It is always a pleasure to welcome students and parents to yet a new Term and new calendar Year!

A special welcome to the families that have joined us this term. Karibuni Sana!

Term Value

As has been the norm every term, there is a value that guides our operations as we focus on the Annual Target of Team Excellence. This calendar year, we started the term by looking at Growth Mind-set as our focus. We would like to have all the students know that:

• They can learn anything they want to
• When they are frustrated by a task, they persevere
• They need to challenge themselves
• When they fail, it is a learning opportunity
• When their peers succeed, they should be inspired to do better
• Their effort and attitude determine everything

This has led to the term value of Persistence. The marvellous mistakes will be turned into learning opportunities for our students.

Healthy Me Week

Next week is a Healthy Me Week as calendared in our term planner. In our PSHE lessons throughout the school, one of the topics covered is Health and Well-being. Under this there is the aspect of Healthy Eating. To apply it, we have deliberately scheduled next week for healthy snacks and food at school. For it to be successful, everyone has to pull in the same direction. Kindly refer to the attached write up for more ideas and suggestions

After School Activities

These are officially starting next week. For sports, kindly see the table above for week 3 and 4 schedules.

A big thank you to all the parents who have facilitated the return of club forms. Miss Donia is currently working on the lists which should be out next week Monday.

Friday next week, the production rehearsals will begin for Key Stage 2-4.

Inter-school Verse Speaking Competition

As we mention during our closing assembly, BKIS has been invited to attend the annual Inter School Verse Speaking Competition to be held in Nairobi Academy on 26^th January. The last audition was done on Tuesday and I must say a big thank you to the six students who took part in this. Out of these, Arav, Precious and Tyler were chosen to represent BKIS. We wish them well even as they make final touches in their poems.

 Scouts Patrol Leaders Training

The International Schools Scouts, Kenya leaders’ team has organised for a Patrol Leaders training at Greensteds School as from Friday 11^th – Sunday 13^th January 2019. BKIS has sent six students (Precious, Malaika, Dhara, William and Hawi) to this. They left for Nakuru today morning after our assembly. The purpose of the trip is to train the patrol leaders in the following areas;

• The Patrol Method
• Scouting ideals
• Leadership skills
• The out-doors
• Association with adults
• Badges/Advancements
• Uniform

 ROBS Meeting

This termly meeting has been re-scheduled to Tuesday 15^th January from 3:15 pm.This is a meeting for the parents to chat the way forward for the planned activities.

Last Friday was the climax of the many rehearsals and practice by our young actors and actress from EYFS and KS1 when they finally staged their production, “Are We Nearly There Yet” at Simba club. The mastery of both music and the lines was just amazing! It indeed confirmed how BKIS students are Confident Individuals who enjoy success in their learning. The fantastic musical was well executed by the young learners as sampled below:

Clubs’ Assembly

Our emphasis in nurturing talents was witnessed today during the assembly. BKIS runs many clubs which in effect expose learners to different experiences for their holistic development. Through clubs, many life skills and values are imparted to the students which will eventually play a big role in ensuring that they are Responsible Citizens. This is well captured by the write up below from our club’s Coordinator; Ms. Donia:

“Learning is about so much more than just the academics. Here at BKIS, character matters and our total program is designed to inspire and encourage students to become their best selves. The development of good character lies at the heart of all that we do and this is more important than exam results. We strive to offer as many different clubs, sports and extra curriculum activities as possible and we try to accommodate the wishes and interests of our students.  Becoming a confident individual, a responsible citizen, a good friend, a true leader and a cooperative and resilient team member is not something you can learn from books; it's the life skills you need to practise and experience on a day to bay basis. At BKIS, we care about what and who you become”.

World Scholar’s Cup

The World Scholars Cup club members participated in the exhilarating Tournament of Champions which was held in Yale University – USA last week.  This was the meeting of the crème de la crème. It was without doubt a rigorous and invigorating competition. Debate topics included:

The UN should have more power to Veto national elections and - Black markets are now more important than ever- our students won the black market debate motion! Find out from them what they presented to convince the judge…Students also took part in Collaborative Writing Competitions, Scholars Bowl as well as Scholars Challenge. These sections do test your knowledge in the six subject’s studied.  That was not all, they got a chance to interact with top students from all over the world and got to pick their brains on various subjects.  Despite the extreme cold and sometimes snowing days, they got a chance to see Connecticut and a bit of Yale University. It was a life changing experience and they confess that they can’t wait to delve into next year’s theme – A world of Margins.

BKIS has Champions!

This has been a very exciting week with a lot of notable achievements. As calendared in our planner, BKIS set the pace in marking the annual Thanksgiving Luncheon on Wednesday 21^st.  A brief history of this celebration was given by one of our parents; Rachel Griffith as,  “ Thanksgiving Day, is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. ... The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621”.  She also reminded the BKIS community to always  be thankful for the many experiences we have.

The climax of the day was of course the sharing of the meals brought to school by our supportive parents. It was also a great opportunity to reunite over a meal as BKIS family.

We also had the rear opportunity to see the talents in BKIS as was coordinated by the student council. Indeed BKIS has Talents ranging from dance moves, singing and creativity in puppet show!

A big thank you to all those who made the day a great success. Thank you too to our MD –Mr. Andy Hill who also graced the occasion.

KS1 & EYFS Production

After many weeks of rehearsals, our little ones are ready stage their production entitled, “Are we Nearly There Yet”. This week, they had the real experience of a stage at Simba club during their rehearsals. As such therefore, all roads lead to Simba club this evening. Come and support our actors.

Because of this wonderful show, school will end at 3:10pm today. The EYFS, KS1 and Back-up singers to be dropped at Simba club by 5:30 pm. We shall endeavour to keep time.

 Christmas Boxes

As we approach the end of term, our Student Council students are appealing to BKIS community to support their charitable venture of supporting a children’s home this Christmas season.  BKIS is known for extending a helping hand to the needy in our community. To this end, the students are urged to start bringing in their Christmas boxes with the theme colour being black from next week. The children will need to fill a shoe box, or similar sized box, with the following items:

• Toothpaste                                 Sanitary items (secondary school girls)
• Soap                                Biscuits/sweets
• A small gift New underwear
• Toothbrush                                                     Pencil, Pens, Rulers, or Reading books

 The Student Council will award a prize for the best wrapped boxes.

 Acknowledgements

Congratulations to the following students for the various achievements.

As we come to the end of the term, our focus of Team Excellence continues to manifest itself in many ways. Last weekend we had the opportunity to celebrate Diwali in a BKIS style. This went further to confirm our commitment to appreciate our diversity as a community. The great teamwork was clearly expressed and championed by our parents’ body (ROBS) in close collaboration with students and teachers. A special mention of the following groups/persons who offered great entertainment during the event:

• Punjabi dance troupe led by Diya and Maaya
• Brief talk on Diwali by Eesha
• Solo dance by Dhara
• Song session by Choti Dhanjal (Diya’s mum).
• BKIS family dance led by Ms. Donia
• 

It was a great evening; thank you all to those who made it!

 Thanksgiving

It is finally here with us! Next week on the 21^st November, BKIS will take the lead in marking this great day in the USA calendar. This is a “family style” luncheon with classes sitting together. Each pupil brings in a specific dish to help replicate a Thanksgiving meal. Parents and friends are welcome to attend this event - it is very popular and we encourage families and friends to join in!

The luncheon will be followed by a BKIS Has Got Talent presentation which parents are also encouraged to enter.

The event will start at 12:30pm and is expected to end by 2pm.

End of school Exit Procedure

For the sake of accountability and safety of the children, we have come up with a home time register for those not on the bus. We have had a chat with the students on this and are aware that they have to report to the teachers on duty before going home. This implies that the students will only be released to the known people to the school. As such therefore, all the students will be expected to wait for their parents or guardians under the tent.

…And sadly we say goodbye to Qamara and Jayden who are relocating to Canada. We wish them well.

  Sports Desk

Last week BKIS team of 10 students took part in the Junior Kasarani Athletics.  It was a good exposure to the team and excellent learning opportunities were availed. I am sure Mr.Azenga will continue to guide the athletes to their full potentials.

In our assembly today, we also had the opportunity to thank all the students who took part in the recently held BKIS cross country. A special mention went to Sunshine of year 1 for being the only U6 who took part in this. Well done Sunshine!

 Upcoming Events:

• Soca Afrique Tournament tomorrow at Moi Stadium: Our U15 and U10 team will be taking part from 9-1pm. Best wishes to the team.
• EYFS & KS1 production: This will be taking place next week on the 23^rd November at Simba club from 6pm. All are invited.
• Exams week: Week 14 will be exams week for Year1 to 10. Revision booklets have been given to Year 1-6.
• Christmas Cantata: This will take place on the 6^th of December here at school from 4pm.

The last two weeks have been extremely busy in BKIS. We had the opportunity to display the term value of Cooperation to support our annual target of Team Excellence to produce admirable results.

BKIS ICT Day

Last week Thursday was a special day in BKIS calendar. This was the day students were allowed to bring in their own devices to enhance learning through the ICT. The day's activities started after break. All key stages had a briefing. QR Codes with questions for Scavenger Hunt were placed all over the compound. Pupils from Year 1 to Year 10 were put into various groups according to their Key Stage. They enjoyed scanning the codes and answering questions that appeared on their devices. High school also had an internet scavenger hunt. This involved answering general questions by researching the internet. Presentations from each Year group were good and students enjoyed seeing what other students had to showcase. The final event was an inter-house Kahoot competition. The quiz was very interesting and at the end Tilapia emerged the winner. It is encouraging to report that all the gadgets were used responsibly and safely and great learning took place.

BKIS Cross Country

Last Saturday, we held another successful cross country involving three schools with amazing talents in different categories of U9, U12 and U16. A big thank you to BKIS team for showing determination throughout the event.

A special mention of Safiya, Amina, Jamie and Zawadi for winning medals in their categories.

Maaya’s resilience was acknowledged during the event and this led to her being awarded a medal. Well done Maaya.

Art Certificates

The Orchid Art Competition’s certificates finally arrived! As had been mentioned earlier, BKIS emerged the overall winner in 7-10 years category. As a result, the school earned a gift voucher worth ksh.20,000 to be redeemed at Text book Centre. Dhara S. (the overall winner in 7-10 category) also received her gift voucher during the assembly. Once again, congratulations to BKIS team.

WORL SCHOLARS CUP

It is exciting to announce that our team that qualified for the Tournament of Champions in the last global round which was held in Barcelona is ready once again to fly the BKIS flag at Yale University. We wish them well even as they plan to battle it out with other scholars. It is already a great achievement to make it to the Tournament of Champions and we are proud of Vanessa, Cindy and Samantha. The 2018 Tournament of Champions is scheduled for November 16-21.

BKIS DIWALI

As has been the tradition, BKIS will be celebrating Diwali tomorrow. Our parents have been very helpful in setting up the event. At BKIS, the students are exposed to major religions of the world through time tabled Religious Education subject in Primary school. This is in line with our great vision of having students who are broad minded individuals; an aspect of Internationalism. Exciting activities are lined up for us. The event will run from 6pm to 8pm.