Clarion Newsletter, May 27, 2021

Good afternoon and Happy Thursday to Clarion School Parents and Friends!

It has been an amazing week filled with learning and fun at Clarion.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of speaking to several hundred potential Clarion parents over the course of 2 days at the “Schools and Nursery Show” at the Dubai World Trade Center. Many of them spoke about how their friends have children at Clarion School and how much they have heard about the school from “you” our current parents.

We are signing many of them up for tours over the next several weeks and I would like to thank you, the parents of Clarion, for the good word you spread about what the teachers and staff do here every single day.

When you come in late with your child after 8:00 AM:

Please ensure that you go to the front reception directly from Gate 2 where the school guard, Thaddeus, works all day. For safeguarding purposes, it is imperative that we register all children who are present or absent, and when parents come in Gate 2 late, and then duck through the immediate gate to the left and into the front courtyard to deliver their child directly to class, it is likely we will not have the proper attendance data.

There are a variety of reasons for this, but most of all it is a safety and security issue.

Thank you for understanding this and for your patience and compliance.

MAP over the next two weeks:

We will start MAP assessments on Sunday May 30th and these will run for two weeks overall. Your child’s homeroom teacher and other staff will run and monitor the assessments and we have spread them out so that students do not have an assessment day after day.

Students in grades 1 to 5 will be assessed in their growth/progress in Language Arts; Reading; Math; and Science (not all grades do Science). The assessments use adaptive technology and students did them already twice this year, in October and January, so the process is not unfamiliar to them and the teachers.

These are NO STRESS assessments. There is no way to “prepare” for them over the weekend….the growth of each child will be looked at for planning that will help us for the 2021-2022 school year, and over the next several years these results will give us a several year growth chart. This will help refine Clarion’s approach to teaching and learning to ensure growth and attainment for students.

Summer Camp news out soon:

We will shortly send home the Summer Camp sign up form. Ms. Heerral the Parent Liaison at hasnani@clarionschool.com is working on the final touches of the program with several providers. Thank you for your patience!

Sibling enrollment in PK, K1 and K2 for the 2021-2022 School Year:

We are filling up the PK, K1 and K2 fast so if you have a younger sibling of your current Clarion child, please contact Ms. Asia in Admissions at aminervini@clarionschool.com immediately. Please secure a place now for that younger sibling, as KHDA have not yet extended bubble sizes and we want to ensure that your whole family is in Clarion together. Thank you!

School Transport Survey coming home soon for 2021-2022:

We will send home a transportation survey as we already begin to look at adding busses and bus routes the handle the school growth for next year.

CCI – teacher run after school activities for 2021-2022:

A survey is going out to teachers regarding after school activities for next year. We are still awaiting the go ahead from KHDA, but we are anticipating a positive outcome! We will see a wide range of activities offered to our students from Sunday through Wednesday each week (remember Thursday is the early dismissal day for Staff professional development), and these will include a variety of fun activities.

The Last Word:

Life is slowly progressing to some sort of “new normal” here in the UAE and in many countries around the world – countries that have made great progress regarding vaccinations. We are incredibly blessed to be here in the UAE with the vaccination campaign so successful so far. We in the UAE are either 1st or 2nd in the world, and this is a great help to agencies that monitor and grant schools permissions to roll back COVID restrictions and protocols.

But we aren’t there yet. I as a Principal depend on agencies to lift regulations, to reform protocols, and to permit activities such as after school clubs, sports, and field trips. I am encouraged by the many ways in which Dubai is leading the world in opening up, and I remain cautiously optimistic that we will have a high degree of normalcy next year. Our incoming Music Teacher is already talking about the relaunch of the Clarion Choir and school productions.

Thank you for understanding that at Clarion, we value and respect the rules and regulations, and while we do, we also will do everything we can to work within them and right up to the line of the rules/regulations to ensure we give your children the most we possibly can. Very few schools have had the 5 days a week, all children all day, lead teacher in each class, environment that your children have had this year, and this is a testament to our organization and to the people who work in it for your kids.

Have a wonderful weekend and see you next week!

Sincerely,

Jim #YeahItsAcoolHat Pastore