HoS News, Friday August 14, 2020

Today we celebrate the conclusion of our first full week at school. I have been so impressed with our students who have taken wearing their masks, physical distancing and all our other health and safety protocols in their stride.

It gives me great joy to be on campus again surrounded by our happy and enthusiastic students, and our dedicated faculty and staff. I am mindful that we still have around ten percent of our students engaged in Online Off-Campus Learning and I want to remind those students and their families who are currently located in Australia, Dubai, Japan, Norway, the US and just about everywhere in between that a big Panther welcome awaits their arrival!

I also wanted to thank our parents for adhering to our new protocols and for limiting time spent on campus. While it’s an important measure in safeguarding our community, I do miss seeing your smiling faces on campus. However, it won’t be too long before we have the chance to connect once again as our first HoS & Parents In Partnership session is scheduled for Wednesday, September 9.

Formerly known as HoS Coffees, our HoS & Parents In Partnership Program is a series of interactive research-based sessions which provide the opportunity for us to get together as a community to share knowledge and ideas over coffee. This year, we will be holding four sessions on a variety of topics related to your child’s learning, how we prepare our students for their future, and how our Mission and Vision drives our school.

Forums such as our In Partnership Program are important because they enable us to join as a community, listen to each other, and share our expectations. This helps us to learn and grow both as a school and as a community and is a vital component in creating our strong school/parent partnership. I encourage all parents to join us – I truly value your input and welcome the chance to listen to your perspective on matters that are important to our school.

This year we will also be continuing our monthly Conversation with the Head of School (optional) which provides another informal time for us to chat, share ideas, and ask questions as a community.

We also have the opportunity to connect as a school at our Open House events taking place August 24 – 27, which, for health and safety reasons, we have decided to move to an online format. Although we won’t be holding on campus as usual, the purpose behind Open House remains the same – a forum for teachers and parents to connect and for teachers to share with parents what learning will look like for their child during the year ahead.

As always, I thank you for your ongoing support and involvement. The strength of our community truly sets ISKL apart and is an essential ingredient in making our school so special. Connected by our shared Mission, Vision and Values we are more like a family than a school as together we focus on creating the best possible education experience for our students – your children.

Yours in partnership,

Rami Madani
Head of School