School Blog

Reflexiones, consejos y emociones que a diario nos asaltan en este trabajo que supone dirigir un centro docente / Thoughts, advice and emotions that occur to us as we work every day to achieve academic excellence at our school.

Category: Opiniones de alumnos / Student Opinion (Page 3 of 3)

Pupil Book of the Month / Recomendación lectora mensual de nuestros alumnos

By Cristina R., Year 8 student at Caxton College

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City of Bones – Cassandra Clare

“City of Bones” is the first book of the “The Mortal Instruments” series. It combines fantasy, adventure and romance in a magical world.

Clary Fray is a teenager. She starts seeing things other people can’t such as vampires, werewolves, warlocks and even fairies. She meets Isabelle, Alec and Jace who will go on the help her during her incredible adventure fighting demons. She also becomes conscious of the dangers of forbidden love.

I recommend this book to other students because the description is really effective; it plunges you into the shadowy world of the novel and hammers you with the story. You can even feel what the characters experience. If they are sad, tired, worried or happy, so are you. You open the book and dance through the pages as you create a new chapter in your life: the Shadowhunters phase!

Recommended for students aged from 12-16.

Want to learn more about the book or the writer?

http://shadowhunters.com/shadowhunters-novels/the-mortal-instruments/

Recomendación lectora mensual de nuestros alumnos

Por Cristina R., alumna de Year 8 de Caxton College

Ciudad de hueso – Cassandra Clare

“Ciudad de hueso” es el primer libro de la serie “Cazadores de sombras” y combina fantasía, aventura y romance en un mundo mágico.

Clary Fray es una adolescente que empieza a ver cosas que otras personas no pueden ver, como vampiros, hombres lobo, brujos e incluso hadas. Conoce entonces a Isabelle, Alec y Jace, quienes le ayudan durante una aventura increíble combatiendo demonios. Al mismo tiempo también se hace consciente de los peligros del amor prohibido.

Recomiendo este libro a otros estudiantes por el uso tan efectivo que hace de la descripción. Te sumerge en el mundo sombrío de la novela y te golpea con la historia. Incluso puede sentir lo que los personajes experimentan. Si están tristes, cansados, preocupados o felices, también tú llegas a estarlo. Abres el libro y bailas a través de las páginas a medida que creas un nuevo capítulo en tu vida: ¡la fase de los cazadores de sombras!

Recomendado para alumnos de 12 a 16 años.

¿Quieres aprender más sobre el libro o el escritor?

http://shadowhunters.com/shadowhunters-novels/the-mortal-instruments/

Pupil Book of the Month / Recomendación lectora mensual de nuestros alumnos

By María A., Year 8 student at Caxton College

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“The Fault in our Stars” – John Green

This book is all about Hazel Grace, a sixteen year old victim of thyroid cancer with mets in her lungs. She is described as a depressed and downhearted girl which spends at home most of her adolescence watching ‘America’s Next Top Model’. However, in reality, she is a very intellectual girl whose passion is re-reading the same novel over and over again, which changed the way she reacted to incidents in her life: ‘An Imperial Affliction’ (AIA). After being forced to attend Support Group classes, she luckily meets an amazing guy named Augustus Waters, who had suffered from osteosarcoma in his leg. As soon as their eyes meet, they immediately connect with each other. As a result of her recommending that he read her favourite book, they both start to have in common their passion for ‘AIA’. They continuously discuss the book, expressing their inner emotions and, thankfully, they keep in touch with each other for a long period of time.

The main reason I love this book, is not only because of the entertaining plot, but also because of the way the characters react to their daily incidents. They might only seem to be simple teenagers; however, they have the intellectual capacity of more intelligent and understanding people. They have suffered from situations in which they have been close to death a number of times, which have made them even stronger and contributed to help them admire the world from a different and more original view. In my opinion this novel is essential to read and to therefore understand how cancer victims feel, by putting ourselves in their shoes.

Link to the book on Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fault-Our-Stars-John-Green/dp/0141345659

Recomendación lectora mensual de nuestros alumnos

Por María A., alumna de Year 8 en Caxton College

“Bajo la misma estrella” – John Green

Este libro es sobre Hazel Grace, una víctima de cáncer de tiroides de dieciséis años con metástasis en sus pulmones. Ella se describe como una chica deprimida y desanimada que pasa en casa la mayor parte de su adolescencia viendo ‘America’s Next Top Model’. Sin embargo, en realidad, es una chica intelectual cuya pasión es volver a leer la misma novela (“Una aflicción imperial”) una y otra vez, hecho que cambió la forma en que reaccionó ante sus acontecimientos vitales. Después de ser obligada a asistir a clases de terapia de grupo, tiene la suerte de conocer a un tipo increíble llamado Augustus Waters, que había sufrido de osteosarcoma en la pierna. En cuanto sus miradas se cruzan, inmediatamente conectan entre sí. Augustus lee el libro favorito de Hazel y ambos empiezan a compartir su pasión por “Una aflicción imperial”. Ellos discuten continuamente aspectos del libro expresando sus emociones internas.

La principal razón por la que me encanta este libro, no es sólo por la trama entretenida, sino también por la forma en que los personajes reaccionan a las incidentes del día a día. Pueden parecer adolescentes sencillos, sin embargo, son personas inteligentes y comprensivas. Han sufrido situaciones en las que han estado cerca de la muerte varias veces, lo que les ha hecho aún más fuertes y ha contribuido a ayudarles a admirar el mundo desde una perspectiva diferente y más original. En mi opinión, es imprescindible leer esta novela y, por tanto, entender cómo se sienten las víctimas de cáncer, poniéndonos en su lugar.

Link al libro en Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fault-Our-Stars-John-Green/dp/0141345659

Pupil Book of the Month / Recomendación lectora mensual de nuestros alumnos

By Inés P., Year 10 student at Caxton College

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“I am Malala” – Malala Yousafzai

This is the autobiography of Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel peace prize winner ever. She has inspired thousands of men and women to fight peacefully against terrorism and to fight for education. She shares her inspiring story in this amazing autobiography.

Malala lived in Pakistan with her two brothers and her mum and her dad who owned the girls’ school that Malala attended. She had a normal life, she went to school and really enjoyed it. Her major preoccupations were having top grades in her class until one day the Taliban invaded their city. They took control of the city and imposed really strict rules:  women could not leave the house alone, girls older than 11 couldn’t go to school, neither they could speak with someone who wasn’t from their family. As Malala loved school, she and her friends still went to school and whenever they asked them how old were they, they would always respond eleven. As she and her family suffered a lot her dad gave her the opportunity of writing a blog for the BBC, describing how horrible their conditions were. She became quite famous as many people read it. She even went to England to give speeches to students. Until one day she was on the school bus heading to school and some terrorists stopped the bus. They were looking for her. The terrorists recognized her and shot her in the head.

This book is really inspiring and makes you appreciate what you have and how important education is. I really recommend this book to everyone, particularly to students, to see what incredible things people do just to go to school. Also the book is easy to read as it doesn’t have lots of difficult vocabulary. It’s not really big and it doesn’t take much time to read, but Malala’s story might just change the way you think.

Link to biographical information

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2014/yousafzai-bio.html

Link to the book on amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Malala-Stood-Education-Taliban/dp/031628663X

En la final del Programa Becas Europa / In the final round of the “European Grants Programme” ​

La estudiante de Year 13, Estela C., acaba de pasar a la Final de la XI Edición del “Programa de Becas Europa” con el objetivo de estimular el talento y la formación de los alumnos preuniversitarios. Ella misma se ha ofrecido a contarnos su experiencia.   

Por Estela C. Alumna de Year 13 de Caxton College

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El programa de Becas Europa consiste en seleccionar a 50 candidatos con el propósito de viajar por Europa a lo más profundo de la esencia de diferentes universidades, disfrutando de conferencias, actividades culturales y encuentros con personalidades de las instituciones que visiten.

Y los objetivos son premiar, fortalecer y estimular el talento y la formación de los alumnos preuniversitarios promoviendo en ellos un compromiso de desarrollar estos talentos al servicio de la sociedad.

Las diferentes fases de la competición han sido originales y muy divertidas de llevar a cabo, conociendo a otros candidatos y forjando amistades. Al estar clasificada veo mi recorrido por Becas Europa con mucho cariño y con ganas de participar en la 4º Fase de Selección que consiste en asistir a un fin de semana al Campus de la Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. Ahí, formaremos equipos y realizaremos una serie de pruebas para seleccionar a los 50 ganadores del viaje final. Sin embargo el hecho de estar en la final ya proporciona una serie de ventajas para cuando seamos universitarios, ya que te incluyen en un programa con mentores que te apoyan y aconsejan durante esta etapa tan importante.

En cada ciudad del viaje final, los alumnos participan en la vida cultural del lugar: la ópera, el teatro musical, un taller gastronómico… Ayudan a enriquecerse con la belleza y creatividad de la cultura de cada lugar. Además, se realizan actividades de ocio típicas de cada ciudad como el remo en Oxford, una gymkhana urbana en Heidelberg, disfrutar de un simulador del Ferrari F1 o realizar visitas turísticas a los lugares europeos más representativos. Es más, en ediciones pasadas, Becas Europa ha contado con una gran variedad de ponentes y encuentros con personalidades en las instituciones que visita. Desde el Papa Benedicto XVI a la primera dama de Inglaterra, Cherie Blair. Concluyendo cada edición con un encuentro con SS.MM. D. Felipe y Dña. Letizia, Reyes de España.

La primera vez que me dieron la oportunidad de participar lo dudé porque no sabía a lo que me estaba presentando pero, después de informarme supe que era una gran oportunidad y que valía la pena intentarlo. La primera prueba es solo responder a unas preguntas generales y personales, así que  animo a los futuros candidatos a que lo intenten y se embarquen en esta aventura tan emocionante.

Becas Europa es una oportunidad única, llena de actividades interesantes y personas que te hacen ser mejor, voy a disfrutar de la final y con suerte del viaje increíble pero solo con haber sido parte de la familia de Becas Europa ya me siento afortunada.


Our Year 13 student, Estela C., has just reached the Finals of the XI Edition of the “European Grants Programme”, which was created to encourage the talent and training of pre-university students. She tells us about her experience in her own words.  

By Estela C. Year 13 student at Caxton College

The European Grants programme consists of selecting 50 candidates who will then travel around Europe, to experience in depth the essence of different Universities, while attending conferences, enjoying cultural activities and meeting with people from the institutions visited.  

The aims are to reward, strengthen and stimulate the talent and training of these pre-University students, while fostering in them a commitment to develop their talents for the benefit of society as a whole.

The different rounds of the competition were original and great fun for us, as we got to meet the other candidates and forged friendships with them. Now that I have been classified, I look back fondly on my experience so far with European Grants, and am really looking forward to taking part in the fourth selection stage.  This will consist of spending a weekend on campus at the Francisco University in Vitoria.  There, we will be put into teams and will have to perform a series of tests in order to choose the 50 finalists who will go on the trip. However, just making it to the final round already gives us a number of advantages for when we go to University, as we are included in a mentoring programme, and will receive support and advice during this important stage of our lives.

In every city on the final trip, the winning students will experience the cultural scene there: the opera, musical theatre, cookery workshops… These are enriching events which help to appreciate the beauty and creativity in the culture of each of the cities. There are also typical recreational activities in the host towns, such as rowing in Oxford, an urban gymkhana in Heidelberg, enjoying a Ferrari F1 simulator or guided tours of the most representative European cities.  In addition, in former years, European Grants has been fortunate to count on the participation of a wide range of speakers and meetings with famous personalities in the institutions visited, from Pope Benedict XVI to the UK’s first lady, Cherie Blair. Each edition concludes with a meeting with Their Majesties Don Felipe and Doña Letizia, King & Queen of Spain.

The first time I was offered the chance to take part in this contest, I hesitated because I did not quite know what was involved, but after finding out more about it I realised that it was a great opportunity, and one worth aiming for.  The first round only involves answering some general and personal questions, so I would encourage all future candidates to try for it, and to embark on this wonderfully exciting adventure.

European Grants is a unique opportunity, full of interesting activities and people who will make you want to be a better person.  I intend to thoroughly enjoy the final round and, if I am lucky enough, the incredible journey that follows. However, I already feel very fortunate just to have been a part of the family that makes up European Grants.

Books of the Month (June)

Life of Pi

Life of Pi – Yann Martel

Recommendation by Aislin N., Year 7D pupil at Caxton College

Life of Pi is a book about religion, tragedy and loss. It narrates the life of a young boy whogoes by the nickname of ‘Pi’ who endures great pain; emotionally and physically. During the suffering he still maintains his faith and the flicker of hope that he will be found and saved.

This book was recommended to me by my Maths teacher. I really enjoyed it because it was quite realistic and very well written. I would recommend it to people of around my age and up because the level of vocabulary is fairly neutral but the meaning is deep.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Pi- Yann-Martel/dp/0857865536/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465802935&sr=1-1&keywords=life+of+pi

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Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

Recommendation by Nicola Porch, Secondary Science teacher at Caxton College

Never Let Me Go is a dystopian science fiction novel which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2005 and was adapted for film in 2010. The novel is narrated by Kathy who describes her experiences with her friends Tommy and Ruth at a seemingly idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. The narrative recounts the friends’ slow realisation of the terrible truth of their purpose in life as they attempt to confront the feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten their friendship and sense of self.

I loved this book! It is about a group of young people who desperately want to have independence and control over their lives, just like we all do, but especially when we are teenagers. Throughout the whole story you hope that things will turn out well for these particular friends, that they won´t have to follow the path of their predecessors.

Will the system let them do this though? You will have to read it to find out! Please note – the themes and content of this novel make it more suitable for older students. We would recommend it to students of year 10 and above.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Let- Me-Kazuo-Ishiguro/dp/0571258093/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465803008&sr=11&keywords=never+let+me+go

‘If-‘

Caxton College - Kipling

Year 10 have been studying ‘If-‘ by Rudyard Kipling in their Literacy class. One of their assignments has been to write a parody about a topic of their choice. Here is Lucia’s amazing poem

If you can bear 6 hours of pain in child birth
And six years of constant teenage angst
If you can be weeks only awake with mirth
Not receiving any response like ‘thanks’
If you can stand having a baby crying
Or a child screaming or a teen scowling
Or being annoyed by others criticising
Of your personal choices, for fouling

If you can change eight diapers every day
As your child changes his food preference
If you can give up your social life to play;
To be a child expert with no reference
If you can sacrifice your precious free time
To watch Peppa Pig marathons for hours
Or be worried because it’s way past bedtime
And your kid could be jumping off towers

If you can stand his annoying friend’s parties
Whilst small-talking with their nagging parents
If you can endure walls scribbled with sharpies,
And make room for swarms of birthday presents
If you can scold him for under-achieving
So that he will be able to afford clothes
If you can hold him when his heart is breaking
Because you understand more than he knows

If you can support him when he’s left alone
After he gathered the courage to be gay
If you can acknowledge when you need a loan
For those art classes he attends to pay
If you can always put a smile on your face
When he’s too sad to do it for himself
Yours is the blessing of happiness, love, grace…
And – which is more – you’ll be a mum as well!

Lucía, Year 10D

Buenos consejos de dos Old Caxtonians universitarias

Caxton College - Old Caxtonians

Desde la Universidad de Cambridge y la Escuela de Moda, Arte y Diseño Marangoni en Londres,  Marta Uncio y Zoe Zanón visitaron a nuestros alumnos de Year 12 para aconsejarles sobre su futuro académico.

  1. APROVECHAR AL MAXIMO EL COLEGIO: Es importante estudiar al máximo desde Yr. 12 porque de esta forma obtendrán la mejor  nota posible. Deben intentar ser ellos los que elijan su futura carrera, y que su nota no les impida estudiar lo que quieran y dónde quieran.
  1. ESFUERZO CONSTANTE: Todo el esfuerzo que hagan durante Yr. 12 y 13 será recompensado cuando puedan estudiar el grado que les gusta,  porque al final te sientes muy realizado y orgulloso de ti mismo.
  1. ELEGIR EL GRADO ADECUADO A TU VOCACIÓN: A la hora de elegir un grado universitario, deben elegir uno que realmente les interese, les motive y por el que tengan vocación. Estudiar en la universidad requiere mucho esfuerzo y horas de trabajo y si los estudios que han elegido les gustan, será mucho más motivador. Ellas  incluso comentan que tienen  ganas de llegar a casa y hacer los trabajos que les han mandado porque disfrutan mucho aprendiendo.
  1. ESTUDIAR FUERA DE TU CIUDAD: Ellas aconsejan salir a estudiar fuera de sus ciudades, no hace falta que sea en el extranjero, simplemente salir de casa a otra ciudad para vivir independiente.   Aunque al principio dé un poco de miedo e inseguridad, las vivencias que van a tener lo superan con creces. Ellas están seguras que vivir fuera les ha hecho madurar y ser más responsables.
  1. CONVIVENCIA Y COMPETITIVIDAD: Si finalmente estudian fuera de su ciudad, no deben de tener miedo de convivir con otros compañeros, en seguida hacen una piña entre ellos, se ayudan incluso para estudiar, compartir libros y apuntes,  y no hay apenas competitividad.
  1. APRENDER A GESTIONAR EL TIEMPO: Al vivir independiente de tus padres, tienes que aprender a organizar tu tiempo: para estudiar, hacer deberes y proyectos, conocer la ciudad, salir con amigos…al principio es normal cometer errores y salir en exceso,   pero después te vas dando cuenta  del tiempo que has perdido y del esfuerzo que supone  recuperarlo, así que al final aprendes que hay que gestionarse mejor y vas aprendiendo con la práctica.
  1. AMPLIAR AMISTADES CON ALUMNOS EXTRANJEROS: Cuando estudias fuera, eres un alumno extranjero más y te unes a otros compañeros que están en tu misma situación sean del país que sean. Ellas comentan que se arrepienten de no haber  conocido mejor y haber  valorado más a sus compañeros extranjeros en el colegio. Animan a todos los alumnos a “salir de su zona de confort” y a ampliar su grupo de amigos de siempre con otros compañeros nuevos. Es muy enriquecedor conocer culturas y costumbres diferentes a la tuya. Hoy en día ellas comentan que ya tienen amigos de países de todo el mundo que las invitan incluso a pasar temporadas con ellas.
  1. RELIZAR PRÁCTICAS LABORALES: Animan a buscar ofertas de trabajo en cuanto tengan tiempo libre trabajando en lo que sea, para tener un curriculum más completo en el futuro. Ellas comentan que son las únicas que no han podido demostrar experiencia laboral y que éste, es un factor muy valorado. Hay universidades que incluso lo exigen como parte obligatoria de su currículum (en el caso de Marta le exigen 8 meses de trabajo demostrado a lo largo de la carrera). Reconocen que en España no tenemos esa cultura pero fuera nuestras fronteras se valora mucho, así que les aconsejan trabajar en cuanto tengan posibilidad.
  1. CREAR UN CURRICULUM DE EXPERIENCIAS QUE DEMUESTRE RESPONSABILIDAD: Les animan a hacer todo tipo de cursos y actividades que les puedan venir bien para el futuro: colaborar con organizaciones de ayuda, realizar voluntariado, pertenecer al Student Council, presentarse a Head Boy o Head Girl, colaborar con cualquier actividad del colegio: el musical , días del deporte, actividades para recaudar dinero para caridad, en las Asambleas de las casas y aprovechar esas oportunidades para hablar en público porque en la Universidad se lo van a exigir a menudo.

Cristina Pérez,  Psicóloga de Secundaria

Standard of Beauty

eIMG_5247Lucía, alumna de Year 10, junto con Amparo Gil, Directora, Marta Gil, Subdirectora y Cristina Pérez, Psicopedagoga.

“Beauty is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact”

If you watch TV advertisements from the 60s or 70s, you would be surprised to find out the exaggerated and ‘disgusting’ ways women are portrayed: sometimes as cleaning-crazed beings, and other times only as man’s pets. By that time, women’s role in society was fairly simple: do whatever your husband tells you to do. In beauty advertisements, instead of having a woman present the product like we have today, it was actually the man who presented it, saying a slogan similar to “buy this to make your woman beautiful!” And then his wife would be incredibly pleased because her husband had bought her something to keep her beautiful, as she isn’t able to do this by herself. If she is beautiful, she will be able to keep her husband happy.

Now, you’d say things have changed. Women have the right to vote and we are assured that their role in society is much more broad and open than 40 years ago; almost the same as a man (same job offers, same payments, same treatment, same activities…) and surely women now feel more empowered than ever with this new freedom they have. However, because it’s so new and foreign for them, the world doesn’t know what to do with it. Do we keep treating women as before, or do we treat them as equals to men? “Even better, why don’t we use it for our own profit?” Added the beauty industry.

And that’s how women, who were learning to adapt to their new, dominant roles started becoming more lenient on beauty: they began to seek guidance, some kind of scale that would help them measure how successful they were at directing their new life. Using that insecurity, the beauty industry bombarded these naive women with false connotations between success and beauty.

In the end, they grasped the concept that to be liked and accepted by others as a normal individual of society they had to be pretty- or at least that’s the message they were trying to convey. In reality, the beauty industry was just manipulating their fresh new self-esteem to become slaves to their physical appearance and opinion of others. They thought they were confident and strong, when actually they were becoming fickle and insecure as minutes passed.

It is also to note that while all of this culture revolution was going on with women, men were practically perceived in the media the same way as before: strong, dominant and in control. Only this time the female figure in the background is way more subtle- but it’s still there, silently manipulating our roles in society.

 And 30 years later, the snarky pressure this unknown industry was strangely settling on newly free women has developed in so many dimensions that it’s now a massive fog that clouds society, especially us, the new generation. The fog clouds our judgment so much that we don’t even doubt ourselves when we choose to wear makeup or go to the gym. This is because we were born with these ideas already deeply rooted in the way humans think about themselves and others that it’s natural for us to seek perfection in ourselves so that we can be accepted by others.

In that way, I guess you can say both men and women are the same: we are both deceived by the media to believe we should strive to be the best form of ourselves even if it’s not remotely close to the way we are, and if we do so we will feel satisfied and fulfilled with our lives. The difference lies in the methods the industry uses to introduce us to the ridiculous standard of beauty. Women are constantly allured with feminist words about self-righteous conduct that makes them think of themselves as independent, only to be contradicted by severe, specific instructions of what make a true woman. It’s as saying “we all deserve to be strong, free woman. We should be treated the same as men; we don’t even need them to exist! Oh, but you aren’t a true woman if you aren’t skinny, or conventionally pretty, or don’t wear makeup…” while men are being constantly told that they have be a masculine, dominant figure that everyone feels intimidated by, and that if you aren’t, you aren’t a real man- even if the pressure of the media on them isn’t that strong. Either way, the different insecurities both genders feel form a barrier between them that will intersect with the path to equality we desperately need and want in our society.

In my opinion, the only way to overcome the strict standard of beauty and manage to see through this foggy society is by self-perception. If you are able to create a realistic image of yourself that only satisfies your own desires and expectations- not affected by what others think- only then you will eventually learn to accept yourself and feel confident in your own skin. In other words: accept that you are different and that all of these insecurities and doubts you have of yourself are only encrypted messages society puts in your mind. You have to learn to think for yourself, to be analytical and critical of the media around you and how they wrongfully influence you, and most important of all, learn to overcome it. Rely on those who cherish you just the way you are, because those are able to see you through the foggy beauty for what you’re really worth, and of course, do the same for the people you care for.

http://www.internationalwomensday.com

Lucía, Year 10D

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Caxton College British School