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Dear Parents and guardians, Last weekend witnessed a weekend that does not exist in many other schools around the world. We saw a multitude of different learning experiences transcend the ages of the school allowing our learners to further explore their gifts, passion and purpose. It all began on Friday with the SIS triathlon, led by Alastair Gibson. In the course of the day over 100 students from P5 – D2 and 40 staff took part in this event. There were examples of great leadership, teamwork and compassion displayed throughout the day as students competed. After school the staff formed teams and competed to find the best triathlon team. Congratulations to Mr. Mungles, Mr. Moore and Mr. Wix, who came out on top, to everyone’s surprise! 
 On Sunday the Diploma students returned from the ISTA Theatre trip to London. They attended a variety of workshops to help develop their drama skills as well as managing to catch a few shows in the west end. We are looking forward to seeing how they transfer what they learnt into their performances.  Meanwhile a team of staff were presenting at the IB Conference in Barcelona this weekend. On Friday Belen Gonzalez and Andrea Bennett presented on the whole school introduction of the ‘learning to learn’ skills that we introduced last year as a development of our effective learner pillar of connected learning. Over 80 people, who were struggling to implement thinking skills within their curriculum, attended the presentation. Feedback was really positive and we extend sincere congratulations to both staff members. On the Saturday Valentina Stirling, Jamie Templeton and I presented on how we have developed a community of learners through social action. The presentation was deeply emotional as we shared videos telling the story of Asni and The Kindred Project. Every school that attended was literally in disbelief that we had integrated an NGO into our school. They were able to see how it has helped to embed service learning into the DNA of our students and our school, and were very keen to find out more.  The variety of activities, excursions and developments that occurred last weekend allowed us all to reflect on how lucky we are to have a true community of learners; adults, students and parents, who all work beyond the school day to give, enhance and extend the curriculum. I wish you wonderful weekend, Jak Kearney
Whole School News
Information from school nurses As there have been several cases of head lice in school recently, the nurses would like to inform parents of our current protocols. Half Term Football Camp Dear Parent, We are excited to be to offer our new Football Camps over the October Half-Term. We have two Camps running from the 29th Oct to 1st of November and another from the 2nd to the 5th of November. The Camp hours are from 10:00-13:00 and they will take place here at SIS or El Rio. For more information on the Football Camps please go to our new website www.sotograndeinternationalcamps.com
Primary School News
Dates for your Diary
2016- 2017 Primary Student Ambassadors Congratulations to Erika Rickert, Jose Rafael Mellado García, Ava O’Connor, Jago Wickersham, Jasmine Bateman and Antonio Perez Albors who have been chosen as our Primary Student Ambassadors. As ambassadors these students will have the opportunity to represent our Primary School at different events throughout the school year.  Parent Information Sessions This week saw two parent information sessions. The first was led by our Spanish team who discussed how students learn Spanish in EC1 and P1. The second was for parents of P2-P6 students and the focus was on how parents can support their child’s reading through the use of the ‘Reading eggs’ programme.  Exploring becoming Effective Learners in P1 and P2 On Monday I had the pleasure of leading the P1 and P2 assembly. Our focus was on our golden rules and how we use them to help each other in school. It was wonderful to see how our younger students could discuss, share ideas and make connections between the story we listened to and how our golden rules help us within our school. Communicating is central to being an effective person Readathon Superheroes This week saw several children complete a full page of smiley-faces on their Readathon Record; they are now enthusiastically started on a second page to help boost their class totals towards winning that ice-cream party. Well done, all of you!  Secondary School News
Dates for your Diary
M2 ‘Al Andalus’ field trip Last week M2 students took part in a trip to the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro in Malaga in order to collect primary data for an Individuals and Societies unit on Al Andalus. The focus of the trip was to find examples of architecture and art from this period of history and to consider the influence of Al Andalus on modern day Spain. Students found examples of tessellations and geometric patterns in the artwork and the use of the golden ratio in building design. It was also fascinating to see how architecture had been used to defend the city from attack during the re-conquest in 1487, especially in the perimeter walls of the castle. We hope students have gained a greater understanding and appreciation of Spain´s Islamic past through this investigation.
Visiting speaker Araceli Gavira On Tuesday 11th of October M3 Humanidades class had the good fortune to have a visit from Araceli Gavira, an expert in construction, who explained to the students how to make scale models. This project is part of our Unit of Inquiry: What is the distribution of the world’s population?  M5 Spanish language Acquisition – A virtual journey through Spain As part of their unit of investigation into ‘Spanish Culture’, students worked on preparing virtual journeys through the Spanish countryside, recommending places of interest and cultural aspects which they would not want to miss if making the journey for real. Through this project students get to know and value the diversity and richness of the country in which they are living. You can see an example of one of these journeys on Facebook.  DP Theatre trip to London A selection of D1 & D2 Theatre students have just returned from a mind-blowing 5 day trip to London. Working with the International Schools Theatre Assocaiton (ISTA) they joined 13 other international schools in an intensive 3 days of workshops led by theatrical practitioners and professionals. Amongst these were master classes by New York mime artist Bill Bowers and an exploration of approaches to devising led by the well known theatre company Complicite.  The 8am -11pm days concluded with tickets to 4 West End shows; the fantastic In the Heights musical, the hilarious The Comedy about a Bank Robbery, the masterful Woman in Black and a rather bizarre and challenging one-woman interpretation of Beckett´s No´s Knife. This trip is invaluable in its reinforcement of DP Theatre curriculum objectives whilst building the theatrical skill and confidence of our students. Duke of Edinburgh expedition Last weekend our Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award Students spent a challenging weekend camping in Sierra Nevada. They hiked to the source of a natural spring and then set up camp for the night. Many of the students chose to trek a further hour to visit the site of old Civil War trenches at Cerro de Calar. Despite the cold, and being woken by visits from hungry foxes, the students had a fantastic trip with lots of stories to tell!  International collaboration with Inholland University results in Power Day As part of the Global Citizenship Program, a delegation of Dutch students and teachers from the University of Applied Sciences InHolland, Rotterdam are at the moment visiting our school to coach our middle years students. The training session is called the “Power Day” and focuses on increasing mutual understanding and respect in our school community, and with that reducing the risks of bullying. The approach is inclusive and involves the Dutch delegation, our students, teachers and parents. Teachers and parents have been skilled up during the coach-to-coach training, to enable them to use the specific Power Day method. 
Community
Tai Chi lessons for parents and staff on Fridays at 4.15pm 
If you would like to attend one of the classes for FREE, you will find us in the Staffroom (first floor of Main Building). Please bring loose clothes (black or white). Lessons are led by two professional masters: For further information about the health benefits of Tai Chi: Come on, give it a try! The most powerful force in the Universe flows through you! The Kindred Project 
IB Conference: 
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