Friday 26 October 2018

11: Friday 26th October 2018

Words from the Director

We are working with Save the Children in El Salvador today to promote a range of UN Sustainable Development Goals through the “Colour Run”. I would like to thank our Head Students Clarissa and Marco for all the work they have put into this event and for their dedication to helping younger children in our country. We have to work together to help create communities in our country where young people can grow and learn. Clarissa and Marco are helping us make a major contribution to a local community by providing a space for secure and safe learning for young children. 

Thankfully the recent rain has cleared and we have been able to resume our full sports programmes and resume some of our off site trips. I would like to take this opportunity to remind the community that we always do a risk assessment before any trip and we always ensure we have ABC staff fully supervising the trip. We do believe it is important that our children safely experience the world outside our campus with their peers and it is vital that we work together to provide those experiences. We also seek advice on the safety of the locations from independent advisers and our contacts in the community. We do ask that you allow your children to participate in these activities. 

I do hope you enjoy your half term break with your children and look forward to seeing you on Monday 5th November. 

We are looking at ways to improve our communication and we would be grateful if you would fill in this very brief survey regarding the ABC Weekly. 

Message from the Chair of the Board

As you are aware we recently advertised the position of Director for August 2019. I am pleased to inform you that we had a good response and have recently completed our first round of formal interviews.

The next round will involve candidates traveling here in the week of November 5th so we can meet them in person. We are hoping to complete the selection process by the end of next month.

ABC Sports

We have had another amazing week of sports which many children playing and some very encouraging results. Our girls football teams have swept all before them in two amazing home victories against Escuela Alemana and Maquilishuat. On Wednesday evening we witnessed the boys varsity team beating the Liceo Frances under our new lights. The bilingual league is going well and we are looking into our options for participating in the College Cup later this year. 

ABC Basketball and Volleyball teams had games this week, they performed really well with victories. Congratulations to The Handball U12 team who became champions in the Juegos Estudiantiles, 

After the vacation the Copa Bulldogs starts for U12 and U14 boys and girls. in Football,Volleyball and Basketball.

GO BULLDOGS 


Important dates
Saturday Nov. 10th, ABC Table Tennis Tournament
Wednesday Nov. 21st, Secondary sports day at Flor Blanca Stadium

Words from the Head of Primary

It is hard to believe we are coming to the mid term break of Term One. As Head of Primary, I have been very impressed with our wonderful staff, wonderful children and wonderful parents. Your child/children are given many opportunities to learn, to experience new things and to be challenged. We talk a lot about the school’s Values and I see these being instilled into the children. I also see the children developing into Responsible Outstanding Citizens. I hope you will be able to spend quality time with your child/children during the Break. School reopens on Monday, November 5.

The cafeteria is now running much better with the food being ready when the students have lunch. New reusable containers with lids were introduced this week. This means we are looking after our environment by getting rid of the plastic film that was used to cover food. This plastic film often blew away in the wind! Well done to the cafeteria staff!! 

Staff in the cafeteria have checked that their drinks meet the Ministry of Education food guidelines. They have come up with a list of drinks that will be removed because they do not comply with Healthy Food requirements. Please read below:

We have two issues which is causing concern: 

1. Often children put their food in the rubbish bin. They often say they do not like the food that has been ordered for them. I think you will agree that it is a waste of money and a waste of food. Parents are asked to talk to their child to find out what food they like to eat and to order that for their lunch.

2. A small number of parents are ordering lunch after 9.30am. This means the cafeteria staff have less time to get the lunches ready. Parents are required to order lunches BEFORE 9.30am. If an order comes in after 9.30am a reply email will be sent stating the order will not be processed and parents will be contacted to make arrangements to provide lunch for their child/children.

Your cooperation in both these matters would be greatly appreciated.

This week students in 3rd Navas learnt about the different climate zones around the world. They were very busy painting, tracing and cutting their maps.


Everybody had an amazing time at the Colour Run this Friday. Thank you to everyone who bought a Colour Run Kit and to those who made a donation. All the money raised 

will go to Save the Children to support education for children with forced displacement.

The British week will be the focus soon after the half term break. The week will finish with the wonderful Guy Fawkes evening. Please schedule this date in your calendar. We look forward to seeing you then.

Although we had to postpone the Primary International Fair we were able to present the class who sold the most raffle tickets with a special pizza lunch with Mr Bridge. The winning class was 2nd Pineda. Well done to all those students and their families for supporting such a good cause.


We also had a pre-raffle to give the community a taste of the real raffle that will happen on January 19th 2019, during the International Fair. The lucky winners are:

Julia Urrutia
Nelson Eduardo Espinoza F
Stephen Richter
Yany Menjivar
Cane de Ortega
Vilma Yanira Buruca
Rocio del Carmen Alfaro
Ernesto Sifontes
Alicia Domínguez
Anna Guth
Tobias Hicks 
Carmen Díaz
Leilani Rubio
Daniel Peña
Jose Mario Echeverría
Dianna Escobar
M Iveth Pérez
Alfredo Calles
Claudia Varela de Soriano
Kathryn Coster
Deysi Lopez
Jimena Salvatierra
Sari Abigail Márquez
Reina Isabel Arias M
Valeria Margarita Sancho C
Sarah Buckley Moore
Ester de Echeverría
Norma de Cárdenas
Gerardo Jose Monjarás
Kike Girón
Diego Rossi

During these two weeks our Foundation Stage students along with their families, have been learning about the United Nations and the different nationalities that exist among their peers. Through these activities now they have a clear message about where they come from, in which country they live in and the rights they deserve to be able to be members of a fair and respectful society. Thanks to everyone who has supported this learning through this beautiful experience!

4th Molina Assembly - Christopher Columbus the Explorer
This assembly taught us about the characteristics of a real explorer. Children described Christopher Columbus as someone who is risk taker, open-minded, reflective, brave and courageous. The assembly described where he was born and his life until he discovered the Americas without him knowing it. It was Americo Vespucio who really discovered that what they had found was another continent. 


2nd Grade Trip to El Boqueron
We went on an academic field trip yesterday to El Boquerón National Park, located in the crater of the San Salvador Volcano called El Boquerón. This trip has been organised with the intention of providing children with an exciting Exit point to the IPC unit “Active Planet”. This visit was an important addition to the children’s learning process.


This has been a long half term and everyone needs a rest, students and staff alike. So enjoy the break and we look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday 5th November.

Junior Science Club
As the ABC reflects upon the role of the United Nations in maintaining peace and bringing humanitarian assistance to those in need, the Junior Science Club (Grades 4 & 5) considered the question of how to provide clean, safe drinking water to those who are without.

The Challenge was made - “Can we drink Pond Water?” Students took a sample of water with various organic matter, fish and algae (similar to the water used by many communities around the world).

In an attempt to find a way to provide clean water, they decided to use Simple Distillation. To make the challenge even more difficult, food colouring was added to the pond water to make look as bad as it smelt.

The students correctly and skillfully assembled the distillation apparatus, used a bunsen burner to apply heat and collected the pure water they distilled.

They concluded that this method could be used to allow pond water to be drunk however communities would require an energy source that was intense enough, such as gas, to be able to use the bunsen Burner.

Congratulations to our young scientists on gaining their Bunsen Burner licence and successfully carrying out an advanced scientific technique using research grade equipment. It should be noted that their conclusion demonstrated an analysis of the result and an evaluation of its application to solve a real world issue. Well done!

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary
November
Tuesday 6th: Prepa Chadwick & Prepa Kennedy trip to Tin Marin
Wednesday 7th: Prepa Ware & Prepa Pashley trip to Tin Marin
Friday 9th: Prepa Chadwick assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 9th: 1st grade trip to Costa del Sol - Release turtles
Friday 16th: Kinder Suárez assembly - 7:40am - PAC
Friday 16th: Guy Fawkes party
Friday 23rd: Kinder Ramone assembly - 7:40am - PAC
Friday 30th: Prepa Ware assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 30th: Extracurricular activities, session 2, ends

Upper Primary
October
Friday 26th - Last day of 3 Way Conferences
Friday 26th - Save the Children Colour Run
Monday 29th - Half Term Break (no school from Mon 29th Oct- Fri 2nd Nov)
November
Monday 5th - Back to School from Half Term Break
Wednesday 14th - 3rd Segovia Assembly - 8:15am & 12:20pm - PAC
Friday 16th - Guy Fawkes / Christmas Fair
Wednesday 21st - 2nd Avilés Assembly- 8:15am & 12:20pm - PAC
Wednesday 28th - 5th Linares Assembly- 8:15am & 12:20pm - PAC
Thursday 29th - Grade 4 Field Trip to Corinto, Lago de Ilopango (Returning Friday 30th)

Words from the Head of Secondary

Dear parents and carers, 

What a wonderful way to wrap up this very busy half-term!

Save the children Colour Run and UN Week assembly!
Thank you to all our community who took part in this wonderful event! Did you know that we have staff and students who can speak 18 different languages? Here are some photos from the UN Week assembly and Colour Run.

IGCSE Drama Performance
From Mr Pike- Drama teacher and G10 HoY
This Wednesday saw the first of this year’s theatrical performances showcasing the talents of our Grade 9 and 10 IGCSE Drama students. The 21 Grade 9 students were presenting group scripted pieces that they have been rehearsing since the middle of this term. They covered a wide range of themes and issues as well as some diverse styles of theatre. 

The Grade 10 students were presenting their final piece of Drama coursework in the shape of a monologue. Jean Luc performed Shakespeare’s famous Richard III monologue, delivering a very convincing interpretation. Shane presented a section from Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis, a dark and troubling piece that explores human emotions. He performed confidently manipulating a range of deep emotions very effectively. Congratulations to all the students who were involved!!




Growth Mindset
We have been reading Carol Dweck’s second book at our Staff Book Club and I wanted to share with you a video which covers this important message with you. I encourage all parents to watch it and discuss it with their children and reflect upon how we promote a growth mindset in our children. 

IGCSE information session G9 parents and students- Tues 6th Nov
IB information session G11 parents and students- thurs 8th Nov

We look forward to seeing all parents with their children at their child’s information session. PLEASE TAKE A NOTE OF THE DATE AND TIME (above)

The meeting will last around 40 minutes and a survey was sent out to parents via our class parent email asking for any questions parents may have about the two year course to ensure we address this at the information session. See you there! 

Parent Partnership- Cineforum - Tuesday 6th November; 
6.00 pm PAC. 
Please come along!
PLEASE NOTE: The clips will be in English but the discussion will be in Spanish. Translation may be available into English upon reservation. 

News from the LRC
Letters to the world!
This month, as part of our value: Global Citizen,the 6th grade students have been participating in an international Children’s Day initiative. This is a project run by the Primarschule Ins school in Switzerland. During the project students are partnered up with students from other countries with whom they exchange pen pal letters. The students participate through assemblies, Life Skills lessons and during tutor time. This project is one of two pen pal projects we run through the LRC in conjunction with the 6th grade team, each year. This year’s letters are almost ready to be packaged up and sent to our partner class.


The second initiative is a pen pal project with the International School of Kuantan in Malaysia. 6th A has been corresponding with students since late September. These exchanges took place predominantly online however the group has just completed a wonderful collection of handwritten letters which will be sent off to Malaysia next week.

These international exchanges are taking place during a time in the history of our world when communication across borders, cultural exchanges and the resultant understanding, empathy and friendship are of the highest importance. It is an honour to be able to work together as a school to provide these experiences for our developing global citizens.

Here is a collection of photos of the students in class, working on this Children’s Day initiative. 

I wish you all a wonderful half-term break and look forward to seeing you all back before 7.00 am on Monday 5th of November.

Warm regards,

Natalia Cáceres Escalón

Dates for your diary
October
Monday 29th to Friday 2nd November - Half term holidays
November
Monday 5th- 7.00 am start- Back to School!
Tuesday 6th - 7.00- 7.40am - Grade 9 Parents and students IGCSE information session
Tuesday 6th- Parent Partnership- Cineforum “The Mask We Live In” (Boys issues) 6.00pm- 7.30pm PAC
Thursday 8th - 7.00- 7.40 am - Grade 11 Parents and students IB information session
Friday 9th- Secondary school Tribal Chiefs Empowerment 2.30 pm- 4.00pm
Week of 12th - 16th- British Week 
Thursday 15th- Grade 7 Empowerment trip to Ataco
Friday 16th- Guy Fawkes Community celebration 4.30pm- 9.30pm
Friday 16th - PAES results for the class of 2019
Monday 19th- ABC Shoe Box Xmas campaign begins
Wednesday 21st- Secondary School Sports Day
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 4.30 pm- 7.00pm
Friday 20th- Teletón Jeans day

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