A Busy and Exciting Week in Primary!

We have had a wonderful and productive week in Primary with several important events taking place.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Our Parent Teacher Conferences were held on Monday 10th November and Wednesday 12th November. It was fantastic to see so many families attending these important meetings to discuss their child’s progress, celebrate achievements, and work in partnership with class teachers to support ongoing learning. These conversations are invaluable in strengthening our home-school partnership, and we were delighted to share the learning journey with both parents and children. Thank you to all families who attended and for your continued engagement in your child’s education.

Winter Show Preparations

Our students have been continuing to work incredibly hard this week on their IPC unit of work focused on theatre and performing arts. The creativity and enthusiasm they have shown whilst developing their art, design, and drama skills has been wonderful to see. Rehearsals for our winter shows are progressing brilliantly, and the children’s dedication and teamwork have been truly impressive. These preparations are all building towards our much-anticipated winter performances, and we cannot wait to share these with you all very soon. Further details about show dates and times will be shared shortly – watch this space!

Forest School: Mastering Fire Skills

Our Forest School sessions this week have focused on an essential and exciting outdoor skill – fire! Students have been learning about fire safety, understanding the responsibilities that come with working with fire, and developing the practical skills needed to build and manage fires safely in outdoor environments. Under expert supervision, they have learned about selecting appropriate materials, fire circle setup, and the importance of fire safety protocols. This hands-on learning experience has taught children about risk assessment, teamwork, and respect for natural elements, while also connecting them to traditional outdoor skills. The sense of achievement and responsibility our students demonstrated whilst learning these important Forest School skills has been truly impressive, and they are developing greater confidence and competence in their outdoor learning journey.

U11 FOBISIA Friendly Games Parent Information Session

We held a parent information session this week for families of students participating in the Under 11 (U11) FOBISIA Friendly Games. This was an excellent opportunity to share details about this exciting inter-school sporting event, including the schedule, expectations, travel arrangements, and what students can expect from this wonderful experience. The FOBISIA Friendly Games provide our young athletes with valuable opportunities to represent TBS, develop their sporting skills, build teamwork and sportsmanship, and connect with students from other international schools across the region. We are incredibly proud of our U11 team and look forward to supporting them at this event. Thank you to all the parents who attended the session and for your ongoing support of our sports programme.

Little Yetis: Exploring Light and Shadow

Our Little Yetis have had a fascinating week exploring the wonderful world of light and shadow! Our youngest learners have been investigating how light creates shadows, experimenting with different light sources, and discovering how shadows change throughout the day. They have been using their bodies, toys, and various objects to create shadow shapes, playing shadow puppet games, and developing their understanding of scientific concepts through hands-on exploration and play. The children’s curiosity and wonder as they discovered that shadows can be big or small, long or short, has been delightful to witness. This engaging theme has not only developed their scientific thinking but has also sparked their creativity and imagination, with many children creating their own shadow stories and artistic representations of their discoveries.

Looking Ahead: Year 3-6 Expeditions Next Week

Next week, our Year 3, 4, 5, and 6 students will be embarking on their expeditions – exciting opportunities for learning beyond the classroom. These educational trips are carefully planned to enhance and enrich the curriculum, providing hands-on experiences that bring learning to life. Students will develop independence, teamwork, and resilience whilst exploring new environments and deepening their understanding of their current learning topics. We know the children are eagerly anticipating these adventures, and we look forward to hearing all about their experiences when they return.

Thank you for your continued support in making all of these valuable learning opportunities possible for our students.

Successful Expedition Week

As our student journalists have been enjoying expeditions this week, this is Ms Williams filling in for their Yeti News responsibilities; however, I am sure they will all be keen to report in more detail on their experiences in next week’s edition. All of the expedition information and photos can be found linked to the website here, with highlights below. 

Year 7 Expedition to Last Resort

Throughout the week Year 7 have shown impressive resilience and enthusiasm for expedition activities. These have included challenges like Rock Climbing, The Giant Swing, Abseiling, Canyoning, and working together on Jacob’s Ladder which pushed them to meet their personal goals and help encourage each other. Some highlights have included the whole of Mr Palmer’s small group braving the giant swing and Sana and Bashana redoing the Jacob’s ladder on a ‘speedrun’ to break their own record time. They also hiked to a community school and enjoyed engaging in games and cooking together with local students. 

Year 8 Expedition to Sukute

In Year 8, the expedition programme becomes more challenging; students not only rafted the Sunkoshi, but ‘wild’ camped on the beach and pitched their own tents. They have also visited a school in the local village and taught some Nepali, English and Maths and led games together, as well as tackling a short, challenging hike up to the Fisherman’s village above Sukute.

Year 9 Expedition to Chitwan

While we might not associate Chitwan with mountain hiking, Year 9 students have certainly discovered that it’s not all flatlands this week! They impressed their teachers with their quiet determination to complete three days of tough trekking and they all summited the highest point of Chitwan, Siraichuli (1920m), after climbing over 1500m!

Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh Practice Expedition

On the Duke of Edinburgh practice trip to Borderlands, Year 10 have honed their tent pitching, map reading and cooking skills and enjoyed their self-navigated hike up to a wild campsite and back to the resort. They also showed great resilience and teamwork in the climbing, ropes course and other team challenges. We hope that many of them will now use these skills to complete their qualifying expedition later in the year. 

Senior Tamang Heritage Challenge Expedition

The Tamang Heritage Trek reached the highest altitude this year, spending last night at 3200m on a stunning ridge in Nagthali. Ms Hall has made the most of the trip to reinforce key geography learning and Mr Jones’ bird knowledge has been widely appreciated by students too! 

Senior Kalika Community Expedition

The senior team were working with Shree Kalika school for the first time this year and were assisted by an extremely capable team of TBS staff including our ICT team and site team. We are incredibly pleased with the progress they have made in just 4 days; this has included renovating and upgrading the school’s computer and science labs to a high standard with limited resources. Students have also led games and sessions and built strong relationships with Kalika students. 

Senior Chautara Community Expedition

TBS senior students have now been working with schools in Chautara for a decade and teachers from these partner schools have regularly accessed training through our annual community conference. So the projects have now become more specialised, with our students and teachers delivering engaging lessons as well as menstrual health workshops and creative classes. TBS staff were impressed with how much the team engaged in the projects and reflected throughout the week to continually improve their plans. 

Senior Bandipur Challenge Expedition

The Senior Bandipur Challenge group have enjoyed a series of challenging trekking days with clear views of the Manaslu range throughout and some enjoyable cultural activities in the region. They also worked on lessons for the Shree Danya school and had fun playing games together with students. Yesterday’s rafting and beach games were a highlight for many though, especially the Year 13s on this trip who are grieving that this will be their last TBS expedition! 

Thank you to those parents who have confirmed that their child/children will be leaving TBS at the end of the term, i.e. Friday, 12th of December. Adequate notice is a requirement and avoids financial penalties for parents.  It also allows us to refund your security deposits on time and helps us to plan for the new term.

The deadline for providing the formal notice of the withdrawal of your child/children is Saturday, the 15th of November. The notice of withdrawal can be provided either by email or a written letter to Ms. Bajracharya at the admission office.

After submitting the notice of withdrawal, parents will receive a clearance form to complete the withdrawal procedure nearer the end of Term 2. Please let Ms. Bajracharya in the admissions office know should you require any school documents/references to provide to the new school.