These school holidays, are you going to count the days, or make the days count?

Dear Parents,

Holidays can be a confusing time for both parents and children. Child - “Never had time, and now i have all the time in the world and don’t know what to do with it”. Parent - “When school was in session, I used to get back from work and find my child home. Now during the school holidays for me the scene is still the same but how do I make it different for my child?” 

The point is to help the child know how to make the vacation count, and make it productive and fun at the same time. And it does not necessarily require great travel plans and outings all the time. Those can be there of course, but more important than that is to find time to listen to your children. No, I mean actually listen, when they want to talk about something they like talking about - even though it is an area you are not interested in or know nothing about. Do not always go on being the adult and the sage giving advice and instruction. Be the silly friend as well if you can and as much as you can. Nothing pleases a child more than when you actually take the trouble to connect - with no other expectation than just the pure pleasure of that connection.

The exams and assessments for the term have come to an end and our best wishes to all our students - they have hopefully given their best and they will grow from the experience and gather more momentum from the diagnostic feedback they receive. This takes me to the PTCs. Please attend the Parent Teacher Conferences for your children, and bring them along - to make it an effective three way conference.

But beyond that, there is a lot still going on, and a lot to look forward to in the last week of school before the break. Introduction to and glimpses of what is in store for the next term, preparations for the term ending assemblies, and of course the class parties on Wednesday the 4th of December.

For an insight into what happened at LOTS this past week, please read on.

Warm regards,

Shouquot Hussain

Head of School

Examinations are over, but our students, especially the board exam students, must keep their focus on studies. Lessons will be used to revise content, and students will have the opportunity to clear their doubts and use their experience from the examination to improve in areas where they have struggled. We request the parents to reiterate that at home.

Last week, we sent information about Olympiad competitions on the two parent WhatsApp groups. The same message is posted on the class WhatsApp group as well. Please read and express your intention through the form attached to the letter.

For parents who are interested in knowing more about the checkpoint examinations, we have this document to help you with this.

LOTS Cambridge Checkpoint Examinations. For any further information, please contact Mr Ryan Zulu at ryan_zulu@lusakaoaktree.school who is the coordinator for CP6 and LS3.

We encourage all students to continue reporting for school till the last day of classes for the term, which is 4th December. The school has outlined some effective  activities to be undertaken till the last day of school.

Our students were given sign up forms for ECAs and the deadline to submit them is already over but we are still waiting to receive the signed forms from some of you. We therefore remind all parents to support this exercise by making sure that the forms are returned to school. All students who will not return these forms by Monday 2nd December, 2024 will not be part of our ECAs during the second semester. Great appreciation to all the parents who have responded to this exercise already.

May we take time to check school bags before the children leave home for school. This is to ensure no one is carrying unwarranted items to school. 

May we all work together to attain high discipline levels among the students and spend time guiding our children on positive behaviour. Let us all emphasize on the wellbeing of our children and by extension all children at LOTS.