Parent Newsletter November 2021

Dear parents,

I hope this newsletter finds you all safe and well.

By today you will be enjoying the first day of our half-term break. Let’s hope we all have a special time with our families.

The importance of family life has been stressed this week when we have all read about the very sad loss of a 16 year old pupil from a local school.

How can we ever imagine the loss of a child?

We sent flowers from our ACM community and a private letter to the Principal of Guadalpín School expressing our condolences and support.

It is indeed 3 years ago this week that we mark the anniversary of the loss of one of our own pupils Richard – Please keep his family in your thoughts. 

On a much happier note, our school continues to enjoy wonderful moments and experiences some of which I would like to share with you.

Enjoy Alessandra Tertychna Year 12 in recent success in the International Grand Prix tournament of Rhythmic Gymnastics competition. I have personally known Alessandra since she was 8 years old. I am amazed at her humility!! She is a future Olympian I am certain.

Alessandra trains a minimum of 3 hours a day, she balances this with her studies of A-levels. Never once have I heard her ask for an extension of homework or deadlines. She is truly committed to her sport and yet through intensive self discipline, manages her academic studies as well as her sporting process.

One day I am certain I will be sitting in my armchair watching her compete in the Olympic Games, well done Alessandra!

Staff leavers:

Like many international schools we sometimes have to say goodbye to staff during the academic year.

Miss Ocean, and Miss Hill both leave us for personal reasons connected with family life.

We thank them for their great service to our children and wish them every success and happiness.

We welcome to the Primary Section: Valentina Pantaleo and Louise Clyburn.

In the Secondary Section we bid farewell to Esperanza who leaves for maternity leave and welcome Ms Carmen for replacement.

We bid a sad farewell to Mrs Antonia Postigo who took early retirement due to ill health. We thank her for 26 years of dedicated services – Thank you Antonia.

COVID UPDATE

Since my last newsletter there have been 2 Covid cases. A whole Reception class and 2 staff had to self isolate for 10 days. They have all returned to school safe and raring to go!

Thank you to all the parents who supported their online learning, it isn’t easy when you are 4 years old!  


ROADWORKS

Thank you for your patience regarding the road works. The Town Hall intends to further develop our current road system to ensure greater safety for all of our pupils.

Whilst it will include disturbance – the benefits once it is completed will be huge. I would like to remind the Primary parents that they can continue to use the top gate by the Sports Hall to drop off their children at the bus stop. 


PETS

I have repeatedly reminded parents that dogs are not allowed on the school premises. This is in the interest of the Health and Safety of all our pupils.

Last week alone, myself, Fran the guard and Miss Eldred, the Primary Head was asking, an average of 6 parents a day to remove their dogs from the premises. Please support us on this matter.


Aloha College Marbella Parents Society

Following the recent communication of the formation of a new group of parental support, I am delighted to welcome:

Mrs Cruz
Mrs Doyle
Mrs. García
Mrs Gorgé
Mrs Mayne-Knezovich
Mrs Parker
Mrs Worthington

We will begin with an informal coffee morning for these parents to make some plans for the rest of the academic year.

I am really looking forward to working alongside such a positive, hard working group of mums.

Thank you and congratulations to them all.


Christmas Bazaar

One of their first tasks is to help with the traditional decoration of the school for the Christmas period. The children love Santa’s Grotto, Christmas trees and fairy lights.

Please note that due to Covid restrictions there will be NO traditional Christmas Bazaar, however, ideas are already being shared about the possibilities of a Spring or Summer fair – when the restrictions are lifted. Watch this space!


Raffle tickets

Despite no Christmas Bazaar we do intend to carry out our traditional Christmas raffle draw.

Each child will be issued with a book of 5 tickets which they will be asked to sell at €2 each. This of course is not compulsory.

Tickets will be issued immediately after half-term and the raffle will be drawn on Monday 20 December.

Prizes include a Playstation 5, a bike and star prize school lunch, served by Mrs Batchelor, Mr Escobar and Ms Eldred!!!


PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS

EYFS

The Reception outdoor area has gained some wonderful planters that now allows both classes to access the outdoor provision all day, keeping each class separate.

In Nursery, they have been forming friendships and speaking about our families. Each class spoke about the 3 Bears (from the story Goldilocks and the 3 Bears) and all the different characters they have in their family. The children have also been focusing on different emotions and begun to learn some techniques to calm ourselves down when they bubble over! 

Key Stage 1

The children have given an incredible amount of focus to their poetry in literacy, which has resulted in them requesting to perform their poems to the class. We are hoping to add these performances into Creative Arts Week after half term. 

The Toys from the past lessons have been a huge success, with children experimenting with some old and new games at playtimes. Watching the children play some games that their ancestors may have played many years ago has made the teachers feel a little older than they might like! To finish this half term, the children have reviewed their learning so far and have talked about what they will focus on next; we can’t wait to get back to school!

We also want to celebrate that Lucy Matthews won ‘Player of the Week’ for a girls´ football team she plays in at the weekends – well done, Lucy!

Lower Key Stage 2

If you think your children came home with a slightly bigger smile than usual then it is probably because Year 3 and 4 have been applying their chef skills and making chocolate in their IPC lessons!

In English, Year 3 have also been developing their on-screen skills by producing some videos about the features of non-fiction texts. 

Meanwhile, over in Year 4, where they have been learning about and creating Transient Art pieces, the classrooms have been awash with varied, creative designs. 

Miss Eldred was thrilled to see Year 4 watering the new seeds planted on the terrace and everyone has been popping in to see the shoots starting to appear. Their little green fingers haven’t stopped there; they have been gardening all over school!

We have received so many fabulous Art competition entries already, who knew there were so many beautiful pets at home?


Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5 and 6 were privileged to receive an Introduction to Secondary video from the Head Students with a follow up Live Online Q&A where the children could ask any questions they may have about life in Secondary. Ainoa and Marcus were so reassuring and motivating, sharing their honest reflections. 

We have announced to the children the winners of the House Captain application process. As you can imagine it was an extremely difficult decision as all the applicants were worthy candidates. The teachers finally came to an agreement and are pleased to announce that our 2021-2022 Primary House Captains are: Libby, Sergio and Nikita.


SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWS


KS4

IGCSE Sports Science Assessments

At Aloha College Marbella, our students are encouraged to learn through a wide range of activities, both in the classroom and also in our local community. We want to support students to develop not just academic skills, but also those that could benefit others around them- perhaps even, one day, to save a life!

As part of the IGCSE moderation process we were fortunate enough to be able to offer the aquatic activity of life saving as part of our practical course to Year 11 Sports Sc at the San Pedro municipal pool.

It was an intense three day course in which our students needed to work extremely hard, learning how to effectively rescue casualties in a variety of demanding water conditions. Students were taught how to enter the water correctly using shallow dives and straddles and to perform a range of contact and noncontact tows. All pupils had to learn how to safely land a casualty and perform life saving CPR, by the side of the pool.

Skills were learned, practised, graded and ultimately filmed as evidence to send to the examiner. These are invaluable life skills being taught and we are delighted to say that all candidates scored very highly on the Cambridge Grading system.

We would like to congratulate all students who took part and we are looking forward to taking the Y10 IGCSE group later in this academic year.

KS5

Our Year 12 students recently participated in a special residential trip to Cortes de la Frontera; a beautiful Andalusian village tucked in the stunning hills and countryside of Cádiz. The purpose of this trip was to provide students with an experience to foster strong relations with each other and their teachers; outdoor team-building pursuits; strategy games and a unique opportunity to explore and experience techniques in Emotional Intelligence including meditation, mindfulness and reflection, which is a key element of our school curriculum and ethos. This trip also fulfilled a significant CAS experience for those on the IB programme. On 14 October a coach filled with very enthusiastic students in full song departed from Aloha for what would be another special, fun packed experience to join their collection of happy memories of life in Aloha College! See what the students had to say for themselves below:

“This trip was a fantastic learning experience for me since it taught me that we must trust people in circumstances when we must work together and concentrate. It also demonstrated how rejuvenating nature can be for clearing my thoughts. Cortes de la Frontera was a fantastic trip since it forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and collaborate with students I would not normally work with. Unquestionably a worthwhile experience!” -James Rapaille 12FTA

“A few weeks ago, our Year 12 group embarked on a trip to Cortes de la Frontera, a small town in the Andalusian mountains. The main focus of the trip was to grow as a person and really connect with ourselves and grow closer as a collective. This was achieved by completing an array of activities and games. We did things such as team problem-solving activities and mindfulness workshops. Personally, it helped me connect more with my mind and my emotions and helped me be more self-aware about my emotions and how I can develop myself into a more well-rounded individual.” -Tom Marionette-Pearson 12MI


“The goal of this trip was to spend some time with each other and practice mindfulness. This trip was especially important for CAS development as we did varied activities in nature. I really enjoyed this experience as it encouraged me to spend time with my friends, connect with my classmates and benefit from some time outdoors, because of this trip I managed to disconnect from my daily routine and practice mindfulness.” -Lior ParienteJimena 12FTA


PSHEE

On the 19th and 21st October, students in Year 9 and 10 were involved in a talk led by Chris Spencer and his colleagues from an Addiction Center in San Pedro. They were invited in to inform students about different types of addiction, addictive behaviours and the impact that addiction has on people’s lives. They shared their own personal stories with our students, which they found insightful and quite eye opening. The Year 9 and 10 students found the talk very engaging and we received very positive feedback from both year groups. Here is what some students had to say:

“I really liked the talk about addiction because it really opened my mind and made me think about what I might want to do in the future as a job. It completely fascinated me and I would love to learn about psychology because I find it really interesting. I’m very pleased that we had such an amazing opportunity to experience this talk.” -Lara Baghai Ravary Y10

“In my opinion, the talk we had about addiction benefited everyone. Throughout high school, people have ideas about trying new things and these things can cause addiction. The woman who talked about gaming addiction was really interesting and showed how easy and dangerous it can be. Being in front of a computer or mobile phone is not good for our health or mental health.” -Claudia Arguelles Rodriguez Y9


Your children keep all of our days happy

Finally, please enjoy 4 of our reception/nursery class interpreting Senior staff, debating traffic issues!!!  

Enjoy a wonderful half-term break!

 

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