From the Head of School

 

Connected

Recently there have been a lot of announcements: the cancellation of IB and IGCSE exams and the March return to school of our younger ones are just two of the most prominent. And of course, there is all the speculation around announcements (when are the others coming back) and attendant details (buses, food, alternative arrangements). Having so many forums in which to communicate doesn’t always help either. We can end up asking, ‘where did I read that? Was it an email, a chat or a post?’ We are trying to centralise all school information on our Community Hub. We post notices of events, activities, relevant government updates and recently sent parent letters. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, there is an archive with all past notices in case there is a letter you think you may have missed. On the way down, you’ll see the calendar, our forms, links to school systems as well as subsections on daily routines, virtual school and our policies and procedures. At the top right hand side, there are links to other pages: you start on ‘Daily’, ‘Safe’ contains great information on health, safety, child protection and wellbeing. Find out about our curriculum in ‘Learning’ our after school programme in ‘Active’ (not very at the moment!), and other services (clerical, business, tech, library, learning and EAL) in ‘Supported’ But perhaps the most important is ‘Connected’ Our remoteness during lockdown has put strains on our social selves, and on our sense of community, of being part of something wider. It is all too easy to feel isolated. As a school, we send out all kinds of information, although necessary, that is not really connecting. For families, it can be difficult to know who to go to for what; our section ‘Who does What?’ is helpful in that regard. Also check out how you can get involved with the Parent Teacher Organisation, who run all kinds of online events. And don’t forget my Head of School virtual coffee every Friday morning. You can contact any of us if you have a question or concern. We may not have the answer, but we can always make sure that right person gets back to you. Generally, the best first port of call is your child’s classroom teacher (Elementary) or advisory teacher (Middle/High School). I hope you have a great week next week and manage to get lots of time away from screens. And don’t forget your child doesn’t just attend a school; your family are part of a community.