Dear Parents and Friends of Clarion,
It has been another busy yet a joyful week at Clarion School.
1. Winter concert and Culmination showcase – Our Winter concert series was a wonderful success as every child had the opportunity to be on stage. We had over 20 unique performances where the script for each class was conceptualized and created with student facilitation in a week. We would like to thank our parents for attending the performances and our staff, Ms. Becky, Ms. Allison, Ms. Iva, Ms. Rezline, Ms. Dina, Ms. Elham and Mr. Victor for preparing the students and the stage. It truly was a magical experience. Last but not least, we would like to thank our students for their wonderful performances.
The Culmination showcases were fabulous and we would like to thank our parents for attending. Such experiences are important as it provides the students with the opportunity to showcase their learning.
2. CPC Events – We would like to thank our CPC for their remarkable work with our school’s National Day celebrations. It was a great opportunity for our school to demonstrate our appreciation for the wonderful life we experience living in the UAE.
The CPC bake sale was a huge success. Over 6000 AED was raised to use towards future CPC events and activities.
We closed this week with our Winter Carnival which was another CPC sponsored event. It was a tremendous way to bring this term to a close and enter into the holiday season.
3. Clarion Clearing Benches – The location for our school’s clearing benches has been finalized. However, the entire school campus benefits from this experience, not just the marked location of the Clearing Benches.
Energized with NADI-Copper Technology, Clearing Benches are a symbol for the flow of human values and a resource for nurturing the flow of values in our students, teachers and parents, for flow of energy, peace, love, compassion, joy, connection, and creativity, both for collective flow in our community and individual flow in mind, body and heart.
We would like to thank Amelia Strunk from Grade 6 for the amazing art work that is part of our Clearing Bench signage.
4. Student Photos – Our class and individual student photo shoots will take place on February 6, 7 and 8. More information will be shared with respect to the schedules and details in early January.
5. Student After-school Activities – Our student CCI’s (Internal) and CCE’s (External) will both resume on January 9 after the holiday. School athletics will resume on January 2 directly after the winter break.
6. School Uniform – Just a friendly reminder that we ask students to be attending school wearing the school uniform. We appreciate that this was not possible during the last week as the students were in costume for the Winter Concerts.
7. Student Attendance and Lates – We would like to thank our parents for assisting us by ensuring their children attend school regularly and are not late. Our student attendance and punctuality is a priority for our school. KHDA has strict guidelines and expectations for student attendance that we must comply with. Every day absent is a loss day for learning.
Student absence for the reason of holiday travel is not considered an excused absence as per KHDA guidelines. Please note that all extended student leaves in excess of 3 days require the submission of a request form. The form is available from Poonam or email: pkadam@clarionschool.com.
Attendance Facts:
· A child who is 10 minutes late each day misses 32 hours of instruction in the year.
· A child who misses 1 day a week loses 2 months of instruction in the year.
· Half a day a week missed throughout the school life equates to 1 full year of lost education.
Students who are absent due to illnesses are requested to inform their homeroom teacher, with an email CC to Poonam at pkadam@clarionschool.com and the school Nurse at kballares@clarionschool.com.
Students who arrive late to school will be required to obtain a late pass from the atrium before entering class.
8. Student Early Departures – We understand that on occasion students will need to leave early due to appointments. We ask that parents come to reception, we will then arrange for the student to be brought down. We ask that parents do not go directly to the class to pick up their children. This applies to all occasions where students are leaving prior to the end of the day.
9. Clarion Athletics – Congratulations to all the children who competed in DASSA from October to December in Football, Cross Country Swimming and Golf. Please note, there are no swimming lessons in Term 2. Children will be having 2 PE lessons per week.
This weeks athletic events included:
· Tuesday, December 06 – U12 BOYS Football DASSA - G 5 & 6 with JESS at Clarion
· Wednesday, December 07 –DASSA Grade 5 boys u11 at Clarion vs Universal American School
10. Student Field Trips – Field trips are an important aspect of the educational program at Clarion school. Just a friendly reminder that field trips are not meant to be optional and that students are asked to participate unless they are home ill on the day of the trip.
This week, the students went on following field trips:
· Wednesday, December 07 – Field Trip to Al Quoz Park - Grade 5
· Wednesday, December 07 – Field Trip - Al Quoz Park - Grade 7
11. CPC Fundraiser - Our CPC had an exciting schedule of events including, Breast Cancer Awareness, Halloween, Sustainability Initiatives, the Desert Trip, Bake Sale, Winter Carnival and so much more.
Please continue to send in your voluntary donation of AED 300 per student for CPC activities this year. There has been good effort overall to gather funds that the CPC can use to support all of its events and activities for us as a community.
Contributions can be submitted as follows:
· Hand your contribution to any CPC member or to your child’s homeroom teacher.
· Submit your contribution to your child’s teacher by hand or email them if it is your child’s backpack for collection.
· Hand your contribution to Jafar, Finance Manager, in the accounting office.
12. Parents Clarion ID Card: Just a friendly reminder to our parents to ensure they wear their parent ID cards when on campus. Our staff will be monitoring that parents are wearing their cards at the gates. Please understand that this is asked for safety reasons.
In closing, I wish everyone a wonderful and safe Winter break and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday, January 2, 2023!
Sincerely,
Larry