Dear parents,
Final month of the school year – who would believe it?
As you can see, I meet all the staff in a Google Meet once a week, in 3 separate sections – Administration, Primary and Secondary. Here is a screenshot of what we all look like in our 12th week of lockdown. Try talking to all those 55 Secondary staff on the screen!
Year 11’s and Year 13’s
I experienced mixed feelings on 2 days this week when I actually physically went into school to see and speak to some of the Year 11 and Year 13 students. They were dutifully returning their textbooks and collecting their personal belongings, which had been put into bags and labelled ready for them to pick up. All the students followed the strict protocol we had laid down; social distancing, wearing of masks, etc. They were all given different times to arrive and were not allowed into the school, only to a mapped-out place in the garden.
Whilst I was excited and delighted to see them – and they politely “pretended” to feel the same – I also felt overwhelmingly sad for them having to end the school year in such circumstances.
I thank all of them for letting me have the experience of talking to a “real child” once again. Year 11’s, I will see you in September. Year 13’s, I hope to see you very soon.
Administration Staff
As you know, I regularly refer to teaching staff in my newsletters but today I want to talk a little about some of the administration department; some you know well, like the receptionists Fatima and Belen, the secretaries Mariela and Agostina, or our Business Manager Víctor, but there are also some who work hard behind the scenes.
As you are aware, the school is going through a complete disinfection programme. Normally at the end of term your child would be emptying his/her locker and extracting their belongings from amongst the smelly socks and half-eaten sandwiches. However, this year, in order to ensure the maximum safety of the Secondary pupils coming to school to return their textbooks, some of the administration staff volunteered to empty your children’s lockers. They carefully placed personal items in bags which they made available to the pupils in an outside restricted area, as the school remains closed for pupils and parents. Mariela, Agostina, Fatima, Belen, Maria, Isabel, Guillermo and Charo have prepared everything for you. They really do support your children and the teaching staff. Thank you to the whole department.
And all done with such great cheer!
Finally, as Thursday and Friday of next week are local holidays (San Bernabé in Marbella) there will be no newsletter. So please keep checking out our social media – Instagram, Twitter and Facebook – for our news.
Have a lovely weekend with your families.
Elizabeth Batchelor
Principal
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
In my Monday morning message I asked the children to show resilience when completing their ‘What’s Next” activities. It was so strange for everyone trying to complete them at home on their own but the children rose to the challenge and really tried hard. We are very aware that the children have been out of the classroom situation for a long time so to help them with their next steps each child will be set some revision activities to further practise in class and at home. Don’t worry about the scores as they are not being used for reports or for groupings next year. Find my video message here.
The sunshine finally came out this week and we are all able to get out and about more. Those who may have forgotten the beauty of the area we live in will be interested to see the Year 3 Tourist Guides. The children have created amazing videos linked to their persuasive writing. I can see some budding TV presenters, such confidence! Well done Year 3!
Grace Osborne Aitor Cordon López Arseniy Dishdishyan
ACM Family Sports Day – On Friday 29 May 2020, ACM hosted a very unique Inter House Primary Sports Day. Families were invited to compete in a Decathlon event at home testing strength, coordination, agility and fitness through 10 fun challenges. Thank you to all participants and to everyone who submitted the results via Google Form. Your photographs and videos display great team spirit and the Aloha Values are clear to see!
Please find here a Certificate of Participation and the Granada Winners Certificate here.
We also invite you to enjoy this lovely video of this special day. Congratulations everyone!
Reminder Year 6: Year 7 Language choice – Some Year 6 students still have to inform the school of their language choice, please do it as soon as possible using this form. Information about these language courses is available here.
STARS OF THE WEEK
NSCCU Fernando Lezama Leguizamon Fernández De Villavicencio
NSERI Thalia Boujnah Cuesta
RCEMA Rui Rong, RCJST Ahmed Essaid Ben-Yaiche
1KED Qilu (Hugo) Chen Zang, 1MTI Tiare Liuzzi, 1LHO Alaia Santa Cruz Tavarelli
2LT Ingrid Lemberg, 2ARS Jaime García Vidal, 2FFO Noor El Houda Faouzi
3EK Lily Holden, 3JCH Danial Hosseini, 3ESE Enzo Krumnikl
4ITA Danila Belov, 4ES Angelina Lopin, 4SJD Sergey Kononenko
5MAS Boaz Rodenburg, 5ASH Darian Mushfigh, 5BWA Isabelle Gruber
6PSM Matthew Sánchez Valenzuela, 6WA Yuhong Zhao, 6CST Marina De León García
SPANISH STARS
Srta Encarnita: NS Luca Knezovich, RC Maia Rincón Tian, Y1 Anastasia Kononenko, Y2 Victoria Moore-Lister, Y3 Colby Matthews
Srta Rosa: NS Victor Warngren, RC Francesca Tye, Y1 Ivan Chuprin, Y2 Samantha Aguigam, Y3 Enzo Krumnikl
Don David: Y2 Mariia Kononenko, Y3 Ana Llaves Gómez, Y4 Olivia Hamdallah Recio
Srta Laura: Y2 Ezel Esen, Y3 Joel Rébora Song, Y4 Valentino Franklin-Pellegrino
Srta Antoinette: Y4 Mira Petuhova, Y5 Hugo Hay-Evans, Y6 Khadija Faik
Srta Sylvia: Y4 Lea Albaker, Y5 Andrey Kukusta, Y6 Roberta Tye
Srta Ana: Y5 Beatriz Fernández-Macías Hijas, Y6 Marina Álvarez Varela
Don Diego: Y5 Felipe Simon, Y6 Chloé Botella Jodts
PE AWARD CERTIFICATES – For outstanding commitment to At Home PE
Arran Crossland NUCCU, Aleksandar Malavé Praizovic 1KE, Max Wu 3JCH, Khadija Faiq 6PSM
MRS SALMON’S SPECIAL DISTANCE LEARNING AWARDS
Sara Alonso García (Don David Y2 Lengua) – Sara is already working on next year’s objectives for Lengua. Her attitude is exceptional and she enjoys participating and sharing her knowledge with the rest of the class. She could be a great teacher!
Aloha Value – THOUGHTFULNESS
Personal Goal – ADAPTABILITY
Have a lovely weekend and stay safe!
Yours sincerely
Kathryn Salmon
Headteacher, Primary
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
Did you know that there are certain types of hens that lay blue eggs? Or that some hens have fur instead of feathers? Over the last few days, one of our Year 7 students has taught me everything I need to know about hens. It was only after a conversation with this student’s mother that I discovered her daughter’s passion for animals. The family has even built a chicken coop outside their house! I now know that there are Pita Pinta Asturiana hens and that the student uses golf balls to encourage them to lay more eggs. She feeds them watermelon, broccoli and lettuce which they love!
When I began my conversation with the student I nearly asked her the question: “What do you want to be when you are older? I am sure you will be a vet”. I am relieved that I didn’t!
What do you want to be when you grow up? A question that, I am sure, you have been asked or have asked on many occasions. I remember that I wanted to be a firefighter when I was a child and a teacher a few years later. There was even one period in my life during which I analysed the origin of idioms and proverbs in English and then looked at how they would translate into Spanish. The only issue I had was that I had to choose one profession only so being a firefighter and a teacher and a potential translator was out of the question. What happened to these other talents and interests I once had?
In a TED talk that I watched last week, the presenter talked about how we limit people’s choices by leading them to choose one, and only one, career path. What happens to those who have many interests and talents? There are plenty of students who become so interested in an area and invest all their time in it but suddenly hit the point where they start to get bored. Not long after that, a new interest comes their way and perhaps this new thing is not challenging enough and they let it go. When this happens, people worry because they are not sure how to turn so many different interests into a career. There is nothing wrong with this if it happens!
Whilst asking students what they want to do when they are older encourages them to dream about what they could be, it does not inspire them to dream about all that they could be. The idea that we all have one true calling that we are meant to do for the rest of our lives is, in my opinion, incorrect.
How, in the 21st Century, have we managed to narrow our choices to just one? Aristotle, in Ancient Greece, was a philosopher and also a scientist. His writing covers many subjects including music, poetry and theatre.
Our lovely Year 7 student might or might not get bored of her hens and begin a new hobby. She might end up being a biologist, a vet or something totally unrelated to the animal world. Let’s keep our options open and not fear the idea of being well versed in many disciplines.
I hope you have a nice weekend.
Francisco Escobar
Headteacher, Secondary
