Saturday 28th September saw the 20th Clean-Up the World held here in Gibraltar. The teams from Bayside and Westside combined to clean-up the site at Catalan Bay car park. The area had less visible litter so we were able to look deeper beneath the vegetation and the rocks to avoid plastics and other materials from going into the sea. Our young people were great and worked very hard.

Every year we give out a number of awards which mean a great deal to the school as we are celebrating people who made a difference to our school, whether as a student or as a teacher. Through these awards their legacy lives on. These awards are:

• Lee Figueras Award - for the most improved student
• Jenise Payas Maths Award - for the best mathematician
• Alistair Beanland Award - for the best geographer in Year 8
• Mario Mosquera Science Award - for the best scientist
• Max Santos’ Award - for the student who has given the greatest contribution to the creative arts.

Max Santos was a Bayside student from September 2017 to June 2023. He studied drama and he loved volleyball. He was looking forward to going to university when he died tragically in a car accident in July 2023. His friends raised funds and bought a glass trophy and asked his teachers if they could arrange for a yearly award for the student who has given the greatest contribution to the creative arts. They also commissioned a portrait which could be hung outside the drama studio. His teachers organised a volleyball tournament and the proceeds were donated to the Gibraltar Volleyball Association. The Santos Shield was won by Max's friends and teammates. 

The first recipient of the Max Santos Award is Rhys McNeice Celecia  from year 10. He is a lovely young man who embodies many of the same qualities which made Max a special young man.

The Friends of Gibraltar visited Bayside once again this morning and presented the prizes for the YEar 7 History Project. This year the theme was the 60th anniversary of GBC. It was evident that our young people had truly enjoyed their research and then putting together their projects. We had models, posters, videos amongst other genre being entered by the students.

The winning entries were as follows:
1st prize: Leah Duarte
2nd prize: Seth McFarlane, Jaxon Devine and Evan Chacon
3rd prize: Amal Al Labed, Matty Cawdery, Liara Harper, Samuel Caward-Madeira and Nathan King
 
Highly Commended and in no particular order:

• Alessandra Narouz
• Sofia Zammit
• Oliver Corbacho, Ryan Gomez, Blaze Soanes and Braiden Cano
• Sinead Lopez
• Dotan Lahav and James Olivera​

Staff and students 'dress up' for Dapper Day in aid of Cancer Relief #cancerreliefgibraltar and in collaboration with #dgrgibraltar. Katelyn Acolina was this year's best dressed student winner and Maria Palma was this year's best dressed member of staff! Great effort.

It made a nice change from dressing down but it is not as comfortable!

​#GetLippy and @eveappeal work to raise awareness for female gynaecological cancers. This year Bayside supported this worthy cause.

Thank you to all our year 9 parents who attended our options' evening. There was a lovely atmosphere in our school and many informative discussions taking place.

The activities for Christmas 2023 were truly wonderful and they left both staff and students with a wonderfully positive feeling. 

As always we collaborated with Father Charlie from St Theresa's church and we did the following:

• Bake the pan dulces which are then gifted by Father Charlie to those who are in need,
• Prepare and pack the Gift Boxes for Nazareth House
• Pack the 400 hampers with the help of NatWest Bank whose workers kindly volunteered their time to help us.

In the school the Year 10 and 11s run a very popular Santa's Grotto which raised an excellent £1000 for charity and created a wonderful atmosphere in the school.

The SEN Department run a Christmas Fayre and sold the many gifts which made. There were all sorts of decorations as well as a lovely cafeteria for all our guests.

Finally, we had our annual week-long spinathon and our Christmas Doors Competition.

In the spinathon we cycled the distance to Lapland (and more) to return to Elf to Santa. We are still counting the donations and sponsorship funds for Students4Students.

In the Doors Competition we reused discarded resources and materials to decorate the doors to our classrooms. It was good to see staff putting things away to reuse next year.

The Supported Needs and Disability Office will be hosting a Disability Fair. The Disability Fair will take place at the Covered Muga, Bayside Sports Complex on Friday 1st December 2023 between 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm. 
 
This Fair is an opportunity for members of the public to learn about the services that are available locally from both HM Government of Gibraltar and Non-Governmental Organisations. It is a chance for those working within the field to showcase what they have to offer. It is, also, therefore the perfect opportunity for persons with disabilities and their families to increase their support networks and to share experiences.
 
The Disability Fair will be composed of three distinct aspects, namely:
1. Charity / Private Professionals Stalls Some charities and private professionals will be setting up a stall to inform the community what services they provide and how they can help those with supported needs and disability.
2. HM Government of Gibraltar Stalls Various government departments will be present on the day to showcase what they have to offer those with supported needs and disability.
3. Speakers There will be a stage with keynote speakers who have different messages about disability. All talks are linked to the hearing loop and a BSL Interpreter will be present. Please find the itinerary below:
 
TIMESPEAKERTOPIC
15:30    Minister Santos           Opening of Talks
15:40    Sunil Chandiramani    Life with Kidney Disease
15:50    Freddy Ballester          Organ Donation
16:00    Alexandra Perera        Living with Cerebral Palsy
16:10     Kirstie Goodchild       Taking Inspiration from Social Prescribing
16:20    Maryanne Nacimiento and Yvonne Bosano     Clubhouse works!
16:30    Marie Fox                     Artful Remedy
16:40    Kerensa Palao              An Exploration into Music Therapy
16:50    Ana Lepe                      Emotional Regulation in Children
17:00    Nadine Martinez         Living with a Hidden Disability
17:10     Melisa Bosano             How coaching can help
17:20    Dominic Francis          Living with Chronic Kidney Disease
17:30    Monica Bassett            Life as a carer
17:40    Kyranne Lia                  My Colitis and I
17:50    Charles Fa                    Living with a stoma
18:00   Peter Sardena             Life Moving Forward with Mobility

Wonderful to see our students participating in this competition and being able to enjoy their success. Well done to Kate Williamson (year 12), Beau Reyes (year 8) and Sofia Zammit (years 7).