Friday 29 September 2017

6: Friday 29th September 2017

From the Director

This Sunday many people around the world will also be celebrating Children’s Day. It will be a day for children to appreciate their families and in turn for them to be appreciated by their families. It is a day for children, their parents and their grandparents to spend time enjoying each other’s company. It is also a day to think about children’s rights and our obligation to create a safer, better world for children. The United Nations focuses on the rights of the child and has a specific charter which is on our website and here is the link. If you have time take a look and reflect. As adults it is important for us to think about our children and their needs. One of those needs is a right to a good education and to be supported through their education. The other day I heard someone describe education as a gift from one generation to another. I think it is a good way to consider the education you are providing your son or daughter with the ABC. As a school we try to ensure we are clear in helping you support your child to get the very best from their school education as well as their lives at home with you. We will be celebrating Children’s day in school on Monday.

I would also like to remind you that our "Coffee with the Director and Chair of the Board" is taking place this Tuesday, October 3rd at 7:00 am. You are welcome to come along if you feel like you have any questions or concerns to express.

There is no doubt that being a teenager these days is more complicated than it was when many of us were teenagers. The temptations and distractions are all around them often at the click of a mouse. We have a responsibility as a community to protect them. We are increasingly concerned in school about parties that children are attending, especially as they get older and the behaviour that is allowed by some parents. While parents have a right to act in certain ways with their own children they do not with other children. In this respect we are concerned at mixed age parties and specifically at parties where parents have a liberal attitude towards alcohol which may expose other people’s children to danger. We all have a responsibility to protect all our children from alcohol. We expect all our parents to act in support of this when they are hosting a party or other people’s children are visiting their home. This is a shared responsibility all of us have.

I have a couple of requests regarding the afternoon pickup which we need your help with. We are trying to come up with plans to help parents with children in both sections of the school. We will hopefully have something concrete next week. In the meantime can we ask:
  1. Please do not arrive early for the pickup. We really do not want queues of cars down the Panamericana half an hour before our gates open. These lines are a safety concern especially if we have an emergency at school. Please do not arrive more than 10 minutes before our gates open.
  2. Please make sure your child knows when you are coming and please ensure that the time works for them. Cars arriving early with no children waiting for them cause much delay.
  3. Please try to use the whole pickup area so you do not park with a vacant space in front of you. 
  4. Please be patient and polite with our car park staff.
Please note that as from 2.30pm each afternoon the PAC car park is available for Secondary parents and it is generally quiet at that time. In order to prevent it being blocked by parents coming for 3 pm pick ups after extra curricular we are not allowing cars to enter for 3 pm pick ups until 3 pm. This will keep the car park open for pick ups between 2.30 and 3 pm. The guards will check your pickup intentions as you enter and ask you to wait until 3 pm if that is your pickup time. If you enter early and try to wait we will require you to move.

Thank you for your patience in helping make these changes work for everyone.

Primary News

Dear Parents and Carers,

On Monday we had our Civic month assembly. The whole of Primary from Pre-K to 5th Grade were together. We showed our respect for El Salvador by singing the national anthem and repeating the prayer to the flag. We also had some great cultural demonstrations by the students. The batucada band, the Primary dance squad, both Upper and Lower Primary choirs, a percussion group and some teachers singing Mi Pais by Carlos Neda. The flag bearers walked in a very official way. The whole event made me very proud of our students and the country of El Salvador. It was a moving time. So I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to Ms Ana Cabrera and the Spanish team along with the Music and Dance departments for a very special event.

On Tuesday the first grade children started their learning journey of their new IPC unit ¨We are what we eat¨. They were very busy working as a team to prepare a delicious menu to share. The children had the opportunity to cut, mix ingredients and cook. Some of our children showed their open mindedness by trying new food! 

Our first week of early morning Pass Club and Playroom went very well. There was quite high attendance. Please remind your children to go straight there if they arrive before 6.30. Just to reiterate there is currently no charge for the early morning service. In a few weeks once we are up and running we will review this.

We have had some children staggering around in slip-on shoes that they cannot keep on their feet. This is dangerous for them when they are playing and can also damage the growth of their feet. Please make sure all the students shoes, both girls and boys, have a fastening to keep them on and are sturdy enough for running, jumping, climbing and football!

We are running a ‘come and play’ session for prospective parents to the school and their children on Saturday (tomorrow) morning from 9.30 until 11.00. Unfortunately this morning is now completely booked out and there are no more spaces. Due to this unprecedented success we will be running another one on the following Saturday 7th October. Please make sure you book your place, well in advance, with Estefania Chacon. The details will be the same as on the poster here.

Monday we will celebrate Children’s day. Lower Primary students will be having an entertainer and Upper Primary students will be undertaking a range of smaller events. Lower Primary parents please make sure you have sent in a homemade card. How awful would it be if your child is the only one in their class not to get one!

We have our Friendship Fair coming soon on October 21st. We have moved and renamed the Spring Fair as it clashed with too many other events at that time of year. A letter has gone out to Upper Primary parents requesting filled jars. Please help your children to make them and ensure they come in as soon as possible. We have had a few beautiful ones already. If anyone is able to donate a raffle prize please contact Claudia Aviles. We always rely on your support and so thank you in advance.

The Colour Run has been a successful event in school for three Years now. We are raising funds for Save the Children and having loads of messy fun at the same time. Please send the money in and your order for your child’s running kit as soon as possible before sizes run out. 

Today was the McLay Fun Run for grades Pre-K to 4th . All of the children tried their hardest and made a great effort for the benefit of local schools . Well done to everyone who took part and brought ini their dollar, and a ‘Thank you’ to all the PE staff who supported this event especially Mr Oscar Lima the head of Primary PE. The grade 5s will be running a the bicentennial park next week.

Please remember the IPC has a special learning process. You can see all the elements in this diagram.

The entry point is to get our learners engaged and excited about the learning that is going to take place. 

The Knowledge Harvest lets us know what our learners already know about the unit what they would like to find out about, and where we need to start teaching!

‘The Big Picture’ and ‘Explaining the Theme’ help to put all the learning in a relevant context and help students to understand the point of the learning they will be doing.

The subject research activities are the activities the students carry out, often at a personalized level , to actually learn something new whether it be KS or U.

By recording their learning students firm up the concepts in their minds and commit it to memory.

Finally the exit point brings all the learning in the unit together, allows students to apply and demonstrate their learning and teachers to assess their understanding of the original big picture. It is best when the exit point has a real purpose to it.

I hope all of you can have a relaxing weekend.

Sharon Short,
Head of Primary
Safeguarding Officer

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
October
Monday 2nd - Children’s day
Friday 6th - Extracurricular activities finish, 1st session
Friday 6th - 1st Pineda assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Monday 9th - Extracurricular activities starts, 2nd session
Friday 13th - 1st Bonet assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Tuesday 17th - 1st grade Curriculum Night - 6:00pm - PAC
Friday 20th - 1st Padilla assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Saturday 21st - International Friendship Fair - 9:00am
Tuesday 24th - Prepa Curriculum Night - 6:00pm - PAC
Friday 27th - Prepa Ware assembly - 7:30am - PAC

Upper Primary
October
Monday 2nd - Children’s day
Tuesday 3rd - Coffee with Director and Chair of the ABC Board
Wednesday 4th - 5th Truscott Spanish Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - PAC
Friday 6th - Extracurricular activities finish, 1st session
Monday 9th - Extracurricular activities starts, 2nd session
Wednesday 11th - 4th Grade Trip - Jardin Botanico
Wednesday 11th - 5th Navas Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - PAC
Week Beginning Monday 16th - UP Parent Conferences
Wednesday 18th - 4th Guzman Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - PAC
Saturday 21st - International Friendship Fair - 9:00am
Wednesday 25th - 3rd Segovia Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - PAC
Thursday 26th - 2018 Mammoth Ski Trip Meeting (Provisional Booking) - 6:00pm - PAC
Friday 27th - Save The Children Colour Run - Sports Field

Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Primary Safeguarding Officers

Secondary News

Dear parents and carers,

This week in Secondary we celebrated Banned books week and we have talking about the power of the written word and how around the world certain publications are banned due to their content. I would like to thank the LRC team for their amazing work on this topic. They ran assemblies for all our students and ran sessions where topics of censorship and freedom of speech. Please talk with your children at home regarding some of the books they have read and why these could be banned in different areas around the world. 

More pictures here



Next week, many of our KS3 and IGCSE and IB Geography students will be going to Cinemark to watch a documentary on Environmental issues which they then will discuss and analyse in their KS3 IT project and their Geography IGCSE and IB. Thank you to parents for supporting this initiative. 

Class of 2019 - IGCSE Certificate Awards ceremony
We invite all parents of the class of 2019 to attend our IGCSE Certificate Awards ceremony on Monday 9th at 7.00am- 8.15am in the PAC. Congratulations to the class of 2019 again on this great achievement! 

Important information about school reports and iSAMS - Parent portal: This year we will be sending out the school reports via both student and parent portals using iSAMS. To ensure that you receive your child’s report you need to make sure that you have signed up and are logged into the parent portal. If you have not signed up to the parent portal please do so by completing this form and the instructions will then be sent to you by email. We now have 286 parents signed up and using parent portal however we need everyone to be involved.

Learning review day
Next Friday, the Secondary school will be holding the first Learning Review Day for Grade 8. Parents have been invited to meet with their son/daughter’s form tutor for a discussion about their progress and to set targets for the year ahead. These targets will be recorded in their planner and reviewed later in the year.

We believe that this kind of consultation, which is now the standard in British and international schools, is a tremendous opportunity for us to reinforce the home/school partnership and to help your son/daughter set realistic and challenging targets for their future learning. It is not intended to be a one-way discussion. Instead, students will be involved in reflecting on their own learning and progress. 

If you are a Grade 8 parent, we ask that you return your reply slip to the Secondary Office or email them with your preferred appointment slot. If you are unable to attend, please let us know so we can make an individual appointment with your child. The letter can be found here.

The Grade 10 and 12 Learning Review Days will be held in November. Details will be sent out shortly.

Civic month- Food fest
Today was our great civic month closing with our now traditional Tribal and Food Fest! A huge thank you to Mr Eric Quijano, Ms Lucila Gonzalez, the HNC staff for their work this month promoting our national heritage and culture. Thank you to all the staff for getting involved in the various activities this afternoon. A lot of fun was certainly had! 




More pictures here

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Kind regards,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Head of Secondary

Dates for your diary
September
Wednesday 27th to Saturday 30th - Geography Grade 11 IA Field Trip to Antigua Guatemala
Monday 9th Oct- IGCSE Certificates Award Ceremony- 7.00 am to 815am- PAC. 
Friday 20 October- 7th Grade Spanish- Science trip to Botanical Gardens. 
Friday 27th October- COLOUR RUN! 

Friday 22 September 2017

5: Friday 22nd September 2017

From the Director

It was a pleasure to celebrate Peace One Day with our children and community on Thursday. Our children have such positive attitudes towards the world and their futures in it and Peace One Day gave us a chance to reflect on those hopes for the future.

We have had an exciting week in school with Joe Terrasi visiting from Positive Coaching Alliance. Thank you to those of you who came to the Parent Meeting on Wednesday and it was good to hear him talking about the positive spirit and amazing people he has seen at our school. He has also shown us ways to develop our sports programme and we will be working on his recommendations and ideas.

We have had a much better week on the car park pick ups this week. I do apologise if you feel different but our data is showing reduced pick up and waiting times. Can I take this opportunity to thank all of you for working with us to help make the new system work. Please do note that from 2.30 pm the PAC car park is open to all parents including secondary pick ups. 

Can I remind parents of children who may be joining us in Pre Kinder in August 2018 that we are inviting you with your children to an open morning on Saturday 30th September and Saturday 7th October from 9.30 to 11am. Please see the accompanying information sheet.


We have just published our review of the School Annual Improvement Plan (AIP) for 2016/17 on the Parent page of the school website. It can be seen via the parent page in either English or Spanish. Please note we have also agreed our dates for the Academic Year 2018/19 on the school website and we now have provisional dates for 2019/20 so you can plan around these dates. We would be very grateful if you avoid taking vacations when school is open as it does have a detrimental effect on your child’s learning.

I would like to finish by congratulating the Minis basketball team who became La Libertad champions on Thursday evening. It was an amazing game and we are very proud of them. Congratulations to all of them.


Primary News

Dear parents and carers,

We have had a great week in school. Your children are such a delight. They make us really proud. They never cease to amaze us with their great ideas and their positive thoughts.

Yesterday was Peace One Day and it created a great atmosphere having everyone in their jeans and white tops. The children really seemed to understand that violence isn’t the best way and there was tranquility in school as they did their best to avoid arguments and resolve any disputes peacefully. The students did some activities in their classrooms or class groups and then Upper primary finished with an assembly to round the day off. Some of the videos we looked at explained that most violence in the world is carried out in homes, schools and communities. We talked about practicing being peaceful by forgiving, saying sorry, knowing that two wrongs do not make a right and compromising. All of the students put up their hand to show they wanted peace in the world.

As a school we have been concerned about students who arrive very early in the morning before teachers are on duty. Although there have been no incidents we feel there is the potential for something to happen. To address these concerns we are opening up the Playroom and Pass club (at the Jubilee Library) from 6.00 in the morning. Any child who is dropped off before 6.30 should go straight there. Lower Primary children should be dropped at the blue benches where the supervising teacher can see them come in. Upper Primary children should be able to make their way to Pass club independently. To start with while we are getting this service running it will be free of charge but eventually there will be a small reasonable fee. Please make sure you and your children understand where they should go.

We are reviewing some of our procedures. If you medicate your child for a cold or something similar, before sending them to school, please email the teacher and let them know. If the child is ill during the day and sent to the doctor the teacher can inform the doctor with the correct information. Your email should include what was given, at what time and how much. Thank you for your co-operation with this. Sometimes the children forget to tell the doctor or know they had something but they don’t know what it was.

If your child is on regular medication you should have notified the school doctor at the beginning of the year. Please remember to notify the doctor of any changes. 

Grade 2 started their unit Active Planet this week. They set up a disaster relief centre for the students to imagine there had been a natural disaster like an earthquake and how people would organise to help. Thank you to the teachers for setting up the event. Here they are dressing the injured people's wounds and below they are allocating food resources.



On Friday it is the McLay fun run. All children from Pre-K to 4th grade should come in their PE kit and should bring in a dollar to support the purchase of sports equipment for a local school. 5th grade will be running the following week. I am hoping for good weather. 

Best wishes,

Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Safeguarding Officer. 

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
September
Friday 29th - First Henriquez Assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run
October
Monday 2nd - Children’s day
Friday 6th - Extracurricular activities finish, 1st session
Friday 6th - 1st Pineda assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Monday 9th - Extracurricular activities starts, 2nd session
Friday 13th - 1st Bonet assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Tuesday 17th - 1st grade Curriculum Night - 6:00pm - PAC
Friday 20th - 1st Padilla assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Saturday 21st - International Friendship Fair - 9:00am
Tuesday 24th - Prepa Curriculum Night - 6:00pm - PAC
Friday 27th - Prepa Ware assembly - 7:30am - PAC

Upper Primary
September
Wednesday 27th - 2nd Lourdes Hernández Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run

Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Primary Safeguarding Officers

Secondary News

Dear parents and carers,

This week we celebrated Peace One Day and the Student Leaders in the Students Council and the Prefect Team held an assembly for our KS3 students on the topic of how youth can empower the Peace movement around the world. Students and staff wore white as a symbolic gesture of peace and at lunchtime we all wrote our pledges to work towards achieving peace and decorated our “Peace tree.” See some pictures of the events here


From Mrs Rossi- Head of Spanish Department
Como parte de las actividades que estamos realizando con motivo del mes de la independencia, los alumnos de sexto grado participaron en una competencia cívica, organizada por el departamento de español, durante toda esta semana. Tuvieron que investigar datos y hechos curiosos de El Salvador para resolver diferentes pistas y avanzar al siguiente desafío.

Todos trabajaron de forma entusiasta y muy alegre guiados por los líderes que se eligieron para la ocasión, Felicitamos a sexto grado C, quienes fueron los primeros en resolver y entregar las pistas.



Next week we will host our traditional Food Festival to mark the end of our Civic month. Below you can see the details. Students will have the opportunity to pre-order their food so they do not have to queue up long at the actual fair. Please encourage your children to support the fair and participate in the activities offered. 


PEN PALS- From Mrs García- LRC 
This school year 6th and 7th-grade students will participate in a special pen pal project with the International School of Kuantan in Malaysia.

During these two projects, students will engage many different activities which will allow them to build connections, gain insight into a culture that is different than their own and to a certain extent, explore another country's geography and landmarks. It is important to mention that the projects will also allow them to identify similarities between their cultures and build friendships, as well as explore global issues as part of a multicultural team.

The projects are intended to run all year. The first cycle begins this week and next with 6A working with Padlet on storytelling quilts and 7A working on introductions and favourite things using FlipGrid

An Inconvenient Truth- the sequel 
KS3 students and Geography IGCSE and IB students will be invited on a trip to Cinemark La Gran Via to watch the documentary “An inconvenient truth” the sequel. Please look out for our permission letter where you will be given all the relevant information. We are excited at the prospect of this viewing as there are curricular projects in KS3 and curriculum links to IGCSE and IB topics in Geography. We hope to have all your support.

Banned book week - Next week!
From Hilda Gómez and Judith de Méndez- LRC
Del 25 al 29 de septiembre estaremos celebrando la semana de los libros censurados. Cada año la ‘American Library Association’ condena la censura y trabaja para garantizar el libre acceso a la información.

Estaremos exhibiendo recursos para el desarrollo del pensamiento crítico basado en nuestra colección de libros que han sido prohibidos en un momento y otro. Esto incluirá ejercicios acerca de las razones de por qué fueron prohibidos, así como comentarios positivos y formularios de revisión de los estudiantes.

Como LRC queremos celebrar la libertad de leer e invitar a toda la comunidad del ABC maestros, alumnos, padres de familia, personal administrativo que puedan expresar la libertad de comunicar ideas, puntos de vista, críticas, etc. y así puedan dar mayor realce a la libertad de poder leer.

Dentro de las actividades que estaremos desarrollando durante la semana habrá asambleas, debates y por supuesto nuestra exposición acerca de estos libros en el LRC. Les motivamos a los padres que platiquen con sus hijos en casa para desarrollar el pensamiento crítico acerca del tema. 

Los esperamos!

A request 
I would like to respectfully request that parents do not order fast food for their children to be delivered at school during the school day. This goes against our healthy food policy and it causes disruption to the day’s activities. This also applies to your children’s birthdays. In Secondary generally groups of friends celebrate birthdays in their friendship groups but we ask that parents do not come into school to hold private celebrations for their children. 

The Colour Run
A reminder that the Colour Run T-shirts are on sale now! Please encourage your child to participate and help a very good cause!

I wish you a wonderful weekend and I leave you with Mahatma Gandhi’s words to reflect upon "The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace."

Kind regards,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón

Dates for your diary
September
Wednesday 27th to Saturday 30th - Geography Grade 11 IA Field Trip to Antigua Guatemala
Friday 29th September- Food festival to wrap up Civic month
Friday 27th October- COLOUR RUN!

Thursday 14 September 2017

4: Jueves 14 de septiembre de 2017

From the Director

I would like to start by wishing everyone a Happy Independence Day tomorrow. Please remember we are also celebrating being independent as our ABC value this month so please use the opportunity of celebrating national independence alongside the virtues of all of us also being independent. In our school world being independent means thinking for yourself, not simply following a crowd or a trend and ensuring we are true to what we really believe in.

I would like to thank the Class of 2018 for doing a great job helping with the Independence Day assembly today.

We have Joe Terrasi from Positive Coaching Alliance in school next week and on Wednesday evening he is holding a session for parents with their children to explore how we can support and encourage our young athletes at home and at school. Please come along if you can with your son or daughter.

We will be celebrating Peace One Day next Thursday and hope you join in the celebrations.

I know the Admin Car Park has been difficult this week. We have been trying a new plan and we have been unlucky with the weather as it has rained every day this week at 2 pm making pick ups inevitably slower. We will be reviewing our changes after two weeks to try to improve the situation but I would like to make a couple of points
  • Please do not arrive too early for your pick up as waiting cars block the access routes to school as well as the car parks
  • Please try to use the whole pick up area and move forward into open spaces before stopping.
  • Please ensure each morning that your child knows where and when you will be picking them up. Cars going round and round are blocking our entrances and pick ups
  • Please consider sharing pick ups with a neighbour especially for older children to help reduce the number of cars around the campus 
  • Please note the PAC Car Park is only closed from 2 - 2.30 pm for Secondary parents. You can arrange to collect your Secondary students at 2.30 pm from the PAC car park when it is often quiet.
Thank you very much for your patience and I am sure if we work at this we will end up with a much improved pick up in the afternoons

Have a wonderful long weekend and see you all on Tuesday!

Primary News

Dear Parents and Carers,

The car park trial in the afternoon is throwing up some interesting situations but the trend is good. Monday the primary students all got away from the PAC car park area by 2.21pm, Tuesday 2.16pm and yesterday 2.12pm, unless they stayed for extras of course. We are trying to find out patterns of behaviour to keep improving the circumstances for everyone. We will keep you updated. 

Please note that students are not allowed to bring birthday cakes into school. It gets too competitive and actually takes away a lot of teaching and learning time when you have 25 children in the class to manage.

Next week is Peace One Day when we ask our students to work hard to have a day without conflict. We think of children in war torn lands and the things they suffer and encourage a more positive attitude to resolving perceived wrongs than violence. On Thursday 21st September children can wear jeans and a white T-shirt to school (No slogans). They will be participating in class and school events to raise awareness of the need for peace, and that one day is a good start.

We are also organising the McLay Fun run on the 29th September for Grades Pre-K to 4th and October the 6th for Grade 5. Students are asked to bring in a dollar to buy sports equipment for a local school. 

Both these events will be examples of our students fostering International Mindedness and thinking globally and acting locally.

The second criteria of the Bottom Line 9 for the accreditation is ‘A shared vision about the kinds of children we are helping to develop’. We all know we are trying to develop Responsible Outstanding Citizens or ROCs for short, but please ask yourselves what you are doing at home to support the school with this. Are you modeling the values yourselves? Are you encouraging your children ? Do you discuss the values when a situation crops up? I am sure you are. Please keep it up. Please also note that there is a lot of IPC information in the Upper Primary HCB or Lower Primary reading folder.

Best wishes for the long weekend. We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.

Sharon Short
Head of Primary.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
September
Friday 15th - El Salvador National Day: School Closed
Monday 18th - INSET day: School Closed
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day
Friday 22nd - 1st Padilla Spanish assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 29th - First Henriquez Assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run

Upper Primary
September
Friday 15th - El Salvador National Day: School Closed
Monday 18th - INSET day: School Closed
Wednesday 20th - 3rd Mena Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day
Wednesday 27th - 2nd Lourdes Hernández Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run

Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Primary Safeguarding Officers

Secondary News

Dear parents and carers,

A short, a busy week this week. We have been focusing on our value of Independent and it is a very fitting value for our Civic month. It is a value we really want to keep promoting among our children, especially in terms of being independent when making a decision regarding their behaviour in and out of school. We encourage you to talk about this at home and consider how your children practise this value and are independent in their everyday lives. 

Whilst we have been working around a national focus and local awareness, we continue to promote our International Mindedness as a part of our ABC school’s mission and I would like to share a very interesting article with you published by the IB board regarding this topic. In particular, it outlines some aspects for us to reflect upon our own international mindedness. Although the article is aimed at parents in the UK, it certainly offers food for thought. Please read it and discuss at home with your children. A phrase we use at school is “think globally, act locally.” How do we practise this at home?

Civic month:


Independence Day Assembly
Please visit this link to see more pictures of what the Secondary school has been doing to celebrate this month.


Thank you to our Grade 12 and our HNC and music teachers for organising a wonderful Independence day assembly. It was wonderful to see staff and students in the Role play on the Peasant uprising under General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez. The student speeches were inspirational and displayed pride in their country and people. Congratulations to our Grade 6 winners of our Art competition “Peace and Justice” 


As you know next Monday is a professional development day for our staff and students have a long weekend ahead. We look forward to seeing you back on Tuesday 19th of September at 7.00am!

¡Feliz día de la independencia patria!

Warm regards,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón

Dates for your diary
September
Friday 15th - National holiday - Independence Day
Monday 18th - School closed for students - INSET day for teachers
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day celebration
Wednesday 27th to Saturday 30th - Geography Grade 11 IA Field Trip to Antigua Guatemala

Friday 8 September 2017

3: Friday 8th September 2017

From the Director

As I am sure you are aware we will be closed next Friday to celebrate the 196th year of national independence. We will also be closed on Monday 18th September for a staff training day. During this week beginning the 18th Setember we will be visited by Joe Terrasi from the Positive Coaching Alliance. He will be working with students, teachers and coaches but we are also offering a workshop for parents and athletes together on Wednesday 20th September in the PAC. Further details are on our website. The session will focus on understanding what motivates young athletes and ideas for helping parents promote a positive attitude. 

My main focus this week needs to be our car park changes for next week. As you will all know we are experiencing traffic congestion in the afternoon pick ups. As advertised earlier this week we are planning a change in access rights next week to try to help traffic flow. From next Monday we will only allow Primary cars into the PAC car park to collect primary children until 2.30 pm. The pick up times for Primary students will remain as before with open access to all primary collection at 1.50 pm. You will not be allowed to enter the PAC car park without a primary access park. The 2-5 pass is needed for access between 1.50 pm and 2.30 pm. During the period up to 2.30 pm all Secondary students will have to be collected from the Admin Car park. Primary children with Secondary siblings will also be picked up at the Admin Car Park during this time. After 2.30 pm we will permit all cars to enter the PAC car Park and Secondary children will be allowed to wait to be picked up in that area. Our intention here is to try to avoid blockages which have caused hold ups across both car parks in the afternoons. We do ask for your patience and cooperation during this trial. If you can arrange to carpool with a friend or neighbour thereby reducing the amount of traffic, and the pollution, we would be very grateful. 5th Linares did mention the problems of car pollution in their assembly and they would also urge you to try to reduce car traffic! We would also like to request that you do not sit in car parks, blocking other traffic, while waiting for one of your children. This has been our biggest issue this year and is ultimately why we are trying to separate the traffic into primary and secondary pick ups. We are optimistic that it will lead to a big improvement in waiting times and to reiterate we ask for your cooperation in helping make it work for all of us.

We are planning two open morning on Saturday 30th September and Saturday 7th October for parents of children who may be entering Pre Kinder in August 2018. Please book this date in your diary if you are currently a parent of a 2 year old!! We would like to invite community members with children for Pre Kinder next August to come to school with their children on the 30th September from 9.30 to 11 am to see our facilities and understand our to approach to learning. We will also be inviting parents and children from our local kindergartens and will be sending more details next week. 

We would like to remind all our parents to please complete the CIS survey if they haven’t already done so. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us and to the accreditation process. This survey works best on a desktop or laptop computer.

Link: http://survey.cois.org/s3/Parent-Academia-Britanica-Cuscatleca

I would like to wish you a pleasant weekend with your family.

Primary News

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are very sorry to announce that Rebeca Martinez our Upper Primary secretary is leaving us today for pastures new. We are grateful to Rebeca for all her hard work and wish her all the best in her new job. We have recruited a new secretary and will share their details with you next week. In the meantime please contact Claudia Aviles for any queries while they get settled in.

Please make sure you read the car park information that was sent out this week carefully. There are significant changes for afternoon collections. Secondary students are not allowed to be collected from the PAC carpark until 2.30pm.

Thank you to all of the parents who attended the evening events this week. It is always a pleasure to see you and receive your positive feedback. Thank you to the 4th and 5th Grade Madres Enlace who arranged for the refreshments and to the school teams for their preparation and attendance. There is more info on the IPC below.



The closing date has now passed for interest in the UK trip and the Ski trip to Mammoth. We have been delighted with the numbers this year and hope to run 2 well supported trips.

All of our students from Prepa to 5th have been learning about the brain these last few weeks and I have seen some amazing comments from students in the classrooms as I have been round. Please ask your children what they have learned and ask them to teach you!


As mentioned in our Back to School Nights our IPC accreditation is fast approaching and parents are part of the process. Here is the grid for the 1st of the Bottom Line 9 criteria.


If you want to know what you children are learning there are many sources you can use. Here are just a few ideas.
  1. Ask your children.
  2. Look at the grade blogs.
  3. Check out the documents in the HCB or reading folders
  4. Read the unit letter that comes out at the beginning of each IPC unit.
  5. Attend all of the school meetings
  6. Keep track of all school communications. The ABC weekly and the school news blog will let you know about specific events.
  7. Attend class assemblies as they are usually based on what the students have been learning recently, our values or International Mindedness.
If you want to support your child with their learning ask about what they have learned and how they know they were successful. Make sure you know what their IPC home learning target is and that they have the resources to achieve it. Also in the UP HCB there is a section on how to help your children at home. Model learning for your children and show that you are preparing for the IPC accreditation yourselves!

I hope you have a great weekend and a well earned rest.

Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Primary Safeguarding Officer.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
September
Friday 15th - El Salvador National Day: School Closed
Monday 18th - INSET day: School Closed
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day
Friday 22nd - 1st Padilla Spanish assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 29th - First Henriquez Assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run

Upper Primary
September
Wednesday 13th - 4th Rumsey Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Friday 15th - El Salvador National Day: School Closed
Monday 18th - INSET day: School Closed
Wednesday 20th - 3rd Mena Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day
Wednesday 27th - 2nd Lourdes Hernández Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run

Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Primary Safeguarding Officers

Secondary News

Dear parents and carers,

Another busy and enjoyable week at the ABC! We are excited with the prospect of many student led events which are coming up and we want to ask for your support in participating and promoting them in your homes. September is our civic month and we are proud to be learning about our country and heritage. Each week we have a different focus and I encourage you to ask your children about how they are contributing to this civic celebration. Peace One Day is coming up and again, our Student Leaders will be talking to the student body about how they can make a difference in their environment and achieve peace in the world. Next month we will be celebrating Children’s day and UN week, where we will focus on the rights and responsibilities of children and this will all culminate in our now traditional Colour Run. We will start selling the CR kits next week! Please do participate and support and remember all proceeds go to Save the Children NGO.

The Student Leaders ran a competition for the design of the CR T-shirt and a CONGRATULATIONS to Vanessa Reyes for the winning design. We were so pleased to see so many students participating by submitting a design and the finalists enjoyed a pizza lunch today. Thank you Student Leaders for organising this!


Carparks
As you know, as of next Monday we will be trialing a new system for collection of students. I have emailed all Secondary School parents with details and Mr Keslake mentions the changes in his message today. 

My message is about dropping off our students in the morning. When we are on duty we can see that in the majority of cases, parents and drivers are respecting the instructions our Prefects and traffic agents give regarding drop off. However, week to week we still unfortunately see students crossing the road where they should not and this puts them and others in danger as well as slows down the flow of traffic.

We must teach our children to be good pedestrians and help them to grow in their awareness of road safety. This includes NOT crossing the lanes when other cars are coming the other way (for example parents who allow their children to get out of the car in the area by the lay by, under the Lecture Theatre) and by the curb near the triangle where two lanes become one, right next to the lane going towards school.) I urge parents to please not to allow our students to do this and help us raise awareness among our children of safety issues.If you have concerns, about traffic or parking around the school please contact us.

Some pictures of last week’s Grade 11 Empowerment day. 




Dates for your diary
September
Friday 15th - National holiday - Independence Day
Monday 18th - School closed for students - INSET for teachers
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day celebration
Wednesday 27th to Saturday 30th - Geography Grade 11 IA Field Trip to Antigua Guatemala

Friday 1 September 2017

2: Friday 1st September 2017

From the Director

As I have been pointing out at the parent meetings over the last two weeks the ABC is a school which offers world class learning in world class facilities in line with the highest international expectations of a modern, up to date learning institution. This school year we will be visited by the IPC, CIS and possibly the IB with a view to ensuring our practices are up to date and in line with these world class standards. Education nowadays is all about preparation for life and the world and is a partnership between home, teachers and school which focuses on the wellbeing and potential of the child. All of us have a role to play and it is important we all understand the learning processes our children are going through so we can support and encourage them. We will continue to talk about these issues in order to help our children, our parents and our staff fully understand them. Our school values are particularly important in reinforcing these attitudes and traits so our children do become more knowledgeable, more skillful and with better understanding of their world.

We have a number of new staff this year and it has been nice to see them being welcomed so warmly into our school community. I have also seen many new students happily settling into school life. I hope that new parents are also feeling part of our wider community. Please do contact the parent representatives linked to your grade or one of us at school if you are not feeling included!

GO BULLDOGS
I would like to add my congratulations to the Under 17 boys football team for their success in the Under 17 Estudiantiles competition at Las Delicias. They won the cup final on Wednesday with a score of 4-1. More details are available on the Team sports blog but congratulations to all the team, their coaches and supporters. We are very proud of them and they have been practicing over the last few weeks of the holiday and into this year. 


In terms of sport I do need to mention that Joe Terrasi from the Positive Coaching Alliance will be visiting the school again later this month to continue helping us promote our sports programme. I am discussing the details of the visit with him but it seems that on Wednesday 20th September there will be a meeting with parents and him to discuss ideas for encouraging our young athletes.

We are still trying to resolve our traffic situation and have some ideas which we will be trialing and implementing. In the morning we do advise you arrive before 6.50 am and the drop off is relatively straightforward. We are now opening the gates to Upper Primary parents at 1.50 pm. You will need a Grade 2-5 car pass to get into school before 2 pm. We do ask that if you have an early access pass you do not block the car park areas waiting for an older child. You will be asked to move on because such behaviour blocks access for everyone. We do ask for your understanding and patience. I will talk about further plans next week - we are considering restricting access to the lower car park to Primary pick ups only but will make an official announcement in due course. We are aware that it is unacceptable for parents to spend so much time sitting in traffic queues.

I hope you have a lovely weekend with your children.

Primary News

Dear Parents and Carers,

School is now back in full swing. It is as if we have never been away. Old friendships are back in place and all the teachers are back into the school mindset, although some a little more than others. We have managed without Ms Ana Gloria Mena this week after she fell over and fractured her ankle. I am sure you will all join me in wishing her a speedy recovery.

Very Important. Have you got your car park entry sticker. Especially Upper Primary families. We are proposing some trial changes to student collection after school in the near future. Your sticker will be essential.

On Wednesday and Thursday we held our Welcome (back) to school nights. Thank you to all the parents who turned up and to 2nd and 3rd Madres Enlace who arranged the lovely refreshments and the staff who arranged the Pre-K and Kinder refreshments, also very nice. The teachers did a sterling job of explaining the daily routines and answering parents questions. We are lucky to have such excellent teams in school.

One of the topics covered with the older grades was the IPC accreditation. We are having an accreditation team from London come to visit us from the 13th November to the 16th November. They will be seeing our school in action, talking to the children and talking to parents. I will not share too much now as some of you who have not had your meeting yet but there is a lot still to do. The last two WB2SNs will be next week. Please check the dates below for your grade.

We will start taking school photos next week and I would like to remind you that all children with long hair should come with their hair tied back and everyone should be wearing their best uniform. The staff are sharing the schedules with you as they are confirmed.

The first few weeks in IPC this year have all been on how the brain works. Helping children to understand how they learn. They have been finding out about neurons in the brain and how they make connections as we learn. Here is a link to a very short article on the brain of a young child and how it grows at this crucial stage. Please have a look.


The class assemblies are starting next week as well. The LP assemblies are on Friday mornings and there are two opportunities to see the UP ones on a Wednesday. It is always lovely to see you there.

We will be celebrating Peace One Day in September and holding the Mclay fun run. Please have a look at the whole school calendar on the website.

Have a great week ahead.

Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Safeguarding Officer.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
September
Thursday 7th - Prepa and First Grade Back to school night - 6:00pm - PAC
Friday 15th - El Salvador National Day: School Closed
Monday 18th - INSET day: School Closed
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day
Friday 29th - First Henriquez Assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run

Upper Primary
September
Tuesday 5th - Grade 4 & Grade 5 Back to school night - 6:00pm - PAC & UP Classrooms
Wednesday 6th - 5th Linares Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Wednesday 13th - 4th Rumsey Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Friday 15th - El Salvador National Day: School Closed
Monday 18th - INSET day: School Closed
Wednesday 20th - 3rd Mena Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day
Wednesday 27th - 2nd Lourdes Hernández Assembly 9:20 am - 10:05 am PAC and 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Friday 29th - McLay Fun Run

Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Primary Safeguarding Officers

Secondary News

Dear parents and carers,

A busy week in Secondary and it has been wonderful to see everyone settling in so quickly into the new routines, lessons and activities. Our Extra Curricular programme is up and running as well as Team Sports. All parents were sent the list of activities on offer so please do have a conversation at home with your children about what they intend to participate in and what they are learning! Please encourage them to make the most of the opportunities to explore their interests and talents. You can see the list here

A huge THANK YOU to the Maths department who put on a wonderful event for our Grade 6 students as part of our Transition programme. Here are some pictures of Grade 6 students participating in their Maths Relay this week. Mrs Bradburn also sends the message below to all parents. 

From Karen Bradburn- Head of Mathematics Department
“The Mathematics Department are proud to share their new Independent me homework programme for all secondary school students. You can read all about it on our Maths at the ABC blog. We are really pleased to see our students making independent decisions about their mathematics learning.”

More pictures here: https://goo.gl/chGBCS



Secondary School photographs
We have scheduled the following days next week for the School photographs to be taken. Please ensure your children come in wearing the proper school uniform that day in order to take the picture. 

Monday 4th: Grade 10/ 11A/ 11B
Tuesday 5th: 9E/ 11C/ 11D
Wednesday 6th: Grade 6
Thursday 7th: 7A/ 11E / 11F 
Friday 8th: Grade 8/ Grade 7 (except 7A)/ Grade 9 (except 9E)/ 11G/ 11H

Registration and attendance
Once again we remind parents of the vital importance of school attendance for students’ academic success and wellbeing. It is our expectation to have at least a 95% attendance in the school year and I will continue to contact parents regarding this.

We understand that at times children may be ill or not well enough to attend school but if this is the case, we urge you as parents to ensure you report the absence before 7.00am to absencesecondary@abc-net.edu.sv. This is part of our Health and Safety policy. If your child arrives late but before 7.20am they MUST report to their tutor groups. If they arrive after 7.20am they MUST report to the Secondary School office to register. Next week, we will be contacting parents to alert them if their child has not been marked “Present” or “reported absent” before 8.00 am. We will then ask them to contact school to provide a reason for their absence. Thank you in advance for your collaboration.

Finally another great THANK YOU to Mr Scott Depooter, our LSU team and IB tutors and team for a fantastic Empowerment Day for G11. I know our students gained a lot out of it and it a lot of fun was had. I also thank Grade 11 Madres Enlace for all their care and collaboration looking after our students and staff! 

I wish everyone a restful and enjoyable weekend and look forward to the upcoming Civic month festivities.

Felíz Mes de Independencia,

Regards,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón

Dates for your diary
September
Monday 4th - Secondary School photos all week 
Friday 15th - National holiday - Independence Day
Monday 18th - School closed for students - INSET for teachers
Thursday 21st - Peace One Day celebration
Wednesday 27th to Saturday 30th - Geography Grade 11 IA Field Trip to Antigua Guatemala