World Book Day

What an exciting week back at school this has been. Firstly, the sun shone every day, which really made us all feel that Spring is on the way. The dressing up day for World Book day was a very successful day with all the staff and children dressing up as different characters. Mary Poppins led the younger children skipping around the playground as she flew off with her umbrella and Captain Haddock supervised the older children's parade around the Oak playground.A big thank you to all of you Mums and Dads for helping the children to sort out costumes to wear. It is such a joy to see the delight on all the children’s faces from Pre-Nursery to Year 6 when they join in with these fun activities.

Earlier in the week the Key Stage 1 children went on an observational walk around the neighbourhood to look at the local environment as part of their topic. They were noticing positive and negative aspects and there has been lots of discussion about the amount of litter they saw. We were very lucky to come across the Commune gardeners who were planting trees and shrubs along the street to create a more natural environment and encourage birds and wildlife. They were able to practise their French and I was amazed at the sensible questions they asked.

The Key Stage 2 children had fun orienteering in Cinquantinaire park and Mrs Gonzalez was quite a picture on gate duty dressed as a chicken! They are getting very excited as the residential week gets closer and the Friday Skills Days are a great way to help them prepare for the activities when they are away.

Key Stage 1 also had their first trip to the swimming pool at NATO and for some children this was the first time they had ever been swimming. Well done to them all for how well they managed the dressing and undressing and facing their fears going into the pool. We were very proud of them all.

This week also saw a very successful Karate club start which the younger children really enjoyed. There has been a good attendance at the clubs this term with the Chess Club working towards finding the BISB Chess Champion.

Monday March 9th is Photograph Day. The school photographer will be coming to school to take individual photographs of all the children as well as group photos. These will soon be available for you to purchase. I am aware that there is going to be more Strike Action next week but as we have already changed the date twice, I think we will go ahead this time and hope everyone manages to get to school. All children need to wear clean, tidy school uniform to school on Monday.

The Junior department will be going on their week-long residential trip to the Belgian coast at the end of March. There was a very positive meeting today for parents to come and find out information and ask questions. I hope we answered all your questions. If you could not attend the meeting, please email your child’s class teacher to collect the information. If you have any more questions, please feel free to come and ask them and we will help in any way we can. Mr Prescott has created a Classlist group for the Residential week to which parents from the Junior department have already been added so it should appear on your home page. Let us know if you have a problem and parents from other classes who would like to follow the activities are also welcome to join.

The next family Walk in the Woods will be on Sunday March 22nd in the forest at Tervuren. To finish off the walk we will have an egg hunt, so it promises to be a lovely family day out to which everyone is welcome.

This year our end of year celebration will be a Summer Festival on Saturday June 20th in the afternoon. This will be held in the Acorn playground and there will be crafts and summer activities for the children to take part in and it will be a good way to come together and celebrate the year.

Thank you to all those families who have already indicated that they might be leaving at the end of this school year but are still hoping to continue their time in Brussels and thus be able to continue at BISB. If you do find out that you are in fact staying, then please let us know immediately, as some classes are already projected to be full for 2026/27. We will do our best to prioritise an available school place for you if your hopes of remaining are realised.

Dates to remember

Monday March 9th Photograph Day

Thursday March 19th Year 4 Montagne Magique

Sunday March 22nd Walk in Woods and Egg Hunt

Weekend 28/29 March Banad Festival Acorn building

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

And finally this week’s thought for the week is a book based thought as it has been World Book Day.