Those of you who have passed through our Reception area recently have hopefully seen our new Mission Statement, of which much more in due course! Suffice to say, it is pretty ambitious. And why shouldn’t it be? 58 years ago on Monday a 43 year old New Englander was inaugurated into the highest office in the United States; here is what he had to say:
“Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens:
We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning -- signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge -- and more……
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation,"² a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.”
John F. Kennedy
From the Head of Primary
Spring Fair- A reminder that the Spring Fair is tomorrow morning, starting at 9 am. All our wonderful children and staff have been busy preparing for this great event. See you there!!
Arctic Days- Sometimes in this lovely tropical climate, we have a cold morning or two. On these occasions, the Senior Management team(Director, Head of Secondary, Head of Primary) decide whether or not to call an Artic Day. We do try and make the decision before 6 am. When an Artic Day is called the children can wear their own warm clothes. They are not expected to wear rainbow or bright colours, logos or pictures on their clothes. Everything should be plain and dark in colour. We do have jogging bottoms in the school shop and also the school ‘hoodies.’ We would prefer students to be wearing these and so if you haven’t got these already perhaps you should get them as they will be handy to have around.
Safety First- In school, we try hard to be prepared for any emergency by having regular evacuation practices. It is great to see our children behave responsibly and are doing the right things! We hope we never have to test ourselves in a real emergency but it is good to know we are organised if such an event should occur. We also practise lockdown procedures in the very unlikely event that an undesirable person has come onto the campus. We are able to shut off the inner campus completely and teachers move the children out of sight, lock the classrooms and switch the lights off. This gives the appearance that no-one is there. Once again we do not expect to need this procedure but we are prepared for any eventuality.
Book of the Week
Small in the City by Sydney Smith
The winter cityscape as the snow falls increasingly fast and furiously is beautifully evoked in the pictures as a child traverses the urban environment, interpreting it from their own perspective. The understanding that the child is searching for a diminutive companion who may be lost and vulnerable in the city is slowly and subtly revealed. A sensitive and beautiful picturebook from the illustrator of the award-winning Town Is by the Sea .
Dates for your diary
From the Head of Primary
Spring Fair- A reminder that the Spring Fair is tomorrow morning, starting at 9 am. All our wonderful children and staff have been busy preparing for this great event. See you there!!
Arctic Days- Sometimes in this lovely tropical climate, we have a cold morning or two. On these occasions, the Senior Management team(Director, Head of Secondary, Head of Primary) decide whether or not to call an Artic Day. We do try and make the decision before 6 am. When an Artic Day is called the children can wear their own warm clothes. They are not expected to wear rainbow or bright colours, logos or pictures on their clothes. Everything should be plain and dark in colour. We do have jogging bottoms in the school shop and also the school ‘hoodies.’ We would prefer students to be wearing these and so if you haven’t got these already perhaps you should get them as they will be handy to have around.
Safety First- In school, we try hard to be prepared for any emergency by having regular evacuation practices. It is great to see our children behave responsibly and are doing the right things! We hope we never have to test ourselves in a real emergency but it is good to know we are organised if such an event should occur. We also practise lockdown procedures in the very unlikely event that an undesirable person has come onto the campus. We are able to shut off the inner campus completely and teachers move the children out of sight, lock the classrooms and switch the lights off. This gives the appearance that no-one is there. Once again we do not expect to need this procedure but we are prepared for any eventuality.
Book of the Week
Small in the City by Sydney Smith
The winter cityscape as the snow falls increasingly fast and furiously is beautifully evoked in the pictures as a child traverses the urban environment, interpreting it from their own perspective. The understanding that the child is searching for a diminutive companion who may be lost and vulnerable in the city is slowly and subtly revealed. A sensitive and beautiful picturebook from the illustrator of the award-winning Town Is by the Sea .
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
January
Saturday 18th - Spring Fair
Upper Primary
January
Saturday 18th - International Friendship Fair - 7:30pm - 12:00pm
Wednesday 22nd - 5th Navas Assembly - 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
From the Head of Secondary
Dear parents and carers,
At the start of a year, it is always good to take a moment to reflect upon the past and future. What do we want to achieve in this new year? What would we like an opportunity to change or improve in? What do we want people to say about us? How do we define ourselves? What are we proud about? What impact do we want to create in the world and others? This week we have had to, unfortunately, deal with some issues regarding attitudes and lack of respect to others and I wanted to take this opportunity to include a topic which I encourage you to discuss at home. Discuss your family’s views regarding this topic and reflect on how we teach our children to “be the change they want to see in the world.” It is also important to help our children to reflect upon the blessing and privilege they have in attending an international school where we have the opportunities to learn from people from all cultures, creeds, races, ethnicities and truly understand what it means to be a global citizen. The respect and value of all human beings and the true belief in equal rights and equal responsibilities is in our core values as a community.
PARENT PARTNERSHIP- 4th February, 6.00 pm PAC
Please make a note in your agendas for next Tuesday 4th of February at 6.00 pm in the PAC for our PARENT PARTNERSHIP which will be focused around the impact of technology in your people’s social skills, specifically the dependency of teenagers on mobile devices and social media. We work very hard at putting together these events and opportunities for you to get together and discuss issues of significance to our children’s healthy lifestyle choices and we truly hope you can take some time in your busy schedules to join us.
Class of 2021 - Group 4 projects
For the past few days, students have been working on their Group 4 projects. This involved working with students from different science groups on a scientific investigation. The topic this year was based on their IB ATL thinking skills, with the title ¨Rethink¨. Students have come up with creative research and experimental ideas, some exploring and re-thinking current scientific experiments and others re-thinking the way we are tackling science on a global scale, for example, wildfires. Research ideas have been planned, presented and evaluated, and students have demonstrated great enthusiasm and reflection throughout the process. Well done G11s!
January
Saturday 18th - Spring Fair
Upper Primary
January
Saturday 18th - International Friendship Fair - 7:30pm - 12:00pm
Wednesday 22nd - 5th Navas Assembly - 8:15am & 10:55am - PAC
From the Head of Secondary
Dear parents and carers,
At the start of a year, it is always good to take a moment to reflect upon the past and future. What do we want to achieve in this new year? What would we like an opportunity to change or improve in? What do we want people to say about us? How do we define ourselves? What are we proud about? What impact do we want to create in the world and others? This week we have had to, unfortunately, deal with some issues regarding attitudes and lack of respect to others and I wanted to take this opportunity to include a topic which I encourage you to discuss at home. Discuss your family’s views regarding this topic and reflect on how we teach our children to “be the change they want to see in the world.” It is also important to help our children to reflect upon the blessing and privilege they have in attending an international school where we have the opportunities to learn from people from all cultures, creeds, races, ethnicities and truly understand what it means to be a global citizen. The respect and value of all human beings and the true belief in equal rights and equal responsibilities is in our core values as a community.
PARENT PARTNERSHIP- 4th February, 6.00 pm PAC
Please make a note in your agendas for next Tuesday 4th of February at 6.00 pm in the PAC for our PARENT PARTNERSHIP which will be focused around the impact of technology in your people’s social skills, specifically the dependency of teenagers on mobile devices and social media. We work very hard at putting together these events and opportunities for you to get together and discuss issues of significance to our children’s healthy lifestyle choices and we truly hope you can take some time in your busy schedules to join us.
Class of 2021 - Group 4 projects
For the past few days, students have been working on their Group 4 projects. This involved working with students from different science groups on a scientific investigation. The topic this year was based on their IB ATL thinking skills, with the title ¨Rethink¨. Students have come up with creative research and experimental ideas, some exploring and re-thinking current scientific experiments and others re-thinking the way we are tackling science on a global scale, for example, wildfires. Research ideas have been planned, presented and evaluated, and students have demonstrated great enthusiasm and reflection throughout the process. Well done G11s!
Click on the link to see photos of these projects:
PHOTOS GROUP 4 PROJECT CLASS 2021
Finally, we would like to remind all the community about our standing with regards to VAPING.
Please read this poster carefully as this is the final warning against this behaviour. It is necessary to understand that we are serious about this topic and we refuse to give up on this as we are absolutely convinced of the harm it causes to young people. We truly hope all parents take a stand against this, including at home and parties, and you do not allow young teens to vape and cause harm to themselves.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Kind regards,
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Head of Secondary School
Dates for your diary
January 2020
Tuesday 21st to Friday 24th - Grades 7 and 8 Exams
Friday 31st - Grade 9 Geography Coursework Fieldtrip
Friday 31st and Saturday 1st February - Mathrelay and Mathcounts Central America, ABC Auditorium and Field, from 7am to 2:30pm
February
Tuesday 4th - Parent Partnership meeting No.2 - for Secondary
Friday 7th - Staff INSET Day - school closed for students
Monday 10th to Sunday 16th - ICT Silicon Valley Trip (TBC)
Tuesday 11th -Grade 11/12 Learning Review Day in LRC all day (by appointment)
Thursday 13th - 7th Grade - Parent Teachers meeting - 4:00pm, Auditorium
Thursday 13th and Friday 14th - Grade 8 Empowerment Days trip
Tuesday 18th - Grade 10 Learning Review Day, all day in LRC (by appointment)
Wednesday 19th - Grade 7 empowerment Day
Friday 21st - Grade 12 Family Day
Friday 21st to Sunday 1st March - Art trip to Europe
Monday 24th to Friday 28th - Half Term holidays, school closed
PHOTOS GROUP 4 PROJECT CLASS 2021
Finally, we would like to remind all the community about our standing with regards to VAPING.
Please read this poster carefully as this is the final warning against this behaviour. It is necessary to understand that we are serious about this topic and we refuse to give up on this as we are absolutely convinced of the harm it causes to young people. We truly hope all parents take a stand against this, including at home and parties, and you do not allow young teens to vape and cause harm to themselves.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Kind regards,
Natalia Cáceres Escalón
Head of Secondary School
Dates for your diary
January 2020
Tuesday 21st to Friday 24th - Grades 7 and 8 Exams
Friday 31st - Grade 9 Geography Coursework Fieldtrip
Friday 31st and Saturday 1st February - Mathrelay and Mathcounts Central America, ABC Auditorium and Field, from 7am to 2:30pm
February
Tuesday 4th - Parent Partnership meeting No.2 - for Secondary
Friday 7th - Staff INSET Day - school closed for students
Monday 10th to Sunday 16th - ICT Silicon Valley Trip (TBC)
Tuesday 11th -Grade 11/12 Learning Review Day in LRC all day (by appointment)
Thursday 13th - 7th Grade - Parent Teachers meeting - 4:00pm, Auditorium
Thursday 13th and Friday 14th - Grade 8 Empowerment Days trip
Tuesday 18th - Grade 10 Learning Review Day, all day in LRC (by appointment)
Wednesday 19th - Grade 7 empowerment Day
Friday 21st - Grade 12 Family Day
Friday 21st to Sunday 1st March - Art trip to Europe
Monday 24th to Friday 28th - Half Term holidays, school closed
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