All school
BISA Basketball Tournament
On November 30th our Basketball Teams (4) participated in the BISA Basketball Tournament hosted by ASB . We had an Under 18s Girls team, Under 14s Girls Team and an Under 14 Boys team plus the Boys HS Team. Over 40 students participated. Although not all the results went our way they showed great passion and sporting character.
WINNERS
High School Boys- ASB
High School Girls- BSB
Middle School Boys- ASB
Middle School Girls- ASB
Next Generation of Science Standards
On Friday September 21st, science consultant, Paul Andersen showed the parent community the power of the Next Generation Science Standards. Parents were shown a phenomena, asked questions about how it might work, drew models of their thinking, and then suggested ways to carry out an investigation.
Paul´s message...
- Kids should be doing more science and at younger ages;
- Don´t kill the wonder of science by explaining how the science works. Show them a phenomena that they have to figure out first and let them investigate how it might work.
- We can support scientific thinking by helping kids ask questions, model their thinking, and plan and carry out investigations.
- Thinking should be framed through the following lenses:Patterns, Cause/Effect, Scale/Proportion/Quantity, Systems, Energy/Matter, Structure/Function, Stability/Change.
The video of this session will be available soon.
We are committed to offering sessions like these throughout the year to support the exciting shifts happening across the school.
Welcome Back to School!
Welcome to another school year of great excitement and possibilities. Today our campus was filled with tons of positive energy, enthusiasm and of course, a little bit of anxiety, specially for the little ones. A special welcome to our new families and students. We hope you all soon make BFIS your second home. Welcome back everybody and happy school year 2018-2019.
Cultural Intelligence
Yesterday, September,5th, 16 students from University of Exeter, University of Glasgow and RMIT Europe were here at BFIS to learn more about our school and about cultural intelligence – the ability to cross boundaries and thrive in multiple cultures– a skill most need to become global leaders.
Over the course of this program, students meet with senior leaders and visit organizations in different countries trying to give answers to questions such as how do smart cities and organizations ensure they are inclusive?
Thank you to Shirli Buyukbay and the PTA for hosting this event at BFIS.
Another Great Year of IBDP Results.
Congratulations Class of 2018
On July 6th 2018, 162,752 International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program (DP) students around the world received their results from the May 2018 examination session.
BFIS is once again delighted to announce another year of excellent IBDP results. This year, we had 56 diploma candidates (100% of students did the full IB Diploma Program) and once again, we had a 100% pass rate with all 56 students receiving the IB Diploma. This is the third year in a row all of our students in the Diploma Program successfully obtained the IB Diploma.
It is also worth mentioning that 24 BFIS candidates (42%) were awarded the bilingual diploma. BFIS average score reached 34 points and 86% of our students scored above the global average of 30 points. BFIS highest score was 42 points. It is also possible that these scores may increase as some exams that were on the border line of a higher score get reassessed in the coming weeks.
Our students leave us with great results that have gained them entry into a range of competitive colleges and universities worldwide, including Kings’ College London, University of Warwick , SOAS London or University of Bath in the UK and University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, New York University, Tufts University and Barnard College in the United States among others.
Approximately 76% of our students got accepted into their first choice of university as of today. This percentage will become higher as we receive confirmation of acceptances from the Spanish public universities.
The significant accomplishments of our students in such a challenging academic program are a credit to their hard work and to the efforts of our faculty and families in supporting them over the two-year course.
Our role as a school now is to use the data from these exams to help our program get even stronger, which will be work for the fall. Until then, we wish our Class of 2018 every success as they enter the next phase of their life and education.
Congratulations to our Fencing Team
Congratulations to the BFIS Elementary Fencing Team! The BFIS team came in 3rd place out of 8 schools that participated in a total of 4 tournaments during the school year.
On May 25th, three BFIS students, Sierra Davis, Nicolas Ramos and Tobias Grunstrup Taarnhøj, were awarded medals during the awards ceremony ending the Barcelona Schools Fencing Competition organized by SAM Esgrima, our partnering Fencing academy. Congratulations also to Martina Ramos who participated as part of the team during the school year.
Fencing is offered to BFIS students starting in Grade 3 as part of the After-School Activities Program. For more information, please email beaz@bfischool.org.
Congratulations to our MS Soccer Teams
What a fun and successful weekend for our MS Soccer teams in Provence!
Our MS Girls Team came in 1st Place! Congratulations MS Soccer Champions!
Our MS Boys Team placed 4th and won the award for Best Sportsmanship at the Tournament.
All Star Awards for MS Girls Soccer were given to Sierra Davis (5th) and Lisa Salvano (8th).
All Star Awards for MS Boys Soccer were given Okee Knutsson (6th) and Ben Rodegra (8th)
Congratulations to all our players and thank you to our coaches, Nuria and Jennifer, and John for chaperoning. Thank you also to all the parents, who have supported this team since the beginning.
Rocket Competition 2018
All of our Grade 8 students launched their bottle rockets last Friday. Water rockets of very different colors and dimensions were launched from an air –pressurized pad and shot all the way up to the sky. Competitions are a wonderful way for teachers to reinforce science skills with exciting, hands-on activities while challenging students to persevere and excel. The bottle rocket competition objective was the highest flight. Each participant had two opportunities to launch their rockets. The competition was dominated by girls.
- First Place: Danae Cruyff 23m
- Second Place: Tali Khanlari & Caitlin Ford 18m
- Third Place: Victoria Lauk 17m
New Families Welcome Program
To BFIS is important that new families feel a part of our community as soon as possible, providing new students a quick and easy transition. We all have been there and we know that new beginnings sometimes can be overwhelming. We want them to experience a smooth transition into their new city and their new school. BFIS provides a Welcome Program designed to help new students and their families make early connections within our friendly and inclusive community and provide them with all the information they need to know for a successful start.
As part of our program all new families were invited to a Barbeque in our campus. Many current families were also there to welcome them and connect with them. Everybody had a wonderful time and the students enjoyed different activities and games planned for the afternoon. The next day the school organized an orientation morning for new families to discover what the year ahead at BFIS holds. After receiving their Welcome Packages they had the opportunity to see the campus more fully and meet the teachers. This was an exciting moment for the students and gave them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their peers and new surroundings. This morning was also a very good opportunity to learn more about BFIS’ culture and services and find out how to get involved.
Excellent IB and Selectividad Results 2017
Last week more than 159,000 International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program (DP) students around the world received their results from the May 2017 examination session. In Spain, 2,684 students sat the IB exam, achieving a national pass rate of 84.7 percent and an average score of 31 points.
BFIS is once again delighted to announce another year of excellent IBDP results. This year, we had 54 diploma candidates (100% of students did the full IB Diploma Program) and once again, we had a 100% pass rate with all 54 students receiving the IB Diploma. This is the second year in a row all of our students in the Diploma Program successfully obtained the IB Diploma. This is well above the global and Spanish average of 80% and 84.7% respectively. It is also worth mentioning that 36 BFIS candidates (66%) were awarded the bilingual diploma. Our average score improved, reaching 35 points, approximately 5 points above the 30 points of global average. Our highest score also improved, reaching 44 points, and 20% of our students scored 40 points or more, a result that is only achieved by 5% of students worldwide.
SELECTIVIDAD
Seven BFIS students also took the Fase Específica of Selectividad, Spanish university entrance exams, to improve their IB scores, with the possibility of earning up to four additional points. 27 BFIS students requested the Spanish credential and their average score (with or without taking the Fase Específica) is 9.1. The Spanish national average score is not available yet but in 2016 was 6.3. The average score for the 7 BFIS candidates who also took the Fase Específica is 10.6.
The significant accomplishments of our students in such a challenging academic program are a credit to their hard work and to the efforts of our faculty and families in supporting them over the two-year course. The students leave us with impressive results that have gained them entry into a range of competitive colleges and universities worldwide, including Kings’ College London, UCL, Imperial College, University of Edinburgh, and Durham University in the UK and University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon and UPenn in the United States among others.
We wish our Class of 2017 every success as we continue to build on our achievements in the IBDP at BFIS.
