BISM Newsletter - February 2020

ISSUE 1 SCHOOL NEWSLETTER #44

The British International School of Marbella

NEWSLETTER A Newsletter for Parents, Students and Friends of our School

Febraury 2020

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Headteacher’s Message Dear parents, Welcome again to another packed issue of our monthly newsletter. As always our school has been a busy place this month!

This newsletter represents the best of our school, from Foundation Stage to Year 9 and showcases not only the extra events we do but also our curriculum, which as you can see continues to engage the children and create resilient and independent learners.

Thanks as always to the teachers, the children and our parents for making this such a vibrant community and a great place to be every day.

I am often asked, by parents and by children, what the keys to academic success are. It’s always a difficult question to answer because no two children learn in the same way. However, there are three universal keys to success that everyone should know. Number one, read. Read all the time, read everything and, for parents of younger children, read with your children and be seen reading. There is no such thing as bad reading. Classic novels, modern novels, comic books, magazines; by and large they all do the same thing. They open up new worlds and new horizons that expand our knowledge. Number two, take care of our mental health. Don’t be too stressed, relax, learn to take breaks and allow our children to be children. Finally, never underestimate the value of a good

night’s sleep. All of our children here need a minimum of eight hours per night, our youngest children even more. Although there are many other things I could list here, these are my top 3 tips.

Thank you as always for your continued support.

Dean Moore Head Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Foundation Stage One The Wheels on the Bus The Wheels on the Bus Continuing our topic on transport, the children read a book called ‘The Hundred Decker Bus’. The book tells the story of a red London double-decker bus going on an adventure and adding new levels so they can take more and more people with them. The children absolutely loved this story and finding out all about doubledecker buses.

When the children’s imagination is captured by something the learning that they manage to achieve is quite remarkable. We used this opportunity to introduce the concept of money to the children, if you want to get on a bus you must buy a ticket. After making a bus in the classroom the children took it in turns to buy a ticket for the bus.

They had to read the number on the ticket and then count out how many coins they needed to pay. This is a great example of maths in action where the children are using and practising lots of their number skills for a real purpose.

At the end of the week, we had a whole class art lesson, where the children had to follow a demonstration of how to make their own double-decker bus. The children then were asked to work independently following the instructions they had been given to create their bus. This was a real test of understanding and skills with scissors. The children certainly rose to the challenge and managed to produce a class set of unique London buses for our display.

Mrs Riddell Foundation Stage 1 Teacher

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Foundation Stage Two Beach School

Foundation Stage children have been enjoying their return to Beach School this year. We are very lucky to live in a place where we have the beach so close and it is amazing just how much children can learn from it. Outdoor learning in places such as beach and forest schools have been proven to be extremely effective.

So far this term, the children have learnt about walking safely to the beach, how to cross the road, what each crossing means, how they are different and how to map their own journey from school. They have also participated in many activities whilst at the beach such as observational drawings, tug-o-war, building bridges, racing, counting objects, making clocks and writing in the wet sand. There is so much versatility and the opportunities for learning are endless.

The learning that takes place is so good that members of the public have commented on what a great opportunity Beach School is for the children. What a great advert for our school!

The children have a fantastic time every Thursday and love to tell us all about their morning at the beach. If you pass a child in Foundation Stage who attends Beach School, ask them all about it Mrs Rutherford Foundation Stage Two Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Foundation Stage Special Event Foundation Stage Wow Day To celebrate our topic all of the children in Foundation Stage got involved in our WOW Day. We had a great morning baking traffic light biscuits, this is something the children adored. Every single member of FS were fully involved in the baking, they were focused as a whole group for an extended period of time measuring and mixing the ingredients. A highlight for everyone was crushing the sweets to make the traffic lights. The crushed sweets then melt and fill the space during the baking process. Of course, the best part of making biscuits was eating them for our snack in the afternoon!

The rest of the day was spent crafting electric cars out of paper and using the playground to ride on our environmentally-friendly vehicles. The children loved having their bikes and scooters not only in school for the day but for the whole week. They took part in races, made road signs and learnt how to control their vehicles on obstacle courses. What a great day!

Mrs Riddell Foundation Stage Leader

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 1 Happiness and Hard Work The Year 1 class’ attitude towards work is renowned around school. Every single teacher around the school has commented on how happy they all seem and how well they listen. It is no surprise to me to hear this every day as they are such a wonderful class and I look forward to seeing them every morning and to have an intelligent conversation with them.

This great attitude to learning really transmits itself to their work in all areas. But this month I was particularly impressed with the progress that they have made with their writing. I was absolutely blown away by the level of their work and all the sounds that they had learnt and applied.

I am really proud of my class’ achievements this month in particular as across all of their assessments they have produced wonderful work!

Happiness and learning walks hand in hand, I truly believe that if the children are happy at school and feel comfortable in their environment then wonderful things will follow.

Mr Thomas Year One Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 2

Year Two at BISM Maths Year 2 have worked incredibly hard over the course of this month and have focused on a range of exciting topics in Maths. They have studied 3D shapes and learned about counting faces, edges and vertices! The children have been working on mental addition and subtraction, which helps improve their critical thinking, reasoning and problem solving abilities.

English The children have continued to develop their vocabulary and are using some excellent description within their creative writing. The priority of the month has been to improve and increase the use of standard punctuation, such as capital letters and full stops. Overall, I am beginning to see depth within their writing and I am very impressed with how hard Year 2 have been working to improve their skills.

Surrealist Art During the course of this month, Year 2 have had the opportunity to study surrealist art and the pioneers of abstract work such as Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. The children looked at Dali’s The persistence of memory and became art critics, analysing the painting and showing an understanding of its historical connotations. The children looked at Cubism, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and tried out 3D shape collages using water colour palettes. Safe to say, the results were PABLOlutely fantastic!

BISM Charter Value Song As part of our PSHE sessions, the children have been learning about our school’s charter values and what they represent. They worked collaboratively (with Ms Conlan) to create a Year 2 song, highlighting all the important values we share in our school. They even channeled their inner funk and got down to the groove! They were very lucky to perform their song infront of Year 1 and will perform it as an entry for the school talent show- wowza!

Ms Flanagan Year Two Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year 3

Write Like an Egyptian The children of Year 3 impressed me so much throughout their learning about Ancient Egypt, including when we looked at hieroglyphs.

We started off by sending messages to each other but not being allowed to use the modern English alphabet. I expected the children to find this a difficult task but they all came up with creative ideas to overcome the challenge and convey a message to a friend. Benjamin for example, drew pictures, the first sound of each picture corresponded to a letter from the English alphabet and when put together, the message could be read.

We did some further code cracking using hieroglyphs, before the children wrote their names in hieroglyphics and then tried to make the paper they had used look like papyrus, just like what the Egyptians used for writing on over two thousand years ago!

Mr Holden Year Three Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Extended Curriculum Key Stage 1 Enterprise and Challenge KS1 Yoga-Na Love It Throughout this module the students demonstrated a real passion for yoga. They developed their flexibility, strength and coordination whilst learning each yoga pose. They showed a great awareness of how to keep their bodies safe while performing sequences and how to improve their own and other’s performances. They created wonderful sequences using their new found knowledge of yoga poses. Some children in the module already had some prior understanding of yoga and it was great to see them using this in each lesson.

Well done to all of the students who participated so brilliantly in these lessons!

Miss Allen Extended Curriculum Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Sports and Wellness KS1 Movement for Music During the unit the children have done a fantastic job of putting together their own routines.

They each selected a season to choreograph and worked in small groups to match their movements to the music their peers created.

They were able to experiment with rhythmic gymnastic equipment such as balls and ribbons and were able to work independently to put their routines together.

I was very impressed by their leadership, teamwork and self-discipline over the course of this routine. They performed their routines in an assembly and coped well with the pressures of live performance.

A hugely successful unit, well done to all the children involved.

Miss Bruce PE Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Knowledge and Understanding Castle Hassle

The draw-dropping work that has been produced by the castle hassle crew has been incredible! The children of Years 1, 2 and 3 have learned all about Castles and have had a wonderful time learning about a range of significant features.

The children learned all about the several features of typical medieval castles, such as crenellations, portcullis, moats and baileys, drawbridges, keep, dungeons etc. The children were then asked to work on a project where they designed, planned and built a realistic model of a castle, highlighting each of the features they have learned about across the course of the module. They focused on design, working with control and focusing on structure. Some of the children even designed their own inner courtyards!

The children not only studied features of a castle but the historical context in which they were built. It was an important part of the module to explain the purpose of castles in social, economical and political contexts.

Castle Hassle allowed the students to learn about creative performance, such as the role of Jesters in medieval life. The children planned, scripted and performed jester routines to their classmates, ensuring they incorporated the comical values that made Jesters a notable feature in medieval culture.

The children worked incredibly hard throughout the module and the passion they showed towards the culture and traditions used by many historical movements throughout our human history was a pleasure to see!

Ms Flanagan Year Two Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Creating and Performing The Science of Sound During this module, the children have investigated sound waves and how they travel through solids, liquids and gases.

Each week, the children have conducted an experiment and recorded their findings. Sometimes they have been amazed by the results.

The fact that sound travels faster through water than air captured the children’s interest and lead them to the mysterious world of undersea communication and echolocation. We tried echolocation ourselves, but kept bumping into things!

Sound travelling through a solid provided a great deal of amusement. The children became members of the string telephone company and had to demonstrate and market their new string telephone invention to their friends. Again, the children were delighted by how well they were able to communicate over distances of up to 10 metres.

Miss Conlan Lower Primary Music Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Upper Primary English Years 4-6 Year 4 This month the Year 4 children have been studying journalistic writing. We have been reading an eBook entitled, ‘Incredible Sports’ looking at reports, interviews and features about weird and wacky sports.

The children practiced extracting information from non-fiction texts, looked closely at the language used and the literary techniques often found in newspaper articles. They have refined their interviewing technique and learnt the standard format for including quotes in their work. Newspaper teams were then formed and the children elected editors and used consensus boards to agree on the content for their supplements.

All of this led to their Big Write piece which was a non-chronological report on one of the unusual sports they have been studying.

Mr Herron Year Four Literacy Teacher Year 5 In February, Year 5 visited the Museum of Fun! This was a fun, interactive eBook that taught the class about all the fascinating ways that people have had fun through history and throughout the world! The class learnt about puppet shows, carnivals, the history of films, the theatre and dancing, to name but a few.

During this unit, the class learnt about the features of a report text and how to make it appealing to the reader. They also learnt about creating cohesion in a piece of writing, by using repetition of key vocabulary, adverbials and conjunctions to help it flow.

At the end of the unit, the children wrote their own reports about modern ways of having fun, including computer games, sports, reading, social media and shopping.

Year 6 This month, Year 6 have been reading a collection of different short stories covering the genres of mystery, humour, traditional

tales, science fiction and dilemmas.

FANTASTIC: A magical cupboard that can give you whatever you want… for a price.

FUNNY: A man who is lost in the desert, looking for water but finding nothing but ties!

FRIGHTENING: A strange but intriguing new house and a creepy newel post that lives at the bottom of the stairs…

Year 6 learnt about the features of these different styles of writing and used this information to write some very tense and scary mystery stories of their own. These have been printed to keep in our school library and the children also have them saved in their Google Drive folders, if you would like to read them at home. Be sure to read them with the lights on!

Miss Marseglia Upper Primary English Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Upper Primary Maths Years 4-6 Years 5 and 6 have been understanding the different properties of triangles (equilateral, isosceles and scalene). Investigating the sum of the angles in a triangle the children quickly realised that they add up to 180 degrees because when they cut the three corners of on a triangle and place them together they make a straight line every time, which is 180 degrees!

So they could then use this knowledge to know that the angles in an equilateral triangle always equal 60 degrees because they are the same and if they have one of the angles in an isosceles triangle then they can work out the missing 2 angles. The Year 6 children then progressed and started finding missing angles in all different types of quadrilaterals by understanding their properties.

See if you can find the missing angles here.

In Year 4 the children have really impressed with their geometry skills. They have been able to recognise and compare acute, right and obtuse angles and they have been able to sort 2D shapes according to their properties and draw shapes with given properties. This week the children have been focusing on recognising perpendicular and parallel lines. Extending the lines of given shapes, the children realised that parallel lines will never meet no matter how far we extend them and they will always stay the same distance apart and using a right angle checker they realised that perpendicular lines always meet at a right angle.

During one of the lessons we were looking at the Union Jack and trying to find out how many perpendicular and parallel lines it has.

How many can you find?

Mr Whyman Upper Primary Maths Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Extended Curriculum Key Stage 2 Creating and Performing KS2 Selfie Station Who do you think you are?

‘Social media is awash with young women pouting like a stunned puffer fish and sporting Groucho Marx eyebrows. But the more they preen and filter, the less confident they appear.

Truly secure people don’t present a perfect image… and we love them for it’. (Closer, 2020) Through ‘Selfie station’ we have been learning about identity and showing who we are rather than what we look like. Inspired by the work of Rankin, we have destroyed photos to show a glimpse of the person behind our faces, Frida Khalo and David Hockney have taught us to be true to who we are and Peter Blake showed us how to interpret our personalities in to more than just a photograph.

Upper Primary have been inspirational… they have embraced the diverse methods we have used to create a self portrait. They have improved their drawing skills and their confidence is growing all the time.

Their work will be on display in the Hall for March should you wish to view it and will be featured in SUR in English.

Ms Townsend Secondary Art Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Enterprise and Challenge KS2 Human Body Humans have five vital organs that are essential for survival. These are the brain, heart, kidneys, liver and lungs. The human brain is the body’s control center, receiving and sending signals to other organs through the nervous system and through secreted hormones. It is responsible for our thoughts, feelings, memory storage and general perception of the world.

The human heart is responsible for pumping blood throughout our body.

The job of the kidneys is to remove waste and extra fluid from the blood. The kidneys take urea out of the blood and combine it with water and other substances to make urine. The liver has many functions, including detoxifying of harmful chemicals, breakdown of drugs, filtering of blood, secretion of bile and production of blood-clotting proteins whilst the lungs are responsible for removing oxygen from the air we breathe and transferring it to our blood where it can be sent to our cells. The lungs also remove carbon dioxide, which we exhale.

Human Body Facts!

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The human body contains nearly 100 trillion cells.

There are at least 10 times as many bacteria in the human body as cells.

The average adult takes over 20,000 breaths a day.

Each day, the kidneys process about 200 quarts (50 gallons) of blood to filter out about 2 quarts of waste and water.

• Adults excrete about a quarter and a half (1.42 litres) of urine each day.

• The human brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells.

• Water makes up more than 50 percent of the average adult’s body weight.

The children have been learning about the major organs in the body, they have created their own presentations and chosen to explore how different organs function. We have also been able to see the module come to life through a range of dissections including a brain, eye, heart, kidney, liver and chicken leg. The children enjoyed the practical lessons, being able to feel the different organs and identify the different parts of each organ. They were able to label them and explain how each one has a specific role within the Human Body.

Miss Ladds Secondary Science Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Knowledge and Understanding KS2 Chocolate I bet you love chocolate! But how much do you know about it? Where does it come from?

How is it made? Is it good for you? What is fair trade chocolate? Why was it so important to the Mayans?

In this module, the Upper Primary children have been learning about the answers to all of the questions above and more! They have created Google Slides to record all of the information that they learnt and some Year 6 children even taught some of the other primary classes all about how chocolate is made, the history of chocolate and the Mayans. You could even ask them to teach you at home!

To reinforce their learning about the process of making chocolate, the children in this module will be visiting the Mayan Monkeys Chocolate factory in Mijas later this month. They will even get to make their own!

Miss Marseglia Upper Primary Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Sports and Wellness KS2 Handball The Key Stage 2 Handball group has done extremely well and children have worked together to improve many skills. In particular, shooting was a focus and some of the students in the group are now able to perform effective drives and jump shots to maximise scoring opportunities.

These are difficult skills, which demonstrates that the children maintained high standards of focus and and a willingness to learn new skills. The matches towards the end of the module were fast paced, fun and demonstrated the significant progress made by the students.

Mr Allen Sports Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Secondary English Years 7-9 Celebrating Success

Secondary pupils worked super hard in preparation for their February exam week at the end of last term. The focus for all of secondary was ‘writer’s craft’ and Years 7,8 and 9 produced analytical essays which focused on exploring the presentation of key characters and themes.

Year 7 studied ‘Boy’ by Roald Dahl and produced their assessment on the character of Mr Hardcastle. A special mention for Ariana who produced a fantastic essay in which she was able to recognise difficult linguistic features and explain their impact on the audience.

Year 8 and Year 9 focused on exploring Shakespeare. Year 8 analysed the character of Mercutio from ´Romeo and Juliet’ where as, Year 9 analysed the character of Lady Macbeth from ‘Macbeth’. The standard of some of the essays was excellent. A special mention for Daria, Emma and Sarina in Year 8 whose essays were read by a Chief English Literature GCSE assessor in the UK who commented that she was ‘astounded by the level of analysis and understanding they had shown and confirmed that the essays were worthy of a GCSE grade A!’ Well done girls!

In Year 9, Claudia, Louis, Hugh and Lucas produced some fantastic analytical essays revealing an immense flair for English Literature. They will certainly be high flying English Literature and Language students next year!

Well done to all of the students in secondary who continue to work tremendously hard to meet their targets in English. We will aim for bigger and better next term!

Miss Kerlin Secondary English Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Secondary Science Years 7-9 Nutrition

The children have been learning about nutrition and the importance of eating a balanced diet.

Nutrition is a critical part of health and development. Better nutrition is related to improved infant, child and maternal health, stronger immune systems, safer pregnancy and childbirth, lower risk of non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease), and longevity.

Healthy children learn better. People with adequate nutrition are more productive and can create opportunities to gradually break the cycles of poverty and hunger. Malnutrition, in every form, presents significant threats to human health. Today the world faces a double burden of malnutrition that includes both undernutrition and overweight, especially in low- and middleincome countries.

A balanced diet is one that gives your body the nutrients it needs to function correctly. To get the proper nutrition from your diet, you should consume the majority of your daily calories in: Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats, Fibre, Vitamins and Minerals.

The number of calories in a food is a measurement of the amount of energy stored in that food. Your body uses calories from food for walking, thinking, breathing, and other important functions. The average person needs to eat about 2,000 calories every day to maintain their weight. However, a person’s specific daily calorie intake can vary depending on their age, gender, and physical activity level. Men generally need more calories than women, and people who exercise need more calories than people who don’t.

Here are the guidelines for children: • Children ages 2 to 8 years: 1,000 to 1,400 calories • Girls ages 9 to 13 years: 1,400 to 1,600 calories • Boys ages 9 to 13 years: 1,600 to 2,000 calories

We conducted an experiment to see which foods contained the most energy.

The pupils identified the key variables in the investigation and burnt different foods using the bunsen burners. They were able to estimate the energy in each food by using a thermometer to measure the change in temperature of the water in the test tube above (see diagram).

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

We found out that mini cookies contained the most calories (energy) and that wholemeal crispbreads contained the least, as we would expect, but when you see something with your own eyes and collect your own evidence during a hands-on investigation it brings the Science to life. We are aspiring to create life-long learners, who will be equipped with the tools and skills to find the answers to their own questions and not take first hand information for granted.

Miss Ladds Secondary Science Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Secondary Maths Years 7-9 Equations of Straight Lines

We have been looking at how to recognise and draw straight lines on a graph. Equations of straight lines are in the form y = mx + c (m and c are numbers); m is the gradient of the line and c is the y-intercept (where the graph crosses the y-axis). The first part of the lesson was to find the gradient (m). Children were introduced to the concept of: Gradient = change in y / change in x. This can be made easier when drawing a triangle to establish the y-distance and the x-distance. (How long the sides are of this triangle, excluding the hypotenuse).

This fraction could then be simplified to a whole number, or otherwise left as a proper or improper fraction. The children needed to be secure in their understanding of when it is a positive or negative gradient. From left to right, if the line goes upwards it would be a positive gradient and when the line has a downward slope it is a negative gradient or -m. So in the equation y = mx + c, the children can now substitute the m-value for what has been calculated the gradient to be. For example y = ½x + c. Now to find the c (the y-intercept). This is just where the line on the graph crosses the y-axis. So now the children have all the information and can put the equation together, for example, y = ½x + 4. This process was to formulate an equation when the line was given to them on a grid.

The children also have to be able to draw a line when given an equation. So here they had to draw a table with x and y values. To make it easy, small numbers like 0, 1, 2 and 3 can be used for the x-axis values. All the children have to do now is substitute the x values into the given equation. For example, if the equation is y = 3x + 2 and you substitute an x value of 0, it will look like this: y = (3 x 0) + 2, which gives you a y value of 2. And there you have the first coordinate (0,2) to be plotted onto the grid.

This concluded our topic on straight-line equations. Next up would be nonlinear equations - and I’m sure the children will take on that challenge just as well as they did learning about straight-line equations.

Mr Kuhn Secondary Maths Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Extended Curriculum Key Stage 3 Sports and Wellness KS3 Tag Rugby

The Key Stage 3 Tag Rugby group were a pleasure to teach! The group worked very hard during lessons and showed great focus and willingness to learn a new sport. Students took part in various practices that developed key skills such as swing passing, kicking, tagging and defending, as well as techniques for evading defenders.

The module culminated in 7-a-side matches, which the students really enjoyed. In a short space of time, the majority of students made good progress and some managed to gain a good understanding of the basic concepts of rugby such as passing the ball backwards and methods of gaining territory.

Mr Allen Sports Teacher

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Enterprise and Challenge KS3 Wonderful World of Maths

In this module, children were introduced to Maths that stretches beyond the current curriculum.

Interesting facts, strange patterns and unbelievable outcomes which all culminated into phrases like - ¨How is that possible!?¨, ¨Wow¨ or ¨That is incredible!¨ We explored Pascal´s triangle which is effectively numerous patterns that are hidden inside this triangle. There are very easy patterns to spot like consecutive numbers going diagonally to very complex patterns for example if you look horizontally it shows you the coefficients in binomial expansion. We also explored Goldbach´s conjecture, made our own hexaflexagons and impossible objects that can be drawn but could not exist as a real 3D shape.

We explored some of the fantastic mathematical concepts that can be found in The Simpsons episodes. Many of the writers behind this long-running show have studied Maths and/or Science at university and therefore have, as a result, a real passion for Maths. The children were shown some clips and photos and they had to discover what the Maths is that is being displayed. In one of the scenes, there was a giant screen where the spectators had to guess the attendance at a baseball game. There were 3 numbers on display: 8191, 8128 and 8208.

At first glance, these numbers seem very ordinary, but not if you have mathematicians who came up with them. As a class, we analysed each number and found that the first number (8191) is a Mersenne prime.

The second number (8128) is a Perfect number. A perfect number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its proper divisors. The smallest perfect number is 6, which is the sum of 1, 2, and 3. The next 3 perfect numbers are 28, 496, and 8,128.

The third number (8208) is a Narcissistic number. These numbers love themselves! An n-digit number that is the sum of the nth powers of its digits is called an n-narcissistic number. So 84 + 24 + 04 + 84 = 4096 + 16 + 0 + 4096 = 8208 Through all these lessons the children have been exposed to a different world of Maths. A world where 0.9… = 1, where patterns emerge in the strangest of places and where you have to look closely to recognise and admire the work of great Mathematicians of the past.

Mr Kuhn Secondary Maths Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Knowledge and Understanding KS3 That is Mad: I Won’t if you Don’t

“[We] consider the violation of the freedom of navigation in international waters and airspace to constitute an act of aggression propelling humankind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war”, Soviet Premier N. Khrushchev wrote in a letter addressed to American President John F. Kennedy following the American “quarantine” of the Caribbean island during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The USA and the USSR standing on opposing sides. It had been a cold war for some time. A simple “I won’t if you don’t” had been keeping both countries in check. Up until that moment. And you will never believe how close they came to falling out.

Throughout the module we have tried to make students reflect about what it must have felt like for people, in those countries at that time, to live with a constant threat of a nuclear fallout. The ultimate project was for students to design their own shelter and explain location, construction material and the supplies they would need.

In order for them to understand the relationship between USSR and USA, we first made a quick flyby over WWII and its aftermath to understand a post-war world scenario, with two different spheres of influence, where peace was precariously maintained despite competing interests, mutual suspicion and broken promises. Then M.A.D. students have been exploring the main events in the Cold War, the growing mistrust between both nations, their pernicious relationship and their frenetic race throughout the years to have the upper hand in a colossal arms build-up.

Miss Rodríguez Extended Curriculum Teacher

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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Creating and Performing KS3 Music Theory

Secondary children have been honing new skills in the Music Theory EC Module, but what are the benefits of learning Music Theory?

Music theory is the term for ideas that help us understand music. It explains what music does, and what’s going on when we hear it. Music theory puts the ideas and practices of music into a written form, where they can be studied and passed on to others. It’s a way to describe and explain music and how it’s constructed. So, think of music theory as a means to understand the language of music. Making music is fundamental to human nature, and you don’t necessarily need to take music theory classes to be a musician. But understanding music theory can help you better grasp ideas of how music is made and to better read it. It’s helpful if you want to compose music of your own.

Learning how to read music is essential to a musician, especially one who wants to share music with other musicians or discover what other musicians are playing. By studying the basic elements, such as time values of each type of written note, musical rests, time signatures, and rhythm, you put yourself on the path to mastering music. All these elements come together to establish a foundation that allows you to read, play, and study music.

Reading musical notes on both the treble and bass clef staves as well as finding notes on the piano and guitar — the two most common instruments on which people teach themselves to play — are crucial to making and studying music. When you can read notes on the staves, you can determine a musical piece’s key signature, which is a group of symbols that tells you what key that song is written in. You can use the Circle of Fifths to help train yourself to read key signatures on sight by counting the sharps or flats in a time signature.

After you’ve become familiar with key signatures, you’re ready to move on to intervals, chords, and chord progressions, which create the complexity of musical sound — from pleasing and soothing to tense and in need of resolution. You build scales and chords using simple or compound intervals: melodic and harmonic.

Our secondary students are at the beginning of their journey in getting to grasps with Music Theory, but they are already finding out that they actually know more than they think they do – this will certainly come in useful in their future music-making!

Mr Everist Secondary Music Teacher

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Whole School Spanish Valentine’s Day

We had the most romantic day of the year this month: Valentine’s Day! To celebrate this special day, students in Years 4 and 5 had the opportunity to write a card to someone special.

All the pupils wrote a letter to someone they love, expressing their affection.

It was not an easy job at all. For us adults expressing our feelings can be a complicated task, and it is the same for a child. At first students felt ashamed and did not want to write the card.

But little by little, the students gained confidence and in the end they all handed out a card to someone special.

It has been lovely to see how students open their hearts and express what they feel. In addition, the cards have been very beautiful, since they have put all their effort into making them in the purest Valentine’s style - with red and pink hearts. May the next Valentine’s arrive quickly, please!

Miss Aburuza Spanish Teacher

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EARLY YEARS

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PRIMARY

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SECONDARY

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