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.