In selecting students to their courses, British and Spanish Universities, and indeed universities all around the world, are placing increasing importance on activities outside the school that demonstrate that the candidate is a rounded, reliable and responsible person. They give preference to students who provide evidence of talents, sustained interests and experiences that differentiate them from other students of their age with similar academic records. For this reason, we are delighted to introduce a new initiative in our Sixth Form (Bachillerato). This programme aims to help pupils to meet the requirements of the universities they will apply to and equip them with further skills that will help them in their future studies. This programme is known as C.A.S.

C stands for Creativity. The students will be encouraged to develop their own personal projects, which could be painting, poetry, creative writing, photography, music, dance or any other creative media.

A stands for Activity. We will aim to help provide some form of work experience for the pupil to complement their academic life through activities such as management and organization of campaigns and events.

S stands for Service. Voluntary, unpaid work in the community. This could be visiting the elderly, working with disabled people or any other co-operative project. Through working on such projects in the framework of our C.A.S. initiative, our pupils will gain valuable and meaningful experience and deepen their understanding of their world, which will equip them to deal with future issues and make ...them more rounded pupils, hopefully able to meet all the requirements of the universities they apply to.

C STANDS FOR CREATIVITY.
This will be the main focus of the program. The students will be assisted in the development of their own personal projects. This means that the tutor will sit down with them and ask them about their interests, worries and dreams. She will try to find out that which is relevant for the person taking the course, and turn it into a creative project that will fuel the student’s curiosity and creative thinking. To achieve this, the tutor will give him or her a small task to be performed during the weekend, and the results discussed in the subsequent tutorship. In this way, the student will be able to explore a completely different way of thinking and expressing what he feels or understands about the world. This new view is achieved by making use of languages such as drawing, painting, creative writing and photography.

S STANDS FOR SOLIDARITY This part of the program focuses on volunteer work. There are various activities which we plan to introduce, such as accompanying elderlypeople, assisting in dinning rooms for elderly or homeless people and working with children in hospitals. The associations that are working with at the moment are “Cooperación Internacional” and the Foundation Pablo Horstmann, which develops its activities with children at Hospitals Gregorio Marañón and La Paz. At the moment our students organize workshops for underprivileged children on Friday evenings. They take along handicraft activities and games, so the children spend some fun time with them in a safe and caring atmosphere. At St. Anne’s, we believe that the education that we provide education should prepare our students to make a valuable contribution to the world of their future. We are therefore extremely proud to participate in a human rights education programme that strives to create a global citizenry dedicated to the highest standards of justice and equality.

For the last three years, it has been a huge privilege for the Bachillerato pupils at St Anne’s School to have been chosen to take part in this internationally recognized human rights education programme organized by Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and working with teachers from the Centre for International Studies here in Madrid. This is the first time that this programme has been taught in Spain, and we are very excited to be the pioneers of this scheme.

The course consists of one hour per week during all the school year. Each week these classes engage the students in debate and discussion of human rights issues through history and in current times. In June, the students receive a certificate stating that they have successfully completed the course. The Speak Truth To Power curriculum, based on the UN’s principles of human rights education, aims to engage students through the stories of human rights heroes. It encourages curiosity, fosters independent, disciplined thinking and strives to train the next generation to right wrongs in their classrooms, communities, countries and beyond.

“Speak Truth To Power” evolved from Kerry Kennedy’s book entitled “Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World” which is now printed in seven languages. Featuring interviews with more than 50 human rights defenders -“heroes every one,” in Nelson Mandela’s words - the book is a remarkable tribute to the human spirit.

Ms Kennedy’s inspiration for setting up the program came from some words spoken by her father, Robert F Kennedy, in his famous “ripple of hope” speech in 1966:

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

The photo on the left shows Miss Kerry Kennedy, the youngest daughter of Robert F Kennedy and founder of the RFK Foundation, speaking in our Bachillerato Department to our students during her visit to St. Anne’s School in 2016.