Friday 27 May 2011

34: Friday 27th May 2011

From the Headmaster

Have we missed you?
Only three more opportunities to complete the registration process for next school year - tomorrow Saturday 28th (8am to 12 noon), Monday and Tuesday. Over 70% have completed the process but we are concerned we might have missed someone - PLEASE, if you have not been invited to the electronic preregistration process contact matricula1112@abc-net.edu.sv or phone 2228-8397 URGENTLY.

ABC Oscars
It was a grand event - the ABC Digital Film Oscars Ceremony was attended by an enthusiastic crowd who enjoyed the music, dance and, of course, the nominations for the best documentary, trailer, animation, advertisement, sound and independent movie. The winners received coveted Oscar statues and we look forward to seeing great work next year.



ABC Values promoted by our students and Shaka
Shaka and Dres have published a new version of the song based on ABC values. It was filmed recently to promote the Shaka and Dres concert that took place here and contains a fantastic HD audio track. Our students were recorded at the Shaka Productions studio and then filmed at the beach and other locations.
The story about how this song came to be can be found in this account by David Navarro and the 40th Anniversary video version is a great implementation of it.
As Shaka puts it: "Canción realizada por los alumnos de la ABC con la ayuda de Shaka. Es el resultado de varias semanas de trabajo junto con los y las alumnas con el objetivo de hacer una canción que refuerza los valores de la Academia."



Primary News


Lower Primary Family Days
The children and teachers of Lower Primary invited their parents in for a special celebration this week. Through videos, photographs, songs and poems the children told their parents how much they were loved and appreciated. Many thanks to all of the parents who found time within their busy days to attend these celebrations. I’m sure you appreciated the children’s efforts.



Digital Oscars
The Primary school was very proud of all of our pupils who were nominated for Oscars at this week’s ceremony. Daniela Castillo, Alejandro Quesada, Carmen Reyes, Abigail Walker, Luis Gonzalez, Fiorella Salandra, David Garcia, Andrea Landaverde and Andres Figueroa were all nominated for awards which was very exciting.

Best Animation was awarded to Daniela Castillo, Alejandro Quesada and Carmen Reyes  for their animated  presentation on the theme of Children’s Rights.

Best Advertisement was awarded to Andres Figueroa for his Gelmax advertisement.


Well done to everyone who took part and everyone who helped the children to prepare these digital presentations!

UP Family Days
Children in Upper Primary will be hosting their Family Days next week. Please see below for dates and times. We look forward to another opportunity to welcome you into school.

There will be an exhibition of the children’s art work on display outside of the Art room on the Upper Primary corridor. We do hope that you will take the time to look and admire some of the work done in Art classes this year.

Moving up day
Next Friday, 3rd June, the children in Lower and Upper Primary will be having their moving up day. This is when the children go to spend an hour or two with the teacher that they will be with next academic year so that they can begin to get to know each other. A letter will come home about this with the children later in the week.

Dates for you Diary

Lower Primary
Tuesday 7th June: Pre-Kinder Slideshow, 7:00pm
Wednesday 8th June: Pre-Kinder Slideshow, 7:00pm
Friday 10th June: Reports go home
Friday 17th June: End of Term, depart at 11am - No Play Room

Upper Primary
Monday 30th May - Friday 3rd June: Upper Primary Art Exhibition
Monday 30th May: 5th Grade Family Day
Tuesday 31st May: 4th Grade Family Day
Wednesday 1st June: 3rd Grade Family Day
Thursday 2nd June: 2nd Grade Family Day
Friday 3rd June: Moving Up Day
Wednesday 8th June: 3rd Avilés Assembly
Monday 13th June: CAL 3 Reports go home
Tuesday 14th June: 2nd and 3rd Grade Talent Show, 10.00am
Tuesday 14th June: 4th and 5th Grade Talent Show, 12.00m
Wednesday 15th June: 2nd Grade Achievement Ceremony, 7.30am
Wednesday 15th June: 3rd Grade Achievement Ceremony, 8.30am
Wednesday 15th June: 4th Grade Achievement Ceremony, 10.00am
Wednesday 15th June: 5th Grade Achievement Ceremony, 12.00am
Thursday 16th June: 5th Grade Graduation, 9.00am
Thursday 16th June: 5th Grade Party, 5.30pm
Friday 17th June: Staff Talent Show, 8.30am
Friday 17th June: End of Term, depart at 11:00am - No Pass Club

Secondary News

Millennium Scholarship
We are delighted to announce our 2011 Millennium Scholars:

Internal Millennium Scholar: Mariela Alejandra Gutiérrez Escobar
External Millennium Scholar: Carlos Alberto Molina Martínez

The competition was strong and congratulations to all students who were selected for interview. All of them performed really well.

Graduation Day - Thursday 9th June at 5 pm
At this event students from Grade 9, 10 and 11 will be required to attend but only students in Grade 10 that do not have exams the following day will be required to attend. Please note all students will leave school at lunch time on Thursday 9th June and come back at 4:30pm to their tutor room.

Empowerment Day for Grade 6 and 8 TOMORROW
Grade 6 and Grade 8 are attending Empowerment sessions tomorrow (Saturday 28th May) which are being organised by Grade 11 Prefects and Mentors.

Congratulations to the Boys Varsity Basketball team who beat the German School 39-38 in the final on Thursday afternoon. They played magnificently and fully deserved their triumph.

 
Digital OSCARS
Congratulations to the nominees for the Digital Oscars ceremony which took place this week and especial congratulations to the winners.

On Monday 30th May students may come to school in a national or international theme T-shirt that has personal meaning to them as we are celebrating the cultural diversity of our community.

May 31st is International UN “No Tobacco day”
We are aware that the teenage years are when someone is most likely to start the bad habit of smoking cigarettes and on this day we will be focusing on how young people can make smart choices and avoid cigarettes in their lives. Adriano will be involved in the campaign. Some students will be wearing the Say No T-shirts which have been designed by ABC students.

Last Week of Term
Please note that the first two days of the last week of term are normal timetable days. For the last three days we are holding a range of activities which are designed to explore cross curricular links and preparation for next year. Grade 11 will be doing the compulsory IB Science Project during these three days and should be making their preparations.

Dates for your Diary

Saturday 28th May: Grade 6 Empowerment Day, 8 - 10am and Grade 8 Empowerment Day, 10.30 - 12.30pm
Tuesday 31st May: International No Tobacco Day
Wednesday 1st June: Ring Ceremony for Grade 12 students
Thursday 9th June: Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony
Wednesday 15th - 17th June: Grade 11 Science project
Wednesday 15th June: Grade 6 Pompeii Day and Grade 6 Awards Assembly at 1 pm
Thursday 16th June: Grade 7 Awards Assembly at 7 am and Grade 8 Awards assembly at 1 pm
Friday 17th June: Grade 9-11 Awards assembly, 7 am
Friday 17th June: Reports go home and end of term at 12 noon.

Friday 20 May 2011

33: Friday 20th May 2011

From the Headmaster
Parents Workshops - great turnout!
Thank you to our Primary staff for preparing some great numeracy workshops for parents - and thank you parents for coming to learn about how to help your children in this important area. Special congratulations to 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade parents, where more than half of the parents attended. It gives us encouragement and, as Ms Dickson says in Primary News below, we shall be offering more workshops, on different topics, next academic year.

Short questionnaire - last week!
Thank you to the over 100 members of our community who have already taken the 3 minutes to answer our questionnaire.
It is vital to obtain the opinion of our community in terms of how the school is doing. This short questionnaire will allow you to rate the school on how it is fulfilling its Vision, Mission, Values and Traits, and give your opinion.

Registration process - also last week!
Almost all eligible parents have enrolled electronically and have now been invited to school on a particular day to carry out the enrolment process. However, not everyone has been able to make the appointment, and so there may be a greater number of people to complete the process towards the end of the week. In order to help, please note that the administration will be open for enrolment tomorrow, Saturday 21st of May, from 8am to 12 noon.

Primary News
Primary workshops for parents
We were very impressed and excited about the number of parents who attended our maths workshops for parents in Grades 1 to 5 this week. Thank you so much for finding time in your busy schedules to come along and be a part of this initiative. I am sure that you will find the areas covered useful and it will help you to help your child at home. We will be studying the feedback questionnaires closely and offering more workshops, on different topics, next academic year.

The Story behind the song
Well done to all of the musicians, members of the pupil and staff choirs and the readers who all helped to make this musical evening such a success. Music from around the world and  from different centuries was played and/or sung and readers made sure  that we understood a little about the history of each piece. Thank you to everyone who was involved in putting this concert together.

LP Spanish assembly - PK Guadrón
Well done and thanks you to the children and the teachers of PK Guadrón for their assembly today on the theme of “If I were king....’. The assembly was enjoyed by all the parents, staff and pupils who had the opportunity to watch it.

Lower Primary Family Days
The children are very excited about our forthcoming Family Days and are working on various activities that have been developed for this special event.  Please take note of the date and time of your child’s grade as detailed below. Invitations are also going home and we hope that you can join us for what will be a series of very special and memorable mornings.

Volleyball
Pupils from Grade 1 to Grade 5 will be competing in an inter tribal volleyball competition during PE lessons next week.

PE lessons
2nd Grade played parachute games during this week’s PE lessons and in addition to having fun they improved their fitness, listening skills, cooperation, team work and gross motor skills.

Lower Primary
Dates for Your Diary
Pre-Kinder Family Day: Tuesday 24th May 10:00am
Kinder Family Day: Wednesday 25th May 7:00am
Prepa Family Day: Thursday 26th May 11:30am
1st Grade Family Day: Friday 27th May 11:30am
Pre-Kinder Slideshow: Tuesday 7th June 7:00pm
Pre-Kinder Slideshow: Wednesday 8th June 7:00pm
Reports go home: Friday 10th June
End of Term: Friday 17th June, depart at 11am - No Play Room

Upper Primary
Dates for Your Diary
Monday 30th May - Friday 3rd June - Upper Primary Art Exhibition
Monday 30th May - 5th Grade Family Day
Tuesday 31st May - 4th Grade Family Day
Wednesday 1st June - 3rd Grade Family Day
Thursday 2nd June - 2nd Grade Family Day
Friday 3rd June - Moving Up Day
Wednesday 8th June - 3rd Avilés Assembly
Monday 13th June - CAL 3 Reports go home
Tuesday 14th June - 2nd and 3rd Grade Talent Show 10.00am
Tuesday 14th June - 4th and 5th Grade Talent Show 12.00m
Wednesday 15th June - Achivement Ceremony 2nd Grade  7.30am
Wednesday 15th June - Achivement Ceremony 3rd Grade  8.30am
Wednesday 15th June - Achivement Ceremony 4th Grade 10.00am
Wednesday 15th June - Achivement Ceremony 5th Grade 12.00am
Thursday 16th June - 5th Grade Graduation 9.00am
Thursday 16th June - 5th Grade Party 5.30pm
Friday 17th June - Staff Talent Show 8.30am
Friday 17th June - End of Term, depart at 11:00am - No Pass Club

Secondary News    
Empowerment for Grade 7 on Saturday
Our newly appointed Prefects and Grade 7 Mentors are running a two hour empowerment session to help develop responsibility, sharing and leadership skills tomorrow morning from 9 am to 11am. We expect all Grade 7 students to attend. Some ABC teachers will also be helping.

Empowerment for Grade 6 and 8 on Saturday 28th May
The Prefect and Mentors are also working with Grade 6 (from 8 - 10 am) and Grade 8 (from 10.30 - 12.30) next Saturday. Thank you to our Head Students, their Deputies and all the Prefect and Mentors involved in running this event.

May 31st is world No Tobacco Day
On Tuesday 31st May we will be joining forces with many agencies around the world to encourage our students to appreciate the dangers of tobacco and the benefits of not starting smoking. It is estimated each year in the U.S. alone that almost half a million people die from tobacco related diseases. Adriano Bolaños will be helping us with this campaign

Geography trip to Guatemala with some 11 graders
The IB Geography field trip is due back from Antigua tomorrow

Congratulations to:
Manuel Melendez who has decided to take up an offer of a place to study Government and economics at Harvard University. We are very proud of him.
All of the Class of 2012 who have finished their IB Exams or will do so on Monday. We look forward to receiving their results.

Congratulations to Ramón Sanfeliu who has been selected to represent El Salvador at the International Maths Olympiad in Amsterdam in July. Congratulations!

Dates
Saturday 21st May: Grade 7 Empowerment Day 9 - 11 am
Saturday 28th May: Grade 6 Empowerment Day 8 - 10 am and Grade 8 Empowerment Day 10.30 - 12.30
Wednesday 1st June: Ring Ceremony for Grade 12 students
Thursday 9th June: Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony
Wednesday 15th June: Grade 6 Pompei Day and Awards Assembly
Thursday 17th June: Grade 7 & 8 Awards Assembly
Friday 17th June: Grade 9 n- 12 Awards assembly
Friday 17th June: Reports go home and end of term at 12 noon.

Friday 13 May 2011

32: Friday 13th May 2011

From the Headmaster
We need your help - 3 minutes of your time
It is vital to obtain the opinion of our community in terms of how the school is doing. At the end of each year we have a questionnaire that will help us gather your opinion and improve. It should take no more than 3 minutes and we would be grateful to have it done by Friday 27th of May.
This short questionnaire will allow you to rate the school on how it is fulfilling its Vision, Mission, Values and Traits, and give your opinion.

Traffic disruption due to OAS General Assembly meeting in El Salvador
We plan to remain open during the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) which is due to be held 5th to 7th of June at CIFCO. As with President Obama’s visit, we shall ensure that we monitor the situation and take the appropriate decisions.

Primary News
Maths workshops
In order to help parents to help their children with their maths homework we will be running some short maths workshops for parents in Grades 1 to 5 next week. Each of the workshops will last for only half and hour and will be held in your child’s classroom. Teachers will concentrate on showing you the methods that we use in school to teach the four basic operations. If these workshops are popular with parents we will plan to do more next academic year. Please see the calendar dates below.

Music concert: The Story Behind the Song, Thursday 19th May, 6.30pm PAC
The final music concert of the year will take place this Thursday.  Musicians from the Upper Primary choir, recorders and violin extracurricular groups will perform together with the secondary band and special guest staff performers.  There will be a great variety of music on offer from Handel's Water Music to the theme from Starwars.  This will also be a fantastic educational experience for everyone, as the story behind each piece of music will be revealed.

Safari Day
The Kinder, Prepa and 1st Grade children enjoyed a very special day last Thursday. The children and teachers came dressed in safari clothes and colours ready to participate in the exciting activities that the teachers and assistants had prepared for them. They started the morning with a discussion and story from Ms Corry and Ms Ana. Then the groups rotated around the classrooms trying to anticipate what was in store for them. It was a great day and a very memorable one!

LP Spanish assembly - Prepa Pashley
In school we feel that the values of politeness, good manners and caring for each are extremely important and we try very hard to help the children to develop these attitudes. Prepa Pashley’s Spanish assembly today was on this theme and the children reminded us of this message in story, role play and song. Well done and thank you to all of the teachers and children responsible for putting this assembly together.

School Council
The last value of the school year will be introduced in UP by our school council next week. This is the value of independence.


Lower Primary
Dates for Your Diary
LP Spanish Assembly with Prepa Pashley: Friday 13th May
1st Grade Maths workshop for parents: Monday 16th May 7.10-7.40am
LP Spanish Assembly with Pre-Kinder Guadrón: Friday 20th May
Pre-Kinder Family Day: Tuesday 24th May 10:00am
Kinder Family Day: Wednesday 25th May 7:00am
Prepa Family Day: Thursday 26th May 11:30am
1st Grade Family Day: Friday 27th May 11:30am
Pre-Kinder Slideshow: Tuesday 7th June 7:00pm
Pre-Kinder Slideshow: Wednesday 8th June 7:00pm
Reports go home: Friday 10th June
End of Term: Friday 17th June, depart at 11am - No Play Room

Upper Primary
Dates for Your Diary

Tuesday 17th May - Maths workshop for parents - Grade 2 - 7.10-7.40am
Tuesday 17th May - 5th Grade COESAL session, students only 1:45pm – 3:00pm
Wednesday 18th May - Maths workshop for parents - Grade 3 - 7.10 - 7.40am
Thursday 19th May - Maths workshop for parents - Grade 4 - 7.10 - 7.40am
Friday 20th May -  Maths workshop for parents - Grade 5 - 7.10 -7.40am
Monday 30th May - Upper Primary Art Exhibition
Monday 30th May - Family Day


Secondary News    

IB and IGCSE exams are continuing next week. Grade 10 and 12 students should be aware of the examination times and must be in school at least twenty minutes before the start of the exam.

Work Experience
We are organising work experience for Grade 9 students which thy will do during the last week of term

Millennium Scholarship
The interview phase of the Millennium Scholarship award will be taking place next week. The selected internal and external students will be our Millennium scholars.

Awards Assemblies
We will be holding our Awards assemblies in the last week of term and we hope that many of you will be able to attend to celebrate the successes of this school year. The dates and times are shown below

Dates
Friday 20th May: Grade 10 and Grade 12 Reports for Cal 3 will be issued
Wednesday 1st June: Ring Ceremony for Grade 12 students
Thursday 9th June: Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony
Wednesday 15th June: Grade 6 Pompei Day and Awards Assembly
Thursday 17th June: Grade 7 & 8 Awards Assembly
Friday 17th June: Grade 9 n- 12 Awards assembly
Friday 17th June: Reports go home and end of term at 12 noon.



Noticias de Secundaria  
Los exámenes de BI y IGCSE continúan la próxima semana. Los estudiantes de 10º y 12º grados deben estar pendientes de los horarios de sus exámenes y deben estar en el colegio por lo menos veinte minutos antes del comienzo del examen.  

Experiencia de Trabajo
Estamos organizando la experiencia de trabajo para los alumnos de 9º grado, el ual harán durante la última semana de este año escolar.

Becas del Milenio
La fase de la entrevista para el premio de las Becas del Milenio se llevará a cabo la próxima semana.  Los alumnos internos y externos seleccionados serán nuestros estudiantes del Milenio.

Asambleas de Premiaciones
Vamos a celebrar nuestras Asambleas de Premios en la última semana del período y esperamos que muchos de ustedes puedan asistir a celebrar los éxitos de este año escolar.  A continuación se les mencionan las fechas y horas.

Fechas para su Agenda
Viernes 20 de mayo: Entrega de Reportes de la Cal 3 para 10º y 12º grados
Miércoles 1º de junio: Ceremonia de Bendición de Anillos para 12º grado
Jueves 9 de junio: Ceremonia de Graduación de 12º grado
Miércoles 15 de junio: Día de Pompeya y Asamblea de Entrega de Premios para 6º grado
Jueves 16 de junio: Asamblea de Entrega de Premios para 7º y 8º grados
Viernes 17 de junio: Asamblea de Entrega de Premios para 9º, 10º, 11º y 12º grados
Viernes 17 de junio: Entrega de Reportes a los alumnos y último día del año escolar, hora de salida a las 12 m.