Friday 16 January 2015

19: Friday 16th January 2015

From the Director 


On behalf of the whole school community I want to wish you the very best for the coming year. I hope it brings all that you are expecting and that together we can achieve the very best for all our students. Today we are celebrating the twenty third anniversary of the Chapultepec Peace accords and the visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon highlights the involvement of the international community in promoting peace in our part of the world. It also shows El Salvador as a country determined to resolve issues through peace and negotiation. In the world we live in where violence is so often seen as a quick solution let us ensure our whole ABC community continues to look for peaceful and civilised solutions so that all our students grow up to understand the importance of peace and mutual respect. 2015 promises to be an exciting year and it starts next week with the Circus for the Class 2016 which I hope many of you will be able to support and I look forward to seeing you there. Happy New Year!

Primary News

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to a new school term and best wishes for the coming year. I hope we will all be happy, healthy and successful in all we try to do. It has been lovely to see the students greeting each other after the holiday and fondly renewing their relationship with their teachers.

Thank you to everyone for your generous donations that make such a difference to the people, especially the children, who are less fortunate and struggling in our region. There will be more information and photographs on our ABC ROCs in Action blog please do have a look at the difference your contributions made.

Next week our sports mornings start. The Lower Primary Sports Morning and family day will be on Saturday 24th January. Pre-Kinder and Kinder will be participating in their sports activities from 8.00am (7:30am at their classroom) and when they have finished there will be family activities. We invite you to bring a picnic and there will also be food and drink items available for purchase on the day. The Madres Enlace are organising bouncy castles and other things for the children to play on and we hope we will all have a very nice morning together.

Prepa and Grade 1 will start their sports activities at 10.00am (9:30 at their classroom) and they will also be able to have a picnic and play after their events. We have arranged additional parking with SISA for this morning. We expect the event to finish by 12.30. As mentioned in the invitation that was circulated to you earlier this week, students must wear PE kit and have a change of clothes because some of the activities involve water. Please make sure you stay in the designated areas when watching the sports events. 

I know the idea of a picnic is new to some of you here, although it has been traditional for two or more centuries in the UK. Here is some information we copied from the internet to help you get the idea.

A picnic is an excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors (al fresco) usually on a blanket on the ground, ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance, usually in summer. Recorded descriptions of picnics show that the idea that a meal that was jointly contributed and was enjoyed out-of-doors, were essential to a picnic from the early 19th century.[1]

Picnics are often family-oriented but can also be an intimate occasion between two people or a large get-together such as company picnics and church picnics. It is also occasionally combined with a cookout, usually a form of barbecue.

On romantic and family picnics, a picnic basket filled with cold food from home and a blanket (to sit or recline on) are usually brought along. Outdoor games or some other form of entertainment are common at large picnics. In established public parks, a picnic area can include picnic tables

The traditional food eaten is rarely hot, instead taking the form of sandwiches, finger food, fresh fruit, salad, cold meats and accompanied by soft drinks.

The Upper Primary Sports morning will be the 31st January also starting at 8.00am and follow a similar format. 

Please see the schedule below for the upcoming class assemblies.

Best wishes for another wonderful term,

Mrs Short

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary 
January
Thursday 22nd: Sports Day Practice - all children to wear PE kit
Friday 23rd: Kinder Rampone Assembly - 7.45am - PAC
Friday 23rd: Trip to El Salvador International Airport - Kinder Quintanilla
Saturday 24th: LP sports morning and Family day 
Tuesday 27th: Prospective parents night - 6.00pm
Friday 30th: Kinder Quintanilla Assembly - 7.45am
February 
Saturday 28th: Spring Fair 

Upper Primary
January
Wednesday 21st: 3rd Brenes Assembly, at 9.20 in the PAC
Wednesday 21st: 4th Truscott Assembly, at 12.15.00 in the PAC
Saturday 31st: UP sports morning and Family day 
February
Wednesday 4th: 3rd Pattenden Assembly, at 9.20 in the PAC
Wednesday 4th: 5th Molina Assembly, at 12.15 in the PAC
Saturday 28th: Spring fair 

Secondary News

Happy New Year. I hope you have had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday.

This term starts with the much anticipated Circus and the IGCSE & IB mocks begin on Monday 26th January (continuing on to Friday 6th February).

This years’ Circus performance, from the Class of 2016, is entitled ‘Razzmatazz’ and the performances are next week - Thursday 22nd January and Friday 23rd January. Tickets are available from any member of the Class of 2016 and Secondary Office priced at $10 each.

New Secondary School Staff - January 2015
Please join the ABC Secondary School staff and students in giving a warm welcome to our four new members of staff in the Secondary School. We are very pleased to be joined by:
  • Paul Andrew Hickey - Mathematics Teacher
  • Raul Ernesto Martinez Osorio - ICT Teacher
  • Graziella Elizabeth Monge - English as a Second Language Teacher 
  • Andrew John Short - Mathematics Assistant 
Christmas Boxes
Last term’s Christmas Shoe Box Appeal was a massive success in the Secondary School with 220 boxes being donated by our students.

The local Santa Tecla orphanage Mi Casa, with children aged 5 to 17 years, received 14 boxes. Mi Casa has been the charity project for Class of 2018 since August 2012 and it is great to see the ABC students continuing to support these children.

Love and Hope Children's Home was created after outreach work in a nearby garbage dump discovered several children had no where else to live. Since that time, they have provided food, shelter, safety, education, and love to over 30 children. This organisation received 22 boxes.

Hospital Bloom (Corazones Solidarios), a not for profit organisation that helps the children and their families while children cancer suffers are receiving cancer treatment at the Children's Hospital, received 24 boxes.

140 boxes went to Techo. Also known as Un Techo para mi País, Techo is a not for profit organisation that mobilises youth volunteers to fight extreme poverty in Latin America, by constructing transitional housing and implementing social inclusion programs.

And finally, we wanted to make sure children in our immediate area received a gift at Christmas so we distributed 20 boxes to the children that wash car windscreens and collect money outside Plaza Merliot. 

A big thank you to everyone that contributed.

Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but giving most” H Jackson Brown, Jr.

Stephen Spicer
Head of Secondary

Secondary dates for your diary
Saturday 17th January: International Award Navigation Day
Thursday 22nd January: Circus performance 
Friday 23rd January: Circus performance
Monday 26th January - Friday 6th February: IGCSE and IB mock examinations
Thursday 29th January: Grade 11 IGCSE Certificate Presentation Evening (more details to follow). Followed by the Grade 11 Parent Teacher Meeting
Thursday 29th January: Grade 9 Parent Teacher Meeting (more details to follow)

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