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| Message from the Head Dear Parents and Guardians, On Friday our D1 students led a new event – the M5 / D1 prom! Students from across the two year groups partnered up, and took part in the student led event dancing and celebrating the end of M5 and D1. The aim was for students in M5 to take part in some fundraising for Asni, before embarking on their CAS trip next spring. I would like to thank the staff who chaperoned the event, and the students for their vision and support.  This week I met with M1 and M5 students to discuss the school through their eyes. I was delighted with the quality of discussion, their ideas and thoughts moving forward. It was lovely to hear about their likes, their perceived areas for improvement and their thoughts for the next year. The data is fed back to the SLT as we make plans to improve provision for the next academic year. On my walk around this week I was thrilled to spend time with M1 looking at how they use text detection to pick up errors in their writing. This is particularly helpful with the second language learners in English and Spanish as it works to fine-tune their listening skills when learning a foreign language. Students showed me how they use this to correct their written work. I also spent a little time with P2 students who were learning about time. I spent time with Miss Gabi’s group recapping o’clock and half-past, before moving on to quarter to and quarter past. I loved the looks on their faces, when I asked… “What time would it be if I moved forward half an hour?”! We had a lovely time! Thank you M1 and P2.  On Wednesday our P2 students held a sponsored swim to raise money for KP. This initiative came from the P2 students and will be a great way of blending our newly heated pool with using education as a force for good! On this note, it has been lovely looking out of my office window and seeing the swimming pool being used! We are already feeling excited about seeing it covered from October 2017.  Congratulations to all the students who participated in the UK Junior Maths Challenge competition; your great results made the school very proud. This weekend we will host a visiting school from Cairo. Students will be taking part in a number of football competitions over the weekend and into next week. They will also be taking our visitors to the Malaga/Real Madrid match this weekend! Thank you to everyone who has trialed the slightly longer route to school through La Reserva. The feedback from parents who have used the route is really positive. I would encourage you all to try the route just once, if we all work together, we will have a much greater impact on the traffic at the start and end of school. As many of you know Paul Templeton, the Chairman of the board lost his twin brother Peter a couple of weeks ago. Peter was one of the founding board members of the school and he continued as a fully committed and active member of the board to the present day. He contributed massively to defining our mission; he worked with faculty at various times over the years, and was deeply respected amongst the school community. Finally I would like to remind you that the school is closed on Monday due to the local holiday. I wish you a peaceful weekend.
Jak Kearney
Whole School News School uniform for new school year Please see El Corte Ingles letter with special ‘Back to School’ offers for September Sharing stories Students in M3 English Language Acquisition wrote some children’s stories using Romeo and Juliet as inspiration. They used storybird.com to create pictures and then spent a few moments sharing their work with the students in EC1.  Maths Challenge Competition Results We now have the results for the UK Mathematics Trust Junior level Challenge competition that some of our students took part in a few weeks ago. Congratulations and Well Done to the following students: Silver certificate: Bronze certificate:
Primary School News Over the past week Primary has been busy with unit based trips. Four of our eight trips have been connecting and extending their learning outside the classroom… EC1 enjoy their first experiential out of school trip As part of their Unit of Inquiry the children from EC1 enjoyed their first experience of a school trip. The children were so excited to go on the big bus and visit Castellar Zoo. They enjoyed observing and interacting with different animals, feeding the birds, touching a black panther and a lemur. During the day children also had the opportunity to visit the zoo vet where they learned about how to look after animals. Whilst with the vet they saw a baby honey bear.  P2 unit based trip and student initiated action P2 have taken responsibility and been considerate during their Helping Unit. Following informative talks from members of our community, including M3 students, Miss Jane, Miss Eliza and Miss Valentina, the children have found out how The Kindred Project works and took action by visiting Hogar Betania to help paint and renovate their garden furniture and to bake cakes for the residents.  The children also decided at the end of the unit to take further action to change lives; as a year group they decided to raise money for The Kindred Project by arranging a sponsored swim in the newly heated pool! P5 and P6 overnight trips On Wednesday it was wonderful to see P5 and P6 so excited to go off on their one night and two nights respectively school trips. Next week in the newsletter we will hear more about these experiences.  Playing for Change Final  Next week on Wednesday the 24th of May, we are going to hold the Playing for Change Final in the school marquee that will be erected this weekend. The students are very excited, as we were the first school to ever hold a Playing for Change fundraising event in Spain. From the semi-finals we raised more than 900 euros for the Brazilian Playing for Change Foundation. We hope that as many parents and students as possible will come to support this event. Once again we will demonstrate what SIS is all about when it comes to using our power as a force for good. Please do come and join us on this celebration evening, support our children and see our surprise guest judges! Let’s Play for Change! Student ambassadors Last Wednesday and Thursday we hosted two Apple Lighthouse events. Over 80 educators from around Spain came to SIS to see how we use technology to enhance teaching and learning. On Friday we were privileged to host an event as an Apple Distinguished School. Visitors from across Spain had the opportunity to see how we use technology to support learning. A selected group of student and parent ambassadors toured our visitors around the school, answering questions and talking about their own learning. Our visitors were highly impressed, not only by our IT provision and use of IT in the classroom, but also by the conduct, confidence and knowledge of our students and student ambassadors. 
Spring Fair 
Secondary School News As part of the Global Citizenship Program and M1’s Engaging with the Environment unit, we took advantage of an outside learning opportunity offered to us by a local farm, Fundación Alma in San Martin de Tesorillo. M1 students were given the fantastic opportunity to:
Well done to the M1 students and many thanks to Sofia and Isabel who have been most hospitable and made this a fantastic outdoor learning opportunity for all involved. 
Community PTA News  PARENTS COFFEE MORNING Come along for a cup of coffee and the opportunity to meet other SIS parents on Tuesday 23 May at 9.00am at the ‘Okay’ cafe in Pueblo Nuevo – the PTA are buying the coffee!“ALL WHITE SUMMER PARTY” The PTA is delighted to sponsor this year’s “All White Summer Party” at La Cabana de Sotogrande on Friday 2nd June. Drinks, tapas, DJ and dancing from 8.00pm until late!! The dress code is “white attire’ for both ladies and gentlemen. Tickets cost €35 and will be available from reception next week.  Summer Swimming Camp Looking for swimming lessons for your children this summer? Let them join our Summer Swimming Camp! Running throughout July for 5 – 8-year-olds the camp offers a perfect solution for beginners right through to advanced swimmers. For information and to book your place visit the Swimming Camp site (insert link) and don’t forget to tick the SIS Student box to receive your 5% discount!  Fundamentals – Summer Fun Kids The hot summer months are nearly here and what better place for your little ones to enjoy themselves than at the Fundamentals Summer Camp! Our qualified and caring team offer fun, creative and educational activities each day while also providing a safe and exciting space for children to make new friends. This year’s camp for children from 2 to 6 years old runs for 4 weeks from 9am to 2pm Monday to Friday, starting on the 3rd July and finishing on the 28th July. For more information, please contact info@fundamentals.es  Advertise your business in the SIS 2017 Year Book As we enter the final term of the academic year we have the pleasure of putting together the 2017 Year Book. Our Year Book celebrates some of the best moments, trips and activities for each year group as well as focusing on the D2 graduating class. Parents, we would like to offer you the opportunity to advertise in this much-anticipated keepsake. For further information please contact marketing@sis.gl Sotosol Walk 
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