Friday 28 September 2012

6: Friday 28th September 2012

From the Headmaster

Anti Dengue Campaign

Thank you to all our community who have acted to eliminate the breeding areas for mosquitoes in their homes. All students have learnt how to do this and parents are asked to help their children do the tasks set. Parents of students from PreKinder to 3rd Grade have got a simple form to report back on what was done, whilst students from 4th grade up will fill in their own form online. The ABC is required to report back to Mined regarding the measures taken and so this is being done using these simple questionnaires.


Dengue and virus-type illnesses
In common with other schools, we have had a higher number than usual of virus-type illnesses which are common at this time of year. Unfortunately, some of the symptoms of the virus-type illness and that of dengue are similar. Please DO NOT send your child to school if s/he has flu-like symptoms or a temperature, and consult your doctor. 
The Ministry of Health has the home as the First Filter for detection of suspicion of dengue and has asked schools to provide the contact information for any student with confirmed dengue.
Do not have your child return to school before s/he is well again - we are sending home too many students who have returned prematurely or are being asked by their parents to go to the school doctor when they get to school. Please note - the ABC has a first aid post with a doctor on hand for emergencies - the doctor will not prescribe medicines nor carry out a detailed diagnosis, but merely send home any ill student.

Primary News

Welcome back to school - First day photographs
(PKCarPKCacPKFPKSKTKSKFP1st)

UP Civic assemblies
(1, 2, 3)


18th September LP Children’s Parade - Independence Day
(PKF, PKCar, KF, KS)

21st September Peace One day and the McLay Fun Run
(P, PKCac, PKS, KT, UP, LP)


Next week in Primary

International Primary Curriculum
A trainer and advisor from the IPC will be in the primary school all this week to work alongside our teachers. She will identify what we are doing well and will help us to think about how we can make the IPC experience for the children even better.

Children’s Day - Monday 1st October
Children in Key Stage 1 will be celebrating Children’s Day with a visit from Fransortes and UP pupils will be having a crazy hair day and entertainment organised by the 5th Grade Madres Enlace.

5th Truscott assembly - October 3rd
Children in 5th Truscott have been working hard on their assembly. Our first UP class assembly of the year. We look forward to welcoming their parents to school to watch.

Pre Kinder Curriculum Night - October 3rd
Pre Kinder parents are welcome to come along to their curriculum night where they will find out more about how their children spend their days in school.

Inset Day - October 5th
Teachers will be having an in service training day on Friday 5th October. The school is closed for children.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
Wednesday 3rd October: Pre-Kinder Curriculum Night in the PAC 6:00pm
Friday 5th October: School closed for staff INSET
Wednesday 9th October: Kinder Curriculum Night in the PAC 6:00pm
Friday 12th October: First Aguirre Assembly at the PAC 7:20am
Wednesday 17th October: Prepa Curriculum Night in the PAC 6:00pm
Friday 19th October: First Cáceres Assembly at the PAC 7:20am
Wednesday 24th October: First Grade Curriculum Night in the PAC 6:00pm
Wednesday 24th October: UN Day celebrations
Friday 26th October: First Fastiggi Assembly at the PAC 7:20am

Upper Primary
Monday 1st October: UP Crazy Head Day
Wednesday 3rd October: 3rd Padilla Assembly, in the PAC 9:10am
Wednesday 3rd October: 5th Truscott Assembly, in the PAC 11.55am
Friday 5th October: School closed for staff INSET
Thursday 11th October: LSU School for Parents: Self Esteem, in the PAC 7.00 & 6.00pm
Wednesday 24th October: 2nd Mena Assembly, in the PAC 9:10
Wednesday 24th October: 4th Hernández Assembly, in the PAC 11.55
Friday 26th October: UP United Nations Food Fair, UP Corridor at 11.25

Secondary News

SANTA TECLA 2012
We are holding our ABC Olympics on Saturday and we have invited the German, French and American schools to join us. There will be athletics, swimming and cycling. The event starts at 7.30 on saturday morning. if your son or daughter is participating please ensure they arrive at school before 7.30 in their tribal P.E. kit. Parents of participants and nonparticipants as well as non participating students are welcome to spectate.

Know Your school: Grade 6, 7 and 8 are NEXT WEEK
On Tuesday all Grade 6 parents and on Thursday all Grade 7 and Grade 8 parents are invited to the PAC at 5.30 pm for the Know Your School Parent Partnership meetings. We need all Parents to attend and you will have the chance to meet all the teachers of your son or daughter as well as hear about the new school year.

Inset Day - October 5th
Teachers will be having an in service training day on Friday 5th October. The school is closed for all students and we reopen as usual on Monday 8th October.

Missing Laptop
Unfortunately we had a laptop go missing from a grade 10 student in school last week. It is a Macbook Pro. If your son or daughter has a Macbook Pro can you please check they have not picked up the wrong one by mistake and if they know anything about the missing laptop please let us know.






Secondary dates for your diary
Saturday 29th September: ABC Olympic Event
Tuesday 2nd October: Grade 6 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 4th October: Grade 7 and 8 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Friday 5th October: School closed for staff INSET
Monday 8th October: Grade 11 and 12 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 11th October: Grade 9 and 10 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Saturday 13th October: Grade 11 Empowerment Day

Friday 21 September 2012

5: Friday 21st September 2012

From the Headmaster


Dengue - let us do our part in helping to eradicate areas where mosquitoes breed
We are contributing to the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education’s plans to eradicate the areas where mosquitoes (zancudos) can breed. 
At school we are doing an especially careful examination, cleaning and fumigation of the whole campus this weekend.
On Monday we will be working with our students to teach them about the problem and how all can help. Afterwards, they will be taking action, with your help, in your home, so as to identify and eliminate such breeding areas.
In the meantime, here are links with information:

Dengue - what to look for if your child is ill
In common with other schools, we have had a higher number than usual of virus-type illnesses. From an absence rate of 6.5% in the Secondary School this has now dropped to our normal rate of around 3%. Unfortunately, some of the symptoms of the virus-type illness and that of dengue are similar. However, please DO NOT send your child to school if s/he has flu-like symptoms and consult your doctor. The Ministry of Health has the home as the First Filter for detection of suspicion of dengue.
Please note - the ABC has a first aid post with a doctor on hand for emergencies - the doctor will not prescribe medicines nor carry out a detailed diagnosis, but merely send home any ill student.

Next week in Primary

Roald Dahl Day
Monday 24th September is Roald Dahl Day and children throughout Primary will be finding out more about this famous children’s author and reading or listening to some of his wonderful stories. If you have Roald Dahl books or DVD’s at home this would be a great day to sit and enjoy them with your children.

Workshops for parents
Next week in UP we will be having workshops for parents to help them to help their children with reading. These workshops will be held in the classrooms and will be between 7.15 and 7.45.am.Please see below for detail about days. Parents must use the emergency car park please!

Values and Traits
For the past few weeks in Upper Primary we have been working with the Value:Responsible. On Friday the 21st of September, we will reward students who have demonstrated this value in school. At the ABC we would like to develop responsible children, able to take care of their duties; children who understand and accept consequences for their actions and try to correct their mistakes. At home please continue developing this value and congratulate your child every time he shows how important this is in the action he takes.
The price of greatness is responsibility. - Winston Churchill

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
Friday 28th September: Crocodiles from Prepa Burrows and Giraffes from Prepa Lima Spanish Assembly 7.20am at the PAC. 

Upper Primary
Monday 24th September: UP Civic Monday
Friday 21st September: McLay Fun Run
Tuesday 25th September: 5th grade Parent Workshop in the classroom from 7.15am - 7.45
Wednesday 26th September: Spanish Assembly “Independence”
Wednesday 26th September: 3rd grade Parent Workshop in the classroom from 7.15am - 7.45
Thursday 27th September: 2nd grade Parent Workshop in the classroom from 7.15am - 7.45
Friday 28th September: 4th grade Parent Workshop in the classroom from 7.15am - 7.45

Next week in Secondary

SANTA TECLA 2012
We are celebrating the Olympic year on Saturday with SANTA TECLA 2012. There will be competitors from other international schools competing with our students. Our Opening Ceremony starts at 7.30 am and we hope many of you will come along and support this Olympic style event.

Today we celebrated Peace One Day and I want to say a big thank you to the Student Council for all the work they have done spreading the word of peace. They organised an excellent assembly this afternoon to help our younger students reflect on the meaning of peace in their lives.

Caps in PE
As you will be aware young people risk serious health issues later in their lives if they get sunburn and during school PE lessons they are out in the sun. We require them to wear a cap to protect their faces and you might also want to send suncream for them to apply. A cap however is a required item. We suggest you send one into school so they can keep it in their lockers.

Taking care of valuable items
Please do all you can to remind your son or daughter to be vigilant with their possessions. They have a locker to place items ain and should do so. They must not leave them unattended in corridors or outside their lockers.

Lates
We have some students in Saturday detention this week because they have had 5 lates since the start of term. Please make sure your son or daughter is arriving at school on time. We need to help them learn the importance of punctuality!

Secondary dates for your diary
Saturday 22nd September: International Award introductory trip
Thursday 27th September: Grade 7 History trip
Friday 28th September; Grade 8 History trip
Saturday 29th September: ABC Olympic Event
Tuesday 2nd October: Grade 6 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 4th October: Grade 7 and 8 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Friday 5th October: School closed for staff INSET
Monday 8th October: Grade 11 and 12 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 11th October: Grade 9 and 10 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Saturday 13th October: Grade 11 Empowerment Day

Friday 14 September 2012

4: Friday 14th September 2012

Next week in Primary



Parent workshop - Reading

Parent workshops for Prepa parents will be on Wednesday or Thursday next week, depending on which class your children are in. They will be at 7am and last approximately 30 minutes. The idea of these is to give parents some ideas and strategies for helping their children to enjoy and develop their reading at home. Parents are requested to use the emergency car park.


McLay Fun Run/Peace One Day
In the Primary school we will be combining these two events on Friday 21st September. Peace One Day shirts, ordered by the children, will be in school early next week and the children will wear these on Friday whilst taking part in the run. More details about the fun run will be sent soon. Please remember to check your emails.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
Friday 14th September: 1st Quintanilla Spanish Assembly
Wednesday 19th: Prepa Pashley and Prepa Vásquez Parents Reading Workshop from 7:00am to 7:30am in the Jubilee Library Seminar Room.
Thursday 20th: Prepa Burrows and Prepa Lima Parents Reading Workshop from 7:00am to 7:30am in the Jubilee Library Seminar Room.
Friday 21st September: Kinder Suárez and Kinder Tenorio Spanish Assembly at the PAC 7:20am.
Friday 21st September: Peace One Day & the McLay Fun Run

Upper Primary
Monday 17th September: UP Civic Monday
Monday 24th September: UP Civic Monday
Friday 21st September: McLay Fun Run
Monday 24th - Friday 28th September: Parent Workshop Grades 1 to 5
Wednesday 26th September: Spanish Assembly “Independence”

Next week in Secondary

SANTA TECLA 2012
15 DAYS TO GO

We celebrated Independence Day in the secondary school this week and especially today. Our message to the students has been based on celebrating the achievements of the nation where we all live and how we can help to respect its values and traditions while contributing to the development of our own communities and nation. One of the key values we have been promoting is that of peace and all it means. We are also looking forward to the international celebration of Peace One Day next Friday. We hope you all have a Happy and Peaceful Independence Day tomorrow. 

Our first six week block of extra curricular activities started this week and we hope your son or daughter has found something of interest. Team Sports has also got off to a healthy start and may students are practicing for the ABC Olympics SANTA TECLA 2012 on Saturday 29th September. We are being joined by athletes and swimmers from the German, French and American schools for this event. Parents and non participating students are welcome to come to the event which will start at 7.30 am with a colourful opening ceremony.

On Thursday at 6 pm in the PAC we have invited all Secondary parents to a PARENT PARTNERSHIP MEETING on healthy eating and helping parents understand their vital role in helping teenagers develop a healthy attitude towards food. There are many areas in which young people can get the wrong idea about eating and food and we want to meet with all parents to try to help ensure that we reduce these as far as possible. The meeting will be addressed by Asociación Estima, an organisation who will be working with staff and students on these issues later this term.

We have had a number of students with flu like symptoms this week especially in Grades 6-8 and we would ask you be careful and keep your son or daughter at home if they wake up with a temperature in the morning. Any students we find with flu like symptoms will be sent home.

Thank you for all the support we have had over uniform. We still have occasional P.E. student without caps and I would ask you to address this issue if it relates to your son or daughter and we are still reminding some girls about their socks which must be proper ankle socks for school and PE.

Peace One Day will be celebrated on Friday 21st September with a Tshirt and jeans day but we do require students to wear either the current Peace One Day T shirt or one from a previous Peace One day celebration. We will also have various activities on Friday to celebrate the day.

On Saturday next week our first International Award trip for interested Grade 9 and Grade 11 students takes place. This was very successful last year.

Secondary dates for your diary
Monday 17th September: Grade 8 Creative Carousel changes
Thursday 20th September: for Grade 6-12 Parents, Parent’s Partnership Meeting-Asociacion Estima on Nutrition and Developing Healthy Habits and Relationship with Food 
Friday 21st September: Peace One Day
Saturday 22nd September: International Award introductory trip
Thursday 27th September: Grade 7 History trip
Friday 28th September; Grade 8 History trip
Saturday 29th September: ABC Olympic Event
Tuesday 2nd October: Grade 6 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 4th October: Grade 7 and 8 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Friday 5th October: School closed for staff INSET
Monday 8th October: Grade 11 and 12 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 11th October: Grade 9 and 10 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Saturday 13th October: Grade 11 Empowerment Day

Friday 7 September 2012

3: Friday 7th September 2012


Next week in Primary

Extracurricular activities/Team Sports
Extracurricular activities and Team Sports will begin on Monday 10th September.Our new coordinator for our after school programme Patricia Zelaya

Grades 4 and 5 Back to School Night
We look forward to welcoming parents of pupils in Grades 4 and 5 to their back to school night on Monday 10th September.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
Friday 14th September: LP Spanish Assembly 7:20am in the PAC
Tuesday 18th September: Parent Workshop for Prepa
Friday 21st September: McLay Fun Run
Friday 21st September: LP Spanish Assembly
Friday 28th September: LP Spanish Assembly

Upper Primary
Monday 3rd September: UP Civic Monday
Thursday 6th September: 2nd & 3rd Back to School Night 18:00 in the PAC.
Monday 10th September: UP Civic Monday
Monday 10th September: 4th & 5th Back to School Night 18:00 in the PAC.
Monday 17th September: UP Civic Monday
Monday 24th September: UP Civic Monday
Friday 21st September: McLay Fun Run
Monday 24th - Friday 28th September: Parent Workshops
Wednesday 26th September: Spanish Assembly “Independence”

Next week in Secondary

We are celebrating Independence Day next Friday with an assembly and a traditional party in the afternoon. Students will be finished to go home at the normal time.

The Team Sports programme is well underway and we have been enrolling students for extracurricular activities this week which start on Monday. Please note we are trying to promote activities which the students are interested in and which they have said they would like to follow. The programme for the 6 weeks of the club will be decided with the students at the first meeting next week.

We hope you are all enjoying the Paralympics taking place at the moment and hope your son or daughter is feeling inspired to participate in the ABC Olympic Event taking place here at school in three weeks time with other international schools.

Please note all parents are invited to the Parent Partnership Meeting which is being run by experts in the area of helping teenagers develop healthy eating habits, positive self images and self esteem. It will be useful to parents of all aged students.

As a final note thank you for all your support over uniform. We are still working to ensure all students have caps for PE and are wearing proper white ankle socks for PE instead of the short trainer socks.

Secondary dates for your diary
Monday 10th September: Extra curricular activities start
Friday 14th September: Independence Day Assembly and celebrations
Thursday 20th September: for Grade 6-12 Parents, Parent’s Partnership Meeting-Asociacion Estima on Nutrition and Developing Healthy Habits and Relationship with Food
Friday 21st September: Peace One Day
Saturday 29th September: ABC Olympic Event
Tuesday 2nd October: Grade 6 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 4th October: Grade 7 and 8 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Friday 5th October: School closed for staff INSET
Monday 8th October: Grade 11 and 12 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Thursday 11th October: Grade 9 and 10 Know Your School and Parent Teacher meetings
Saturday 13th October: Grade 11 Empowerment Day