Happy November! Hope you had a lovely holiday break.      Click here for important events coming up.

IGCSE Now Fully Intergrated

Curriculum News from Jo Shaw,         Key Stage 4 Learning Leader

 This year at BSW we are excited to be teaching the new IGCSE syllabi across the whole of Year 10 and 11. During the last two or three years we have gradually been moving from the GCSE over to the more internationally minded IGCSE. The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is taken in over 100 countries worldwide and is internationally recognised as being equivalent to the GCSE in the United Kingdom.

Grading is on an eight-point scale (A*–G) with a grade C or above regarded as a passing grade. In some countries, IGCSE qualifications will satisfy the entry requirements for university. In others, they are widely used as a preparation for A Level, AS, International Baccalaureate and US Advanced Placement courses.

The courses span two years of learning before students then sit externally assessed exams at the end of Year 11. Some more practically based subjects, such as Art or Music, will also require students to complete pieces of coursework too. A key aspect of the IGCSE curriculum is that in all subjects students are required to use the knowledge they have learned over the course and apply it to problems and extended response questions. Therefore, students really have to think about how their learning can be relevant to the real world. Whether this is learning how to design a chair that is both functional and ergonomic or understanding the need for the development of tourist destinations to be sustainable and green.

‘Space Mission’: Year 11 Calling Year 5

Several weeks ago the National Air and Space Museum contacted the school to ask if any students would be interested in creating some stories about space as part of their ‘Starrytelling’ project.

We decided to use this project as an opportunity to work across the key stages using some year 11 students as mentors to the year 5 pupils. Year 11 Philadelphia spent a week researching both fiction and non-fiction material on space which included American Indian legends, Shakespeare quotations about stars, scientific information on the planets as well as Greek myths about the origins of the stars. They then created quizzes, posters and stories and spent a lesson using this material to inspire the year 5 pupils to write their own stories about space.

The experience was a success – Year 5 went on to create stories, myths and reflections on the solar system which were recorded this week by a crew from the National Air and Space Museum. We hope they will be played at the Planetarium at a later date.   Miss Gough, Chair of English 

Student George A. reflects on what it is like to learn about the Arthur Miller play "A View from a Bridge" through the medium of drama.

Drama, a five letter word that is used worldwide, everyday. It is a way of communicating a point, a thought, an opinion, an idea, an even through acting and taking on a different role. Drama, for me, can be molded and shaped to transform my mind. It causes awareness and in doing that, it brings forth controversy, which allows me to see more than one side to the story. I look at drama as a tool, a way to make learning exciting and entertaining, always allowing me to participate rather than being a passive listener.

Miss Gough just knows the right way to bring everything about this topic together whether it’s acting or writing essays, it all helps, and I can say that for all my classmates and I.

Anything is possible when you have passion and determination in drama. It takes a while to develop but until you get it right, practice in drama will at least give you more knowledge about the subject as well as knowledge about yourself when it comes to acting. Drama has enriched my mind about things I did not know about myself as well as things I never knew about drama. It takes the right teacher and that is why Miss Gough is always there to help.  

College Admissions visitors from the UK and Canada talk to students in Years 12 and 13 Simon A Bird, College Counselor reports on the informative details of their visit. Applying to colleges? Read an interesting article on how to write a winning college application essay.

'International Day' on October 23 was a great success in raising global awareness of the richness of various nationalities and cultures within BSW while also raising money for a needy school in Tanzania. We can be extremely pleased to have raised $2,308.00 as of today (not the final total yet).

Year 7 Student Lars W. reports.......

Part of International Day was an opportunity to discover the fascinating cultures of other people. Students presented their countries in different classrooms. My group, number ten, visited the following 8 rooms: 

Our first room was the Middle East room where we learned about Iran, who has a holiday similar to Easter. It is called “Norwuz” and they also paint eggs.

The next room we visited was the Wales room where we learned about Ryan Giggs, a football player, and we got little flags and dragons. We also were allowed to taste Welsh cakes.

After that we went to the African room where we learned about three different countries....The first one was Egypt, who are the African soccer champions.The next one was Tanzania who has amazing amount of beautiful wildlife. The last one was South Africa who has many dialects of their language.

Then we went to the France room. France has amazing athletes, gymnasts, footballers and they have this cool sport invented by a soldier called “parcours” where you jump from building to building.

We moved on to the Asia room where we once again learned about various countries. The first one was India who have cool Bengal tigers.... Turkey who have good coffee.... Japan which is made up of 6,852 islands....and China which has 1,538,612,968 people living there. We were also taught a few words of Chinese.

Then we went to the Arab states of the Arabian Gulf room. We learned that Kuwait has a very successful handball team. We also learned that in Saudi Arabia there are an average of 26 days of rain a year.

We proceeded to the South America room. Nicaragua is big on shaved ice. One of the most popular dances in Argentina is the tango. Sadly time ran out before we could hear about Columbia.

The U.K room was the final room we visited. We learned about the contents of black pudding—you would not want to know. We also leaned about football and cricket.

International Day was fun, and I did learn many things—some fun, some interesting, and some even a bit gross. I can’t wait for next year’s International Day.

Click here to see photos of the International Day.

Get to Know Benjamin Barrs-                 Year 2 Miami Class Teacher

After graduating in 1998, I travelled to Australia and taught as a relief teacher in Sydney. I also worked as a live-in teacher on a sheep and cattle station in outback Queensland. Moving back to London, I worked for three years as a junior class teacher with a responsibility for PE and Religious Education. It was then that I packed up my rucksack and travelled around South East Asia and China.

After 9 months of travelling, I accepted a Junior teaching position at a British School in Spain. After two years, my role developed into that of a teaching Head- teacher. I was responsible for organizing the learning in my classroom and leading the day to day management of a small, independent British school.

In September 2008, I returned to university in London to commence a full time Masters Degree in Education where I studied how children, particularly boys, can be motivated to read for pleasure.
Now here in DC for my first year, I am relishing the delights and challenges of facilitating the learning for my new infant class. Thank you, Miami class!

Click here to view an updated staff list.

The Annual Pumpkin Patch Field Trip for Nursery, Year 1 and 2 children- a fun and enriching day out recounted by Karen Pena, Reception Class Teacher

October 20 was a cold Autumnal day as 175 Primary children and chaperones left Washington behind. Five buses transported us to Butler’s Orchard, Germantown in search of the ultimate pumpkin patch experience! By the time we arrived, summer weather seemed to have arrived and we started to strip off our many layers and hats and gloves! Still it didn’t put us off celebrating the fall in true American style.

We loved the hay ride through the spooky Halloween woods to the most abundant pumpkin patch we had ever seen! We were all spoilt for choice, but had to remember the rule… ‘If you can’t lift it, you can’t take it home’. As well as the patch, we all enjoyed the mini animal farm, the hay maze / barn and the amazing slippery slides were certainly a highlight.

It was a truly fantastic day, and once again we were indebted to our parental helpers. Everyone went home tired and happy, looking forward to carving their pumpkins, and I am sure many DC front steps were better decorated after that!  

An Update from Chris Butler, Volunteer Coordinator

The school year is off to a great start, with many, many parents making positive contributions to the life of our school! Please e-mail me at CJWButler@aol.com if you would like to participate in some way, or if you've identified yourself as a volunteer but for some reason have not yet been "called up." We will ensure that your talents and time are put to excellent use.

Our many thanks go to Laurie Wolfert, member of the Food Committee, who has given a lot of effort to successfully liaising with Georgetown in order to jump-start a recycling program for our school. Laurie would love to have some volunteers to help shape and execute this program. If you have interest in helping with this effort, and making our school a greener place, please e-mail me at CJWButler@aol.com in the next week or two. We would like to get this initiative on its way as soon as possible!

We are still missing class reps for the following years: 5 (Mr. Horton's class), 9, 12 and 13. Not only are class reps a critical link in BSW's communication with parents, but they are critical to enhancing the social and extra-curricular lives of our children. Please, if you have any time at all to spare and have a child in one of the above classes, e-mail CJWButler@aol.com as soon as possible.