The beginning of the year was another milestone for us with a few new variants for the organisation of the school, Open Day and electronic enrolment forms.

OPEN DAY 2021: started with a clarification session to parents of the children of our school and new ones too. There were two sessions and parents could have a good look at the school and classrooms, ask questions and understand more about the importance of the Brazilian Ethnic School of SA to all families, in bringing up bilingual children. Another advance for us has been the ultimate online enrolments, that drove us to forget about the paperwork - everything is online now. YEYYY!

Plus, lots of new students were enrolled in the 2021 school year, but two groups had the biggest growth in numbers- the Playgroup 1, with 5 new students and Primary, with 8 new students (counting the Pre-SACE too). Playgroup 2 also had changed because lots of children turned 2 at the beginning of the year, followed by the ones who turned 3 and moved up again to Pre-1 this time. And by the way, this group is our fullest group of students. Pre-2 also has a whole number of new students, who just turned 5 and will start the process of Literacy (letramento).

With all this fun, we could not forget to mention that, from now on, most of our students will have a school t-shirt to parade among others proudly saying they are part of BESSA.

Learning (Aprendizado): Children learnt great stuff and were able to practice the Brazilian language. BESSA brings a range of opportunities to lead these youngsters to learn more about it in a variety of ways, including culture. Our committed professional team have demonstrated that language development should always be fun, as it will continue throughout the years even when these children finish their schooling because 'learning never ends'! Gladly, we can adapt our pedagogical programs to suit students' needs and their personal experiences, considering their mainstream school, personal histories and families.

Special Dates (Datas especiais): The school celebrated Carnival (with a traditional carnival party for the kids), International Women's day (acknowledging the role of women in society and in our lives) and Easter, with more understanding about this important time of the year.

They could also dive into the 'water world' to understand more the importance of water for everyone and why we need to preserve it, followed by geographic points of view to recognise the abundance of water existent in the world, with a particular look at Brazilian rivers, seas and reservoirs.

Such experience has broadened even more students' learning when they watched a short movie that elaborated on aspects of the importance of water, and how the lack of it could determine the end of everything.

Now, we are moving to the end of the term with our last lesson on 10/4, wishing you all a very good and safe break. We will be back on the 1st of May for another great term, with lots of celebrations. Stay tuned for more, in particular Mother's day celebrations!