BPS Newsletter
Issue 4 - 12th September 2019
Team Work - by Mr Luke Chaeter
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we continue to move through the term at frenetic pace, I would like to firstly thank all who came to the Parent Teacher Consultations on Wednesday. These opportunities are very important, as it acts as another great communication tool to enable an environment where both teachers and parents can support every child - the key ingredient for the recipe of success.
Further, I would like to say that our Year 1 and Year 2 classes have been enjoying the intensive swimming program which began this week. Swimming is not only a fantastic fitness activity, but also potentially a life saving skill, well done to all who have been, especially for the children where this has been a new experience!
This week saw the start of the ECA program at the European Primary School Campus, with which I have enjoyed experiencing myself by popping into a few of the sessions. Seeing children partake in drama, dance, sport and creativity further drives home the opportunities that they have, but also enables them to further develop their interests and experience a range of things which is conducive to building character - another recipe for success!
Finally, again, well-being is very important, and I would further like to highlight that this year we now have a full time school counselor at the British Primary Section, another outlet for the community to access to ensure all feel supported, which is a another key ingredient!
Wishing you all a wonderful extended weekend,
Best wishes
Luke Chaeter
TES BP PTA Meeting
Thursday, 19 September 2019
8:30AM - 10:30AM
Conference Room, 2nd Floor, Central Admin Building, EPC
Upcoming Parent Workshops in Primary and Secondary
Examinations & University Results Presentation for Parents - by Mrs Sonya Papps
I will hold an open presentation for parents on our 2019 IGCSE and IB examination results. In the second half Nancy Chien will join me to share the Class of 2019's university offers (institutions where our students received an offer), and final matriculation destinations (where our students decided to attend). Date: Wednesday, 18th September, 10:00am ESC MPR. All TES parents are welcome. For seating and catering purposes please RSVP via email to: HSSecretary@tes.tp.edu.tw
Mr David Sinclair
You may well be aware that David Sinclair has been working closely with TES, and I would like to provide you with a bio:
David Sinclair is a seasoned educator with 22 years of international educational technology leadership experience at schools in the United Kingdom, Germany, Malaysia, and Taiwan. In his role as a change agent and digital strategist, David has had the opportunity to support teachers and administrators to co-create change through actionable program and organizational transformation. As a founding member of various bleeding-edge robotics, rapid prototyping, and computational thinking programs David has supported schools to overcome common barriers by advocating for blended and interdisciplinary project-based learning.
David has launched and advised schools on strategies to harness personalized learning technologies that transform approaches to teaching and learning but more importantly create authentic long-term impact through increased collaboration and innovation. In his capacity as Director of IT, David has demonstrated expertise in the planning and implementation of infrastructure projects, the deployment of Asia’s first school-based solar-wind research facility to provide students with an opportunity to explore sustainability, and the transformation of learning spaces that harness innovative technologies to promote active and team-based learning.
David is a firm believer that by designing for change organizations can not only create capacity but more importantly unleash their full potential.
Physical Education Vision - by Mr Peter Poulton
As you may have heard me say before, it is my belief that PE and sport is an essential part of the curriculum and regular participation in sports and physical activity not only aids the children’s physical development, but also helps them to learn how to be part of a team and understand their strengths when working in groups. Research also points to the role that regular physical exercise plays in enhancing social, emotional and organisational skills. My view is that all students, regardless of their ability can enjoy PE and I believe that children should be exposed to competitive sport in the form of friendly competition. This experience reinforces the concepts of sportsmanship, dealing with winning and losing, taking responsibility and nurturing leadership traits. A competitive environment can take place from simple games within PE lessons, through to representing the school at a sports event. Central to all of these elements is that participation should be enjoyable. There is no doubt that when children are enjoying themselves in PE and sport, they are more likely to improve and crucially, they will want to continue to play sport and be active.
Within the KS1 curriculum we aim for students to develop Fundamental Movement Skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. They should be able to engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and cooperative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
By KS2 students should continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement. They should enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other. They should develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.
If you would to know more about PE and school sport, please feel free to contact me at peter.poulton@tes.tp.edu.tw.
Deadly 60 - by Mr Peter Groom
To begin their topic, the Year 4 children celebrated a Deadly Dress up Day and arrived at school as their favourite deadly animal. As well as terrifying everyone in the corridors the children spent time talking about why their animals were deadly and found out which of them was the deadliest. During this topic, the children will be continuing to learn about different deadly animals from around the world alongside the countries that they come from. They will find out about different habitats, food chains, animal classifications and the effect of environmental changes. To finish off they will become TV presenters and create their very own Deadly 60 episode about an animal of their choice.
It's Good to Talk - by Mr Craig Gamble
Wednesday afternoon saw the first Parent Teacher Meeting of the school year for BPS and the event was extremely well attended with just over 80% of our parent community signing up for an appointment via our online Parent Evening System. It was a busy day for teachers, who dismissed their students at 3 pm and then opened the doors to parents again just 10 minutes later at 3:10, but walking around the building, chatting to parents and teachers alike, it was obvious that the opportunity to discuss how the children have settled into their new classes and set some early targets with the parents was appreciated by all that took part. We look forward to welcoming you again in December for the next formal meeting but please remember that the teachers and staff here at BPS are always willing to discuss your child's progress and answer any questions you may have.
BPS Tribe Council Elections - by Mr Corné Coetzee
About the Elections:
It was that time of the year again where we voted for the new Tribe Councilors for the school year 2019-2020. We welcomed each pupil in TES from Year 2 to Year 6 to take part in the election process, whether it be as a candidate or just to vote. Most of the class elections took place during the course of today and we will congratulate the chosen children at the next given opportunity. A huge thank you to all teachers and pupils who took part in the election process this week. It was wonderful to see the passion which the students brought to the classroom and to hear some of the candidate speeches. I look forward to working with the new Tribe Council this year.
What does the Tribe Council do?
Our tribe council listens to all students to help them make our school a healthy, safe, and fun learning environment.
The Tribe Council gets involved in different fundraising activities.
The Tribe Council will be working with Mr. Coetzee and meet weekly to discuss school matters.
Happy Moon Festival - with a Real Space Twist - by Ms Julia Kao
As part of celebrating Moon Festival, and therefore in keeping with a planet theme, the CLC team prepared special assemblies for our Junior Chinese Language groups to learn about the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the Moon. In addition, reference was made to the launch of Taiwan’s very own FORMOSAT 7 (FS7)/COSMIC-2 (satellites manufactured by Taiwan’s National Space Organisation, a joint Space project between Taiwan and the United States).
Ms. Kao shared with children her visit to The Kennedy Space Center in the US over the summer. Her family was invited to see the launch of FORMOSAT 7/COSMIC-2. She told that she had shared with NASA how TES celebrated the launch of FS7 before the summer by making special cards and forming human letters in the shape of “FS7” on campus. NASA officials were delighted to hear this. To show their appreciation, they sent back, with Ms. Kao, special NASA stickers, bookmarks and posters about the FORMOSAT 7/COSMIC-2 and related space research projects, for TES children.
During our special CLC assemblies, many children shared their knowledge and passion about space and discussed the launch of FORMOSAT 7. Our children were very excited to receive the lovely gifts from NASA. We hope the presentations were inspiring and our children will continue to remain curious about space. Our library has many wonderful books on this topic for our children to borrow and learn from.
I leave you with a few inspiring quotes related to space conquests:
“We chose to do it, not because it was easy, but because it was hard.” J. F. Kennedy
“No Dream is Impossible!” Neil Armstrong
Happy Moon Festival!
Successful Start to ECAs - by Ms Joyce Chen
Student A: Can I go to the ECA today?
ECA officer: I'm sorry. ECAs start next week.
Student A: Oh, no. I want to go.....
ECA officer: Wow! It seems that you really like to join ECAs.
Student A: Sure! It's so much fun!
That's the most warming conversation we had at the start of this school year.
We would like to give many thanks to our supportive parents and helpful colleagues for making the enrollment process complete. Meanwhile, I feel sorry for some parents who couldn't enroll their children to certain ECAs because of the quota. However, there are various ECAs designed to provide opportunities for the children to try out new activities or develop existing skills and learning in their fields of interest.
We hope that ECAs help the children to have fun after school and also provide an environment to enrich children’s learning experiences and, furthermore, it could nurture and support Multiple Intelligences in them. It is far from perfect, but we would try our best to make ECAs run smoothly. Let's start a new journey again together!
Should you have any questions about ECAs, please email joyce.chen@tes.tp.edu.tw.
Scholastic Book Club - by Emma Crofts
From September 3rd to 30th, the library will be running an online Scholastic Book Club. We will be sending paper leaflets home with students this week for you to browse through, and you can also look at the online catalog and access our book club by going to this link - https://libguides.tes.tp.edu.tw/epclibrary/scholasticbookclub. Here you will find instructions on purchasing and contact details in case you need assistance. All purchasing is done online. Books will be delivered to the school and distributed to students during their library time. Every book that you purchase gives us credit towards buying new books for the library. For further information please contact - Emma Crofts (0281459007 ext. 1191) or emma.crofts@tes.tp.edu.tw
Important Reminder by Mr Luke Chaeter
Late Pick-Up
Please ensure that the front office is notified if you will be late picking up your children. All children who are not picked up will be supervised in a safe environment in the 'Homework Club.' As you are aware, if this happens more than three times, an additional charge will be issued.
Health and Safety - Snake Safety
As you are probably aware, a snake was seen close to the school, but NOT on school grounds. The following precautions have been enacted
1. Additional security patrols before break times
2. Communication with the nurses
3. Communication with Taipei Veterans Hospital who have confirmed stock of anti venom if required.
4. All staff are aware of the sighting
The safety of all students is our number one priority!
Performance Management
To ensure that we provide the best educational environment for your children, all staff are currently engaged in Performance Management. The main focus of this at present is looking at how our new Read Write Inc Phonics Program is being embedded to raise standards, and analysing effective practice of digital technology within the classroom environment.
Taipei European School British Primary Section
Website: https://taipeieuropeanschool.com/index.php?id=120
Location: 99 FuGuo Road, ShiLin District, Taipei 11158, Taiwan
Phone: +886-2-8145-9007
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/British-Primary-Section-Taipei-European-School-1781787432102978/