I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend and Merdeka Day. It has been fantastic to see our community celebrating the diversity of Malaysia with our PTA’s All Things Malaysia Challenge. I have enjoyed seeing the photos shared and being reminded of the many things that make Malaysia such a special place to live. They are a wonderful reflection of the diversity that our amazing host country offers us all and I feel very fortunate to call Malaysia home.
The diversity of our community (65+ nationalities and 30+ languages spoken) was evidenced this morning at our Multilingual Parent Coffee with more than 50 parents joining us to learn about multilingualism at ISKL, the multilingual communication tools available, and divisional EAL support. Our school embraces and celebrates multilingualism and we are committed to ensuring that language is not a barrier to creating a strong school-parent partnership for all families.
This event was one of many in our lineup of parent workshops and information sessions designed to provide opportunities to connect, learn about ISKL’s teaching and learning practices, and hear from our subject matter experts on how best to support your child/ren’s learning and well-being. I am very much looking forward to our first Head of School and Parents In Partnership session together on September 8. I will be sharing a recap of the strategic planning journey that we took together last year as well as a look ahead at what we have planned for this year including ISKL’s strategic plan for 2021-2024, our vision for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, and re-accreditation.
My thanks to our parents who joined us for the Open Board meeting on Tuesday (September 1), it is rewarding to see the active involvement and interest of our community in the governance of our school. We were delighted to be joined by two members of our Boy Scout Troop who attended and analyzed the meeting as part of their work in earning their Communications and Citizenship in the Community Merit Badges. It is great to see learning taking place across our community! Welcome also to our two new Board members, Vasily Pasetchnik and Abdul Jalil Rasheed who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our Board. We are so appreciative of our Board members and community for their interest, involvement, and support.
Our Continuous Learning Program continues in full force and we continue to be impressed and inspired by the agility of our students and the self-directedness they demonstrate. It is wonderful to see our Panther spirit in force with High School’s Fun Friday house colors challenge, Debate Team, Peer Helper Online Socials, and our Middle School students enjoying the September Reading Month Celebration and putting their problem-solving skills into action with real-world scenarios. In Elementary, our Grade 5 students have been introduced to the idea of leadership through the lens of their roles as Red Hat leaders, discussing the characteristics of strong leaders, such as honesty, responsibility, integrity, cooperation, and problem-solving.
The resilience and can-do attitude of our students embody the saying, ‘you are what you overcome’ Challenges are part of learning and growing up, and overcoming them and adapting to new environments are essential life skills. As we know only too well from the current global situation, it is not possible to eliminate challenges, but by helping students learn to navigate and overcome them we can ensure that they are well equipped to face the challenges ahead. We could not do this without the support and involvement of our parents and, as always, we thank them for all they do to support their child/ren’s learning and our school.
In partnership
Rami Madani
Head of School
