Dear SIA Community
As we reach half term, I always take a little time to reflect on what we have achieved and what wonderful learning opportunities have occurred during the first few weeks. I am very proud of how we have started the year and have seen how HPL is being further embedded in lessons and across the school. What really stands out to me is our focus on developing our British and global values through the VAA’s and our continued commitment to celebrating cultural diversity and being that inclusive community school. This was one of the reasons I joined SIA and I know is something my team wish to grow further.
Last week, the whole school community wore PINK to raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer. We wrote handwritten letters to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer and created a canvas as a sign of hope and love for all. This canvas will find a place to be hung in school as a reminder of those struggling with breast cancer and to celebrate the collaborate effort and support from us at SIA. The pictures showcase some of the amazing messages and support shown from our learners.
The impressive SIA student leadership team as they all came together to work on numerous projects together and now are seeing the fruits of their results as successes pile up. The Pakistan Flood Charity drive was a huge success last week in collecting items and donation money and now this week the year 12 and 13 students worked hard to sort everything into boxes for shipping. A room full of donations turned into a neat stack of boxes ready to be shipped. To my learner leaders – you are amazing, thank you.
Mr Donal reminded me that the quote for this week is “If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now.” ~ Master Oogway
You should always try hard to always push further than what you can do now. You never improve if you don’t try new challenges that are difficult. And making mistakes means you’re on the right track, as long as you learn from them. This is something we explicitly teach our learners as part of HPL. This fall into the VAA ‘being a risk taker’ which is an important skill in life as we aim to strive to grow and develop beyond our comfort zones. An example of how we are supporting learners further this year is our approach to assemblies which essentially are run through the learners and learner leadership. I was able to attend our celebration on Prophets Day where the learners were delivering a presentation and quiz which was just brilliant.
The learners in the lower school are now taking RWI books home. Learners have been able to use their phonic knowledge to read their story to their family members and also explain what the story is about. Every Thursday learners will come with a new story and new spellings based on the sounds they have been learning in their phonics lessons. Having embedded RWI into multiple schools I can tell you from experience that RWI will have great impact and really support your child’s development. If you wish to learn more, then do make sure you attend our workshops led by our in-house expert Ms Heather.
Have a wonderful and peaceful half term break.
#bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal #celebratingdiversity
Take care
James Batts
Principal