Changing the World
I am in education to change the world. I have said it before in Board meetings and assemblies and I’ve written it in my message on the school’s website (actually, I am in education because I failed to make the grade as a professional footballer but that’s a story for another week!). Perhaps because I am a bit of a slow learner, it took me some time to realize that my vocation gives me the chance to make the world a better place. However, having finally realized it, I am now wholeheartedly and unashamedly committed to that aim, however lofty and romantic it may be. I am sure though, that there may be some in our community who cringe at my gaucheness, roll their eyes at my naivete or even question my integrity when I make this assertion so let me try to explain…..
….think for a moment of all the people you have ever interacted with throughout your life to date…..friends….family members….acquaintances……of course these will be first to mind. But now go a little further and think of all the strangers you interacted with just briefly….someone you held a door for…a waiter who served you….a taxi driver who drove you….a neighbour on a train or aeroplane….would it surprise you if I told you that it is thought that one person meets around 80,000 people in his or her lifetime?
You know, we can make a child better at spelling or trigonometry or improve her ability to understand Boyle’s law, deploy fronted adverbials or use the pluperfect tense…but in doing so, it is unlikely that we will be changing the world. The world will probably not be a better place because a child is a better mathematician, physicist or geographer. But if we can make a child a better person then we will change the world. Think now of all of the encounters that our children will have with people throughout their lives. It is almost impossible to grasp the amount of good that can come of them getting these interactions and relationships right.
Throughout the week ahead, I want to challenge us all to try to grasp and cherish our one-to-one moments with children. If we can use just one of them to help a child to be:
· More generous
· More thoughtful
· More forgiving
· More courageous
· More tolerant
….then we will be changing the world!
Have a lovely weekend everyone…
From the Head of Primary
Like a lot of people, ABC is very concerned about what is happening to our environment. The main concern is the amount of plastics going into the waterways, lakes and the sea. Scientists predict that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. By 2050 all the children currently at ABC will be adults and probably will have their own family, so this serious issue is going to affect them greatly.
Our students are very aware of this issue and are very keen to Think Globally and act locally! This means all of us need to act now!! We have students who have strong opinions about the issue and also have some solutions. How can make sure all at ABC aware of the problem and to ensure EVERYONE does their bit to reduce plastic pollution? Some classes have decided to take action by picking up rubbish left by their fellow students. There are now signs around Santa Tecla urging everyone to be responsible for their rubbish. In a number of countries including Panama and New Zealand, plastic bags have been banned. People are finding more environmentally friendly ways to reduce the plastic disaster in our World. What will you do?
3-Way Conferences
The Upper Primary parent conferences will be underway very shortly. You will soon receive an invitation letter to help you book your appointment. These conferences will take place on October 14th - 25th. Please note that due to these conferences, all Upper Primary Catholic Club and Caminando con Jesus sessions will be cancelled during those 2 weeks.
Children’s Day
All our primary students enjoyed a fun ‘Children’s Day’ celebration in school on Tuesday. Children watched a hilarious show by our favourite clown ‘Fransortes’. Lower Primary were delighted by the cards and letters they received from their parents. Everyone involved in organising the day did a wonderful job.
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
October
Monday 7th - Extracurricular activities - 2nd session starts
Monday 7th - Prepa McNeil & Prepa Isley Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Tuesday 8th - Prepa Chadwick & Prepa Gordon Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Friday 11th - Prepa Chadwick assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Saturday 12th - 1st. grade Curriculum Morning - 7:30am
Wednesday 16th - Prepa McNeil & Prepa Isley Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Thursday 17th - Prepa Chadwick & Prepa Gordon Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Friday 18th - Prepa McNeil assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Monday 21st - Send t-shirt for Colour Run activity
Friday 25th - Prepa Isley assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 25th - Students can wear their own Colour Run T-shirt for a donation
Monday 28th to Friday 1st November - Half term holidays
Upper Primary
October
Monday 7th - Session 2 starts
Wednesday 9th - 2nd Pineda Assembly- 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
Monday 14th - 3 Way Conferences Start (until Fri 25th)
Wednesday 16th - 5th Hernández Assembly- 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
Wednesday 16th - Extracurricular Religion Suspended (due to 3 Way Conferences).
Wednesday 23rd - 4th Quijano Assembly- 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
Wednesday 23rd - Extracurricular Religion Suspended (due to 3 Way Conferences).
Thursday 24th - Latin Music Night - 6:30pm - PAC
Friday 25th - Save the Children Colour Run
Friday 25th - Last Day of 3 Way Conferences
Monday 28th - Half Term Break (no school from Mon 28th Oct - Fri 1st Nov)
November
Monday 4th - Back to School
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Counting with Tiny Cat by Viviane Schwarz
From the first page you can sense that this is not a conventional counting book. On the right hand page squats a cat with an aghast expression while on the opposite page the word NONE stands in stark solemnity. On the next few pages, an increasing number of red balls of wool appear for Tiny Cat to juggle and play with. However, the exact numbers soon cease as the quantities rise rapidly and are replaced by terms that encourage discussion about mathematical concepts around capacity in a light-hearted way.
Effective use of white space is made in the simple pictures, which show only splashes of bright colour of the red balls of wool. This allows for focus on Tiny Cat who is clearly having lots of fun. He can be found engaging in other playful activities in the drawings which are sketched in black on a red background on the endpapers.
From the Head of Secondary
Dear parents and carers,
As you know this month we celebrate Cancer Awareness month. Our ROCs have been busy organising educational campaigns and activities to establish a dialogue about this important topic among our student body. We held a Cancer awareness month- Jeans week and I am so pleased to report on the strong support from our students and staff.
Raising awareness is a great thing! There are three things we all need to focus on: Cancer prevention, early detection and the impact of heredity on cancer risk.
At the ABC, we are convinced of the power young people have to make change and build a better world! We believe in “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally.” This month we are striving to work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular #3 of “Good health and wellbeing.” All of these efforts will culminate in our Colour Run on the 25th of October. Do not forget to order your kit before the 10th of October!
JEANS DAY WEEK
I am happy to share the money raised by our secondary students and what they will be going to in order to help those less fortunate than ourselves and who face this difficult situation in their lives.
Tuesday- $229 was raised for “Fundación Ayúdame a Vivir” pro children with leukemia. Our Colour Run will also go to helping these children so please do support it!
Wednesday- $268.80 ;
Like a lot of people, ABC is very concerned about what is happening to our environment. The main concern is the amount of plastics going into the waterways, lakes and the sea. Scientists predict that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. By 2050 all the children currently at ABC will be adults and probably will have their own family, so this serious issue is going to affect them greatly.
Our students are very aware of this issue and are very keen to Think Globally and act locally! This means all of us need to act now!! We have students who have strong opinions about the issue and also have some solutions. How can make sure all at ABC aware of the problem and to ensure EVERYONE does their bit to reduce plastic pollution? Some classes have decided to take action by picking up rubbish left by their fellow students. There are now signs around Santa Tecla urging everyone to be responsible for their rubbish. In a number of countries including Panama and New Zealand, plastic bags have been banned. People are finding more environmentally friendly ways to reduce the plastic disaster in our World. What will you do?
3-Way Conferences
The Upper Primary parent conferences will be underway very shortly. You will soon receive an invitation letter to help you book your appointment. These conferences will take place on October 14th - 25th. Please note that due to these conferences, all Upper Primary Catholic Club and Caminando con Jesus sessions will be cancelled during those 2 weeks.
Children’s Day
All our primary students enjoyed a fun ‘Children’s Day’ celebration in school on Tuesday. Children watched a hilarious show by our favourite clown ‘Fransortes’. Lower Primary were delighted by the cards and letters they received from their parents. Everyone involved in organising the day did a wonderful job.
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
October
Monday 7th - Extracurricular activities - 2nd session starts
Monday 7th - Prepa McNeil & Prepa Isley Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Tuesday 8th - Prepa Chadwick & Prepa Gordon Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Friday 11th - Prepa Chadwick assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Saturday 12th - 1st. grade Curriculum Morning - 7:30am
Wednesday 16th - Prepa McNeil & Prepa Isley Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Thursday 17th - Prepa Chadwick & Prepa Gordon Curriculum morning - 7:30-8:30am
Friday 18th - Prepa McNeil assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Monday 21st - Send t-shirt for Colour Run activity
Friday 25th - Prepa Isley assembly - 7:30am - PAC
Friday 25th - Students can wear their own Colour Run T-shirt for a donation
Monday 28th to Friday 1st November - Half term holidays
Upper Primary
October
Monday 7th - Session 2 starts
Wednesday 9th - 2nd Pineda Assembly- 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
Monday 14th - 3 Way Conferences Start (until Fri 25th)
Wednesday 16th - 5th Hernández Assembly- 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
Wednesday 16th - Extracurricular Religion Suspended (due to 3 Way Conferences).
Wednesday 23rd - 4th Quijano Assembly- 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
Wednesday 23rd - Extracurricular Religion Suspended (due to 3 Way Conferences).
Thursday 24th - Latin Music Night - 6:30pm - PAC
Friday 25th - Save the Children Colour Run
Friday 25th - Last Day of 3 Way Conferences
Monday 28th - Half Term Break (no school from Mon 28th Oct - Fri 1st Nov)
November
Monday 4th - Back to School
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Counting with Tiny Cat by Viviane Schwarz
From the first page you can sense that this is not a conventional counting book. On the right hand page squats a cat with an aghast expression while on the opposite page the word NONE stands in stark solemnity. On the next few pages, an increasing number of red balls of wool appear for Tiny Cat to juggle and play with. However, the exact numbers soon cease as the quantities rise rapidly and are replaced by terms that encourage discussion about mathematical concepts around capacity in a light-hearted way.
Effective use of white space is made in the simple pictures, which show only splashes of bright colour of the red balls of wool. This allows for focus on Tiny Cat who is clearly having lots of fun. He can be found engaging in other playful activities in the drawings which are sketched in black on a red background on the endpapers.
From the Head of Secondary
Dear parents and carers,
As you know this month we celebrate Cancer Awareness month. Our ROCs have been busy organising educational campaigns and activities to establish a dialogue about this important topic among our student body. We held a Cancer awareness month- Jeans week and I am so pleased to report on the strong support from our students and staff.
Raising awareness is a great thing! There are three things we all need to focus on: Cancer prevention, early detection and the impact of heredity on cancer risk.
At the ABC, we are convinced of the power young people have to make change and build a better world! We believe in “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally.” This month we are striving to work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular #3 of “Good health and wellbeing.” All of these efforts will culminate in our Colour Run on the 25th of October. Do not forget to order your kit before the 10th of October!
JEANS DAY WEEK
I am happy to share the money raised by our secondary students and what they will be going to in order to help those less fortunate than ourselves and who face this difficult situation in their lives.
Tuesday- $229 was raised for “Fundación Ayúdame a Vivir” pro children with leukemia. Our Colour Run will also go to helping these children so please do support it!
Wednesday- $268.80 ;
Thursday $285.65
Friday $ 290 was raised for “Actuar es Vivir” A campaign started by Gabriela López in G10 and all proceeds will go to a health clinic which offers free mammograms and healthcare to women.
Thank you all!
KS3 Student Ambassadors
Ms. Chávez
Pastoral Coordinator
This programme was created three years ago and each year it has become more popular among our students. This position is open to all Grade 6 to 8 students and it is a great opportunity for them to volunteer and promote success in and outside of the classroom. Key requirements to become an Ambassador is to have an excellent record of attendance and punctuality as well as behaviour. As Student Ambassadors, we want our students to develop a wide range of skills and be involved in many activities where they will demonstrate their responsibility, so they will be working with the STUCO body and the prefects in school campaigns, charities, leading assemblies and more.
Congratulations Student Ambassador Team 2019/20!
CIMAT fair- 19th of October: 9:00am- 5:00pm
We are very proud of our students who have worked tirelessly, with the support of their parents, to put together “CIMAT” fair at a national level. A huge thank you to our ICT/ LRC team who have tried to mentor our students with their experience of our own ABC STEAMFEST and we are so happy to see how our students have taken off!
We invite all of you to attend and see for yourselves this great event and furthermore, please speak with your children to see if they have submitted a project! It is a wonderful opportunity to show off their skills and creativity!
Best of luck CIMAT team and see you there!
Our Copa Bulldogs is underway with three exciting matches this week! It is wonderful to see our students gather at lunchtime to watch and support their peers in these friendly competitions. It is always great to see students from different year groups work and play together in a spirit of fair play and we look forward to the games ahead! On a less positive note, it is really very sad to see that once the match is over, our students are quite happy to simply stand up and leave their food remains, rubbish, plastic bags and bottles simply on the bleachers. Especially sad is to see the number of dirty cafeteria plates which are also just left behind for someone else to pick up.
It got me thinking about how we need to work together, school and home, to teach our youngsters accountability. Something every successful adult knows is key in adult life.
How do we start to teach accountability at home? How we do try to teach it at school? Do we have expectations from our children to be responsible for their own waking up in the morning? Packing their school bags? Bringing in all their equipment? Do we have tasks at home that rely on them to ensure they are done? Do they have any household chores? Perhaps we are torn between our nurturing instinct to try to protect and help them and our desire to raise independent adults? It strikes me that we do our children a huge disservice when we do things for them that they are perfectly capable of doing themselves; like picking up their rubbish or taking their plates to the kitchen! We send them the message that they aren’t capable—so why should they try? Furthermore, we sow the seed of entitlement into our children who then will expect to be pampered and indulged—not exactly what we want for our children's future success! Which is what we all want: for our children to be successful in their lives.
Do we talk to our children regarding what it takes to be successful? What does Success depend on? Do we remind them that success or failure is up to them? Their actions, their choices, their behaviour? In a nut-shell, they are accountable to themselves! At the heart of it, what we want is for them to act responsibly and be “ROC”s. But Responsibility is not something you do—it’s a way of thinking and being. When you’re truly responsible, you are accountable for your actions. I encourage you to talk with your children about their accountability. What do they do every day which is taking them to enjoy the success they are after? How accountable are they to themselves? Let’s empower our children to be self-accountable and own their success and on the way, demonstrate their responsibility to themselves, their school and their world.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Kind regards,
Have a wonderful weekend.
Kind regards,
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Head of Secondary school
Dates for your Agenda
October
Head of Secondary school
Dates for your Agenda
October
Tuesday 8th - Interested Parents for Grade 8 Washington trip information evening - 4pm ABC Lecture Theatre
Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th - Grade 12 PAES Examinations
Tuesday 15th - Parent Partnership G12 (with children) - 7am PAC
Wednesday 16th - Grade 11 students visiting HOPAC - from 11:30am to 3pm
Tuesday 22nd - Grade 10 and 12 Parent Teacher Meetings - 4pm, Auditorium
Thursday 24th - Latin Night, all Parents and ABC community are invited - $4 per person or a table of 6 for $20 - 6:30pm, PAC
Friday 25th - Colour Run event
Monday 28th to Friday 1st November - End of First Term holidays
Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th - Grade 12 PAES Examinations
Tuesday 15th - Parent Partnership G12 (with children) - 7am PAC
Wednesday 16th - Grade 11 students visiting HOPAC - from 11:30am to 3pm
Tuesday 22nd - Grade 10 and 12 Parent Teacher Meetings - 4pm, Auditorium
Thursday 24th - Latin Night, all Parents and ABC community are invited - $4 per person or a table of 6 for $20 - 6:30pm, PAC
Friday 25th - Colour Run event
Monday 28th to Friday 1st November - End of First Term holidays
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