December 2009 - British School Of Bucharest

The British School of Bucharest Magazine 

Issue 2 - December 2009 

Visit the BSB website at www.britishschool.ro 

Gafencu students taking advantage 

of the unusually warm autumnal weather 

Weather often plays a major role in the life of students, 

whether by way of a last minute change to a lesson plan, 

by the effect it has on schools trips, or simply by deciding 

how students enjoy their break times, and in autumn 

this is especially so, as you will discover in this issue of 

Newsblast. 

Bronze Expedition Underway 

The end of term one was a very busy time for 

Duke of Edinburgh participants as they planned, 

prepared for, and completed their Bronze overnight 

expedition. Under the watchful eyes of Mr Kevin 

Power and Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, Naomi, Polen, and 

Eda Year 8, and Louisa and Bethan, Year 10, braved 

the rainy weather. 

Healthy Schools Week 

One of the busiest weeks of the calendar this term 

was undoubtedly Healthy Schools Week, complete 

with assemblies, art competitions, bake sales, 

and a host of interesting classroom activities. One 

of the highlights of the week, enjoyed by both 

students and teachers alike, was the early morning 

callisthenics session led by our very own Mr (Bruce 

Lee) Williams. 

3T students prepare for Christmas 

The lead up to Christmas and New Year has been 

as busy a time as ever with students across the 

primary school involved in the mass production of 

cards and Christmas and New Year decorations. You 

can find out just what they have all been up to over 

this very busy time of the school year.


Contents 

· Editor’s Note 2 

· Craze of the Week: Conkers 2 

· Principal’s Report 3 

· The Front Desk 3 

· EYFS Gafencu Report 4 

· EYFS Pipera Report 4 

· Key Stage 1 Report 4 

· Key Stage 2 Report 5 

· Primary School Report 5 

· Secondary School Report 5 

· Where are they now? 6 

· Student Spotlight 6 

· New Teachers 7 

· Primary House Competition 8 

· Secondary House Competition 

Update, December 2009 9 

· Vice House Captain Reports 9 

· Mathematics Day celebrates 

the Number 10, 2009 10 

· Play Live Maths Competition 10 

· Junior Librarians 11 

· A Warm welcome to 

the Primary School Library 11 

· What’s happening in 6H? 11 

· Eco Committee Report 12 

· Irini (3W) wins BSB Spelling Bee 12 

· What’s up in the 

Primary Student Council? 13 

· Secondary Student Council Update 13 

· Science Question of the Week 13 

· Weekly Science Challenge 13 

· BSB Annual 

Shoe Box Appeal, 2009 14 

· Down Syndrome 

Association Bucharest Visits BSB 15 

· International Links 15 

· Year 9 Remembrance Day 16 

· Year 8 History 16 

· Year 9 Geography 17 

· The Weather Outside is… 

Delightful? (an Eco-English Lesson) 17 

· Duke of Edinburgh 

Bronze Expedition 18 

· YEAR 11/12 WORK EXPERIENCE 19 

· The BSB Radio Show 20 

· The New Listening Centres 

prove popular with 

Primary School Students 20 

· Sleeping: we all do it, 

but how much do you 

really know about it? 20 

· Music Recital Night Entertains 

All Present 21 

· University Courses Review 28 

· BSB University, Term 1 28 

· DT continues to go from 

strength to strength 30 

· Risotto: Critical Review 31 

· Creche and Preschool put 

on Healthy Schools Bake Sale 32 

· EYFS Parents Workshops 32 

· Tuff Cams 32 

· Healthy Schools Week 33 

· Able, Gifted and Talented 

at the Early Years and 

Foundation Stage 34 

· Winter Vegetables in the EYFS 34 

· Class Pages 35-40 

· Adult Art classes have again 

been very popular 

this year with parents 41 

· Adult English Classes: 41 

· Back to school 41 

· PTA Update 42 

· New Additions to 

the Resource Centre 42 

· Child Protection Course 42 

· The BSB Calendar 43 

· Red House Book Club 43 

Editor’s Note 

I am particularly happy this year to 

have the second issue of Newsblast 

out before the Christmas and New 

Year break as we have not normally 

devoted a lot of space to the build 

up to Christmas, because there is 

nothing worse than reading about 

the preparations for Christmas and 

New Year post Christmas and New 

Year - it’s a little like arriving at a 

party when it is almost over. For 

this reason Issue 2 this year has a 

slightly different, more festive feel 

to it than in the previous years, 

which is great as the school is hive 

of activity and excitement at this 

time of year and it is nice to be able 

to capture some of this feeling in this 

issue. 

There has certainly been a lot going 

on both on and off campus in the 

past two months, with students 

celebrating Maths Day and Healthy 

Schools Week, and enjoying school 

trips away to Busteni, Herastrau 

Park, The National Museum of Art 

and Kretzulescu Palace, to name just 

a few. There have also been a host 

of guests to our school, including 

the Down Syndrome Association 

of Bucharest and John Aston, from 

AstonEco Management, along with 

others, helping to contribute to the 

education of our students. All this 

you can read about in this issue. You 

can also read about what has been 

going on in the classrooms and learn 

how 6H have been using power point 

Craze of the Week: Conkers 

The first ‘Craze of the Week’ for BSB 

was a classic, dating back to 1848. 

Mr Leese and 5L chose autumn as the 

perfect time to teach all the students 

a very exciting game called ‘Conkers’. 

The name Conkers means ‘Hard’ 

and first began in the Isle of Wight, 

using Horse Chestnuts. To play the 

game you must first find your Battle 

Conker, which is why this game must 

be played in September or October 

because this is when the chestnuts 

fall from the tree. Once you have 

found the biggest, strongest chestnut, 

you must drill a hole through the 

middle with a small nail being very 

careful not to damage it. Then you 

put a string through it and tie a knot 

at the end so that it will never fall off. 

Now you are ready for battle! 

Heading out to the playground, you 

look for other students with Conkers, 

and challenge them to a Conker 

Fight. To play, you take turns hitting 

the other person’s Conker, trying to 

break it off its string. If you break 

the chestnut in half or knock it off 

the string you WIN, but beware, with 

every good hit your own Conker is at 

risk of breaking too. If you win one 

battle, you can name you Conker a 

‘1er’, if you win 2 it is a ‘2er’ and so 

on. 

Everyone at BSB really enjoyed our 

Conker Craze and can’t wait until next 

Fall…Conker season! 

Alessandro, 5L 

presentations in class, where Year 5 

have been to, why Reception B are 

not afraid of the dark, and what our 

Year 8 and 9 students have been 

learning in History- all this, and a lot 

more. 

I would like to finish by thanking 

those who have contributed to this 

issue, including all the teachers and 

students, but in particular, the ever 

industrious Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, 

Mr Brad Hamacher, Mr Iain Davidson 

and Ms Jen Kemp. Your help and 

effort is very much appreciated. 

I would also like to join with the 

many other voices in this issue 

in thanking the PTA for the many 

positive changes you have been 

making to BSB with your generous 

contributions of both money and 

time. We very much appreciate all 

that you do for us. 

I hope you all enjoy reading Issue 2 

and if you have any suggestions for 

articles that you would like to see 

included in Issue 3, please email me 

directly. 

Mr Kendall Peet 

kendall.peet@britishschool.ro 

David (4D) holds up his champion Conker, which had recently become a ‘2er’ 

Gabi and David from 4D do battle in BSB’s first Craze of the Week, ‘Conkers!’ 

2


Principal’s 

Report 

Dear Parents & Friends of BSB, 

One of the greatest things about 

working in schools is that you get the 

euphoria and adrenalin rush of two 

starts to the year, the calendar year 

and the academic year. Academically 

we have had a wonderfully smooth 

start to the school year this term, and 

it has been amazing to contemplate 

about how much is going on at BSB 

in terms of opportunities for learning 

and development for students 

and staff. This is certainly a result 

of just how hard the teachers are 

working and how enthusiastic our 

students are, inspiring new ideas and 

initiatives. 

In just a few weeks many of our 

families and students will be 

welcoming in the New Year, a time for 

new resolutions, fresh attitudes and 

approaches. It is a time for reflection 

and also a time to look to the future. 

Within the school community the 

processes of reflection and strategic 

planning are a vital part of our ongoing 

work, and this year we have 

a major cause for reflection as we 

reach our 10th anniversary. Several 

people are already at work on our 

BSB 10 celebrations, Mr. Ward even 

wove it in to our Maths Day to allow 

the children to start to think about 

this milestone. I hope that throughout 

the coming two terms you are all 

able to help us celebrate at one 

event or occasion: I consider it is very 

important for the school community 

to mark this year in style, and see it 

as a wonderful achievement. Plans 

are under way for a BSB10 Ball in 

March and the Summer Fair aims 

to be even bigger than in previous 

years, with the addition of a student 

talent show. Ms Taylor is also working 

on a living museum focusing on the 

school’s development and I know she 

would welcome any information or 

photographs that may add to this. 

In reflecting on all the school has 

achieved, I must recall all the staff 

and families past and present who 

have helped BSB develop. We keep 

in touch with many of our past pupils 

and staff members which is an 

honour, and it is of course always sad 

to say goodbye. This December we 

will be saying farewell to Mrs. Beate 

Houette who is leaving to join her 

husband in Scotland, and we thank 

her for all her work in school, both 

in the Secondary Maths department 

but also with all the extra-curricular 

events and clubs she has helped 

organise. We must also wish the best 

of luck to Ms Deanna Beggs who is 

leaving to have her baby in January, 

we are sure she will drop in to see us 

all very soon. Mrs. Jennifer Leay and 

Ms Claire Cowlishaw will be joining 

us from January to fill these teaching 

roles. 

We must also say a very sad goodbye 

to Mr. Stefan Jipa who has been 

associated with the school for 

many years, first through his wife 

Andreea and then by joining our 

staff as our medical officer. Stefan 

soon became involved with the ICT/ 

AV department as the needs of the 

school grew, indeed this department 

has become a lynchpin for many of 

the developments at the school, 

from everything to report formats to 

the introduction of the inter-active 

whiteboards. I can hardly imagine an 

area that has not been touched by his 

hard work and so we extend a huge 

thanks to Stefan and wish him all 

the best as he leaves to spend more 

time with his baby Magdalena, and 

establishing his family home outside 

of Bucharest. We hope he will stay in 

touch and we will see them all from 

time to time when they visit the city. 

So as we all take a well-deserved 

break, and hopefully some time to 

reflect on the successes of 2009, I 

wish you all a wonderful holiday and 

the very best for 2010. 

Jo Puddy-Wells 

principal@britishschool.ro 

The Front Desk 

If you need any in formation or help in regard to 

your child’s education and support at BSB, please 

do not hesitate to contact our office team during 

normal working hours, 

8.00am-5.00pm, 

Monday-Friday. 

For general enquires or sports and clubs please 

contact: 

Sandra Cristea, Office Manager 

Diana Udor, Office &Student Services Assistant 

Adina Suciu, Office Assistant 

Email: office@britishschool.ro 

Tel: 021 267 8919 

Fax: 021 267 8969 

Office staff 

For specific help relating to school transport and 

student lunches, please contact: 

Diana Udor 

Email: services@britishschool.ro 

Mob: 0728 133 432/3 

Tel: 021 267 8919 

Fax: 021 267 8969 


3


EYFS Gafencu 

Report 

The autumn term at Gafencu has 

been a very exciting one. We had 

several new starts, for adults, for 

children, for curriculum initiatives, 

and not least Preschool moving into 

the garden classroom. As the term 

has gone on we have all noticed the 

children becoming more confident 

and relaxed, and developing a 

sense of belonging and ownership. 

The Early Years Foundation Stage 

framework gives equal balance to 

the learning environment, being 

either indoors or outdoors, and we 

have developed the daily timetable 

so that all the children can decide 

where they want tobe. 

Many of the Preschool children, 

having arrived at school by the 

front door, frequently walk directly 

through the Preschool classroom 

and out in to the garden, and only 

the most dreadful weather brings 

them all back in! The Reception 

children do have certain specific 

indoor teaching times, but they 

also have the option to be indoors 

or outdoors at all other times; an 

opportunity which some of them 

regularly take up. The Crèche 

children are now, having settled into 

their room with their adults, being 

encouraged to make their own 

decisions about where to be. 

The Outdoor Environment provides 

the children with new interests 

and extends learning outside the 

traditional classroom boundaries. 

We work in accordance with the 

Early Years Foundation Stage 

Guidelines, divided into 6 Areas of 

Learning, of which Personal Social 

Emotional development is the 

most important, and playing in the 

garden provides ideal opportunities 

for sharing toys and equipment, of 

being mindful of younger children 

and for getting to know all the 

adults in Gafencu, which in itself 

will reduce the stress of being 

without the support of our parents; 

as a famous quote states, “for 

young children, there is no such 

thing as inappropriate weather, only 

inappropriate clothing.” 

Our parents have been very 

supportive, and mindful of the 

seasonal weather changes, 

supplying us with appropriate 

clothing and lots of it; all of which is 

named. They are also demonstrating 

their patience and understanding 

in recognizing that the children are 

really benefiting from their outdoor 

experiences. We thank you for your 

continued support. 

Ms Kath Homer, 

EYFS Coordinator, Gafencu 

EYFS Pipera 

Report 

As always life in EYFS continues to 

be busy, inspiring and often full of 

surprises. Personally I have really 

enjoyed getting to know all the 

children over the first term and am 

constantly amazed by the progress 

they are all making. 

You can read in various sections of 

Newsblast about our bake sales, 

new cameras and other wonderful 

class activities. Thank you to all the 

parents who have been looking at 

the Blogs. Everytime we log on to 

look at the Blogs with the children, 

or to update, them we are all 

impressed by the number of visitors 

we are getting. This definitely 

encourages us to keep them as 

updated as we can. 

We are currently all working very 

hard on our festive production of 

’O Christmas Tree’. By the time you 

read this you will probably have 

seen our performance and hopefully 

fully enjoyed it and appreciated all 

the hard work the children put in, 

along with all the staff. This time of 

year is always a wonderful time to 

work in a school, it is heartwarming 

seeing the children so excited 

when they spot their family in 

the audience and the odd tear of 

proudness from the parents. 

I would like to take this opportunity to 

thank Ms Deanna (Reception B class 

teacher) as she temporarily leaves 

us to have a baby. We shall all really 

miss her and cannot wait for her to 

visit us in the New Year. I know her 

class will miss her but I am sure they 

will all be excited to meet thier new 

teacher Ms Claire, who I know will 

bring with her lots of enthusiasm and 

ideas to EYFS Pipera. 

Happy holidays and all the best for 

2010 

Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, 

EYFS Coordinator Pipera 

Key Stage 1 

Report 

It has been a very busy time in Key 

Stage1 this term. We had exciting 

trips to the Military Museum where 

children were able to view military 

equipment from different ages and 

explore interactive displays, and 

to the Botanical Gardens where 

children were able to discover and 

sketch plants in their local area. 

After the success of these trips we 

are eagerly looking forward to more 

trips throughout the school year 

and would welcome any ideas from 

parents withregard to good places 

to visit as we would like to expand 

our list of venues. 

Years 1 and 2 have all finished their 

first class assemblies with a great 

turnout from the parents. It was 

exciting to see the different things 

the children have learned and also 

to see their increased confidence 

in front of people. We look forward 

to more superb assemblies after 

Christmas. The children have also 

just finished their first University 

course session, which was enjoyed 

by all concerned. The children very 

much look forward to University 

time each week and cannot wait to 

get back to class to tell and show us 

what they have learned and done. 

As you might imagine, the students 

are already anticipating the next 

University session in January. 

As always there are many events 

each term. Maths Day was a huge 

success and the children enjoyed 

doing different activities. We 

welcomed the visits by the parents 

who gave very positive feedback on 

the many activities. Healthy Schools 

Week showed us the many ways 

that we can be healthy. We looked 

at how healthy our snacks were and 

were visited by the dentist, which 

you can read more about this in 

this issue. The Year 6 children also 

put on an excellent assembly for 

Key Stage 1 on ways to be healthy. 

Thank you to Year 6 children. 

The Key Stage 1 team would 

especially like to thank the parents 

for their continued support and 

assistance. Please remember to 

check homework/communication 

books, and the Class Blogs for 

information and updates. 

Ms Justine Tyler, 

Key Stage 1 Coordinator 

4


Key Stage 2 

Report 

Our House Captains, Vice Captains 

and newly created playground 

leaders are all working hard to help 

ensure that our playground is a 

friendly and enjoyable area for all 

the pupils, whilst our school council 

and eco-committee members are 

continuing to both raise pupils 

issues and also our environmental 

awareness. The recently observed 

‘Earth Hour’ being one example, 

Primary 

School 

Report 

As always, the run up to the 

winter holidays has been a busy 

and exciting time in Primary. The 

children have all been working hard 

on producing ‘Robin Hood’ and 

‘Rosie the Reindeer’, and judging by 

the singing and acting talent shown 

by the children in rehearsals; I am 

certain these productions will be as 

entertaining as ever. 

There have been many highlights 

to the year so far, including a 

celebration of the number ‘ten’ for 

this year’s Mathematics Day, which 

Secondary 

School 

Report 

The first term has been a hectic 

one with a wide range of activities 

having taken place. Year 11 

students have been out on work 

experience placements, Key Stage 

3 students have participated 

in Design Technology days and 

everybody is working towards 

the school production which 

will be held on Wednesday 9th 

December. In the assemblies 

we have welcomed outside 

speakers and were entertained by 

visitors from the Down Syndrome 

Association who are based in 

Bucharest. In September our MFL 

teachers hosted Language week 

offering varied and entertaining 

activities for the whole school to 

participate in. Our International 

Award students have trekked and 

camped out in Snagov and are 

now planning more excursions. 

Students have entertained 

parents with a wonderful musical 

evening and have been able to 

impress everybody once again 

with their musical talents. Finally, 

which I know both pupils and 

teachers found an interesting 

experience when asked not to use 

any electricity for an hour. This term 

has also seen our special ‘Harvest 

Festival’ assembly, our popular 

Maths Day, the launch of our annual 

BSB Shoe Box Appeal and more 

recently our rehearsals for this year’s 

winter production, ‘Robin Hood’. 

As always, the school continues 

to grow and we have several new 

pupils who have joined us recently 

including Anisia in 4D, Alessandro 

in 3T and Sebastiano and Benedetta 

in 4D and 6H respectively. We 

was a huge success and greatly 

enjoyed- a big thank you to Mr Ward 

and all the teachers for putting this 

together. 

The library now has a new layout to 

go with its new books and listening 

centre, which has been greeted with 

great enthusiasm by all the pupils. 

They have also enjoyed our new 

classroom listening centres as well 

as the ‘podcasting’ recorder, which 

the BSB radio crew have all had fun 

learning how to use. BIG writing is 

well underway, which is evident in 

all the class displays, lessons and 

of course the writing work of the 

children; some of the poetry work, 

in particular, has been of a very 

high standard, and I have been 

very impressed with the progress 

made by many of the children in 

the new student learning garden 

has given our budding scientists 

the opportunity to work on water 

temperatures, oxygen levels and 

the opportunity to put into practice 

some of the knowledge they have 

learnt in class. 

The Art department is opening its 

doors with an exhibition of student 

and parent work. Sketch books 

and the art work produced by our 

students provide wonderful work 

to be viewed. Parents will be able 

to see the ‘tall girl’ so named as 

the art work stands over 7 feet tall 

and forms part of the portfolio 

created by Andreea, Year 11, for her 

IGCSE work. All Year 11 students 

will exhibit their work, which is 

truly spectacular and demonstrates 

the talent and creativity I wish I 

possessed. The work entered by 

the students in the Healthy Schools 

competition will also be displayed 

and first prize was awarded 

to Jennea, Year 8. Key Stage 3 

students took part in the Climate 

competition, with students able to 

see their work hanging in the halls 

of the UNESCO building when they 

were invited to the viewing. 

Next term will begin with Year 

11 mock examinations which 

begin 11th January. We will 

also be entering our first Key 

Stage 5 students for their AS 

have also had new members of 

staff joining us in Key Stage 2 – Ms 

Milena Gugiu the teaching assistant 

in Year 6U and Ms Daniela Tamas 

who is now working with 3T. A very 

warm welcome to all our new pupils, 

parents and staff members who 

have joined the BSB family recently. 

Finally, I would just like to wish 

everyone a very happy holiday and 

say that I look forward to seeing you 

all again at the start of our new term 

in January. 

Mr Iain Davidson, 

Key Stage 2 Coordinator 

this area. The community spirit this 

year is also at an all time high. The 

new playtime monitors, playpals, 

tech crew members and library 

monitors have all greatly added to 

the wonderful work done by the 

House Captains, Vice Captains and 

our student council. It has been 

wonderful to see so many children 

involved in making their school a 

better place, and so thanks to Mr 

Hamacher for being the instigator of 

so many new initiatives this year. 

I would also like to wish everyone 

a wonderful holiday with their 

families and a very Happy New Year. 

Ms Naima Hussain, 

Head of Primary 

examinations next month. We wish 

all our students success in their 

examinations and teachers and 

parents alike will be encouraging 

them to revise over the Christmas 

vacation. Also during the coming 

term we will be hosting the 

secondary production of ‘Bugsy’ 

and Mr Kelly and Mr Mulvany will 

be holding auditions for students 

wanting to take part. 

We sadly have to say goodbye to 

Mrs Houette who has been with 

the school since last Christmas. 

She and her two sons, Charles and 

Louis, will be joining Mr Houette in 

Aberdeen. Mrs Houette has taught 

Mathematics to all the secondary 

students and she will be missed 

by students and teachers alike. We 

wish both her and her family well in 

their new life in Scotland. Mrs Leay 

will be joining the secondary team 

as the Mathematics teacher. She 

has been teaching for a number of 

years in the UK. She will join us in 

January, along with her husband 

and two children. 

Finally, may I take this opportunity to 

wish you all a peaceful and relaxing 

holiday - I look forward to welcoming 

back our students in January. 

Ms Jane Greenwood, 

Head of Secondary School 


5


Where are 

they now? 

Dear BSB, 

Student 

Spotlight 

What is your favourite sport? 

My favourite sport is cricket 

When grow up what do you want 

to be? 

I want to become a biologist. 

I just wanted to say hello and send 

you a picture with Francesca. I will 

most likely be coming to the Artisan 

Fair in December to pick out a 

Christmas presents and look forward 

to catching up with a few familiar 

faces then. I look forward to seeing 

many of your there, but for those of 

you I miss, I would like to wish you 

all a very Merry Christmas and all the 

best in the New Year. 

Mrs Priscilla Varban, Creche G teacher in 2008 

Mahmoud, Year 12, is 17 years 

old and has been at BSB since he 

moved to Romania in 2005. He 

likes listening to music, particularly 

house and club music, and DJs 

at parties as a hobby. One of the 

things that Mahmoud does not like 

is when there are problems with 

his computer that are difficult to 

fix. This is his last year of school as 

he will be attending the American 

University of Beirut next year, 

where he is going to live. In regard 

to the future, Mahmoud says is 

looking forward to learning how to 

drive. He is also the House Captain 

of Olt. 

Interviewed by Bethan, Year 10 

Filippo, 7P, is 11 years old and 

is from Rome Italy and so obviously 

speaks Italian. He has one sister 

called Thea. Filippo is in his first 

year of Secondary and says it is a 

huge change from Primary. He has 

been at BSB for 8 years and says he 

thinks the school is “superb”; he 

also mentioned that the teachers 

are fun and that you learn a lot. 

His best friends in the school are 

Robert, Johann, Antonio and Basil. 

Filippo’s favourite hobby is skiing 

as he thinks it is fun and especially 

likes to win skiing competitions 

with shiny medals. He also likes 

lasagna and the movie Austin 

Powers. His favourite drink is Coca 

Cola. The best present he has 

ever received is a motorcycle, 

which was a gift from his uncle. 

Interviewed by May, Year 10 

Interview by Hitharth, 4D 

Anisia, 4D 

What’s your name? Anisa 

Where do you come from? Romania 

How old are you? 8 

Do you like your teacher? Yes. 

What is your favourite thing about 

BSB? University 

What do you not like about BSB? 

Nothing 

What is your favourite subject? PE 

What house team are you in? Olt 

Interview by Alina, 5M 

Alvaro, Year 12, is 16 years old and 

has been living in Bucharest for 3 

years and has been a student at the 

British School of Bucharest for 3 

years also. Over the time span of 3 

years he managed to teach himself 

how to speak Romanian, and also 

speaks 5 other languages (Spanish, 

Italian, English, Greek and German), 

4 of which he speaks fluently. 

Alvaro was born in Santander, 

Spain, and has 1 brother, Jaime, 

and two step sisters – Francesca 

and Michela. He has no pets. His 

hobbies include playing sports 

and going out with friends. Alvaro 

admitted to being a student who 

enjoys reading. His favourite food 

is pizza and pasta and he likes 

drinking Coca-Cola. If you would 

like to hear some of Alvaro’s great 

stories, make sure to speak with 

him during the break times. 

Interviewed by Mihnea, Year 10 

Jesus, 6H 

What’s your name? 

My name is Jesus 

How many years old are you? 

I am 10 years old 

Which class are you in? 

I am in 6H 

What is your favourite food? 

My favourite food is ice-cream 

What do you like about BSB? 

I like the P.E 

What do like about Romania? 

I like Bran Castle 

Do you think living in Romania is 

better than the country you come 

from? 

Yes, living in Romania is much 

better than living in Venezuela 

What is your favourite subject? 

My favourite subject is Maths 

Hung, 5M 

What’s your name? 

Hung (Nick name: Lia) 

Where do you come from? 

Korea 

How old are you? 8 

Do you like your teacher? Yes 

What is your favourite thing about 

BSB? Club 

What do you not like about BSB? 

Nothing 

What is your favourite subject? PE 

What house team are you in? 

Danube 

Interview by Alina, 5M 

6


New Staff 

Ms Sandra Cristea 

New Office Managerr 

Ms Christine Stowe 

Reception teacher at Gafencu 

Mrs Sandra Cristea has recently 

joined our community at BSB 

as the new Office Manager at 

Pipera. When I asked Ms. Sandra 

where she worked previously, she 

told me she worked for Oracle, 

a software company, in the 

marketing department and was the 

administrator of all the logistics 

operations of the company. Ms 

Cristea also told me that working 

for BSB is very different from Oracle 

as BSB is a school, while Oracle is a 

software company and so there is a 

‘different feel of activity’. If you see 

Ms Cristea around the BSB campus, 

please make sure to greet her and 

make her feel welcome! 

Louisa, Year 10 

Here are some of the questions that 

the Reception children at Gafencu 

asked her. 

Q. Can you swim? 

Yes. 

Q. Can you eat by yourself? 

Yes. 

Q. Where have you been on a map? 

France, Romania, Holland, 

Russia, Scotland, Jordan and 

Jersey. 

Q. How many have you? (How old? 

(Laughing) 21 

Q. Can you cook? Yes. 

Q. What is your favourite flower? 

sunflower. 

Q. What is your favourite colour. 

Blue. 

Q. What is your favourite animal? 

A dog. 

Q. What is your favourite ice-cream 

flavour? 

Vanilla. 

Mr James Ward 

1W Class teacher 

James Ward, born in the 60s 

in Buckinghamshire, spent his 

childhood years in South Africa. In 

his opinion growing up in the 70s 

was much better than nowadays 

because the television and mobile 

phones hadn’t reached South Africa 

then and he spent much of his free 

time partaking in outdoor activities 

and doing craft work. He told me 

that South Africa is a very beautiful 

place, if you are able to look beyond 

Ms Jane Taylor 

3T Class teacher 

the politics and the poverty that 

some people have to deal with. His 

interests include squash, walking, 

scuba diving, reading, and cooking. 

He doesn’t have a favourite interest 

because in his opinion your social 

activities depend very much on 

the country that you are living in. 

Outside school he enjoys watching 

National Geographic and nature 

documentaries and prefer to 

watch a profound film rather than 

a Hollywood blockbuster. He has 

lived in Romania for 3 years and 

since being here he has visited the 

Danube Delta, the Black Sea, and 

the mountains. His impressions of 

Bucharest since arriving are that 

there are very nice historical areas 

and he is in awe of the grandeur of 

the old buildings. During his time as 

a teacher he has taught in several 

countries: Austria, Greece, Spain, 

and Thailand. He started teaching 

on the South coast of England. 

He said that he prefers teaching 

internationally as the students are 

better behaved. Given 4 words to 

describe himself he picked out the 

words optimistic, humanitarian, jolly 

and altruistic. 

Interviewed by Isabel, Year 11 

Ms Stowe comes to us from London, 

England. She has many years 

experience of childcare and loves 

her job. She jokes that she has come 

form Her Majesty’s Prison in London 

but the children agree that she is too 

nice for that to be true. Her hobbies 

include walking, swimming, and 

reading a cross section of books. 

She likes Bucharest and has been 

enjoying her time here. 

Q. How long have you been in 

Romania? 

I’ve been here since August. 

Q. Where are you from? 

I come from England. 

Q. Where had you been teaching 

before BSB? 

I was teaching in Spain and the 

Middle East. 

Ms Kellyanne 

Feeney 

Reception G teacher Gafencu 

These are the questions that her 

class, the Reception children at 

Gafencu, asked her. 

Q. Can you swim? 

No. 

Q. Can you eat by yourself? 

Yes. 

Q. Where have you been on a map? 

Scotland, England, Romania, 

Greece, Italy and Cyprus. 

Q. How old?25. 

Q. Can you cook? 

Unfortunately, no. 

Q. What is your favourite flower? 

A red gerbera. 

Q. What is your favourite colour. 

Orange. 

Q. What is your favourite animal? 

A tiger. 

Q. What is your favourite ice-cream 

flavour? 

Mint. 

Ms Theresea Collins 

Year 1C teacher 

Very friendly and beautiful city. 

Q: What were your first impressions 

of BSB? 

It looked like a fantastic place 

to work with lots of motivated 

children. 

Q: What are your hobbies? 

A: Exploring and travelling, 

shopping, going to the theatre 

and concerts. 

Q: What do you hope to accomplish 

while living in Romania and 

teaching at BSB? 

A: I hope to see the country and 

to enjoy my time teaching here 

Q: If you could eat anything right 

now, what would it be? 

A: Mushroom Stroganoff. 

Ms Feeney comes from Glasgow, 

Scotland. She has taught children 

and says that this is her first time 

teaching abroad. She likes Bucharest 

because of all the old buildings and 

history. Her hobbies are reading, 

spending time with her friends and 

family, and sleeping. 

Q: Where were you teaching last 

year? 

In Newcastle, England. 

Q: What were your first impressions 

of Bucharest? 

Interview by Sanya, 6H 


7

Primary 

House 

Competition 

The House Team competition 

continues to be very exciting this 

half term with a change in the leader 

board – Arges are now in the lead 

with 1806 points with Olt hot on 

their heels with 1729 points. Danube 

and Mures are not too far away with 

1605 and 1579 points respectively. 

There have been lots of separate 

contests including dodgeball and 

football in the break time games and 

fun activities for the house teams 

in class assemblies such as 5M’s 

‘Powers of Observation’. 

2000 

1800 

1600 

1400 

1200 

1000 

800 

600 

400 

200 

0 


OLT MUREŞ DANUBE ARGEŞ 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 

Arges Vice Captain Report 

Danube Vice Captain Report 

Mures Vice Captain Report 

Olt Vice Captain Report 

Hi there! My name is Lucie and I 

am the Vice Captain of Arges. I am 

eleven years old and I have one 

sister. For this year me and my House 

Captain Jarod have set up some 

targets for Arges to reach. I hope 

that we all together are going to 

reach our goals for year 2009/10. I 

have one special target this year and 

that is for Jarod and I to lead Arges 

to win the House Team Competition. 

This term we have been busy with 

our House Team games during break. 

We have competed in all events and 

although we did not win, we have 

made a fighting effort. We also made 

Mosaic art with 10-sided shapes on 

Math’s Day as a huge group. Wow, 

it has been a lot of work, but I am 

looking forward to helping Arges win 

next term. 

Arges Vice Captain 

Lucie, 6H, 

My name is Bianca. I’m ten years 

old and I’m Danube’s Vice Captain. 

This half term Danube improved a 

lot with the house points and all 

the activities! I’m really proud of 

Danube…. And my captain is too!!! 

We’re both looking forward to 

winning the Sports Day Cup!!! Go 

Danube!! 

Danube Vice Captain 

Bianca, 6U 

Hi my name is Elena, I’m 11 years old 

and this is my 5th year in the British 

School of Bucharest. For Mures, this 

year we started with Suparnan as 

our Vice-Captain. However, he had 

to move back to India, so I became 

the Vice Captain. Although I was 

sad to see Suparnan leave, I am 

happy to get a chance to be the Vice 

Captain and I assure the team that 

I will do my best. This term Mures 

has worked very hard as a house 

team. For example, on the Math’s 

Day as a team we made a mosaic 

with 10-sided shapes. We have also 

competed with some success in the 

football, dodgeball, and basketball 

matches. We did not win, but at least 

we tried our hardest, and the most 

important thing is that we had a lot 

of fun. I hope that for the next term 

we can achieve all our goals. 

Mures Vice Captain 

Elena, 6H 

Hi, my name is Sanya and I am the 

Vice-Captain for Olt. I am 11 years 

old and I am from India. I have been 

at BSB for 2 years and I think that 

the BSB is a really friendly school. 

This term Olt has done a really good 

job and has worked hard to achieve 

some victories! Olt has worked as a 

team and we always try our best. We 

have competed with some success 

in football, dodgeball and basketball 

and we are looking forward to all 

of our games in the future. We 

also competed in a Mosaic Art 

Competition, where we had to 

decorate a huge letter O (for Olt) with 

10-sided shapes. Lastly, I am sad to 

say good-bye to Olt as I am moving 

back to India next week and must 

leave BSB. I would like to say best of 

luck to Olt. I have enjoyed my time 

here and will miss all my friends and 

fellow Olt team members. Go Olt! 

Olt Vice Captain 

Sanya, 6H 

8


Secondary House 

Competition 

Update, 

December 2009 

The House Point competition has started to heat 

up and the students have been working well for 

their Houses. The competition has been running 

for 4 months and we have already past the 1000 

House Point mark. Since the beginning of term, 

one particular House has won the Weekly Cup 

every week. They have amassed over 1200 House 

Points in such a short amount of time and they 

are…Mures! Lets see if the other Houses can reel 

them in. 

Mures receiving the Weekly House Cup 

New House Point System 

The Secondary school 

has introduced a new 

system to record the 

number of House Points 

each House has achieved 

throughout the week. 

5 House points 

Students are given House 

Point tokens, either 1, 2 or 5, and then they must 

post the token in the relevant House Box ready to 

be counted the following week. Each token box is 

colour coded to match the colours of the Houses to 

make it easier for the students to post their tokens 

in the correct box and not in a rival box. 

1400 

1200 

1000 

800 

600 

400 

200 

0 

Matei, 7P, putting in 5 points for Mures 

OLT MUREŞ DANUBE ARGEŞ 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 

Vice House Captain Reports 

Arges 

I’m Eda from Year 8, and I’m the Vice 

Captain of our amazing team Arges. 

I was a Vice Captain 2 years ago and 

I’m glad my team has chosen me to 

be their Vice Captain again this year. 

Mures 

Hi, I’m Edoardo from Year 11 and this 

is my second year as Vice Captain of 

Mures. I would like to firstly thank 

everyone in Mures for choosing me 

as their Vice Captain. 

Olt 

Hello there I’m May from Year 10, and 

I am the Vice Captain this year of our 

house team Olt (thunderbolt) - thank 

you to everyone in Olt for choosing 

me. I am very happy to be your 

Vice Captain and I promise to try to 

make it a memorable year for Olt. 

Danube 

Hi to everyone in Danube as well 

as to those who are not. First off, I 

would like to express my gratitude 

for voting me as your Vice Captain. 

This year Arges has been working 

quite hard but still can’t seem to 

top the House Point chart, but I 

believe that if we continue to work 

hard and try even harder, that we 

shall achieve our goal and move up 

to the next level. Although it’s been 

challenging for us up until now, I 

have no doubt that we will get the 

house trophy at the end of the year 

because I trust in our teamwork, 

cooperation and enthusiasm. 

I would like to thank all the members 

of my team and also the House 

Captain, Louisa, for trying their best 

to earn points for our team this term. 

Keep up the good work Arges! 

Eda, Year 8, 

Arges Vice House Captain 

I would also like to than everyone 

for the great job they are doing, 

because as you know we are 

currently in first place- a great start 

to the year. Denis and I have noticed 

a lot of effort from every member 

of the team, especially during the 

basketball tournament we had 

recently, so well done to everyone. If 

we keep this up until the end of the 

year we will win without a doubt. I 

would also like to thank Denis, our 

House Captain, and Alex because 

I see their determination and the 

massive amount of work they put 

in around the school to help Mures 

secure victory. They are an example 

to us all. 

Edoaro, Year 11, 

Mures Vice House Captain 

This year, our team has been doing 

very well so far as a lot of people 

have put a big effort into gaining as 

many house points as possible; an 

example of excellent teamwork and 

effort was the success we had at the 

basketball tournament. Although we 

are not currently first, I really think 

we can be if we continue to work 

hard. Continue to be the excellent 

students that we are and I am 

positive that with all your hard work 

and motivation, that we will win this 

year. Just you wait. 

Mahmoud (our house captain) and 

I thank all of the members of Olt for 

participating as much as possible 

and getting as many points as you 

can; if this is not the case, we will 

find ways and ideas for you to earn 

points for our team. Keep up the 

good teamwork guys! 

May, Year 10, 

Olt Vice House Captain 

It was surprising because I didn’t 

plan to become a Vice Captain at 

the start of the year- it was a spur of 

the moment decision. Unfortunately 

we are currently losing, but luckily 

it is not such a significant gap 

because it’s only by 50 points, 

which can easily be made up in 

a short period of time. We aim to 

become a more united force of 

people and to acknowledge and 

reward any individual’s success in 

Danube. Alex and I also purpose 

to start monthly house meetings 

to discuss how to get more points 

and what each person individual 

target is at the moment. We are the 

underdogs in this competition, but I 

am positive that we can easily take 

the lead and eventually go on to win. 

Finally, I would like to congratulate 

Mohamed (Yr 8) for completing two 

merit sheets and also to extend that 

my congratulations to Nikita and 

Danial for their effort and skills in 

Basketball. 

Isabel, Year 11, 

Danube Vice House Captain 


9

Mathematics Day 

celebrates the 

Number 10, 2009 

Thursday 19 th November was a wonderful day when 

the whole Primary School celebrated Mathematics 

Day. This year was a very special year with a very 

significant theme – TEN. The reason for this is 

that this year marks the 10th anniversary of BSB, 

a wonderful achievement bearing in mind that the 

school started with just 4 pupils and has grown 

from strength to strength to become one of the top 

(if not the top) school in Romania! 

The staff put in a lot of preparation to make sure 

that all pupils had a memorable experience 

from a range of activities. Our whole aim was to 

promote the fun in Mathematics and the diversity 

of applications that Mathematics offers. To make 

the day even more interesting we made sure that 

pupils had the opportunity to participate in an 

activity by a teacher who they would not normally 

encounter e.g. Year 1 pupils had activities with 

Year 6 teachers. Each class had the opportunity 

to take part in four different activities during the 

morning and an additional Key Stage activity in 

the afternoon. 

The extent and diversity of activities was 

immense, ranging from problem solving, 

‚Crazy Clothes’ combinations, tanagrams and 

investigations. Here is a summary of a few of the 

activities: 

In the Music Department, the children made 

musical patterns with sounds, dividing the 

group in different ways to create different 

sound combinations. The children also had to 

use counting skills to maintain a rhythm on a 

percussion instrument. 

Year 3 and 4’s activities were very much using their 

logic and analytical thinking skills 

e.g. to complete Sudoko puzzles. Students 

successfully attempted 4x4, 6x6 and even 9x9 

grids! Other activities were to investigate how to 

decipher codes and solve logic problems using 

clues. 

In PE there was a house competition. The children 

had to jump ten star jumps and note the time 

taken using a stop watch. They made bar graphs 

and discussed their results. 

Overall, the pupils had an amazing day to 

remember, and learned that Mathematics is not 

just about learning tables and writing out sums, 

that it affects all areas of study and life. We asked 

the students what they thought of the day and 

here are just a few comments we received back: 

“I liked Maths Day because I love Numeracy; it’s 

also my favourite day of school.” Noah 3T 

“My favourite part of Maths Day was Mr 

Davidson’s because we had to get clues after 

every Tanagram we made, it was like a step by 

step treasure hunt” Aliss, 6H 

Play Live Maths 

Competition 

As a build up to the 2009 Maths Day all the 

children in Key Stage 1 and 2 were involved in 

the ‘Play Live’ competition using Education City. 

Similar to previous World Maths Day competitions, 

the children had to battle with their mental Maths 

“Although it’s my first year at BSB, I really enjoyed 

Maths Day because we went to other classes in the 

school. The one I liked most was tangrams with 

Miss French-Paris.” Astrid, 4H 

“I realized I can solve maths problems and I didn’t 

need someone else to do this for me. “ Kayla, 5M 

All in all, some very positive comments; the pupils 

Fingers for Counting 

There’s a Maths problem! 

Maths in Spanish 

Thinking Numbers 

against others around the world. Congratulations 

to the winners from each year group: 

Year 1 – Tudor 

Year 2 – Ilayda 

Year 3 – Bram 

Year 4 – Hithu 

Year 5 – Tudor 

Year 6 – Dilara 


certainly enjoyed the day and hopefully so did 

the parents who attended the assemblies in the 

afternoon. 

Mr James Ward, Mathematics Coordinator 

Mmm, Tanagrams 

More Maths Thinking 

Musical Maths 

Logic Problems 

10

Junior Librarians 

In November we started the new Junior Librarians 

group. The Junior Librarians are a group of Year 

6 students who are helping Ms Ana Maria in the 

A Warm welcome 

to the Primary 

School Library 

The Library went recently through an obvious 

makeover and I would like to thank all the 

students who helped me during the ‘reshape’, 

especially to my three wonderful library helpers: 

Raphaela, Ilinca, and Chira, 6U. 

More shelving units were needed and added, due 

to an abundance of new books. With these, we 

have also gained a few display options, which 

were quickly filled in and proved to be a definite 

eye-catcher. 

Any new books rapidly become ‘old’ as more 

orders keep arriving, so make sure you constantly 

check the three tall wire racks, the first ‘homes’ of 

new arrivals in the Library. 

library to sort out books, to put the codes on 

them, and many other things. You can spot the 

Junior Librarian group really easily, because they 

are wearing yellow colored badges. As a means 

to find out more about the Junior Librarians, I 

decided to interview Ms Ana Maria, the Primary 

School Librarian: 

What do you like the best about the books? 

They teach me a lot of things. 

What made you to become a librarian? 

Fate and also Miss Wells. 

Do you ever need help? 

Yes, I do. 

What are the Junior Librarians? 

They are Year 6 students who are helping me in the 

library. 

What used to be our “curl-up with a good book” 

corner has now changed into a brand new listening 

area, where, with the use of headphones, story 

tapes or CDs and a few very soft cushions, the 

escape into a world of fantasy and magic is sure 

to happen. 

To get into a ‘winter-active’ mood, come and 

check out some of the books in the new “Extreme 


How can you become one? 

You need to like to work in the library and be ready 

to do anything that the librarian asks you to do. 

Is it just for Year 6? 

Yes, it is just Year 6. 

What are the group of Junior Librarians doing? 

They put books back on the shelves, help me with 

labels, inventories and also the library displays. 

Do you feel better with some help? 

Yes! Help is always needed. 

Who are the junior librarians? 

Ilinca O, Chira S and Raphaela Werner (all from 6U) 

Lucie, 6H 

Sports” or “Go Turbo” series. Or you can choose 

any of the books in the ‘Arts and Crafts” section, 

to help you stay busy during bad weather days, 

while designing beautiful presents for friends and 

family. And don’t forget, today a reader, tomorrow 

a leader! 

Ms Ana Maria Marin, Primary School Librarian 

Year 6 Visit Busteni 

This half term was action packed! During Literacy 

we’ve been studying fictional genres, such as: 

sci-fi, historical, mystery and fantasy. In the end 

we made power point presentations with genre 

information and displayed them during our Year 6 

assembly. Later in the half term we changed topics 

and swapped to Poetry! Yay! In Poetry we learned 

to use awesome alliteration, similes like lions in 

the wild, personification which makes our writing 

stand up and sing and lastly, wild oppositepersonification! 

Next stop was Numeracy, but be cautious this 

paragraph has some very advanced work! First we 

practiced long division with decimal points (even 

in multiplication), how murderous! Afterwards, 

we learned all about FRACTIONS! Oh no, I mean, 

oh yeah! They were pretty hard at the beginning 

but we eventually got the hang of it. For example, 

when you wanted to find 10% you just have to 

move one decimal point to the left and then round 

the last number on the right off… how easy can 

mathematics get? 

During our History lessons we have been exploring 

‘Britain since 1948’ and we were assigned to 

create a timeline that shows everything important 

event of our own families since 1948. 

All in all, we have been busy like ants in a 

chocolate factory and are looking forward to all 

the exciting times ahead! 

Aliss, 6H 

Maria and Dilara all bundled up in Busteni 

Bianca, Aliss and Raphaela suprised by the early snow in October 


11

Eco Committee 

Report 

On the 11th November the eco-committee 

organised a whole school switched off event 

inspired by Earth Hour, which is usually held on 

the last Saturday of March. 

In Ringwood, students and teachers got especially 

busy making this event a real success. First of all 

they went on a mission to ensure that each light 

had a small sign reminding people to switch off 

the lights when they leave a room. Some classes 

even had a poster competition to raise awareness 

of Earth Hour. 

In 2P the children really gained an understanding 

of how much electricity is being used each and 

every day and were rather shocked when they 

realised that their listening station also used 

electricity. 

In Newlands and Crawford house lights and 

computers were also switched off, with eco reps 

keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings. This 

was a really useful way for students and teachers 

to become aware of our reliance on electricity and 

to remind ourselves that we should always not 

take such comforts for granted. 

In Secondary, Charles (Year 7) introduced 

students and teachers during an Eco Assembly 

to an excellent website from New Zealand called 

Tree People, which is a social network site 

with a difference. It aims to raise awareness of 

environmental issues and encourage people to 

take small steps to make a change. By joining 

the website each person can choose a tree and 

by taking pledges and completing them, the tree 

grows. Already some students and teachers have 

joined and a BSB group has been created. We are 

happy to report that already Mr Murchison has 

pledged to switch off his TV one hour earlier and 

to read a book, meanwhile Panayiotis (Year 9) has 

sworn to close down his computer for fourteen 

days! Being part of the BSB group means that all 

our trees will grow together as we all take pledges 

and fulfil them. So please visit the website and 

join at www.treepeople.nz. There was also a 

guest speaker at the assembly, John Aston, from 

AstonEco Management, who spoke to everyone 

about some of the eco projects going on around 

Romania. 

The eco-committee is not dreaming of a white but 

a green Christmas. Building on the success of 


the Eco Christmas tree decoration contest held 

last year, students will once again be given the 

opportunity to pick one of the trees at the back of 

the school and use all their creativity to decorate 

them in an environmentally friendly way. Judging 

on 4th December will be based in two categories: 

eco-friendliness and aesthetics. Good luck to all 

those involved- winners to be announced in the 

next issue of Newsblast. 

Have a Merry and Green Christmas. 

The Eco-Committee 

Smruti, William and Luca with their Eco Poster 

Guest speaker John Aston, from AstonEco Management, pointing out some of locations of 

the eco projects in Romania 

Mr Murchison presenting the Tree People website 

Irini (3W) wins BSB 

Spelling Bee 

In October we had a Spelling competition for the 

primary students and we called it a Spelling Bee. 

It took place during our Wednesday Assembly and 

Ms.Hussain started with the harvest song and she 

also talked about how to help people by sharing 

food. Then Miss. Fisher introduced the rules for 

the competition and the games began! First, she 

called all the children who came first in their class 

for the Spelling Bee competition: Andrew (3T), Irini 

(3W), Clara (4D), Cristina (4H), Calista (5L), Daniel 

(5M), Bianca (6U), and Aliss (6H). The Spelling 

Bee proved to be very competitive, as all of the 

students did very well. In the end the top three 

winners were Irini in 1st, Clara 2nd and Daniel 3rd. 

Overall, the Spelling Bee was very exciting and I 

hope to be a participant next year! 

Hithu, 4D 

Winners of the Spelling Bee: Irini 1st, Clara 2nd and Daniel 3rd 

12


What’s up in the 

Primary Student 

Council? 

In Primary Student Council we’ve been very busy 

planning for the up-coming ‘Craze of the Week’. The 

‘Craze’ started this year with Conkers in October 

by 5L. However, after they had finished, we did 

not have a new Craze, so the Student Council 

decided to get involved. First, we decided to ask the 

students from KS2 if they would like to form a Craze 

of the Week Committee to be in charge or to allow 

each class an opportunity to choose their own. The 

vote came back and it was decided that every class 

would have their own time. Sacha from 6H was 

voted in as the ‘Craze of the Week’ organiser and 

it will be his job to draw up a schedule, which will 

begin in January! 

Pals! Play Pals will help our Playground Leaders to 

ensure that everyone is happy at playtime. They 

will be in charge of the play equipment and helping 

to teach students new games and ways to have 

fun. They will also head over to KS1’s playtime 

to help there as well! In order to get the best 

students for Play Pals, the Student Council decided 

to interview those students that were interested, 

just like applying for a job, so the Student Council 

announced our idea during an assembly, made 

an interview schedule and interviewed over 40 

students. In the end, the Student Council will 

discuss the answers provided from the interviews 

and choose the best Play Pals ever. We are all 

looking forward to see how the new Play Pals work 

out. 

Maria and Aliss, 6H 

This half term we have also been doing a lot of work 

to introduce a new group of students called Play 

Amy, Aliss and Anda from the primary Student Council interviewing Calista to be a Play Pal 

Secondary Student 

Council Update 

The beginning of this term we started off by 

discussing some of key issues for the year: school 

lunches, and the possibility of having more variety, 

the Christmas Party, Secret Santa, and Healthy 

Schools Week. In Healthy Schools Week a stall was 

set up by the Year 9’s, in which they sold waffles 

and it was a great success, earning a little over 400 

Ron. More recently we have been focusing on the 

various possibilities for the Christmas Party and in 

the end accepted the Year 9 proposal, which you 

can read about in the next issue. We also discussed 

a game done in every individual class called the 

“Secret Santa”: I’m sure everyone knows what the 

game is, what the rules are, and how it is played: 

basically everyone buys a present for one other 

person but no one knows who their present is 

actually from- cool. Finally there were some others 

things discussed in the Student Council meetings 

like the possibility of putting together a school 

yearbook in the future. 

This is just a very brief summary of what was 

happening in Secondary School Student Council up 

until now. I would like to finish saying that if any 

of you have any problems or suggestions, please 

speak with your Class Representative so your idea 

Noor, Year 9 Student Council Representative 

can be presented in a forth coming Student Council 

Meeting- you will be informed on whatever happens 

as a result. 

Noor, Year 9 

Student Council Representative 

Science Question 

of the Week 

Every Monday Ms Ullman presents KS2 with a 

‘Science Question of the Week’ and students 

have until that Friday to submit their answer to 

Ms Ullman; the winners of each week’s question 

are presented on the following Monday. One of 

my favourite questions was ‘When and what was 

the first animal sent into orbit?’ The answer was 

a small, female, Russian dog named Laika, sent 

aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. You can find 

the Science Questions of the Week on the primary 

science blog: http://sciencebsbblog.edublogs.org/. 

Joana, 5L 

Weekly Science 

Challenge 

Week of 2nd November 2009 

How do they get smells into scratch-n-sniff 

stickers? 

The oily extracts of the smells are placed inside 

millions of microscopic bubbles of plastic, which 

are placed on the stickers. This process is called 

microencapsulation. When you scratch the sticker 

you burst some of the bubbles and release the 

odor. Since there are so many bubbles it is hard to 

scratch them all away. That’s why the stickers can 

still smell even twenty years after their first scratch. 


13

BSB Annual Shoe 

Box Appeal, 2009 

The Shoe Box Appeal has had a tremendous 

response this year. Every year, BSB students have 

a chance to become someone’s Santa, by putting 

together a shoe box full of gifts for a needy child. 

101 letters to Santa, written by children from poor 

families from Craiova and Lipova, arrived at BSB 

and so we decided to give Santa a helping hand by 

preparing shoe boxes for them. Our students put 

in the shoe boxes, whenever possible, what the 

children wished for: mostly sweets or fruit, toys, 

winter coats, shoes, stationary or books. 

The letters were a pleasure to read. Some younger 

children, not knowing how to write, made a small 

collage of pictures of what they would like. For other 

children, the letter was written by an older sibling 

or even by a parent. Some of them were even able 

to write in English, but the majority of them were in 

Romanian. Therefore, before giving out the letters 

to our BSB Santas, they had to be translated by 

the Romanian Club for Native Speakers, who did 

a fantastic job translating the bulk of the letters. 

Thanks to them and to Ms Ana Maria for the 

sensitivity with which they worded the letters in 

English. 

At the same time, the letters often mirrored the 

hardships of life the children have to face at a very 

young age: unemployed parents, ailments in the 

family and poverty. Many of them did not have big 

expectations from Santa. All the letters were very 

endearing: a child telling Santa that although he 

had been good, he had been waiting for two years 

for him to come; or the boy asking for a book, 

because he has started learning to read but he did 

not have any books; or the girl asking Santa for a 

baby doll with a dummy, but only if Santa happens 

to have a spare one. 

We will take the Shoe Boxes to Craiova on 18th 

December, when the children will celebrate their 

Christmas production at the Social Centre run by 

Asociatia Vasiliada, an NGO supported by the 

Romanian Orthodox Church. The other part of the 

Shoe Box Appeal will be dedicated to the toddlers 

from Children’s Hospital, supported by Fundatia 

Inocenti. Judging by the response received from 

our students, we will be able to make a lot more 

than the 30 toddler shoe boxes we were hoping for. 

These shoe boxes will be picked up by Valentina 

Maghirescu of Fundatia Inocenti. 

If you would like to find out more about the children 

or about the organisations supported by the BSB 

Charity Committee, please do not hesitate to 

approach us any time. 

Special thanks to Andreea, Year 8, who proved a 

very efficient and dedicated assistant to Santa. She 

did a marvellous job keeping a record of the shoe 

box letters and made sure that the whole process 

ran smoothly. She invested many break times into 

this work, and also translated some 20 letters 

into English. She has been appointed the first 

official student representative in the BSB Charity 

Committee. Thanks also to Ms Ana Maria and the 

Romanian Club! Thanks also to the BSB Office for 

their help! And last but not least, thanks to all the 

generous shoe box makers of BSB! 

Ms Dorothea Draser, BSB Charity Committee 

The Romanian Club Translating the Letters 

Cristina, Arina, Raluca, Clara (all from 4H), Aliss 

(6H), Ilinca, Ilinca and Yasemin (all from 6U) felt like 

Santa’s Elves when, during the Romanian Club for 

Native Speakers, they translated the letters Santa 

will receive from the children in Lipova. Ms Draser 

asked for a little bit of help, as some of the Santas 

who do not speak Romanian would not understand 

what these less fortunate children would like for 

Christmas. The translation process proved to be a 

very emotional experience. We were very surprised 

to read that some children see themselves very 

lucky if they can have a few oranges and bananas as 

a Christmas present. 

Ms Ana Maria Marin, Primary School Librarian and 

Romanian teacher 


Andreea Negoita, Year 8, 

keeping track of all the letters to Santa 

Hi I’m Andreea from Year 8. For the past few weeks 

I’ve been managing the letters and the reply slips. 

I’ve been matching the letters with reply slips from 

the school! Now we’re nearly finished and we’re 

surprised by the huge amount of students and 

parents that want to help not just us but also the 

children that we’re donating the shoe boxes to. 

Thank you very much. I’m very happy to announce 

that the shoe boxes have started to come in and 

I’m looking forward to sending the boxes to the 

children. 

Andreea, Year 8 

Toddler from the Children´s Hospital 

receiving a gift from Santa last Christmas 

Ilinca, Aliss and Yasemin translating the letters in 

Romanian Club 

14


Down Syndrome 

Association 

Bucharest 

Visits BSB 

On the 12th of October the Secondary School had 

the privilege of receiving a visit from the Down 

Syndrome Association of Bucharest. The guests 

included nine young people with Downs Syndrome 

and some of their mothers, who are active members 

in the association. Their visit came as a follow up 

to Jeans for Genes Day, during which BSB raised 

£844 in support of children with genetic disorders. 

Students also covered the topic of genetic disorders 

from a scientific point of view in Science lessons on 

the day and reflected on how to treat people who 

are different in PHCSE lessons. 

Mrs Ruxandra Papiniu spoke in the Secondary 

Assembly on behalf of the Down Syndrome 

Association and told us that the young people 

involved in the programmes of the association are 

very sociable and keen on spending time together, 

participating in handicraft workshops, going out 

on trips, doing sports and dance lessons. Their 

dance teacher, Ms Jeni Iordache, came as well and 

the guests performed three types of dances. It was 

wonderful to see them dance, as it is an activity 

they enjoy a lot and do very well. 

At the end of their visit, BSB students presented 

them BSB teddy bears and t-shirts and a small 

donation of 500 RON, raised by the Secondary 

School in a previous Bake Sales. In return BSB 

students we presented with gifts made the Down 

Syndrome Association- you will have a chance to 

purchase similar handmade items as well during 

the Artisan Fair on the 11th December, when we will 

see our new friends again. 

Ms Dorothea Draser, BSB Charity Committee 

Serban, repeat medal winner in Special Olympics, 

speaking to the Secondary Assembly about his 

current job with the Special Olympics 

Our visitors were pleased to receive a BSB teddy bear and T-shirt from secondary students 

The guests from the DSAB performed three dances 

in assembly (an English Waltz, a samba, and a 

modern dance) 

International Links 

As the world become a smaller place with the 

improvements in communication technology BSB 

wants to take advantage of the opportunities 

available. One way we have been starting to do this 

is by creating international links with other schools 

around the world. At present we are working on 

creating partnerships with a school in Leicester, 

England and one in Saskatchewan, Canada. Not 

only are these links good fun but they also give 

children the opportunity to interact with and learn 

from other cultures. This would all be much slower 

without technology so the children at BSB also 

get to work on their ICT skills such as e-mail, video 

calling and blogging. 

Mr Sonny Leese, International Links Coordinator 


15


Year 9 

Remembrance Day 

Why did WW I start? 

The First World War, also known as The Great War, 

was a massive event that ended the lives of many 

people. It all started in Sarajevo. War was declared 

on the 28th June 1914, but the very beginning was 

a month earlier on 28th June 1914, in Serbia, when 

the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by 

a Serbian nationalist, Garvilo Princip. Serbia was 

part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire and many 

Serbs did not want this and so Austria-Hungary 

declared war on Serbia. They were supported by 

their friends, Germany. War had broken out with 

Italy, America, England, Belgium and France on 

one side and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the 

other. Vanessa, Year 9 

Remembering the First World War 

At 11am on the 11th November 1918, the First 

World War ended. Germany had been defeated, 

but people from all over the world had suffered 

terribly. About 16 million people died and nearly 21 

million people were injured. It is important that we 

remember the sacrifice that people made on both 

sides from 1914-1918. Marina, Year 9 

Women 

The First World War was a time of great change, 

especially for women. For many though, it was 

only a temporary change as they returned to their 

pre-war lives after the war ended. Women in the 

First World War were like ‘a captive bird whose cage 

was left open’. They lived traditional lives before the 

war based on background or class. The war changed 

opinions about women. During the war they wore 

different clothes, did different jobs and took on 

new responsibilities. After the war when men came 

home, many women went back to their normal lives, 

but the seeds of change had been planted. Noor, 

Year 9 

Remembrance Day 

Remembrance Day is on the 11th November. It is 

most commonly celebrated in Australia, Barbados, 

Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, 

where people will often observe a two minute 

silence at 11am on the 11th November because 

this is when the armistice was signed and the First 

World War ended. Services also include laying 

wreaths at memorials or playing the national 

anthem. It is a reminder of the great sacrifice that 

people made during the Great War. Shani, Year 9 

Poppies 

Poppies are flowers that grow in most European 

countries. They grow in many colours, such 

as white, pink, orange, red and blue. In many 

Commonwealth countries, people will wear poppies 

as a way to commemorate the sacrifice that many 

Noor and Vanessa wearing poppies, holding their 

model of the trenches 

soldiers made during the war. In a very important 

battle, the Battle of the Somme, poppies were 

growing in the fields where there were over a million 

casualties. Panayiotis, Year 9 

Life in the trenches 

Trenches were the large narrow ditches in the 

ground where soldiers lived in the First World War. 

On the other side were the enemy’s trenches. There 

was a large space of ground in the middle called 

‘no man’s land’. Conditions were very bad in the 

trenches. There were lots of lice and rats in the 

trenches, as well as very bad hygiene problems. 

Soldiers were often cold and dirty and faced the 

very real possibility of death. Noa, Year 9 

Year 8 History 

In the last issue of Newsblast I offered you a brief 

view into what happens in the History Department 

of BSB, and in particular focused on what Year 7 

had been working on and would be working on in 

the year ahead. In this issue of Newblast, I will take 

you on a foray into the world of a Year 8 Historian- a 

time of excitement and magic; forget Harry Potter, 

this is the place to be! 

The students started the year with a study of life 

in the Middle Ages. They focused on London and 

all the attractions as well as all the problems, such 

as sheep in the streets, fights outside the theatre, 

pickpockets, as well as some of the more gruesome 

forms of entertainment. 

We also studied the lives’ of women in the Middle 

Ages and found out that many women had much 

more freedom than we think. We studied women 

who hit their husbands with a shoe or tied them to 

poles and carried them around towns to embarrass 

them. Some girls wanted to do a role play about 

this, but I respectfully declined because I didn’t 

have any spare shoes or poles! 

sorry wives. The class designed their own Tudor 

portrait gallery producing some very interesting 

interpretations of the Tudors. Hyo Min produced 

a great portrait of Kathryn Howard - available for 

auction. 

Students have recently completed a study of the 

beliefs in the Middle Ages. We looked at witchcraft 

and some of the class appeared to be under my 

spell during those lessons! Finally, we focused on 

law and order and torture, with Eda commenting 

that she considers it torture that Year 8 only have 2 

history lessons a week! I think that’s what she said 

anyway. 

Mr Ciaran McGowan, Head of Humanities 

We then focused our attention on the Tudors and 

started with Henry the VIII and his six knives, 

Students with their model of the trenches BSB Historians 

16

Year 9 Geography 

The Year 8 Geography article was so popular from 

the last issue that I received many requests for 

a follow-up article. And, never a department to 

disappoint, we have done exactly that. Back but 

bigger and better. The wait is over! 

Year 9 Geography started the year working on maps, 

maps and more maps. Especially big ones like the 

one outside my classroom. After that we had a 

holiday! Well, not a real one (well, not all of them 

anyway) but we studied tourism and the effects of 

tourism around the world. As students went on a 

mental holiday, our minds traveled from place to 

place to discover if tourism was good or bad for 

various countries. We also looked at ways in which 

we can make tourism more sustainable and less 

destructive; it’s usually the other way around! 

Our most recent topic has been global fashion: 

appropriate for a fashionable class with a very 

fashionable teacher (I have never been arrested by 

the fashion police!). We have looked at how our 

clothes are frequently made in many countries. Did 

you know that a pair of jeans is produced in up to at 


least 13 different countries? WELL YOU DO NOW! We 

have also looked at how some companies exploit 

people in other countries and looked at conditions 

in sweatshops. 

Mr Ciaran McGowan, Head of Humanities 

The class was now so angry with the impact that 

humans were having on our environment that we 

next decided to study how humans affected other 

places, such as the Rhine and Antarctica. We 

looked at the Rhine and its pollution and saw how 

many fish were being killed by pollution, causing 

one member of the class to get so angry that they 

shouted ‘murderers’ at the polluters (well, actually 

it was a picture of the polluter in the textbook, but I 

think you get my point!). In fact, another member of 

the class was so outraged they said they now only 

eat fish 4 times a week (a sacrifice worth making). 

We also looked at Antarctica and the problems that 

people cause up there. The class saw how penguins 

were especially affected by our actions. Requests to 

interview a penguin were denied since penguins are 

shy and don’t speak very good English anyway. 

Year 9 Geography in session 

The Weather 

Outside is… 

Delightful? 

(an Eco-English 

Lesson) 

Recently, (November 11th) in English class we had 

a very special lesson; well, extra special because 

every English lesson is special! There have been 

a lot of special events going on: Earth Hour, Jeans 

for Genes, and Healthy Schools Week, and much 

more. What is formidable about English class is 

that Mr Murchison likes to include these events in 

our lessons. This makes our lessons so much more 

relevant and interesting. For example, when we had 

Earth Hour on November 11th we went outside and 

on the warm steps that were steeped in sunshine, 

had our lesson with birds chirping in the periphery 

and with clouds verily listening above us. 

hour of the 11th month) we had a moment of silence 

for all those mighty warriors who died in war: may 

Mod rest their souls. 

Overall, I’d say we had a memorable lesson without 

using electricity, in which we paid respect to fallen 

soldiers, respected Mother Earth and gobbled up 

some vitamin D in sunlight form. Let’s hope the 

great weather keeps up! 

“Currently we are studying one of Shakespeare’s 

most inspiring works, Romeo and Juliet. Before 

this we were studying Roald Dahl’s autobiography 

one his early life, which was a hilarious book, 

however to assess our understanding, we each 

made Norway brochures to be used as a travel 

guide by people traveling to Norway based on Roald 

Dahl’s experiences there. Now we have a beautiful 

display of Norway brochures written by people who 

don’t even know what it is like nowadays because 

it was based on life in the late 20s; except Megan 

of course, because she is Norwegian. I hope every 

class had such an outstanding and unique start of 

the year in English just as we did.” 

Basil, Year 7 

Besides getting some fresh air, whilst discussing 

little things we can do that help the environment, 

and enjoying the outdoor landscaping, we played 

human anagram where WE (the students) were the 

letters and, of course, the other students had to 

swap us around to solve the word! Once this was 

done we read from Romeo and Juliet, and the best 

part was that we read the fight scene (I,i) and Mr 

Murchison became so engrossed in his part that we 

had to stop him from almost devouring Filippo with 

his imaginary sword; yes Mrs Musneci, this is the 

truth. As the lesson went on, and at exactly eleven 

minutes past eleven, (the 11th minute of the 11th 

Year 7P during an outdoor ‘solar powered’ lesson to mark Earth-hour 


17


Duke of Edinburgh 

Bronze Expedition 

On Friday evening we (Naomi, Polen, and Eda Year 

8, and Louisa and Bethan, Year 10, along with Ms 

Moorcroft and Mr Power) set off on our expedition 

in the best of spirits as we had all indulged in the 

delights on offer at yet another great BSB Bake Sale. 

After almost locking the Pita bread in the science 

lab (Polen was obsessed with Pita bread during 

the entire trip), we drove to the starting point of 

our long walk, disembarked, and thereafter walked 

through the twilight, with the light gradually fading, 

and rain falling heavier with every step we took 

until we finally arrived in complete darkness at the 

campsite, which was nothing more nor nothing less 

than a piece of earth surrounded entirely by trees. 

We were forced to set up our tents by the mere light 

of our head torches and set down for the night, 

which passed with random fits of giggles until sleep 

finally took hold. 

Bright an early Saturday morning our somewhat 

peaceful sleep was suddenly disrupted by the load 

break of song, courtesy of Mr Power, at eight in the 

morning (way too early for us!). After rising from 

slumber we downed our breakfast, consisting of 

bread, cheese and biscuits, packed up the tents, 

and set out in good spirits- it should be mentioned 

that it is a lot easier hiking in the daytime because 

we could see where to put our feet. We hiked along 

a trail marked on our map, through tall trees and a 

forest floor covered with red and gold leaves. It was 

really lovely walking, until we turned off the main 

path and started walking through the trees with the 

branches hanging down; we all soon realised that 

the best way to avoid being hit by branches flying 

back was to walk a fair way behind the person in 

front of you! 

Upon reaching the dam, we stopped for lunch and 

finally we got to enjoy Polen’s pita bread! They were 

lovely after a long walk, and once we were all full 

and refreshed after pita bread and chocolate, we 

started off again on the next leg of our hike, which 

passed without incident, aside from Polen falling 

over, and Naomi almost falling over, until we came 

to a patch of road that was muddy. Not just muddy, 

but extremely muddy, and as our boots became 

laden with mud, we all worked hard to stay on our 

feet as they became heavier and heavier. Thankfully 

a solution soon came to us as there was a railway 

track running parallel to the road we were walking 

on, and so after making sure that the railway track 

was unused, and there was no risk of trains coming 

along, we started up along that, finding it much 

easier than the muddy road. As we walked along 

we came across the lower jaw a boar’s skull, well 

Mr Power found it, the rest had already walked right 

over it! Finally, and with frequent stops to eat the 

little food we had left we came to the end of our 

hike. We dumped our bags into the awaiting cars, 

and relaxed in the seats just as it started to rain, 

and we were safely inside the cars. We had finished 

our hike and began our journey back towards 

school. 

Polen, Naomi, Bethan and Louisa taking a chocolate break 

A few of the standout moments 

“Whoops… I just ate my apple sticker!” - Naomi, 

when she had realised that there was no sticker on 

her apple anymore. 

“Oh my gosh, it has two wrappers!” – Louisa, when 

she almost swallowed the second plastic wrapper 

of the Juicy Fruit. 

“OW!” [hysterical laughing] after Polen slipped and 

fell on her backside in the mud. 

“Oh well, I guess we’ll have some in the morning” 

we all sighed, as a result of Ms Moorcroft 

accidentally knocking over the entire litre of 

bedtime hot chocolate. :( 

Naomi, Year 8 and Bethan year 10 

Bethan packed and ready for the hike to the dam 

Louisa and Polen setting up camp for the night 

“You’re serious I have to get out of the tent! It’s not 10 yet!” 

Naomi and Bethan comparing lunch at the dam 

18

YEAR 11/12 

WORK EXPERIENCE 

Work Experience is a vital part of the careers 

programme we are building at BSB; it is an 

opportunity for our pupils to experience a 

programme of work which simulates ‘the real world 

of work’. Students from Year 11 and 12 have just 

recently completed their work experience and it was 

my pleasure to go to see them and interview them 

about their thoughts and feelings. 

favourite instrument at the minute, the guitar! I was 

so impressed! Andreea and Alexandra had been 

working in the accounts department and comparing 

prices of rival companies, also arranging displays 

of the instruments with guidance from the staff. 

Alexandra said that the best part for her so far had 

been working on the website. Both Alexandra and 

Andreea have been learning about how to add 

discounts to online products. The best part for me 

though was actually making a purchase, I had been 

dying to buy a guitar for a long time in Bucharest 

and I actually made my purchase at the shop! I 

asked Alex to talk me through the process and he 


follow and concentrate for the whole time! I met 

with his colleagues from the corporate banking 

department who are very impressed with Edoardo, 

telling me he was a very responsible young man; he 

asked very intelligent and relevant questions and 

listened carefully to instructions. He has also been 

involved in minute taking of department meetings, 

conversing in Italian and English with international 

clients, working within the IT department, and 

analysing proposals from international clients. I 

spoke with Edoardo at length about his favourite 

moments so far: he replied, “working in the 

marketing section, I helped set up an event and I 

Alex, Senia, Alexandra and Andrea on the job at the Senia Music Store 

Edoardo learning all about the banking sector 

Mrs Menadi showing Andreea and Alex one of the many music rooms 

The Senia Music Store 

My first stop was SENIA COMPANY, a leading 

supplier of musical instruments and professional 

sound equipment across Europe. There I met 

Alex, Senia, Andreea, and Alexandra who all 

looked very professional and grown up in their 

working roles. I interviewed them at first and get 

to know a little about what they had been doing 

during the first few days. Senia replied “To be 

honest cleaning! The pianos here need cleaning 

so much!” Alex agreed but also mentioned that 

the best part for him so far had been working with 

his colleagues and getting a chance to play on 

the various instruments. He added “You are not 

allowed to play on them when you are serving 

customers obviously, but its been amazing to 

play drums in the sound proof room, piano in the 

piano department, and, unquestionably, Alex’s 

guided me over to the novice/beginner section were 

SENIA COMPANY were selling starter packs, which 

Alex advised me to get it saying that they came with 

a lot of free accessories. The deal was done! Senia 

also asked if I would like a stand to put in on, and I 

replied “incredible sales technique Senia!” Overall 

a lovely afternoon, it is wonderful to see our pupils 

out and about trying new things, making memories 

and meeting people. 

Next stop…..INTESA SANPAOLO BANK where a 

tired Edoardo walked towards me looking very 

smart in a suit. He had just been excused to 

come and say hello from a very important board 

meeting of international clients, which had been 

going on for an hour and half. He said the topics 

were very interesting, but that it was very hard to 

worked with the website design department looking 

at ways in which the bank is marketed”. I asked 

“Has this experience helped you in anyway?”, to 

which he responded very positively and talked 

about how he has a lot more knowledge about 

what his Father does and the international banking 

industry as a whole. 

In the next issue of Newsblast we will catch up 

with Albert, who went to work in the The Ministry of 

Communication, Alvaro who experienced working in 

the Human Resources Department of Sony Ericsson, 

and Alexandru who is currently working for Nordsee 

Company in Baneasa. 

Ms Jen Kemp 

Work Placement Coordinator 


19

The BSB 

Radio Show 

The British School of Bucharest enjoys having an 

exciting, challenging and enriching curriculum that 

all students can benefit from and participate in. This 

term we are pleased to continue that tradition and 

to continue BSB Radio. All students in Primary will 

have an opportunity to participate in making a radio 

show. So far four classes have had a chance to be 

heard “on the air” and they loved it! Here’s what 

they had to say: 

Did you enjoy doing BSB Radio? 

“Yes, it was fun as you work with your friends and 

have a good laugh, but arrange the BSB radio at the 

same time!” Isobel, 6U 

“I was impressed and enjoyed working on BSB 

Radio because I had the opportunity to talk to the 

whole of KS2.” Fivos, 6U 

The new Listening 

Centres prove 

popular with 

Primary School 

Students 

On Fridays we listen to a CD in our new listening 

centres. The story is called A Bear called 

Paddington. We are in groups and my group 

includes David, Sasa, and Ioana. First we put the 

headphones on and then we listen. It’s a lot of 

fun having the listening area. The story is read 

by Stephen Fry. In the story there are 4 chapters. 

A lot of people in my class have been listening 

What would you like to do the next time you are 

invited back to do BSB Radio? 

“I would like to record for longer.” Yasemin, 6U 

“The play and the weather. I can’t wait to go back to 

do BSB Radio again!” Mena, 5L 

“A ten minute play. We didn’t have time to do it the 

first time!” Bianca, 6U 

“I would like to interview a teacher or student, and 

to perform a play.” Isobel, 6U 

You can find BSB Radio at 

http://bsbradio.edublogs.org/ 

Happy Listening!!! 

Y5 using the listening centres 

to the story and we all like the story a lot. Some 

chapters take like 19.23 minutes. Everyone in 

class gets a turn using the listening centre, with 


Year 6U students Yasemin, Bianca, Isobel, 

Fivos, Calin and Adam 

Year 3W students Salman, Luca, 

Vesalina, Daria, Enzo and Irini 

Y4 students enjoying listening together 

students rotating between the listening centre and 

handwriting and reading activities. 

Klara, 4D 

Sleeping: we all do 

it, but how much 

do you really know 

about it? 

On 16th of November, Year 7H presented an 

assembly on sleeping. During the assembly 

students discovered that different animals need 

different amounts of sleep, what happens when we 

don’t get enough sleep, what Professor Idzikowski 

discovered, being that various sleeping positions 

reflect our personality, the world record for the least 

amount of sleep (11 days) and that, as we all know 

too well, teenagers don’t get enough sleep due 

mainly to the fact that we fall asleep with electrical 

gadgets still on. We hope that Key Stages 3 and 4 

enjoyed our assembly and we would like to thank 

you all those present for participating and not 

falling asleep! 

Ana and Csenge, 7H 

7H students presenting the power point on sleeping 

Discussing the common sleeping positions adopted 

20


Alex, Year 11, playing the 12 bar blues 

Daniel playing the Radetsky March on piano 

Daniel, 6U, playing Titanic on the flute 

Eda, Year 8, playing Nostalgy 

Music Recital 

Night Entertains 

All Present 

On October 22nd, BSB held its first school music 

recital of the year and it was a great success. 

The recital started with Mr Mulvany’s excellent 

drumming skills, before he handed the drums 

sticks over to Denis, Year 11, who, accompanied 

Francois, Gaya, Alina and Kayla sing Mamma Mia, 

accompanied by Hung Jung on piano 

by Edoardo, and Alex, Year 11, on guitar played a 

rendition of the ‘12 Bar Blues’. The night continued 

on with several of the younger primary school 

students playing piano recitals, followed on by 

several guitar solos, including both classical and 

rock. The audience also seemed highly entertained 

and Mr Kelly did a superb job hosting the event. As 

the evening progressed the older students played 

their pieces and Hyo Min, Year 8, and Eda, Year 9, 

in particular both played a wonderful piano recital. 

The evening was finally wrapped up with some 

poetry and a live singing performance. 

Kayla, 5M playing guitar 

We would like to say a special thank you to Mr 

Mulvany and Mr Kelly for organising the event and 

to Andreea, Year 11, for her really good posters 

which advertised the recital. And last but not least, 

we want to thank everyone who played and those 

who came along to listen. You all contributed to 

make the recital the outstanding success that it 

was- the photos speak for themselves. 

May and Louisa, Year 10 

Matei, 7P on drums 

Mr Mulvany opens up the recital 

with a short percussion piece 

Mr Mulvany turning the pages for Alessandro, 5L, 

playing Moon River 

Raphaela playing Prelude in G 

Rhys, 7H singing Every Breath you Take 

The audience enjoying our recital 


21


Secondary 

School ICT 

News 

AiDA fliers 

As reported in a previous edition 

of Newsblast, last years Year 9 took 

part in a new Edexcel examination 

called AiDA or the Award in 

Digital Applications. The students 

produced a number of digital 

applications which were sent to the 

UK to be marked. 

With great pleasure I would like 

to report that all students entered 

passed with flying colours, 

while three students achieved 

the highest possible mark from 

the exam. A few weeks ago the 

students received their certificates 

as you can see from the picture. 

We have Tudor, May, Louisa, 

Bethan and Mihnea. Well done! 

Easy AS ICT and Business 

Some aspects of ICT can be defined 

as being easy, such as switching 

them on or using the mouse. Now 

Year 12 students are finding out 

that there is much more to ICT than 

simply computers and mice. For 

the first time in BSB history, the 

Secondary school is delivering AS 

courses in Applied ICT and Business 

Studies due to the fantastic results 

the students achieved last summer. 

The first unit of work completed in 

the AS Applied ICT was based on the 

Information Age while the Business 

Studies unit focused on Developing 

New Business Ideas. The work that 

has been completed by the students 

will be submitted in January and 

followed by an examination. Best of 

luck to Alvaro and Mahmoud! 

Mahmoud, Year 12, diplaying his ICT course books 

Year 10 students, Tudor, Mihnea, Louisa, May and Bethan 

holding their certificates 

Top five 

educational 

games for kids 

As a way to help the students from BSB, I 

have decided to write an article listing five top 

educational websites for kids. These wonderful 

educational websites for kids will help you to learn 

in Numeracy, Literacy and Science and they might 

also help with your homework. 

These are some useful educational websites: 

www.educationcity.com Education City is a very 

comprehensive website with games at all levels 

in math, science, literacy French, German and 

Spanish. The games are interactive and are for 

children of all ages. The only problem is that you 

need to be a member, so you will need to ask your 

parents for permission. 

www.woodlands-junior.kent.scho.uk This website is 

for teachers, parents and especially students. It has 

a comprehensive math zone, literacy zone, science 

zone and the best of all it has homework help! It is 

also free for any user. 

www.knowledgeadventure.com This is a great 

website for children aged 3-6 its good for maths, 

word games, reading games, spelling games, 

science games and so on. It helps your child learn 

fast while having fun. 

www.thekidzpage.com This is a game website for 

nearly all aged children. For very young children 

there are some pictures you can colour in and for 

older kids there are some strategy games. 

www.puzzel-games.uk.pogo.com This website is 

full of maths puzzles for kids of all ages. It has a 

great selection of Sudoku games, which can be 

very helpful for improving your maths skills. There 

are also some matching games with animals for 

younger children. 

Alina 5M 

Alina from 5M, one of BSB’s junior journalists 

22

Today’s 

Best Authors 

Reading is one of my favourite things to do during 

my free time. So, I decided to tell you some 

information about my favourite authors and some of 

their famous books. In addition, I wanted to find out 

who— of my three favourite authors – was the most 

liked by the students of BSB. To do this I went out 

and asked children around the school which one 

of the three authors they like. Afterwards, I made 

a graph showing all the information. I hope you 

like it!!! My three favourite authors are: Jacqueline 

Wilson, Louis Sachar and Roald Dahl. Below is some 

interesting information about them. 

Jacqueline Wilson: born in Bath in 1945, but spent 

most of her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames. She 

always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first 

‘novel’ when she was nine. Jacqueline is one of the 

nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved 

and cherished by young readers not only in the UK 

but all over the world. Try these cool Jacqueline 

Wilson books to read! Here is a list her best books: 

Cliffhanger, Glubbslyme, My Sister Jodie, Cookie, 

The Story of Tracy Beaker, The Dare Game, Starring 

Tracy Beaker, Tracy Beaker’s Thumbing Heart, Bad 

Girl, Vicky Angel, Candyfloss, Clean Break, Mummy 

Cat, Best Friend, Secrets. If you want to know more 

join the Jacqueline Wilson fan club: 

http://www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk/ 

Number 

of 

children 

50 

25 

0 

BSB KS2's Favourite Authors 

10 

Louise 

Sachar 

Louis Sachar: born in East Meadow, New York on 

March 20, 1954 and lived there until third grade. 

Louise Sachar is also known for his famous book 

“Holes”. Wouldn’t you like to read more Louis 

Sachar books? Here are some good and exciting 

books to read: Pig City, There is a Boy in the Girls 

Toilet, The Boy who lost his Face, Dogs don’t tell 

jokes, Someday Angeline. 

30 

Roald 

Dahl 

Authors 

Roald Dahl: born on September 13, 1916 in Llandaff. 

Roald Dahl is one of the most famous authors these 

days. He wrote a lot of stories that got turned into 

films. He is a very good story writer. If you would like 

to read some of his books here are some: Charlie 

and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Witches, James 

and the Giant Peach, The BFG, The Twits, Danny the 

Champion of the World, The Giraffe and the Pelly 

and Me, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Magic Finger. 

10 

Jacqueline 

Wilson 


Dilara from 6H, one of BSB’s junior journalists 

Dilara, 6H 

Big Writing in 6U! 

One of the most popular lessons in 6U is the Big 

Writing lesson. Once a week we sit down to create a 

piece of writing, which usually relates to something 

we are learning in class or a piece of writing of our 

choice. We normally do some pre-writing and then 

write our stories. The reason we do Big Writing is to 

show what we are interested in and to help us to 

revise our four main areas of focus, which are using 

interesting vocabulary, using different connectors, 

writing openers that grab a reader’s attention, and 

making sure our punctuation is accurate. 

Firstly, we have a mini-lesson on what is expected 

in our writing piece based on what style of writing 

we are studying. Then Ms Ullman turns on some 

music, not rock, but calm gentle music, which helps 

us to relax while we’re writing. 

Here is a sample of Big Writing from a story written 

in 6U, Midnight Murder… 

The Joker reached an inn called ‘Cushion Face’. He 

beckoned the gentleman. They didn’t say ‘hello’. 

Greetings were a waste of words. They walked into 

a dimly lit room. There was a desk, a red sofa, and 

a small table. On the table was a vase with dead 

flowers inside. The gentleman broke off a white 

petal. “Once up the stairs, first room on the left.” 

he said. His cold voice echoed around the room like 

some invisible people were cheering them on. The 

Joker followed the instructions and walked up the 

stairs to room 6 and took out a key. There was a 

click. The door opened. 

Thomas, 6U 

The writing is descriptive and you can easily picture 

the scene. You can feel that what is happening is bad 

and might have horrible consequences. That’s Big 

Writing. We use it to express ourselves. You can too. 

Thomas, 6U, enjoying a Big Writing activity 


23

1. Puppet Making Club 

In Arts and Crafts (Reception/Year 1) we have been 

making hand puppets and have decorated small 

boxes so that we can have puppet shows. So far we 

have a cat, dog and a horse. David P (1C) had some 

brilliant ideas about what to use for the puppets 

features- we had mini pom-poms for eyes and a 

bendy pipe-cleaners for the mouth. Victor (1W) 

decided that he must have curtains for his theatre, 

and made lovely blue ones. 

Ms Kayleigh Evans, Club Organiser 

David P making his Robot to use in the Puppet Theatre 

Lennie and John helping each other with cutting the tape 

for their Puppet Theatres 

2. Arts and Craft Club 

The Arts and Crafts club has been very busy this 

half-term making Christmas tree decorations for the 

Artisan fair. The children pressed different shape 

cutters into self-drying clay and worked extremely hard 

to paint them trying to make each one unique – the 

results are fantastic! The Arts and Crafts club hopes 

all the decorations will go to a very special home at 

Christmas. All the money raised from the sales of the 

decorations will go to help families in need. 

Term 2.1 Winter Clubs, 11/01/10-22/02/10 

(Karate starts 04/01/11) 

Ms Deanna Beggs, Arts and Crafts Club Organiser 


Reception/Key Stage 1 Key Stage 2 Key Stages 3-5 

Monday 

Spanish Turkish Club DOE/ International Award 

Ballet Sewing Football 

Beginners Karate German- Native Speakers German - Native Speakers 

Art & Crafts –Modelling Ballet Plastic Models & Animation 

Fencing – Beginners 

Fencing - Beginners 

Karate Beginners 

Karate Beginners 

Make your Own Books 

Authors and their books 

Tuesday 

Football Club Parachute games Advanced Karate 

Romanian-Native Speakers Advanced Karate Singing & Production Skills 

Computer Club Badminton Badminton 

Football Club 

Romanian- Native Speakers 

Etymology Club 

Fitness Club 

Wednesday 

Arts and Craft Art and Craft – Spy Special. Norwegian Club 

Norwegian Club Backgammon Kung Fu 

Beginners Karate Norwegian Club Karaoke 

Dance - beginners French for Native Speakers French- Native Speakers 

Arts and Craft 

Fencing – Advanced 

Norwegian Club 

Dance – beginners 

Scrabble Club 

Kung Fu 

Computer Club 

Homework Club 

Thursday 

Dance – beginners Card Games Advanced Spanish 

Drama Fun Karaoke Art Club 

Romanian- Native Speakers Gymnastics 

Gymnastics 

Advanced Karate 

Advanced Karate 

Debating Club 

All about Horses 

Basketball 

Chess Club 

Singing & Production Skills 

Basketball 

All about Horses 

Friday 

Dance – advanced Turkish Club Turkish Club 

Dance - advanced 

Dance - advanced 

Private Fencing Club 

Private Fencing Club 

because you need a good aim and good reactions. 

It can also help you in football, hockey, tennis and 

many more. Overall dodge ball club is a lot of fun 

which helps you in other sports as well. 

Daniel Yr 8 

Arts and Craft clubfor their Puppet Theatres 

3. Dodgeball 

Dodge ball is a fun and challenging game in which 

you have to hit your opponent with a ball and, at 

the same time, dodge your opponent’s attacks. In 

dodge ball you have 2 skills : aim and good reaction 

speed to dodge your opponents attacks. Dodge 

ball can help you in many sports such as cricket 

DodgeBall Club in action 

DodgeBall club 

24


4. Advanced Spanish Club 

¡Hola a todos! 

En el club de español nosotras (Eda y Andreea) 

estamos preparando la predicción del tiempo. 

We have Drawn the map of Spain and divided the 

different counties. When we finish the weather 

symbols, we will record an official weather forecast 

for BSB Television. 

Advanced Spanish Club 

Eda and Andreea, Year 8 

The map for the weather forecast for Advanced Spanish 

5. Secondary Karaoke Club 

The vocal talents of Olivia Yr7, Tatum Yr7 and May 

Yr10 grace the Secondary Karaoke Club. We base 

ourselves in the ICT room, hook up an microphone 

and start-up youtube and the girls can sing along to 

professional backing tracks of their favourite artists. 

Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and The Kings of Leon are 

the tracks with the most hits this term. 

Ms Jen Kemp 

BSB student wins 

2nd place in the 

United Nations 

Climate Art 

Competition 

Karaoke Club May Yr 10 and Olivia Yr7 

6. ICT Club 

The ICT Club takes place in Mr Pantella’s ICT Room. 

In ICT club we learn from Mr Pantella how to do 

extra things on the programs we use in lesson 

time. We are allowed to play online games, watch 

programs on YouTube, listen to music and other 

amazing things online. We always have fun even 

though there are not many people in the club. Mr 

Pantella and the other students are very kind and 

help each other when it is needed. Overall, we 

always have a good time. 

Panayiotis, Year 9 

Sandra and Rhea checking email and MSN 

Panayiotis on the E-Tree site 

Hello! My name is SeoYoung. I won 2nd place in 

the United Nations Climate Art Competition. There 

was a presentation at Kretzulescu Palace and I was 

allowed to take two friends with me, Angela and 

Rebecca from 5M. We met Ms Hussain in her office 

and then together went to Kretzulescu Palace on 

the bus on the 23rd of October. The weather was 

clear but cold. When we arrived, we saw everything 

organised and set up nicely. 

7. Le club de Francais, (The French Club for Native 

Speakers) 

Bonjour à tous ! 

Here is a quiz devised by Basil, 7P, on the topic 

of French-speaking countries, and two jokes by 

Clothilde, 5M. 

Quiz sur les pays francophones 

1. Quelle est la deuxième plus grande ville de 

France ? 

2. Quelles sont les trois langues officielles de la 

Belgique ? 

3. Quelle est la capitale du Maroc ? 

4. Quelle est la capitale de la Suisse ? 

5. Quelles sont les trois couleurs du drapeau de la 

Côte D’Ivoire ? 

6. Quels sont les pays frontaliers de la France ? 

Blagues 

- Maman, Papa! Je vous ai rapporté une surprise de 

l’école... 

- Une bonne note ? 

- non ! 

- Un poem ? 

- Mais non 

- Alor quoi, Jean 

- Des poux ! 

- Toto est à table avec sa mère et son père. Alors, il 

dit à sa mère : 

- Maman ! il.... 

- Chut Toto, on ne parle pas à table. 

- A la fin du repas, la maman de Toto lui dit: 

- Voilà, maintenant, tu peux parler. 

- Trop tard, je voulais te dire qu’il y avait un asticot 

dans ta salade... 

Basil Chemais Year 7 - Quiz master 

It was nice to receive a prize. I got an Samsung MP3 

player, 3 dictionaries (which were different) and 2 

Romanian books. I also got an English book and 

a certificate to learn English at the British Council. 

The big people got an Iphone. A nice man shook 

everyone’s hand after the ceremony. 

SeoYoung, 5M 

SeoYoung presenting her artwork 

SeoYoung, Angela and Rebecca, 

5m in front of Kretzulescu Palace 

SeoYoung, together with the 1st and 3rd place winners 


25


National 

Museum 

of Art 

visit 

On Wednesday 4th 

November, Key Stage 

3 had the chance 

to visit the National 

Museum of Art. We 

went on a guided 

tour of the museum 

and during this time 

we got to know more 

about Modern art. I like 

abstract art as it gives 

the viewer a chance to 

think and interpret its 

meaning in a personal 

and individual way. 

After the tour, we were 

given a questionnaire 

to complete based 

on the paintings 

exhibited. 

I really enjoyed this 

trip and hope to visit 

the museum again 

sometime soon! 

Ana, Year 8 

ART News 

Healthy Foods/Arcimboldo Competition 

Finally the week that we had all been 

waiting for had arrived! It was Health 

Schools Week and everyone was looking 

forward to our traditional activities like 

tug of war, morning exercises, emotional 

well being workshops and of course 

our Healthy Schools Art Competition. 

Everyone had been extremely 

enthusiastic about the competition. 

Throughout Key Stages, groups of pupils 

were talking to each other about what 

they would draw, paint or make, which 

generated new ideas for all of us. For a 

whole week everyone was extremely busy 

trying to complete our final piece! 

The artist that we looked to for 

inspiration was Giuseppe Arcimboldo. 

Who is he, you may ask? Well let me tell 

you; he was an Italian artist that lived 

in the 16th century and was famous for 

making portraits out of fruits, plants, 

vegetables and even books. One of 

his most famous paintings was ‘The 

Greengrocer’. It is a painting of a man’s 

face but when you turn it upside down, 

it is a bowl of fruits and vegetables. 

Everyone was obsessed by Arcimboldo’s 

work and very inspired by it too. It took 

us 2 weeks of Art lessons to complete 

our work. 

It was now up to the judges Ms 

Greenwood, Ms Kemp and Ms Greaney 

to decide on the winner. Everyone was 

waiting silently in the Assembly hall 

desperately wanting Ms Greaney to 

announce the winners. In joint 3rd place 

was Csenge (year 7) and Tatum (year 7), 

in joint 2nd place was Ana (year 8) and 

Eda (year 8) and finally the winner was 

(drum rolls) Jennea (year 8) and everyone 

applauded. They say of course that ‘It’s 

not about winning or losing, it’s the 

taking part that counts’ Of course it is all 

about enjoying the event too. Congrats to 

everyone! 

Eda, Year 8 

Jennea’s winning artwork 

Key Stage 3 Art School Visit 

On November 4th, Key Stage 3 had the 

opportunity to visit the National Museum 

of Art and Kretzelescu Palace to view the 

work of well-established and aspiring 

artists. We went on a guided tour of the 

museum and during this time we got 

to know more about Modern Art. It was 

a very eventful and exciting day and 

I would like to thank Peter Wells, Mrs 

Wells and Ms Greenwood for making it 

possible. I would also like to thank Ms 

Draser, Ms Kemp, Mr Clowes and Mr 

Pantella for their wonderful contribution 

and support on the day. Here is a little 

insight into the events that occurred. 

Ms Greaney and Ana, Year 9 

UNESCO Kretzelescu Palace 

Green is NOT just a Colour 

Things in the Art room have just gotten 

greener- and I don’t mean a mix of 

blue and yellow! This year, BSB was 

fortunate enough to participate in an Art 

Competition regarding the ever-present 

climate and environment issues. This 

project was labelled “My world, Our 

climate”, and we were required to create 

an artwork that represented our views of 

the earth and its current state. 

Thank you Ms Greaney for entering us 

into this competition! We are glad to 

have contributed to such a noble cause; 

and hopefully we got our message across 

strong and clear! After all, as Michael 

Jackson would say: “We are the world, 

we are the children, we are the ones who 

make a brighter day, so let’s start giving.” 

Jennéa, Year 8 

Year 7 and 9 reflect on the artwork displayed 

Muhammed proudly presents his name on the 

exhibition list 

The five finalists 

Jennea, Year 8, the overall winner 

As soon as this opportunity was 

mentioned in one of our art lessons, 

ideas instantly began “blossoming” 

throughout! We commenced our 

masterpieces using a range of materials 

to portray our ideas. After the use of 

paints, water colours, and coloured 

pencils, the classroom proudly displayed 

a number of intricate artworks that 

created awareness of climate change. 

Our entries were then sent away, and we 

eagerly awaited the outcomes, and the 

chance to see them on display. 

Our artwork was exhibited in the 

Kretzelescu Palace and is currently being 

displayed in Copenhagen. “It has been a 

great experience” comments Noor, “Key 

Stage 3 visited the exhibition and viewed 

work not only by the British School of 

Bucharest pupils but also artwork by 

students from all over Romania” 

Yr 7&9 presenting the Healthy Schools 

Christmas School Productions Update 

Christmas School Productions have 

caused quite a stir in the Art Department 

and Key Stages 1 and 2 have been 

busy preparing for the event. Based 

on Mr Kelly and Mrs Dearmans script 

interpretations, Year 6 and the 

Stage Design Club have been busy 

painting forest and palace flats for the 

‘Hoodwinked’ production and santa’s 

props for ‘Rosie the Reindeer play. It has 

been a very enjoyable experience for all 

involved and we look forward to seeing 

the productions. 

26

New PE Facilities 

Before I get to the Inter House competitions the 

new PE facilities need a mention. To anyone 

walking down the athletics track they cannot 

help but be amazed by the new covering over 

the football pitch. I heard a number of names for 

our new cover ranging from the obvious balloon, 

tent, bubble and dome to the more creative igloo 

and Moby Dick. It is a fantastic facility for PE, the 

pupils have really enjoyed the lessons that take 

place inside with no more cold fingers first thing in 

the morning or having to collect the balls that have 

been hit over the fence. In addition to this, the PE 

Hall downstairs in the Crawford building has had 

a new make over. There are lots of new colourful 

wall and floor markings that are being used for a 

variety of new games in Early Years and KS1 

GIRLS 

G1 G2 G3 TOTAL 

OLT 3 3 2 8 

MURES 1 1 1 3 

DANUBE 1 1 3 5 

ARGES 3 3 2 8 

BOYS 


OLT 3 1 3 7 

MURES 1 1 1 3 


ARGES 3 3 1 7 

Years 5 and 6 Inter House Competition 

This time we were treated to perfect weather for 

the Years 5 and 6 Rugby End ball competition and 

the children did not disappoint us with their skills. 

Both competitions were keenly contested with 

each team going all out to win the cup for their 

house. In the girl’s competition Mures came out 

on top, whilst the boy’s treated us to a fantastic 

display of open running action. In the end, Olt 

were the comfortable winners. A big well done 

from the PE Department to all of our Primary 

pupils for a great effort and congratulations once 

again to the winners. 


competition had the honour of being the first one 

in the new dome. As you would expect the senior 

boy’s competition would be an intensely fought 

affair and a lot of grim determination was the 

order of the day. After the round robin of games 

we were left with yet another draw in this year’s 

Inter House competitions. In the end though there 

can only be one and Mures just took it from Arges 

again on points scored. The girls were on next and 

they also demonstrated their skills on the court. 

Again it was pleasing to see our pupils motivated 

to do the best for their house, this time the 

congratulations go to Olt as the girls champions. 

Great effort everyone and see you in the Spring for 

round 2 

Mr O’Brien taking a PE class inside the dome with 5M 

Years 3 and 4 Inter House Competition 

Unfortunately the rain came on the wrong day 

and so we had to move into the PE Hall for the two 

Rugby End ball competitions. The children played 

remarkably well to run, pass and shoot with the 

ball. In the Years 3 and 4 girl’s competition we 

had a draw for first place between Olt and Arges, 

however, Olt were declared winners due to their 

superior number of goals score in the competition. 

The fast paced boy’s competition also went down 

to the wire with three teams tied for first place 

at the end. Again, the highest number of goals 

scored determined the winner, and this time the 

honours went to Danube. 

Olt Winners of the Boys Year 5 & 6 Rugby End Ball 

GIRLS 


OLT 1 1 1 3 

MURES 3 3 3 9 


ARGES 3 1 3 7 

Arges girls playing Mures in the Secondary School 

House Competition 

The Year 3 & 4 House competition underway 

BOYS 


OLT 3 3 3 9 

MURES 1 3 2 6 


ARGES 3 1 1 5 

Secondary Basketball Competitions 

This one had to be rescheduled because of the 

bad weather; however, it did mean that this 

Olt Girls holding the winner’s trophy 

All competitions are based on a round robin of games, i.e. 

each team plays every other team. Points are awarded 

in the following fashion – 3 points for a win; 2 points for 

a draw; 1 point for losing. After 3 games the points are 

added up and a winner is declared, in the event of a draw 

the numbers of goals scored are added together and the 

teams with the highest number are the winners. 


27


University 

Courses 

Review 

As I write this article for NewsBlast 

and therefore re-examine the courses 

on offer to our pupils, it is pleasing 

to be able to report on the wide and 

varied learning opportunities that 

our University Programme continues 

to offer. Our pupils are learning 

skills through a wide spectrum of 

courses ranging from yoga to bicycle 

maintenance, beginners sewing to 

observational art, and animal rescue 

to how to make a movie- to name 

but a few. The continued enthusiasm 

shown by our pupils for the university 

courses, along with being able to 

see the ‘life skills’ being taught are 

extremely rewarding indeed. 

As always, I am indebted to the 

support from parents and special 

thanks must go to Mrs Russell for 

her time and effort with her very 

popular and successful ‘How to Run 

a Mini Business’ course and also Mrs 

Spackman who volunteered her help 

with one of our Cookery courses. I am 

always looking for parents who are 

willing to share their skills and if you 

feel this is something that you would 

like to do, then please get in contact 

with me. Another way that you could 

become involved with the University 

Course Program is to be a ‘special 

guest’ who visits the courses during 

the final week and finds out what 

skills the pupils have been learning. 

Two parents who did this were Mrs 

Gogos and Mrs Warmderam, and my 

thanks to them for their time and 

support. 

Mr Iain Davidson 

University Coordinator 

BSB University, 

Term 1 

Making Clothes for Toys 

In Making Clothes for Toys, the children learned how 

to design, cut and sew following their own ideas of 

outfits for a favourite toy brought from home. Here 

are what some of the pupils said when asked about 

the course. 

“I enjoyed my university a lot because I like making 

things myself.” Aniela, 3W, 

“I am happy that my toy has a few outfits to change 

into from now on.” Viktorija 3T, 

“This course was fun and it taught me how to sew, 

which I did not know before.” Pelin 4D 

Ioana, Pelin, Irini, Arina, Anastassia, Vaselina, Viktorjia, 

Anisia, Aniela, Nina, Ipek & Daria 

I MOVIE University Course 

Children in Years 1 and Year 2 who signed up for 

the ’I Movie’ course have experienced a number 

of different roles in their quest to produce an 

adventure movie. The first job was to decide what 

the movie was to be about. Ms Swanson and Ms 

French-Paris presented the children with three 

initial pictures to stimulate ideas and it didn’t take 

long for the children to form quite definite opinions 

on what they would like to do. We settled on the 

adventures of three turtles and their friends who 

went on a journey to answer the question ‘Where 

does the sun sleep at night?’ The children drew 

storyboards and we voted on the one we all liked 

the most. From there we drew up a list of characters 

which included favourites like fairies and mermaids. 

Then of course we held auditions to determine who 

played which part and unlike Hollywood there were 

no tantrums and everyone seemed happy with their 

allocated part. 

Next we then had to write the script and once again 

the children had quite definite ideas about what 

they wanted to say! Rehearsals followed and the 

children proved that despite their young age they 

could act and remember quite lengthy chunks of 

speech. 

The next stage was to start filming and we all learnt 

quite a lot at this point about the need for extra 

takes. There were many outside influences we 

hadn’t thought of initially, such as people walking 

into our shots, the need for better voice projection 

and many other interesting obstacles to acquiring 

that perfect film shot. 

Finally, we took the film back to the classroom and 

started to slide it into a movie making programme. 

This was very much a whole group activity and a 

good chance for the children to reflect on their 

performances. We decided together which were the 

best clips and worked together to edit and put it 

into a cohesive whole to make the final product- a 

movie! 

While we are not sure that ‘The Sunset’ will be 

appearing in a movie theatre near you, it will be 

available on the BSB TV website soon. We hope you 

will enjoy it! 

Ms Tiffanie French Paris and Ms Kristen Swanson 

Beginner’s Sewing and 

Cross Stitch 

We have been very busy in our University Beginner’s 

Sewing and Cross Stitching Course. We learned how 

to do different stitches and how to sew buttons 

on. We made a money purse that we can open and 

close with a button. We then learned how to make 

a cross stitch on material. It looks like an X. We are 

cross stitching our initials. We have enjoyed this 

course. David, Anouk, Cristina, Svenja, Haruna, 

Maia and Isabella. 

Haruna, Ms Andreea, Cristina, Anouk, David and Maia 

helping Ms Tyler with her sewing 

Arctic Animals and Culture 

Francesco, Smruti, Claudia, Eva, Chloe, Pavel and 

Boris have been learning about the animals and 

culture of the Arctic region in the Arctic Animals 

University Course. We have been learning about 

polar bears, seals, arctic owls, arctic foxes and 

much more! We have been making masks of arctic 

animals and we have enjoyed designing and 

making our own arctic homes and thinking about 

what types of people or animals might live there. 

We have made homes for polar bears, seals, foxes 

and Inuit people. Boris even came up with the 

ingenious idea of building a house from sugar 

cubes to make it look like an authentic igloo! We 

have learnt some songs about the Arctic and also 

learnt some words from the Sami language of 

Northern Scandinavia. 

Buorre beaivi! 

Ms Theresa Collins 

Pavel and Francesco working hard 

on their Arctic animals course 

Logical Thinking Skills 

University 

In the Logical Thinking Skills University Course we 

have done Sudoku, brainteasers and dingbats. 

Dingbats are something like maybe a picture 

of candy and the word floss. It would make the 

word ‘candyfloss’. See if you can work out this 

brainteaser! A boy called Jack was standing on 

one side of a river bank and his dog Scruffy was 

standing on the other side of the river bank. Jack 

called to his dog, ‘Scruffy come here!’ and Scruffy 

came across the river. The amazing thing is Scruffy 

did not get wet! How did Scruffy do it? If you come 

to logical thinking skills you might find out the 

answer! 

Calista, 5L 

28


Help the Horses 

During Animal Rescue University we went to a horse 

rescue centre to learn about horses that have been 

rescued in Romania. Some of the horses were found 

in a horrible state on the street - alone, famished 

and dehydrated. Some were found abandoned by 

people who were too poor to feed or care for them. 

Others were rescued from situations where they 

were being abused. Luckily, kind people have taken 

the horses in and are now caring for them. They 

are working on bringing the horses back to health 

by feeding them and giving them right medication. 

The centre currently has around 30 horses and four 

foals. Fortunately, all of the foals are in good health. 

Here are some hints on how to take care of rescues 

horses: 

How to feed the horses treats – Feed them by 

keeping your hands flat. Give them carrots or apples 

as treats – no sweets!!! 

How to brush the horses – First you take a curry 

brush to pull the dust up. Then you take a coarse 

brush to get the dust off and finally you take the soft 

brush to make the horse shine. 

How to keep the horse fit – Take the rescued horse 

on walks and when they are ready you can ride 

them and do other training exercises. 

Remember to always be cautious around rescued 

horses. Many of the horses are still very scared 

from what has happened to them and they can 

sometimes act unpredictably. 

The Animal Rescue University Team – Bram, 

Alexandra, Ester, Matthieu, Lena, Miruna, Luca, 

Diana, Gabrielle, Astrid, Hannah D and Hannah S. 

How to Run a Mini 

Business University Course 

We had a great time running our tuck shop! Firstly, 

we had this tuck shop for our university course, 

running a small business. It was on Friday 20 th of 

November from 2:30 to 3:15, outside the parent’s 

room. In the first two weeks we had to write to Ms 

Hussain and Ms Wells to tell them about the tuck 

shop. We also handed out some questionnaires. 

The next few weeks we focused on what to sell, 

how many and for how much. Also we were making 

some posters for advertising. On the tuck shop day 

we were very excited; unfortunately Ilinca T was not 

here. We had lots of sweets, juices, popcorn and 

lollipops to sell. The next week we found out that 

we had 118 lei profit- this means we (Aaron, George, 

Antoine, Thomas, Yasemin, Ilinca T and Ilinca O) 

each made 14.75 lei! 

Ilinca, Year 6 

Aaron, Ilinca, Yasemin, Chira, Antoine, Jorge and Thomas 

all set for their customers 

BSB Circuit Training 

Some of the student at BSB had a great time on 

the circuit training university course. Not only 

did they have fun, but they learned how to keep 

fit, the importance of keeping fit, and how to 

design and make their own circuit arena. Each 

week the students were set goals and each week 

Designing and Making 

Board Games 

The Designing and Making Board Games University 

Course for grades 3 and 4 was designed to give 

students an insight into what it really takes to make 

a board game. Students learned about some of 

the basic concepts behind board games (i.e. luck 

or skills based, age ranges and number of players). 

They also learned how to create their own board 

game and how to advertise their board games so 

that other children will want to buy it. Here’s what 

some of the students had to say about Designing 

and Making Board Games: 

“We were split into groups to make board games. I 

liked it a lot. My favourite part was when we made 

the commercials. My partners were Andreas and 

Martin. Our game was called “The Trap House.” 

Rodney 4D 

“We made cool board games. We got to test them. I 

really, really liked it!” 

Martin, 3T 

“We made and played “Battleship Trap”. I liked it 

very much.” 

Victor, 3T 

they surprised me with their enthusiasm and 

determination to improve their own personal 

fitness levels, as well as their knowledge of which 

exercises work each set of muscles. They all worked 

tremendously hard and so well done to all those 

that took part. 

Mr Clayton Burt 

Hannah, Ester, Alexandra, Mathieu and Bram looking 

after the horses 

Programmable Robots 

In the Programmable Robots University Course 

we learned how to make patterns using a repeat 

function. We also got to make an obstacle course 

and let the other people try to write the correct 

program to find their way round the course. If we did 

all of this we got to put stickers on the Probots! We 

had some little robots that could be programmed 

to make your patterns and even draw them on 

paper for you! These robots are called Probots. The 

Probots can be programmed to do something if they 

hear a sound; for example, their lights are switched 

on or off or if they feel something with their front or 

back sensors. 

Stefanos, 5L 

Bianca and Gaya working hard 


29

DT continues to go from strength to strength 

Design Technology Days, 12 th /13 th November, were 

a cross-curricular project between Art and Design 

Technology. Design Technology is divided into 

3 areas Food Technology, Textiles and Resistant 

Materials and as the department grows it will 

expand its horizons and start to investigate areas 

other then food. To get our students in the mood 

for textiles Ms Greaney and I planned the two days 

together. 

Students were grouped by myself and Ms Greaney 

and given a country to research to create a mood 

board. “What is a mood board?” I hear you cry! 

Well a mood board is a collection of thoughts and 

feelings, but in this case it was a combination 

of thoughts and feelings and print outs or found 

objects of famous landmarks, key events in history, 

traditions, customs, national costumes or styles 

of dress, key words and famous drinks or food 

of the country the students were given. Students 

were also given templates to begin their designs, 

remembering all the while the key aspects of the 

Secondary SEAL programme of managing their 

feelings if things were not going too well, motivating 

themselves to keep to the deadlines and forming 

positive relationships with students from across the 

Key Stage. 


Both myself and Ms Greaney were very very 

impressed with the outcomes of the designs and 

the transformation from the designs to the final 

piece. We witnessed real teamwork, students 

encouraging others to share ideas and students 

reviewing their work positively and critically to reach 

their planned outcomes! 

We are looking forward to the fashion show that 

Key Stage 3 will present shortly. We also know that 

Key Stage 4 and parents are very keen to see what 

the Key Stage 3 students produced on DT Days! You 

won’t have to wait much longer! 

Ana Yr 8 working on Scotland’s mood board 

Eda and Hyo Min Yr 8 working on their designs 

Miriam Yr 8 working hard on the mood board for Germany 

Eda Yr 8 adding the final touchesto her South American hat 

Fillipo Yr 7 and Idan Yr 7 sharing space and equipment 

Manuela Yr 7 representing New Zealand 

Csenge Yr 7 modelling the French final design 

Idan modelling the Austrian design 

made by Naomi Yr 8, Nikita Yr 8 

Johan glueing and sticking research for England 

30


Risotto: Critical Review 

During lesson time Year 9 have been 

experimenting with risottos and Year 8 have 

moved on to Asian cuisine by designing and 

making their own stir-frys and Year 7’s have 

been making cheese and courgette muffins all 

with outstanding results. Year 9 asked Mrs Wells 

to review their dishes for them as an extended 

source of evaluation and here is what she said! 

Rhea Yr 7 modelling for Spain 

Yr 8 boys talking about lean meat 

Year 7 Cheese and Courgette Muffins 

Rhys Yr 7 wearing the Scottish Costume made by Ana 

Yr8, Mariam Yr 8, Rhys Yr 7 and Fillipo Yr 7 

Megan Yr 7 modelling the final design from Italy 

So what do you think Cesar about 

our product? asks Rhys in Year 7 

The final dish a Shrimp stir fry with rice 

“Both dishes were quite creamy and the rice 

was well cooked, not slimy and beyond al dente. 

The fresh flat leaf parsley was a mature touch 

and certainly added to the taste. Bowl number 

one seemed to have slightly more stock taste 

so I preferred bowl number two which seemed 

to have a nutty taste from the combination of 

mushrooms. Super cooking” 

Mrs Puddy-Wells 

Ms Jen Kemp 

Design Technology Coordinator 

Nikita Yr 8 measuring and cutting 

material for the Austrian hat 

Evaluating our work in DT! CHEERS! 

Which risotto dish did Mrs Jo Puddy-Wells pick? 

Bowl 1 

Team New Zealand Daniel Yr 8, 

Manuela Yr 7 and Alex Yr 7 

Preparing vegetables with Yr 8 for their stir fry 

Or Bowl 2 


31


Creche and Preschool put on Healthy Schools Bake Sale 

The Creche and Preschool bake sale fell on the 

last day of half-term, which just happened to be 

during Healthy Schools Week -what a challenge 

we had! The mums knew early on that they would 

have to be creative to make this bake sale a 

success and everyone rose to the challenge. The 

children produced colourful and eye-catching 

posters in class and together with the help of their 

mums they produced a great recipe booklet full 

of healthy family favourites. On the day we had 

a wonderfully colourful and creative table with 

healthy specialities from all nations! Delicious 

homemade breads and funny face sandwiches, 

ever-popular jelly-pots, fruity muffins, toffee 

apples, organic cherry cakes, fruit-filled Jack’o 

Lanterns and very healthy chocolate pancakes! 

On the day we had great weather, wonderfully 

eager mums and kids as well as the inspiration 

of Halloween! Our customers loved it and we 

had a very successful sale, raising over 1000 lei! 

Preschool have been able to buy an aquarium 

and fish for their classroom and crèche have 

bought great new role play equipment. Well done 

everyone – this proves Healthy is Great! 

Mrs Janie Bland 

Parent Teachers Association 

Yummy Healthy treats at the Healthy Schools Bake Sale 

Jelly delights at the Bake Sale! 

A halloween twist at the Healthy Bake Sale 

Creche Healthy Schools Bake Sale 

EYFS Parents 

Workshops 

EYFS recently had their second parents’ workshop. 

Miss Deanna prepared and delivered a very 

informative and interesting workshop on ‘Letters 

and Sounds’ to both the EYFS Pipera and Gafencu 

parents. The parents asked lots of interesting 

questions which really helped make the workshops 

more effective. 

Watch out for more workshops in the New Year. 

Thank you to Ms Deanna Beggs for all her hard work 

with these workshops. I would also like to take this 

opportunity to wish Ms Beggs ‘Good Luck’ as she 

temporarily leaves us to have her baby. We really 

hope she comes and visits us soon. All the EYFS 

team and her class will miss her a lot. 

Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, EYFS Coordinator, Pipera 

Tuff Cams 

Recently the PTA very kindly bought EYFS a number 

of Tuff Cams, which are cameras specifically 

designed for use by children and I can honestly say 

that the children are very excited about being able 

to use these new cameras. Firstly we showed the 

children how to use them, then children took it in 

turns (with support) to have the camera and take 

pictures around the classroom. When the children 

are used to the cameras they can then use them 

to photograph each other doing the activities they 

enjoy. These pictures can then be shown to the 

children on the interactive whiteboard where they 

can also edit them. The cameras introduce children 

to technology as well as providing a novel way in 

which children can express ideas, thoughts, and 

feelings. 

EYFS would like to say a ‘BIG’ thank you to the PTA! 

Tuff Cam 

Ms Deanna Beggs leading the workshop 

We took a picture of our fish 

32


Healthy Schools Week Emotional Wellbeing Clinics – Year 7 and 8 

MFL Year 7 students with their Healthy Schools Wall Display 

Emotional Well-being Workshop with Tatum and Olivia Yr7 

Year 9 students lead the Healthy schools Assembly 

The Healthy Schools Committee put 

on a show for all Key Stages for the 

first Healthy Schools Week of the year. 

As we all know the Healthy Schools 

initiative is divided into 4 strands, 

healthy eating, physical activity, 

PHCSE and emotional well being. 

The Healthy Schools Committee had 

everything and more during the week 

from dentist visits to Healthy Bake 

Sales. The next Healthy Schools 

Week is Monday 17 th April – 23 rd April 

2010. URGENTLY REQUIRED HEALTHY 

SCHOOLS REPS! See Ms Kemp, Ms 

Jones, Mr Williams, Mr Burt, Ms 

Swanson and Ms Deanna for more 

details on how YOU can become 

actively involved in promoting, 

marketing and managing Healthy 

Schools Weeks in the future! 

Ms Jen Kemp 

Healthy Schools 

Coordinator Secondary 

Emotional Well-being Workshop with Hristos and Idan Yr7 

Year 7 and 8 students went over 

to the Foundation Stage to give 

Emotional Well-being Workshops and 

get to know the younger students. 

The feedback from the pupils was 

all positive. Fillipo Yr 7 said “I don’t 

think they trusted us at the beginning 

but when we began to play with their 

toys they didn’t want us to leave!” 

Ms Jen Kemp 

PHCSE Coordinator Secondary 

Emotional Wellbeing and Physical Activity - The Morning Energiser! 

The Healthy School’s week Energiser 

consisted of a week of ‘wake-up’ 

morning exercises for individual 

classes and culminated in a 

whole-school event on the Friday. 

Mr Williams lead a different Key 

Stage from 8:45 to 9:25 each day, 

demonstrating a range of stretching, 

dynamic and resting exercises with a 

Kung Fu flavour. The children worked 

their way through the program and 

then went on to start their lessons 

feeling invigorated and ready to 

learn. There were several excellent 

performances noted by Mr Williams 

and he was particularly happy to see 

the teachers joining in on the final 

day in which more than 250 students 

performed a training program 

simultaneously. 

Mr Williams was also impressed with 

the way the children were able to 

hold themselves perfectly still and 

empty their minds. He explained to 

us that ‘in stillness is movement’ - 

we hope you know what he means! 

Mr Mark Williams 

Healthy Schools Coordinator 

Primary 

Early morning Callanetics with Mr Williams 


33


Ben K. is a Preschool student at Gafencu. He was showing me his 

“Pollock” style rendering of the leaves. He loves to paint! 

Able, Gifted and Talented 

at the Early Years and 

Foundation Stage 

Gafencu 

It has long been a mission of BSB to provide all students with a positive, 

stimulating, secure and caring environment which encourages the fulfillment of 

individual potential and growth of self esteem in all areas: academic, social and 

personal. The EYFS is a vital phase in the academic careers of our students. It is 

just as imperative that we offer a wide variety of learning opportunities, social 

and emotional support at this stage as we do with the rest of the Key Stages. An 

essential part of bringing this vision to life is to identify A, G&T students in the 

EYFS and provide them with the appropriate support. 

The key to identifying young A, G&T pupils at this stage begins with staff 

awareness. Knowing what to look for when identifying the exceptional child is 

just as important as providing them with the necessary support. Confident and 

knowledgeable teaching staff is a priority at BSB which is why we are always 

offering professional development in a variety of areas such as AG&T. I went 

to Gafencu to discuss identification of AG&T students in the EYFS with staff. 

The A, G&T programme is a whole school effort which assesses, identifies and 

supports gifted students at all levels, even at the earliest stages such as Early 

Years and Foundation. 

The EYFS programme at BSB is a prime example of the nurturing, caring and 

stimulating environment that all students need to succeed academically, 

emotionally and socially. EYFS focuses on creating an exciting atmosphere 

which encourages students to be creative, self-exploratory and to be able to 

communicate on a level that their peers can relate to. The programme offers just 

the right balance of structure, flexibility and independence that promotes the 

gifts and talents of all young learners. 

Ms Nicole Fisher, Able, Gifted and Talented Coordinator 

Tudor S. is a Reception student at Gafencu. 

He was showing me the mechanics of his creation. 

Winter Vegetables 

in the EYFS 

Lennie, David and Miki put the vegeatbles on the steamer 

Jae Hyun Lee from creche enjoys 

some steamed vegetables 

During Healthy Schools week the children were 

introduced to some delicious winter vegetables 

such as squash, cabbage, pumpkin and 

beetroot. Each class had the opportunity to cut 

up the vegetables, put them in a steamer and 

then taste them. Much to our surprise and pleasure 

the children absolutely devoured the vegetables. 

In Reception B the most popular vegetable was 

by far the squash because as David said it was 

‘very yummy and sweet’. In Preschool M and in 

Reception E the children loved the cabbage and in 

crèche the favourites were cabbage and pumpkin. 

The children in Preschool M also enjoyed learning 

the names of the vegetables in different languages. 

The entire process from washing and cutting 

to tasting the vegetables was a great learning 

experience as it gave the children an opportunity to 

use real tools and to learn how to use them safely. 

It was also an opportunity to be brave and try 

some vegetables they may never have tried before 

and talk about the different tastes and which 

vegetables they preferred. 

On the whole Healthy Schools Week was a great 

success in the EYFS Pipera and we look forwards to 

the next one. 

Ms Deanna Beggs 

Healthy Schools EYFS Coordinator 

34


Class Pages 

Crèche Gafencu 

Communication has come on in leaps and bounds 

over the last few weeks, and the children are all 

starting to use newly learnt English words in class 

and to our delight, everyone now has a firm grasp 

of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’, which can often be 

heard ringing out of the windows here at Gafencu! 

Creche Pipera: 

Ladybirds and Spiders 

There have been a number of stories that have been 

popular in crèche recently. Two in particular are 

“The very lazy Ladybird” and “The very busy spider” 

from these stories, different learning journeys 

and some fantastic art work has taken place. The 

children have made ladybirds out of egg boxes 

which now hang proudly in the classroom and they 

have made some very real looking spider webs out 

of spaghetti, glue and glitter. 

Elliot, Maria, Nicolas and Philip 

painting Christmas pictures 

Marguerite, Maria, Nicolas and 

Philip planting seeds 

This is just one of the festive songs we have been 

learning in the run-up to Christmas, and we have all 

been practising hard for the upcoming show, whilst 

letting our creative sides loose on some homemade 

decorations. We have also been having a lot of fun 

playing with our toys and planting seeds, and we 

are very excited about seeing them grow in the near 

future. We would like to finish by wishing everybody 

a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we 

look forward to seeing you all next term. 

Ms Chris Stowe, Crèche teacher 

Our spider web pictures 

Going on a bug hunt 

Preschool students enjoying PE 

Preschool Gafencu 

We have now completed our first term in 

Gafencu Preschool and over the term we have 

observed that the children seem to have chosen 

specific areas to repeatedly play in. We are 

extremely lucky to have direct access to the 

garden area, which has become the main work 

place of several of the children. The boys have 

particularly enjoyed working together to fill the 

climbing frame with large and small objects 

and have repeated this activity several times. 

Some of the girls have enjoyed playing outside 

too, in particular spending a great part of their 

time this autumn playing with water, either 

washing the dolls or pouring, emptying and 

filling containers. They were especially thrilled 

when it rained as they were stunned when they 

were encouraged to add paint to the puddles! 

Interestingly we have observed that the other 

children have also become identified with 

particular activity areas; some children are 

totally into painting, either by themselves or 

working with another student on the same piece 

of paper. 

But the one area that is of common importance 

to all the children is the snack area. The snack 

table is opened at 8 30 am and closed at 11am 

and so children decide when they wish to eat 

their snack. For some it is as soon as they arrive 

at school, they sit with their friends and after 

examining and discussing the contents of each 

other’s snack boxes, they eat and then return 

the snack boxes to their bags and go off to 

play. Sometimes children arrive at school, play 

then decide to have snack; other children eat a 

small amount revisiting the table several times 

during the morning. When the weather allows, 

the children have eaten snacks outside- this is 

a good opportunity for Reception and Preschool 

to meet informally. At one point this term the 

children instituted an afternoon snack time, so 

in response to this we left a table available. 

But without fail the one time that the whole 

group voluntary takes snack together is at 

the end of the PE lesson. There is not a lot of 

discussion or contemplating of the contents in 

each other’s snack box; they just sit and eat, 

looking very relaxed, self confident and self 

assured at a lesson well done! 

Ms Kath Homer, Class teacher 

We made ladybirds 

Going to look for ladybirds and spiders was a 

particular successful learning journey. The children 

all made their own binoculars and set off around 

the school to have a look. We came across some 

very interesting finds including a snail and some 

roses, unfortunately we didn’t find any ladybirds 

or spiders, but some children thought they caught 

sight of a lion and a zebra! It was very exciting! 

Ms Claire O’Brien, Class teacher 


35


Pre school M 

It continues to be an exciting and busy time in 

Preschool M. We are particularly enjoying role 

play at the moment. Role play is very important 

for children of preschool age as it really helps 

with language for communication and thinking as 

well as developing their imagination. It also helps 

support the personal and social development of the 

children. 

Firstly, we had a pet shop and veterinary surgery in 

our classroom. We learnt all about different animals 

you can have as pets, which tied in really well with 

the hibernation of our tortoise and the arrival of our 

fish tank and fish (purchased with bake sale funds). 

The children really enjoyed acting as both the vet 

and the pet owner. Pets were diagnosed, treated, 

and then put in the recovery area. 

We now have a fairyland castle and have had the 

opportunity to be kings and queens, princes and 

princesses, and even dragons and trolls. This role 

play area has linked with many rhymes and stories. 

The children have also been making up stories of 

their own which is an important developmental 

step. We love role play so much we used some of 

our bake sale money to purchase additional items 

to help us play. Thank you again to everyone who 

supported our bake sale. 

Thank you also to Kate, the current admin manager 

of the Monster Munchkins toddler group, who is 

leaving the group this month. 

The Preschool M Team 

Reception B: We are not 

afraid of the dark! 

This term began by thinking about the dark. In 

partners the children talked about their experiences 

of the dark and tried to think of words related to 

the dark. Some of their ideas were: sleep by myself, 

trees moving, caves, bats, black, starts with /d/, 

night and scary. 

These conversations led to some investigations of 

the dark, such as “how to make paint darker”, and 

making light and dark artwork. But the children’s 

interests soon shifted after we read the story Can’t 

You Sleep Little Bear?, by Martin Waddell, and 

made a very dark bear cave in our classroom. The 

children have enjoyed going in the cave and telling 

the story and also making up their own dark stories. 

Continuing with the bear theme, we read We’re 

Going on a Bear Hunt, which helped us learn about 

story settings. We used puppets to tell the story and 

we also had our first visit to the ICT Suite where we 

created some of the settings from the story, such as 

long wavy grass. 

Modelling. We became experts at 2D and 3D shapes 

when making our junk models and are now able to 

recognise different shapes when walking around 

school. Oskar H even found 12 cuboids in our 

playground. 

Remi, Omar and Anya are painting our 

Rocket with lots of bright colours 

so that it can be seen in space 

Once we had made all these Space Crafts we had 

one problem……..we had no where to blast off to!!!! 

So we needed to make some planets. We made 

some Paper-Mache Planets, which was really good 

fun as we liked to get our hands in the glue. 

Ayesha, Tibor, Sunayana and Mariam busy at the vets 

Samuel, Esperanza and Ayesha busy fixing together a 

bed for the vets 

This term has gone by so quickly and the children 

have learnt so much in a short time. I look forward 

to visiting the children in the New Year and to 

seeing their development. 

It’s dark outside 

It’s dark outside. 

It’s dark inside. 

It’s dark behind the door. 



It’s dark under the bed. 



It’s dark in the drawer. 



It’s dark in my room. 



It’s dark everywhere at night! 

Ms Deanna Beggs, Class teacher 

Based on ‘It’s dark outside’ by Nancy Chambers 

By Reception B 

Reception E: 

Space Adventure 

In Reception E this term we have been very 

interested in all things relating to Space. It all 

started with Remi making a Rocket out of wooden 

blocks, and deciding to go to Jupiter. We then 

made Spaceships and Flying Saucers with our Junk 

Moritz and Arina making planets 

using gloopy papier-mache 

We looked at the spacesuits that astronauts wear 

and decided that we needed to make one. We 

decided that we didn’t want to use paper and that 

we needed to be brightly coloured, “so that our 

Mummies can see us,” from Earth. Astronaut Arish 

and Efe had great fun in our Space Centre finding 

out what they could see from the Moon. 

We really enjoy reading books about aliens and 

making our own pictures of what we think aliens 

look like. We even wondered what Aliens might eat, 

so we used our imaginations to come up with some 

delicious ‘alien food.’ 

Oskar H and Arish discussing 

the textures of our ‘alien food 

Ms Kayleigh, Class teacher 

36


Reception, Gafencu: Here’s 

what we do at Harvest Time 

The Reception class at Gafencu has become messier 

since the start of term… flour, ice, glitter and jelly 

have played a large role in our daily lives, providing 

lots of opportunities for the children to use their 

senses to explore the world around them. They have 

had interesting discussions about ice, extending 

their vocabulary and talking about freezing, 

melting, warm and cold. They have been using 

onomatopoeic words such as squishy, yucky, gooey 

and slippery to describe the jelly and flour and have 

used these multi-sensory materials to practise their 

letters. Tudor S, Joost and Benji really enjoyed roleplay 

using these messy substances and thought 

their teacher had gone mad allowing them to make 

such mess. 

can form most of the letters learned so far, identify 

and recognize initial sounds in words and they 

know some tricky high frequency words also. Calin 

even managed to read a caption all by himself. 

Phew. When it is time to relax from Ms Kellyanne 

and her Letters and Sounds, Alex M and Giulia love 

nothing more than relaxing with a book. Sitting 

proud at the writing table beside them is usually 

Martina, making maps, cards and pretty designs 

to take home. Ambra has made so many beautiful 

pictures for the wall the class room resembles an 

art gallery. 

With the Christmas production coming up it’s a 

good thing that we have Cameron and his opera 

voice to belt out the songs and Tudor M to show us 

the actions. Merry Christmas everybody. 

1C Report 

Ms Kellyanne Feeney, Class teacher 

This month has been a busy month for 1C. We have 

been working together to create our magical role 

play area, ‘The Land of Boogwala’ in our art lessons 

and now have a wonderful area in which to read 

and play. There is now a fox, a rabbit, a dog and 

even a bear hiding in the undergrowth in the corner 

of 1C’s classroom! 

1T Update 

The children in 1T have been busy at work this 

term learning about Forces in Science by exploring 

Pushes and Pulls. One of the aspects we discussed 

was stopping moving objects. We looked at objects 

that we can’t stop which opened up a discussion 

and an activity outside about road safety - safe 

ways to cross a street. Later we looked at things we 

can stop, such as balls and toy cars. We developed 

an experiment to find which objects were able to 

stop the moving balls and toys. We realized that 

how hard you kicked the ball or pushed the car 

changed the outcome, which means we had to think 

about how to make it a fair test. 

Kristian stopping the moving bicycles to let Mete, 

Letitia, Alexia, Gregory and Catinca cross 

Alex M, Sasha, Alex C, Calin and Tudor M 

enjoying quiet time 

Outside has been just as interesting. The children 

have been enjoying the beautiful sunny autumn 

weather and have been lucky enough to learn 

all about autumn by being outside and going on 

environmental walks and appreciating nature. 

Sanziana, Irina and Niya showed just how much 

they had learned about symmetry and patterns in 

their numeracy by creating lovely leafy symmetrical 

patterns and designs with Ms Nicoleta. Sasha 

and Alex C took the opportunity to use the sand 

pit as an experimental area to make slopes and 

mini-mountains, talking about 3D shapes, speed, 

distance and height. Sasha even tried to roll himself 

down the slide and felt what it was like to be a ball. 

Measuring density 

We have been learning about shapes and density 

in Numeracy and have especially enjoyed pouring 

water into different containers to investigate how 

much water different-sized containers can hold. We 

have been looking at repetitive language in Literacy 

and have worked together to create our own class 

version of ‘The House that Jack Built’. In Science 

we have been learning about different forces and 

investigating the various ways in which objects and 

people can move. 

Mallika, Sara and Honzik looking 

out for moving bicycles 

In Literacy, we have been reading stories with 

repeated patterns, such as The House That Jack 

Built and Handa’s Surprise. We had a lot of fun with 

them and enjoyed reciting the repeated phrases. 

We made our own books based on The House That 

Jack Built using our own characters, which we will 

keep in our class library 

What’s new in 1W 

Ms Justine Tyler, Class teacher 

We have had a very busy yet interesting half term 

since our last article. Our main focus of learning has 

been Healthy Eating where we have learned about 

what is good to eat and what is junk food. 

Reception Gafencu practising their 

Christmas Production songs 

Inside the classroom, there has been a lot of hard 

work with all of the children making wonderful 

progress with their Letters and Sounds. The children 

Practising for our assembly 

Our class assembly was held on Thursday 26 th 

November and 1C worked very hard to put together 

their production of ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’. This 

story helped us to understand our History topic, 

which is looking at how toys have evolved through 

time. Ms Collins was very impressed at how the 

children managed to learn their lines so well! 

Ms Theresa Collins, Class teacher 

and Ms Valentina, Class TA 

1W students learning about ‘Healthy Eating’ 


37


In Mathematics, we set up our very own fruit stall 

to use our knowledge of addition and subtraction 

to find out the prices of many fruit and vegetables 

and what coins we would use to buy them and 

how much change we would get. We also painted 

our favourite fruit and vegetable in Art and then 

designed a fruit salad. However, before we made 

our fruit salad we had to learn about hygiene when 

dealing with food, such as washing our hands, tying 

back our hair and clean surfaces. The best bit was 

eating our fruit salad afterwards. 

We have been learning all about Non Fiction work 

in Literacy, with a particular focus on Recipes and 

Cooking. One day we even got to go and do some 

cooking. We made ‘Courgettes with Cheese and 

Tomatoes’ - Cristina’s ‘Chocolate Ice Cream’ recipe, 

which she invented at home, was our favourite. 

We wrote our own recipes for a monster dinner, 

and even followed a much tastier recipe for Baked 

Courgettes. We really enjoyed eating the delicious, 

healthy snack we made. We have also been 

lighting things up in science class using electricity, 

creating our own working circuits and switches. 

In Geography we have been using the Internet to 

explore Mexican culture, learning about all the 

foods, clothing, music and beliefs that make each 

place unique. 

Year 3T 

Ms Kristen Swanson, Class teacher 

Firstly, I would like to say welcome to Alessandro 

from Italy, who joined us this term. We all welcomed 

him with open arms, as we always do with new 

class friends, and he has already settled nicely into 

the class and made friends with the other students. 

Nicholas cooking 

1W students enjoying ‘Fingerbob Theatre’ 

We have also really enjoyed learning about the toys 

of today and the past and discovered that older toys 

were built with better materials, such as wood, and 

so they lasted longer. Some toys do not date such 

as hoops, skipping and puppets. The best part was 

making Fingerbobs (finger puppets) of mice. 

The latest from 2P 

Mr James Ward, Class teacher 

We like variety in Year 2P and so have endeavoured 

to try all sorts of new things and learn new skills 

in the classroom this half term. For example, we 

have been learning how to sew, to do a running 

stitch, and make puppets. We have been learning 

about Mexico, which we think is a very interesting 

place with great food. We have also been studying 

Electricity and tried very hard to make circuits with 

light bulbs and buzzers, which was a lot of fun. We 

also now know how to be safe around electricity; 

for example, you must never put anything into a 

plug socket except a plug and certainly never your 

fingers! 

Mert cooking 

We were sorry to say goodbye to our dear friend 

Sukeerthi, who has returned to live in India, she will 

be missed. 

We are very happy however for Ola, who has a new 

baby brother, and for Marillia, who has new baby 

sister- congratulations to them and their families. 

It is amazing to us all that it is nearly Christmas 

and we can’t wait for the production day to get 

here! Of course, there are many other interesting 

things lined up for the rest of the term - Christmas 

tree decorating, parties, and the Artisan Fair. We all 

think these activities make for a fun end of term! 

Ms Tiffanie French-Paris, Class teacher 

Hello from 2S 

This term in 2S we have been having fun in the 

kitchen! As part of our Literacy program we have 

been learning all about recipes. 

Alessandro, with his wire figure 

3T designing their Photo Frames 

Boris sewing 

2S students ready to get cooking! 

Our Postcards 

We were all very busy studying many areas this 

term. In Design and Technology, we completed our 

topic of planning and designing our own picture 

frames. The outcome was tremendous, in that 

38


we all showed that we had learned a real mix of 

techniques of design and chosen appropriately 

according to our own personal ‘ideal’ frame for 

a family member. In ICT we all designed a highly 

original Halloween card, using the 2 simple 

program. ICT is always fun! 

it’s a type of game which helped us to learn about 

punctuation in a fun way. You can ask your teacher 

how to play the game if you want too. 

Ipek working on her Halloween Card Design 

Rex Ray Display 

Klara and Hannah reading to Paris 

We also went to read a book to Reception B, which 

we really enjoyed because we got to know the 

students in the class better and enjoyed playing 

with them. In Science we have made Skeletons that 

move because we are learning about the Human 

Body. 

The 4H Factor! 

Ioana, 4D 

It has been clear from the outset of the academic 

year that tremendous talent resides in every child 

in 4H. In class 4H are always full with creative ideas 

and are achieving great things in all areas of the 

curriculum. However, it was apparent that a deeper 

creativity lurked, waiting to reveal itself given any 

such opportunity. 

Picture Frames 

In Geography we studied ‘Weather and Climate’ and 

as a final process we wrote postcards ‘supposedly’ 

from different climatic zones describing amongst 

other things the weather conditions and how 

people live in those areas. These postcards became 

the focus of a display in the classroom. We are now 

looking at ‘Poetry’ in Literacy, learning about the 

many different types of poetry and acting out poems 

in the classroom. Whilst in Science during our topic 

of ‘Teeth and Healthy Eating’ we are looking forward 

to a trip out to a restaurant in the city to assess 

whether it has a healthy menu or not. Related to 

this topic, in early December, we performed ‘Wibble 

Wobble’ by Miriam Moss, at our class assembly, 

and hope that all the Mums and Dads enjoyed it. 

Ms Taylor, Year 3, Class teacher 

3W worked on 

the BSB Winter Display 

Ms Hussain asked Year 3 if they would create 

a Winter Display on the route through to the 

assembly hall. Last year’s display’s colour scheme 

incorporated blues, silvers and greys. This year Mr 

Williams the art coordinator decided to go for a 

more colourful theme to cheer us up on those cold, 

overcast days. Year 3 had been studying patterns 

in Art and looking at the artist Rex Ray, so it was no 

problem at all to come up with an alluring design 

for the board. 3W used their mathematics symmetry 

skills and knowledge of repeating patterns to create 

Christmas tree twigs and snow drop shapes. 

Alex displaying his work of art 

Veselina, Ester and Kristopher busy creating 

We then collaged all our pieces together to make 

one final image. We took a picture of our work and 

we sent it to Rex Ray. We hope he likes it! 

4D Class Work. 

In Literacy we had a special writing time where we 

closed the curtains and the tables were moved. 

We were writing that we were a boy in war time. 

We had to write how we were feeling as if we were 

evacuated from our homes. 4D also worked on 

kung-fu punctuation, which was lots fun because 

3W 

Presenter Astrid challenges Cristina and Clara 

in the History Round 

With this in mind 4H decided to showcase their 

acting, singing, dancing and even magic skills in 

a fabulous, all guns blazing talent show for their 

recent class assembly. The children were paired 

up and given time to rehearse their entertaining 

abilities to produce a 45 second masterpiece 

to captivate both the interest and the votes of 

their audience. They were competing against 

other pairs in the class to become the ultimate 

talent champions of 4H. Each child performed 

spectacularly, but David and Matei’s rendition of 

‘Soup Soup’ with their own inspired funky dance 

moves cannot escape mention as they had the 

audience in stitches. Children who were voted 

through to the next round by parents and school 

peers then participated in an intellectual challenge 

testing their knowledge and learning from the term 

so far to the absolute limit! Points were awarded 

for effort and success and the two teams with the 

highest scores then met head to head in the final. 

Cristina and Clara faced Samaa and Raluca in a 

game that pushed the boundaries of human fine 

motor skills and teamwork beyond compare. It was 

a tense moment in the history of 4H. After blood, 

sweat and tears, Cristina and Clara ruled victorious 

and claimed the much sought after 4H factor trophy. 

Congratulations to all in 4H! 

Mr Stuart Harrison, Class teacher 


39


Year 5 trip to 

Castel Film Studios 

It was awesome! On Thursday, November, 5 th Year 5 

went to Castel Film Studios. When the teachers were 

sure that we were ready to go, we took the bus from 

school and after half an hour we finally arrived to 

Castel Film Studios. When we arrived in the parking 

lot there were some taxis and some police cars that 

were used in some different movies. 

the world, including: Milan set in the 1800’s, which 

was made for a movie called ‘Barbarossa’. There 

is also a London Street and a small western town 

in America, which even includes a real horse and 

some chickens! Then, we saw the costumes for the 

movie that will be shot on Monday, called ‘Born to 

Raise Hell’, starring Steven Seagal. Lastly, we saw 

an apartment all made out of plastic. It was really 

strange to walk on a fake floor made out of plastic! 

This is the best school trip I have been on so far! 

Year 5 Trip to 

Herestrau Park 

Alessandro, 5L 

On the 14 th of October 2009 the Year 5 students of 

BSB went to Herestrau Park. We arrived at school 

like a normal school day, except everybody came 

in their P.E. kits and with a rucksack. The Year 5 

students went to their classrooms where we were 

told what was going to happen for the day and 

some of the rules for going on trips by our class 

teachers Mr Madsen and Mr Leese. 

awesome alliteration, similes like lions in the wild, 

personification which makes our writing stand up 

and sing and lastly, wild oppositepersonification! 

Next stop was Numeracy, but be cautious this 

paragraph has some very advanced work! First we 

practiced long division with decimal points (even 

in multiplication), how murderous! Afterwards, 

we learned all about FRACTIONS! Oh no, I mean, 

oh yeah! They were pretty hard at the beginning 

but we eventually got the hang of it. For example, 

when you wanted to find 10% you just have to 

move one decimal point to the left and then round 

the last number on the right off… how easy can 

mathematics get? 

During our History lessons we have been exploring 

‘Britain since 1948’ and we were assigned to create 

a timeline that shows everything important event of 

our own families since 1948. 

Angela and Seoyoung on the Baker Street set 

Inside the sound proof studio. 

Maybe we should move our classroom here! 

Watching the swans and fish 

Aaron and Jesus displaying their ’Art in Motion’ 

All in all, we have been busy like ants in a chocolate 

factory and are looking forward to all the exciting 

times ahead! 

6U Hard at Work 

Aliss, 6H 

We’ve been working a lot this year in Year 6 on 

Literacy, Math, Science, History and Geography, but 

having fun too. We have also had some individual 

projects such as our mountain brochures and our 

history timelines. 

Year 5 students enjoying the Castel Film Studios tour 

Castel Film Studios is like a microscopic, little town. 

It has wide streets with big buildings on one side 

and trees on the other side. Inside the big buildings 

there are some rooms for different uses. In one of 

those big rooms there are some people who built 

the sets for all type of movies. In another room 

there is a giant pool where they shoot scenes for 

underwater movies. We had a guide and he told 

us that the pool is his favorite part of Castel Film 

Studios. Outside there are many fake replicas of 

Year 5 exercising to measure changes in heart rate 

The weather was sunny but cold. We walked around 

about ¾ of the lake, starting at the Hard Rock Café 

and ending at the Nesquick playground and saw 

some squirrels and swans on the way. We took a 

break at gigantic head statues, where there was a 

flagpole with the European Union flag. This is where 

we did some observational drawing. We stopped for 

lunch at the Nesquick playground, but before we ate 

we took some measurements of our pulse rate and 

how it changes after exercise. When we finished 

lunch and playing we went back to the buses and 

made the long trip back to school. 

Antoine, 5M 

What’s happening in 6H? 

This half term was action packed! During Literacy 

we’ve been studying fictional genres, such as: sci-fi, 

historical, mystery and fantasy. In the end we made 

power point presentations with genre information 

and displayed them during our Year 6 assembly. 

Later in the half term we changed topics and 

swapped to Poetry! Yay! In Poetry we learned to use 

6U students 

In Literacy we were learning about genres in which 

we had to write our own story and now we’re 

learning about poetry. In mathematics we have 

been learning about perimeter and area and long 

division with decimals. In Science, our recent 

focus has been on dichotomous keys. In History, 

we’re learning about changes in Britain since 1948, 

while in Geography our topic was learning about 

mountains. We have had a lot of fun and we hope 

we’ll continue to have fun all year long. 

Ilinca O. and Bianca, 6U 

40

Madeline inspired by Chagall 

Annie looking at her canvas from another angle 

The Adult Art Class has been a fun and inspiring 

experience for me. It has given me the opportunity 

to get to know parents on a more personal level 

and I have also discovered how many gifted and 

inspiring artists there are in the Pipera area! Well 

done ladies! It has been a pleasure to be a part of 

this creative experience. This term we have used 

portraiture as our starting point. Parents have 

worked with a range of media, such as watercolour, 

acrylic and oil. The dynamic combination of styles 

and creative flair within the group has resulted in an 

exciting range of artwork. 

I asked a few of the parents if they could write a few 

words about the classes and this is what they had 

to say: 

“I can highly recommend the art class for anybody, 

even if you haven’t sketched since primary. Martina 

presents it in a way that gives you the opportunity 

to discover which technique suits you”. Madeline 

“The Art class is a great opportunity to develop 

hidden artistic talent. Even if you haven’t painted 

before, you will be surprised by what you can 

achieve with a little help from Martina! It is also fun 

and a good escape from day to day tasks.” Monica 

“The adult art class has helped me explore different 

art techniques and discover my abilities and 

talents. It has also offered me the opportunity to 

integrate with the school community and socialize 

with the mums while escaping from motherhood for 

awhile.” Annie 

I hope some of you got the chance to see the Art 

exhibition on December 14 th where parents and 

pupils got the opportunity to display their work. 


Adult Art classes have again been very popular this year with parents 

Ms Martina Greaney, Art teacher 

Monica experiments with watercolour 

Aida completing her masterpiece 

Janie does her magic with the palette knife 

Adult English 

Classes: 

Back to school 

First of all I would like to say thank you to BSB 

for providing the EAL classes to parents and also 

thank you to the teachers. I started EAL lessons at 

BSB last September and at first it was very hard 

for me to find the time for this, but I managed 

to do so and am happy that I have as I feel the 

course has helped me to improve my English. 

At the beginning I was afraid to speak in class 

because I was worried about making mistakes 

every time I speak. This course has really helped 

me to become more confident speaking in English 

as I have improved both my vocabulary and 

grammar. We speak a lot in class and so I am 

no longer afraid to speak in English and feel my 

English is improving all the time. 

Vusale has just completed intermediate level and 

will start upper intermediate after Christmas 

I’m the mother of 3 Italian children and we have 

now been living in Bucharest for 1 year and a half. 

I knew some English before coming, but I didn’t 

understand the spoken language very easily. Even 

a basic conversation with people from different 

parts of the world was a nightmare. Thankfully the 

school provides English classes for parents, which 

I thought was perfect for me, so one year ago I 

returned to school in order to improve my English. 

Thanks to these lessons I have met new friends 

and now speak more fluently and can understand 

quite well. I’m in a very small class (usually we are 

4) and my teacher, Mr Peet, tries hard to ensure 

that we enjoy the lesson, showing videos from 

YouTube or talking about nice places in Romania 

where he has been during the weekends. 

I like these classes and I think they are very 

useful to improve comprehension, grammar and 

vocabulary, even though I think we would benefit 

form studying more, maybe two hours per week 

would be better! 

Laura has just completed intermediate level and 

will start upper intermediate after Christmas 

As a French mum with four children who has 

chosen to put them in a British school, I quickly 

realised that I needed to improve my English if 

I wanted to help them with their homework and 

also to have a social life in the schoolyard with 

the other mums. Fortunately, the school offered 

lessons at school during school time, avoiding the 

need to travel far away, which is great. I think it’s 

useful remembering grammar forgotten or learning 

new grammar, and it’s also pleasant studying 

texts and talking in class; I just regret the lessons 

shortness because the atmosphere is so relaxed 

that it’s a real pleasure to participate. 

Odile, Currently attends the Upper intermediate 

class with Mr Ellis 

Vusale Demir 

Adult EAL Classes 

Odile 

If you are interested in joining either the Adult EAL or 

Art Classes after the Christmas break, please contact 

the office. Classes will start the second week back. 


41


PTA Update 

Winter is not the traditional time for beautiful flowers 

in Bucharest, but we have now had two wonderful 

sessions with a renowned Dutch master Florist, 

Irene van der Geest. She is now based in Bucharest, 

where she offers training courses to florists and 

it is possible to order regularly from her stunning 

bouquets which are flown in from Holland to 

guarantee their freshness .She specialises in a more 

modern style of flowers which are very pretty. Have a 

look at her website, www.florariaolandeza.ro 

The sessions took place in the parents’ room, which 

was quickly transformed into a friendly workshop. 

We were a bit nervous as most of us had never done 

anything like this before, but Irene quickly put us 

at ease. All the materials were prepared by her in 

advance, and shared out between us. In the first 

session we made a ‘cake’ of flowers; a little wooden 

fence containing a lovely arrangement of roses, 

freesias, alstromerias and tiny chrysanthemums. 

Irene showed us step by step how to insert the 

flowers to give a professional finish, and gave us 

some very useful tips about the care of flowers on 

the way. 

BSB’s PTA with their works of art 

For the second session we made an advent candle, 

which is a circle of green fir leaves onto which candles 

and Christmas decorations are wired. The idea is that 

one candle is lit on each of the four Sundays before 

Christmas, and this session really put us in the mood 

for the holidays! There will be more workshops in the 

New Year, so why not have a go? 

Food is never far from our minds (or lips!) and Marie- 

Hélène Reynolds gave us an outstanding session at 

our monthly cookery demonstration. Like Irene, she 

was inspirational, and removed our fear of French 

‘cuisine’. She chose three dishes which we could all 

make, with ingredients easily available in Bucharest, 

and which were delicious. At the end of a very happy 

and busy morning we ate a mousse of two salmons 

(or ‘deux saumons’ for those at an advanced level of 

French!), pork with a honey and apple glaze, and a 

pineapple cake. With wine! 

New Year activities planned 

We are planning some exciting and interesting trips 

for the next few months to brighten up those dark 

and cold months. Here are some of our ideas: 

Make your own mosaic at Second Chance village 

Visit a Belgian Chocolate factory (in Romania, not 

Belgium!) 

Visit the Chinese market in Bucharest 

A trip to a glass factory in Ploiesti 

Our monthly ladies lunch/ dinner. 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Mrs Diane Worth, PTA Member 

Some of the flower arrangements 

made during the course 

New Additions 

to the Resource 

Centre 

Recently there have been quite a few new 

additions to the Secondary Resource Centre. The 

first and the most notable addition is, of course, 

Ms Diana. She now runs the Resource Centre 

which, itself, is sporting a new name as it used to 

be called the Secondary Library. As Diana is here 

to help us out, we’d like to extend her a warm 

welcome and to say that we have noticed some 

fantastic improvements since she has arrived! 

Diana will be working with the Library Monitors 

and overseeing many projects in Crawford House. 

The other new additions come in the material 

sense. More specifically, they are DVD’s. 

However, these are not just any DVD’s, they are 

educational ones that can extend learning and 

are relevant for use in class too! Moreover, they 

were donated by the PTA, including the following 

fantastic titles: The Complete BBC Shakespeare 

Collection, which includes all 37 productions from 

Child Protection 

Course 

Recently I attended an Advanced Child Protection 

Course in Londo,n run by an organisation called 

Kidscape http://www.kidscape.org.uk 

The aims of the course were to: 

Develop an advanced understanding of Child 

Protection issues. Have a further opportunity 

to explore attitudes and values with regard 

to safeguarding children. Refresh & enhance 

knowledge of signs and symptoms of abuse 

Understand that although it is plausible for 

child care practitioners to predict the likelihood 

of certain children being abused, more robust 

evidence is needed. Understand that some 

children are resilient to abuse i.e. they see this as 

‘normal’ behaviour. To give the knowledge & skills 

needed to perform the function of ‘Designated 

Person’ or ‘Child Protection Officer’ in our setting 

Receive information about Child Protection 

processes, including Child Protection conferences 

the BBC television’s Shakespeare series; The 

Complete BBC Charles Dickens Collection; David 

Attenborough’s BBC Life Series; The History of 

Britain, and The Rise and Fall of Rome. 

In short, we’d like to thank Diana for joining our 

fabulous team in the Resource Centre and to thank 

the PTA for the educational resources provided 

to us. Please know that we appreciate them and 

that they make learning more accessible and fun— 

thank you very much! 

Year 9 students Shani, Robert, Panayiotis and Noa 

displaying the new English DVD’s graciously donated 

by the PTA 

Identify good practice in working with children and 

families, and reflect on our setting’s policies and 

procedures 

As the school’s designated Child Protection 

Officer, I will now ensure our policy is up to 

date, that we have links and support from child 

protection agencies in Bucharest, while supporting 

our school community. 

Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, CPO, Pipera 

Ms Tiffany Moorcroft, CPO, Pipera 

42


The BSB Calendar 

January 

Monday 4 th 

Friday 8 th 

Monday 11 th 

Mon 11 th -Wed 20 th 

Thursday 14 th 

Friday 15 th 

Friday 22 nd 

Friday 29 th 

End of January 

February 

Wednesday 3 rd 

Thursday 4 th 

Friday 5 th 



Mon 15 th -Friday 19 th 

Wednesday 24 th 

Mon 22 nd - Fri 26 th 

Friday 26 th 

March 

Mon 1 st -Fri, 5 th 

Thursday 4 th 

Mon 8 th -Friday 12 th 

Saturday 13 th 


Wed/Thurs 17 th /18th 

Thursday 25th 

Monday 29 th 

Tuesday 30 th 

Wednesday 31 st 

Term 2 Starts 

Year 4 Bake Sale 

Launch of Primary Poetry Competition 

Year 11 IGCSE Mock Exams 

EYFS Pipera Parents EAL workshop 

Year 10/11 Bake Sale 

Student Council Bake Sale 

Year 8/9 Bake Sale 

Primary Reports 

Parents’ Key Stage 5 Options Evening 

Primary/Secondary Music Event 


Primary Poetry Competition ends 

AG&T Day 

Secondary Parent’s Evening 

Midterm Break 

Year 9 Options Evening 

Year 8/9 Work Experience Week 


World Book Week 

Eco Day Bake Sale 

World Book Day (EYFS students 

wear costumes to school) 

BSB Haut-Lac Ski Trip 

BSB Ball 

Green Day (students wear green to school) 

Primary Parent’s Evening (some clubs cancelled) 

Bucharest International Schools Debating Competition 

Launch of Primary ICT Competition 

Secondary Production: Bugsy 

EYFS & KS1 Easter Celebration 

Easter Bonnet Parade 

Earth Day 

April 

Thursday 1 st 

Monday 19 th 

Monday 26 th 

Mon 19 th -Fri 23 rd 


May 

Friday 7 th 

Monday 10 th 


Friday 21 st 

Monday 24 th 


Friday 28 th 

Mon 31 st -Wed 3 rd June 

Mon 31 st -Thurs 4 th June 

June 

Mon- Fri, 7 th -11 th 

Tuesday 8 th 



Mon 21 st -Fri 25 th 

Wednesday 23 rd 


Monday 28 th 


Friday 25 th 

End of June 


Term 2 ends 

Term 3 starts 

Healthy Schools Week 

Close of Primary ICT competition 

Year 10 Mock Exams 

Primary Science Day 

Gifted and Talented Bake Sale 

INSET- School closed 

Year 10 Parent’s Evening 

Student Council Bake Sale 

National Holiday (school closed) 

Parents Transition Night Reception to Y1 

Sports Day 

Year 3/Year 4 Trips 

Year 6 Liddington Trip 

Year 5 Trip 

Gafencu Reception children 

transition day to Pipera 

Key Stage 3 Parent’s Evening 

KS1 Production 

Year 7 Trip to Madrid 

Theatre Day KS2 

KS2 Theatre Day and Production 

Secondary School BBQ 

KS2 Production 

Barnaby Bear’s Picnic 

Primary Reports out 

Leavers/ Awards Assembly 

school finishes at 12.00 

Please note that some of these dates could change. 

Red House Book 

Club 

5L collecting their book orders 

The first two Book Club orders this year 

proved once more that our students have a 

love of books and reading. This, as you may 

well know by now, also means a generous 

increase in library stock. With a total of £880 

from the autumn order and over £470 from the 

Christmas one worth of free books so far this 

year, the Library’s “New Books” book shelves are 

always full. 

The children helped me chose the free books 

for the Library and those of them who have 

ordered books came and sorted out their orders 

themselves. By far, the most popular new 

acquisition proved to be Michael Morpurgo’s 

latest novel, “Running Wild”, which is marked as 

“reserved” for several coming weeks, as a long list 

of students are waiting to read it. 

“The Red House book orders are great because 

the books on the list cannot be found in the 

bookshops in Romania. 

Some of them come in series and so I can’t wait for 

the new ones to be out. My favourite right now is 

the Goosebumps series” 

Alina, 5M 

“The book Running Wild kept me in suspense and 

made me want to read all of it, quickly, so I can find 

out what happened next. It was a very good story, 

but so, so sad.” 

Daniel, 6U 


43

The BSB Dome 

The latest addition to the BSB Campus 

42, Erou Iancu Nicolae Street, 077190 Voluntari, Ilfov County, Romania 

T. +40 21 267 89 19 F. +40 21 267 89 69 E. office@britishschool.ro 

www.britishschool.ro

December 2009 - British School Of Bucharest

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