NOVEMber 2010 Twenty-Seventh Edition BISI COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER
GUIDING STATEMENT OF THE BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ISTANBUL
The British International School Istanbul provides a caring international environment, fostering cultural diversity. Individual students achieve their full academic potential, inspired to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens of the global community.
YOUR COMMUNITY! YOUR NEWS!
1
Hello from Pre and Primary School
A successful Halloween Party was organized by the PTA on the Wednesday 27 October. The Green Gym was once again turned into a Spooky Haunted House! The students all looked fantastic in their costumes and much fun was had by all.
The PTA Book Swap was held on Thursday 4 November in the morning outside the theatre. The Coffee Morning for Zekeriyakoy was also held on this morning. This was an extremely successful event with so many of the children swapping their books for other ones. The event will be held again in springtime. A huge thank you to Camilla and her team for arranging this event.
2
The teachers received Inservice Training on Friday 5, Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 November. On Friday 5, teachers set up workshops for the other teachers to attend. We held workshops on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) arranged by Miss Leila, and Moder- ating Writing arranged by Miss Guven. Miss Lynne arranged workshops for the Teacher Assistants to attend. Thank you to Miss Leila, Miss Lynne and Miss Guven for organising these workshops. We have set up a Middle Leadership Team (MLT) to strengthen the Pri- mary School Curriculum. Madame Lucie will be coordinating Literacy, English as a Second Language (ESL), and Modern Foreign Lan- guages (French and Turkish) when she returns from her maternity leave next month, Miss Holt will be co-ordinating Mathematics, Miss Tutal will be coordinating Science, DT and ICT, Miss Esiyok will be coordinating History, Geography and Citizenship, Miss Lincoln will co-ordinate Creative Arts and Miss Fox will co-ordinate Personal, Social, Emotional Development (PSE) and PE. Congratulations on your new appointments!
Year 3 have been out and about in Istanbul again. They are studying the local environment and went to Zekeriyakoy to visit the old village, Migros and Carrefour. As part of their topic on Ataturk, Year 5 visited Dolmabahce Palace where he died. They also visited the Body Worlds Exhibition and the Military Museum. Year 1 visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and took them further supplies to follow on from our Autumn Festival. They interviewed the old people as part of their History project on homes. EYFS visited Emirgan Park to observe and discuss the changes Winter brings and also they went to the theatre again to see a production of Town Mouse Country Mouse.
International Week started on Monday 8 November. Our focus this year was charity. The younger children chose a charity in Turkey, the older children focused on a charity outside of Turkey. Year 3 organised a healthy snack sale to raise money to Send A Cow to Africa. The week culminated in an Assembly where each year group promoted their charities to the rest of the school. The children voted for their favourite charities that they wanted to continue to support. The funds raised from our Winter Bazaar on Thursday 16 December will support the local Uskumrukoy Primary School and the Send a Cow charities. We then recorded our own version of We are the World with the help of Miss McDonald. A huge thank you to Miss Frigeri for coordinating the week. We celebrated the end of the week with a Food Court set up by the PTA. The children visited 13 countries in the classrooms where they sampled food from that country and looked at where the country was on the globe. A huge thank you to Elena Vardar and all the parents who brought in a dish and decorated their classroom in the colours of their flag.
5F made an excellent contribution to our Assembly to mark Ataturk’s death on Wednesday 10 November. The children wrote a short paragraph about Ataturk as the man, the leader and the hero and spoke in front of the whole school. They then laid flowers at the Ataturk bust in the playground, followed by two children from Pre School. Thank you to Miss Fox and Mr Burak for coordinating this event.
Thank you again to the PTA for cooking so many wonderful dishes for the teachers to celebrate Teachers Appreciation Day on Wednesday 24 November. We have eaten our way through this month!
The school will be represented at the International Women of Istanbul (IWI) Christmas Bazaar at the Hilton Hotel on Tuesday 30 No- vember. Thank you to the Secondary Art Department and Helen for organizing the Art Display of students’ work.
Best regards Amanda Ilhan Richard I’Anson Pre and Primary Deputy Director Pre and Primary Director
3
Zek Primary – Halloween Poems / PTA’s Haunted House!
Halloween at School
On Wednesday 27th October the whole of the primary school came dressed for school wearing scary costumes, there were ghosts, devils, witches and lots more because it was the big day: it was Halloween.
School on that day was so much fun; this is what our class schedule was. After break we went to the Haunted House. We went in with the other year six class too. When we walked in it was dark and there was an ugly, cruel witch that was putting mice and lizards in a saucepan. After that, we walked on and saw a cage; standing in the cage was a person, a really scary person. There was also a vampire, with a green face, in a box. Suddenly it jumped out of the coffin. There was also a lady with a drill who chased us. The Haunted House was so scary!
We went Trick or Treating. Mr Dave gave us candy; Miss Fox made us shout as hard as we could to get the candy.
After that, we had a really cool disco. There was food and drinks. The boys were dancing weirdly. It was a great and fantastic day. By Willemien De Jong 6A
The Haunted House
So we crept in, and it was very dark. “ Boooooooo!” A witch screamed. We carried on further into the Haunted House and got to a place where there was a jail. The jail went: “Muhahaba” then a ghost came out! And then we got to the place were I thought my heart would slip into my shoes. First a light flickered on, off, on, off… a witch sud- denly appeared out of a broken old coffin. After that a witch jumped out of a gigantic grave. We ran as fast as we could out of the Haunted House, we were like toys and didn’t say a single word. By Batuhan Kulac
4
The Fright in the Night!
The time when wolves howl and growl, When ghosts haunt and taunt. When trees whisper above my bed, That kind of image stays in my head!
I lie awake for hours and hours hoping, I won’t get a fright, During the night. I hear an evil scream, Like someone stepped in icecream. A whisper whizzes through, And suddenly I knew, I was close to doom!
That was, My Fright in the Night. What was yours?
By Lauren Watson Year 6A
5
Zek EYFS Department
EYFS Autumn at Emirgan
EYFS took a trip to Emirgan park to experience autumn first hand. The children noticed so many exciting signs of au- tumn in the environment on their journey through the park. They loved finding the beautiful autumn leaves, acorns and chestnuts while we wandered along the winding paths, they all had great fun shuffling with their feet through the leaves and listening to the sound they made! They had the opportunity to investigate Emirgan as a habitat for squirrels, ducks, swans and other birds and ask questions and ideas for further researching. They were very observant and noticed local landmarks and geographical features in the park, they were able to learn some new vocabulary to describe environments. We were lucky to have a beautiful autumn day and are now looking forward to visiting again in spring.
After all the excitement of the trip to Emirgan we made a piece of Autumn artwork together as a group. The children chose a favourite leaf from our collection and took turns sticking it onto the picture. Everyone was very happy with the finished product and it is now hanging proudly on the classroom window for everyone to enjoy.
6
.
Happy Thanksgiving! Deven’s Mum, Debbie came to school to tell us the story of Thanksgiving, we learnt about the pilgrims traveling from England to America and all about Native American people who helped them when they arrived. She also showed us the traditional food that Americans eat at Harvest time and enjoy at Thanksgiving dinners together. We talked about being thankful for what we have and all the children were very thoughtful and offered ideas about how we could show others we were grateful.
Mmmmm Pumpkin pie! Then Mr Dave came to school to help us make a traditional pumpkin pie to celebrate Thanksgiving. The children watched the process carefully, smelt the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves that went into the pumpkin filling. They all enjoyed a delicious slice of pumpkin pie topped with cream. Yummy!
7
Director of Secondary
From the point of view of the Secondary Department, possibly the most important day of the last month was November 9th, the day of the Parent Teacher Conferences. This year we had a change of format for the PTC's, deciding to do the whole Conference on one day between 1 pm and 6:30 pm rather than opt for two shorter days. This seems to have been well received by almost everyone. In fact I had just one complaint about the change in timing but I had many parents telling me that this was a big improvement.
I was very pleased with the turnout for the day as we registered over 70% attendance across the school. It was good to meet so many of our parents and I hope you were all happy with what we had to tell you!
November has, of course, been a short month, there was a long week- end for our students as they were off on Friday the 5th for a Staff De- velopment Day then there was the nine days for the Bayram holiday which gave everyone a chance to rest and recharge their batteries. I hope your Bayram holiday was pleasant, I stayed in a very quiet Istanbul and enjoyed some much needed relaxation time with my wife. Walking in the Belgrade Forest was a particular pleasure – it has been many years since either of us experienced Autumn and having the chance to indulge myself in my hobby of macro-photography was lovely.
I have already mentioned that we had a Staff Development Day on the 5th, but for the Middle Leadership Team of both Pre/Primary and Secondary this was actually a full weekend of very hard, but rewarding work. We played host to two ladies from the University of London Institute of Education who delivered the first three days of a five day course entitled the Middle Leaders Development Programme for British International Schools. The last two days of the course (again over a weekend will be at the start of April. Everyone got a lot out of the course and I am sure, as we begin the process of embarking on CIS (Council of International Schools) Accreditation, they will put what they have learned to good effect in terms of school improvements.
And what about this CIS Accreditation? The Board of Governors have made it clear that they want the school to take this very important step. The preparatory work is already under way and we start the process properly in February. The process takes 18 months to two years and will involve everyone connected with the school – Members of the Board, parents, students, teachers, we all have an input. I will be writing to you with more information and asking for volunteers to sit on the Self Study Steering Committee when the time is right. In the meantime, the following website will give you more information on the subject of CIS Ac- creditation:
http://www.cois.org/page.cfm?p=14
The other major event which took place during the month was the school excursion to see a performance of Macbeth. Unfortunately this coincided with the Parent Teacher Conferences but the opportunity to give so many of our students the possibility to see a professional version of the magnificent play was too good to miss. I am sure you will be able to read more about the trip in this issue of the newsletter.
William Bradley
8
Secondary - Shakespeare's Macbeth
English and Drama Theatre Trip
On Tuesday 9th November a large cohort of the secondary school were fortunate enough to experience a Shakespeare performance for the first time, or a first in Istanbul. Thanks to ADGE (American Drama Group in Europe) most students from year 9 upwards were able to enjoy a reasonably well done production of Mac- beth. Though in places acting was sketchy and half-hearted, the overall crafting of the play was done well with many scenes made memorable for the right reasons. The physicality of the three witches was very en- gaging as was the porter scene so often omitted during class study. This scene, though in places arguably a little risqué for a student audience, was superbly done by two of the more committed cast members of the group. Their performances in particular ensured the porter would not, as he would fear, be forgotten on this occasion.
Overall, the play was well received and by those students who knew plot and theme well a shared sense of appreciation, or at least an admired recognition, emerged for a play staged with limited resources and a theatre with limited seating. It was a production worth seeing and I am thankful many had the opportunity to do so. Whether good or bad, the ADGE production of Macbeth generated many interesting discussions both in the Drama studio and in English classrooms for days following. Thank you to all staff who accompanied the students and also to those parents who were able to see the production with us and whilst there also assisted in ensuring the majority of our students behaved the best they know how to.
Parent Teacher Meetings
Tuesday 9th was a particularly busy day for staff involved in the theatre trip as on our return the afternoon and early part of evening was spent in rapid communication with students and parents to explain progress. Though an exhausting exercise for all parties I am sure, meeting many of you again or for the first time was a pleasure. The English Department does look forward to such occasions as it is rather pleasant to report face-to-face good news and share with you your child’s success… so much of this is too frequently played down by evasive or taciturn teenagers. Oddly enough it is equally rewarding to get to the heart of the matter directly with parents to report lack of progress and set specific targets with home support. We thank you for finding the time to come in that day and are appreciative, as always, with your continued support. Working together we do make a greater difference.
9
IGCSE Awards Ceremony
IGCSE Awards Assembly
On Thursday the 12th of November the school held the first IGCSE Awards Assembly. Students from Year 11, 12 and 13 who sat IGCSE examinations in May and June of this year were presented with their certificates from Cambridge International Examinations. Our top scoring student, Raghad Kurdi was presented with a glass trophy to mark her achievement. This assembly will be an annual event, taking place every November and each year the top scoring student will receive a similar trophy to Raghad’s. In addition to this, a facsimile of the trophy will be made with a plinth upon, which the names of previous winners will be inscribed on and this will be kept in our trophy cabinet for all to see.
Congratulations are due to all the students who received their IGCSE Certificates that day but special congratulations are reserved for Raghad.
10
11
Secondary - Staff vs Student Chess Tournament
Kyu Song Lee 0 - 1 Mr Tutal With excellent opening play from both players, this could have been a grandmaster game. Mr Tutal, somewhat longer in the tooth than our Year 7 prodigy and perhaps fearing a technical battle, then cynically set up a cheapo mate threat on the long diagonal, and Kyu Song, his mind evidently on higher things, succumbed.
Usman Syed 0 - 1 Mr Siddique In this game, Mr Siddique castled, Usman didn't, and Usman came under a huge central assault from Mr Siddique's heavy artillery. A convincing performance from our resident gamesmaster.
Derin Olenik 0 - 1 Mr Muller The total serenity of Mr Muller's face during this game belied the carnage on the board (redolent of Hannibal Lecter listening to Bach while dismembering his latest victim). No mean feat against last year's star performer in the IGA match.
Oliver Deyle 1 - 0 Mr Bosman The students strike back! A weekend at work clearly took its toll on the Dutch Master as he failed to notice Oliver's one-move mate threat.
Osama Syed 0 - 1 Serhat Bey It must be pretty tough for a Year 8 to look up and see Serhat's imposing frame across the board, but I knew that Osama's feistiness would be the perfect match. In the end though, the boy was his own worst enemy, playing a little too quickly and missing a number of good opportunities.
Yong Hyun Cho 0 - 1 Mr Somers The one that got away. Cho must have been a good 8 points ahead -- comfortably enough to win by adjudication -- but allowed his mind to wander as he saw Mr Somers deliver checkmate on g2.
Siyhun Park 1 - 0 Mr Robinson A good quality game in which Sihyun just edged the adjudication on points.
Can Karabiber 0 - 1 Mr Gunnell A year of hurt comes to an end as Mr Gunnell made fairly short work of our newcomer. Well played Russ, I'll stop taking the mick now I promise.
Halil Gencay 0 - 1 Mr Tarbuck A convincing win for Mr Tarbuck from start to finish. A surprising result for me, considering Halil's excellent progress over the last year.
Seok Jin Lee 1 - 0 Mr Mayer Seok Jin did exactly as I asked. He slowed down, thought about his moves, and in the end took Mr Mayer apart, quite literally piece-by-piece. An excellent performance by this talented all- rounder.
Final score Students 3 - Teachers 7
Justin Robertson
12
Secondary - Junior Girls Football Tournament Against IGA
After only two training sessions so far this year, the junior girls took part in the IGA 7-a-side tournament on October 4th 2010. The girls got off to a great start, beating IGA B team 3-1, they then drew 0-0 with IICS B team. But for some outstanding goal- keeping from the IICS goalkeeper it would have been two wins out of two as time and again she made terrific saves to keep the score level.
With 4 points from a possible 6, the girls topped their group and progressed to the final to play the other group winners; IICS A team. The game was played at a tremendous pace and chances were plentiful. In the end, the fitness and fresh legs of IICS won the day as they were able to change their team with substitutes while we were not in a position to do so, having only 7 players in our squad.
Overall, a fantastic performance from the team and some real signs of pro- gress. They played well as a team, played for each other and tried to put into practice the tactics we work on in training. Our short term goals are to raise our level of fitness and stamina.
Mr John Flood—Junior Girls Coach
Our junior girls team travelled to IGA on the 11th November to play in a friendly.
The first half was fairly even with IGA going into the break 2-1 up.
After half time our girls upped the tempo and started to meet the physical de- mands of the game. Their fitness and stamina has improved since their last visit to IGA and they are now able to compete physically with other teams.
The second half saw not only an improvement in closing down opponents and winning the ball back but some superb attacking play when in possession.
Our girls eventually won the game 3-2, but for some poor finishing it would have been 6. They totally outplayed their opponents in the second half and attacked with flair and style.
We hope to play IGA again, here at the British School, before the end of term.
13
Secondary - Forest Run
Ataturk Run
BISI had a good day at the annual Ataturk Run held in the Belgrade Forest on the 7th of November. We were represented by a number of students, teachers and parents taking part. Many people ran personal bests in the ideal condi- tions. In particular the junior boys had a great run and performed very well against some experienced club runners. Below are the results as listed from the Istanbul Masters Athletic Club website.
Yong Hyun CHO 27:16 Second 10-14 boys Oskar SHERRATT 27:45 Third 10 -15 boys Ismar KLOMP 32:09 Fifth 10-15 boys Eileen AYDINLAR 28:05 First 55-59 Women Erica PANAMA 34:00 Fourth 45-49 Women Susanna NEILL 24:58 First 35-40 Women and Second Women Over- all Gladness COLE 28:04 First 30-34 Women Clayton NEILL 23:23 Judith KUUPER 41:52 Ambreen ZAMAN 36:26
Another run will be taking place this Spring and hopefully we can encourage even more people from the BISI community to participate.
Mr. Neill
14
Secondary - Senior Boys Football Tournament Against IGA
BISI Senior Boys 3 – 3 IGA
Losing 3-1 with less than ten minutes to go our boys might have allowed their heads to drop but defeat was not in their vocabulary on this day. Two late goals gave us a deserved draw against a very well organised IGA team who had beaten us at their ground earlier in the season.
Things started badly for BISI, playing in our change strip of Real Madrid white, when we conceded a very early goal. Berke Kerimoglu equalised with a drilled strike after being fed by Si Hyun Park. Despite this galvanizing goal, we couldn’t get into our rhythm, playing rushed long balls over the IGA midfield when we know the graceful majesty of our passing game at it’s best and the sometimes devastating penetration of our movement. I was not surprised when IGA scored again to make it 2-1 but their third goal was flattering to them and initially demoralising to us. When things could have got worse, Zev Meerdink, our goalkeeper, supported our solid defense with a string of fine saves. At 3-1, staring down the barrel of a home defeat, Jordan Poku-Gyamfi, our right-sided wingback, found himself in the box with space for a shot. He drove the ball low and clinically past the IGA goalkeeper and into the back of the grateful net. Suddenly, belief. Relief fol- lowed belief. With a few minutes remaining, our captain, Sam Sherratt, rose to his duty and delivered a victory to his val- iant squad and delighted fans with a strike from distance that dipped and swerved and flew between the goalkeeper and his near post, nearly ripping the net. Beauty. Glory. 3-3.
The final whistle was greeted with satisfaction from both sets of players and coaching staff. The IGA and the BISI boys knew that an even and exciting game had ended fairly. Smiles and handshakes all round.
Ian Oxlade
Jordan (left) and Sam (right) are the second and third BISI goal scorers respectively.
15
Ataturk Remembrance Day
As British International School, we commemorated Atatürk with love and respect. The bust of Atatürk was cleaned and decorated with the flowers on the morning of the 10th of November. Pre school, Primary and Secondary students lined up in front of the bust at 9:00 and at 9:05 all the students held a minutes silence.
Amanda İlhan, the Primary Deputy Director gave a speech about the flow of the ceremony. Photographs were taken. Cem Charles Topuz from year 9 gave a speech about Atatürk. After Cem a group of Primary year 5 students made a significant presentation about Atatürk.
At the end of the ceremony, students and directors laid flowers by Ataturk’s bust. A very emotional time.
Burak Sahinoglu Turkish Deputy Principal
16
Etiler Primary - Remembrance Day Ceremony (Poppy Day)
The story of Selin Dolay’s Great Grand Mother Edna Box (Nesrin Dolay), who's grave Selin discovered accidentally whilst attening the Remembrance Day Ceremony held in Haydarpasa Cemetery on Thursday 11th November. A wonderful story!
Edna Box (Selin’s Great Grandmother) Born: 23 September 1916 Died: 8 October 1984 Birthplace: Manchester
Father’s Name: Thomas Box Mother’s Name: Patience (she was the 7th child that is why she was called Patience).
Thomas Box fought in the First World War and was situated in France. After the war he became Chief Constable in the Police Force.
Edna Box was born during the First World War in 1916. During her school years she liked playing volleyball and handball. She met her husband Necati Dolay in Manchester in 1938. At the time Necati Dolay was work- ing in Manchester as an engineer and Edna was also working in the same company. This is where they met and married in 1940.
When the war ended in 1946, they decided to move to Turkey. They left for Turkey in 1946. There were no flights, buses or trains to Turkey after the war. They had to take a ship to Egypt and waited there for 2 weeks, for another ship to Turkey. After a long journey they finally arrived in Turkey.
In Istanbul they moved to Moda where most of the British expatriates lived. Edna used to attend the church where Selin had her piano recital in 2009.
Edna had 3 boys and a girl. She had 6 grandchildren (2 of them after passing away). She later became a Turkish Citizen and took the name Nesrin Dolay.
She died in Istanbul in 1984.
17
A visit to Hydarpasa Cemetry
On Thursday 11th of November my class went on a trip to Hydarpasa cemetery on the Asian side of Istanbul.
When we first arrived we saw lots of people walking in the same direction, we walked down the road following them. On the way we found a strange fruit that was about the size of a tennis ball. After that we went to memorial for Florence Nightingale that Queen Victoria had built in her memory.
I had a look at most of the graves, some were small, some were dusty, some didn’t even write who they were for on them. As time passed I noticed that more people were gathering around a big memorial for all the soldiers who died in World War 2. Soon after we went there to join the service and read a poem.
I read the first verse which was:
Oh sleep in peace where poppies grow; The torch your failing hands let go Was caught by us, again held high, A beaconlight in Flanders sky That dims the stars to those below. You are our dead, you held the foe, And ere the poppies cease to blow, We’ll prove our faith in those who lie In Flanders Fields
By Ali John Spracklen ======
On 11.11.2010 year 6 students from Etiler campus went to the Hudarpasa Cemetery for a Remembrance Day Memorial Service. While there we read a poem to all the people who have given their precious lives to save their country. We had a long journey to get there and we all were looking really smart with our poppies pinned on.
Before we read our poems we all looked around the cemetery at the graveyards. We were particularly looking for the gravestone of Selin Dolay’s great grandmother which we eventually found. There were many big statues on the grave to show how grand the per- son was but that didn’t mean the graves with little flat stones were less important. There were soldiers from countries like Turkey, Russia, India and many more.
Eventually, the time came to read our poems. The people who read them were a bit nervous and there were also two children chosen for laying down a wreath which is a circle of flowers (poppies) all ready to represent their school. We all had to keep quiet while all the other people read their poems and made speeches. We also had to keep silent for 2 minutes to remember the soldiers. After, there was some more trumpet music and some more speeches until it was over.
Now we had the chance to meet the soldiers, look at there golden medals and ask them questions. This part was really interesting because they explained so much that we never got bored. After this we went back to school and had our lunch.
I think I would recommend anybody to go next year because it is worth the experience to see all the graves to remember the brave soldiers.
By Adya ======
When I learnt that year 6 were going to a memorial service I got very excited as I was chosen to read a part of the poem! Such a privilege! On Tuesday I was practicing my poem when my mum came in and asked me when the memorial was. Thursday I had said. I was devastated as my mum said we couldn’t go but she reassuringly said that we might be able to get there in time. On the day I was worried that I wouldn’t get there but we finished our job rather fast and rushed to the memorial. When I got there I was so relieved that it hadn’t started. We lined up and me, Shiwon, Ali and Adya read our poems. I was happy I didn’t miss that day because it was one the best days of my life.
By Rafi Gaud
18
I was very excited go to the symmetry but when I arrived there, I felt sorry the people who were in the war and died only because of the war.
Hundreds of people who died in different wars are buried in this cemetery
One of my friend’s great grandma was in the cemetery. It was amazing to find her great grandma’s grave.
When we first got there many people were talking and laughing, enjoying chatting, but then when it was time for having our silent moments, they were all so serious I even took it seriously.
It was my time to read the part of the poem. I never felt this way before in my entire life. I was nervous and my stomach was all get- ting weird and I started to see purple. I wanted to vomit but I couldn’t mess the whole cemetery just because I was nervous. So I read my poem.
However what this whole writing is all about is that to tell you how wonderful it is to go and see hose people lying in peace and us hearing from different people what life really is.
By Shi Won
19
Enjoying and Achieving in Literacy
The Every Child Matters document (2007) set out five objectives for schools and other children’s services. They included the importance of ‘enjoying and achieving’. I believe that enjoying and achieving go hand in hand because if we enjoy what we are doing, we are more likely so succeed. So what can we do to ensure that our children are enjoying and achieving? One of the ways that we have been trying to meet this objective in Class 2B and 2G in Alkent is through the use of diaries and pen pals. At the beginning of last year both classes started writing to a Year 2 class in London. When the children were told about their pen pals, they were all very excited, as you can imagine. They wanted to start writing straight away, but before writing we felt that it was important to give them some background information on England and London in our Geography lessons. This was followed by a dis- cussion about why write. We looked at different forms of writing and their purposes. Then we talked about different ways of communicating with others. The children were very good at high- lighting different ways of communication, most of them involving using technology of some kind. Following this we spent some time talking about letters. We showed the children different types of letters, formal and informal and we discussed the features of each letter and how they were pre- sented. We then talked what to write in their letters. We made a list of key words and ideas to sup- port writing. The children were then given a template to draft their letters. Majority of the chil- dren were able to write quite confidently because of the scaffolding provided and also knowing that their letters were going to be read by children of the same age. They had a clear purpose for writ- ing and therefore could write more easily. Once the first drafts were completed, they were encouraged to read each other’s letters to ensure that their partners had not left out any key questions or information. The children wrote their final drafts, which were then posted. A few weeks later the children received their replies from their London pen pals and of course, they were very excited. The children wrote their last letter to their pen pals before the summer, which I hand delivered. As this we so successful last year we are in the process of setting it up again for this year.
Another example of how we are trying to meet this objective is through diary writing. At the end of each week, the student of the week takes home a soft toy, alongside the toy’s diary. The children have to write a daily account of their weekend with the toy but it has to be from the soft toy’s per- spective.
Prior to sending the soft toys home, both classes voted on their names. 2B’s toy is called Sweetie and 2G’s is called Woolley. We then set up diaries for each class with an example of a diary account. We informed parents that they would be getting a ‘visitor’ and waited for the first entry. It was brilliant, the children really enjoyed taking the toys home. Some children have even started making accessories for the soft toys including hats, coats, beads and mobile phones. It is something that all the children can enjoy, they can write as little or as much as they want. Those who find writing chal- lenging have used pictures. Every child will have an opportunity to write in the diary at least three times so it would be interesting to see how their independent writing progresses over the year. Al- ready, their sentences are becoming much more complex and interesting.
20
These are just two examples of how we are trying to ensure that our children are happy, independ- ent learners!!
Happy Writing!!!
Margaret Boateng
21
PTA Book Swap
A note from the PTA:
Dear children, parents, staff and teachers,
Thank you all for supporting our Book Swap Day! We had a very successful day with about 800 books finding new homes, about 150 books being donated to the Primary, Secondary and ESL library and 90TL raised.
800 new books – That’s roughly 5000 pounds!!!
It was magical watching all the children carefully choosing books for themselves, siblings and mum and dad. We will arrange another Book Swap day in the spring, but will let you know when and where at a later date.
Once again, thank you for supporting us!
PTA - Campus Committee
22
Music - Information from the PTA
Hi to all our Musicians!
We just wanted to let you know about an exciting opportunity that our young musicians might be interested in!
The London college of Music (Thames Valley University) in London, UK, offer Graded Music Exams for children of all ages according to their music level in a practical instrument and also in music theory. Please explore the webpage of the LCM concerning these exams: http://www.tvu.ac.uk/lcmexams/ Welcome.jsp
Until now, it has been quite difficult to enter these exams in Turkey as they were available in only two private music schools out in town. Our exciting news is that Ebru (our Ballet teacher in the primary club section) who has a Dance and Music school down in Tarabya, has managed to get her music school accredited for the Grade exams with the LCM! Now Ebru has very kindly agreed that if any of our students is privately having lessons and fol- lowing the grades’ syllabus they are welcome to take their exams at her centre or naturally they are very welcome to join her school for lessons towards these exams. Ebru can offer practical exams in both Piano and Violin and theory exams for all grades. Ebru’s webpage is: www.ebrubalet.com
These exams are quite exciting for our older students and not only for those wishing to go on to study the arts. Once a student gets to Grade 5 (the equivalent of our Music IGCSE anyway) the grades start to count towards the UCAS entry to university in the UK and also counts for other countries' university entrance requirements. The extra points are awarded in UCAS on top of their IB grade and count not only for music study but for any subject area. Outside of the UK, universities will also have a great deal of respect for Grades at- tained. The LCM has this to say about it:
“For Higher Education music courses, practical music grades have always been an impor- tant factor in the application process. With the introduction of these qualifications to the UCAS tariff, the values of music education are recognised across all subject areas. Admis- sions staff often look favourably on students with practical music exam qualifications, as they indicate motivation, self-discipline and organisational skills.”
For the littler ones the LCM offers Step 1 and Step 2 which are pre-grades and gets the lit- tle ones into the swing of it. As a ballpark some of our year three pupils are working to- wards Step 1 this year.
23
How it works:
The first practical exams: The student has to purchase the official exam booklet direct from the LCM. The student practices his grade until March. An examiner from the LCM visits Ebru’s school for the examination. The student comes to the exam with his booklet and takes the exam (in English). The LCM gives Ebru their certificates.
We are hoping to run the Theory exams in the summer session – Probably 19th June this year, to the best of our knowledge one week after the IGCSE's finish.
A student can do practical grades up to and including Grade 5 without taking the Theory exams.
To take practical grades higher than 5, Grade 5 Theory has to be completed. Grade 5 the- ory is the equivalent of the Music IGCSE. (In practice BISI follows the ABRSM and LCM grades system in our music classes so that grade 1 is year 7 upto grade 7 being year 13). So any student taking a Music IGCSE may be very interested in taking the Grade 5 Theory exam.
Anyone who gets to Grade 8 is given a diploma from Thames Valley University that is the equivalent of the Konservatuar in Turkey. (Very exciting to Turkish nationals involved in the arts.)
We hope this information has been helpful. For further information please feel free to con- tact the PTA or to directly contact Ebru at her school via her webpage or telephone. All the best from the PTA!
The above information has been compiled as a helpful aid for our parents, we cannot be held responsible for any inaccu- racies or changes outside of our control.
Karen Akinci
PTA
24
Secondary Exam Dates
Please make a note of the following exam dates:
• Year 7,8,9,10 and 12 Exams: 13 - 16 December inclusive • Year 11 and 13 Mock Exams: 17 - 28 January inclusive
Please find below some useful websites to aid students with revi- sion:
Keystage 3 -Years 7-9 www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/ www.u2learn.com/
Keystage 4 – Years 10&11 www.bbc.co.uk/gcsebitesize/ www.revisiontime.com/ www.revisioncentre.co.uk/index.html www.u2learn.com/
Keystage 5 – Years 12&13 www.revisiontime.com/ www.revisioncentre.co.uk/index.html www.u2learn.com/
*************
OUR NEW WEBSITE IS NOW LAUNCHED www.bis.k12.tr PLEASE BROWSE THROUGH AND LET ME HAVE YOUR OPINIONS...
Helen Kiran [email protected]
25
To help you get in the spirit!
CHRISTMAS COOKING
One of the main pleasures of this season is the delicious food that starts being appearing. My two favourites are Gingerbread and Mince Pies. Gingerbread is easy to make and find. Mincemeat is easy to find in jars in UK, but rather hard to come by here in Istan- bul. If you really enjoy it and can not find an alternative, here is a home created recipe that is easier than the real one, at least in terms of time: you only need to leave the mix to rest for about four days.
Xmas Mincemeat.
Ingredients: 4 Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and finely grated, 2 large handfuls of dark raisins and sultanas mixed together, the grated rind and squeezed juice of one lemon and one orange, 100g of butter cut into peanut sized pieces, 2-3 tablespoons of mixed spice or cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, coriander, allspice and clove powders mixed together, half a tea glass of brandy or local cognac and 1 tea glass of cherry or other fruity liqueur. Sweet sherry is also good.
Mix them all up in a glass oven dish or bowl. Cover and leave to soften and blend for about 4 days. Then it is ready for making into one big or many small pies.
Gingerbread (adapted from Delia Smith’s Book of Cakes)
Ingredients: 75g brown (or white) sugar 2 tablespoons golden syrup or honey 1 tablespoon black treacle or mulberry molasses (pekmez in Turkish) 1 tablespoon water 95g butter or margarine 1 teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon ginger ½ teaspoon ground cloves grated rind of one orange ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 225g plain flour
Put the sugar, treacle, water, rind and spices in a large saucepan. Bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time. Take pan from heat and stir in the butter cut into small pieces and the bicarbonate of soda. Next stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth, man- ageable dough. Leave it covered with a cloth for about 30 minutes. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Roll out the dough to about 3mm thickness and use cutters to shape. Put the biscuits onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for about 10-15 minutes. Leave the biscuits to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
For lots of interesting information about seasonal produce and delicious recipes you should try this blog: http://seasonalcookinturkey.blogspot.com/
Carolyn Guven
26
DIRECTORS OF SCHOOLS
Amanda Ilhan Pre School & Primary School Deputy Director +90 212 202 7027 [email protected]
Richard I’Anson Pre School & Primary School Director +90 212 257 5136 [email protected]
William Bradley Director of Secondary and Principal of +090 212 202 7027 Zekeriyakoy Campus [email protected]
Tuba Guven Director of Admissions +90 212 286 7375 [email protected]
Helen Kiran Head of PR/Communications +90 212 202 7027 [email protected]
Find us on www.bis.k12.tr 27