Newsletter No. 1 - Academic Year 2016/17

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HEAD OF SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 23 September 2016

HEAD OF SCHOOL’S NEWSLETTER NO. 1 Dear Parents, Belated Eid Mubarak to all of you – along with a rather belated welcome to the start of the 2016-17 School Year. I trust your children have settled down by now and are enjoying everything that TNS has to offer!

TNS: Often Copied, Never Duplicated!

TNS Beaconhouse is a prominent IB World School offering the renowned Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Diploma Programme (IBDP) and is also a member of one of the largest international school associations in the world – The International School’s Association (ISA).

TNS is equally proud to have brought to you from Italy the Reggio Emilia approach and, as some of you know, Ms. Zoona Kundi is now our Reggio Coordinator. It is pertinent to mention that, unlike the IB, Reggio Emilia likes to stress that there are no “Reggio schools” outside of the district of Reggio Emilia in Italy. We remain, therefore, a Reggio-inspired school but are increasingly faithful to this holistic, caring and highly successful approach to Early Years Education.

Equally, some of our older parents will remember that the very existence of TNS is underpinned by its strong commitment to Project-Based Learning (PBL) – and we are very fortunate that a number of our staff has been trained in this area in the United States. Our recently promoted Deputy Head at TNS Gulberg, Ms. Kanwal Malik, will oversee PBL with the assistance of Ms. Hina Fakhar – Project Coordinator for both branches and, at Year 10, with Mr. Omer Zahid for the MYP Personal Projects.

Our intention and that of our Board of Governors is to go back to the core spirit of both Reggio and PBL and to reinforce and implement, as far as possible, the true essence of these pedagogies at both branches of the school.

Meanwhile, Years 6 to 10 are enrolled in the highly innovative IB Middle Years’ Programme (MYP) ending in Year 10 with both the E-Assessment model and the Personal Project.

At this time, we are running the MYP and IGCSE in tandem for Year 10.

I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our ongoing commitment to the IB process. We believe wholeheartedly in this system and have been fully supported in our quest by our Board of Governors, in particular by Dr. Lawrence Burke, Director of Academics at Beaconhouse, and his academic

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HEAD OF SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 23 September 2016 team at the Beaconhouse Head Office. I believe many of you have had a chance to meet Dr. Burke while I was away this summer?

It is no surprise, therefore, that virtually all schools in Lahore, particularly those in the DHA area, have tried to borrow freely from the TNS model, have introduced IB programmes (having been blissfully unaware of these for the past few decades!), have tried in vain to introduce PBL, and have even poached some of our staff – a new school has even managed to acquire our student database and is diligently calling TNS parents! But let me assure you, ladies and gentlemen: TNS is not easy to replicate because it is underpinned by a passion and pedagogy that few understand. It is a school that benefits from the unequalled resources and decades of experience of the Beaconhouse School System, possibly the largest private school network in the world.

Much talk about the IB Diploma!

Whilst our initial foray into the IB Diploma Programme admittedly produced average results (a reality, we are assured by the IB Organization, that prevails in most new IB Diploma Schools in the first year), we are delighted to announce that 8 of our small cohort of 11 IBDP graduates achieved admission into renowned universities of their choice (including McGill, UCLA, Warwick, and others) – and we believe their 2-year grounding in the Diploma has given them an excellent foundation to tackle demanding University studies. We wish them all every success in their studies.

It is my pleasure to make special mention of Zahra Hassan, our top Diploma student with 35 points who is seeking entry into one of Pakistan’s prestigious medical universities. We were equally proud of our IGCSE candidates who, in the case of Abdul Moiz, achieved 10 straight A*s! Furthermore, we wish to recognize the exceptional achievements of:  Alayna Kasuri with 4 A*s and 4 As;  Amal Ahmed 1 A* and 6 As;  Iman Haider Shah 2 A*s & 3 As. Well done to all of you and the other IGCSE graduates who have exceeded our expectations!

During this school year, we will be experiencing our first-ever MYP re-evaluation, which is routine after every 5 years. In addition, our first-ever group of MYP E-Assessments will take place in May 2017.

Finally, all of our staff in both the MYP & DP will be undergoing extensive professional development for all areas pertinent to them in these IB programmes.

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HEAD OF SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 23 September 2016 Management Changes We welcome Ms. Ayesha Nabi to the MYP Department as the Deputy MYP Coordinator working alongside Mr. Rashid Khalid, our MYP Coordinator. Ms. Ayesha comes to us with a wealth of IB teaching and administration experience at a top IB World School in Amsterdam and has already been actively involved in our MYP rollout for this school year.

On a side note, I am proud to inform you that Ms. Ayesha Kasuri, our former Deputy Head, is now successfully heading Beaconhouse-Newlands in Islamabad – but remains on the Board of Governors of TNS. Ms. Ayesha (the first!) continues to support TNS in its educational endeavors – though from a position of governance, not management.

The Head Office is presently pursuing the placement of a highly experienced candidate as our IB Diploma Programme Coordinator, a position left vacant after Ms. Asma Amanat’s move to our Head Office. At this time, I am personally coordinating a team of Mr. Rashid, Ms. Ayesha Nabi, and Ms. Abeera in managing the Diploma Programme with a view to ensuring a much-improved outcome for our present final-year DP students. This effort is being supported and scaffolded by Dr Lawrence Burke, our Education Director who has over 20 years of experience as an IB educator, examiner, and mentor. Dr Burke is an examiner for English Language A1, Theory of Knowledge, Philosophy HL Paper 1, and Philosophy Extended Essays for the IB Organisation.

So too, an Extended Essay Coordinator and additional TOK presenters, both internal and external, will increase the TOK/EE outreach for our students.

Contrary to some bizarre propaganda I have recently encountered, please be assured that our CEO and Board of Governors, along with the Beaconhouse Head Office and, of course, TNS itself, remain fully committed to our IB profile. Please be assured that no stone will remain unturned in our quest to improve upon and undertake the world’s most rigorous and respected educational process that is the IB Diploma Programme.

Construction at both branches You will have seen considerable construction taking place at both branches. Some valid concern has been aired by some of you as to why such construction was not completed before the school year started. There are a number of reasons why this is so, including rains before the start of the school year (which sadly continue) and, frankly, tremendous resistance from the DHA in allowing us to continue with repairs and construction. I am pleased to inform you that, as of yesterday 21/9/16, some sense has prevailed and the DHA has permitted completion of the school grounds at DHA. Suffice to say, we expect to have much improved facilities and space once all is in place. I am indeed grateful for your patience.

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HEAD OF SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 23 September 2016 TNS Gulberg improvements underway include:    

A new tree house; New play gym area; Improved library space; Improved bathroom facilities.

Meanwhile, at DHA, we are working towards:     

The completion of a new play area; Tiled waiting areas/front arrival area; New table tennis area; Improved Design and Technology Lab features; 5 new classrooms in the building (aimed not at increasing student capacity but for better accommodating existing students).

All of this, coupled with the educational improvements referred to earlier, reaffirm Beaconhouse’s strong commitment to ensuring TNS’s position as one of the nation’s leading private schools.

Gymboree at DHA Early Years Some of you have enquired why children in DHA Nursery and Reception need to visit Gymboree Play & Music. I wish to clarify that visiting Gymboree twice a month is a part of the TNS DHA Early Years provision. If Gymboree had a presence at TNS Gulberg, it would also have been a proud component of our Early Years provision at Gulberg, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Gymboree Play & Music (www.gymboreeclasses.com) was founded in the United States in 1976 and operates early childhood development centres in over 40 countries around the world with well over 700 child development centres, over half of which are in the United States. In Pakistan, Belgium and, I am told, possibly some other countries in the near future, Gymboree Play & Music works exclusively with Beaconhouse. While TNS is justifiably proud of its own Early Years provision, this is supplemented and enriched by Gymboree’s enviable track record over the past 40 years in enhancing the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children from birth to five. Gymboree’s unique curriculum is developed in collaboration with Zero to Three (www.zerotothree.org), a leading US non-profit organization that conducts cutting-edge research in early childhood development which, in turn, informs both public policy and private practice in the United States.

I am, therefore, understandably proud of our association with Gymboree and the value that their specialised equipment and research-backed curriculum add to our own early years provision. I have, in the past, wanted to encourage the Head Office to establish a Gymboree centre at TNS Gulberg, too, but I do not see that happening, realistically, due to lack of available space at our Gulberg campus.

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HEAD OF SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 23 September 2016 And finally‌ Thank you to those of you who continue to believe in us. That belief is reinforced and reaffirmed by an overwhelming demand for admission at TNS DHA and Gulberg, each of which is full to capacity with long waiting lists at virtually every class level. And while many of you along with our staff have experienced some unsavoury overtures from certain competitor schools, I am pleased to say that our reputation for quality education and ethical dealing continues to win the day.

To all the new staff, both teaching and administrative, I say welcome to a very exciting, innovative, and caring school.

To those new parents who have chosen TNS for their children, I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed and, as I have said so often before, where we err, please know that we will make every effort to improve or seek solutions to improve.

With this new school year come new aspirations, and a renewed commitment to ensure international level education at TNS. I am excited about the future of TNS and proud to lead this great institution.

Even I forget at times that this is still a new school – we will be celebrating our first 10 years only next year! Indeed, we are at the start of a long and exciting journey for this dynamic young school!

I do so hope that you and your children will enjoy a happy and productive year at TNS. Please do seek a meeting with me if you have any feedback or concerns. While I may not always be able to deliver precisely that which your heart desires, you will always find in me a willingness to listen and to do whatever is realistically possible.

My warm good wishes,

_________________ Clive R. Barnes Head of School