School Bulletin 29 – 24th September 2021
UPDATES AND NOTIFICATIONS:
Learning Schedule for the week of the 4th to the 8th of October:
| DATE | IN-PERSON LEARNING | VIRTUAL LEARNING |
| Monday 4th to Friday 8th October | EY, Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5, Y7, Y8, Y10, Y11 and Y12 | Y6 and Y9 |
WEEK IN REVIEW: The last week of Quarter 3 saw our Learning Community welcome a virtual visit from five educational specialists as part of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges’ (NEASC) accreditation process. The Visiting Team took part in over 25 different meetings with various students, academic staff, non-academic staff and parents and also undertook numerous in-person and virtual classroom observations. The Visiting Team will now share their feedback with NEASC’s Commission for International Education and we will receive both feedback and a decision on our accreditation status in the next couple of months.
As we come to the end of another difficult quarter, we would like to express our deep gratitude to all members of our community for their ongoing support, resilience and adaptability. We fully recognise that the ongoing pandemic continues to present significant challenges to students, staff members and families and we greatly appreciate everything that our community does on a daily basis to ensure that our students continue to receive the best learning experiences possible. We wish all members of our community a happy, healthy and restful mid-semester break.
YEAR 11 IB FRENCH SITE: Our Year 11IB French students have recently been studying the topic of hobbies. To celebrate their learning, the students decided to create a Google Site entitled ‘Les Loisirs’ which we would like to share with our Community: https://sites.google.com/bscr.ed.cr/2021-y-11-ib-les-loisirs
BSCR PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION: On Tuesday afternoon, 25 Primary and Secondary students participated in the BSCR’s first Public Speaking Competition. Students delivered speeches to both an in-person and virtual audience with confidence and passion about a wide range of interesting and engaging topics. We would like to congratulate all participants on their wonderful speeches, with an additional recognition for Elena Bonilla and Leila Campabadal who the judges determined to be the winners of the competition. We thank both students and staff members for all of their hard work in making this inaugural event such a success.
YEAR 11 NB TALK: As part of our ongoing NB work, and in conjunction with studying the book “Prohibido suicidarse en Primavera” by the Spanish author Alejandro Casona, the Spanish Department and the SDS Department organised a talk on Suicide Prevention in Adolescents last Friday for the NB students. The talk was given by Mrs. Julia Woodbridge, Executive Delegate of the “Rescatando vidas” Foundation and Vice-President of the Suicidology Association of Central America and the Caribbean. It was certainly a valuable experience for our students to listen to and learn about a topic that is so relevant today.
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR: The Science Department at BSCR is thrilled to announce our Virtual Science Fair for 2021. Our students have worked the entire third quarter investigating an interesting topic of their choice. They then recorded a video showing their process using the scientific method, collecting data, and arriving at a conclusion. Students were encouraged to not focus on the result of their project, but to instead try to come up with a reason for why they got the results they did. This higher order thinking is exactly what makes these investigations so exciting to watch. We encourage all Year 6 to Year 8 students to share their amazing investigations with family and friends.
ARTICLE IN “EL FINANCIERO”: We would like to thank the many families who, having the corresponding subscription, responded to our request for a copy of the article about Private and Subsidised Schools in the “El Financiero” magazine.
It took us a few moments to realise that the numbers in the Matricula tables referred ONLY to Secondary School levels (Colegio) – for us Years 7 through 12; then we were pleased to note that, compared to many other schools; we had suffered a relatively low percentage loss of students (4.5%). Hence, we are grateful for the continued loyalty of our parents and the professional dedication of all of our staff that has helped us survive perhaps the most difficult period in the School’s 40-year history.
PSAT/NMSQT PAYMENT (YEAR 10 AND YEAR 11 STUDENTS: The PSAT exam, which serves to prepare students for the SAT test (a very important exam for admissions to universities in the United States), will take place on Saturday, October 16th at the school for year 10 and year 11 students who expressed an interest in taking the exam in the past days. The cost of the test is $40 or the equivalent in Colones. Please contact Sandra Madriz at the Caja (smadriz@bscr.ed.cr) indicating that you wish to proceed with test payment for your Year 10 or Year 11 student and include the student’s name and grade level in the message. Let Sandra know if you are paying via a credit card charge or a bank transfer. If the payment is a bank transfer, include the legend PSAT payment and the name of the student who is taking the test in the reference for the transaction. Please contact Ana Lourdes Baumgartner, University Counsellor (abaumgartner@bscr.ed.cr) if you have questions.
HEALTH AND SAFETY: On Friday the 17th of September, all Early Years students and staff members participated in an evacuation drill. The purpose of this simulation was to provide our youngest students with the opportunity to practice one of our emergency procedures, while also ensuring that the required health and safety protocols were observed. We are delighted to share that our Early Years Community did extremely well with the drill. Primary and Secondary students will participate in a similar simulation in the first weeks of the fourth quarter.
As the mid-semester break approaches, we would like to remind all members of our Community of the importance of continuing to follow the health and safety requirements and recommendations of the Ministry of Health. In addition, we have attached to this bulletin a copy of our ‘Foreign Travel and Campus Access Procedures’ for those members of our Community who are planning on international travel during the break.
