February's Monthly Newsletter

Welcome to Kensington's February newsletter edition of the academic year 2020/21.

A WELCOME FROM THE HEAD, Mr Michael Bayes

Although February is the shortest month of the year, and includes the half-term break, we have been able to enjoy many extra-curricular activities to enrich the day-to-day learning occurring in our classrooms.

There has been a real buzz around the school with three year groups practising for their drama productions. Students in Forms 1, 2 and 3 have used the patio, playground, theatre and classrooms for their numerous rehearsals. To be part of a team responsible for presenting a live streamed performance is a demanding task but a terrific learning experience which will undoubtedly live in their memories for many years to come. Next month we will report on all three plays which are scheduled for early March.

There was a lovely atmosphere in the school during carnival week with pupils from all year groups taking part in both the daily events and the final Covid-friendly procession. One can get a feeling of this atmosphere from the many smiling faces and wonderfully colourful costumes from the photographs later in this newsletter. Mr Evans, our Carnival Commander (actually dressed as an Admiral!), was delighted that, despite the pandemic, we were all able to come together as a community to celebrate this highlight in our annual calendar.

Other developments of note include the Intermediate Maths Challenge (results eagerly awaited); the Student Voice Committee which meets weekly with Mr Voller and goes from strength to strength; the Eco Committee working with Mr Vanderheyden towards their Green Flag application; Mr Evans's Junior School Assemblies which are inspirational and, at the mid-year stage of the academic year, the Target Setting Tutor Meetings which have made such a difference in focusing young minds on achievable goals.

As one wanders around the school it is a pleasure to see the notice boards filled with both student work celebrating classroom achievements and also reflecting the broad range of pupil activities taking place. Mr Giles has introduced additional outdoor plants and shrubs, together with new exterior furniture, which have transformed the patio area into a most appealing environment for our students to enjoy.

At Kensington we are always looking for ways in which to improve our communication with parents and this month has seen the launch of our new style school reports. The full benefit will probably not be appreciated until the detailed reports are dispatched at the end of term, since half-term reports are traditionally much briefer. However, families have responded most positively to the clearer and more comprehensive explanations, on the reverse of the report, regarding the attainment, effort and conduct criteria used by the teachers in coming to their awarding decisions.

I am pleased to be able to end this introduction on a positive Covid note – the Catalan government have categorised adults working in schools as a priority group so we are all in the process of receiving our first vaccination. A bright light indeed at the end of this year-long tunnel.

A98696dd 8918 4ac7 ba33 f085e2a598fe

I am so pleased that Carnival commemorations were able to go ahead and the annual tradition of wearing silly items of clothing each day was celebrated throughout the whole school.

Mr Steve Evans
Head of Junior School

A NOTE FROM THE HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL, Mr Steve Evans

February has flown by and the hopeful warmth of Spring is most definitely in the air. Unfortunately our unbeaten record of attendance came to an end as J1 students ended up having to learn from home. Congratulations to all of the children and Miss Linda for adapting so well and working so hard.

I am so pleased that Carnival commemorations were able to go ahead and the annual tradition of wearing silly items of clothing each day was celebrated throughout the whole school. A more modest finale than usual but still the small parade in the playground was a wonderful moment to gather together for the first time in almost a year.

We bid a sad farewell to many of our Japanese community this month as Yuito, Otoha, Tohma, Keigo, Yurika and Eiji leave Kensington. We thank them for all of their wonderful contributions and wish them the best of luck in the future. They will be missed by their peers and staff alike.
Half term marks the official halfway point in the academic year - the time is truly flying by and as restrictions look set to be easing, we are all looking forward to warmer weather and more exciting projects and events.

Reception

Our Reception children have been working on Winter this month.

They have been looking at the different aspects of the Season: the animals, weather, clothes we wear, food we eat and plants that grow. By using different art techniques to produce Winter art they made snowmen, tearing and folder paper as well as painting to make them and even made bouncing snowmen!

They used 2D shapes to create robins and papier-mâché to make models of robins and also used pine cones and plasticine to make models of penguins.

Reception students also made a frieze of the story Elmer in the snow. They have been very busy!

All the activities were to help the children develop their art and craft skills and you can see some of their arts and crafts work below.

As one wanders around the school it is a pleasure to see the notice boards filled with both student work celebrating classroom achievements and also reflecting the broad range of pupil activities taking place.

Mr Michael Bayes
Headmaster

J2

Our Junior 2 students walked to the local garden centre as part of their Science topic studying plants. They carried out an experiment to find out what conditions sunflower seeds need to germinate, growing cress, planting hyacinth bulbs, caring for strawberry plants and planting beetroot in the school garden.

PHOTO 2021 02 24 13 27 42 3
IMG 1637
PHOTO 2021 02 24 13 27 42 2
PHOTO 2021 02 24 13 27 43

J3

"Gong hei fat choy" - a greeting to bestow the wish of wealth during the coming year. This is the name of the song performed here by Junior 3 students to celebrate Chinese New Year. The children have been studying pentatonic melodies (those that use five notes) which are popular in Chinese culture.

Many thanks to the Chinese pupils in the class who helped us to improve our pronunciation when singing the chorus.

Enjoy the performance!

J4

Junior 4 students made an excellent effort for Carnival. They dressed up as characters from books: our reading scheme -Biff, Chip and Kipper; fairy tales Hansel and Gretel; classical and modern literature and one from a Korean history book!

The unit covered recently in English was poetry. Inspired by this, Sherlock Holmes investigated and experimented with different shades and tints in his artwork. From our science topic on nutrition and digestion the class have been looking at organs in the body - their position and use. They have been constructing and labelling 3-D diagrams.

In geography after studying different mapping skills a jigsaw of the British Isles enabled them to use what they had been learning.

Some misty Monet pictures are giving the children the opportunity of using different media - wax crayons and chalks. They are interpreting his work as they see it.

A NOTE FROM THE HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL, Ms Viv Canwell

During February we all enjoyed a very welcome and much-needed half-term break. Since
returning the school has been a hive of activity. Forms 1, 2 and 3 are rehearsing for their
virtual drama performances that you will hear about in next months newsletter and all students are preparing for the next target-setting meetings with their tutors. After the half-term reports
this is an important time for students to reflect on their grades and, with their tutors, discuss
and develop targets to help them improve.

Mr Voller is also continuing his work with our newly-formed Student Voice. He has been very
impressed at how the students have embraced this new initiative and both teachers and
students eagerly anticipate the conclusions they reach and suggestions they put forward.

A fun event we always look forward to in February is the fiercely contested Carnival Fancy
Dress Competition. It is a chance for the form groups to work together developing a theme and
every year we are impressed at the enthusiasm in which all year groups from Form 1 to Upper
6 participate. I am sure you will agree that Form 1's Lego theme was a deserved winner – well
done Form 1!

F1

Maths

This term Form 1 have enjoyed learning about algebra. Each student wrote an algebraic story to demonstrate their understanding of how to write algebraic expressions for unknown numbers.

To help with their understanding of solving equations they solved some tricky balancing problems and created some of their own for their classmates to solve.

Intermediate Maths Challenge

In February forty students from Forms 3, 4 and 5 took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge that is organised by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (www.ukmt.org.uk). The questions all contained an element of challenge and are based on the GCSE Maths Curriculum.

Form 5 created posters showing detailed working out for all twenty-five questions in the challenge. The challenge is sat by more than 200,000 pupils in the UK and British schools abroad with the top 40% achieving certificates.

We are all looking forward to receiving the results in the first week of March.

20210224 170813 1 1

F4

In IGCSE Biology, students must carry out 14 core practicals. Core practical 5 involves investigating how photosynthesis and light production are affected by light, carbon dioxide and chlorophyll by testing for the presence of starch in a leaf.

The students followed the instructions for the experiment and worked safely. The experiment worked well and gave reliable results as the photographs show.

I liked this experiment because the steps were easy to follow and the results were easy to see.

Form 4 student

Photosynthesis

Form 4 have been studying photosynthesis during the first half of this term. They were given the challenge of creating a poem or a wrap to summarise the events that take place in plants when they make their own food.

Everybody had a go and some even performed their work live!

Screenshot 2021 02 24 at 10 35 34

Qiaoyi - F4

Screenshot 2021 02 24 at 10 35 11

David - F4

Screenshot 2021 02 24 at 10 34 55

Michael - F4

It is easier to remember the process when it is written as a poem or song, it sticks.

Form 4 student

Carnival

Almost 12 months since the COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives but Carnival still went ahead and was a roaring success. All classes participated with creative fancy dress following their chosen themes. It was wonderful to see a more eco-friendly effort this time around with many up-cycled and customised items found around the house.

Although there was no public Junior parade as in previous years, the Junior pupils gathered together around the playground to show off their costumes. It was an emotional morning and marked the first time in 11 months that the school has gathered together in person. The children thoroughly enjoyed some normality and the chance to let their hair down whilst parading around the pitch!

Sadly, J1 were learning online and missed out on the festivities. Miss Linda did a wonderful job keeping the classes going and they all dressed up for their online carnival celebrations. As a special treat for working so hard, they will come to school in their Toys costumes this Friday.
Congratulations to Form 1 - the winners of the Senior school costume competition for their simple yet very effective Lego theme. They will be able to choose a non-uniform day in the coming weeks. Well done to all pupils for making such a good effort and helping to make the day such a success.

Nursery

Nursery

Reception new

Reception

J2

J2

J3

J3

J4

J4

J5

J5

J6

J6

Form1

F1

Form2

F2

Form3

F3

Form4

F4

Form5

F5

Sixth Form 1

Sixth Form

Eco Committee

Our Kensington Eco Committee J5 and J6 representatives are currently participating in Eco challenges. These students are concerned about the environment and want to help to make our Eco school continuously more eco-friendly and are committed to obtain the hard-to-get green flag award.

Canteen Recycle Challenge

Each participating class has been monitoring the recycling bins in the canteen during the week to make sure that all junior students throw their plastic waste and left over food in the corresponding bins.

At the end of each lunch time photos are taken of the recyclying bins content. These photos serve as a visual aid for learning during the weekly Junior School assembly.

Recycling properly in the canteen is especially important on days with desserts like yoghurts or flans as they served in individual plastic pots.

The aim of this three-week-lasting challenge is to make all pupils:

  • Aware of the importance of recycling
  • Familiar with the colours of the bins
  • Learn how to recycle properly

For more information about recycling or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact the Eco Committee at:

[email protected]

Screenshot 2021 02 26 at 15 29 40
Bin2
Bin4

Kensington Relived: with Teresa Sepulveda '73

Episode 3 of the Kensington Alumni Interview series, Kensington Relived is now available. Meet former student Teresa Sepulveda who graduated from Kensington in 1974.

Full interview available here:

Kensington Relived: Teresa Sepulveda '73

An interview with Executive Head, Mr Duncan Giles

Duncan Giles is currently the Acting Head at the Mallorca International School, having taken up the post at the beginning of this term. The full interview pdf is available below.

An interview with Executive Head, Mr Duncan Giles

Screenshot 2021 02 11 at 16 02 23
Screenshot 2021 02 11 at 16 01 39

Kensington School, Barcelona holds and enviable reputation for academic excellence that is richly deserved and I feel privileged to be part of its success. We have already begun collaborating with them in the Spanish and Science departments as well as across whole school areas such as accreditation. We will continue how to explore further opportunities to explore this working relationship for the benefit of both school communities.

Mr Duncan Giles
Executive Head & Acting Head of 'My School' Mallorca

Next Monthly Newsletter Issue - Friday 26th March

Kensington Banners 1