PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS
Early Years / Foundation Stage
Foundation Stage have revealed their claws and teeth to kick off their new unit of learning: The Roaring Dinosaurs & Animals!
In FS1 the children’s entry point led them to take on the role of a paleontologist, digging for fossils for which magnifying glasses and brushes were fully utilised. The children collaborated as a team to create large dinosaur collages to display in their room.
Then, just when we thought there was nothing left to discover, a special guest, Mr Escobar, visited the children in FS1 and told us all about the dinosaur he has at home. He also told the children that it is too big to even fit into the classroom and that sadly, the dinosaur doesn’t have a name. Don’t worry Mr Escobar, we accept your challenge and will think of a name!
In FS2, the children have been staying awake to learn all about nocturnal animals and couldn’t believe their eyes when they found eggs, from an unknown animal, left at school in the classroom (we aren’t commenting on the parenting skills there). The children immediately started researching how to care for them, completed observational paintings and made nests and signs to warn others that they are fragile. You can imagine how excited they are to see if they hatch!
Over the holidays, Santa found some time to deliver a few extra gifts, one of which is in our outdoor area with children climbing all over it.
Key Stage 1
The children in Key Stage 1 have had a wonderful time learning ‘All about Plants’ and what it means to have Green Fingers. They were very relieved to find out that to care for plants you didn’t have to make your fingers turn green! They started by exploring the school grounds to see what species of trees we are host to. If you have a child in Year 2, they should be able to tell you if a tree is deciduous or evergreen – give it a go and test their knowledge!
From green finger to hairy heads, Year 1 grew Cress Heads and learnt all about what plants need to grow. In the classroom, we talked about edible plants and even tasted a variety of herbs. If your children start requesting a little coriander on their pasta, don’t be surprised. In the words of the children “some herbs were yummy and some were yucky”. You can imagine their surprise when the children found out that some ‘yukky’ ones were in their favourite foods!
Key Stage 2
Year 3 and 4 have been digging for fossils and investigating how on earth a dinosaur got into school! Their unit of learning ‘Footprints in the Past’ has involved performing dinosaur raps (who knew dinosaurs could rap?) and researching paleontologist Mary Anning.
For the first time children from Year 3 to Year 5 participated in small teams in The Bebras Computing Challenge, which introduces computational thinking to children. It is organised in over 50 countries and designed to get students all over the world excited about computing. Participants answer questions that focus on computational and logical thinking. It is completed online at school. Children who score very highly can be invited to the OUCC Challenge.
Year 6 students had to take part individually. We had some very high scorers, but the best result was achieved by Melvin from 6KFI who scored 150 points to gain the only Gold Certificate in the school! Well done Melvin, a huge congratulations from us all!
Spanish Primary
En las clases de cultura española en Año 6 hemos dedicado algunas clases al patrimonio de la humanidad. Nuestros alumnos saben ahora que en España hay 15 ciudades, entre otras Segovia, Toledo, Cuenca y Córdoba, que han recibido este título. La UNESCO lo otorga a lugares de interés cultural y natural.
También han elaborado pósters sobre algunos de los lugares del patrimonio de la humanidad en sus países como Leptis Magna (Libia), Stonehenge (Reino Unido), la ciudad vikinga de Birka y Hovgarden (Suecia), las minas de sal de Wieliczka y Cracovia (Polonia), el archipiélago de Kvarken (Finlandia), la ciudad de Edimburgo (Escocia), El Real Jardín Botánico de Kew y el Big Ben de Londres (Inglaterra).
Gracias a tantas nacionalidades diferentes en nuestro colegio todos sabemos ahora que, en cada país, existen unos lugares maravillosos que se pueden visitar.
SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWS
Year 9’s Future Starts with Morrisby Careers testing
Mr Tinkler, our Head of Careers and Universitary Guidance, recently introduced students in Year 9 to the Morrisby Careers website. This organisation has been helping students to match their personal interests and strengths with suitable courses and careers for over 50 years. Our students and their parents can now access the full range of resources Morrisby offers throughout their time at Aloha, which will support them as they navigate their way successfully towards their preferred further education course or career.
Last week, it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of Year 9 students as they completed an online aspirational questionnaire via Morrisby.com, which then generated an individual report outlining their personality traits, working style, preferred working environment and responsibilities. Each report then suggested a range of future careers and mapped out an individual journey towards those future careers, including recommended IGCSE, IB or A Level subjects and university or vocational courses. Students are able to download these reports to discuss with their parents and to prepare themselves for individual interviews with either Mr Roth (Head of Key Stage 4), Mrs Brice (Head of Key Stage 3), or Mr Escobar (Head of Secondary). These interviews together with conversations with teachers at Parents Evening, on 31 January and 1 February, will help students make their final IGCSE Options choices in time for the deadline of 11 March.
Morrisby can also support students who are just not sure which direction to go in or who want to change direction in the future. Morrisby suggests a wide range of careers and courses and will instantly recalculate the suggestions whenever a student changes their preferences on their Home Page. So the future really does start with Morrisby and Aloha’s comprehensive Careers Programme.
Queens Gambit
Shock win in the Chess Competition! Long term Year 12 chess champion, Cristobal Rodríguez Rico, was beaten by newcomer, Amira Shaken, from 8ROC. She puts her speed and skill down to her grandmother who taught her to play chess competitively from a very young age. Congratulations, Amira!
Duke of Edinburgh
Aloha College Marbella is proud to announce that they are now an officially licenced International Duke of Edinburgh provider.
In September 2019, Miss Dry and Ms Steel started Adventure Club for interested and adventure-minded students. For a term and a half, they had a great time taking on activities such as climbing mountains, wild swimming and team building. Unfortunately, COVID-19 came along, preventing overnight trips, after school clubs, and the implementation of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme the following year. Thankfully, this year they had the go-ahead to run after school activities. Mr Freed and Mr Wahl joined the school, bringing more Duke of Edinburgh experience to the team.
The application process began in September to become an Independent Award Centre. The International Duke of Edinburgh Award is a prestigious global framework that universities and employers value very highly (MsSteel still has her Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards on her CV!) so providers need to comply fully with several areas to ensure the proper framework and training is in place for participants to uphold the high standards set by the Award.
Students can start the Bronze Award from the age of 14. This year the Bronze Award has been offered to students from Years 10 and 11. Last term, the groups took part in training activities in preparation for their Adventurous Journey, including navigation, route planning, map reading and team building. Now that the College has this licence, students have been signed up to the online record book to manage their progress in the different activity sections.
It takes at least 6 months to complete the Bronze Award and students must complete three different extracurricular activities that can count towards this. They choose these for themselves from each of the following sections: physical recreation, voluntary service and skills sections.
The final section is the Adventure journey. This is the most exciting and memorable part of The Award. It is a 2-day and one night expedition that the students plan themselves and for which they are completely self sufficient. From now until Easter, students will be receiving training to prepare them for this, including how to put up tents, pack a rucksack and cook meals and a 2-day training expedition. We have also organised an outside provider to deliver a first aid course for students so they are not only fully prepared for all eventualities but obtain an official first aid certificate.
As you can see, signing up for The Award requires a lot of training and commitment, but it also provides a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn outside the classroom and receive official recognition for it.
Emergency First Responders training
Sixteen of our Year 12 students have grabbed the opportunity to complete a course in Emergency First Response. This vital life skill includes training in how to handle an emergency scene, CPR, dealing with bleeding, shock and choking and how to use a defibrillator. Arranged by Ms Sweeting and Mr Toal, this is being offered as part of their PE curriculum, leading to an internationally recognised qualification. We are delighted to be able to offer such important education and hope it will be here for years to come.
CRIIO Cricket Coaching Qualification
Soon we will have eleven fully qualified cricket coaches at our school, all of them Aloha students! This amazing opportunity comes in partnership with Costa del Sol Cricket Club who are training our senior students to provide coaching for our younger students, as well as offering a trip to see an upcoming international cricket event, broadcast live on TV! Forming part of our goal to provide genuine leadership opportunities to students, our coaches will soon be running cricket coaching as an after school club, watch this space!
PSHEE news!
Students across Key Stages 3-5 have been covering a number of different topics since we returned from our Christmas break. Y10 have been looking at ‘The risks of Gambling’ whilst Y12 have started a series of lessons based on ‘Stalking’. Our KS3 students kicked off the new year by creating their very own vision boards. This involved reflecting on what they achieved last year and setting meaningful goals for 2022. We can’t wait to see how our KS3 students get on. Good luck!
