitats. We also had a chance to sketch some things we learned about Hundertwasser from Ms. Leong during our art lessons’ – Miller

‘I enjoyed watching the beluga whale show at the Ocean Park’ – Lucy

‘I had fun on the field trip and learned about history. I visited an old ship with canons, a dragon in the water. I also saw a man on the ship. I think it was some kind of warrior with a spear.’ – Jacob

‘This field trip I learned all about fish and sharks. I walked through a tunnel with very many sharks and stingrays! The seahorses had big tummies!’- Anne

‘There were many kinds of seahorses, some were very long and flat, some were, short and curly and some were just strange looking’ – Daniel

What a great week Year 2 students have had. It was with much excitement that we headed off to the National History Museum. At times the children didn’t know where to start looking as there was so much to see! The children saw a lot of skeletons and were able to compare the skeletons of different creatures. Many of us managed to remember some of the bones we learnt about a couple of weeks ago and managed to spot them in the gigantic dinosaurs! They also tried hard to name all the joints they saw too. The children really enjoyed comparing their handprints to different pri- mates and looking at how humans have evolved. Upon returning to school the children recalled a lot of information about the trip and were adamant they would like to visit again.

A jam-packed week for Year 3! Starting the week with a trip to the BIO Farm, we had great fun learning all about the plants and vegetables. Using our sens- es, we got to taste, touch and smell a variety of plants from a spicy ‘Yellow But- ton’ to a salty ‘Ice Cube plant’ to the sweet pink Begonias! We were lucky enough to pick our own box of tomatoes as well as three giant cucumbers! Fi- nally we planted a freshly picked mint stem, churned the soil with shovels, and gave a healthy squeeze of water from the special water bottles. I think we all agree the best part of the trip was feeding the greedy goats and cute rabbits! What a lot of celery they got through! In Topic this week we looked at the mummification process by mummifying our very own apple! We will be looking at the results of this in a couple of weeks – will they have been preserved? Fi- nally, in Science we recapped our knowledge on plants and discussed how photosynthesis uses the suns energy to make its own food!

This week has been crazy busy in Year 4, with lots of hard work in English, Maths, Topic and Science. One of the highlights for our week was visiting Sproutworks, a trip that was planned to coincide with our exciting science topic of Healthy Eating and Teeth. All together we boarded the school bus and were quickly zipped off to Xintiandi. When we arrived we were greeted by eager, happy ‘Sproutworks’ staff who welcomed us with enthusiasm and excitement. As we were only there for the morning we had a lot of activities to pack in, including cooking, discussing teeth and healthy eating, and activities surrounding a balanced diet. Children were happy to be involved with making a deli- cious healthy snack which we then brought back to school. Thank you Sproutworks for making us feel so welcome and looking after us!

8 Whilst some of Year 5 are in Mallorca on the sailing trip, the rest of Year 5 have been busily creating maths board games for their friends and class- mates. They have shown impressive creativity and thought of original ideas to test each other’s mathematical knowledge. It has been a wonderful and inspiring opportunity for the children to showcase what they have learnt over the year, consider whether their instructions are clear, and make their games eye-catching. We are all looking forward to playing and reviewing each other’s games. In their science topic of Earth and Space, the class have been busy researching facts about one of the planets in our solar system, and will be presenting these next week to teach other children about the eight planets. In doing this they hope to answer some of their own questions such as: ‘Which is the coldest planet?’, ‘Which planet has the most moons?’, ‘How do the planets move?’ and the most frequently asked question … ‘Could there be life in outside Earth?’

Year 6A are now involved in a project in which they have to create their own healthy drinks company and market their product. In order to do this, students have to manage their time and collaborate over an extended period. Students will have the opportunity to actually produce their product and promote it on stalls for other people to sample. This brings together much of the content covered in English over the course of the year, such as persuasive writing, letters, advertisements, newspapers and non-chronological texts. It also involves much done in the recent Healthy Eating science topic, as well as data collection and statistical analysis in Maths.

9 During our PSHE lesson this week year 7 students have been preparing for the “bee friendly” day on Tuesday. Students decided on their eco messages and wrote these on coloured ribbons which will be hung from the trees in our new eco-garden. Also in this garden students from across the school will be planting seeds. Year 7 are looking forward to it, especially after we had a dis- cussion about why bees are so important to us and need to be protected. Bee power!

Hi, my name is Kia Heng and I came to Britannica at the beginning of Year 7. I have a brother who has been at the school longer than me. Overall there are lots of things I like about being at Britannica, for example being able to choose between staying in the library or going outside at break-times, which is a good thing because then we can do our homework, or catch up on our studies in there. The students in school are nice and I have learnt lots from them. I am also part of the Student Council and recently I took part in the Movie Night that we had in school. This gave me a good chance to make different friendships with students from different parts of the school. It was a fun evening watching the Disney film Coco.

Year 9 students have been busy preparing for their upcoming end of year Geography test. As well as trialling new revision techniques such as flip cards and mind maps, students have been quizzed using Kahoot! to check what they already know and what they need further revision on. They have worked hard this year to make sure they understand command words in the question and I am sure all of their hard work will be rewarded!

As my first year at Britannica comes to a close I’ve come to reflect on the many successes of the year. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I started as I had never taught outside of Scotland before. I’ve loved the community feel of the school and the close relationships that this allows you to form with staff and students. I’ve been amazed at the creativity of the students I’ve taught and it’s been so interesting to learn about all their different cultures. I’ve been on quite a few school trips and one of the highlights was the Yaolin residential trip. It was great to see the kids in a more informal setting and I was so impressed with how they wanted to try new things. We all had a lot of fun! I have been involved in the school’s sports teams and we have had a few matches with the teachers and students playing together. Again, that was a lot of fun and was a great way to get to know the students better. Overall, I have really enjoyed my first year at Britannica and this is largely down to the people I have met at the school; students and staff alike. 10 In PHSE over the last few weeks, Year 9 have been learning the art of money management. But rather than focussing on money in the house- hold, they have been working on a project about going on a solo holiday to South or Central America. The class were given a budget of 25,000RMB and told to plan the perfect holiday! They have been asked to create a booklet showing where they will stay each night, including online reviews showing why they had picked each accommodation. The challenge is to visit at least 3 different places and stay for at least 17 days. In the 25,000RMB budget they had to consider: -Flights to and from Shanghai and to the locations of their choice.

-Travel costs between locations (internal flights/buses/trains/taxis etc). -Accommodation. -Food and drink. -Cost of visiting tourist sites. -Travel/medical insurance. There will be 2 prizes at the end of the project. One for the best holiday possible (but they must demonstrate why in their booklet) and one for the cheapest holiday possible.

Years 1 and 2 have become composers and performers over the past two months. Each Year 1 class used a story about pirates as a basis for their composition. Storyboards provided the stimulus for their choice of instruments and the types of sounds appropriate to each picture. The pupils discussed what was happening in each picture and decided which instruments would be most effective. They were then divided into small groups and given one of the pictures to explore different possible ways of bringing them to life with their chosen instruments. Over several classes, they had the opportunity to explore each picture a few times and this culminated in the construction of a piece which the classes performed at assemblies. The Year 2 classes have been exploring instrument timbres and ways of representing sounds visually. First, they listened to a sound story and followed along with a comic strip depicting the story. Next, they explored different instrument effects that could represent the story and drew pictures of those effects. They were then divided into small groups to create pieces together, guided by me. Once they had chosen their instruments and established the elements of their pieces, they worked together to create graphic scores. Sever- al lessons were devoted to refining their ideas and completing the scores, all leading up to performances at assemblies. Leah Churchill, Music Teacher

All parents will have received an email this week, informing that we are currently deciding on class groups for next academic year.

For those parents who have not yet re-registered, we ask that you confirm your child’s place in the school with us as quickly as possible so that we can allocate them to a class. 11 Today Britannica took part in World Oceans Day. It was very exciting, the children came into school wearing some- thing a little extra ‘blue’ and donated 5RMB which will be sent to The Ocean Project in order to help keep our ocean clean and safe for the animals that inhabit it! The main focus of the day was to raise awareness of the problems faced by plastic rubbish in our oceans. The children used their water bottles at lunchtime so that they could take part in a ‘Zero Plastic Lunch.’ This has marked the launch of our plastic bottle recycling scheme, which will begin on Monday!

Following from last week’s news article Year 10 are still busy with their preparations for Entrepreneurial Day. Students have been preparing a presentation to share their ideas to the board of trustees in order to receive the go-ahead to take part in the day. This afternoon each group took part in a 15-minute presentation and product demonstration. Ms Hatton, Ms Mayes, Mr Rosenberg and Mr King all had very high expectations as the board and asked students some tough questions. They were all very pleased with the outcome and students should feel very proud of all they have achieved. The ideas were diverse and very interesting. The next steps for students are to prepare for the day’s event. Students will now be very busy marketing their product to students and making their final preparations. Let’s hope they can raise lots of money for the house charities.

Today, current Reception parents attended an Open Morning to see the learning that takes place in Year 1. During the morning, parents had the opportunity to find out about some of the different opportunities that their children will have once they are in Primary Parents attended a Key Stage 1 assembly, saw the current Year 1 children in their Mandarin lessons and visited the Year 1 classrooms to see the children learning with their class teachers. There was also a presentation about the transition and how to help children prepare for their next step of their learning.

This week, a very lucky group of students from Britannica have visited our sister Orbital Education school, Baleares International College, in Spain and learnt to sail. Students have spent time in Palma Mallorca taking part in sailing theory classes before making their way on to the open water. They have learned how to tack and gybe (turning into the wind and turning away from the wind) and also learned to hike - hanging from the side of the boat to balance out the weight. Throughout the week they have become increasingly confident and capable sailors and are now at home on the ocean. When not finding their sea legs on the ocean, pupils have eaten amazing food, practised their flips and ninja skills at a trampoline park, visited the amazing Palma Cathedral, raced down waterslides at the West- ern Water Park, visited the majestic Caves of Drach, explored beaches, paddled in kayaks, visited the village of Val- demossa, read ancient books in a monastery, and made new friends - sharing their mandarin skills and taken part in lessons. It has been an incredible trip and we look forward to sharing with you tales of our adventures in Spain and on the high seas. We also send a huge thank you to everyone at Baleares International college for making us so welcome. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

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2017 – 2018 SUMMER TERM BRITANNICA SCHOOL CALENDAR

JUNE 2018 Monday, 11th June-3C Assembly Tuesday, 12th June –Bee Friendly Day Friday, 15th June -1D Assembly Friday, 15th June - House Football “World Cup” Friday, 15th June - Year 5 Trip to Science and Technology Museum Friday, 15th June -Pre-Nursery Island Paradise Party Monday, 18th June- School Closed for Dragon Boat Festival Wednesday, 20th June - End of Term Performance 1:00pm start Wednesday, 20th June - Teacher Appreciation Lunch (organised by Friends of Britannica) Friday, 22nd June - Entrepreneurial Day Tuesday, 26th June —Year 6 and Secondary Summer Ball (5:30pm start) Thursday, 28th June - END OF TERM - 12:00noon

Parent Event All School EYFS Primary Secondary School Holiday Other

ALL DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

BRITANNICA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, SHANGHAI An Orbital Education School

1988 GUBEI ROAD, SHANGHAI 201103 CHINA Tel: 021 6402 7889 Email: [email protected] Web: www.britannicashanghai.com 19