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.

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.

Watch Your Heads - King Henry Visits Sierra Bernia!

Year 4 took us all back to Tudor times with a wonderful assembly on the life and times of King Henry VIII.

You remember? Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived! And that was just his wives! Tough times for a king's wife in those days!

Ahh! I can't watch! This was how to divorce your wife Tudor style!

This was a full production with wonderful costumes and great acting shown by all.

The Hall was filled with parents and friends of the school, who all thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle.

Congratulations to Mrs Sweet and all the Year 4 pupils (plus guests) that made this such a thrilling assembly.

Bernia Babies

Sierra Bernia School has launched its very own baby and toddler group, and it is proving to be a huge success!!

Bernia Babies welcomes parents and grandparents to join their children for a fun filled morning of crafts, activities and play in an educational environment.

For only 1.50€ you and your children can enjoy toys, games singing and stories. Mrs Luckhurst holds the meetings every Tuesday morning in the school hall at Sierra Bernia School and refreshments are provided too. If you would like to join them, just come along on Tuesday mornings between 10:30 – 12:00.

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.

Stop Press! Year 4, 5, & 6 Visit Costa Blanca News

As part of our literacy studies this term, years 4, 5 and 6 have been learning about various aspects of media and journalism. On Friday, they consolidated their knowledge with a trip to the Costa Blanca News offices where they were escorted round by the Editor James Parks.

The children spent an hour questioning the Editor and asking a range of challenging and interesting questions about the history and production of the paper before being given a tour of the offices. The children spoke to some of the journalists on the news desk and looked at how the both the news paper and website are edited and maintained on a daily basis then went downstairs to the print room to see how a newspaper is printed.

Some of the children took a real interest in the running of the paper and were keen to show the Editor some of their own work. Jack, Joe, Matthew and Laurence of year 5 and 6 presented James Parks with a copy of the school news letter they had produced and Ella gave him a news article on the Trojan Horse she had completed over the weekend. The children's work certainly impressed the Editor and he will be keeping his eye on a couple of budding reporters who caught his attention.

As the latest edition of the Coasta Blanca News was out that day, each child was given their own copy of the newspaper to take away with them and the children also had their photo taken outside the offices and with the editor himself!

So watch this space and look out for the next generation of journalists and editors coming for our very own school!!!!

Year 9 Science Trip To The Cuevas del Canelobre

In their science lessons Year 9 have been learning about the formation of rocks. Rocks in a science lab are one thing, but to actually go into a real cave and see some magnificent rock formations is quite another!

The trip to the Caves at Canelobre near Alicante, was a wonderful opportunity to see these powerful processes at work first hand. Leaving a wet SBS at 9.30 we reached the caves by 10.30 and entered the cave itself at about 11.00 am.

For those of you who have never been there the cave is like a massive natural Gothic cathedral! It has a fascinating history stretching back hundreds of years, and many splendid examples of stalagmites and stalactites.

(Now, which way around is it? Which ones come down from the ceiling and which grow up from the floor? Ask any Yr 9 - they will know.)

The class was brilliantly behaved throughout and thoroughly enjoyed their day's exploring!

Year 2 Assembly - Doing The Right Thing When You're Six Years Old!

In a brilliant assembly Year 2 showed us all how they make decisions about how to behave.

We all know that doing "the right thing" can be very difficult at times! As part of their Personal, Health, & Social Education Programme, Yr2 have been exploring the importance of thinking carefully about the choices they make!

This was very cleverly shown in an assembly that had all the lower school really thinking about what was going on. Congratulations to Mrs Luckhurst and all the Yr 2 pupils for a very thought provoking 20 minutes!

Years 7 & 8 Become Greek & Roman Time Travellers!

On Tuesday, 13th October, immediately after the October "puente" holiday, Years 7 and 8 set off, on the School bus, for Alicante, for an all day excursion. Mrs Ana Rico, Year 8's Form Tutor, and Mrs Holmes, who teaches History to both classes, were guides for the pupils.

Their first stop was at the Tossal de Manises, the site of the Roman City of Lucentum, which today, we all know as Alicante City. Archaeologists are still at work on the site, excavating ancient ruins. One of the main points of interest of this part of the excursion was to look at a part of the original floor mosaic, which is situated near the observation point.

The group moved on to the Parque de Palmeras, where they enjoyed some free time and their snack lunches, before going on to Alicante City.

The main purpose of the excursion was to visit MARQ~the Museo Arqueologico de Alicante, where The Body Beautiful exhibition is being held. This excellent display of ancient Greek sculptures is a result of collaboration between The British Museum in London and the MARQ.

The Exhibition, which has been running since April, was opened by Her Majesty Queen Sophia of Spain. The high light for all of the pupils was the remarkable Discobolus, or the Discus- thrower. This sculpture is famous the world over, and the one on show in Alicante is a Roman copy that was found in Emperor Hadrian's villa in Tivoli, Italy.

Year 3 Assembly - Scarecrows

Mrs Martinez's class welcomed the autum season with a display of hand-made scarecrows in this week's assembly at Sierra Bernia School.

They also introduced themselves and their families in perfect English which was great considering that four of the children began the school term not speaking any English whatsoever!

Well done Year 3 and keep up the good work!

Year 5 & 6 In The News.

After producing the school magazine and delivering a wonderful assembly all about newspapers, Years 5 & 6 have found themselves in the papers themselves!

Front page on The Costa Blanca News and inside The Post! So, "Hold the press", and let's look forward to hearing from our budding journalists in the future!

Coughs and Sneezes!

The school was pleased to welcome back Mrs Sweet this week after a few days away with a very bad chest infection. Year 4 were very pleased to see her as were all the art classes who are producing outstanding work under her guidance.

Sadly, Mr MacInnes was unwell on Monday and had to go home. All the pupils and staff wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back with us again soon.

Cricket Training In Spain

On Saturday 3rd October Matthew Cowley (Year 6) represented the school at an all day training session organised by Cricket Espana.

Matt, a keen junior player with Sporting Alfaz Cricket Club, went to La Manga with 16 other young people from SACC. All the boys and girls had an absolutely brilliant day, and received expert coaching throughout.

At the end of the day Matthew captained the Alfaz side against an older and stronger Spanish team in a game of Kwik Cricket. Although well beaten, all the players thoroughly enjoyed the game. The picture shows all the chidren taking part in the training day organised by Cricket Espana.

Teddy Bear's Picnic!

On Wednesday 30th September Nursery and Years 1 & 2 had their annual Teddy Bear's Picnic. Due to the somewhat uncharacteristic weather we have been experiencing this week it was decided to hold the picnic in the school grounds - just in case we needed to get all the teddy bears under shelter quickly!

As always this was a fun day for the children and, thankfully, the rain even held off until near the end of the day!

All teddy bears and children were safely returned to their mums and dads at the end of a very enjoyable day.

It's A French Song, In An English School, In Beautiful Spain!

Year 5 and 6 would like to say Merçi beaucoup, to Mrs Llorca Salvador (Amalia's mum),who has been helping them this week with their French lessons.

They have been busy learning a song about a lonely witch in preparation for the SBS Hallowe'en party and began by translating the song from French in to English.

We look forward to learning more from Mrs Llorca Salvador. Á jeudi!

Geography Field Trip To Algar Falls

On Friday 11 September, the Examination Class went on their first Geography Field Trip of the year.

Field work is an essential part of the IGCSE course, and so it was decided that the first Field Trip should be held during the first week of term. The destination was the Rio Algar, in Algar village, about 25 minutes from the School.

At the river, the Class worked in groups to measure the width and average depth of the river. This meant that everyone had to get into the river.....and there were screams of how cold the water was! Soon enough everyone was working away with ranging rods, tape measures and metre rules.

The next part of the exercise was to measure the surface speed of the water at each site. The students used oranges as their floats and timed their float over a distance of 10 metres. They took readings at the left bank, in the middle of the stream and at the right bank~and found the average speed, as this is more accurate. With this information they were able to calculate the discharge of the river, which is measured in cubic metres per second (cumecs).

Once the exercise had been carried out at two sites, we all made for the Restaurant Don Joan, where there were showers, and more importantly, a very inviting swimming pool and diving board!

There was a bit more work to do......drawing graphs of the cross sections of the river and checking of calculations and then lunch, followed by more fun in the pool.

Mrs Holmes, the geography teacher, was pleased with the attitude and application of the class. The Class thanked Mr Holmes, who had driven them to and from Algar in the School van. It was a perfect way to spend the first Friday of the new academic year!