Dear Families,
Congratulations to the following students for their achievements in the Ministry of Education’s Qur’an competition held last academic year: Grade 3: Rawnaq Al Rubaiey; Grade 5: Durah Yousuf Al Abdulsalam; Grade 6: Lamar Mohammed Al Mammari. They were recognized for their accomplishments at an awards ceremony this morning. Well done to our students and thank you to their supervising teacher for the competition, Ms. Sahar.
“Reading at home boosts school performance later on. It also increases vocabulary, raises self-esteem, builds good communication skills, and strengthens the prediction engine that is the human brain.” (extracted from: Benefits of Reading Books: How It Can Positively Affect Your Life) Are you interested in learning more about how reading aloud with your children at home can help develop lifelong literacy skills? Scholastic is offering a webinar on that topic on Tuesday, January 19 at 6pm Oman time. If you are interested in joining this webinar you can enter Parent as your job title when you click on this link to register: The Power of the Readaloud
Next week you will receive details about how to view the grades 1 through 6 Science Fair 2021 online. So far I’ve been so very impressed with the developing website, in particular with the quality of the learning shared by our primary students. Thank you to the teachers who have guided students through this process, and of course to all of you parents whom I’m sure were involved at home over the past few weeks. Well done everyone, especially our amazing students!
We are so excited to welcome back all of our primary learners, and teachers, onto campus this Sunday, Jan. 17. Everyone has had a chance to isolate at home after holiday travels, and our campus has been deep cleaned, with all safety protocols in place to ensure a safe return for everyone. Students will be reminded about the importance of wearing masks, washing and sanitizing hands frequently, maintaining social distance, not sharing food, utensils or materials, and general health protocols that will make returning to school a healthy and happy experience for the ABIS community. Please speak with your child at home and help them to remember and practice these safety measures. It has been a month now since they were at school and receiving the same message from home and school will help them be successful, and keep everyone healthy and safe.
You are now aware of the return to full days for all students from grades 1-12 at ABIS. Our drop off procedure will remain the same, with students arriving through the main front gate between 7:50am and 8:15am each morning. Students will be in class by 8:20am each morning for attendance and the Oman national anthem before beginning classes. As usual, students will be temperature checked in vehicles, and students with temperatures above 37.5C will be double checked by our school nurse. If the temperature is still high, the student will not be allowed on campus. This procedure is the same for all staff and teachers. Students will then sanitize their hands and proceed to their learning areas along the clearly marked footpaths.
The exception to this is our newly arriving KG 1 & 2 students. For the first week, parents with children who require a little extra time to be ready for their first day of school may pull into the parking stalls prior to the main gate and assist their children before saying goodbye. The ECC teachers Ms. Celine and Ms. Lauma will then escort the students to their classrooms. If you do not feel your child will need this support, you may follow the same protocols as other grades and drop your child off at the main gate.
Dismissal time for grades 1-12 will be 3:20pm. Dismissal time for KG 1, 2, and 3 students will be 1pm.
After all the strangeness that Covid has brought to our world, and the different approaches to learning we have used since August, we are looking forward to a fresh new start to 2021. Having all of our students and staff present on campus is truly something to celebrate!
As always, contact me or your child’s teachers if you require any clarifications about school procedures or classroom learning. Maeve
