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LES International School Open Day 2023 - THURSDAY 30TH NOV
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Oct 29, 2024
Head of Lady Elizabeth School on Spain's Costa Blanca summoned Moody to his office for a chat about their upcoming Open Day. A chance for new families to tour the facilities during the school day and get a taste of what life is like at LES. Register in advance at www.les.edu.es
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good morning this is Bay radio
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International uh one or two people
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noticing that a slight name change and
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we may go some way towards explaining
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that in just a few minutes time as we
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make our way through this because I am
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back not for the first time in the
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headmaster's office with Chris Aken Lady
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Elizabeth School Lees to you and me and
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well welcome back I mean it feels like
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we've just gone back after summer but
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you've had half term already it it feels
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like it's the first day of school
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yesterday we it's been a really really
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busy year so far um we've had uh uh lots
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of wonderful learning happening in the
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classrooms kids taking new courses that
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they hadn't explored before in in the
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upper part of the school um you know
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year threes becoming year fours and and
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and taking on more responsibility for
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their their own learning and one of the
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the most exciting programs in primary
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that we're working on this year is
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called opal which is outdoor play and
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learning um and it's a it's a program
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that its roots are there's a gentleman
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from Scotland and he's created an
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organization and it's being used
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worldwide and and it's the whole idea is
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you know our kids have as much time at
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recess or on the patio as they would
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call it here in Spain as they do
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learning mathematics and so we really
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should have a design to how we're trying
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to help kids learn how to play interact
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socialize with one another and also
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allow them to pursue their interest and
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their passion so it used to be well all
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the year ones have to go over there and
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all the year twos well where in in life
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is it like that you know when you go to
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a restaurant in the rnl and you walk in
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do they say oh 40 three-year-olds oh you
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you go over there you're having fish uh
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41y old ma'am okay you're over there
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you're having pizza you know they don't
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break us into year cohort they they
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allow us to you know enjoy what we want
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to enjoy and it's the same thing in play
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but that's I mean that as an adult after
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maybe 30 it becomes you don't really
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notice that but as kids kid but do do
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they mix like year wise our kids have
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always mixed and and it is by Design
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that's part of our school design is to
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have you know older kids modeling for
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younger kids and have you know having
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that but you want each kid to feel that
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they've got a place in the school that
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that you know when they come to school
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it's like yeah I play Four Square over
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there that's where that's where I do my
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thing you know or my guys year nine we
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roll with basket at break time and and
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and we've got our game and you know
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we're keeping keeping tabs so yeah I
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mean school's got to be well equipped to
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have play spaces that are appropriate
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that's been one of the great new things
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this year uh as well you know we've got
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as I said new students and new families
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that have joined us and they're
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exploring uh course that perhaps they
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didn't have on offer at the schools they
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came from so you know digital design and
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then photography and travel and tourism
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and and and uh you know marine biology
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these are courses that we have that are
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really exciting for our older students
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but also for a younger students you know
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we we have a curriculum based with the
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international primary curriculum that is
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it's a framework so it's not saying we
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do the same thing every year what we're
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looking at is Big Concepts and big ideas
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and we're bringing in new content
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topical items things that you know we
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have our kids in in in the lower school
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that are doing not Tik Tock but Tik Tock
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like um you know representations of
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their learning so quick things that just
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demonstrate how quickly they're catching
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on to things and obviously weaving the
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technology makes it exciting so we have
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a what we call a pal's Workshop series
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it's a parents as Learners yeah so Pals
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and the idea is is kind of just giving
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people some starting points because you
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know for many of us as parents you know
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we we we don't do anything different
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than what we were told I mean when it
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came time for me to look for un I did it
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all by myself I didn't even tell my
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parents where I'd applied right but I
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had a really good guidance counselor
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that I went to and he he helped me out
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in my high school so for some of these
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parents are like what's the first
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question I ask these are the kind of
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things at at this school that that we
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try to give people that the leg up so
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that that they can help their children
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and and and be the best parents that
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they can be and the kids can be a
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successful they can be MH you touched on
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one of two of the newer subjects
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including photography now it was brought
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to our attention this week mhm um that
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one of your students in the GCSE
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photography obtained the highest Mark in
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the world yeah not just in Spain
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around worldwide the world it is
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extraordinary though isn't it well yeah
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I mean it's it's there's some feathers
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in the cap but uh you it's really
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because of the work that that is done
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all along the way you know those um the
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results that uh our kids end up getting
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are are great but they are a result and
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a result is something at the end of a
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long process and you know some of our
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best results are not the best Mark in
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the world they might be a passing grade
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because the child has come so far we all
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have different points of departure as I
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say and different points of arrival so
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yeah we're we're really proud of that
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particular result but we're proud of all
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the results so we have some uh top marks
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in in Europe top marks in Spain top
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marks in the world for our you know our
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results but again as I said behind every
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result there's a story you know I've
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just graduated my my youngest daughter
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and yes she just got into a wonderful
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University of Toronto right um but you
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know her journey along the way um this a
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little emotional but I tell you when um
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when she went into her dorm room in
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Toronto I dropped her off at the end of
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August and uh it was a 5
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seconds she said dad I got this and she
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walked into the room and she met her
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roommate who now is her best friend T it
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was the confidence that she had when she
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went into that room and that confidence
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is built on all the little touch points
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that she's had along the way at a school
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like this and all the other schools that
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she's attended in her life so I've got
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to thank her teachers from when we used
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to live in Val when we used to live in
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China when we used to live in Peru all
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these things but it those are kind of
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intangibles that a school can help
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Foster in in kids and developing kids
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because at the end of the day if your
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kid is confident then they're going to
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be able to take advantage of the skills
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they have and build on them and make the
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most of their experiences I just a
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reminder for anyone that's not sure
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because you're based in Spain um but
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offering the British curriculum and as
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an example you say your daughter was
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able to go off to University in Canada
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so you're building up to that and it
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sets them up to go pretty much anywhere
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well you know we we talk about our um
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you kind of unique aspects at the school
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things that make us maybe a little
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different than other schools and one of
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the things that we talk about is the The
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Best of Both Worlds and that that was
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the old line you know where we talked
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about the best of British education the
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best of Spanish education well the best
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of British education is and the best of
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Spanish education is the best of an
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International Education so we pull on
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you know we we use curriculum that we we
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pull on from the best of American
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Education from Australian curriculum
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series from you know we're looking at
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what are the best practices that you're
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using in in Scandinavian schools when it
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comes to teaching and learning um so our
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program has a British curriculum
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framework in that um you know at the at
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the top end we use you know GCS and we
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use a levels as qualifications but the
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content that we're looking at is very
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very International uh brings us on to my
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little cheesy intro there cuz say we are
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calling ourselves Bay radio
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International because like the turn if
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we're going to use um you know office
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speak the demographic is Shifting
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somewhat but it's you've always had a
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diverse Community here at the school as
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far as the the families go it's it's
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it's quite amazing you know we uh we we
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keep track of the different demographics
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and and possibly the easiest way to take
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a look at the the changes over the years
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you know all of the different flags that
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we have flying out front those represent
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a different National ity that's here in
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the school now some there's only one kid
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um we had a wonderful flag raising
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ceremony for the kids from usbekistan we
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had to go out and get their flag and
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they were so excited when they got here
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and we filmed it and everything two of
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our new borders they're so proud of
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their nation and they should be
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represented with these flags and as one
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parent said when they came up said it's
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like the model United it's like the
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United Nations around here I said well
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well yeah it kind of is um that said you
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know six years ago seven years ago three
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out of every four students at the school
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were uh were UK Nationals from Essex or
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Sussex or or Kent or Dorset or what have
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you and um now they represent about 20%
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of our student body uh sorry Spanish
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Nationals are about 20% of our student
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bodies a UK Nationals about
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15% Uh Russian Nationals about 11 uh
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Ukrainian Nationals have become our
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fourth largest demographic at eight or
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9% but actually our number one
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demographic is other right so if you
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took the top 10 but then you took 11
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through
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58 that's actually our largest
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demographic and that kind of is a fairly
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strong bellweather of an International
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Learning Community Bay radio has always
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been International what is changing is
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the nature of the International
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Community here yes you know it was
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International in terms of people who are
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from outside Spain but many of those
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people spoke just English yeah right
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whereas now we've got people who speak
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English and Dutch MH Andor French or
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German and and you know they're well
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educated they want to come here because
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it's a wonderful place to live and and
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people who have a very Global outlook on
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life and they need to have a places or
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resources to go to I would say bay is a
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place to go to and you can turn on your
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radio you get in your car and you can
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listen to music you like or that will
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inspire you that's different H that's in
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the language that that you know that's
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in common English and there's a there's
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a huge parallel here with our community
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but 58 nationalities if you to sit
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someone down and say name 58 countries I
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could do it I could totally do it You'
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think
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yeah I can't do the United States
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remember there was one trying to do the
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50 can't do it always forget Delaware
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everyone forgets Delware yes of course
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but also I mean we know about the
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facilities here because we've talked
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about it before you've been on but um
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they they are a base for offering
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extracurricular activities you're
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calling the plus clubs this be this
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comes into it yeah we got over 50 plus
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clubs we got I was just speaking with
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Liam Williamson who's our our plus
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club's coordinator and and just the
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numbers this term are are through the
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roof so we got all kinds of teachers who
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are running plus clubs I'm doing
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basketball on Thursday afternoon got to
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do my Hoops club uh but we've also got
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um outside external providers that come
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in you know Taekwondo and and these kind
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of things um robotic kids so all of our
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plus clubs are really under the four
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pillars of you know sport um the arts
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service activities and then kind of
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academic clubs and so there's something
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for everyone we've got uh Spanish dance
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uh we got younger ones but I just saw
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the kids coming across the road with
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Diego yamas they're going to uh do his
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uh special science club and that they do
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for the younger ones and we have the
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best facilities and some would say in in
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many of our facilities are the best in
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Spain but definitely in this area but as
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I as I always say moody they're just a
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bunch of buildings until we fill them
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with kids and program and lots of stuff
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that we can do in them you know that's a
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lovely 450 seat theater yes but when you
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hear a kid singing in there doing a solo
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that's when it
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becomes that place you know what I mean
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I still have a mental image of the fun
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science club I can it's only matter of
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time before he does the one where you
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you drop a bit of cesium into water oh
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yeah no we do that we we we've we've set
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off the fire alarms yes I'm sure those
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are the days that the kids come home
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with a story to tell you know yeah now
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what we're building up to here is the
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open day yeah I mean it's what we've got
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you at this particular time just a week
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away yeah uh give us the date and some
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of the details oh you're questioning me
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on the dates um that's I got to yeah
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it's the 30th it's 30 yeah we've got our
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uh we've got our open house and um for
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perspective families what we try to do
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is you know we'd like to have people
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come up to the school see what are you
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interested in oh my son is is really big
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in the theater it's like okay well then
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we're going to make sure that we have an
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orientation for you on our arts program
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so that you you understand what we have
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or we we might have a family that well
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my son's really into languages he loves
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he he speaks four languages like great
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let's have you have a sit down with a
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German teacher let's have a sit down you
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right and we can we can have that kind
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of conversation so we do have the the
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the open house coming up on the 30th and
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what we've done is we' put that out
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there and we say who's interested and
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once we get the interest from the
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different groups then we tailor our
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orientation so we're going to have an
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orientation at present we want to have
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one for early years for families who are
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interested in early years families are
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interested in primary secondary and then
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six form and of course they'll all get
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together and we'll have a general
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plenary where we introduce the school
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and the staff and those kind of things
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but then we want to get right into the
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classes and see what's going on yeah
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because this is daytime this is not an
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evening thing this is 9:3 you want to
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come see the school you want to see the
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school in action you want to see what
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you know what where's the commodor what
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do these kids eat what do they have you
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know and and but also what's you get to
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see what should what your child would go
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into at their AG no and and we want to
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introduce those children to kids who are
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here and say this is this is unfiltered
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why don't you talk to Philip why don't
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you talk to Serena why don't you talk to
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Maria and and learn from their
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experience because the best
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spokespeople for your school are the
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kids who are learning in it because
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they're living the reality good or bad
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you know let's be fair you know no
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school is perfect any school says
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they're perfect I'm sorry they're maybe
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they're just looking at a single lens
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but you have to look at everything
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because when you're dealing with th
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1,330 kids wow you know almost 200 staff
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on a regular basis we got 270 staff that
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I got to write Christmas cards for you
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know right I do them by hand I'm famous
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for that
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it just kills me by the end of December
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but you know speaking to kids is the
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best way and that's going to be a big
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part of our open house uh we have
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student ambassadors that have put their
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hands up and say hey I was new two years
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ago I wouldn't mind helping out because
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I know how difficult it can be just to
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the thought of coming to a new school
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but it's not that bad it's actually kind
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of exciting I mean anything we've talked
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about then the facilities and some of
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the classes that are offered um they can
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see for themselves but you want to hear
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from them in advance before yeah no I
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mean hey if someone comes up on any day
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they're welcome to come on in we'll get
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them yeah sure but for this particular
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day signing up online for this one yeah
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we got catering so we want to make sure
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we get the right number of muffins and
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but uh yeah so if they can just there's
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there's lots of different Pathways to
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register interest one of them is through
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our website another one uh we've got uh
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a special advertising feature where
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there's you know QR codes that people
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can click on and then it'll take them to
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a a signin page and then what we try to
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do is as much work as we can in front of
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these events to find out what are you
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interested in what what do what do you
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need to see yes or no when you come here
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so that you can tick off that question
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that you have because there'll be new
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questions that come up as they come here
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they'll be like oh how does that work
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over there what's up with that class uh
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can you tell me more about that so well
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any new families to the area then or
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maybe someone listening online uh
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relocating soon uh you get the chance to
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come and see all this for yourself 30th
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of November um 9:30 till 11:00 in the
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morning and if possible can you register
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in advance in no in no way do I have a
16:03
vested interest in this but give us a
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follow on social media because uh
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everything we go through there all all
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the info and all of our social media you
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can find us on Facebook
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andol yeah LinkedIn uh the other thing
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the easy one is just
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www.s.edu does and go to our website and
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and and there's a pop up uh about our
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open day um as I said though I want to
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make sure that you know if if a family
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is interested in the school and that day
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doesn't work don't worry just get in
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touch with us and we'll we'll make our
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own mini open day but you know it's a
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pragmatic thing too to if there is a
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family that is interested in in looking
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at a place in the school um places are
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becoming a little bit more challenging
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because we're we're getting full many
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this year we're we're in a really great
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spot we still have some spaces in the
16:52
school but we're robust but we're not at
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at waiting lists where as last year we
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had that situation so we've opened up a
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few more forms and hired some more staff
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and so we had a little bit more spread
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out but um it's definitely something if
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you know for families who approach Us in
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the summer it can be very tricky uh we
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might have places for some of the
17:14
children but not another child sure and
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that's always difficult but um yeah so
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the earlier the better it's so my dad
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always used to say you know it wasn't
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raining when Noah built that Ark you
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know my dad was he had more on liners
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tend to have lots of Expressions M's the
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same so yeah Chris good to talk to you
17:33
it was great to have you back yeah yeah
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it's been great to sit down and maybe
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I'll get down to Bay radio International
17:39
Studios and and see how things are going
17:41
well done with the branding thank you
17:42
very much
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