Dear parents,
December already!!
I hope this newsletter finds you all safe and well.
By today you will be enjoying the first day of our long break, I hope you cherish this time with your families.
The school is already alive with the celebration of Christmas ahead. Beautifully decorated Christmas trees all around the school whilst Santa’s Grotto eagerly awaits its first visitors.
The only way this happened was through a dedicated group of mothers and one dad who spent their own time making the school look magical for your children.
Nursery and Reception children have already prepared their Santa letters and will be posting them in the mail box placed in the Grotto very soon.
Raffle tickets
May I remind you that your children will need to bring the money and the unsold Raffle tickets in by Friday 17 December, we will not be able to guarantee they will enter the draw after the deadline, the raffle will be drawn on Monday 20 December.
Christmas Jumper Day
On Friday 17 December, we invite all pupils and staff to come to school wearing Christmas Jumpers.
On that day, please send in non-perishable food if you can. We want to collect as much food as possible which will be donated to a local charity.
True Athletes
We have some very impressive athletes in our school. We are proud to announce that Bruno Greiling has become the Andalusian Karting Champion. We want to thank his class teacher Mr. Tarry, his classmates and everyone who supported and believed in his success during the whole racing season.
We are also very proud to see Jasmine in Year 4 receiving a medal. Jasmine competed in the Campeonato de Andalucia and her team achieved the first place! She will now be competing in the Spanish Nationals in the upcoming month. Jasmine, we are supporting you every step of the way and wish you and your team every success.
PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS
EYFS
In Foundation Stage our new unit of learning Let’s Pretend: People Who Help Us has created an explosion of colour and movement. FS1 used Creative Arts Day as their entry point to the unit and looked at a variety of roles through their creative costumes. They discussed the different roles of people that help us in our school community. Weaving plastic bags and painting cardboard boxes to make fire trucks and police cars, FS1 also created beautiful art from things you might otherwise throw away.
Exploring a variety of dance styles, the children expressed themselves by letting their bodies move to the music in any way it fancied; Strictly Come Dancing, watch this space!
When they weren’t dancing, they were making music by playing percussion instruments, singing and even inventing their own songs!
Focusing on roles in the community, FS1 also learned about emergency services, their different roles and how they help us, as well as having our Special Guest Reader, Miss Eldred.
In FS2, the children focused on their musical talents and were shown how to play a range of instruments together, just like a real band!
If you have seen a glow streaming from the classroom windows, that will be the beautiful artwork the children created with inspiration from the story ‘The Dot’, by Peter H. Reynolds.
Key Stage 1
Partying our way around the world, the children in KS1 have begun learning about the multitude of Celebrations that can be found. They carefully compared different types of cultural celebrations from the clothes people wear, the food they eat, the reasons for the celebration and the many other traditions. We embarked on this international project by starting off with a celebration of our own, party hats, musical chairs and decorations included!
Key Stage 2
Year 3 and 4 got gooey with their new unit of learning called Material World. From making slime to labelling Mr. Tarry’s bike, they developed understanding of the many different properties of materials.
During Creative Arts Week, some children expanded their entertaining skills in their Performance Poetry work. While others got inspired by the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, bending pipe cleaners and foil to make sculptures.
Parental Warning: Year 4 are now expert salespeople! They have been practicing their public, and persuasive speaking skills by using positive vocabulary to show how one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure; we think they could now convince you of anything!
Year 5 has entered the world of radio waves with our first Library podcast from 5ES. This was our trial, so watch this space for upcoming episodes.
As part of Diversity Week, Year 5 and 6 gave a warm welcome to the KS3 students who confidently gave the teachers a little rest while they presented inspiring sessions to educate about important and black people in history.
The children loved that Miss Octave found some time and invited the Primary children over to her special Music room for some singing. Thank you, Miss Octave!
Year 6 have been continuing with their light and sound investigations and proving that sound travels as a vibration by shouting at rice?! Apparently, if you shout at rice, it moves! While the rice was moving, Year 5 were making 3D ´out of this world´ models of our solar system as part of their Space unit.
The KS2 School Council voting was completed and has now been assembled, so congratulations to: Emma R – 3EKE, Elija S – 3JCH, Maria A – 3ARO, Roxanne B – 4AMA, Isabella S – 4KFR, Jemima B – 4CLA, Andres F – 5ESA, Sophia K – 5SDI, Shantal K & Alexandra B – 5ITA, Ruben C – 6PSM, Diego V – 6WAS, Adriana R – 6KF
Individual Primary Achievement
Every one of our children has their own special story and reason to shine, so to celebrate just a few this month…
We are very proud of and thrilled to announce Aloha’s first ever Primary Head Pupils who will work with our ACM Head Students to represent the school and pupil voice.
We would also like to announce Honey 6WA who will be replacing Nikita, as Sevilla House Captain – well done Honey!
Our medal earning champion, Diego in NSERI, completed a charity run to raise money for a friend who is unwell.
Lucy 2EKE has won Player of the week in her football team (outside of school), for the second time in the last month!
SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWS
DUKE OF EDINBURGH
For the first time in many years, we are delighted to be able to offer the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme to our students in Years 10 and 11. The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is the World’s leading youth achievement award.
The Award concept is one of individual challenges, offering opportunities to set a personal goal and then work to achieve it. Participants are required to complete four Sections: Service to the Community, Skills, Physical Recreation and Adventurous Journey.
Following the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award gives pupils skills, confidence and an edge over others when they apply for college, university or a job. They develop communication, leadership and teamwork skills as well making a difference to other people’s lives in the local community.
Read more about the award on: https://intaward.org/about/the-award/
Pupils log their completion of the sections in an official Duke of Edinburgh online record book. Every Friday, they have been attending a Duke of Edinburgh skills club that helps them to gain a greater understanding of the award and become more prepared to complete it. Activities aim to enhance skills in team building, communication, fitness, physical preparation, map reading and orientation, route planning and more. They will also be completing the official first responder First aid course in January which will qualify them to attend anyone who has first aid needs.
Recently students have hiked the Ermita de Los Monjes circular trail at the base of the Sierra Blanca mountain range above Marbella, an 8km mountain route that initially follows the Arroyo de las Represas then winds up the mountain path to a beautiful viewpoint. They enjoyed the challenge and the beauty of the environment. They are now planning their own route, using their map reading and orienteering skills in their expedition groups, to be completed after the Christmas holidays.
We are delighted with the pupils’ commitment to this award so far and will continue to encourage and support them through their Duke of Edinburgh journey.
STANFORD AND OXFORD UNIVERSITY INTERVIEWS
Congratulations to Krish Jain and Julian Zavaglia Polo who have been invited to interview at Stanford and Oxford university. We are very proud of Krish and Julian being invited to interview at these prestigious institutions. It is also very satisfying to know that Aloha College students have what it takes to be an attractive candidate for study at the world’s top universities! Of course, it goes without saying that we remain extremely proud of the achievements of all our students regardless of the place of study!
SENIOR MATHEMATICS COMPETITION
With so many fantastic mathematicians in year 13, this year’s Senior Maths Challenge was always going to be hotly contested. 20 students from years 12 and 13 took part in the challenge – a 90 minute battle to solve as many problems as possible without a calculator. The results were excellent with 9 silver medals and 6 bronze medals. The top scorer in the school was Ricardo Holmes who is studying A level Maths and Further Maths, closely followed by Danila Yakushev from the IB Higher Level Analysis class. Special mention must also go to Pablo Benet Vincenti from year 12 whose mark was the best in year 12 and amongst the best in the school.
COBIS GLOBAL SOCIAL LEADERS
Congratulations to Sophie Ergo in Year 12 who connected with people her age from around the world in the COBIS Global Social Leaders virtual leadership programme in November. This was a three day course to develop leadership skills, learn about local and global issues and how to make positive change in areas of personal interest or concern.
STUDENT LEADERSHIP ROLES
Selections for our comprehensive new Student Leadership Team are well underway with the appointment of the Year 12 Senior Leaders. Alongside our existing leadership positions we have introduced new roles which will support the Head Students in running their area of the school. Their first task is to appoint their teams, so applications are now invited from students in Years 7 to 11 to apply for their leadership positions. It is a rigorous process involving written letters, elections and interviews and we applaud all the students who take a risk and apply, who want to contribute to improving our school community. Our congratulations goes to all the successful candidates:
Pupil Voice: Javier Mendoza & Victoria Zugasti
House Captains:
Cordoba – Alexey Gudkov & Oscar Vigdal
Granada – Lucia Gomez & Maria Sanz
Sevilla – Alessandro Puglisi & Luca Hackett
Eco Committee Chair: Nacho Rodriguez
Prefects: Katya Ponomareva (lead), Nacho Rodriguez & Avisa Ansari
Learning Leaders:
Creative Arts – Avisa Ansari
English – Tilly Worthington
Individuals & Societies – Yassamin Ghassemi
Maths – Silvia Escarcena
MFL – Lior Pariente
PE – Joaquin Van Loon
PSHEE – Mia Windhagauer
Science – Pablo Benet
Spanish – Alessandra Tertychna
Technology – Cameron Spain
COVID UPDATE
Since my last newsletter there have been a few cases of Covid in both Primary and Secondary school. May I remind you that all children must wear their masks at all times, we need to be extra cautious as the numbers in Andalusia are rising.
Finally, may I remind you that the school will remain closed from Monday 6 until Thursday 9 where we will welcome you all back for a 2 day week.
Have a lovely break.
