FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Reflecting on the events of last week, we are proud of the cultural role Brummana High School plays in the life of the community and of the academic and athletic achievements of our students as well as the spirit of service they have.

On the Occasion of Beirut’s designation as the World Book Capital 2009, and through the programme of Beirut39 (www.beirut39.com), Brummana High School hosted a cultural lecture and forum titled “Which writers have formed and inspired us?” in the Meeting House on 16 April.

The event, organised by the Brummana Municipality, was followed by an open debate with the four international authors (2 from Saudi Arabia, 1 from Oman, and 1 from Egypt) moderated by former colleague Naim Baroud, and was later followed by a book signing ceremony.

It is worth mentioning that 1300 students from 125 Lebanese schools participated in the MUN programme. BHS students proved their excellence among such a big number: Jian Barazi and Karim Atassy were among the 15 finalists, and Karim was selected to join 4 other students to travel to New York as representatives of Lebanon. Congratulations to the students and to their coaching teacher Khaled Al Hilli.

Congratulations are also due to students Rafael Mushantaf and Christian Tabet who both received full scholarships from the United World Colleges to study the IB programme in Italy and Norway respectively.

Our old scholars also continue to bring credit to BHS. Bravo to Sarine Topalian of the class of 2006 who has been placed on the President’s List at Haigazian University for the first Semester of 2009/2010.

Well done to the BHS Boys Varsity Basketball Team who won first place among 20 schools participating in the Lebanese Evangelical School [LES] Schools Tournament. The final game was against International College, Beirut, on 19 April at the LES basketball court where BHS won 86 to 68.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Upper School science teacher Gaby Girgis attended the International AS/A Level Physics Training Workshop on 26-27 March, an event that took place in the United Arab Emirates at the Winchester School, Dubai. The workshop covered a review of assessment issues and improvement of teaching methods and strategies as well as sharing ideas, information, and learning resources.

A group of BHS teachers attended workshops at Haigazian University on 27 March. Teachers Sabine Rehayem and Cherine Ghaoui attended “Motivate Your Students: Awaken the Power in Them”, while Laure Boustany and Zeina Abu Mrad attended the workshop given by Upper School teacher Farha Al Bitar called “التعبير الكتابي والشفهي ”. The workshop dealt with new concepts and methods based on discussion and the exchange of ideas. It was attended and appreciated by Arabic coordinators from various schools all over Lebanon.

Arabic teacher Hanna Daher attended a workshop called “سلّم بلوم وأسئلة الامتحانات ” at the Collège Centrale, Jounieh on 27 March.

BHS teachers Mouheeb Akl, Chantal Al Avales, Karla Baaklini, Karine Chebly, Walid Dagher, Mirvet Daher, Lara EL Feghali, Gaby Girgis, Nelly Al-Haddad, Samuel Hage, Mayssaa Haidar, Mouhana El Hajj, Samia El Hajj, Wedian Nasr, Lina Nehme, Kamal Ramadan, Marlene Rawady, Fida Riachi, Eliane Semaan, Jana Thoumy, and Samir Ziadeh all attended the Science and Mathematics Education Conference [SMEC] on 10 - 11 April at the American University of Beirut. Upper School maths teacher Aline Alam presented a session during the SMEC conference summarizing the findings of her own research on classroom management.

Teachers Elaine Hachem and Lina Chakhtoura attended “Learning through Movement” on 17 April at the International College.

BOARDING STUDENT RESERVATION
Parents of boarding students are reminded that the deadline for the payment of the refundable boarding deposit is 30 April 2010. Payment of this fee reserves a boarding place for your child/ren for the next academic year.

HOLIDAY
On the occasion of Labour Day, the school will be closed on Saturday, 1 May. There will be no Saturday activities on that day

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION
The Parents’ Association Mother’s Day dinner which was held at the Metropolitan Palace Hotel on 26 March 2010 was a huge success. The guests enjoyed a lively dinner, dancing, and a beautiful performance by the singer Cynthia. $5,500 was raised for the benefit of the school and the financial aid scheme. The PA would like to thank parents, friends of the school, the BHS Board, and BHS staff for their support, participation, and donations. Special thanks to the following for their generous financial contributions: Mr. Suhail Nassar, Mr. Ghassan Bitar, and Mrs. Rania Zeinoun.

Just before the Easter vacation, the PA organised egg hunts for students in the Lower School and Nursery. Following the egg hunt, each student received a small gift from the PA.

SCOUTS
The Brummana One Scouts Group is proud to announce the launching of its new website. Please check it out: www.br1group.org.

UPPER SCHOOL NEWS
Science Department
Dr. Nora Comiskey from Penn Charter School, United States of America, visited Brumana High School during the week of 22 March. Her visit was beneficial to the school as it was an opportunity to exchange teaching experiences and ideas with the Science Department. We thank her for the 2 science textbooks given to the department, as we look forward to further collaboration between our schools.

Secondary Section
On 12 April, Secondary students nominated their May Queen 2010 candidates. They were very selective and meticulous in their nominations. The May Queen candidates for this year are: Karen Gholam (Sec. III SE), Vanessa Kanaan (Sec. II IP), Holly Wallace (Sec. II IP), Christina Nakhle (Sec. III GS), and Simona Sarkissian (Sec. II IP). The nominees and their supportive escorts met with HoS Ghada Yared to discuss the general guidelines. Good luck to all candidates!

Community Service in the Secondary Section is ongoing. On 30 April, our students hosted 35 children from SoS. They prepared a creative programme with various activities: egg hunting, dancing, playing music and singing, and face painting. The kids were provided with a snack and left the school on familiar terms with our students.

On 28 April the School Band students: Michel Maroun, Elia Tawil, Hersho Barazi, Karim Atassy, Tiffany Moujaes, Dana Atallah, and Myriam Maalouf conducted a small concert at Al Amal Institute in coordination with the disabled there. The band spent weeks rehearsing with Al Amal. Our students, in comparison with other schools, left a great impact on the audience. One of the mothers remarked that “we serve with love and empathy”.

Yet again Secondary students succeeded at the LAU-MUN. After a long week-end conference on 10-11 April at the Lebanese American University [LAU], Byblos and Beirut, we are proud of our students who were awarded five prestigious prizes: Jian Barazi - General Secretary; Philippe Riachi and Karim Atassy - Diplomacy; Marushka Hajj and Holly Wallace - Position Papers. Special thanks to teacher Khaled Al Hilli who inspired, trained, and mentored the students to demonstrate their unique traits and make a difference. The students also would like to thank Head of English Kathleen Saleh who edited their position papers over the vacation. Jian Barazi, Philippe Riachi and Karim Atassy had to prepare themselves for the mock simulation on climate change which took place on 15 April. Two of them were able to reach the last short listed committee where the LAU-MUN personnel had to choose the five students who can go to New York. Karim had his final interview and will go to the United Nations, New York.

Student Ricardo Gasparian (Sec. I IP) travelled to Cyprus to represent Lebanon in the Olympic Trap Championship at the end of March.

During assembly on 13 April, the HoS distributed the Quarter 3 Honour Roll Certificates to students in the presence of their advisers. Also student Anthony Zeinoun (Sec. II IP) received the Fabriano Prize. Congratulations!

Grade 11 students will attend the NDU Open House on Friday, 23 April.

Human Rights teacher Raed Hanna invited Melcar Al Khoury, Executive Assistant to the Managing Director of the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights, to discuss with students the death penalty in Lebanon and the role of civic society in changing the law.

Intermediate Section
Advisory – 18-25 March Sessions: girls and boys were separated for two sessions that involved special talks on personal hygiene and cleanliness and the possible impact they may have on their daily lives.

Assembly – Two representatives from the Fabriano Company attended the 15 April assembly to distribute awards to the 4 BHS winners of their annual art competition: Yasmine Saad, Ingrid Aswad, Zeina Chamseddine, and Rebecca Ghajar.
Within the same assembly, Arc Enciel representative gave a presentation depicting their mission involving the society and environment. Our students, in collaboration with Arc Enciel, will be collecting plastic bottle caps in a double effort of protecting the environment from excess plastic waste and then sending the plastic tops for recycling. The money gathered from the recycling will be used to purchase a wheelchair for a needy handicapped individual. 

Poetry Writing Winners – we are proud to announce that 3 of our students have won the poetry writing competition, and their poems have been published in the British SHMIS Schools’ Poetry Anthology 2010. Congratulations to Tara Tabet, Laudy Issa, and Nicole Christina Abou Samra.

Board Games – We are grateful to parent Ms. Baaklini who has been volunteering to come in for one hour on Tuesdays to supervise grade 7 students during a board game session; games such as monopoly, scrabble and chess are available for students to enjoy during the Tuesday lunch breaks.

Earth Hour – in support of this worthy international event, our students put up posters around the school to raise awareness and encourage their fellow classmates to turn off all lights in an effort to conserve global energy on 27 March.

Book Fair – during the week of 15 – 19 March students visited the Meeting House where this exhibition was taking place and books on various topics were on sale.

Personal Development – grade 7 students watched a DVD showing the dangers of smoking. Following the short film, group discussions were held regarding this hazardous habit.

Amnesty Week – During the week of 22 – 26 March, students were granted 5 days of “forgiveness.” Students who showed exemplary behaviour during that time period had their last 2 disciplinary forms deleted from their record. As for students with no such forms throughout the year, they were promised a special treat as a commendation for their good behaviour.

St. Jude’s Cancer Centre: We are pleased to announce that the Intermediate student donations made at the end of last year and beginning of this academic year totalled 2,240,000 L.L.  A cheque for this sum was made out to the cancer centre which expressed their gratitude to the school and its students.

Points for Parents: As the Brevet students approach the end of their academic year, it is advisable that most of their efforts outside school are concentrated on their academic work in preparation for the government official examinations. Those who are weak in certain subjects should focus on reviewing daily after finishing their assigned homework.

P.E. Department
Here are a few reminders about upcoming sports events. Field Day will be held on Thursday, 6 May starting from the 2nd break and on Friday, 7 May, all day. Games Day will take place on Saturday, 15 May starting 8:00 am. Please wear your House T-shirts.

LOWER SCHOOL NEWS
Elementary News
It is with great pleasure that the Elementary Section welcomes students back from their Easter Holiday to the 4th and last quarter of the school year. Our students' persistent hard work and self-growth will culminate in the final results of the coming quarter.

Some of the upcoming events in which students are encouraged to participate are: Special Arabic Contest, Arabic Contest, Mathathon, Maths Contest, trips, theatre, May Festival, Field Day, and last but not least, the Musical Evening. You have a lot to look forward to children, and so do we.

A quick note to update parents on the events that took place in the Elementary Section recently is in order. At the Book Fair many students benefited by purchasing several new books of different genres. Students took pride in participating in the "Open House" event. They found this particular event challenging, exciting, educational, and fun. Students worked with their parents on different skills: mental, physical, handicrafts, and others. It was commended as well-planned, organized, and highly successful in meeting its goal. Thanks are in order to all the administration, the teachers and their students.

The Social Studies Contest in the UE was significantly informative. Grade 4 competed to learn the capitals of major countries of the world and the continents in which they are located. The first prize winner was Michael Feghali, and second prize went to Nour Abi Fadel. Bravo! The Grade 6 contest included a lot of research to find the first three to ten highest, lowest, longest, widest, biggest, smallest, most populated, least populated countries, rivers, lakes, seas, mountains, deserts, oceans, continents, etc.... The Special Social Studies Contest winner was Ralph Maatouk. The Regular Social Studies Contest first prize winner was Gian Franco Gaspar, and the second prize winner was Alex Saad. Congratulations to all.

Before classes broke off for the Easter Holiday, students scurried around the premises looking for Easter eggs. The BHS Parents’ Association representatives gave the first prizes to Grade 1B, Grade 2B, and Grade 3B. In UE Grade 4A received 1st prize, 5B 2nd prize, and 6B 3rd prize. All the students were also given an artistic package as an Easter gift.

After the holidays, Fabriano visited BHS to hand art prizes for the Matn District to the 16 Elementary Section winners:

Lebanese Army Category - Romy Hajj 4th, Joseph Shalala 5th Olympic Games Category - Rudy Zalzal and Celia Prescot 2nd, Valeria Hilani 6th Grandparents Category - Sara Luna Akl 1st, Andrea Saad 2nd, Yara Kehdi 4th

Other subjects - Cathrine El Aswad 1st, Nour Abi Fadel and Karen Aziz 2nd, Andrew Daoud 3rd, Ronald Karam 4th, Tiffany Batrouni 6th, Juan Pablo Ghantous Ferrera 7th, Michel Sadek 8th

Congratulations to the Art Department, especially teacher Vivian Schmaissani.

Grade 1 students enjoyed writing a story about themselves entitled "About Me." It included their early childhood interests and future plans. Best of luck to all of you!

Grade 2 students started learning about plants. They went for a walk with their teachers on the school premises to identify and observe different kinds of plants. They also drew and painted parts of a plant during the art lesson. Well done.

Integrating Art with English, Grade 3 students are going to prepare colourful wish kites. They will venture into the Upper School science lab to observe different kinds of rocks and minerals.

Special Arabic students prepared a family tree with their teacher Micheline El Ghossein. They learnt the family members’ titles in Arabic. 

Congratulations to students Laila Ferguson who won 1st place in the UE Special Arabic Contest and Elie Freiha who won 2nd Place. Thank you to Special Arabic Coordinator Karma Samara and teacher Zeina Abou Mrad.

On 18 April, Grade 6C student Karim Lama participated in the Red Belt “Lebanese National Taekwondo Federation” Competition. Karim won all fights, but on the last fight, he missed by one point in a “Sudden Death” and earned the silver medal. According to his Grand Master, Karim is on his way to getting the black belt in June! Well done Karim, Congratulations!

It Runs in the Family…
10 year old Grade 5 student Laila Ferguson and her brother, Leyth (KG 2), both ran 5K in the Bekaa Spring Race in Baalbeck on 28 March. Laila came first in the women’s under 13 category in 29 minutes 56 seconds and Leyth, although only 5 years old, came third in men’s under 13 with a remarkable time of 35 minutes 26 seconds. Laila also ran Al Bayroutya 5K Women’s Race on 18 April. Her amazing time of 27 minutes 8 seconds, won her first place in her category, and she was described by the commentator as having the potential to be a great runner.  Well done, Laila and Leyth.

Infant Section
With the arrival of spring, we see evidence of new life blooming all around us. The children are growing so quickly and learning so much.  We are very proud of their accomplishments. 

On 19 March the Infant Section celebrated Mother’s Day. Mothers were invited to their children’s classes, and they had the opportunity to spend a few hours doing activities with their child. We thank the mothers who participated in preparing some of these activities.

All classes participated in the Easter activities. Eggs were hidden in our playground for the egg hunt, which was the unchallenged highlight of these activities. Thanks to the Parents’ Association for giving each child a gift at the end of the event.

Our value for the month of April is sharing. Sharing does not come naturally to children and it takes a bit of time to teach them to share willingly. Young children tend to think everything is theirs. We explain to them the ideas of sharing and taking turns by example, guidance, and repetition.

Note: Birthday invitations can be distributed in class only if every student in the class is going to receive one.

STAFF NEWS
Congratulations to Upper School Counsellor Zeina Nakhel Fares on the birth of her baby girl Océane on 18 March 2010.

Congratulations to Infant Section Teacher (KG I) Racha Balka on her marriage to Walid El-Murr on 11 April 2010.

THANK YOU TO…
- Former Head of Section Gillian Turner for donating new and used books to both the Upper Elementary Library and the Thomas Little Memorial Library.
- DoS Samar Barakat, former teacher Joyce Said, and volunteer Carol Gehlbach who donated books to the Thomas Little Memorial Library.
- Friend of the school Germaine El-Khoury, students Jude and Georgio Massaad, and the anonymous donor who donated new and used books to the Lower and Upper Elementary Libraries.
- UE teacher of French Gracia Maroun and student Catherine Al Aswad who donated books to the Upper Elementary Library.
- Students Yasmine and Samir Ghorayeb who donated new and used books to the Lower Elementary Library.
- The Brummana High School Parents' Association for donating 120 sets of shorts and T-shirts for the BHS basketball and football varsity teams.

The Newsletter will be published approximately every 3 weeks. If you would like to receive a free copy of the Newsletter by email, please send an email with “subscribe” in the subject line to: najat.wakim@bhs.edu.lb.

BHS Newsletter
4 June 2010
13 May 2010
23 April 2010
18 March 2010
25 February 2010
4 February 2010
14 January 2010
3 December 2009
5 November 2009
16 October 2009
12 June 2009