BPS Newsletter
Issue 6 - 25th September 2020
Empathy, Opportunity and Leadership
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Firstly, I would like to thank all who supported our Peace Day celebrations within the British Primary Section. This is always a special day and provides an opportunity for children to delve deeply and investigate this aspect. Students were engaged in many activities, such as origami, music and literacy associated with this theme, all whilst wearing white the colour that signifies Peace and Harmony. This also provided ample opportunity for students to be as reflective as possible, as well as gain a further understanding of a key aspect of our Learner Profile - Empathy!
It is pleasing to see that the CCA program has been well received, which provides further opportunity for children to showcase talent and explore interests. Again, I would like to thank all members of staff for supporting this enriching program, whether it is in the sporting, creative or academic arena, our vast range of activities spanning Dungeons and Dragons to football enables all children to flourish!
Our Saturday Sports program was a tremendous success with over 110 students engaged in dance, basketball and football. Quality coaching in a safe environment can only have a positive impact on our children, and I look forward to seeing this develop into a rich program that benefits all within our community.
Today we had our first Tribe Assembly where children were split into their respective tribes and voted on who they felt were best placed to lead their tribe. Leadership is a real focus this year within the British Primary Section, again it is essential that we nurture this aspect, as with student advocacy comes shared responsibility, an essential ingredient in supporting a quality learning environment. I look forward to seeing a year packed with Tribe Competitions designed to build collegiality and identity, ensuring that all children feel a sense of belonging as part of a bigger team!
Finally, I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and look forward to welcoming all the children back to school on Monday,
Best wishes
Luke Chaeter
TES Wins Taipower National Campus Power Saving Award by Marketing Department
Temperatures are rising, glaciers are melting, it’s our joint responsibility as global citizens to mitigate the effects of global warming. It was not without hard work that TES has won the Taipower National Power Saving Award. As an Eco-School, we are committed to playing an active role in reducing carbon footprint by incorporating energy-saving education into our curriculum. In terms of school hardware, we regularly maintain and replace appliances to ensure maximum efficiency, have installed solar panels on our new Phase 3 building, as well as having members of the Tri-Section Eco-Committee patrolling classrooms during break time to ensure lights and AC are properly switched off. Through these efforts we’ve saved an impressive 330 MW in 2019!
International Peace Day - by Mr Eamonn O'Callaghan
Happy Peace Day everyone.
This year our school once again took part in the Peace Crane Project to celebrate Peace Day on the 21st of september.
The Peace Crane Project invites every student in the world to fold an origami crane, write a message of peace on its wings, then exchange it with another student somewhere in the world. This year our school partnered with the Waddell Language Academy in North Carolina, USA. They have sent us this lovely, multilingual peace day video message to share with our community. https://safeYouTube.net/w/AGBeb
Tribe Assembly - by Mr Thomas Myerscough
This week we had our first Tribe Assembly which was a great success. It was lovely to see all the Tribes in their Tribe colours across year groups. This is part of a new initiative for the Tribes at the British Primary School to get together and build friendship and comradery. The four tribes (Ami, Paiwan, Rukai and Bunan) met at different locations across the school. (... Read More)
Year 5 Blasts Off! - by Miss Emma Brown
In Year 5 we have been learning about Space in our topic Blast Off! We have learnt about the order of the planets, Space Exploration and why we have day and night. We have really enjoyed using technology to help us with our learning and have done lots of research on iPads and Chromebooks and practised presenting our work in a variety of ways as well. Coding on Tynker is another fun way we have learnt about the order, size and distance of the planets and students are learning how to code their own moving solar system. We explored space using Virtual Reality and demonstrated our knowledge of the planets with a balloon model.
We are also linking our Literacy to our Space curriculum and have been writing about space settings, describing extra-terrestrial characters and will soon be writing our own space narratives.
In the next few weeks we will be going on a trip to the Astrological museum, learn about Gravity and the Seasons and will do some more artwork and Design Technology about the Space topic.
Music Education in BPS - by Ms Edith Kao
Music is an integral part of life in a primary school. For most people outside a music department, the most prominent evidence is when students are seen during performances in and out of school. Performances are a hugely important element of school musical life and much of the overall effort within a music department goes towards ensuring that performances can happen and that students are properly prepared.
Nursery Mid Autumn Festival Performance - by Mrs Jennie Bonnalie
Today the staff in Nursery performed the autumn festival traditional story to the children.
The story is about Hou Yi, a heroic and strong archer that shot down nine suns. Unfortunately, he became mean and greedy. He wanted to live forever and made a special potion. His wife, Chang'E, was very sad about this. She drank the immortal potion, which meant that she could fly to the moon and live forever. It is believed that when there is a full moon, we can still see her and her rabbit.
It was a lot of fun for the children to watch, and they enjoyed the costumes. After the show, the children sampled some delicious mooncakes.
Morning Fitness - by Mr Peter Poulton
The Morning Fitness CCA has been great with students participating in various activities to improve fitness and get started for the day. Research shows that a short session of vigorous activity before school can benefit students not only with fitness, but also with greater focus and concentration for academic lessons.
Saturday Sport - by Mr Peter Poulton
Saturday saw the launch of our weekend sports programme. Over 100 students from years 2 to 6 participated in football, basketball or dance. This was a great success with the children demonstrating some great skills throughout each session. Our coaching team created high quality learning environments that were enjoyable but also challenging enough for the children to improve and develop.
In the coming weeks we will provide all participants with a kit and there is the possibility of representing TES Bears in the local football competition, Victory League. The basketball players will also receive kit and we hope to arrange friendly matches against local teams.
This is just the beginning of what we hope will grow into a very successful sports development programme whereby all children have access to high quality sports coaching.
If you would like to register your child for Saturday sport or you have any questions, please me at peter.poulton@tes.tp.edu.tw
Safeguarding at BPS - by Mrs Kay Chaeter
It was such a pleasure to see so many Parent Reps at the safeguarding training last week. I know that you all understand the importance of keeping our students safe and happy and with this in mind the Parent Reps will now be well placed to support trips and school activities knowing the importance of our school procedures to keep the students safe.
We have very clear guidelines of reporting within the school and government authorities of child protection issues. It was clear that we have a supportive and caring community that understand the importance of reporting any concerns that they may have and how to be socially responsible when taking photos.
As a school we do not wish to prevent parents from taking photos of precious moments with their children, but we must all be aware of those who do not wish their children to be photos. At any event try to focus on your child and if posting onto any social media be aware of who else may be in the photo, do you have their permission? Always double check.
Live Weather Data from the EPC - by Mr Craig Gamble
Ever wondered what the actual temperature is at the EPC, or unsure whether to bring an umbrella with you at pick up time? Wonder no more, the EPC now has its very own live weather station broadcasting information to the school website. The idea behind having our own weather station came from a suggestion made by the Eco Committee members last year who then researched the most appropriate model for the school to purchase.
Having our own weather station also opens up opportunities for the children to carry out investigations into weather patterns as well as gathering and analysing the data as part of their maths work, allowing purposeful and meaningful integration of subjects and technology in their learning.
To check the current weather at the EPC simply log into the school website and browse to the News section, there you will find a direct link to the weather station. I highly recommend bookmarking the page here for easy daily or hourly updates.
Greetings from TES Counsellors - by TES Counselling Team
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We are the TES Counselling Centre team and would like to take this opportunity to introduce our service to you. As this is the first year that the counselling service is presented to all students from all sections, we are looking forward to providing our service and support in this wonderful community.
As school counsellors, we aim to promote social and emotional growth in students, helping them to develop confidence, self-awareness, and resilience throughout their journey in TES. We collaborate with teachers, parents, and community organizations to benefit and meet the needs of all TES students. Our service varies from workshops with different themes, individual counselling, small group, and parent/teacher consultations. Any student can ask to meet with a counsellor during their break time, or they can be referred by a teacher or administrator. If you have any concerns regarding your child, we encourage you to first reach out to class teachers as they can provide first-hand observation on in-class situations. While we are working with teachers, pastoral care team , and parents as a team, we believe this could be quite beneficial.
We are excited to be here, and we look forward to knowing more about you and your children!
ALL TOGETHER GLOBAL CLEANUP: HOUSE/TRIBE COMPETITION - Deadline: 28th September
19th September is Global Cleanup Day. All over the world different environmental groups, charities and companies will be organising activities such as beach and park cleanups etc.
We recently had a very interesting initiative brought to our attention by a parent. The initiative is the “All Together Global Cleanup”. The idea is based around how we can all make a difference to the environment and that every small contribution makes a difference. It is about taking responsibility (one of our core values) for your ‘day to day’ environment and making a difference within your community. Here is the official video explaining the concept and more information from the official website can be found here.
(...Read More)
Water bottles
Traffic Safety Warning
Taipei European School British Primary Section
Website: https://taipeieuropeanschool.com/index.php?id=120
Location: No. 99, Fuguo Road, Shilin District, Taipei City, 111
Phone: +886-2-8145-9007
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/British-Primary-Section-Taipei-European-School-1781787432102978/