Dear Parents,
Dear Parents,
The end of a very busy week two. I hope your child is now fully settled back into school life and any queries you may have had as parents have been resolved.
Already there have been numerous meetings for you the parents to attend. Every Primary teacher has been introduced at year group meetings and the curriculum shared. KS3, KS4 and KS5 parents have been welcomed at meetings, which all have been well attended. There have been two meetings regarding our revised PSHE Programme. On Thursday afternoon we all witnessed an excellent presentation by Simon Snell (UK Consultant on Children’s Safeguarding) who talked about a variety of safeguarding issues to help you keep your children safe online. I feel we have made an excellent start in communicating to you the parents.
You regularly hear me say that the happiness and well-being of your children are paramount. Achieving this aim enables your children to attain the best examination results that they are capable of.
I would like to share with you in a little more detail the IGCSE, IB and A Level public examinations results.
An exemplary set of IGCSE Spanish (MFL) results were achieved by 23 pupils who took the exam one year earlier than normal. Congratulations to these Year 10 pupils who all achieved A* which is the top grade.
In our latest Year 11 cohort, 90% of all IGCSE exams taken were a grade A* – C and 43% achieved top grades A*/A.
95% of all our pupils gained at least 5 or more IGCSE qualifications, significantly higher than the UK average.
A special mention must go to Adriana León Villares – 10 A*/A grades, Chantal Domínguez 9 A*/A grades, Chiara Giannullo 9 A*/A grades, Caio Simon 9 A*/A grades
Congratulations to all the cohort and I wish you every success in Year 12.
To achieve over 40 points in IB out of a maximum of 45 puts any pupil in the top 4% in the world.
2 of our Year 13 cohort achieved 40 points. Congratulations to Antonio León Villares y Felipe Ramon Torres.
Rosie Rainer and Thomas Lovelady scored a perfect 3 out of 3 bonus points in the core elements of the Diploma Programme, not easily done. Congratulations.
Lastly the AS results saw some outstanding performances particularly by Luca Hadjisotiriou and Daniel Kukarskih who achieved 3 grade A’s.
Beach Party
You have had a lot of notifications regarding the Welcome Beach Party organised by the PTA. This takes place on Friday 27 September and tickets are on sale at the front entrance before and after school. We look forward to seeing many of you there. More info here.
World Peace Day
We will celebrate World Peace Day on Friday 20 September, for which we ask all pupils and teachers to wear white. There will be a whole-college assembly at 15.00. All parents are welcome. More info here.
Ski Trip
Mr Toal has organised another exciting ski trip for Years 6-13 pupils. Please see here a video on last year’s trip to enthuse your children
Pupil Safety
I politely asked parents not to park on the pavements in order to ensure safety for your children.
May I wish you and your families a wonderful weekend and thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
At Aloha we encourage children of all ages to fully participate in their learning process both academically and socially. So this week the children have been further discovering how they learn through the IPC Brainwaves unit. They have also been rediscovering what it means to have a Growth Mindset.
We have also been looking at how we are all expected to behave by showing Respect. You will soon notice that children will be receiving different levels of recognition throughout the year. Each week the class teacher will award a Star of the Week Certificate on Friday afternoons and the child’s photo will be placed on our achievement Board. Each month a ‘Monthly Superstar’ will be selected from each class in my special assembly and we will place their photo on our School Learning Tree. They will also enjoy a special treat with myself. Children are also encouraged to nominate others who they see demonstrating our values which provides them with a greater Pupil Voice.
This week we have nominated one child from each class (Y2-Y6) to be members of our Primary School Council. They will all receive a special badge and I look forward to hearing their suggestions for ways to improve their school experience. Congratulations everyone!
Children are also being invited to join Srta Laura, Miss Meryl and Miss Anne as we move forward as an Eco School. Aloha College Marbella would like to start off our school year by being involved in the Beach Clean up in Estepona! Come join us on Saturday 21 September at 9:45 h at Laguna Village, Estepona; we will be meeting on the beach in front of the car park. More information about World Cleanup Day and the Beach Cleanup in Estepona is available online:
https://www.worldcleanupday.org/about/
https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseas/
Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend the Safeguarding meeting on Thursday (Keeping Your Children Safe Online – Risk, behaviours, technology, advice and resources). This information will help further understand the learning behind our Gooseberry Planet units.
I would also like to thank all parents who could attend the first PTA Coffee Morning on Wednesday. These PTA meetings are informal gatherings where you have the opportunity to mix with other parents of Aloha College Marbella and find out more about future PTA events such as the Welcome Beach Party on Friday 27 September and how to help with the Christmas Bazaar (30 Nov).
I would like to remind all parents that the Aloha College Marbella Parent Portal provides you with general and academic information or the year groups – under “Academic and Other Information” (Timetables, Presentations, Curriculum outlines and support materials; Menus; Calendars, Co-curricular activities table etc.). And also information specific to your child (Attendance; Teaching groups and End-of-term reports – available only on the portal).
Team Year 6 Welcome Assembly is on Monday 16 September and all parents are welcome to attend.
Next Friday 20 September Aloha College Marbella will celebrate World Peace Day and all children are invited to dress in white. There will be a special assembly at 15:00 h on the top pitch and parents are welcome.
Next week’s target is: RESPECT with COOPERATION
Talk Homework: Can you think of any examples where you used your Growth Mindset this week?
Kathryn Salmon
Headteacher, Primary
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I must have been around 12 when, on my way home from school, I found a 5,000 peseta note (approximately 30 euros) on the floor. I picked it up and put it straight into my pocket. Whether or not I was doing the right thing did not even cross my mind; I was just dreaming about what I was going to spend that money on. I did not plan to tell my parents- I wanted all that money for myself!
When I got home, my mother noticed an unusual grin on my face. I told her that I had had a great day at school. I ran into my room and put the money in a piggy bank where I used to keep all my savings. It was fantastic to see how my piggy bank grew in a matter of seconds.
I do not know what happened to that 5.000 peseta note. What I can tell you is that the money was not touched for months. The initial desire that I had to spend it, disappeared. Something inside my head told me that I was not doing the right thing. I had to confess my secret.
The voice that comes from the back of our minds is what I want to talk to you about this week. It’s like having somebody inside us who cries out when we do something bad. This is our conscience, responsible for telling us the difference between right and wrong.
Acting upon your conscience allows you to be yourself, leave your mark and be your best. More importantly, you can also inspire others to become better. Doing good deeds brings order, peace and satisfaction to our lives.
There is no doubt that we make countless mistakes throughout our lives. Reflecting on these and evaluating our actions makes our conscience work better. The more we listen to our conscience, the more aware we are of its existence. On the contrary, ignoring it means moving away from that voice and losing objectivity as well as the ability to understand the things that happen to us.
‘Do I grow as a person?’ or ‘Do my actions affect others?’ are two questions that can help us know if we act according to our conscience. Sometimes we tend to focus too much on ourselves. Asking yourself: ‘Am I treating others as I would like to be treated?’ will help in this respect.
I’m delighted that I listened to that voice which prevented me from being a millionaire at the age of 12!
I hope you have a nice weekend.
Yours sincerely,
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
