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Happy Thursday Clarion School parents and friends,
Today was a spectacular dress up/down day. I want to thank the many parents who also dressed up/down today, and the staff of Clarion for their spirit!
The fun of the day was enhanced by the amazing amount of work the students did in classes, once they settled down from the initial excitement of seeing each other and their teachers and the staff in costumes.
A reminder about the recycle bins in front of the school- they are not general trash/waste cans!
We have 4 bins in front of the school for:
Please do not put other waste or trash in the 4 bins. Thank you!
NEASC visit was a great success:
This past week we had our NEASC Accreditation visit and I am so very proud of the entire Clarion team for their efforts and for the success of the visit. The official report from NEASC will come to us in 4 to 6 weeks, but we can ‘read the tea leaves’ and
Nov 2nd is Parent Teacher Conferences:
Next week, November 2nd, is full day parent teacher conferences. This day is a "No Student" day and parents can choose to visit the school in-person (vaccinated or valid PCR for 48 hrs) or opt for Virtual meetings. Each of you should have received sign-ups from your homeroom teacher and a separate Specialists teachers sign-up from Rushna. The first Progress report will be sent to you on 31st of October.
Nov 3rd is UAE FLAG DAY:
Next week on Wednesday the 3rd of November, we will as a school celebrate UAE Flag Day. Along with the rest of the country, we will raise the UAE flag at the same time, and the entire school will show it’s appreciation for our host/home country by singing the UAE National Anthem in the courtyard and in the front of the school. Even within the Covid guidelines still in play, we will manage to gather the entire school and I am looking forward to this recognition for the UAE.
Nov 4th Diwali… celebrating knowledge over ignorance:
On Thursday the 4th of November Clarion School will celebrate Diwali.Diwali symbolizes the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance*" and as a school I think it is very appropriate for us to emphasize this latter part of the symbolism of Diwali, while also paying respect to the former as well. The five-day celebration observed every year in early autumn after the conclusion of the summer harvest and coincides with the new moon, known as the amāsvasya – the darkest night of the Hindu lunisolar calendar. Tales shared on Diwali vary widely depending on region and even within Hindu tradition,[76] yet all share a common focus on righteousness, self-inquiry and the importance of knowledge.*
As an International School, we have over 40 nationalities represented in our student body and even more in our parent population as many of our school families are bi-cultural. Therefore, our goal is to respect and recognize international and intercultural events, even if they have religious underpinnings, while retaining an appropriate secular feel to the everyday operation of the school. “In the lead-up to Diwali, celebrants will prepare by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplace”* and I believe that each homeroom teacher can do this in their classrooms this week WITH their students in recognition of Diwali. We can add to this the making of paper lanterns as ‘light’ is a part of Diwali. But I will leave this up to the teachers to work on with some guidelines from my office – as obviously, for example, open flames on candles we cannot have for safety reasons and KHDA regulations!(*everything in Italics is from Wikipedia, a neutral resource I use for information)
Dubai Challenge: 30x30:
Ms. Narsisa has once again helped put together a wonderful month of activities we can all share in during the 30 days of fitness challenge from the Dubai government. We are looking forward to 30 minutes of movement every day! I am hosting a weekly “Walk and Talk” and the CPC is also working with Narsisa on some of the events. More farther along in the newsletter.
A few final thoughts:
As I write this I am still sweltering in my black outfit from today’s dress up. And smiling non- stop so much my face hurts. What a great day today was!I learned a lot getting ready for today. I've never crafted anything, but this year I downloaded templates from online, and made myself a helmet, gauntlets, and a bat symbol. A lot of time, patience, cutting and re- cutting; learning how to use PlastiDip spray; learning how to use contact cement glue the right way; cutting and gluing and fitting and learning. It was a LOT of fun and I owe it all to the joy I want to bring to the children, and to my own unwillingness to grow up and stop playing. I owe a huge thank you to Thaddeus, Alwyn and Rasool for helping "The Batman" to take these cool photos from the school roof and around the school last night. We lugged ladders around, and lights, and just had a lot of fun! (you can check out my linkedin for more and some pretty cool photos the guys helped me take last night at school!). Thank you all for your trust in placing your children under our care, and thank you all for all you do to support Clarion School.
Sincerely,
Jim #IamTheBatman Pastore