We believe that competition is a social process that fosters cooperation, develops motivation and inspires creativity.
We take great pride in participating in academic, sports and creative competitions. Our strong curriculum, excellent teachers and programmes allow our students to perform well in academic competitions. Our emphasis on the whole child also allows us to then focus attention on competitions outside of the academic area.
We have two types of competition:
Internal:
- Houses competitions are the main focus of our school. (*see House System)
- BSS got Talent is where we celebrate and compete in music and dance.
External:
As we grow as a school, we are able to take part in more external competitions, as well as continuing with the ones that are already established at the school. We believe that this allows them to further develop their skills of sportsmanship and positive competitiveness, as well as meeting other students from outside BSS.
ACADEMIC
World Scholar’s Cup – an international debating and creative writing competition in which we take part every year. We have consistently won regional rounds and are now sending a senior team to compete in The Hague.
HIPPO International English Language Olympiad – In 2019 it was our first year competing in this competition and achieved excellent result for the regional competitions. We sent a student to Italy where she was placed second in the world. In 2020 we had four semifinalists. Due to the circumstances the final was cancelled.
COBIS/Mangahigh Maths Challenge– This is another new initiative we joined in 2018. This has raised the profile in mathematics and pupils have shown great enthusiasm. At the end of the competition, we had 11 of or students awarded with medals and certificates for their participation.
COBIS Student World U16 Debate competition – In order to allow our younger debaters to experience an international competition we participated, for the first time, in this. The competition took place in Bucharest, at the Sheraton Hotel and was hosted by International British School of Bucharest. Our students took 5thplace and found it a very rewarding experience.
Intermediate Mathematical Challenge - The Mathematical Challenges aim to stimulate mathematical problem solving. It is aimed at schools and colleges based in the United Kingdom. As a British School Overseas, we were able to take part and one of our students was awarded a gold certificate. Bronze certificates were also awarded to other pupils who took part.
CREATIVE
COBIS Poetry Competition- This year’s theme was ‘The Last Page’. Students were invited to write an original poem that reflects this theme. We were able to enter some of our students and when results are announced we will put this in the ‘News and Events’ section of our page.
COBIS Young Scientist Film Awards -The Young Scientist Film Awards is the annual COBIS science competition in partnership with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in London. We have always successfully taken part in this, with pupils winning awards.
COBIS Art Competition– this allows our students who are creative to also showcase their talents in an international competition.
Immerse Education Tech App Competition - The Immerse Education Tech App Competition provides the opportunity for students aged 11-15 to submit their proposal for a new app by outlining its purpose and features. Our first student to take part was awarded Runner-up and a partially scholarship for a course was awarded.
SPORT
Basketball – we have been successful in building sporting relationships with other schools in Sofia and the older students have been able to play friendly matches against these schools. They have been successful for team-building but also for allowing out students to play against other schools.
Football – always a popular sport at British schools, we have had the opportunity to play against schools in Sofia. This has allowed both our younger and older pupils to experience the excitement of playing against other schools and also meeting the pupils from these schools.
Field Hockey – a fairly new sport at BSS, but one that is gaining popularity. We have a couple of pupils who have attended a weekend field hockey tournament. IN the future, we plan to arrange matches against other schools
International Taekwondo Tournament Pernik Leon Open– we had a student take part in this and they were awarded a Bronze medal
National Taekwondo Championship – another of our students took part and was awarded a gold medal at the competition.
