Red Nose Day

On Friday 18th March the whole school really got involved in our annual Red Nose event.

This is a great chance to raise money for those less fortunate than ourselves.

The day started with some video presentations about the Red Nose charity which focused on how the money would really help other young people.

The pupils all listened very carefully and really developed an understanding oh how hard life can be for some children in other parts of the world.

We then had an excellent display from the local Protection Civil unit. This is another voluntary organisation that plays a very important role in local community life. The children were allowed to see inside the ambulance and listened with great interest to the commentary from the officers.

The day went on with the Upper Secondary really entering into the spirit of the day by competing boys against girls to see who could raise the most money for charity.

This was part of their Business Studies work, and both groups worked extremely hard to get every last cent out of the rest of the school!

In the afternoon we were treated to some wonderful cup-cakes that had been lovingly iced by Years 5&6. All money raised from the sale went to the Red Nose fund.

The day finished with a massive rounders match with the Upper School narrowly beating the Lower School with the very last strike of the day.

All in all this was a wonderful day, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make this an outstanding success.

It's Carnaval Time!

One of the annual festivals that is always looked forward to by both pupils and staff at Sierra Bernia is Carnaval!

It is a time for dressing up (no school uniform for a day!) and a great opportunity to do some different things at school.

This year we had a wonderful display of food sculpture and some Salsa dancing.

As well as our annual Carnaval Parade. With the theme of Cowboys and Indians there was definitely a sense the Wild West around Sierra Bernia for the day!

Upper Primary Christmas Production

Congratulations to class teacher Mrs Letchford and all the pupils in Upper Primary for putting on a wonderful production of "A Christmas Carol"!

It was standing room only in the school hall as parents and friends were massively entertained by what they saw.

The ghost of Christmas Past was very scary and it all turned out well in the end as Scrooge saw the error of his ways and allowed Christmas to happen - phew!

This was a stunning and very enjoyable piece, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who had the opportunity to see it.

Enjoy the photographs - but watch out for that ghost!

Well done to all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

International Day In Alfaz del Pi

Sunday 3rd October saw a wonderful event in the grounds of the Polidesportivo in Alfaz.

It was "International Day" with members of our truly multi cultural community here, celebrating and sharing the very best of their respective cultures.

A bright sunny day saw the event packed, and the atmosphere was tremendous. Many SBS pupils and staff were in and around the stalls and all thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Top: Matthew (Lower Secondary) with mum!

Middle: Maths teacher, Miss Kanchan (right), manned the Indian stall. And the samosas were to die for!

Bottom: Olivia (Lower Secondary) about to sample those samosas!

Sports Activity Day In Alfaz

On Friday 24th September the whole school decamped to the Polidesportivo in Alfaz for our special Sports Activity Day.

One of the main goals for this day was to promote a sense of school spirit and teamwork, as we encouraged the older students to lead and work with the younger pupils in their teams.

This they did magnificentally and it was great to see the way in which everyone was encouraged to do their very best.

A big congratulations to all the Upper Secondary for their outstanding work on the day.


Sometimes just keeping up with the little ones was hard work for our team leaders!


Members of the winning "Green" team can be seen here with Lewis from Upper Secondary.

Sierra Bernia Live On Cool FM!

What a great time we had on Friday 17th September as Sierra Bernia School went out live on Cool FM - one of the leading English speaking radio stations on the Costa Blanca!

DJ Dave Owens broadcast the whole of his morning show live from the school, assisted by many of the pupils and staff who all contributed brilliantly.

As one listener commented "Sierra Bernia sounded like a school of happy kids who liked to talk about what they do at school".

Congratulations to everyone who took part - but a special thanks to Jodie (Upper Secondary) who acted as Dave's assistant throughtout the morning; Mrs Letchford who had liased with the radio station to make it all possible; Mr Allan for sorting out the technical issues; and Dave who interacted with the pupils so well!

Cool FM can be found on 97.4 or visit their web site on www.coolfm974.com.

School's Back From Summer!

It's September 8th and Sierra Bernia School is back!

With many new students joining us this term we wanted to welcome everyone back with some fun "get to know you" activities.

And what better way than to enlist the help of Jimbo from the Broadway Theatre Group to teach the upper school some circus skills!

Great fun was had by all as they tried their hands at juggling, balloon sculpture, and the amazing micro cycle!

Many thanks to Jimbo for a wonderful session and well done to all the pupils who took part with such enthusiasm.

Swimming Gala!

One of the most enjoyable events in our annual calander in the school swimming gala. This year was no exception and a wonderful day was had by all who took part at the open air pool in Alfaz.

The pupils were divided into teams and, once again, Kirill in Year 9 showed his leadership qualities by powering his Red team to yet another outstanding victory.

Kirill is Russian and his motivational style is very simple yet very powerful. He was overheard coaching some of the younger pupils with the following gem:

"You want medal?" The two year 3's said "Yes" Kirill then replied with a simple "Then win"! It worked - they did! Perhaps we should get him to manage the woeful English football team!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable day and well done to everyone who competed so splendidly.

School Prize Day

With the school year nearing an end it was time to look back and celebrate all the great achievements of the pupils at Sierra Bernia.


So, on Thursday 24th we arrived at the Casa de Cultura in Alfaz for our annual Prize Day.


Mr Duncan Allan, school owner, set the tone for this wonderful celebration by reminding pupils that school is about preparing for the future. His opening address was followed by Years 7 and 8 reading poetry in English, French, and Spanish.


Each class then performed something to show the work they have been doing, and individuals received prizes for their attitude and achievements throughout the year.


In addition to the individual awards, every pupil received a certificate for successfully completing the school year.


This was truly a celebration of all the great work that happens at Sierra Bernia School and there were certainly some emotional tears of pride from the parents who supported the event so well.

Sports Day Awards Ceremony

At the end of an exciting day all the pupils came together for our Sports Day Awards. The event was won by the Red Team who were led brilliantly by Kirill from Year 9.

It was wonderful to see the way the way the older Team Captains worked with their younger team members to lead and inspire them. A big congatulations to Kieren, Josh, Michael, and of course Kirill, for providing such a great example.

There were special awards for individual performances too. The girl's award was shared by Tanja (Year 2) and Sylvia (Year 3) and the boys award went to Alex (Year 4).

The day was a massive success and a special thanks must go to Mrs Letchford who organised the whole event.

The Complete Pirates Show!

Time to get out the popcorn, put your feet up, and sit back and enjoy the whole "Pirates" show.

Amazing Assemblies

Each Friday the primary classes at Sierra Bernia School are given the opportunity to show the rest of the school what they are learning about by presenting a class assembly. Parents are welcomed to watch the assemblies and many weeks, the school hall is packed out!

This week however, the parents took over when Isaac’s mum came in to talk to us about a book she had written. Sophie talked to the children about the meaning of access and about places being accessible, then read her book about wheel chair accessibility.

The children loved the story, which is also written in French, and Sophie’s colourful illustrations and gave her a huge round of applause at the end. Thank you Sophie for coming in and sharing your book with us.

All parents are welcome to join our assemblies held every Friday at 9:20 in the school hall.

Saint Patrick's Day Fun - Spot The Leprechauns!

Our wonderful Mrs Vaughan - always full of Irish mischief - was visited by a whole family of Leprechauns on St Patrick's Day. It turns out that her class have another life with the little people. Have a good look at the picture and see if you can spot your favourite little friend!

World Maths Day!

Wednesday 3rd March saw the whole school throwing its collective mental muscle behind World Maths Day.

This is a truly amazing world-wide competition with children from all parts of the globe competing against each other in a series of graded mental maths challenges.

Everybody had great fun throughout the day and there were some great results from many of our pupils.

If you look carefully you can even see Mr Allan, School Director, having a go!

The day was made possible by the re-launch of our Computer Suite which handled the work load really well.

Our thanks go to Mrs Letchford who organised and set up the whole day.

Special congratulations go to the following pupils:

Name (Year) Number of correct answers

Kirill (Y9) 7210
Ahmar (Y4) 4782
Maksim (Y5) 4023
Alex (Y4) 2911
Daniil (y7) 1328
Faye (Y4) 1043
Maite (Y7) 827
Lucas (Y1) 806
Dylan (Y8) 747
German (Y10) 695

And finally... A quote from the World Maths Day Site. "World Maths Day is all over! Congratulations on a new World Record! 1,133,246 students and 56,082 schools from 235 countries have united to set a new world record by correctly answering 479,732,613 questions."

Brilliant!

Carnaval - Sierra Bernia Style!

The annual Carnaval Fiesta was celebrated in style on Friday 12th February!

Everyone entered into the spirit of the day with fantastic fancy dress and a wonderful atmosphere.

The Upper School sports afternoon was taken over with some silly fun and games - including limbo dancing and a very wet few minutes with some water bombs, which were mostly aimed at the "lucky" members of staff.

Mrs Letchford in true Fiesta dress and Mr Cowley dreaming of former times when he actually had hair!

The glamourous Mrs Holmes with some of the Year 8 girls.