From the Head of School

 Have a Great Summer

For many organisations there is a continuum from very busy to very quiet, with either extreme rarely touched.  Schools are all or nothing.  In the last two weeks we have trips to Drum Castle, Footdee, Inverurie, Perth and Tullos.  Model United Nations students have competed at Robert Gordon’s, Art students have admired paintings at the Grey School of Arts, and language students have spoken French at Almondine.  High schoolers have sat exams.  There have been sports days and graduation ceremonies, end of year assemblies and transition meetings.  Apart from all the stuff that happens in classrooms

Next week, there will be mostly silence, our support staff repairing the wear from this year’s activities and preparing for the next.

And the next won’t be the same as the last.  An international school’s summer break is not like going on holiday from the office for a couple of weeks, you come back and it is like you never left.  It is not just the graduating class who move on.  In every grade level students will be returning with their families to their home nations or to the next work location. 

School is an intense experience of highs and lows, the memory of relationships formed lasting whole lives. It isn’t just the kids who leave who are facing the challenge of transitioning.  Those who stay will return to different friendship groups and new teachers.  

It is important to acknowledge these challenges for children, to give them space to talk it through.  But just as important to celebrate the positives - the new adventures they will go on to; the new friends they will make; the new opportunities to learn and grow.

School is meant to be a place of change.  It simply cannot be the same place year after year.  It is sad to see things pass, but a greater joy to see things grow.  

I would like to say a goodbye and a heartfelt good luck to all our leaving families.  I hope you stay in touch and remember that you are always part of the ISA community, even if you are not coming into the building every day.  I would also like to say goodbye and thank you to our leaving staff: to Jilly McIntye who has worked 10 years with preschoolers; to Lucy Thompson who has been a stalwart of Grade 5 for the past seven years; to Kathleen Scott who has taken good care of our finances over the last five years; also to Fay Barrington, who has taught part-time art this last year, and Steph Munro who has taught part time PE.  We wish you all the best in your new adventures.

Wherever you end up in August, I wish you an enjoyable and restful summer with your families and friends. All the best from ISA! 

It isn't just the Grade 12s who are moving on: