JANUARY 2013
THE PRIMARY NEWSLETTER
Primary News from the Pupils and Teachers of King’s College, Alicante
Friendship in Primary Head of Primary Message With the start of a new term we welcome the arrival of new children and new staff into our primary school. On the following page we invite you to read about our new staff members: Mrs Lawrence in 2D, Mrs Metcalfe in 3M, Mrs Zoe Daniels in Reception D and Mrs Dawn Perham-Sims in Nursery E. In early February we are very excited to be hosting Carnival for the whole primary school. The Spanish staff have been working very hard to create an exciting list of events and activities that will be taking place from Monday 4 February to Thursday 7 February. This year Carnival is on the theme of Animals and the children will be wearing different items throughout the week culminating in a wonderful and colourful animal costume procession on Thursday afternoon. We very much hope that your children will enjoy this wonderful week of fun and learning.
Miss Lubaczewska Head of Primary
New Staff
Mrs Metcalfe Primary Teacher
My name is Stephanie Metcalfe and I am the new year 3M teacher here at King´s College, Alicante. I graduated from Edgehill University, Ormskirk, Lancashire in 1997 where I gained a BA hons/QTS in Social Studies and I have worked full time as a primary teacher since then. I have taught across the whole of the primary age range from Reception through to Year 6. I fully believe that children learn best in a supportive, well-disciplined and vibrant environment with lots of fun and games. I have just recently moved to Spain with my husband and I hope to live here for many years in the sunshine. When I’m not working I like to spend time with family and friends, especially my two grandsons who also live in Spain. All the staff have been very supportive, friendly and welcoming here and I am looking forward to continuing my career here at King´s College.
Sue Lawrence Primary Teacher
I have over 25 years experience of teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools and also as an instrumental teacher in England and Wales. I am a keen musician and singer and enjoy a wide variety of musical styles from Jazz to Classical and Rock. I have 2 children who are in their 20s and are both musicians working in the music industry and teaching like me! I moved to Alicante in September 2012 to undertake a classic boat restoration project and live on my boat ´´Miss Evangeline´´ in Alicante Marina. I hope to go sailing in her sometime in the Spring. I liked Alicante as soon as I arrived and I am very happy here - especially as I have such a lovely Year 2 class who are helping me to settle in to King’s College, Alicante very well. Last year I taught at Sir James Henderson School in Milan where I began to teach English as a Second Language and continued to teach at a language school when I arrived in Spain. I find this work very rewarding and am constantly learning as well as teaching my language!
Zoe Daniels Class Assistant
I have just joined the Rainbow fish class in Reception D. I trained at Clifton nursery nurses college in Bristol where I spent two years and at the end passed my nursery nursing exams. I then decided to leave my small village where I had lived all my life, and at eighteen moved to London to become a live in nanny. I worked in the London area for many years as a nanny, a job I really enjoyed. My longest employment with the same family was nearly ten years. After my daughter was born my husband and I decided to move to Spain. It was a big decision but we felt the life here in Spain would be good for our daughter. I first worked with my husband starting three businesses here, but this year I decided to get back to the job I love. The staff here have been extremely supportive and I work alongside two lovely teachers. The children are a pleasure to be with and are extremely well behaved and eager to learn. I look forward to my time ahead at the school.
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Open Morning On Saturday 26th January, we welcomed 24 families to our very successful prospective parents´ Open Morning for Nursery. I would like to thank our Admissions Officer Debby for all her organisation and the other staff who attended on the day.
Thank you and Goodbye to Mrs Einarsdottir This month we have had to say goodbye to Mrs Einarsdottir who has been working with us in Nursery E since September. The Early Years and Year 1 made her a card, a crown, a sash, a certificate and sang some lovely songs to say thank you to her for all her hard work. She is returning to her home in Iceland and we wish her lots of luck and happiness in the future. We will miss her as we have all enjoyed working with her.
PLANTS This term Year 1 are learning all about plants and how they grow. We have been very busy planting different kinds of seeds and finding out what they need in order to grow. We did an experiment to see if the seeds would grow without water and found out that they won´t. Our experiment to find out if seeds grow in the dark was very interesting. We were expecting that they wouldn´t grow, but in fact they did! We were all very surprised. We have been re-telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and have planted our own beans. Here is one that has started to grow. We are hoping that they grow as big as Jacks.
We have been very lucky in Year 1 because Mrs Collingham´s father has built us a new planter so that we can try to grow some vegetables. We are all looking forward to see which class can grow the biggest carrots!
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House Teams in KS2 There´s a winner! The 4 houses: Wind, Water, Earth and Fire worked really hard during the autumn term collecting points for their teams. The winner of the house competition in KS2 for the autumn term was WATER! Congratulations. All members of the water team received a certificate and treat. Well done. Team captains you now need to motivate your teams again to see if you can win the Spring term competition.
Weather
By Miss Snook As part of 'Weather, place and people' topic, the children in Class 3S were very enthusiastic about their chance to write and present their own weather forecast. In groups of 3, children worked superbly writing their own scripts, making sure all along they used appropriate weather vocabulary. When it came to filming, they were all confident to perform their forecast in front of an eager audience. After filming finished, we really enjoyed watching each clip. Children positively shared what was successful about each clip and what they could do to improve their forecasts if they had to do it again. Watch the clips on the link provided. You never know, you may see our children presenting the weather on our television screens in the near future!
Click on the TV to watch the presenters in action!
Could you be the next Shakespeare, Rowling, Wilson, Murpurgo or Dahl? Are you a budding author? This term, Key Stage 2 is in search of story writers. The competition has begun and already there are a number of fantastic entries. Miss Lubaczewska, Head of Primary said, “It is really great to see so many enthusiastic writers; I am hoping that this competition will motivate children to write some interesting and exciting stories.” Mrs Gandhi, Year 6 teacher and Key Stage 2 Literacy Coordinator said, “The deadline for entries is not until 28th February so there is plenty of time for children to submit their entries. If they have forgotten what the rules and criteria are, they can read them in this newsletter. I am hoping that we can find some future authors and one day we may read a book written by someone who started writing at King’s College, Alicante.” If you would like to take part in the competition read on...
WHO CAN APPLY? Anyone in Years 3, 4, 5, or 6 HOW CAN YOU APPLY? Write a fictional story – it can be in any genre: Adventure, Horror, Action, Comedy etc. HOW LONG SHOULD THE STORY BE? No more than 500 words long! SHOULD IT BE HANDWRITTEN OR WORD PROCESSED? If possible word processed but if you can’t word process it, write it in your best handwriting. WHEN AND WHERE SHOULD I HAND IT IN? A hard copy should be handed into Mrs Gandhi by no later than February 28th. Make sure you save your word processed story as this may be required later. Clearly write your name and class on your papers. A winner and two runners up per year group will be chosen, each will receive a certificate, a prize and their story will be published on the King’s College, Alicante website. GOOD LUCK!! HAPPY WRITING!!! Pag e 7
Let me tell you a story........ National Story Telling Week in Key Stage 2 Over the week beginning January 28th children from Years 5 and 6 went into Years 3 and 4 to tell them some traditional stories. This wasn´t simply about reading a story from a book, it was more than that. Groups of two or three story tellers used props and costumes to tell the story in a more expressive and dramatic way. By doing this, those listening to the stories would be more engaged. It is hoped that story telling by children to children can be inspirational and motivational. The Readers included: Neus , Jacobo and Justina from 6G read Clever Rabbit and King Lion Alba,
Manuela
and Carla from 6F
read The Lion and the Mouse Paula and Maria Luisa from 5S read The King With Dirty Feet Clara , Aitana and Alejandro from 6H read the Tale of Benjamin Bunny Vicente and Maia from 5C read Too Much Talk Ismael and Hannah from 5R read The Black Geese
Hannah and Ishmael from 5R said “We really love reading and telling this story was so much fun!” Paula and Maria Luisa from 5S explained, “We picked the story ourselves because it was so funny about a king who didn´t have a bath and then when he did, he kept getting his feet dirty. We thought the children would find it really funny. We dressed up and used props to make it more interesting.” Neus, Justina and Jacobo said that they were delighted to work together as a team and decide who would read and who would act. Alba, Manuela and Carla said that they knew the children would love to hear the very well known story about the lion and the mouse as it had a moral to it. Mrs Gandhi, Key Stage 2 Literacy Coordinator, said that she was pleased that children from 6H had picked Benjamin Bunny as their story, “children always love the Beatrix Potter stories! But it was also good to see that Maia and Vicente from 5C had picked something totally different with their story Too Much Talk!” Mrs Pilkington, Year 3 Teacher, said that she was delighted to see children from years 5 and 6 storytelling to the younger members of Key Stage 2, “Children always like to hear their peers read and the story tellers were fantastic... well-done and thank you.”
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Learning about internal organs
Year 4
Year 4 have started their new Topic ‘Bag of Bones’. They have been locating the inner organs and researching their functions. The children had fun exploring models of the human body. The children are looking forward to finding out about the circulatory system, skeletons, muscles and much more....
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Creating Greek Pots Year 5 We explored the Ancient Greek pots, we found out what they were used for, how they made them and how they were decorated. We saw some examples of the pots and designed our own pots based on the information we explored and we decided to create an ancient Greek pot to finish off our last part of the topic. First we rolled out a slab of clay for the base. Secondly we rolled out coils which were like long thin sausages; we attached one coil upon one another to build the body of the pot. To help us make the coils and the rest of the pot we used clay tools similar to what was used in ancient Greece. One special clay tool we used to help us create our ancient Greek pot was a plastic and wooden spoon like tool which was used to smooth the outside and the inside of the pot. The other end of the tool had a ridged end which helped us cut the clay and construct the base of the pot.
Term 2 in Year 6
CHOCOLATE! This term the children will be studying the many areas of the curriculum through the amazing topic of CHOCOLATE. They will be: • Learning about the history of the cocoa bean and plotting its journey to Europe and around the world • Inventing their own chocolate bar and selling their idea to Year 11 Business Studies students • Learning about the chocolate making process • Carrying out science investigations looking at reversible and irreversible changes involving melting chocolate! • Visiting two chocolate factories in Villajoyosa • Sketching and painting their chocolate bar creations • Learning about Fair Trade and the treatment of farmers. • Baking – Which team makes the best chocolate brownie? • Organising a chocolate cake bake sale (while dressed as a character from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) • Writing a quest which takes place in Willie Wonka´s Chocolate Factory • Inventing a chocolate/sweet shop and create a spreadsheet to calculate its profit or loss! • Creating, planning and building a chocolate factory with re-cycled materials.
What a fun-filled term for Year 6! Look out in next month´s newsletter for photos of all these amazing activities.
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CHARITY NEWS Every year I am delighted with the response from our pupils, parents and staff to our fund-raising for charity. The process and end results of helping those less fortunate than ourselves provides not only a sense of satisfaction, but a sense of responsibility and citizenship. This is one of the most important lessons our pupils will learn and I am proud of their contributions, efforts and thoughtfulness. Helping them to become better citizens through contributing meaningfully to society is the bedrock of our future generations and I am delighted that we can play a part in this process on a local and international scale. This year we have contributed cash donations totaling almost 2.500€ to the following charitiesDown Syndrome, Bomberos Unidos sin fronteras, Butterfly Skin Foundation (Epidermolysis bullosa), Foundación Vicente Ferrer (sponsored child in India), Caritas, Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature. In addition we collected and distributed a large amount of clothes, food, toys and books at Christmas to Ejército de Salvación (Salvation Army) in Alicante and Asociación Humanitaria Americana de Alicante. In the near future, we will be contributing to Asoka animal protection society, (Asociación para la defense y protection de los animals) and Acción Contra el Hambre (Action against Hunger). Next month I will give you further detailed information about our exciting new Oxfam and WWF joint project. Thank you. Mr D Laidlaw, Headteacher
THE SIXTH FORM
COMMITTEE
On December 18th the school hosted a Christmas Fair in order to raise money for charity. The money raised by the fair has been donated to several charities. Pupils were able to buy tickets which they were spent on different activities during the event, including; field games, workshops and guessing games.
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STUDENT LIBRARIANS
The English Department, together with the Library, are running a project with Y5, Y6 and KS3 students. Pupils were offered the possibility to be Student Librarians and take different responsibilities in the library, such as helping Library users to find books and with computers, telling Library users about the best books to read and writing reviews or recommendation posters. They will also be reading with younger students, helping to make displays for the noticeboards and arranging book displays on shelves. They are looking forward to being involved in important events such as the Literary Festival, World Book Day and Book Week.
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SOME OF THEM? Aitana, Year 6
Aline, Year 5
Elena, Year 6
Irene, Year 5
Hi, my name is Aitana and I’m in Year 6H. I’m 10 years old. I love coming to the library and reading books of all types of genres. I was chosen student Librarian to help people with computers and choosing books. If you have any problems come to me and I’ll help you.
My name is Aline and I’m nine years old. The library has very interesting and fabulous books. I really like the collection of the books of Flat Stanley. They are really good; you can try them to see if you like them.
Hello, my name is Elena. I’m 11 years old, I’m in year 6F and I love coming to the library. I also love reading books of all kind of genres. I was chosen to be a librarian to help people by finding books, recommending books, and helping in the library in all kind of things. I LOVE BOOKS!
Hello my name is Irene. My favourite colour is green. I am from Spain. My class is year 5R. I am 9 years old and I love reading and painting.
Recommended Books My favourite genres are mystery, romance and contemporary. Here are some of my favourite books: Dork Diaries 1, 2, 3, 4 by Rachel Renee Russell, Fairy Oak by Elisabetta Gnone, Zodiac Girl Series by Cathy Hopkins Kingfisher and Malory Towers by Enid Blyton.
The author of Flat Stanley is Jeff Brown There are many more books; this is just a picture of one of them. I also like the books of Roald Dahl. They are also very interesting. I like books that are adventurous and interesting. It is nice to read funny and happy books You decide!
My favourite genre is autobiography; my favourite book is “Refugee Boy” by Benjamin Zephaniah. It is a very good and interesting book . It is about a boy whose father left him in London and he went to an orphanage where he met a family that adopted him.
Two of my favourite books are Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell (she also illustrated this book), and Secret Kindom by Rosie Banks. Dork diaries is about a new girl that is allways writing in her diary and Secret Kindom is about some girls that have to save a world full of magical things.
MEET THE HELPERS
PRIMARY HELPERS
Irene 5R, Paula 5S, Aline 5S, Julia 5C, Carlos 5R, Aaron 5R, Elena 5C, Náyua 5R, Roser 5S, Lucy 5S, Manuela 6F, Sara 6H, Aitana 6H, Elena 6F, Kyla 6G, Neus 6G, Odín 6H, Marina 6G, Javier 6H, Víctor 6H
FLAGS
I am very pleased that we are now displaying our new flags . As with other King´s Group Schools, we have the Union Jack, Bandera de España, King´s Group and COBIS.
Important Dates 28 January – 1 February is National Storytelling Week 4th February – Year 6 Residential trip meeting for parents 5th February – Parenting Class ‘Eating Habits’ 9.15am 6th February – Year 6 trip to Chocolate factory 15th February – Y6 Cake Sale 13th February – Reception H Coffee Morning 15th February – Reception P Coffee Morning 20th February Reception D Coffee Morning
Glorieta del Reino Unido 5 Alicante 03008 Spain www.bsalicante.com email: carlos.lazaro@kingsgroup.org