From the Director
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of our community as a legal entity. There will be a small virtual celebration to recognise the wisdom, courage and foresight of those who founded our school at which they will each be presented with a special sculpture of an ant. An individual ant is a small and relatively insignificant creature but through effective communication, cooperation and collaboration together they can achieve amazing things. There’s a lesson in that somewhere...
The first students entered our school in February of 1971 and we are already brainstorming ideas for how we can celebrate this (do pass yours on if you have any). In the meantime, like the British monarch, we have two birthdays so, for now, let’s just say, ”Happy Birthday to us!!”
Here’s to the next 50 years!
Have a great weekend!
Stephen Lang
Director
From the Head of Primary
Library Collection Service - Now Open!
We are pleased to announce that the Library will begin lending physical copies of books. Books can be reserved through the Jubilee Library System, using the Hold It option. The librarians will closely monitor the holds each week. Please contact the school librarians if you need help logging in. You may check out up to 8 books for a 1 month period and you will be able to renew these books for one month more, if needed.
When you place a hold on a book it will be processed as soon as it is available. You will then be contacted by a librarian via email, to confirm it is ready for pickup (the book will not be ready until you receive a confirmation email from the librarian. Please ignore the automatic message in the system which says the book is ready for collection). The book/s will then be available for pickup for a total of 7 days.
Lower Primary Parents can email Ms Isa directly if you would like her to choose a selection of 8 age-appropriate books for you. We will soon be adding more levelled reading books to the library collection, to better enable you to choose a book at the right instructional reading level.
Safety First
The ABC is dedicated to keeping our community safe. Please be aware that books which are to be picked up and those that are returned, are committed to a strict book quarantine and disinfection regiment, by our librarians who have followed all of the required biosecurity normatives.
Book Pickup
Pickup will take place at the Administration entrance. You will need to park the car and go in person to the Administration reception area. The book bags can be collected from the pickup table in this location. Book Bags will be labelled with the name of the student, grade, and the date the confirmation email was sent.
Book Drop-Off
You can drop off books in the big boxes in the admin carpark. You can also drop-off English and Spanish homework reading books, or the book that you received in the gift bag if you are finished with them. Please do not put the book in a plastic bag. Non-library books can be labelled by placing a note inside the front cover of the book.
Contacts:
Ms Isa Aparicio - Lower Primary
Ms Susie Gavidia - Upper Primary
Subscription of the Week: 5-A-Day Fitness
5-a-day Fitness is the ultimate fun fitness resource for primary students. Increase daily physical activity with online 5‑minute exercise routines, and 2‑minute chill-out routines. Many of the resources are also available in French and Spanish. Simply watch, join in, have fun, get fit and learn!
Marianne Taylor
Head of Primary
ABC Parent Username: FEBS
ABC Parent Password: VaI0rLrc
Dates for your diary
PRIMARY
November
Monday 2nd to Friday 6th: Half Term holidays
December
Friday 18th:last day of term
From the Secondary School Leadership Team
Staff have been writing a number of university reference letters recently, many of them directed towards the US. I first wrote reference letters for US universities in 2010. The style felt alien to a Brit who’d been trained in a particular type of formality. Regardless of whether they are subject or counsellor references, letters supporting student applications to the US are anecdotal celebrations of achievement, qualities and skills. As a referee this means we need to: pinpoint moments that evidence growth; moments that demonstrate initiative; moments of care and consideration for others or the community; moments when students chose to stand out amongst the crowd, whether by testing new ideas in class, standing up for a cause or initiating a project. And of course, we also need to comment on academics.
In short - these references provide a perfect time for reflection.
I’ve worked with The Class of 2021 since they were in Grade 8. This is our fifth year working together. It’s been impressive looking back. What really struck me was the way so many students have transferred skills across all aspects of school life and beyond. We have sports team members who commit to grueling training schedules and apply themselves with exactly the same dedication to class activities and assignments. Student Council representatives embody what it means to be a ROC whilst innovating and developing a student government for future generations. The list of achievements is impressive: documentary making, entrepreneurship, collecting for charities, helping businesses during the pandemic, setting up CIMAT and much more. The common denominator is that all these students are focused on their journey. They demonstrate the same willingness to go the extra mile in class, to confront a challenge and to open themselves up to the possibility of making mistakes and learning from them. These achievements are the things that make universities sit up and take notice. They’re also the things that are often easy to overlook or forget to ask about. I’ve genuinely enjoyed looking back over the numerous reasons G12s have to be celebrating their time at the ABC and their dedication to preparing for their time beyond school; I fully encourage you to spend some time listening to your sons and daughters achievements over the course of the past week or two and then hearing how they plan to build on these successes.
Self regulation and growth clearly play a central role in these success stories which is part reason why self-regulation and growth in the Digital World was the theme of our secondary parent partnership, hosted by the LSU and Ms Chavez on Wednesday. They discussed how to support students and ourselves in managing a digital world, and how to use the opportunity of online learning to develop skills that will create resilient, goal-oriented individuals who can self-start and self-manage their way towards success and wellbeing.
During the meeting they promised to share some of the apps that can help manage time in your digital devices (beware some are for android and some are for IOS and may not be available for all devices or for El Salvador):
Also we would like to share a website that will help you review if the media content you are using is appropriate: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
Thank you to the parents who attended and for those who couldn’t the ppt is here. Hope to see you again in the next parent partnership.
An event for G6 parents’ diaries:
G6 Parents Coffee morning on Tuesday 27th Oct. Look out for Ms Monge’s email. The event will update parents on how G6 are settling in and prepare them for the next steps e.g. homework expectations, policies that will begin to apply over the coming months
A reminder:
Please read the email regarding camera use in lessons
And a message regarding Fundación Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos El Salvador:
For more information please go to: www.nph-elsalvador.org or follow us on facebook.com/nphelsalvador
Have a lovely weekend,
Colin Hogan Assistant - Headteacher IB Years
Dates for your diary
SECONDARY
October
Tuesday 27th - G6 Parent Coffee Morning
November
Monday 2nd to Friday 6th - Half Term holidays
Monday 9th - back to Distance Learning lessons
Monday 9th to Friday 13th - British Week
Thursday 12th - Grade 10 Learning Review Day
Monday 16th to Friday 20th - Grade 12 English Oral exams
Friday 20th - World Children's Day
December
Thursday 3rd - Grade 11/12 Learning Review Day
Monday 7th - Real Spanish Oral IB Exam
Tuesday 8th - Grade 9 Learning Review Day
Friday 18th - Last Day of Term
Monday 21st - Christmas holidays start
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