MORNA INTERNATIONAL IBIZA

2010-07-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Five years as Head of Morna.

The end of term privegiving ceremony was also a farewell ceremony for Adrian Massam, the head of Morna since 2005. Mr Massam concluded the ceremony with a leaving speech which has been reproduced here:

This is my last opportunity to stand up here and talk to you all. I’ve got approximately five minutes in which to summarise five years and so I’m going to move fairly quickly from initial impressions to final comments.

I will always remember a rather heated parents meeting back in September 2005 when I was greeted as the new headmaster with a surprising level of mistrust, and this was mainly due to the fact that I was placing a lot of importance on putting fences around the car park and the school grounds. I think some of you feared that I might be planning to convert your free spirited school into some kind of military camp. I remember, a little while after that, when school uniform was introduced there was a similar sort of reaction from some of you.
Five years have passed since that meeting. I sincerely hope that if you look now at the education your children receive, inside the boundary fence and alongside the visual effect of the school uniform, you will agree that it is still based on a philosophy that has allowed the spirit of Morna to remain very much alive.

Personally, I’ve always been considered more of an organiser than a philosopher. The educational philosopher that I work for is all of you sitting out there.
All of you create the spirit of Morna, but if spirits want to move and influence the material world they need the means to do so. My main task has been to focus the school on trying to equip our students with those means. I want the spirit of Morna to have qualifications, skills, moral values and self esteem.

Most of you agree that there has been change and progress over the last five years. Normally any process of successfully moving forward includes three key players:
Number one is the person who literally picks up the machete and hacks the path through the jungle.
Number two is the person who follows up by building a road so that everyone can get to the new territory and then number three organises the people when they arrive so that they can actually live and work together.
If you look at the recent history of Morna, a lot of the credit for the metaphorical jungle cutting has to go to Helen Davenport who really gave the school a huge opportunity by rebuilding it here. I also have to thank her personally for offering me this job in the first place and consequently bringing me to Ibiza.
Referring to person number two, without a doubt the key road builder over the last few years has been Graham Wilkinson. I would like to thank him on behalf of Morna for moving the school forward by setting the right priorities, by organising the necessary funding and simply for wanting the school to be special.
I have been mainly person number three, following the jungle cutter and the road builder by organising the rules in the highway code, painting the white lines and putting up the speed limit signs so that everyone can successfully work together and get what they want or what they expect from the school.

I’m going to slip in a little bit of philosophy by offering you a quote from a psychology professor called Meredith West. I think this quote forms a part of my own philosophy and I’m sure it will help to explain why, on one or two occasions, I have found myself doing battle with the spirit of Morna. Hopefully constructive battle.
Meredith West simply said, “If you want to stand out, don’t be different, be outstanding”. They’re not my words but I would like to borrow them today and offer them to all of you as my personal advice to the Morna of the future.

Before I run out of time, I’m going to take my last opportunity to say thank you to each and every one of you.

Firstly to my colleagues, the staff. I can state with all honesty that the present Morna teachers and administrative staff represent one of the most competent and dedicated school faculties that I’ve ever worked with. These people are your guarantee that Morna will be an excellent school and I want to thank them for doing such a good job. By doing so they’ve made it much easier for me to do a decent job as Headmaster.

Thank you, all of you who are Morna parents. Thank you for being supportive most of the time and also thank you for being critical on occasions. I know I haven’t accepted or agreed with all of your advice but I can assure you that I’ve learned something from every single opportunity that we’ve had to communicate with each other.

And finally thank you Morna students. Thank you for being yourselves. Thank you for listening and learning most of the time, and thank you for making what your teachers and I actually do here such a worthwhile job.

Some people believe that spirits are eternal and if that’s true then the laws of probability state that all of us will meet again an infinite number of times. If, however, that’s not the case then it’s been really nice working with you and I hope to see at least some of you again on some occasions in the future.
Thank you.

2010-06-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

A third term full of novelties.

This term has seen the very successful introduction of a number of new events that I am sure will become regular parts of the school calendar.
These have included two residential trips:

Years 7, 8 and 9 spent four days in Mallorca, following a very challenging adventure activities programme.

Years 5 and 6 enjoyed a residential programme in San Miguel, also with a good range of outdoor activities.
The annual art show saw the introduction of music and film items, creating a ‘multimedia’ exhibition while the annual sports days were developed into a more elaborate “Olympic week” which included, for the first time, a swimming gala.

2010-05-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Our most successful fund raising event to date.

The sponsored circuit, which took place on Friday 26th February, united the whole school in a collective effort to raise money to help with the reconstruction of Haiti after the recent earthquake. It also served as a special inauguration of the fitness circuit that the school has recently installed in the woods. Pupils of all ages, and even teachers in fancy dress, participated in the circuit and thanks to generous sponsorship from Morna parents, the school raised an impressive total of 3500 euros. This was presented to the local “Cruz Roja” in a ceremony that took place on Friday 14th May.

2010-02-15T05:46:00.000-08:00

Year Twelve and Twelfth Night

Our ‘A’ level English Literature students recently spent their weekend in London in order to see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s performance of Twelfth Night. They also took advantage to complete the cultural visit with tours of the Globe Theatre and several art galleries.

They were accompanied by their English teacher, Shelley Taylor.

2009-12-31T05:59:00.000-08:00

A “spectacular” build up to Christmas.

Christmas special events started with the annual presentation at the “Age Concern” Christmas lunch in Can Truy. This year, apart from the traditional Christmas songs, we included extracts of our two upcoming theatre performances.
“Oliver Twist”, our most ambitious production to date, took place in the Palacio de Congresos in Santa Eulalia on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th December. Both performances managed to impress, delight and thoroughly grip their audiences of around 300 spectators. The production received an excellent review in the Diario de Ibiza.
“Santa’s on Strike” was the title of the Primary section play, performed in the school on Wednesday 16th December. Many of our younger pupils took the opportunity to demonstrate their acting skills in this highly successful show.

2009-12-31T04:17:00.000-08:00

2009-12-31T04:12:00.000-08:00

2009-12-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

2009-10-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

Even better than expected!

The Autumn fair (see article below) was an outstanding success. Thanks to everyone who took part!

We raised 1075€ for the Cambodian Childrens' Painting Project and a further 365€ to be added to the Malawi school fund.

2009-10-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

Autumn Fair next Wednesday.

Dear parents,
Next Wednesday, 21st October, you are all invited to our Autumn Fair, an annual event in which our students set up a variety of stalls and activities in order to raise money for specific charity projects.
This year the Primary section will be using the fair to achieve more funding for their ongoing support of the Chankhasi School in Malawi.(Information can be found on this blog)

In addition to participating in the fair, Primary pupils will also be organising a “pyjama day”, on the same Wednesday, in which by paying a 1€ donation they can attend school dressed in their pyjamas (as long as they agree not to fall asleep!).

The Secondary section student council have decided to destine the funds raised by the Secondary section to the Cambodian Children’s Painting Project, an organisation with members based in Ibiza who have been present at previous events in the school. More information about their project can be found at www.letuscreatecambodia.org
The fair itself promises to be a lively event with plenty of opportunities to buy, eat, drink and be entertained. It will be open to parents from 14:30 onwards, until about 16:00, and we hope that all of you will be able to attend.

Yours truly,
Adrian Massam
Headteacher.

2009-10-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

Important novelties in the activities programme.

The extra-curricular activites programme commenced on the 1st of October with some familiar and some completely new activities. The newly introduced items include the UCMAS programme, an internationally established method for developing children's powers of concentration and their mental arithmetic skills. A demonstration of this activity, carried out at the parents meeting in September, achieved excellent press coverage in the Diario de Ibiza and over thirty pupils have since enrolled. Another new activity, which has started successfully, is a course in three dimensional computer graphics and animation.

The full list of activities taking place is as follows:

Football, Tennis, Art, Piano, Guitar, UCMAS and 3D Graphic Production.

2009-09-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Malawi project update: Making a roof out of biscuits!

Our Primary section pupils and teachers can proudly see the results of their regulary weekly biscuit sales in aid of the Chankhasi School in Malawi. Donations have been used to buy the roof trusses which are now in place and pending the completion of the school roof. The Chankhasi school has made huge advances in the last two years and our continued support will be essential to keep up this pace of development.

2009-09-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

Newsletter September 2009.

Dear parents and students,

Firstly I would like to welcome you all back to school and to the start of the academic year 2009/2010. We have thirty-five pupils who are completely new to our school community and I am sure that they will be quickly integrated and made to feel at home.
I want to welcome three new members of our teaching staff: Steve Gallego, who has taken over as physical education teacher and coordinator, Lorraine McFarlane, who returns to Morna as assistant teacher in the nursery class and Vannessa Pearson who has joined us as assistant teacher in Year 2.

Here are a few brief but important news items relating to the start of this academic year and the conclusion of the last one:

Academic performances worth celebrating.

Excellent overall results were achieved by pupils in the Year 11 class who sat their main GCSE examinations last June.
Ten out of the fourteen pupils who completed Year 11 passed between six and nine subjects, four of these passed all nine examinations and one pupil actually achieved grade A or A* in every single subject.
In total 80% of all examinations taken resulted in grades A* to C (the grades that are recognised as passes for access to higher education)
These results confirm that Morna International College is reaching its targets with regards to academic performance and, as the table below clearly demonstrates, there has been very substantial improvement over the last four years.

IGCSE performance for pupils in Year 11
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009
A* to C 54% 60% 68% 80%
A* or A 19% 26% 28% 31%

In addition to this, evidence from SAT’s and internal assessment of pupils throughout the school suggests that these standards will be maintained in future years.
Pupils in Year 12 taking the first half of the ‘A’ level qualification (‘AS’) achieved an overall 82% pass rate, which places them in a good position to successfully complete their ‘A’ levels this year.
We also continue to raise expectations and standards in the Spanish and German examinations where pupils are often entered one or two years earlier than the other subjects. Native speakers are taking ‘AS’ and ‘A’ level examinations in Years 10 and 11 and even non-native speakers are now entering the Spanish IGCSE a year early. Virtually all of their results have been A* or A.

Parent-tutor meetings

The introductory meetings for parents are scheduled as follows:
Monday 21st September: Parents from Years 10, 11, 12 and 13.
Tuesday 22nd September: Parents from Nursery and Reception.
Wednesday 23rd September: Parents from Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Thursday 24th September: Parents from Years 7, 8 and 9.

The meetings start at 15:45. We hope that you can all attend as they provide an excellent opportunity to meet teachers and tutors and receive information about our plans and objectives for the academic year.

Other events in the first half term.

The annual book fair will be taking place on Monday 28th September. Invitations to all parents will be distributed via the pupils.
Our traditional autumn fund raising event is scheduled for Wednesday 21st October.

Precautions with respect to H1N1 flu.

Morna International College will be following all guidelines issued by the local health and education authorities with regards to the H1N1 flu (‘swine flu’).
At present these consist of the following:
Hygiene measures to avoid infection.
Teachers will explain and reinforce good hygiene habits such as: regularly washing hands (soap and water are available in all the main classrooms as well as the toilets), avoiding sharing cups and utensils, using tissues and not coughing or sneezing into the open air. Parents should also help us to reinforce these habits.
Isolation of individual cases
Pupils should not be sent to school if they have fever or other flu symptoms. Pupils at school who have a fever will be immediately isolated and their parents will be required to take them home.
Information and tracking.
Parents must inform the school if their child is diagnosed as having H1N1 flu so that we can monitor any spread of the illness in particular classes or sections.

At this point in time there is no recommendation for delay to the start of the academic year. We will keep parents informed of any developments or further instructions from the health authorities.

Access to news and information.

The updated version of our Parents Handbook is available for downloading from the school website:

www.mornainternationalcollege.com

The school calendar can also be found there. Alternatively, parents may collect copies from Linda in the school office.
Please remember that regular news items and copies of letters are placed on our school blog:

http://mornainternationalibiza.blogspot.com
All parents should have provided the school with an e-mail address for individual communication. If you have not already done so, please give this address to Linda or send it to

info@mornainternationalcollege.com

or via a note to your child’s tutor.

Finally I would just like to wish all of our students an enjoyable and highly successful school year.

Yours truly,

Adrian Massam.
Headteacher.

2009-07-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

Final events to close the year.

The academic year 2008/2009 ended on Friday 26th June with the traditional prize giving ceremony, which was attended by Vicent Mari, Mayor of Santa Eulalia. The week leading up to this was, as always, packed with special events which included sports days, the art show and class excursions.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this being a successful year and we look forward to seeing you all again in September.

2009-07-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

Liverpool June 2009

Friday 19th June /Monday 22nd June

Eleven students from years 9 and 10 visited Liverpool last weekend for their end of year trip. The trip included visits to The Beatles Museum, The Tate Gallery, the Liverpool Slavery Museum, the Maritime Museum, Anfield and the Oye live African music festival.

They ate a variety of traditional English food from sweet and sour chicken and seaweed to steak pie.

Students stayed at a youth hostel close to Albert Docks and were accompanied by Philip Dobie and Shelley Taylor.

2009-06-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

MIC would like to thank IPAMIC.

After being active for more than four years, the Independent Parents Association of Morna International College (IPAMIC) has announced its dissolution. Our parents do, however, continue to be represented by the recently formed association AMPAMIC, who have adopted a very similar role and enjoy the support of many former IPAMIC members.
Although their foundation as a representative group was initially motivated by concerns, IPAMIC soon established an open working relationship with the school, and a clear mission statement to collaborate with and support the school’s initiatives to improve the quality of education. They organised numerous fund raising events and subsequently dedicated those funds to purchasing specific educational resources, taking into account the school’s recommendations.
IPAMIC provided parent collaborators for many school curricular projects such as theatre productions, art exhibitions and the PSHE (personal, social and health education) programme, for which they offered speakers with specific expertise in areas such as career choices or drug awareness. They also helped with the organisation and production of school yearbooks.
As parents representatives they brought many suggestions and queries to their meetings with the school management. They carried out surveys providing useful and balanced information about parents’ perceptions of the school and these formed part of the schools own internal review processes. They also set up the parent-teacher liaison group so that parental collaboration in educational projects could be discussed directly with teacher representatives.
Their latest project has been to fund and organise the clearing of the forest area at the back of the school grounds so that this can be used for educational activities. The project proposes establishing a fitness trail to enhance the sports programme and in addition to this the forest will offer many educational opportunities for other subjects. This is expected to be in full use by next academic year.
The list of initiatives and activities becomes more noteworthy when we consider that only a relatively small number of parents have been active members of the IPAMIC board and this group have managed to find the time and energy to participate in many projects from which the school has gained benefit. In recognition of this, Morna International College would like to express its appreciation of their efforts and to thank them for working with us in our movement towards the common goal of excellence that we as educators share with you as parents.

Adrian Massam

Headteacher.

2009-06-02T03:47:00.000-07:00

Events in June:

Dear parents,
As we approach the end of the academic year, I would just like to remind you of the events which will be taking place over the next few weeks and at which we hope to see as many of you as possible.

Primary Sports day.
On Friday 19th June, parents with children in the Primary section are welcome to watch (and even participate in) the inter-house sports day. This will be held on the sports courts starting at 9:30.

Art Show.
This annual event will be taking place on Tuesday 23rd June from 14:30 to 16:00. Art work produced by pupils throughout the school will be on display.

End of year trips.
Details of these will be published separately. Excursions are planned to take place on Wednesday 24th June.

School Yearbook 2009.
We expect this magnificent summary of the school year to be on sale during the last week of term.

Prize giving ceremony.
This will be held on the last day of term (Friday 26th June) at 10:00 in the theatre area. There will be some musical items and several short speeches and refreshments, as well as the traditional presentation of prizes.

I would also like to remind you that reports will be given to all students from Nursery to Year 10 on the last day of term.

Adrian Massam
Headteacher.

2009-04-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

UNICEF receive a donation from MIC students.
On Thursday 25th March, representatives from UNICEF in Ibiza attended a brief assembly in order to receive a donation of 502.50€; funds that had been raised by students from the secondary section in the last autumn fair.

2009-04-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

Fees for 2009/2010 now published.
The school fees for next academic year were published on Friday 3rd April and were sent to parents via the students. If anyone did not receive these they may request a copy at the school office.

2009-03-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

Time to reserve places for September 2009

This week, letters have been distributed to all Morna International College parents requesting the deposit to reserve places for next academic year. Places are automatically reserved on payment of this deposit and there is no need to inform the school in any other way if your children are continuing next year. If your children will not be continuing, please inform the office so that the deposit will not be charged. These places will then become available to new applicants or children on the waiting list. If anyone did not receive this letter please contact the office. Students reserving places in Years 12 and 13 should be aware that these places depend on satisfactory performance in external examinations. Entry into Year 11 is also subject to satisfactory performance in the internal Year 10 examinations.

2009-03-24T04:58:00.000-07:00

Information relating to the external examinations

(recently distributed to students in Years 11, 12 and 13)

Examination dates:

All pupils have been issued with a statement of entry which gives the dates of their written examinations in May. Before the end of April they will receive a complete timetable from the school which gives the exact times of the examinations on these dates.

The following take place prior to the written examinations:

Spanish oral examinations:

IGCSE: Thursday 26th and Friday 27th March
‘A’ level: Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th April

German oral examinations:

IGCSE: Tuesday 31st March

‘A’ level: Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th April

IGCSE Art. Practical examinations:

Monday 20th April 11:30 to 17:00
Tuesday 21st April 11:30 to 17:00

Monday 27th April 11:30 to 17:00

Tuesday 28th April 11:30 to 17:00

IGCSE Information Technology. Practical examinations:

Wednesday 15th April 9:00 to 12:00

Wednesday 22nd April 9:00 to 12:00

Attendance at school:

Normal classes continue until Friday 8th May. After this date students are required to attend for examinations only. They may come in to school for advice and help from their teachers during the examination period but must make individual appointments. Their teachers will tell them exactly when they are available.
The last examinations take place on Friday 12th June. Students should return to school on the last day of term (Friday 26th June) to participate in the prize giving ceremony.

Examination results.

The results will be available at the school office from 24th August.

2009-03-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

OPEN AFTERNOON

Wednesday 18th March 2009, 14:15 to 15:45.

Dear parents,

Next Wednesday (18th March) the school will be organizing an open afternoon, to which you are all invited and encouraged to attend.

Displays and demonstrations involving pupils and teachers will be set up in all classrooms and visitors may circulate freely around all sections of the school. This provides an opportunity to see some good examples of educational activities across the whole age range, not just in your own children’s classes.

Parents are welcome to bring other guests such as friends who might be interested in seeing the school. (If guests arrive separately from the parents who have invited them they should carry some sort of identification).

Our year 12 pupils will be giving guided tours of the school and light refreshments will be available.

Yours truly,

Adrian Massam
Headteacher.

2009-02-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

Bookfair on Monday 2nd March.

Next Monday, Bookworld will be hosting their annual bookfair in the school. This will be open from 10:00 until approximately 17:00 with a large range of English fiction and non-fiction books on sale. All of our students will be given the opportunity to attend the bookfair during the school day and parents may also visit at any time. The fair will be situated in the secondary art room.

2009-02-27T00:50:00.000-08:00

Inter-House Dance Competition.

Friday afternoon (13th February) was the termly Primary house competition. Twenty acts signed up for our annual dance competition. The children had been rehearsing during breaks and lunches for the past week and had come up with some very creative ideas. This years winners with matching pom-poms were Lucy Tucker and Zoe Thompson who bounced and twirled across the stage to "Hey Mickey!" and earned their house Es Palmador 300 house points! Well done girls! The childrens performances was followed by a surprise dance put on by all the primary staff much to the pupils delight!

2009-02-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Update on the Malawi school project.

Biscuit sales are still going strong every Friday when each class takes a turn to make cakes and biscuits to sell at break time. All the monies raised go towards the building of a school in Malawi. The children are very proud of themselves, and rightly so as they have broken the 2000 euro target! Well done everyone. The staff at the african school are currently deciding whether our funds should be put towards the purchase of cement or the construction of a well which would serve the school and the local community too. Watch this space........

2009-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Special St.Valentines assembly.

Love was in the air on the Thursday before half term when Year 6 performed their Valentines assembly for their parents and other Primary children. There was a modern tale of Romeo and Juliet and a toe tapping rendition of "You're the one that I want " from the classic film "Grease". It was a very entertaining half hour where both the performers and the audience had great fun. The prizes for the best Valentines poem were announced at the end of the show with a giant box of chocolates for the winners: Year 1: Maria Ferrer Ramon and Sophie Helb-Gelden, Year 2: Alex Keppeler and Lucia Mari Sanguino, Year 3: Keal Hartmann, Year 4: Muna Agudo, Year 5: Daniel Evenschor and Year 6: Oriane Pietersoone.

2009-02-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

Secondary PSHE workshops 2008/9

Students in years 7 -11 have been involved in numerous workshops in collaboration with CEPCA (the local addictions organisation) that works with children and teenagers in local schools. The workshops have taken place in Spanish lessons and PSHE lessons. All CEPCA workshops have been given in Spanish.
We are also very grateful to Brian Heasley and Bruce (youth worker) also support our PSHE programme offering workshops and talks about a variety of issues.

Completed events:

November 2008
Assertiveness: Year 8 – Bruce/Brian
Drug addiction: year 11 – CEPCA
Cannabis: year 10/11 – CEPCA
Bullying: year 7 – Brian
Dance4life, AIDS education: years 9-13

December 2008
Drug addiction : year 9 –Brian
Addictions:year 10 – CEPCA

Forthcoming events:

February 2009
Smoking/alcohol:year 8 – Brian
Relationships:year 10 – Brian

March 2009
Addictions to new technology:year 7/8 – CEPCA
Alcohol/drugs:year 10 – Brian
Rights and responsibilities:year 7 – Brian/Bruce

April 2009
Drugs first aid:year 11 – Brian/Bruce

2009-01-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

'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.

2009-01-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

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”

2008-12-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

MIC Students at the first ever Dance4Life Ibiza Event 2008
This year young people in Ibiza represented Spain as they participated in Dance4life workshops across the island learning about HIV and AIDS.
Students from Morna International College got involved and were invited to the dance4life celebratory event as AGENTS OF CHANGE.

Eight students from years 9 and 10 took part on Saturday 29th November, when young people from 19 different countries were united live by satellite during the worldwide dance4life event. Together they danced the same dance called: The Drill dancing against AIDS and in support of life.

For more information www.dance4life.com

2008-11-18T11:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the “Morna News blog”

Dear all

I hope that this web blog will soon become an essential weekly (or even daily) visit for all members of the Morna International College community. Parents in particular will be able to keep themselves fully up to date with events and developments. The news blog will include copies of all letters and circulars that have previously been distributed on paper, via pupils, as well as regular items of interest and articles about the many happenings that take place as a result of our increasingly dynamic curricular and extra-curricular progammes. Here in the school we are looking forward to “reaching out” to all of you more frequently and more effectively as a result of this particular development.

Yours truly
Adrian Massam
Headteacher

Inspection day: Friday 7th November 2008

On Friday 7th November, the school was visited by two inspectors from the National Association of British Schools in Spain who carried out an authorisation inspection in order to allow the school to renew its existing authorisation and confirm a full authorization for the newly introduced ‘A’ level courses. The inspectors observed a significant number of lessons as well as reviewing timetables, schemes of work, samples of pupils’ work, staff qualifications, educational resources, school policies and development planning. At the end of the day they were able to confirm their positive recommendation for all sections of the school as well as being very complementary about the evidence that they had seen during the inspection process. This initial feedback will subsequently be followed by the appropriate certificate and some written recommendations. The management of the school were very satisfied with the outcome of the inspection and would like to reiterate our congratulations to our teaching staff and to our pupils.

First donation from the October fair

On Thursday 13th November children in the Primary section were pleased to present a cheque for 300€ to Abel from the Federacion de Razas Autoctonos to help them with their work in protecting autoctonous breeds of animals within Ibiza. The money was raised by the Primary children on their stalls at the autumn fair (which took place on World Animal Day, October 17th). Abel had livened up the fair considerably with his exhibition of animals and the offer of donkey rides.