I BIMESTER 2006
It
would seem everything was against us. Presidential elections, Parents Meetings,
Interhouse competitions, end of political campaigns,
Scotland trip meetings, and political meetings. However slots were finally found
to have the “ lonches “ with parents.
First 5th & 6th Grade, then 1st & 2nd Years followed by 3rd & 4th Years. 5th Year had to be postponed until the first weeks of the 2nd Term. Sorry, did I say “parents” before? Noooooooooo, they were delightful children who took part in all the games we had prepared. And we thank you for allowing us to involve you in these activities with the purpose of getting to know each other better and developing a sense of unity. But it wasn’t all play. Our Psychology teacher, Mr Diego Ramos, had prepared mini workshops to help us think about the different stages of development and maturity of our pupils.
The programme for the term was completed as planned. The whole unit on Study Habits was dealt with, giving pupils tools to improve their school performance. The Test on Learning Styles was of great help to them to perceive their own ways of learning. And so, in all grades, this unit was developed. Then each grade moved on with their own programme. Having one class hour per week has helped both pupils and tutors greatly. We look forward to the second term as a challenge due to the great number of extra activities which will take place.
We
could not end this report without telling our parents that we hope to have other
similar activities to integrate both pupils and parents from different grades.
God Bless!
“Welcome 5th Grade!” Just as we had planned at the end of 2005 this was our welcome to them at the beginning of the year. In charge are Miss Marly Barboza and Mr Pedro Castañeda, to whom we give a warm welcome to the Guidance team.
As well as 5th Grade, both 6th Grade and 1st Year will be using the books “ Discovering Values 1,2 & 3” respectively. This material was inspected thoroughly during 2005 and the publishing company offered workshops on its use at the end of last year.
Up to the end of the previous year we had not been satisfied with our work in Guidance due to the lack of class time – 20 minutes on Wednesdays had not been sufficient to develop the material we had intended to teach. This year, however, Guidance has been given a slot in the curriculum and will therefore have a weekly class period. This has produced much expectation as to the development of this area.
In 1st year to 5th Year we have begun to develop Study Habits which was touched on in the final period in 2005. Hoping to improve the academic performance of our students we began by giving them a test to discover their individual Learning Styles. We believe this will help them to organize their studies better. All teachers in each subject area have been asked to provide a bimestral, semestral or annual syllabus with a list of Study Techniques which they recommend for successful learning. Each student has this information attached to their copybooks.
As well as whole group Guidance, individual guidance & counseling is available to attend to specific student needs on an individual basis. To allow this personal interviews are conducted on regular schedule all year round. Interviews will also take place with parents to support this process at home and to facilitate the all round development of our students.
This year the Guidance Team is as follows:
5º A M Barboza 5º B P Castañeda
6º A R Marín 6º B R Hidalgo
1º A M Basualto 1º B J Guzmán
2º A E Lavado 2º B M Scarlett
3º A E Armstrong 3º B J Carrera
4º A H Mattos 4º B J Ecos
5º A D Ramos 5º B C Silva
The whole team participated in two training sessions organized by the Guidance Area. The first ,led by the psychologist
Carmen Carvajal of the Diego Thompson Institute, was on Learning Styles. The second, led by Psychology Teacher Mr Diego Ramos, covered various areas of Guidance & Counselling which the school wishes to develop. This has been the beginning of Guidance 2006. We hope to keep this page up to date with progress made during the year.
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What is Guidance and Counselling?
This has resulted from the basic need for pupils to be listened to and guided in different areas of their lives, not only at school but also in their personal situations to enable them to achieve their full potential in wellbeing and quality of life. We hope to contribute to their all round character development so that from Kindergarden to Secondary 5 they will develop solid Christian values.
We wish, as their Tutors, to give guidance to pupils requiring counselling and advice, and to help with any difficulty or problem.
What kind of student do we wish to produce?
A student who, from Biblical principles, will
Being facilitators in their development, we move along with our pupils in the different stages of their growth making sure they are accepted, valued and loved in the SanAndres community.