Clarion Newsletter, June 17, 2022

Happy Friday Clarion parents and friends!

Yesterday, June 16th, started wonderfully with a very successful ‘Meet and Greet’ with the new Clarion Principal for 22-23, Mr. Larry Thaxter. He gave insightful information on his previous work experience and then elaborated about his future at Clarion. He also answered all the questions during the Q&A round, met the Clarion parent community, and then took a tour of Clarion along-with the Suzanne and Nada- to see the school ‘alive’ with children and work.

Larry commented to me afterwards that he was “blown away” by the fantastic parent reception, the questions they asked, and the way they all individually greeted him after the Q&A session. That he was also so happy to be ‘back in a school that speaks to my soul’ when he toured the halls and met some students. Larry feels honored to be joining Clarion to get back to the roots of his own personal school orientation- project based learning, trips, activities, sports, and more. He is also glad to see the Grade 7 progressing next year as his extensive experience in middle and high school teaching and leadership will serve Clarion well as it grows.

It is great to see that even with a spike in COVID right now, we were able to have an event like this to welcome Larry. So many of us school heads came into schools 2 years ago without this opportunity and I am so glad that Clarion and Larry were able to do this together!

Art in the Atrium!

Thank you Ms. Srei, JR, Roralyn and the drivers and TAs for your work in setting up the Atrium for the art exhibitions next week and on June 27th. It looks wonderful!

Last week of school dismissal times:

Monday and Tuesday the 27th-28th are regular dismissal at 3:00 PM.

Wednesday and Thursday are changed to 12:00 noon for the Grade 5 moving up ceremony on the 30th and the faculty lunch on the 29th.

Friday the 1st of July is a regular noon dismissal.

Re-Enrollment for September 2022-2023 school year:

You have received the forms and so many of you have replied and our reenrollment looks fantastic so far. Thank you to those who did it already, and thank you in advance to the rest of you for getting to this item of ‘business’ as soon as you can. I do want to remind you that spaces are filling up- our retention rate is higher than last year, which was higher than any previous year at Clarion (except for year 1 when there were 100 students!). We are hitting and surpassing reasonable targets for a natural sustainable growth, but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding the re-enroll fee to secure your child's seat at Clarion in for September 2022-2023.

Sibling re-enrollments:

The Admissions office is busy with a strong traffic of families interested in joining Clarion from Pre-K to the newly opening Grade 7. We want to ensure that we have room for your children as Clarion siblings will have a priority, and that we also have a healthy intake of new students. Please contact Heerral at admissions@clarionschool.com for enrolling your child for September 2022-2023.

MAP testing updates and information:

We are done MAP testing apart from several re-tests and several students who were home due to COVID last week. I’d like to thank in particular Ms. Rushna for her leadership in IT to ensure that all testing went smoothly, and Ms. Nada, our SLT Head of Assessment, for a fine job these last two+ weeks to ensure that we meet deadlines.

I also want to thank the classroom teachers and ATs (Assistant Teachers) for their leadership done so well, quietly in the background during the run up to MAP testing and during the actual testing. They all did a fabulous job! This includes specialists- Ms. Heena, Ms. Arisha, Ms. Sheila and Ms. Nehad, who led small group testing sessions for some students who needed more guidance.

Overall, I could not be prouder of the Clarion Academic team for their support and guidance for our students!

Grade 5 REMINDER!!! Moving UP! ceremony:

Our second ever Grade 5 at Clarion will have their “moving up” ceremony on the 30th of June! Included in the event will be Grades 4 and 6, and many teachers, as well as siblings of the Grade 5 students, and their parents and families.

and…

REMINDER of The Faculty End of Year Lunch:

We will once again celebrate the year with a faculty lunch for the entire Clarion staff- teachers, assistants, bus drivers, cleaners, back office staff, and SIG upper management. This will be on Wednesday the 29th of June.

Reminder for Summer Camps at Clarion School:

In the newsletter below, are 2 flyers regarding summer camp offerings at Clarion. For additional questions and to register your child for the preferred camp, please contact the vendors directly.

After School CCI’s finished up on Monday the 13th and Wednesday the 15th:

CCI’s are over for the 2021-2022 school year. I would like to thank the teachers and ATs and even parents who sponsored CCIs and made them a success!

CCI’s will resume in the new academic year 2022-2023.

We are open to parents who want to run a CCI or to help out with a CCI for next year. If so, please inform Ms. Shazia admin@clarionschool.com

COVID notices REMINDER:

According to the DHA/KHDA protocols in effect since March, students and staff who are COVID+ are to stay home from school for. quarantine period. However, since March, DHA and KHDA ask that only those who test positive be home. This is why we have not been sending ‘bubbles’ home the last several weeks as a few cases of COVID have been detected in our community.

Nurse Kristine would like to remind us all that any flu-like symptoms should be treated as potential COVID cases, and you should check with your family doctor.

Of course if your child has a fever they are to remain at home.

End of year dates for the Shows, art exhibitions and the individual class “culmination projects”:

Please don’t miss out- your children have their end of year performance, Art Exhibition and 3rd and final “culmination” sharing experience the week of June 20-24th and Grade 3 on Monday the 27th.

The Grade 3 “concert/culmination/art show” has been postponed due to the class 3A being home 3 days this week (Wed-Thurs-Fri) for precautionary measures due to several COVID cases in the class.

The chart below is for you to check your calendar. PLEASE NOTE that this calendar below supersedes and replaces the published school calendar. We did this to put 3 things on one day for each class so that you are not having to book 3 days to come to school the week of June 20-23/27th:

Pre K - Monday, June 20 at 8:30am

K2 - Monday, June 20 at 9:30am

K1 - Tuesday, June 21at 8:30am

G4,5,6 - Tuesday, June 21 at 9:30am

G1 - Wednesday, June 22 at 8:30am

G2 - Thursday, June 23 at 8:30am

G3 - MONDAY, June 27th* at 9:30am

Final word:

It was a pleasure to sit back and watch Larry Thaxter shine yesterday. I was so impressed with his calm demeanor and with how he answered every question asked of him by parents.

I do have to bring up the BEST question of the day though….

As the “Meet and Greet’ was about to start, Larry and I were leaving my office to go out to join the 25-30 parents in the atrium, one of our students, a bright forceful young lady, stopped us right outside my office.

“Mr. Jim! Is this the Mr. Larry?”

“Yes it is.” I smiled and could literally ‘feel’ Larry next to me at an angle smiling behind his mask.

“Well I have a QUESTION! Who is the Principal! YOU or HIM!” She punctuated her questions with a point at me and Larry in turn.

I looked down at her, hands on my hips, and said “For 11.5 more days I AM so as Your Principal and I’m telling you it’s time to go back to class since Mr. Larry is going out to meet a bunch of parents right now!”

She looked up. At me, at him, and said “OK but I want YOU (points at Jim) to tell HIM (points at Larry) about our saving the animals project we started for the animals on the Clarion campus!”

She smiled her smirk….and I have to admit it looks a lot like my smirk to be honest, and went back to class.

Larry and I had a chat later about her, the project, and how Clarion kids “are”, and he drank it in with pleasure! He told me he looks forward to just this type of student, this type of interaction, and this type of student-led project based sustainability/environmental work at Clarion.

“The Clarion way”. Agency to create, moxie to ask questions, and determination to get things done!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Sincerely,

Jim #T-minus10 Pastore