From the Preschool/Elementary School Principal

An Appeal to Families

In the Preschool and Elementary School, a buzz of excitement always takes place before a holiday. This year is no different, and there’s the added buzz of the return of the PS/ES Ceilidh and the ongoing drama of the World Cup in Qatar. This heightened level of excitement and change can be a challenge for young children, especially those who are still developing their ability to regulate their emotions in line with school expectations. We appreciate that the changes to the normal timetable and the nature of some of the events will place added pressures on children, families and staff, so there is a balance to be struck. On behalf of the teachers, I would like to make an appeal for discussions to be had at home about the continued need to display good manners, excellent listening skills and care for each other’s health and safety. 

On that note, I’d like to make a further appeal to ask families to emphasise the importance of hygiene during this period. This includes handwashing and things like taking care to cough or sneeze into one’s elbow (rather than into one’s hands). More importantly, I’d like to ask all families to err on the side of caution when it comes to deciding when to send an unwell child into school. There are a number of nasty viruses and bacterial infections going around and it’s far better to keep a child home for one extra day than to send them in still unwell, which might mean spreading germs to other members of our community or even a relapse (resulting in even more days off school). I have been telling members of our staff the exact same thing: make sure you are fully recovered before returning to work. Please help us to keep everyone safe and healthy by adhering to the advice of our school nurse, Frances Sibbett and your child’s GP. 

Holiday Mode

The teachers continue to do an amazing job of maintaining an academic focus while taking advantage of the ‘holiday’ season in their classwork. This is particularly important this year as celebrations and general ‘fun’ activities have been so restricted in recent times. In order to help the teachers in their efforts, I would like to make a further appeal for families to do all they possibly can to get children into school, ready to learn, on time each morning. I've had to cover a number of classes in the past few weeks and I can tell you that late arrivals to school can be quite disruptive to the learning process - for both the children who are late, as well as those who were on time and have started their morning activities. It is very important to remain safe, of course, especially during this time of year, but your extra efforts to get children to and from school on time - ready to learn - will be greatly appreciated by all of us here at ISA.

The return of the full PS/ES Ceilidh experience is so welcome for a number of reasons, including its impact on the children’s PE learning and the sense of community and location that it brings to life. For a sense of community and service, Grade 3 has done outstanding work to manage the Cfine Food Drive. The ‘act of giving’ is visible in all the classrooms. There are a number of events on the calendar which will add to this sense of “holiday mode”, including the visit of the Cairngorm Reindeer (December 5, see below), a number of field trips to festive performances (December 7), the KG-G5 Winter Show (“Seasons”, 2:00pm on Friday, December 9 in the QET), the Grade 4 & Grade 5 choir performance (Sunday, December 11), the Grade 4 & Grade 5 Band & Choir Winter Concert at the Monday morning assembly (December 12, 8:30am) and the Preschool Winter Show (December 15). For more information on these events, please refer to the Community Hub (which also houses the Events Calendar) and messages from your child’s teacher(s). 

Meet the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

On Monday, 5th December, some of the reindeer from Britain’s only naturally-occurring herd will be visiting ISA. Each of the grade levels has a designated time slot for visiting the reindeer, where they will be able to observe them closely and ask plenty of questions for the experts (i.e., the reindeer handlers) to answer. The Cairngorm herd serves an important role in the conservation of a species increasingly under threat in their native lands. As in recent years, we will not be running the shop selling reindeer items that used to take place on site, but the handlers will bring donation boxes with them so that you can help with their upkeep.