British International School of Cracow

From the Head of School During this and the following week our IB students are
collecting items for ‘Szlachetna Paczka’ Project – one of
Dear All, the biggest, national charity project where people of
Christmas time is a time to practise the art of giving good hearts help the families in need. Our IB students
presents and this was the main focus point of BISC will took care of packing, buying and delivering the
activities last week . goods to the selected families. It was brought to my
I am extremely grateful to Ms Marta Mlecko and Ms notice that that the sum of 619PLN has been collected
Jowita Skalska , our art teachers, for their engagement from ‘Christmas Fair’ sales which will also be donated
to the Cracow Nativity Scene (Szopka Krakowska) to the ‘Szlachetna Paczka’ project. Congratulations to
Project. Szopka Krakowska is a Christmas Tradition IB1 CAS Team, Ms Aneta Zabrocka for coordinating the
originating from Kraków, Poland, and dating back to whole project and all BISC families for their donations.
the 19th century. An unusual and characteristic feature Last but not least, believe or not Santa Claus popped in
of the Szopka is the use of historical buildings of at Smoleńsk 25 and gave out some goodies and candies
Krakow as a backdrop for the Nativity of Jesus. In 2018 to the well
it was inscribed on the list of the UNESCO Intagible behaved,
Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Traditionally Szopka’s hardworking
design incorporates the details of the St.Mary’s pupils and to
Basilica, Kraków with its easily recognisable spires, our teachers as
Wawel Castle, Sukiennice trade hall, the Barbican of well. The
Krakow and the statue of our dragon. Our pupils added gossip was
flags of the different countries which make this Nativity spread around
Scene truly international and exceptional. Mr Krzysztof that he looked
designed a solid wooden plate support and Mr Hugo similar to Dr David Twigg but I could not comment
offered his bike as an efficient and reliable means of upon such gossip. Besides Mr David was seen
transportation. All Szopki were proudly presented elsewhere at this time.
around the statue of Adam Mickiewicz on the market I wish you a happy and snowy week
square on Thursday 1st of December. Ms Marta and Ms and weekend.
Jowita gave a number of interviews to local media and
BISC Krakow Szopka was photographed many times by
a number of journalists and tourists. Those who could Remaining sincerely yours
not see our beautiful BISC Krakow International
Nativity Scene in the sqaure can still admire it and Dr Stanislaw Kwiecinski
other 142 units in Post-competition 80th Jubilee
Competition of Kraków Nativity Scenes in Krzysztofory
Palace at Rynek Głowny 35 between 9.00-18.00 till 26th INSIDE THIS ISSUE
of February,2023. Entrance is free! THE HEAD OF SCHOOL MESSAGE
Page 1
PRIMARY NEWS
Pages 2 - 5
SECONDARY NEWS
Page 6
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Page 7
SCHOOL CALENDAR
Page 8

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 Pg 1

 Primary News
From the Primary Head
Children not attending gym or
FS2 News
Swimming In FS2 the letters c, k, e
and h were introduced
We understand that many of our children have
this week, as well as the
been sick the last few weeks resulting in children
sounds and the actions.
not taking part in either gym or swimming. This is
understandable but please remember that when
the children are in Gym or Swimming there is no
teacher available to take care of your child at
The children practiced the
school. Please return your child to school ready for
written version of the letter
the next lesson after the Gym or Swimming.
sounds and listened for the
As the first term of the school year comes towards
letters sounds in a variety of
the end some of you may be travelling early.
words
Whilst we do automatically approve this we do
understand that there are sometime family
circumstances that mean you have no option but
to take additional time off. If you do have
something important that means your child will be
absent, please do talk to us in advance.
Year 1 News
Best regards This week, Year 1
Neil Hugo have been reading
and watching the

FS1 News Grinch. In maths,

we have been
learning about
coins, notes,
sterling and zloty.
We have began
making Christmas
decorations for
the classroom and
have also visited
the Christmas
market where we
FS1 exploring light and got some candy
enjoying their newly canes and met a
built tent Szlachcic - tour
guide.

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 Pg 2

Important Information About Illness at BISC

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 Pg 3

 Year 2 News Primary ICT News
This week in English, Year Year 3
2 have been writing their This half term until the
own recipes for a magic winter break, databases
medicine and made sure using Excel has been the
to include lots of amazing topic in ICT classes for
techniques such as Years 3 and 4.
alliteration, adverbs and Year 3 have created a
adjectives. database on the topics of
We have also been sport, animals, transport
looking at Fantastic Mr and 2D/3D shapes. They
Fox by Roald Dahl. We learnt how to enlarge
learnt all about where cells, change it’s colour,
foxes live, what they eat and the problems with the text alignment and to
foxes coming into cities including Krakow. We than work on the presentation
made fox masks to use. generally.

Year 4 have been

analysing the top 10
favourite pet populations
in the UK, the best selling
Year 3 News animal types in England
and the coldest and the
In Maths for Year 3 this week hottest temperatures in
we have been looking at the world. They used
division and finding different graphs such as columns,
multiples of a given number lines, pies, bars and
before finally working out doughnuts to illustrate
division with remainders at the numbers.
the end of the week. Various They also made pie charts
different strategies have with the BISC primary
been shown such as dot and student nationality
circle method along with percentage.
using arrays it now up to They ended up with very
Year 3 to choose which colourful worksheets.
works best for themselves.

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 Pg 4

 Year 5 News Due to dropping temperatures,
Athletics Club has finished for
Year 5 have began a super
exciting topic - Disney! We
the winter months. Well done
have started by looking at everyone on your hard work
some of the most famous and we will be back in Spring!
Disney classics and where in
the world they were filmed.

We’ve seen how animations Last Two Golden Books

have evolved over time to
become what we watch
today. Did you know Mickey
Mouse was originally meant
to be called Mortimer
Mouse?! Thankfully Walt
Disney’s wife decided this
wasn’t a good idea and from
this Mickey Mouse was born November 25th and
December 2nd
in 1928.

Year 6 News
Year 6 were lucky enough
to visit our local Art
Studio with a wonderful
view of Wawel. During
the session the children
created their very own
Advent Candles using a
piece of tree sliced
through the middle and a
wonderful variety of
decorations. The task
involved hammering nails
in, hot glue gunning
pieces on and making One of the finished
decisions and what was used and then where products
everything was placed.

Date Event Time Location

Mon 19th December Years 4,5 and 6 Theatre visit 10.30am

Tuesday 20th December Winter Concert 2.30pm Teatr Ludowy

Wed 21st December Christmas Sweater Day All Day Classrooms

Thurs 22nd December Christmas Sweater Day All Day Classrooms

Thurs 22nd December SCHOOL CLOSES FOR HOLIDAY

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 Pg 5

 Secondary News
Learning at BISC - Fun with science
When learning science at BISC the focus is on Nativity Scene Project
learning by doing and applying knowledge.
Students do practicals and learn to apply This week saw the conclusion of the Nativity Scene
knowledge. It adds weight to Project, a collaboration between Primary and
the learning and students Secondary students and staff.
tend to deduce something Year 6 students joined our Art teachers (Miss
more easily. Marta and Miss Jowita) along with Mr Stan and Mr
Experiments help to visualise Hugo to present our szopka to the people of
concepts and students get Krakow last Thursday.
excited and engaged. Despite our work being quite amazing, we sadly
Misconceptions are dispelled did not won the competition but we were very
and experiments bring more proud of the quality of our piece.
accuracy to a field where the Well done everyone who was involved in it’s
pursuit of knowledge is based production.
on evidence from
experiments.

This is in line with John Dewey’s philosophy of

education and his pedagogic creed:
"I believe that the school must represent present
life-life as real and vital to the child as that which
he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or
on the playground." It was a cold day when
the szopka was
Students then consolidate what they have learnt delivered to Rynek
by applying their knowledge and skills in tests and Głowny
exams.
This applies to all students from Y7 to IB2 students
who are
currently
writing their
internal
assessments
which will be
based on an
experiment.

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 P

 programme has your
University News interest come to the
surface: examples could
include a CAS project, the
Writing the Personal Statement extended essay or an
For any students who are interested in applying to internal assessment. Once
UK universities, one of the application you have evidence to show
requirements is that you write a ‘personal why your interest in a given
statement’. This is a statement which explains to subject is more than just passing, the task is to
universities why you should be offered a place as integrate this into the personal statement. This is
an undergraduate student. While it is only one of also a salutory lesson to those beginning the IB
the components that form the application process diploma journey—to consider ways in which you
(the others being the reference and the predicted can take advantage of the programme to
grades), it is an important part of the process as it demonstrate readiness.
shows universities whether or not you would be For tips on how to write the personal statement,
considered a risk worth taking - after all, an please see: https://www.ucas.com/
applicant whose heart is not in it may face undergraduate/applying-university/writing-
challenges that could incur a cost to the university. personal-statement/how-write-personal-
This is why it’s so important to go into the statement. Please further note that I will be
application process with a clear idea about what available to meet on Mondays 15:30-16:20 in
you would like to study (see the previous room 44 for consultation starting Monday 28th
newsletter article on deciding what to study at November.
university). Once you do have a clear idea and are
aware of your motivations, the personal statement
becomes a mere formality. This is not to say that it
will write itself; only that you need to put to words
what is already clear.
As regards writing the statement, some
BISC
universities like Oxford will require that you take
up 80% of the statement writing about your WINTER
academic abilities/skills and 20% writing about
extra-curricular activities. For tips from Oxford see:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/
CONCERT
applying-to-oxford/guide/ucas-application
There is no reason why you can’t follow this
template even if you’re not applying to Oxford as
Tuesday 20th
universities in the UK (unlike perhaps in the US)
are chiefly concerned about your academic
December
abilities.
The IB Diploma Programme is an excellent source
of information for your personal statement as you
can draw on many of its aspects to show why you Teatr Ludow
would make a good fit. Ask yourself where in the
Osiedle Teatralne
Nowy Huta
Great Public Transport Links

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 Pg 7

School Calendar

BISC NEWSLETTER - 7th December, 2022 Pg 8