Head of Secondary School's Message 

Dear Parents & Guardians,

As the second week of the school year draws to a close, our students continue to settle back into the routines of school life.

This week we hosted the Secondary Back to School Nights on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The presentations consisted of vital information surrounding school operations, culture & expectations,  curriculum & data, Parent use of ManageBac and ECA & Squad timings. Our Curriculum Coordinators, Ms Sandy, Mr Ged and Ms Burcu also provided detailed information regarding the three IB programmes on offer in the Secondary. I would like to thank those Parents who took time out of their busy day to attend the event. Should you have missed it, the presentations can be found in the Secondary Events & Notices tab.

We also launched our Week Without Walls (WWW) offerings at the Back to School Nights. This year WWW will take place from Jan 27 to 31 2025. All students in Grade 6 to Grade 11 must participate in one of the varied activities on offer. Some enhancements to the WWW process have also been put into place. These are:

• All trips will take place in two different age groups. These are Grades 6 - 8 and Grades 9 to 11

• All trips and activities are linked to at least one Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)

• All international trips will be the same length - 6 days/5 nights

A WWW website has been created which contains all the relevant information for you to browse through to make an informed decision regarding which activity your child will be involved in. Please note, we aim for all international trips to remain the same year on year, subject to our providers continuing to make the trips available. There is also a section for parents of Grade 12 students which outlines what our most senior students will participate in during WWW. We will be inviting trip providers onto campus in coming weeks to provide further details around each trip, but for now we encourage you to browse the website  to gain a deeper insight into what is on offer. 

A central aspect of the IB Learner Profile is being balanced, so we encourage our students to participate in sports, the arts and various cultural activities. So it was wonderful to see so many students try out for the various squads on offer this week. Similarly, the vast array of ECAs made available were well supported on Thursday evening when registrations opened. 

Finally this week, we welcomed our Grade 7 parents onto campus to join together as a community through the annual Potluck gathering. Grade 7 students were delighted to introduce their parents to new friends, and to indulge in some delicious cultural treats! Thank you to Miss Alisha, Ms Hoda and the Grade 7 Homeroom team for coordinating this great event.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Kind regards

Ms Amanda

Head of  Secondary School