Dear parents,
Nearly June and there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel!
Year 6
I have talked about the Year 11’s and Year 13’s in past newsletters. Today I want to remind you about the Year 6’s, whose end of year, like the older pupils, is not what they would have wished for.
At this time they are usually busily attending lessons in the Secondary School so they can experience in advance what it will be like in September. It is something they always look forward to, particularly going into the Science labs and using “proper equipment”. Last week they attended a sample of Secondary lessons, but of course online. Although they didn’t get to light the bunsen burners, they still got to enjoy a Science lesson, and were able to do an experiment themselves at home. They also learnt how to use a padlet, a virtual collaborative board where participants can share ideas/ comments/photos/websites/links. See our example here: https://padlet.com/louise_steel/Y6CST
Our students are up to date with all the latest technological tools!
This transition week culminated in a special assembly yesterday where Mrs Brice, Head of Key Stage 3, and Miss Verinder, Head of Pastoral Care, welcomed Year 6 and congratulated them on how well they had participated during the week.Thomas and Emily, current Year 7 Pupil Voice representatives, were on hand to give account of their own fears when they moved sections last year. Everything turned out to be absolutely brilliant, they declared, including the tuck shop, news of which was very well received by the audience!
Well done to all our Year 6 pupils! They too have accepted the challenge of lockdown with increased maturity and independence. I am proud of each and every one of you. You will love Secondary school and can go there without any concerns. Mr Escobar knows all about you already! We are going to ensure our Year 6’s receive their graduation and their traditional party in September. Don’t worry, Year 6 – you haven’t been forgotten!
Year 11 World of Science Presentations
Whilst on the subject of Science, more congratulations must go to our Year 11 pupils, who made their Science presentations on “Superheroes”, some of which I was lucky enough to attend. You may think this may be an easy presentation to make but not so …..
All Y11 groups were given the task of investigating the science behind a Superhero’s powers. They did this by researching, calculating and carrying out their own experiments to see if these powers were scientifically possible. For example, Dani, Ethan and Adriana found out that Spiderman would need to eat 900 eggs a day to have enough protein to produce enough spider silk to save the world. Using the formula Power = E / t, Artemiy, Denis, Ricardo and Eric calculated the amount of power the Doom Slayer uses. Comparing it to the power used by a toaster, it turns out the Slayer could make toast for 16 hours 22 minutes and 48 seconds instead of grappling with demons from hell. That’s a lot of toast.
In that 40 minutes I learnt so much – thank you to all the pupils involved. I look forward to welcoming you into the Sixth Form and watching your knowledge grow.
Karate Champion
You have read about someone very special in my newsletter before; well, wait for this news:
Zeyn Müller, Year 2, Aloha College Marbella…
Champion and 1st place in the World Series Karate by Arawaza!
What a fantastic achievement for one of our very own pupils. The most incredible thing is that, according to Zeyn’s teacher, Miss Anne, despite dedicating so much time every day to his training he has not missed one single live lesson, and has submitted every piece of work required since we went into lockdown. Congratulations, Zeyn, you deserve your success and we are really proud of your achievements
Enjoy sharing Zeyn’s success!
Sport
Zeyn confirms the importance of sport and exercise in our lives. When you are so disciplined practising something you excel in, or simply enjoy, that discipline remains with you all your life. It is easy to neglect exercise or give up your chosen sport in the current circumstances, so please, parents, continue to encourage your children to attend the online PE lessons and do some daily exercise. It won’t be long before all our Aloha sports teams are back wanting to smash their previous records, so we need your children to be in tip-top condition!
Covid Kms Challenge
This is a great way to promote exercise in your household and clock up the kms we need to travel around the world. Send your kms totals to the PE department – our next stop is Tokyo!
Have a lovely weekend with your families.
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
In my Monday morning message I asked the children to continue being resilient and adaptable.
Find my video message here. This is important because now the sunshine has finally arrived it is so tempting to be distracted. I reminded the children that we are still at school so they must be on time for their lessons and their school work must be completed before ‘going out to play’.
Next week we have our ‘next steps’ assessments and the guides for each year group have been posted on your classrooms or can be accessed here.
Congratulations to Year 2 who are just completing their IPC unit, ‘Stories That People Tell’. This unit has seen the children develop so many skills. They have been creative and imaginative, creating their own mythical creatures and settings and making some fabulous dreamcatchers. The children have also been geographers and historians, exploring and finding out about the stories told by the ancient Greeks, ancient Egyptians and Native Americans. To round the unit off, the children demonstrated their storytelling skills by telling their favourite story to an audience. The videos were, in the words of all your teachers, “great”!
This week Team Year 6 completed their Virtual Transition Week taking part in live online lessons with Secondary teachers through Google Classrooms. I can’t wait to hear how much they enjoyed their experience when I ‘meet’ up with them next week. Huge congratulations from all your teachers for your excellent behaviour and enthusiasm! Enjoy a lovely video with some of their works.
Finally, I hope that you have been enjoying the ACM Family Sports Day and are eagerly awaiting the results coming in!
STARS OF THE WEEK
NSCCU Alexandra Pearson, NSERI Carlo Tamburello Orovio
RCEMA Tina Anakhasyan, RCJST Alma Ortiz
1KED Talia Kassimi, 1MTI Henry Howard, 1LHO David Bederov
2LT Emilio De Blick, 2ARS Olivia Cergneux García, 2FFO Danilo Lalovic
3EK Indiana Leader, 3JCH Denis Kalkamanov, 3ESE Blanca Sánchez Valenzuela
4ITA Mélanie Deny, 4ES Sultan Khan Mamakaev, 4SJD Libby Worthington
5MAS Angela Bahut Quevedo, 5ASH Hugo Hay-Evans, 5BWA Selma Achabbak
6PSM Gio Moonen Janssen, 6WA Lucía Melgar Navarro, 6CST Martín López Palomo
SPANISH STARS
Srta Encarnita: NS Marta Blázquez De La Fuente, RC Leila Cartwright, Y1 Benas Marushka, Y2 Viktoria Bushlina, Y3 James Rob
Srta Rosa: NS Abdallah Adham Touati, RC Alexander Duwe García, Y1 Julia Taillefer Díaz, Y2 Olivia Hultgren, Y3 Ilya Dekker
Don David: Y2 Samuil Iliev, Y3 Emma Sánchez García, Y4 Nikola Iliev
Srta Laura: Y2 Jaime García Vidal, Y3 Oliver Aspden, Y4 Amira Bensouda
Srta Antoinette: Y4 Sergey Kononenko, Y5 Darian Mushfigh, Y6 Felix Cooper
Srta Sylvia: Y4 Claudia Nijmeh, Y5 Harry Campbell, Y6 Maia McDermott
Srta Ana: Y5 Mara García García, Y6 Chloe Rubio Subiris
Don Diego: Y5 Cayetana García Bañó, Y6 Claudia Hormigo Delgado
PE AWARD CERTIFICATES – For outstanding commitment to At Home PE
Miriam Haikina RCEMA, Elizaveta Haikina 1LHB, Elija Sidorovic 1MTI, Mario Egea Muñoz 5MAS
MRS SALMON’S SPECIAL DISTANCE LEARNING AWARDS
Lucas Hernández González (Don David Y2 Lengua) – Lucas is doing an outstanding job in Lengua, always working really hard and going above and beyond. He asks very intelligent questions, showing his curiosity and motivation for the subject. Mrs Salmon and Don David are very proud of him!
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,
Cows chew the cud all day. They spend hours and hours with their food in their mouths before swallowing it. Something similar happens to us humans, with our thoughts. Sometimes we go around in circles, becoming more and more obsessed, failing to find any solutions. Rumination is the term we use to describe this process.
There are many situations in which these thoughts, which at first sight seem harmless and temporary, can be harmful and long-lasting. Just like a ball rolling downhill, it is easier to stop such ruminating thoughts when they first come to mind than when they have gathered speed over time.
Not long ago, a student in Year 12 approached me after she finished her TOK (Theory of Knowledge) presentation and said: “ Sir, I messed up that presentation”. The morning after, she was still thinking about it. The summer had passed, the new academic year was about to start and guess what? She still had the presentation in her mind. The issue was not the grade she achieved (9 out of 10) but the moment that she struggled to answer a question by one of the TOK teachers. The student dwelt on the negatives and started ruminating the minute after she finished the presentation.
When talking to the student about her presentation, I kept saying that most people feel nervous when speaking in public and that she should not worry about it. I suggested that perhaps she could learn some techniques to calm her nerves in the future. However, she kept asking herself: “Why does it happen to me?”
There are three things that experts recommend when we ruminate. Firstly, be proactive: identify the problem and take action. Secondly, ensure you give yourself a pat on the back and forgive yourself for your mistakes. Finally, make sure that you have friends and family to talk to when something goes wrong.
Let’s nip rumination in the bud!
I hope you have a nice weekend.
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
