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

12: Friday 12th November 2018

Words from the Director

We will be celebrating British Week next week and we are looking forward to our annual Guy Fawkes party next Friday. We will have fun, games, fireworks, Christmas shopping and the spooky cellar to entertain you as well as plenty of food and soft drinks. Please come along with your children and make this a special community celebration. 

We marked the national earthquake preparation day by reminding our staff and children of the DROP, COVER, HOLD procedure in the event of an earthquake. As part of our plans we also carried out an evacuation and we checked the Madres Enlace communication tree. If for some reason you were not contacted please do let us know at school by contacting Anabella Soto and we will investigate why. This communication is only used when we have an emergency situation to report. 

As part of earthquake awareness I hope you are also reinforcing your own plans with your children at home if there is an earthquake.

For security reasons we are changing our access to the campus through the Admin entrance starting on Monday. The gate which goes straight to the upper primary section will be closed in the morning. All students will now need to enter through the main gates where they can be more closely monitored. 

A big thank you to the Class of 2019 for their continued work with Save the Children this week. They have an event planned for Saturday morning with younger children visiting the site. The Save the Children Colour Run was a huge success and raised significant funds. More details will soon be posted on the newsblog.

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

ABC Sports

We had a celebratory lunch to recognise our national handball champions yesterday. Congratulations to them. Please see more about their victory on our newsblog. Our girls football teams have also continued their brilliant form with another excellent performance this week. Next week they have a game under our floodlights. We hope many of you will come along and support them. Also this week the Copa Bulldogs have started, U8 Football boys, U12 Football girls, Basketball U12 boys and girls, have played showing a great competitive level also have represented proudly our ABC values.

This week ABC got another Championship, our Cadetes Basketball boys team got the 1st place undefeated at Juegos Estudiantiles. We are very proud of their commitment, teamwork and hard work, this team particularly is always practicing with lot of discipline, they are great examples of ROC Students- Athletes. Please see our newsblog for more information.

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

Welcome back after a week’s holiday. I hope you managed to spend time with your children. They were certainly keen to return to school to catch up with friends and teachers and get back to learning. 

Very soon we will be visited by a team from CIS, which is an international organisation that helps schools develop into the best they can be. Many people have been working hard to provide evidence and commentary on the ABC. Primary staff have also been involved and we are ready to receive the team of inspectors. No doubt Mr Keslake will speak more about this. In my short time here, I have been very impressed with ABC and I’m sure CIS will also be very impressed!

As part of our policy of supporting teachers become even better teachers we have started our Learning Appraisals. This means teachers are asked to reflect on what they want to do better, set a goal and work throughout the year to achieve that goal. Also, the senior Management team undergo observations in which we see a lesson and evaluate the lesson against professional standards. After the observation we meet with the teacher to give feedback and consider next steps for development. This process is important for teachers to reflect on their practice, identify areas of strength and areas to work on so your child/children receive quality learning in a safe, challenging and engaging way.

Tomorrow (Saturday), we have our next open morning. This is a great time to get to know all of our future Bulldogs and their parents! They will have a chance to meet our teachers and community members and get to experience true child centered facilities first hand.

This year the Teleton will be Friday 14th and Saturday 15th December. We will have 3 non-uniform days in which the children will have the opportunity to wear their Teleton t-shirt.

Friday 30th November,

Friday 7th December, and

Friday 14th December

T-shirts are $6.00. We also have available bracelets for $1.00. All the money collected will contribute to this worthy cause.

Next week is British week. The week will end with a wonderful Guy Fawkes evening. There will be entertainment, food and fireworks. There will also be some stalls selling items that could make great Christmas presents. There are Sparklers for sale. Children must be supervised by an adult at all times as the spent wires can be very hot and they need to be disposed of correctly in the sand bins. We all enjoy this school tradition and we look forward to seeing you there.

As part of our Life Skills curriculum, COESAL (Centro de Orientación para la Sexualidad en El Salvador) next week we will begin a set of lectures for our 5th grade students and their parents. These lectures will cover topics related to physical and emotional changes that the body undergoes during adolescence. 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. 

5th grade new IPC unit

This week Grade 5 had their entry point for their new unit ‘Investigators’. The staff had carefully planned a crime scene and the students became the detectives investigating what had happened. They looked for clues and evaluated their significance. All of the students participated really well and some were very creative in their ideas about what had happened.

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 in the local stadium.

First Grade Turtle Release

Today, First Grade went on an academic trip to release turtles at Costa del Sol. This field trip will enable our children to develop the international and geographic objectives of our IPC unit “The Earth-our home”. At the same time we will be reinforcing the values we have been working on- Global, Respect and being a Team Player. Teachers will be sharing photos for your enjoyment.

Dates for your diary

Lower Primary

November

Friday 16th: Kinder Suárez assembly - 7:40am - PAC

Friday 16th: Pre-Kinder trip to Tin Marin Museum

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

November

Wednesday 14th - 3rd Segovia Assembly - 8:15am & 12:20pm - PAC

Wednesday 14th - COESAL Lecture for Parents (1st Session) - 7:30am - Lecture Theatre (parents only)

Friday 16th - Last day to send $2 for Teatro Hamlet Presentation on Monday 19th November.

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

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

Wednesday 21st - COESAL Lecture (2nd Session) - 7:30am - (Mother-daughter/Seminar Room Jubilee Library and father-son/Lecture Theatre)

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

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

Wednesday 28th - COESAL Lecture (3rd Session) - 7:30am - (students only)

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

Words from the Deputy Head of Secondary

I have been asked to write the Weekly this week due to the absence of Miss Caceres who is attending a training conference on student wellbeing and safeguarding. This is a perfect opportunity to let you know about the work we do as teachers and leaders at the ABC to continually improve our practice and skills. At the ABC we fully endorse the idea of ourselves as lifelong learners. We are never the finished product, and should always seek ways to improve our knowledge and skills as educators.

There are many examples of this professional development taking place at the ABC but I wanted to highlight a few:

Since August, three of our teaching staff have been taking part in the internationally recognised Olevi professional development programme. The program is led by our staff in school and participants have benefitted from the opportunity to discuss teaching strategies and observe colleagues in order to help them to be even better teachers. We are grateful to the members of our staff who have opened their classrooms to us for this purpose.

We have also developed a bespoke training program for staff in middle leadership positions at the ABC, such as heads of department and heads of year, and staff who are aspiring to have these roles. Seven staff completed the Middle Leaders Development Program and our second cohort is currently completing the program. Colleagues work collaboratively to explore leadership theory and reflect on how it can be applied to their current role. They learn how to develop their teams and drive improvement in their areas of the school, and how to deal with the challenges one faces as a leader. We hope that ‘growing our own’ leaders among the staff will help us continue to improve the educational experience for students across the school.

Finally on Wednesday, teachers in Secondary received training on literacy and second language teaching from Mr Jenkins. The central goal of the ABC is to develop a strong level of critical literacy amongst students in order to help them think, explore, organise, evaluate, reconstruct and communicate effectively both verbally and in their reading and writing. 

I am grateful to Mr Jenkins, Miss Brown and the other colleagues who have supported or participated in professional development at the ABC this week. 

The students have also been working hard this week and you can find out about some of their work below. I wish you and your families a restful weekend.

Adrian Hall - Deputy Head of Secondary

CAL 1 Reports - Grade 10 and 12

Today we published the CAL 1 Reports for Grade 10 and 12. These are now available for parents and students to view on the parent and student iSAMS portals. If you have not signed up to the iSAMS parent portal to view student reports and other useful information, please ensure you do so using this link: iSAMS and iParent App account request. You will then receive instructions from our IT team about your account. 

IGCSE and IB Information Meetings

Thank you to the students and parents of Grades 9 and 11 who came to our information mornings this week. We hope you found it a valuable experience and were able to get a better understanding of the IGCSE and IB courses your son/daughters have recently embarked upon. Your support is crucial in ensuring their success and we are grateful for your time and commitment.

Outlines of the presentations can be found here:

Grade 9 IGCSE

Grade 11 IB Diploma Programme

Sports Day 2019

It’s less than two weeks until the 2019 Secondary Sports Day. After the success of the event last year, we are excited to be returning to the Flor Blanco Stadium on Wednesday 21st November for a celebration of our athletic talents and sportsmanship. The information has been sent to parents by email, and you can find a copy here.

A few important things to note:

All students must arrive at school for a 9.30am start. We ask that parents drop students in the rear entrance as the buses may be using the front. Students are not allowed to go directly to the stadium.

Students will be brought back to school by bus at approximately 3.30pm and can be collected from school at approximately 4.30 - 5.00pm.

If you wish to collect your child from the stadium, you MUST complete a reply slip and inform us by Wednesday 14th November. If we do not receive a reply by that point, your son/daughter will have to return to school with the rest of the students.

If you are collecting your son/daughter, you must arrive in the stadium by 3pm.

We encourage you all to come along and support our students for part or all of the day. Here is a little taste of what you can expect!. The Sports Day will also be streamed live on this link which can also be found on the ABC website.

Grade 11 Careers Day

Grade 11 had their Careers Day on Thursday November 8th. Our students were able to explore a wide range of careers by attending presentations by various professionals. Some of the chosen careers included: Business and Economics, Veterinary, Medicine, Fine Arts, Political Science and Law among others. They finished the day with a presentation by Lic. Vanessa Calderon,a certified Life Coach and Educator, who presented our students with key skills that will put them at an advantage when joining the world of work. 

Grade 8 World War I monuments project

Sunday marks 100 years since the guns fell silent in Belgium and France and the First World War came to an end. In all, more than 20 million young men died in the fighting. The war devastated most of Europe, shattered three great empires and was followed by a global flu pandemic which killed nearly 100 million more people around the world, many of whom had been weakened by years of hunger caused by the conflict. 

The suffering had been so awful that it became known as ‘the war to end all wars’. Unfortunately, that proved a forlorn hope, as another global war erupted less than 20 years later. As we continue to search for a better alternative to violent conflict, we continue to remember those who gave their lives in this conflict, and in others since. In Britain and many other countries, a poppy is worn to commemorate the lost generation of sportsmen, poets and artists who left home to fight for their country and never returned home. 

Students in Grade 8 have been learning about how we commemorate the past through monuments, statues and memorials. The have spent time researching some of the memorials in El Salvador and elsewhere in the world, and have completed a project to design their own memorial to commemorate an aspect of World War I. Using the Makerspace resources in the LRC, the students created some fantastic models. These will be on display all next week during British week.

Conferencia Bibliotecas Públicas 2018

Today a group of our student makers and librarians had the great honour of presenting at the Public Library Conference, which is taking place at the National Theatre in downtown San Salvador this week. They did a magnificent job and were outstanding ambassadors for the ABC.

You can read more about the visit on their blog.

Dates for your diary

November

Week of 12th - 16th- British Week 

Tuesday 13th - Parent Partnership Cineforum - All Secondary Parents - 6pm - PAC 

Thursday 15th- Grade 7 Empowerment trip to Ataco

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- 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 20th- Teletón Jeans day