BULLETIN No.11

Upcoming Dates
 

 
General
 
End of Quarter One
As we come to the end of our first quarter of the 2025 academic year we would like to thank all members of our Learning Community for their contributions over the last 11 weeks.  This has been a long quarter, full of many highlights: among them our International Fair, the Year 5 and Year 9 camps, our Sports Festival, the election of a new Student Council and various excursions.  We hope that all members of our community now enjoy a well-deserved break, and we look forward to the start of our second quarter on the 21^st of April.
 
Sports Festival
Thank you to all students and staff members who either participated in or helped organise this week’s Sports Festival.  Please see our social media pages for photos.
 
Health and Wellness Week:
From the 5^th to the 9^th of May,, we will celebrate Health and Wellness Week. We are planning many activities and would love to have the collaboration of health professionals who are part of our community: parents, grandparents, and caregivers who would like to share their knowledge with our primary and secondary school students are welcome. If you would like to give a short talk, share your knowledge at a fair, or have a conversation with parents about topics related to the physical, mental, and emotional health of adolescents and children, please contact Roxana Lizano (rlizano@bscr.ed.cr) for primary or Cleo Vásquez (cvasquez@bscr.ed.cr) for secondary school students.
 
Early Years and Primary
 
Dance Success
Congratulations to Sara Narváez (Year 4B) on finishing 3^rd in her category of Musical Theatre in her solo performance of ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’, ensuring her qualification for the National Championship held in Orlando in July.  Of the six dances she participated in, Danceworks Academy came in first place in three and finished in second place in the other three. Photo / Photo / Photo
 
Chess Champion
Congratulations to Lucas Mora (Year 2) on finishing first in his category at the recent St. Jude Chess Championship. Photo
 
Exit Points
Thank you to all parents who have attended both assemblies and Exit Points in the last few weeks.  These events are an important celebration of our students’ work, and we greatly appreciate our parents’ participation in these activities. Photo / Photo
 
Year 5 Service Learning
Last week our Year 5 students eagerly launched their service-learning project for the 2025 year.  Our Year 5 generation will be developing their service-learning experience in collaboration with La Fundación para el Desarrollo del Hospital Nacional de Niños. Photo / Photo
 
Global Awareness
In this week’s Primary Assembly our three international student teachers from the ITEPs programme shared with our students various information about their home countries of The Netherlands and Slovakia.  Photo / Photo
 
Secondary

Book Week Activities
As part of our Book Week celebration our Secondary Library is organising two different activities.
 
We invite all Secondary students to participate in our Literary Character Drawing Contest by illustrating their favorite literary character.  Students can submit their drawings until April 22^nd at the Senior Library.  To encourage participation, all drawings will be displayed anonymously during the voting process which will take place between the 22^nd and 24^th of April.  The submission with the greatest number of votes will be crowned the winner.

 The English, Spanish, French, and Library Departments also invite you to participate in “Whose Bookshelf Is It?”. To enter this activity please send a photo of your bookshelf to [mfuentes@bscr.ed.cr] by April 22^nd (do not copy other staff members). Everyone will then get the chance to guess which bookshelf photo belongs to which Community member.

Parent-Teacher Meetings
Parent-Teacher meetings for all Secondary students will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday 30^th of April.  For that reason, classes for all Secondary students will end at 12 noon on that day.  Please note that classes and clubs will operate as normal for all Primary and EY students.
 
Year 4, 5 and 6 play “The Real Samurai” 
On Tuesday, 1^st of April, our students from Years 4, 5 and 6 had the wonderful opportunity to watch a play in English called “The Real Samurai”. This play was performed by a traveling theater company from Argentina called Artspot: they specialize in musical theater in English for young audiences. They write their own original plays and music in the classic style of British pantomimes.  The play was full of colour, with impressive costumes and props that they brought in their suitcases, and it allowed for interaction with the actors, as well as a chance for the audience to guess the major plot twist.    You may see some of their work here: Photo / Photo / Video
 
Visual Arts Exhibition
On Tuesday, 1^st of April, Years 11 and 12 Visual Arts staff and students were invited to attend the I.B. Visual Arts Exhibition event at The United World College in Santa Ana. It proved to be an engaging and fascinating event with many of the students exhibiting artwork that embraced many thought provoking and challenging issues with a diverse range of media.  Many thanks to Melissa MacLean Head of Visual Arts at UWC for enabling our students to view the artwork on display.
 
SAT (for Year 11 and 12 students)
This year’s next SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) will take place on Saturday, the 3^{rd of} May.  The British School of Costa Rica will not serve as a test center on this date; however, students may take the test at any of the other available test centers. The registration deadline is Friday, 18^th of April.  The test fee is $111, payable online. For more information on 2025 test dates and deadlines, please visit the International SAT Dates.

The SAT is a standardized test administered by The College Board. Many universities worldwide, particularly in the United States, consider it either a requirement or an optional part of the application process.  The SAT is now digital, and students are allowed to use their own computers or tablets. For practice and preparation resources, please visit the SAT Practice and Preparation Information. Khan Academy is an excellent free resource for SAT preparation.

We recommend that students registering for the first time, schedule a meeting with Ana Lourdes Baumgartner, University Counselor, to complete the process.  If your student needs assistance with registration during the Easter holiday, they may contact Ana Lourdes to arrange a virtual meeting.  If you have any questions, please contact Ana Lourdes at abaumgartner@bscr.ed.cr.

University Visits
The past week was filled with exciting university exploration opportunities. On the 24^th of March, Years 11 and Year 12 students visited Lincoln School to attend the Central American College Tour, where they had the chance to engage with representatives from over 80 universities from around the world.

Additionally, we had the privilege of hosting representatives from Linfield University (Oregon), Savannah College of Art and Design and Boston University. Students from Year 9 to Year 12 took advantage of these visits, gaining valuable insights into academic programs, admissions processes, and campus life.