St Paul’s The British
International school of
Warsaw
OUR CURRENT NEWSLETTER
27 August, 2002
Examination Results, 2002
We were very pleased with this year’s
Advanced and Advanced Subsidiary Level results which were announced this week. These
examinations are usually taken by year 12 and 13 candidates in England and by
our students in Years 11, 12 and 13.
Our figures
for 2002 are:
Grade Usual British St Paul’s
(cumulative) students (%) students (%)
A 12 27
B 30 44
C 45 61
D 60 78
E 70 86
N 80 86
U 100 100
The results were much better than the
normal pattern for students in English schools and our students deserve credit
for their achievements. They have continued the school’s strong record of
winning university places, which now extends over a ten ten-year period.
The records at A and B are outstanding,
and well over half the results exceed level C, required by the leading. It is
important to say that for some of our students, passsing these examinations has
been a difficult achievement, especially since the exams are intended for
native-speakers of English. Their achievement reflects a good deal of solid, hard work (a bit like their teachers
trying to learn Polish).
The building
... has had its annual refurbishment,
and is now repaired, cleaned, painted and polished. Dark old furniture has been
replaced with brighter and more colourful equipment.
We have also reorganised the whole
building from Nursery, to the Primary classes and on through the Secondary
school. The logic of the new layout should be self-explanatory and no-one
should get lost even on the first day.
The new school year starts
on
Monday, 2 September,with an open day for
parents and students, from 9.00 a.m.to 11.00 a.m..
Lessons begin for all students in all years on
Tuesday, 3 September. The building will be open from 8.00.
We Are Sure you had a Happy Holiday
but can hardly wait to
get back to work
Nowy Rok Szkolny Rozpoczynza
Się 2 Września Otwartym Dnie od 9:00 – 11:00.
Lekcje Dla Wszstkich uczniów
i
Wszystkich Grup Wiekowych
Rozpoczynają Się We
Wtorek 3 Września.
Szkoła Będzie Otwarta od
8:00.
jesteśmy pewni, ze mieliście udane wakacje ale zapewne
Tęsknilisćie bardzo za powrotem do pracy.
New staff
We will be welcoming a
number of new members of staff in September, bringing the school up to its full
complement of foreign and Polish staff. Most of our new colleagues from abroad
will be English but there will also be one teacher from India and another
colleague from South Africa. They are all native speakers of English, although
one also speaks Afrikaans.
We will introduce both the
foreigners and the new Polish staff individually in our newsletters, starting this
week with Christopher and Wendell.
Christopher Banasik
..... was born and educated in Tarnów, near
Kraków. He came to Warsaw to study at the University and has stayed on to
pursue a rseaerch interest arising from his MA thesis, relating information technology
to medical physics. He has experience of teaching Mathematics and Information
Technology over the entire secondary age range, including university entrance,
and has a very good command of English.
The fluency in English relates in part to
Christopher’s interest in music with both Polish and English lyrics: he also
plays guitar and drums. He is keen on basketball, soccer, cycling and hiking. His
academic work on IT has not, he complains, left him enough time to keep up his
chess playing. But he is open to challenges ...
Wendel Ernstzen
... is a South African, althoug he was born in Lusaka, Zambia [the
former British colony of Northern Rhodesia]. He is a native-speaker of English
but is also bi-lingual in Afrikaans (a language related to Dutch). He qualified
as a teacher at the University of Cape Town, taking Mathematics and Art as his
main subjects. He has a post-graduate qualification in Teaching English as a
Foreign Language.
Experienced in teaching in both primary and secondary schools, St Paul’s
will be Wendel’s fourth teaching post, but his first in Poland.
The Polish connection is
that his brother is married to a Pole and is running fitness centre in
Białystock. Wendel has a strong interest in sports, particularly rugby and
volleyball. His other interests include computing, creative writing, drama and complementary
therapies. And then there is the little matter of learning Polish.
Computers
The school has completely
up-dated its computer systems, as part of the summer programme of repair and
refurbishment.
The main computer room has
been re-configured with sixteen work-stations, all with identical (and totally
legal!) software packages. The smaller room now has eight machines, including
some of our most powerful processors, available for more advanced projects. All
twenty-four machines are connected to the internet.
We have also decided to
develop an additional facilitity for the younger children by placing a computer
(with the same software as in the main rooms) in every primary classroom. Our
teachers will therefore be able to set extension work for individuals without
disrupting the ordinary work of the class.
The entire administrative
system was also re-configured, partly with a view to creating a website and
effective e-mail communication with parents:
jod@arts.gla.ac.uk is checked at least twice a day.
Our feeling was that,
despite a very large investment in equipment, the system was incoherent and
difficult for students to use. Part of the problem was allowing the system to be
managed by enthusiastic amateurs rather than fully-qualified professionals,
part was not keeping a close check on software changes “engineered” by our
students themselves.
After a comprehensive and
professional audit, we have had a busy summer as a systems manager and an
engineer set about sorting it all out. They will continue to assist us,
alongside a new systems administrator who will oversee the workings of the
system day to day.
Reklama ....
Since the jobs were done so thoroughly and efficiently, it is only fair to mention that we know and and can recommend a couple of computer consultants who work effectively and can speak very good English: details on application! We can also introduce a really fast and effective firm of cleaners and decorators to anyone who is interested.
ul. Zielona 14, 05-500 Piaseczno, Polska / Poland
+48 22 756 77 97 / +48 22756 26 40 (tels) / +48
22 756 26 09 (fax)
+48
603 087 085 / +48 600 663 584 (mobiles)