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:
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.
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
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