A Term in Review

Looking back over this first term, I am amazed at just how much we have achieved as a whole school community. It has been a whirlwind start to the year, with many ups and downs, beginning the school year with a hybrid programme and a staggered start, with most classes returning to in-school face-to-face learning in Term 1a, before eventually returning to online learning in Term 1b, and finally finishing with the introduction of an afterschool programme for the students in the primary school. It really has been a term in which we have needed to respond quickly to the world around us, and the ground moving beneath our very feet.

Throughout this entire time, we have benefitted greatly from the commitment and dedication of our teachers and support staff, as they have adapted quickly and adeptly to the changing times, and from the hard work, agility, and empathy of our students, who successfully adjusted, adapted, and thrived, applying their High Performance Learning Values, Attitudes, and Attributes to ensure they continue to progress despite the challenges faced. We have also been extremely fortunate in having the full support of the PTF and parent body, to ensure a smooth start to the school year and successful transition to each change in circumstance. It has not been an easy time for students, parents, or staff, but we have worked together in partnership and this has made all the difference. At all times, we have done our very best to keep everyone informed, sending out regular emails and letters, and sharing important information in the weekly online assemblies and newsletter. We have also actively sort feedback through student, parent, and staff questionnaires, arranging a variety to parent meetings, including the traditional parent-teacher coffee mornings at the start of the school year (online of course), whole class parent meetings, 1-2-1 parent-teacher meetings, and a number of key meetings through the PTF, and in the Primary and Secondary schools (all online).

We have also continued to provide our students with extracurricular opportunities, and in some cases have exceeded all expectations, offering no less than 13 House Competitions in Term 1, as pointed out in this issue in the House Competition article and by our Head Girl, Tamara Minea, in her contribution. A big thank you in this regard, particularly to our fantastic PTF, who have been extremely active online, organising a variety of successful events and competitions, including Romanian Day gifts for our students and Christmas treats for the staff to lift our spirits high.

There has also be plenty of celebrate, with our MUN students receiving awards of distinction and many of our Year 13 students receiving early replies from their university applications, which you can read about in a detailed review by our University Applications Officer, Jayne Baker. Special congratulations must go out to Christie Vernon and Max Mihailovici for having been shortlisted for a place at Oxford University – you are both thoroughly deserving of this formal acknowledgement of all you have achieved in your time at IBSB, and we look forward to receiving further news on January 12 when the final offers go out. Looking ahead to Term 2, there is much reason to be positive and optimistic. A number of vaccines are now readily available, with governments around the world busy organising national immunisation programmes, so it is only a matter of time before the coronavirus is relegated to a page in the history books. Let’s hope this happens sooner rather than later.

Just as spring follows winter, so too will we emerge from this pandemic, hopefully with some important lessons learned, not least of which is that our family’s health and general wellbeing are paramount. After a period of lockdown and restricted movement, it will be nice to celebrate important family events again in good company, to visit friends, to eat out occasionally, and simply to be able to move about without a face mask, unafraid of the people who pass us by.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this issue of The International Voice, which will stand as a public record celebrating everything we do and achieve as a community in the years to come.

Mr Kendall Peet

Head of School