From the Head of School

A Farewell to the School Year

This is the last Thistle Talk of the 2020-21 school year.  A year we began grateful to be back in the building, mindful of unprecedented restrictions, but expecting a gradual return to full normality.  A year that in fact saw us return to full lockdown for a time, in which trips only returned for a few weeks, and social events not at all.  This Thistle Talk is a farewell to that year.

A farewell to our graduating class who will go to universities across Scotland, England and other parts of the world, now or after a gap year.  You leave taking something of ISA with you: not just the skills and aptitudes to excel at university, but the values that make an international community possible.

A farewell to our leaving students in other grades, many going on to other international schools, others returning to their home countries.  I hope your time at ISA has added to who you  are and will enrich the communities they now join.  

A farewell to our departing parents.  A school is a partnership between teachers and parents. ISA parents do so much to create our community - especially in this difficult year; I hope you continue to engage in their new homes.

A farewell to our leaving staff - both those teaching and those who have supported the teachers. Your daily passion for molding the next generation into capable and upright world citizens establishes the very meaning of what our school is.  

This is not the year we would have chosen; we hoped to end it far more free of restrictions than has been possible.  However, we can both acknowledge our losses while also recognising what we, as a community together, have achieved.  And we can perhaps dare to upgrade our delayed expectations of a return to normal; seeing what we are capable of, we should reasonably hope for a far better normal.  

Even so, I do not feel sad saying farewell to the school year 2020-21, even while regretting all those that we are parting ways with.  I say a farewell to them with the confidence that they will start new lives continuing to make the world “better and more peaceful.”  To everyone else - happy holidays, rest and enjoy the summer.  See you in August ready for the next adventure!