Sep 27, 2018 | Activities/Services, Cumbre del Sol
Cumbre del Sol Residential Resort is much more than a paradise with homes by the sea, it’s also where you can find one of the best British schools in Spain: The Lady Elizabeth School.
VAPF has taken part in the construction of this great school which brings pupils together throughout their school life. The company offers a quality education for all the residents of Cumbre del Sol Residential Resort and the surrounding areas, for them to therefore enjoy an unrivalled quality of life.
This school has an international character, given that it welcomes pupils from anywhere in Europe and, although its curriculum offers a wide selection of subjects all taught in English, other languages are studied both in the classroom and through extracurricular activities here. The school is distinguished by its high teaching standards which seek to help the pupils develop not just in academics, but personally, through various extracurricular, sporting, and music activities. To make this experience even more complete, in tutorial sessions pupils work on essential values such as respect, honesty, and tolerance.
This September, along with the beginning of the school year for the over 1,000 pupils, brought the inauguration of the new campus for the secondary school pupils, located next to the primary school campus and therefore offering comfort for both parents and teachers.
The new facilities are in line with the school’s educational philosophy, with modern architecture which will be the perfect setting in which the pupils of the Lady Elizabeth school can develop their abilities and build their dreams.
Toncho, an architect from Arquivir Arquitectos, the company which carried out this project together with VAPF Group, spoke to us of his experience working on the new campus, which began in May 2017 and was completed this August, ready for the pupils to use it for the first time at the beginning of this school year. The secondary school campus offers sports areas and outside areas and is composed of three buildings: one blue, another green, and a third in red. Although each building is of one colour, their façades are made up of different hues.
The construction of the new campus seeks to represent the school’s educational concept. The most striking part of the buildings is what Toncho calls “la grapa”, which is white cladding which covers the centre and the three buildings of different colours. This is a static structure which represents the school, and within it are the buildings which are “boxes of knowledge” where the pupils learn. The buildings therefore show a certain energy through their different depths and sizes, representing the dynamic nature of knowledge.
The colours selected, aside from fitting in well with the idea of a school, seek to represent the different subjects as well as the variety of people who come together within the school.
The design and construction of the secondary school campus used innovative materials. For example, on the façade of each of the buildings there are perforated metal sheets which, aside from their aesthetic function, also provide a sustainability solution in producing significant energy savings and offering pupils and teachers ventilation and light that is completely natural. This helps to foster a sense of wellbeing, a characteristic which stands out in all VAPF Group’s constructions.
The Lady Elizabeth Senior School architectural project displays state-of-the-art facilities which are in keeping with the quality of education at the school. According to Toncho, Arquivir’s objective is to complete the secondary school campus in December this year; although the educational buildings are now in use, both the auditorium and the sports building, which will include a semi-Olympic-sized pool, are under construction.
Here at VAPF, we can’t wait to see the finished project!
Apr 30, 2018 | Benitachell, Cumbre del Sol, Events, Grupo VAPF
Last Friday, on the 27th of April, we celebrated our first Day of the Tree with students from the international Lady Elizabeth School by carrying out a reforestation Project which saw the students plant 100 pine trees. The school children repopulated a green area near to Lirios Design in the Cumbre del Sol Residential Resort, which is considered an area of high environmental value.
Day of the Tree is a good opportunity to take part in educational activities so that both adults and children learn the importance of looking after the environment and the resources given to us by nature. With this initiative, VAPF Group has worked together with the pupils at the Lady Elizabeth School with the aim of creating a greener future for the town of Benitatxell.
Year 3 students from The Lady Elizabeth School were chosen to take part in this initiative, as it fit in perfectly with the topic they are working on at school: “saving the world”. Students, parents, teachers, members of VAPF Group, and the mayor of Benitatxell spent an exciting morning that helped the pupils to learn and also to enjoy the opportunity to help the environment and do their bit towards “saving the world”.
The mayor of Benitatxell, Josep Femenia, attended this pleasant outdoor event and gave a short speech to inspire the children: “When I was younger, someone very wise once told me that there were 3 important things in life: having a child, planting a tree, and writing a book; and today you are doing one of these things: sowing new life”.
Students from The Lady Elizabeth School at Cumbre del Sol
VAPF Group sponsored the event and provided two buses to pick the students up from their school and take them to where the trees would be planted, as well as giving them the gardening materials they needed. VAPF Group made the most of the occasion and offered each child a bag, a cap, and a surprise pack of seeds to plant and look after at home, to encourage their interest in nature from a young age.
Cumbre del Sol, where both the Lady Elizabeth School and the different residential areas built by VAPF Group are situated, is a unique natural enclave surrounded by green areas and the Mediterranean Sea. The area is home to protected green areas such as Granadella Natural Park, impressive cliffs and caves, and stunning beaches and coves, which are one of the main attractions in Cumbre del Sol, and a priority for VAPF Group. At VAPF Group one of our goals is to contribute to helping the environment by promoting different initiatives that protect the planet and reduce environmental problems.
The students at The Lady Elizabeth School know how important it is to look after nature around them, and it is not the first time that they have participated in activities related to the environment. Trips to the Montgó gardens, creating a garden by planting trees in the primary playground, and school trips to viewpoints and nearby locations are just some of the activities that help to educate the students.
Day of the Tree at Cumbre del Sol
VAPF Group is currently working on the construction of a new building for secondary pupils at The Lady Elizabeth School in Cumbre del Sol, so that pupils have the opportunity to broaden their studies. The work is progressing successfully, and the new classrooms will be equipped with the latest technology including four laboratories, three IT rooms, a kitchen for food science, and a space for art, dance, and theatre. The secondary pupils will be moving into the new building in September.
The pupils at The Lady Elizabeth School will be able to go back and visit the trees they have planted in the future, to see the progress they have made and appreciate their contribution to the environment.
Mar 20, 2017 | Events
Cumbre del Sol’s Lady Elizabeth
El Mundo newspaper publishes every year a ranking of “The 100 Best Schools in Spain”, and this year’s ranking was released last Thursday 2 March. In this edition, we are glad to see again the Laude Lady Elizabeth School (located at Cumbre del Sol) featured as one of the most prestigious international schools in the country. (more…)
