After school IGCSE support classes for Year 11 students

Dear parents and students,
Responding to a request from a number of parents, we will be offering extra tuition for IGCSE courses in order to help students to revise and improve their potential examination performance.
The programme we are offering consists of three classes each week throughout February and March. Each class will be an independent revision unit on a separate topic or skill. All of the content of these classes will have been covered at some point within the normal school timetable and therefore they are a purely optional addition to the main teaching programme. However they will provide students with an excellent opportunity to consolidate and improve their understanding.

The classes will be on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 15:45 to 17:15 (90mins). Students may register for two classes per week or for all three.
The costs are: Two classes per week (16 classes in total) 160€
Three classes per week (24 classes in total) 240€

The subject areas will be as follows:
Monday 2nd February- English Language.
Tuesday 3rd February- Mathematics.
Thursday 5th February-Sciences.
Monday 9th February-English Language.
Tuesday 10th February-Mathematics.
Thursday 12th February-History.
Monday 23rd February-Mathematics.
Tuesday 24th February-English Literature.
Thursday 26th February-Sciences.
Monday 2nd March-Mathematics.
Tuesday 3rd March-English Literature.
Thursday 5th March-Geography.

Monday 9th March- English Language.

Tuesday 10th March- Mathematics.
Thursday 12th March-Sciences.
Monday 16th March-English Language.
Tuesday 17th March-Mathematics.
Thursday 19th March-History.
Monday 23rd March-Mathematics.

Tuesday 24th March-English Literature.

Thursday 26th March-Sciences.

Monday 30th March-Mathematics.

Tuesday 31st March-EnglishLiterature.

Thursday 2nd April-Geography.

-

If you would like your son/daughter to enroll in this programme please apply directly to the school office before Friday 30th January. As long as there is sufficient demand, the programme will start next Monday.
Yours truly,
Adrian Massam
Headteacher.

Keep out those Winter chills with the new Morna Body Warmer.

Navy Blue with MIC embroidered on the front.
Sizes 3 - 10 years, for sale in the office €29,50. This forms part of the school uniform (currently up to Year 3) and from September 2009 if a body warmer is worn it must be a MIC one!

A letter from the General Manager about developments in Secondary Sports, distributed to parents in Years 7 to 10.





Dear Parents

I am aware that recent developments in our school Sports programme have aroused your curiosity and lead to some requests for clarification. Therefore I would like to offer you a summary of our plans for development in this area of the curriculum.

When I became involved with Morna, one of the areas in which it was clear that the school was lacking was a full-time Sports Instructor, someone who could spearhead an interesting and stimulating PE curriculum that offered much more than the standard, boring school exercise programmes.

With this in mind, when I recruited Paul Politiek, our sports instructor, I charged him with developing interesting and challenging sports and exercise programmes at all levels throughout the school that, particularly at the secondary level, would be varied and stimulating. Having invested enormous sums of money in many different areas in the school, I had limited immediate budget for additional sports and told him that he needed to be inventive and creative. Since I consider exercise to be an essential part of a healthy life, totally believing in the dictum “mens sana in corpore sano” I am very personally involved in what he is doing and I will attempt to explain it to you.

Paul has given a great deal of energy and motivation to the students during their normal gym lessons, AND in their breaks, introducing a variety of sporting activities and supervising them. These have been well received by the students, particularly the younger ones, although unfortunately in the secondary classes there are a significant number of pupils who bring notes from their parents justifying their exemption from sports. PE, in whatever form the school teaches it, forms a part of the curriculum, it is not optional and 100% participation from ALL children is required. Since the principal reason for apathy towards PE amongst the older students is that it was “boring”, the solution was to make it more interesting. The challenge was how to do this with, what at present, are limited facilities.
Addressing this challenge Paul and I have spent a great deal of time working on different programmes for the short, medium and long term and we have developed the following broad framework which is, at the moment a “wish-list”, but which is already materialising:

A.

For the short term, and to introduce elements of variety and interest to our PE programme we have already made arrangements with the Nirvana Gym in San Jordi, for weekly visits, which as you are aware has been advised to parents. There were some teething problems to sort out during the first visit which I personally involved myself in, but in general the session went well, we have received good feedback from students and I am confident that next week will run smoothly. The objective is to take the students into a well organised and controlled inside environment, where weather is not an issue (a problem at this time of year), and to introduce them to the basics of gymnasium conduct and behaviour, and the principles of warm-up and stretching. In general the boys will then embark on an introduction, and I stress introduction, to the good use and understanding of the function of a variety of exercise machines, both aerobic and anaerobic. The keywords are knowledge, control, flexibility and exercise, and under no circumstances will they engage in muscular development or the use of free weights. The girls are receiving “Batuka” classes, an aerobic dance form to a Latin beat, which is “de moda” at the moment, and which develops co-ordination while providing excellent exercise. Nirvana was one of a number of potential locations that were approached, and was selected because of the facilities, ease of control of a group of teenagers, quality of the instructors, ambience and, critically, the willingness of the owners to involve the gym in an educational programme.


B.

The intention is that this programme will continue through this term, and that next term physical education will return to the school site when it will focus around the fitness trail that is going to be installed in the woods. This exciting project, which I see as the medium term addition to the PE programme, and which is, as many of you may know, being funded by the IPAMIC, has received approval from Medio Ambiente in Palma, and we are awaiting delivery of the formal document, (hopefully within the next two weeks according to information that I received from Palma today) to enable the contractor to start work. This facility, in conjunction with the existing exercise courts will provide variety and a stimulating exercise environment and we are delighted that IPAMIC is involved in this on your behalf.


C.

A major programme for the future which we are working on for the next school year, is a four year programme (Years 7 to 10) that will blend a number of outdoor activities with exercise on the premises. This programme, which is as adventurous in its concept as it is in its content, is intended to introduce students to activities such as diving, sailing, climbing, caving, mountain biking, kayaking, the objective being to actively educate students in these sports while advancing their physical and mental development.


D.

Another programme for the future is a “five-a-side” football pitch. This requires planning permission which is being sought from the Consell. When this has been obtained the school has an extremely generous benefactor who has promised to build this for us. At that time we hope that the school will have grown and Morna will be better able to actively enter the school football league.


E.

Along with the football pitch, planning permission has been requested for a multi-function building which we will able to use for a number of things including carrying out exercises whatever the weather. We understand that this request is being favourably viewed by the Consell, and are hopeful that we will receive a licence in the not too distant future.
I hope that this long explanation of what we are trying to achieve gives you an insight into why we have recently started this programme at the Nirvana gym. We are trying to stimulate interest in PE by making it more interesting, more varied and thus more fun.



With regard to specific questions that have been raised by parents:

1.

It is completely legal for under sixteen year olds to enter a gym if they are supervised by adults, in this case our sports instructor and the dance instructor, who is also a fully qualified sports instructor.
2.

The current programme forms part of the PE curriculum, and is not an optional activity. Since students travel by coach to the gym, and travel off the property requires approval from parents, we are required to request your permission just as we have done for transporting students to and from the swimming pool in Santa Gertrudis, an addition to the PE programme that we commenced last year.
3.

Regarding insurance we are advised that we are covered through the school’s insurance policy.

In closing may I say that I had a most enjoyable and quite lengthy discussion with a small group of the boys the first day of the Nirvana programme, explaining most of the foregoing to them. Their interest was apparent and they were gratifyingly enthusiastic about participating in the programme.

I am convinced that our students will gain considerable benefit from participating in this enhanced sports programme over the next few years and naturally assume that their parents will share the school’s enthusiasm for the development. If any of you would like to receive further clarification or offer suggestions I will be holding an open meeting (for secondary parents) next Tuesday, 27th January at 15:15 in the school dining room.

With kind regards

Graham Wilkinson

Parent-Teacher meetings:

Parent-teacher meetings to follow up the first term reports have been scheduled as follows:

Primary and Foundation Stage, from Monday 19th January to Thursday 22nd January.

Secondary, from Monday 26th January to Thursday 29th January.

Individual appointment forms are being distributed this week via the pupils.

'A' level information recently distributed to Year 11 parents and pupils.

Dear students and parents,

In order to plan for ‘A’ level provision, the school will need prospective students to give an indication of their subject choices for Year 12.

‘A’ level courses are divided into two parts, both externally assessed. The Advanced Subsidiary qualification (AS) is normally taken at the end of Year 12 and the full Advanced qualification (A level) at the end of Year 13. In language subjects such as Spanish, proficiency in the language may allow the full ‘A’ level to be taken earlier.

Students should aim to complete the equivalent of either 3 or 4 full ‘A’ levels. They may replace one full ‘A’ level with two ‘AS’ qualifications if they wish to study more subjects. Choices have to take into account possible future decisions about university or college courses and the country in which they may decide to study.

Before making decisions students should consult with their tutor and/or the Headteacher to ensure that their choices are adequate. Parents are welcome to be present at these meetings and should make an appointment through the school office. (Preliminary meetings between students and the Headteacher will be taking place immediately after the mock examinations in January).

There are many different subjects available at ‘A’ level.
Morna International College can offer the following:

English Language
English Literature
Media Studies
German Language
Spanish Language
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Geography
Art and Design
Music Technology
Applied Information Technology

Not all of these courses are implemented in any one particular year. The final list is established once the preferences and the needs of the students entering Year 12 have been discussed.

Students in Years 12 and 13 also receive classes in:
Physical Education
PSHE (Personal Social and Health Education)
Thinking Skills (this course leads to an extra ‘AS’ qualification)

Students intending to enter Year 12 will be required to submit their options in writing by the end of the second term. Obviously some final adjustments to choices may be made after the publication of the IGCSE results.

Yours truly
Adrian Massam
Headteacher.

A ‘theatrical’ Christmas.

Christmas 2008 will be remembered for the quality theatrical performances which involved all sections of the School.
The season was opened on Tuesday 2nd December by the Primary school choir singing Christmas songs at the “Age Concern” Christmas lunch in Can Truy.
In the same week, on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th December we offered our first ever theatrical production in the Can Ventosa theatre in Ibiza. Students (and teachers) from the Secondary section performed the very entertaining musical comedy “Crazy Capers, Dodgy Deals”. This was offered as a charity performance with profits being donated to UNICEF.
The Foundation stage gave their Christmas concert on Tuesday 16th December and on the next day the Primary section performed their play “Merry Christmas Mr. Scrooge”