The British School - Rio de Janeiro

Site Map

From the Director

The School

Programme

News

Links

Publications

Alumni

Board of Governors
NEWS

Board of Governors
MEMBERS 2011

Board of Governors
REVIEWS

Board of Governors
FAQs

Board of Governors News

Newsletter from the Board of Governors and the Director

Number 6, December 2009

We hope you and your children have enjoyed a challenging and successful year. In this newsletter, we would like to inform you of some of the school's important decisions, challenges, achievements and activities this term.

From the Board

School Academic Performance
· Early (May/June) IGCSE results
Class 9 gained some excellent early results in the IGCSE with 100% A*-C in Portuguese (1st and 2nd Language), Spanish, Mathematics (Extended group) and Drama. Music had 92% A*-C.
Percentage A*-B were: Maths 100% (9A*, 10A, 1B), Portuguese 1st Language 95%; Portuguese 2nd Language 100%; Spanish 100%; Music 76%; Drama 75%.
One Class 11 student took Economics and gained a Grade A.

Development Projects
· Building projects at Barra
With the final purchase of the Barra Site completed this year and the completion of the first major building, the school is establishing itself very well at Barra. We currently have 575 pupils at Barra and this is forecast to rise to some 650 during 2010. The issues related to the access road have been addressed throughout the year with the appropriate authorities, the school always endeavouring to maintain good relations with the local community. Plans for dealing with increased traffic flow and parking, as the school expands, are currently being pursued.

· Mackenzie Building at Botafogo
This ambitious project is near completion and the building will be ready for use in February 2010. This building will be a wonderful facility with good-sized classrooms and spacious corridors for Classes 4 and 5, a multi-purpose gymnasium and auditorium, a large new library and ICT suite, a Science laboratory, a specialist Art room and Music and Drama facilities.

· New House on Avenida Pasteur, Urca
The new house is ready for use in February 2010. It will be the home of the History department. The move of the department will enable the next project at Urca to begin. This project will create a further Science laboratory in the main building and will be available for students during 2010.

· PE and Sports Facilities Working Party
The search for alternative sites for PE and sports both in Barra and in Zona Sul continues. Several options have been considered and some continue as possibilities for the future.

· Pre-Nursery at Botafogo
Opening a single Pre-Nursery group at Botafogo was such a success that the Board was encouraged to support an eventual expansion once a suitable facility was found. The Board is delighted to have acquired the use of a house on Rua da Matriz which is currently being totally refurbished for 44 Pre-Nursery children. The house will be opened for 2010.

Financial Matters
· 2009 and 2010 Budgets
The school's finances remain healthy, enabling us to support planned development and maintain and further the quality of staffing and resources at the school. Student numbers have remained higher than forecast and this trend looks to be maintained for 2010. There are waiting lists for several year groups throughout the school.

Education Committee
·         The 'Vision, Mission, Philosophy and Aims' of the school and the 'One School Policy' are being reviewed following an opinion survey of Board, parents and school staff.
·         The committee has continued review progress with the school's educational goals, including the twin aspects of Assessment for Learning and Gifted and Talented.
·         The committee selected and defined the school's Main Goals for 2010 which will involve a complete review of the school's pastoral system leading to recommendations for improvement and development.

Board Goal 2009: Association
One element of the Board Goal for 2009 was:"To establish alternative sources of funding to support school development, including the idea to set up an endowment fund". To this end, the Board has been working towards the establishment of an Association (Asociação) designed to support fund raising and monitor, control and direct funds both to charitable causes (social and environmental) and school development. The structure and design of the association has been defined and statutes are being drafted with the aim to have an association in place during 2010.

From the Director

Staffing 2009/2010
·         Four long-serving staff will be leaving at the end of this year: Ms Jane Anderson (Primary Drama, Botafogo), Mrs Eutália Roldão (Head of History, Urca), Ms Del James (Staff Development Coordinator), Ms Michelle Speight (Coordinator Classes 4/5, Botafogo)
·         New overseas appointments from February 2010 are: Mr Chris Marston (Coordinator Classes 4/5, Botafogo), Mr Craig Woollard (Staff Development Coordinator), Mr James Diver (Director of Studies, Barra), Ms Hazel Tyror (Class Teacher, Barra).
·         Mr Philip Briggs has been appointed to Head of History at Urca.

ENEM and University Entrance
The school further strengthened the Brazilian Extension Course for Class 10 and 11 this year and, despite the national confusion surrounding the ENEM exams, we hope student performance will be enhanced. Many students had already been offered places at university prior to the ENEM examination.
There has been some very positive news regarding overseas universities. Two students have gained IBEU scholarships for US university study. The school has had visits from representatives of several top universities including Columbia, Princeton, Yale and Penn. One student has been accepted at Wharton School of Business. Five students have been invited for interview for Oxford and Cambridge.

CIS Accreditation Report on Progress and Planning
· Further work has been carried out this term to address the 68 recommendations of the CIS Report. The biggest area remaining to be improved is the development of greater vertical articulation and horizontal integration across subjects. This involves continuous efforts by department heads, coordinators and curriculum leaders and further solutions are built into their 2010 development plans. There will be a check-up visit from CIS in 2012 or earlier.

Curriculum
·         Philosophy and Sociology were successfully incorporated into the Senior School programme this year and their role and place will be further consolidated in 2010. The new IGCSE course - 'Global Perspectives' - is proving to be an excellent medium by which these two subjects, together with ICT, can be integrated in Classes 8 and 9.
·         During 2009 the school completed a 5-Year Review of IB practice, curriculum and philosophy required by the International Baccalaureate Organisation.
·         Brazilian Extension Course - the renovation and development of the former "UPP course" into the Brazilian Extension Course has been successfully coordinated by Carlos Lima.

Teaching and Learning and staff training

The school's major focus on developing "Personalised Learning" will continue into 2010. The school has completely reviewed the concept of 'Gifted and Talented education' as applied to our context. In principle, the school's position is a "democratic" one in that we believe that every individual has particular skills, abilities, gifts or talents. It is the school's responsibility to help each child identify and develop their special strengths through what we are calling an "Enhanced Learning" programme.

Related to Enhanced Learning is our other major focus - 'Assessment for Learning'. This year, every teacher participated in a school-wide action research project to determine best practice in this important area. Their research included: setting out learning intentions; self and peer assessment; teacher feedback; and questioning.

Links with other institutions
·         Five of our Senior School teachers will visit England in January to visit schools and undertake a course of study at Warwick University. The Deputy Director of the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick (Dr David Wray) visited the school recently to prepare our teachers for this course.
·         Six of our Primary School teachers will attend a study course at Bishop Grosseteste College, Lincoln and visit local schools in January. Mrs Jane Johnson from the college visited the school earlier this term to strengthen the vital link we have with this institution.
·         Links with the Disney-founded university, CalArts, will be strengthened in 2010. Three of our students, two parents and two members of the school staff visited CalArts in July as part of the social services project involving five young artists from disadvantaged Rio communities. The President of CalArts, Steven Lavine, who visited our school this year, is very keen to strengthen the partnership.

School Residential Trips
As a result of the H1N1 virus issue, organising trips this term became difficult. In the end things were resolved as follows:
Class 5 Itatiaia - Botafogo and Barra pupils went together
Class 3 Petropolis - Botafogo and Barra pupils went separately
Class 6 Pantanal - this trip had to be postponed until early next year
Class 7 Foz do Iguaçú - this trip was postponed and is under review
Class 10/11 Hopi Hari, Physics trip - was postponed but eventually took place this term
We are aware that the number of residential trips has been growing and the School Management Team has reviewed the situation this term. We have set out criteria to define and control the number of trips parents are expected to finance in the future.

School activities
There have been so many activities for students this term that it is impossible to mention them all. Every year group throughout the Primary School has put on a Presentation for parents and the school staff are to be thanked for giving up their time in support of these productions. Once again, Class 11 is to be congratulated on the way they led school activities during their challenging final year.
Here are just a few examples of new or continuing activities:
·         International Trips
In July, Class 7 went on the 'UK trip' and IB students again visited Poland and Russia. During Half Term, the very popular Class 8 visit to New York (including a visit to Yale) again took place. Our sincere thanks go to all those teachers who organised, led or accompanied these very exciting trips. Two students represented the school in the LAHC Student "Leadership through outdoor activities" Conference in the mountain region of Lo Valdes, Chile.
·         The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme continues to provide a large number of outdoor activity opportunities for pupils from Class 4 and above. Our sincere thanks go to the team of staff who have enabled these events to happen. Four students gained their DofE Gold Award this year. This is a rare and difficult achievement. A group organised and led their own hiking expedition across the Serra da Mantiqueira in July. A recent report about what employers look for in the UK showed that a job applicant's experience of the DofE was the highest factor on the list of desired qualities in a potential employee.
·         Model United Nations
This ever growing and popular programme saw a group of students participate in a highly successful MUN conference in Salvador during November. In January a group of some twenty students will be travelling to the USA for the prestigious Harvard MUN.
·         The Urca Drama Production - 'Night Crawlers' was, once again, a great success with considerable student involvement beyond the acting, dancing and singing. The production was so popular that the cast and crew put on an additional Sunday matinée.
·         The IB Arts Evening gave an opportunity for parents and friends to witness the superb work being accomplished by our IB Art students in a fine exhibition setting.
·         Saturday Sports - The project of providing free Saturday mornings of sport continued this term. Unfortunately, they were generally not well-attended and we need to work out how more pupils can benefit from this great opportunity next year.
·         Sports Tournament Successes
This term our school continued to perform well in international school sports tournaments - the ISSL Spring Festival in Belo Horizonte and the 'Little 8' basketball and soccer tournament in Campinas. They achieved particular success at Belo Horizonte where the Boys were 1st in both soccer and basketball and Girls 3rd in basketball and 5th in soccer).
·         The annual Careers Department 'Work Experience' took place in October. This programme gives all our Class 10 students a variety of opportunities to experience some days alongside professionals in the world of work.
·         CalArts and project 'Social Transformation through the Arts' - the project to send talented young artists to the Student Summer Conference at CalArts in Los Angeles - was a huge success. The President of CalArts is right behind this project and has offered additional spaces for students to go again next year.
·         Beach Clean-up at Copacabana
This was a successful Saturday campaign involving a good number of pupils, parents and staff sponsored by Instituto Ecológico Aqualung (Prêmio Tatuí) to generate environmental awareness and responsibility.
·         The PTA Xmas Extravaganza, while not very well attended this year, provided a most enjoyable family afternoon in support of charitable organisations.
·         The Carol Service at Christ Church was a lovely evening of carols and Christmas messages involving children from almost every year group.
·         Famous Visitors
This term we had two well known celebrities visit the school. Meg Cabot, the hugely successful author of the 'Princess Diaries' and Jimmy Page, rock legend of the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, both gave our students a glimpse of the real human beings that lie behind the notion of "celebrity".

This has been another successful year for the school, full of opportunities and worthwhile activities, and continued progress and improvement. We hope you agree! We pay special thanks to all those people who gave up their time and energy to enable all our school activities to happen. For now, we would like to wish you all a good holiday with your family and look forward to sharing more news of developments next year.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Reid Paul Wiseman
Chairman Director