PARENT NEWSLETTER (25 – 29 NOVEMBER)

Dear Parents,

“Be Kind Week”

As you are aware, the whole college has celebrated “Be Kind Week”, culminating in two special assemblies, one for each section of the school.  Certificates were awarded for pupils nominated by other pupils for various kind actions or words.

Teachers and pupils also talked about bullying and the effect it can have.  Isabella Smith, Year 7, wrote the lyrics of an emotional song, while Poppy Holmes, Lola Cooper and Lottie Ness, Year 9, wrote the music, together with Isabella.

The choir adopted the song and performed it for the Secondary School pupils.

Congratulations and thank you to those pupils who delivered a powerful message.

Please enjoy the lyrics and the song 

University Fair

After our recent Learning Conference, we are now offering Aloha students in Years 11-13 a further opportunity to discover possible career pathways.  On Monday 25 November we are hosting a major University Fair and have invited many schools to attend. Different educational institutions from all over the world will be exhibiting, and we have no doubt that they will provide our students with lots of information and inspiration which will help guide them towards their Higher Education and career choices.

Year 11-13 parents are welcome to come and talk to university representatives from 9:00 to 12:00.

Christmas Bazaar

I received a call from Father Christmas in the Primary School assembly on Monday telling me he would be attending on Saturday 30 November, so it is essential that your children come! You have received lots of communications about this event, so here is a final plea: if you haven’t already done so, please send a gift, a bottle or chocolates with your child, who will hand it to the secretaries and receive a ticket for the children’s raffle.

Please support this event!  It is wonderful for our community spirit.

Update on Ramsey

Although Ramsey left Aloha to go to the UK for further treatment, I want to inform you that he is making great progress health wise and is attending school full-time and progressing well academically.  His mum Kay remains in contact with me and says the family’s hearts remain in Aloha.

Ramsey’s Aloha family wish him continued good health and happiness.  Thank you to all those of his friends who have remained in contact with him.

Have an enjoyable weekend with your families.

Yours sincerely

Elizabeth Batchelor

Principal


PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dear Parents,

Chocolate! Who doesn’t love chocolate? In Monday’s assembly Year 4, with the help of Willy Wonka and the main characters from one of Roald Dahl’s most famous books, shared the origins of chocolate and how it has evolved through the centuries. Their film explaining fair Trade was also very thought provoking, see here for yourselves.

As I said in my previous newsletters the Aloha Way is not to “Be Kind” for just one week of the year, it is something we strive to be every day. As a reminder I shall be adding a ‘BE KIND’ poster each week at the bottom of my newsletters. These posters have been created by children of all year groups in their ICT lessons with Mr Mulligan (ICT Coordinator). I’m sure you will be just as impressed as we are.

One last bit of exciting news, in Monday’s Assembly Mrs Batchelor burst through the doors in excitement! She was receiving a call from… Father Christmas! He was flying over Marbella to update his map of children’s houses and he said that he could see how wonderful the children of Aloha are! I don’t mind that he said he loved Mrs Batchelor the most because he also said that he will be coming to our Bazaar next Saturday if we all continue to be so good! I can’t wait and so I hope you all come along too.

Aloha Value Focus this half term –   CARE
Personal Goal Target for November -THOUGHTFULNESS

Yours sincerely

Kathryn Salmon

Headteacher, Primary


SECONDARY SCHOOL

Dear Parents,

This week, Diego García (our Director Técnico) and I attended the annual Council of International Schools Global Forum in Bilbao. It has been a truly wonderful and enriching experience, from start to finish. Thinking of a topic for the newsletter was literally a nightmare; there were plenty of inspirational talks I could choose from. In the end, I decided to talk about what I believe is the backbone of any system that offers an international education: “the globally-minded student”.

Do we understand what global mindedness really mean? 

The conference opened with four students from different parts of the world on stage, addressing the audience in four languages ( French, English, Basque and Spanish). This followed with a performance of the traditional local aurresku dance. I took two powerful messages from this session:

1- It would have been very easy to talk to the audience in English. This is what usually happens in international contexts, one assumes everyone speaks English fluently. Addressing the audience in three additional languages was a good example which shows global mindedness. 

2- The four students, none of whom come from the Basque Country, showed respect to the city they live in by performing a traditional dance called aurresku

Educating students to be globally-minded is not an easy task. In order to achieve this, teachers and parents must challenge existing paradigms. Global mindedness is not the same as global awareness. Globally-minded students understand the links between their lives and those of people throughout the globe and work towards achieving a more just and sustainable world. 

It is not enough to just solve math equations, write an English essay or write a scientific report. Students need to be able to apply knowledge across disciplines to suggest solutions to problems that have never been encountered before. In summary, globally-minded students need to be able to grapple with complex problems which have no fixed solution.

Fostering global mindedness and international collaboration in our classrooms is highly beneficial to our students. The MUN trip to The Hague, the trips to France and Germany, the Mediterranean Cup in Italy and the Creative Arts trip to London are just a few examples of contextualised learning that we do well at our school.

Being globally-minded results in a more rounded individual, encouraging the student to see things from different perspectives and helping him/her to make informed decisions.

I hope you have a nice weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Francisco Escobar

Headteacher, Secondary

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