The Internet has returned, so I quickly wrote this update and uploaded photographs!

In the beginners group, there have been some great progress after just one day, Anshul and Anton started off, in Mrs Hunter's words "like Bambi on ice" but by the end of the day were much more confident and they were turning through cones on a mini slalom. Emi and Riley have great posture and control and Mrs Hunter cannot believe that this is Tiara’s first time, such is the progress made.

The Intermediates are finding out their levels and are taking on slopes of ever increasing difficulty. The advanced group has visited many slopes and already have been challenged by two mogul hills.

The weather is cold but with the warm clothing and strenuous skiing, nobody is feeling it.

The students are currently in the homework club that ran 6pm – 7pm, we will then have dinner and evening activities.

I am trying to upload our photographs to picasa, please try the link below to view them.

https://picasaweb.google.com/109350549889751453744/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKu56bmHzfybdw

We arrived safely yesterday afternoon, there was a total of 3 hours of delay getting to Geneva. We were just thankful to have made it after seeing temperatures plummet to -19 at Schipol!

The journey from Geneva to La Plagne was very smooth and the traffic was light so after a pitstop at McDonalds along the way, we arrived at Plagne 1800 at 5.30pm. It was very cold but all the ski clothing kept everyone nice and warm. Rooms were allocated and the students went along to the ski shop for the fitting of boots and skis.
We have woke up to glorious weather. The sky is blue and the sun is shining and there is a lot of snow so conditions could not be better. The students are very excited and cannot wait to get on the slopes!

Sorry, no pictures this morning. The internet is not working so I am using my phone to upload this.

The annual ski trip will be leaving for La Plagne, France on Saturday, 4th February. Students on the trip may be expected to complete work while away to ensure they do not fall behind. School is operating as normal during the week and there will be minimal disruption.

A reminder that we will be holding a sixth form parents consultation evening on Wednesday 1st February.

The Year 7 students have had some exciting activities during enrichment this year. Before the Christmas break they were taught Capoeira at Sports Hall Zuid and this term they are having lessons in speed skating.

Students are taken to Jaap Eden Ice Skating Rink in the East of Amsterdam and are given an hours tuition in his challenging and technical sport.

Already we have some outstanding skaters and some absolute beginners who are finding their feet.

Next half term, Year 7 students will be taking part in speed skating lessons at the Jaap Eden Ice Stadium, as part of the Wednesday sports enrichment programme. They will be coached by the speed skating professionals from Duosport.

While the school covers the cost of entrance and coaching, we kindly ask for a parental contribution of 5 euros per session, toward the hire of the bus. There are 6 sessions in total, starting Wednesday 11^th January.

Students will also need to bring their own skates, or 5.50 euros per session to cover the cost of hiring .

For this activity students will also need warm outdoor (and preferably waterproof) clothes, and must wear gloves in order to be allowed to skate. Could you please ensure that your child has these items for these dates.

Please get in touch should you have any questions.

Kind regards and seasonal greetings

Peter Foulke

Three BSA teams have taken the school further than ever before in the local schools basketball competitions.

The boys and girls teams in the NBB Schools League came 1^st and 3^rd respectively in the Amsterdam Zuid section, a competition that has been running for the last 6 weeks. Both teams therefore made it through to the city finals, played at Apollohal this week. The boys eventually finished third, losing to champions Oscar Carre, a team they beat last week to win the Zuid section. Their overall results were: played 16, won 13, drew 1, and lost 2.

The girls reversed there finish in the Zuid section, finishing second best team in the city! Both teams played with a huge amount of courage, commitment and focus. Not only that but they made lots of new friends, picking up the competition’s Fair Play award.

They really did themselves and the school proud!

BSA Boys: Niels Frese, Boaz Laan, In-joon Huh, Charlie Rolfe, Xavier Raychell, Harshmaan Singh, Olo Lisewski

BSA Girls: Gabriella Leers, Erin Uddenberg, Emily Hickin, Alice Hickin, Emilienne Bardsley, Kirsty Graham, Aurore van Reeth, Arisa Ogiwara,Yuina Suzuki

The Boys under-15 team also had their first city tournament of the year. The Secondary School is now part of the Topscore programme, giving us access to professional coaching and competitions in three sports. Florian de Vries, the school’s Topscore basketball coach, has been working with the boys since the start of this half term. He has been highly impressed by the boys’ talent and attitude. BSA faced five teams in the first Topscore tournament on Wednesday 14^th December. Having got through to the final, they were beaten by last year’s winners (a team of ‘giants’!). A fantastic first outing at this level!

A special thanks to Ben Graham, our Topscore school coordinator, for his help in organising the team.

BSA Boys Under-!5’s: Noah Logan, Alexander Mungkorn, Sejong Yoon, Ben Graham, Francesco Folcarelli, Ei sui Jung, Kevin Hana, Gosha Ostapishin, Andy Lee

We started our 3 quarter finals with a win against the WBS school by 5 points. Olo Lisewski scored most of the baskets in that one and Charlie Rolfe was inspirational in that game too, covering every inch of the court. In our second match, we beat Mijpaal by 7 points. Olo scored most of the baskets again and everybody did their part to win the second match. We won our third match but not everybody were at their best but we won by 2 points to go into the semi finals where we beat Oscar Carré by 5 points, where Olo scored most of the baskets. Then in the finals we faced WBS and we won by 11 points to win the finals, where everybody scored. We won the NBB Zuid League!

Match report by Harshmaan Singh