Secondary Newsletter February 2011

FE BR U A R Y 2 0 1 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

Swimming Gala

2010

Me r i di ano Ba s k e t b a ll Team in t he BSA

Ches s Magi c !

Javier Zapata (Year 11) showed his incredible chess prowess on March 1st, playing 12 boards simultaneously and winning them all in under 20 minutes!

6 teachers and 6 students challenged Javier who disposed of the first 3 in only 2 minutes! A truly incredible spectacle to watch. Congratulants Javier!

Anyone willing to challenge Javier ?

A little bit of TLC goes a long way b y Stephen Gr een

When I was young, TLC was a phrase used to suggest ´Tender loving care´ - something we all need when we´re feeling a little under the weather with coughs and colds. However, today, in education, we use this to encompass three key skills that students will need to demonstrate if they are to continue to be successful in their lives after school. TLC in this context stands for Teamwork, Leadership and Communication. Such skills will never be overlooked within Kings College and I was fortunate to attend a Year 8 visit to Aspe on 18th February where such skills were not only in evidence but were also developed and enhanced.

Students in Year 8 took part in a practical workshop of how to plant trees and were engaged in a number of activities, in school, after the trip in various curriculum areas, thus taking every opportunity to explore the learning objectives the project offered.

Vitally, in Aspe they worked with each other to meet a challenge. In doing so they were developing key social skills and a growing awareness and understanding of others needs. It was also fascinating to see individuals inspiring and motivating each other to accomplish the task at hand. It was an important lesson in appreciating and respecting the balance of the team, the task and other people without losing sight of the big picture. The year 8 students were a credit to the school in their ability to listen, to understand and respond appropriately to the representatives in Aspe and undoubtedly it will be a trip that many will remember. The trees they planted will be a lasting reminder of their endeavors and it’s amazing to see how far a little TLC will actually go.

Stephen Green Head of Secondary

Meridiano Basketball Team visit BSA On Thursday February 10th, 2011, two players from Meridiano Alicante (Alicante’s basketball team, which is currently playing in the Spanish basketball league ACB against teams like Barcelona or Real Madrid) and two of their coaches came to King’s College to play basketball with us.

It was fun being with them. The best thing was the fact that, for more than one hour, we were treated as if we were part of their team; we did some training exercises which we had never done before and we even played a small match with Rankic and Heurtel playing one in each team. At the end, they answered our questions and we thanked them for spending their time with us.

It was a fantastic experience. We will never forget it.

Manolo Alonso

Trip to France My favourite moment!

David: the best thing about the French trip was the tour of the Eiffel Tower by night .

Philip: my favourite moment in France was when we went to Disney land, and the Eiffel tower.

Carlos J: my favourite moment in France was Disney land and the Eiffel tower.

Guillermo B: my favourite moment was when I was just to go on the space mountain ride.

Obi: my favourite moment in the French trip was when I went to Disney land and I saw winnie the pooh.

Laura: my favourite moment of the French trip was when we went to Disney and saw all the characters we liked when we were little and enjoyed it.

Carlos R: my favourite moment was when we went to Disney land.

Adrian: my favourite moments of the trip to France were when we went to disney and also the coastal walk.

Claudia R and Claudia E: the best moment for us was when we went to the French cafĂŠ. We had a great time taking photos with Allan the bus driver and the waitress.

The drinks were delicious and we laughed a lot.

Luccia: what I liked best about France was seeing all the special landmarks, like the Eiffel tower and Notre Dame.

David M. T: my best moment was when we went to the rock n roll aerosmith, we were very excited at the start

GEOGRAP H Y TRIP TO CARAB ASS I SAND DUN E S

of the queue, it was very good.

Tara: our week in France was a great experience , still the best individual moment was when I stepped off the space mountain shuttle in Disney land for the first time.

Usually, I’m terrified of rollercoasters, but it truly was something worth living over and over again.

Mario: my favourite part of the trip was when we went to Disney land because we had a lot of fun in the rides and seeing shows.

Fiona: my best moment was when we were doing the coastal walk and the hailstone fell.

Carmen: my best moment was when we were in Disney and we went in all the rides. It was fun.

Jesus: my favourite moments of the trip to France were when we went to Disney land and the shopping center.

Marina: my favourite moment was when we went on the space mountain ride.

REFORESTATION YEAR 8’s GET STUCK IN THE GREEN! Despite our previous postponed trip to Aspe due to heavy rain forecast, we finally made it on Friday 18th February and Year 8 were fit and raring to go – weather fine!

The children spent the morning at Aspe’s local Museum ‘La Casa Cisco’ listening to the museum’s curator helping them to discover the treasures of Aspe’s industries: grapes, olive oil and cereal agriculture and how these products were stored and handled.

María then gave us a guided tour of key historical buildings in the nucleus of the town and it’s oldest, Moorish streets. Pupil’s learnt how the impressive ‘casino’ building actually cost the equivalent of 40 euros to build in the 19th century!

It was then time to meet Jose Mª from the town hall who took us to the chosen plot for reforestation. Pupils listened attentively to his presentation of the indigenous species and how to prepare the ground ready for planting. We heard how important it was to the eco-system that only indigenous species were planted in areas such as this and he told us of their respective properties and uses.

Pag e7

“Without trees, there would be no life on this planet!”

Armed with their pick axe, pupils planted up to 6 bushes and trees including pine trees, carob trees, and bushes such as rosemary. Pupils were really ready for their picnic lunch after their efforts!

Some comments from the pupils I learnt about the town’s industries; making oil with olives, growing cereals and making wine.

Hugo 8F

Aspe is a clean and refreshing place to live. Eugenia 8F

Afterwards I felt like a hero. I had planted a TREE!

I thought I was going to be more tired after planting trees. I felt that I was helping the planet. Gonzalo 8F

After planting I had an awful blister on my hand! Miguel 8F

I felt happy with myself, I knew I had done something good for the world. Aitana 8F

The market was inspired by islamic art. Berta 8F

Books for Breakfast T

he Books for Breakfast club is run by year 11 pupils for year 8s and has been running in the BSA for over a year. The reading club was set up to support year 7 (last year) pupils with their literacy in English and Spanish and the club has been a real success for many of the pupils involved. Reading and talking about what you are reading are key in helping young people to improve their writing, particularly around the year 8 dip in reading motivation that can affect some young people, boys in particular. To help to motivate the year 8s to read, they partner up with a year 11 pupils and read out loud together. Specially designed bookmarks with questions help to guide their discussions and Miss Turton brings biscuits or mini croissants to add the ‘breakfast’ to Books for Breakfast.

Next week the club is having a revamp and we will be inviting pupils who have specific literacy needs in order to support them. Verena is writing home to parents of those pupils to inform them about the club. The theme for the books this term is spies and the year 11s have had an assembly about spies, have chosen some spy books and made a display of them in the library, all to encourage the younger pupils. The year 11s are really motivated to support their colleagues and are keen to move the club forwards, m a k i n g decisions about its future.

Maria Molina interviewed long term Books for Breakfast partners Marta and Jose Luis: Why did you come to Books 4 Breakfast?

Jose Luis: I wanted to improve my reading.

Do you enjoy it?

Jose Luis: Yes, because I enjoy reading and get something to eat.

Marta, do you think that Jose Luis has made progress?

Marta: Yes. At the beginning, he found it difficult to read out loud in English but now he does it perfectly.

Is that true Jose Luis?

Jose Luis: Yes, it is.

Which book have you enjoyed the most?

Jose Luis: Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz Do you enjoy reading with the year 11s?

Jose Luis: yes, because I have a good friend called Marta.

The year 11s have shown real dedication, patience and leadership skills in the running of the club and they enjoy seeing year 8 pupils like Jose Luis taking responsibility for their reading and improving step by step. If your son or daughter is invited to the Books for Breakfast club, please encourage them to do the same by joining up and following the example of our older pupils.

“Studies reveal that reading fiction develops the brain; it makes you smarter and more socially perceptive.”

SatIre

The Year 9s have been working on Satire this term as a prelude to Brecht´s work we will be studying next. Using ´The Simpsons´ as a guide they have devised, rehearsed and filmed their version of the hit satirical cartoon. Where Bart is used to satirise the educational system and Marg epitomised consumerism. 9W and 9C were highlighting the plight of the working man, the stay at home mother, children trying to grow up in the frantic modern world and the fickleness of politicians to name but a few of the big ideas. Looking at the difference between theatre acting and television acting they studied camera shots and angles before their final, glorious pieces. Scripted, costumed, propped, acted and filmed by the Year 9s please follow the link to examples of their work. None are perfect, as the students themselves would be the first to admit, but they all make you think and that is more important.

Interview Alejandra Lledó When did you start athletics?

I have been practising athletics for 2 years and I go to the San Juan Sports Club.

Why do you like it?

I love sports like golf, swimming and athletics and decided to start athletics in a more serious way because it involves a variety of different skills and I enjoy the physical effort that every skill requires.

Which tournaments do you take part in?

I usually participate in municipal competitions within the province like Orihuela, Mutxamel, Alcoi, Sant Joan, etc.

I also participate in the provincial tournaments as part of the youngest category.

In the photo which tournament are you participating in?

The provincial championship XXIX Jocs Esportius Comunitat Valenciana, that took place in Denia on January 22nd, 2011.

What was your position? Was it difficult to win?

I got a bronze medal in female somersalt with a height of 3m82cm. It was hard and difficult to compete against the other participants, they were in excellent shape and they all wanted to win.

How many times a week do you practise?

3 times a week after school and I am lucky that my trainer is a professional athlete and is very good as a trainer.

What are your plans for the future?

At the moment, I hope to continue progressing and improving my personal bests. In the future I would like to take part in regional championships.

BSA PUPILS HELPING GHANAIANS ON THE ROAD TO DEVELOPMENT As you all know, pupils and staff at BSA have been raising money for various charities throughout the year.

The charity committee designated some of the money to our link school in Ghana, The Otuo Acheampong Memorial School in the Kumawu province in northern Ghana, with whom we have had a relationship now for 3 years. Pupils in year 9 and year 13 study Ghana and have developed an in-depth knowledge of the quality of life there as well as studying the Art and culture through cross-curricula projects.

Year 13 students have recently been studying Ghana’s progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

We have found that Ghana is largely on track to achieve a number of its targets, lifting millions of Ghanaians out of extreme poverty. A particular success has been in primary education where Ghana is on target to achieve its goal as the number of nurseries and primary schools has expanded rapidly and enrollment continues to rise year on year. The retention rate of pupils, however, has stagnated and so the number of young people with a secondary education is still pitifully low.

We hope that our link with the Otuo Acheampong Memorial School is in some small part supporting Ghanaians in their journey towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. This week, using the money from the Charity Committee, we have packed up and sent a class set of year 9 Science books and a class set of ‘Things fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author. This will add to the library of books that we sent them last year and enable teachers to teach a whole class using the some textbook. This positive action to help a partner community improve education is a part of setting the pupils of Otuo Acheampong Memorial School on a virtuous cycle of development to help them lift themselves out of poverty. It also brings learning to life for BSA pupils and empowers them to make a real change in people’s lives.

The books we sent them last year with Head teacher Charles Nimoh

Pupils from Otuo Acheampong Memorial School enjoying the books we sent last year

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

Adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions.

The MDGs also provide a framework for the entire international community to work together towards a common end – making sure that human development reaches everyone, everywhere. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be cut by half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, and billions more people will have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy.

United Nations Development Programme http://www.undp.org/mdg

ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER

ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN

REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY

IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES

ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

Obres de Teatre As part of the ESO curriculum, Year 10 pupils have used three Valencian lessons to develop their own writing, pronunciation etc through the study of the following theatre productions:

El valor dels diners Grup: Tara, Saskia, Emilio, Óscar, Luccia i Mario Situació: a casa En aquesta obra hem treballat tots molt dur. Tara és la dona d’Óscar, que era un borratxo al qual acomiaden del treball. Saskia és l'amiga de Tara que li demana que la compre una butlleta de loteria. Óscar li deu molts diners a Luccia i ella contracta Emilio perquè aconseguisca els diners passe el que passe. Al dia següent que Emilio amenaçar a Óscar, va sortir guanyador el bitllet de Saskia. Tara decideix telefonar-la per contar-li-ho, però Oscar tira el mòbil dient que ells necessiten els diners més que Saskia i que es mudaren a Hawaii per no haver de pagar-li els diners que li debia a Luccia. Mentres que això passa Emilio escolta la conversa i li ho conta a Luccia que anirà a casa de Saskia per dir-li que la butlleta premiada ha sigut la seua. En veure que Saskia no fa res al respecte, Emilio va a casa de Tara i Óscar per complir la seua amenaça, mata al seu fill Mario.

Un incendi al col•legi Grup: Nacho, Marina, Pablo, Philip, Karyn, Artem i Eva Situació: a classe de química És un dilluns de mati a classe de química. Sense voler, fent experiments, Artem, Karyn i Eva prenen foc al col•legi.

Justament abans, Pablo se n’havia anat al bany. I, una vegada tots fora, s’adonen que aquest s’ha quedat dins i aleshores telefonen als bombers. Que vindran a socórrer-lo. Karyn perdre al coneixement i Artem se la porta a l’hospital mentres Philip rescata a Pablo.

L’examen de verbs de Valencià Tio Canya Grup: Alba, David, Guille, Adri, Ellis, Rachae, Carlos.R, Situació: En una classe Un conflicte a la classe de Valencià entre David, Ellis i Adria. El director entra i controla la classe, i la Sra. Guio fa l’examen de verbs.

Després comença la classe de Socials i li fan una novatada al professor substitut que és el Sr. Paret.

Canvien el rellotge i la campana sona més prompte, i així poden eixir al pati més prompte i sense deures. Gràcies a Adria i Ellis.

L’excursió Grup: Jesús i Manuel, Obdulio, Sophie, Ernesto, Laura i Carlos J. Situació: en un autobús Aquest teatre tracta d’uns xiquets (de l’escola) que van anar d’excursió al zoològic. L’excursió no els va eixir com els professors volien. L’escena que més ens ha agradat ha sigut el viatge en autobús perquè és molt divertida.

La petita història va ocórrer perquè finament ens anem a França d’excursió i teníem moltes ganes. També se’ns va ocórrer perquè vam observar que algunes persones del grup feien bé el paper.

Grup: Claudia Rabasco, Claudia Esteve, Anastasia, Eduardo, Guillermo i Javier Coll.

Situació: al poble (a casa i a l’escola) Aquesta obra està basada en la història del Tio Canya.

Aquest era un home de poble que va tindre problemes amb la llengua forastera a València (el castellà). Els problemes es van solucionar quan el 1983 es va establir la Llei d’Ús i Ensenyament del Valencià (LUEV).

El que li va posar ritme a la història va ser Guillermo que va fer de narrador. Javier Coll va fer de Tio Canya.

Anastasia va fer de professora i de Tia Canya. Claudia Esteve i Claudia Rabasco van fer de nétes i de besnétes.

Finalment, Eduardo va fer del fill del Tio Canya.

La gotera Grup: Carmen, Fiona, Alex, Roberto, Javi i David M. Situació: a classe.

En una classe, cada xiquet amb el seu tema: David estudiant, Alex i Carmen molesten a David, Fiona en el seu món i Roberto s’enfada. Fiona s’adona que hi ha una gotera i Javi anà a reparar-la.

You can find the translation of this article in clinking in the following link Puede encontrar la traducción de este artículo presionando el siguiente icono

My Robotics Project

By Alejandro Ramos SĂĄnchez To start I wanted to introduce myself. I think some already know me.

For those who don’t, I'm Alejandro Ramos. Last year I was talking to our computer teacher about how cool it would be to design, assemble and program robots in our school. I was very encouraged and this summer I was in USA visiting various robotics shops. They were awesome!

Some serve to illustrate science projects such as the use of alternative energy, incorporating engines that run on wind power. Others are more complex and require patience to ride them, engage all the pieces and then work them. There are some packs that contain parts that can become models and can also be programmed. These are the best because you can program your robot to go to another room without colliding. My idea, ultimately, is to start a robotics club here at Kings College with other interested students.

My idea is to acquire multiple units of robots and make teams of two students per robot. Clearly I will need other students to acquire an interest in robotics similar to myself. Teams of students would need to be both responsible and able to work in a team. If you too are interested and would like to discuss the idea in more detail, please in the first instance, come and see me and we could then start to look at getting our club started.

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 March ••

March 1st – World Maths Day

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March 2nd - BSA Got Talent!

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22nd March – Year 8 Monitoring Day

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24th March - Year 7 Parents Meeting

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31st March - Sixth Form Parents Meeting

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1st April - Book Fair 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