From the Director
I hope you enjoyed the extended Independence Day weekend with your children. We have had many parents telling us they enjoyed having the bridge between the weekend and Independence day. It was nice to welcome everyone back on Wednesday. On Wednesday Mr. Spicer and I had breakfast at school. We now have a range of foods available. You can see a picture of our breakfast on the ABC news blog http://abcnews-blog.blogspot.com/ which also includes details of our menu. We are open to other suggestions if you would like us to extend our menu.
ABC Jumpers or Pullovers are going to be on sale at reduced prices in the school shop from Monday, to encourage students to wear the correct uniform to school. Prices will be $10 for smaller sizes and $12 for larger sizes. We encourage you to buy these items before the colder weather returns. We also intend introducing some ABC sweat shirts in due course but at considerably higher prices. These pullovers are excellent value!
Who will you make peace with?
On Monday people around the world will be celebrating Peace One Day (P1D). The ABC has been celebrating Peace One Day for almost ten years now and we recognise our participation as part of a worldwide campaign for peace. P1D asks us to make peace and reject violence in our own lives as well as encouraging people and armed groups to seek reconciliation. The question that P1D asks us individually is to make peace with someone on Monday. Make peace with someone in your family, encourage your son or daughter to make peace with someone at school who they have not been friends with. Within our community and our families we can all reflect on the way we can encourage ourselves and our children to make peace with someone on Monday! You can see more details of the UN backed P1D on the following link http://www.peaceoneday.org/
This week we have started focusing on our new value of reflection and we are helping our children think about ways of learning from their experiences. Reflection includes being willing to recognise your own mistakes as well as thinking carefully before you speak!
Our car parks remain busy but we know we can make access smoother if parents do not arrive early blocking the roads near school. Thank you to those of you who have delayed your arrival. If we work together we can make these pick ups much easier.
I look forward to seeing Grade 10 and 12 parents next week at the Know Your School meeting.
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
After an initial washout the Colour Run took place on Thursday with many students from Upper Primary taking part. It was a very exciting event for the students and also a very messy one! However the students really enjoyed it and all the money raised was for a good cause. Thank you to all the prefect team who helped organise the event.
Monday is Peace One Day, a world wide recognition of the hope for world peace. In this country where some lives are devastated by violence this is a particularly poignant day and we will be celebrating it in various ways in school. Please discuss this important day at home too.
The Primary school students will all be taking part in the McLay fun run this week. Pre-K to Grade 4 on Monday and Grade 5 on Friday at the Bicentennial Park. There is a donation of one dollar to participate and all students should come in PE kit on the day of their race.
Our Lower Primary Curriculum nights start soon with the Pre-Kinder team making a very informative presentation explaining how our Early Years curriculum works on Tuesday 29th September. I really enjoyed this event last year and recommend all parents come along for an update.
October the 1st is Children’s Day and Lower Primary celebrate this with a special card from parents to their children. Please don’t forget to write this and make sure your card to your child is in school well in advance.
This was a short week and I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and independence celebrations.
Very best wishes,
Sharon Short,
Head of Primary
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
September
Monday 21st: Peace One Day
Monday 21st: McLay Fun Run - Field
Friday 25th: Spanish assembly - PAC
Tuesday 29th: Pre-Kinder Curriculum Night 6:00pm PAC
October
Thursday 1st October Lower Primary celebrate children’s day.
Friday 2nd: First Aguirre Assembly 7:30am PAC
Tuesday 6th: Kinder Curriculum Night 6:00pm PAC
Thursday 8th: Prepa Curriculum Night 6:00pm PAC
Friday 9th: First Padilla Assembly 7:30am PAC
Tuesday 13th: First Grade Curriculum Night 6:00pm PAC
Friday 16th: Prepa Taylor Spanish Assembly 7:30am PAC
Friday 23rd: First Sullivan Assembly 7:30am PAC
Friday 30th: First Rivera Assembly 7:30am PAC
Upper Primary
September
Monday 21st: Peace One Day
Monday 21st: McLay Fun Run -Grades 2 to 4
Wednesday 23rd: 3rd Mena class assembly
Friday 25th: McLay fun run for 5th Grade at Bicentennial Park
Wednesday 30th:2nd Brooke class assembly
October
Parent and Student conferences begin week beginning 5th October
Secondary News
Peace One Day - Monday 21st September
This year in recognition of Peace One Day the Student Council Team has a new campaign: PAYING IT FORWARD. The philosophy of Paying It Forward is that through acts of kindness among friends and strangers, we all foster a more caring community. For this reason, from Monday 21st of September to Friday 25th of September the Student Council team will be selling ribbons with the objective that they are to be given to recognise a friend, or a stranger, that has made someone else feel special or done something that has impacted their life in a positive way. This campaign aims to promote unity among students, which is why if a student receives a ribbon, and they already happen to have one, we encourage them to pass it on to someone who they recognise who doesn’t yet have one.
The ribbons will cost $1 and then on Friday 25th of September students will be able to come to school in jeans and a white-shirt, or a previous Peace One Day t-shirt, and they can paint their hand on the Student Council’s Peace One Day mural during lunch time.
Fundación Corazón del Padre - Message from James Rombout, Head of Grade 9
This Sunday I am participating in the YOAMOES 21km race at Lago de Coatepeque (see FB link below) to help raise funds for Fundación Corazón del Padre which is on the way to becoming a sustainable children's centre located in Quezaltepeque (see link below). The centre will eventually provide 84 orphaned and abandoned children with families that care for their holistic needs. If you want to sponsor me and help to significantly improve the lives of adults and children in the local community please send your contribution via Roxana Hall in the Secondary School Office. Thanks in advance for your support.
Know Your School Meetings are coming up - please put the dates in your diary!
Over the next month there are the following ’Know Your School’ Meetings:
- Grade 10 and 12 - Tuesday 22nd September
- Grade 6 - Thursday 1st October
- Grade 9 and 11 - Monday 5th October
- Grade 7 and 8 - Thursday 15th October
These evenings start at 5.30pm with a presentation to parents in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC). After the presentation there is the opportunity to discuss how your child has settled in and their progress so far with each of their subject teachers in the Auditorium. This year we are asking children from Grades 9 to 12 to be present at the parent teacher talks in the Auditorium. Grade 9 to 12 students should wait in the Canteen whilst parents attend the opening presentation in the PAC.
Part of each presentation in the PAC will address a theme particularly relevant to the age group. For Grade 10 and 12 we will be looking at the demands of this academic year as students approach the examinations in May/June 2016, the next stage of education to follow and how parents can support their child at this critical time.
The Grade 6 theme is internet safety. We will examine some of the potential dangers and what we can do together to encourage children to be safe and make sensible choices.
The theme for Grade 9 and 11 is transition. Students in these grades are embarking on their examination years (Grade 9 IGCSE and Grade 11 IB) and we want to stress the skills required, including being an independent and reflective learner. At this stage in their education we want to encourage students to be fully responsible for their own learning and to strive to achieve their full potential.
Finally, for Grades 7 and 8 we exploring staying safe. This is an age when children start to become more independent and explore the world around them. The implications of making the wrong poor choices at this age, and older, are more significant.
Parents and school working together in the best interest of the child in mind will have a greater impact than if they work alone. Clearly both parents and teachers have an important role to play in a child’s education, and in providing a consistent message. The roles are different, but complementary. That is why these evenings are important in the ABC calendar and why we ask all parents to attend both parts of the evening.
Colour Run - Thursday 17th September
The heavy rains and postponement of the Colour Run (from Wednesday 16th) did not dampen spirits and the event went off with great enthusiasm, colour and sound. What an amazing event. Well done to everyone who participated and a huge thank you to the prefect team, organisers and sponsors for making this happen.
Dale Carnegie Course
Following information shown by many parents we have organised a subsidised Dale Carnegie course for ABC students, starting on Saturday 3rd October in the afternoon. The cost will be $452 (including IVA) and the programme will last for seven weeks with sessions lasting three and a half hours. Sessions will be run by the Dale Carnegie team. We only have 20 places available and are offering them to ABC students from Grade 7 to Grade 11, we will ensure a mix of students from across these grades. If this course proves successful and popular we will be offering a similar course again in the new year. In order to apply for a place on this course please send the name of your son or daughter to Natalia Caceres (nataliacaceres@abc-net.edu.sv) by Friday 25th September. We will then send you further details of the course and a contact at Dale Carnegie to sign up. We will deal with requests in the order in which they arrive at school.
College & University Event - Thursday 24th September
Next week, we are hosting the largest USA university tour that comes to El Salvador; 31 institutions and Education USA. Parents and students from Grades 9 to 12 are invited to attend and we have also invited other schools from the area.
It is particularly important for Grade 11 and 12 students to participate due to the proximity of their higher education plans. Students in these grades will have a choice of different workshops led by the university representatives from 1.30pm to 2.00pm and then they are required to attend the fair in the Auditorium from 2.00pm to 3.00pm. The fair will continue until 3.30pm should students want to stay.
All the best,
Stephen Spicer
Head of Secondary
Secondary dates for your diary
Monday 21st to Friday 25th September - Peace One Day Week
Tuesday 22nd September: Grade 10 & 12 Know Your School meetings, 5:30pm PAC
Thursday 24th September: College & University Event - from 1:30pm Auditorium
Monday 28th September - Friday 2nd October - Theatre Festival Week
Thursday 1st October: Grade 6 Know Your School meetings - 5:30 PAC
Saturday 3rd October: Dale Carnegie course starts
Monday 5th October: Grade 9 & 11 Know Your School meetings - 5:30pm PAC
Saturday 10th October - Empowerment Day for Class 2017 (Grade 11)
Wednesday 14th - Thursday 15th October: PAES exams for Class 2016
Thursday 15th October: Grade 7 & 8 Know Your School meetings - 5:30pm PAC
Monday 19th - Friday 23rd October - Astronomy Week
Thursday 22nd October - Careers Day for Class 2017 and University Fair for Grades 9 and 12
Friday 23rd October - Founder’s Day
Saturday 24th October - Save the Children Run Event
Mondary 26th October - UN Week
Monday 2nd - Friday 6th November: HALF TERM HOLIDAY
Monday 9th November - British Fortnight starts
Saturday 14th November - Mathscounts Internal ABC competition
Friday 20th November - Guy Fawkes party
Monday 23rd November - Recycling Week
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