From the Director
It was a pleasure to see so many of you at the Convocatoria on Monday evening. As a community it is important that we share our ideas and hopes for the future direction of our school. As I am sure you are aware we are in the second year of three year strategic plan and we are currently discussing priorities for the period beyond the end of that plan. We want to ensure our school has the best facilities at a cost which the community can bear. We will be discussing this further with the Board of Governors over the coming months and consulting with the community.
Please note that next Tuesday we have arranged a Parent Partnership Meeting aimed at Grades 6 to 8 on the theme of the internet to help you manage your way through it with your children. If any parents from other grades would like to join us they are of course welcome. The invitation is in the Secondary section of this newsletter.
I would like to congratulate all children who took part in the Bicultural Arts Festival last week leading up to the performances at the Teatro Presidente. They were excellent and it was great to see the teamwork. Thank you also to all ABC staff who participated and supported the event.
We are doing a review of our cafeteria at the moment and will be asking you for fine feedback in the next week. If your children use the cafeteria we would be grateful if you would take the time to reply to our survey when it is sent.
On behalf of all the team here at the ABC I hope you have a pleasant and safe weekend
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
It was a delight to go to the Bicultural Celebration on Friday evening and see our students perform. I was particularly impressed with the strings section and the choral singing. I was pleased for our UP music teacher Mr Luis Diaz who has been heavily involved with the junior choir this time leading rehearsals in our school and co-ordinating the choir efforts. I feel very proud of the primary students who participated and would like to congratulate everyone for their hard work and excellent performance.
The following morning we had our Primary Fair. I was delighted with the level of attendance for this special Primary event. Once again the students had a range of entertaining and interesting activities for everyone to try. I was pleased to see Mums and Dads painting the plant pots as well as the children. I made a fruit loop necklace, decorated a biscuit, had my photo taken and played quite a few of the games. I felt there was a lovely atmosphere and I could see lots of students developing their skills. Thank you all for coming and supporting the event. You will be impressed to hear that we made a profit of it $7644.29 for ‘Fairs to Educate’. A success all round! The Primary Fair committee sent this message.
“It is a pleasure for us to inform you that the Committee for Fairs to Educate has achieved its goal to raise the necessary funds to cover the cost of 22 scholarships for the rest of 2017. At the end of the year 3 students will graduate from high school and we will be able to take applications for new scholarships for the next school year.” It is wonderful to know we are helping less fortunate families from our school workforce to better their life chances and the gratitude expressed by these families knows no bounds.”
I would like to give a big thank you to the parents who created our surprise rainforest in the Grade 2 corridor. The students were amazed when they arrived and it made a stunning entry point for their new unit. It was not only visually great but the smells and sounds included added that extra special touch. The students are now learning about the destruction of the rainforest and sadly it is gradually disappearing. I am sure they will remember this unit for a long time.
Our annual Book Week Celebration in Primary was much shorter this year but it did not dampen the children’s enjoyment and enthusiasm for reading. On Thursday Kathy Z Price, a published author, engaged students in an interactive, lively retelling of her book ‘The Bourbon Street Musicians’. We were delighted to welcome authors Silvia Pira, Carolina Ciudad and Alejandra Labbe de Abrego who shared readings of their published books with the children and inspired them to read more.
We would like to express a huge thanks to readers from the local and school community, including Grade 8 students, who supported events at the school and shared their love of reading.
Grade 4 students reading to Prepa
Drop Everything and Read DEAR
Local author Caroline Cuidad sharing her book.
Saturday the 1st April is our Lower Primary sports and family morning. I look forward to seeing you all there. I know that no good parent would want their child to miss out on such an important day. The students have been practicing hard. Please make sure that everyone has on their sunscreen before they arrive. There other activities for siblings to do and there will be food on sale. I know you will have a lovely morning.
Have a relaxing weekend.
Best wishes,
Sharon Short
Head of Primary and Primary Safeguarding officer
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
March
Friday 31st: Pre-Kinder Siri assembly - 7:45 am - PAC
April
Saturday 1st: Sports and Family Day - Pre-Kinder & Kinder 08:00 - 09:30 am
Saturday 1st: Sports and Family Day - Prepa & 1st Grade 10:00 - 11:30 am
Monday 3rd: 1st grade Swimming Gala - 8:50 - 10:20 am
Upper Primary
March
Monday 20th - Friday 31st: UP Parent Conferences
Wednesday 29th: 2nd Spanish Assembly 9:20 - 10:05 PAC and 12:15 - 1:15 PAC
April
Tuesday 4th:
2nd Swimming Gala 9:00 a. m a 10:30 a. m
3rd Swimming Gala 11:00 a. m a 12:30 p.m
Children may go home after the event.
Friday 7th:
4th Swimming Gala 9:00 a. m a 10:30 a. M
5th Swimming Gala 11:00 a. m a 12:30 p.m
Children may go home after the event.
Secondary News
Dear parents and carers,
This week G7 had their Team building empowerment activity. It was a great example of our students working collaboratively reinforcing friendships, communication and empathy. A huge thank you to Mrs Jacqueline Soriano and the Grade 7 tutors, as well as to Ms Hernandez and the PE department for organising the activities and last but not least, thank you to the Grade 7 Madres Enlace for their provision of goodies for the group!
As you know, our teens’ welfare in and out of school is of utmost importance to us, as it is to you and following on from our Safer Internet week a few weeks back, we will be offering a Parent Partnership Evening around this topic, especially focused to our KS3 parents so we can all work together in ensuring the very best protection and guidance to our students. Please join us on Tuesday 28th March, at 6.00pm in the PAC for this very important session. If there are any particular aspects you would like to hear about, please contact me directly and we will do all we can to include it in the session.
On a similar note, we are concerned over what our students are being exposed to at community events, particularly parties, some even organised by parents. HOOKAH and ELECTRONiC CIGARETTES are NOT safe. Similar to cigarettes, hookah smoking delivers the addictive drug nicotine and it is at least as toxic as cigarette smoking. Some people believe Hookah and Vaping as less harmful than smoking cigarettes; hookah smoking carries many of the same health risks as cigarettes. Hookah smoke contains many of the same harmful toxins as cigarette smoke. It is imperative that parents and teens understand that it is the flavors in e-cigarettes one of the main reasons youth use them, but e-cigarette aerosol is not safe and e-cigarette use is strongly associated with the use of other tobacco products among youth and young adults. We respectfully ask that you do not make these available to teenagers at parties and that you actively speak to your children about the dangers of these trends.
We finished the week holding our jeans day in support of “Paraíso Down.” Thank you to the group of students who work so hard at raising awareness of this important issue and we thank all the students who supported by buying the t-shirt.
ABC ACTUA - Spring Book Week Activity
From Ms Sol Wilson
ABC ACTUA group, a community service organisation made up by students from KS3 and KS4, has been working strenuously since February in organising “Spring Book Week Activities” for small children. The group was contacted by Ms. Iris Esmeralda Giron Palma, Director of the Guarderia de la Asociacion Pro Casa Maternal. The purpose of this visit was to share Book Reading Activities with infants and to provide a bit of precious FUN time to help low-income children get involved in various activities planned by students for students. ACTUA Students visited the Casa Maternal Las Palmas on Thursday, March 16. During our visit, students organised several activities, such as:
- Reading Books with students in small groups
- Gardening – spring flowers and Herbs were planted in small groups,
- Refreshments and Cupcakes were shared and an Easter Egg Hunt was conducted by students.
- Donated – notebooks, coloring pencils, clay, coloring books and games.
This Book Week activity certainly brought great benefit and inner satisfaction to all ACTUA students.
Finally , we look forward to celebrating Art week at school next week. Thank you to the Art Department and LRC staff who have put together an exciting set of activities for the community.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Secondary dates for your diary
March
Tuesday 28th - KS3 Parent Partnership Meeting on Internet Safety
Friday 31st - Grade 8 Art Trip to Bicentenario (San Salvador) and end of Grade 9 and 11 exams
April
Saturday 1st to Saturday 18th April - Business Department Trip to UK and France
Sunday 2nd - Bicultural Music Festival
Friday 7th - Last day of Term two
Monday 10th to Friday 21st - Easter holidays, school closed
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