Dear Parents and Guardians,
Can you believe it’s already the end of Term 1? Winter break is upon us and Christmas is just around the corner. Today the school was awash in Christmas colours as students dressed up in their Christmas jumpers, Santa hats, jingle bells, and a rich assortment of accessories of the season.
We had our special Christmas assembly this morning and it was lovely to see all the parents also in attendance. We enjoyed performances from the Junior Orchestra and Super Singers and our traditional House Carol Competition was as competitive as ever, which made it very hard for me and the other judges to arrive at a decision!
Quadra put on their famous Christmas lunch for us and we all enjoyed a mountainous helping of delicious roast turkey with cranberry sauce and stuffing along with mashed potato and gravy and veggies on the side.
Last night, our students performed a dazzling variety of Christmas music at the Conrad Hotel. With the young musicians dressed splendidly in their school uniforms and wearing Santa caps, it was a picturesque setting – truly a sight and sound to behold. My thanks to the Music Department for organising and supporting yet another outstanding musical event!
It is my pleasure to announce some exciting new leadership appointments that are part of a broader restructuring of the Senior School leadership team, effective next academic year 2023/24.
- Gareth Wright – Deputy Head Academic, leading the Heads of Department;
- Rebecca Gardner – Deputy Head Pastoral, leading the newly developed Pastoral Heads;
- John Allen – remains in role as Assistant Head, with a shift in focus to Student Leadership;
- Emma Chamberlain – Assistant Head, IB Coordinator & Philosophy
- James Tosdevin, Global Citizenship and Sustainability Lead (Senior School)
- Áine Staunton, Pastoral Head of Middle School
- Sophia Angelides, Pastoral Head of High School
- George Welsby – Head of Houses, leading the student House Captains
The restructuring allows us to continue driving our mission and values of:
Students Come First
Safe and Stimulating environment
Developing Student Leadership
We are confident the change will take the Senior School to even greater heights, and further bolster our pastoral support capabilities to help students thrive.
In the Primary School, James Loft will be the Global Citizenship and Sustainability Lead (Primary School).
Please join me in congratulating this exceptional roster of staff members in their new and adjusted roles. I would like to extend my thanks to our Heads of Primary and Senior School, Suzy Pugh and Jane Smith, and to all of our staff members who worked hard to make this happen.
In this way, the College has provided an abundance of leadership opportunities along with professional learning days and resources to help staff achieve their professional growth goals. We would like to think our investment in learning and growth of our staff members have led the College to proudly record one of the lowest turnover rates to date – in the single digits for the first time since the founding of the College in 2010.
This is a testament to our longstanding commitment to not only recruit outstanding staff members but also to retain them to ensure consistency and longevity between students and teachers. We are looking forward to seeing the new team in action next academic year.
The Nursery and Reception’s production of The Grinch was lovely. The children’s performances were delightful and adorable. For many, it was their first time performing on the stage in front of an audience and they handled themselves admirably. It’s certainly a big moment for parents also, and I observed that many were clearly even more excited than the children!
Our Senior School student members of Art Murmurs enrichment raised a whopping 600,000 KRW this week during break times and after school by selling homemade cookies, drinks and sustainable Christmas tree ornaments. They impressed everyone with their initiative – calling out passersby by name and encouraging them to make a purchase. All proceeds will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).
Thursday morning saw a flurry of activity as parents flooded the 2nd floor Year 5 classrooms to observe the fruits of the children’s learning around the subject of climate change and its implications for the future of the planet.
We had a great wrap to our term today with a host of talented Senior School students showcasing their singing, dancing, magic and musical skills at the House Talent Show, complete with an animated MC and judges. I was blown away by the wide variety of performances including a duo singing and tap-dancing to the song, Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson, a sensational solo rap number, and a perfectly rendered performance by two siblings. Our staff showed off their own talents ranging from singing Kpop to dog-whispering and computer animation to solving the rubix cube. I was inspired to sing a song for the students myself, with the masterful help of Jaewook who played the piano for our joint performance.
Thank you so much to everyone in our community who volunteered to supply gifts for our Christmas Gift Drive for the charity Open Arms Korea. We successfully donated a Christmas gift to 170 orphan children! Thank you to Hosanna Lee and the Primary Charity Committee for arranging the event again this year.
I would like to wish all of the members of our community a very happy holiday season. For those going abroad, safe travels, and for those staying put, have a restful break.
With my best wishes,
Mr Gudmundur Hegner Jonsson
Head of College