News

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! The Year 1 children have been celebrating the start of the Year of the Rabbit as part of their topic on China. They dressed up in red, ate their snacks with chopsticks and did lots of Chinese style art and craft activities. It is fun learning about other countries and cultures!

by carlos

Year 10 Computer Science Students Attend Cybersecurity Event at ULPGC

On Friday 16th December, Year 10 Computer Science students had the opportunity to attend a cybersecurity event at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). The event was organized by the ULPGC and the Instituto Nacional de Ciberseguridad (INCIBE) and featured a talk by Mr Manuel R. Dominguez Gil, CTO of cybersecurity company Black9.

During the talk, Mr. Domínguez Gil emphasized the importance of having as little personal data as possible online, using different passwords for each account and gave names and faces to the most wanted cybercriminals. He also spoke about the concept of social engineering, which is responsible for 95% of the attacks faced by companies and individuals today. The students learned to identify a social engineering attack and how to protect themselves from them.

After the talk, the students had the chance to put their newfound e-safety skills into practice using a computer game installed on tablets at a stand organized by INCIBE. The game tested their knowledge and ability to identify and protect against various cybersecurity threats.

Overall, the Year 10 students had a valuable and educational experience at the cybersecurity event. They gained a better understanding of the importance of protecting their personal information online and learned how to stay safe from cyber threats. We would like to thank the ULPGC and INCIBE for organizing this event and allowing our students to learn about cybersecurity.

by carlos

Science and Innovation Week Workshop

Our Sixth form Computer Science students had the privilege to participate in one of the technological workshops organized by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) as part of the ‘Science and innovation week of the Canary Islands 2022’ event.

Félix Tobajas, a lecturer from the Telecommunications faculty of the ULPGC, and Paloma Monzón and Alicia Sánchez from Tinkers, came to our school to run a workshop about the Internet of Things (IoT).

Our students had the opportunity to understand the importance that this technology is playing in our modern world where everyday objects are rapidly becoming Internet connected and controlled.

As an example, he showed them the new ‘LPA park’ app function that, using an IoT device, allows users to find out the availability of blue zone car parks in the city in real time.

In the second part of the workshop, our students were given the opportunity to develop two simple IoT devices. The first one was a sensor programmed to send a message to their phones when a car was detected parking. This was similar to the one used by the LPA park app and the second IoT device was a GPS tracker.

The students were fascinated by what they had learned about the use of microcontrollers and sensors, and how easy it was for them to start their own IoT projects at home.

We hope that, thanks to this workshop, we’ve inspired some of our students to become future engineers in a world where the IoT will play a huge role in our day-to-day lives.

by elena

Guest speaker talk about Cloud Computing

We would like to thank Mr Rafael Fuentes, Head of the Innovation Department (CINO) at Redes System and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Voxia Comunicaciones, for visiting our school and giving our Year 13 Computer Science students a talk.

Our students learned about the important role that Cloud Computing is playing in the world market, with real-time examples shown during the presentation using AWS technology (Amazon Web Services). They were also introduced to the working procedures and tasks that a software developer has to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

We hope that our students found this talk inspiring and that it will help them grow beyond the scope of the curriculum, sparking curiosity about this field of study.

by elena

The Netherlands Universities Tour

Last June Y12 students enjoyed the first ever international universities tour to The Netherlands. Throughout the eight-day tour, students visited nine different universities including Research institutions, University Colleges and Applied Sciences institutions.

During the visits the students chatted to admissions teams, met current and former students, and learnt about life as un undergraduate student in the land of the tulips. While not visiting the universities, they spent a lot of time working in teams developing their soft skills through a range of activities organised by the Canterbury staff team.

The tour was a huge success, tremendously useful for all students, regardless of whether their final destinations will be The Netherlands. It goes without saying that we will be back to The Netherlands this coming June.

by elena

Wellbeing Coordinator

Last term 11 staff from across the Infant, Primary, Maspalomas and Secondary Departments successfully completed the training for the role of Wellbeing Coordinator (Coordinador de Bienestar). This year the role has been introduced by law into schools and other settings in Spain. At Canterbury School we have actually had this figure for many years in our Designated Safeguarding Lead in each department. Ensuring our children are safe and happy has always been a priority for us and will continue to be so. All the staff in school are required to have regular and up to date safeguarding training.

by elena

Y12 Induction: Garañón

On Thursday 16th of September Y12 students spent two days in Garañón as part of their Induction Programme. Organised by their tutors, the head of year (Mr David), and the four Y13 heads, the pupils took part in a series of games, activities and reflective sessions which helped the transition into the VI form. The following article is a reflection of the preparation and execution of the sojourn.

After a busy school day, the group arrived at El Garañón, where they chose their roommates and were placed in different cabins. After settling down (they never really did), they all gathered in the main hall, ready to start the introductory activities. These included a customised bingo and other fun activities.

Following a quick dinner break, the students met in the large hall once more, this time for games prepared by their elder peers. They divided themselves into groups and participated in a series of small competitions. Some very amusing moments occurred, such as watching the participants attempt to whistle with biscuits in their mouths. To finish off the day, Mr David had prepared their first reflective session. For an hour the students pondered about what they had learnt from themselves and their classmates, as well as skills they had developed and how they are relevant to their futures.

Although a variety of conclusions were reached, most of them agreed that getting to know more about one another had been most enriching, and they all foresaw a future where they grew closer as a year group. Regarding skills; communication, teamwork and leadership were the most recognized amongst the students and their meaning and importance was acknowledged and discussed.

The following morning, the tutors were in charge of different activities specifically targeting a variety of soft skills. For example, Mr Paul arranged a game where the pupils had to throw the maximum number of balls to each other in a certain sequence and margin of time. This is a metaphor for how they will have to time-manage and juggle all their responsibilities these years, each ball representing a responsibility or task they will have to complete. They practised their listening skills, memory, and attention span while they had a good time bonding with each other.

Lastly, the year 12’s got some time with their head of year, and the head students of the sixth form. Here, not only did they get to put all the activities into perspective, but they were given personal advice from the older students too. In doing this, they realised that all the skills they learned could be put into practice in many other aspects of their lives.

As year 13 heads, we thoroughly enjoyed watching the change in attitude of the students (as well as ours, given that we were admittedly sceptical at the start) as the induction progressed. They have proven they have the potential to be a great team, and we are really looking forward to working collectively for the rest of the year.

Article written by: Alba García, Eva Porta and Pablo Rosas (Y13)

by natalia