News Service | Filtered by Secondary News

News Feed

Physics Trip to CERN 2019

From 4th to 7th November, 23 King's College students and 3 staff members left Alicante's balmy sunshine to embrace three days of heavy rain forecast in Switzerland, at temperatures of 283 Kelvin and below (10 degrees Celsius for the non-Physicists amongst our readers).
 
After settling in to their rooms at the comfortable Geneva Hostel, they headed out to a nearby escape room to find clues and solve problems. The teams of five applied their analytical skills to bank robberies, Egyptian pyramids and murder mysteries, each successfully completing their challenge.
 
The weather held magnificently, with sunny spells throughout the week and only one heavy rainstorm. They spent two days in and around Geneva, exploring the impressive United Nations headquarters, the inspirational International Red Cross and Red Crescent museum and Geneva's picturesque old town.
 
The CERN trip was on the final day. The group benefited from the tour guide's experience. who, after 30 years of programming detectors at CERN, answered every question the students could conjure. The day included a tour of cross-sections of the particle accelerators and a DIY cloud chamber session where their homemade particle detectors brought Physics to life before their eyes. Their charismatic professor, Mak, took them on an exciting lesson through particle interactions which neatly overlapped what the students have been learning in Nuclear Physics this term.
 
The trip concluded with a 4.30am wake up for an early flight home and cries of "Can we stay another day please?" The planning has already begun for the 2020 trip!
 
 
 




Having fun while fundraising

Halloween at King's College this year was spine-tingling fun! Monsters and ghouls roamed the corridors and science labs as pupils in fancy dress entered a competition to find the best costume. 
Pupils took part in the traditional Hallowe'en practice of apple bobbing, alongside other popular activities, such as an escape room and photo booth. They also had the opportunity to buy Hallowe'en-themed cakes.
The sixth form charity committee were particularly grateful for the generosity of the entire school community as well over 600 euros were raised for the charity Practical Action, which provides support to smallholding farmers and  enables people to access clean energy and improved water and sustainable, efficient irrigation systems in countries such as Sudan. Jacobo (Y13) said, "We were all on board as Practical Action is no ordinary charity. They prioritise teaching communities how to use the tools they already have to improve their lives so they don't have to rely on anyone."




Equipped for Fitness

Here at King's College, Alicante, we take health, fitness and wellbeing seriously. We were delighted to take delivery  of the new fitness equipment and the pupils put it to the test that very same day! 
The state-of-the-art Everlast rowing machines, treadmills and static bicycles are designed to increase the fitness levels of our pupils. They are also used by sixth form students at lunch times to keep fit and relieve stress.
Examination classes will be applying their theoretical knowledge of heart rate and activity levels and will have the opportunity to exercise in a professional training environment. The cardiovascular training is done in conjunction with free weight training to increase size and strength and to tone existing muscle.





World Mental Health Day

Every day is mental health day but we were able to acknowledge and celebrate World Mental Health Day in our school by wearing a yellow piece of clothing or a yellow item on ourselves – bracelet, necklace, socks etc. Mental Health is one of the most difficult things to talk about as we do not know what people are going through or how they are feeling, therefore a gentle approach was taken when discussing it with our classes.  During the day the whole school from Nursery to Secondary took part in fundraising for two local mental health charities. Over 600 Euros was raised. This will help many children and families in the Alicante area.




Crime Scene Investigation

Who did it?

After a spate of mysterious crimes, our year 7 super sleuths were called into action to use their scientific know-how and critical thinking skills to find out who was the guilty party.

The year 7 science teams engaged in hands-on activities and applied their science learning to different unsolved crimes, as they questioned their biases by gathering evidence and analysing their data in the hope of finding the culprits.

In a fully immersive crime scene day, the investigators discovered how blood pattern analysis can be used to build up a picture of events. Using tyre track analysis and heart rate data, the pupils compiled evidence which could be used in court prosecutions and discussed the validity of their evidence. Pupils also put their mathematical and computational knowledge to the test in a cryptogaphic challenge. This interactive day gave plenty of opportunities for pupils to apply their analytical thinking skills to different scenarios and to effectively develop their team building skills as they moved from crime scene to crime scene.

Year 7 found the day fun, interesting and educational and declared it a huge success.

 





Sports' Day Success

Columbus triumphed over Gaudi, Darwin and Orwell at King's College, Alicante Sports' Day last week! Our eight buses set off for the Estadio Municipal de Atletismo Manolo Jaen in Elche with the pupils in fine voice, decked out in their house colours and with some sporting face paints.

After a full programme of field and track events, several school records fell and a number of pupils achieved a personal best. Mr Ross (Lead Practitioner for PE) said, "Students showed tremendous teamwork to work together and achieve success. Results overall were very even which demonstrates all of the students’ commitment to achieving excellence. Over 120 medals were awarded to our students on the day, making this the biggest sporting event in terms of participation numbers in the school’s history."

Mr Mellon kept up a running commentary on the microphone throughout the day, ensuring the races ran on time. The cheers from the stands kept the performers motivated and feeling competitive. Standout performers included Gael (Orwell), Marta (Gaudi) in year 7, Raquel (Darwin), Adam (Darwin) in year 8, Sara (Darwin), Juan ((Darwin) in year 9, Ricky (Orwell), Enrique (Columbus), Alba (Columbus) in year 10 and Archie (Darwin) and Teresa (Columbus) in year 11.

The most tense moment of the day came when the teachers faced the pupils in the relay. The teachers claimed it was a very close race, while the pupils maintained they beat the teachers by a clear margin!





Mental Health and Wellbeing

  
We all benefit from taking time to look after ourselves. To this aim, we dedicated Thursday to promoting and encouraging mental health and well being at King's College, Alicante. Pupils from all year groups wore a yellow item of clothing and made a donation in support of the charity, Young Minds, who encouaged schools to hold a #HelloYellow day.
 
A carousel of activities on the day allowed pupils the opportunity to exercise, to relax and to unwind, taking care of mind, body and soul. They included board games, body balance, yoga, ju-jitsu, jigsaws, colouring mandalas, meditation and music. A group fo year 11 pupils discussing the day said the importance of relaxation had not occurred to them before but they appreciated the day very much. "I will be taking time out to relax from now on."
 




Welcome meeting for new parents at King's College, Alicante

 On Friday afternoon, we hosted a welcome meeting for the parents of this year's new pupils. Parents and staff appreciated the opportunity of meeting each other and having a chat over cup of coffee in the library. Parents were able to ask any questions they may have, to meet other new parents and to become more familiar with the school and the surroudings. All of our new pupils have been very welcome additions to King's and appear to be settling in well and enjoying the beginning of their school life at the college. We wish them every success and look forward to participating in their learning journey over the coming years.




Gota Fria Clean Up

As you know, Alicante and the surrounding areas were hit by some of the worst flooding in the history of the region.  Alicante council closed all schools on Thursday and Friday 12th and 13th September due to the risk to life from the wind and rain.  Our thoughts are with those families who lost loved ones or whose property was severely damaged.
 
During a school visit on Friday 13th to view the damage Mrs. Lally and Mr. Wicks were horrified to see how badly the school had been affected.  There was over 5cm water, silt and sand covering most of the school with many classrooms badly hit.   All weekend and on Monday 16th September a great team effort ensued with many staff giving up their Saturday and Sunday to help get the school ready and safe for pupils once again.  The commitment of our staff was exemplary and we are very grateful for their time, energy and enthusiasm.  We are also very grateful to those parents who made contact with us during that difficult time with messages of support and offers of help.  It is at times like this that you realise how important it is to have a caring community who looks out for each other and the important lessons we teach our children about compassion and kindness.  
 
Thank you to everybody for their help in getting our school open and safe!




Environmentally Aware

Our pupils have always been passionate about the environment and never more so than at the start of this new academic year.  They have petitioned our catering company, Nexalia, hard to rid the school of single-use plastics and we are delighted to report that as a result of their tenacity and persistence we now have eco-friendly water dispensers in every corridor of the school.  Children are encouraged to bring in their own bottles from home which they can fill from the dispensers as and when they need.  
 
These water dispensers, coupled with the solar panels that we installed last year and the Secondary Enrichment activity that goes to local beaches each week to clean them all helps raise pupils' and the community's awarenes of small things we can do to help our planet. 
 
The school now has an active Eco Committee on the Primary Council and Mr. Hollingsworth is setting up a similar committee with interested Secondary School pupils.  




Music Technology

Year 8 are learning to compose melodies using the Dorian Mode of Logic Pro X.  We have invested a great deal of money in Music Technology with the purchase of Apple iMAC computers and professional music software.  Creativity and the Performing Arts are held in high regard at King's College, Alicante.  
 
 'Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything.' (Plato). 




Welcome to Juan, our new School Counsellor

We have a new school counsellor at King's College Alicante. Juan Yagüe joins us this academic year as an additional support to our entire community and as part of KIng's Group's commitment to improving the mental health and wellbeing of our pupils, parents, and staff.  Juan will be holding drop in sessions each day for pupils to attend as they wish.  We are also able to refer pupils on who may benefit from his help and he is available to meet with parents and carers should you wish to make an appointment to see him. 
 
Please feel free to email Juan directly using his email address: sinews.kca@kings.education