SEPTEMBER 2010

THE PRIMARY N E W S L E T T E RPrimary News from the Pupils and Teachers of The British School of Alicante

I would like to congratulate all our pupils and staff for a wonderful start to our new school year. Our youngest Nursery pupils settled very quickly without too many tears and all of our new pupils are begin-ning to make new friends. It is extremely important that we make a positive start to the term and I am very pleased with the level of support, good will and opti-mism shown by all our pupils, staff and parents. As a community, we will need the support and encouragement of each other throughout the year ahead and I am confident we will have a very productive and enjoyable year.

Message from the Headteacher

I would like to appeal for your further cooperation on the issue of parking at school, particularly at the beginning and end of the school day. Considering the amount of traffic this generates, I am pleased that the vast majority of parents manage to drop off or collect their chil-dren without causing any problems.

However, I would ask that you do not double park or park unattended at street corners or directly in front of the school gates. There has been some disruption to traffic flow and to public transport which we must try to minimise. Similarly, the in-

creased risk to our pupils caused by such parking is something we must avoid at all costs.

Please check our website regularly for updates and information as well as the Dates for your Diary section in this news-letter.

Thank you and best wishes.

Derek Laidlaw

A Happy Beginning!

Welcome back to a new school year and a warm welcome to our new pupils and parents.

Primary school is a crucial period in a child’s learning. They need to be taught a variety of complex skills that will form the foundations of all their learning for the rest of their lives. They learn to read, write, ma-nipulate numbers, observe, record and question. The list of skills is endless. At the same time, positive attitudes are fostered as well as cre-ative learning and the development of interpersonal skills.

As we look back at last year and look forward to the year ahead we

Message fromthe Head of Pr imary

can be confident that all this learn-ing is firmly established at BSA. Our end of year teacher assessments and the end of Key Stage 2 SATS tests tell us that reading and maths is very strong and our spelling pro-gramme is working. Science is an-other area that our pupils perform well in, often above expectations.

Test results and assessments are in-deed very worthy goals, but educa-tion consists of considerably more than a set of grades, targets and exam passes. No two children are the same. We have unique young learners, with their own thoughts in-terests and needs. At BSA we strive to develop confidence, sensitiv-

ity and empathy through our PSHE programme (Personal Social and Health Education) and it is through this programme that we build on our pupils learning and help our new pupils to settle and make friends quickly and easily.

In this newsletter and the newslet-ters to follow, I hope you will clearly see the academic and the pastoral side of our school and I think it will be obvious that our staff are con-nected to the pupils and always put their needs first.

Fiona ThomasHead of Primary

Starting school for the first time or starting at a new school can be very stressful. School can appear strange and scary at first. There are lots more children who are older and bigger, different or new rules to get used to and the day can be tiring.

Starting school or moving to a new school is a big step for children and it takes time to get used to it. I hope you will find the suggestions below helpful:

• Don’t be late collecting your child. A few minutes can seem a long time to a young child.• Likewise, ensure you are on time in the morning so that your child has time to line-up and enter school with

their class teacher and friends.• Some children want to tell you all about their day as soon as you collect them, but some like time by them-

selves before they want to talk. Make time for your child whenever they are ready to talk about their day• Children are often hungry after school. A healthy snack straight after school should help.• Listen, but don’t ask too many questions. Children will talk when they are ready.• New learning takes a long time and children learn at different rates. Don’t expect too much. You can help

best by encouraging, taking an interest and showing you care.• Be flexible. Children may be tired and grumpy for a while until they settle in.• Keep to routines that allow time for rest and free play. • Invite your child’s friends over.• If your child is really upset or you are worried about something, talk to the school about it.

School and home working together will help to settle the child and aid learning.

We asked some of our new children if anything was worrying them or did they have any ques-tions to ask before or after they started at BSA. Here are some of their replies:

Will I make friends?Is the teacher strict?

Will the work be hard?Can I sit where I want?

Can I bring toys to school?

The Early Years have had a really great start to the year. All the teach-ers are really happy with how well the children have settled into their new classes.

The new Nursery children are all coming into school with smiling fac-es and are already starting to sing songs in English. We would like to say a special thank you to all the par-ents for their support with the stag-gered starts in Nursery, which have really helped the children to settle quickly.

The Nursery have been busy doing paintings and drawings and you can see all their lovely work on display in the classrooms and corridors. The Nursery children will be covering the topics, Me and My Family and Col-ours this term. We are looking for-ward to the Colour Days, when the teachers organise creative colour activities and everyone dresses up in the colour of the week. This is great fun for both the children and the teachers.

The Reception classes have adapted well to their new classroom routines

Early Years Newsand the children feel very grown up now that they no longer have siesta in the afternoon. The children are especially enjoying the child initi-ated play activities in the morning and love playing on the new climbing frame and new house on the play-ground.

This term Reception are learning about Myself and People who help us. We are looking forward to our Superheros theme day later in the term when all the children will dress up as Superheroes and take part in exciting activities. We will also be inviting different members of the school staff to the classrooms to talk to the children about their jobs in the school and how they help us.

We are all looking forward to the year ahead and we are sure it will be a very positive and rewarding year. Thank you for all your support ena-bling the children to adapt so well to their new school and classes.

Joanna MillsonEarly Years Co-ordinator

We have had a very successful start to the year in Key Stage 1 with the Year 1 children settling in very quickly to the new routines. Well done Year 1. A big thank you also for the hard work the reception teachers have put in for preparing the children for the transition and to the parents who are supporting the children in becoming more independent in the mornings. Year 2 have also been a fantastic example and a great help in welcoming the new Year 1 children.

We would like to welcome our new members of staff to the team – Miss. Stoker in Year 1 Turtles, Nuria assisting with the Year 1 Puffins and Irene assisting with the Year 1 Turtles. We would also like to welcome Mrs. Gandhi a trainee teacher who will be teaching alongside Mrs. Tomkins in the Year 2 Sharks this term.

KS1

As we begin a new school year Key Stage 2 has grown even big-ger; now with three classes in Years 3, 4 and 5. We have also welcomed several new pupils and teachers to our team and all seem to be enjoying their first experiences of BSA.

Another new addition this Septem-ber is an exciting new trolley which contains a class set of laptop com-puters; these are used to teach ICT

KS2

Early Years News

and to enhance learning across the curriculum.

We are also lucky enough this year to have Interactive Whiteboards in all KS2 classes, something that the children and teachers are really en-joying!

We are all looking forward to a busy and productive year and we thank you for your support so far this term.

A big congratulations to new Year 2 school council rep-resentatives who will be in charge of organizing our zone toys at lunch time. At present we are learning how to use the zones and a big focus for this term is looking after property.

A big thank you to all the parents who attended the year group meetings. We hope you found them informative. The children certainly enjoyed showing off their new classrooms and it was a great opportunity to chat infor-mally with you all. We look forward to seeing you again for our Maths and Literacy workshops in early October.

Mrs. AnthonyKS1 Co-ordinator

This year the School Council will be involved in working towards achieving the Eco Schools award and will be work-ing with the Secondary School Council to achieve our goal. The Council meets regularly and here are some of the things we discuss and do at our meetings. As you can see we have been very busy since the start of term:

• 16th September – New Councillors chose patio zone days• 17th Sept – School Council introduced at Key Stage 2 Assembly• 23rd September – Council shields designed and displayed. Eco schools project introduced. Zones at Patio

time begin this week in Key Stage 1 and 2.• 8th October – Eco school reviews presented to Primary and Secondary. Action Plan drawn up.

School CouncilThe school council at BSA continues to thrive and council members have already been elected for 2010/2011. Con-gratulations to :

Scott Gómez 2PPaula Escalapes 2PMiguel Javaloyes 2BAndrea Del Pecho 2BMartina López 2TAdel Karim Berkane 2TPablo Barrachina 3PMarta Prieto 3PAlex Slater 3BNereida Chinchilla 3B

Jose Miguel Belda 3OGema Fuentes 3OOscar Belda 4PMariola Candela 4PFran Pérez 4HLuna Quesada 4HCarlos Meana 4JPilar López 4JCarlos Prieto 5RUma Ivorra 5R

Noa Younes 5FCharlie Collingham 5FAntonio Marcos Ortíz 5STeass Van Duijvenbode 5SLaura Oncina 6LJemel Richards 6LArmando Sala López 6MPaula Canicio 6M

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Hannah JonesMy name is Hannah Jones. I have come from Yorkshire, England where I taught year 3 at a large Primary School and also worked for the School´s Music service as a Singing Teacher.I am working in Year 4 at BSA and feel very welcomed by the staff, children and par-ents.

I look forward to the year ahead and embracing my life in Spain.

Lucy BakerHi my name is Lucy Baker and I am teaching in Year 3. I am from London and have just moved to Alicante. Before I moved to Spain I was teaching a year 2 class in an Infant School. I decided to move to Alicante in order to learn Spanish and gain experience in a new and vibrant culture. I am really looking forward to living and teaching in Spain.

Michel le StokerHello I’m the new Year 1 teacher and I am looking forward to teaching the Turtle’s class. I am not completely new to the BSA as I spent two years as a teaching assistant in Nursery and Reception a few years ago. I decided that as I enjoyed working with children so much I would pursue a career in teaching. I trained and qualified in Leices-ter, England and looked forward to returning to the BSA as a teacher.

I have lived in Alicante all my life, my parents decided to move here with my sister and I when we were very young so adapting to the Spanish way of life wasn’t a problem, however adapting to the heat is something that I will never get used to!

New Pr imaryTeachers

SCHOOL GROUNDS IMPORTANT NOTICEPlease note that the school grounds will close and gates will be locked at:

5.50pm on Monday – Thursday5.30pm on Friday

This is necessary due to Health & Safety reasons and for Insurance purposes. I would therefore ask that all parents and pupils vacate the premises by then.

Please also note that, whilst some staff are present after school, pupils who are not enrolled in an Optional Activity will be unsupervised. Thank you for your cooperation.

News from the L ibraryThe school hold its first book fair of the year last Friday, 24th September. The library was very busy, as many parents and pupils came to visit it. Students from Re-ception to Y9 had the chance to participate in a draw-ing and writing competition. The winners of each year group chose a book from the book fair. Here are the lucky ones:

Reception P: Covadonga De Dios SánchezYear 1A: Nicolás Torrecillas LafuenteYear 2B: Rafaela LobraicoYear 3P: Carlos Payá BarrachinaYear 4H: Mark LeonorYear 5F: Sara Espinosa RastollYear 6M: Paloma Galinsoga PatróYear 7W: Lillie PapworthYear 8T: Laura Gonçalves

Congratulations to all of them and many thanks to all students who participated. I hope next time there will be at least as many entries as there were this time.

Dates for October For more dates please see our Parent Calendar on the website.

www.bsalicante.com8th October – Yr 3P tripWeek beginning 11th October – Creative Arts week12th October – School Closed15th October Yr 1-Yr 6 Parents can visit school to view creative art sculpturesFrom 18th October – Literacy and Numeracy information available on school website29th October and 1st November – School closed