From the Director
I am beginning this weekly meeting with an important message from the Board and myself following the recent girl’s uniform option trial.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the Director of the ABC, we thank you for participating in the survey regarding optional uniforms for Secondary girls, your feedback is very important to us. We have agreed to keep the current uniform unchanged as detailed in our uniform and jewellery policy published in our website under the parent portal.
https://sites.google.com/a/abc-net.edu.sv/abc-policies-and-handbooks/Home/secondary-section/uniform-and-jewellery
As we approach the last week of this term I would like to take this opportunity to thank my staff for all the work they have done. In my role I get to visit lots of classrooms and see children in so many different activities. I am always delighted by the energy and commitment of the teaching staff to their vocation but equally it is a pleasure to see how our children participate in their learning. We have had similar feedback from recent educational visitors to school and we are rightly proud of our positive learning environment. I also heard from the staff who joined the education visits to Portezuelo that our children behaved like ROCs and joined the activities with energy and enthusiasm.
As many of you will recall Virginia Catlin returned to the UK earlier this year because of her health. I am delighted to report that she has had some excellent news about her cancer. Her health is much improved and she is looking forward to returning to a more normal life. We are hoping she may even visit us here at school at some point in the future. It is encouraging to know she is making such a good recovery and I wanted to share the good news with many of you who knew her.
I have seen many children arriving at school with shoebox presents and I want to personally thank so many of you for your generosity.
I would like to remind you about our Lower Primary Christmas Shows and Santa's Festival next week. As I mentioned in previous newsletters, all proceeds from the Santa's Festival go towards the Fairs to Educate program, which pays tuition fees for the children of our maintenance and security staff.
This week, I would also like to personally congratulate Rommel García Ibarra, one of our scholarship recipients, who graduated school this month.
Last Sunday we had a party for all our ABC staff and families. We hosted 600 people with many children. A great day was had and many of our staff and students worked really hard to make the day a success. Thank you to Actúa and especially Estefanía Chacón, Anabella Soto and Natalia Carrillo for their amazing contributions to the event.
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
Last week the Grade 4 students had their camping trip to Corinto. They had an amazing time, learned a lot and built their social skills. Here are some photos that were taken while they were away. As you can see they had a drone there!
Last night it was the Upper Primary Christmas Concert. The feedback from parents has been that they really enjoyed watching it and thought the students were wonderful. That there was a very special atmosphere. The students performed a show adapted from ‘Gold, Frankincense and Mirth!’ written by Sheila Wilson. Sheila kindly gave us special permission to make some changes. I am sure she would be very proud of all our students especially as they only had two weeks and two days to work on it. As always the staff and students at the school were amazing in the way they worked hard and put in their best effort to achieve such a success. And to the support given by our technical team. I would also like to give a mention to those children who made a special effort to come, even though it caused them some difficulty. The character Joseph had been taken to hospital earlier in the day after an accident but was determined that ‘the show would go on!’. Thank you to all the parents who brought in delicious food for the audience to enjoy and to the MAdres for organizing it all. Please see the news blog for photos.
Today reports will be sent out for all Primary students. If you are a parent with an Upper Primary child you will see that we have added an additional box on the report to explain the grades. The full significance of each grade has been explained in a letter sent out on Wednesday. If you have any questions please read the letter very carefully before phoning the school.
Grade 3 have been out to clean a beach and release turtles today as part of their IPC unit on materials. Rubbish on the beach really is an issue. The damage it does to the wildlife and the environment in general is now a major world problem as is the use of ‘one use plastic’. We are encouraging people not to use plastic bags but to take their own reusable bag as well as dispose of their rubbish carefully. We are conducting a series of visits with Funzel and will be fundraising to support their work in the spring.
On Wednesday we will be having our Lower Primary shows and Santa’s Festival. We will have lots of nice food, the tombola, games and a Santa’s Grotto. Every LP class is involved in a show and they are always very entertaining. We look forward to seeing you all there.
In the last few weeks we have carried out a detailed Bullying Survey in Primary. As far as we were concerned bullying is at a low level in school and we deal with any issues as soon as we are aware of them. Unfortunately occasionally parents spread rumours about bullying situations in school that are not factually correct. Sometimes this is becasue paretns mistkake single incidents for bullying, or equal power rough play for bullying or friendly teasing for bullying. We have carried out a survey from grade 1 upwards to find out the students perspective. The facts are that the survey showed 98% of our children are happy in school. 89% of students were able to explain what bullying is correctly and of the few incidents reported in the survey some were things like ‘I don’t want him/her to sit next to me on the carpet’ and these have been addressed. Any other comments are being followed up. We also have systems in place for children to report if they are hurt or bullied. Just one of them in Upper Primary is the ‘trusting hands’ children write down the names of 5 adults they think they could talk to if they were being hurt either at school or at home. The method we tend to use most to resolve issues in Primary is the Support Group Approach which is generally very effective. If you are concerned about bullying in the Primary School please contact the class teacher and we will do our best to address those concerns.
Thank you for all the shoeboxes and toys that have come in so far.
One week to go!
Best wishes,
Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Safegurding Officer
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
December
Monday 11th - 1st Bonet trip to Pizza Hut Las Cascadas - 8:30am
Tuesday 12th - 1st Henríquez trip to Pizza Hut Las Cascadas - 8:30am
Tuesday 12th - Non-uniform day for children who brought in a filled jar.
Wednesday 13th - LP is leaving early:
- Pre-Kinder 11:00
- Kinder 11:30
- Prepa 12:30
- 1st grade 1:00pm.
Wednesday 13th - LP Christmas Show & Christmas Fair:
Friday 15h - Last day of school - Leave at 11.10 with siblings
8th January, 1st day back.
Upper Primary
December
Thursday 14th - Team Sports extracurricular activities finish.
Thursday 14th - Whole School Christmas Concert - 6-7:30pm
Friday 15th - Last Day of School (Christmas Holiday) Leave at 11.40.
8th January, 1st day back.
Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Primary Safeguarding Officers
Secondary News
Dear parents and carers,
We are rapidly heading to the end of term and the much longed for holidays! Looking back it seems incredible that a whole term has nearly passed since I wrote welcoming you to the new school year! So many activities, events, projects and opportunities for learning and personal growth! It has certainly been an exciting and rewarding term and I thank each and everyone of the parents who actively support the school community in different ways.
The Christmas shoe-boxes are slowly coming in but it is wonderful to see that everyday we have more boxes! Please try to send at least one in with your child next week. These gifts are very much appreciated and they go a long way in restoring faith and hope in children who are less privileged.
We are also collecting food items for the Christmas baskets our students are putting together as gifts for our maintenance and security staff. The Christmas spirit is one of giving so I would like to thank you all for your contributions towards this as it is a really special sentiment to be grateful to the people surrounding us for everything they do for us and take an opportunity to focus on giving and not on receiving. Our staff have also been very generous in this respect! I know together as a community we will have a lovely thank you christmas basket for each member of our school maintenance and security staff!
This week we have also been delighted to hear of a very special recognition given to one of our students. Congratulations to Ariana Rodriguez, who was given a recognition by the Sports Commission of the Legislative Assembly for her outstanding performance in her equestrian Federation. We are very proud to see one of ROCs being given such an honourable recognition. Way to go!
CAS activity at Hospital San Rafael
From Roberto Mayorga- class of 2018
The students in the pictures worked along with Fundación Lolo at Hospital San Rafael to sponsor part of a Christmas Party that was being celebrated for the children. The purpose of this activity was to help the children and their parents to distract themselves from the stresses of being internalized in the hospital. We brought snacks, boxed juices and candies for the children and their parents to enjoy.
We continue to celebrate our students’ success and I invite you to visit the PE blog to see our ABC records which our athletes hold! This week we have been having Tribal assemblies and the “Top Performer” has been recognised and given a certificate. Please ask your children to show you!
Grade 6 Empowerment Camp Trip to Portezuelo
From Ms Chávez
On Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6h of December, Grade 6 went to Portezuelo to have their team building activity and end of year trip. The children had a fantastic time with all the activities we offered: the bubble football, horse riding, volleyball games, sack race, water football and much more! Our 2 hour hiking up the mountain was exhausting and real fun! Students had a first hand experience of walking in the middle of the forest and really enjoying the contact with nature. In the evening we gathered around a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and we were in for a real treat: the story of one of the Portezuelo “legends” - we even had the “ghost” who came to life and played a trick on all of us! They lived a 2 day experience surrounded by nature, adventure and a lot of games. We all saw in Grade 6 a very positive attitude and it truly was a great bonding time between friends. They were very well behaved, and most of all, they had a lot of fun. Each day they are becoming more independent and responsible. Our team of teachers worked very hard to ensure students were entertained and the parents who kindly offered their time were a great part of the team, always involved. We had two of the happiest days enjoying their enthusiasm and never ending energy! Thank you parents for trusting us and for giving your children an opportunity of a fantastic and unforgettable experience.
I look forward to our last week of term which I know will be a very busy week! I would like to kindly ask parents to respect the school calendar and do not book family holidays before the end of term. The last day of term is a Tribal celebration and one where every student’s participation is important. We must remember that learning does not only happen inside the classrooms or measured by assessments. The tribal group activities and community celebrations are a key aspect of being part of a community and are part of the memories we carry with us as adults.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend,
Kind regards,
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Dates for your diary
December
Monday 11th- Grade 7 Christmas Family Lunch 12.20 - 2.00 pm
Thursday 14th- ABC Christmas concert 6.00pm PAC
Friday 15th - End of Term 1. Last day of school
Secondary school students leave at 12.00 pm
January 2018
Monday 8th - First day of Term 2- Please be punctual for a 7.00 am start!
Friday 12th - Grade 6 Learning Review Day
Friday 19th - Grade 7 Learning Review Day
Tuesday 23rd - G9 and G11 Parent Teacher Meetings 4.30 pm- 7.00 pm
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