From the Director
As Christmas comes nearer we are all gearing up for our annual celebrations and festivities. I know that especially for our children Christmas is a wonderful time of year. A time of hope and optimism, when all of us but especially children look forward to family time and to everyone being happy together. I have to admit I am looking forward to seeing my children return to El Salvador for Christmas. As adults I think we sometimes forget how important quality family time is for children.
I also would like us to use Christmas as an opportunity to help other families create a happy Christmas for their families and to provide for children who do not have their own family. We are hoping all our children will be able to provide a shoebox of gifts for a child like them who otherwise would not be enjoying a Christmas gift. Wethink this helps our children understand how they can share the spirit of Christmas with others who are perhaps less fortunate than them. Class teachers and Heads of Year will be contacting you about details for providing these shoeboxes.
Primary News
Dear Parents and carers,
Guy Fawkes night was another great success. It is probably my favourite event of the year. We asked the UP students who had gone along in assembly on Monday morning and they all put their hands up. We asked who had a great time and they all put their hands up again - so it seems I am not the only one! I was very proud of the choirs who sang, the batucada group and the primary dance squad. We have a lot of talent and enthusiasm here in Primary right now which is great. Thank you to all the teachers who worked with the students to help them reach a good standard. Thank you too to parents who supported as well. We have also asked the students for their ideas about anything they think was missing from the event. We have had a request for milkshakes. If you think that there was a little something that would have made the event even better for you if it had been included please do let me know via email. I also made some lovely purchases at the Fair in the auditorium. You may know someone who would be interested to sell their wares next year. Keep them in mind.
I currently do two early morning car park duties in school each week. Although many of our drivers are really expert at handling the situation, we still have a few drivers who have a complete lack of awareness and block up the drop off points by not pulling all the way forward or taking forever to get the children out of the car. Please have your last minute conversations as you come along the road, gather the bags together as you come through the school gate and hand over any money before you leave the house. Some students take ages sorting out these things.
On Tuesday we had the Prepa Curriculum Night. There were six short presentations about various areas of the curriculum including maths games, writing through play, storytelling using props, Spanish reading, music and games you can play in your car. However, the main focus of the evening was food in lunchboxes which include excessive amounts of sugar. We were astounded by our research findings and the impact such a poor diet has on learning and the ability to focus on learning. So, our request was for parents to look at labels, to think carefully when shopping, and to encourage children to eat healthier food. Remember the guidelines say that 19 grams of sugar per day is the recommended allowance for a 5-6 year old child. Additional to this, your child needs on average, 11 hours of sleep per night. Quality sleep occurs when a child goes to bed in a quiet, dark space. No TVs, no iPads or tablet devices, no phones, no computers. They should not have had access to any form of technology during the hour before they go to sleep. We hope these reminders will have a positive impact on your family and that you will see the benefits in the future. Thank you, as always, for your support!
Have a great weekend.
Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
December
Thursday 1st: Pre-Kinder and Kinder Extracurricular activities, sessión 3, sign up
Friday 2nd: Prepa and 1st grade Extracurricular activities, sessión 3, sign up
Friday 2nd: Prepa Taylor assembly 7:30am PAC
Friday 2nd: End of 2nd Extracurricular session
Friday 9th: Lower Primary reports go home
Wednesday 14th: Christmas Shows 3:30 - 6:30pm PAC
Friday 16th: Last day of term 1 - all LP (with UP siblings) children leave at 11:00am
Upper Primary
November
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
Friday 9th: Primary Reports go home
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
Secondary Sports Day
On Thursday afternoon the whole school was outside for the finals of the inter-Tribal Sports Day competitions. It went very well and congratulations to all those who took part, not only in the finals but all the games that took place in the run up to the day. The Tribal Chiefs did a great job in helping to organise the day and in leading their Tribes out to the pitches. Next year we hope to be even more ambitious. The overall placings for the day were:
1st place Pipiles
2nd place Incas
3rd place Aztecs
4th place Mayas
Drama Group Performance of Subtext
This was an excellent production, enjoyed by all who saw it. The quality and maturity of the performances was impressive and did justice to the humour of the script. The comic timing showed by these young actors had the audience laughing throughout the piece. I am now looking forward to another opportunity to see them in action and can heartily recommend them to you in the future.
We hope you will be able to support the campaigns that the Secondary students are running in these final weeks of term, in particular the Recycling Competition and the Christmas Shoe Box Campaign.
Important date for your diary, come and enjoy a mixture of performance and opportunities to join in and singalong to some Christmas favourites such as Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and Feliz Navidad
ABC Christmas Celebration 2016 - POP CHRISTMAS!
Performing Arts Centre
Thursday, 15 December
6:00 - 7:30 pm
For the entire ABC community
Entrance: $1 tickets (for charity)
Refreshments: Refreshments sold before and after the concert
Victor Saade is part of the class of 2003 at the ABC. After his graduation that year, he started studying Business and Management and after that he went to a variety of European countries like Switzerland, Italy, France...and so on to learn about cuisine and flavours. His basic idea was always to set up his own business as either a cafe or a restaurant...so with this idea in mind he started with this "Sucree" place in 2011. After facing and overcoming a variety of obstacles (briefly explained in the talk yesterday) the business improved a lot in such a way that his father increased the support including the acquisition of the facilities where the business is nowadays.
What I particularly enjoyed the most was that he supported my idea of success to be explained to my students...meaning that in the school motto "effort leads to success", the word effort has a very high weighting.....as shown in the attachment.
Carlos Cabeza
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