Dear Parents,
I spent three days in London attending a Heads’ Conference and enjoyed every minute talking about our wonderful school to Principals and Heads all over the world. Listening to some of their experiences reminds me how grateful I am to be responsible for your children whilst they are in our school care. Thank you.
A FEW POLITE REMINDERS
As the academic year is going by so quickly I would like to bring to your attention some little issues:
School Ramp
Please remember after school that you cannot drive onto the ramp and “wait” for your child if they are not waiting for you. This is creating a safety risk for our children as traffic builds up and tempers become frayed. If your child is not there waiting for you, then you need to drive around and re-join the end of the queue. Please note that if Fran the guard moves you on he is doing so according to instruction. He is not there to be disrespected by parents or hired helpers. Please support me on this matter.
You have received a letter and reminders regarding permission to use your child’s photo if needed when the school posts messages on Twitter. Please return your authorisation request ASAP. Thank you.
SPORTS GRANTS
Aloha College Foundation has formally presented the sports grants it has awarded in support of the Marbella community. Three young people from the town received grants from the school to enable them to progress in their target sport. The event took place at @alohacollege Marbella and was led by Rosa Gómez, Chair of the Board of Trustees. Rosa Gómez thanked those applicants who had not been successful on this occasion and encouraged them and others to participate in any other future offers of sponsorship made by the school.
COLLECTIVE CALLING
We will have a non-uniform day on 7 June to support our last charity this academic year – Collective Calling. The charity is mainly run by just two people, and it is amazing how they manage to do such marvellous work to help both local people, and citizens worldwide. Our support will be to help them provide a suitable place of education for people who have been unable to carry on with their schooling. Reading about the project makes you feel so appreciative of the education that you provide for your children here at Aloha. Let us help educate some young people who are less fortunate than ourselves. Please read more details about the charity on these links: COH, COH Overview, Stages of toilets, The CC Base.
YEARBOOK
Another communication was sent to you enquiring if you wish to post a professional advert in our annual Year Book. This does give you a one-off opportunity to market your business amongst other parents and outside members of the community.
SUMMER SCHOOL
For those new parents who are not aware, Aloha College organises an annual Summer School. The starting date for this is Monday 8 July, until Friday 26 July. We have some new events already planned and three staff organising more. The summer school will be led by Don Sebastian, Dr Jeanette Walker and Miss Meryl. The information is available from the administration department. It would be nice this year to have even more of our own pupils in attendance.
SPORTS DAYS
Thursday and Friday saw all our Primary children’s inter-house Sports Days – what fabulous events! Enjoyed by children, teachers and parents, and by me!
I expect to see you all reading this letter as you meander around Family Fun Morning, being held now at Aloha.
Have a lovely day!
Your sincerely
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
Prioritising children’s wellbeing and positive mental health is at the heart of everything we undertake in the Primary School. This term we are focusing upon helping children understand the real meaning of resilience and how being resilient can help them in their daily lives. Children are being encouraged to think about the following:
- Asking GOOD questions
- Asking for help at the right time
- Helping yourself
- Using plan B/changing your plan
- Challenging yourself
Years 4 to 6 are focusing on all of the above and the younger children are focusing upon 2 or 3. It will be helpful if you discuss these with your children and allow them to explain to you what it means to them and how have they applied these in school and at home.
Sports Days – Once again the days were a huge success with every child taking part in a variety of events and activities. It was great to see so many children enjoying being part of a team and also trying their personal best to achieve. I was also pleased to see so many children remembering their water bottles, caps and suncream, a must for being outside as the weather gets warmer.
Chocolate Making – The Primary Eco Committee were joined by some keen Secondary students who wanted to learn how to make raw healthy chocolate. The process was simple, using just three key ingredients of raw cocoa powder, coconut oil (can be replaced with cocoa butter) and a sweetener such as honey. You can add extras too; we added dried blueberries and salt. Some students were not used to the flavour of dark-natural chocolate and found it a little too bitter, but it can be made at home with extra sweetener or with the addition of some ingredients such as cashew butter, coconut milk and raw creamed coconut butter to give the chocolate a ‘milky’ effect. We hope you can try and make your own at home, it’s so simple and easy!
As you read this I hope that you are enjoying our Family Fun Morning. It is always heartwarming to see the Aloha Community coming together and having a good time. Thank you to our PTA for their organisation and of course you the families for participating.
Your sincerely
Kathryn Salmon
Headteacher, Primary
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
From the moment we feel any physical pain or simply have a cold, we know exactly what to do: we seek help from a doctor or take medication to alleviate that discomfort. We are brought up to automatically notice the slightest ache in our body and find the means to resolve it. In fact, from an early age we are taught that eating fruit and vegetables is essential to have strong health. Much of our upbringing focuses on physical health.
What happens when that pain comes from our mind? Do we know what steps to take to resolve it?
This week was Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme this year was Body Image. This is something that everyone can relate to; we all have hang-ups about our bodies which can have a huge impact on our mental health. The beauty standards that society has imposed on us are unachievable. The media and social networks bombard us daily with images of what is considered beautiful: tall people with perfect figures, no trace of fat and always with a smile on their faces.
During tutor time this week, students were reminded of just how amazing their bodies are and what they can actually do for us. Students were encouraged to be more positive about their bodies using a range of activities such as spoken poetry, videos on how social media sends us messages about what we are supposed to look like, and tips on how to boost self-image. We hope that after this week, our students will have a little more compassion and self-love for who and what they are.
Our ‘Be Kind campaign’ goes from strength to strength. They have organised two bake sales to help a former Aloha student who ran the London Marathon in order to raise awareness of Mental Health. The money raised amounted to 236 euros.
“If you don’t love yourself, nobody will. Not only that, you won’t be good at loving anyone else. Loving starts with the self.”
I hope you have a good weekend.
Yours sincerely,
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
