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this is bay radio so busy old week this
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straight back into the swing of things
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and welcoming back after uh
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a little bit of a break with appearances
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by other guests representing the college
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mr witch richard winter running good
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morning good morning nice to see you
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moody you too welcome back in
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um now here's the thing it's um you know
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you get the things leveled at you like
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oh they're teachers and
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school people they said easy they have
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so long all those long holidays
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i don't think you've stopped have you
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there's too much going on no i think we
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we knew pretty well that this was going
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to be a write-off summer holiday-wise
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you know it's it's it's very good stress
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uh to be able to be working and having
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challenges that we've had through the
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summer they're good challenges as
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opposed to difficult ones
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so much has happened so much is going on
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i have to say the staff
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in many cases haven't stopped either so
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i have to congratulate them and thank
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i saw a lot of them yesterday and it
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seems to be an ongoing process as we
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start to consider our moves for uh for
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now this is uh we've been saying
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exciting news because
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uh we've mentioned this pretty much
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every time we've been in but how's it
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coming along the new secondary sites
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i mean i i schedule yeah it's two it's
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so we uh we will take uh ownership of
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in uh on the fifth of september and we
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move in well before and through from the
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fifth to the ninth and uh
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welcome our wonderful secondary pupils
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in kayakante ops on the ninth of
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so loads going on we've got to obviously
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make sure that we have everything
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in place uh for them from an academics
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perspective but also from a covered
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um perspective as well so there's
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there's a huge amount of organization
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but it's not difficult we've got good
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people in the right places doing the
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and i you know a huge shout out to to
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all of the staff because they're really
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they're really stepping up to it they're
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coming back into work um
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in the last week of august in order to
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try and make sure that we get everything
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over there and in the right place at the
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right time but yeah it's looking great
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it'll be one of those things i'm sure
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where um it looks like oh no we're not
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going to make this it's going to be
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and then suddenly everything just falls
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in place at the last minute well it's
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funny you should say that because about
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uh three or four weeks ago
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we we needed to have an inspection from
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the national association of british
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schools in spain needed to come and
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inspect the new building that's what
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they do it's a it's a matter of course
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that they have to do that in order for
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apply for the opening license and the
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most wonderful lady jill
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who came to inspect us told us that
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they'd seen she'd seen other buildings
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with longer periods of time to go um in
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issue about getting completed so she
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i mean she seemed to know more than we
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did but no the architects and the the
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and the project manager i mean they
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pulled all all the stops out and worked
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you know i congratulate them i thank
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them we have been nervous very nervous
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because we didn't want to start
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in the current site in order to have to
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move all the children
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we wanted to be able to start afresh yes
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that's going ahead yeah that'd be nice
3:07
yes i get the impression that um you're
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how they describe the the duck or a swan
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surface but underneath paddling
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furiously yes one or two times you sort
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of your head goes below
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below the water but um no as i say once
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great team effort um a huge amount of
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time has been put into it
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from all all quarters but um you know
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i also want to congratulate and thank
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invested in in us because you know you
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you might find it quite amusing but when
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i ring up um the the investors and say
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look we need this because we want to do
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i need 250 000 euros in order to put uh
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and and and network and and i need to
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and it's not um oh can you justify that
3:53
let's sort that one out anything good
3:57
they've got their hearts exactly where
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we where where we need them to have them
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you know for us going forward
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so yeah thanks very much to them well i
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guess they do they have enough trust in
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you know it would be justified they
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don't need to they don't need to see the
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all your workings out well you know i'm
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a bit of a tight scotsman
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right so we've got to make absolutely
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certain everything goes where it should
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go and that we don't waste anything
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because um you know whatever money that
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we do have we want to try and invest it
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in in what the children are going to be
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mike who runs a secondary school and
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steve who runs the primary school both
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of them are very very astute when it
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comes down to spending money
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money's got to be spent correctly i have
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absolutely no problem with spending
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but we've got to make sure that it's
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spent in the right places and for the
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right causes and the cause
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all the time has got to be the children
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front and center so yeah it's it's it's
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really exciting i can't tell you moody
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the um the the the constructors are
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to have been able to put a building of
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that scale of buildings sorry of that
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um up in basically just under eight
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yeah with everything that's been going
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on i mean the the i guess they had to
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period of time and you've got other
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things to take into account when um you
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as far as the building making the
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building coved friendly
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um you know that side of it actually in
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almost a more simple issue you know we
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can we've we've got our plans and we put
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them into into practice but
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um you know for the for the um
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constructors themselves when they had to
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when it had you know they had certain
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amount of difficulty with with poor
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weather earlier in the year
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you know you're always chasing your tail
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to try and catch up but they have
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and uh you know good people i'm really
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delighted that we that they were chosen
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and uh they've done a great job and i
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hope i hope they'll be extremely proud
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is if any other school came to us and
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said look um are you thinking we're
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thinking of building a new
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a new facility can you recommend a
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builder well there's no
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there's no question right well that's a
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good sign yeah absolutely and um
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here's the thing talking about the
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pupils going into the new school and of
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course your primary school as well
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it sounds like this year uh there's
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quite a few that want to get into the
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well um that's been part of the the the
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process of the summer mike mills steve
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jarmon myself we've been
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extremely busy with new um new pupils
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new families coming to the area
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pupils moving schools wanting to join
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it's great but it does actually prove
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as well because we now um i mean you may
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think it's a good thing
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i i think it's it is a good thing but
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it's also quite quite quite difficult
6:27
we've now got waiting lists in certain
6:28
areas the nice thing is
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you know we're full we've got a capacity
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we never have any more than 20 children
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that is a philosophy for the college and
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it works very well it supports the child
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it supports the teacher
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very important however you can end up in
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a bit of a pickle when you've got a
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family of two or family of three
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and we can accommodate one and of course
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the other one has to go onto a waiting
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yeah so that is difficult for the
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children but um waiting lists are there
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people do move you know sometimes
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children our families have to return to
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in in other countries we are very very
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international there are over 20
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26 different nationalities currently in
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the school and you know we're really
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really sad when we lose
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a loser family that's really important
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to us they understand that um you know
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ongoing there's every probability they
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um but if a family does have to go in
7:15
with this whole covet scenario
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um we have had one or two of of of
7:20
um so there are places that become
7:22
available but we've had uh the largest
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in the history of of the having
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international college this this year wow
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yeah it's massive what do you put that
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down to any can you point to anything in
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particular there's a number of number of
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factors a number of factors i mean
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over the recent years um there have been
7:39
that uh not only contribute to the the
7:42
family atmosphere but also to the
7:43
quality of the product that's being
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we want to make absolutely certain that
7:46
the children get the best they possibly
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so that's down to staffing it's also
7:51
because what we're trying to do is to
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reduce the amount of children on each
7:55
so we give them more space and more time
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i think that's quite attractive i think
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the actual overall philosophy of the
8:02
fundamental you know many many schools
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will say they have a family atmosphere
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but we actually do ensure that we focus
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on that point it is the
8:12
whole family not just the children the
8:13
children are paramount and up front and
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center as far as we're concerned all of
8:17
the time but it's the
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it's the family behind that as well so
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sort of triangle the school the family
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and the child in order to try and
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achieve what we want to what the
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children want to achieve
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and then another thing which i think is
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absolutely crucial here and and it is
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out and it's in the community is um the
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reaction of the staff
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to um the changes that have taken place
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over the last couple of years they have
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really at the coalface of what we're
8:43
trying to change and what we're trying
8:45
the technology that we're using the
8:47
approach that we want to have the upbeat
8:49
approach that we want to have to
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challenges that they and children have
8:53
the way they've reacted has been
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superb and i think that's one of the
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things that i love the most
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is when a member of staff can walk into
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the community and they will say somebody
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so what do you do i'm a teacher all
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right you're a teacher where do you work
9:05
i work at the have international college
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all right what's that like fantastic
9:08
because you can have the reverse i can
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tell you now you can have the reverse i
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so you you that i think is one of the
9:14
key issues and of course as i said
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if you have an ownership you have a
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group of shareholders
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who know what they want to try and
9:23
achieve for the college and they want it
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to be something that's really special
9:25
they find a tool and they just polish it
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and they polish it and they polish it
9:28
and if they polish it enough then it
9:29
shines and people see it and i think
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that's really quite key to
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what's happened now you just wanted to
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give a quick shout out to other people
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we've said you don't get a break but um
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you know some of the the staff are
9:38
working through they have done they have
9:40
done moody and you know it's sort of
9:42
like the unsung heroes uh uh all of what
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we've been trying to do over the summer
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has required a great deal of
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and that side of our staff have we have
9:51
been really really dedicated
9:53
and i do want to say thank you to all of
9:54
the secretaries and the people who work
9:56
with the finances and the
9:57
the administration they have been
9:59
amazing um you know every call that is
10:02
new family that's keen to join our
10:05
it goes through them i mean they become
10:07
like agony aunts they they support these
10:10
trying to find places to rent cars to
10:13
cars to hire um where they might um
10:17
find a doctor and all sorts of things
10:19
it's it's it's amazing the work that
10:21
they keep us going and they do it with
10:22
great grace and good humor
10:24
um so many many thanks to all of them
10:26
they they do a fine job they do it well
10:29
and most the time with a great smile on
10:32
it'll throw up its own challenges as
10:34
that's what everything does yeah sure
10:35
um now obviously we've touched on quite
10:38
the online learning that's that's been
10:41
going on that you've
10:42
you know got down to a fine arts now i'm
10:45
um how will that continue because you'll
10:48
students will be back at school yes but
10:50
i'm guessing you can keep
10:51
some parts of it in place we have and i
10:53
mean you know it's we had for about a
10:56
been looking into offering an online
10:58
program for those pupils who can't
11:00
actually attend the college and this is
11:02
internationally this is within spain
11:04
which is back in the uk
11:05
and it can be done in so many different
11:07
areas and so many different subjects now
11:09
so what we're looking to do is to
11:12
provide an online service that is
11:14
second to none where we can actually
11:15
provide support at all levels but we're
11:18
actually focusing on primary level to
11:21
because you've got one teacher and all
11:22
the class is learning at the same
11:24
speed when where the where the challenge
11:26
becomes a little bit more
11:28
um complicated is where you're
11:31
actually sourcing teachers to teach
11:33
french to teach german to teach spanish
11:35
science or all of these different
11:38
bring them together but that will come
11:40
in time so the idea is that we will be
11:43
program a website where people can
11:45
actually dip into see the
11:46
see the different uh um courses that we
11:48
offer and uh we already have
11:51
some connections internationally and uh
11:53
we will be working with them
11:55
even down to you you have a whole school
11:57
program where you can
11:58
devote um the whole curriculum to either
12:01
either sec whatever section of the
12:04
or whatever section of the family that
12:05
requires that particular
12:07
instruction and teaching but i've also
12:10
been asked whether we might be able to
12:11
provide an english program
12:13
to schools where they basically have an
12:16
extracurricular activity
12:17
but that extracurricular activity would
12:20
would be taught through our own online
12:24
program so you would um have that every
12:26
every day from five to six for example
12:29
so it's quite an interesting and uh
12:32
for the college and um we have some you
12:34
know highly motivated people already
12:36
to process this so it's the future it is
12:40
very much the future you can see that
12:42
are going to be working with distance
12:43
learning i think the lockdown
12:45
taught everybody so much about their own
12:47
businesses and i'm not talking about
12:49
just in teaching you know where they had
12:51
been traveling all over the place all
12:53
um and they don't necessarily have to so
12:55
in fact they're not being quite so um
12:58
wasteful financially carbon footprint
13:00
you've got to think about everything
13:01
here really if you can do it remotely
13:03
yeah why not yeah you remember those
13:04
days when you had to go to travel to
13:06
hong kong for a meeting or something
13:08
it's completely different these days
13:09
totally yeah totally yeah um
13:11
so talking to extra curricular stuff
13:13
because uh presumably you'll be able to
13:15
expand that a little bit there'd be one
13:16
or two things going on already
13:17
i i'm guessing yes i mean but with the
13:19
new school the more opportunities for
13:22
absolutely this is this is this is key i
13:24
mean one of the things we wanted to do
13:25
was to try and involve the community in
13:28
so we have um we've employed we've taken
13:31
a tremendous guy he's a parent in the
13:35
enormous a wealth of experience in
13:38
running and organizing
13:39
extracurricular activities with schools
13:41
in the brighton area he currently works
13:44
there five or six schools there and he
13:46
coordinates so many different activities
13:49
uh social dance adult adult
13:52
um training and learning so the idea is
13:55
that darren hambrook will join us
13:57
in september and he will start his
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organizing what we might be able to do
14:03
and making sure that we have everything
14:05
in order to be able to have it as a safe
14:09
the extracurricular activities will
14:12
dance and drama through to pilates and
14:16
and english spanish computing
14:20
so many different areas and the idea
14:23
we can actually bring people to the
14:25
facilities but mainly the new facility
14:27
because it's really quite convenient and
14:30
intends to organize programs that would
14:32
involve the whole family so you wouldn't
14:34
a mum or a dad having to drop somebody
14:36
off and then having to go somewhere for
14:38
a coffee and then come back and they're
14:40
wasting maybe they maybe don't see it
14:41
wasting but maybe they're just trying to
14:42
fill an hour or two hours
14:44
until their son or daughter has finished
14:46
the activity they're going to do so
14:48
to try and um run certain activities
14:51
um a child can come in and do their
14:53
activity whereas a mom can go and do
14:55
hers or a dad can go and do his so i
14:58
mean the facility will allow us to do
15:00
that's exciting to us darren is has
15:02
started he started despite the fact he
15:06
begun in the college but i know he's
15:07
active and working with
15:09
various different programs in in in the
15:12
so it's exciting times yeah we have a a
15:16
ready and willing and keen to work on
15:19
it's trying to involve people as much as
15:20
possible so that's what i mean we're
15:22
saying extracurricular but it's not
15:25
for the students of the school then no
15:26
no people from the community from the
15:28
community as well and uh one of the
15:29
other things that i'm you know feel very
15:32
is a good and purposeful summer summer
15:35
which darren will run and then there's
15:40
the whole idea of uh study uh you know
15:43
study in during the easter time
15:45
where study courses that we can put on
15:46
to try and support young people
15:48
ahead of the time when they will do
15:49
their external examinations this is
15:51
key i mean it's all over the uk it um
15:54
all over the world actually where people
15:56
in just before their uh gcse
15:59
a-level examinations and they get that
16:02
boost because they're taught by a
16:03
professional they're not just
16:05
um or they're revising with a
16:06
professional they're not just working in
16:08
their bedrooms trying to go through
16:10
their chemistry notes
16:11
to before which and terribly nervous
16:13
that they're not going to be able to
16:14
achieve what they hope to achieve when
16:16
a professional in front of them who's
16:18
able to go through past papers and
16:19
support them with specific areas that
16:22
this is key so darren's got a big job
16:24
he's a busy guy and he's
16:26
really really great entertainment um so
16:28
we look forward to good things in that
16:30
that's good if he's already doing that
16:31
sort of thing particularly in the
16:32
brighton area which is
16:33
there's a lot of people around there
16:34
that's that's where i came from to move
16:37
um he'll have some good ideas already
16:38
and to put him to put in place
16:40
over here the summer camps and that sort
16:42
of thing they really come into their own
16:44
in a location like this as well they do
16:46
a lot more there's a bit more scope
16:47
there's so much to do you know from from
16:50
canoeing um you know kayaking they can
16:53
go to the horse riding stables they can
16:55
cycling they can do all sorts of
16:57
different activities on-site and
17:00
yeah i'm very much looking forward to
17:01
working with darren he's we've been
17:03
discussing this we've been planning this
17:05
over a year now and uh finally it's come
17:07
to fruition and i'm i'm really really
17:09
pleased that he's going to join our
17:10
family he's absolutely the right sort of
17:12
person for it um he's got enormous
17:13
energy he doesn't seem to stop he's
17:15
quite tiring to to come to to have a
17:17
conversation with him i have to ride
17:19
people i know it's great oh good
17:22
and just uh finally then talking about
17:24
the the community that sort of thing the
17:26
loyalty initiative um the xic loyalty
17:29
which i've seen a little i got a glimpse
17:31
yes um you know in the i saw the card
17:33
yeah this is the one with the cards
17:34
it is exactly you showed me that and it
17:36
was like you know in those movies when
17:37
they open a briefcase and it you don't
17:39
see what's inside but it just glows at
17:41
this is what it looks like well just
17:44
explain a little bit i will i will
17:45
funnily enough the card itself was
17:48
um who works for time marketing she's
17:52
um but uh it was that the idea she
17:55
she designed a card that i think the the
17:58
actually um shows it displays
18:01
what xic's about it's a it has a
18:05
of a couple of our pupils walking away
18:08
and their their the friendship there you
18:11
is the way that they just carry
18:12
themselves and it's sort of it has that
18:14
family feel it's just beautiful it's
18:16
a brilliant brilliant piece of um of
18:18
artwork that that amy
18:20
found to be able to put on on the card
18:22
but the card is very i mean
18:23
the whole project is very simple it came
18:26
a conversation that um i was having with
18:30
um and we were trying to think of a way
18:31
that we might be able to involve the
18:33
um more generally in the college um we
18:37
here in harrier we're here on the costa
18:39
blanca and we really want to be
18:40
part uh of of that community and we want
18:42
the community to be part of our college
18:44
so the idea of the card was we know that
18:47
and remember this year has been a a a
18:50
different year to all
18:51
too many and quite quite quite
18:53
incredible but in normal years
18:55
uh this part of the costa blanca does
18:57
extremely well with the tourists and the
18:59
visitors coming to join
19:00
our community they bring a huge amount
19:03
um businesses do extremely well during
19:05
those times i hope i
19:07
i see however when the tourists go
19:10
the place quietens down quite a lot
19:12
despite the fact that
19:13
it has grown over the years but um
19:15
businesses quite down quite a lot they
19:17
need the support of the people who are
19:20
so we thought we'd have that we'd we'd
19:22
create the the loyalty card
19:24
initiative where you or all of the
19:26
families in the college
19:27
receive one and um we've been into the
19:31
various businesses if they might be
19:33
interested in joining it and basically
19:34
what they have to do
19:35
is to offer a discount to those people
19:38
so if you want to go and get your
19:39
haircut which i don't do very frequently
19:42
go get your hair done you get 10 off
19:44
here you might get 50
19:45
15 off car hire there you might get a
19:50
discount from an insurance company or or
19:53
it's it's far and wide you know we have
19:56
kayaking uh people who offer um
20:01
vet vets it's it's so so wide
20:04
so what it is it really took off and um
20:08
the the businesses themselves are being
20:09
supported by the residents of
20:11
of of of the cost of our our our school
20:14
and this area um and i think it's a real
20:18
so um if you are and if you're keenan if
20:20
you're out there and you have a business
20:21
and you're quite interested in joining
20:24
uh initiative it doesn't cost you
20:25
anything what it does cost you is the
20:27
discount that you give to
20:28
to to to the client but um you know um
20:31
of something is better than zero percent
20:33
yeah somebody's coming to your business
20:34
so i think it's quite a good opportunity
20:36
so you just get contact with us at the
20:38
college um um search for us
20:40
uh google us and you'll find all of the
20:42
um the the email addresses
20:44
and um we'll we'll contact you brilliant
20:46
i mean you've got a real range of stuff
20:49
just sort of mentioned yeah um so is
20:51
there any way you can we can see what
20:52
yes what you do is um and this is on
20:55
board yeah you're gonna love this
20:57
what you have to do is you've got to
20:59
download the international schools radio
21:02
app okay so we're not in competition of
21:04
course with no no we're all great
21:05
but um you have to download the
21:08
schools radio that's how you search that
21:11
in your app store once you've downloaded
21:14
that and you've got that on
21:15
on your phone you'll be able to see that
21:18
there is a little area on the bottom
21:20
right that says more if you tap on more
21:22
you'll have a drop down menu and tap on
21:24
an area which says xic loyalty
21:26
and therein lies all of the different
21:28
businesses and the discounts that um
21:30
they provide and what you do is if you
21:32
tap on one of those you'll see a contact
21:34
a telephone number or address
21:36
and you contact that number and you just
21:38
say look i'm part of the
21:39
xic loyalty program i'm going to pop in
21:42
get my teeth looked at will i get my 10
21:45
discount and and you have the
21:47
conversation with them
21:48
so the the the idea is um the college
21:51
takes nothing out of it apart from the
21:53
delight and pleasure of being able to
21:55
bring people from the community
21:57
again in in contact with the people from
21:59
our own community and i think it'll it
22:01
it's a it's a lovely thing to to have
22:03
and and well supported
22:05
and a good idea as you say because uh if
22:08
ever they needed the support of you know
22:10
residents spending some money um even if
22:12
they get a discount it's it's now
22:14
no i i firmly believe um you know if
22:17
if you're going to get get 70 of
22:19
something it's 70 better than
22:21
than zero percent so um yeah i mean
22:23
thanks very very much to all of those
22:26
who are are part of the loyalty card and
22:30
thank you very much to our families who
22:31
are actually um you know supporting us
22:34
and hopefully they can support and take
22:36
advantage of a little bit of discount
22:38
you know if it's uh 2 5
22:39
10 15 euros here here or there it's
22:42
still a discount yep
22:43
all adds up absolutely well
22:47
we've covered a fair bit there thanks
22:48
ever so much for popping in because i
22:49
know you're a busy chap off to uh
22:51
interview folk and yeah i'm back but no
22:53
moody again thank you very much for
22:55
looking after us for i mean
22:56
the various people who have come in to
22:58
to to this to the radio station to talk
23:01
what we're trying to do and the energy
23:02
that's behind the college i i
23:04
they never feel as if they're being
23:05
interviewed they always feel as if
23:06
they've just had a conversation
23:08
so thank you very much for that well
23:09
that's how we like to do it here but
23:11
the people that you've sent in yeah make
23:12
sure you send them in
23:15
they they've been great it's not exactly
23:17
been uh monosyllabic answers they've
23:19
a good value so uh it's all up on our
23:21
youtube channel to see
23:22
let's watch again as i say and as we
23:26
indeed and thanks very much again to be
23:28
um you know i say every time
23:29
a good good group of people who look
23:31
after us and look after the community
23:33
and um you know they spread a very good
23:35
word very well very professionally and
23:37
um and we look forward to i look forward
23:38
to seeing you maybe in a couple of weeks
23:40
i shall send you in some other stars