Clarion Newsletter, March 10, 2023

Dear Parents and Friends of Clarion,

Clarion remains an active and thriving school, offering our students and families numerous exciting opportunities. The next two weeks leading up to our Spring break will be particularly bustling with a series of exceptional events and activities taking place.

1. International Day –

Our International Day celebration was a wonderful event that showcased the diverse population of our school. The richness of Dubai's cultural landscape, as well as our school's diversity, offers an abundance of learning opportunities for our students. By embracing and appreciating both the similarities and differences among cultures, our students are gaining valuable knowledge and experiences that will shape their perspectives for years to come.

2. Play Date in the Park Carnival –

Our school will be hosting an event on Saturday, March 11 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. This will be a wonderful festive occasion for our Clarion families and their friends.The following activities will be featured -

• Our staff will have a variety of activities for our students, including face painting, science experiments, and art activities. Additionally, there will be live performances by our students on an outdoor stage.
• Atletas, which provides many of our external CCEs, will be offering complimentary taster sessions for football, mini tennis, and table tennis activities.
• Clarion community market - The Clarion community market will be hosted on our Clarion Street. Our parents and community members have graciously organized this event to showcase various items and services that may be of interest to you.
• Parking Lot Boot Sale - Our parents have an opportunity to participate in our boot sale in our parking lot. You can still participate even if you have not registered.

To help everyone stay hydrated during the event, we will have water stations conveniently set up. We kindly request our families to bring their own water bottles to reduce waste and promote sustainability.

3. Lost and Found Items –

During our upcoming Play Date in the Park event, we will be showcasing our lost and found items for anyone who may have lost something at our school. Additionally, these items will be on display until the end of next week, Thursday, March 16. To promote our Student Council's charitable initiative, any unclaimed items after this time will be donated to the Thrift store. We encourage everyone to check the display and reclaim their lost belongings as soon as possible.

4. Ramadan Schedule –

Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and spiritual reflection, is anticipated to commence on March 23 and conclude on April 21. In light of this, we have made some adjustments to our student schedule during this period, which are outlined below:

Monday – Thursday – 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Friday – 8:00 AM – 11:45 AM

Please note, there will be no CCI (teacher led activities) activities taking place during this period. However, CCE (led by external vendors) activities will continue to operate as usual. We will share the updated schedule for CCE activities during this period with you shortly.

5. Classroom Hallways –

We kindly request that parents refrain from entering the classroom hallways during the hours of 8:05 AM and 2:55 PM to minimize any potential disruption to our students' learning. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Parents who wish to pick up their children early are reminded to go to the Atrium and request that their child be brought to them. We ask that parents do not go directly to the classroom.

6. Parent ID Cards –

The safety of our students is of utmost importance to us. We must insist that parents wear their ID cards when entering the school grounds. Our security team has been asked to obtain the Clarion parent lanyard or request ID before allowing individuals into the school premises. Please understand that this is for the safety of all our children.

7. Student Progress Reports and Teacher Interviews –

Student progress reports will be shared on March 17. We had initially scheduled teacher interviews for April 12. However, as Ramadan falls during this period with a condensed workday, we have decided to move the teacher interviews to March 21. More information and signup details will be shared closer to the date.

8. Student Attendance and Lates –

I would like to thank our parents for their efforts and commitment to improving our students' attendance and tardiness. Our student attendance is slowly improving, but we continue to struggle with students arriving late. If your child is ill, I would ask that you contact Poonam by telephone or email at admin@clarionschool.com. We understand and appreciate that our students will occasionally be ill, and such absences will not negatively affect our attendance statistics. Poonam is the person who can enter absences due to illness as an excused absence.

Attendance Facts –

• Regular attendance at school is positively correlated with academic success. Students who attend school consistently tend to achieve higher levels of academic performance compared to those who have irregular attendance patterns.
• Being consistently late by just 10 minutes each day can add up to missing 32 hours of valuable instruction time over the course of a school year. Similarly, a student who misses one day of school per week will end up losing approximately 2 months of instruction time in a year.
• Consistent absenteeism of half a day per week throughout a student's educational journey can result in the loss of a full year's worth of education.

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 our Atrium area or email: admin@clarionschool.com.

9. Sibling Enrollment at Clarion –

If you have a younger sibling in your family who you are planning to enroll in September 2023, please reach out to Emily from our admissions team at admissions@clarionschool.com.

10. Student Council –

The Stuco members have organized assemblies for all grades on March 13 to introduce the Clarion Community Garden to the students. I express my gratitude to our supportive parents, Ms. Geovanna, Ms. Nina, and Ms. Nada, for their valuable assistance with this project. The Stuco members are working diligently to create informative and interactive presentations tailored to the age groups of the students, making it a meaningful and engaging experience for everyone.

11. Clarion Sports –

We would like to recognize and congratulate our talented student athletes for their impressive performances in recent sporting events:

• The Under 9 Girls Football team played an exciting match against Raffles International team, resulting in a 1-1 score. Great job, everyone!
• The Under 10 Boys Football team scored an impressive 4-1 victory against Ambassador International Academy at Clarion.
• The Under 8-Under 9 students demonstrated outstanding athleticism and teamwork during the DASSA Athletics Festival, participating in sprints, middle distance running, relays, vortex throw, and long jump. The students' unwavering dedication and encouragement of one another were truly commendable, leading to their well- deserved achievement of securing the 3rd place overall.
• The Under 10 girls showed their skills and dedication in the DASSA Gymnastics competition. Special congratulations to Maria Vittoria (Grade 4B), who won three silver and bronze medals for floor and vault, and to Nour Kassem (Grade 4A), who won a bronze medal for vault.

Hats off to all the girls who participated, including Ghalia (Grade 4A), Maria Paula (Grade 3-B), Noura (Grade 4B), Maria Vittoria (Grade 4B), and Nour (Grade 4A). Keep up the great work!

NEXT WEEK

March 13 - Our best wishes to the Under 8 and Under 9 Boys football teams as they prepare for their upcoming friendly match against Dubai Scholars.

12. Student Field Trips –

Field trips are an essential part of the educational program at Clarion School. Just a friendly reminder that field trips are not optional, and students are expected to participate unless they are home ill on the day of the trip.

Next week, we have the following Field Trip -

March 17 - Al Thuraya Astronomy Center - Grade 5

In closing, I wish everyone a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow at the Play Date in the Park at Clarion!

Sincerely,

Larry