Rucksacks ready, pencil cases full of crayons and marker pens which will be used to fill new exercise books full of colour and writing. Uniforms ready, new books which one intuitively knows will be more difficult than last year’s. A feeling of expectation and excitement, specially about seeing friends once again. Almost 2000 students returned to the British Council School classrooms in September. A few of these, those joining for the first time, looking a bit scared. This was the start of the 2017/2018 academic year. Welcome everybody!
We are starting the new year with a few changes and we give a warm welcome to Craig Rhodes in Early Years and Rebekah Willis in Primary. But what hasn’t changed is our way of working over the last few years and our firm goal, here at the School, to continue reinforcing our programme of educational values. We shall strive to work even harder to improve our students’ wellbeing emphasising civic and human values in their education.
This of course does not mean that we will disregard academic results. Our students continue to improve their results in the Selectividad entrance exams. Last year we achieved our highest score in the Selectividad exam, the EVAU, with an average score of 8.5. This year we want to encourage our BiBac Baccalaureat students to follow in their footsteps.
This new academic year will also be full of theatrical and sporting activities, with new projects and ideas designed to develop the creative skills and talent of our students. Music, theatre, public speaking, charitable activities, competitions, prizes…The idea is to develop well rounded individuals who are conscious of their responsibilities towards the world in which they live in.
And, with regard to those young ones who are new at the School and are just starting out on their educational journey, a message of reassurance: “Parents are living this moment much more anxiously than the children. It is much easier for them to adapt to this new stage”. This is how Anne-Marie Rackham, our Head of Infants, puts it. They are in good hands.