Friday 5 February 2016

20: Friday 5th February 2016

From the Director


I would like to welcome the new Exabrit Committee chaired by Jose Luis Villalta from the Class of 2008. We are looking forward to working with them to ensure our Exabrits continue both to contribute to and to feel part of our community. I am sure there will be many Exabrits at the Black and White Party tonight which I am sure will be a great event. Thank you to the Asociacion de Padres for their organisation of this social event.

We have had some concerns this week with children feeling left out when other children gave out invitations for a party and they were excluded. We recognise you may not want to invite all the children in a group to a party but we do respectfully ask that unless you are inviting the WHOLE teaching group, we do not want to see those invites being distributed in school. You need to find another way to do the invitations. This also applies if you invite some friends from each of the teaching groups. Children do end up feeling left out and we are asking for your consideration and respect for their feelings.

While I am on the subject of parties. We are fully aware that in secondary school students have class parties and most parties are well organized and run smoothly without incident. However, when you are having a party for students at your private house you should establish some general rules before the party: how many people can be invited, the time of the party and when the party will finish. Consider limiting the number of guests and do not allow an open invitation for students from other grades or other schools. You should ask other parents or adults to help monitor the party. You should identify rooms that can be used and make these rooms a safe environment. Please see our guidelines on parties on the school website, we really want to work together with you to ensure everyone is safe at these events.

When your son or daughter attends a house party you need to explain to them your expectations. You should establish a time when they will be picked up at the end of the party and you should avoid changes to this plan, such as they would like to stay over at the last minute. You should ensure that they have a safe ride home, not catching a ride with somebody else which is not organised in advance. Stay awake until your children get home or wake up on their return. This gives you the opportunity to assess whether or not to have abided by your expectations for the party.

We have our Primary Spring Fair in two weeks time. At this event all the lost and found items that have accumulated over the last few months will be sold off or donated to charity. Please check both the primary and secondary cages for anything that might belong to your child, lunch boxes, bags, coats, shoes etc. If you need a key to access something, they are available from the school secretaries.

I hope you all have some good family time this weekend. I am following the Panthers on Sunday!

Primary News

Dear Parents and Carers,

I was able to lead a discussion about the International Primary Curriculum with the School Board this week. They were very interested to learn more about the curriculum and to understand how it meets all the requirements of the English National Curriculum but allows for the best learning and teaching to take place. It also develops many of the attributes that our children will need in the workplace of the future. It was a very positive meeting and confirmed to us all that the IPC with its international and social aspects is the right curriculum for our school and our students.

I also got to see 3rd Brennes and Kinder Suarez lovely assemblies recently. They were both delightful. What a credit our students are to us all. Please keep an eye open for your child’s class assembly on the calendar. Please also note that these are sometimes subject to change.

As a school we are carrying out a parent perception survey at the moment. If you have not completed it already please go to


and let us know your opinion. Your views count.

As we continue with our precautions against mosquito bites, please ensure your children are dressed suitably for school, not a party, and that their legs are fully covered. 

I will be carrying out random clothing checks all next week.

The Spring Fair is approaching. It will be held on the 20th February and as always it will be a lovely event for our Primary families. It will also be run and manned by the Primary students and because this is an educational event all of Upper Primary are expected to attend and have the commercial experience. Thank you for the tombola jars that have already arrived in school. They are very attractive and contain quality items. Thank you too to those families who have sold all their raffle tickets or have donated prizes when requested. They are a big contribution to the money we raise for our cause.

Please note that it is at this event that all the lost and found items that have accumulated over the last few months are sold off or donated to charity. Please go and check both the primary and secondary cages for anything that might belong to your child, lunch boxes, bags, coats, shoes etc. If you need a key to access something, they are available from the school secretaries. If it has a name it will be left on the tables outside the administration offices.

The clown Fransortes, who has been a regular guest at our school for many years and delighted our students with his antics, was admitted to hospital as he was most unwell. Although he is now out of hospital he is currently confined to a wheelchair. We would like to organise a collection for him to support him at this time of difficulty. We are proposing a series of ‘Paint your Face Days’ to this effect. On the week from Feb 8th to February 11th children are allowed to come into school with their face painted for $1. Each grade will be allocated a specific day. If you are not able to decorate their face at home we will be offering a face painting service in school for $1.50 but this must be booked in advance to ensure we have enough adults and materials. All proceeds will go to help Fransortes. Keep an eye open for the full details. We look forward to seeing you all with your colourful faces.

Our secondary CAS students have organised another event for our students to enjoy on February 6th. Take a good look at the poster and map below and tell your friends. We hope you have an enjoyable family outing.


Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead.

Mrs Short
Head of Primary

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
February
Friday 5th: Kinder Quintanilla assembly - 7:45 am - PAC
Saturday 6th: Mini Fair
8th to 11th: Paint your face days
Friday 12th: School closed to students
Monday 15th School closed
Friday 19th: Kinder Carbajal assembly - 7:45 am - PAC
Saturday 20th: Spring Fair 9:00 am - 12 pm
Friday 26th: Kinder González assembly - 7:45 am - PAC

Upper Primary
February
Saturday 6th: Mini Fair
Wednesday 10th: 2nd Aviles Assembly at the PAC. 9.20 and 12.15
8th to 11th February - Paint your face day
Friday 12th School closed to students
Monday 15th School closed
Wednesday 17th: 3rd grade Spanish Assembly at the PAC. 9.20 and 12.15
Saturday 20th: Spring Fair 9:00 am - 12 pm
Wednesday 24th: 5th Caceres Assembly at the PAC. 9.20 and 12.15
Friday 26th: Extracurricular Activities Session 3 Finishes 
March
Wednesday 2nd March to Friday 4th March: 5th grade Camping, at the Portezuelo Park

Secondary News

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Well done to the ABC teams on coming 1st place and 3rd place in the Mathcounts Maths Relay on Friday 29th of January. There were also some great results in the individual Mathcounts competitions (on Saturday 30th of January). Please see the ‘ROCs in Action’ blog for more details of the students involved.

Hopefully the ABC will be travelling to Mexico to compete in the Regionals (more details to follow in later ABC Weeklies).


After what must have felt as two very very long weeks for our students, the Grade 10 (IGCSE) and Grade 12 (IB Diploma) mocks ended today. The students have worked hard and we have been very pleased with their conduct during this time. The results of the mock examinations will be made known to the students shortly - the teachers now have large piles of examination scripts to mark!

Next week the Grade 8 examinations start (on Thursday 11th of February) and in the following week (from Tuesday 16th of March to Friday 19th of March) we have the remainder of the Grade 8 exams along with the Grade 7 examinations.

We were very pleased with the attendance of the Grade 6&7 Parent Teacher Meetings (Tuesday 2nd of February) and the Grade 8 IGCSE Options Presentation and Parent Teacher Meetings (Thursday 4th of February) this week.

Please note that we want parents to attend Parent Teacher Meetings even if there are no concerns about their child's academic achievements and/or work ethic. We encourage all parents to attend such meetings so that they can receive feedback from their child’s individual teachers, along with targets for improvement. No matter how well a student is doing there is always scope for improvement and guidance to be shared by the subject teachers. Teachers in most of cases will have availability at some point during the evening.

All parents are invited to the upcoming Open Parent Partnership on "Addictions in teens" by Dr Guttfreund and Dr Barrios (Tuesday 16th of February at 6pm in the PAC). 


Whilst some Parent Partnerships are specific to a certain grade, many are open to all parents and are on subjects of general interest. In fact, increasingly we are organising Parent Partnerships on themes/topics suggested by parents, and we encourage parents to continue to suggest themes/topics that they want us to cover. We refer to the general interest Parent Partnerships as Open Parent Partnerships.

The next Open Parent Partnership (after the one on "Addictions in teens" by Dr Guttfreund and Dr Barrios) will be on Wednesday 16th of March (from 6pm in the PAC) and the topic this time will be “Netiquette”. The word netiquette is a combination of ’net’ (from internet) and ’etiquette’. It means respecting other users’ views and displaying common courtesy when posting your views to online discussion groups. We will explore netiquette in detail at this Open Parent Partnership.

We have had a massive response from students wanting to learn Chinese (Mandarin). Starting this week on Thursday (and they will be on Thursday’s hereafter) we ran two beginners Mandarin language classes:
  1. 2.00pm to 3.00pm for Grade 6, 7 & 8 students; and,
  2. 3.00pm to 4.00pm for Grade 9 students.
Unfortunately due to the overwhelming demand we are unable to offer classes to students that are ethnic Chinese, nor can we cater for the older students (in Grades 10, 11 and 12) that expressed an interest in the classes.

A big thank you to Ms HaoWen Cheng from the Taiwanese Embassy for agreeing to come and teach our students Mandarin.

Next week the uniform arrangements for girls remain. As mentioned last week, please make sure that your child uses mosquito repellant before they come to school and that this is replenished during the day.

Finally, please be reminded that we have a staff training (INSET) day next week on Friday 12th of February and that students, after Thursday 11th of February, will not be returning to school until Tuesday 16th of February (as Friday and Monday form part of half-term holiday for students). 

I hope you and your family have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Stephen Spicer
Head of Secondary

Secondary dates for your diary
Monday 8th - Friday 12th February: Internet Safety Week
Thursday 11th February: Grade 8 exams
Thursday 11th - Monday 15th February: Business New York Trip
Friday 12th February: INSET Day for teachers (school closed)
Monday 15th February: Half Term Day (school closed)
Tuesday 16th - Friday 19th February: Grade 7 & 8 exams
Tuesday 16th February: Open Parent Partnership (Dr Guttfreund and Dr Barrios "Addictions in teens"), 6pm PAC
Thursday 18th February: Secondary school closes at 11:30am. Grade 9 'Stereotypes and labels' empowerment afternoon.
Friday 19th February: Teleton non-uniform/t-shirt day
Saturday 27th February: Summer Carnival 2016 (organised by the Asociación de Padres de Familia)
Monday 29th February: Grade 10 IB Options Meetings, 5:30pm PAC
Tuesday 1st March: Grade 12 Parent Partnership, 6pm PAC
Thursday 3rd - Friday 7th March: Book Week
Monday 10th - Friday 14th March: Music Week / Brain Week and British Science Week
Wednesday 16th March: Open Parent Partnership “Netiquette” 6pm PAC 
Thursday 17th March: Grade 9 & 11 Parent Teacher Meetings, 3.15pm Auditorium
Friday 18th March: Last day of Second Term
Friday 21st March - Friday 1st April: Easter holidays (school closed)
Monday 4th April: Back to school - First day of Third Term 

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