It feels very cheeky to be submitting my ‘homework’ from Dubai this week! However, I’m very much at work, representing our amazing Beech Hall School Riyadh at Outstanding Schools Middle East. It was one of my top 5 moments of the week, for sure!
It has also been a very busy week at school, with so many great things happening, both within the classrooms and beyond. Here are just some of the standout moments we have all enjoyed this week!
- The extracurricular clubs are now in full swing, and we have seen so many children sign up for new experiences and the chance to build on their passions. From dance to Lego, and football to finger food – we offer our students a really full and varied programme. It has been great to see the children embrace these opportunities, and I look forward to seeing how this grows over the coming year!
- I have taken on Mindful Mandalas club – don’t tell anyone, but I think I’ve chosen the best club! It is such a privilege to sit with children from Grades 4-6 with some quiet music playing in the background, chatting about our days whilst we all do something calm and creative. It is the best hour! We worked out this week that all seven of us come from different countries, and we talked about our different experiences. From Palestine to Pakistan, England to Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan to Egypt, and even the US, we’re truly living and breathing our global citizenship strand. Aren’t we lucky? The children requested that Crumb come along to our club next week – I do wonder what effect that might have on the calm environment, however…
- Crumb has continued to behave well at school. He was very excited to receive an invitation to visit the senior girls. He thought he was going to play it cool, but they wanted to run around with him and high five, so it didn’t take long for him to be back in puppy mode. The girls adored him, and the feeling was mutual! This week, he has been spending time with children on a 1:1 basis. For some, spending time with Crumb is part of their PEP (Personal Education Plan) – either as a reward, or as an opportunity for some time away from the curriculum. Either way, he loves this time and really enjoys working with the children who need him. It is really special to see.
- Planning our next tranche of learning spaces for half term works is really exciting. Space Zero created the most amazing designs for us, and we can’t wait to unveil these spaces to our children – these new areas will enhance our offerings for STEAM subjects, sport and learning through play. I don’t want to give too much away at this point, but we’re all in for such a treat, and I can’t wait to show you more!
- Finally, being here in Dubai has been amazing. Myself and Faiza were asked to present our school as a case study of how inclusion works in mainstream schools, and we were both so proud to be flying the flag for Beech Hall School Riyadh. Based on the feedback and questions we received, so many people want to be part of what we are doing. We’ve come a long way in such a short time, but there’s still a great deal more to do!
Clemmie Stewart,
Executive Principal
