From the Director
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy holiday period. I hope you have received your copy of the ABC Yearly for last year and enjoy looking through it. It certainly does bring back some happy memories.
We have had a wonderful UN Week with celebrations of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) with Save the Children and our Colour Run. We had a guest speaker from Save the Children to celebrate the work we are doing with them. I would like to say a big thank you to all the prefects who helped so much with the UN Week events end especially the Colour Run on Friday. They really are excellent role models and we appreciate their effort and work. If you would like more information on the SDGs please have a look at our ABC Newsblog which has a simple guide. In the same way that we worked to help El Salvador meet the MDGs we want to play our part to ensure the SDGs are a success. We believe we can use them to help our students understand their responsibilities to a sustainable future in a safer and happier world.
I would also like to thank the sponsors who helped make the Colour Run possible by contributing drinks, flour, food or activities to support the event: Riso ComColour, Alpina, Industrias La Constancia, Destroy It, Dreamland, Shaws, Crepe Lovers, Kempo Lions, TCS, La Prensa Grafica and Canal 21 and 33.
We have sent home some traffic guidelines today which we are also posting on the Parent page of the school website. It is vital we all act in a safe manner during our morning drop off and afternoon pick ups to ensure the safety of all our children. Please read them and ensure you understand what is expected of you or your drivers at these times.
Please note we will be celebrating British Week the week after we return and that culminates in our Guy Fawkes Party on Friday 18th November to which you are all invited. Please make a note in your diary.
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
Thank you to all those students who purchased a kit and took part in the Colour Run for ‘Save the Children’. I hope you enjoyed it and were not too messy when you got home! All funds raised will be helping a very good cause. Thank you too if you chose to wear your jeans and contributed a dollar to these causes.
Over the next week your children will probably not have the same exposure to the English language as usual. Although Spanish is very important, we do need our students to understand that if they do not speak in English their language skills will decrease. So “use it or lose it’ is our reminder to all our students. Please encourage them to read an English book as well as a Spanish one or chat to someone in English whenever possible over the holiday.
Last week I mentioned that we were concerned about the contents of lunchboxes and the damage too much sugar can do. This week I am still talking about food. Please make sure your children have breakfast before they get to school in the morning. We have had many of our older Primary students complaining they are hungry as soon as they get to school and then when we investigate we find out that they were not given breakfast at home. Breakfast is a very important meal and children cannot learn if they are focussed on their hunger pangs! A breakfast that includes protein is best.
This week we have asked our students to vote on a simple definition of ‘learning’. We asked the students to tell us what they thought learning was and then took their ideas and compiled them into three potential definitions. The students have been voting for their favourite all week. I am very interested to see which definition wins. The IPC defines learning as ‘the staged process of extending and consolidating our neuronal constellations as we acquire knowledge, develop skills and dispositions and deepen our understanding.’ I think you will agree that is a bit tricky for the students but they have included many of the same elements.
Thank you to all the parents who attended the excellent Kinder curriculum night. They are so great it really is a shame if you miss them. Please parents remember that it is very impolite to be using your phone for anything other than filming the presentation. You need to focus on what is being shared in order to really understand, just as your children need to in school sometimes.
Our Primary staff are very tired this week as are the students. We are all looking forward to a rest. Please do not fill up your children’s week with pre-planned activities but let them play with their toys and make a mess at home for some of the time. I hope you all have a lovely week together.
Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
November
Monday 31st - Friday 4th: Half term Holiday
Monday 14th - Friday 18th: School photos
Thursday 17th: Pre-Kinder Curriculum night
Thursday 17th: Pre-Kinder Curriculum night
Friday 18th :Non -uniform day bring in an exercise book.
Friday 18th: Guy Fawkes Evening 5:30pm onwards
Friday 18th: Prepa Macdonald assembly 7:30am PAC
Tuesday 22nd: Prepa Curriculum night
Tuesday 22nd: Prepa Curriculum night
Friday 25th: Prepa Butler assembly 7:30am PAC
December
Friday 2nd: Prepa Taylor assembly 7:30am PAC
Wednesday 14th: Christmas Shows 3:30 - 6:30pm PAC
Friday 16th: Last day of term 1 - all LP & UP siblings children leave at 11:00am
Upper Primary
November
Monday 31st Oct-Friday 4th Nov: Half term Holiday
Thursday 10th/Friday 11th: 4th Grade Camping
Monday 14th - Friday 18th: School photos
Wednesday 16th: 2nd Avilés Assembly 9:20-10:05 PAC & 12:15-1:15 PAC
Friday 18th: Non uniform day - bring in an exercise book.
Friday 18th: Guy Fawkes Evening 5:30pm onwards
Wednesday 23rd: 4th Spanish Assembly 9:20-10:05 PAC & 12:15-1:15 PAC
Friday 25th/Saturday 26th: 2nd Grade Camping
Wednesday 30th: 4th Guzmán Assembly 9:20-10:05 PAC & 12:15-1:15 PAC
December
Friday 2nd: End of 2nd Extracurricular Term - PRIMARY
Wednesday 7th: 5th Truscott Assembly 9:20-10:05 PAC & 12:15-1:15 PAC
Thursday 8th: UP Christmas Concert
Wednesday 14th: Christmas Fair 3:30pm - 7:00pm
Friday 16th: Last day of term 1 - all LP & UP siblings children leave at 11:00am
Secondary News
Student Leadership
On Saturday our leaders of the future spent a very productive morning at school taking part in Grade 11 Empowerment Day and the Student Council Training Day. Mr Quijano and a team of G12 Prefects lead the activities of the Empowerment Day and Mr Keslake, Mr Hall, Ms Caceres and Ms Catlin lead the workshops for the Student Council. Our Student Council are a really splendid group of young people who are committed to the development of the ABC. All of us leading the workshops were very impressed by their maturity and sense of purpose. Some of the ideas and strategies that developed as a result of the morning’s activities will be developed by the StuCo during the coming year.
We would also like to thank our keynote speaker for the day, ABC parent Ms Paola Barragan, for generously giving of her time. Ms Barragan spoke to the students about her experiences working with UN and USAID funded projects around the world and provided food for thought on the leadership issues of putting vision into practice in difficult circumstances.
Remembrance
The week after half term we will be remembering those who have lost their lives in the many conflicts of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. We will have poppies in school for students and teachers to wear in remembrance and Mr Hall will be talking to students about the history behind the poppy appeals in assemblies that week. Remembrance Day is marked on the 11th day of the 11th month when, at 11 a.m. in 1918 the guns fell silent on the Western Front of the Great War. Unfortunately the world has continued to suffer many conflicts since then and the poppy has come to symbolise all war dead, not just those of the First World War.
FUND RAISING CAMPAIGNS
Cancer Awareness
On Friday October 21st, ACTUA had a fundraising campaign, Pink Nail Friday. During this event, the total money collected was $36.00. Overall, the October Awareness Campaign has collected $238.85. This money collected will total $274.35. Hopefully, by the end of this week, we will be able to donate 25 free mammograms, at the Cancer Institute, for women who are not be able to afford them.
On Wednesday this week it was WE WEAR PINK. Students and Secondary Staff, male and female,wore pink shirts and jeans in order to support Breast Cancer.
This weekend there is the SUNDAY AVON WALK, we are inviting you to participate with staff members and the ABC family to walk around Santa Elena, in front of the American Embassy. The event starts at 7:00 am, pets are allowed to come. We hope to see many of the ABC family there supporting this worthwhile cause.
Colour Run
The Colour Run is taking place today, Friday, following on from our assembly celebrating the United Nations. The funds raised will go to support work done by Save the Children in El Salvador. We would like to thank the sponsors who have contributed to this event:
Destroy It; Riso ComColour; Alpina; Industrias La Constancia; Kempo Lions; Crepe Lovers; TCS; La Prensa Grafica; Canal 33; Canal 21; Shaw’s; Dreamland.
Sports News
Congratulations to the Grade 9 boys who qualified for the final of the LV Juegos Estudiantiles Futsala. The game took place at Colegio Nazareth earlier this week. They were unfortunate to lose this final but should be proud to have advanced so far in the competition. Well done to: Rodrigo Melara, Rodrigo Ágreda, Ricardo Vásquez, Peyman Esmaeili, Andrés Hernández, Andrés López, Roberto Berganza, Matteo Cabrero, José Águila, Sebastián Avilés.
Next week is half term holiday and we wish you all a restful break.
Secondary dates for your diary
October
Friday 28th: End of First Half Term and Colour Run
Monday 31st: Start of week long half term holiday
November
Saturday 12th: Geography IB Fieldwork Trip
Monday 14th: School photos will be taken during this week
Friday 18th: Guy Fawkes Night & Christmas Fair
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