Please note that from now on, there will be a regular section here in the newsletter which will contain any official notifications that parents need to be aware of. This is important information and you are asked to check this weekly in order to keep abreast of key issues.

• The Term 2 date for the official notice of withdrawal to Ms. Bajracharya (mbajracharya@tbs.edu.np) is Wednesday, 17th November. Failure to give this notice period will result in the security deposit being retained in full.

Thank you to the parents who have already confirmed that this will be the last term for their child/children at TBS. In line with the school policy, the date for the official notice of withdrawal is Wednesday, 17th November if this will be the last term for your child/children at TBS. Please inform Ms. Bajracharya (mbajracharya@tbs.edu.np) the Admissions Manager, if you wish to withdraw your child from TBS by the above date. Failure to give such notice will result in the security deposit being retained in full. Parents will receive a Clearance Form to complete the withdrawal procedure nearer the end of this term. The security deposit will be refunded once the form is submitted and all the school resources have been returned to the school in good order. Parents will always be notified in the instance where a partial amount of the deposit has been frozen to cover missing or damaged resources. We thank you for entrusting us with the education of your child/children and wish you the very best for the future; you will always be part of the TBS family, so please do keep in touch. This could be through the school social media or getting involved in the Alumni Association, details of which are in the clearance form.

Hello everyone! We hope you have all had a wonderful Dashain break and are well-rested and ready for the term ahead. We were lucky enough to have International Day last term once again after not being able to do so for almost two years! A special thank you to the primary school for joining the secondary students in such a special parade. All of us thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone dressed up in their national clothes. Also, we want to say a huge ‘well-done’ to Mr Peacock’s Y8 team for winning the International Day Quiz!! 

Looking forward:

Mock exams for our KS5 students took place this week and we are well aware of how stressful periods like this can be. If you are feeling overwhelmed, please reach out to someone, regardless of whether it’s your parent(s), a teacher, or a friend to help ease your mind or to aid you with revision and classwork. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with any member of the safe-guarding team such as your Head of Key Stage, Ms Groom (sgroom@tbs.edu.np) or Ms Scott (escott@tbs.edu.np) if you would like to talk to someone. 

“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax…”

We know how tempting it can be to study as much as possible before an exam but we’d also like to emphasise how important it is to allow yourself to take a break and wind down. The Head Prefects have provided a small insight into the importance of wellbeing during examination times:

Despite the many exams and tests we have taken throughout secondary – they are something we always feel challenged by. While a little bit of stress can motivate you to a certain extent, allowing the stress to accumulate without relieving it sustainably, more often than not, results in a huge burn out or slump. To de-stress, we like to talk to our friends and family about the feelings we might be having. Taking the time to socialize can help take your mind off the pressure and even give you reassurance for the exams as you realize you are not the only one stressed – after all, exam stress is perfectly natural and it is a good sign that shows you want to achieve your absolute best! So make sure you reserve some time for socializing with your friends and family in the days leading up to the mocks.

Halloween celebrations are an important cultural event for many of our students and their families. To acknowledge this, we will be inviting all students (Early Years, Primary and Secondary) and staff to dress up in Halloween costumes on Monday 1st November. We are encouraging all students to embrace this opportunity and come to school dressed in their best Halloween costumes. As always, we want our students to dress appropriately and be mindful that their outfits can be eye-catching and exciting, but also sensitive to the feelings and perceptions of others. Further guidance on appropriate costumes will be provided to students by their mentors or class teachers. Should students have PE lessons on this day, they will need to pack their PE Kit and be prepared to change in and out of their costume for this lesson (this will also apply to any sports clubs after school). We are very excited to see all of the Halloween costumes next week.

International Day held on 6th October was a fantastic event celebrating the wonderfully diverse student and staff community. Students really engaged in the spirit of the event wearing dresses celebrating different cultures and participating in competitions run on the day. Well done to all those who entered The International Day Flag competition. The final exhibition was a feast for the eyes and congratulations go to the winner Victoria and to the highly commended entries of Amata and Shrishti (all in Year 7). Further congratulations go to the International Day Quiz winners: Neeharika (Year 8), Riyana (Year 7) and Maulik (Year 7).

Year 11 have made an excellent start to the year and over the course of Term 1 made excellent progress towards their IGCSE examinations, which are only a few short months away now. Over the course of this term I hope to see even further progress made as they all work towards their mock examinations which will occur at the start of Term 3 in January. It has also been great to see all students now back in school this term and taking part in a wide range of different activities that were not possible online. In Chemistry Year 11 students have been able to carry out experiments looking at factors that affect the rates of reactions and in P.E. students have been able to take part in socially distanced team games again! With the reintroduction of clubs this term I am looking forward to seeing many of our Year 11 students taking part in all the different activities on offer to them after school.

It has also been great to see some of the wonderful examples of the work Year 11 students have been creating in their lessons.

Year 11 English students have been studying Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night. They have been plotting the play with simple storyboards to aid memory and working on the crucial skill of effective annotation.

In Chinese, students have been planning and presenting ideas for different trip for celebrities:

Students paired up and gave a presentation in Chinese to show what trip they planned for a celebrity of their choice. A special mention to Nimisha and Lhakyi who made a very nice and creative plan for Yuzuru Hanyu, a Japanese figure skater, to go to Canada. Their presentation was engaging too!

Across all languages this week, our students competed in an International Language Championship and tested their language skills through quizzes, games, grammar exercises and time trials! Students did very well collectively answering 44,729 questions. TBS finished 11th out of 40 in our category and 35th out of 134 schools overall. In French, our students ranked 9th in our category and 30th overall. Well done to Manas and Zainab (year 10) on their impressive achievements of a Silver and Bronze award respectively and number 1 and 2 rankings in Key Stage 4. A huge congratulations to everyone who took part!

Ms Wong was also very impressed with her Year 11 class, they have been very keen to achieve the highest score in this worldwide competition. Shridha and Daniel did particularly well on smashing the vocabulary challenge! Well done to everyone who took part this week!

The SWAT team (Student Wellbeing Advocacy Team) have organised a whole school celebration of World Mental Health day which was on 10th October, over Dashain. As it was in the holidays we will be marking the day with a TBS Mental Health Day on Friday 12th November. We will be providing focussed Mental Health awareness sessions in mentor time in Secondary and staff will also be offering drop-in wellbeing activities throughout the lunch break. Primary will also be taking part in activities that explore the topic of mental health. Our secondary student wellbeing representatives, Vishwas and Aaj, put together a student survey to see which mental health topics our students would like to learn more about so that our mentor sessions will be a direct response to what they have asked for. We greatly appreciate their input with this and we look forward to exploring these topics on Friday 12th and to continuing to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and wellbeing.  

With thanks,

The SWAT team