From the Director
This weekend I am attending the IB Heads Conference and trust everyone has had a good end to the week at school. I hope that, from this ABC weekly and hopefully from talking to your child, you are aware of the forthcoming event on Saturday 14th November at school from 8.30am - 12.30 pm - the ABC’s first RACE FOR SURVIVAL which is in partnership with Save the Children. This is a major event to raise awareness and funds and to show the ABC community’s commitment to improving the survival and wellbeing of newly born babies and infants in El Salvador. We are expecting many parents and students to come along and support the event, hopefully with their t shirts and we will be organising car park passes to ensure parking is available. More details of the car park passes will come next week. Please do get a car pass and join us. We need everyone's support.
The RACE FOR SURVIVAL includes the following:
- a 28 lap tribal competition running relay (each student who volunteers will only have to run 2 laps with their tribal teammates) and a tribal competition based on fun activities planned for the day on the school field. Each tribe (Aztec, Inca, Maya, Pipil) will have 28 students running in the tribal relay and the other fun games - so this is an opportunity for your son or daughter to represent his or her tribe. Please encourage your son or daughter to participate and help promote his event
- a more serious 2.8 km race for individual Secondary ABC students or adult runners - so parents bring your running gear and get practising. There is also a 0.9 km run for Primary athletes. Student athletes can register their interest in participating in these races at school.
- there will also be food, music, performances, awards and lots of fun events planned by the children for children on Saturday morning. So even if you or your children are not involved in the races we want you to be there to show your support.
- ultimately we want the ABC community assembling together to send out the message that we are committed (along with Save the Children) to improving the survival chances of infants in El Salvador!
The reason for the number 28 is that a new-born baby is most vulnerable during its first 28 days and in El Salvador this is when too many babies lose their lives. Also, according to Save the Children, approximately 28% of infant deaths in El Salvador are due to babies being born prematurely. Our RACE FOR SURVIVAL will increase awareness, raise funds and significantly help to prevent such losses!
Please encourage your child to sign up to run in the actual 28 lap tribal competition relay (the actual RACE FOR SURVIVAL) and perhaps the 2.8km race as well. Students that sign up to run using the google form that Mr Rombout emailed to them (http://goo.gl/forms/HSX4gcQlqI) will automatically gain a tribal point for their enthsiasm and willingness to participate.
Whether or not you child is running in the race, parents please bring your family to our first RACE FOR SURVIVAL on Saturday 14th November and participate in this historic event at the ABC that should really show our commitment to infant survival in El Salvador!
On another note I would like to remind all parents of the car park etiquette in the morning and afternoon. Please keep your speed down at all times and watch out for children. Please never encourage your child to cross the road except at the pedestrian crossing. We are working with the students in this respect but we ask for your support so that children see the same message coming from all of their carers.
We wish you all a very pleasant half term holiday and see you back in school on Monday 9th November. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Guy Fawkes party on Friday 20th November.
Primary News
In UP This Week
5th Grade went to war as Roman soldiers in Tortuga formation and got a little wet! Thanks to the Madres Enlace for their help with the water bombs!
Inspired by both Ollie Tumner's body percussion and STOMP videos, 4th Grade experimented with these ideas for their Entry Point for their new IPC unit 'Look! Hear!' Mr. Díaz started us off with body percussion rhythms, and then each class separated into groups to produce STOMP’s using basketballs, cups, brooms, pots and pans, different types of bags and plastic containers. An amazing time was had by all children, and the results were fantastic. Perhaps an ABC STOMP group is in the making.
For the past 3 weeks, 3rd Grade have been learning about the value - 'Enthusiastic'! They have learnt about the importance of doing everything with a positive attitude and how this makes all the difference when trying to achieve positive results!
Students from 12th grade have been coming to UP and, through playing different games, giving pep-talks and performing role plays, they have been sharing their experiences of how, by being enthusiastic about school life and activities, they have changed the way they approach challenges, and how important this is!
It has also been United Nation’s Week which has included 3rd Pattenden’s very informative assembly about all the important issues the UN are involved with. As always the Madres Enlace have been wonderful and ensured all of UP were able to experience a range of foods from India, Argentina, Brazil and France for our UN Food Fair. Look out for pictures in the next edition.
Movember - Cancer Awareness
Primary staff, along with Secondary students and staff, will be growing moustaches to raise awareness of men’s health issues in November. It all starts with a clean shave!
Have a relaxing half term break and we look forward to seeing you in school on Monday 9th November.
In LP This Week
We finalised our United Nations activities this week. In PK and Kinder we have been joined by parents on a daily basis over the past month. They have been helping out with the different activities and it was great to have such fantastic support!
In Prepa we invited parents in to join their child for the “Who am I?” exit point in the PAC.
Last week some of the PK parents presented their interpretation of the book Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Brown.
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
October
Friday 30th: Half term begins
November
Monday 9th: Return to school
Friday 13th: Prepa Ware assembly 7:30 am PAC
Saturday 14th November: Race for Survival
Friday 20th: Prepa Taylor assembly 7:30 am PAC
Friday 27th: Prepa Gray assembly 7:30 am PAC
December
Friday 4th: Prepa Watt assembly 7:30 am PAC
Wednesday 16th: Christmas Shows 4:00 - 6:30pm PAC
Friday 18th: Last day of term one - finish 11 am with older siblings - NO PLAY ROOM
Upper Primary
October
Friday 30th: Children's Day- Jeans Day.
Half term begins
UN food fair
November
Monday 9th: Return to school
Wednesday 11th: 2nd Lourdes Hernandez Assembly. PAC at 9.20 and 12.15
Saturday 14th: Race for Survival
Wednesday 18th: 4th grade Spanish Assembly. PAC at 9.20 and 12.15
Friday 20th: 3rd grade Bake Sale
Friday 20th: Guy Fawkes
Wednesday 25th: 5th Molina Assembly. PAC at 9.20 and 12.15
Friday 27th: 5th Grade Bake Sale
Friday 27th and Saturday 28th: 2nd grade Camping
December
Wednesday 2nd: 4th Navas Assembly. PAC at 9.20 and 12.15
Friday 4th: 2nd grade Bake Sale
Friday 11th: 4th grade Bake Sale
Friday 11th: UP reports go home
Wednesday 16th: Santa's Festival
Friday 18th: Last day of term one
Secondary News
Cancer Awareness Month - Breast Cancer Awareness Talk & Movember
This week (on Tuesday 27th of October) we had the talk by Dr. Cecilia Martínez de Monroy, leading clinical oncologist, on breast cancer. The feedback from those that attended was very positive.
Dr. Cecilia Martínez de Monroy presenting to parents on Tuesday night
As mentioned in last week’s ABC Weekly, November sees the start of Movember. Staff and students, in support of Movember (moustache November), will be growing moustaches. Please note, this is not an excuse for students not to shave, to be scruffy or to grow a beard; participating students are only allowed to grow.
ABC Talent Show
The first auditions (at this stage there are no eliminations, instead students are given advice to work on their presentations) were held this week for the ABC Talent Show. There will be a round of second auditions in November (this is when there will be eliminations). Acts of all types were invited to audition, including singing, dancing, drama and magic tricks.
Students will be working on their acts in January, technical and dress rehearsals will happen in February and the show will take place on February 19th. The show will be open to parents, students and teachers.
IT web conference - Wednesday 28th of October
On Wednesday, we held our long awaited web conference with St. Justin Martyr School, in Missouri. Grade 6 students in both schools have been working on a project in which they share a presentations which illustrate a typical day in their lives.
This was an unforgettable sharing and learning experience for our students, one which I am sure they will remember the rest of their lives.
It is vital that the current generation of children learn to actively engage with the world in a positive manner and practice good netiquette in doing so. Experiences such as this one help students build their understanding of global citizenship and embrace its values and practices.
Jennifer Garcia
KS3 ICT Teacher & Learning Resources Centre Coordinator
Halloween Make-up Competition - Friday 30th September
Today we had a halloween make-up competition. Students competed at lunchtime to produce the best halloween costume/make-up combination (although judging was based primarily on the make-up) for a halloween hamper worth $25.
Congratulations to Gabriela Zedán in grade 11 - a very talented artist!
Congratulations to Gabriela Zedán in grade 11 - a very talented artist!
A big thank you to Mrs Estela Mena for organising this fun and creative event.
Absences during term time
Students should only be absent from school when unwell or when there are extraordinary circumstances (in which case the school should be notified in advance whenever possible). That said, there is a worrying number of parents that are taking their children out of school in term time for holidays/family events (normally immediately before or after a school holiday - when it is at these times that we often set internal assessments that contribute to CAL grades).
We try to be accommodating with regards to re-scheduling assessments when a child is absent for legitimate reasons, although this is still not always possible. Planned assessments will not however, be rescheduled if students announce they are going to be absent due to a holiday and, due to time constraints, it may not be possible for an absent child to sit an assessment before the CAL deadline. This then leaves teachers with missing information regarding a child’s progress and understanding (and the child themselves is left uncertain of their progress). Equally important is that students are missing learning experiences when absent from school.
Please note that student attendance matters for academic performance and as such absences from school should be avoided whenever possible. It is for this reason that the school calendar is published well in advance to accommodate parents making holiday arrangements.
Requests for information
We encourage parents to speak to their children about their progress, and happiness, and to contact the school if they have concerns. During the school year we provide opportunities for parents to meet with teachers and if we have concerns we are quick to contact parents (this often results in a child’s teachers being contacted to provide information on the issue).
If a parent has academic concerns about a specific subject then, having copied in the relevant Head of Year, they are very welcome to contact that teacher. Concerns other than academic or general requests for information should go the student’s Head of Year; parents should not send out requests for information directly to all of their child’s teachers. However, as a rule -given that we provide regular opportunities for face-to-face feedback, that we do act swiftly if we have concerns as a school and as our teachers are exceptionally busy- we do not support general information requests from parents.
British Fortnight
The British Fortnight starts straight after the half-term break. As part of this celebration we will be offering a variety of British food and the Performing Arts Department is planning a number of concerts. Furthermore, many subjects will have British-themed segments in their lessons during the fortnight.
The fortnight culminates with a night of entertainment with the Guy Fawkes celebration/Christmas Fair (Friday 20th of November).
I hope you have the opportunity to spend some quality family time together over the half-term break. When we return after the holiday we will be on Week B (please make sure your child/ren are prepared for the correct week).
Warm regards,
Stephen Spicer
Head of Secondary
Secondary dates for your diary
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 - Cake Fair
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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