From the Director
I would like to start this week by thanking the Student Council for their fundraising efforts which led to their recent donation to Hospital Bloom. I would also like to wish a Happy New Year to all our community who have been celebrating the Chinese lunar spring festival. This year will be the Year of the Dog.
On Monday we had a staff training day which focused on Safeguarding and our policies and procedures. You have probably heard about our recent focus on safeguarding and I want to explain what we are doing because it is something the whole community needs to recognise.
Safeguarding is to do with ensuring we provide a safe and positive environment for young people to grow up - at school and at home as well as in events organised by School or by parents including of course parties. It means that we protect children from physical violence, from emotional damage, from neglect and from exposure to sexual behavior or pornography. It is important we work together as a community to provide protection at school, at home and at our community events. Our safeguarding policy is on the parent portal on the school website.if you have any questions about it please do let me know.
While I am on the subject of safeguarding I want to refer to the horrific events in a school in Florida. Our prayers go to all the families of the victims. We are constantly reviewing our procedures in the light of such experiences and most of those are to do with our internal procedures however I do want to remind families with weapons of the need to keep them secure. They must be locked away so that children either deliberately or accidentally do not access them. In the Americas many children each year are killed accidentally while playing with their parents weapons. If you have weapons at home please keep them away from our children and that includes all of our students even our older students.
The Bicultural Arts Festival is taking place in two weeks time and the final shows will be here at the ABC on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 March. This is because the Teatro Presidente became unavailable this year at late notice. Tickets for each night are limited and are on sale at school for $2. Please make sure you buy your tickets in advance if you are intending to come to the shows.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the Sports Day tomorrow and the Parent Association Carnival next Saturday. Otherwise I hope you all have a good weekend with your children.
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
The school can be a little bit like a ghost town when the children are not here so we were glad to see them all back in school on Tuesday. We hope they all had a good break and that you managed to do some exciting activities together.
Saturday 17th is the Upper Primary Sports and Family morning. All Upper Primary students are expected to attend and registers will be taken. It is usually a great time and the students really enjoy having their parents around to see them participate. It sends a big positive message to your children when you turn up to watch them and of course likewise it sends a big negative message if you don’t! The madres will be supplying each child with an ice lolly on completion of their competitions and Fairs to Educate will have refreshments for sale for everyone else. There will be trampolines and other activities for those children who are not participating at that time. PLease make sure you know what time to bring your child and where to take them. The 2nd and 3rd grade event starts at 8.00 am so children need to be in school well before that and the 4th and 5th Grade event starts at 10.00 am.
The weekend before last was the grade 5 camp and here is a report from Mr McNeil who went along for the whole thing. He tells me he slept 14 hours when he got home. Looking after almost 100 children is an exhausting business no matter how lovely they are!
On Monday 5th February, the Grade 5 team and some willing staff and parent volunteers headed off into the El Salvador wilderness to the Portezuelo Campsite. The four busses travelled in convoy up to camp arriving in time to put the children through their paces with Team Building games and activities. Whether is was guiding themselves through a ‘minefield’, bouncing a ball over the net with a sheet or even completing set of obstacle races, the children enjoyed all of the activities from the first moment. The whole 2-day trip was a non-stop whirlwind adventure including a 6km hike, a campfire with marshmallows as well as staff and children running around in the dark making animal noises trying to find each other. Thank-you to all involved in the organising of the trip, all of the children had a fantastic time and are looking forward to their next school wilderness adventure in Grade 6!
The countdown to Teleton is beginning! Please know that you can buy your teleton shirts from Lourdes Guadron in LP, Susie Gavida in the Library in UP and that you will be able to wear these T-shirts in school on three occasions leading up to Teleton. Fri 2nd March, Fri 9th March and Friday 16th March. T-shirts are only 6 dollars and this other merchandise to support this great cause. All Primary students have received a hard copy of the information so you may wish to check school bags for further info!
We have noticed our students struggling with walking long distances and would ask that you help your children to develop walking stamina by walking with them at home and as a family. Walking is very good for the health and probably the adults in the community would benefit from a bit more walking too.
I look forward to seeing the UP parents tomorrow at the Sports and Family morning.
Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Lead Safeguarding Officer.
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
February
Monday 19th - Kinder Cáceres trip to Granja Educativa
Tuesday 20th - Kinder Francés trip to Granja Educativa
Tuesday 20th - Prepa Kennedy trip to Jardín Botánico Plan de La Laguna
Wednesday 21st - Kinder Quintanilla trip to Granja Educativa
Wednesday 21st February: Prepa Pashley trip to Jardín Botánico Plan de La Laguna
Thursday 22nd Kinder Suárez trip to Granja Educativa
Thursday 22nd - Prepa Ware trip to Jardín Botánico Plan de La Laguna
Friday 23th - Prepa Macdonald trip to Jardín Botánico Plan de La Laguna
Friday 23rd - Pre-Kinder Rampone assembly - 7:40am - PAC
Friday 23rd - Extracurricular activities, 3rd session, ends
Monday 26th - Extracurricular activities, 4th session starts
Wednesday 28th - Prepa Night Activity - 4:00pm - PAC
March
Friday 23rd: Last day of term
Upper Primary
February
Saturday 17th - Upper Primary Sports and Family Morning - 8:00 am - 12:00pm
Tuesday 20th - Elementary Choir Rehearsal for Bicultural Arts Festival - 3:00- 4:45pm
Wednesday 21st - 3rd Spanish Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - PAC
Friday 23rd - Extracurricular activities, 3rd session, ends
Monday 26th - Extracurricular activities, 4th session starts
Wednesday 28th - 5th Truscott Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - PAC
March
Thursday 1st - Bicultural Arts Festival Performance - 6:00pm-7:30pm
Friday 2nd - Bicultural Arts Festival Performance - 6:00pm-7:30pm
Friday 2nd - Teletón T-shirt Day
Wednesday 7th - 4th Quijano Assembly - 9:20am & 12:15pm - PAC
Friday 9th - Teletón T-shirt Day
Friday 16th - Teletón T-shirt Day
Friday 16th - Teletón (Fri- Sat)
Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Designated Primary Safeguarding Officers
Secondary News
Dear parents and carers,
Grade 7 and 8 finish their Examination period today and I am sure they have done well and look forward to sharing their achievements with you. We also welcomed back our staff and students who were abroad on trips and you can read some of the students’ responses to the Berlin trip below. We look forward to hearing all about the Silicon Valley trip upon their return soon!
Grade 11 have an important day coming up on Tuesday 20th February. It is their Extended Essay Launch Day. The IB team will be taking them through this central aspect of their IB course and we invite parents to have a conversation at home about it and support them through the development of this exciting undertaking.
Humanities Trip to Berlin
Written by Ana Lucia Arteaga and Daniela Aguila
Berlin was fantastic! Everyday I was able to explore new parts of the city which not only were attractive, but had an incredible historical significance. Remains of the Berlin wall surrounded the entire city, everywhere we went there was a part of it, I even brought one piece of it with me as a souvenir. This is one of the highlights of my trip since the wall not only divided the city physically for 25 years, but also generated an emotional, ideological and structural division between everyone living in Berlin at the time, this has also had an impact in the Berlin we know now since it created a remarkable division between both sectors: the East and the West which can still be represented in small details of the city. When we went to the TV tower we saw how the buildings could be easily distinguished from each other and therefore representing both sides of Berlin that once existed and were separated by the wall.
The trip was also very fun as we enjoyed the shopping, the Blue Man group show, and the Olympic Stadium which was also very entertaining. This was a very touching experience as we learned about WW2 too, the third reich tour, visiting the jews memorial, the Haus der Wannsee Konferenz , and the concentration camps, it made us reflect over all the things that happened during Germany before and during WW2. This trip was an amazing bonding experience and not only did I learn a lot of very interesting things but also made a lot of new friends and was able to bond with all the teachers. Berlin was a learning opportunity.
What I got away from this trip was the history the city contained, the whole city was a monument of its own. Everywhere we went there was somewhere to learn from, even on the train stations there were small explanations on the wall of the importance of the place. I believe that the first day in Berlin was the best day. I had been so used to doing the same thing everyday that doing a small thing like walking to the train station was liberating. The whole place was so new to me.
The first day was also the first reality check I had, concerning the holocaust. Before when I learned about it in class it was on the surface, what I heard were only stories. But when I went to the holocaust memorial, and saw those stones and read those letters, it changed my whole perspective on the matter. I used to think of them like stories rather than people.
Through this trip I gained a greater appreciation for the people who lived through the second world war and the cold war. In class I was used to seeing history in the perspective of the countries who fought, but in Berlin I saw the war from the perspective of the people who lived during it. That is what I learned during the Berlin Trip.
Please note that the Grade 7 Empowerment day has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. We will keep you informed of the changes and we thank the parents for their understanding.
PARTICIPATION IN THE NATIONAL TRIATHLON
On February 4th, our 9 grade student Gerardo Sandoval Calero participated in the National Triathlon Championship organized by the Salvadorean Federation of Triathlon (FESTRI).
The Triathlon is an Olympic sport in which the competitors compete in 3 different sport disciplines: swimming, cycling, and running, which are carried out in that order and without any pause between each discipline. The championship started at Coatepeque Lake and finished at Texaco gas station in El Congo. Competitors had to start off by swimming 750 metres; ride a bicycle for 20 minutes, and finish running 5 kilometres.
Gerardo participated in the Masculine Junior Category (13-17 years old), and finished off in 3° place of his category, having completed the three disciplines in a time of 1:49:42.
Lots of events are coming including the Parent Association Carnival which we hope wil be well attended by all our community. We continue to sell the Teleton T-shirts and encourage all our students to support this worthy cause.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Kind regards,
Natalia Cáceres
Dates for your diary
February
Saturday 10th to Saturday 17th - Grade 11 & 12 students, Computer Science & ITGS trip to Silicon Valley, San Francisco.
Saturday 17th - Bicultural Arts (Drama)
Tuesday 20th - Grade 9 ‘PAESITA’
Tuesday 20th - Grade 11 EE Launch Day
Tuesday 20th - Parent Partnership ‘Dealing with Grief and Loss’, 6pm PAC (Whole school)
Thursday 22nd - Senior Drama Club Performance, 3pm
Friday 23rd - Cal 2 Reports issued for Grade 10 and 12
Friday 23rd - Senior Drama Club Performance, 6pm
Saturday 24th - Bicultural Arts (Drama)
Saturday 24th Parent Association Carnival. All day
Monday 26th to 1st March - Bicultural Arts (Drama and Dance)
Tuesday 27th - 4:30pm Auditorium and Grade 10 IB Options only, 6pm PAC. Grade 10 and 12 Parent/Teacher meetings
March
Friday 23rd: Last day of term
Team Sports
TSP Track and Field
57° Student Games
The 57° Student Track and Field Games Santa Tecla 2018 took place at Estadio Las Delicias. It was an exciting event which brought together students from 10 different education centres, and nearly 400 athletes. The Bulldogs arrived early and put forth their best effort.
Go Bulldogs!!!
TSP Table Tennis
A special note on the 1° grade children who are part of the Table Tennis team, and who never miss any of their practices on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays getting ready for future tournaments. It is important to mention how disciplined and enthusiastic they are during each practice session.
Go Bulldogs!!!
TSP Cricket
TPS wishes to congratulate the Cricket team (made up of students and TPS teachers), for having won undefeated the Championship in Guatemala City.
Way to go!
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