Student Newsletter – November 2018
After a well-deserved half term break and all still feeling positive and motivated after our Diversity Day, we returned to College knowing that November would be a very busy month. Especially for our A2 Drama students who had one of their official Performance examinations.
Palma College doors are always open, and we are always happy to receive visitors who give up their time to share their knowledge and experience with us. This month has been a busy one!
Ged Kennedy from Easyjet came in and had our Business students building a package holiday. They proposed and designed a Hawaiian holiday with tree house accommodation for us!
They also received a visit from Paloma Garcia from Inturea who specialises in Digital Marketing. She gave a talk on social media for brands. Paloma has been kind enough to invite our Business students to Inturea offices for a tour and a firsthand view of a Marketing office environment.
We have had some exciting Enrichment projects this month. The Hummingbird Project where Rosalinda came in to share the project with our A2 students. Students were asked to think where they see themselves in 10 years, what small steps they can take to get there and to come up with ideas and prototypes to deal with mental health issues amongst adolescents given the shocking statistics from the WHO.
Our U6 students have been following an Interview Skills programme with Life Coach Sabrina from Just be Sassi
Over the past few months our students participated in a variety of different activities with Sabrina to help them prepare for their upcoming University interviews. After spending time going over their personal statements with them to get a feel for who they are and what they plan to do in the future, she set about researching their University and career choices to offer them a tailored interview. The sessions culminated in a mock interview. Students came dressed for the occasion and with a suitable amount of nerves that made the experience very realistic.
They all learnt a great deal including the importance of pre-interview nerves and how to deal with them. Students went into the interviews in small groups to observe peers and get feedback.
When the interviews had finished students came together to talk about how they felt about the experience and how it went. They also had the opportunity to ask how to handle different questions and how to answer the most difficult question of all. “Who are you?”
The feedback from both Sabrina and our students was very positive and we will see how far they have come when they come face to face with our external interview panel early next year to consolidate their interview skills.
Our AS students visited Lonja18 for one of our favourite Enrichments – Cooking classes. We learnt to make all kinds of Mexican dishes such as tacos, quesadillas, nachos and guacamole. Students were really hands on, learnt how to chop, peel, fry and mash. A couple of them even volunteered to wash up! When they finished, we all sat down together and enjoyed a delicious lunch. It was great to see students so engaged and learning not only new skills but also trying new flavours and foods.
The students were really proud of themselves!
The last Enrichment for this month was a fun Practical Finance lesson lead by the Headteacher. All our sixth-form students came together to learn how to balance accounts and were challenged to find the best option to book a flight and train tickets online within a specific time frame.
For the second part of the lesson they were put into teams and learnt how to calculate interest rates, make decisions on how to budget to cover living costs and how to work out tax bills. The team with the healthiest budget at the end of the year won a prize.
In our Estudi General building our Maths and Science students have been hard at work sitting assessments. Dr. Aguiló and all the other members of staff are very proud of how they have been studying to try and achieve good grades.
And our College dog Rubiol is always on hand for a cuddle.
The A2 Drama students have had important deadlines this month, as well as their Performance Exam, but still found time to visit Palma’s beautiful Theatre Principal to see La Omisión de la familia Coleman about an everyday family. It originates from Teatro Timbre 4, an Argentinian theatre company and has travelled around 22 different countries. The visit forms an important part of the Drama course as students practise their critiquing skills.
Nerves and stress were tangible amongst them ahead of their examination performance, but with the generous feedback and guidance from Drew Donovan and Jenny Whiffen from Isla Theatre Project they felt confident and we were all very impressed with what they achieved.
A2 Art students have worked on their third outcome of their Art piece for Component 1. Here students are cutting and sawing different materials for their structures. One to form a cube which will be the central part of their piece and the other is working on a frame for the illustration that he plans to lay out in a box.
Spanish students have been out and about in our neighbourhood, looking for examples of how Palma supports recycling and other environmental related issues and the work EMAYA does. Students have been preparing a Powerpoint presentation in class on their findings.
Staff have talked about a range of subjects and shared lots of ideas in their Inset afternoons, which we hold every Wednesday. They have shared digital resources to use in the classroom, report writing tips, and had a special session on SEN (Special Educational Needs).
That was just a snapshot of our November. We are busy preparing for our Open Day on 17th December and lots of other Christmas treats. While students who are taking their exams in January will be making the most of their last classes before their exams.