I came into School early this morning mindful that today is the last day of School for our Year 13 students as they prepare to move into the next stages of their lives. Walking in I witnessed the care that our cleaners take cleaning sand from the road and pathway outside the school before anyone arrives.
The focus for this newsletter is to ask everyone to think about the success of our graduating class of 2021, how well they have been supported and how they have worked so purposefully and with such resilience in the face of so many changes for which they have been in the front line over the last eighteen months.
Graduating class of 2021 your fortitude, flexibility and trust in our School is a model for us all. You have taught us so much as we prepare for the continuing reality of blended learning and the integration of technology in the School. Congratulations to you all, you deserve our highest praise and fullest respect that feeds your growing confidence of just how good you are.
Your success does not come without effort, trust in your teachers and the complex arrangements that support us all at NAS Dubai. At this time of Ramadan as we think of our common humanity and of those who may be less affluent, powerful or fortunate than ourselves, our cleaners and support staff come to mind again. NAS Dubai is a complex hive and what binds us is our shared belonging. Watching the gardener water the shrubs in their buckets in the car park and the pride our cleaners take clearing the sand from the pavement and the road is something for us all to know.
Next week School will be closed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as we celebrate Eid al Fitr. Please may I take this opportunity to extend our very best wishes for the occasion and to also extend sensible caution asking that we all continue to take the virus seriously. We are all in this together and the risks continue. A hard reminder of the need to continue to take care came through as one of our TA’s who had taken both vaccination doses tested positive last week. She is well, we followed the regulations and we closed the class where there were close contacts.
Anything can happen in the next three months and while we all look towards the fuller normalisation in Dubai, I believe we should take extra care over the Eid period so that the potentials of a further spike are delimited. The government directives and recommendations are clear.
With every best wish.
Ramadan kareem
Matthew Farthing
PS: You may have heard how the school came to life this morning as together we witnessed the achievements of our graduating class of 2021 and sent them off with good cheer.
