This blog is a bumper blog, capturing what has been the most amazing 10 days here in the Kingdom. We weren’t open last Thursday due to our Founding Day celebrations, hence there was no blog. And what amazing celebrations they were, too! Read on to find out how we celebrated Founding Day in style, and about all the other awesome events from the last 10 days! I warn you though – you will feel exhausted just reading about it!
- Founding Day – this was a truly incredible day here at school. It’s not every day that your first task of the day as Principal is leading a camel into the playground. but no job is above or below me! The pupils loved dressing up in national clothing, dancing, stroking the camel, eating Saudi food, and showing off their incredible artwork. Parents loved touring the spaces and seeing the animals, too. We’re all so proud of our Saudi heritage here at BHSR, and days like this are a joy and a privilege to witness.
- Hosting the UK government’s Department for Business and Trade. We were honoured to be asked once again to host delegates from across the UK’s education sector, as part of the UK DBT trade visit. The delegates toured our KG department, and they were blown away by our specialist spaces such as the KG indoor area, the pool, the gym, and the parent café! They had so many great questions about running schools here in Saudi Arabia, and we were very proud to share the successes of Beech Hall School Riyadh. We are always so grateful to the UK government for the support we receive.
- Filming with the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC). RCRC came to school this week to film some of our incredible children and learning spaces. This is part of a wider project to showcase the success that RCRC has enjoyed over the past few years. Our young film stars and reporters were just incredible, and they confidently shared what makes our school so special. It was a great chance to share the excellent support we have enjoyed from RCRC, and to thank them for all that they’ve done to help ensure the success of BHSR. I can’t wait to see the final edit!
- Watching our Head of Happiness in action. Crumb has certainly been earning his dog biscuit salary this month! He has been working hard on a one-to-one basis with lots of children, sharing stories, celebrating awesome work, and also bringing some calm to busy days. He also went to check out the spaces set up for our KG Stay and Play sessions for our prospective youngest pupils. He was amazed by the learning stations that had been set up – he was most taken with the dinosaur park and the construction zone. I also had a call with a prospective family from Canada who had seen Crumb on Instagram, and were desperate to meet him. I wonder if he will be happy to join my next Teams meeting?
- Exploring the Gulf. I love coming to work, but one of the benefits outside of work is the chance to travel and explore the Gulf more. Last weekend I travelled to Bahrain, which was a great deal of fun! I was sad to miss the F1 by a week, but the build-up looked amazing. I also had a wonderful time riding endurance horses on the sand, and seeing more of the beautiful islands. We are so blessed to be living in such a wonderful part of the world, and I feel genuinely lucky to get to explore it – especially on horseback!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am hosting a great friend from the UK, and I can’t wait to show her all that Riyadh has to offer while she’s here!
Clemmie Stewart,
Executive Principal
