April's Monthly Newsletter

A WELCOME FROM THE HEADMASTER, Mr Michael Bayes

It has been a delight to see our pupils return refreshed and full of energy following the Easter holidays of the first half of April.

Everyone is, of course, looking forward to the day when we can return from a relaxing vacation to a school operating without COVID-19 protocols. However, on both a national and local scale, the authorities in Madrid and Barcelona have respectively congratulated schools throughout Spain on the way in which presencial learning has been able to continue so effectively since September.

The fact that at Kensington we have been able to operate with minimal disruption to our learning `bubbles´ is testament to the splendid cooperation from our students, especially at break and lunch times, and this mature approach continues to be appreciated by everyone.

This term the Catalonian government are relaxing the rules a little and we are now allowed to organise out of school trips. We are certainly taking advantage of this concession. In the Junior School excursions are planned to the CosmoCaixa and Vallparadis and in the Senior School the art department has lost no time in resuming its programme of gallery visits starting with two year groups going to the CaixaForum. Fieldwork is central to the study of geography and our exam candidates have also been busy collecting and analysing data relating to Barcelona's urban environments.

April 23rd has always been a highlight of our annual calendar as Sant Jordi is a major festival in Catalonia. The Spanish department displayed an amazing amount of work, from all age groups, in the main corridor for us to admire and we look forward to Sra Moreno awarding prizes at the end of term. Voting is also underway, coordinated by Miss Hewitt, for the awards to be presented to the winners of the “Bringing Books to Life” challenge as celebrating literature and reading is central to these local celebrations. Our thanks go to everyone who took part.

As a school we are committed to ensuring that our teachers are fully aware of all recent pedagogical developments and this month has seen considerable amounts of staff training. Following the National Association of British Schools in Spain (NABSS) conference for school owners and heads, attended by Mr Giles and Mr Bayes, eight of our teachers have taken part professional development courses.

A significant development relating to young people in Spain has passed through the legislature in Madrid this month. Ms Kendall represented Kensington at a workshop, organised by the British Council, to ensure that all UK curriculum schools were both aware of, and compliant with, new legislation on Child Protection. Since our staff are trained in the British Isles they are already familiar with the principles which underlie the recently introduced laws.

Being a small school it is also helpful for our team of teachers to liaise with professionals in other institutions thus promoting good practice. Senior members of our English, history, maths, science and Spanish departments recently visited Mallorca and successfully led training sessions with colleagues.

We also benefit hugely by Mr Evans being a Lead Inspector of British Schools in Spain and he has recently returned from an exhausting but illuminating inspection of a large school.

I hope that you enjoy reading this newsletter and I would urge you to explore other aspects of our growing website which is becoming increasingly attractive and informative.

A MESSAGE FROM THE JUNIOR HEAD, Mr Steve Evans

It has been a short month - having returned from the Easter holidays mid-April - but another busy and productive one!

With just over eight weeks to go before the end of a unique year, staff have been busy planning their respective class performances for the summer term. Each class will prepare a short production in the school theatre within their secure groups. The performances will be recorded so that parents can enjoy them from the comfort and safety of home.

Sadly J6 have missed out on their chance to star in main roles at the Sarria theatre but they are already practising for their auditions for a short musical that they will perform live outdoors for the infant children.

As there will be no colonias this year, staff are in the process of organising various trips and excursions towards the end of the term to offer a range of enriching experiences beyond the classroom walls.

Back by popular demand, the summer term sees the return of presencial assemblies. The online assemblies have begun to resemble a TV show packed with weekly items, but now that the weather is warmer, we are excited to come together once again to celebrate each week’s achievements in the open air.

J2

Science

Junior 2 students have been studying the different habitats animals across the world live in for their science topic. Students made dioramas to show where different animals live, creating mini habitats from them within our classrooms!

Design & Technology

Following up their history topic last month on the history of transport. Students enjoyed making balloon cars and testing their speed and functionality on the school campus.

J5

In science, Junior 5 students are studying living things and have been looking in detail at plants and flowers. To help their understanding, students dissected some flowers and carefully took apart the different parts and labelled them to create posters. It was a great activity that the students enjoyed a lot and allowed them to see first hand the things we had been discussing in science.

J6

Earth Day

Earth Day 2021 was celebrated on April 20-22nd, the theme this year was ‘Restore our Earth’. J6 have been learning about environmental issues in geography and inspired by Earth Day made comic strip campaigns around the themes of deforestation, plastic in the ocean, recycling and palm oil. In addition to this J6 completed a home learning challenge to create an accessory or item of clothing out of recycled or reused materials. Below you can see images of them wearing their upcycled items.

Art

In art, J6 have been studying street art and learning about the anonymous British street artist Banksy. The class spent much time meticulously creating a cartoon themed stencil. The children learned how to use negative space when creating the stencils which took some practice. We were all really pleased with the final piece and think we have some budding young artists amongst us!

ICT

In ICT, J6 have been exploring the world from the comfort of our ICT suite. The class have been using Google Earth to complete research tasks. They have been learning how to use the search function and street view to find and explore different areas of the world. The children particularly enjoyed taking the Google Earth tours of areas of scientific and geographic interest. Next, they will use Google Maps to plan journeys around Barcelona.

Public Speaking

Students have been learning about public speaking and persuasive writing in Term 3 in preparation for their J6 debate which will take place next week. Students have been discussing their feelings around public speaking and naturally many feel nervous when it comes to this topic. With their form teachers they have been practising different techniques to help students feel as confident as possible during the debate.

Science

In Science J6 are learning about the physics of Light. To begin with we have been learning that light travels in straight lines. To test this theory J6 conducted an experiment, using torches and a target. The torch light was shone through 3 identical holes to hit the final target sheet. J6 explored what happened when the light was blocked or moved.

In science, J6 conducted a shadow puppet investigation. The class investigated the effect of an objects distance from a light source on the shadow it casts. J6 each made a shadow puppet for the investigation, they experimented moving the puppet closer and further from the light source and observed changes in the shadow cast.

Target Setting

At the beginning of each term in J6 we set targets for the three core areas of the curriculum; Maths, English and Science. At the beginning of the summer term J6 set their last targets of Junior School. Target setting helps students to focus throughout the term as we refer back to the targets. At the end of the term the children enjoy reviewing their targets and discussing what has been achieved.

Memory Challenge

On Tuesday afternoons J6 have a short period of team time outside. There are a range of activities that they participate in but one of their favourites is the memory challenge. Students are put into teams of 3. Each member of the team gets 1 minute to look at the diagram and then they must try to recreate it as a team. In these activities they are trying to recreate a diagram of a light bulb and the eye as we are learning all about Light in J6 Science.

World Book Day 2021

On Friday 23rd of April we celebrated World Book Day, which, this year, coincided with not only Catalunya's Sant Jordi celebrations, but also with the anniversary of both Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes' deaths.

At Kensington we celebrated bilingually, with the Spanish department hosting their annual Sant Jordi poetry and prose competition, and the English department organising our inaugural "Bringing Our Books to Life" challenge. Competition was fierce, particularly among J5 and J6 who were, by far, the most enthusiastic participants. After collecting votes from the staff, the winners were declared as:
"Alice in Wonderland" by J6 & F2 students and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" - by J4 Student. You can see both these videos below along with some of the other fantastic entries.

The winners will receive their winning goodie bags in the next few days!

A huge congratulations to everyone who took part, and for those who didn't participate this year - perhaps you'll be inspired to start thinking about your entry for next year?

Junior Maths Challenge

On 27th and 28th April all students in Forms 1 and 2, along with a few students from J5 and J6, took part in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Junior Maths Challenge. We now sit the challenge online and the students all spent an hour in the ICT solving some interesting maths problems.

The pupils really enjoy the chance to compete with 250,000 of their peers all around the UK and the world and we look forward to getting the results next month.

Well done to everybody who took part.

A MESSAGE FORM THE HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL, Ms Viv Canwell

The senior teachers have had a very busy beginning of term making ourselves familiar with the procedures for allocating exam grades for our GCSE and A Level students this year. Having attended various training courses and read all the documentation we are all confident in what we are doing. My overriding feeling is how lucky we are to work in such a small school where we know our students so well. It is an unusual time for us all and I have been so impressed with how our exam students are rising to the challenge. Mr Bayes will soon be writing to all parents with further details.

We recently held two assemblies during which Mr Kelly and Ms Williams introduced themselves to the students in their new roles as Outdoor Education Coordinator and Pastoral Support. In this edition of the newsletter Mr Kelly explains what his exciting new role of Outdoor Education Coordinator will involve. I am so looking forward to watching our students develop their personal and social skills as they work towards their Edward P Giles Awards. We are always looking at ways to improve our students´ life opportunities and I think this is an important new initiative.

This month we all enjoyed celebrating St Jordi and World Book Day with our Spanish and English departments. In this newsletter we also highlight some of the work that has been carried out by students in our history and chemistry departments.

F1

History

In Form 1 students have been learning about the Vikings and asking the question about whether they deserved their fearsome reputation or not. Most of the class agreed they were actually great explorers and traders as well as the fearsome warriors they are often depicted as! They have also started to learn about the situation in England in 1066 and the event that led to the Battle of Hastings, when William Duke of Normandy defeated the English King Harold Godwinson.

Here are some photos of Form One historians examining the Bayeux Tapestry for clues about the Battle of Hastings.

F2

History

In Form 2 students have been learning about the 13 Colonies in America and why many Europeans risked everything to move to the New World in the 17th Century. We have also been looking in detail at the Native Americans who lived there at the time, discovering their cultures and way of life and assessing the impact the arrival of the Europeans had on their way of life.

F3

History

Kensington's Form 3 historians made a strong start to the term by beginning their depth study of Napoleonic Europe 1799-1815. Students have developed their understanding of the ‘Corsican Tyrant’s’ deeds as well as gaining an awareness of the difference between the concepts of ‘great man’ history and of ‘history from below’. Indeed, the need to study social history should not be overlooked!

Watch a video below made by Louis F3

F4

History

The Form 4 history class continued their study of Weimar Germany and moved on to the early development of the NSDAP. Students developed their understanding of Hitler’s role in organising the Party and in carrying out the Munich Putsch of 1923. Students produced excellent summary posters of the Putsch before moving further ahead with the course.

Chemistry

This month, our Form 4 pupils were faced with the challenge of understanding the reasons why different materials display different properties. A key part to developing such an understanding involves familiarising students with the different types of bonding that hold atoms together and with the different types of structure that matter can arrange itself into.

With this in mind, the chemistry department asked each Form 4 pupil to create a video which clearly explains how to reproduce the dot-and-cross model used to represent the different types of bonding. They produced some pretty amazing videos!

The Chemistry department is very proud to share with you a sample of their work. Enjoy!

F5

History

Form 5 spent the month focused heavily on revising for their Mock exams. Students built upon the strong foundations of their revision over the Easter break in order to take on exam papers on Germany 1918-45, the Cold War 1943-72 and the USA 1918-41. A very big well done to the Form 5s for staying so positive and so calm in what is always a difficult time of year.

Sixth Form

History

The Lower 6th history class spent the month of April finishing their study of Britain 1964-90. Students developed their understanding of the Troubles in Northern Ireland as well as investigating the changing nature of the British education system across the time period.

The Upper 6th came to the end of the course after having studied the reasons for Japan’s defeat in World War Two and then moved on to practising past paper questions in which they are asked to critique the views of two professional historians about the most important causes of the First World War. Students will soon turn their attention in class back to Paper 3 of the IAL History course which covers the early history of the United States from 1763-1865.

Well done to all of the 6th formers for continuing to work so well!

Spanish

Each year in April, the whole school (from Junior 1 to Sixth Form) participates in the "Concurso de Sant Jordi" organised by the Spanish Department.

To illustrate this event students have displayed their work across the school. We will announce the winners and prices will be awarded to the students in June. Keep an eye out in the June Newsletter for updates!

Kensington School's Duke of Edinburgh Award Launched

We are delighted to announce the launching of Kensington School's own version of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, which will be known as the Edward P. Giles Award, in honour of the founder of Kensington School.

The program will officially begin in September 2021 and initially will be open to all students from Form 3 and above. The award will consist of three levels; gold, silver and bronze, with the challenge and time commitments required increasing at each level.

In order to achieve each award, students will have to show a commitment over an extended time period to different challenges, based in four key areas:

• developing / learning a skill
• developing / learning a physical activity
• volunteering time to support others
• a planned overnight expedition

We hope that the introduction of this award scheme will provide students with the opportunity to learn important new skills and will also aid their personal development in a variety of ways.

Participation is voluntary, though we have been excited to see the enthusiastic response from students and are looking forward to seeing as many as possible participating. Whilst the awards are designed to be challenging, we believe that their subsequent achievement will be something that can be added to university application forms worldwide with a great deal of pride.

Kensington School and Mallorca International School join forces!

Mallorca International School is a British curriculum school in the north of Mallorca, where Executive Head, Duncan Giles has been serving as Headteacher in an acting capacity until the end of this academic year.

Collaboration between colleagues is a key aspect of professional development and both schools are keen to find ways to work together and support one another. A first step towards this was taken on March 31st, when staff from Kensington School travelled to the island to deliver a series of workshops and have one-to-one meetings with the teaching staff there

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Kensington Alumni launch Love Stories series

Students come to Kensington School for an education but often find a family and a lifetime of love. We had the pleasure in chatting to Ismael '84 and Petra '85 who not only left Kensington school with their qualifications but also with the love of their life hand-in-hand. They have kindly shared their tales of romance with us.

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We want to honour our alumni couples whose experiences will forever be linked to Kensington School.

Did you meet at Kensington School? Did you marry your childhood sweetheart? Get in touch: [email protected]

Next Monthly Newsletter Issue - Friday 28th May