Proud Pinoy Success

At the start of July 2017 The British School Manila student, Liezl Bitas, proudly received her International Baccalaureate Diploma score of 45 points, the top mark that can be received by a Diploma student and the culmination of two years’ hard work and study. Of the 159,400 students who completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme across the world in 2017, Liezl was one of only 218 to receive a perfect score of 45 points, a fantastic achievement.


Liezl, a proud Filipino, joined the British School Manila in August 2015, with her intellect, passion and energy, along with high levels of humility and self-reflection she was perfectly balanced and certainly ready for the rigors of the IB Diploma. As she embarked on the two year IB programme, she immediately earned the respect of teachers and students, with her passion for learning and her ability across all subjects, particularly shining when finding opportunities to merge her academic abilities with her love of film.

Liezl is a storyteller, a student with a unique gift of words and the ability to create spellbinding narratives and engaging film work. It was no surprise that Liezl chose to apply to study Film at University; her work and ideas deserve to be seen by a wider audience and she is determined to both learn her craft and develop her own voice and we look forward to watching her evolve over the coming years. ‘Best Director’ sometime in the future?

Despite receiving an impressive array of offers from US Universities, Liezl has chosen to continue her studies at the College of Saint Benilde in the Philippines. She has a passion for giving her own country and culture a voice, although she one day dreams of being able to study overseas where she can gain a greater perspective of her own place within the wider world, an experience she believes will enhance her ability as a Pinoy storyteller.

Liezl Bitas is a name to be watched, a Philippine talent to be nurtured and developed.

BSM Students supports The Gala Foundation

On Friday 3 June 2016,  British School Manila Year 6 classes welcomed the children from their Service Learning Partner, The Gala Foundation, based in Angono, Rizal.

‘We decided to invite Gala to BSM and use the money we had have raised to provide fun activities we could do with the children - to help us get to know each other,’ said a student from class 6GP.

Over the past few weeks BSM Year 6 students have worked hard to raise money for The Gala Foundation through their 'Money Matters' project. The students sold a range of products on BSM campus, to their fellow students, over a 2-day period and raised over PhP30,000.

During the visit by Gala, each Year 6 class led a different event. 6GP class began the day with sport, year 6AD then led an art project and 6GD finished the morning with an ICT activity.

‘It was fun and this was just the first step in working with the Gala Foundation,’ said a student from 6GP. ‘We will continue to support them next year in other ways.’

Some notes from BSM students about the morning:

"During the Gala visit I liked doing sports with them, tennis and poison ball. I loved spending time with them, showing them around our school and walking and chatting. -student from 6GP class
When Gala came to Year 6 we had prepared 3 activities for them. My class helped them to decorate a bag which they could then take to their house. We made many new friends and my Year 6 friends agree that it was an experience we won't forget. - student from 6AD class

During the Gala visit I really enjoyed working with the children on the ICT activity as we got to teach them how to edit pictures. They made a personal card which they took home to decorate their rooms. - student from  6GD

It was a fun morning for everyone involved and a special 'Thank You' to Miss Gemma, BSM's wonderful PLA, for helping to organise a memorable experience.

Learn about BSM curriculum
Read more about BSM’s Service Learning Programme
Read about BSM’s Creativity, Action, Service programme

Express Yourself in TEDxBritishSchoolManila

On the 12th of March, in a collaboration between British School Manila and TEDx - the programme inspired by TED conference designed for a local experience - inspiring speakers came to our school for musical performances and informative activities taught us a thing or two about expressing oneself. Everyone left the event a little more open-minded about how expressing you can change both you and the community around you. Each speaker had a different story to tell, reaching and inspiring every person in the audience.

Roy Moore, the executive director at Fairplay for All Foundation, talked about his contribution to the Payatas dumpsite, and how his time there taught him that expressing yourself when building a community leads to enormous changes.

A crowd favorite definitely had to be Sergio Gabriel, a spoken word poet and story teller. He taught us to never miss an opportunity to tell a good story, and that everyone is a storyteller in their own way. Every year, he grows his hair out then shaves it off to donate it to a cancer foundation. He does this because he's always looked up to his grandfather, who died due to cancer, giving him the initiative to help others who are suffering from this illness too.

“The best stories that we can give are the ones that we are writing now.” As Sergio said, you should always be ready to answer the question, “What's your story?” Someone out there will be willing to listen.

Jay Jaboneta, a Filipino blogger shared about the yellow boat project where he created a foundation that provides yellow boats for children to get to school instead of swimming. Ending his speech, Jaboneta told the crowd how self-expression, even in social media, can have large impacts. “We can do small things in a great way,” he concluded.

Architect and interior designer Joseph Javier of Javier Design Studio Manila expressed himself through the design and aesthetics of Filipino Architecture. He enlightened the audience about how most of us today see our own country and how to embrace the ‘baduy’ (corny) and the ‘maarte’ (picky) traits of the Philippines.

To begin the final segment of the day's event, Hindy Weber Tantoco shared her story of transitioning from a fashion designer to an urban farmer. Tantoco spoke about her daughter, who upon being diagnosed of a rare disease in which she can only eat a strict diet changed her life. Surprisingly, she realised that she loved what she was doing. "We can't stay stuck,"she said about her story, "Life wants us to evolve."

Lastly, CarlitosSiguion-Reyna, who studied and taught at NYU at the Tisch School of the Arts, told us about how we can express ourselves through art - specifically, film.

A total of 30 students, one teacher, 6 months of preparation, and over 100 emails sent out to participants made this 6-hour event possible. One week before the 12th of March, the whole team worked hard to meet active deadlines. According to Jan Sy, former president of the TEDxBritishSchoolManila Team, “This year’s conference [was] very different from last year’s TEDx conference. It’s very different in a good way”.

"There were a few stressful times," admitted Martin Tan, one of the vice presidents for this year's event, "but we pulled together as a team, and it was a really fun and rewarding experience, which will hopefully inspire and benefit those who got to watch."

"TEDx this year was run by an amazing and dedicated team of Y12 students with a passion for ideas worth spreading," said Aurora Guild, the president and main organiser, "The speakers inspired the audience in all walks of life. We're incredibly blessed to have worked with such an amazing team, and thank you so much to everyone who made this possible! Our speakers, sponsors, and volunteers were absolute stars."

"I'd also like to thank the patience of Winston, our student-led publication. TED and Winston share several members and the same meeting time, thank you guys for letting us have Gabbi, Julian, Michelle and Liezl for the last few weeks when it got critical!" added Aurora. "We can't wait for next year's event!"

Staying true to the name and reputation of the TED conference, this event gave the audience an abundance of advice through eye-opening talks, and a reminder that expressing yourself can be done in a variety of ways which can change your life completely. Finally, TEDxBSM reminded us (or words to that effect) that we should not be afraid to take a leap of faith, embrace our individuality and show the world our truest self.

This was written by writers of Winston, a student-led publication of British School Manila. For more, visit their website here.

British School Manila introduces Flying Trapeze as an After School Activity

“As I walked up the 25 steps of the ladder for the first time, I could feel my legs begin to shake. Fear took over. I approached the top of the platform and pulled myself up. I grabbed hold of the bar. In the background, I could hear the words, “ready, 3, 2, 1” and something within me forced me to jump off. For the first time in my life, I actually felt like I was flying through the air, weightless and free. This was the day I fell in love with the sport of Trapezing.” (Izzy Moon)

For the past 11 weeks, a group of girls from British School Manila’s Year 5 and 6 have been taking part in an After School Activity in Bonifacio. Flying Trapeze Philippines (FTP) is the first and only full-size Flying Trapeze rig in the Philippines and one of only a few in all of Asia. Located in the heart of Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, FTP is an excellent alternative form of exercise which tones your upper body and core muscles within a fun and challenging environment. FTP has given these girls, in particular, the opportunity to try out a relatively new sport which, whilst being lots of fun, is also very physically demanding.

‘With help from our fantastic local Filipino coaches, we have all been able to develop so many different skills whilst being 30 feet in the air - scary,’ said one of our performers. Trapeze relies heavily on understanding the timings of your swing so that you are able to be caught in mid-air at the right opportunity. After only a few training sessions, they were being caught by another Trapeze artist whilst flying through the air!

Last Friday, the BSM team got together with children from International School Manila (ISM) for the first Philippines Inter-School Trapeze Show. It was an incredible opportunity to show off all of their new skills to an audience - who of course were wowed!  Although they admitted to feeling under pressure, the students were outstanding and performed with great enthusiasm. Our children’s performance was followed by an awe-inspiring demonstration from the FTP instructors showing everybody the unbelievable skills they could develop with practice and dedication. FTP’s mantra which is used when encouraging the children, at this early age, is one which truly helps to inspire: "Those who don't jump will never fly." Very close to one of our mantras, “if it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you”.  At BSM we hope to motivate each child to aim higher and floating through the air on a flying trapeze certainly made this happen.

Ebenezer Junior: British School Manila KS2 Production

The final week of Term 1 in British School Manila featured the Key Stage 2 extravaganza Ebenezer Junior, an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. Combining both traditional elements and contemporary, the story unveiled the spirit of Christmas in all of us.

Excitement built as parents eagerly queued up outside on Tuesday evening 8th of December 2015. There was PTA-provided mulled wine, nibbles and Christmas props carefully arranged in the foyer area. Excitement grew further on entering the hall and there were many wows as parents saw the scenery and set up for the first time, feeling they may have walked into a West End production by mistake. It was really breath-taking. Carols rang out, the lights were dimmed, the fire glowed in the hearth, snowflakes sparkled and the stage and backdrop looked truly spectacular.

That was all prior to the show. The show itself matched the heights of the set. The singing was joyous and powerful, and quite rousing. The dances were a real joy and a wonderful way to round up and the children clearly loved performing them. Actors and actresses brought characters to life with clarity and purpose and all the children looked the part in their period costumes. Confident public performance is an important part of developing children’s life skills at BSM, and they worked hard rehearsing to reach this standard.

Ebenezer Junior was a truly wonderful production, one of those special BSM community events that roused the Christmas spirit. The cast sang ‘Charity’ as part of the show and Christmas is about giving. The parents were very generous over the two shows in donating almost PHP 80,000 to the community service partners.