A new kind of catch-up
As COVID restrictions ease, The British School of Brussels is fighting fit for 2021
A different kind of catching up
Much debate in the UK has focused on how to help students catch up on schooling, following prolonged periods of lockdown. The British School of Brussels has been fortunate in being able to continue its excellent educational provision throughout the pandemic; its academic success has never been stronger, evidenced among other things by the phenomenal 40-point average in this year’s IB results. Throughout the school, BSB’s high quality curriculum and its staff of dedicated, talented teachers have ensured that whatever else is going on in the world, BSB students have been able to learn, to grow, to discover and develop. In the words of Neil Ringrose, Head of Primary School, BSB has done what it always does, “to continue offer the best of learning for all children in the school.”
Nevertheless, much thought has been given to how BSB can help its own students “catch up” after the challenges of COVID restrictions – not so much in curriculum content but in other, less obvious ways. “The response to the pandemic has created a very sterile world,” says John Knight, Head of Secondary at BSB, “The challenge now is to re-inject the risk factor in our children’s lives.” In summer 2021, the school organised a series of outdoor trips to replace the traditional whole year group getaways in the summer term. Navigating by canoe, taking steps of faith across high ropes, and simply soaking in nature already began the work of undoing the artificial world of restrictions we have all become accustomed to.
The adventure continues…
For the academic year 2021, all systems are go to build on these experiences and make them part of the fabric of everyday school life. Visitors to the school during the summer term will have seen more lessons taking place out of doors, with more of the school’s beautiful campus adapted to create new meeting spaces.
Working and playing together are essential remedies to the strangely isolated world of COVID19. BSB’s already extensive sports programme is placing renewed emphasis on team sports and, under the expert guidance of world-class coaches, is increasingly entering local leagues, building connections both within the teams themselves and with the wider community.
As with its Secondary School counterpart, BSB’s Primary School has been thinking deeply about how to use the school’s outdoor spaces even more to enhance creativity, risk-taking, teamwork and independent thought. “There is a fundamental need in all of us to be outside,” says Esther O’Conner, team leader for Early Years. She points out that there is a strong link between wellbeing and spending time outdoors and, beside this, there is huge scope for children’s development outside the four walls of the classroom, both socially and academically. One recent project saw children at the school tasked with creating an irrigation system using the loose parts they found: working together and thinking ideas through were essential.
Joining it all together
An extensive Primary School curriculum review has brought a raft of inspiring changes for the new year. Units of Discovery, which combine different subjects around a common theme, will provide a greater coherence between academic disciplines as well as a stronger sense of connection to BSB’s immediate context. Animals in Crisis, for example, begins on the school’s doorstep by exploring the magnificent forest of Tervuren Park; then widens the scope to include local conservation charities; and finally culminates in an imagined world conference on animal protection. By the end of this topic, students will have combined skills from a range of disciplines, developed independent learning and teamwork and, crucially, seen how all of it relates to the real world. In addition to bringing the best of learning for all children in the primary school, this is manifestly in line with BSB’s mission to develop, “confident, caring and courageous people who engage actively, ethically and purposefully with the world around us.”
For Melanie Warnes, Principal of BSB, these enhancements for September 2021 are continuation of what BSB has always sought to achieve: “I am incredibly proud of the way our staff, parents and students have come together and achieved so much over what has been a very challenging time for everyone. I am thrilled to return in for the new school year, knowing that our children will be able to stretch themselves and be agile, physically, mentally, and socially. This can only yield ever more amazing learning and life experiences for our students.”
The British School of Brussels is an independent international school, catering for students aged between 1 and 18. If you would like to know more about the school, you can make contact via the website www.britishschool.be or email at: admissions@britishschool.be .