Dear Parents,
I hope you had a wonderful half term break with your families and are ready for the build-up to Easter. Year 11 and 13 students are extremely busy completing their syllabi and constantly learning. They have public exams in May and June.
Warmest congratulations are due to all our International A-Level students who have just received some excellent results in the first module of their course.
Particular mention goes to our super mathematicians who achieved A grades in Maths: Jose Acosta, Asay Alper, Dominik Gajos, Luca Hadjisotiriou and Katie Keating. Katie Keating celebrates a second A grade achieved in French, as does Luca in Economics. Well done to you all.
IN-SERVICE TRAINING
Learning has been going on for everyone. I mentioned in my last newsletter how teachers continually keep up to date with professional development. Look at them busily working on Saturday 16 February! Well done to all our staff. Like me, they always want the best for your children.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES TRAINING
Despite Board members not receiving any remuneration for the great work they do, they too attend training in order for them to continue to help make Aloha College even more successful.
Mr Tye was also in attendance but managed to escape the official photo! – Sorry Martin.
The Board received updated training delivered by Mr Trevor Rowell, Chairman of Cobis. He spent two days in the college and his final comments were; “Liz, you have a fantastic school with your Governors, managers and staff all working hard for the benefit of wonderful, polite, well-behaved pupils in a superb learning environment”.
Good to have reinforced what we already think!!!
BUT: we can always be better; that’s what we strive for, to “Be the best”.
MATHS OPEN DAY
On Thursday 240 Primary parents participated in our Maths Open Day – there is no end to the learning that goes on in our school!
Thank you parents who supported this event.
DON DIEGO GARCÍA – DIRECTOR TÉCNICO
It is with great sadness that I share with you the loss of Diego Garcia’s father last Friday. On your behalf we offer our deepest condolences to Diego, his mother and family.
SUR IN ENGLISH SUCCESS
We submitted the maximum of 9 pieces of children’s work to the Sur newspaper for their annual Educational Supplement.
I am very proud to congratulate Sophia Kuznetsova for gaining first place in the Primary art competition and Anna Alieva for the special mention she received for her Secondary Short Story. Well done, girls, I am proud of you!
EL MUNDO
Once again look what we have achieved: EL MUNDO
ROAD REPAIRS
As many of you are aware there are road repairs being carried out by the small island next to the Arts and Sports Hall. They have been organised by the Town Hall and we as a school have no control on how and when they do these works. We have been in touch with the Town Hall to try and find out the duration of the road closure.
Please note that our two receptionists have no answers to this issue so I would ask you to respect the fact that they can only provide information if the school itself has been informed. The receptionists are not responsible for this matter! Thank you for your understanding.
PARENT CHARITY RECOMMENDATIONS
Apologies for the delay in announcing the choice of our parental Charity proposal. There was a difficulty in the whole committee being able to meet. The definitive result of the proposal will be announced in next week’s newsletter.
For your information it is a mixed committee comprising Head Students, a Parent representative, a Governor, Mr Escobar and myself.
SKI TRIP
Thank you to Mr Toal and Ms Booth for leading a very enjoyable ski trip during the half term break. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Have a lovely weekend with your families.
Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
The Maths Workshop on Thursday morning once again proved our children’s ability to demonstrate and explain their learning with confidence, something which encouraged more parents to ‘have a go’ themselves. 240 parents attended which is the highest ever turnout for one of our workshops. Miss Fox began the morning outlining the different areas of learning in Primary Maths with suggestions of how to help at home. This practical learning further helps children understand more abstract concepts e.g. measuring through baking or the value of different coins through shopping.
Maths Handbooks and Calculation Methods are available on the Parent Portal (Academic and other information files >Primary >Other Supporting Materials >Maths).
Congratulations to Sophia Kuznetsova 2CMA for her outstanding art work which was awarded the Primary School 1st prize in this week’s SUR in English Educational Supplement. In the words of one of the judges “ Squiggles that come to life, suggesting an organic, cosmic or underwater universe. Imaginary, but totally credible, and full of movement. A child who paints like this at 7 may well become a painter some day”. So one day we could see one of Sophia’s paintings hanging in a famous art gallery!
Next target: RESPONSIBILITY (BEING ORGANISED)
Talk Homework: What does being organised mean? How can you show this at home?
Your sincerely
Kathryn Salmon
Headteacher, Primary
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
I started learning English in Spain when I was in Year 4. I remember vividly how my teacher, as well as teaching us the language, used to talk to us about cultural aspects of the country. I grew up with a story in my mind about the UK, a single story built after many years of information through television, school, family and friends. I had beliefs and opinions about the British, yet I had never met one in person.
At the age of 14, I took a plane to London. I had not yet set foot on English soil and I already ‘knew’ that people there drank a lot of tea, everybody was punctual and bacon with baked beans was served for breakfast every morning. It didn’t take me long to realise that these clichés, although partly accurate, weren’t a true reflection of Britain.
Similarly, within the first few days of school in England, my classmates were particularly keen to find out if my father was a matador, if we ate paella for lunch every day and why we had siestas for over three hours every afternoon. It was intriguing to see that they also had a single story in their minds about the Spanish.
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie defines this concept very well and talks about ‘The danger of a single story’. Stereotypes stem from generalisations and stories that, even though they have some truth in them, are incomplete.
Chimamanda Adichie warns us about the dangers of reducing a person, a country or a culture to a single story, and that it is only when we understand that there is never a single story, we recover a kind of paradise.
I work with people who come from all over the world. I haven’t yet seen Miss Mariela drinking Argentinian mate and Ms Sinnwell has a great sense of humour, despite being German! However, I still haven’t been able to confirm if being stingy is a real Scottish stereotype………….. Mr Toal?
I hope you have a good weekend.
Yours sincerely,
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
