Banad Festival and Residential Trip

Despite the cold weather this week it is Spring and the cherry trees in Avenue Emile Max are starting to blossom, so next week should see our street at its most beautiful. You don’t need to travel to Japan to see cherry blossom!

This weekend is the Banad festival throughout Brussels and many people will be visiting our Acorn building to look at the beautiful art deco features. Our school is housed in one of the most famous art deco buildings in Brussels. I think most of the tours are fully booked so it promises to be a busy weekend. We usually receive lots of compliments on the children’s creative work.

There is great excitement in the Junior department as next week they are off to the Belgian coast for the residential trip from Monday to Friday. They have some very exciting visits planned as well as the Talent Show for which I have seen many children practising at playtime. We hope they all have a lovely time and we look forward to hearing all their stories when they return. This weekend the clocks go forward one hour on Sunday morning. Please remember to change your clocks so you don’t arrive at school late on Monday. The bus for the residential trip leaves at 9am.

This week we heard that Rachit in Year 3 was awarded third place in the COBIS Digital Creations Competition. This competition is open to COBIS schools worldwide, so huge Congratulations to Rachit, being the only child in Belgium to be so honoured, and well done to all the children that took part in the competition. It is good to see our school represented at these events. Rachit also won the Super T mental maths competition, so a very successful week for him.

Please note we have been informed by NATO that there will be no swimming for Year 1 and 2 for the next two weeks. This is out of our control as we have to abide by any instructions we get from NATO about the availability of the pool. The next swimming lesson will be on Wednesday April 15th.

There are still a couple of families who have not yet paid their Garderie bill from February. Please note that if the amount is still outstanding after the second reminder, then a 10 euro administrative charge will be added and this charge, plus the amount outstanding, will be deducted from your deposit that the school holds. It is therefore in your interest to make sure that you pay any outstanding amount for Garderie.

Saturday, April 4th is the 90 day deadline for you to inform us if you are leaving the school at the end of this school year. If we do not receive notice by this date, we will retain the deposit.

The school will be participating in a Brussels interschools seven-a-side football tournament on May 29th. Mrs Bounds will be sorting out the teams and we wait to see who will be playing.

The Year 1 and 2 children have been working on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and have made some very innovative creations using old plastic bottles. It is good to see the future guardians of our planet thinking of sustainable ways forward for the future.

Dates to remember

Weekend 28/29 March   Banad Festival in our Acorn building

March 30-April 3rd   Residential Trip to Seaside, Years 3-6

Friday April 3rd   Year 1/2 Environmental workshop at Tournesol-Zonnebloem.

Saturday April 11th   BISB Open Day

Monday April 13th   Reception Class to Montagne Magique theatre

Wednesday April 15th   Year 4 visit to the Pompeii Exhibition.

Friday 24th April   End of Term

My thought for this week is the Winnie the Pooh quote that I spoke about in the Junior department assembly today. It is something for the children to think about while they are away from home, some of them for the first time.  

I will finish this week's newsletter by wishing you all a lovely weekend and reminding all our Junior children to get lots of sleep ready for their exciting adventures next week.