The second last week to half term has come to a successful end courtesy of the great team work accompanied by the term value of Cooperation from each and every member of BKIS.  As a climax of the week, we had a great opportunity to appreciate and celebrate our teachers as we joined the rest of the world in marking the World’s Teacher’s Day. Representatives of the students (Vanessa, Aiden, Precious and Karanja) read out inspiring poems to the teachers just to express their appreciation of the work the teachers do.

 It was also encouraging to hear from our parents how the teachers played a very important role in their lives during their school days. Thank you Rachael and Chris for inspiring our students during the assembly; which indeed confirmed to them how important it is to appreciate their teachers. The love and strong belief the teachers have in their students always make a huge difference in their lives.

 World Post Day Celebration

It is always encouraging to be part of important celebrations around the world. For the first time in BKIS history, we have been invited to take part in World Post Day Celebration in Kenya to be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi courtesy of Dhara Shah as per the invite below:

“This is to inform you that Miss Dhara Shah emerged 3rd in the just concluded 2018 International Letter Writing competitions for young people aged 15years and below. It in this regard, that Postal Corporation of Kenya cordially invites the Principal of Braeburn Kisumu Intercontinental School, accompanied by Dhara's English Class teacher to grace the World Post Day celebrations, scheduled for Tuesday 9th October 2018, at the Intercontinental Hotel Nairobi from 10.00am.”

The Chief Guest for the occasion will be the cabinet Secretary Ministry of Information and Technology. On behalf of the BKIS community, we congratulate Dhara for this great achievement even as she plans to travel to Nairobi next week.

ABRSM Theory Exams

BKIS has always had students register for practical ABRSM music exams. This year, we have two students who have extended their learning to take part in the Theory Exams to be done on 10^th October in Nairobi. According to ABRSM objective on this,   these exams  aim to give students a thorough understanding of the building blocks of music, starting with the basics of rhythm and notes, and going on to cover harmony and counterpoint, composition, and a broad knowledge of western music, including composers and their works, structure, style and period. We wish Maaya and Dhara every success in their forth coming Exams.

Sports Achievements

• BSL: Well done to the Braeburn Sports Festival team for excellent participation. Hamraj and Benjamine’s team emerged overall winners.

 Chess Tournament

It is the first time to run a chess club in BKIS.  Already the club is very popular and full of active participants. Last week Saturday there was a tournament and one of our members (Dhara) participated in the U10 category. Out of four rounds, she won two, drew one and lost one! An impressive result after having played chess for only one month!

BKIS SPORTS DAY

The annual BKIS Sports Day is finally here with us! As calendared in our Term Planner, it is happening next week Friday the 12^th of October from 9.00 am. This year, we shall hold at the Moi Stadium Kisumu!

 

 The students are excited and looking forward to the great sporty day; it will be a perfect way to end the first half of the term. A lot of exciting activities are being arranged to cater for Students, parents and Teachers. All are welcome.  It is important to note that the students are looking forward to compete both their teachers and parents in selected events. A more detailed programme of the day shall be sent out next week.

New BKIS Member

We say a big welcome to Malachi into the BKIS family. He has joined Year 3 class and is already having fun.

It is always encouraging to see the commitment of students to the activities on offer at school. This week, our scouts showed great improvement in their drills and coordination as they led the whole school to the flag raising ceremony. Through recreation, Scouting achieves its purpose of helping young people develop physically, intellectually, and socially. Scouting is all about building confidence and self-esteem, learning important life skills and leadership skills, team building, outdoor adventures, education, and fun! And that is why at BKIS we consider it an important movement which helps in realising the vision of Braeburn Schools; Confident individuals, Responsible citizens and learners enjoying success.

 Going forward, we encourage all the Scouts to always be in their full uniform every Friday even as we realise the annual target of Team Excellence.

Braeburn Sports Festival

BKIS sent a team of eight students to be part of this great event involving representatives from all the Braeburn schools. The festival is aimed at pupils in Years 9 – 13.  It is used to promote some core values as captured in Olympic Games by the founder of the Modern Olympic Movement (Baron Pierre de Coubertin) and I quote, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

                                   Health and Safety

The Kisumu weather has changed and it is very hot during the day. To help us protect the students, we are requesting for them to have the following:

• Water bottle which can be refilled in school
• Sun hats to protect them for the heat.
• Apply sunscreen   

The Braeburn Sunhats are available in school at Ksh.600.

Term Value: Co-operation

The aspect of cooperation as a value has been exercised in BKIS in many ways by understanding that it is:

• Team work
• Getting along with people even if you dislike them
• Encouraging others to participate
• Thinking before acting
• When everyone has to be an active member of the team and do what they agree to do.

 As a team we continue to remind our students to always practice this value by:

• Being good listeners
• Distributing work evenly among team members
• Encouraging each member to contribute their ideas
• Treating each other with respect
• Being open and receptive to new suggestions
• Compromising to resolve difference

It is our hope that through these, we shall attain our annual target of Team Excellence.

NEW BKIS Members

This week, we officially welcome Abbi (Yr 1) and Resian (Crèche) into the BKIS family.

Our annual target of Team Excellence continues to manifest itself in various aspects of the school life. Last Saturday, as a team we had a great Family Picnic full of fun and of course delicious meals from well-run food stalls courtesy of our parents. As they say, “coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”! We are sure of great things as a school with such a great partnership.  Just in case you missed the event, kindly sample the photos below:

  Braeburn Car Stickers

As part of identification as well as security measure to access any of the Braeburn School’s compound, we have provided car stickers to each family. The stickers have unique serial number and for this year they also serve as promotion to celebrate the 40^th year of Braeburn School in East Africa.

Early Years & KS1 Production

The Confident Individauls  of these sections of the school have started rehearsing for their annual production which will be staged on the 23^rd of November 2018. This is a great opportunity to show case the young talents in BKIS. As usual, our team effort will lead to a great show.  A letter requesting for costumes will be sent out soon.  On behalf of the production team, may I request for support to the young ones as they master their lines and songs.

School Time

In our assembly today, we discussed the aspect of Time Management and its application in our daily lives. It was encouraging to learn from the students that it boils down to wise use of time. This led to the practical application in school life and all were in agreement that we have to be punctual to school and lessons every day. As captured in the Parents’ Hand Book and Students’ Planners, the latest reporting time to school is 7:50am with the exception to EYFS group.  It is our appeal that we instil this in our students and help them keep time.

The second week has come to an exciting end with resumption of after school activities. Thank you to all parents who signed and handed the club forms. We are all set and enthusiastic about attending our favourite clubs! To make the realization of the clubs’ objectives, the students are expected to wear/bring the proper attire for specific clubs;

 Students were allowed to try out different clubs and change during the first 2 weeks of the term. Starting next week, the choices made will remain and are to run until the end of the term. If you have any questions or concerns about clubs, kindly feel free to speak to our Clubs’ Coordinator, Miss Donia.

Here is an impression of what B.K.I.S. offers during Clubs’ Time;

    Of course we offer many more clubs such as:

Toyota Dream Car Art Competition

As had been mentioned earlier, one of our own Dhara Shah represented Kenya in the global round in the U8 category in Japan. It is encouraging and exciting to announce that she won a silver medal! Congratulations Dhara and well done for flying the BKIS flag up high.

 Scouts

The movement is becoming bigger and popular. We appreciate their dedication each and every Friday as they lead the whole school in raising the flag .To make it even better, we are expecting the scouts to remember to be in their full uniform every Friday.

Last term, we had patrol leaders undergo some training at Braeburn Imani where they earned beautiful certificates as shown below:

 World First Aid Day

BKIS has not been left behind in marking this important day which is usually celebrated every second Saturday of September. This year’s theme is First response to Road Crashes. We had facilitators from Red Cross who took the students and teachers through the practical aspects of CPR.

It is a joy to welcome you back from the long holiday. The reports from the students indicate a well utilized break with great adventures.

As we start the new academic year, it is important to mention that there have been notable development projects which were undertaken over the summer break to make the school better:

• General maintenance work which also included paint work of the school
• Construction of the sail shade to be used for the assemblies as well as for lunch purposes
• Complete change of EYFS furniture
• Carpeting of both the library and ICT suite.

I can assure you that the students are very pleased to see these little changes every year. We shall continue to improve the general outlook of BKIS.

 IGCSE RESULTS

The dedication and commitment of students led to great results to be proud of. Looking at the individual performance, almost all the students met their targets as far as predicted grades were concerned. BKIS registered a 76%  pass of grades A*-C. For this to have been achieved, the great team work involving students, teachers and parents was clearly witnessed throughout the academic year. I must say a big thank you to all the parties for the excellent work. It is also important to mention that all the candidates have already gotten placements into A level schools and we wish them well.

ANNUAL TARGET AND TERM VALUE

As has been the tradition, every academic year we have a target to guide our general day to day activities. This year the annual target is TEAM EXCELLENCE. Having had a chance to look at the characteristics of great teams, it is now time to experience team excellence.

The annual target is normally supported by a well thought out TERM VALUES with the clear understanding that a value is a principle that guides out thinking and behaviour. This term the value is COOPERATION which in essence involves:

• Listening carefully to understand what people are saying
• Sharing your things with others
• Taking turns when someone else wants to do the same thing
• Compromising when you have a disagreement
• Doing your best and encouraging others to do their best

Thanking people for the part they are playing

 BKIS NEW MEMBERS

We say a big well come to the following into BKIS Family:

Svetlana Q. ---Crèche

Nirav P. -----Crèche

Emmanuel A. ---- FS1

Lara P. ---FS1

Lara O.—FS2

Aryana O.—Yr 4

Mitchell O. ---Yr 5

 STUDENT COUNCIL MEMBERS

After the whole school’s election of the President and the deputy, the classes had the opportunity to elect their representatives as follows:

 We wish them well as they Cooperate with their President (Don) and deputy (Vanessa) as they lead the students’ body this academic year.

WORLD SCHOLARS

Over the summer break, BKIS was represented by a team of five students at the Global round of the World Scholars Cup that was held in Barcelona. As always, they did their best and the team of Vanessa, Samantha and Cindy has qualified for the Tournament of Champions to be held at the Yale University in USA between 16^th and 21^st November this year. Congratulations to the team!

 FESTIVAL OF FRIENDSHIP

The August break has been a very busy for some BKIS students who took part in the festival of friendship organised by the Ismaili Community in Kisumu. In this festival, there were many teams taking part in sport activities and BKIS was ably represented by Arav, Maaya, Krit, Qamara, Deven and Annika. All of the participated in U12 category in swimming and tennis singles where the results were as follows:

• Annika Parmar 2^nd Position—Tennis Singles
• Maaya Bhamra 1^st position---Tennis Singles
• Swimming : Annika Butterfly 1^st position, Backstroke 3^rd position

                    : Krit : Free Style 1^st Butterfly 2^nd and Breast stroke 2^nd

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Our after school activities will begin next week. Being the first term of the academic year, the sports on offer are Cricket, Rounders and Athletics. Our after school activities for the sports days will rotate around the mentioned sports and a schedule will be out on the notice board.

Thank you for prompt response on clubs options. Ms. Donia is working on the clubs’ lists which should be ready by Monday.  Please note that as from Monday school will be ending at 4.10pm.

Upcoming Events

• Parents Meetings: The annual parents meeting will officially begin next week. These are meetings in which the curriculum and pastoral expectations are shared with the parents. As per the calendar of events:
• KS3 & 4 parents’ Meeting will be next week Wednesday 5^th September from 3:30pm in the science lab
• EYFS Parents’ Meeting is on Saturday 8^th September from 9 am.
• KS1 Parents’ Meeting will be on Monday 10^th September from 3:30pm
• KS2 Parents’ Meeting is on Wednesday 12^th September from 3:30 pm