17: Friday 14th December 2018

Words from the Director

We have had an excellent response to our shoebox campaign to help make Christmas special for children around the country. Thank you to all the families who participated and showed once again that the ABC is a community that cares. Many of our older children will be involved in Operation Pupusa over Christmas and again we thank you for your support. We are hoping many secondary students will come to help Operation Pupusa at school on the 23 and 24 of December. If your son or daughter wants to participate please remind them to register through the email sent by the organizing team. We are also proud of all our students who contributed to the Teletón over the past few weeks, we enjoyed seeing everyone wearing their shirts and supporting such a worthy cause. To read more about the community service our students have been involved in during this season, please see our newsblog.

On a personal note I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their support this term. In particular I want to thank my staff for their dedication to the work, our ABC children for their participation and especially you our parents. I know that together we make a great community working together for each other and especially for our children. It has been an amazing term and I am already looking forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 7th January. In the meantime I hope you all have an excellent holiday with your families and friends remembering and respecting the true spirit of Christmas. 

Words from the Head of Primary

The final day of term one has arrived. I would like to share with you my reflections of ABC since I arrived in August. I have been amazed at how wonderful the ABC is. In particular the hard working staff, who care very much about the children and want to do their very best for them. I am very lucky to have leaders throughout Primary who support teaching and learning. The children who come to us every day are always excited about being at school. They love school and enjoy the many learning opportunities offered to them. The Director, school campus and amazing resources ensures our learners have every opportunity to grow, learn and thrive!

I hope your Christmas is filled with joy, love, family and friends. Christmas is about parents and children spending quality time together. If you are traveling, please take care, and if you are not, I hope you have a safe and fun holiday. 

We look forward to seeing you all back on Monday, January 7th 2019!

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary

December

Friday 14th - Christmas Holiday Break

January

Monday 7th - Return to school from Holiday Break

Monday 7th - Session 3 extracurricular activities start

Upper Primary

December

Friday 14th - Christmas Holiday Break

January

Monday 7th - Return to school from Holiday Break

Monday 7th - Session 3 extracurricular activities start

Words from the Head of Secondary

Dear parents and carers,

It is incredible to believe we are already at the end of the first term of this academic year! It has been such a busy term and absolutely filled to capacity with learning opportunities and memory building moments. It is a time to give thanks and reflect upon our blessings. I would like to thank all our staff, who make the ABC be such an incredible place for our students. Truly they go above and beyond the call of duty and make coming to work a real pleasure. I would also like to thank all the students. Truly there have been moments this term when they have left us amazed and inspired and above all proud of what ROCs they are. Thank you to the parents who have collaborated with us throughout the term, whether it is by attending events, helping at sports day, trips, supporting campaigns and especially working with us in regards to teaching our students the value of punctuality and attendance to school and respect to the school by wearing their uniform with pride. 

I would like to thank Clarisa Arteaga and Marco Samour, our Head Prefects, Sebastian Carranza and Ana Sofia Colorado, our Deputy Head students of the class of 2019, for all their work over the last 12 months leading the Prefect body. Thank you to all the Prefects of the class of 2019 for keeping our campus safe, mentoring our younger students and welcoming us to school every morning. It is now time to hand over to the class of 2020 through the temporary prefect team led by the newly appointed Head Students: Julie Espinal and Matteo Cabrero and Deputy Head Students: Paulina Alarcon and Guillermo Silva. We look forward to working with you!

Grade 12 IB Theatre Performance

From Mr Anthony Pike- Head of Drama

This week Clarisa Arteaga and Irma Hernandez presented the first of their IB Theatre performance pieces. 

These were both based on the theories of well known theatre practitioners and the students had to select one aspect of their theory before creating a piece of theatre that showcased it. 

The audience was treated to an emotional monologue based on excerpts from ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ and exploring the use of Uta Hagen’s emotional substitution - the result was a moving and somewhat disturbing piece in which real emotions were clearly displayed on stage.

The second piece was based on the theories of Zeami Motokiyo, a Japanese actor and playwright from the 14th Century, who was a leading practitioner in the dance/ drama tradition of Noh Theatre. This powerful performance demonstrated a high level of physical control and beautifully retold the Central American folktale of La Llorona through this Japanese art form.

Grade 7 Charity Event December 2018

From Ms Helen Hopkins- Head of Year 7

On Saturday December 8 ten Grade 7 students met at school just after 6am. They all piled into the school minibus and headed for the Costa del Sol. But they weren’t going to the beach or one of the many swimming pools or restaurants that line the coastline in that area. They were headed for the ISLA DE CORDONCILLO. In CAL 1 Grade 7 students had raised US$1200 and had decided to buy all 74 children a backpack full of items. An awesome achievement by all. 

They were warmly welcomed by all islanders. They confidently met all children, learning their names, playing football, hitting pinatas. After a tour of their school Grade 7 decided that during CAL 2 money would be raised to buy equipment for the school, stationary, books, whiteboards. The children were also determined to let us know that they would appreciate some sports equipment too! So if you would like to support us in anyway please be in touch!

Any support whether it be with contributions or ideas of how to fundraise would be greatly appreciated. Grade 7 will be updating you regularly so watch out for this space!

Grade 10 Empowerment Camp

From Mr Anthony Pike- Head of Year 10

Last Thursday a large group of Grade 10 students and 6 teachers set off from school to Portezuelo Campsite near Sonsonate for their empowerment camp.

The activities started almost as soon as they arrived with the students split into four groups. Students took part in obstacle course, horse riding and a high speed buggy ride through the woods, lifesize table football and zorb football played whilst wearing giant inflatable balls.

After dinner there was a highly competitive, boys v girls, game of Capture the Flag with the boys just narrowly stealing a victory in the dying seconds of the game.

This was followed by ghost stories around the campfire, complete with sound effects and spectral visions. Once everyone had regained their nerves, the rest of the night was spent chatting and toasting marshmallows on the fire.

Following a chilly night, most students were up and awake bright and early ready for the challenging hike that was scheduled - a three hour trek that led through the woods to some fantastic views across the country. Despite some finding the hike more of a struggle than expected, all students (and staff) made it to the view point at the top and were able to enjoy views across to Santa Ana and Izalco volcanoes to the east and as far as Volcan Acatenango and Volcan de Fuego near Antigua Guatemala in the west.

After a few final games and another round of Capture the Flag (which the girls won convincingly!) it was time to return to school.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students and staff who made it such an enjoyable trip.

Thank you once again for making this term so great and see you all back in school bright and early on Monday 7th of January 2019, before 7.00am!

Feliz navidad y próspero año 2019!

Kind regards,

Natalia Cáceres

Dates for your diary

December

Friday 14th - End of School term and Christmas holidays-Secondary school closed at 12 noon 

January 2019 

Monday 7th - Back to school. Arrive before 7.00 am please!

16: Friday 7th December 2018

Words from the Director

It has been a very busy week this week with many reflection and Christmas based activities. We have been busy preparing reports and feedback as well as preparing for mock IGCSE and IB exams for Grade 10 and 12 in January. It was wonderful to see the Upper Primary school celebrating their Christmas carol concert last night. Christmas is a great time for us to reflect, spend time with our families and look forward to a bright future. 

I would like to remind you that as part of our security measures, all campus visitors need to wear an ID card which will be provided by the guard at the entry. If you are coming into school, please make sure you bring your Parent ID card or you will need to get an ID card from the guard.

I look forward to seeing many of you in school next week during our final week of 2018.

ABC Sports

This week was another busy week in sports, with great results especially in individual sports. On wednesday we celebrated the First ABC swimming ranking and on Thursday we hosted an Archery Competition for Juvenil athletes. All of competitors showed great sportsmanship spirit and did their very best at each race or shooting round.

Important dates

Tuesday Dec. 11th: Last day of sports practices for Upper primary and Secondary

Words from the Head of Primary

As we come to the end of Term One, I want to congratulate all of Upper Primary children and staff for their magnificent production last night. The quality of singing, costumes and acting was amazing! It just shows how much talent we have in ABC Primary!

Next week parents will be receiving their child’s mid year report. The aim of these reports is to give parents and students an idea of the progress that has been made in the first half of the year. It is also about the child’s attitudes, behaviour, social skills and embracing the ABCs Values. The report will also give information about next Learning Steps or targets. Please take the time to speak to your child about the positive aspects of the report and how you can support him/her in achieving their next Learning Steps.

Medical Records- A BIG thank you to parents who have responded quickly to completing and returning the student medical forms. We still have a number of parents who have yet to return these forms. THEY MUST BE RETURNED TO SCHOOL ON MONDAY! Thank you for your cooperation in this very important safety issue.

Parents are asked to look closely at next week's calendar as there is a lot happening. In particular look at the information regarding students being released next Friday (December 14th) and pick up arrangements. 

This week, as part of their IPC unit “Plants”, 2nd graders created their magical gardens. The children had a lot of fun and did a marvelous job. 

The ABC is very proud to share that Sienna Moore, our student from 2nd Walls, participated in her first gymnastics competition on Saturday, Dec 1 at Polideportivo. Sienna won first place on the balance beam, second place on the bars and third place on the floor and vault. Congratulations Sienna you did a great job!!

Please don't forget that next Friday is our last Teleton Jeans Day. Teleton will take place on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th December. Thank you to all the children and parents who supported this cause. We will shortly inform you of the total amount donated as a school. 

Santa’s Festival and the Christmas Shows will take place on the 12th of December. Besides the beautiful shows prepared by the children in Lower Primary, the fair offers games, bouncing castles, delicious food and our very popular Tombola for this event. Although not every tombola ticket is a winner, there are about 400 chances to get a prize. Remember all the proceeds from this activity go to the school’s scholarship fund, which offers education to the children of our maintenance team.

So you can get a glimpse at where these funds go to, we would like to introduce Daniela, the a daughter of one of our maintenance staff. She has just finished Grade 3 at the top of her year, earning once again a 1st place medal. It is thanks to your participation in our events that we can sponsor children like Daniela and pay for their tuition fees until they graduate.

We would like to thank all our students and their parents who collaborated with our Shoe Box / Toy Campaign. Although we were not able to collect as many shoe boxes and toys as we did last year, we are sure we will be able to make a difference in the lives of many children who will receive a nice present this Christmas.

On Thursday, 4th Guzman had a special visit from Mrs. Karolle de Zaldaña (Maria Fernanda's mum), who kindly offered to teach children how to make soap - as they did in Ancient Rome.

It has been an incredible experience and I am sure the children will not forget. The final product will be sent home today!

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary

December

Tuesday 11th - Term 1 Reports sent to parents digitally

Wednesday 12th - Christmas show - PAC

Wednesday 12th - Santa’s Fair

Friday 14th - Teleton Jeans Day

Friday 14th - Christmas Holiday Break

January

Monday 7th - Return to school from Holiday Break

Monday 7th - Session 3 extracurricular activities start

Upper Primary

December

Friday 7th - Last day of Extracurricular Music

Tuesday 11th - Term 1 Reports sent to parents digitally

Tuesday 11th - Last day of sports practices

Wednesday 12th - Santa’s Fair

Friday 14th - Teletón Jeans Day

Friday 14th - Christmas Holiday Break

January

Monday 7th - Return to school from Holiday Break

Monday 7th - Session 3 extracurricular activities start

Words from the Head of Secondary

Dear parents and carers,

Christmas is fast approaching and it is a time of giving thanks and celebrating. We are so grateful to all of our community for your generous spirit as we have many campaigns going at the same time! We have Shoeing, Christmas baskets for maintenance staff, Shoe box campaigns and of course the teletón! It is incredible to see our students so involved in and enthusiastic taking part and giving back to the community. For that, we are truly thankful.

Please note that CAL 1 reports for all grades are now on iSAMS Parent Portal. We are so happy to see such success at the end of our first term and I encourage all our students to set their sights even higher for next Cal! Please also take this opportunity to review areas in need of work. Remember that poor attendance to school and poor punctuality really has a negative impact on learning.

LRC fines/ accounts must be paid by Monday 10th 

Please ask your children to check their email inbox and verify if they do not have any outstanding accounts with the LRC. It is very unfortunate that we have to remind students on repeated occasions to pay what they are aware they owe. This also includes returning equipment (for example laptop chargers) which the LRC have for the disposal of the whole community. Please speak with your children about collaborating with the LRC so we can all continue to enjoy from our amazing LRC! 

Health and Safety- Medical Records

A HUGE thank you to all the parents who have submitted their children’s medical information so quickly. We still have a number of parents who have yet to return these forms. THEY MUST BE RETURNED TO SCHOOL ON MONDAY! Thank you for your cooperation in this very important safety issue.

Prefect Board Reception

On Monday evening, the ABC Board hosted a Christmas reception for our School Prefect Team to say thank you for all their work in the past year of service. Mrs Ana Maria Portillo, our Board’s President, gave our student leaders a great message for them to reflect upon on the topic of Leadership. She quoted Simon Sinek’s message and asked them if they were “playing a finite or infinite game” in their lives. A thought provoking message and I invite you to read more on this link about 5 must-have’s for success at the infinite game. 

Thank you to the Board on behalf of the Prefects for a lovely event.

More from Action Jackson - “Procrastination”

On Wednesday Grade 8 had the opportunity to have a skype assembly with Action Jackson! He talked with the students about ‘Procrastination’ and what we need to know about how to manage it! 

Here are some takeaways from his message:

• The need to procrastinate is a sign that your brain is on overloaded from stress and it wants to find something easy to do to not deal with it
• When this happens, say to yourself “Ah! Overload alert!
• Get your timer and set 5 minutes and start the task! (Research shows that getting started it is the hardest part! 80% of people will continue on the task once started! 

“Manage that bad habit!”- Technology in the bedroom late at night!

When asked, Grade 8s said they didn’t want to fail Grade 8. Action Jackson reminded them that “One thing is to not want to do something, but another is to do something about it!” this means they have to kick the bad habits in order to be successful!

Factors to take into account which make our brain feel it is on overload is LACK OF SLEEP! Going to bed late inhibits the brain from the rest it needs. If you are not sleeping enough it will make your brain tired and next day your brain will want to procrastinate!

His final message is one we should all put into practise: Decide a time for cut off from technology in the evening and have family time. It is not healthy for young students to be staying up at night on their cellphones, on computers or on Netflix! 

Thanks Action Jackson!

Winners of the Spanish Competition

From Mrs Haydee Diaz

In order to strengthen the communication between KS3 students while having fun learning, the Spanish Department organized a rehearsal of the CAL 1 contents using Kahoot. 

Congratulations to all the winners!

Please remember that next Thursday Secondary has Teletón Jeans day and on Friday Secondary school closes at 12.00. 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón

Dates for your diary

December

Saturday 8th - IGCA turtle release with FUNZEL, San Diego Beach, 7-11am

Monday 10th - LRC Festival Week / Grade 7 Family Christmas Lunch

Tuesday 14th - Grade 10 Art Mock exam 

Thursday 13th- SECONDARY SCHOOL TELETÓN jeans Day

Friday 14th - ALL SECONDARY STUDENTS MUST WEAR PE KIT. End of School term and Christmas holidays-Secondary school closed at 12 noon 

January 2019 

Monday 7th - Back to school. Arrive before 7.00 am please!

15: Friday 30th November 2018

Words from the Director

CONGRATULATIONS Class of 2019 for our best ever PAES results. Please do look at this link on our ABC Newsblog.

Thank you for your support for Teleton today. It is an important reminder of being ethical.

We have had a very interesting week in school with the CIS accreditation team. We will receive their report early next year. I have been delighted by the contribution our students have made in their meetings with our visitors. I continue to be impressed by the eloquent way our children talk about our school, its values and why they enjoy studying here. I can see on a daily basis that we are producing highly reflective, responsible outstanding citizens, who are going to make our world a better place.

I would also like to thank the parents who participated in various parts of the CIS visit. Thank you for your time and positive contributions about our school. Lastly I would like to reserve my largest thank you for my staff who have worked tirelessly getting ready for the visit. Thank you to all of them including our maintenance and security team, our office and support staff and of course our teaching and learning staff. The ABC is the school it is because of all these people.

I had the honour of being interviewed by students from the Paw Print this week for the online school magazine. They asked tough questions. I hope you enjoy reading their interview with me.

As many of you are aware I am a keen football fan and enjoy watching our school teams play. I have been really impressed by the progress the girls teams have made this year and they are doing really well in the bilingual league despite the occasional setback. We are proud of you! This week I was fortunate to attend the U18 boys bilingual league game with the EA which was an excellent match and our boys played brilliantly. Well done on a great game.

Following a review of the effects of the recent closure due to the rains we have been taking measures to catch up any missed learning. We did set work during the days we were closed, even for our younger learners. Our older students have had some extra sessions organised especially for examination classes. We have also decided that Monday 11 March which was going to be a day when school was closed for students will now be a full school day. The school calendar has now been changed to reflect this day as a working day.

I hope you all have a pleasant weekend with your children. 

ABC Sports

We have had a great week in sports, the Football teams are advancing with great results at the Bilingual League. Varsity Football Boys team won a hard game 1-0 against Escuela Americana, with this result the team is close to classify to semifinals.

Congratulation to the U8 Football team who reached the quarterfinals at Torneo Cafetalon and lost its last game by penalties, well done Mini Bulldogs!

The youngest ones will continue participating at the Copa Bulldogs these coming week and in January.

Important dates

Wednesday Dec. 5th Swimming ABC ranking 

Tuesday Dec. 11th: Last day of sports practices for Upper primary and Secondary

Words from the Head of Primary

Last week our 2nd grade students participated in their Camping Night here at the ABC. This was a busy and fun activity for them and the parents who came along to help. They had the opportunity to sleep in their tents under a beautiful moon. All the activities were planned around the new IPC unit: Let’s Plant It. They planted magical seeds, created their own dessert, made green grape caterpillars, had an apple bubbling, played coconut hockey and participated in a scavenger hunt about their knowledge and new learning about plants. The winners got a well deserved prize! To close this incredible adventure, they sat and relaxed to watch the movie: Under the Stars.

Last year the 4th grade camping at Corinto, Ilopango was a blast We are sure this year will exceed it. Soon we will have photos to share. 

Being this is a time to share and care for others, there are a variety of collections going on in school. In Primary we support the Toy Collection and the Shoebox campaign. We thank everyone who has already sent in their toys and shoe boxes. We hope you enjoyed preparing them with your children.

This week the students in Primary have started their rehearsals for the Christmas Shows and concerts. Many of them will have lines and actions to learn. Please help them to practice so they can feel confident and can speak loud and clear during their performance. 

The traditional UP Christmas Performance will take place on Thursday 6th December. We look forward to seeing you all there. 

Teletón will be held on December 14th and 15th 2018. We will have 3 jeans days at school (Friday 30th November, Friday 7th and Friday 14th December) for those who buy the Teletón t-shirt. Mrs Lourdes Guadrón still has items for sale in the LP Spanish Room. Mrs Susan Gavidia has her shop in the Jubilee Library in Upper Primary and Mrs Marielos Soto is in charge of selling items in Secondary. 

Children in 3rd Dixon have been scientists this week, as part of their topic on Materials. We asked 'Which is the strongest paper?' and saw some varied and interesting ways of finding this out.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary

November

Friday 30th: Extracurricular activities, session 2 ends

December

Sunday 2nd: Extracurricular online enrollment for session 3, ends

Friday 7th: Teleton Jeans Day

Wednesday 12th: Christmas show - PAC

Friday 14th: Teleton Jeans Day

Friday 14th - Christmas Holiday Break

Upper Primary

November

Friday 30th - Session 2 Extracurricular Programme ends

December

Sunday 2nd - Last day of online enrollment for Session 3

Thursday 6th - UP Christmas Performance - 6:30pm-8:00pm - Auditorium

Friday 7th - Last day of Extracurricular Music

Friday 7th - Teletón Jeans Day
Tuesday 11th - Term 1 Reports sent to parents digitally

Tuesday 11th - Last day of sports practices

Friday 14th - Teletón Jeans Day

Friday 14th - Christmas Holiday Break

Words from the Head of Secondary

Dear parents and carers,

We have had a very busy week with our CIS Visiting Team. I thank all the staff who collaborated in the self study process and gave up their time to ensure this visit is successful in maintaining the ABC with its accreditation status. I must make a special mention of our phenomenal ROC students, Student Council Executive team and Head Students and prefects, who also gave up a lot of their time to attend the meetings with the visiting team. I have heard so many wonderful comments about how proud the staff who had the opportunity to be with them in the meetings felt of each and everyone of them. It was an amazing opportunity to see our ROCs in action! Truly fantastic ambassadors of the ABC. 

This week we also focused on the “4 Rs”- Reduce, reuse, recycle and REFUSE. The IGCA team and Mr Dafnis ran two thought provoking assemblies for the Secondary school. Below you can see some pictures from the assemblies. We were so happy to see Grade 5 students coming to our Secondary assemblies to raise the profile of being ROCs and supporting the 4 Rs. Thank you Grade 5!

From Ana Sofía Perdomo- IGCA Leader

My name is Ana Sofia Perdomo. I have been part of the IGCA since 7th grade. My desire to get into the club was mostly the turtle release. As silly as it sounds, but it really caught my eye. Later on, I realized that IGCA was not just about turtle releasing, it was more about being aware and taking action for global issues, and trying to fix them locally. Then, I came to realize that IGCA also focuses on culture. As an open minded school, we focus on diversity. We discuss, and take action. Joining the team meant that I was going to be able to develop by critical thinking skills, apply many of the ABC values such as being open minded, responsible, enthusiastic, and of course curious. If you think about it, in a way, the earth and ourselves benefit from the small help that can cause a big impact on our deteriorating planet earth.

I am currently an IGCA leader along with Andrea Reyes. We plan every activity which are executed on Tuesdays from 2 to 3. For example, one day, together with the team, we created clay models due to the culture strand that IGCA focuses on. Some beautiful artwork was extracted from this activity. In addition, we also work in partnership with the LRC using reused material to recreate, remodel and give the leftovers, another purpose, rather than trash. However, we did not start as leaders. At first we were just like you, we arrived from 2-3 every tuesday to took advantage of the activities the leaders had planned for us.

No shave November or “Movember” has come to an end. Thank you to all those who participated! We will have the competition winners this lunchtime! 

Boys- please remember Monday 3rd you must be cleanly shaved once again!

Learning review days are coming up this Wednesday 5th of December for Grade 8. Please make sure you have made your appointment and please do come along to meet your child and their tutor and discuss their progress.

Thank you to everyone who has already sent in shoebox gifts for those less fortunate to us. I know we can expect a lot more in the coming weeks! Secondary school is also creating a gift basket per tutor group for our Maintenance staff. Let’s say thank you to those who help us all year round!

The Paw Print is turning 2 years old on Monday! 

We are so proud of our student journalists. They are producing an edition every three to four weeks. Check out the latest edition here with an exclusive interview with Mr Keslake. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kind regards,

Natalia Cáceres

Dates for your diary

December

Monday 3rd - Board reception for Prefects 7.00pm- 8.30pm

Wednesday 5th - Grade 8 Learning Review Day - all day (by appointment) 

Tuesday 4th - Grade 10 visit to the Coca Cola manufacturing plant

Thursday 6th and Friday 7th - Grade 10 Empowerment Day in Portezuelo

Thursday 6th - Grade 6 Family Breakfast / Grade 7 Learning Review Day - all day

Friday 7th - Grade 8 Family Christmas Lunch / 2nd TELETON jeans Day

Saturday 8th - IGCA turtle release with FUNZEL, San Diego Beach, 7-11am

Monday 10th - LRC Festival Week / Grade 7 Family Christmas Lunch

Tuesday 14th - Grade 10 Art Mock exam 

Thursday 13th- TELETON jeans Day

Friday 14th - ALL SECONDARY STUDENTS MUST WEAR PE KIT. End of School term and Christmas holidays-Secondary school closed at 12 noon 

January 2019 

Monday 7th - Back to school. Arrive before 7.00 am please!

14: Friday 23rd November 2018

Words from the Director

I would like to start by congratulating the Class of 2019 for their excellent PAES results. I believe they are the best we have ever seen with an overall average of 8.35. They performed well across all four subjects and all students achieved 7.5 or above which is the threshold for the Superior category. We expect these results to be the first of an excellent set of results for this class. Congratulations to their teachers and parents but especially the students themselves. We are very proud.

Next week is a very significant week for us as we will be hosting a visiting team from the Council of International Schools (CIS) for our reaccreditation visit. We have been preparing for this visit for the last eighteen months with evidence collection and reflection. The CIS team will be looking at our work and the way our children learn and help us to think about further improving what we do. The ABC is a school which is continually striving to improve and provide an even better experience for our children. CIS also helps us to develop and maintain our international mindedness as we prepare our children to be active and caring global citizens and ROCs. We are looking forward to next week and to CIS helping our school continue to move forward.

We had an amazing Guy Fawkes celebration last Friday as a climax to our British Week. We had more visitors than usual and record takings for the charities we were supporting. The floodlights allowed us to make more use of the field and the Madres Enlaces did an amazing job keeping us fed and organising the sparklers and some games. Many thanks to them as always! Thank you to all the parents who joined their children in making this a great family event. 

This week and next week we continue to promote our ABC value of being ethical. I have been delighted with a class in Grade 5 who have taken responsibility for promoting the 4Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Refuse) as part of our commitment to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and care for our planet. In particular they have organised a campaign to get all ABC students to use recycling bins for plastic and aluminium.

This month we have been celebrating the tenth anniversary of the LRC. The LRC has become an integral part of our school thanks in large part to the leadership of Jennifer Garcia and her team. The LRC offers a world of creativity and learning within a safe and caring environment while continuing to encourage a love for books and reading.

ABC Sports

It is very rewarding to see the majority of our athletes wearing the team uniforms in practices and competitions. We remind you that for safety, kids must wear their PE uniform or team sports uniform for practices.

This week we continue with Copa Bulldogs in BKB, Football and Volleyball which is a tournament to prepare our U10, U12 and U14 teams for next semester competition. On Thursday nov. 22nd we held the First Archery ranking competition of the year, on November 29 and 30 we will held the Bulldogs Athletics competition and finally on December 5 we will have the ABC Swimming ranking.

We encourage our students-athletes to continue working hard until the very last day, discipline and positive attitude makes the difference.

Important dates

Friday Nov. 30th:Lower primary Extracurricular activities, session 2 ends

Tuesday Dec. 11th: Last day of sports practices for Upper primary and Secondary

Words from the Head of Primary

As we head to the last few weeks of the Term, teachers are busy preparing for Christmas festivities and celebrating the achievements of our students. It is also a time when teachers are preparing the end of term reports. These reports give parents and students a guide as to how they are achieving against the Learning Objectives taught since August. 

Reporting to parents on student progress on both a formal and informal basis encourages a shared responsibility for student learning. It enhances the close relationship between home and school and reflects ABC’s philosophy that a child’s education involves many different people. The purposes is to: 

• Inform parents regularly of their child’s achievements and next learning steps 
• Involve parents in their child’s education
• Celebrate successes 
• Provide opportunities for parents and teachers to raise matters of concern needing attention

We take this opportunity to congratulate our student Marco Andres Navas from 2nd Walls for his excellent performance in the Jiu Jitsu Competition in Guatemala. Keep it up Marco Andrés! 

The students really enjoyed the presentation of the Sleeping Beauty this week. It was a well prepared production by Teatro Hamlet that was very child appropriate. It also served the purpose of educating children in their love for the theatre.

This Christmas the ABC will support two charities, you can choose between one of the two, but you can also support both. One is the traditional SHOE BOX CAMPAIGN and the other is the TOY COLLECTION. You have received an email with further details, and we would like to help you in advance for your support.

The 2nd Grade Camp will take place this Friday 23rd and Saturday the 24th of November at the ABC campus. We are sure our children will have an unforgettable experience enjoying all of our planned activities and sleeping in tents with their friends.

4th grade is now getting ready for their Camp, which will take place next week, Friday 29th and Saturday 30th at Corinto. Good Luck!

Kinder Rampone's assembly was presented today. “The monster that becomes human with a pointed stick” ("El monstruo que se convierte en humano con una puya") is a story created by a student in Kinder Rampone. Inspired by this story, his classmates invented different adventures. By joining these stories with their interests throughout the year, we create our Assembly. Being the children so responsible of the story, they even invented their dialogues.

Next week we will have the last COESAL session for our 5th grade students. I understand that for many families this is a very sensitive topic, this is why I hope these lectures met their purpose, which was to promote a healthy dialogue at home between the children and their parents. 

2nd Avilés Assembly this Wednesday was about The Wonderful World of Plants. Children were able to show what they already know about plants, what they are learning about plants and what they would like to know about plants. They all looked wonderful and in line with nature, wearing the t-shirts they had dyed themselves.

Based on the children's interest in Pre Kinder Carbajal, we have developed the theme: "Pirates". We built our own boat using recycled materials and we imagined being pirates sailing the seas. We also enjoyed a walk in the Museum "Tin Marin", where we discovered some bugs that caught our attention.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary

November

Saturday 24th: Extracurricular online enrollment for session 3, starts

Friday 30th: Prepa Ware assembly - 7:30 am - PAC

Friday 30th: Extracurricular activities, session 2 ends

Friday 30th: Teleton Jeans Day

December

Sunday 2nd: Extracurricular online enrollment for session 3, ends

Friday 7th: Teleton Jeans Day

Wednesday 12th: Christmas show - PAC

Friday 14th: Teleton Jeans Day

Upper Primary

November

Friday 23rd - Grade 2 Camping Night - ABC

Monday 26th - Extracurricular Online Enrollment for Session 3 starts

Wednesday 28th - 5th Linares Assembly- 8:15am & 12:20pm - PAC

Wednesday 28th - Coesal Lecture for 5th Grade Students ONLY (3rd Session) 7:30am

Thursday 29th - Grade 4 Field Trip to Corinto, Lago de Ilopango (Returning Friday 30th)

Friday 30th - Teleton Jeans Day

Friday 30th - Session 2 Extracurricular Programme ends

December

Sunday 2nd - Last day of online enrollment for Session 3

Friday 7th - Term 1 Reports sent to parents digitally

Friday 7th - Teletón Jeans Day

Thursday 6th - UP Christmas Performance - 6:30pm-8:00pm - Auditorium

Friday 14th - Teletón Jeans Day

Friday 14th - Christmas Holiday Break

Words from the Head of Secondary

Dear parents and carers, 

I am hoping you had the opportunity to attend our second Sports day on Wednesday at the Flor Blanca stadium. Thank you to Ms Cecy Hernadez and her team and all the rest of staff who worked so hard to pull off this tremendous undertaking in style! Thank you to the Madres Enlace who again looked after our community providing refreshments and food!

It was amazing to see our athletes displaying such enthusiasm, determination and effort giving it their all for their tribes. ABC records were broken! I know I speak on behalf of all teachers when I say our students made us very proud! I have been delighted hearing such wonderful comments from our students and staff regarding the fun they had and what a great experience it is to be able to go to the stadium and compete! Unfortunately not all our students attended and truly we feel they missed out on a great event and memory of their time at school. We do not know which tribe is the winner yet as we have a couple of relay races to go which will take place on the last day of this term, along with our traditional Tug of War! May the best tribe win!

Congratulations to the class of 2019 on their PAES results! We are so proud to see that your hard work and dedication has paid off! Thank you to the fantastic team of teachers who guided and supported you along the way in preparation for this important exam. The work does not stop here of course and we continue focusing on the IB Diploma; TOK presentations tomorrow Saturday 24th November! 

I would like to thank all the students who actively participated at Guy Fawkes last week. The Student Council was very successful at our traditional Spooky Cellar and they raised funds for student initiatives. Thank you to the Heads of Year who also motivated their year groups to set up stand and games for their year group’s charity.

Grade 9 and Grade 11 Parent Teacher meetings- Thursday 29th November, 4.00 pm.

Please make a note on this date and come along to meet with your child’s teachers at our PT evening. Student should make appointments with their teachers and please bring that with you on the evening.

We continue practicing our value of Ethical and I encourage you to support our Shoe Box campaign which we announced last week. This is a relatively easy way to show the ABC cares! It is amazing to see how this gift can make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate to us and a great way to practise our values.

We look forward to welcoming the CIS visiting team next week, like you read in Mr Keslake’s message. We are confident they will find the ABC a truly unique and wonderful school.

Have a great weekend! 

Kind regards,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón

Dates for your diary

November

Saturday 24th - Grade 12 TOK IB presentations (compulsory) 

Thursday 29th - Grade 9 and Grade 11 Parent teacher meetings 4.30pm- 7.00pm

Friday 30th- Teletón Jeans day
December
Monday 3rd - Board reception for Prefects 7.00pm- 8.30pm 

13: Friday 16th November 2018

Words from the Director

This week we have been celebrating British Week and I would like to thank so many of our staff and the British Embassy for joining our celebrations. We will be climaxing the week with our traditional Guy Fawkes celebrations on Friday evening. We hope to see many if you there!

Like many such schools around the world the ABC is a British International school with a curriculum drawing on the best of British traditions and practices in an international context. The British education system is renowned for its rigour and its high standards but also for its commitment to pastoral care and support for children. Britain is home to so many world class education providers at every stage including early years as well as many of the best universities in the world. Our international approach and ABC values ensures that we build on these traditions in a global context promoting democracy, understanding, respect and tolerance.

We have four very busy weeks of school leading up to our Christmas break. Please do keep a close eye on the calendar so you do not miss any events involving your children. Christmas is a family time and we hope you will be able to attend our events as families enjoying a very special time together. I am sure as adults we all remember how important Christmas is to our children. 

The week after next we have some very important visitors in school as we host the five year CIS visit. As part of this visit parents and students will be meeting with our visitors to discuss aspects of our self study which many of you helped with.

I hope you enjoy the Guy Fawkes party on Friday and have a great weekend with your children.

ABC Sports

We are on the way to finish this term and I am very pleased to see the sports achievements that our ABC students have got. I would like to remind everyone of the importance of discipline to be successful, your child should not miss any practice in order to improve day by day. 

We continue competing in Football and Basketball Bilingual League with U16 and Varsity teams and the U16 BKB boys team is participating at Copa IMDER. We have also started the Football and Basketball Copa Bulldogs with the younger teams: U10, U12 , U14, as well as Volleyball U16 and Varsity teams. 

Last Saturday, the ABC hosted the first Table Tennis competition. We had 50 participants from 8 schools and our team performed really well! We achieved 7 medals:

Gold medalist: Luis Miguel & Camilo Aguilar

Silver medalist: Gerardo Vásquez, María Fernanda Sancho

Bronze medalist: Rodrigo Escalón, Ricardo Abarca, Juan Miguel Zaldivar

Important dates

Wednesday Nov. 21st, Secondary sports day at Flor Blanca Stadium

Wednesday Nov. 21st, LP, UP and Secondary after school practices cancelled

Words from the Head of Primary

On Wednesday the whole school practiced a Lockdown. We have put new speakers throughout the whole school in the unlikely event of a security issue. In Primary, all our students and staff responded fantastically to this drill. We also have regular earthquake drills and evacuation drills, so all our students and staff are prepared in the unlikely event of a major earthquake, eruption or fire. ABC works hard at ensuring all students and staff are safe and well prepared for any kind of emergency.

Tonight we celebrate Guy Fawkes. It is my first time seeing this in El Salvador. I’m sure it will be fun and exciting. It is very important that parents ensure their children are safe from potential danger. They should stay close to you and use fireworks sensibly. I’m sure if everyone is sensible then all should have a fun time.

An exciting aspect of school life is classes going out on trips. It gives teachers and students opportunities to learn outside of the classroom. We do have very important policy and process to go through before a trip can happen. Grade Leaders and teachers complete a Risk Assessment form that gives all the details of the trip and possible risks when at the site they are visiting. Teachers will also visit the site before the trip to ensure everything is ready and any risks identified. The Risk Assessment form is seen by the Deputy Head of that section and given to me for approval. The school uses a security consultant to advise us of any risks going to the site, the site itself and returning to school. If we are advised of any security risks then the trip will not be approved. Thankfully this is rare!

For your child, arriving late to school occasionally will not cause major disruption. Inevitably, children will feel sick or tired some mornings, or other situations will prevent them from being on time. However, chronic lateness eventually takes its toll on a child's overall educational experience. According to the national initiative Attendance Works, missing just 10 percent of the school year in the early grades causes many pupils to struggle in primary school. If your child arrives in the classroom after the starting time, they will be registered as late:

Pre-Kinder and Kinder 7.30am

Prepa and First Grade 7.15am

2nd - 5th Grade 7.10am

Our 3rd grade students are learning about transport. In their Art class they have been developing a project in which they had to think about a mode of transport they would like to create, make a plan on how to develop it and the carry out their plan. They have worked very hard and we have seen very interesting models.

COESAL (Centro de Orientación para la Sexualidad en El Salvador) lectures for our 5th grade students began this Wednesday. The first session was well attended and we had the opportunity to greet many parents. We hope to see you all next Wednesday when girls will attend with their mother and boys will attend with their father. We believe these lectures will promote the necessary healthy dialogue environment at home between the child and their parents. Please check your email and the school calendar for further details on dates, times and venues. 

It is the time of year when we particularly think about helping others. This year the ABC we will support two charities, you can choose between one of the two, but you can also support both. One is the traditional SHOE BOX CAMPAIGN and the other is the TOY COLLECTION. You have received an email with further details, and we would like to help you in advance for your support.

Please send your box and your toys into school before Friday 7th December. 

K Suarez’ Assembly was a success. Children demonstrated their interests through dance, art and music. 

3rd Segovia had an interesting Assembly about celebrations around the world. They also explained what a fable is and use the The Boastful Turtle’ to show the audience. Some children pretended to be reporters and reported on different celebrations. The countries they included were: USA, Chile, Canada, Ireland, Guatemala, El Salvador, Spain and Mexico.

On Nov 21st there will be no PE or Swimming for Primary as the PE staff will be running a sporting event with our Secondary students at the local stadium.

Hamlet professional theatre group will present "Sleeping Beauty" on Monday 19th November during school hours. We are sure children are going to have a great time.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary

November

Friday 16th: Guy Fawkes Party

Friday 16th: Pre-Kinder trip to Tin Marin

Monday 19th: Sleeping Beauty - Teatro Hamlet

Wednesday 21st: No PE or swimming lessons or extras

Friday 23rd: Kinder Rampone assembly - 7:40 am - PAC

Friday 30th: Prepa Ware assembly - 7:30 am - PAC

Friday 30th: Extracurricular activities, session 2 ends

Friday 30th: Teleton Jeans Day

Upper Primary

November

Friday 16th - Guy Fawkes / Christmas Fair - 4:30pm - 9:30pm - Field, Auditorium & BKB Courts

Monday 19th: Sleeping Beauty - Teatro Hamlet

Wednesday 21st - 2nd Avilés Assembly- 8:15am & 12:20 pm - PAC

Wednesday 21st - COESAL Lecture for Mothers and Daughters (2nd Session) - 7:30am - PAC

Wednesday 21st - COESAL Lecture for Fathers and Sons (2nd Session) - 7:30am - Lecture Theatre

Wednesday 21st: No PE or swimming lessons or extras

Monday 26th - Extracurricular Enrollment for Session 3 (starts until January 2019)

Wednesday 28th - 5th Linares Assembly- 8:15am & 12:20 pm - PAC

Wednesday 28th - COESAL Lecture for Students ONLY (3rd Session) 7:30am

Thursday 29th - Grade 4 Field Trip to Corinto, Lago de Ilopango (Returning Friday 30th)

Friday 30th: Teleton Jeans Day

Words from the Head of Secondary

Dear parents and carers,

I would like to start off by saying a huge thank you to the Secondary School Leadership Team for all their help and support last week as Ms Chávez, our Pastoral Coordinator, and I were out of school attending a CIS Workshop on Child Protection and Safeguarding. It was reassuring to share with so many international educators and see how our School is at the forefront in this area, with our pillar of safeguarding and student well being. 

Thank you to all the parents who attended our Parent Partnership cineforum these last two weeks. Thank you to the LSU and support team for all their work in preparing for these important events. It is always good to hear from the parents attending that they find these sessions useful and it allows them to share with other parents regarding issues which affect their children and work together as a community. I must sadly point out the poor attendance both events had and this is something which concerns us as these topics are specifically selected given situations we work with and deal with in School and parental support is vital. 

If you would like to watch the documentaries, they are available on Netflix.

MISS Representation “Explores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America, and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be a powerful woman.” (source) 

The Mask They Live In (source) “Explores how our culture's narrow definition of masculinity is harming our boys, men and society at large and unveils what we can do about it.”

Thank you again to those parents who attended and just like we were asked by them “we will not give up.”

CIS INSET- Preparing for our CIS visiting team 

We are looking forward to welcoming the CIS visiting team later on this month and all staff continue to be busy preparing for it. Last Wednesday 

We had our final staff INSET preparation where we had the opportunity to share on our best practices. 

Congratulations Sofia Huezo!

From Mr Duncan Ware- Head of Year 9

Recently Sofia Huezo Bandek of 9B was selected to represent El Savador in athletics in Costa Rica. She performed very well indeed, gaining:

Bronze medal in 300 meters

Silver medal in 8x100 relay and

in the 600 mts was placed 4th.

Congratulations Sofia, for being a Responsible, Outstanding Citizen representing your country and doing us all proud.

I look forward to seeing you all at Guy Fawkes tonight!

Kind regards,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón

Dates for your diary

November

Friday 16th- Guy Fawkes Community celebration and Christmas fair - 4.30pm- 9.30pm

Friday 16th - PAES results for the class of 2019

Monday 19th- ABC Shoe Box Xmas campaign begins

Wednesday 21st- All Secondary School Sports Day - Estadio Flor Blanca

Saturday 24th - Grade 12 TOK IB presentations (compulsory) 

Monday 26th- Board reception for Prefects 7.00pm- 8.30pm 

Thursday 29th - Grade 9 and Grade 11 Parent teacher meetings 4.30pm- 7.00pm

Friday 30th- Teletón Jeans day