Friday 11 June 2021

ABC Weekly 11.06.21

 From the Director

Dear ABC Community:


I am very proud of these young men and women. Please allow me to explain why. As a language arts teacher (albeit in English), words are very interesting to me.


You can ask my Spanish teacher, a very patient lady, I assure you. I love the connections between words and also the etymology. And certainly, one word, in particular, has held my attention. 

The word mature: really, what does it mean? What is this concept of maturity? In my life I have met many immature older people, and, equally, I have met many young people mature beyond their years.


We are going to explore the origins of the word "maduro" or mature. The first syllable, originally was "meh", and is from ancient Persia and means an amount or quantity. In fact it is part of the words, "measure" or "meter". And, “duro”, we all understand, means, "resistant", "resilient", then: an amount of resilience. Sounds good to me, but how much? We don't have a scale or a passing mark.


Am I mature? I do not know. Old, yes. But mature, I think not. At least I'm still learning. But of this I am sure: for everything they have been through, for everything they have endured, everything they have overcome so far, up to now. These are the most mature ABC graduates, period.


Congratulations Class of 2021, I am incredibly proud of you.


Stephen Lang

Director


From the Head of Primary


We have spent the day celebrating the end of in-person learning for this year.

Let's hope that we can return to normal soon, but in the meantime I am happy to report

that thanks to parent collaboration we have a hybrid system which keeps children learning,

happy and safe.




Grade 5 Graduation

Tonight we will be celebrating our Grade 5’s moving on to secondary. As ABC students and ROCs, they all believe and demonstrate our school motto Effort Leads to Success. Their success is due to their effort, when they faced difficult math problems in 5th grade or  when I was their Prepa teacher and they struggled to communicate with me in English. Have a look at some of my old Prepa Taylor photos here. We are so proud of them. Well done 5th Grade!


Holiday Learning 

Next week, once the term has finished, we will relaunch the parent portals for each grade which will give you access to a range of resources you can use to support your child over the summer. Please try to continue reading with your child regularly, the Reading AZ platform will be available for this or you can borrow books from the library for the summer holidays (contact susangavidia@abc-net.edu.sv) before Wednesday 16th June. Please try to talk to your children about maths in the real world, ask them to share the pizza for dinner equally or help you work out how much things cost when you are at the supermarket. Also try to encourage them to write often, for example, messages/emails/letters to family and friends or shopping lists. Encourage them to spend lots of time playing outside and watch films and TV in their second language.


Thank-you

As we come to the end of the school year, I would like to say a big thank you to the primary leadership team, Tom McNeil, Deputy Head, Ana Cabrera, National Director and Raquel Suarez Assistant Head. 



The primary key stage and grade leaders have also done an amazing job, leading their teams through the most challenging year of their careers; Nick Ware, Ian Truscott, Tanya Rampone, Andrea Amaya, Georgina Chadwick, Lourdes Guadron, Dalitt Pineda, Maria José Caceres and Mayra Caceres. Also thank you to the curriculum team Carolina Aviles and Elisa Hernandez in IPC, Emma Williams in Maths, Ana Mena in Life Skills, Edda Padilla in English. Finally a big thank you to Guadelupe Guzman who led a special pandemic wellbeing project and Raquel Zapeda for leading our LSU Team.


So much happens behind the scenes in a school, and their individual passion for education means that they go above and beyond. We are very lucky to have such a strong dedicated team. I must also say thank you to the wonderful primary secretaries Claudia, Luz and Deysi, who have kept the machine turning.


Getting to know our teaching assistants



Kathy Chávez de Barrios 

I worked for 18 years with the Montessori method with pre-school children here in El Salvador. I took the "Educador con Valores y Método Montessori'' diploma course by ASED MONTESSORI GUATEMALA. As well as a diploma course with Maite Vallet called "Lectura Comprensiva y Escritura''. I first started to work at a bilingual school as a substitute teacher. Then I was offered a formal position as a teacher assistant. That's when I truly knew I wanted to be a preschool teacher.Through the years, I have discovered the magic kids can develop and create learning through play. It's a way to express themselves, find out what they like and dislike, know they are capable of doing and achieve big things, and challenge themselves. I have learnt that, yes, kids need traditional education, but more than that, they need guidance to be shown how things can be done in a better or different way, that it’s ok to think out of the box. They sure are capable of many things, and they deserve to know we believe in them. Working here at the ABC reassures me that teaching is my life, my passion and that I want to help those little minds grow and become whatever they dream of and believe they can be. 





Camila Beltranena 


Since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to work with children. What I enjoy the most about being a teacher is seeing children achieve their goals and overcome challenges that may seem difficult at the time. My first job was working in a summer camp when I was 16 as junior staff. After I graduated school I did an internship in Fundacion Forja for 1 year. This foundation helps create programs that build character and values in children in private or public schools. I then began working at the ABC in 2017 and I've worked with First grade, Prepa, and Kindergarten. In summer 2018 I did an internship at El Barquito de Papel Preschool. Finally during the pandemic after wandering into the virtual learning world, I created my own business of an online summer camp. I love working at the ABC because of its wonderful curriculum. Also its community is very supportive and I feel grateful to be a part of it. The ABC is where I fell in love with learning through play. I really like learning through play, any subject that may interest the children can be learnt through play. 



Carmen de Figueroa Figueroa, Carmen de.JPG

I studied for the Diplomado de Inglés como Segunda Lengua in the US and I received the Licenciada en Ciencias de la Educación, Especialidad Educación Parvularia from the Universidad Evangélica de El Salvador. I have also taken many extra diploma courses including “Déficit de Atención en niños y niñas con/sin Hiperactividad” and “Creatividad e Innovación en las Metodologías de Enseñanza Aprendizaje". I began working in education in 2000 as a Maestra Bilingue de Parvularia at Kinder American Children’s Paradise. I then worked in many different schools before becoming an ICT assistant at the ABC in 2016. Since then I have also worked as a classroom assistant in 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade. I have several reasons why I like to work at ABC, the main one is because I think it is an institution that allows us to grow, there is constant training to improve and prepare ourselves more and more and be better teachers for our students. I think it is a job that offers us job stability which is extremely important to be able to work in a more reliable way. I like that the school is not only interested in the well being of each student but also of each one of us as teachers. School makes us feel good and motivates us to always be involved in all activities.


Dates for your Diary

PRIMARY

 

June

Friday 11th - Grade 5 Moving On Assembly & EL2S Awards - 4:00 pm- Auditorium

Monday 14th - All students online

Monday 14th- Primary Reports will be sent home this week

Monday 14th - Steam Fest (through 16th june)

Tuesday 15th - All students online

Wednesday 16th - All students online

Wednesday 16th - Last day of school

Thursday 17th - Father’s Day

Tuesday 22nd - Teacher’s Day


From the Secondary Leadership Team

What a year! Thanks to all of you - staff, students, parents and carers, siblings, extended family and community members - for supporting each other and the ABC as a whole throughout the most difficult period in the school’s fifty year history. The Weekly this week looks back at the end of the ABC careers of the Class of 2021, and forward to the start of the next academic year. Read on for details of Graduation, Senior Exit, STEAM Fest and Girls in STEM, and a look ahead to the new school year in August.


Graduation and Senior Exit

The graduation ceremony last night was a wonderful event, which was not only witnessed by hundreds in the auditorium in a full socially distanced environment but by over 500 people through the livestream version online. Students spoke passionately about their pride in being ABC students and now alumni, and made us all proud. Congratulations to the Class of 2021; we hope you will be able to come back and visit us often over the coming years.


Graduation was not the only event this week; today (Friday) students were able to celebrate their final day on campus with the traditional Senior Exit. The students toured the campus in their cars, before sharing a picnic during which time staff were able to say their goodbyes, and yes - at the end, they jumped in the pool! A fitting farewell to a year group that will be missed. 






Girls in Stem and STEAM Fest



Mrs Garcia is proud to share the work of Ana Sofia in 10th grade who has started a new

initiative called STEMPoderate!” STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) is a

hugely important focus especially for young women and girls as we do our part to foster

openness and opportunity for all regardless of their background including their gender.

You can read more about this special project here


STEAM Fest has been a great success again this year. The Top Designer Award winners have now been published and you can see the names and the projects on the STEAM Fest webpage. Please note, the projects themselves are limited to viewing by the ABC community at present in order to protect student privacy. Please do encourage your children to log in with their ABC credentials to see the full range of top creative projects developed this school year. 



iSAMS Reports

The end of year reports will be published to students and parents via the iSAMS portals at the dates shown below: 


Grade 10 and 12 - Thursday 10th June (published)

Grades 6, 7, 8, 9 & 11 - Monday 14th June


Please download your reports in PDF format to your devices if you would like to access them over the summer holidays.  On Sunday 20th June, iSAMS will be closed for maintenance and preparation for August. You will be informed when iSAMS is back open for students to check their timetables for the new school year. 


Looking ahead to August

As you know, if we are permitted to reopen the ABC fully in August, we are 100% ready to do so. Our timetable, class sets, rooms and teachers have been organised to ensure that regardless of a hybrid or full opening, we are ready. Look out next week for information about the exact times of the school day; you may remember from my previous writing on the subject that we have made enormous advances in our hybrid provision to ensure that all students in all grades have the opportunity to study all their subjects in person, even in a hybrid model. To do this, we have removed the long break in the middle of the day and will have just one morning drop-off and one lunchtime pick-up for all students. I hope this makes it easier for parents to arrange transport, and will ensure that students have a shorter day which will make it easier for students to participate in personal activities in the afternoon.


Until then, may I wish you the most safe and restful of summer breaks.


Dates for your diary

 

SECONDARY

 

June

Saturday 12th - Grade 10 Picnic-9:30am ABC Field; Class of 2021: Graduation Dinner

Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th - All Secondary grades online

Monday 14th - Grade 9 and Grade 11 PTC online all day

Tuesday 15th - ABC Secondary Talent Show online  - 1:50pm

Wednesday 16th - End of year virtual assemblies and last Day of School Year 20-21

Thursday 17th - Father's Day (school closed)



Tribal Chiefs from 8th to 11th grade were trained in “Personal Leadership Training” course this semester.


We would like to congratulate the Tribal Chiefs who participated in this course, which shaped and supported their leadership, and also provided them with tools to boost their service skills among the community.

The course was offered online by the Academia Británica Cuscatleca in alliance with Universidad José Simeón Cañas. Congratulations Tribal Chiefs! 




Javier Crespo, 8th  

Gerardo Cuellar, 8th 

Ana Paula Arguello, 8th 

Hugo Perdomo, 9th 

Anabella Funes, 9th 

Mauricio Loucel, 9th 

Ximena Truscott, 10th

Ana Sofía Santamaría, 10th 

Pablo Cruz del Pino, 10th 

Sebastián Ortíz, 10th 

Sebastian Huete, 11th 

Gerardo Mendoza Lemus, 11th 

Adriana Guerra, 11th 






















Friday 4 June 2021

ABC Weekly 04.06.21

 From the Director

Hello everybody. I'm going to be very short this week and I’m going to be very clear. As soon as we have word from the Ministry of Education that we can open school fully, we fully intend to do so. We’re in very regular discussions with them and they know that is our ambition.


That’s why, in fact, we’ve devised next year’s Secondary timetable to be able to transition directly without change from hybrid into being fully open.

In fact, consider this: for the entire time that we’ve been in hybrid our entire Kinder, Pre-Kinder and Prepa classes have been fully open, with 100% of children in school, every day, playing and learning very safely in their bubbles, together.


I’m proud of the fact that throughout this entire hybrid period, we haven’t had one case of in-school transmission of Covid as far as we are aware.


If we have to be in hybrid in August, please also know that we are enhancing that provision, especially in Secondary, where all subjects will be offered in school. The full curriculum offer will be available as if we were open normally. 


The day timings will be better arranged for your convenience so that we have a single dropoff and pickup arrangement at the beginning and end of the day. I hope that’s very clear, I hope you can all look forward to being back together in our normal school in August.


Have a great weekend everybody.


Stephen Lang

Director



From the Head of Primary


Hybrid August 2021

I believe I caused some confusion with my letter sent earlier this week! Please be reassured that our priority is getting all students on site full-time in August, if it is safe to do so. However, in preparation for all situations, we are ensuring that we have a highly effective hybrid system in the event that MinEd and MinSal tell us to continue under the same restrictions. I have noticed that there are still a high number of COVID-19 cases in our community, luckily we have had no cases in-school in Primary and just two short disruptions due to suspected cases. We are also looking at how we can safely improve our hybrid programme to offer more in-school services if possible. We will inform you of any changes in the week before school starts in August.


Some Key Points:


  1. The school day will be a little longer and  aligned with Secondary so there will be only one drop-off and one pick-up time for parents. Children will be dropped off in the morning and collected at lunchtime. Class groups will not be mixed, however all classes will get a new class teacher. 


  1. All students in Lower Primary (Pre-Kinder to 1st Grade) will be offered full time / daily provision


  1. If the restrictions and risks are similar to the current situation, then all students in Upper Primary (2nd-5th Grade) will be in school every other week on a Cohort X / Y week system


  1. We will continue with our flexible uniform policy for as long as we are online, however the Bulldog Store will be open over the summer holidays. Please visit the portal to see exact opening dates and how to get an appointment / make an order.


Thank you to all parents who have been sending their feedback to us on our current hybrid system. If you would like to offer any feedback, please use this form


PSHE Consultation

In August we will begin our parent consultation to explore how best we can adapt the English National PSHE (Personal, Social, Emotional, Health) Curriculum to our local context. PSHE is a subject that usually has one period a week in the timetable, it was previously called Life Skills. I will soon be sending you more information about the PSHE curriculum before the end of term. In the meantime I would like to inform you of the dates and times of the consultation sessions:


Monday 23rd August 2021 5pm: PSHE for Pre-Kinder and Kinder

Tuesday 24th August 2021 5pm: PSHE for Prepa and 1st Grade

Wednesday 25th August 2021 5pm: PSHE for 2nd to 5th Grade


If you would like to collaborate in these sessions then please complete this FORM. The sessions will be in both English and Spanish. 


Hybrid Filming

This week we have been making a film for our community about what hybrid mode looks like at the ABC. We hope to share it with you soon, as we know many of our parents miss being able to visit our campus and experience our provision first hand.


Steamfest

Today or next week your child will bring home a cardboard box. Inside the box your children will find a range of resources for our 2021 Online STEAM Festival 14-16th June. STEAM stands for the integrative learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths. The boxes should not be opened until Monday the 14th at 8am when children will have their first online

session with their current teacher.


Online students can pick up their boxes from PAC carpark on 

Tuesday 8th at 4:00 - 5:00 PM for PK - 1st

Wednesday 9th at 4:00- 5:00 PM for 2nd - 5th. 


If you cannot come during this time you can make an appointment with a Primary secretary to pick your child’s box up at a time that suits you.


Moving Up Sessions

The last day of in-person classes is Friday the 11th June. On Monday 14th, Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th at 9am all children will have sessions with their class teacher for next year. You will receive a letter with this information on Monday 14th.


Return Library Books & Resources

Please can you have a good look at home for the following resources. You can send them in with your child or leave them at the gate with security.

  • Any library book that was borrowed before May 2021

  • Any reading book / reading folder 

  • Pre-Kinder: Big Storybook, Numicon, Clock

  • Kinder: Numicon, Clock, Number Fan, 10 Cubes

  • Prepa: Numicon, Clock, Number Fan

  • 1st Grade: Storybook, Dienes 10s and 1s, Cuisenaire Rods, Clock, Number Fan

  • 2nd Grade: Reading Book, Dictionary, Atlas

  • 3rd Grade: Reading Book, Dictionary, Atlas, Thesaurus

  • 4th Grade: Reading Book, Dictionary, Calculator, Thesaurus

  • 5th Grade: Reading Book, Dictionary, Calculator, Atlas



Dates for your Diary

PRIMARY

J U N E 

Wednesday 2nd - Padre-Hijo 5to Grado/ Charla COESAL - (6pm-7pm)

Wednesday 2nd - Madre-Hija 5to Grado/ Charla COESAL - (6pm-7pm)

Friday 4th - Cohort X will take Steam Fest boxes home

Monday 7th - Week ‘Y’ Hybrid Plan

Tuesday 8th - Pre-K to 1st Grade Permanent online children may collect SteamFest box-White Benches/PAC (4:00-5:00 pm)

Wednesday 9th - 2nd to 5th Grade Permanent online children may collect SteamFest box - White Benches/PAC (4:00-5:00 pm)

Friday 11th - Cohort Y will take Steam Fest boxes home

Monday 14th - All students online

Monday 14th- Primary Reports will be sent home

Monday 14th - Steam Fest (through 16th june)

Tuesday 15th - All students online

Wednesday 16th - All students online

Wednesday 16th - Last day of school

Thursday 17th - Father’s Day

Tuesday 22nd - Teacher’s Day



From the Secondary Leadership Team: Mr Kilford


As with any typical year, the end of the school term is packed full of activities, events and celebrations. Today, we have closed the CAL cycle for the year. We are analysing student academic achievements and asking staff for recommendations for awards in preparation for the final CAL reports and achievement ceremonies (see more information about these below). We are so proud of how our students have continued their education and persisted throughout a year of change and challenge. 


Returning to school in August.

We are fully prepared and ready for a full reopening in August if the government approves such an opening. Unlike some other international schools, we are equally fully prepared for hybrid reopening and have been working hard on our contingency plans for this eventuality. Our plans are designed to allow the smoothest of transitions and mean that:

  • In both full in-school and hybrid learning models, all students in all grades will come in for all their subjects. In hybrid, this will be on a Cohort X / Cohort Y basis similar to the current one to ensure we meet distancing requirements in classrooms.

  • There will be no morning/afternoon separation; this means there will be a single morning drop-off and single afternoon pick-up for all students across both Primary and Secondary - we hope this makes transport much easier for parents.

  • When we transition between hybrid and full in-school learning, there will be no changes to teachers, subjects, classes or sets

If you haven’t yet had a chance to read Mr Burdett’s letter outlining the plans for August that was sent to you earlier this week, you can do so here: English / Spanish.



Key upcoming events

Below we would like to outline and explain some of these key events and celebrations coming up over the next couple of weeks. 

Talent Show Talented ABC students will have the chance to take to the virtual stage in the annual talent show, taking place on Tuesday 15th June.

Achievement Ceremonies All of the achievement ceremonies for this year will be held online on the last day of term (Wednesday 16th June). The exact timings and a link to join the online ceremonies and celebrate students' successes in each grade will be sent to you, at the latest on Monday 14th June. They will also be available via the Whole School Calendar on our website.

Senior Exit and Graduation We have an exciting week coming up with the end of term Grade 12 events. Grade 12 students and parents can find more details in an email sent by Mr Lang earlier this week about who can attend what and when.



iSAMS Reports

The end of year reports will be published to students and parents via the iSAMS portals at the dates shown below: 


Grade 10 and 12 - Thursday 10th June

Grades 6, 7, 8, 9 & 11 - Monday 14th June


Please download your reports in PDF format to your devices if you would like to access them over the summer holidays.  On Sunday 20th June, iSAMS will be closed for maintenance and preparation for August. You will be informed when iSAMS is back open for students to check their timetables for the new school year. 


Parent Teacher Conferences

Grade 9 and 11 students will be attending Parent Teacher Conferences on 14th and 15th June.  Conferences will be spread across both days for both year groups.  This is a great opportunity for parents to meet with teachers midway through the IGCSE and IBDP two-year programmes, and to strategise towards a successful second year in these programmes.  The relevant documentation has been shared with students and parents.  Students will need to make their own copy of the appointment sheet and arrange meet times with their teachers, as we have always done in the past.  Students can then share their personal copy of the appointment sheet with their parents.


We are aware that students in the current Grades 6 and 7 have not had the chance to meet subject teachers this year. As you may have read in Mr Burdett’s letter sent earlier this week, we had plans to do these in the summer term but the government’s decision to allow us to reopen in hybrid meant we were faced with a difficult decision, and we decided to prioritise the in-school learning experience for students rather than suspend lessons for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Rest assured, we will prioritise these year groups early in the next academic year. 



From the Learning Resource Centre - STEAM Fest and more!

The LRC ends the year as it as acted throughout - full of activity! The STEAM Fest 2021 Exhibition has launched online and is a showcase of the creativity and action that ABC students have undertaken. You can see the exhibition in full here (remember you may need an ABC login for full access) and you can read more details on the ABC blog here:

https://abc-lrc.blogspot.com/2021/06/steam-fest-2021-has-launched.html

 

You may also be interested to hear how our LRC team, led by Mrs Garcia, continue to be at the forefront of professional development for librarians across El Salvador. They led and participated in workshops as part of the Salvadoran Library Association's Cultural Week, sharing their enormous expertise with others about how they have worked to overcome the challenges of the pandemic, and how we are very strongly positioned to come out of this crisis. It is pertinent reminder that, as a result of the ABC’s decision to not pause our activities but to continue learning throughout the pandemic, not only have students continued to learn but also our teachers. You can read full details on the LRC blog here:

https://abc-lrc.blogspot.com/2021/06/workshop-overcoming-challenges-of.html

 



 

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Dates for your diary

 

SECONDARY

 

June

Monday 7th to Friday 11th - Cohort Y - Grade 6, 7, 8, 9 Hybrid. Grade 11 - At home online. Extended Essay focus.

Monday 7th - School Mock Court Project (ends) 

Monday 7th - Class 2021: Acción de Gracias, virtual event

Tuesday 8th - Group photo and short Graduation practice

Thursday 10th - G10 & G12 Reports Published on iSAMS; Class of 2021: Graduation Ceremony, 4pm

Friday 11th - Senior Exit

Friday 11th - Grade 10 virtual Awards Ceremony, 10:35am & STEAM Fest - winners announced

Saturday 12th - Grade 10 Picnic, 9:30am Field and Class of 2021: Graduation Dinner

Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th - All Secondary grades online

Monday 14th - Grade 9 and Grade 11 PTC online all day

Tuesday 15th - ABC Secondary Talent Show online  - 1:50pm

Wednesday 16th - End of year assemblies and is the last Day of School Year 20-21

Thursday 17th - Father's Day (school closed)

Friday 18th - First day of summer holiday (school closed)