Dear Parents, Students and Caregivers,

The cyclone at the start of this week was a truly challenging time for our country.  I know that we were all impacted in different ways and that many suffered.  While I grieve some of our losses, it also gives me joy that Lighthouse has partnered with The Good Shop to quickly respond to Cyclone Belal.  Nearly overnight, our campus is now serving as a collection and distribution center to help those in need.   If you didn’t receive our previous communication indicating how you can get involved, you can also consider volunteering tomorrow (Saturday) morning starting at 9:30am.  If you would like to come to help distribute some donations and give practical help in Tranquebar, please let us know (you can reply to this email) of your interest so we can get in touch.

While the cyclone may have delayed the start of our school year, I am so grateful for our first two days of classes.  Thank you students and parents for your support.  We hope you are feeling confident for the coming days and a wonderful school year ahead.

Sincerely,

Zach Mulert

Head of Secondary

Leadership Teams and Structures

For those parents who attended our Open House on Thursday afternoon, you were introduced to some of our key leadership teams:

Senior Leadership: Mr. Zach (Head of Secondary), Mr. Yogesh (Curriculum), Mr. Matthew (Well-Being)

Well-Being Team: Mr. Matthew (Well-Being Leader), Mr. Samuel (Assistant Well-Being Leader) and our 3 House Leaders: Mr. Bruno (Amare), Ms. Noelissa (Spero) and Mr. Andikate (Fidem)

Academic Team: Mr. Yogesh (Curriculum Leader) and Assistant Curriculum Leaders Ms. Emma, Mr. Chad, and Ms. Anais

Learning Support: Ms. Jenna (Learning Support Coordinator) and Ms. Amy (Learning Support Specialist)

Counselors: Ms. Emily and Ms. Hilary

These teams are committed to helping every Lighthouse family!   While your first point of contact should almost always be your homeroom teacher, we hope you will contact the relevant faculty member when you may have specific needs or concerns.

Clubs and Sports

I am incredibly excited that Mr. Hannes Lombard (Mr. Lombard to avoid confusion) has been hired as our Sport Coordinator, and he is helping craft an after-school program that we plan to launch by mid-February if not sooner.  While PE classes have been increased in the upper secondary to allow for more outdoor time and exercise, we hope that many students will soon join our after school sports program.  Stay tuned for more details!

Others may note that Clubs no longer appear on student schedules.   We are happy that our Grade 7 students will be getting some extra Organizational and Life (Health) Skills classes, Grade 8 will now have Music classes with our own Ms. Sarah and Grade 9 will have both Service Learning opportunities and some Academic (Course Selection) counseling that we feel are consistent with a Lighthouse education.   

Students who still want to help create and run a club are encouraged to connect with our House Leaders and/or Well-Being Team with their interests, find a willing faculty member who can help guide, and grow their student leadership skills along the way.   In short, such activities remain a part of our holistic view of education, but they are moving to other parts of our timetable (Tea Time, Lunch, After School).

Opportunities for Parents

We look forward to welcoming parents to our Back To School Night on January 31st, or meeting over coffee and tea at our Parent Connect meeting on February 9th and a special Parent Evening on February 20th to talk about teenagers and technology.  More information forthcoming, but we really look forward to strengthening the partnership between parents and Lighthouse!

Parent Liaisons Needed!

As previously announced, for any parents interested in serving as a grade level parent liaison, we are keen to begin building such connections!   If you would like to be a communicator for a WhatsApp group, please indicate your interest to Mr. Frederick Francois (frederick.francois@lighthouse.edu.mu) or let us know at Back to School Night on January 31.  

G7 Welcome and Teambuilding

Grade 7 Students: we have a special morning planned for you on Wednesday at Mont Choisy Beach that will allow you to get to know one another a bit more and help give you some skills to succeed in secondary.   More information will be sent to you on Monday, but you will not have normal classes on Wednesday morning from 8:00am - 12:40pm.  In the afternoon, we will still have our normal periods 6 and 7. 

Also of note to Grade 7 students: you were introduced briefly to CAT4 testing this afternoon but we are delaying this administration until January 30th.  

No School next Thursday and Friday

You will notice that there are a few occasions where we’ve made the Friday after a public holiday a “no school day.”  The leadership team recognised through attendance data that many families used the Fridays following a holiday for extended weekends.  This year has an unusual number of public holidays on Thursday, so this will not be an every year occurrence. We were able to do this without impacting the length of the academic year.  Take note then that there are no classes scheduled for next Thursday and Friday.  

Congratulations to Ms. Anais

Many of our long-time families will be happy to congratulate Ms. Anais Baptiste-Merne on the birth of her son, Illoan, born on January 18th and a healthy 3.215 kg. 

Ed-Admin App

Please be reminded to download, activate and familiarize yourself with the Ed-Admin app (named Edana Parent Portal) as soon as possible.

Activation code: 111966

Please check all details currently on your children's profiles and let us know if anything has changed. If you're struggling to download and login into the Ed-Admin app, please email ict@lighthouse.edu.mu for assistance.

Lunch Menu

Curious to find out what is served for lunch each day?  Check out this link to our January Menu

Key Lighthouse Documents

Just to make sure reminder that we have a few key documents to help guide you around school operations:

Code of Conduct [2024].  Changes/additions are marked in yellow, including an updated 

Student Dress Code Policy

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY 2024 is a new document that helps guide our learners about Academic Integrity

2024 Parent and Student Handbook

Clothing Shop and New Sport Uniform

Due to the upcoming public holiday on Thursday, the shop will be open on Wednesday at 08:00 - 15:00, next to Primary Classroom 10.

Take note of the new gray sports shirts (and black short) introduced for Secondary students (see photos below), which differ from the previous Lighthouse sports shirt.  We strongly encourage you to purchase our new uniform for comfort and style!  Students will still be allowed to use the previous PE uniform for the 2024 school year if needed, but the new PE uniform will be the only one allowed by 2025.