I have always believed that the success of a school depends upon the quality of relationships between the three core groups; students, families and staff. Since 1966 at Kensington School such cooperation has ensured that our pupils enjoy their school days and fulfil their potential. However, when a crisis comes along- whether it be individual or global - those bonds are truly tested.
These past few months have indeed been testing. It is perhaps too soon to properly reflect upon how we all managed during lockdown but my immediate judgement on how the Kensington School community coped is - wonderfully well!
When one considers that there was very little time for preparation it is simply remarkable that, over a single weekend, our close-knit but diverse school family successfully and radically transformed itself from a conventional place of learning into an online educational environment.
Looking back it might appear seamless but we all had to go through a very rapid period of readjustment. One minute most of us thought that G-Suite was something sold in a furniture store; the next we depended on it daily. All of us, irrespective of age, were facing new challenges with very unfamiliar processes. That these 57 working days were so purposeful and effective is largely due to the way in which our whole community came together for the benefit of the children. Have no doubt, we should all be very proud indeed of our outstanding achievements.
Admittedly we had advantages. In such a small school, with exceptionally low staff/student ratios, our teachers know their students intimately. They are used to treating them as individuals. A key to the success of this term's learning has been, especially in the Junior School, the strong relationship between parents and staff. So many colleagues have told me that they could never have covered so much without the splendid and unrelenting daily support from home. We also have the huge advantage that our pupils have a genuine thirst for knowledge. The resilience, creativity, positivity and good humour shown by our fantastic students, from nursery to the Upper Sixth, has made all the difference in our virtual classrooms.
Special praise must be given to our public examination candidates. Having worked so hard, for so long, in preparation for high-stakes tests, postponed without warning, was a deep test of their resolve and inner strength. Again, it could not have been easy for parents especially over Easter. However home and school continued to work in unison during April and May to ensure that the centre assessed grades we sent to the board truly reflected the commitment and potential of all our candidates.
One of the highlights of the term was the Upper Sixth leaving party - held virtually of course. With almost 50 participants each on-screen icon was tiny but the sense of occasion was huge. It was a truly memorable afternoon, largely organised by our leavers themselves, but we are all looking forward to a real celebration dinner in due course.
We also tried to replicate other normal summer term events ; the J6 / F1 transition meeting was most informative, option choices were made, university offers flowed, the gymkhana was great fun, Mr Evans’ assemblies became legendary and Prize Giving may have lacked the atmosphere of Sarrià theatre but as many pupils received awards as normal.
Crisis or no crisis Kensington School has continued to thrive thanks to the outstanding level of cooperation between home and school. Long may it continue as we look forward to welcoming you all back to a real building with real, albeit socially distanced, classrooms on September 7th.
Never before has a restful summer break been more richly deserved by everyone - have fun!
Mr Michael Bayes - Headmaster
Our website has remained unchanged since its launch in 2010 and as a window into Kensington School it was in need of an update. We have been working with designers as well as staff and students at the school to ensure it is a true reflection of all the many great things we do at the school. The website aims to be informative to existing parents and also attractive to those looking for the best British education in Barcelona.
The parent survey identified some concerns with regards to communication between home and school and we hope that the new design will remedy these - there is a latest news section, a section for parent information and a notice board that will be updated regularly. The site also includes details as to course outlines, subject specifications and features a dedicated Sixth Form area.
As the school starts to use social media more effectively, the Latest News area will showcase the many activities taking place and allow for us to exhibit our excellent student work.
We hope you take the time to visit it and will look forward to receiving your feedback.
I am very proud of the whole Kensington School community! The pupils have shown great resilience and have adapted so well to working online this term. The teachers have worked tirelessly to ensure the learning has continued in many creative ways. The invaluable support and collaboration of the parents has kept the whole system working effectively. Congratulations to all of you - a fantastic team effort!
Mr Steve Evans - Head of Junior School
"This video is my memorable J3 time. I would like to say thank you to Miss Gill, Mr. Evans, Miss Della Sala, Miss Russell, Mr. Vanderheyden, Miss Hannah, Miss Jenna, Miss Joanna and everybody. Thank you for everything. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!"
J3 Student
Our J6 students put together a fantastic Leavers Poem, what a fantastic way to end their junior school years on a high note.
I would like to congratulate the whole of the Senior School on their fantastic response to the extraordinary situation we have lived through since March. Teachers had to be creative and innovative; students - patient, adaptable and proactive. I could not have imagined going through such a lockdown in my teenage years and I am so proud of the positive attitude of our students, helped in no small part by their supportive and encouraging parents. Attendance was 100% or close in most lessons and, as you can see from a small selection of the work shown below, lots of really valuable learning took place.
It was sad to say goodbye to our upper sixth students at the end of May. Even after the successful virtual leaving meeting, several of them volunteered to use their subject expertise to assist teachers in their virtual classrooms. This help was much appreciated by both teachers and students.
I wish you all a very relaxing holiday and look forward to seeing you in person back at school in September.
Ms Viv Canwell - Head of Senior School
The art department is very excited to present a website that has been launched to exhibit and celebrate the wonderful artwork created by students from KS3 to KS5 this year at Kensington School. Unfortunately due to exceptional circumstances, we have not been able to hold an Art exhibition of examination work by F5 and Y13 students, so a virtual online exhibition has been created instead. On the website you will see a range of wonderfully imaginative, creative and diverse portfolios created by the students. On the site you can also find resources and news from the department. Many congratulations, I am very proud of you all!
Ms Heulwen Lewis - Head of Art
Form 1 has been making the most of having access to their kitchen and practising their booking skills over the summer term. They have written scrapbooks, submitted videos and made us all very hungry watching them prepare and then eat delicious meals!
Form 2 were asked to make a poster of their favourite topic they have studied in maths this term. They could choose between Ratios, Circles or Pythagoras’ Theorem. Here is a selection of them. Pythagoras looks to be the clear winner.
Since the Easter break, Form 3 have studied topics like variation, selective breeding and cloning. They have also made a start on their biology GCSE; looking at classification and specialised cells. Form 3 have really impressed me with the way they have adapted to online lessons. As part of a project about evolution students submitted videos, podcasts and presentations, and this project is just one example of the variety of ways in which students have engaged with science this term. Students have also begun to really focus on self-reflection in science using this to inform their targets as they make the move to Form 4.
Each student in Form 4 chose a book to read this term. They have been working on their book during the past weeks. They completed "a video about the book they have read" project and send their individuals to their tutor. We are delighted to share Lichi's review on Gabriel García Márquez’s novel.
Here are some examples of personal investigation artwork by Emil, one of our Upper 6 Fine Art students. In response to the theme Truth, Fantasy and Fiction his project focused on the discrimination against certain groups of people, especially in the USA. Inspired by Basquiat, he researched racial discrimination, police violence and protests in America and made a series of digital responses which dealt with the black panthers movement and the most recent and very current Black Lives Matter movement. He also focused on the American criminal system of targeting people of colour and on racial issues in Spain by taking inspiration from Rauschenberg to create his powerful responses.
Fine Art student Minjia has been responding to her Personal investigation theme of Freedom and Captivity, focusing on endangered animals. She has developed her own style as the project has developed and her outcomes are very meaningful and connect to her sources. She has explored the work of Peony Yip and also Simon Prades to inspire these artworks.
We wish our Upper Sixth Form students the very best when examination results are published in August. These will allow them to pursue their further education ambitions and we hope they will enjoy the experience that university studies will afford them.
Our Upper 6 students also participated in a "virtual graduation" led by Ms Viv Canwell.
As we work to make our school site more attractive and welcoming, we also aim to ensure our students are recognised as great ambassadors for the school. This is something they achieve when representing the school in sporting and debating competitions, when they tour the city and its wealth of museums and exhibitions or when they travel overseas. We are proud of our students and are delighted that they feel proud to belong to Kensington School.
For September 2020 we were planning the launch of a new school uniform, updating a successful and simple design that remains unchanged from when this was first introduced.
However, as we are still uncertain as to how the ‘new normal’ will affect schools at the start of the new academic year, we have taken the decision to stagger the introduction of the new uniform and gradually introduce it into the school.
We have been unable to arrange a photoshoot with students modelling the new uniform, but here is a selection of the items that will in time make up the Kensington School uniform.
The main changes are:
*these can still be worn until the usual half term date of 28/10/20. From that date we kindly ask that the new school shirt or a plain white shirt with no tie be worn by students.
Whilst there is not a drastic change to the uniform, we hope you agree that the new design is more modern and elegant; the removal of the school tie and addition of a summer dress for the Junior School will make the summer months much more comfortable for our students.
The school wishes to be as practical and understanding to families who will, like us, have a lot to consider when the new academic year starts in September. All existing items can still be worn and the school supplier, ‘Uniformes de Colegio’ will stock the new items that can be purchased as and when needed.
Despite the overall success of the online school during the last few months we are all very much looking forward to opening the school gates again. Therefore, in line with recent government announcements, it is our intention to open the school fully for all students in September.
We appreciate that, following the challenges of recent months, adjusting to the ‘new normal’ and the idea of returning to school in September may cause you some concern. However, we would like to reassure you of the detailed planning and preparation we are undertaking to ensure a safe return to school for all students, parents and teachers.
We would like to share with you some of the arrangements and plans which are currently being made in order to ensure a safe school environment.
We are delighted to share with you the exciting changes that have been happening behind Kensington doors during the last few months.
I could never have imagined that when I returned to Kensington as Executive Head in September that this would be the most extraordinary academic year in our school's many years of history. We have all been challenged and the outcome has been overwhelmingly a success.
This was due to all of us coming together to ensure that our core purpose, the delivery of excellent educational outcomes was not affected by the huge impact this current pandemic has had on all involved.
Key to our school’s success is the personalised attention we give to all, students and parents alike. Kensington School quickly understood the pressure the state of alarm would have on families and we acted accordingly. Discounts were offered to students across all the year groups, those in the Upper Sixth were released of their financial commitments in June and a number of parents benefited from the personalised payment plans that were put in place.
We sincerely hope that these measures will have gone some way to support our families in these challenging times.
Earlier in the year, we canvassed parents as to their views of the school. We wished to know what we were doing well and also learn in which areas you felt improvements were necessary.
I invite you below to see the results of that survey within this newsletter and whilst the original intent was to hold a number of information evenings in which to feedback, we hope the findings will be of interest to you.
One of the areas that was highlighted in that survey was the need to improve our school facilities. As a city school, the scope to increase these will always be hard. Thus we are committed to improving the ones we have. Considerable investment has been made in the past months to ensure this, as you have seen above the theatre has been completely rebuilt and will now be a versatile space allowing for effective teaching of music and drama as well as providing a performance area for our very successful school productions. Phase 3 of the air conditioning roll-out has now been done and Junior School classrooms will now enjoy this improvement. The school had some water drainage issues into the school gym. This required us to remove the upper patio floor and relay it. In doing so, we saw an excellent opportunity to finally landscape this area and replace all furniture in this area. The end result will be an inviting, lush and attractive area for our students to enjoy their time out of the classroom. We also painted the whole school inside and exterior!
Kensington School enjoys an enviable reputation as a centre of educational excellence in Barcelona and across Spain. For over fifty years we have been delivering the best British education and will continue to do so, convinced that our success will continue to make us increasingly attractive to the international community in the city.
Mr Duncan Giles - Executive Head
The School Office will be closed for the summer holidays from Tuesday 14th July. We will be available remotely from from Thursday 13th August so if you have any questions, please email us and we will get back to you as soon as possible. The office will reopen on Thursday 20th August.
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