From the Director
I hope to see many of you with your families at the Guy Fawkes Night this evening. We are all hoping for better weather than last week. I do apologise for the late cancellation.
We are starting our value of considerate next week which is a value all of us should be practicing all the time. I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to support these values actively at home. it is so important that our children see consistency between school and home.
We were proud to receive an award from Save the Children this week to recognise our partnership with them over the Race for Survival. This is a project we will be continuing and working on for the remainder of this school year and we have already raised over $4,100 to purchase life changing equipment in local hospitals for young babies.
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are hoping for better luck this evening and that we will actually have another enjoyable school event take place. It is the annual culmination of our ‘British Fortnight’. It is the….
‘GUY FAWKES FIREWORK NIGHT.’
The event opens at 5.30 and the concert performances start at 6.30pm and are in three sections. Please make sure you sit and observe the students and staff perform with courtesy. If you just want to chat please move out of the Cafeteria area. We want everyone to have a good time but parents please supervise your children, especially if they are handling sparklers. We recommend gloves to ensure no-one gets burnt or touches the hot metal by mistake. Students should not be running about without an adult to keep an eye on them. If a child ran into a sparkler it would be very upsetting. Our staff are hoping to enjoy the evening themselves. They are not on duty for this particular evening. Don’t forget there will also be the Christmas market in the auditorium and we will be selling quality English books. A ‘must’ for every household in the school.
Last week’s Grade 3 bake sale raised $450 for Save the children. Well done to the students in Grade 3 (and their parents) for the lovely cakes and cookies, the teachers for their encouragement and organisation and to the rest of the school for supporting them and buying the items. They were delicious. Today Grade 5 are running their sale. We hope they do just as well.
On Thursday morning the Save the Children organisation came in to present our Grade 5s, along with the Grade 9s, a trophy for their excellent work in organising the Race for Survival. We were able to review how the machine they are buying will help diagnose premature babies with hearing difficulties and to see some of the photos from the event. Well done again to the Grade 5 students and their teachers.
The schedule of Christmas events is developing below. We know we are asking a lot but please remember this time of year is a particular time for giving and continue to dig deep into your pockets with generous hearts, knowing that you are making a big difference to a child somewhere near here.
Current Primary Initiatives.
Bake sales for Save the Children - Fridays -Whole Primary
Shoe boxes - Upper Primary
Toy collection - Lower primary
Jars for Santa’s Festival - Lower Primary
Food for the International Food Festival -10th December -Upper
If you have things that you would like to give to other sections, please do so, but I thought it would be helpful to know where the focus lies.
We have been asked to let you know about another event supporting the orphanage that the school has a special interest in. Our secondary students have been involved in organising the event. It is on the 5th December. Please take your children along.
On the 7th December we have a special theatre production of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ in school. It is a tradition in British schools to have a theatre production in at Christmas time and we felt that it is such a worthwhile experience that we wanted to do it too. The cost is $2 per student. Much less than if you took them to the theatre yourselves. We hope you will support this new event especially as we have not been able to go on many outside trips this term.
Lastly today, can I comment on driving etiquette in school?
Please wait in the line patiently and make sure your driver does too. Do not jump the queue and overtake those cars who are waiting patiently. You actually cause more of a problem.
Never try and drive down the wrong side of the road.
Pull as far forward as you can to drop off your child particularly along the green railings and in the admin carpark. You block everyone behind you from getting in and slow the process right down.
Make sure your child is ready to get out before you get here. Coat is on, bag to hand, any items they are bringing in such as money can all be got ready the night before. Do not block drop off spots by doing all this once you are here. We need the transfer to be as quick as possible.
After the first week of attending school you do not need to wait and see your child go in. We have adults supervising all drop off areas.
Drive off as soon as you can. Please do not check your phone at this time. Once again you hold everyone else up because you are not alert to what is going on around you.
Please do not be a selfish or oblivious driver in school.
‘I wonder if we will have snow for Christmas?’ is a question I would often ask when I lived in Europe. Here I know the answer - definitely not! I will still see plenty of reindeer, sleighs and Christmas lights though. The Christmas Season is almost upon us and I am really looking forward to the next few weeks. I hope you are too.
Best wishes,
Sharon Short,
Head of Primary
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
November
Friday 27th: Guy Fawkes Night
December
Friday 4th: Prepa Watt assembly 7:30 am PAC
Saturday 5th December: Corazon Del Padre Mini Feria
Monday 7th December: Theatre Performance
Friday 11th: LP reports go home
Wednesday 16th: Christmas Shows 4:00 - 6:30 pm PAC and Santa’s Festival
Friday 18th: Last day of term one - finish 11 am with older siblings - NO PLAY ROOM
Upper Primary
November
Friday 27th: Guy Fawkes Party and 5th Grade Save the children Bake Sale
December
Wednesday 2nd: 4th Navas Assembly. PAC at 9.20 and 12.15
Friday 4th: 2nd grade Save the children Bake Sale
Saturday 5th: Corazon Del Padre Mini Feria
Monday 7th December: Theatre Performance
Thursday 10th: UP Christmas Concert and food fair at 5.30
Friday 11th: 4th grade Save the children Bake Sale
Friday 11th: UP reports go home
Wednesday 16th: Santa's Festival
Friday 18th: Last day of term one. Students leave at 11.30am (no PASS club)
Secondary News
PAES results are in!
Congratulations to the Class of 2016 for achieving an 8.03 global average. 97% of the students scored at the ‘Superior Level’ of 7.5 and above, and our top score reached was a 9.15. The PAES is a national exit exam for graduating students, which covers the Natural Sciences, Maths, National History, and Spanish Language and Literature. 81,633 students took the exam in October 14th and 15th of this year; 23,661 came from private institutions. Our students scored higher than the average for bilingual schools at 7.71, and private schools in La Libertad with an average of 6.33. We are very proud of our students' effort and dedication, and very thankful of the support of all our teachers who work with them. The national PAES average stands at 5.3. Yet, we want to work hard to stay strong and deliver our earnest effort.
Eric Quijano, National School Director
Toys for Smiles
We have started our Christmas toy drive called “Toys for Smiles”. There are collection boxes (like the one in the picture below) around campus. We want the ABC community to donate as many new toys, and used ones (so long as they are in good condition), as they can for local underprivileged children who otherwise will not get a toy this coming holiday season.
We will be collecting toys from now until Wednesday 16th of December.
Thank you in advance for all your support.
Grade 8 Coffee Project
Over the last few months the Grade 8s have been working together in teams to develop and promote different coffee products in order to understand global trade as well as finding out more about El Salvador’s number one commodity... coffee!! Each student has been playing a different role within teams to design, plan and make products for a big coffee fair event which will be happening on 4th December.
This week the students put their products, advertising and business plans to the test when they took part in a ‘pitch’ presentation similar to the TV show ‘Dragons Den’ (Shark Tank in the US). We had a number of judges assessing the presentations including Mr Spicer, Benoir Gravel (the owner of Ben’s Coffee), Rodrigo Giammattei (operations manager for Cafe Cate) as well as two Exabrit students who are now working within the baking and coffee industries.
The afternoon of presentations were a success due to the hard work and effort that the Grade 8 students had put into it. The students are now re-evaluating their work ready to sell their products to the school during the lunchtime on Friday December 4th. All students are invited to come along to this Coffee Fair event to show some support as well as buy some tasty goodies, make sure you hold onto your dollars ready for this event.
Mr Alex Kilford, Head of Geography
G10 & 12 Parent Teacher Meetings - Thursday 26th of November
We had a new format Grade 10 to Grade 12 Parent Teacher Meetings yesterday. As reported last week, we have moved to appointments (made in advance by students) and the meetings ran 3.15pm to 6.00pm.
Thank you to all the parents that attended. We will be reviewing this model, but we hope to use it in future Parent Teacher Meetings.
Grade 6-8 Parent Partnership - Thursday 3rd of December
Sign up for the event closes today for the upcoming Grade 6 to 8 Parent Partnership on online safety issues/topics. As mentioned last week, and in subsequent emails to Grade 6, 7 and 8 parents, the format of the evening will be a selection of workshops which parents can sign-up to based on which workshops are of most interest to them.
The workshops that will be on offer next week are:
- Online Gaming - Potential Issues, Advantages and Examples
- Digital Footprints - GPS, Tracking, Filter Bubbles and Settings
- Social Networks - Potential Issues, 21st Century Skills and Benefits and Examples
- Cyberbullying, Sexting, Predators
- Cell Phones and Tablets - Setup and Restrictions, Tracking and Text and Chat
At the time of writing this we have had a pleasing response, but many parents had yet to register. If you want to attend please register by the end of today. All you need is your unique ID number
...and this is the link https://www.abc.edu.sv/system/abcisv3/web/sys/events/enroll/es
Parents are asked to bring their mobile devices (laptop, ipad, smartphone, etc) through which they will be able to access the workshop. However, if this is not possible there will be laptops available to use.
Grade 6, 7 & 8 Cal 1 reports will be issued electronically on Friday 4th December (more details to follow shortly).
HIV/AIDS week
Next week (week commencing Monday November 30th) is HIV/AIDS Awareness Week in the Secondary School. Tragically HIV continues to be a major global public health issue. Since 2000, 38.1 million people have become infected with HIV and 25.3 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses.
In 2014, an estimated 36.9 million people were living with HIV (including 2.6 million children). The vast majority of this number live in low- and middle-income countries. In the same year, 1.2 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.
During HIV/AIDS Awareness Week we will be working with the students to raise awareness of the devastating impact of this disease.
Source: Statistics and chart courtesy of AVERT
I hope to see you tonight at the Christmas Fair/Guy Fawkes celebration.
Warm regards,
Stephen Spicer
Head of Secondary
Secondary dates for your diary
w/c Monday 30th November - AIDS/HIV Awareness Week
Tuesday 1st December - Grade 7 Social, 3.00pm to 4.45pm
Thursday 3rd December - Grade 6, 7 and 8 Parent Partnership
Friday 4th December - Grade 6, 7 and 8 Cal 1 reports published electronically
Saturday 5th to Sunday 6th December - International Award Expedition
Monday 7th December - Grade 6 Xmas lunch, 12.20pm to 2.00pm
Tuesday 8th December - Grade 10 (Class 2018) Empowerment Day: Theme ‘Perseverance’
Tuesday 8th December - Grade 10 (Class 2018) Empowerment Day: Theme ‘Perseverance’
Tuesday 8th December - Grade 9 & 11 Parent Partnership (Cal 1 reports issued)
Friday 11th December - Art Mock Part 1
Friday 11th to Sunday 13th December - International Award Expedition
Saturday 12th December - Art Mock Part 2
Monday 15th December - Grade 11 (iGCSE) Certificate Awards Evening (6.00pm to 7.30pm)
Friday 18th December - Last day of term
