Dear parents,
The Spanish sunshine is now back with a vengeance, probably making it more difficult for your children to concentrate on their online learning; however, please continue to support them as well as you are.
Covid Nº 6 Update
I hope that you all had time to read my update on the school’s preparation for re-opening. I will continue to inform you as regularly as possible.
Year 11
I talked in last week’s newsletter about our Year 13 pupils and, I reiterate, we are determined to do everything within our power to give them a glorious graduation from Aloha College. Watch this space!
This week I want to remind all of you that our Year 11 pupils have also experienced the cancellation of their public IGCSE examinations. They have continued with their learning despite this, by attending a special programme designed by Mr Roth. Congratulations to all the pupils who have embraced this project and will continue with their preparations to enter the Sixth Form until the last day of this academic year.
Year 11’s, we salute you. The staff are busily working on ensuring all evidence of your work is collated in line with the requirements of the Cambridge International Examinations Board. We all want to ensure you achieve the grades you truly deserve. We hope to see all of you back into Year 12 as stronger, committed and experienced Aloha students. Thank you for taking on board this new set of circumstances and dealing with this challenge with such good cheer and aplomb. Just think – unlike the Year 13’s you still have 2 more years of “Batchelor”.
Assessments and online use in general
In this day and age cyber security is paramount and pupils, especially Secondary, need to ensure their passwords are secure. Pupils use passwords which are sometimes easily guessed by others. We recommend that they change their current passwords in order to avoid third parties accessing their accounts. If you are unsure, please contact the relevant Head of Key Stage.
Normal life goes on behind the scenes: we are recruiting new students for September – in spite of the current uncertainty, many families want to join Aloha College. We are also working hard on the Yearbook so that children do not miss out on this valuable commemoration of the 19/20 academic year.
ACM Covid19 KM Challenge Update
After making it walking, running and cycling from NYC to Hollywood, we are now on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 6,000 Kms off the coast of LA and 4,000 Kms away from Tokyo, our next destination!
Online Learning
Parents continue to support us at home – here you can see Hugo Chen, Year 1, making his own plasticine in case he needs some later. And Sophie Hurley, RC, is busy building bridges, in preparation for a career in diplomacy perhaps!
Reading Stories
After spending all day in front of a computer screen, I would love these 2 pupils to help me relax by reading me a bedtime story! Please enjoy these videos:
Kadir reading – Matthew reading
What a lucky dog in Matthew’s house!
Karate achievement
We will have to wait for next week to find out how well Zeyn Mohamdi,Year 2, does in the final of his online international karate competition. He has continued his training throughout lockdown and I am so proud of his perseverance and the fantastic level he has reached in such a short time. Well done, Zeyn!
I wish you and your families a lovely, safe, weekend.
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
It has been another busy week of learning and I have once again been impressed by the children’s attitudes in my virtual visits to the classrooms.
The Summer Term is always an exciting time for Year 6 as it is their last term in the Primary School. Sadly we can’t be together in school at the moment but the Year 6 teachers are continuing to prepare the children for their move to Secondary School. Next week, Team Year 6 will be involved in a Virtual Transition Week. They will take part in live, online lessons with Secondary teachers through Google Classrooms and be able to experience the expectations of the next steps of their Learning Journey. As I say, exciting times and something I know the children are looking forward to.
In my Monday morning message I asked the children to think about being part of a team and to go ‘above and beyond’ to gain house points for their team and to take time to show respect and kindness to each other. Find my video message here.
In a normal school year we all look forward to our Interhouse Sports Days when the children and parents enjoy taking part in team sports events together. In the community spirit of Aloha we are determined not to let school closure stop this going ahead. Next Friday 29 May we will celebrate the ACM Olympic Family Sports Day and all families are invited to participate and enjoy 10 challenges of the ‘Decathlon’ Event. It is a House occasion so remember to wear your House t-shirts and to take some photographs of your family. You will see a link in google classrooms to access the challenges and submit your family totals. Please watch the video for more details and don’t worry you don’t need a big garden just lots of socks and toilet rolls!
Weekly overviews and Summer 2 Curriculum Outlines
Yesterday you will have received the Curriculum Weekly Overview for your child for next week (25-29 May).
On the Parent Portal you can also access your child’s learning for the next half term (Curriculum Outlines, Summer 2).
STARS OF THE WEEK
NSCCU Matías Gil Manolitsis, NSERI Stella Sjöberg
RCEMA Timofei Krivitskii, RCJST Damien Mark
1KED Adrian Ghaffari Ghazi Said, 1MTI Taisiia Krivitskaia, 1LHO Catalina Abrisqueta Tome
2LT Roxane Bourasseau, 2ARS Zayn Müller, 2FFO Blake Doyle
3EK Ben Larbi Doncel-Moriano, 3JCH Olivia Jimeno Sellitri, 3ESE Shantal Keijzer Serrano
4ITA Scarlett Zagozdzon, 4ES Amira Bensouda, 4SJD Elena Lalovic 5MAS Mara García García, 5ASH Mia Kinahan, 5BWA Adriana Lezama Leguizamon Fernandez De Villaviciencio
6PSM Alejandra Ayora Sierra, 6WA Fraser Squires, 6CST Ilya Zhukov Kovrikov
SPANISH STARS
Srta Encarnita: NS Dario Kalantari-Nazari, RC Siobhan Cohen Martínez, Y1 Adrian Ghaffari Ghazi Said, Y2 Ingrid Lemberg, Y3 Ruotong Gong
Srta Rosa: NS Alexandra Zoueva, RC Santiago Álvarez Rivera, Y1 Ananda Corderas De la Cuesta, Y2 Blake Doyle, Y3 Aurelia Howard
Don David: Y2 Matías Llorente Sucha, Y3 Polina Zhukova, Y4 Vera Luna Kara
Srta Laura: Y2 Alessandro Sundberg Delgado, Y3 Blanca Sánchez Valenzuela, Y4 Karun Corderas De la Cuesta
Srta Antoinette: Y4 Libby Worthington, Y5 Boaz Rodenburg, Y6 Fraser Squires
Srta Sylvia: Y4 Boldi Tatrai Monostori, Y5 Richard Laizan, Y6 Leonie Reisbeck
Srta Ana: Y5 Selma Achabbak, Y6 Panna Tátrai-Monostori
Don Diego: Y5 Alba Sofía Olivo Campos, Y6 Alejandra Ayora Sierra
PE AWARD CERTIFICATES – For outstanding commitment to At Home PE
Isabella Kemp NSCCU, Tyler Kemp RCEMA, Fred Chamizo 4ITA, Omar Faiq 3JCH
MRS SALMON’S SPECIAL DISTANCE LEARNING AWARDS
Emma Sánchez García, 3ESE – Emma worked really hard with her IPC work on shadows, at the end of last week.She is also making a real effort with all her online learning. Mrs Salmon and Miss Emily are very proud of her!
House points results here.
Aloha Value – RESILIENCE
Personal Goal – ADAPTABILITY
Have a lovely weekend and stay safe!
Yours sincerely
Kathryn Salmon
Headteacher, Primary
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
There’s a famous Spanish song called ‘Who cares’. I am sure that many of you who are reading this letter have memories of having sung it at some point in your lives. I encourage those who do not know this popular Spanish pop song to listen to it before you continue to read this week’s reflection.
Do we really not care about what others think of us?
Solomon Asch’s famous experiment demonstrates perfectly how the pressure exerted by what the majority thinks, makes us doubt and even change our minds. The experiment consisted of asking several students about the length of some lines drawn on cards: which was the longest and the shortest line? All the students, except one, were accomplices of Solomon Asch, and the aim was to confuse the subject of the experiment by offering clearly incorrect answers. You can see the experiment here.
Another example which supports this type of behavior happened right at the beginning of the state of emergency caused by Covid-19. One of the products that disappeared from supermarket shelves was toilet roll. Social networks were inundated with images of people filling their shopping trolleys- mainly with toilet rolls. I remember myself going to the supermarket to buy toilet rolls just because I saw others doing it.
Going back to the song I was talking about before, it seems clear that we, of course, care about what people think or say about us; we even stop doing something for fear of what others might say. I’m not an expert in this field, but it is clear that this type of behavior is often caused by lack of self-esteem and assertiveness. If we have confidence in ourselves, learn to say ‘no’ and set limits, we won’t be as badly affected by the disapproval of others.
An important step towards overcoming what others may think of us is to accept that it is impossible to be liked by everybody or for everybody to think like us. In many situations in our lives, criticism is inevitable. The key is to take this criticism for what it is: just another point of view.
I think that the most important thing is to always act according to our own principles. We must practise what makes us feel good and allows us to be confident about the small and large decisions that we make in our lives.
I hope you have a good weekend.
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
