School Bulletin 30 – 7th of October 2022

Whole School

Upcoming Dates

MATRICULA 2023 – Last weekend, by means of two separate mass-mailing systems, we sent out the information relating to the registration of your children for the 2023 Academic Year.  As required by our Regulations, we included copies of the Parents’ Handbook which includes the Schools Regulations (for 2023).  Since then, we have discovered two errors that we would like to correct here:

1. In the price list in the Spanish version, the cost of after-school care is given in Colones. This should read $3.25 per hour i.e. in Dollars US not Colones.
2. The School Uniform and P.E uniforms for Secondary School MAY, repeat MAY, go through a transition during 2023 whereby BOTH the existing Dark Blue Polo shirts with Kahki” trousers AND the new Royal Blue Polo shirts with the new Dark Blue trousers will be permitted (except for those graduating levels – Year 12 and Year 11 NB, who will be able to choose a distinct colour).  Please DO NOT act upon this information for the moment. We will inform parents as soon as we have signed a contract with our suppliers and do have definite information about any change.  The uniforms in Primary School (Early Years and Year 1 up to Year 5) will not be changed during 2023.

English Public Speaking Competition  –  On Friday 23^rd of September, we hosted our annual English Public Speaking Competition. The students who participated in this competition were selected as the best in their classrooms and freely chose the topics for their speech. In selecting the winners, the judges based their decisions on: speech organization, quality of ideas, body language and delivery skills.  We would like to congratulate all participating students for accepting the challenge and offering very entertaining speeches.

Donations  –  Year 12 students are running a shoe and clothing donation drive from October 10th until October 14th for Haitian immigrants in dire need of adequate garments. We highly encourage the BSCR community to engage by donating their used apparel, which will be collected at the entrance.

Primary Public Speaking Competition winners
1^st place – Elena Contreras, Year 4A
2^nd place – Tomás Estrada, Year 4B (tie)
2^nd place – Mía Videche, Year 5B (tie)

Secondary Public Speaking Competition Winners
1^st place – Elena Bonilla Year, 6B
2^nd place – Leila Campabadal, Year 7B
3^rd place – Daniela Contreras, Year 6A

Early Years and Primary

Early Years Cultures Day Activity  –  On Wednesday the 12^th of October, our Early Years section will be participating in a number of different cultural activities. Early Years students may come to school in costumes from other nations on this day.

Exit Points  –  During the last week of the 3^rd quarter, we had two wonderful exit points from Year 1 and Year 2. Year 1 did an outstanding job in presenting their English Afternoon Tea to their parents after their flight to London, while Year 2 explained about growing plants to their visitors. Year 2 also held a bake sale for their chosen charity. Almost $450 was raised for “The Water Project “- to provide clean water for a village in Kenya.

Spelling Bee  –  On Wednesday of this week, Year 1 completed their annual Spelling Bee – in Spanish. We were extremely impressed to see the confidence of the students when speaking under pressure. Congratulations to Saul Saenz for winning the competition.

Art Website  –  Our Primary Art Website continues to grow with wonderful examples of our students’ work. It has now been updated to show examples from the 3rd quarter; you can access the web site via this link:Art Gallery

IEYC – Storytelling  –  As part of the entry point to our new IEYC Topic “Once Upon a Time” Early Years 3 were visited by the children’s storywriter Gabriela Miranda. She motivated the children to write their own stories and shared with them the process of writing and illustrating a story. The children were very interested in learning about this process and excited to begin their adventure in writing.

Secondary

Donatapa  –  We are proud to share that in September the School donated 16.5 kilos of plastic bottle tops to the DONATAPA Project of the Costa Rican Network of Accessible Tourism.  This project aims to make Costa Rica’s beaches accessible to all.  We thank all members of our Community who contributed to this project with a particular thanks to Teacher Ruth Aguilar for coordinating this initiative.

BSCR-Humboldt MUN  –  We would like to congratulate all members of our Community who participated in the BSCR-Humboldt Model United Nations that took place on the 23^rd and 24^th of September.  The conference was extremely successful and included the active participation of various BSCR students from Year 7 to Year 12 discussing and debating a wide range of relevant global issues.  We would particularly like to congratulate Gabriel Sánchez Carazo (Year 7A) and Antonio Rodríguez Álvarez (Year 11B) for earning honourable mentions as well as Cristel Haaversen Vargas (Year 9C) and Rania Canales Bensofía (Year 9B) for receiving verbal mentions.

Reminder PSAT/NMSQT Payment (Year 10 and Year 11 students only)  –  The PSAT exam, which serves to prepare students for the SAT test, will take place on Saturday, October 15^th at the school for interested Year 10 and Year 11 students. The test measures knowledge and skills in reading, writing and math – the same knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and a career.  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.  Please also 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.