Dear Parents and Carers,
I want to start by congratulating our Mathcounts team for an amazing victory in the Central America round last weekend. We were so proud of all our teams, who finished in first and fourth place overall in a competition including over eighty teams. It was a brilliant result. You can see a report on the ABC Newsblog. Our teams will now be going to the next round of the competition.
Today, our annual Parent Satisfaction Survey was sent to you by email. Please do fill it out, it should not take more than 10 minutes and your opinions are of great help to us when evaluating how we can make the ABC a high-quality, positive and welcoming learning environment for everyone in our community.
You can also access the survey by clicking here.
I would like to remind you that school is closed next Monday for a staff training day. We are focusing on strategies to improve the English Language development of our children in all areas of their work at school. We think our children do really well in their bilingual development but we are looking for strategies to make their English even stronger especially in their academic work. Last week we also had some training on Safeguarding and how we can ensure the wellbeing of our children. The training was delivered by Robin Watts who is an international consultant in this area from Brighton in England. He is an ex policeman and an expert in dealing with children who are facing abuse and for helping us ensure our children are completely safe at school. On that note I do want to remind you that we are a listening school and if you have any safeguarding concerns about children you can contact us confidentially through our Safeguarding Officers who are Natalia Cáceres, Sharon Short and myself.
As an ex policeman Robin Watts also commented on our security situation in school. He felt we had good control of our entry points with polite and efficient security. He did however make the point that it is important that our security team are respected and supported by the whole community. As he said we need to remember that it is our school and our children who are being protected and safeguarded by the security team. In this spirit I would like to urge our continued support and respect for our guards at all times. I would also like to remind you that if you are challenged by a member of the school security team or staff that you do identify yourself and your reason for being on the campus. It is very important we all realise that visitors may be questioned to ensure they have permission to be on campus during school hours.
We have our ABC Carnival next Saturday and hope many of you will join us. I want to remind you that we will not be serving alcohol at the event as we have children present and we believe it is possible to have social fun without alcohol! We look forward to seeing many of you there. On that note I would like to talk security! We will be having extra security on Saturday especially on our gates to ensure children leave with their parents or guardians and we are alert and watching out for people who may enter the campus to misbehave. They will be evicted! I would also like to point out that like many of you we have heard the kidnapping rumours which have been spreading around the city. We are assured by the local authorities and the U.S. Embassy that there have been no such incidents and they do not think there are increased risks of this sort of activity. We of course are being careful but we would like to reassure you that we have a safe campus and safe procedures for ensuring the security of our children. here at the ABC we always take security very seriously.
We received our report from the Positive Coaching Alliance following the visit last term. It is very complimentary about our school in terms of the relationships and well being if our students but does indicate ways we can develop our athletes and coaches as well as improve our communication and shared leadership of our whole sports programme. We will be discussing these with parents in due course and are looking forward to making our sports programmes more integrated and even better.
I hope you have a pleasant weekend and look forward to seeing you in school next Tuesday!
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
This week has been Internet Safety Week and all of our classes have been looking at this, but our ICT department have been working especially hard to help our students understand the dangers of internet use. They have been reflecting about internet safety during the regular computing lessons, They have been watching videos, discussing about how to become responsible digital citizens and so on. On Tuesday Feb 7, they had a special event during lunch time, having a funny pictures session with the posters. They also invited children to make some posters to raise internet safety awareness. They have already displayed them around the corridors. Here are two pictures of some students in action.
We do ask all of our parents to take the dangers of social media and internet use seriously. We strongly recommend that students do not belong to social media and that any internet use is closely monitored by parents.
The Upper Primary Inter Tribe competitions continued last week and this week we were able to award the trophies and certificates in our Monday assembly. Everyone competed very well and gave their best. Here is the final table of points. For more information and photos please see the PE team blog. http://pe-sw-abc.blogspot.com/
Next week we are closed on Monday. This is for staff training from an outside provider Caroline Scott. She is from the organisation Communication Across Cultures. She will be talking to staff about how to maximise opportunities for students to learn English in the classroom.
It is also Valentine’s Day and we focus on friendship and positive relationships. The students can purchase Valentine grams to send to their friends if they want to.
Tonight is the Grade 1 sleepover. We wish the students and teachers a most enjoyable time. Thank you to the staff for giving up their own time to organise and run this event.
Have a lovely weekend.
Sharon Short
Head of Primary and Primary School Safeguarding Officer.
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
February
Monday 13th: INSET day for staff - SCHOOL CLOSED
Tuesday 14th: Kinder trip to Tin Marín Museum - 8:00 am
Friday 17th: Pre-Kinder Francés assembly - 7:45am - PAC
Saturday 18th: Parent Association CARNIVAL 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Monday 20th: Prepa Night Activity 4:00 pm PAC
Wednesday 22nd: Prepa trip to Jardin Botánico - 8:45 am
Thursday 23rd: Early closure and Teletón jeans Day
Friday 24th, Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th February - Half term holiday
March
Friday 3rd: Teletón jeans day
Friday 3rd: End of 3rd extra-curricular activities session
Monday 6th: Start of 4th extra-curricular activities session
Tuesday 7th: Kinder Quintanilla trip to La Granjita - 8:00 am
Wednesday 8th: Kinder Suárez trip to La Granjita - 8:00 am
Thursday 9th: Kinder Cáceres trip to La Granjita - 8:00 am
Wednesday 15th: Kinder Rampone trip to La Granjita - 8:00 am
Friday 17th: Pre-Kinder Siri assembly - 7:45 am - PAC
Saturday 18th: Primary Spring Fair
Friday 24th: Pre-Kinder González assembly - 7:45 am - PAC
Friday 31st: Pre-Kinder Carbajal assembly - 7:45 am - PAC
Upper Primary
February
Monday 13th: INSET day - School closed
Wednesday 15th: 4th Rumsey Assembly 9:20 - 10:05 PAC and 12:15 - 1:15 PAC
Wednesday 22nd: 5th Molina Assembly 9:20 - 10:05 PAC and 12:15 - 1:15 PAC
Thursday 23rd: Early closure and Teletón jeans day
Friday 24th, Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th February - Half term holiday
March
Friday 3rd: Teletón day- Jeans Day
Friday 3rd: End of 3rd Extracurricular Term - PRIMARY
Saturday 4th: UP Sports Morning & Family Day
Monday 6th: Start of 4th Extracurricular Term - PRIMARY
Wednesday 8th: 2nd Lawrence Assembly 9:20 - 10:05 PAC and 12:15 - 1:15 PAC
Wednesday 15th: 2nd Spanish Assembly 9:20 - 10:05 PAC and 12:15 - 1:15 PAC
Saturday 18th: Primary Spring Fair
Wednesday 22nd: 3rd Sullivan Assembly 9:20 - 10:05 PAC and 12:15 - 1:15 PAC
Secondary News
Dear parents and carers,
Safer Internet Day
We have had safe Internet reminders sent home to parents and also activities in school to promote Safer Internet Day which was celebrated last Tuesday. The focus of Safer Internet Day 2017 was for students to realise that they can make the internet a safer place by their actions. A place which is safe from online predators, safe from cyber bullying and safe from false rumours or fake news! We have been talking to our older students to help them identify ideas which will help our younger children stay safe on the Internet. We have also been reminding our younger Secondary students of the dangers of the internet. We we will discuss these issues with parents of Grade 6 to 8 on Tuesday 21st March at a Parent Partnership meeting. The overall message which comes out of this is that our children must never feel alone on the internet. There must always be someone they can talk to about what they are doing on the internet and someone they can talk to if things go wrong or scare them. Ideally this would be a parent but it might also be someone at school whom they can talk to for help and advice. We do strongly advise you monitor the internet use of your children and check the sites they are visiting and their social media profile and use.
Exams and assessment for learning
Our 7th and 8th Grade students have just completed their Exam period and I am sure they are now ready to take a break from their studying over the weekend. Exam taking is often stressful for our students, and for our Grade 7 it was their first experience of being in the exam hall! We would like to ask you to support our message of Assessment For Learning. We of course look forward to celebrating their achievements academically but we must not lose sight that these results offer an excellent opportunity for reflection on performance and engagement in class as well as target setting. We hope all our students continue to develop a growth mindset and with these results work hard in their final Cal period of the year and reach their learning goals.
Working together and parent teacher meetings
Home School partnership is vital in the success of our students and we look forward to seeing many of you in the upcoming weeks at our Parent Teacher meetings and our Options evenings. Please note the following dates on your calendar and come along to meet your son or daughter’s teachers. Students are encouraged to come along to these meetings to take part in a three way conversation with their parents and teachers to discuss their learning and development. Thank you for your support in ensuring your child wears correct school uniform at these events.
GRADE 6 and GRADE 7 Parent Teacher meeting- Thursday 16th February
GRADE 8 IGCSE Options evening and Parent Teacher meeting- Monday 6th of March
GRADE 10 IB Options evening and Parent Teacher meeting - Thursday 2nd of March
Community support
We continue to sell and support the Teletón and are impressed with the record sales of T-shirts and merchandise which contribute to such a worthy cause. We have two ‘Jeans days’ to mark our support: Thursday 23rd of February and Friday 3rd of March. Students are encouraged to participate in solidarity.
Celebrating success - U18 Equipo ABC Bulldogs
The 2016-2017 school year has been full of dreams and aspirations for our U18 football team. Winning the Adidas Cup at the beginning of the season brought the team together with a foundation we had already set from the previous tournament, while more players joined the team and brought leadership skills we needed.
We have had some very good matches and we have a clear idea of our possessive game, and our strategies have led us to 26 undefeated games, between the Adidas Cup, friendly matches and official Bilingual League matches.
We are about to enter the final stage of the Bilingual League and about to begin the College Cup and INDES tournament, both which will be tough, but I am sure that if we place our trust in our students and guide them correctly we can set and achieve our goals.
Keep it up!
By: Kevin Rivera- Entrenador Principal U18 Bulldogs ABCHave a wonderful weekend!
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Secondary School dates for your diary
February
Monday 13th - INSET Day for teachers - School closed for students
Thursday 16th - Grades 6 & 7 Parent/Teacher meetings - Auditorium, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday 16th to Friday 24th - IGCSE Business & Geography trip to Japan
Saturday 18th - Parent Association SUMMER CARNIVAL
Thursday 23rd - Early Closure: School closes at 12.30 p.m; Jeans day - Teletón
Friday 24th, Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th - Half term holiday, school closed
March
Thursday 2nd: Grade 10 IB Options & Parent/Teacher Meetings - Auditorium, 4:30pm
Friday 3rd: Teletón day - Jeans day & SCIENCE Fair for Grade 6 & 7
Monday 6th - Grade 8 IGCSE Options & Parent/Teacher meetings - Auditorium, 4:30pm
Thursday 9th to Monday 13th - HACIA Democracy trip to Panama
Friday 10th - ABC STEAMFEST
Saturday 11th - SAT test, 8 am
Monday 13th to Friday 17th - Bicultural Arts Festival Week
Tuesday 14th - Grade 12 IB Art inauguration day
Tuesday 21st - Parent Partnership Meeting on Internet Safety
Wednesday 22nd - Grade 9 and 11 exams start
Friday 31st - End of Grade 9 and 11 exams
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