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Baleares International College 'One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world’

Malala Yousafzai , United Nations on 12 July 2013; Malala Day at the UK, the date of her 16th birthday.

We are now well into the new term and the Christmas break seems a distant memory. It was good to see so many children return to school with energy and enthusiasm. This is an especially important term for those students in examination years and the mock exams will be further preparation for the sessions in May and June. The new term also sees the arrival of two new colleagues to the school, Miss Victoria Shakespeare and Mrs. Katherine Ikonen. The newly created English Additional Language department will develop the learning outcomes of all students and Mrs Ikonen’s contribution to the English department has already made a great impact. In addition, it is lovely to see a familiar face return, Lauren Payet re-joins BIC and now takes on the role of Admissions Officer with Marketing Responsibilities. Welcome back! The school is in the process of appointing a new Head of Secondary and the interview process has already begun. We look forward to sharing news of the successful appointment and begin the exciting new phase of secondary development. Mrs Shimmel will undertake the duties of Acting Head of Secondary until the end of the academic year, ably supported by the Key Stage leaders and Heads of Department. At BIC we also value the collaboration of parents and we were most excited to see so many of you in Otto Rosso late in January. The ‘Growth Mindset’ workshop offered parents the opportunity to share in Tricia Taylor’s expertise. The evening was a prelude to the INSET day for staff on the same topic that saw collegues from Sant Agusti and fellow NABSS schools, The Academy and Queen’s College attend. At the school we are always keen to promote learning opportunities outside of the classroom and we were delighted to support the ‘A’ level Physics students through a trip to CERN in Geneva. The Spanish department is organising a trip to Madrid for later in the year. This will allow Year 8 students to discover the rich and varied cultural heritage of the capital. Our extra-curricular activities continues to grow, Joe Noteabert, a gold medallist in the 2013 World championships is already running a very successful Brazilian Jiu Jistsu club (BJJ). The school is also happy to confirm that Francesca Fox, a member of the TEAM GB gymnastics team at the London 2012 Olympics and bronze medallist at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 will also be running a new gymnastics club. As you can see, we make every effort to ensure that BIC continues to advance towards our shared goal of becoming the school of choice for the international community in Mallorca.

January 2017

Duncan Giles, Principal

Growth Mindset at work

Baleares International College has been focusing this past week on 'Growth Mindset' in anticipation of a day-long workshop for staff.

Students at the school have been taking part in assemblies that introduce the concept and views of a ‘Growth Mindset versus a Fixed Mindset’. This was in preparation for the full in-service training on Friday 27th January, when teachers from the Sant Agusti and Sa Porrassa campuses met to participate in a workshop led by Ms. Tricia Taylor of 'TailoredPractice. Ms Taylor, who travelled from London for this event has been teaching and leading in schools in the UK and New York City for the past 20 years.

The research on ‘Growth Mindset’ is largely the work of Carol S. Dweck, who is a professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Professor Dweck summarises the approach as follows: “As educators, we want all of the students we teach to profit from our efforts. A ‘Growth Mindset’ – ours and theirs – helps students to seek learning, to love learning, and to learn effectively”.

As a prelude to the INSET, a parent workshop was held at nearby 'Otto Rosso' on Thursday evening focusing on 'How your praise has a lasting impact on your child's success'. This event was attended by over 70 parents from both campuses and allowed both school communities to continue to come together. The responses from parents about the workshop was overwhelmingly positive and the feedback received will shape how and when future events are organised.

“I feel very happy and informed, this is very helpful…(Tricia) was very informative, I’m so glad she will be with the teachers tomorrow”

“Brilliant workshop, very interesting. Thank you.”

At BIC, we know that students who have a certain mindset or attitude to learning, are more successful in school and happier in their learning. A Growth Mindset helps students to seek new challenges and persevere when faced with hard work. A child’s belief about intelligence along with an understanding of the brain, has a big impact on motivation and we are committed as a school to instilling a Growth Mindset.

BIC Sixth Form visit CERN in Geneva Members of Year 12 and 13 taking Physics A Level as well as those taking the single science in Year 11 visited CERN in Switzerland.

''CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe. They use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.''

On their return they are now applying the information and knowledge gained into their studies and in doing so, see the positive impact the trip has had on their learning outcomes.

Year 9 attend Macbeth

Students in Year 9 were able to support their English Literature studies by attending an English language production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Performed by the Morgana Theatre Company, the performance allowed students to see one of the great tragedies of Shakespeare's work.

Ms. Victoria Shakespeare (EAL secondary)

The ability to access the curriculum is essential for all students, but this is never more true for those in examination years in particular and secondary as a whole. Miss Shakespeare joins the school after having spent more than a decade as an EAL teacher for both the private sector and students. Her passion for language and her exceptional inter-personal skills make her an inspired appointment. In the short time she has been here, Miss Shakespeare has already met with every student in the secondary department and had devised intervention strategies to not only assist those for whom English represents a challenge, but also those who with some additional support can further develop and enhance their understanding. Her focus will be on one-to-one tuition, teaching in small groups, lesson support and the creation of resources and strategies for class teachers; we are all teachers of English!

New staff at BIC

Baleares International College is delighted to welcome the two newest members of the teaching faculty.

Mrs. Katherine Ikonen (English)

With over 25 years teaching experience at two of the UK’s leading independent schools, Brighton College and Lancing College, Mrs Ikonen accepted the English post before the end of last term. A highly skilled classroom practitioner, Mrs Ikonen has already made her mark in the department and will be a key contributor to its on-going development and success. A leading practitioner, her experience outside of the classroom has afforded her the opportunity to be an INSET coordinator across the UK, as well as delivering teaching and learning strategies to teachers; curriculum support and leading revision courses for AS/A2 English revision.

We wish Mrs. Ikonen a very rewarding and successful time at the school. We are confident her experience and passion for her subject will be enjoyed by all.

Making coleslaw

At BIC we believe that when children take part actively in their learning it becomes far more meaningful.

This week Year 1&2 Geckos with Miss Upton and Mrs Rouse made the traditional dish "Coleslaw" which relates to their topic "plants and their uses".

The KS1 class are learning all about fruit and vegetables that come from plants and seeing how we can make things from the natural ingredients! Here are some photos of the Geckos in action...

Tzatziki with the Butterflies

Yesterday the Butterflies class along with Miss Xidakis made a traditional Greek inspired dip ´Tzatziki´, which relates to their topic ´plants and their uses´ where they are learning all about growing their own products. The children then enjoyed the fresh dip with some crackers for their snack time!

Happy Chinese New Year

Mrs Bakes and her Year 4 class have been studying China, Chinese Zodiacs and Yin Yang's. They’ve been recreating their own Honest Zodiac Calendar. There are some amazing, creative pieces of work and they are now up in the primary corridor on display for the whole school!!

Here are some pictures of the children in action and some of the final pieces! Well done 4B!

BIC Sant Agusti go to see Aladdin

At BIC, Sant Agusti, KS1 and KS2 had a fantastic visit to the Teatre Xesc Forteza to see a production of Aladdin. Miss Martinez said "I loved the magic carpet and lamp. It was lovely to walk the children around the old town of Palma afterwards".

Daniella said: "It was funny when the monkey jumped on Aladdin´s head!". We were amazed that there were only three actors in the whole show...well, and the magic lamp. After lunch we went to the Parc de la Mar where the children enjoyed the playground and beautiful sunshine.

We are happy to share news of what colleagues and students at our ‘sister’ site in Sant Agusti are up to:

News from Baleares International College (Sant Agusti)

From the Office

Car Parking The local council sends traffic police to most schools in the Calvia area in an attempt to pa-cify traffic during peak hours. This increased presence however, does mean than there are some knock-on effects: mem-bers of the school community have received fixed penalty notices from parking along the 'No Parking' area outside the main building. We would like to remind parents that this area is council property and that the school has no jurisdiction over this space. Parking should be limited to the bays provided and not in the clearly signposted 'No Parking' areas. Police officers were seen in the morning photographing vehicle registration plates. The school Principal discussed the matter with the officers and this is part of a council drive to regularise all resident vehicles. More information can be found at the following link:

www.ibexinsure.com/news-item/re-matriculation-spanish-plates The Direccion General de Traficio www.dgt.es will also provide detailed information. A reminder that the school has its own signposted 600+ car park a short walk from the school just past roundabout 8. Pets on school grounds Please can we remind parents to NOT bring dogs onto the school grounds. These can pre-sent a health and safety risk to younger students and we kindly ask you to adhere to our requests. School Uniform The school will be sharing an update on the new school uniform shortly. Three companies have been short-listed to provide the school with the new uniform, Tejidos Bellver, Hugo Projects and El Corte Ingles. A final decision will be made later in the term.

We have noted that students are arriving into school with a variety of clothes items that are not in keeping with our uniform guidelines. We recognise that there is some flexibility in this transition stage, but jeans, black trainers with white soles and hoodies are not accepta-ble. School Calendar We are happy to share with parents the school calendar for the academic year 2017-18. These are the key dates with regards to the start and the end of term. We understand that many members of our community make travel arrangements based on these dates and we felt it important to share these with you as soon as possible. The school will now work on selecting key events for the term days and will again, aim to share these with you once complete.

B E L I E V E · I N S P I R E · C H A L L E N G E

School calendar for the academic year 2017-18