Secondary Newsletter November 2012 English

NOVEMBER 2012

THE SECONDARY NEWSLETTERSecondary News from the Pupils and Teachers of King’s College, Alicante

With Christmas just around the corner the school is starting to look very festive with decorations being put up in almost every classroom and everybody full of Christmas cheer. Preparations are taking place for the annual Christmas Concert and the Sixth Form Committee continue to work tirelessly to organise the Christmas Fayre, which will be attended by our Primary and Secondary pupils and is eagerly awaited by all.

Apart from participating in our own celebrations however, it is important at this time of year to reflect on those people, both in our local community and further afield, who may not be as fortunate as we are. It is also an excellent opportunity for our children to

Head of Secondary Message

develop a greater understanding of the needs of other people in the world and the privileged position in which we all find ourselves.

I am always very proud of how willingly our school community supports others and it is humbling to see our students eagerly running cake sales, collecting food and toys and wanting to give back to those in need. Each year we support the Associación Humanitaria with our Giving Tree and this year is no exception. This charity helps local families and the toys or clothes you donate make sure that children who may not otherwise get a Christmas present this year, have something to open over the festive period; but the challenging economic situation has affected more people than

ever with some struggling even to provide their own families with food. It is with this in mind that we have also decided to support the Caritas Kilo appeal and are requesting food donations as well or instead of the toys and clothes you so kindly send in.

Together we can make a difference to people’s lives this Christmas and I thank you in advance for your continuing support.

.

Mr. WicksHead of Secondary School

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Wo r k i n g To g e t h e r

Each month I will be introducing a member of our Secondary team. This month Ms. Miller, our new Head of Humanities tells you a bit more about herself.

Although I have been at King’s College for one year already, I have just been lucky enough to take up the post of Head of Humanities. I am an experienced Head of Faculty with several years held in the post back in the UK. My teaching experience has been varied, and although I explored the role of Key Stage leader for two years, my love of Geography and of learning pulled me back onto a more academic path. Since then my passion for students’ learning has come alive and my drive to ensure that every child gets the most they can out of their days at school is what pushes me to lead and inspire my team.

I moved to Alicante in June 2011 and I have settled in happily. Taking the coast road to school each day

MS. K. MILLER HEAD OF HUMANITIES

reminds me why I left the smog of London behind and accepted this new challenge abroad. Spain has captured my imagination and every moment I have I take myself off exploring not just to the big cities but also around some of the smaller, lesser travelled villages and towns. Alicante for me is a long term plan, a place I wish to settle and continue my life journey with the friends and colleagues I have around me.

We have a very strong staff in Humanities, Ms Wood teaches History, Mr Turner, Business and Economics, Sr. Francisco teaches Sociales and Geografía and both Ms McGuinness and Ms Bowers teach History and Geography. Between us we have a lot of experience, ideas and passion and our common wish is for your child to have an outstanding learning experience every time they enter a Humanities teaching room.

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GEOGRAPHY FIELD TRIP TO CARABASSI BEACH, GRAN ALACANTOn a beautiful, sunny, Monday morning, the Year 11 Geographers piled on the coach bound for a day of field work at the beach. The mission of the day was to collect data on various aspects of the beach in order to come back to school and analyse their findings and write them up for their controlled assessment.

Upon our arrival the group split up, one tackling the lively area of this beach, the other the quieter area. The groups gathered vehicle counts, pedestrian counts and wave counts before reuniting with their group to get stuck into the sand dunes.

The students split into 3 groups and each person in the group had responsibility for a specific data type. The students were recording vegetation levels, height of sand dunes and taking environmental surveys along with their own personal observations. The groups were given a variety of equipment that they quickly had to get to grips with in order to ensure their results were as accurate as possible.

Having tackled the first section of the beach, a well earned lunch and rest was on the agenda and much appreciated by all. Thankfully the weather was very kind to us and allowed for some recreational time before we moved on to the further end of the beach. The rest of the afternoon flew by in a haze of sand, vegetation, clinometers and recording sheets and before we knew it our time was up.

All the students should be congratulated on how well they worked together as part of a team. It was a long day and involved high levels of concentration and accuracy and yet I am sure they will agree it was fun to experience some hands-on, practical Geography.

I wish them all the best for their final Controlled Assessment write up, they have certainly put in the groundwork with their data collection which is a great start.

Examinations are just around the corner for many of our pupils. Students in Year 11 will be undertaking Mock Examinations from Tuesday 11th December until Thursday

20th December inclusive. Year 13 and some Year 12 pupils have A level examinations starting in the first week of January until the end of January and Year 12 pupils will also have Mock Examinations from the 29th January until the 1st February. Details and timetables can be found on our website.

Preparing for Mocks is never easy so the following hints and tips have been provided by our Director of Studies, Mr. Roberts, to offer some guidance to pupils and parents in the run up to these important and stressful examinations:

Exam preparation is something that students find difficult throughout their school career. We present here a summary of the key points to remember in order to make the most of revision time and achieve well in exams.

When should you start revising?The best approach to revision is to prepare for it throughout the year by spending a short amount of time each week thinking about what you have learnt in each of your subjects, and writing a page of notes including your own understanding and any questions you may have (which you can ask your teacher about). These notes will be the basis for more detailed revision later in the year.

EXAMINATIONS& REVISIONMR. ROBERTS

Getting organised

Plan your time – be realistic. You could start early with one day a week and build up as exam time approaches. Some people work better under pressure, but don't leave it all until the last minute. Allocate more time to topics you are less confident in, however tempting it is to just work on the ones you like.

Download past exam papers – these give you experience of the kind of question that might be asked. Use them to practise: reading and understanding the question; identifying topics; planning answers; writing timed answers.

Find out what the examiner wants – examiners look for an understanding of the topic, not just a good memory. They want you to apply your knowledge to answer the question. Set your revision in context – use the objectives from the syllabus and think about how the topic links to others.

Filling in the gaps in your knowledge

Revision is about reminding yourself of what you've already learnt, and identifying the gaps you need to fill once you have an overview.

Practise active reading – write down what you know about a topic already, then make a list of what you need to know more about. Read without a pen in your hand, or you'll be tempted to write down everything. Read a page or section, then stop and think about what you've just read. Write brief notes and read them through. Thinking and reflecting makes understanding, and can be done any time or place, - e.g. on the bus or going for a walk.

Make your notes memorable. Use subheadings, bullet points, and colours. Mind maps are useful for showing whole topics with main points and supporting information all on one page.

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“The Internet can be a useful source of study but is often a smokescreen to give the appearance of study.”

Having a revision routine

Set times, targets and rewards – Decide on your most alert times of day (morning, afternoon or evening) and commit to fixed revision sessions so you don't waste time. Have a list of achievable targets for each session and tick them off to motivate yourself. Set up short-term rewards (coffee break, phone call, gym session, computer game, cake) and keep your long-term reward in mind – to do as well as you deserve in the exam by being properly prepared.

Test yourself – after you have revised a topic, leave it a day, then test yourself. Write a sheet of notes without checking what you've already written – include main issues and debates, major theories, formulae, connections to other topics, ideas you may have had while reading.

Write timed answers – closer to exam time, practise writing timed answers by hand. Work out how much time you'll have in the exam for each answer. Aim to spend a little more time at first – then speed up with each answer you write. Don't refer to notes. Then reflect on any problems and think about what you could do to solve these.

Revise with friends. If you find it helpful to learn by discussing questions or topics and swapping material, set up a regular time to meet with other students.

Work smart – if you plan and focus your revision you shouldn't have to work 24/7. Studying is mentally tiring and can't be maintained at a high level for long periods of time. Your brain needs downtime to process the information it's been given. Take regular breaks, make time for exercise and socialising, eat healthily and get enough sleep.

On Monday 12th November Ms. Wood and her Y11 History students presented a very memorable and moving assembly to mark

Remembrance Sunday. The assembly looked at conflict around the world currently and in the past. Pupils also spoke of family members who had taken part in various World Wars and Mrs. McHugh stood up and told everybody about her brother, who is currently serving in the army. Well done to everybody who helped to organise the assembly.

REMEMBRANCE DAY

ASSEMBLY

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ASSEMBLY

Our Annual Talent Show once again proved just how many incredible people we have in Secondary at King’s College, Alicante. The

whole Secondary School and Year 6 gathered to watch the acts get on stage and “do their thing”. Performers from all year groups participated, judged by a very honest group of pupils and a rather acerbic Mr. Pemberton! All pupils in the audience were incredibly supportive and thoroughly enjoyed watching their classmates. Mr. Walsh also brought the house down with his opening solo act and his closing “Newton Rap” about the laws of Physics!

The winners were Teresa, Carlos, Hamish and Katriona (picture below).

Congratulations to everybody who took part!

WHO’S GOT TALENT?!

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GOTHIC PRESENTATIONOur sparky year 12 English students brought the Gothic genre to life this Halloween at King´s College Alicante. These adventurous students dressed up as their favourite character from Gothic literature; from Dracula, to Little Red Riding Hood and Dorian Grey! Throughout the morning our students captured the essence of Gothic literature as a style of fiction that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate, sometimes with romance mixed together.

The students had a great time visiting various classes in both secondary and primary, teaching their peers about Gothicism and the relevance of their chosen character in literature. The presentation was followed up by some games and treats!

“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” Edgar Allan Poe

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When you are at school, you may feel that you have too much work, that teachers are strict and that exams are stressful. This is

nothing compared to when you start university.

When I started university, I knew that I had to work harder than school, but I didn't imagine the work load I had to do every day. That's why it's vital that you choose an area that you enjoy. If you don't, you will have a very hard time. Luckily, I like what I am doing. At the begining, it was complicated for me to adapt to the Spanish system and to the work load I had to do in order to pass the exams. My priority wasn't a good grade but passing the exam and getting hold of the system. The Spanish system is more theoretical than the English and contains longer but more methodical problems. Silly mistakes aren't tolerated anymore, and you need to be very focused and have the theory clear in order to be able to perform well at the exam problems. Another big change is that you have no one helping you. The teachers have many students to attend to, and there are no people in charge of you, unlike at the BSA. It's like leaving a bubble; you start to feel that you are in the "real world". In addition, I left Alicante and went to the capital city, Madrid. I have met many nice people and had wonderful experiences. I learnt how to work in a different way and I liked the subjects so I was able to, not only pass, but have good grades both on the first and on the second half-year exams. I am happy and feel part of the Complutense I am glad how the school prepared me for university. Apart from the type of exams, in every subject I found that there were parts of it that I knew better and others I did worse than my Spanish mates. This isn't a big deal, you just concentrate on your

weaknesses and adapt to the system. I think it's been a good experience for me as, after all, when you start working on a firm or for the state, you will have to adapt to a different methodology. In addition, my high level of English helps me as I can look at English books and videos, and will enable me to have broader options for the future. As I said, the effort I made in year 13 is nothing compared to the effort you need to make at university, but it still is important to aquire good knowledge about the subjects you are going to do in the future, as it will save you from having to work even harder at uni. For any physical science and engineering, it is essential for you to do and understand Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths, as well as the Spanish subjects Física, Matemáticas and maybe Dibujo Técnico (I did the first two). As a prize for my efforts, I got a "Beca de Excelencia" from the Counidad de Madrid for my grades. My advice for Sixth Formers is to enjoy their time there as much as possible, but have in mind that you'll have to choose all the subjects orientated for your degree (if you don't know your degree, choose the most interesting subjects for you). Don't be lazy and work to get a good grade in them. Don't ignore the spanish subjects just because you don't have an upcomming exam. Enjoy everything the school offers you; helpful teachers, sports and activities... and don't worry too much about the future; you'll get used to it and enjoy it too. I would like to thank everyone who helped me at school; especially Mr Esteban and Mr Wicks for their continuous support; and Mr Wall, Mr Butcher and Sra Vila for their academic aid.

I N T E R V I E W W I T HM A N U E L A L O N S O

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We are all delighted for Irene Zapata , one of our Y11 pupils, who has been ranked number 10 in the World in the Under 16 Girls´ Chess rankings.

She is currently No 1 in Spain. Irene competed recently in the World Youth Chess Championships held over 2 weeks, in Slovenia, scoring 7.5 points from her 11 matches.

This represents a fantastic achievement for Irene, who competed against 150 other girls from around the world.

Irene will take part in an Invitation Tournament in Benidorm in December against 9 other girls of all ages from various countries.

We wish her well and offer our congratulations for her wonderful achievement.

WORLD CHESS ACCOLADE

A group of Y12 students accompanied by Mr Roberts and Sra Vila attended the British Council Universities Fair in Madrid recently. Students were able to meet with Admissions Officers and Careers Advisors from over 20 English Universities. This major event was very well attended and attracted news coverage from TVE 1 Telediario recognising the importance of British University Education for Spanish and International students.

One of our students, Guillermo, was interviewed by the Television crew.

You can view this at the following link http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/telediario/telediario-15-horas-21-11-12/1586163/

The news item starts at 41 minutes 40 seconds.

BRITISH UNIVERSITY FAIR

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THE KS3 MATHS CHALLENGE BOARDEach month we set our KS3 pupils Mathemetical Challenges which are designed to start them thinking about problem solving using mathematical concepts. Unlike most maths problems there are no set answers. The task is to come up with the best logical answer that they can. Congratulations to Sergey Vartanov who won this month’s prize and is pictured here with his certificate. The challenges are found in the back of Mrs. Messent’s and Mr. Wall’s classroom. Why not take part and see if you can get your certificate in the newsletter next month?! All certificate winners are placed in a prize draw which will be announced at the end of the year.

Congratulations to Marta, 8D, who won our recent writing competition for her story about “Ghost Girl”. Marta is pictured here with the book she was awarded as a prize. Well done Marta – it seems we may have a budding author in our midst!

WRITING COMPETITION

It rained, it rained...

Rain is the traditional weather we expect for the annual Year 7 Humanities trip to the medieval castles of Sax and Biar, so we donned wet weather gear and, armed with brollies, set off for an excellent time!Year 7 have the skill of brightening up even the dullest weather with their smiles and eagerness; this day was no exception. As the bus headed to Biar lots of questions were asked and answered about what the day held.

On arrival in Biar’s main square we were met by Miguel Peiro, who is the town architect and was to be our guide for the castle. He led us up several flights of winding steps and a track to the castle, which is the oldest in the area. He explained how careful restoration had taken place and how before restoration began some of the locals had carried away stones to use in their own building works! He was an authority on all the uses of the different areas of the castle and was most interesting.

After this, it was time for a snack and to mix with some of the locals. We then regrouped and proceeded to Sax, with only a slight detour for comfort purposes!

Sax castle is very different from Biar and we learned that this castle was never occupied full time, but only had a guard of soldiers each day; the surrounding town being used for living purposes. There was also some very interesting and old graffiti in a tunnel close to the main tower. We also heard the tale of the tortoise and the princess, two rock formations on the castle’s rocky base.

SIEGE AT THE CASTLES

Overall the day was an enjoyable experience as Pablo in 7G said:

“It was fun seeing the castles near our city which I hadn’t visited yet. I learned a lot of new things about them.”

Jorge commented

“It was interesting viewing the inside and outside of the castles. I also liked how the castles were presented and the legends about them”.

We returned to school damp, but had enjoyed a wonderful day out.

Mrs. Bowers

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GLOBAL YOUNG LEADERS

The Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC) is a leadership development program that brings together young people from around the world to build critical leadership skills in a global context.

As an attendee - together with my class peers Marta Signes, Maria Molina, Juan Sirvent and Julia Pérez – I experienced lots of different and amazing sets of ideas and points of view amongst all participants of this global conference. We attended GYLC from July 2nd to the 11th of that same month and we stayed in Washington and New York; on the way there we also visited Philadelphia. Our other classmate, Verena Oetzman attended the China Conference which took place in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

The experience was incredible; when in Washington, we visited cultural sites such as the White House and Georgetown and several embassies such as the Saudi Arabian one. We had loads of highly recognized people coming to talk to us about different issues regarding economy, peace and hunger. Once we arrived to New York City we stayed in the St.Jones university campus in Queens. We visited Columbia University and the UN among others – luckily enough we managed to visit typical Manhattan places such as 5th Avenue and Times Square. We had the chance to travel to Ellis Island by ferry and had a lovely cruise dinner on our last night there.

GYLC was definitely an amazing experience that happens to knock on your door once in a lifetime. I personally learned how to lead worldwide issues regarding war conflict, hunger and the environment. It is a very interesting short course that gathers young people from all around the world and helps every student to experience first hand acceptance amongst religions, races and beliefs. I really recommend it.

Claudia Year 13

Ms Elena Benito has been the General Manager of the King’s Group since 2011. Previous to joining our Group, she worked as CFO for Zed Latam, and Finance Director for Monsanto in Spain and Portugal. Ms Benito trained as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte in both Spain and the UK, and is a member of the Spanish Institute of Chartered Accountants. She holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the San Pablo CEU University of Madrid, and a degree in Law from the UNED. She gained her MBA from ESADE in 2009.

Ms. Elena Benito, General Manager

Every month we will be featuring information and news regarding the Governance and Management of the school. This will, I hope, make parents, staff and pupils more aware of the strategic leadership and management of our own school and the King´s Group in general. This month we are featuring an introduction to our General Manager, Ms Elena Benito.

Elena visits the school regularly, holding meetings with the senior members of staff and is in direct contact with Mr Laidlaw, our Headteacher on a regular basis. She reports to the Chairman of King’s Group and is responsible for implementing Board policies and ensuring that practice throughout the Group is consistent with all Board decisions.

Glorieta del Reino Unido 5Alicante 03008 Spainwww.bsalicante.com

email: [email protected]

Important Dates3 Dec Y8 Theatre Trip

6 Dec School Closed

7 Dec School CLosed

11 Dec Year 11 Mock Examinations Begin

12 Dec Y7/8 Football Tournament at King’s College, Murcia

14 Dec School Tuck Shop

18 Dec Non-Uniform Day / Christmas Fayre

19 Dec Carol Concert - all Parents welcome

20 Dec Last Day Term 1

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Glorieta del Reino Unido 5Alicante 03008 Spainwww.bsalicante.com

email: [email protected]

Tues 2nd October Year 7 Monitoring Day Tue 9th October SCHOOL CLOSED9th– 11th October International Award Trip – Silver (Y13)Fri 12th October SCHOOL CLOSEDWed 17th October Year 8 Monitoring Day Thur 18th October Parent Class: Preparing for ExaminationsTue 23rd October Year 9 Monitoring Day Wed 24th-25th October Sports Day (To be confirmed)Wed 31st October Year 10 Monitoring Day

Important Dates

You will now be aware that last term we introduced a crossing patrol for pupils in the morning at the main school entrance. This has proved popular with parents and pupils alike, and provides a safe crossing between the many cars which arrive in the mornings. I would ask that parents do not park at any of the yellow lines painted, especially outside the 3 entrances to the school, as this causes problems with traffic flow, access for school buses and increases the hazard to pupils crossing the road. Thank you.

SAFETY