Congratulations to Year 12TW's Paula Santana Armas for winning 2019-20's Inter-House Portrait Competition. Her first-place entry was of her aunt, Alejandra, who Paula opted to paint in the classical Impressionist style; in the vein of one of her favourite painters: Françoise Nielly.

Bella Xu Ying, a classmate and in the same House as Paula, Teide, finished second. Her portraits were a quintet of secondary staff including, appropriately enough, her art teacher: Mr Wilson. Teide completed the hat-trick with Year 8SS's Bujin Amarzaya Hoque in third place.

On Monday, 13ᵗʰ January our Year 11 and Year 12 students attended two separate presentations given by Mr C. Prescott of Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. The year 11 talk, described by 11EC student Adrián as "very relevant for our future" contained a section which discussed why students should consider going to university. Classmate Paula stated that "the talk was very good because it told us things about higher education that we should be thinking about now, such as how admission to university in the UK works.´ Both her peers Daniela and Cristina liked the fact that their talk also mentioned all of the extra-curricular activities that you could be involved in at university, such as clubs, societies, studying abroad for a year and getting a part-time job.

The Year 12 talk focused on how to complete your university application and how to write a good personal statement, critical for success. Several students, such as 12DK's Pablo and 12TW's Bella were keen for Mr Prescott to share his PowerPoint presentation with them so as to be able to follow his advice. He also talked about the many types of degree courses available at Liverpool John Moores University, such as foundation degrees, sandwich degrees where students gain work experience as part of their degree and professionally-recognized degrees such as Adult Nursing.

Mr Prescott went on to outline the wide variety of degree courses on offer at LJM, such as Zoology with a placement period in Costa Rica. 12TW's Martina was very excited to hear about this degree as she felt that it would be perfect for her. 12DK's Paolo and 12TW's Jon felt that the talk was "very appropriate" for everyone in their year group as Liverpool John Moores University offers courses ideal for the various interests of all of our students.

We'd like to thank Mr Prescott for coming to our school. His presentations were both entertaining and informative. We hope that he will return to The British School of Gran Canaria in the future.

Mrs Cuthbertson
Head of Key Stage 5

The British School of Gran Canaria employs some seriously talented staff. Like multidisciplinary artist, Pilar Boullosa. The Vigo native's Luscofusco exhibition is currently showing at Fuerteventura's La Casa de los Coroneles art gallery.

You can see 14 works of her art including photographs and videos until Saturday 7áµ—Ê° March. This is Pilar answering questions such as "How can the perception of a place vary according to the time of day? To what extent are we aware of the continuous color and light change that occurs before us and how does it affect our mind?"

With Luscofusco, Pilar sets out to "capture those ephemeral worlds that are constantly built and destroyed and create new artificial landscapes from fragments of reality, semantically reactivating the elements involved".

Pilar has a BA in Fine Arts from the Universitat Politènica de València and a post-graduate qualification from London's University of the Arts. Entrance is from €1.

The British School of Gran Canaria encourages all children to bring in a healthy snack to eat at morning break. This can consist of fresh fruit or vegetables, dried fruit, or a snack bar with no added sugar. All children in Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One have been making and tasting different approved snacks, including dips, sandwiches, and smoothies.

At BSGC, we recognize the importance of a healthy lifestyle and diet. As parents and teachers, we understand that establishing a balanced diet in childhood helps to promote healthy eating habits for life. We believe that healthy children are best able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities that the school provides and encourages.

Our school community encourages pupils to develop the skills and attitudes that will help them make informed healthy choices both in and out of school. There are also opportunities for cross-curricular coverage of healthy lifestyles. A wide range of teaching approaches and resources are used to deliver the curriculum.