Dear Parents,

Following on from the formal recognition of Labor Day on Monday, the next few days sees two other important events that I could not ignore in my message this week. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and I read with interest the news that a permanent memorial is planned to be unveiled in London in 2026 to mark what would have been her 100th birthday. Monday, of course, is 9/11 and, although none of our students were even born when this atrocity happened, it is important that future generations continue to remember and learn from this pivotal moment in history. Each school will be recognizing this day in an age-appropriate manner.

In other news, sadly our new school nurse has decided not to make her role permanent, and so we are back to recruiting and will continue to utilize the services of agency nurses until we can hire a suitable replacement for Nurse Amanda.

Thank you to those parents who completed the questionnaire to assist us with the scheduling of the morning buses. As there were only 9 families who preferred an 8 a.m. departure, we have decided to continue with the existing 7:40 a.m. departure time for both buses to ensure we have enough room for all students to ride safely.

Lastly, good luck to all of you who have Fantasy Football teams this year. Although we are mainly staffed with Brits, Fantasy Football leagues are keenly contested at both schools and will be a hot topic of conversation in staff rooms (and Principal’s offices) for the next few months!

Best wishes,

MIKE HENDERSON

EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL

Key dates (these are subject to change)

Phonics Parent Workshop – September 14, 8:30 am

Project Based Learning Workshop for Parents - September 28, 8:30-10:15 am

Show and Learn morning – October 4, 8 - 8:45 am

Dear Parents,

I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and although a short week in school we have crammed so much into it. I am continually impressed with the children throughout primary and can see that the rich and engaging curriculum really inspires. I would be delighted therefore to invite you all in to our new “Show and Learn” morning this half term. These will be scheduled every half term and will give parents and carers the opportunity to come into school, see the classroom and learn from your children. It will be an opportunity for you to talk through work, or even do a task with your child. It will be up to the class teacher how they present this on the day. The idea is to open our classrooms and give you a glimpse of the magic that is happening inside. I will send a reminder nearer the time and would urge you to add this to your calendar now!

Next week we have our Phonics Parent workshop for our Nursery to Year 2 parents and our primary staff have been working hard setting these lessons up for the children. Ms. Sami, our Head of English and Ms. Arana, Assistant Head Academic are working with the team to ensure our scheme Read, Write Inc. Phonics is embedded into our timetable and delivered to the highest standard. It is a consistent approach for the teaching of phonics to the whole primary school and ensures progress for each child. This individualized approach really allows us to tailor the learning to the child. If you have any questions or queries please do reach out to Ms. Sami or Ms. Arana.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend

JO GARDINER

HEAD OF PRIMARY

Dates for your diary: 

Friday, September 8 – Homecoming Dance (High School only) 

Friday, September 8 – Deadline for student leadership applications 

Wednesday, September 15 – Year 12 Spanish Trip to Pilsen/National Museum of Mexican Art 

Tuesday, September 19 – Student picture day 

Monday, September 25 – Testing window for aptitude, wellbeing, and reading assessments opens (more details to follow) 

Wednesday, September 27 - Year 11 History trip to Chicago Loop(IGCSE Students Only) 

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. This week we have been looking at the virtue of diligence and thinking about it means to be a diligent person and a diligent student. Some of our students put this virtue into action today, when visiting International Officer (Americas) from Durham University paid our campus a visit today, joined by 8 enthusiastic seniors and Durham Alumni Ms. Grainger and Mr. Parkinson. It is always wonderful to welcome visiting colleges and universities to BISC and I know today’s session will be the first of many. 

Tomorrow night is High School Homecoming night which promises to be an amazing event – this will be my first Row24 HoCo and I cannot wait to see the students there for what promises to be an amazing night – thank you to Ms. Allister and the High School Advisory team for all their work in putting this together for the students. 

Don’t forget to check out class notes where you will find information about sports, arts, IDofE (a slight change to our scheduled plans), student support sessions and Homecoming!

Wishing you a lovely weekend, 

NIKKI ABLE

HEAD OF SECONDARY

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