Welcome to Semester 2!
Welcome back to all our families, I hope you enjoyed a relaxing holiday, and are ready for a learning-filled semester! On behalf of our entire ISKL community, a very warm welcome to our 65 new students and their families who joined us this semester. While we would have much preferred you to experience an ISKL welcome in person on campus, I hope your first week has been a smooth transition for both you and your child/ren. We are looking forward to getting to know you and are happy you have chosen to join our community.
Our first week back has been certainly eventful. We started hoping to be fully back on campus on Wednesday, learned MCO would be reimposed, and then rapidly adapted to the directive that only limited grades would be permitted to learn on campus. My thanks to our community for taking these developments in your stride – it has been great to see the learning that has been taking place and to have our community connected again. I also wanted to acknowledge and thank our teachers for their agility and hard work as they prepare for this semester. As of next week, some will be teaching in all three learning modes!
Although different sections of our community are embarking on different learning modes next week, whether learning at home or on campus, our goal remains the same – to ensure our students are supported in their learning and well-being. The differing paths students are taking at the moment echo the message we share about their learning journey here at ISKL. While students have voice and choice and may take differing academic and co-curricular pathways, they are all united by our mission to support them in developing their passions and competencies and preparing them for life to transform and improve conditions for themselves, others, and our world.
Community connection is also a hallmark of the ISKL learning journey and during this period of multimodal learning, it is more important than ever for us to stay connected. We will be scheduling regular online parent information sessions and opportunities to share ideas, feedback, and updates at a divisional and school-wide level. Everyone is welcome to join me next week for our first Conversation with HoS in 2021 on January 21 at 2:15 pm. Please see our Google Calendar for details.
It is also important during the MCO that we all continue to find ways to nurture our well-being and we are delighted to announce that ISKL’s Well-being Committee is continuing to run a range of fun, educational, and self-care community online workshops and activities free of charge throughout January.
As we embark on this new journey together, I wanted to remind everyone of our shared community commitment to health and safety and reinforce the importance of minimizing the risk of exposure to your children outside school by following Government directives, wearing masks, and physical distancing. For those coming on campus on Monday, please be assured that we have gone above and beyond in implementing the most stringent protocols and SOPs possible. To learn more, please review our Roadmap which provides access to the latest information and FAQs about health and safety, protocols for those on campus, announcements, and modes of learning.
I wish you all a great semester ahead.
In partnership,
Rami Madani
Head of School
