Primary news

Primary News

It has been a busy week in Primary with the Project Pirate Mural painting, Year 4 trip, a Meet SLT meeting and Year 6 production rehearsals ongoing. There’s still been lots of time for lovely learning in class too.

Class News Gardening club have been harvesting their potatoes this week and they managed to eat half (slathered with butter for some!) before the end of the club session! Please see the gallery for pictures.

On Wednesday both Year 4 classes went hiking through the hills of Normafa on a beautiful, sunny day. They started off by travelling on public transport from school then switched onto the famous Children's Railway where they were treated to a scenic rail journey. Once they had departed for the train (and stopped for a snack and some water!), they then began the steep hike up the hill to Erzebet tower which was exhausting but completely worth it for the incredible views of the city. After soaking up the incredible scenery, they headed down to the nearby park for our lunch and then enjoyed playing outdoor games together before grabbing a quick ice cream on the way home!

Sad goodbyes and exciting hellos

The Primary team has been a close-nit collaborative team. It has been my pleasure to work with such a strong team of caring and dedicated teachers. Inevitably in our international community, the time does come for some of our teachers to move on and some are moving back to the UK or on to Asia this year.

Harriet Corrighan, Megan Lawson, Sam Tonge and Lola Narloch are all moving on to pastures new and will be sorely missed. Michael Hudspith and Natalia Gorecka are similarly departing at the end of this year and will also be missed greatly.

From our TA team, Veronika Szilagyi is also moving on and we are sorry to see her go too.

However, despite my sadness at saying goodbye to such wonderful colleagues, I am also excited to welcome some excellent and highly-qualified colleagues who will be joining us this year.

Over the last few weeks, I have been getting to know the new members of our team and they have been busy Skyping our departing teachers to find out about their new classes. I am also excited to introduced them all to you below:

Year 1 Avon: Haley Katopodis

Haley grew up playing basketball, exploring the outdoors (weather permitting!), and loving learning in the lakeside town of Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A. Her lust for travel and adventure took her to Thailand shortly after her college graduation where she fell in love with teaching. She enrolled in online graduate school to obtain her M. Ed and subsequently completed an online teaching certification in Early Childhood Education all the while teaching at an international kindergarten in the beach town of Bangsaen, Thailand.

Four years of living and teaching in Thailand has allowed her to explore all that Asia has to offer. Having visited over 30 countries on 5 continents, Haley enjoys travelling, adventure activities, culture, food, and a good read. She welcomes any invitation to participate in outdoor activities and sports, and is especially a fan of basketball, both on and off the court. Although she doesn’t consider herself a culinary expert, Haley also enjoys cooking and learning new recipes in the kitchen.

Haley is so excited to be joining the Britannica team this year in Budapest. Her love of languages and culture has sparked in her a desire to learn Hungarian. Most of all, she is looking forward to getting to know her students, their families, and the Britannica community.

Year 1 Axe: Kyle Gardner

Kyle grew up in a small town in the east of England called Boston. He went to school there and then moved to Hull in England where he studied English Literature. Following this, Kyle moved to Stuttgart Germany to work at the Free Active School there, before returning to England to complete his teacher training. For the last three years, Kyle has been living and working in London, England in two different schools. He is moving here having been the teacher of a Reception class in the Academic year 2018/19.

Having the desire to travel further, Kyle recently decided it was time to move to Budapest, a city he has visited and enjoyed on a number of occasions. He enjoys music and literature and he is currently learning to play the guitar.

Kyle is really excited to join the Britannica School community and is looking forward to meeting everyone. He would like to wish everyone a safe and relaxing summer holiday before we return for a fun-filled Year one.

Kyle will be visiting on Tuesday 11^th for Step Up Day.

Year 2 Medway: Elin Roberts

Elin comes from the East of England and having completed a degree in Primary Education, she has spent the past two years living in Norwich and working in a large, vibrant school in the heart of the city.

Elin has taught in Year One for the past two years and has enjoyed passing on her passion for learning, ensuring that learning is engaging and meaningful.

In her spare time she enjoys tennis, swimming, running, reading and socialising with friends and family. Elin is very excited to explore Budapest and is looking forward to joining the Britannica school community.

Year 2 Mersey: Rosie Wolland (Key Stage 1 Coordinator)

Rosie grew up in a small rural community called Pahiatua in the North Island of New Zealand. After high school, she moved to Christchurch in the South Island to attend University where she studied to be a teacher. She later returned home where she taught in a range of different schools in varying age groups from Reception to Year 8.

Always having a desire to travel, Rosie decided it was time to teach aboard and see what the world outside little New Zealand had to offer. She accepted a job in Suzhou, China where she has taught Year 2 and English Language Learners across Key Stage 1 and 2. She has a real love of developing a love of language in children and seeing them grow into independent learners.

Outside of school life, you will find Rosie out running, enjoying a yoga class or having a coffee in the sun. She also loves many sports from hockey, cricket and rugby especially supporting the All Blacks. She spent many years playing competitively and coaching sport while in New Zealand. She also loves art, music and more recently enjoys photographing and writing about her travel experiences.

Rosie is really excited to join the Britannica School community and looks forward to meeting you all in August. She would like us to extend her wishes for a safe and relaxing summer holiday break before you return for a fun-filled Year 2.

Year 3 Tamar: Rebekah Fox

Rebekah first started her teaching career back home in London, before taking a giant leap and moving to Cambodia where she taught in an international school, as well as taking on the role as Milepost 1 leader. After three amazing years in Cambodia, she recently moved to Bucharest, Romania, as a Year 3 teacher and is now excited to continue her learning journey and be part of the team here at Britannica.

Rebekah has a love for learning, travel and tasting new culinary delights. She has had the opportunity to experience new cultures, food, and seen some amazing places around the world. Now she can’t wait to see what Budapest has to offer.

Year 6 Tyne: Ryan Phillips (Upper Key Stage 2 Coordinator, Assistant Head)

Ryan comes from the south of England, he has roots from Dover to Southampton to the old mining town of Camborne in Cornwall. After finishing University he volunteered in Brunei with the Army’s Youth Service. This was followed by starting his teaching career in Thailand as an EAL teacher. Afterwards, he moved back to the UK, where he was a Learning Support Assistant, working in the Visual Support team at a primary school.

After these rewarding experiences, Ryan moved to East London, where he trained to become a Primary school teacher. After his NQT year he became the PE coordinator and had amazing experiences in the build up to the 2012 Olympics, such as meeting Sir Steve Redgrave and being part of a team developing a scheme of work for the Mo Farah foundation.

Ryan is a keen traveler and enjoys new adventures. This and the opportunity to be part of a team helping to develop a new International school were the reasons for him moving to Mongolia. While at the school, he was part of team of teachers that facilitated the school becoming accredited by COBIS. During the two years he was there, he enjoyed trips across the Gobi desert and traversing frozen rivers by Husky pulled sleighs.

Swapping -40 C for the 100 % humidity of Malaysia was quite the shock to the system. His first role was as Art Coordinator, in which he led many whole school projects with a focus on raising awareness about the environment and sustainability. Ryan then became Literacy coordinator, supporting teachers with strategies to engage young writers and how to support them becoming independent. During his time in Malaysia he led Teaching and Learning across the Primary and Secondary schools by introducing collaborative and developmental Professional Learning Teams.

Ryan enjoys a range of sports and activities, such as Rugby, with an abundance of enthusiasm but with little talent! He also enjoys trying new activities, like Parasailing in Nepal to get over his fear of heights. It didn’t work! He has a passion for History, Art and Poetry, which he looks forward to exploring in Budapest, the school and it’s community.

Step Up Day and Classes Next Year

Today, your child will come home with a letter informing you of their new teacher, teaching assistant and room for next academic year. They will spend the day with their new class on Tuesday 11^th June for Step Up Day. Some new children will also be visiting Britannica for the day to spend time with their new class.

If your family are leaving Britannica at the end of this academic year, you will also receive a letter telling you where your child will spend the morning on Tuesday.

For Step Up Day, all children should go to the top yard as normal and will line up in their new class lines. The teachers will collect their classes and take them down to their new room for the morning of activities. There is no need to go straight to the room.

If your child has a new teacher, one of our departing staff will do some activities prepared by the new teacher to help them get to know their new class.

In the afternoon, the children will return to their old classes and do some reflections about the new year ahead.

Reports and Assessment Parent Workshop

If you would like to express your interest in attending the Reports and assessment workshop, please click this link. You also have the opportunity to pose questions you would like answered in the session.

The session will be Tuesday 18^th June in the auditorium after drop off.

Mural Painting

The mural painting took place this week with our wonderful artists: Mrs Tina Gibson, Ms Bilski, Mrs Egerszegi and Ms Durbridge. They worked with every class in Primary to create ‘Pirates Love Underpants’ story (as voted for by the children!) while Year 6 drew their underpants design on the washing line border.

The week has been fun and rewarding and has left us with a wonderful area for our youngest children to play in.

With the Pirate ship and play equipment now finished, the sandpit and rubber flooring complete, Year 1 cannot wait to play in the Pirate’s Cove next week!

Thank you to Mrs Gibson for her inspiration and artistic talents and to all the artists for the months of planning that culminated in our wonderful mural. Thanks also to the maintenance team, led by Balint Rakos, for the preparation which helped the week to run smoothly.

Year 6 Production

Don’t forget that all parents (but especially Year 6 families!) are welcome to attend the Year 6 production on Thursday 20^th June at 4pm in the auditorium. We hope to see you there!

Assembly

This week, assembly was a very cute show from 1 Avon class with a special performance of Peter Pan. We also did some one-minute meditation with Miss Lawson and congratulated our Stars of the Week.

Many congratulations to all children who appeared in the merit book. Check out the Britannica Facebook page for photos of assembly.

Star of the Week

Concerns and Queries

This is a reminder to parents that if you have any concerns or worries, please contact your child’s teacher. You can find all email addresses under the teacher’s picture on the school website: https://britannicaschool.hu/staff

The Key Stage Coordinators can also help: h.corrighan@britannicaschool.hu, J.bilski@britannicaschool.hu, n.gorecka@britannicaschool.hu and of course, I would be happy to help too at m.moreton@britannicaschool.hu.

I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend with your families,

Marie Moreton

Head of Primary