A VISIT TO PATO AMARILLO: A GREAT EXPERIENCE

On the 13th of February 2020, the School Council and Well-Being Ambassadors from Year 6 went on quite an exciting trip to Pato Amarillo, the charity where we take our Harvest contributions, Christmas boxes, blankets, warm clothes and milk. 
 

What is Pato Amarillo ?

In a poor neighborhood of Madrid, Orcasitas, Pilar, the heart and founder of Pato Amarillo, has helped hundreds of less fortunate families for 35 years. The work that Pilar and her volunteers do is 100 % non-profit and is focused on helping others. They dedicate their free time to organising and distributing donations needed by the poorest families in the community,  such as basic food, clothes, toiletries and even presents for special occasions. We saw a little girl get a brand new doll – how she smiled was priceless!
 

Pilar’s story 

Pilar’s childhood was not the easiest nor was her adulthood. Unfortunately, her son was sold drugs at the door of his school from the age of 14 and died, because of it, at the age of 47. Pilar decided to unite mothers in the same situation and shortly after Pato Amarillo was christened.

Lessons to be Learnt

I think that we’ve all learnt something from Pilar’s inspirational story. She made us realise how fortunate we are and how some people are much less fortunate. She told us not to ask our parents for things that they can’t afford. Do you really need the latest model, the most expensive, ‘what everyone else has’? Will it make you happier?

She told us to NEVER take drugs or anything from strangers. 
Pilar told us that when we are sad, confused or scared we should always turn to those that love and care for us – our parents, family, teachers and friends.

Our message to you is: Think before you buy. Keep donating and participating in our school’s fundraising events. Your SOLIDARITY means everything to these people!

We also celebrated Storytelling Week. Storytelling has earned its place as one of the most important traditions humans possess. Every story contains a lesson to give guidance to the audience. Stories teach us to love, to forgive others, to be just and fair, and to strive for better than we currently have. Consequently children love them. The Story Fairy / Story Teller alias Miss Parfitt, delivered the assemblies for all our Primary pupils right through the Primary School. The children were ‘transported’ off to all different types of magical locations allowing their imaginations to flow!   

Finally, King’s College year 5 boys competed in the international schools Benjamín football sala competition. Against tough opposition, in horrible cold, wet and slippy conditions at Kensington school the boys showed great teamwork, skill and endeavour. Well done to all the boys that both competed in the competition and those that tried out for the team. We go again next year! 

Eco Christmas

Every year after the holidays you are probably left with a huge amount of festive rubbish in your bin. Because we want to keep our planet looking beautiful as it is, students at King’s are trying to be greener and less wasteful. There are certainly ways to try and be more sustainable this Christmas. Here are some of them.

The pupils in Year 3 have decided to make eco-friendly decorations! Not only is their classroom looking amazing, but they did not produce any unnecessary waste in making them.
One pupil has reused cardboard and a piece of wood to create Santa with his sleigh and reindeer! He has also worked with an adult at home to add a small electric circuit for the lights!

Another pupil has used old coffee pods, an old plastic drinks bottle and tin foil such as sweet wrappers to create his own Jingle Bells Christmas decoration. As a class, they then wrote a set of instructions for “How to make a Jingle Bells Christmas decoration.”
Finally, they also thought of a way to use 2 old, odd socks, add some rice and spare buttons and create a snowman Christmas decoration.

Guillermo&Javier (3J) with their amazing creations!

This fabulous performance on stage is set out to help these children to also perform better in life and that is what is most important. Not only did they explore their creativity by signing, dancing and making decorations but they also became more confident. And all of that while they were having fun!
Drama in Primary School is said to develop literacy skills (check out the link!), extend vocabulary and encourage pupils to understand and express different points of view and this is why we are encouraging it from a young age. Here’s to many more assemblies like this one and to many successful careers in acting!

This month we had the pleasure of supporting one of our charities and welcoming them into our school.

 Representatives from Bomberos Ayudan came into school on Monday, 4th of November to collect the produce we had collected for them and to take it to their distribution centre at Pato Amarillo. Pato Amarillo is situated in Orcasitas, which is one of the areas that are most affected by the economic crisis in Madrid. Food and clothing is provided to over 600 families every month thanks to this organisation. Representatives from the Charity Committee and School Council, Primary House Captains, Well-being Ambassadors and children from KS1 helped the firemen  load everything into their van.

Thank you to all the families who contributed to the Harvest Collection. Here’s to many more years working with this amazing organisation!

Year 5 show – Greece Goes to Pieces

The Year 5s did a fantastic job in their performance of ‘Greece Goes to Pieces’ last Tuesday, 29th October. It was a very large cast – 106 pupils and all took part in the singing, acting, dancing and some even made some props.There were lots of lines, actions and songs to learn and practise, but they rose to the occasion and performed with confidence and flair. 

Youth Mental Health First Aid

This week some of our staff members attended a 2 day Youth Mental Health First Aid course. Many members of staff already hold this qualification, and King’s College is committed to providing further training in this field.
Statistics show that one young person in 10 experiences some form of problem with their emotional and mental health in the course of a year.

Increasing people’s awareness of Mental health, reducing stigma and promoting and facilitating early support can empower young people to thrive.

This is what the 2 two day Youth Mental Health First Aid Course delivers, which was sensitively facilitated by 2 experienced, professional trainers who were clearly passionate, skilled and experienced in this area.

Those that attended the course commented that they all came away feeling more knowledgeable and better equipped with strategies to support young people experiencing emotional and mental health concerns within our school.

On Wednesday 18th September 2019, King´s College, Soto were invited to take part in a very special and one-off event that celebrated the launch of The Daily Mile Spain. The Daily Mile is a charitable organisation that aims to offer a  fully-inclusive, free and simple initiative which improves the physical and mental health and wellbeing of children. Its success started in Scotland and is now active across 67 countries. The main ideology behind the initiative is to get every child in the primary school taking part in an additional 15-20 minutes exercise each day, aiming to run a mile!

King’s College was one of only three schools in Madrid to be invited to help launch the event, making it a very special memory for the children indeed. Class 6E had a great time running with and welcoming the launch team which consisted of its Ambassador, Lourdes Garcia Campo, a sports journalist on Spanish TV, representatives of the Daily Mile Foundation in London and of course those leading the initiative here in Spain.  We look forward to launching the scheme throughout the primary school. Watch this Space!