English Primary Newsletter from October 09 by Carlos Lazaro

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Play Time

Dr. Roger Fry Interview

Castle Trip to Villena and Biar

The British School of Alicante Monthly Update

Newsletter PRIMARY Play Time The first few years in a child's life establish the foundations for the creative, social and language skills that we depend on as adults. Through a mixture of play, group activity and free exploration, young children learn about the world around them. As children grow physically and mentally they start to make important connections between different objects, people and various kinds of social interaction. At King's College Alicante we take play very seriously. We work hard to structure play in a way that encourages and nurtures the development of perception, reason and logical thinking at the same time as being great fun. Learning from first hand experience ensures all our pupils make progress towards the next levels of social, linguistic and creative development. Play is programmed into all the plans that we make; from the school's top-level ethos and strategic objectives; right down to individual lesson plans designed for small groups of children and even specific the individuals within these groups. Structured play forms a central part of the school day but it is also important to allow enough flexibility and freedom so as to encourage the development of selfconfidence and individual interests through personal exploration and discovery. If you look closely at what your child is doing you will see that some activities are closely controlled by the teachers, others are more free-form. This mixture of different types of play happens inside and outside the classroom. The new early years play house has proved a great asset for this type of creative role play and exploration.

INFO BOX Role play areas encourage children to use and practice their languages when they speak and listen to each other. Teachers monitor how the children respond to role play and help the children focus on particular language structures or vocabulary.

NUMBER 10 OCTOBER 2009

Message from the Head of Primary Welcome to the October issued of the Primary Newsletter. This month we are focusing on the Early Years Department as well as some of the results of our "Learning Journeys" which give a conceptual framework which help widen the children's horizons and stimulate learning. The work on Castles and "Super Heroes" are examples of this approach. We also include an interview with Dr. Roger Fry, the Chairman of King's Group who founded King's College in Madrid 40 years ago. I was very happy to see that he mentions his visit to Early Years as one of the highlights of his visit to the school.

Fiona Thomas Head of Primary

DR. ROGER FRY

INTERVIEW The Sixth Form committee met Dr Fry when he came to visit Alicante. Their interview covered a range of different topics. Here are the highlights: Dr. Fry, First of all we'd like to say how pleased we are that you have come to visit Alicante today and we would like to thank you for taking time to talk to us. To start off we'd like to know what you have enjoyed most about your visit. Well on a cold and rainy day like today I'd have to say that this cup of tea has been wonderful, but not as wonderful as visiting the early years department and seeing where the school starts to teach the three and four year olds. It is very impressive and the work they do is actually very interesting. The project they are doing on castles, even making castles is outstanding. And the work they are doing on human senses is excellent. The quality of the children's work is a reflection of the quality of the teachers and classroom assistants that are teaching them. King's College in Madrid is much older than the school here. Can you tell us about one moment in the history of the Madrid school that stands out as being particularly satisfying or memorable? Well there have been lots of interesting events and moments. It all goes back a long way. When I first started the school in Madrid in 1969, about 40 years ago, there were two things that caused some problems. It seems very strange now but at that time it was illegal for girls and boys to be taught in the same class. So we had to have two schools. One for girls and one for boys. But we only had one building, so we had one floor dedicated to girls and another floor just for boys. When an inspector came we had to steer them around very carefully because the girls and boys actually had their lessons together. In the first years we were pretending there were two schools but actually running it as one. The other problem we had was that studying in English was not accepted for pupils wanting to go to Spanish universities. Technically any foreign school was illegal. One

of the greatest things that I think I achieved was that I got a dialogue going with the Spanish authorities about British education. The president of Galicia was the Spanish ambassador in London so I went to to talk to him and he thought it would be good for Spain to have a British school and it worked out very well because his brother was the Minister of Education. So in 1974, after lots of discussion, we finally got permission from the Minister of Education to teach a British curriculum. King's College was the first school ever to achieve that in Spain. We were the first British school in Spain that could legally enroll Spanish students and have their qualifications recognised by universities in Spain. The school here in Alicante is getting bigger and bigger. How do you feel about this? I think its very good because once you get three form entry each year, as the children move up through the school you can offer a wider range of subjects at IGCSE and A Level. Larger schools give you a greater choice when the time comes to join the sixth form and a bigger school can afford bigger and better buildings, sports facilities, IT and science labs, Art, music and drama studios. Everyone benefits. What has impressed you most about the school in Alicante? The school here in Alicante is extremely well organised. The students seem to be very studious. The exam results and the school itself improves every year. Don't forget that the school is still very young. We have been in Madrid 40 years, the school here is much younger. To have achieved all that there is to achieve in terms of quality of education in just ten years is an exceptional achievement ...and how does our school compare with the other schools in King's Group? All the schools are different. We have the original school, King's College in Madrid, which was founded forty years ago. It is in an old building, but has many more students and therefore can offer a greater choice of subjects. The two other schools in Madrid, the

infant and prep school are brand new. They are not quite as well consolidated as Alicante is, the new school in Murcia is in a very big building with enough room for 700 children, but at the moment it only has 220 pupils. It grew from just 60 pupils in the first year so it is growing very quickly but has a lot to develop. Alicante is probably somewhere in the middle of the oldest one in Marid and youngest one in Murica. The school here has a very solid basis upon which to develop. It is clear that your career in education has been a great success; What have you based this on and do you have any role models that inspired you to do so well? Well, the success of King's Group is the result of lots of hard work, not just mine but the hard work of a whole team of people. When I was at school I was impressed by one of my teachers. He inspired me to build a careerer in education; which I have enjoyed very much. I have been lucky to do so many different things. Other people have created and developed schools and it is very satisfying to see the wonderful results of lots of all this hard work. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get anywhere unless you work hard. It might be difficult but you really need to have the right idea at the right time and then you have to work hard at it. Being consistent and working hard are the keys to success. What does the future hold for King's College, Alicante? The future? The future here is very bright. The fact that so many people want to send their children to the school very clearly shows us the answer to the question. As you probably know the school had a difficult start, after all sorts of problems with the education authorities in Valencia, problems with building and with the finances. What Mrs Blaus has achieved here is nothing short of miraculous. The problems she had to overcome at the beginning were extremely difficult. Thanks to the help of a number of parents those problems were all solved and the school was put on a firm and settled foundation. In some ways the difficulties faced here in Alicante were similar to the problems I faced in Madrid 40 years ago. The school is in a great position now. It can do a lot of things as it continues to develop and has lots of demands from parents wanting to enroll their children. I am convinced the school will continue to develop; good exam results prove the school is good. The team here, with the support of the team in Madrid, need to make sure that the success continues and is built upon. As I said: the future is very bright.

Superheroes

Super Senses Workshop Day

Year 2 Castle Day Workshop

Castle Tri

Year 2 enjoyed their visit to the Villena and Biar Castles during October.

Poem: I am a NDS I am a silver glamourous Nintendo ds I was born in a huge factory from the stares of my family I live in the powerful land of computer room I hear the cry of my owner when he wins the game I can see his suffocated face when he complicates the things more than he wants I feel his tears when he leaves me I can smell his large tired breath when he wins the battle I am his companion of war I am his Hector (6H)

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Special Feature

Exams Season Opens on October 13th Remember: December 18th: End of Autumn Term January 7th: Start of Spring Term Visit the www.bsalicante.com for a complete and up-to-date calendar.

October Diary Dates October 7th: Swimming Gala October 9th - 12th: Holiday October 28th: Halloeen Disco (Y7 and Y8 only) October 30th: School closed for Staff Conference