Dear Parents,
I hope your week was a good one.
Think about the phrase “a good teacher never stops learning”. What does that mean to you? Everyone is a teacher through our actions and sharing of knowledge. As a parent, from the moment your children get up each day you are the teacher. Our children are continuously receiving learning stimuli, from you, our teachers and the environment around them.
Today as you are reading this newsletter all of the management and teachers are in school learning about new initiatives and sharing good practice. We have a well renowned speaker joining us from the UK to talk about children’s mental well-being. Aloha College prides itself on keeping staff up to date with professional development; this is essential if we are to deliver the best lessons for your children.
Well done to our staff this who this week will only rest one day with their families, Sunday.
RAMSEY SABER
Many of you ask me to update you on the progress of a much loved pupil Ramsey who was diagnosed with leukaemia in April 2016.
As you have been informed, Ramsey is now in the UK with his family awaiting a bone marrow transplant.
I am delighted to inform you that a suitable donor has been found and Ramsey will hopefully undergo his transplant on 21 February. We are in regular contact with Kay, his mother, and I would like to share with you her recent message here in which she asks all of our Aloha community to keep Ramsey in our thoughts at this difficult time.
You can do it Ramsey!
We wish Ramsey, his parents and brother Max (ex-pupil) our loving Aloha strength. I will keep you updated.
MISS SWEETING AND HER TEAM
Our thanks and congratulations go to Miss Anna Sweeting (Secondary Maths teacher) who took a small group of pupils to a prestigious Maths Competition in Vienna. Unfortunately they got stranded in the airport due to bad weather – not once did they stop smiling! True ambassadors of Aloha College.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Rehearsals for Great Expectations are going well. If you have not purchased your tickets please do so from the Administration Department. On the advice of the Creative Arts Department I need to point out that the material in this production is more suited to pupils from Year 3 upwards. We wish the cast the best of luck and we are sure you will have 3 very successful evening performances.
DÍA DE ANDALUCÍA
Next Friday 22 February all of us will enjoy a traditional Andalusian breakfast of “pan con aceite”. Parents will be invited to celebrate with us by trying the bread and oil at 9.00h or 15.30h. You are welcome to join the Primary School in a Special Día de Andalucía Assembly at 15.00h in the school hall. Primary pupils are invited to wear green and white on that day if they wish.
SICKNESS
There has been a high proportion of children who have had coughs, colds and flu. I hope the situation gets better soon. Please can I remind you that if your child is sick, please notify the school on his/her first day of absence.
Enjoy your weekend, and I hope to see many of you next week at the Year 7 parents’ evening and Great Expectations.
Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
Monday’s assembly was a real treat as Year 3 shared their knowledge of life as an Ancient Egyptian with an entertaining portrayal of slaves, pharaohs, embalmers, dancers, archaeologists and the river Nile. I couldn’t get the Mummy song out of my head all day!
Sadly yesterday we said goodbye to our three student teachers from the University of South Wales Miss Cerys, Mr Morgan and Mr Jonathan. They have proved that they have all the attributes required to make a positive contribution to the world of teaching and we all wish them every success in their future.
This Saturday the teachers are “busy learning” revisiting the important topics of positive behaviour management, quality first teaching, self reflection and the development of growth mindset. “Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better”.
“Some people dream of success while other people get up every morning and make it happen”. This is evident daily in the Primary School, and this week is no exception. In addition to the constant stream of children visiting my office to proudly share their achievements in their learning, we have also seen success in the wider community.
On Wednesday selected pupils from Years 4 to 6 entered the Marbella Orienteering Competition organised by the Town Hall. 40 pupils followed clues written in Spanish around the old town and I am very proud to report our teams came 1st and 2nd.
On Friday we hosted the Y5-Y6 Interschool Handball Workshop organised by Don Sebastián in the Arts and Sports Hall. Pupils from BIC, SIS, LAUDE and SWANS, together with Aloha selected children, learned the different skills required and finished the day with a fun competition. The winners here were all the participants who showed empathy, respect and teamwork, regardless of their school. Well done everyone!
Finally, pupils from Year 6 are off to Sierra Nevada tomorrow for 2 days skiing. Let’s hope the weather stays fine and they have an enjoyable time.
Next week’s target: RESPONSIBILITY
Talk Homework: If you were given a puppy to look after what would you need to do?
Your sincerely
Kathryn Salmon
Headteacher, Primary
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
“Why do people want to be liked?”. This is how I introduced one of my lessons this week. It rose intriguing responses from my Year 13 students, who immediately linked the question to social media. It was fascinating to listen to this group of children talking about something that is now second nature to them.
During our discussion, it became clear that many youngsters today only focus on the amount of likes and followers they can possibly get on Instagram. I was a little surprised to learn that these so-called followers can be total strangers, people whom they have never met. I suppose it is like being a celebrity, they do not know who all their fans are. The shock came when I was told that it is even possible to ‘buy’ fake followers so that your profile shows that you are this super star with lots of people after you. What is the world coming to?
Popularity is measured by likes, the more the better. “What happens then if you do not get the amount of likes that you expect after something has been published?”
If a teenager believes that likes are the one way to be valued or accepted, not achieving them can lead to feeling frustrated and inferior. Self-esteem can be damaged as a result.
It must be incredibly hard having to study and analyse in great detail the post you are about to publish on social media in order to make people click the magic button. This is why we sometimes see children portraying an image that does not match at all with who they really are. The desire to impress others is so powerful that they can end up putting themselves at risk.
Let’s educate our children to focus on developing ‘real’ skills as digital learners as opposed to worrying about attracting ‘fake’ followers online.
I hope you have a nice weekend.
Yours sincerely,
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
