On Thursday 7th March 2013 it was World Book Day.  The Primary Section celebrated the day by holding a book swap.  Children brought in books which they were willing to swap for new books and had a great time choosing books they had not yet read.  In class the children were given the opportunity to share their swapped books and could watch the live stream video from the UK, in which a number of different authors spoke about how they think of story ideas, develop characters and create interest in their stories.  As it had also been the week for the World Education Games, the children donated €1 or more to spend on a 'School in a box' for an undeveloped country.  It was a lovely experience for the children to be able to choose books by different authors and certainly something which will be repeated.

- Vee Westgate, KS1 English Coordinator

On Monday 11th March, Year 12 and 13 Physics students visited the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana.  The aim of the trip was to show how the theory of physics is applied to the real world.

The students were treated to a variety of demonstrations including thermal cameras, (see photo) sound cameras to test who had the loudest voice, anechoic chambers (a room which blocks all echoes), heat rooms, hydraulic cranes, combustion engines, skid cars, failure analysis and water jets for cutting metal where we were presented with the result of the demonstration-a bottle opener!  The tour was extremely varied and the students were very impressed with what they saw.

- Dr Nicola Šeruga, Head of Science

The second BISL International Day was held in our HQ building on Friday 1 March 2013. Representatives of our school community dressed in national costume, set up tables showing artifacts, crafts and pictures from the countries and offered traditional foods for the children, parents and staff to try. Stalls represented Russia, Netherlands, Slovenia (because internationalism starts at home), the UK, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden, Czech Republic, Egypt, China, India, Japan, Australia, Canada, USA, Romania and Hungary. We also enjoyed a performance from a Slovenian folk dancing group and the School Band. A big thank you to our parents, under the leadership of Marush McDowell, for the hard work and enthusiasm that went into the preparation and presentation of the event.

The Secondary Section visited the da Vinci Exhibition in Ljubljana on the 28th February.  The trip formed the culmination of 'da Vinci' week in the Secondary Section, whereby students met da Vinci both in both their normal lessons and additional activities such as Art Club and Science Club.  At the exhibition the students saw recreations of da Vinci's inventions including tanks, parachutes, diving suits and bridges.  For those of a more artistic nature, the exhibitions on his art, particularly the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, were especially interesting.  In short there was something new to fascinate everyone.

- Dr. Nicola Šeruga, Head of Science

In our Slovene class we are learning about Medicine. We have been focusing a lot on the body and what the different parts are called, we have done some presentations. We have also learnt about the rescue centre.

On the 15th of February we went to the Klinični center. First we went on a tour around the hospital area, with nurse Urška. We went by the medical learning centre (Medicinska fakulteta). We also passed the transfusion centre (Center za transfuzijsko medicino), where only people above 18 can give blood. Then we went to the rescue centre (Reševalna postaja), were we had two different guides: Peter and Damjan. There we got to see the inside of the ambulance. They showed us different types of medical equipment that they use. They told us that in one ambulance they had medical equipment for up to 5 people. Damjan told us that they work around 12 hours per day if they are on shift.

The trip overall was enjoyable and informing, I think that we all enjoyed it and learnt something new. They told us that they have 22 ambulances, 2 motorbikes and 1 service car. The doors into the Garage are the fastest in the world, they are designed in Slovenia (family business) but produced in Germany.

- Jack, Loreta, Karianne, Y11

On Friday, the 15th of February, the two Y13 A-Level Biology students visited the National Institute for Biology, Department for Biotechnology and Systemic Biology, where we were led on a tour of their state of the art laboratories. This department is the official government laboratory for the detection of genetically modified organisms in food and animal feed. Together with the scientists we discussed genetic manipulation for larger scale production and we were also able to use a micropipette to insert gene fragments into agarose gel for electrophoresis. Overall it was a great experience. We were able to see what the life of a biology researcher is like. And I'm pretty sure both Luka and I were inspired to study even harder.

- Jan Spende, Y13

For the Year 3 IPC topic "Rain forest, Saving The World", we were fortunate to have Amazonian explorers Andrej Chiaiutta and Amadea Demšar visit our class. After showing the children various authentic artifacts, Andrej demonstrated a traditional tribal ceremony for visitors. We listened to sacred music and smelt the smoke from a special wood for cleansing the air. We listened to the song of rainforest birds while watching photographs of his journey to a tribe in the Amazon rain forest.

Andrej explained that it took several days of walking through recently cut down forest showing bare earth, to get to the 'real' rain forest and told the children that the people who live in the Amazon are teaching us that we are all part of the forest and all part of nature. The children asked interesting questions showing how much they had learnt about the diversity of species and the terrible destruction of this wonderful habitat.

- Liz Sparks & Chris Bishop, Y3 class teachers

In AS Biology, Year 12 students have spent the last few weeks studying the structure and function of the heart and the lungs. They put their knowledge to practice by visiting dr. Zadnikar, sports and occupational medicine specialist. Students used sphygmomanometer to measure blood pressure, spirometer to measure their vital capacity and learned to perform and interpret ECG graphs. We had great fun and were relieved to find that everyone is very healthy!

Our Primary and Secondary students presented their Christmas Show to a packed and appreciative audience. As well as a play about Santa joining a strike and being replaced by Farmer Christmas, two Bands played their own pieces. The grand finale involved all the Primary students accompanied by our own musicians for a sing-along with the assembled families for some international seasonal songs in languages including Slovenian, English and Spanish. Well done to all who took part!

On Tuesday 18 December we co-hosted a concert with our host school, OS Vito Kraigher, given by musicians from Pittwater High School in Sydney, Australia. The group has been touring the region, giving concerts in Vienna, Prague, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna before dropping in to play for us. Their Symphonic Band, Wind Band and Stage Band presented three numbers each, many by Australian composers. Our Year 4 to Year 9 students attended and had the opportunity after the concert finished to talk with the musicians and take a closer look at their instruments. The precision and confidence of the playing was remarkable and our students were clearly very impressed. We hope that this will be an inspiration to our own fledgling Band to put in the hard work needed to go on tour themselves!

We have an expanding range of activities in our After School Programme and we were really pleased to have a presentation from the participants for their parents and teachers. Students from the Ballet class, the Violin and Piano classes, the Performing Arts Group (drama and dance) and the Band wowed the assembled audience with what they have learned since September. Our After School Programme is open to our own students of all ages and their parents and families, and also to children from the local community.

Year 5 and 6 had a fabulous time at the Jozef Stefan institute. They watched a glass blower at work as he made a beautiful glass swan. They witnessed the effects of pouring liquid oxygen on a fire and they had a lot of fun with liquid nitrogen!

- Robert Blease, Y5/6 class teacher

To support their IPC topic Time and Place, Earth and Space with a special focus on time zones, our Year 4 students paid a visit to Ljubljana's Jože Pučnik airport for an in-depth insight into the behind-the-scenes workings of an airport. They were very fortunate to be able to go "air side", where they visited the emergency services, went on board an aircraft (including sitting in the pilot's seat) and understood better how the baggage handling and other operations work. The visit far surpassed our expectations and the children, in their subsequent accounts of the trip, referred to it as 'a trip of a life time'. We are very grateful to the team at the airport for giving our students such a great visit.

- Nino Kokalj, Y4 class teacher

As part of the Preschool topic of ‘Homes and Families’, they visited the mansion house and met Count Blagaj and his family in Polhov Gradec. Count Blagaj and his wife were dressed in their full finery. The children had a guided tour of the mansion house and had a workshop for making post horns, which the children particularly  enjoyed.

Count Blagaj and Lady Antonia then invited the children, parents and teachers into their drawing room to have tea with them. The children’s tea table was adorned with rose-decorated fine china and small flowers in vases. There was a wonderful choice of cakes, sandwiches and pots of tea and different types of honey to taste. There was even a honey pot with gold flakes inside! The enchanting atmosphere was a reminder of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

The Count and his lady wife then told the children the folk story of the surrounding area where the special Daphne flowers grow. The children were engrossed with the story telling skills of the Count and his wife and they all listened so intently.  The Count was also interested to know about the children and the countries that they came from and what they learnt at school every day. The children were eager to talk to him and spoke clearly and confidently.

With grateful thanks everyone including children, parents, grandparents and teachers said goodbye to our dear friends Count Blagaj and Countess Antonia at Polhov Gradec.

- Sue Williams, Preschool Coordinator

On Friday 7 December we held our Charity Christmas Bazaar. The students, staff and parents were invited to buy seasonal decorations and food which had been made by members of our school community. Elsewhere in the HQ building there were games to try, toys to buy and even beautiful henna tattoos (to dry?!). The event raised an impressive 1,750 Euros, the beneficiary of which will be www.heifer.org, to help disadvantaged communities by providing them with livestock to help them be self-sufficient. The Chair of our PTA, Debbi Trosper, calculated that this would provide a total of 2 cows, 3 sheep, 3 goats, 3 llamas, a flock of geese, a flock of chickens and 2 swarms of honeybees, helping 15 communities. Well done to everyone involved and a big thanks to those who made and brought things to sell.

Our latest Caring for Our Community trip saw our group go to the Special Education School, Dečkova Šola. Once there we met with eight of their students in afternoon care, first taking time to introduce ourselves. Mrs. Charlesworth then read the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle with all the children joining in on the verses "but he was still hungry" and one of our students translating from English to Slovene. The children then worked in small groups/pairs to make a collage egg cartoon caterpillar with lots of coloured crepe paper, googly eyes and pipe cleaners for antennae. It was lovely to see how well all the students worked together and how quickly they became friends. We look forward to the students from Dečkova coming to visit us at BISL soon.

- Tanya Charlesworth, Group leader

Year 3 visited the Rustika Chocolate factory as the highlight of our IPC topic on chocolate.

When we arrived at the factory, we were greeted by the chocolatiers, Polonca and Petra, who showed the children different bean pods, the cocoa butter and the three kinds of chocolate: white, milk and dark. They showed us how they made lollipops, and they put the chocolate into the different moulds. They also put the varnish on to the 'metal' chocolate tools and showed us how a bar of chocolate was made by pouring the melted chocolate into a mould and dropping the hazelnuts on top. Of course the children and teachers were able to sample a lot of delicious chocolate as we learned about it. After this, we went to Ljubljana to the Rustika chocolate shop where the children were able to buy chocolate for themselves and their families.

- Liz Sparks and Chris Bishop, Y3 Class Teachers

On the 24th October 2012 the Caring for the Community Team of students, ranging from 7 to 10 years of age went to the local Vrtec Jelka (Kindergarden). There the BISL students played social games with the Kindergardeners and then read books to them in English, translating to Slovene wherever necessary. Both sets of students enjoyed the time spent together and we look forward to doing something with them again very soon.

- Tanya Charlesworth, Y1 class teacher

The students of Year 10 went on a day trip in late autumn to one of the largest forests in Europe – Kočevski rog.

Besides experiencing majestic trees and lots of fresh air, we also visited two of the so-called hidden hospitals that were operating in Slovenia during the 2nd World War. For us it was fascinating to see how simply people lived for years right next to their enemy, but were never discovered. For example, in the hospital area they would have a special chimney built straight into another cottage where the smoke would cool down, so their cover wouldn’t be blown. In the cold and long winter nights they were not allowed to build any fires and the surgical tools they used were made from all kinds of items – even sewing machines.

We returned back to Ljubljana a bit tired and a bit muddy, but full of imagery of beautiful landscape that we saw.

- Year 10 Students

During the final week of the IPC topic 'Ourselves, Who am I?', Year 1 visited the Modern Art Gallery in Ljubljana. Throughout this topic the children looked at self portraits by well known artists and discussed the various ways portraits are made including paintings, sculptures, drawings and various other media. The children made self-portraits using mirrors, looking very carefully at their own faces to record all their features as accurately as possible. They made models of their friends using recycled materials and even painted a portrait using just two complimentary colours in the style of one of the portraits on display in the exhibition. Prior to the visit the children looked at photographs of paintings from the exhibition and were very excited to spot them hanging on the walls in the gallery. While at the gallery, the children made sketches of some of the portraits by Slovenian artists and were very interested in the line drawings in one section of the gallery.