Selamat Hari Raya. Today we celebrated in style during the Friday Assemblies. It was fantastic to see Primary students of all ages dressed formally in their special Hari Raya clothes. A particular thank you to the wonderful Assembly hosts today who conducted the ceremonies with confidence.
We are delighted to announce that the Extra Curricular Activities programme will begin on Monday 6th June. Sign up is now open (after 3pm on Friday 13th) with all links available here on the Primary Newsfeed. A full programme of ECAs will be on offer during the final half term of the school year.
We are looking for the very fastest TT Rock Stars to compete live. For a special invitation, all students have to do is be in the top 20 players across the school. This event is just one of the important initiatives we have to ensure academic excellence. Announcing a huge e-sports and Rock Gig coming soon! We have also recently posted a comprehensive overview to the Primary Newsfeed to ensure parents maintain a good understanding of how we structure our Maths curriculum to ensure everyone excels.
Alongside this information on Maths, we have also shared ways to help children see themselves as writers. This interesting article here on the Primary Newsfeed contains some useful tips for parents that complement the work we do in school.
Reporting Attainment, Progress and Achievement to parents is essential. This year will be slightly different, but the fundamentals remain the same. Every parent will be informed how their child is doing compared to others the same age, how their child is improving, if their child is achieving where we expect them to be achieving and how well they are getting on with others.
In some areas of the curriculum, particularly Writing, we are expecting a universal drop in attainment when compared to previous years. This is not unique to ISB or even Brunei. This is a global trend we are very much aware of and continue to research. However, with any perceived ‘learning loss’, it is important to question; how can you lose learning that you never had the opportunity to learn in the first place? And who exactly are you catching up with?
In order to mitigate the unprecedented impact of an extended virtual environment, we continue to make significant adaptations to our curriculum, both in the short and long term.
Throughout Primary at ISB we always ensure we create meaningful links in all learning opportunities, we teach to ensure understanding and will only move on when students are ready. We are confident to go back when this is required and always ensure more than surface level learning. We have a spiral curriculum that builds on prior knowledge and a focus on the skills required to build solid foundations in learning. We only ever build upon prior attainment and so no child is ever left behind.
Pre Kindy have been on a picnic this week, Kindy have been ‘wet and wild’, Reception have been developing their fine motor skills, Year 1 have been in the Eco Garden, Year 2 have been looking at Zones of Regulation, Year 3 have been writing about dragons, Year 4 have been programming robots, Year 5 have been making with clay and Year 6 have started a new Design and Technology project.
Special congratulations to all our Stars of the Week, our Writers of the Week, our TT Rock Stars and NumBots champions, keep up the excellent efforts. All certificates will be loaded into Seesaw to create a comprehensive portfolio of achievements throughout each school year. Please remember that Seesaw journals now travel with children right the way through from Pre Kindy to Year 6 and the content always belongs to students and parents.
Congratulations also to our Student Council on the completion of their latest community project. You can read more here on the Primary Newsfeed.
Mr Michael Everett | Head of Primary