Weekly Head’s Update 01.02.2021

UNIVERSITIES & CAREERS

We are very pleased to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of one of our current D2 students. Ignacio, whose application to the University of Toronto has secured him both an offer and an outstanding scholarship based on his academic merit of 125,000$. The University of Toronto is one of the world’s best Universities, globally recognised as the 25th best University in the world, based on their programmes and academic output. Ignacio will continue a solid tradition
of Sotogrande Students going to study in Canada, and at the University of Toronto, and we all wish him the best of luck in the May examinations and his future career path.

FUNDAMENTALS

At Fundamentals we love for the children to interact with the world around them and immerse themselves in different cultures and traditions.
San Valentin opened the door to the importance of affection and ‘Dia de Andalucia’ has them immersed in the knowledge of its colourful artists and gastronomy.

‘DIA DE ANDALUCIA’

As we do every year, students and staff dress up to remember our traditions, memories and culture. SIS is proud to celebrate ‘Día de Andalucía’, a very important and significant moment in which our whole community enthusiastically participates in the festivity of the day. Throughout the day both students and teachers enjoyed all that is wonderful about our Andalusian culture. From the morning the students were involved in different activities and games, they tasted typical dishes to the sound of music and finished with dances, showing off their costumes and colours of our Andalusian flag.

WORLD CULTURES

Inspiring our students to try new instruments and learn new culture songs and dances. Every year we welcome training student teachers who join our school to complete their teaching practises. Since Christmas, many of our students have had the pleasure of being taught by and inspired by Mr Samuel from Denmark. Over this half term Mr Samuel led workshops for P1, P3 and P4. The students have had the opportunity to learn a Ghanaian song and dance and learn to play the djembe.
Thank you Mr Samuel, we wish you all the best in your teaching career and hope you will come back to visit us again.

M3 COMMUNITY PROJECT

This month has seen our M3 students complete their second action phase for their Community Project. The community project enables students aged 13 and 14 to
work together on a common goal to benefit a community. The definition of a community, enables students to really stretch their imaginations. We are
truly impressed by the range of depth of our students’ ideas. Their projects have been inspiring and have had a great impact on so many different communities. This experience will shape and change their lives, the way they see the world and will, we believe, help them to be better global citizens. Thank you to the M3 students for embracing the challenge. Two of our students created a video on Social media impact, all images and music are free of copyright.

Another group of students wanted to raise awareness of Alzheimers. They decided to write a song, performed and shared it. Thank you to all M3 students who led a virtual assembly for Primary and Secondary students, these were informative, well researched and age appropriate. Another student made a video about WW2 aimed at P6 students. The video was shown to P6 during their unit of inquiry on ‘Where we are in time and place’. Others were helping the community and the Kindred
Project by supporting Hogar Betania and local dog and cat shelters. “Vision needed project” will repair and donate glasses to people in need. Two other students enabled vulnerable children in our local community to receive a Christmas present.

HEALTHY MIND & BODY PLAN

Miss Hannah has created an ‘Isolation Pack’ for Boarding students, a 14-day programme consisting of physical and mental exercises to stay active. Aimed at students aged 5-18 years, whether they are entering an isolation period or are seeking otivation at home, the plan helps to encourage and maintain a daily routine. This ‘healthy mind and body plan’ provides students with resources such as wellbeing checklists, focusing on physical health with stretching techniques, workouts
with descriptions of all activities and featuring elements of mental health. If you would like a copy of the Isolation Pack to use at home, please do contact us.

OUR CONTINUED DEDICATION TO WELLBEING

Our response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been not only to ensure the physical health of the students in our care, but it has also placed an immense focus on mental health. As life has
become more restrictive, we have tried to ensure flexibility where possible. As well as providing students with resources such as isolation documents and how to access help, we have recently
introduced a ‘girls only’ hour into the gym timetable. This has been a huge success, having seen a number of girls accessing the facility increase dramatically.