From the Director
Congratulations to the Class of 2018 who are finishing their IB exams this week. The IB Diploma is a demanding programme designed to bring out the best in young people both academically and in terms of their social and international awareness. The examinations at the end are challenging and rigorous and we are proud of the work the students have done to prepare for their examinations. We are the only school in the country which offers full IB Diplomas to all our graduating class and it is a huge achievement that so many of them achieve the full diploma each year. It is a tribute to our community, to our families and our students as well as to our excellent staff and the school.
The parents of the Class of 2020 will be aware that the IGCSE examinations roll on for a few weeks longer. At the end of the IGCSE examinations the Class of 2020 will be starting their circus rehearsals as their circus will be taking place at the end of August 2018. Please put the dates in your diary!
I would like to add my congratulations to the Varsity Boys football team who overcame Josue this week to claim third place in the Bilingual League. They have proved themselves to be a talented team this year and they could have achieved even more with a little luck! We are still very proud of their determination and their achievements and many of the team will still be in school next year so we hope to see even more success next year. On the sporting theme I would also like to again highlight the amazing resurgence in girls volleyball this year and congratulate everyone involved including you the parents and the girls for getting involved. Anyone who watches one of their games can see how much they are enjoying themselves. That for me is what sport is about - being part of a team and achieving that feeling of success together. Go Bulldogs!
We had a very interesting visit from Dr. Guy Djoken who works at the UNESCO Centre for Peace in Washington. He is visiting El Salvador inspiring young people to give peace priority in their lives. To learn more about the UNESCO Center for Peace, please see: http://www.unescocenterforpeace.org/. His message to our students was to show that you care and make a positive difference in your world especially in terms of helping El Salvador and the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. One of our students asked him which goal was his favourite. He answered the last one - partnership - because if we do not work together we will not achieve any of them! It made me think of the importance of all of us working together as staff and parents to achieve the best for all out children. Here is a reminder of the SDGs.
We had fun in school today celebrating the forthcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It is nice for us to share the happiness of a young couple as they look forward to their lives together. We wish them a happy future and I wish all of you a pleasant weekend.
Primary News
Dear Parents and Carers,
In school we have always recognised the value of reading at home in all sorts of ways. Not just the child reading to the parents but sharing books together, reading books without words and making up the story to go with the pictures, guessing what might happen next, all of these things really help with children’s academic development. Here is a very short article that explains the benefits of reading 20 mins a day. It is well worth the two minutes to read it.
Today we have celebrated the upcoming Royal Wedding. Everyone in Primary wore red white and blue - and very lovely they all looked - it would be a great new uniform choice! Everyone was able to have a cupcake on the lawn in front of Mr Keslake’s office in our version of an English garden party with images of Harry and his bride to be looking on. It will be a very exciting event in the UK and we wanted to reflect that here in the ‘British School’. We wish the Royal couple well and all the best for their future together.
Thank you to everyone who has sent in a backpack or lunchbox for the CAS appeal. Keep them coming. We will be collecting them until the end of August so don’t throw them away.
In Primary we feel it is very important to recognise the efforts of all of our students. We feel that every child in school has many very good qualities. We want to be as inclusive as we can so that as many children as possible can experience success in school, whilst recognising those students who have achieved well. In line with this policy we are changing our awards at the Upper Primary end of year assemblies to ROC Value Awards where every child will receive an award recognising the value that they have demonstrated most consistently throughout the year. We will also be awarding a limited number of academic awards per grade to supplement this. We are very keen to promote attendance and punctuality and so will also be recognising those children with the highest levels of both for the academic year. We think these changes will reflect our school’s attitude to our students more accurately and I am sure you will agree.
We only have a few more weeks left of school and we can see that some children are demonstrating tiredness. Please ensure all children have a good night’s sleep every school night and that they get to bed nice and early so that they can cope with the following day.
Have a lovely weekend.
Sharon SHort
Head of Primary
Lead Safeguarding Officer.
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
May
Thursday 24th - Trip to Super Selectos Las Cascadas: Kinder Suárez and Kinder Quintanilla - 9:00-10:30am
Thursday 24th - Trip to Super Selectos Las Cascadas: Kinder Cáceres and Kinder Francés- 10:00-11:30am
Thursday 31st May - school closed INSET for teachers
June
Tuesday 12th - Kinder Suárez and Kinder Cáceres trip to Maya Country Club - 8:30am - 12:00m.
Wednesday 13th - Kinder Quintanilla and Kinder Francés trip to Maya Country Club - 8:30am - 12:00m.
Upper Primary
Friday 25th May - Grade 2 Trip to Bicentenario Park - 7:30am - 11:30am
Thursday 31st May - school closed INSET for teachers
Please note Ana Gloria Mena and Edda Padilla are Designated Primary Safeguarding Officers
Secondary News
Dear parents and carers,
Today we celebrate the Royal wedding and I must say it was a fun day! We thoroughly enjoyed the cupcakes and the garden party with our staff and students today. Thank you to Anabella Soto, Estefanía Chacón and Natalia Carrillo for all your work with this, Rafael Martinez for the wonderful music and of course our Prefects who helped distribute the cupcakes!
DVA Awards
From Mrs Jennifer García- LRC Coordinador
The annual ABC Digital Video Awards will take place on June 7th this year, with submissions from across Primary and Secondary as well as submissions from the French School and Acton Academy. All nominations have now been submitted and voting begins today. A Google Form has been sent to all staff and students and anyone with an abc-net account can vote. Voting will close this coming Monday at 6 pm, so please do encourage your children to watch the videos and vote for their favourite ones.
A form to purchase an optional t-shirt for DVA will be sent out to all nominees shortly. Information about purchasing the t-shirts and the corresponding deadline will be included in the form. We look forward to reporting back on this event next month.
SWIMMING GALAS
From Ms Cecy Hernández- PE Head of Department
This week Secondary students from 6th to 9th participated at the Swimming and Water polo competition. All students had fun and competed performing their best at every game and swimming event. Please visit our PE blog to see our kids in action:
The Grade 11 and Grade 9 students begin their Exams next week and should be spending some time this weekend preparing for these and ensuring they have all the equipment and materials they will need for them. Mr Hall has sent all the relevant information to parents and students. Please read these documents carefully as they contain all the regulations, including Uniform and equipment allowed.
THE MEDIA and social platforms- What are our children doing and watching online?
It is unfortunate to say that we continue to deal with isolated incidents of students displaying disrespectful and unkind behaviour towards others via Whatsapp chats and other social media platforms. We remind you that every social media has an age restriction and that we need to be very careful and proactive in guiding our children regarding their use of electronic media. Often, children will behave and express themselves online (text, Memes, etc) in manners which they would not dream of doing in person. The influence of being over exposed to these types of communication media is clear.
On this note, I would like to warn you that Netflix releases the second season of the highly controversial series “13 Reasons Why” today. As you may remember, we held a Parent Partnership regarding the content of this series last year as it became very clear to us that the high popularity of the series caused serious impact on the decision making and behaviour of teenagers. The series stirred much confusion regarding very sensitive topics such as bullying, rape, self harm, drunk driving, substance abuse, sexual abuse, and of course suicide being presented as the manner the protagonist decided to deal with these issues. The storyline of the second series is not published yet but we know there will be once again very explicit and controversial scenarios explored such as a rape trial, another suicide attempt and a school shooting, among others. We encourage you to talk with your children about the series and guide them to reflect upon the nature of the decision made and the attitudes towards these issues which are presented in the series. This link is worth visiting for some information on how to talk with your children about it.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kind regards,
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Dates for your diary
May
Monday 21st - CAL exams start for Grade 9 & 11 students
Thursday 31st May - school closed for all students: INSET for teachers
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