M AY 2 0 1 3
THE PRIMARY NEWSLETTER
Primary News from the Pupils and Teachers of King’s College, Alicante
Primary Sport Days
Acting Head of Primary Message Honesty, Faith and Courage are the words on our school emblem, I would like to take a little time to consider what these words mean, and how they influence us individually, as a group and within society. Of course, the English language can be a complex thing, and the meaning of words can change depending upon the context within which they are used. Within the context of our school life, this is what these words mean to me. Honesty - the quality or characteristic of being fair, just, truthful. Faith - belief in the truth, sincerity of intentions, loyalty Courage - the strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. With SAT’s time approaching for Year 6, the thoughts of having faith in your own ability the courage to tackle difficult task and being honest to yourself and others is very relevant and meaningful. With our younger pupils I have discussed the importance of being honest; sometimes this can be difficult and requires courage to do the right thing and faith and belief that your actions and words are the correct ones . All pupils in our Primary school are familiar with the “Golden Rules” • • • • • •
We are gentle – we don´t hurt others We are kind & helpful – we don´t hurt anybody’s feelings We listen – we don’t interrupt We are honest – we don’t cover up the truth We work hard – we don’t waste time We look after property – we don’t damage things
If our pupils stick to these rules and are honest, have faith in themselves and courage to take risks and try new challenges we will see confident, responsible and trustworthy young citizens in our school, families and community.
Mrs Phillips Acting Head of Primary
MINI SPORTS DAY
E A R LY Y E A R S
On Friday 17th May Nursery held a Mini Sports morning. We had great fun having races e.g. egg and spoon race, sack race and balancing rings on our heads. We all got special stickers for taking part. In the last week of May we are looking forward to the Race for Hunger (30.05.13) and on Friday 31st May we will be spending time in our new classes and meeting our new teachers for September. Very Exciting!
WILD ANIMALS
In Nursery this month we have been learning about Wild Animals. We have been learning the names of all the wild animals and we have done some fantastic artwork!
KORKY PAUL VISITS US! This month, Reception have been very lucky to have had a visit from a very famous author and illustrator called Korky Paul. He came to read us one of his stories- Winnie the Witch- and we even got a visit from Winnie herself!! We loved listening to the story. Korky Paul then drew each Reception class a special picture of Winnie the Witch and her cat Wilbur! We have the pictures on display in our class rooms and we have loved listening to Winnie the Witch stories since. Pag e 3
SPORTS DAY IN KS1
This month in KS1, all the children had great fun competing in our annual Sports Day. All the children were dressed in their team colours and were eager to compete in the different races.
They all demonstrated their sporting abilities in a variety of events from javelin and long jump to the traditional egg and spoon race.
All the children finished the running event with a medal to take home. After all the points were added up, it was the YELLOW team that came in first place with the most points. Well done if you were in yellow team!
KORKY PAUL IN KS1 This month we were very lucky to have a visit from a famous illustrator – Korky Paul. In Year 1 the children had been learning about the job of an illustrator, so were very excited to be able to meet a real illustrator.
Korky Paul read one of his books to the children with the help of Winnie the Witch and Wilbur the cat.
Then he showed us how he drew and painted the pictures for his books. He did beautiful pictures for each class to keep. We all went back to class and became illustrators ourselves! We have some very talented artists in Year 1!!!
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ANDY
GOLDSWORTHY IN YEAR 3
We have been looking at the artist Andy Goldsworthy, a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist who creates site- specific sculpture and land art situated in natural settings.
Some Andy Goldsworthy´s work
FORAGING
CREATING
We foraged our gardens and around the school grounds to find natural materials to work with. We have created our own sculptures based upon his work and we hope you like them.
The Tree Boat - Violeta
The Multicoloured leaf - Teresa
Super Mauro´s Nature Sculpture
Sandra´s Rocky Leaf
Blanca´s Great Big Tree
Alberto´s Natural Circle Pag e 7
KORKY
PAUL Korky Paul (real name Hamish Vigne Christie Paul) is an award-winning illustrator of books for children. He was born and grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1951 and now lives and works in Oxford, England. His work, characteristically executed with bright watercolour paint and pen and ink, is recognisable by an anarchic yet detailed style and for its "wild characterisation". His Winnie the Witch Series won the,Children's Book Award in 1987 and sold over a million copies. It has since then been published in over 10 languages. Paul's illustrations for this are full of visual jokes and witty detail.
Our school pupils had the opportunity to meet Korky Paul personally on Friday, 10th May. The illustrator led a series of Storytelling & Portrait workshops in the library for students from Reception to Y6 and at the end of each session he sold and signed his books. Children had plenty of fun with the author hilarious performances and spent their day reading his Winnie the Witch books, among others’.
Pupils from Y1 to Y4 also took part in the Winnie the Witch colouring competition. We had fantastic entries! There was a winner per year group who chose one of Korky Paul’s books. Here are the lucky ones: • • • •
Irene - Year 1W Alessia - Year 2T Martina - Year 3M Laura - Year 4J
Congratulations to all of them.
Pag e 9
SPORTS
DAY
Scorching sunshine and threatened rain didn’t prevail allowing Primary’s ´Sports Day´ annual event to take place. The week commencing Monday 13th May started off with potential Olympians from Years 5 & 6 completing several different events. Wednesday saw the activities move to Years 3 & 4 and finally Years 1 & 2. Events ranged from sprinting, javelin, hurdles, egg & spoon race and finally finishing with the relay race- an energetic race which left the children and teachers buzzing with excitement! Not only was sports day a great event in the school calendar, but it brought together the school community- it was truly amazing to have Secondary’s Sports Leaders. They helped make the sports day very special and made the events a huge success by organising participants and calculating scores. Even Primary’s PE monitors Nefeli 5S, Lucy 5s, Paula 5S, Irene 5R, Elia 5R, Kim 5R and Lucy 5C got involved. Their helpfulness, confidence and cooperation were greatly appreciated. Congratulations to all those children that participated in the events. The following house teams are lucky to have some natural athletic talent, which some of these children have. Many pupils are already in training for 2014!
YEAR 1 Overhead Throwing
YEAR 2
Yellow 1W - 14 Points Green 2D -24 Points
YEAR 3&4
YEAR 5&6
Earth 4J - 17 Points
Wind 5C - 13 Points
Standing Broad Jump Green 1S -13 Points
Green 2T - 23 Points
Water 4J - 9 Points
Water 6H - 14 Points
Javelin
Blue 2T - 41 Points
Fire 3S - 27 Points
Earth 5R - 21 Points
Red 1W - 25 Points
Hurdles: Egg & Spoon Green 1W - 19 Points Yellow 2S - 25 Points Water 4J - 26 Points
Fire 5C - 22 Points
Sprints
Blue 1F -21 Points
Yellow 2S - 23 Points Water 4J - 26 Points
Fire 5C -22 Points
YEAR 1/2 HOUSE
RED
GREEN
YELLOW
BLUE
POINTS
501
515
534
510
FINAL POSITION
FOURTH
SECOND
FIRST
THIRD
YEAR 3/4 HOUSE
FIRE
EARTH
WIND
WATER
POINTS
412
381
419
449
FINAL POSITION
THIRD
FOURTH
FIRST
THIRD
YEAR 5/6 HOUSE
FIRE
EARTH
WIND
WATER
POINTS
400
366
389
365
FINAL POSITION
FIRST
THIRD
SECOND
FOURTH
HOUSE
FIRE
EARTH
WIND
WATER
POINTS
812
747
808
809
FINAL POSITION
FIRST
FOURTH
THIRD
FOURTH Pag e 11
DAVID
NOBLE VISITS YEAR 5 The artist, David Noble, came to visit us in Year 5. First, we talked about shading and next we learnt how to draw the shape of animals, trees and flowers. After that, he taught us how to mix colours to add personality to the picture. Then, he taught us how to draw the detail in the picture. Later, David showed us some videos of his art work. It was all wonderful and we had great time learning about Art. After he went back to England, we continued to do our art work for another three or four weeks. We are so proud of ourselves and now we feel like we are artists! All the teachers keep coming in to our class to comment on our work. We are very proud! Hannah and Minerva from Year 5
CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERT
Year 5 children attended a classical music concert this month. The concert was fantastic and we had the opportunity to learn about all the musical instruments used in an orchestra.
YEAR 6 RAIN FOREST
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PRIMARY COUNCIL HAVE THEIR SAY! Over the last two Primary Council Meetings, members have been asked about their views on Literacy, Numeracy and Creative Curriculum work. This consultation has taken place as the school likes to know what children think about their learning experience during the year. “It is important to find out from the children what they think has been useful; what topics they have enjoyed and are there particular lessons that they have liked or disliked,” said Mrs Phillips, Acting Head of Primary. “It is difficult to ask every pupil about their experiences but by asking the Primary Council, a representative sample of children from year 2 to year 6, we can get an idea of what has been successful, what hasn´t and what we should do more of in the next year.” Although all the information has yet to be analysed, here are snippets of what children said they wanted more of in Literacy:
YEAR 2:
More/Ideas Drama – acting Reading related competitions New Exciting Books to read “I would like some writing every day,” Jimena. Love Literacy Competitions More spelling words (all but one of them agreed with this). Rewards for good Literacy work / more stamps and stickers and stars of the day Story Telling.
YEAR 5
More/Ideas More books for the library More computers for the library More reading for improving spellings Story telling Secondary M/Puppet Show More drama
YEAR 3
More/Ideas Reading competition Book Competitions Comprehension notes Learn new words More reading and handwriting.
“This has been a really good exercise to do with the Primary Council Members,” said Mrs Gandhi, Literacy Coordinator KS2, “The children feel valued when they are asked their opinions about subjects and their learning experiences. There is clearly a pattern here – children across Primary enjoy drama and storytelling and participating in Literacy competitions such as writing prose or poetry, spelling Bees etc – this is something we will develop next year.”
YEAR 4
More/Ideas Reading Tests Guided Reading Drama Competitions Story Time by teacher or older children Writing Poems Writing Stories Comprehension Spelling Tests
YEAR 6
More/Ideas www.readingeggs.com Kung Fu Punctuation Drama Activities in the Library Games for Learning Things Story Telling Competitions Spelling Bee
GOODBYE AND THANK YOU TO ALL 2012-13 PRIMARY COUNCIL MEMBERS As the year draws closer to an end, it is time to say a very big THANKYOU to this year´s Primary Council Members: 2D 2S 2T 3M 3P 3S 4J 4O 4P 5C 5R 5S 6F 6G 6H
JULIA AND FELIPE JOE AND JIMENA ZACHARY AND SARA ISABEL AND EDUARDO VICTOR AND ALBA ENRIQUE AND AITANA NEMO AND JULIA JULIO AND LOURDES CRISTINA AND MATEO GERARDO AND SOFIA CRISTINA AND MANUEL SOFIA AND JORGE CARLA AND ALEX LORENA AND ARNAU ADRIAN AND EMMA
At the meeting on May 9th, the children shared their views on what they had enjoyed most about being on the school council. Here is what some of them said: “I have loved being a school council member; I am going to tell my friends to do it next year.” Zach “I feel very good tidying up the patio and looking after the zone toys.” Isabel “I have enjoyed working with the Eco-sub group and making the school more environmentally friendly.” Lorena “I have really liked attending the meetings and meeting other people.” Eduardo “It´s fun, I love being able to give my views” Enrique “Sometimes we get stickers and treats for doing lots of school council work.” Sara “I feel important being a school council member.” Julio “I liked doing the posters for Healthy Me” Carla “It was good to be a litter patrol officer.” Adrian “It´s been really great attending the Primary School Council Meetings this year “said Verena and Craig, Head Girl and Head Boy respectively. “We have been really impressed with how much the children have to say and how willing they are to do jobs around the school.”
Mrs Gandhi, who has worked with the Primary Council this year said, “It has been a fantastic year this year and I have been very proud to have been involved in helping the school council to have its meetings and meet in their sub-groups. They have done an excellent job and should give themselves a pat on the back. Thank you so much to Verena and Craig for giving up their time to come and support the Primary Council this year and a huge thanks to the teachers who gave up their time to support the subgroups: Miss Sanghera, Mrs Pilkington, Miss Pyner and Miss Snook.” A new council will be set up in September 2013 for the new academic year. Pag e 15
FOOTBALL
CHAMPIONS!
Congratulations to our Benjamin Fútbol Sala team who won the Alicante Schools´ League and Tournament. The team, coached by Pedro, only lost 1match all season and qualified from their league to take part in the knock out competition, which is the schools´ equivalent of the Copa del Rey! Our team then had to win their quarter final and semifinal to reach the final against Albufereta on Saturday morning. After an exciting match, Alex scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory making our team the best Benjamin School team in Alicante for 2012 -2013. Congratulations to Pedro and the whole team and a big thank you to all parents for their support throughout the season. We will present the trophy again at a special assembly in school.
CONGRATULATIONS Clara, Year 6H and Sara, Year 2T got the Gold Medal in their categories during the Municipal Badminton Championship this month. Well done!
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL COMPETITION FOR EMMA
Emma was involved in a three-way tie for first place in the Table Tennis National Championships held recently in Mollina, Malaga. As a result, she remains number one in the Table Tennis Ranking (Benjamin age) of Spain. Many congratulations to Emma on another fantastic achievement.
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A BIG
THANK YOU
Staff and pupils would like to say a HUGE thank you to Miss Hannah Hulme, Mr Corrado Biagi and Mr Tom Greenwood who have been a tremendous asset to our Primary school this year; listening to children read, supporting pupils in class, helping during patio times, the list goes on and on... We hope you have enjoyed working with us and take away fond memories of your time in Alicante. You will be missed by all and we wish you well in your future careers!
Important Dates 3rd June – Y6 SATs week
6th June – Y1 Beach Exhibition 7th June – Eary Years Farm Trip 7th June – Y2 Beach Trip 10th June – Y5 Trip 13th June – Y4 Trip 14th June- Nursery Pirate day 14th June – Y6 Leavers Assembly 14th – Early Years reports sent home 14th June – Book Fair 17th June – Y6 Trip 17th June – Coffee Morning for Nursery P & Reception H 18th June – Coffee Morning for Nursery C & Reception P 18th June – Hogueras 19th June- Y2 Graduation Assembly 19th June – Coffee Morning for Nursery E & Reception D 21st June – Reception Wet & Wild day
Glorieta del Reino Unido 5 Alicante 03008 Spain www.bsalicante.com info.kca@kingsgroup.org