The British Forces School Naples

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Head Teacher Update

End of the School Year Thanks

We are nearing the end of a very unusual school year and I have many thanks that I would like to share.

This past year, we have taught outside, created a temporary school at the CDC and then settled into our new buildings in the old school building and Villa V. In-between our many moves we have battled with the constant Covid closures and the ongoing challenges of adapting to split sites that require ongoing adaptations.

I am very proud that the staff team have demonstrated unwavering determination to ensure that learning continues whether that be in a new location or from home. Their resilience and support to the school team and wider community is a constant strength of our school.

Our parents have proved themselves worthy educators as they picked up the baton of home learning. I know that this was a huge challenge for our families and their hard work has paid divi- dends. The children have always returned to school ready to learn and the progress they have made when back in school has been accelerated in all areas of their learning.

Our SGC have supported and challenged us this past year. They have been a constant source of support with the building issues we have faced whilst also maintaining focus on all areas of school improvement. We look forward to continuing our good work with them next year.

We are also very grateful to command and the wider community for their constant help with our many moves. We would not have managed to keep moving to our new locations without the

SUMMER TERM 2021 NEWSLETTER DATE : 9th June 2021

The British

Forces School Naples

NEWSLETTER

Be The Best That You Can Be In All That You Do!

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The British Forces school Naples: Be The Best That You Can Be In All That You Do

As headteacher, I have never had such a large amount of people to thank for their enormous actions and support of the school over the course of a year. It is a privilege leading our fantastic school and although choppy waters still lay ahead in terms of our building challenges, I have no doubt the excellent progress of the children and the wider achievements of the school will continue as we head into a new school year in September.

I hope that you all have a wonderful and well-deserved summer break. The school team and I will look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Thursday 2^nd September.

Mrs Rebecca Robinson Headteacher

DCS Visitors

We have been thrilled to welcome DCS visitors once again now that travel restrictions have eased. We have recently had a visit from Dot Riggs to provide us with some Business Management support and this week we have enjoyed having Gary Margerison here to support us with all aspects of school improvement. We have enjoyed having them both here to enable us to share the good work we have achieved in addition to seeking their guidance and support on a huge range of school matters. We hope that the travel restrictions continue to ease to enable their regular visits to continue into the next school year.

School Building Update

I am sorry that I still do not have an update on the decision regarding the future of the school. I continue to hope that we will be informed in the near future when I will share the decision with you.

The external staircase is going to be installed in the summer holidays. This is great news for us as we can have full access to Villa V. We are therefore planning our ‘Big Move’ next Friday – the 16^th July. We need to move all of our offices upstairs and Lamborghini Class downstairs. If you are available between 13.00 and 15.00 we would be very grateful for the additional pairs of hands.

The external portaloos at Villa V will be removed when we break up as they are no longer needed with the installation of the external staircase. All children will have access to an inside

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Covid Restrictions

We are planning to create a whole school bubble upon our return in September. We need to enable the staff to work more closely together and the children need opportunities to mix once again.

We will have space for whole school assemblies which is fantastic and we want to provide the children with opportunities to play together. Lunch times will continue to be split as we cannot accommodate the whole school in one sitting.

We will have to follow host nation and UK guidance upon our return regarding the wearing of face masks and social distancing. We will adapt to the updated guidance upon our return and I will share this with you as always.

End of year reports

I hope that you have all enjoyed reading the end of year reports. Please remember to return the acknowledgement slip that accompanied each report.

Additional Bank Holiday

In line with the UK, we have been awarded the additional bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. This will be added to the school calendar next year on Monday 6^th June 2022.

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GOODBYE TO MRS HILTON

Staffing

We have recently said a very fond farewell to Mrs Fiona Hilton when she left us to return to the UK. She has been a valued member of staff and will be missed by all members of the staff team and the children, particularly those in FS where she worked as their class LSA. We all wish her well.

We have recently welcomed Mrs Kim Smith to our team and she will be working in Maserati Class. We are currently recruiting one additional LSA post with a focus on delivering interven- tions. We will look forward to sharing additional news when we have it.

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21/06/2021

Dear Parents & Carers,

Whether you are remaining in your overseas location or whether you are moving on, either back to the UK or another overseas assignment, this letter is to make you aware of the educational support, advice and guidance available to you when your child leaves the MOD school that they currently attend.

School admissions – whilst admission to schools is a parental responsibility, CEAS can help you navigate the systems and assist you with admission appeals if required.

Overseas Education and Supportability – if you are going overseas to another location, and need infor- mation, advice or guidance CEAS may be able to help

Special Educational Needs and Disability/Additional Needs – The CEAS team has qualified teachers with significant experience with SEND/AN and may be able to help you ensure that your child’s needs are met wherever you are going to next.

Continuity of Education Allowance – If you are thinking of putting your child into Boarding school through CEA, your first point of call should be your Admin unit to check your eligibility to claim and then CEAS for a pack of information. CEAS also authorise the additional allowance – SENA - for pupils in CEA with SEND/

AN.

Educational concerns – whatever your worry or concern – please feel free to contact CEAS when you are moving on,

Please email: [email protected]

Kind regards

Sue Smyth B. Ed (Hons)

Senior Education Officer - CEAS Team Leader

Defence Children Services

Children’s Education Advisory Service Trenchard Lines,

UPAVON, Wiltshire SN9 6BE

Telephone: [94344 8244] 01980 618244 Facsimile: [94 344 8245] 01980 618245 E-mail: [email protected]

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Stars of the week!

The following children have really impressed their class teachers over the past week. Well done to the following

children: Florence, Logane, Titus & James

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Tea with Mrs Robinson

After being nominated by their class teachers for an extra special achievement the following children Gracie, Ellie,

William, Aaron joined Mrs Robinson for tea and cakes:

A big well done to these children!!

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Alfa Romeo Newsletter

This month, we have continued exploring our new topic ‘Travelling in Italy’. The children have explored different parts of Italy through the book ‘Living in … Italy’ by Chloe Perkins as a basis for our learning. Alfa Romeo were quick to notice that Italy is in the shape of a boot kicking a football and they enjoyed finding out where we were on the map of Italy as well.

Whilst exploring our local area of Naples, the children explored the book ‘Pizza Day’ by Melissa Iwai because we had learnt that pizza was created in Naples. The children made their own pizzas, which they took home for their lunch, and then started using our outdoor pizzeria to make and create their own pizzas using our loose parts equipment. It was wonderful to see how en- gaged the children were when preparing their ingredients and creating their pizzas! Our FS2s continued this learning and wrote step-by-step instructions, just like the ones in our book, to ex- plain how they made their pizzas. In maths, our FS1s explored capacity and used water to find various measurements (full, half full, etc.) for a range of containers. They enjoyed exploring this with the water, especially when they used the special green water. The FS2s explored subtraction and created and solved their own subtraction calculations using a range of different mathe- matical resources throughout the week. They especially enjoyed using the subtraction boxes when they pushed the pom poms through the holes to work out how many they would have left after subtracting a given amount.

Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring the text ‘The Naughty Bus’ by Jan and Jerry Oke. The children enjoyed learning the story and creating a story map to help us remember the silly things the bus did. Alfa Romeo have explored a range of Naughty Bus themed activities over the last few weeks, including junk modelling their own naughty buses using materials from our creative area. One of our junk modelled naughty buses is also used now as a prop and the chil-

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Our FS2 children have been exploring how to find different capacities as well but have specifical- ly been exploring what half is and how to find it. Using the water tray and some multilink cubes, the children have found and measured out half full for a range of containers then taking it a step further by predicting which container they thought would contain the most and then using our method to check their prediction. They then used a range of materials to measure distances and had to choose which material was best suited for measuring the distances, then comparing different measuring materials to see which was best.

Our FS1s continue to explore all the areas in our classroom with great enthusiasm, especially our construction areas. The children have been using materials to build a wide variety of different structures inside and outside our classroom, including this wonderful house which was built to house some of the puppets and vehicles in our environment.

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This week, we have started looking at other cities in Italy starting with – Florence! The children have discussed where Florence is on ‘the boot’ and have been tackling a few challenges linked to famous things linked to the city. They have enjoyed engaging with the creative challenge which is to use a mirror to create a self-portrait of themselves, linked to Florence’s famous artistic past. It has been so lovely to see the focus and concentration the children have used when engaging with this and they have created some wonderful self-portraits which are now on display in our outside area. We have begun to consider what makes a good artist and the artistic things we enjoy doing in Alfa Romeo. The children have also tackled re-creating the famous Duomo in Florence using our construction materials and we have seen a range of Duomos being built in the learning environment.

As usual, it has been wonderful to see Alfa Romeo learn and grow this month, tackling new challenges (despite this hot weather) and never giving up. Their positive attitude and had work continue to make them amazing Alfa Romeo and I cannot wait to see what else we can do before we head off for summer holidays. Keep up the wonderful learning Alfa Romeo – we are so proud of you!

Miss Coole and Keila

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FERRARI CLASS

Ferrari Class have had a fantastic half term and have shown much enthusiasm towards our topic

‘Living in Naples’. The children thoroughly enjoyed looking at their local area of Naples and drawing comparisons between here and London. Transport links in Naples proved to be not too dissimilar to that of London, with the exception of the Funicular, which the children were all rather excited by and we watched many virtual funicular rides during this part of our study. We also looked at landmarks, many of the children were pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a pal- ace not too far away, in Caserta. Sadly, we were unable to take the children on a trip this year, but we did enjoy a virtual tour online of some of the main rooms and the gardens of Caserta Pal- ace.

I have to say though, the firm favourite with all of the children was the week that we spent looking at the typical Neapolitan street food and making comparisons to that of London street food.

When it became apparent that the majority of our local food is deep fried, we negotiated with the children and agreed that for safety reasons we would make lemon granite in class and ask a local restaurant to do the deep frying for us, in the safety of their own kitchen! The children worked as individuals, in pairs and in groups to make the granite; cutting the lemons, squeezing the juice, weighing and mixing the sugar and water, heating the mixture and freezing it for a few hours. Everyone was excited by the prospect of being able to reuse the lemon skins and eat the frozen granite from it, tying in nicely with our previous work about reducing, reusing and recycling waste. We discussed food hygiene, safety in the kitchen and patience. Thankfully the children took on board all that was talked about and it was a hugely successful activity, with lots of fun had by all. The food tasting was equally as exciting, calamari, arancini, frittatine, crocchette di patate and mozzarella in carrozza (and of course pizza) were all tried by the children, who were exceptionally on board with just giving ‘everything a try’. We do seem do have a very large pro- portion of children here in Ferrari who absolutely love calamari!

The children participated incredibly well during Sport’s Day and we were very proud of their determination and perseverance. Our PE sessions leading up to this day were full of fun and laugh- ter whilst they got to grips with using equipment that they had not used before. The javelin proved tricky to start with but the children had mastered it by the time Sport’s Day arrived, high- lighting that we have some definite budding athletes among us. I was incredibly impressed by the children’s flexible thinking when it came to the race which they had to balance a bean bag on their head and run. It was realised very early on that if the bean bag was laid across the peak of their hat, or indeed worn inside out and cradled in the dip of the peak, the beanbag was far more secure. We loved their ‘thinking outside of the box’! More recently, it has been too hot to take the children outside for breaks or PE and we have had to be flexible in our own thinking as teachers to find ways to enable the children to stay active and burn off some energy in an air conditioned environment. We have had daily active breaks, moving the tables to the edges of the classroom and getting our heart rates up with some HIIT sessions, mini circuits and yoga if the children were lacking the energy for anything high impact.

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FERRARI CLASS

The children completed a sequence of English lessons, based on a session that they enjoyed using the playframe in the KS1 playground. They were so excited at being able to access the equipment that this eagerness transferred into their writing. We first focused on an initial recount, sequencing the way that they travelled, step by step. The skills needed to add more detail came next, concentrating on adjectives, adverbs and noun phrases. The children completed a range of activities around these parts of speech and then wrote their final copy of their recount, including as many of these as they could. The difference in their writing has been fantastic to see.

I am exceptionally proud of Ferrari class, they have consistently shown that they are motivated and determined to succeed, whilst dealing with a huge amount of unprecedented change throughout this academic year. It has been an absolute pleasure to teach them and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them thrive and progress since January. As we move towards the end of the academic year, I would like to say a sincere thank you to all of the Ferrari class parents for all of your support since I took over as the class teacher. I hope you all have a wonderful summer and I wish your children all the very best as they move up into their new year group.

Mrs White & Mrs Holden

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FERRARI CLASS

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Maserati Class

Maserati have been busy with their learning and making immense efforts to be the best that they can be over the Summer Term. They have been learning about Italy. This topic has proven to be a great success with the children due to their guided input on what they wanted to learn more about.

They have gathered some interesting information on the history and invention of pizza. They researched lots of information on all of the amazing volcanoes that are surrounding us in the local area. They also researched Italian artists, cars, islands, lakes and famous landmarks that can be found in Italy. We will end this term with a non-chronological report on Italy using all of the information we have collected.

In writing, we have made some good progress which is evident in our books. We studied The Lucky Dip, which is a visual story without words and we contrasted it to Voices in the Park, we then wrote our stories in the same style as Anthony Browne which proved to be a great success.

The children have thoroughly enjoyed this learning and their stories are the best they have writ- ten yet. They included all the necessary skills and they enjoyed their finished products. They looked closely at the language they used for the best effect on the reader and for their characters to shine through. The children are very proud of their stories and rightly so.

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Maserati Class

In maths, the children have been learning about time and they have showed great resilience with it. Time is always a tricky concept for children to grasp and can be very challenging at times but the children continued to show a great attitude towards their learning with this concept. They have been looking at analogue and digital clocks to tell the time along with measuring durations of time. Hopefully, they will keep refreshing their knowledge over the summer break with check- ing in on the time.

Recently, the children have been busy developing their art skills whilst studying Michelangelo and they have used different mediums to recreate the famous painting in the Sistine Chapel.

They have worked hard on the skills needed to draw such an intricate picture with spacing and scales as a focus point to work on.

Maserati class have worked so hard throughout all of their changes this year due to Covid restrictions and a new teacher so they should be justifiably proud of themselves for showing such resilience. We wish them all the best for the summer break and we will be sad to say our good- byes because our time together has been thoroughly enjoyable.

Miss Grimes and Mrs Bloomfield

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LAMBORGHINI CLASS

Our topic this half term has been ‘Giro d’italia’ which literally translates to be a tour of Italy.

Although we have been unable to physically leave the school, the children have explored the beautiful country we live in by learning all about the geography of Italy.

We started off by making maps of the country and researching the regions of Italy and their principle cities. We then used tracing paper to build up layers on the map to show different features such as the volcanoes. We also discovered where the main rivers are located and what they are called. To explore the topography of Italy, we made 3D relief maps using salt dough which are used to show the high and low areas of Italy.

By using local maps, we looked at more depth at Campania—the region where we lived and used the key on the map to locate places of interest . Did you know it is possible to go skiing in Campania? We learnt that Campania really is a diverse and interesting place to live.

In our Italian lessons, Kelia has continued on the giro theme by helping us to learn about all of the different forms of transport and how to order tickets in Italian.

Our English lessons have also linked in with the theme of travel and islands as we are currently working on a project where we had to design our own islands and we will be writing about them so we can make a class Atlas inspired by the beautiful book we are studying. The photos below show some of the beautiful creations.

The children have produced some fantastic home learning to support our topic—we’ve had fact- files, presentations about famous Italians and research projects about the regions we are interested in.

In our science lessons, we have enjoyed carrying out some practical investigations and working as a team. The first thing we investigated was how to keep hot drinks hot by testing different thermal insulators. It was great fun to take the measurements of the water every 5 minutes to see if our predictions were correct. We also investigated the conditions which affect germination of seeds by placing some cress seeds in different locations. Unfortunately, as it’s so hot, all of the water evaporated before the seeds had time to germinate, so we repeated the investigation

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Photos of a selection of the children’s learning relating to our Italian topic. There are some of the maps we created, Myiesha’s home learning fact-file about Italy and our topography maps of Italy using salt dough. We painted them afterwards to

show the highest and lowest areas.

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These photos show a selection of the completed non-chronological reports we produced about the imaginary planet of Pandora.

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These photos show the imaginary islands we have created for our current English writing unit.