NUMBER 10 OCTOBER

2009

INSI

DE T

HIS

ISSU

E:

Dr Roger Fry’sVisit

Student Council Report

Welcome one an all

Message from the Head of SecondaryWork, Rest and PlayIt is often said that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy´. At school, as in later life, getting the right balance between work and leisure time is vital for sustained success. Without re-charging our batteries, we would all be less efficient and more irritable! For our pupils, school is their work. To get the best out of themselves, all our pupils must balance their school work with pursuits, hobbies, ´chilling out time´ and socialising. This is all part of growing up and learning to play an active and positive role in society. In this newsletter you will read about some of the activities and events our pupils have taken part in last month.

These are equally important in providing our pupils with an ´holistic´ educational experience which extends beyond the classroom walls. I have attached a link to a BBC NEWS article regarding the benefits of school activities which I hope you will find interesting.

In approximately 5 weeks´ time, our Y11 pupils will be sitting mock examinations for their IGCSEs. These provide vital preparation for the final exams later in the year and there is information on the website which I would urge you to read in order to assist your son/daughter with their studies. Together we can help all our pupils to achieve their best through a balance of work, rest and play.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8080865.stm

Derek LaidlawHead of Secondary School.

The British School of Alicante Monthly Update

NewsletterSECONDARY

Shoes were polished, uniforms ironed and walls given a final lick of paint when Dr. Roger Fry CBE, the Chairman of King’s Group, visited the school. After touring some classrooms and meeting a lot of pupils - from the very youngest in Nursery to those in the upper sixth Dr Fry said:

“It was a pleasure visiting the School on Friday, and thank you for making me so welcome.

The development since my last visit is very impressive indeed, and I should be grateful if you would pass on my congratulations to all your staff, and especially to the teachers. I was most impressed with the excellent work I saw in progress in the classes I was able to visit.”

Dr Roger Fry’s visit

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

DR. ROGER FRYINTERVIEW

infant and prep school are brand new. They are not quite as well consolidated as Alicante is, the new school in Murica 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 don’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.

Summary of PCG Meeting : Thursday 22nd October• Lunches : After sampling a school lunch, parents were

impressed with the quality, choice and nutritional val-ue of meals. Some very useful suggestions were made regarding vegetarian options. These ideas and others have been forwarded to Servicios La Salle for consid-eration.

• Events : Parents and staff agree that these play a very important role in the school community. Holding Prize Giving in school rather than in a different location was seen as a major improvement. Sports events are also important but the timing of them has not been ideal for parents and it was agreed that Sports Day should be given a higher profile in order to attract more par-ents as spectators. Outreach events with charities and other schools in the community were also welcomed as important developments for the school.

• Activities : Lunch-time activities were seen as a vital part of the school ethos as were day-trips and longer, residential visits. It was agreed that these activities en-hance social and academic development.

S P E C I A L FEATUREParent Consultative Group As part of our continuing Quality Assurance Programme and our wish to include parents as much as possible in the life of the school, I invited eight parents and two staff to a meeting of the newly formed Parent Consultative Group (PCG). This was the second such meeting following last year's discussions about communications between school and home. Both meetings have been a very valuable forum for exchanging ideas on a range of issues, face to face.

I am very grateful to those parents who gave up their time to come into school and intend to continue with these meetings each term; please email me (derek.laidlaw@kingsgroup.org) if you are interested in attending one of our future meetings.

I have been playing football since I was 6 years old. I started with my primary school team in Qatar where we won several local tournaments. When I moved to Spain I played the Charlton Athletic then I transfered to Sheffield United. Now I play in the first division with Jove Espanol from San Vicente.

In The FrameScott, Year 8

I am the only British player in the squad which has improved my Spanish language skills. I have played as a striker, centre midfielder, defender and now in my preferred position as a right midfielder. My favourite teams are Manchester United, Dundee United and, of course Scotland.

The student council group of 2010-2011 is well on its way with positive ideas and many great suggestions for our school. September brought us 4 meetings in which a wide range of issues were discussed, ranging from house com-petitions, fund raising events and our initial plans for an Eco-Friendly school.

The members have been giving me many new ideas for im-provements around the school which will make the BSA a more comfortable place for everybody. Suggestions for new drinking fountains and more benches for the pupils to use at break times are just some of the changes that we hope may be implemented in the future.

Student CouncilReport

Overall the student council members have all settled in perfectly and there is a real spirit of cooperation amongst them. We are looking forward to working together in the future to make a difference and a positive contribution.

Maxim SalekhovHead of Student Council

Halloween Disco

Ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties and things that go bump in the night... all these and more will be seen at this year’s disco. It is always exciting to see what new ideas are dreamed up for the costumes worn by the KS3 pupils who attend the annual Halloween Disco, which this year will take place on Wednesday 28th of October.

It is always a very difficult task to decide who has the best costume and every year it seems to get harder, as costumes become more exotic and make-up and hair styles and colours more daring!

Apart from the prize for best costume there will, as usual, be a prize for the best two dancers, one male and one female. This is one of the most entertaining parts of the disco, where the titles are usually only won following a tight battle between several very good dancers.

A new addition this year is a ticket prize, so don’t forget to hold onto that ticket until the draw, which will take place after the dance prizes have been awarded!

There will also be some games arranged by the older students and of course lots of tasty snacks and soft drinks provided to help maintain those energy levels!

The proceeds from the event will be given to a charity which will be chosen by the BSA Charity Committee, who are assisting in the organization of the event.

The evening (5p.m. to 7p.m.) looks set to be one of the highlights of our year, so get stitching those costumes and make sure you are there to enjoy it!

Janet Bowers

The Halloween Disco was a great success raising over 160 euros for charity. The Prize winners were :

Best Dancer female - Raquel (7P)Best Dancer male - Luis (7G)Best Costume - Juan Jose ( 8W)Ticket Prize - Irene (7P)

Thank you

Welcome one and allThe autumn term is well underway and the pupils who joined the school in September have had a chance to settle in. We asked them about their first impressions of their new school.

IRENE (7P)

What do you like best about your new school?I have made lots of friends

Which subject are you enjoying and why?Drama because we do lots of fun things for example we act as if we are objects.

Have you taken part in any sport competi-tions since you joined the school? Tell me about them.I took part in the swimming gala, we had to swim in races and it was great fun.

What lunchtime activities are you doing this term?Drama and Art, Drama is really fun and we play lots of games, we act out scenes from films. In art we are creating things and doing lots of drawing.

What are your goals for this year in school?To get more merits, make more friends and win some house points.

Tell me about your form class - have they made you feel welcome?I am in 7P and they have made me feel welcome, they are very nice and they helped me a lot.

RAQUEL (7P)

What do you like best about your new school?The library because you can do your home-work and read without being disturbed.

Which subject are you enjoying and why?I like art, maths, drama, ICT, music and science. I like all these subjects because I love what we do.

Have you taken part in any sport competi-tions since you joined the school?The swimming gala, I liked it.

CHRISTOPHER (7G)

I’m changing the chip in my brain and now I speak more in English. I can understand books in English and I have a lot of friends and this school is very difficult for me. There are more lessons in this school and the teachers are very nice.

What activities do you do outside of school?I take part in gymnastics, swimming les-sons, tap and ballet lessons.

What school did you come from?Newton College

What was the school like? How does it dif-fer from this school?The school was smaller and the food wasn’t cooked there, they brought it in a van. The playground had different sec-tions for bigger and smaller children.

What lunchtime activities are you doing this term?Art, It's really fun because we are making felt.

What are your goals for this year in school?I just want to do the best I can and make lots of friends.

Tell me about your form class - have they made you feel welcome?Yes, very welcome. We do lots of group activities and we get on really well

What activities do you take part in outside of school?Dancing

What school did you come from?Blasco Ibañez, Elche

What was the school like? How does it dif-fer from this school?We had to speak Valenciano all the time and we had three hours for lunch.

Daniel (7F)

The first weeks of school were very good. The very first morning Aaron was the first person I talked to and he became my friend. Afterwards, I met Gonzalo and Alex and they showed me the rest of the school. I think that this school is very good.

Berta (7F)

King's College, Alicante is a very good and well organized school. I feel very comfort-able here because I already have a lot of friends. My tutor is Sr. Francisco and he is one of the best tutors in Secondary. My favourite subject is art with Miss Castro. I think this is a very good school.

Tommy (7F)

My first day at school I felt a little "new" and I didn't have any friends. The second day I saw some boys playing football and we became friends. Next Monday there was another new boy and now we are good friends and we help others when they need us. I like this new school, my teachers and my all my friends: Dani, Alex, Eloy and Carlos.

Dayana (8W)

At first when I came into the school I was frightened. But it's not the first time that I have changed school so it wasn't too strange. Of course, everything is new and different. I like this school very much and have made lots of new friends and met some lovely new people. When you start a new school it’s like starting a new life and and I would like somebody new to come to the school so that I can help them just as I was helped when I arrived. It is very difficult when no-one speaks your lan-guage and you cannot understand people very well. It might be good if other people had to experience what it feels like when you want to speak in your own language but nobody else does. I also find it hard to get help with my homework as nobody at home speaks English. It means I have to work extra hard.

CANDELA (7G)

I am having a great time. I love Science class. I’m happy because the people in my class and on the bus and lots of oth-ers have accepted me and made me feel at home. I like this school because every-one is nice and kind. Of course my favorite teacher is Sta. Guio.

LUISA (7G)

My experience so far at School has been very positive. I like the way we get taught. I really like all the teachers. It is a great help that if we don’t understand some-thing they will explain it again. I love all the equipment that we use and our lockers as well. I have made some good friends and I’m having lots of fun.

ARTURO (7G)

It’s going OK at the moment. I like Valen-cià, Sociales, Music and all the subjects. All the teachers are very good; the play-ground is very small compared to the one at my old school but it is fine. The installa-tions are great; the food, the computers, the library. I think I am going to like being at King's College.

Max Baxendale (8C)Max has settled in really well into 8C – secondary’s top form! He has made lots of good friends already and feels very at home. When asked, Max talked about his favourite subjects being P.E. (even though at the moment he is on crutches!), and at the moment he is particularly enjoying art because likes practical subjects.

Max’s other interests include: football, tennis and cricket and promises to give Harry a run for his money even though he has every respect for him as a player.

Max is enjoying meeting Spanish people as he says ‘They’re different to English people and it’s nice to have a change!’ but still misses Manchester a bit. Max’s Spanish is com-ing on gradually, but is finding it a bit difficult as everyone has such a good level in his class. Max says ‘I’ve found it really easy to settle into the school because the people are really friendly and supportive.’

Sophie (9B)

My first impression of the school was great, it is incredibly pleasant, pupils wel-comed me to their form. Abi and Alba es-pecially of 9B ensured that I had a great first day and kindly showed me around the school. My form teacher, Mrs. Bow-ers, took great care of me and helped me settle in and get used to the school rules. It was very different as I came from a large school in the UK, from thousands of chil-dren to just a few hundred is very unusual. I settled in quickly with a matter of days, now I feel proud to be a part of King's Col-lege, Alicante.

ART CLUB

We loved the chocolate!On Wednesday the 14th of October we visited the Valor chocolate factory. We were shown a video which explained the process they use to make chocolates of different shapes and textures. After that we went to see the Valor Museum which had interesting displays about the history of the company and allowed us to see the tools and implements that they used to make chocolate in the past as well as the actual office of Valeriano López, who founded the company in 1881. Afterwards we went for a walk through the typical Alicante style village streets of Busot and then we went on to the caves at Canelobre. The caves are, without doubt, a really impressive place to visit and thoughly recommended for everyone who hasn't already been. An underground walk takes you back millions of years.

Year 7 and 8

The art club got well underway with a staggering 31 students turning up to the club. The Year 7 and Year 8 students are creating original textile pieces, by doing this they will learn numerous textile techniques. The first of which is felt making, you can see from the pictures the students had great fun creating the base for their final piece and they now have the cleanest hands in school. The outcomes look very professional; we have found the new Maggie Greys of the textile world.

Year 10

The year 10 art students have started their iGCSE course very successfully and have produced some amazing pieces of art. This is the first time the students have used charcoal which makes the high quality of the work even more impressive.

As part of the new year 7 curriculum, pupils in Key Stage 3 will be focussing on different learning skills throughout this year. For the past month, we have been learning about thinking skills. We began with problem solving days for the whole school and have since integrated thinking skills’ activities throughout the whole school, particulary focusing on year 7. Here are some examples of the types of projects that have been going on:

Evaluating EvidenceYear 9 Grace in Ghana Project

Exploring a questionYear 11 Coral Reef projectt. Mia Craig’s work.

Learning

to Think!Sophie Tranter evaluated Abi-gail Whitehouse’s development project – a clean, constant wa-ter supply - noting that it would help Grace, her family and her community.

Looking from different perspectives

Year 9 have been putting themselves in the shoes of subsistence farmers in Ghana by playing a game and making decisions about what crops to grow. Laura Molina chose a low risk strategy of intercropping as she wanted to ensure that whatever the weather, she would always make some money to maintain the health of her family. Adrián López also followed an intercropping strategy preferring millet and yams. David and Obdullio went for high risk monoculture of cassava to maximise profit. Philip Boecker said that he couldn’t believe the small amounts of money that these farmers had to survive on. He certainly could see another’s perspective.

Problem Solving

Year 7 have been warming up their brains at the start of each Maths lesson with problem solving. They also at-tempted to solve the problems that King Harold faced in 1066. Could year 7 have brought the English Army to vic-tory with their problem solving skills?

Thinking is a skill that you can learn. Taking a structured approach to thinking can change the way you perform inside and outside school. Year 7 have been improving their thinking skills. This is what they said:

• We do lots of thinking skills activities in Maths• Thinking skills teach you how to make your work better• We like to warm up our brains• You learn things not from a book• Thinking skills help you learn• We have used them in lots of lessons but didn’t notice it before• They help you to know how good you are at different subjects

Swimming Gala

Event Winner Class Time25m Freestyle : Y7 Girls Caterina Prynn 7F 19.72 R

25m Freestyle : Y7 Boys Hector Chapela 7P 21.8425m Freestyle : Y8 Girls Elisa Chen Yao 8W 19.25 R25m Freestyle : Y8 Boys Juan Soriano 8C 17.2550m Freestyle : Y7 Girls Natalia Galán 7P 43.28 R50m Freestyle : Y7 Boys Jamie Dumbarton 7F 47.0550m Freestyle : Y8 Girls Diana Salaeva 8W 45.00 R50m Freestyle : Y8 Boys Scott Laidlaw 8C 41.2850m Freestyle : Y9 Boys Pablo Lledo 9B 38.7975m Freestyle : Y9 Boys Jesus Ferrer 9B -------

Event Winner Class Time25m Breaststroke : Y7 Girls Ana Gonzalez 7P 26.16 R25m Breaststroke : Y7 Boys Hector Chapela 7P 28.7925m Breaststroke : Y8 Girls Elisa Chen Yao 8W 22.88 R25m Breaststroke : Y8 Boys Charlie Hughes 8W 27.5050m Breaststroke : Y9 Boys Jesus Ferrer 9B 48.09

Event Winner Class Time25m Backstroke : Y7 Girls Aitana Ramon 7F 22.41 R25m Backstroke : Y7 Boys Alejandro Ramos 7F 22.90 R25m Backstroke : Y8 Girls Carmen Gomez 8C 24.03 R25m Backstroke : Y8 Boys Juan Soriano 8C 20.75 R50m Backstroke : Y9 Boys Gerry Bartley 9M 44.13

Event Winner Class Time25m Butterfly : Y7 Girls Luisa Morely 7G 23.68 R25m Butterfly : Y7 Boys Luis Blasco 7G 24.2825m Butterfly : Y8 Girls Jemma Williams 8C 19.44 R25m Butterfly : Y8 Boys Scott Laidlaw 8C 19.91 R25m Butterfly : Y9 Boys Jesus Ferrer 9B 18.72

R=New Record Time

Winners : Key Stage 3

Event Winner Class Time50m Freestyle : Y10 Girls Moresche Bartley 10S 34.9350m Freestyle : Y10 Boys Craig Laidlaw 10C 39.0350m Freestyle : Y11-13 Girls Maria Villaescusa 12E 39.3150m Freestyle : Y11-13 Boys Miguel Sancho 12E 33.6275m Freestyle : Y10-13 Girls Moresche Bartley 10S 63.65 100m Freestyle : Y10-13 Boys Jamie Sanderson 11P 1.39.10

Event Winner Class Time50m Breaststroke : Y10 Girls Ana Villaescusa 10C 55.4050m Breaststroke : Y10 Boys Toby Saliba 10C 56.2850m Breaststroke : Y11-13 Boys Victor Calderon 12E 50.31

Event Winner Class Time50m Backstroke : Y10 Girls Moresche Bartley 10S 45.9150m Backstroke : Y11-13 Boys Victor Calderon 12E 45.46

Event Winner Class Time25m Butterfly : Y10 Girls Moresche Bartley 10S 22.1325m Butterfly : Y10-13 Boys Javier Zapata 10C 20.34

Winners : Key Stage 4 and 5

Congratulations to all competitors!

Solution to last month maths work-out

123-45-67+89=100

You have 15 cards, numbered consecutively from 1 to 15. You must lay them out in a triangle as below. Each card must be the difference between the two cards immediately below it. The first three are done already....

Maths Puzzle….A perfect number is a number which is the sum of its factors excluding itself. For example the first perfect number is 6. Because the sum of 1, 2 and 3 is 6! So what’s the next perfect number?

Solutions to Mr Panter. First one gets 3 merits. No merits for parents, sorry.

5

4 9

Are you a mathemagician?....

Party For PolyglotsOf the 100 people at a recent party, 90 spoke Spanish, 80 spoke Italian, and 75 spoke Mandarin. At least how many spoke all three languages?

Explain the missing piece?

November Diary Dates

November 23rd-28th: Isle of Wight TripNovember 11th: Remembrance Day Assembly

Parents MeetingsYear 7 : November 12thYear 8: December 3rdYear 9: December 10thYear 10: November 26thYear 11: November 19th

Swine Flu

The swine flu symptoms include: temperature higher than 38 degrees, coughing, sore throat, headache, runny nose, muscle pain, general feeling unwell, occasionally vomiting / diarrhea and respiratory distress.

Visit the www.bsalicante.com for a complete and up-to-date calendar.

Latest news: http://www.bsalicante.com/news.phpMenus: http://www.bsalicante.com/monthly_menus.php

Calendar: http://www.bsalicante.com/school_calendar.phpSchool Telephone: 965 106 351

Email: info@bsalicante.com