From the Director
Dear ABC community,
Thank you so much to all of you who attended the online sessions on ‘’Building a curriculum for future-proof world-changers”, not only for finding the time in your busy schedules to join us but also for the open- hearts and minds you brought to the meeting and your support and encouragement at the end. EMBED LINK
For those of you not able to make it, or not directly affected at this stage, I am delighted to announce the really exciting news that in a week or so we will be submitting our application for authorisation to deliver the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the curriculum offer from the IBO for 11-16 year olds.
Even before taking up my role, I was slightly concerned that our curriculum, taken as a whole across the 3-19 age range, was a somewhat eclectic mix and may be lacking in cohesion and smooth progression. Deeper analysis on the ground confirmed this view and so, for several months now, the secondary leadership team (SSLT) has been working with a series of stakeholder groups (SMT, Board Academic Committee, Full Board, Consejo, Heads of Department, Staff and now Parents) to seek support for a move to the MYP, which has been generously given at each stage.
I am genuinely excited about this move and here are some of the reasons why:
We will now have a curriculum stretching across children’s whole journey at the ABC that shares the same educational philosophy and pedagogical approach being inquiry-based, cross-curricular, holistic, contextualised and internationally-minded
Our children will now be far better prepared for the IB Diploma than ever before- statistics show that, on average, students from MYP experience perform 2.17 points better at the Diploma than their counterparts from other curricula; statistics also show that MYP students are challenged to use higher order thinking skills demonstrably more frequently than children on other 11-16 curricula
The mission of the IBO (‘’....to create a better, more peaceful world….”) is perfectly aligned with our own and so this new curriculum will allow us to deliver on our values and produce great ROCs for more effectively than heretofore
We will be the only school in El Salvador delivering this prestigious and innovative curriculum further underlining our position at the head of the education market in the region.
I could wax lyrical about the further benefits of the MYP at considerable length so perhaps I had better finish here and instead recommend you to the recording of our presentation to parents which you can find on the secondary school parent portal.
I am really looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible next Friday for Resilience day. We already have literally hundreds of “resilience” photos from community members and plans for the day (there WILL be cake!) are now well-advanced.
In the meantime do have a lovely weekend and, as ever, stay safe.
Stephen Lang
Director
From the Head of Primary
Student Engagement Expectations
How engaged your child is during a virtual lesson directly impacts on their progress and level of achievement. We encourage all students to turn their cameras on and actively participate in the sessions. With this in mind we have begun to award tribal points to upper primary students who demonstrate good levels of engagement. We are using an app to collect the points called Class Dojo. Learn more about what we are doing from this short Class Dojo Video by Mr McNeil. At the moment we are not using the parent share function, but we hope to do this soon so that you can see how many tribal points your child has achieved. In the meantime please talk to your child about their engagement in lessons and ask them if they have earned any tribal points.
New Timetables and Google Meets
Thank you for your support and perseverance with the new timetables this week, we understand how disruptive this change may have been to your routines. However we really felt that it was important to improve our provision in light of the continued school closure. The difficulties some lower primary students have had entering sessions this week has been due to an update of the settings in the Google Meet app. Google Education tools are constantly being updated with new, helpful features, and this can occasionally cause some disruptions.
Celebrating our Artists
Here are two passionate artists who have been developing their skills in their own time.
Irma Chachagua, 3rd Grade
Benedicto Garcia, 3rd Grade
Marianne Taylor
Head of Primary
Dates for your Diary
PRIMARY
March
Monday 8th March - International Women's Day
Tuesday 9th March - Building a Curriculum for future-proof world changers - Grade 1 and 2 Parent meeting - 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm
Friday 12th - ABC Resilience Day (afternoon drive-thru event at school)
Tuesday 16th - Coffee with Primary Leadership Team (7:30 am - 8:30 am) LINK
Friday 26th - National Day of Life, Peace, and Justice
Friday 26th - Virtual “T-shirt Day”
Monday 29th- Friday 9th April - Easter Holiday
April
Monday 12th - School resumes after the Easter Holiday
Wednesday 28th - Virtual “T-shirt Day”
From the Head of Secondary
I hope you agree, we’ve held some well received and helpful Learning Review Days throughout our year of working online. It’s always good to converse with the teacher who your child checks in with every day and who offers a first point of contact for you throughout the year. Needless to say, the conversations are also invaluable to us; they are a great opportunity for us to develop a more holistic view of our students and really aid in reinforcing the fact that their ABC experience is a team effort between home and school.
However, we are conscious that it is always reassuring to have a time set aside for more traditional parent-teacher meetings. These moments allow a three way conversation wherein students can seek personalised advice about where they are now and how they can move forward in specific subjects.
With this in mind, I’m happy to be able to announce that we will be holding parent-teacher meetings between now and the end of the school year for Grades 6-11. Needless to say, the format will be a little different that you have traditionally experienced:
Meetings will be held online
Appointments will be 5-8 minutes
You are asked to book appointments with 5 teachers only (6 for G10). Apologies, this will make the event logistically possible.
Appointments will be available throughout school hours (7:50am-3:20pm)
Parents of our transition years, Grade 8 and Grade 10, will meet before the Easter break; other year groups will be notified closer to their allocated date.
Meanwhile, it’s useful to prepare for these meetings by getting into the right mindset. Think of these meetings as an opportunity not just to receive feedback but to also feed forward. During the meetings, students should have the chance to reflect on how they can fix past mistakes and receive tips to help them move forward: are step by step plans possible for example? Here are some tips which I know you know already but are always worth refreshing at time like this:
Have high expectations about your child’s ability to progress academically and discuss them together to help them work out how to reach their goals
Help your child respond constructively to disappointments and mistakes - these are all learning moments if they are discussed and your child has the opportunity to reflect on solutions
Praise but don’t overpraise - remember high expectations!
When you do praise, focus on the process and behaviour, not the results. This reinforces the benefits of working hard towards a goal and transfers to other tasks
And finally, a table about getting into the right mindset. Success is about building resilience and this is possible if we can convert difficulties and setbacks into challenges:
I hope you enjoy fruitful parent-teacher meetings.
Colin Hogan
Assistant Headteacher (IB Diploma Years)
ABC Secondary STEAM Fest is Coming!
This year STEAM Fest will work a little differently and take place online.
In preparation, the STEAM Team has prepared a great many challenges for students to look through and take part in. There are Grade Level SDG challenges, General Challenges and you can even Build your very own challenges using the guidance on our website. All entries are individual this year due to our special circumstances.
This year we will include a judging panel full of wonderful ABC teachers who will help determine which of our wonderful ABC Makers attain Bronze, Silver and Gold Level standards! The students whose projects are allocated the highest points by the judging panels will also be awarded a special prize.
Finally, we would like to issue a challenge to all Secondary ABC Students to design the STEAM Fest 2021 Logo and Slogan for the event. To be eligible, all entries for the Log/Slogan Competition must be sent to either Mrs. Garcia or Mrs. Serrano by March 15th.
Please check out the STEAM Fest 2021 Webpage and watch our Promotional Video for further details on how to join the STEAM Team of student Makers, for STEAM fest 2021.
CACT
For the fourth consecutive year the ABC, Colegio La Floresta y Lamatepec have joined efforts in order to host the Central American College Tour in El Salvador. This year we will be hosting the tour virtually and it includes almost 160 entities and universities from various countries.
You are welcome to join us on Tuesday March 16th from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Attendance is limited to 1500 students at a time, if you register and can´t join immediately, be patient as spots become available on a rotating basis.
To sign up, click here. To learn how to navigate the platform for the event, click here.
Dates for your diary
SECONDARY
March
Monday 8th to Friday 12th – Brain Week
Monday 8th - International Women's Day and Brain Awareness Week (View ABC Brain Week Website here)
Tuesday 9th - Building a curriculum for future-proof world changers - Grade 1 and 2 Parent meeting
Thursday 11th - IBDP Options Evening (Grade 10 Students and Parents)
Friday 12th - Resilience Day
Tuesday 16th - Grade 8 Parent Teacher Conferences
Thursday 18th - Grade 10 Parent Teacher Conferences
Wednesday 24th - English Dept Oral Exams G12
Thursday 25th -Spanish spelling Competition 2021
Friday 26th - Last day of term
Monday 29th to Friday 9th April - Easter holidays
April
Monday 12th - First day of term back to virtual lessons
Tuesday 13th to Friday 16th - Art Week
Thursday 15th - World Arts Day
Thursday 22nd - Earth Day
Monday 26th to Friday 30th - Book Week
Friday 30th - IB Exams Begins for Grade 12
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