On 21 January 2010 a group of talented Elementary students gathered in the MPR for our second Musical Matinee of the year.  Twenty children performed by singing or playing the violin, piano or drums. One three-piece group even performed together (a very challenging musical task!). Congratulations to all the accomplished musicians and brave risk-takers! You created a very pleasurable entertainment for the audience.

The MPR was abuzz on 15 January as the grade 4 students displayed their science fair projects to their parents and other classes. It was a great time to learn about springs, center of gravity, pendulums, etc. These projects are designed as an opportunity for the students to practice their independent work skills and also their presentation skills. Each child was able to competently and enthusiastically explain the question they investigated and their findings. They were using scientific vocabulary such as hypothesis, results, data and conclusion with real confidence. Well done grade 4!

Our annula ES Winter Concert took place on 9 December. It was great to see such a large audience for the Elementary School Winter Concert.  It provides the children with great confidence to know they can count on the love and support of their family.  As an audience member it is difficult to realize the amount of risk taking needed to get up on stage and perform.  The audience was especially impressed with the number of students (and teachers) who were able to play instrumental accompaniment.  What a talented group we are!

"All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten"

Those who did LOOK! at the performances of “All I really need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” on 26 and 27 November enjoyed a touching performance that was a feast of song, movement and home-spun philosophy. The cast and crew did a great job and put on a wonderful show, augmented by the band of teachers and students. Thanks to Ms Passey in particular: the Director’s role is always the most challenging!

As part of our MYP English unit on Animal Farm and History unit “Revolutions” the English and the History Departments organized a walking tour of Berlin on 19 November. Grade 9 students visited sights related to the Cold War which they could connect to their studies in both History and English. On the walking tour they visited sites such as the Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz, the Russian, American, British and French embassies, statues of Lenin, the Stasi Museum, Unter den Linden, the Tränenpalast, TV Tower, and the Berlin Wall Memorial at Nordbahnhof.

"This tour gave me and my classmates a broader insight on how life used to be in East Berlin and will forever remind us how, although history can be dark, it is part of a county’s identity and should be explained and analyzed, not hidden" (Anna W.)

"I think, overall, the tour was very interesting because instead of just explaining facts, the tour guide told us interesting experiences and stories, which caused everyone to be silent and listen carefully." (Noam L.)

On 16 November, our Middle School Principal, Ben Kestner, the Middle and High School Counsellor, Steve Gregory, and the eight MS student house leaders visited the campsite where all Middle School students will be having their school trip in May.The campsite is called “Camping und Ferienpark Havelberge” which is part of the Mecklenburg Lake District, north of Berlin.The camp will be organized and run by Outward Bound.

The students, through their houses, will play an important role in organizing and deciding on the activities for the week. All participates of the visit had a very productive day inspecting the facilities, discussing locations and talking about safety. There will be a whole host of land based and water based activities to choose from.

On Thursday, 12 Novermber our Elementary School Matinee took place. This event was an amazing experience.  More than 20 students demonstrated both their musical talent and their risk taking skills by performing for an audience of about 60 people.  Everyone did a great job and a few of the performers were breath taking!  Congratulations to all the children who participated and to their parents (for driving them to lessons, nagging to practice, encouraging each effort!) 

The English Department and School Library were pleased to have the author, Celia Rees, hold creative writing sessions with the Grade 6s and 7s on Tuesday, 3 November.

Student Report:
"The presentation the author, Celia Rees, gave at BBIS on the 3rd November was a very special event.  The students listened attentively to what Celia Rees said about writing a descriptive and gripping book.  She explained how you should build up a scary or creepy scene, how books get published, how long that takes and a lot more.  She read out loud from one of her books.  At the end of the presentation we asked questions and she gave very good, detailed answers.  Overall her presentation was wonderful and we were all very glad that we were able to meet a real, professional author.”

The IB Music conference with students and teachers from the International School Toulouse (IST) happened at BBIS over the period 15-18th October and was a great success. This is the third year that the event has taken place (2007 in Amsterdam, 2008 in Toulouse) and was yet again a great boost to all the IB Music students.

Special workshops covered all the areas of the curriculum in engaging and interesting ways. Our own specialist teacher Panni Kovacs presented Hungarian Folk Music, and strong links with local business Salumeria Restaurant were strengthened when owner Dino brought his Albanian Folk group to perform and talk about their music. Both these workshops will help students with their Musical Investigations, as will the presentation given at the Indonesian Embassy about Gamelan music.

In a crowded and busy weekend, a highlight was the amazing concert given on Friday night. Flying back from Italy especially for this gig, Lars Stoermer and his Quartett gave a masterclass in jazz composition and improvisation which had everyone – even the smaller children – concentrating and listening intently. The following day students were able to talk to Lars and learn more about his approaches to improvisation.

Also during the conference the IST students visited the Music Instrument Museum, all of the participants enjoyed a concert of Shostakovich and Rachmaninov at the Nikolaisaal in Potsdam, and students gave their own performances, recorded for their IB portfolios.

At the end of October the students finished drawing their entries for the calendar competition. The Student Council was in charge of judging the drawings and short-listed from about 250 entries to 35. The Student Council advisors, several other teachers, and the ES Principal then made the final 14 selections trying to make these selections balanced between grade levels, specific rights, that are represented, and artistic styles.

The calendar is full color, A3 size and will be on sale for BBIS parents, staff, and students in December. All profits will go to UNICEF. The drawings that were not selected will be framed and displayed in the Early Childhood/grade 1 and grade 4/5 hallways. 

On Culture Day, there were over 70 parents running 22 different rooms. Each room was transformed to create an environment. 

The UK room demonstrated what a child’s life could have been like before the UN rights of the children was adopted. The room was pitch black and children had to walk bent over through a tunnel to collect coal which they then loaded in their wagon and pulled back to the entrance of the mine. The Jamaican room went for a different atmosphere complete with a beach, a banana tree and a limbo pole! Children learned to write their name in Cyrillic, Korean and Thai and they learned what their name could have been if they were born in Bali, Iceland, a Spanish speaking country or an Arabic country. Canada is proud of the way it protects children’s right to their own culture so each child made a poster representing their culture and wrote down a right that they wish kids had! The Africa room presented information about children’s right to an education and encouraged kids to donate money to a Unicef project which is building schools in Africa.

Our International Week from 12 until 16 October focused on the United Nations Rights of the Child. The students were involved in many activities and projects including a water project simulation, guest speaker Hanna Jansen, Campus and Forest Clean Up on Green Day, ES Culture Day, International Dress Up Day, a HS Fashion Show and the International Buffet.  

We also held our annual Move-a-Thon which always raises a lot of money for a charity. This year the money raised in Elementary School will support Dare to Dream, the South African camp for AIDS orphans and the St. Marien Soup kitchen in Berlin. The money raised in Middle and High School will go towards Habitat for Humanity a project which builds simple, low-cost housing around the world.

On Saturday, 10 October 2009 there was the annual GISST and Inter School Cross Country Running event held at Berlin British School. Runners from 8 international schools in Germany participated:: BBIS, Berlin British School, Berlin International School, Bavarian International School, Bonn International School, International School of Stuttgart, Inter-national School Frankfurt Rhein Main and International School Rhein Neuss. This year BBIS entered a strong squad of 63 runners from grade 2 to grade 12.

BBIS earned a valuable 10 points towards the highly prestigious Overall GISST Championship trophy which is awarded at the end of the year. This was a great start, putting BBIS and BerIS in joint 1st place after the first event of the year!

On Sunday, 27 September 2009, seven BBIS staff members and one BBIS High School student participated in the Fourth Annual Drachenboot Rudercup, held at the Kleinmachnow-Stahnsdorf-Teltow Rowing Club (RC KST).

This is the second year BBIS has entered two boats in the 500 meter race on the Teltow Canal. Thanks to the high motivation of the team members who participated in several training sessions, and the delightfully beautiful weather on the day of the event, our teams took 6th and 3rd places in the Business category, with very competitive times.

Since the beginning of the new school year we have had a new, improved and expanded cafeteria at BBIS. Although only operating for a couple of weeks so far the initial responses from all sections of the school are positive.

The cafeteria is a true BBIS creation with valuable input from our students at all stages. One of the great contributions our students made was in the design of the cafeteria. A group of volunteers with an artistic flair worked closely with Ms Chudy (Art teacher), Mr Alexander Hellmann (Facility Manager) and a design consultant to create an artistic concept for the cafeteria. This involved the complete colour scheme, choice of fabrics and furniture, and the art work concept and design. For example, the silhouette figures were created from photographs of real students in authentic cafeteria poses before being modified to outlines and the design enlarged and created in relief on the walls. The photographs of fruit (colour-coordinated to each room) were commissioned from ex BBIS Art student, Nils Chudy.

As in previous years the BBIS Sailing Club resumed regular sailing sessions on the very first day of school. From now on sailing is offered on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at the sailing club in Potsdam (Potsdamer Seglerverein), where we have our own small feet of sail boats. We were happy to welcome returning and new students, as for example on Monday, 7 September when students from grades 3 and 4 were attending a taster session (left).

Other recent events our students participated in include the Brandenburg State Championships in the Optimist Class on the Schwieloch See south of Berlin, 29 and 30 August. In group Optimist A, which is the top national league, a BBIS student finished 3rd, which is a great success.

On Friday, 4 September we had the pleasure to welcome boarding students at the sailing club for an afternoon on the water. Thanks to the assistance of Mr. Maltby, Mr. Schmatz and Sammy Bahlsen, a 2008 BBIS graduate, students had the opportunity to sail on dinghies and our yacht, the Triton.

For our first small class of High School Diploma students the new school year started with some special surprises and activities. The students have been supplied with their own personal laptops for use in school, enabling them to carry out much of their work on the computer, with internet research tools at their fingertips. Besides the various subjects on the timetable, the students are also involved in a variety of projects such as preparing for work placements outside school and revamping their own High School Diploma room. They also went on a day trip to the IFA International Consumer Electronics Trade Fair in Berlin (left) where they investigated how marketing works at such an event – besides having fun trying out all the latest electronic gadgets!

BBIS Boarding School got off to a great start this year thanks to a lot of effort on the part of the boarding school staff, parents, school staff and students. In August 2008 at the beginning of the first year of operation, five students lived in the boarding facility.

In preparation for this school year we increased the number of available spaces in boarding to 20 and we are delighted to be starting the 2009/10 school year wit 20 international students from South Korea, China, Israel, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Belarus, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA, and Canada.

During three orientation days from 23 to 26 August, the new staff and students got to know each other, explored Berlin Brandenburg, and tested their limits at the Adventure Park in Potsdam (left).

In June 2009, both grades 8 and 3 have been studying the issue of migration and examining reasons why people migrate. This provided the perfect opportunity for collaboration between the two groups.  What resulted was an exciting and interesting lesson for both grade levels.  Grade 8 fulfilled a role model position and learned the responsibility of imparting knowledge to someone younger and realized that they could still learn from a 3rd grader!  Grade 3 worked and learned with the assistance of grade 8.  It was a wonderful event to witness and embodied the community and spirit of BBIS. Thanks to the teachers Kathryn Rimmer and Katy Kennedy for putting so much energy into such a wonderful cross school collaboration.

Even though we are nearing the end of the year, there is still a lot of exciting learning going on in the Elementary School. On 2 June the grade 3 went on a field trip to Kreuzberg as part of a new unit on immigration and migration that we are doing for the first time this year.  The classes went to an exhibit about immigration, had a guided tour of a mosque and ate in a Turkish restaurant.  The chaperones on the trip were very impressed with the depth of knowledge and sensitivity that the students exhibited during the outing. 

BBIS was proud to support this worthwhile event on Sunday, 10 May to support Leukaemia research and, more specifically, to raise funds to help in the search for possible bone-marrow donors. We were delighted to see so many people joining in: students, teachers, parents and staff mixed with the local community who turned out in good numbers. Over 1,000 people were present, half involved in running. About 250 people gave samples of blood which will be analyzed to determine their possible suitability as a future donor.

The MYP Exhibition at the school on Wednesday, 22 April was visited by most of the students in the school and many parents. At this exhibition Grade 10 students display their MYP projects which they have been working on throughout the year. The displays showed product and pictures of the making process, informed us of the goal of the project, described what had gone well and what could be improved, and included copies of both process journal and project reports. In addition many of the actual products were available to be seen. The students spent the day explaining their projects to the many visitors and answering questions. They did a wonderful job! The Project holds a special place in the MYP and had to be closely related to one of the Areas of Interaction: all-in-all a formidable task that our students, with the support of their supervisors and the dedication of Ms Jung, achieved admirably.

Congratulations to Ms Chudy and the 12th grade students on a very successful art exhibition on 26 March. The standard was very high this year and the pieces were well-received by the many student, teacher, and parent critics. Thanks to Pablo, Nicola, Mr Shrom, and Mr Milner for their musical additions and to the Hausmeisters and Ms Nitschke for their organisational work.

The 2nd graders went on an exciting field trip to a saw factory in March. They are in the middle of their unit "It's a Material World" in which students explore the function of objects based on the properties of different materials that they are made of. 

Mr. Staub, the owner of the factory, provided us with a guided tour of his facility, patiently answered kids' questions and at the end of the visit he gave every child, teachers, chaperone, and the bus driver a hand-saw as a souvenir!  In addition, he made room for children in his office to rest, drink some tea, and eat some treats before and after the guided tour!  He was incredibly kind to the kids and generous with his time.  We were very grateful to him for arranging this once in a lifetime experience for our students!

Our French teachers, Julien Ls Sourd and Soazig Purenne, with the help of many students organised a Fête de la Francophonie. The weekend trip to Brussels with the grade 9 students was judged a splendid success by the participants and the week of activities that followed have raised both the profile of French language and culture and smiles with an enjoyable programme. Other events were: Bake sale at lunchtime on several days (the money raised is going to Médecins sans Frontières); Fashion show; Petanque tournament (everyday at lunchtime); Musical performances at lunchtime (we heard songs by Edith Piaf, Plastic Bertrand, Jacques Brel); Middle School assembly: Grade 8 performed a song by Nino Ferre, Les Cornichons, grade 7 performed Couleur Café by Serge Gainsbourg and three grade 8 students did a role-play, Monsieur Catastrophe; the grade 10 students went to a grade 4 class and the grade 6 classes to give an introductory lesson of French; the 9th and 10th grades did a role-playing on Thursday, a witch-hunting, with a company from Berlin, Ludolangue.

This March we had an exceptionally great turn out of characters.  We started the parade with the youngest students and walked all through the school adding each class to the tail of the parade.  The Middle School students and staff were especially appreciative of all the creativity and love of literature that was in evidence.  Our Elementary Principal Camille DuAime found it a bit daunting to realize how many books kids love that she hasn’t yet read - a great project for the Spring Break!

Visitors to the school could not have helped noticing our 12th graders at school from 9 to 13 March. As a light relief from the ongoing stress of IB exam preparation they decided to dress in a different style each day this week. The plans for each day were kept secret and their surprise appearance caused many smiles throughout the school.

This year the ISMTF Senior Math Competition was taking place in Munich. On the 27 February 2009 nine students from 11th and 12th grades travelled to Bavaria’s capital to represent the school. The students enjoyed a tour through the historical city, tasted traditional Bavarian food and had lots of fun spending there weekends doing math.

Students have improved; Alex and Daniel achieving 1st and 2nd place in the Sunday Chase competition. Katy H., Benjamin Z. and Byung ok K. doing best in the Team Competition with 17th place out of 57. Finally Byung ok K. and Daniil P. achieving the best scores from BBIS on the Individual Contest, places: 26 and 29 out of approx. 170 contestants.

On Wednesday morning, 11 February, more than 100 Elementary School (ES) parents joined the ES staff and students to find out more about teaching and learning in the PYP at BBIS. The focus of the Open Morning this year was Differentiation: responding to the diverse needs of our students. The reality is that our students come to school everyday with a wide range of needs based on their learning readiness, culture, interests, learning style, gender, social and emotional maturity, among other factors. In the ES at BBIS we expect, invite and plan for these differences in a variety ways. After a brief introduction about differentiation, parents spent an hour in classes from EC to grade 5 observing and participating in lessons highlighting differentiation strategies. Students were participating in differentiated lessons focused on the full range of learning areas: from researching for a unit of inquiry to practicing math skills to learning gymnastics skills in P.E. The morning ended with a question and answer/discussion circle with all of the staff and the parents sharing observations and thoughts with one another.

Well done grade 4 students and teachers. Also, congratulations to the parents!  Much of this work was done at home and it was great to see that the kids maintained ownership of their projects. There were plenty of “kid fingerprints” on their work!

Grade 3 put on a wonderful art show on 29 and 30 January 2009.
After studying various artists and trying out their techniques, each student chose one artist to focus on and researched them. They wrote a report on the life of the artist and copied their favourite painting. Afterwards they created a “living museum” by dressing up as their artist and were then available for in character “interviews” while displaying their portfolio, process journal and essay. A big thanks goes to Erika Victor, Katy Kennedy and Shona Sarkar (the grade 3 teachers), Beate Chudy (the Art teacher), Amanda Linton and Kate Curry (the ESL teachers) as well as Brent (the music teacher) for their support of the students in this process.

BBIS Middle and High School students gave a fantastic opening night performance of the Disney show ‘High School Musical’ on Thursday, 11 December. The Heizhaus had been transformed into the set of an American High School and groups of students including ‘cheerleaders’, ‘jocks’, ‘brainiacs’ and ‘skater dudes’ form the back drop to the story of High School angst and love. It was a great performance that showcased the talents of so many of our students, both on the stage and in supporting roles. The teamwork was exemplary as, under Ms Passey’s guidance, the show developed from the earliest auditions to the final production.

The grade 4 students have been busy the last months building an earthen oven – made of rocks, brick, bits of demolished sidewalks and buildings, sawdust (for insulation), sand and of course clay.  This project began during this year’s BBIS international week. The oven is in stage 2 of 4 which means it is insulated and ready to bake, but has no protective covering or decorative sculptures added (yet!). Stages 3 and 4 will be completed when the weather is warmer, in the springtime.  Before the December holiday, on the afternoon of 18 December, the first “oven bake” will take place. With weather as cold as it is, baking results are uncertain, but firing up the oven will make the event enjoyable, regardless!

On Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at 16:00, just before some light rain showers, we enjoyed a lovely ceremony to mark the opening of our new boarding school. The BBIS student and faculty choir provided musical entertainment and we had wonderful food and drinks. After our director Thomas Schädler and the new head of boarding school Whitney Sterling had said some words, our guest speaker Peter Conradi – a former member of the German Parliament and former Chairman of the Federal Chamber of Architects – addressed the audience and portrayed his time at the Odenwaldschule, a private German boarding school, as one of the most formative experiences in his entire life. The “ribbon cutting” ceremony was great fun. All the students stood behind a globe as Mr Sterling said: “BBIS Boarding School opens the world to students!” All the adults then let out a big roar ending with a resounding “GO”. And out came the students - from the world into the world.

Ms Pavlock and Mr Batlett were delighted that the HS girls soccer team had a very successful weekend in Stuttgart taking part in the GISST soccer tournamen on 15 and 16 November 2008. The girls had been training hard during the season and it certainly showed: our team was the overall GISST champions, and won every match this weekend; finally beating IS Stuttgart in the final event. Even more pleasing than this was the commitment, cooperation and team-spirit that the girls displayed throughout the weekend. Without the efforts of each individual we would not have enjoyed such success. It was also noted that the new school song, “Build a Bridge” had been adopted by the girls and the chorus was sung as part of the team cheer before every match.

At the end of October grade 6 visited two contrasting milk farms as part of their Science unit ‘Food and Health’. The first was a farm which produces milk for many dairy products we buy in stores and the second was an organic farm who produces mostly milk. The students had a great learning experience on both days and will be following up with reflections and projects connected to their ‘real life’ experiences. We consider experiences like this to be a vital part of the curriculum here at BBIS because they expose the students to real world issues and ideas. The students as always were attentive and respectful on the visits and we had fantastic reports from the farms about their ability to question and take a real interest in what was going on around them. Thanks very much to Hillary Daniels for organizing the trips and to the staff who accompanied them.

In this grade 9 project students of all abilities in German language came together, under Ms Steinberg’s guidance,  to research and present at a conference in the MPR on the problems of water shortages in Gurnubia. The groups represented different stakeholder groups such as the World Bank, various NGOs, etc. After completing their research they presented their findings at a mini-conference. The students all took the project seriously, learned a lot, and got the opportunity to practice German in an authentic situation. We look forward to extending this exercise, with different scenarios, in future years.

From 13 to 17 October 2008 we had an amazingly rich and enriching International Week with the theme "Environments". On Tuesday, 14 October we had the first ever Seeberg Clean-Up, which was an initiative proposed by last year’s 5th grade. It was an authentic “action”, that really needed to be done and the students’ enthusiasm and commitment demonstrated that they understood this. It was also wonderful seeing the mixed-age groups (Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary and MS/HS) working together cooperatively and taking care of each other. About 3,000 litres of trash (as measured by the capacity of the trash bags that were handed out) was collected, as well as some fascinating objects which were then incorporated into art projects by the Middle School students. The intention is that this is more than a one-off effort. The classes plan to return to the same area several times during the year to maintain what was so successfully begun this week.  

In the coming weeks we would like to engage our students in painting a mural on the concrete retaining wall of the sports field, possibly during the upcoming International Week. The idea is that an artist would facilitate our students who take part in the actual painting.

We are looking for people who are experienced with such work and would be interested in assisting.

On Sunday, 21 September 2008 several brave BBIS staff and students manned two rowing teams in the third annual Dragon Boat Cup race. The event was sponsored by the local rowing club, Ruderclub Kleinmachnow-Stahnsdorf-Teltow (RC KST) on the Teltow Canal. BBIS team l consisted of two staff, a staff spouse, and one Middle School student. BBIS team ll consisted of one staff and three boarding house students. Both teams, although mostly beginner rowers, received respectable times in the 500 meter race and were cheered on enthusiastically by BBIS supporters. In all, 38 local teams participated in this community event. BBIS offers rowing as an extra-curricular activity on Mondays from 15.00-16.30 pm at RC KST during the fall and spring trimesters. We look forward to competing in the race again next year!

On the very first day of new school year the BBIS Sailing Club resumed regular sailing sessions, which are now held on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at our sailing club in Potsdam. We are happy to welcome returning and new students, as for example on Monday, 1 September when students from grades 3 and 4 were attending a taster session.

The BBIS Middle School started the new school year with two house team building days on 28 and 29 August.

The workshops were planned with the intention of welcoming students, getting them involved in team building and problem solving and making them feel a part of the Middle School community.

We are delighted to report the opening of our new boarding facility to 5 students from South Korea, Azerbaijan, Russia and Germany. Starting on August 22, these students in the 8th to 11th grades have been moving into boarding.

A big “THANK YOU” goes out to all parents who contributed items to the boarding school. From (among other things) a standing piano and a pinball machine to a garden table with chairs, a bicycle and an oil painting, these contributions have really added a lot to the atmosphere in boarding.

Our first BBIS English Summer Camp took place from 11 to 22 August 2008. We launched two different programmes, a Multi-Activities Camp as well as the English Enrichment Camp. Both programmes were attended by children in the age categories 5 to 7, 8 to 12 and 13 to 17. We had the privilege to host a total of 81 students, many of whom were non-BBIS students. It was great to see the wider community having a chance to become part of the BBIS international community.

The English Enrichment students took part in fun and hands on activities to further develop their English. We made use of our surroundings (the history of the Seeberg) as the older students exchanged and gathered knowledge about the Hakeburg. During the arts, students painted, made hand sculptures and created smaller arts and crafts items like bracelets and necklaces.

Sporting activities focused on excitement in the new Sports Hall with games like floorball, football and softball as well as the amazing game of Monkey Madness (a tag game that includes every possible piece of Gymnastics equipment available to us).

Our new boarding facility which will open in August 2008 is not located on our school campus. Boarding school students will live in Potsdam-Babelsberg near the famous film studios. Each school day they will ride with the bus service to our school campus and back.

The preparation of the boarding facility in Potsdam-Babelsberg is going through major renovations at the moment.

Photo: Street-side view of the boarding facility on 12 June 2008

On 6-7 June 24 BBIS students represented the school at the last GISST tournament in Bavaria. Every student received at least one medal. Too many outstanding achievements to mention, but the highlight was Tariq Al Bakari winning 5 individual gold medals.

At this event BBIS was also crowned OVERALL GISST SCHOOL CHAMPIONS FOR 2008, with a total of 55 points, and took home the Peter Murphy Trophy.

The photo shows Frederick and Yorck raising the GISST Peter Murphy Trophy that BBIS was awarded for winning the overall tournament based on the aggregate results of all events during the year. A great achievement as some of the 10 schools in this competition are much larger and longer established than us.

Our annual Summerfest is a marvellous way to round off the school year and illustrates the strength of what can be achieved by the BBIS community working together. On Saturday, 7 June it was great to see so many families participating and attending to this wonderful event.. We had the weather, we had the food, games, entertainment and most important, everyone havinmg a great time!

A big Thank You to the Summerfest Committee for making this festival possible and all the parents who dedicated their time, energy, and of course recources.

For the first time since moving to Kleinmachnow, BBIS has been able to host an elementary concert and has enough seating for everyone. The Spring Pops Concert was held in our new Sports Hall on Monday, 2 June and the crowd of more than 300 parents, friends, students, and other guests were treated to a splendid variety of music spanning many generations!

Our students were accompanied by our two elementary music teachers, Brent Lund Bruning and Lisa Roy. In addition, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Meinerts, Mr. Shrom, and Mrs. Roy accompanied the concert on the guitar, violin, keyboard, and flute. Congratulations on a terrific first concert in our new gymnasium!

The school enjoyed a graduation ceremony for our departing 12th graders on Friday, 30 May. For the first time we were able to hold this in our own venue, the new Sports Hall. It was a very happy occasion with speeches, music, and food. Each graduate received their diploma from our school director, Mr Schaedler, to the sound of their favourite music. The 33 students made up our largest ever group and represented all corners of the globe.

The students thoroughly enjoyed their time in London from 5-9 May. The varied programme kept them very busy as did the visit related tasks that were required of them. London certainly proved to be a popular choice and the most common adjective students used to describe the trip was “cool” (it does not get better than that).

The photo shows some of our students visiting the “Tate Modern” art gallery in London. Other highlights were: The Globe Theatre, for workshops and a  performance of King Lear where our students got to stand in front of the stage (even lean on it) for a close-up view of the action; The War Museum which despite its name is a fascinating and informative educational resource; Greenwich for the geographers, and the Stock Exchange for the economists. Shopping, too, proved an attractive diversion for many and included a visit to Portobello Market.

Our grade 9 students had five glorious days during their Outward Bound trip at the beginning of May. The grade was divided into groups to help manage the camping expedition to the island on Schweriner See. Many feats of endurance, both physical and emotional, were required of each student to ensure the safe completion of the two night stay. The final day raft building activity was enthusiastically completed.

The students definitely found the week a challenge but most are finding that, as they look back on the week, this was a trip to be proud of. Teachers noted many instances of remarkable personal growth, and many talents were discovered or developed.

The photo shows some of the students setting off for the canoe paddle from the island of Leeps in the middle of Schweriner See where the students camped.

We work together in the BBIS community to investigate the use of space and resources to enable learning to take place.This was the central idea of this year’s PYP Exhibition on 29-30 April, and 5th graders spent many weeks observing and defining areas for improvement in our school and then researching and working together in small groups to think and plan solutions.  Parents, staff, and other students were able to learn about these issues, and our 5th graders were enthusiastic and knowledgeable in explaining their projects. 

The impressive facility includes three separate gymnasiums, audience seating, and a fitness room. The gyms, which can be combined into one large space, are fully equipped for basketball, volleyball, handball, indoor soccer, and tennis. Additionally, the hall contains a climbing wall, rings, climbing ropes, wall bars, and other sports equipment. Our Sports Hall will also be used as an auditorium, theatre, and concert hall.

As part of the curriculum preparation for the 8th grade Croatia trip, we had a guest speaker in the last week of April to talk about war and conflict and the Balkan region. Colonel Parrott from the Australian army gave a very interesting talk on the complexities of conflict and conflict resolution. Thanks very much to Colonel Parrott for giving up his time to come in.

Thanks to the generous support of BBIS families and the PTO it became possible for the BBIS Sailing Club to buy the 10 meter sailing yacht Triton, a historic wooden keel boat of unmatched charm. The boat greatly expands the possibilities of our sailing club by providing unique opportunities for both sailing at BBIS and the CAS programme.

On 17 April Elementary School students were the first ones to go on a first short cruise under power: In the weeks to come the Triton will be overhauled. Some repairs will be done by a boat builder; other tasks will be in the hands of High School students who will be learning how to take care of such a wooden boat.

Last weekend the swimming team enjoyed an early start and a long train journey to Frankfurt to compete with seven GISST schools over two days. Our swimmers were outstanding and produced the best results we have ever achieved at this event. All eighteen swimmers from Middle and High school contributed to this fantastic performance. The High School girls were second and the boys third. Thanks to them and Mr Vandersteen and Ms Perry for their efforts.

All the different events throughout the year that schools can compete in are added together to find the overall GISST champions. We are currently leading the overall GISST standings with just the tennis and track tournaments to come!

Wednesday, 12 March saw the grade 12 IB Art exhibition in the Heizhaus. Once again our students put great effort into displaying their work and taking the opportunity to explain the meaning of their pieces to the guests. Such a show is not required by the IB but it is a wonderful opportunity for our students to take pride in their efforts. It also allows the IB examiner, Mr Terry O’Brien who visits from Luxembourg, an opportunity to see the works in an authentically atmospheric setting. The painting is by Eun Hee Lee.

The show would not be possible without the enthusiasm of Ms Chudy and Mr Vanden Branden or the assistance of Mr Gensecke.

From Monday, 3 to Friday, 7 March our students enjoyed an eventful Book Week filled with many activities and events. Annie Pyers, our School Librarian, planned and organized a good mix of activities for all grade levels. Certainly one of the highlights was the Book Character Parade on Tuesday morning for Early Childhood, grade 1, and grade 2. We were also very fortunate to have two authors visit the school: Mr. Terry McDonagh, an Irish Poet (see photo), and German author Birgit Kolb. Mr. McDonagh visited our students as well as worked with some teachers in an afternoon workshop. German author, Birgit Kolb, joined the grade 3 German classes and read some of her stories to them. A special thank you to Annie Pyers for her organization and planning in making this year’s Book Week both educational and entertaining.

Students arrived on Monday, 3 March to a wonderful treat - the opening of our new state-of-the-art Sports Hall! With the opening of the sports field in October, we now are able to enjoy having all of our PE classes (except swimming) on campus for the first time in our school’s history.  Students in all grade levels will use the Sports Hall and all of the new equipment. Now, classes will no longer have to endure lengthy bus rides to and from the rented facilities. Students are amazed when they enter the Sports Hall for the first (and second!) time ...

In February, the Grade One classes were learning that people and cultures express themselves through stories. Each class chose a different story telling method to share a story that explains why the sun moves across the sky. One class did a play based on the African tale Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears. Another class did a story telling version of a Maori tale from New Zealand. Attached is a video that the grade 1C students made with the assistance of their teacher Kate Lynch. It is based on a Chinese story called The Ten Suns. The students used a mix of animation (with drawings they made themselves) and acting to convey the story. For the premiere it was a silent film and the children played live the “sound track” which they composed in cooperation with their music teacher. The sound track has now been recorded and added to the clip so you can hear it. The production of this film was a really wonderful learning experience for the students (and the teacher alike) as none of them had made a film before!

Please cklick here to watch the video.

Thanks to the generosity of the PTO, we now have four new “couch benches” for parents to sit on when they come to pick up their child at the end of the day. The Atrium area of House 2 is bustling at the end of the day as it is the central meeting point for students to meet their parents. We would like to express our gratitude to the PTO for funding these benches and helping to make the wait much more comfortable for parents.

The BBIS school community was treated to another wonderful array of musical styles on Friday, 7 December at the Kleinmachnow Rathausmarkt during the annual Holiday Concert.  Brent Lund Bruning and Lisa Roy did an excellent job in preparing the students for such a variety of roles and styles. Grades 1-5 each performed several songs, which also included over 200 solos!  We had a standing room only crowd and we will be happy to host the Spring Pops Concert in our brand new gymnasium in June 2008! Congratulations to our students for showing such enthusiasm and dedication in preparing and performing!

From Thursday, 15 to Saturday, 17 November while the students were enjoying a long four-day weekend, the BBIS staff was involved in three days of in-service training. The Elementary School staff, for example, had a day long session by two language specialists from Australia who worked with them on helping second language learners in our school succeed in an English-speaking environment. Friday and Saturday were spent with Arita Lauka, an IB-PYP Trainer from Riga, Latvia, who led the staff through the topic, “Inquiry and Learning”. 

We were very fortunate to have these experts visit BBIS and share their knowledge with our staff.  What we also realized at the end of Saturday was how much fun the training had been and the enjoyment we were able to share with each other. This training provided an opportunity to work together, share ideas together, reflect together about what we are doing, and laugh together!

Some of our High School students attended the annual Model United Nations (MUN) conference at JFK School in mid-November. The group, supported and coached by teachers Jacqueline Jones-Heinz and David Fayram, made a very positive contribution to the event which they all found to be very worthwhile. As one student said, “It was challenging but fun.”

BBIS International Week continued with the whole school Move-a-thon on 24 October. Organized by the BBIS Human Rights Club, all students from Early Childhood to grade 12, teachers, and administrators ran, jogged or walked a five kilometre route through our campus woods in aid of international solidarity.

Our Elementary School students raised 3,676 euros which will be shared between the St. Marien Soup kitchen in Berlin and "Dare to Dream", a camp for AIDS orphans outside Durbin, South Africa.

The Middle and High School funds of 4,884 euros will support two community schools in Bolivia, which are located in areas with high illiteracy rates and severe poverty, but with a dynamic and energetic network of people who are determined to create a sustainable life for their families and communities.

International Week also included a Fair Trade Simulation, a Culture Day rotation sponsored by BBIS parents, workshops on the theme Fair Trade and a parade of Elementary School students dressed in their traditional clothing.

Click here to get more information on the Bolivia project.

On 5 October, 2007 the BBIS community celebrated the opening ceremony for our new Olympic-style sports field.

Our High School Principal, Richard Bartlett, entertained us as master of ceremonies, leading us through a programme full of surprises. We witnessed the excitement of falcons soaring across the sports field, a parachute jumper landing right in the centre of the field, and the athletic cheerleaders from SV Potsdam 03, spinning and twirling in front of the stands. After a thoughtful speech from our director, Thomas Schaedler, our 4th and 6th graders “took possession” of the sports field by demonstrating all its possibilities uses. At the end of the ceremony we followed a relay race and the release of 100 blue balloons by PTO members and their children. What a great show!

IB Diploma music students attended a 4-day music seminar hosted by the International School of Amsterdam (ISA) at the beginning of October. Various workshops were run by Ruth Organ from BBIS, Ruth Andrews of ISA and a visiting workshop leader, James Palmer, from the International School of Toulouse. Topics covered included a practical session on performing and understanding more about Javanese Gamelan music, a Senegalese drumming workshop (see photo), listening and analysis workshops, understanding this year’s set work ‘Dido and Aeneas’ by Henry Purcell, an improvisation workshop, a concert performed by the students, and attending a Ghanaian concert at the Tropen Theatre in Amsterdam. The seminar was exhausting but deeply rewarding for all who participated!

On Thursday afternoon, 27 September Elementary and Middle School students built an outdoor enclosure for the two little rabbits and the guinea pig in the BBIS Zoo as part of their extracurricular activity.

Thanks to Mr Gensecke who helped to build the enclosure.

A lot of students and teachers helped presenting our school at the Kleinmachnow Children's Festival on Saturday, 8 September. Both our stands were crowded with children throughout the event.

On Monday, 27 August, 2007, the first day of the new school year, we were very pleased to welcome Mr. Holger Rupprecht, Brandenburg’s Minister of Education, Youth, and Sport, to BBIS. Mr. Rupprecht had come to present a certificate for one million euros to support the construction of a new multi-functional gymnasium.

The "Expo" is the culminating unit of inquiry for our 5th graders and has been the focus of their studies for the past several weeks. Working with the central idea, Human Actions Affect the Earth's Environment, the students worked in small groups researching a host of issues relating to the topic. Students were responsible for researching their topics, writing a report, creating a learning task for both younger and older students, developing a computer demonstration, creating and performing a play, song, or poem, interviewing an expert in their field, and several other activities.

Anyone who had the pleasure of attending the Expo on May 30 or 31 would be impressed, not only with the students' knowledge of their topic, but their enthusiasm in helping you understand it better. The Multipurpose Room was alive with the 10-12 year olds leading adults and their peers through their topic and helping them understand why it is so important that we treat our planet responsibly.

On Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27, 2007, the BBIS community will be presenting its second Musical Mania Show at 7 p.m. in the BBIS Heizhaus.

We are celebrating our 2nd Musical Mania presentation at BBIS involving students as well as Elementary, Middle and High School staff members. This year, 38 students and 14 staff members will be performing individually, in small groups, and in large ensembles. The show highlights 28 songs from 18 different musicals, e.g. Les Misèrables, The Wizard of Oz, Grease, The Lion King, Oliver, Rent, Evita, The Threepenny Opera.

Come and witness this breathtaking and incredible show full of talent, finesse, and fun. Bring your family and friends. See you there!

The grade 4 classes just finished one of their focus units titled, How We Express Ourselves.  In this unit, the students use drama to practice reading, self-expression and to build self-confidence.  The unit ended, as in previous years, with a big performance of a famous opera.  Each opera is always adapted to a child’s level including re-written music and history facts, all done by our music director, Mr. Brent Lund-Brunning.  This year’s opera was Carmen by George Bizet, performed on March 7 and 8.

Preparing for this opera was a huge task (and a fun challenge) for 4th graders.  The children had to memorize their lines for their character – some having more than one role – as well as practice expression and create all props, costumes, and backdrops for each scene!  The opera lasted about one hour.  There were two different casts each with a different performance, so it was interesting to see how each cast differed from the other.  One cast was directed by 4th grade teacher, Katie Rogers, and the other by 4th grade teacher, Mr. Shrom.

The children did a fantastic job – Congratulations Grade 4 team!

The Drama Club had an induction ceremony on March 8 to honor 64 students who have devoted 100 hours or more to drama activities. Family and friends of the honorees were invited to join them for the dedication of "The 100+ Club Wall of Theatre Honors" and a reception in the New Drama Studio.

The dedication was followed by the newest BBIS Drama Club Production "The Diary of Anne Frank" - one of the best productions our school has ever seen: Anne Frank, as those who saw it will attest, was superb. Moving, and stunningly acted, this production deserved a larger audience.

BBIS is thrilled to present the author and expat expert, Robin Pascoe, on March 13 for a very special talk.  Robin, who has just written a book how to survive and thrive as an internationally transient family, will come to speak with the BBIS community about many of the topics facing these families. She will touch on and provide helpful advice on themes such as why the subject of global nomads is more urgent now than ever, the unique character traits of global nomads, the challenges facing parents living abroad, and how to help children settle into a new home.

Robin has written four previous books on the subject of global living and adjustment. Her personal experiences of packing and unpacking her life, marriage and family throughout Asia as the wife of a Canadian diplomat, were the inspiration for exploring the challenges and joys inherent to the expatriate lifestyle.

The focus for the BBIS Book Week 2007 will be on the joy of storytelling and as a celebration of this our Teacher Librarian Annie Pyers arranged for 2 renowned storytellers to visit BBIS and delight us all. Their names are Mitch Weiss and Martha Hamilton and they are known as the Beauty and Beast storytellers.

Mitch and Martha will be conducting storytelling sessions for all Elementary and Middle School students over 2 days, as well as a session for teachers.
March 12-14, 2007

For more information on Mitch and Martha Hamilton click here!

The Sexual Awareness and Safety Program affirms our belief that BBIS can only provide the highest level of personal safety for our students through unequivocally discussing and teaching the importance of recognizing physical and emotional boundaries in ourselves and others. The program aims to bring topics of physical and sexual abuse, assault, and responsibility into the classroom at developmentally appropriate levels for all our students from Early Childhood through grade 12. Through the development, implementation, and long-term maintenance of a unified curriculum for the school, the teachers and students of BBIS will be equipped with common tools, principles, and language for addressing these issues in a wide range of situations and contexts.
Sexual Awareness and Safety Program Kickoff Week
March 5-9, 2007

As a key component of the program, BBIS has invited all parents to the Parent Information Evening on March 7. As parents of the first international school in Germany to implement a full K-12 program of this nature, they have the opportunity to meet the program developers, Dr. Nick Ladany and Dr. Roger Douglas of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, who will introduce the goals of the project as well as give important information for parents on how to best protect and talk to their children about issues of sexual responsibility, safety, and abuse.

Brent Lund Bruning, music teacher and head of Performing Arts at our school, created the story and music for the entertaining and thought-provoking musical “Crying Wolf”.

The fantasy aspect of several well-known wolf-oriented fairy tales attracts the younger viewers, while the theme of media manipulation and political undertones address audiences on a different level. The spectrum of styles heard in the musical includes pop, rap, swing, tango, cha cha, and an Irish ballad, as well as quotations of Prokofiev, the Beatles, and Simon & Garfunkel.

More than fifty students (grades 6-11) and our school band learned, memorized, and rehearsed for their well-done stage and orchestral performances on 14 and 15 December 2006 at the Kammerspiele Kleinmachnow.

The Elementary School Winter Concert traditionally celebrates our school’s diversity. All students from grades 1 through 5 perform international songs in multiple languages from over 10 different countries. Musical styles range from traditional to modern and span the globe culturally.

On Tuesday, 12 December 2006 our parents in grades 1-5 were treated to a dazzling presentation of song, dance, and percussion during this year’s Winter Concert at the Bürgersaal of the Kleinmachnow Rathaus.

Congratulations to all of our students who performed and a special thank you to their music teacher and director, Brent Lund Bruning.

On Tuesday, 28 November 2006 BBIS held a leadership course for the Middle School student leaders (student council president, vice president, treasurers, house captains and vice captains). We discussed the qualities of a good leader, looked at ourselves as leaders and took part in some team building and role play activities. The students have come back to school with fresh ideas of their place in the school as responsible and caring leaders.

Thanks very much to Dr Tina Limbird for planning the content and Michaela Jung representing the student council teacher advisors. Thanks too to the NH hotel for their hospitality.

A group of BBIS students attended this year’s Model United Nations conference in Berlin from 22-25 November 2006. As the organizers described, students had the chance to assume the role of diplomats, while interacting with students from many nations and numerous cultural backgrounds. Together they addressed a variety of issues in world politics that affect all nations regardless of their standing in the international community. Their aim was to reach a broad consensus with the other delegates and this required compromise. As a BERMUN delegate they exercised the art of diplomacy and underlined the importance of the United Nations (UN). At the same time they were engaged in contemporary affairs affecting our world today as students and members of civic society.

This year’s conference theme was Promoting Peace: Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Ethnic Rivalry.

On Monday, 20 November 2006 our whole school community performed the long-desired groundbreaking ceremony for our new full-size sports field and multipurpose gymnasium.

This ceremony was a culmination of many years of hard work to realize our dreams and aspirations to become the leading international school of Germany’s capital city region.

Just in time before the construction of the sports field begins, several students form grade 11 and 12 assisted in relocating many shrubs and smaller trees from the area in front of Houses two and three. On three afternoons  more than 40 plant were moved to a new home in Potsdam, more precisely the sailing club our students go to for their sailing classes.
November 2006

We would like to thank Mrs Lorberg, who provided containers for the plants, and the hard working students giving up their time digging out plants and loading them onto trailers.

We held our first MS House Evening on 3 November 2006. House Evenings are an opportunity for the MS students to spend time together outside school. The student council, under the leadership of Cleo Wanten and Matthew Kerr, plans the activities.

The theme of the first House Evening was HALLOWEEN. Ninety students attended and enjoyed an evening full of dance, food, house competitions, and games.

The BBIS Drama Club’s production of the musical review “A … My Name is Alice” had a very successful performance on Thursday evening, 26 October 2006 in the Multipurpose Room.

The format of “dinner-drama”, which allowed the audience to eat while they watched, attracted much favourable comment.

Congratulations to Mr Johannsen and his talented team including Mr Shrom, who was musical director, and all the students both on stage and backstage who made such an event possible.

Congratulations to our Elementary School runners who participated in the International Schools Cross-Country Meet on Saturday, October 8 2006 held at the Berlin British School. Our elementary runners were very enthusiastic (and a bit nervous!) as they ran the challenging course. Well done!

Special thanks to their coaches: Elly Hausner, Kerrigan James, and Steve Vandersteen

The International Week from 4 to 6 October 2006 was a special time for both students and teachers when we took time to celebrate the diversity of our school and the world in which we live.

We had many activities organized during these three days: a Move-a-thon, for which students walked a route around the Seeberg Campus; World Culture Day with 18 different rotational activities; an International Clothing Parade; an International Lunch Buffet; many assemblies, workshops, and presentations, as well as an International Museum.

Thanks to all parents who enthusiastically presented their home countries and assisted their children in producing a national dish for the buffet.