Friday 23 October 2015

10: Friday 23rd October 2015

From the Director 

I would like to begin by congratulating the Under 12 Basketball team who became the national champions last night in the gimnasio nacional. You can see a link to their success on the ABC Newsblog. We are all very proud of them.

Thank you for your patience and support over the weather situation at the start of the week. We hope the storms have now passed and life will return to normal. As a result of the weather we have postponed the Save the Children Race for Survival from tomorrow until Saturday 14th November. Please come along and support the event at school that morning.

The first Save the Children ‘Race for Survival’ t-shirt/jeans day will be on Friday 30th of October. T-shirts will be distributed from Monday 26th of October.


The recent weather has affected many communities close to Santa Tecla and we would like the support of the entire ABC community to help people who have been affected, especially in El Triunfo, El Limon, Matazano, Granadias, Sacazil, and San Rafael. The priority is food products and clothing for all ages. The food items suggested are but anything which has a long life would be suitable such as soups, beans, rice, juices, oatmeal in individual envelopes, salty crackers or cookies wrapped individually, powdered milk, vegetables, cereal boxes, bottled water and disposable spoons, cups plates etc. Please have a look to see if you can make a donation or buy something while shopping at the weekend if you have time. Please do not forget any clothing you have which you no longer need but others may be able to use.

We will be collecting your donations at the Primary and Secondary Offices next week until Thursday 29, October. We will be working with the Alcaldia to distribute these items. We thank you in advance for your support! 

Primary News

Dear Parents and Carers,

As you all know the week got off to a difficult start with the Ministry Of Education directing school closure due to the bad weather. It was good to know that all of our communication channels worked well and no students turned up for school unexpectedly. The primary staff were in school working on the planning for the next IPC units, organising resources and some of our parent meetings were still able to go ahead. It was a very productive time for staff and therefore the planning afternoon for December has been cancelled.

As you will see above, we have unfortunately had to postpone the Race for Survival until Saturday 14th November, but the arrangements for the day will remain the same, starting at 8.30 and finishing at 12.30, with many additional activities taking place. We are also postponing the distribution of the T-shirt packs until next week.

Secondary school students have organised the annual Shoeing campaign and there has been a large box outside the Jubilee Library but I do feel our primary students could contribute more. Please send in shoes that the children have outgrown or that are no longer needed so that they can be redistributed to families and children in need.

As a whole school we are also supporting families who lost everything in the bad weather. (Please see Mr Keslake’s section) We have sent out a list of items needed and ask that you do your utmost to support those people who are less fortunate than we are by sending in as many items on the list as you can. People nearby are homeless, hungry and without a change of clothes so everything you can give is desperately needed. We are working with local agencies who will distribute the items for us. Please send your donations to the primary office next week. 

Please have a look at the secondary notices below relating to the Cancer Awareness Months. 




Next week is the official UN week but Lower Primary parents have been coming in all month to work on activities with their children. We would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to those parents who have been able to attend. The Upper Primary students will be having a focus on UN next week. Each class is studying a country and the Madres Enlace will be providing some international refreshments at the end of the week.

As you will see from the image here it is the UN’s 70th birthday on the 24th October. This is a success story of collaboration between nations and certainly should be celebrated across the world.




Pre-Kinder parents came in on Friday Morning and performed a wonderful Spanish presentation of the book Handa’s Surprise. It was really well done and the children were enthralled. We hope to show you photographs next week.

Wishing you all a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

Sharon Short
Head of Primary

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
October
Monday 26th: Friday 30th final week for contributions to Shoeing
Friday 30th: First Rivera Assembly 7:30am PAC
Friday 30th: Half term begins
November
Monday 9th November: Return to school
Saturday 14th November: Race for Survival

Upper Primary
October
Monday 26th - Friday 30th: UN Week
Monday 26th - Friday 30th final week for contributions to Shoeing
Friday 30th: UN food fair
Wednesday 28th: 3rd Pattenden Assembly at 9.20 and 12.15 PAC
Friday 30th Half term begins
November
Monday 9th November: Return to school 
Saturday 14th November: Race for Survival

Secondary News

This was a short week for students due to the school closure on Monday and Tuesday. Please make sure your child completes the work that they were set on these days. 

Workshop for parents and students on "ADHD at school."
Under our ABC Cares and Pastoral support programme through the LSU, we invited Lic Marta de Gómez, leading specialist and ADHD Coach, to run a set of two workshops, one for parents and one for students, on the topic of ADHD and how best to support our children to reach their full potential. We believe in working hand in hand: school, home and students and we are delighted to have had so many parents and students attend these two sessions on how best to understand and guide our students. The students workshop included strategies for them to implement in order to effectively manage time and work expectations.


We will be inviting Lic. Gómez for a follow up workshop for our teachers and look forward to developing more parent/ student workshops in future. If you would like to attend a workshop on a particular topic, please do not hesitate to contact Ms Cáceres at nataliacaceres@abc-net.edu.sv with your suggestions.

Careers Day and University Fair
Grade 11 Careers Day & the 7th Annual University Fair - Thursday 22nd of October. Grade 11 students came to school dressed in very smart business attire. At registration each student received their “passport” to go to a series of professional career talks, according to their career interests. The day kicked off in the PAC with a keynote speech by professional leadership specialist Emilio Lazo, who talked to students about the power of having vision, setting goals, seeking opportunities, and working hard to achieve the goals they set for themselves. 

Students then attended different talks led by professionals in their particular fields of expertise. Students were able to listen to university career requirements, and the fields where professionals work and develop their skills. Then, to complement the process, the students had one hour to visit the University Fair, and they interacted with about 30 university representatives standing in for more than 60 of the very best institutions from the USA, Europe, Mexico and Central America. Grade 9, 10 and 12 students also had their opportunity to visit the fair at different times, and other schools joined in. For the Grade 12 students it was a time to consolidate their university choices to be ready to apply for admission by December. For the younger cohorts it was a time to spark their interest about possible careers and the destinations. 

Cancer Awareness Months
As you will be aware, October (for women) and November (for men) are cancer awareness months at the ABC, and worldwide. The ABC Actua Team are continuing to work hard in this area raising funds for, and awareness about, cancer issues.

This weekend is the Avon Walk Against Cancer (see poster below). Please support this event if you can. 


As we end October we are allowing Secondary school girls to wear pink nail varnish all next week to continue our efforts to raise awareness.

Please be reminded that on Tuesday (27th of October) next week we have invited Dr. Cecilia Martínez de Monroy, leading clinical oncologist, to come to the ABC and help us raise awareness and education on breast cancer. 


Next month we enter Movember (if you are not familiar with Movember it comes from a combination of the words moustache and November). Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate cancer and other male cancers.

Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. The worrying fact is that, for whatever reason, men are less likely than women to seek help if they suspect cancer and when they do it is often too late to treat. Besides annual check-ups, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of family history of cancer and to adopt a healthier lifestyle.


In support of Movember, Secondary school boys will be allowed to grow moustaches during November. This will not be an excuse not to shave, to be scruffy or to grow a beard; what students will be allowed to do is grow a moustache. They will be joined by a number of the male teachers at the ABC who will also be sprouting moustaches in support of Movember. 

During the month of November there will be a number of events in support of Movember, along with opportunities for girls and female teachers to support the cause. 

Save the Children ‘Race for Survival’ t-shirt/non-uniform day - 30th of October
As mentioned above by Mr Keslake, the ‘Race for Survival’ has been postponed until Saturday 14th November due to the recent adverse weather and the weather forecast for this Saturday. Due to this decision we have also postponed the first ‘Race for Survival’ t-shirt/non-uniform day to Friday 30th of October. T-shirt packs will be distributed next week.

The arrangements for the ‘Race for Survival’ day on Saturday 14th November remain the same. 

International Award
Parents please check for any camping equipment that your child may have as part of their current or past involvement with the International Award which they have forgotten to return. We are also looking for parents to donate any 2/3 man tents, and other camping equipment, that they no longer want.

I hope you ánd your family have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

Stephen Spicer
Head of Secondary

Secondary dates for your diary
Friday 23rd October - ABC Founder’s Day
Saturday 24th October - Avon Walk Against Cancer 
w/c Monday 26th October - UN Week
Tuesday 27th October - Breast Cancer Awareness Talk, 6.00pm in the PAC
Thursday 29th October to Saturday 7th November - Art trip to Amsterdam and Paris
Friday 30th October - Save the Children ‘Race for Survival’ t-shirt/non-uniform day 
November - aka Movember
Monday 2nd - Friday 6th November: HALF TERM HOLIDAY
Monday 9th November - ‘British Fortnight’ begins
Friday 13th November - Save the Children ‘Race for Survival’ t-shirt/non-uniform day
Saturday 14th November - Save the Children ‘Race for Survival
Friday 20th November - Guy Fawkes Party and Christmas Fair
Saturday 21st November - Grade 11 (Class 2017) Empowerment Day: Theme ‘Unity’
Monday 23rd November - Recycling Week
Thursday 26th November - Parent/Teacher meetings for Grades 10 & 12 
Thursday 3rd December - Grade 6, 7 and 8 Parent Partnership
Tuesday 8th December - Grade 10 (Class 2018) Empowerment Day: Theme ‘Perseverance’
Friday 18th December - Last day of term

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