Secondary Newsletter March 2011

M A R CH 201 1

T H E S E C O N D A RY N E W S L E T T E R Secondary News from the Pupils and Teachers of The British School of Alicante

Sixth Form Visit CERN

Sr Lled贸 Presentation

Y

12 and Y13 students had the pleasure of listening to a fascinating insight into the career of Sr Lledo who visited the school this month as part of our Sixth Form Enrichment Programme. He brought in numerous pieces of equipment and video footage explaining his role in the custom agents. It certainly was a memorable experience and one which will live long in the memories of our students.

Exams b y Stephen Gr een

Exams; the very word can strike fear into the hearts of many students - even parents for that matter! Right now many students are no doubt breaking out in nervous sweat instead of perhaps just knuckling down and getting on with that revision. We have all been there of course. We have all found something terribly important to do instead of that revision we promised ourselves. For the sociable student of the 21st Century there are even more distractions – friends don´t just come knocking at the door anymore, they´ll ping up on screen too! It’s too easy to avoid the quality time at the books and instead engage in a couple of hour’s ´chat´ online. It’s also too easy to forget about striking the right balance between revision, work and those other extracurricular activities which ensure that students learn to play a more active and positive role in our society. Of course we need to relax, to ´chill out´ or pursue our hobbies and pleasurable pursuits, some active physical exercise – because a healthy body helps sustain a healthy mind. Plenty of rest to help the brain process all the new information being fed to it and, finally, the important time with family or supporting our community by providing a service or helping others.

If we didn´t we would not be as effective during our work, but we must also be able to manage our time responsibly and with focus.

For many of us the ability to manage our time between work and play is difficult. Motivation can come from our head or our hearts. If, for instance, you find your head motivates you more, tell yourself why the revision you are doing is so important for your future. Be strong in your belief that the more effort you put in now, the easier you’ll find the work and the quicker it will be finished. If you’re happier to let your heart decide what motivates you, consider just how good it will be to have taken in the necessary information and what a boost it will be for you. Ask yourself if putting off your revision for some supposed short term gain, like facebook time or computer games, is actually worthwhile in the long term.

You may feel you need more choice and flexibility, but imagine what it would be like in the world of employment…If your boss told you to do something, it would be unusual for you to do anything other than get on with the work. And if you want to be your own boss in the future, it’s even more reason to start getting the work done! So, there´s not much time left before the exams – start in earnest. Some exams have in fact already started. So, although we must make time in our life for socialising, having fun, playing games and facebook. Now is not that time for many. Now is the time for guarding our time, storing our time, making our time count because the hours we need for work, family and pleasure in the months ahead are few and so we must use them wisely.

Stephen Green Head of Secondary

BSA Got Talent!

O

n the week beginning 28th February there were lots of activities going on in secondary school to raise money for the charity Comic Relief. This is a charity that helps children across the world try to better their lives, whether it be providing the children with drinkable water or opening youth clubs for disadvantaged children. As part of the fund raising week we held a BSA´s got talent competition. Six acts were brave enough to get on stage in front of the whole of the secondary school to show us their talents.

The talents ranged from bands to dancers and were received by everyone!

well

Unfortunately there can only be one winner and after the judges votes and audience applause one winner was chosen. I won´t spoil the ending! Watch the video to find out who won BSA´s got talent!!

Years 12 and 13 visit CERN, the European centre for nuclear research in Geneva

At the beginning of March, Years 12 and 13 had the rare and exciting opportunity to visit CERN, the European centre for nuclear research in Geneva. This is home to the world’s largest ever experiment: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27km tunnel, built 100m below ground, designed to accelerate particles to close to the speed of light. These particles travel around the tunnel in opposite directions gathering speed until they collide with such high energy that the impact recreates conditions not seen since just after the Big Bang. Four huge detectors gather data from the collisions in order to discover more about the fundamental particles and forces that shape our universe. The LHC is also one of the coldest places in the universe. The superconducting magnets which guide the particles around the tunnel must be cooled to a chilly -271°C! We were given a guided tour of the facility, and the students gained a real appreciation for the sheer magnitude of this most ambitious of endeavours.

Particularly impressive was ATLAS, the largest of the detectors, measuring 46m long and 25m high and packed with some of the most sophisticated engineering on Earth, it will investigate profound ideas such as dark matter, the origin of mass and string theory.

Having filled the students heads with enough particle physics to last a lifetime, the next day we visited the United Nations Palace in Geneva. We were given a tour which explained much about the formation of the UN, following the demise of the League of Nations, and about the historical events that have taken place within the walls of the building. The students found the tour highly interesting and put some intelligent questions to the guide.

After so much intellectual stimulation it was time for a break, so we spent the final afternoon ice-skating. Despite several tumbles, we all escaped without any injuries and good fun was had by all. During our stay the students also had plenty of time to explore the city, and see the sites surrounding the beautiful Lake Geneva. In all it was a very successful trip and one we will all remember for a long time.

CERN Building, Geneva

Here is what the students had to say: Ana

‘The trip has been an amazing experience. It was very exciting to visit the CERN, and at the Microcosmos museum we learnt some interesting data about how it works and the people working there, 12% of the employees are from Spain! All the people were very friendly and in Starbucks the shoppers assistants gave us a cookie for free! We also took the wrong bus one afternoon and almost ended up in France!’

Anis

The trip to Geneva was a very enjoyable experience.

The free hours that we had on the first day allowed us to visit the city, which was fun. The bus and train passes that the hostel gave us came in very handy going around town. The visit to CERN was extremely informative. overall, it was a productive visit.

The visit to the United Nations was probably the most interesting part of the trip. We got to see some of the most historic buildings in Europe, which alongside the very capable tour guide made the visit a great success.

Artur

The trip to CERN was pretty interesting; we discovered how particles are accelerated and the factory where the magnets for the accelerator are created. We also saw some museums of science which were very interesting as you were able to touch everything there. Geneva is a beautiful city, which we had the pleasure to see by ourselves, using the public transport, and walking a lot. It was a fun trip which I think nobody will forget.

Eliza

Geneva was a very interesting trip!

There, I learnt a general idea about how the accelerator of particles works, how big it is and how different countries in the whole world help, giving their money to keep accelerating particles and researching in the physics world.

Also, I had a very good time with my friends and enjoyed the city a lot.

DEA federal agents ask for help from BSA students

O

n Tuesday 1st March 2011, the British School of Alicante was visited by Agent Ferris and Special Agent Kapowski from the Drug Enforcement Agencies of New York and Moscow respectively.

They were here to ask for help from potential Crime Scene Investigators from Year 8 to identify illegal narcotics found in and around Alicante.

Similar drugs had recently been found in the USA and Russia and the DEA agents brought the “known specimen”s to match to the unknown powders found here. The job of Year 8, in their House groups, was to match the “known drugs” with the unknown samples.

Care, accuracy and organization were needed, along with teamwork and communication. After a long afternoon of testing, Gaudi House produced evidence to perfectly match and identify the “drugs”.

10 students were chosen to work in future with the DEA agents. Those chosen were Agents Anton, Galan, Izquierdo, Prynn, Bonet, Martinez, Ramon, Cho, Zhou and Valencia.

YEAR 7 HISTORY A

s part of their final topic on Medieval life year 7 have been learning about the medieval church.

They have learnt about why it had so much power and how it both helped people and gave them hope. In order to show what they have learnt the students have made their own game, in order to avoid hell or purgatory they had to pick up cards where they had done good works rather than sinning! Examples of cards included 'You have baptised your child, they now have less chance of going to hell' or 'you shaved your beard on Sunday, miss a turn.' (this was a real sin in medieval times). The students produced excellent and innovative games and have learned a lot at the same time.

THE BULL RING

B

SA Students in Key Stage 4 & 5 were fortunate this month to be presented with a unique opportunity.

Dave Bull and 4 representatives from the local business community were in school to present the ´Bull Ring´. The idea is to give young entrepreneurs a chance to state their business ideas in front of local businessmen willing to invest in young talent for their expertise, help and advice (and possibly if the idea is good enough, the financial investment) to develop their business proposals before the ‘Bulls’. The Bulls will be back in school next term to listen to presentations from our entrepreneurs.

Watch this space!

Mr. Thomas Business Studies

Former Pupils visit our Sixth Form

W

ednesday 15th March, two former students Teresa Garcia and Fernando Martinez returned to the school, but this time, as “Teachers” . For about one hour and a half they talked with the Year 13 pupils about their time in this school and about their experiences at University. Last year Teresa finished her studies in England and is now preparing for a Post Graduate in education. Pablo is now in his 4th Year of engineering at Valencia University.

Teresa spoke about her experiences at her English University and about her last year’s work experience in Dakar. Meanwhile, Pablo described the great difference between the level of requirements at school and at university and the importance of being prepared to successfully complete his first year at the university.

The five basic tips that they gave us were: • Decide what career to study because it will determine your life.

• Properly plan and organize your study time and rest, do not mix them.

• Not to give up when the first problems arise, If you’re studying what you like, stick to it.

• Be aware of the highly competitive world we live in. Companies seek the best people, therefore our preparation should be the best.

Year 13 students asked several questions and they were very interested to learn more about the details of the new stage they are about to start.

We thank Teresa and Pablo for their time helping their colleagues and we wish them luck in their future.

• University is completely different from school, there we are not so “spoiled”.

The attitude has to be mature and responsible from the beginning.

Year 12 visit Valencia

O

n the 16th of March the year 12 Spanish class (Ms.Castro, Joe y Mia) went to Valencia to learn and appreciate first-hand the culture of the region during the Fallas and to visit historical sites.

We arrived at the train station at 10 in the morning. It rained a lot and so we had to buy 3 umbrellas from a street vendor. The first place we stopped at was the “Plaza del Ayuntamiento.” Afterwards, we started to walk towards the Barrio del Carmen – where there was a central market. We went inside the Lonja which was a place where people used to buy and sell silk. Also there was an indoor area, “el Patio de los Naranjos”. After this we walked to the“IVAM” (Instituto Valenciano de arte moderno).

Much later, we bought some buns – which are different to churros because they contain pumpkin and are a traditional food for Fallas. Afterwards we visited the Plaza de la Virgen – There we found La Virgen, a structure made out of wood for the Ofrende.

Later, we went to the Cathedral (situated on the Plaza de la Reina) – we decided to go up the 203 stairs to arrive at the top – we had to leave Ms.Castro at the bottom.

We were very tired but this was the best part because you could see everything including the Ciudad de Las Artes y las Ciencias. Much later, we went shopping. At 1:45 more or less we went to see a mascletá – it was really noisy.

A little after we ate, we passed the museo de Cerámica – but we could not touch the sculptures. Immediately afterwards, we ate at an Italian restaurant – this restaurant was very full because everyone who went to see the mascletá ate here.

However, after eating, we realised it was 4:15 and the train was to leave at 4:35. We had to pay quickly and run to the train station. But when we got there, the train had left. We had to change tickets and get a different train that was to leave in an hour and a half.

Still, it turned out for the best because it gave us the opportunity to see the parade of the Falleras from each street with a band. When it finished, it was time to go to the train station – we arrived early to make sure we didn’t miss the train again. Overall, it was a great experience and we got to see a good part of Valencia.

Inter School Sports Day

T

he British School of Alicante was a hive of sporting activity this month when visiting schools, from Kings College, Murcia, El Limonar and the European School all competed in the annual Inter School Sports Event. As in previous years, the event was a great success, helped by students competing to a high standard but also in the spirit of sportsmanship. Well done to all those who took part.

Oliver

The Musical

R

ehearsals have been taking place since October for the annual school production of 'Oliver!' which will be performed in the Sports Hall on Wednesday 13th and 14th April

at 5pm.

The cast and crew have been working hard to provide a memorable show which includes show stopping musical numbers such as "You got to pick a pocket or two", "As long as he needs me", "Where is love" and the theme tune "Oliver!". It’s sure to be a fantastic spectacle. To paraphrase the hero of the show, ´Who could ask for more?’

April 13th & 14th TIME 5:00 PM

Hea dte a c h e r ´ s B l og I invite all parents to read the Headteacher´s blog which is available on our website. News and information will be posted and updated regularly . I hope this will keep you more informed of school developments.

Dates for April ••

13th April – Oliver! – 5pm - in the Sports Hall

••

14th April – Oliver! – 5pm - in the Sports Hall

••

18th April – Sports Day

••

19th April – Non Uniform Day

••

20th April – School Closed for Easter Holiday

••

3rd May – School Re-opens – Summer Term & Summer Uniform

For more dates please see our Parent Calendar on the website.

www.bsalicante.com

Glorieta del Reino Unido 5 Alicante 03008 Spain www.bsalicante.com email: carlos.lazaro@kingsgroup.org