Dear parents,
Our first official monthly newsletter marks the end of our first month back at school after the Christmas break.
It is a delight to see your children so happy and very productive. Thank you for all your continued support, which truly makes a difference in your child’s life at ACM.
We welcome 8 new pupils and 2 staff. We hope they will already feel part of our wonderful school community.
The Primary section welcomes Miss Kate Holding, the Reception class teacher and Miss Louise Friend, a very experienced teaching assistant, joined us in January whilst Miss Russell is on Maternity leave.
School production
We are all getting very excited about our forthcoming school production, to be held on 20,21 & 22 February. Please mark one of these dates in your diary to support our pupils, I have had a “sneak” preview and it looks amazing.
Respectful parking
Please, can I once again ask you to be respectful of others when you park or drop off /collect your children.
Please do not block the exit/entrance gates, as always this request is to ensure your children are as safe as they can be.
Visit of Simon Snell
Safeguarding Consultant and former head of the Devon and Cornwall Police Child Exploitation Unit, UK
The recent visit of Simon Snell from the UK to address parents on online safety was a great success, with much positive feedback. Thank you to those who attended. The dangers of online misuse are frightening for us all. Staff and Governors also received valuable updated training regarding child protection and safeguarding. We can never stop learning!!
Cadi Charity Event
As you read this letter, many staff members and pupils are in school working alongside Cadi Charity, participating in Sports, music, and Art activities. Thank you to all staff who have helped with this event, and in particular, our student leadership team, who are true ambassadors of ACM.
Finally, three of our staff, Mr Escobar, Ms Saunders, and Ms Sweeting, as you are aware, visited Uganda last week in order to prepare for a student/staff visit in the summer. Wow – what incredible stories they have to share and will present to the children.
Please enjoy the rest of this newsletter, reading specific Primary and Secondary news.
PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS
What a busy start to the new year we have seen in the primary school this month! The children returned to school with some exciting New Year’s resolutions, stories of adventures with their families through the holiday period and an abundance of energy to get the term off to a great start.
The Nursery children have been busily preparing dishes in our messy mud kitchen! Mud play is a fantastic way for children to practice their fine and gross motor skills, increases awareness of their senses and improves hand/eye coordination. It requires turn taking as well as opportunities to lead and follow instructions, and best of all provides countless opportunities for creative role playing fun!
In Year 1, the children have been reading sentences to follow instructions to create our very own ´cress heads´. We used our ´Green Fingers´ to help them to grow, making sure that we watered them every day. We have learned lots about deciduous and evergreen plants and had fun going on a nature hunt to discover their names too. As scientists, we have been making observations about plants using our senses.
Year 4 – Egyptians
IPC this term has been a hub of excitement and learning as well as reflecting on past knowledge. We have started exploring the life of the ancient Egyptians and what an exciting and interesting topic it is.
The children started the topic with an entry point, they became archaeologists piecing together ancient paintings to try and decipher the meanings behind the images as well as asking questions about what the symbols meant.
As we moved on we have been conducting research using our library books, enabling the children to discover new information and ask themselves more questions. This type of learning has allowed the children to be independent in what they discover and grow in confidence as they gain new knowledge and share this with others.
We are looking forward to continuing this topic, we will be making a cartouche and creating personal headdresses as if we were pharaohs. Additionally we will be exploring in more detail the different social classes of the Egyptians and important people who have helped us to learn more about this amazing period of history.
We hope you enjoyed looking through the children’s learning this month and we can’t wait to show you more learning in the primary school in next month’s newsletter.
SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWS
Oscar Vigdal, Year 13, Creative Arts
Oscar is a student who is extremely passionate about design. For about the last 2 years he has been very focused on graphic design and the experimentation with textures and type. Oscar uses ordinary objects from his day to day life and aims to create extraordinary designs out of them. His works are based on decay, wear, experimentation, and are strongly influenced by typography; they raise the question if graphic design should be considered art.
His efforts, motivation, and determination have been recognised by several important people and organisations within the design industry, the most predominant being the “Club de Creativos” which are the only organisation of this type that exists in Spain. They aim to improve the quality of creative work and defend creativity as the most powerful tool for business growth. They are also the organisation in charge of “Los Premios Nacionales de la Creatividad de Jóvenes Creativos” (The National Award of Creativity for Young Creatives) for which Oscar has been nominated. Only 3-4 people get nominated for this award, and this year Oscar is one of only 2 nominees. The event will take place the 24-25th of March in the prestigious Kursaal de San Sebastián in the main hall. Oscar will give a speech about his work to leading creatives from the design industry, university students and members of the public.
International Maths Competitions
Tryouts for our sorely missed (due to Covid) international maths competitions proved to be very popular! We had 14 for the Middle School competition (KS3), 11 for the Junior (KS4) and 7 for our Senior competition (KS5) all trying to be one of the top 3.
Middle school team Harry Cambell, Yousef Toubah and Jack Starrett (reserve Sasha Sergeev) will travel to Munich on March 24-26 with Mr Reynolds.
Junior team Sebastian Vohlmuth, Thomas Ness and Ella Ranin will travel to Vienna on Feb 24-26 with Mr Longworth. Oliver Gorman passed the selection process but unfortunately cannot travel that weekend, hopefully next year Ollie!
Senior team Yassamin Ghassemi, Danil Gulyaev and our Maths Learning Leader William Flores Qu (reserve Avisa Ansari) will travel to Warsaw on March 3-6 with Ms Turner.
They all now undergo rigorous training every Tuesday lunchtime. We wish them all the best in the competition and congratulate them on their success in making the team.
Animal Farm Theatre Visit – a message from Mr Heath (Head of English)
On Wednesday January 18th Year 10 and 4 teachers made their way to the La Cochera Cabaret theatre in Malaga to watch the TNT Theatre group’s stage production of George Orwell’s classic 1945 fable, Animal Farm, on 2 buses. The trip went well and the production was dynamic and engaging for a young audience. The students behaved well and I had the pleasure of thanking the 5 actors afterwards for their efforts. They enjoyed the performance too! We have established a relationship with the theatre now and they are planning other productions so we are excited about being able to take various year groups to high quality live theatre in English locally. My thanks to Miss Broadbent, Mr Sharp and Ms Williams, and, of course, the students. We would happily take this year group on a trip again and hopefully, when it is a bit warmer in the nearby park where we ate our lunch.
CADI day
On Saturday, January 28 we are hosting children and staff from the CADI organisation for a day of sports and creative activities. This is the first time we have organised such an event and we are hoping it will lead to a partnership of learning about different skills and experiences. The event is the brain-child of our Head Students, Mia Windhagauer and Alexey Gudkov, who have worked with our Year 12 Student Senior Leadership Team to create the event. Special thanks to Lola Cooper, Learning Leader for Creative Arts, Pedro Mees Perez, Learning Leader for PE, and Ms Emma Saunders for supporting and planning this initiative.
THIMUN Conference
A popular part of our co-curricular programme is the Model United Nations (MUN). This week, our MUN members have been to the THIMUN (The Hague International Model United Nations) conference; a four-day simulation of the United Nations for secondary school students, which takes place at the end of January each year in the World Forum Convention Center in The Hague. Every delegation (i.e. every school that attends THIMUN) is assigned a country and they represent that country throughout the conference. ACM were assigned to Suriname as we are a relatively small delegation. It has been an enriching experience for our students! Thank you, Mr Kemp and Ms Vandebilt.
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, have a lovely weekend with your families.
