DR DAN’S DIARY

It’s with great pleasure that I welcome you all back to the new school year, and share with you my diary of school experiences from the last two weeks. 

It was wonderful to meet so many parents from all across the school sections on our first day of school. Our parents are our partners in education, and working together is so important. I thank you all for your commitment to SIS-PIK, your constructive feedback and consistent support. Our community is very special. I understand that you may be concerned about recent increases in Covid cases, and let me reassure you that we are taking many steps to reduce the risk of transmission and to allow students to return to consistent face-to-face learning, which is vital for their educational development. In addition to automated temperature checks in the lobby, we monitor the levels of CO2 in the classrooms, and regularly disinfect rooms and treat them with UV light. During our first week we took extra steps to reduce congestion in our canteen and lobby areas, and we have now temporarily introduced weekly antigen tests for all students. The best place for your child to learn is at school and I am committed to making SIS-PIK as safe as possible. I ask for your help with this. If your child develops symptoms, do not send them into school, even if they have a negative antigen test. If any member of your household tests positive, please do not send your child into school. They should stay at home for a minimum of five days before returning with a negative test. We will ensure that they have access to assessments and work to be able to keep up. I thank you for your support with this. 

The highlight of the last two weeks must be when we held our first assembly. To see all of our students come together as a school was heartwarming, and I must say how impressed I was at their responsibility and sense of community. These are children who have not met together as a whole school for two years and four months, yet they behaved impeccably, observing physical distance and mask wearing protocols and listening politely to staff. 

We have a very busy term ahead, and the first huge event will be our SIS-PIK Expo between 8-14 August. There is more information in this edition of the Community Updates, and I really hope to see many of you there at Emporium Pluit Mall. A few weeks later, we will celebrate the fantastic achievements of last year’s Grade 12 as they officially graduate from our SIS Peak. As you may know, our IB results were once again excellent, with our highest scorer, Rebecca, gaining the maximum score of 45. Out of 173,882 IBDP students in the world, only 651 students (0.4%) achieved this feat. Our average was once again considerably higher than the world average. We are proud at SIS-PIK to offer a range of pathways to suit our students and I look forward to sharing our International BTEC grades with you when they are published. 

I wish our children a prosperous and enjoyable term ahead, and that all of our families remain healthy and safe.