From the Director
I would like to start with some sporting congratulations. It has been excellent to see the success of some of our swimmers and archers this week. Well done to everyone involved including their very supportive parents. Thank you to so many of you who spend so much time supporting our children in their sports events. We really appreciate you! While on the subject of sports we are following up the visit of Positive Coaching Alliance with a questionnaire to parents of children in team sports to help us plan and move forward. If you are a team sports parent please take five minutes to answer the survey. If you have more than one child participating in Team Sports, please fill in one survey per child. You will also find an ABC Newsblog on Joe Terrasi’s visit.
Last weekend we welcomed many future parents for the Pre Kinder class who will be joining us in August 2018. We have another Class 2033 open morning tomorrow. If for some reason you have missed these events please contact Estefania Chacon at school so we can arrange for your children to come and see our modern facilities designed to promote early years learning. We will be continuing to work with potential families to help prepare children to make a very successful transition into school in August.
All of us are aware of the recent earthquake in Mexico City. We have been talking to schools we have links with in some of the school’s affected in Mexico and it was clearly a very scary event for the schools and their children and there have been many large aftershocks. These events in Mexico remind us of the importance of being vigilant in terms of our own earthquake preparedness. At one level I would like you all to ensure you have thought through your own earthquake preparedness at home. It is important that your children know what to do. How to take shelter in the initial tremor, either under a table or in a triangle of life, when to evacuate, where water is stored and the importance of not returning to the building after the earthquake. Here in school last week we have been practicing our reaction to a tremor. You can see our procedures on the Parents page of our website but they are based around “Duck, Cover, Hold” which works for us in school where we work in classrooms with tables and a group of children to protect. If we were to have a major earthquake we would of course need to evacuate the school campus. You would be contacted via the Madres Enlace tree but you can also assume that a major earthquake does require you to come to school to collect your children. Please do not panic. We will look after the children until you are able to get here, however long it takes! I would like to remind you that evacuations only take place from the Main Entrance which leads to the lower PAC car park. Under no circumstances should you come to the Admin Car park entrance as this is reserved for emergency access.
Please note that on Tuesday at 9.30 am we will be participating with all schools in the country in an earthquake drill. This will involve us taking cover with our children in school and evacuating to our emergency evacuation areas. We will also be using our Madres Enlace tree to inform parents but this will only be a test and we are not going to ask you to come to school to collect your children. We will then follow up to check all parents were contacted.
Thank you to many of you who came to the coffee morning this week to share ideas for ways for the school to develop. We will be thinking about the issues raised. As part of the preparation for our our CIS accreditation, where we will be inspected in November 2018, we are spending some time this year reflecting on the way we carry out our mission and promote our values. This formal CIS review, called a self study will be taking place over the next twelve months. As a preparation for this self study CIS sent surveys to many different members of our community including parents, staff and Exabrits. The summary of the responses have been shared with us, by CIS and we have been delighted to read them. A very positive attitude towards the school has been seen from all sections of our community including you as parents, our staff and especially our students. It is important we build on this strong support to make sure our school continues developing in line with our ABC values. There will be opportunities for parents to participate formally in some of the self study committees later this year and we will be looking for volunteers to help.
I would also like to remind you that our school wide FEPADE book donation campaign is still going on. Each section's library has a specially designated box for students to drop off their donation of new or gently used books. FEPADE donates these to public schools and other places in need of equipment for their library. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
I would like to return to a couple of themes raised recently and I want to make the school’s position clear. The school is not prepared to allow parents in Grades 9 to 12 to organise parties for mixed grades and we will be intervening if we get news of such parties. The second point I would like to remind all our community is that we do have clear policies to safeguard and protect our students from unkind behaviour. The details can be seen in our Safeguarding Policy and our Anti Bullying Policy on the Parents page of the school website. As part of these policies we do talk to children, listen to student leaders and survey children to find out how they are feeling. We also have dedicated support to help change bullying behaviour and clear sanctions which we will use. As parents your role is also clear in reporting concerns to us and working with us to resolve them. We do have a safe environment in school, our student surveys show that but we need to be vigilant to ensure our children are growing up in a safe, supportive environment.
My last point this week is to appeal for your cooperation in not arriving early for afternoon school pick ups. We are very concerned at the traffic lines around school and the security threat they pose to themselves and other traffic. We are asking that you never arrive more than 10 minutes before a stated pick up time.
I hope you have a lovely weekend. Please be careful in the wet weather!
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
This week we submitted our report of our self study to the IPC. They will look at it carefully before the team arrive on the 13th November. We have shared with you the Bottom Line 9 that they will be looking at and we hope to send home a summary of the information parents may need in the near future. I would like to publicly thank and praise the teachers and staff from Prepa to 5th Grade for their commitment to creating the report and for all their hard work in preparation for the visit.
There have been lots of events recently involving our PE department. Please do have a look at the photos on the PE blog. Today as I write unfortunately the 5th grade McLay fun run has been cancelled due to bad weather. I am sure our Grade 5 students are disappointed, we will see what we can do.
The students enjoyed a lovely ‘Children’s Day’ celebration in school. The Lower Primary enjoyed being entertained by our longstanding favourite clown ‘Fransortes’ and were emotionally strengthened by the cards and letters from their parents. The Upper Primary children enjoyed the special snacks provided by the Madres Enlace. Thank you to everyone involved in organising the day.
On Thursday 26th October we are inviting a professional theatre group into school to perform The Wizard of Oz for us. This is great value. Please send in the $2.00 as soon as possible.
In response to parental requests we moved the Spring Fair and renamed it as the International Friendship Fair and it will be happening on Saturday 21st October. All students are expected to attend for at least their scheduled slot but hopefully for a bit longer to enjoy the other classes efforts, the entertainment and the convivial atmosphere. This event is supporting our curriculum and giving students a chance to practice their entrepreneurial skills. Essential for the 21st Century! We still need parental support though. Please help your child to sell all their raffle tickets. There is a prize for the class that sells the most. Please make sure all Upper Primary children have brought in a filled jar for the tombola and I think it would be a really good idea if our students did some chores to earn the money they will want to spend on the day.
After a very successful morning last Saturday when 50 families with 2 year olds came to play at the ABC we are holding another morning tomorrow. If you know of a 2 year old that would like to come please book a place with Estefania Chacon. If you miss tomorrow we are considering holding more mornings so please contact her to let her know your interest.
It will be the 1st Grade curriculum night on the 17th October. I always enjoy the Lower Primary evening events. They are usually very entertaining as well as informative and of course everyone is expected to get involved. The Prepa curriculum night is the following week.
On Wednesday the 18th October there will be a meeting in the PAC for Grade 4 parents regarding the 2019 UK trip. For several years we have been trying different ways to allow more children to go on this once in a lifetime experience. We have offered two trips at different times but no-one wanted the alternative date, we have tried taking a bigger group but that was very hard to manage. One of the issues is that we have to book and pay for the places to stay almost two years in advance and we do not confirm the numbers until a year before. We are trying a new approach to solve this by asking parents to commit to going two years in advance in the hope that every child who would like to go can be offered a place. Grade 4 parents please ensure you attend the meeting so you are fully informed of the conditions and requirements.
The Upper Primary parent conferences will also be underway very shortly. Please make sure you book your appointment as soon as possible.
Have a nice weekend. I hope the weather brightens for a couple of days.
Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Safeguarding Officer
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
October
Friday 6th - Extracurricular activities finish, 1st session
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
Friday 27th - Save The Children Colour Run for First Grade - Sports Field
Upper Primary
October
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
Thursday 19th - 2018 Mammoth Ski Trip Meeting - 6:00pm - PAC
Saturday 21st - International Friendship Fair - 9:00am
Wednesday 25th - 3rd Segovia Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - 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,
A busy and wet week in Secondary! We are all busy working on putting together a fantastic Colour Run 2017! We do hope all Secondary school students participate. The last day to order the T-shirts is this coming Thursday! Please do not miss out!
A big thank you for the massive support from parents in sending their children to the Cinema trip to watch the Environmentalist documentary. Our students learnt a lot from it and have material to analyse and discuss in the various curriculum areas. We know our students really enjoy educational trips and we hope to continue organising them throughout the year.
Asociación Milagros de Amor
From Ms Chávez- Pastoral Coordinator and HoY 6
Grade 6 had special visitors from the “Asociación Milagros de Amor” this week. You can read about it on our ABC Facebook page and also see some pictures from the session here
Our students are very excited at the prospect of working with this NGO all year and we hope to have all your support as we participate at the various school activities and events. Our students demonstrated compassion and consideration when working with the dogs and the requests from them to be actively involved have been overwhelming! It is wonderful to see how many ideas they have! Thank you!
Geography trip to Antigua, Guatemala
From Mr Kilford- HoD Geography
Last week the geography department took 19 students to Antigua to collect primary data for their IB Internal Assessments, the focus of the investigation was on either urban characteristics or tourism within the region, depending on the students’ research question. All students practiced essential research methods and collected sufficient data for them to begin analyzing their results. Please wish the Grade 11 students good luck and support with their upcoming coursework.
On the Friday the students also had an enjoyable (but challenging) time climbing one of the most active volcanoes in Guatemala called Volcan Pacaya. As geographers we were excited to see a small eruption from the crater and roast marshmallows over the hot lava.
IGCSE Performance
From Mr Pike- Drama teacher
Yesterday Grade 10 Drama students presented a 15 minute extract of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Fear and Misery in the Third Reich’ as part of their IGCSE Drama coursework. With a wide mix of physical theatre, comedy and tragedy the play was very well received by an invited audience of parents, staff and students. Congratulations to all involved!
Learning review day
Today we held our first “Learning Review Day” for Grade 8 students and parents. We would like to say a huge ‘Thank you’ to all parents for their collaboration in making the appointments. We have already heard back some feedback and we are happy we were able to engage in meaningful conversations focused around the learning experiences of our students. We look forward to having more of these events for the rest of the year groups.
Habitat for Humanity
From our student leaders of the team
Habitat for Humanity is a non profit organization working in nearly 1,400 communities in the United States and more than 70 countries from all around the world. Their vision is for everyone to have a decent place to live, a place where they can call home. Habitat not only constructs brand new houses for the less fortunate but they also renovate existing homes and they help repair any damages.
This year Habitat for Humanity, has offered ABC students an opportunity to participate in their charitable activities.This year Habitat for Humanity, has offered ABC students an opportunity to participate in their charitable activities. Grades 6-8 have the chance to design plaques with the name of the family which will be given a new home. Grades 9-10 have the chance to go and build the new houses onto construction sites. Lastly, Grade 11 is in charge of fundraising and also have the chance to go on builds. They communicate directly with Habitat agents and they act as leaders for the younger grades as part of their IB CAS project. Builds are scheduled for Saturdays from 7am to 1pm. Students will be taken to constructions sites where they will learn all the necessary skills to be able to construct a house. They will also be joined from volunteers from all around the world that have come to help our country.
The aim of this extracurricular activity is for students to get involved in social service. It will help them realize that not everyone is as fortunate as we may be and that it is important that those who have share a bit of their service to help the less fortunate.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Kind regards,
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Dates for your diary
Monday 9th October- 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!
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