October – Letter to Parents

Dear Parents,

I am writing to you as the first half term of the 2018/19 academic year is coming to an end, and I would like to recap the events of the past months in Concha Blanca.

For many of the boys, the start of school in September was their first experience of Boarding School, living abroad and being away from their family. The boys have all adapted very well to the challenges of living away from home and have formed a close group of friends in the Boarding House. They have had the opportunity to participate in many weekend activities, including trips to Chamonix and Montreux, as well as the Inter-House Competition, in which we are currently in 6th position. The students have participated in the Sports Day and House Quiz events, and all performed and behaved impeccably. The boys have also been taking part in the CDL Soccer Tournament, under the team name ‘ConchAttack’. They have won one game, and lost on game, and have all impressed so far.

October saw the first Traffic Light reports entered, which has given us a chance to see how the students in Concha are progressing in their academic studies. For some this was a chance to celebrate their hard work before the first marking period, for others it was encouragement to increase their effort before November, with clear areas to improve. The Concha boys have been performing very well overall and were placed 3rd with a 92% positive feedback ratio. This reflects that out of 12 students, 11 students received at least 5 green lights or more, which shows an excellent start to the academic year. It is very pleasing for the Concha team to receive positive news from the boy’s academic teachers.

We have introduced several activities in Concha this term, to reward the students for their good behavior, hard work and going the extra mile to help others. The ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Race Track’ have been designed for the students to earn a reward once they have moved up ten positions. This can be anything from receiving an excellent mark in class on a test, to helping someone carry their bags or picking up litter in the garden without being asked to do so. It has been great to see boys working together in the house and around the school campus. We have also introduced a monthly ‘Movie Club’, which has been popular amongst the middle school houses.

Moving forward to after the October break, we will be preparing for the weather to change from the Mediterranean warmth that we have been receiving, to the colder and crisper winter days that will come around quickly in the coming months. Therefore, we please ask that the students return with the appropriate clothing and footwear. On their return, the boys should arrive between 16:00 on Saturday 27th October when the boarding house reopens, and the evening of Monday 29th October, before lessons start again on the morning of Tuesday 30th October. We would also like to add that for the next break in December, we will need to receive their travel details at least two weeks before they depart for the holiday, so that we can complete the necessary administration work and legal procedures.

Finally, I would like to wish you an enjoyable holiday and hope that your son will return, rested and ready for the challenges of the next academic period.

Kindest regards,

James, Matthew, Erik, Salvatore and Joanna

ConchAttack (1-2) Street Team

“Footballers these days often have to use their feet!” (Former Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City striker, Michael Owen)

A superb performance by our brave and determined young men. A disappointing result which did not reflect the effort and quality each boy from the team displayed. Congratulations to Street Team, who scored two excellent goals to decide the game!

Tree Adventure

   

This morning, the Concha boys travelled to Signal de Bougy to attempt the Tree Adventure course. It was a really good day, with all the students taking part and making the most of the good weather and beautiful scenary.

Concha Movie Club – The Avengers


Tonight, we started one of our in-house activities, the ‘CONCHA MOVIE CLUB’. The movie of choice was The Avengers, which was very popular amongst the students and staff. We had students visit from various houses, and hopefully at the next Movie Club evening we can get a few more to join us.

SGIS Football Tournament

Today, Mr Erik took his football team to compete against ten other school in the SGIS Football Tournaments at GEMS Acamedy Etoy. Masanobu was a key part of the team, who manage to reach the semi finals of the tournament, only losing narrowly on penalties. Masanobu scored one goal in open play, as well as a penalty in the shootout. Well done Masanobu, and well done Coach Erik!

The Wheel of Fortune

This evening, as they have moved to the top of the leaderboard with good behaviour, Henry, Mauricio and Leonardo had the priviledge of spinning ‘The Wheel of Fortune’ to see if they could win a prize! Well done boys!

ConchAttack (3-2) The Gods – Match Report


“Which ever team scores more goals, usually wins!” (Former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker, Michael Owen)

This evening, ConchAttack FC had their first game of the CDL Football Championships against a very strong and experienced The Gods. There was a lot of dialog and banter between the two teams prior to the match, with a number of the opposition side residing in Concha’s neighbouring house, Concha Annexe.

First Half

The first half started with a high level of intensity and a very fast tempo. The Gods immediately tried to inflict their size and strength onto the ConchAttack players, however the Grade 7 and 8 students from Concha more than held their own, with Maxim and Sina performing to an incredible level at the back, defending every loose ball and passing out well from defence. ConchAttack then started to gain more of the possession, with Seb, Masanobu and Anuar dominating the play from midfield. It was in fact Seb that managed to break the deadlock, after pouncing on a blocked shot by Maxim, and finishing in style (1-0). Maxim and Sina continued to defend to the highest standard throughout the first half, which then built excellent opportunities for the side to counter-attack the opposition, and create chances for the attacking players to score. And it was one of Maxim’s excellent interceptions that led to Masanobu scoring the second goal of the game, delivering an unsavable, power shot past the goalkeeper (2-0).

“To stay in the game, you have to stay in the game!” (Former Newcastle United and Stoke City striker, Michael Owen)

Second Half

At the start of the second half, The Gods had clearly received a rallying cry from their coach, and Concha Annexe House Parent, Mr Rob. The boys came flying out of the blocks, and attacked from the off. Mauricio impressed in goal for ConchAttack, making a number of smart saves and calmly distributing the ball to Maxim in defense. The Gods’ striker Chams however, managed to pull a goal back, after some neat and skillful play down the right hand side from Adam, who was impressive throughout the match (2-1).  The game them plateaued for five minutes, as both sides adopted a cautious approach to their play. ConchAttack then introduced their eager substitues, with Kristian, Zihao and Leonardo entering the field. The boys did not disappoint. Zihao brought a hunger into the defence, clearing every loose pass and untidy first touch in front of him. Leonardo chased down every long pass in attack, and made it very difficult for the opposition defence. However, it was the “Albanian Ronaldo” who put the game to bed, with Kristiano scoring the most sublime solo goal, beating the right back on the turn, before rounding the central defender and finishing in the bottom right hand corner, with what Mr Matt described as a “power toe poke” (3-1). There was a tense end to the match, as a misguided clearance from Anuar’s curly hair found it’s way into his own net (3-2). However the job was done, as the ConchAttack boys held on to win an impressive opening match at the start of the season. WELL DONE BOYS!!!

Goal Scorers – Seb, Masanobu, Kristian

Man of the Match – Maxim

Squad – Mauricio, Maxim (C), Sina, Anuar, Seb, Masanobu, Leonardo, Zihao, Kristian, Mr Erik, Mr James

Coaching Staff – Matt (Sven-Goran Eriksson) Svenningsen, Junqi, Henry, Hamza