SRC 2023
The Student Representative Council (SRC) of 2022 was one of Blouberg’s smallest SRCs. Yet what was lacking in size was made up for in willingness and determination. Led by Kazimla Dyakalashe and supported by a strong Matric class, they led and excelled in every task assigned to them. Not once did they tell us that something could not be done. Thank you, SRC 2022, for your dedication in serving your school. You have set the bar high for the new SRC.
A bigger class than that of 2022, the SRC of 2023 comprises of eight students. Our congratulations go to Oscar Berger, Shaylee Brandt, Philade Luthango, Landelwa Maqanda, Nadia Mohamed, Daniel Moodie, Chidozie Muoka and Erin Stewart on their selection for this important role.
2023 will see the implementation of some notable changes to student leadership in the school, including greater involvement of the Student Leaders and the introduction of cheerleaders. The SRC will be involved in many of these changes. They will also attend workshops, many of which will be designed to help them develop their leadership skills.
We look forward to watching our SRC grow in the year ahead, as well as to all they will help develop and initiate at the school.
Sheila Marais
SRC Coordinator
Top Row Left to Right: Oscar Berger, Shaylee Brandt, Philade Luthango, Landelwa Maqanda Bottom Row Left to Right: Nadia Mohamed, Daniel Moodie, Chidozie Muoka and Erin Stewart
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Live Sketching in Arts and Craft Club
“Art has the role in education for helping children to become more like themselves instead of more like everyone else. “ – Sydney Gurewitz Clemens
The Year 1 and Year 2 students in the Arts and Craft club thoroughly enjoyed a quiet lesson on Monday, completing a live sketch of a plant. They had the choice between an orchid and a bonsai tree. This took a lot of concentration and visual analysis of the different parts of a plants structure which the Year 1 students mastered in Term 3.
A live sketch is also known as a life drawing which is the drawing of an object through observation. We found this form of art something new and different for the students to try which completely blew the teachers away by the interest, concentration and beautiful sketches that were completed.
We found this form of sketching encourages students to make use of visual analysis, a lot of concentration, aids in creative problem solving and helps hand-eye coordination as well as fine motor skills.
We are grateful to have such talented students in our Arts and Craft club and look forward to watching them continue to grow more skills over this last term.
“The arts can help students become tenacious, team orientated problem solvers who are confident and able to think creatively.”- Arne Duncan
Erin Hierse
Year 1 Teacher
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Welcome back to school!
There was much excitement in the Year 2 classes as they returned to school this week! Watching the different facial expressions as they walked into class, one could definitely see that, most of them were very happy to be back.
Within the first hour, however, questions like: When is it break? Can we eat yet? Do we have to do more work? Or statements like I’m tired, made me realise that it was going to take a while for the students to get back into their normal routine.
When asked what they missed about school, answers like, break time, playing with my friends, free time in class, or we missed you, were quite openly shared. Obviously school work did not rank high in the popularity poll!
However, given a few days to settle in, the students were soon eager and ready to start learning again. I was reminded that, especially, with younger children, their minds absorb information like sponges.
As we enter the final term of 2022, one looks back at the beginning of the year and appreciates just how much they have grown, academically, emotionally and socially.
Kim Coetzer
Year 2 Teacher
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Adventures In Space
In English this week in Year 1. we have been working on our creative writing skills as we dramatised stories of our adventures in Space. Turning our desks upside down in class, we pretended they were our ‘spaceships.’ The students worked in groups and had a lot of fun acting and narrating out their space adventure stories. We then used the ipads to video their stories before writing about them. The class has a lot of fun working together and creating their own space adventures!
Clara Chassungo wrote: “I am going to space, I’m taking my brother, Geraldo and am also taking my mum and dad. We are going to look at all the different planets and we are landing on the moon! We will land at 3 o’ clock in the morning and we see aliens and footprints. We will jump in the sky…”
Buhle Sibiya writes: “ I am going to space so I can see the 8 planets in the galaxy and I am taking Ozzie, she is my friend. We landed on the moon and we saw aliens and we are going to land…”
Charlotte Cronje
Year 1 Teacher
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Saving Water
The students in Year 1 have been studying the topic Earth and Space in their science lessons. They have learnt about the planet Earth and how it is made up of mostly water and that there is not much fresh water on our planet.
We looked at ways we use water at home and how best we can save water. Although they are too young to remember how close we came to ‘Day Zero’, many of the students have learnt to use water sparingly. They were able to come up with a number of ways to save water as well as spot the places where people waste water.
The water saving game was a big hit with the students.
Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher
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BIS Interact Club Updates
Blouberg International Club of Interact would like to send a huge thank you to the families of BIS for their generous contributions to our soup pack drive. Our Interactors, together with some Matric students, delivered nearly 400 soup packs to Doors of Jannah, an NGO dedicated to providing hot meals to the disadvantaged communities in Cape Town. WATCH: https://fb.watch/fysbRt9z6w/
Last Saturday some of our matric students had the opportunity to join in one of their soup drives helping pack hot meals and distribute them. They all agreed how valuable this experience was.
The past couple of years have been particularly challenging with COVID-19 restrictions, but our club faced the challenge as an opportunity to put their creativity to work and continue serving.
I am proud to announce that our Blouberg International Club of Interact was awarded a Citation by Rotary International. This acknowledgement is given to schools that go the extra length for their efforts and service to the community. Congratulations to our members for this well deserved nomination!
Oscar and Altesse at the Rotary Club of Blouberg Citation evening.
The following students have recently voted members of our Interact Club for 2022-2023:
- President: Oscar Berger
- Vice President: Shaylee Brandt
- Secretary: Saumya Majarah
- Treasurer: Iviwe Matakata
- Board member: Chezlyn Gopal
BIS would like to congratulate them and we look forward to working together, hoping to continue growing our Interact club with enthusiasm, new ideas and fun projects.
Elena Berger
BIS Interact Club Coordinator
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Geography in High School
This term has really flown by, and we are already looking forward to test week coming up. This term, each year group covered a wide range of topics. It is wonderful to see how each group embraces every topic and enthusiastically takes part in class discussions.
The Year 7 group focused on the population concepts and what affects the growth rates of different countries. Year 8 studied settlements, their patterns and urbanisation. The Year 8 group was introduced to similar maps as those at IGCSE level and had to identify settlement patterns on the map. These topics are linked to the IGCSE Geography syllabus.
The current IGCSE Year 9 group are currently busy with the second theme of their syllabus. This is mainly focused on the natural world we live in. We have covered plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, rivers and coasts the past term and look forward to more topics of this theme in Term 4. The earthquake and volcanoes topics tend to be more challenging seeing that it is not something that we encounter on a regular basis. While teaching Geography in the Middle East, the same could be said when students had to study rivers. I am sure we will collectively conquer this topic.
The Year 11 AS level group focused on weathering and slope processes this term. I am happy at the progress they have made this term and we look forward to Term 4.
Lastly, I want to wish the current Year 10 IGCSE and Year 12 AS level students all the best for their upcoming Cambridge External exams. All the hard work that you have put in to be ready, comes down to this. I might have only been teaching you for one term, but I am confident that you all will reach your potential and score the grades you deserve.
Geography in the news:
6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes China. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those that lost their lives and homes.
Jean-Pierre Le Grange
High School Geography Teacher
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Litter Challenge
“Educating our children is a key ingredient in the recipe to save our Earth!”
This week our Year 2’s did a school litter pick-up! Before we went out we had a small class discussion where we reminded ourselves about what litter was and chatted a bit about what a good strategy would be in order to cover the area we were going to cover and pick up as much litter as possible. The students were excited at the idea of helping to make their school a cleaner place!
We made a plan to tackle the field and the surrounding areas, a few students carrying some plastic bags for any rubbish to go straight into, all of us walking in our smaller groups across the field making sure to keep a look out for any litter that may be laying around.
All of the students took their role in this clean-up very seriously and seemed to enjoy themselves as they went. Well done Year 2’s, you are making a difference!
Siobhan Hendry
Year 2 Teacher
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Spring Has Sprung In Arts And Craft This Week
“Reuse the past. recycle the present, save the future” – Unknown
In KS1 Arts and Crafts Club, the students have been making use of recycled goods to create a beautiful flower to welcome the start of Spring.
Teaching students about spring helps to develop life skills, observation skills and promotes a love for learning and nature. Helping children notice and celebrate the signs of spring is a wonderful way to sharpen their observation skills. This helps students to learn how to focus, to be present, and live in the moment. Observation skills help people become better writers, scientists, and global citizens. Using nature to teach these skills can shake children and parents alike out of the rut of the normal day-to-day life.
Using recycled goods such as bubble wrap and bottle tops help students realise that these items are goods and not waste. We can reuse them for Arts and Crafts activities, not allowing them to be thrown into bins or left lying around on the floor around us. Teaching students to reduce, reuse and recycle (the three R’s) can create a ripple effect on the lives of their loved ones around them.
We encourage students and parents to continue trying to follow the three R’s.
Year 1 Teacher
Erin Hierse
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BIS Media Club
The media club is a newly developed society in our school that consists of a team of students, led by Mr. Kroukamp, who create weekly live podcast episodes, aired out on our very own school radio. You can listen to BIS Radio live every Monday afternoon from 3:15 to 4:00. We cover topics ranging from the latest school news to our own internal debates and views on a vast variety of subjects. This club is a small knit community for our ambitious members to not only push themselves out of their comfort zone, but to become comfortable with public speaking and develop important communication skills and improvisation abilities. Furthermore, it gives students the confidence needed to articulate their words with clarity and proficiency and is a great opportunity to further develop creative thinking.
The school podcast is an easily accessible way for both students and parents, who are tuned in, to keep up with the latest on-going school events as well as up-to-date information on social affairs. Our podcast can also be used as a medium for further education, as we discuss different countries and cultures as well as spread awareness and shed light on serious issues. Here at BIS, our teachers have put great effort into the promotion of mental health, and the media club is just as eager to shine a light on said topic. We have held open discussions with our school counsellor on air to further this effort, as well as having our own talks amongst one another on our experiences.
We are the first school to have our very own media club in the whole of IES and we would love for our podcast to go global and inspire other schools all over the world. Our club is a stepping-stone to the evolution of schools, in our ever-advancing technological world, and a demonstration of how we can evolve alongside this growth. We are so grateful to have been given this opportunity to grow within ourselves and inspire those around us, and we encourage students of all ages to take action and become a part of this innovative society.
Gemayel Kroukamp
Media Club Coordinator
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