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Dates for your diary Whole School
Primary
Secondary
Whole School News From the Head of Teaching and Learning Dear Parents and Guardians, Saturday saw the launch of the first Sotogrande International film festival. The event was a very laid-back affair with parents and students listening to live music from K:miss and the Soulbelle and enjoying the BBQ in the shade. Over 20 films were entered and congratulations go to all students who took part and special congratulations go to Louie Wickersham for winning Best Film and Best Actor and to Alejandra Aramburu Muñoz for winning Best Actress. Thanks to Sam Reynard for his time and efforts organizing the event and to the parents and students who supported it. If students are interested in learning more we will be running 2 film camps over the summer: 6th-17th July and 20th-31st July.
On Sunday one of our M3 groups of students completed their community project. Carlos Perez, Pedro Marin and Eduardo Parra organized a charity golf tournament at La Reserva to raise funds for La Milagrosa old people’s home in San Enrique. Together they raised a staggering 1400€! Huge congratulations also to P4 student Jasmine Bateman who raised over 600€ for Little Princess Trust by having her previously long, thick hair cut off to be used in wig-making. On Monday and Tuesday Danii Dick attended three separate school assemblies to launch the Sotosol Walk that will take place on May 30th. To further support Danii’s charity on Wednesday students from P3 upwards (& staff) opted into our Rice day and today we have had Bandana day. Sponsor forms for Danii’s charity have been handed out this week and in Danii’s own words she hopes that “this year’s event will be even bigger and better than previous years”. Anything that you can do to help would be deeply valued and appreciated. Tuesday saw our new cohort of Parent ambassadors complete their last session before they graduate! During the event they were taught about our school, the different programmes that we teach and how we put our own personal spin on this. Thanks to all of the parent ambassadors who have invested their time and energy in learning about our school.
Wednesday saw P6 students excel in the P6 PYP exhibition. I was blown away by their knowledge, confidence and use of ICT. Personally I really enjoyed having some deep discussions about their learning, about psychology and the classic nature v. nurture debate! I wish to congratulate the P6 students and also acknowledge the hard work of the P6 team and exhibition mentors. We have had 2 trips out this week. On Thursday P2 went to La Linea to visit Hogar Betania. As you are aware each of our year groups takes part in service learning; this was P2’s opportunity to spend a few hours helping others. Today M1 visited La Pequeña Africa as part of their garden (and for this year) /agricultural project. This trip allowed the students to mix with some of the animals and during the overall unit to be exposed to wild, domestic and agricultural animals, to further increase their understanding of our food sources. As you read this Mrs. Kearney and myself are departing with 11 M3-M5 students to Cordoba for our biannual wakeboarding trip. The students will be able to try something new, face fears and hopefully jump the wake! I wish you a wonderful weekend and remind you that next Thursday is a public holiday. Best wishes, Jak Kearney
New – school uniform “helpline” 648 276 099 El Corte Inglés has facilitated this telephone number for our parents to call in case of any inconvenience when purchasing uniforms.
If you experience any problem, you can call this number and an English speaking person who knows about our uniforms will come to where you are, or at least will then give telephone assistance. Family fun day/ Spring Fair tomorrow SIS Primary School and the PTA would like to invite all family and friends of SIS to a Family Day / Spring Fair on Saturday May 16th from 1.00 – 4.00pm. During the afternoon there will be an opportunity to take part in many different organised activities and games, socialise and catch up with friends, listen to some performances from our Primary Students and enjoy a barbecue and drinks. Tickets will be on sale at the gate; price 5€ for children aged 2-10. Children’s tickets entitle them to an ice cream, session on a bouncy castle, face painting, a cupcake decoration competition and many more activities and games. Entrance is free for adults and children over 10.
This really does promise to be a family fun day and we hope very much you will all be able to join us. Parent talk – Eating Disorder Awareness Monday May 18th in the Cantina 09.00-10.00 Why do people develop eating disorders? What underlying factors have the potential to trigger these and other related anxiety disorders? What are the very real dangers and who is at risk? What can we do to help our children? How can we advise our children in supporting their friends? And, what support is available to parents?
In this talk, Antonia Behan, a life coach specializing in teen self-esteem development and anxiety disorder prevention and management, will talk about the underlying low self-esteem, insecurity and anxiety that leads to the development of eating disorders, and present the practical tools and teachings that we can all cultivate to prevent eating disorders and to treat them, alongside the care of a specialized psychologist when needed. Antonia will hold a question and answer session at the end. If you would like to attend, please email Antonia to reserve your space: antonia@antoniabehan.com “Collection of children’s products” – Monday 18th May As part of the Community Project we are doing in M3, we decided to help the little ones in our area. To do this, we have organised a collection of products for babies and young children, such as diapers, baby food, wipes, juice packs, packets of biscuits, creams, baby colognes, etc. All the products we collect will be donated to Hogar Betania where each week food & other items are distributed to families at risk of social exclusion. We will be in front of the school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, May 18th, 19th & 20th. Do not forget to bring your products! They are needed. Stephanie Rydstrom-Franco, Irene Martínez Rodriguez & Almudena Villanueva Guillen Danii Bandana Day & Sotosol Walk
This week Danii came in to present three assemblies across the school to explain about her fantastic charity. Danii showed the students some photographs of the children that she has helped to fulfil their dreams. She also came to promote Danii Bandana Day, which was today, and the Sotosol walk on Saturday 30th May. For Danii Bandana Day students were invited to wear any of the Danii charity merchandise which has been on sale all week after school at the gate. 100% of the proceeds from this pop-up shop go to help support extremely sick children, and Danii merchandise will continue to be sold next week.
Every student should now have received a sponsor form for the Sotosol walk which takes place on Saturday 30th May. Students are invited to complete the walk with their families, and to obtain as many sponsors as possible. The children can cycle, scooter, rollerblade or walk and run the event. It really is a fantastic community occasion! There will be a Secondary and a Primary ice-cream party for the classes who collect the most sponsorship money. We hope that parents will help our students by supporting these marvelous events.
Primary School News P6 PYP Exhibition On Wednesday P6 showcased their exhibition work to our school community. The PYP exhibition is the culmination of the Primary Years Programme. It is a celebration of learning and a rite of passage from the PYP to the MYP. It is the opportunity for students to apply all that they have learned, the attitudes and behaviours they have developed, as well as the skills they have developed throughout their journey as PYP students.
Well-done P6! Throughout this exhibition time you have worked both independently and collaboratively to investigate the central idea of ‘humans learn differently during their lifetime.’ The actual exhibition work displayed on Wednesday showed great understandings and your confidence when talking to parents, other students and teachers was a pleasure to observe.
The P6 teachers, PYP exhibition mentors and Emma Butler would also like to thank the parents who dedicated their time talking and discussing the work of all the students. P5 Lectures – “New Technologies” This week the Spanish department organized two visiting speakers for all the P5 students. David Álvarez y Lidia Benítez, two experts in new technologies were kind enough to explain the fast evolution of new technologies in past few years.
They explained how this will affect them and also they were able to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of using them.
P3-P6 T-shirts
To promote our P3-P6 Expressive Arts production of Oliver, we have decided to have a special t-shirt made. All students in P3 to P6 will be taking part and all of their names will appear on the T-shirt. From the beginning of June until the production on June 23rd, students will be able to wear these t-shirts instead of their white school polo shirts.
If you would like to purchase a t-shirt, please fill in the order slip below. All t-shirt orders need to be returned to your child’s class teacher with payment, by Tuesday 19th May. T-shirts will cost 10 euros each. This is the only time we can place an order. There will be NO opportunity to re-order the shirts later. Please check the letter sent home last Thursday for more information.
Thank you to our sponsors World Trade Center, Gibraltar. http://www.worldtradecenter.gi/
Secondary School News M3 Community Project The community project is an important and fun part of the M3 programme! Through this community service, students can directly impact their local community by donating their ideas, time, energy and skills to a specific cause.
This year we have some great initiatives with great results that make a difference. Here are some examples of what happened last week: -Laura Pastor, Laura Warniers and Blanca Bordas helped raise awareness about the donation of organs. -Carlos Perez, Eduardo Parra and Pedro Marin organised a successful golf tournament to raise money for the old people’s home in San Enrique. -Almudena Villanueva, Stephanie Rydstrom-Franco and Irene Martínez are collecting food and other items for Hogar Betania. Student Council News 2014-2015 This year, the Student Council has been working diligently to address the problems expressed by the student community. We have particularly focused on raising awareness of the student council and its commitment to the school, engaging in new ventures and continuing our fundraising. The tuck shop was the starting point for the Student Council’s fundraising. This involved firstly electronically surveying the students to establish their preferences. Once that was done, the members of the student council distributed their work in the tuck shop and allocated jobs to be done in preparation for the opening of the shop. The tuck shop opened twice a week at break time in the school cantina and was much more successful than anyone had expected. We made a massive profit for the student council. 70% of the profit from the tuck shop and the mufti days were donated to the Kindred Project. This was a decision made by the student council to replace the Rice days organized by the student council from previous years.
Furthermore, in addition to the regular weekly meetings of the Student Council, in the middle of the Spring term the Vice-president organized a meeting with the year group representatives aiming together to come up with the ideas and projects that students of SIS would benefit from. We are planning another meeting with the reps in June, as their input is important to us. We have been lucky this year to have received a generous donation from the PTA that will allow us to purchase useful and valuable equipment for the student body. Feedback from the year group representatives led to the order of 6 “GoPros” for both primary and secondary students to use and capture amazing moments that the school has to offer: events, sports matches, school trips, etc. Students will also be able to use them for school projects.
However that’s not the end of the Student Council! We still have more plans and projects ahead to look forward to before the end of term! It may seem that we have not achieved or embarked on a lot this year, but as Confucius once said “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones”. Being a member of the SIS Student Council 2014-15 is an unforgettable experience for us all! We have listened to the students and taken their opinions on board, which led to the tuck shop. We have raised a lot of money that will benefit our students in the future. The Student Council hopes that the next Student Council (2015-2016) will continue their initiated projects, and raise as much or even more money for charity. The school year has almost ended, but as has been said, the best is yet to come! The Student Council will not continue with the tuck shop, as we think that we have already achieved our initial purpose, which was raising money for the Kindred Project. Nevertheless, we are planning on selling iced refreshments at break and lunch from the first week of May until the very last day of school. And finally, the Student Council is announcing the first ever End of Year School Party / Barbecue for students in M1 to M3 (date, time and venue to be confirmed). We will be promoting this event in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned for more information. We would like to wish good luck to all students taking exams and / or leaving us to embark on new adventures. The Student Council hopes it has been an amazing year for all of you! Inna Kuzminykh (President) Daniel Gonzalez Cabello (Vice-president) Victor Gonzalez Mora (Treasurer) Kate Kramnaya (Treasurer) Alejandra De La Rocha (Reporter)
The Kindred Project News Rice Day is back! Stickers, music, yummy sauces and lots of happy faces! 479 committed students from P3 to D2 opted to take a plate of plain white rice for their lunch to support two amazing causes: Danii’s Cancer Charity and our Nepal Emergency Appeal. Thank you all for opting-in.
Super P2 helpers headed down to Hogar Betania, in La Línea, this week to help clear the centre’s garden and plant a couple of trees. This very special service learning experience was connected to the “Helping” Unit the children are currently working on. Well done to all for a superb job and thank you for sharing your energy and enthusiasm with us. We felt extremely proud of our students as they are the youngest group to have ever gone to help in Hogar Betania. They embraced the task and really made a difference!
Nepal Emergency Appeal Throughout the week we have continued to support Kopan Monastery School, our Nepalese partners, through different fundraising activities, like our whole school Rice Day. So far we have managed to raise €2.105! The country is in desperate need and conditions, especially after being hit for a second time by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which just makes everything so much harder! For a full up-date, please click: Nepal Emergency Appeal Should you wish to collaborate with our appeal, please get in touch with us on: info@thekindredproject.gl
PTA News The next PTA meeting will be held on Tuesday the 19th of May at 09.00 in the school cantina. All parents and guardians welcome!
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