Dear parents,
I am proud of the fact that the safety measures we have put in place and strictly adhered to have really helped keep our children safer. Another week has passed and our children continue to be happy while participating in some vibrant learning throughout the college.
Uniform
As half term is fast approaching, please remember we change to winter uniform on 9 November. For Year 3 upwards, this includes the school blazer and tie, which are compulsory according to our dress code. Please purchase all the uniform you require using the online shop.
Old uniform
Many of you are asking what you should do with the old uniform. We have donated a large amount to charities abroad.
We kindly ask that old uniform is discarded carefully. From Monday 19 October we will have a trolley at the main entrance of the school so that your children can leave bags of old but clean uniform, if you wish. We will try to distribute some of this to charities abroad.
Thank you for your support on this matter.
Lovely moments
I am blessed to be working in a job that I still love and appreciate every day. At the moment school is different in many ways. However we have not lost our Aloha spirit and values during this pandemic.
Some lovely moments this week included a telling off from Sitong Wang in Year 2, because I was standing on the blue pitch wearing my shoes. She pointed to a sign of no high heels and firmly put me in my place.
Charlie in Reception class proudly told me all about his new baby sibling.
Santiago in Year 1 greets me every day with a beaming smile and a blank piece of paper which he likes to do extra work on, usually treasure maps!
I watched and listened to some Year 7 pupils who were talking about their first experience of PCTs. They were all excited and happy.
I overheard some Year 12 pupils discussing their results too, but not exam results, it was how Aston Villa beat Liverpool 7-2!!!
Congratulations to the new house representatives in the Secondary Section of the school.
School continues to be the best, thanks to your children.
Have a lovely safe weekend with your families.
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
This photo shows one of our most consistent messages to our children in Primary School. 
We are helping children change their mindset from “I can’t” to “I can”. This is an important message that helps our children become confident learners.
As I have walked around the classrooms this week it’s so wonderful to see how many of our children have embraced this message and our Aloha value of Resilience. In Year 1 I watched the children develop their independent skills and was interested to see a small group constructing with unifix blocks. Upon closer inspection and listening I realised they had actually made thermometers and then I heard one small child say “let me take your temperature…..OK you are Covid free” as he pointed his ‘thermometer’ at his friend’s forehead. Such a beautiful example of how our children have very quickly adapted to our ‘new normality’.
I can see many of you have signed up to our Meet the teacher Parent Consultations next week and I know your child’s class teachers are looking forward to sharing your child’s progress so far this term.
Next week our target is ‘Effort’ so we shall be looking for children who go ‘above and beyond’ in their learning by continuing to show their ever-increasing resilience.
Finally a message from another child in Year 5 “School is cool!” 
I wish you all a lovely weekend with your families, keeping safe and enjoying the sunshine.
Talk Homework – If you could be a character from your favourite book or film who would it be and why?
Aloha Value – EFFORT
October’s Personal Learning Goal – TO BE ADAPTABLE
Yours sincerely
Kathryn Salmon
Headteacher, Primary
kathryn.salmon@aloha-college.com
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
Let me start this week’s newsletter by introducing you to Marcus Elizondo-Darwin in Year 12, the king of procrastination.
It is incredible that in the space of just a week, I have had two encounters with ‘procrastination’. The first one was a very interesting TED talk Mr Welsh sent me on the subject. The second one happened when I was teaching a Year 12 lesson and Marcus Elizondo-Darwin proudly claimed that he was the king of procrastination. There were enough signals to indicate that this week’s reflection had to be on this fascinating ability that we, humans, have of delaying things.
5pm: You all know the feeling of staring at a screen, ready to start writing an essay, but desperately wishing you were somewhere else. Beautiful weather out there, but you know the deadline is one week away and you are already behind. You cannot move away from your desk, otherwise you will not be able to finish it on time. You then decide to have a cup of tea before you start, and suddenly you hear your mum screaming across the room: ”Where are you going this time?”
7pm: Your cup of tea has turned into a thorough instagram update, two phone calls and a pre supper snack. Then you think: “One week is still a long time. Why not start tomorrow?
3 days later: You approach your teacher to get an extension!
Does this sound familiar? If so, you are not the only one!
We are all inclined to put off until tomorrow what we should do today. When we procrastinate, we know that we are avoiding the task in question and that it is a bad idea. And yet, we do it anyway!! It is totally irrational, isn’t it? We know that doing this will result in negative consequences but we totally ignore such warnings.
After watching the video Mr Welsh sent me I have read several articles on procrastination and discovered that it is a well-researched field amongst psychologists and neuroscientists. Some say that procrastination is nothing to do with your inability to manage time but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods such as boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, self-doubt and beyond.
It is now time for our students to investigate this further. I would like them to consider this concept and start identifying situations when they procrastinate. More importantly, the focus of this analysis should be: ‘What can we do to stop it? ‘
I hope you have a nice weekend
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
