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Dear Parents and Friends of Clarion!
Today I watched a group of 3rd graders work feverishly on innovative, creative building with our new “Rigamajig” in the Atrium. They were so engrossed in their teamwork and discovery that I had to post about it on LinkedIn! We also had a 3rd grade “dig” earlier in the day in one of our sand areas, as part of their UOI - Unit of Inquiry. A follow up to this will be their field trip next week to the Sharjah Archeology Museum.
My point here -
All 3 activities are crucial to how we operate as a progressive school:
Next week is a 3 day school week:
As stated in the Clarion School calendar for 21-22, we have a 4 day weekend October 20-23rd. This is driven by the national holiday for the Birthday of the Prophet to which we added a day to ensure a nice middle of the Fall road long weekend! I am sure you will put the 4 days with your children to good use.
NEASC visit to Clarion School for Accreditation Oct. 24-28:
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) is our KHDA aligned USA Accrediting Agency. They will visit us virtually for the entire week of the 24th to the 28th. As per KHDA regulations, all USA curriculum schools must be accredited by a recognized agency in the USA and NEASC is ours.I am so proud of the work done by the entire staff for their preparations for this visit, and I do need to give A SHOUT OUT to Ms. Nada Iskandar, The Clarion School Head of Assessment and External Agencies. She has run the preparations for this visit so well! I have been through this type of Accreditation visit many times with several different agencies from the USA, including NEASC, and done what Nada is doing, and I am absolutely confident that we will perform well as a school. Thank you Nada for your hard work and organization for the virtual visit!
DRESS DOWN DAY October 28:
Yes…..Halloween is almost here! Clarion will have our monthly “Dress Up/Down Day” on Thursday, October 28. We would like you to do the best you can as families to use costumes and materials for them that are recyclable. Even store bought costumes can be re-used and re-purposed by younger siblings, family friends, and other families you know who have children coming along in later years. Let’s all try to enjoy Halloween and do our best to be cognizant of waste!And finally, the American Mom’s of Dubai organization is hosting “Trunk or Treat” at Clarion on the 30th. Please contact them for more information regarding how to register to attend that Saturday- the same costumes form the 28th are welcome!I may be late to school that day, but a special guest will be there at the front drive to greet you and the children on the 28th… and parents are invited to dress up for drop off and pick up also on the 28th!
Breast Cancer Awareness Month information:
On Tuesday the 19th at 2 PM in our school Atrium the CPC (Clarion Parent Committee) has organized a “Breast Cancer Awareness Event” for all parents and friends of parents. (Please see the flyer attached to this newsletter). If you intend to bring a friend- they need to have proper ID and have been COVID vaccinated with the AL Hosn App to prove it on their phone.
Clarion Commons Event:
A fourth event on Tuesday October 26th will be held at 8:15 AM also in the Clarion School Atrium. Our CEO, Ms. Aparna Verma, will give a talk about her own past fight with cancer. Ms. Aparna Verma did a talk last year online, and we are very pleased to be doing it this year live in our Atrium. More information is later in the newsletter.
Parent Donations to CPC:
The CPC have sent out a flyer asking for a donation for each child in the school and we are extending the time period for families to make your donation to the CPC. All monies collected will be used specifically to support events at Clarion School for your children and for recognitions for the staff and teachers. A table run by the CPC will be in the courtyard several mornings next week and a representative of the CPC will be there to both take your donations and to answer questions regarding CPC and what will be done with monies collected to support Clarion. In previous pre-COVID years, parents contributed at about 75% of the total children enrolled on average, and that would be fantastic to do again this year! Your support is not mandatory, but is appreciated and I am very pleased with the efforts of parents so far to help out.
Final thoughts for the weekend:
The 4 day weekend comes at a great time for us all.The weather is breaking, finally.NEASC’s visit to us is the next week so teachers and students will return from 4 days off well rested and smiling.And, we will literally be half way to the December break and will have finished 7.5 great weeks of the start to our school year.So, for all of us the 4 days are a time to rest up, re-charge, relax, READ, and reload for a great 7 weeks going forward till the long 3 week break to end 2021.I also have to mention the results from our parent survey several weeks ago. This link will take you to charts that show how the 68 families who responded (close to 50% of you did!) https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-FD3HNY5Y9/In future newsletters I will address the many comments you also made a bit at a time; I have read every comment, shared them with our ownership group and my supervisors, and with the SLT of Ms. Suzanne and Ms. Nada. We all appreciate you for taking the time to respond to the survey and for your care while doing so. Have a fantastic weekend! I’m off to “Bond” a bit over the weekend, and to read a lot and enjoy the lower humidity and late evening temperature drop.Thank you all for your trust in us as we appreciate working with and learning with your children as our students.Sincerely,Jim #RigamajigJim Pastore
Sincerely,
Jim #ClarionCPCsupporter Pastore