Newsletter King’s College Alicante
Message from the Head of Primary Greetings from a very chilly Primary Department! As I write the temperatures have been falling and winter has well and truly arrived. It may be cold outside, however, our children have shown what truly warm hearts they possess. I was absolutely delighted with the enthusiasm and energy that our Year 5 and 6 pupils put into their efforts during the recent Cake Sale held to raise money for the Phillipines Disaster fund.
The day of the sale saw children in Years 5 and 6 bringing delicious cakes, of all shapes and sizes, into school. Throughout the day, the cakes were bought and enjoyed by hundreds of pupils from Year 1 right through to Sixth Form. The final amount raised was a fantastic €1039, which was handed over to Cruz Roja. All of the money will go to families in the Phillipines, providing food, shelter and emergency supplies. The money raised is an impressive amount and it’s great that we have been able to help people caught up in this terrible tragedy. However, looking beyond the money, this was an important day for our children too. Every child comes to school to learn, however, there are lessons that are not found in text books or on the internet.
PRIMARY
NOVEMBER 2013 / FIRST TERM
These are lessons about how we grow as individuals and how we make choices about the kind of person we will become. The Cake Sale gave our children an opportunity to show that they care about others, to demonstrate that they can do something positive and practical to help and that when we work together we can make something special happen. These are qualities that will enrich our children’s lives, as well as help them grow as positive, confident and caring members of our community. Many thanks to you for your support in either providing cakes, or in giving your children euros to spend. Thanks too, to our staff who organised the day. Anne Frank wrote that ‘No-one has ever become poor through giving’. Our school community became a little richer this month thanks to our Cake Sale. Best wishes
Mr. P.B. Sloan Head of Primary
Early Year
NEWS This month Nursery have been learning about Transport and Food. We have been enjoying lots of different activities both in the classroom and outdoors. We have just started learning our songs for Christmas and we are getting very excited as the countdown to Christmas begins.
>> PÁGINA 3
YEAR 1 TRIP TO ONIL DOLL MUSEUM The Year 1 children enjoyed their trip to Onil to learn all about how toys were made and a little bit about the history of dolls. They enjoyed the morning in the doll museum where they saw lots of different types of dolls. When we arrived, the children had a special surprise – they were greeted by real life dolls, who were our monitors for the day The children were shown around the museum and were able to see lots of old and new dolls.. Some of the dolls looked like real babies! Later, we went to a toy factory where the children were shown how all the plastic toys were made. They even got the chance to help! In the afternoon the children enjoyed finding their way around a maze with their dolls and then they all had the opportunity to make their own doll to take home.
YEAR 2 HAVE BEEN LEARNING ABOUT ELECTRICITY We used equipment to make a bulb light up. We even discovered how to make the bulb dimmer and brighter. “What clever children!” said Miss Sanghera. • We have been learning about different sources of light. • We can name all the components you need to make a circuit. • We can name different things that use electricity.
YEAR 2 VISITS THE PALAENTOLOGY MUSEUM
We listened carefully when the museum staff told us about the dinosaur skeletons. Miss Sanghera, Mrs Manning-Fox and Mrs Metcalfe were very proud of all the children for answering lots of questions!
Year 2 had a fantastic time on our trip to the Palaeontology Museum in Elche. We pretended to be palaeontologists and had to search for fossils. When we found them we drew them and found out their names. It was really exciting! “Are you ready to find some fossils?” “YES!”
We did a lot of learning and had a lot of fun. It was great way to consolidate our Dinosaurs topic. >> PÁGINA 5
YEAR 4
SCIENCE In Year 4 we have been developing our investigation skills. Our investigation was to find out how quickly different types of paper decay. We had to plan a fair test, work as a team, discuss our ideas, make predictions and justify our reasons. Then we had to test our predictions, make observations and explain our findings.
Planning our investigation
Making observations
Making the test fair - measuring the water
Working as a team
YEAR 6 TRANSPORT MUSEUM Space ships, trains and air balloons were among the many masterpieces on display, as The Year 6 Transport Museum took over the gym, with an incredible display of vehicles. Pupils were given the task of creating a mode of a transport, with an emphasis on creativity and the use of recycled materials. Parents and pupils visited the museum and were amazed by the variety and ingenuity on show. The exhibition included, a solar powered skateboard, a two-metre tall rocket and a ski lift made from old bike parts! An outstanding effort from our imaginative inventors and brilliant builders.
>> PĂ GINA 7
Eureka!
Year 5 spent the day living as Ancient Greeks. Dressed appropriately, they enjoyed a day filled with: • Greek theatre • Jewellery making • Shield and helmet making • A Greek banquet • Olympic Games • The children had a fantastic day!
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Philippines Appeal At the beginning of November Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, the most powerful typhoon in recorded history. The damage to the country was unimaginable leaving over 11 million survivors struggling to find shelter, clean water and food. Year 5 and 6 were struck by the enormity of this disaster and felt compelled to do something to help. They held a cake sale during their patio times on Monday 18th November and raised an incredible €1,040.39. A cheque was presented to the Alicante branch of The Red Cross. Mrs Hughes said, “I am so proud of the children today. They have taken this event so seriously and have really empathised with the situation the Philippine people had found themselves in. The Year 5s and 6s have done a very special thing today.”
>> PÁGINA 11
Parental Support I am delighted for the wonderful support we are receiving from parents throughout the school. All schools rely on good relationships between parents, pupils and staff – what is often referred to as the ´3 way partnership´ or the ´home/school agreement´ - and I am proud that this is one of the continuing main strengths of our school. At the beginning of this term, more than 950 parents attended our various welcome meetings and since then almost 350 parents have attended our Mathematics Workshops in Primary. In addition, over 60 parents attended the first of our EYFS Parent Classes in November. In October we held our first Whole School Monitoring Day and I was delighted with the response from parents, pupils and staff with a total of 94% of parents attending (91% on the day). This is a remarkable show of support, not only for the school, but for your children´s learning. The importance and benefits of your support cannot be understated; they are vital in encouraging our partnership and leading to improved understanding, relationships and the future success of every pupil at our school. I am pleased to announce that in order to continue to build even stronger and closer relationships we are proposing to offer a series of Saturday morning classes specifically for parents. These classes will initially consist of English and Spanish language courses and may be extended to include other activities at the request of parents. In addition, I
would like to offer some sporting activities, such as football sala, badminton and table tennis for staff and parents. As the main purpose is to offer another service to parents and to facilitate some parent/staff activities, the cost will be nominal in order to cover only the cost of a tutor and security personnel. I will be sending more information to parents by e mail this week and if you are interested in any of these activities please return your form to Cristina Gonzalez at the school. email: cristina.gonzalez@kingsgroup.org Thank you for your support.
Mr D Laidlaw Head teacher
Verbs Crossword
Uniform Shop We would like to inform you that the opening hours for the Uniform Shop during the Christmas Season are: 23rd of December from 9:00 am till 1:00 pm 3rd of January from 9:00 am till 1:00 pm
Grease
And we will be closed from the 24th of December until the 7th of January.
coming soon
If you have any doubt, do not hesitate to contact me at the shop by telephone 965107319 or by e mail:
Important Dates
charlotte.hayne@kingsgroup.org
DECEMBER 2013
9 Dec
Y1-Y6 Reports in
12 Dec Nursery Nativity 12 Dec Year 1 Christmas Show 13 Dec Reception Christmas Performance 13 Dec Year 2 Christmas Performance 17 Dec Year 5 Christmas Show 19 Dec Christmas Carol Concert 2 0 D e c L a s t D a y o f T e r m 1 7 Jan
First Day of Term 2
King’s College Alicante Glorieta del Reino Unido 5 Alicante 03008 Spain Tlf: 965 106 351 Fax: 965 108 096 info.kca@kingsgroup.org www.bsalicante.com