January Events Calendar

Click here for important events coming up.   

 In response to the disaster that has struck Haiti, the British School IB CAS students have worked together to arrange a sponsored walk/run in order to raise money for the Haiti relief projects that are in effect. They would like you to join them on Saturday,  January 23 for the walk/run. Click here for more information.

Last term’s IPC unit in Year 4 was Earthquakes and Volcanoes. As a result of the devastating earthquake in Haiti this week, Year 4 have decided to raise money for the relief aid. Therefore, they will hold a BAKE SALE on January 22 for Primary pupils. Details available through the class teachers.

Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999  You can make a donation by calling 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or click on the Donate Now button.

To donate to "Doctors Without Borders" Haiti relief work . Click here  
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CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES:

Clubs and Activities for Spring Term started last week.  Click Here 

Camp Creativity 2010 Dates and Information. Click Here.

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UPCOMING  PARENT MEETINGS:

Parent Rep Meeting - 20th January, 8:30 am

Library Committee Meeting - 20th January, 2:00 pm

Year 4 Coffee Morning - 22nd January, 8:45 am

 ADHD Parent Support Group - 25th January 12:30 p.m.

Little Acorn Playgroup - 27th January, 8:45 am

FREE concert by the popular local entertainer "O-Susannah." Open to the public - bring your infants and pre-schoolers for a morning of fun, and feel free to bring along a neighbor, relative, or friend.  Questions, contact Chris Butler at CJWButler@aol.com.

Food Committee Meeting -  28th January, 8:30 am

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UPCOMING TALENT SHOW INFORMATION - DEADLINE TOMORROW. NO EXTENSIONS:

Primary Talent Shows Advert  Click Here

Nursery - Year 2 (Foundation) Talent Show Information Sheet, Registration Form, Ticket Order Form - 1st February after-school

Years 3- 6 Talent Show Information Sheet, Registration Form, Ticket Order Form   28th January 28th after-school

Secondary Talent Show Advert Click Here 

Secondary Talent Show Information Sheet, Registration Form, Ticket Order Form   29th January, 7 pm

Registration deadlines will be held firm. Questions please contact Mrs. Kloeden at DKLOEDEN@aol.com. Tickets must be pre-ordered - you must purchase a ticket for each family member who plans to attend.

A Focus on Learning - Nursery

How Do Children Learn Through Play?  Jo O'Grady, Nursery Coordinator, explains....

The whole Nursery curriculum is based around play, as this is a vital part of children's development and learning. The Nursery classroom is set up in different areas, such as role play, maths, writing, cooking, construction, creative, investigation, sand and water to enable children to develop holistically.

The children can move freely through these areas throughout the sessions. This is includes playing in our outside learning area. This play and exploration means children are able to choose activities where they engage with other children or adults or sometimes play alone, and during those activities they learn through first-hand experience by actively “doing”.

For our current IPC 'Clothes' topic, the children can play in our role play area, Clothes Shop, dress the dolls, order the numbered items of clothes on the washing line, paint their favourite clothes items, dress Humpty Dumpty by dragging clothes on the SMARTboard and match up pairs of socks or gloves.

All these activities can be self selected but may be alongside an adult or enhanced by adult questioning or intervention.

There are also specific planned adult led activities which all children do to enhance specific skills or knowledge and further their independent learning through play, including structured phonics teaching.

Some planned adult led activities for our Clothes topic are fabric painting, hanging their name on the washing line by selecting the letters, making patterns, recognising number games, and pencil grip/name writing activities allow us to further the children's learning. The whole range of activities are planned to meet the individual needs of the children and provide a range of play-based activities tailored to support children’s development.’

If you have any questions about the Nursery curriculum or our child centered approach, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

A Focus on Teachers

Getting to Know Sopia Hadjipieris, Director of Sports, CAS Coordinator,  and Pastoral and Mentoring Coordinator

Growing up in a Greek-Cypriot/English household in the South East of England, I was soon exposed to the wonderful East-Mediterranean traditions, which fortunately were easily accepted by my peers throughout my school years.

The Cypriot culture remains very much a part of me and one of my main interests includes the ongoing political situation or, ‘Cyprus Problem’ that currently affects this little Island.

I attended Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School and, whilst I was there, was spurred by an early passion for sports and English literature. Indeed, both my school indoor and outdoor hockey squad attended National Finals for four consecutive years. Outside school, I played for East of England hockey, sprinted and long-jumped for Invicta Athletics and (perhaps surprisingly) played the classical organ for eleven years.

I attended De Montfort University, Bedford where I gained my B.Ed in Secondary Physical Education and English.

My first teaching position took me back to Kent and five years later I joined BSW in 2005.Here, my greatest challenge has been to see to the development of a comprehensive sports programme and the development of  coherent pastoral-community liaison co-ordination.

A special congratulations to Nicola A. Perceval, French, Spanish, and Languages Chair, who had a daughter, Amelie Helen Perceval, who was born weighing 6lb 7oz, on a blue moon and New Year's Eve! 

A Focus on Learning - in the Classroom

Fancy Dress Day in Nursery Excites the Children and Introduces Them to their New Topic of Study

This week in Nursery, we had a Fancy Dress Day as our Entry point for our Clothes topic. Everyone in Nursery looked fantastic. We looked at each others costumes and talked about our favourite clothes. This enabled the children to become excited about the topic.

As a result of this, we painted and drew pictures of our costumes and have began fabric painting designs on caps to make our own costumes. The children have also been ordering numbered clothes on the washing line and selecting the letters of their name to hang on the washing line. We have also had great fun recognising and matching patterns by matching different patterned socks and gloves.

During the next few weeks the children will be designing, painting and tye dying t-shirts and bandannas. The children looking forward to showing off their finished products in their Fashion Show on Thursday February 11th. 

A Focus on Giving

Getting on their Bikes to Raise Money for the Kiteto Dormitory Project in Tanzania

During May half term the following IB students at The British School of Washington, will be taking part in an intensive biking challenge. Ben J, Matt H, Greg W, Ben P, Otto S, Sam R and teacher Simon May will be cycling to The British School of Charlotte in order to raise money for the BSW International Charity.

The Kiteto Dormitory project was the subject of the school’s International Day back in October of this academic year. Kiteto College in Tanzania requires a staggering 20,000GPB to be able to build student dormitories, in order to further the education of their children.

The BSW group intend to fuel the fundraising efforts from International Day and add ‘thousands’ to the already pledged $2416.00 . Currently the group are taking part in intensive training sessions in order for them to complete grueling 1000 miles. Watch this space for updates!

The group are currently looking for sponsorship and general support both financially or otherwise. If you wish to help in any way, please be in contact with Miss Hadjipieris at the school address shadjipieris@britishschool.org.  

A Focus on Local Cultural Activities

Mrr. Simon A. Bird, Film Studies and English Teacher Proposes a Theatre Club for Parents

FInd out more......

Given the richness of the DC theatre scene, I am proposing setting up a BSW Theatre Club to work in the following way:

•  When an interesting play is imminent I make a temporary reservation (a minimum of 10 seats is probably the smallest number possible and I would try to initially reserve about the number of tickets that more or less matches the number of parents on ‘the list’).
• I then tell those parents who are on the list about this, give them a deadline to get a cheque payable to the appropriate theatre to me and then confirm the number of tickets with the theatre. It may be possible to increase the number of tickets if demand is high.
• We have a fantastic evening at the theatre!

Some other points:

•  This is not a school/curriculum based group; if parents wish to bring their children (assuming the play is suitable) then obviously they can do but it is (essentially) an adults’ group
• Feel free to include non-school friends
• Meeting the payment deadlines will be very important
• Performances would almost always be on Friday evenings, Saturday matinees/evenings and Sunday matinees
• If you are ‘on the list’ then attendance is not compulsory.
•  If numbers were very small (less than the group minimum I would try to open it up to more but there is always the possibility that we may not make the minimum number required for group benefits.

To give you some idea of the sort of things that are coming up, follow the links below:   Folger Theatre: Orestes; a tragic romp. Euripides/adapted Washburn ; Studio Theatre : Neil La Bute: Reasons to be beautiful; Studio Theatre: David Mamet: American Buffalo    NB These are possibilities not guarantees – and there are others!

Parents interested in this proposal should click on this link sbird@britishschool.org