Secondary Information

Our secondary department opened in September 2005 and offers a high standard of education to all children from a wide range of backgrounds. Increasing the school from Nursery, Pre-School and Primary to now include Secondary was a big decision and continues to take a lot of organisation and preparation before allowing students to finally sit their IGCSE exams in 2008. The introduction of older students has therefore been planned as a phased project. September 2005 saw the school enrol students for years 7, 8 and 9 only (key stage 3). In September 2006 the school started IGCSE’s, our pupils sat their exams this summer and are awaiting their results

Although the secondary education builds on the blocks of Primary, all lessons are now taught by specialist teachers with the emphasis placed on increasing skills, knowledge and ability. This is in preparation for the final courses of “IGCSE” and A’ level. The introduction of our Secondary Department has meant a whole new staff team, student body and new resources which influenced our decision to make the introduction phased.

All students on entry to the Secondary Department are assigned a form tutor who is responsible for coordinating all aspects of your child’s academic, social and emotional well being.

Pupils now move between classrooms for each lesson, encouraging more independance and self-sufficiency. Homework now has a more important role and forms an integral part of the school programme set regularly by subject teachers, this could be as much as 2 hours a night.

Admissions
There are no entrance tests to gain entry to the Secondary Department, but decisions on your child joining our department will be based on their attitude and keenness to work. Previous school reports and attendance levels will be also be taken into consideration. Your child is required to attend the school for an interview with either the school Managing Director or Deputy Managing Director. Depending on time spent in the Spanish system your son/daughter may be required to re-take a year in the British National curriculum, this is because the English and Spanish curriculums differ immensely and the Spanish curriculum does not teach some of the core skills required for successful IGCSE results, possibly affecting the grade your son/daughter leaves the school with. Therefore by re-taking year 7, 8 or 9 they become more equipped to deal with the course content in year 10.

General Information
The school day is split into equal length lessons and starts at 9.15 prompt for registration. During the day there are two 20 minute breaks and an hour for lunch, school then finishes at 4.15pm. During break times your son/daughter will be supervised at all times by class teachers outside on the playground. At lunch there is a choice of providing your own food or purchasing a school dinner. All dinners are cooked on site by our chef and include home cooked English food using fresh produce. Your son/daughter will be required to remain on school premises for the whole school day and staff sickness is always covered by supply staff.

Students participate in day school trips and are involved in school photographs twice a year, therefore recording your son/daughters time at Mar Azul. Drama lessons build on confidence and acting skills and the students talents are demonstrated at the end of year in a school production.

Uniform
please see seperate uniform policy which can be downloaded from our web-site

Assessments
All students sit informal exams at the end of each term to assess their individual levels across each subject. This information is then recorded in home school diaries for all parents/guardians to see and discuss with form tutors if necessary.

School reports are written annually and discussed during parents evenings. There are also Pupil progress reports that are sent out termly, indicating your child's current level of achievement