SEPTEMBER 2012

Primary News from the Pupils and Teachers of King’s College, Alicante

Welcome back to another school year. I hope you have all enjoyed a relaxing and fun filled holiday this summer and are ready for another challenging and rewarding year at school.

This summer was dominated by the Olympic Games in London, which proved to be a remarkable feat of organisation, logistics and ultimately wonderful sporting achievements. The number of people involved in such events is quite staggering, not least the many volunteers who gave up their time willingly to help ensure that the Olympic and Paralympic games were so successful. Their motto ´Inspire a Generation´ certainly is a noble one and I am sure that judging by the reaction of the public, this will prove to be a landmark occasion and hopefully the start of a new generation of inspired young people.

At school we have also enjoyed a very successful summer and many of our pupils will have achieved their potential and in some cases their personal bests. Our I/

Headteacher’sWelcome

GCSE results were again above that of the UK national average and our A*-C pass rate was above 90%. This is all the more commendable as the majority of our pupils do not have English as their native language. At A level our students achieved 100% pass rate with 50% of results at the highest A* and A grades. This has enabled our students to progress to the Universities of their choice here in Spain, the UK and Switzerland. Our Year 6 SATs results continue to be above the UK national average and this is providing a consistent and elevated platform from which to continue into secondary school.

As with the Olympic Games, these outstanding achievements are not only the result of the dedication and skill of the competitors, or in our case, the pupils, they are a result of a collective effort from all of our staff supporting the organisation, logistics and welfare of our school. We are very fortunate at King´s College, Alicante to have not only a very dedicated and talented teaching staff, but also a very hard-working and skillful support staff including grounds

men, office staff, administrative staff, kitchen staff and cleaners. As a cleaner at NASAs Cape Canaveral once told JF Kennedy when he was asked what he did there, he replied ´I help to put men on the moon´. This all inclusive and all supporting ethos is clearly what we have in common with other successful organisations and I thank everyone for all their efforts in helping our pupils to succeed.

I hope this year will bring many more accolades and rewards for all our pupils and staff, and I hope that as well as being inspired, our young people will aspire to inspire future generations.

Derek Laidlaw MA, NPQH, Dip T MusHeadteacher

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THE PRIMARY N E W S L E T T E R

Opening of theNew Mult i Purpose Hal l

Miss LubaczewskaHead of Pr imary

On behalf of all the Primary staff I would like to extend a very warm welcome to families old and new as we begin our new academic year together.

Reflecting on a busy but highly enjoyable first month, I must say I am very impressed by just how quickly life at school has settled down. The school’s established routines and procedures have proved to be very effective and all members of staff have pulled together enthusiastically to help get the school year off to a smooth and happy start. Our recent arrivals – children and staff - have certainly received a warm welcome from the school community and the Golden Rule of being kind and helpful to others has been much in evidence across the school.

I would especially like to say “Well done!” to our Year 6 classes for setting such a good example to the younger children and our new pupil arrivals.

Wandering the school corridors and visiting classes it has been extremely pleasing to see our pupils benefitting from high quality teaching and learning– all the way from Nursery to Year 6.

This year I am delighted to be working alongside my wonderful primary leadership team:Mrs Sarah Phillips, Deputy Head of Primary and Year 4P class teacherMrs Joanna Millson, Head of Early Years and Reception M teacherMrs Heather Williams leading the Year 1 and Year 2 team and Year 1W class teacherMiss Hannah Jones leading the Year 3 and Year 4 team and Year 4J class teacherMrs Vanessa Hughes leading the Year 5 and Year 6 team and Year 6H class teacherMr Juan Mora, Head of Spanish

Together we hope to maintain the excellent standards in place at King’s College, Alicante and to continue to ensure that your children are offered exciting learning opportunities in a warm and nuturing primary environment.

On personal note, I’d like to thank everyone for making me feel so welcome at school. In particular, I am very grateful for the invaluable guidance and support I have received from the senior leadership team.

Best wishes,

Miss LubaczewskaHead of Primary School

Welcome

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Welcome to all new Early Years All the teachers and I are thrilled at how well the new Nursery and Reception children have settled into school life at King’s College, Alicante. It is a joy to see them all smiling, laughing and having fun in their new classes with their friends and teachers. I have heard lots of English being spoken and sung in the classes.

All the Nursery children are in school full-time now. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents and carers for their support with the staggered entry procedure. We appreciate that it may not always be easy to collect the children at 1:00 pm, but we have really reaped the benefits as the children have adapted so quickly to their new school.

We are very happy to welcome a new member of the Early Years Department, Mrs Kristin Einarsdottir who is a Teaching Assistant in Nursery E class. We also welcome back Mrs Sarah Perea who is back after her maternity leave and we would like to congratulate her on the birth of her daughter, Ainhoa.

We look forward to working together this year and we wish you all a happy and successful year.

Important Early Years InformationPlease can all parents and carers show their King’s College ID card to the teacher on duty as they enter school through the siesta hall door in the morning and afternoon. If you have not yet got an ID card please go to the school Office to collect your card. If another adult is collecting your child from school they must show a signed white authorisation card to the teacher. We will not allow them to go with another adult without parental consent.

Many thanks for your cooperation on this important security issue.

START OF THE YEAR IN EARLY YEARS

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New TeacherMiss SangheraPrimary Teacher

I graduated from The University of Manchester with a BA (hons) in English Language. I then remained at the university to complete my Primary PGCE. I spent my first 2 years of teaching at a primary school in Buckinghamshire where I taught year 2 and then relocated back to Manchester for 3 years where I taught in both year 1 and reception. I am really enjoying living in Spain and working at Kings College, Alicante. The children are delightful and very keen to learn. All the staff have been really supportive and welcoming to me. I am looking forward to continuing my teaching career here.

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It was my pleasure to receive many of our new families at a welcome reception in the Quadrangle. Several of our parents and new pupils took a quick tour of their new classrooms and enjoyed socialising and meeting key staff and other new families.

I look forward to welcoming them back to our other events and meetings throughout the year.

Welcome Meeting for New Families

Before school started in September, some teachers and non teaching staff learnt how to extinguish different types of fire. Personnel from the fire department came to school to train some of our staff how to use the correct fire equipmet in the event of a fire.

Fire Training

PRIMARYSchool Council

YEAR 2 YEAR 3

YEAR 4 YEAR 5

YEAR 6

YEAR 3

YEAR 5

YEAR 6

New Multi Purpose HallThe British School recalls the final combatof the Olympics in Barcelona ´92Miriam Blasco and Nicola Fairbrother recalled the Olympic bout they once fought at the Inauguration of the Multi Purpose Hall of the school in Alicante.Prestigious coaches such as Carlos Montero and José Alberto Valverde were present at the opening.

The same players 20 years laterFriday 21st of September, King’s College Alicante gathered the judokas Miriam Blasco and Nicola Fairbrother who competed in the Olympic final in Barcelona ´92 and resulted in thesportswoman from Alicante as the first woman to win a medal. It was just one bout but brought back memories during the opening event of the Hall.

There was a lot of fun during the event where many young promising judokas at King’s College Alicante got together on the tatami as well as the prestigious national judokas Vanesa Arenas and Luis Alcaraz.

The event, headed by Judo instructor José Alberto Valverde, was a demonstration of the main techniques in Judo which is one of the most successful sports in this province over the lastyears. The first demonstration of the morning started with the young ones. The audience was amazed by their technique and discipline. Vanesa Arenas and Luis Alcaraz, current Spanish Champions also took part with the children. The final surprise was the rematch between Miriam Blasco and Nicola Fairbrother.

“I brought the gold medal in case you beat me” said Miriam before remembering the emotive final 20 years ago.

It was a lovely and symbolic act that received a great ovation from the guests.

After the demonstration, Miriam´s gold medal attracted all the attention. The judoka showed the historic medal to the pupils so they could feel it´s weight and have photographs taken.

Alfredo Aracil, trainer of the Judo club “Miriam Blasco Arena” and the coach Carlos Montero, were also present at the event.

The president of Lucentum, Luis Castillo and the ex-football player Juan Manuel Asensi were also in attendance.

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I am very pleased with the standard of uniform displayed by the children in Primary and Secondary schools. The children look smart and purposeful and this helps them to concentrate on their school work and not on issues of ´fashion´! The King´s Group uniform is widely recognised amongst colleague schools in Spain and other countries and is an important part of our identity as well as our educational standing. From November 6th, pupils will be required to attend school in their winter uniform. All items of uniform are available from the school shop, including Blazers, which are priced at 70€ this year. Students in Y12 and Y13 can wear the Sixth Form tie, which is also available from the school shop, and which further acknowledges them as our most senior students.

Please note that pupils are allowed to wear only one pair of small stud earrings , no other jewelry is permitted. Sixth form pupils may also wear 1 dress ring and discreet make up.

We will be holding our school photograph sessions on 14th and 15th November at which all pupils must be wearing full winter uniform. Please check our website for details of the uniform requirements.

School Uniform

Glorieta del Reino Unido 5Alicante 03008 Spainwww.bsalicante.com

email: carlos.lazaro@kingsgroup.org

9th October SCHOOL CLOSED12th October SCHOOL CLOSED16th October Nursery C Coffee Morning23th October Nursery P Coffee Morning24th-25th October Year 6 Sports Day (TBC)30th October Nursery E Coffee Morning

Important Dates

You will now be aware that last term we introduced a crossing patrol for pupils in the morning at the main school entrance. This has proved popular with parents and pupils alike, and provides a safe crossing between the many cars which arrive in the mornings. I would ask that parents do not park at any of the yellow lines painted, especially outside the 3 entrances to the school, as this causes problems with traffic flow, access for school buses and increases the hazard to pupils crossing the road. Thank you.

SAFETY