NOVEMBER 2014 Sixty Third 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!
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Message from the Pre/Primary School
One of the highlights of our year is our International Week. Every day of our school year we celebrate the cultural diversity of our students. However, International Week ensures that we underline the importance of our students as global citizens, as our Guiding Statements dictate. This year, we concentrated on Languages as the theme for the week, lead by the Languages Team. Many activities took place across the school. Several children were chosen to teach the class in their home language throughout the week. There were languages quizzes to complete throughout the week too. Our week culminated in International Day. At Zekeriyaköy Campus, the children appreciated the Flag Parade and they had photographs taken in their country groups. Miss Hatice and Mademoiselle LaPointe then lead stimulating assemblies at both campuses focusing on Turkish and French- the languages that we teach. In their coun- try groups, they designed a poster focusing on the word ‘love’ and portrayed what their country means to them.
The children savoured our delicious Food Courts! The parents did an outstanding job of cooking for the Pre, Primary and Lower Secondary students! At Zekeriyaköy Campus, they decorated each room with artefacts from their country for the children to discuss. The children had a quiz question to answer in each classroom and a passport that needed a stamp from every country! The children also showcased their talent on stage. Several children sang songs from their home country. At the City Campus, they set up two food halls, with flags for every nationality in our school. Thank you to the PTA for arranging a stunning Food Courts and to our highly experienced Languages Team for organising the focus of our International Week this year.
With further reference to our Guiding Statements, we strive to ‘work with the home to provide a learning environment that is stable and caring’. We encourage open, honest communication with our parents. To this end, we held Open Days on all campuses this month where parents could visit any class they choose to understand more clearly how their children are being taught.
We were delighted to thank our experienced, committed teachers at our school again this month. Last month, we not- ed World Teachers Day and this month we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Day in Turkey. At Zekeriyaköy Campus, our ancillary staff organised a delicious spread of sweet and savoury food our teachers to enjoy. Many thanks to the ancillary staff for arranging this event. At the City Campus, our parents set up three rooms in our various buildings around Etiler, and laid on a beautiful spread of food and drinks. They also presented the teachers and teaching assis- tants with a gift as a show of appreciation. Many thanks to the parents for arranging this event.
November saw our season of giving continue. We voted on the nominated charities put forward from our community. The results were; the Blind School in Kilyos chosen for our local charity, TKMCV Protection for Children for our national charity and Teenage Cancer Trust for our international charity. Money raised from the Winter Bazaars and summer Fun Day will go to these charities this year. The children enjoyed our Winter Wacky Wednesdays that started this month. Thank you for sending your child to school with a prize/jam jar full of goodies for our Winter Bazaars on Thursday 11 December, 13:30- 15:00.
At Zekeriyaköy Campus, the PTA and CAS students arranged an exciting Movie Night at the end of the month. They relished watching the film ‘Home Alone’ after eating a snack and having a drink. Proceeds from the Movie Night will go towards our charities.
The children have been out and about in Istanbul this month to enrich their learning in the classroom. The Year One classes visited the Toy Museum, Year Two went to the Fire Station, Year Four visited Santral Istanbul to further their studies on energy, and Year Five attended the Military Museum and the Sabanci Museum to experience the Miro Exhi- bition.
Enjoy this month’s newsletter!
Amanda Ilhan Richard I’Anson Pre and Primary Deputy Director Pre and Primary Director
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Alkent Primary—Halloween
Halloween at Alkent
We all had a wicked time at our Halloween events.
Lots of scary monsters, super heroes, fairies, witches and spooky creatures came to school! We all enjoyed our special assembly sing a long. This was followed by a choice of exciting activities including Halloween games, food and art.
A fun time was had by all! Alison Guzel
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Alkent EYFS & Primary— International/Languages Week
On Tuesday we dressed in our beautiful costumes. Do you know we have 30 countries and 22 languages represented in Alkent?
On Thursday afternoon we had a wonderful celebration of delicious foods, kindly prepared by our parents.
On Friday we had an assembly to show everyone all of the fantastic work we had been doing throughout the week.
Everyday in our classes we learnt about a special country and did special activities based on that country. Ms Gaby’s class found out about China, whilst Ms Helen’s class learnt about Ireland. In Year 1, Ms Hill’s class studied India and Ms Pea- cock taught her children all about Zambia. Myanmar was class 2B’s chosen country and 2G learnt all about New Zealand and Maori traditions.
We also had lots of mums and dads come in to read stories in their mother tongue.
A BIG thank you to everyone for making this such a successful and enjoyable week!
Alison Gűzel
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Etiler EYFS—Halloween
Halloween Surprises Preschool
The Preschool children joined in with the Year 3’s at the Primary school for Trick or Treat and were surprised by the lovely Halloween song.
Then it was the Year 3’s turn to vist Preschool and they got a very special treat watching the Preschool Halloween Parade.
This was a lovely morning for all. A big thank you to the volunteers that organised the goodie bags for all the children, they really enjoyed their treats.
Tamarisk Wright Early Years Co-Ordinator
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Etiler Primary—Halloween
On Halloween we all dressed up and had lots of activities all over school. The Hall backdrop was perfect for class photos and Assembly, which was spooky and musical with songs from each year group giving us chills!
Thank you Etiler parent volunteers.
Carolyn Guven
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Etiler Primary—Autumn Festival
Autumn Festival was full of good will as we brought something for the Little Sisters. Ms Dereboy started off by reminding us why. Then Mr Peter took over to host the Cook Off! Mr Pembridge and Mr Appleby battled it out with seasonal produce. It was a draw!
Carolyn Guven
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Etiler Primary—Languages Week
Internatıonal and Languages Week in Etiler Primary
Another busy week flew past in Etiler primary campus. This time we were celebrating Languages and International Week.
In our campus alone the students come from five Continents and speak over 20 different languages. So this week children were asked if they would like to give a short lesson teaching their home language to their classmates. Each class had several volunteers who prepared some entertaining lessons after which the kids and teachers had great fun showing off their new skills!
Throughout the week everyone was also encouraged to write in their own language on our graffiti wall. This turned out to be amazingly popular…. Children just love writing!
One of the highlights of International Week was, without doubt, the interna- tional food court where we all got the chance to sample typical dishes from a range of countries, generously prepared and organised by the parents.
Following the food court the students were invited to perform a song of their liking from their country in front of the rest of us. It was fantastic to see some of the shyest ESL kids up there with the microphone giving us the full karaoke experience. This year we heard a number of Arabic songs!
Of course no international week is complete without the chance to dress in tra- ditional costume or be creative with national colours and this was done in style as always in Etiler.
Jackie Goudy Korea
Yehya singing in Arabic Saadet singing in Turkish
Didi teaching arabic
Year 4P in costume
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Etiler Primary—Year 3
In October we had a visit from Enka Schools Grade 2. They had been learning about Homes, Responsibility and what it meant to them. The children got together in the Hall and in groups Year 3 were asked questions about their homes. After that, the Enka children showed us their word wheels about what they did at home. They also sang a song about relatives. We will continue this link through email and we hope to also visit their school soon.
3P and 3G in Etiler.
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Etiler Primary—Year 6 Trip
To Compare and Contrast Kilyos and Rumeli Feneri, Two Coastal Settlements
6D Visited two villages, Kilyos and Rumeli Feneri. Both places are located on the coast of the Black Sea. The places are both close to Istanbul, so they are easy to get to. There are people living in both of the villages, and there are some markets and supermarket there as well.
Even though there are some similarities, there are a lot of differences too, such as: the types of shops and restaurants, the develop- ment of the villages and the people living there.
In Kilyos there were a few gift shops/beach shops, but in R.F there were mostly hardware shops. This is because Kilyos in more of a tourist place, and R.F is a fishing village. We could also see that there were a lot of restaurants in Kilyos, but in R.F there were only two. I think this is because in Kilyos people come to stay for a day or two, and they need to eat somewhere. However in R.F, the people who live there will make their own food.
As you know, Kilyos has a lot of shops and restaurants and they have a lot of visitors. This means that Kilyos earns a lot of money, which they can use to make the place look nicer. However R.F is a fishing village, and the people who live there don’t earn a lot of money. This means that R.F can’t spend money on making the place nicer, because they don’t have extra money.
Since Kilyos is a holiday village, they do get a lot of visitors (especially in summer). R.F isn’t as popular, however, out of season, both places have similar population after all. In R.F people live there, but in Kilyos, people usually just go there for a day on the beach, and they go home in the afternoon.
After all I liked both places, but personally I prefer beaches.
By Kaja Hypher
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Etiler & Zek Primary—Year 5
With the Memorial Service commemorating the death of Ataturk on Monday and a trip to the Military Mu- seum in the same week it was a great way to kick off the Ataturk History unit.
We will be looking at the creation of a nation, the Ottoman Empire, the life of Ataturk, WW1, the War of Independence and the laws that Ataturk put in place as Turkey's first President.
We will be able to answer the question, ' Why is Ataturk's image in every public park and building in Tur- key'.
In December we will also be visiting Dolmabahce Palace, at the end of the unit.
Dave Scarf
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Etiler Primary—Year 6
Our trip to the Little sisters nursing home
Etiler year 6 (including me) went to the Little sisters in the 22nd of October to sing and carry some food that Etiler campus had been collecting for the last two weeks, like: packets of sugar, biscuits, and kilos and kilos of Turkish çay.
From outside the building looked like an old prison. The gates opened and the school bus headed to the kitchen. As we arrived, a Korean sister came out and welcomed us, she helped unpack the food. After moving all the food we took the tour around the building. There were some elderly people in the corridor who generally looked quite scary to me. On the second floor, there was a church and we went another level up.
On that floor, it smelt like old people (obviously, but even more than the other floor). As we went into the room, one of the ladies was clapping, shouting and laughing (I didn`t understand what was so funny), but the lady next to her, (who was 102 years old!) was silently sitting down. But when we started singing, everybody's noise went quiet.
After singing, we went to some of the elderly people`s room, and we actually had some time to talk to one of the la- dies. The lady we met in her room was in her eighties, but she said that she was 28 years old. (And Miss Fulya agreed with it.) She showed us her grandson`s marriage picture. (And they are expecting a baby!) She said that she had lost her husband and son. (She was a bit nervous when she was talking about her husband and son)
Then we had a garden tour. Minwoo was in the lead. (I’ve never seen him in the lead before) in the garden, we could see: an old, tall tree; luscious grass all over the field and low, calm trees around the edge of the path.
When we just arrived, it seemed like a house for people with a mental problems or a prison. But, after we had met peo- ple living there, my mind had changed. Before we came back to Etiler, I finally knew that they were all good people. (When I finished this report in the class, I wanted to visit the Little sisters again).
By Gyuwon ******************************
The Little Sisters Of The Poor
The year 6 children from Etiler campus went to the ‘Little Sisters Of The Poor’ nursing home on Wednesday 22nd Oc- tober 2014 to distribute food.
When we arrived, the home looked diminutive, as it was dwarfed by immense skyscrapers looming over it. As we en- tered the old people’s home it seemed colossal: with high plain, white ceilings; large wide, wooden doors and many large eerie, empty rooms. The entrance smelt strangely of macaroni. The nuns from several nationalities welcomed us to the building that is home to 69 senior citizens that are unable to look after themselves. Each and every nun seemed so kind and patient.
‘The Little Sisters Of The Poor’ was founded by ‘Jeanne Jugan’ (a French nun) in 1839 in a small fishing village, so all the nuns spoke French.
The first room they showed us was the laundry room. The room that stuck in my mind was the chapel. I think ‘The Little Sisters Of The Poor’ respect all individuals and people of other religions that live there. We visited a senile lady in here 80s in her room. She was a very sweet elderly lady. You can tell she was happy in her home just by the con- stant smile on her face.
All in all I feel, the ‘Little Sisters Of The Poor’ is a great old people’s home. I am glad I went and eager to go again.
By Shakil Goudy
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The Little Sisters Of The Poor
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Etiler Primary Year 6—Memorial Service
World War 1 Memorial Service by Shakil Goudy Elmahal
Year 6 from Etiler Campus went to the Commonwealth cemetery in order to honour the fallen soldiers of World War I and World War II. It took us about an hour to get there from the Etiler campus. When we arrived, the cemetery was thick with graves. As the children walked around, I noticed that the majority of the gravestones didn't have names. The more unknown graves I passed the more upset I got. Soon enough, I saw the generals coming through the crowd of children. We spoke to the generals, asking how they got their medals and how many countries they had served in. After about an hour our teacher, Mrs Dereboy, called us into a large open area. A man in robes stood before a large memorial. The generals sang hymns. Then it was our turn.
Four children, Borga Sahbal, Lara Ozcayir, Beatriz Troffa and I, had prepared to recite a poem to the generals. I felt honoured as I read to these important people so I was naturally a little nervous. The generals sang a few more hymns and gave a few speeches until they lined up in front of the memorial and started placing wreathes before it. Two people from our class ,Min Woo Kim and Kaja Hypher, had been asked to carry wreathes on behalf of the school.
Soon we started heading back to the entrance, where my friends and I sat and drank tea with the Turkish generals of N.A.T.O (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).
Below is the poem that was recited by Year 6 students at the service:
Reply to In Flanders Field John Mitchell Oh! sleep in peace where poppies grow; The torch your falling hands let go Was caught by us, again held high, A beacon light 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 you who lie In Flanders Fields. Oh! rest in peace, we quickly go To you who bravely died, and know In other fields was heard the cry, For freedom's cause, of you who lie, So still asleep where poppies grow, In Flanders Fields. As in rumbling sound, to and fro, The lightning flashes, sky aglow, The mighty hosts appear, and high Above the din of battle cry, Scarce heard amidst the guns below, Are fearless hearts who fight the foe, And guard the place where poppies grow. Oh! sleep in peace, all you who lie In Flanders Fields. And still the poppies gently blow, Between the crosses, row on row. The larks, still bravely soaring high, Are singing now their lullaby To you who sleep where poppies grow In Flanders Fields.
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Whole School EYFS—International Day
The children in EYFS had a very exciting and enjoyable week sharing and celebrating where they come from! Parents came in and read sto- ries, sang songs in different languages and made beautiful German lan- terns with the children. The children learnt how to say 'hello' in differ- ent languages and pin pointed where they come from on a map.
To round off the week, the children were given the opportunity to wear their national costume or the colours of their flags. They also enjoyed walking around the food court, sampling delicious food from different countries.
The week was a wonderful opportunity for the children to have first- hand experience in developing positive attitudes towards cultural differ- ences. The children also had the opportunity to share their experiences from their home lives with each other and explore their friends' cultures and traditions.
Leila Topuz
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Zekeriyakoy Primary—Halloween
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Zekeriyakoy—Languages & International Week
What a busy week we had in primary and EYFS celebrating Languages and International Week. Many fun activities were run during the week adding to the kids’ knowledge about other languages and giving them the opportunity to feel proud of their country and mother tongue.
On Monday, students were greeted with a colourful display with information about languages and throughout the week there were many and varied activi- ties ranging from a competition where students had to identify which lan- guage stories had been written in, teaching other students in their mother tongue, a poster competition, parents reading stories to classes in their moth- er tongue or doing an activity like Origami, games in other languages in the break, karaoke in four different languages and a great Assembly in French and Turkish. The week culminated with an International Day food court ex- pertly organized by the PTA together with parents and the classrooms were beautifully decorated to reflect the culture of each country.
Teachers participated enthusiastically, students couldn’t get their entries in quickly enough for the competitions, parents gave up their time to come in and run an activity or give samples of food from their countries and, overall, it was an informative and fun week. It would be safe to say that all of our senses were satisfied during this week
We truly celebrated this week in the spirit of raising language and cultural awareness as well as displaying the diversity of cultures we have in this school and would like to thank everybody who contributed to its success. The Languages Team
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Children Teaching Languages
Amanvir, Georgina and Kayleigh teaching Polish Teaching ESL with a game - Amirah teaching ESL Lewis and Kayden
Matei teaching Romanian Matteo and Giovanni teaching Italian
Maxine teaching Dutch Polly teaching shapes in ESL
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Parents Teaching Languages
A Romanian mum reading a story Parent reading in Arabic to KS1 in Romanian
Japanese mum teaching the students origami
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Karaoke was a highlight of the day as children sang popular songs translated into their own language, Willemijn, Emma, Joey, Sarah, Jane, Amirah, and Georgina.
Lovely words: Children are busily drawing and illustrating the words for 'love" in their country's lan- guage for the primary Poster Competition.
Jane McGonagle
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Language games in playtime
French language games in playtime Playtime games in Spanish
Making Posters
Making posters - Eastern Europe Making posters - India
Making posters - Iran
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The Flag Parade
More photos can be viewed from the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishschoolistanbul/sets/72157648993746848/
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The 2014 IGCSE Awards Ceremony
Proud parents, teachers and students attended the IGCSE Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 12th November to celebrate the great achievements and successes of the Class of 2014.
As has now become traditional, at the beginning of the previous academic year, during the very first assembly of the year, Mr Bradley, challenged all the Year 11 students to achieve even better than their predecessors. A challenge that they embraced and took on. On Wednesday 12th November we celebrated this success, hard work and effort.
Indeed, this summer the students performed magnificently in their final IGCSE examinations… when 88% of exams achieved A*/C and 80 A/A* were awarded.
The ceremony started with a beautiful musical performance from Sheida Kiran (vocals) and Yujin Bang (piano), and later on Stefani Konstantinesku, Minnie Seo (vocals) and JiWon Min, (piano), who delighted us with Sara Bareilles’ love song just before Mr Bradley addressed the guests and later introduced our youngest guest speaker at any of the spe- cial events in the history of BISI; a former student and graduate of BISI who spent seven years studying with us, Car- melo Konmaz. He captivated the audience and gave them very wise and practical advice.
Achieving success in exams is very much about team work and the IGCSE Class of 2014 certainly understood that. They were a delightfully friendly, creative, occasionally disorganised group of individuals! The best thing about them was their camaraderie and their support of one another.
A year ago, they took on the challenge of the IGCSEs and as I predicted Mr Bradley did set them another challenge, a year from now, the challenge to do even better.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Konmaz and Mrs Vivaldi, who helped organise the celebration and decorate the area, Dr Sargent for the music, Ms Garner who decorated the area with the students' art work and Ozlem and her team for all their support.
Katya Skoudy
More photos can be viewed from the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ britishschoolistanbul/ sets/72157646933529343/
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Carmelo Konmaz - Guest Speaker at the IGCSE Awards Ceremony Before I begin, I’d like to excuse my voice, because I’m really quite ill. Having said that, it’s also quite hard for me to disguise my excitement and nervousness about being here today. I’m genuinely honored to be part of a ceremony which hopefully will be as memorable for you as it was for me back when I was in your position.
While the invitation to be your guest speaker today was incredibly flattering, it also really got me thinking about the extent to which circumstances can change in such a relatively short peri- od of time! Literally just two years ago, I was exactly where you are right now, waiting to be acknowledged and rewarded for the great deal of work my classmates and I had put into the IGCSEs. And today, I know you’re in that very position yourselves. In two years time, I’m willing to bet that you’ll all be looking back in amazement, trying to figure out how so much changed in just two years. I know I am!
In any case, today should be cherished as a day to celebrate you all, and the dedication and responsibility you all had to exhibit to get here, which is why I’m hoping to make my speech today brief. Also, given the fact that I’m only eighteen, I don’t think I’ve necessarily earned the right to be completely sentimental about the past quite yet.
Having graduated from school in May and having completed the IB program pretty successful- ly, what I want to share with you today are a few observations and anecdotes that I’ve come away with from the successes and fail- ures of my own high school experience, which I’m hoping will help you focus and motivate yourselves in your years to come, wherever you may find yourselves, whatever academic course you may be pursuing.
After I found out my results from the exams I took in May, I had a lot of people asking me what I had done that month in order to get the grades that I did. I think this question in its essence is flawed, because the implication is that your success in the IB can come from a really good game plan for the month of May.
What I’m hoping to get across today is that the IB is a long and intricate process, a lot like a long distance race or marathon, only, instead of 42 kilometers, your goal is 45 points. You see what I did there?
For those of you who don’t already know this about me, long distance running is a passion of mine. I admit, I treat running as an opportunity to think critically about things on my mind, so I usually find myself running four or five times a week. A few weeks ago, I signed up to run the 15-kilometer race from Asia to Europe this Sunday, which I’m quite thrilled about --perhaps others in the audience are doing the same. The reason I bring all this up is because I do think that studying the mentality of long distance runners is something that we can all draw lessons from. In my own experience in races, the minute you lose sight of what you’re running for or the goal you’re trying to achieve, it becomes a lot harder to motivate yourself and push your own limits. Half way through a mar- athon, if a runner forgets why he’s running, or what his finish line is, or the advantages to finishing the race, odds are he’s not going to perform very well at all. I used this example of someone being ‘halfway’ through a race, because I do think you guys are now safely halfway through your entire high school experience, give or take a few months. This is the pinnacle of when you need to re- mind yourselves why you’re running this race, and the benefits that will come from finishing it strong. I don’t need to stand here and tell you why finishing high school on good terms will be an advantage to you all in the future. It’s just part of the system we’ve come to live in – I’m not saying whether it’s good or bad, I’m just telling you how I perceive it to be.
Did you know that an average marathon runner will take roughly 55,330 steps to complete a race? At this point, you’re probably thinking that my love of cardio has completely high jacked this speech. Well, you’re somewhat onto something. But I’m also trying to make the point that long processes, like a marathon, or the academic programs you all find yourselves in right now, are a compi- lation of tiny, seemingly insignificant events all coming together. That homework you find too easy to be worth your time, or those unit tests you think don’t matter, or that extra hour you spend on Facebook stalking someone you’ve never met, I hate to tell you this, but all of those things help decide a bigger picture. On their own, 55,330 steps might not seem important. But put them in con- secutive order, and you’ve just finished a marathon. In the same way, rather than turning into an insane, a-social study freak in your last two weeks of school before your exams, if you realize that this marathon starts on your very first day of school, your job be- comes a lot easier, I think. You know the expression ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’? It just means that great things take time to com- plete, and that success is never immediate. Similarly, ‘Your IB score wasn’t built in a May’. Pause for standing ovation. Oh wait, I wasn’t meant to read that bit out loud.
Seriously though, if there was one thing I could change in my whole high school experience, it would definitely be my attitude of pushing things until their deadline, which I found myself doing on multiple occasions. I pushed off a lot of essays that were due Monday morning, even though I knew I would be cursing myself on Sunday night. Allow me to impart onto you this simple bit of wisdom: the ‘play now, pay later’ attitude is NOT sustainable in the long run. That’s a fact.
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I’m going to use one more analogy now, because I know you’re all dying to hear it. How many of you take biology? Okay, you know how you learn that chemical digestion is the process whereby enzymes break down large insoluble molecules into smaller soluble ones? Well, guys, my advice is that enzymes should be your role models for the next few years. In all seriousness, instead of seeing the IGCSEs or the IBs as a huge block of untouchable and looming exams, break them down, subject by subject, in a way that you can devour them. Okay, I feel like I’ve definitely lost my grip on this analogy, but I also hope that you understand what I’m trying to say. Just like you can break down a marathon in to thousands of little, manageable steps, you can treat your academic courses in a similar way! In the IB, for example, think about 45 IB points not as some unachievable number, but as the total of 6 very manageable subjects and 3 beautiful little bonus points. Let your long-term efforts that you exhibit everyday be the thing that digests the IB and IGCSE into something far less menacing. Make sure you’re understanding the things that are being taught in everyday lessons, ask a teacher if you don’t, because believe me, there’s nothing scarier than being hit by a tidal wave of topics you don’t really understand when it comes to revision time. I have every confidence that you won’t make these age-old er- rors.
One more thing that I’d like to share from my own high school experience is the importance of pursuing your passions and inter- ests through extra-curriculars. Personally, as an avid football player with an interest in debating –two skills that might not totally match -- when I started going football practice every week or MUN conferences every few months, I started seeing school not just as a place where I’d sit in a classroom all day and forget about the outside world, but as a place where I could develop real inter- ests for things beyond the campus gates. I tried to be as active in the school community as possible, I tried to make sure that I had an identity within this enclosed environment. I urge you all to try and go above and beyond your normal classroom and lesson obligations: try to find something you care about beyond the classroom, be proactive in finding clubs that make you happy and those to which you think you can add something. From theatre to sports to arts and crafts to cooking, find something that interests you as a person and not just as a student. I’m not just suggesting this because it will inevitably look good on a college application, but because the more you care about a community you’re in, the more you’ll be motivated to thrive in it. A surefire way to wake up dread going into school every morning is if you don’t have anything at school that allows you to explore your own identity and define your own passions, whatever they may be.
What I’ve been told about life is that it’s a series of choices that we make, stepping stones that we use to leap from one situation to another. IGCSE is a stepping-stone to the wonders of the IB, and the IB, in return, is a stepping-stone to university, and then God knows what. After high school, you get the chance to leap towards a future that you think will make you happy. Here, I think it’s important to note that you won’t always know what that leap might be. It’s also important to realize that a leap in the wrong direc- tion is not the end of the world. You just hop back on your last stone and re-evaluate your situation. That’s what I did. I realized the choice I made about going to a particular university this year wasn’t going to make me happy. And although everyone else in my class felt that they were making the right leap, I made sure my inner voice wasn’t being drowned out by peer pressure or social expectations. I decided to take a year and REALLY think about what it is I want, and what university is best going to be able to offer it. While I don’t think it will take all of you a whole gap year to realize what you want your initial step to be, I can’t stress enough how freeing it is to know that you can always change your mind about a decision you make. And that goes for virtually anything in life.
Okay, I’m coming to the end of my rant at this point, but I just want to make one last thing clear. Of course, I know that you all want to perform well academically speaking, and I definitely think that you need to push yourselves to do just that. You do need to work hard almost everyday, and you do need to treat every unit test like it matters, and you do need to approach schoolwork with the utmost effort, but you also need to LIVE to the best of your abilities. We live in an amazing city. Istanbul is a city that mil- lions, probably billions of people would kill to spend time in! What I advise is that you go out and explore it on your weekends! Go have a cup of tea or two or five along the Bosphorus, or go check out a cool new restaurant with your friends, or go to Ortakoy and buy a hundred bracelets for ten lira. I advise you not to go from school to homework to computer games every day, that’s defi- nitely no way to live. Maybe it’s being 18 and creeping closer to the prospects of being an ‘adult’, whatever the hell that means, but I realize more and more with each passing day that our ages come with very exciting possibilities. We need to be explorative, adventurous, curious about the world around us. Being young and active in a city like Istanbul is an incredible opportunity that I strongly urge you all to make the best of.
You’ve all done an amazing job, working hard to complete or at least start to complete your IGCSEs, which is a very significant step in your future educational prospects, whatever they may be. I hope that in the years to come, you keep this ball rolling and continue to push yourselves academically, because even if the end of this race isn’t yet in sight, I trust (because I don’t know yet, myself) that the work we put into this effort now will keep coming back to our advantage in the future. SO, on that rather long and somewhat generic note, give yourselves all a huge round of applause!
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Zekeriyakoy Secondary—Year 8 - Hagia Sophia & Basilica Cistern
A visit to the Hagia Sophia Museum has become a regular feature of Humanities Week for Year 8 students.
Linking to our unit on `Empire`, the trip gives students the chance to examine the mixed uses of the building`s rich history. As a structure significant to both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires students dis- covered its architectural features, examined mosaics and other arte- facts, as well as researching and noting down various Islamic addi- tions.
Teaming up with the Creative Arts Department, Music and Drama students spent the afternoon at the Basilica Cistern, another Byzantine structure. Drama students from 8B explored the structure of the Cis- tern as a potential venue for a promenade theatre production of a play they had created about myths and legends. Musicians from 8I experi- enced acoustics through vocal improvisations and sound recordings. They recreated the James Bond compositions they had created at school at the Cistern as it was the setting for a 40 second clip in the film `From Russia With Love`. Erin Cesmeli said, 'While we were recording, we heard some creepy sounds and everywhere was dark. We heard lots of water noises and lots of dripping/leaking sounds. They were very loud.'
Students from 8S went to the Mosaic Museum and sketched mosaics.
Amy Sozer
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Zekeriyakoy Secondary—Year 8 - Mosaic Museum
Visual Art students went to the Mosaic Museum to look closely at the amazing works of art uncovered there, and to do some sketching of what they saw.
Prior to the trip they had studied several techniques of how mosaics are created, especially the double- reverse technique used in ancient Rome and still aught in Ravenna, Italy today. This was all in preparation for them to create their own mosaics in the classroom using paper. As subject matter for their mosaics they used the Medusa heads in the cisterns for inspiration and each chose a particular myth to illustrate.
These are currently in process and we look forward to exhibiting them when they are completed at the end of the term.
Barbara Tanjala
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Secondary Cross Country Race
Cross Country Race in Robert College—5/11/2014
On Wednesday morning just after registration we - that was Esra Çuhada- roğlu, Ismar Klomp, Carys Thomas, Gabriela and Lauren Watson from Year 10, Tijn Blanken and Louis Dereboy from Year 9 and I left BISI and headed to the Robert College Campus in Arnavutköy. After some difficul- ties finding our way to the sports field we arrived just on time for warming up. There were about 60 runners from 4 schools: Robert College, IGA and IICS, our BISI group was the smallest.
Mr. Mauricio Araya informed the participants about the 5k course and con- ditions and then the high school students started. Ismar came first overall, Esra first of our girls, fourth girl in total. Lauren, Gabi and Carys also ran very well. After 10 minutes the next group started and Louis won the junior boys middle school competition, Tijn got the silver medal!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!
Claudia Azizoğlu
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Zekeriyakoy Secondary—Table Tennis Tournament
On the 18th November, 8 students (Eren S, Eren I, Can C, Cem C, William Kim, Hiroki, Naoki and Mete) went to play 3 other schools at Robert College School in a table tennis tournament. The competition was fierce and we put up a good fight, winning many matches, but we failed to achieve a medal in the singles or doubles. Friday afternoon table tennis will be re-invigorated at this new impetus to compete more successfully against our neighbouring champions in our next tournament.
James O’Hara
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Zekeriyakoy Secondary—Badminton Tournament at IICS
On the 18th of November students from years 9-13 travelled to IICS to take part in a badminton tournament. The competition was broken down into two age categories, Middle School (Year7-10) and High School (Year 11-13). In each age category there were five separate competitions; boys singles, girls singles, boys doubles, girls doubles and mixed doubles.
Even though the team had problems with practising badminton at school as the orange gym got closed down for maintenance two weeks before the tournament, we were still able to come up with some medals.
In the Middle School category, despite some fantastic badminton play, we were unlucky to come away with- out a medal in the singles completion with Manvir Loyal finishing just outside the medal positions in 4th place in the boys tournament.
We had better success in both the boys and girls doubles, picking up a pair of silver medals with teams of Manvir and Ayush Ranjan coming second in the boys tournament and Esra Çuhadaroğlu and Mariam Zara doing the same in the girls. Our other teams also acquitted themselves very well with Tijn Blanken and Ismar Klomp very unfortunate to lose a close game against the eventual winners of the boys tournament.
We also met with medal success in the mixed doubles tournament with Mariam and Ayush teaming up to take home the bronze medal.
Senior School team had a tougher competition. Lieke Blanken and Sophie Schmitz got silver medals for girls doubles though unfortunately it was the only medal from the Senior Team. Mingyu Park managed to get in the 4th place in boys single and mixed double with Luisa Schnapperelle.
Angela Perez
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Zekeriyakoy Secondary—Sports
Senior Girls Football Team 2014
LUISA 1
SCHMITZ 9 MARIAM 14 VIVALDI 5 TOPUZ 29 FERNANDES 22
BLANKEN 7 MEGAN 2 NINJA CAROLINE 10 A.SHAH 32 ESRA 8 BLANKEN 24
BLANKEN 15 VIVALDI 17 NINJA 27
The ‘Ninja’s’ have been busy this season with ongoing league games and the annual 11 aside tournament out at IICS.
We’ve competed against Robert College, Uskudar American Academy, MEF International, International Gateway Academy and Istanbul International Community School.
Results: 3rd place trophy from the tournament after beating Robert College on penalties where our GK Luisa was outstanding, 3rd place finish in the league with top goal scorers; Anne Blanken, Esra Cuhadaroglu and Pinar Oguz.
The team will finish off the season with their biggest challenge yet!
The Staff
Result: Staff 0 goals but lots of running around with hope of kicking the ball. Students 8 goals and lots of ‘bragging’.
Great season NINJA’s!
Ms Scotland
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Zekeriyakoy Secondary—Year 12
Group 4 project November 2014
All students in Year 12 participated in a project over 3 days. The purpose of the project was to give students opportunity to practice the research skills and use of the scientific method that will be required for the internal assessment component of their IB grade. They were also as- sessed on their personal skills in terms of how they worked together as a team and how they were able to reflect on their contribution and performance during the project. The theme for this year was the ‘limits of human performance’. Students were all assigned to groups and tacked the theme in a variety of ways. Here is a brief summary of their investigations.
The effect of distance perception on performance- a sport psychology based project involving testing student performances with correct distance markers and distance markers placed at in- correct distances.
Solar system ball trajectory simulation- a Computer Science and Physics based project, creat- ing a database of gravitational field strengths and then applying this graphically to show how the trajectory of a ball would behave on different planets. The effect of energy in foods on performance- foods categorized as low, medium and high en- ergy foods were consumed before a physical task and the effect on physical performance was tested.
The effect of a warm up routine on push up performance- students were given a warm up task and asked to carry out pushups and their performance was compared to students who did not perform a warm up.
This year we held the Group 4 project earlier than in previous years. The class of 2016 did not disappoint and made an excellent attempt at carrying out their projects.
We promise that no students were hurt in the making of these projects.
Michael Tarbuck (Head of the Science Department)
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Zekeriyakoy Secondary School Production
Amazement and delight at Zek
BISI's 2014 Secondary Production, A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, played at the end of this month for three days, with five slick and enjoyable performances.
The stage of the theatre at Zekeriyaköy was emptied of its usual curtains and accoutrements, and filled instead with mu- sic and light. A platform extended into the audience to provide room for the Queen of the Fairies, and for the Handy- men of Athens to put on their play within a play. Students ran the show, from backstage and acting to props, design and costumes, supported by a skillful and committed team of teaching staff.
It looked great, as you can see from the accompanying photographs. But I don't think anybody who saw it was prepared for the extraordinary performances of the young actors from Years 7 - 13. Each of the five shows, spread over just three days, reached new heights of intensity and drama, but the closing performance, on Thursday 27th November, was truly exceptional. The feeling back- stage, onstage, in the auditorium and in the dressing room, was elec- tric.
Congratulations and thanks to all who were in involved. We are sad that we will have to wait a whole year for another chance to astonish you, but, until then, we'll be adding to our regular repertory of shows and concerts, and building a culture of performance and excellence here at the BISI.
Dr Dominic Sargent
More photos can be viewed from the following link: www.flickr.com/photos/britishschoolistanbul/sets/
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BISI Chosen Charities for 2014-2015 Academic Year
Local: Verysal Vardal Gorme Engelliler Ilkogretim Okulu Blind school in Kilyos
National: Korunmaya Muhtac Cocuklar Vakfi TKMCV Protection for children who have been abandoned or abused
International: Teenage Cancer Trust
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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 https://www.facebook.com/BISIstanbul
https://twitter.com/#!/BISistanbul
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