Parent Newsletter 23 January

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dear parents,

It has been a difficult start to the term for the whole college due to some notifications of Covid cases; however, these have been centred in the Secondary section of the school. So try not to worry and just enjoy the stories your children share with you about their learning and fun at school.

Children’s progress

The beautiful bird box that Alejandro made, which I shared with you in last week’s newsletter, has now been donated to the Primary School. Miss Meryl, together with some of the children, is searching for the best place to put it so it can attract the birds and we can feed them.

Miss Emma and I were absolutely amazed this week when Matías Gil showed us the speed of his maths skills by adding large numbers together.  Here he is adding 25+7 in two seconds and he is only in Reception Class. Well done Matías!

Whilst I was busy making some difficult decisions on Monday Beatriz Salvador (6WA) came to my office to read to me the most beautiful poem in which she had used lots of imagery to describe getting up in the morning and arriving at school. The standard was excellent. She is nearly ready for Secondary School. I also was thrilled when Mario Egea (6LFO) brought some of his beautiful artwork to show me!  Thank you, Mario, for brightening my day.

When you arrive at a school with limited English and very soon you can write like Ekaterina Zyrianova in Miss Georgia’s class, you deserve praise. Amazing progress! 

Well done to Nina Wardell (RCJST) who has just improved in everything!! What a super star.

Soraya Rohayem (4CLA) showed me some beautiful work she had done on card, with photos of drawings and lots of descriptive writing, all on the Egyptians.

As you were made aware, last week’s Value of Respect is what we focused on.
Next week’s value is RESILIENCE.

Parents’ Consultation Meetings
Many of you have now had the opportunity of meeting your child’s class teacher and Spanish teachers; some of you will do so next week. I am interested to hear your feedback, through the right communication channels of course! Did you find online better for you? Was the platform “Meet the Teacher” easy to access? Please feel free to email us your comments.

From school’s point of view we do ask that you log in ready for your appointment some minutes in advance. Some of you were late starting, therefore your time was reduced. We ask also that you conduct the meeting in a quiet reserved place, not a cafe or in the car because it is difficult for the teacher to hear you clearly. The most important thing is that you book an appointment and stick to it. We want to ensure that we communicate with you all, the very best we can.

It has been so nice to hear some really positive feedback from parents who are happy with their children’s experiences – Thank you.

Finally, I have been asking some children what kind of person they want me to find to be the new Head of the Primary section. Here are some of their replies:

  • They must be kind, helpful, and always smiling, a good person.
  • They must be funny, make us laugh but strict when they have to be.
  • They must look after us and care for us.
  • They must be clever and well educated.
  • They can be a man or a woman, we don’t care, we just want the best.
  • They must want to help Mrs Batchelor and manage their time well.
  • They must teach us some lessons.
  • They can be young or old, must just be the best.

When I asked the two pupils who said the last point, if the person could even be as old as Mrs Batchelor they both replied “of course, that doesn’t matter!!!”. Thank you, Nikita and Victoria, (5PSM) for your kindness.

Aloha Value – RESILIENCE
Personal Learning Goal January – To be Resilient

Have a lovely weekend with your wonderful children.

Yours sincerely

Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal


SECONDARY SCHOOL

Dear Parents,

Some themes for my weekly newsletters come easier than others. I often think that I have written an excellent newsletter and then people do not like it. Other times, I believe that I have written something average, but my inbox fills up with emails from parents and staff telling me how much they enjoyed reading my reflection. This experience has taught me two things:

  1. I should never make comparisons between my newsletters
  2. I am a terrible judge of my own work

As a child, I had a tendency to share the things that I believed I did well with my grandmother. I showed her my ‘beautiful’ drawing, I told her how fast I could run and boasted about the tricks I was able to do with my skateboard. I did not understand at the time why she always said:  ”It is not your job to judge what you think you do or do not do well. It is others who should do it”. Now, thirty years later, I understand what she meant and I completely agree with her.

I have recently learnt that Kafka instructed one of his friends to burn his manuscripts before they were published. Kafka was too critical of his own work and believed it was not good enough. If his friend had listened to him, we would have lost some of the 20th century’s finest literature. This is another example of how we can be poor judges of our own work.

I am not saying that one cannot be critical about the work we do. In fact, we always encourage students to reflect on any task that they undertake. However, there is a difference between being reflective and worrying excessively because people might have very high expectations of our work. The way that people perceive what we do is a result of their own experiences, tastes and preferences. If our choices do not match their expectations that is their concern, not ours.

We tend to judge ourselves more harshly than everyone else does because we really want to do a good job. I don’t think we will ever be able to silence our inner critic, but we can tone it down so that it does not interfere with what we do.

Our job is to do the work, not judge it!

I hope that you have a nice weekend.

Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary

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