Message from the Principal

I have mentioned to many that when I arrived at BIS Abu Dhabi it was described to me as the friendly school and I certainly see those values of kindness, respect and honestly being lived out daily by our students and community.

It is within these interpersonal opportunities that I believe schools have great opportunities to shape and enhance the life experiences of young people.  More and more research is being released about how schools teach empathy, and how we as educators have a duty to work with families to ensure that we are shaping a group of young people who can recognise the impact their behaviours and choices have on others.  

One of the ways we are focusing on this as a school is with our social impact grant in partnership with Nord Anglia.   We know that students are the future global leaders, but they are also the current leaders in our school. With their perspective, ideas, problem identification and solving skills, we know that they are the change makers. The NAE Social Impact Grants aim to provide support for student initiatives which will deepen the social impact within communities around the world, locally and globally.  Our students are currently applying for grants to create community events and also to remove single use plastic from our schools, we wish them luck in their bids.

We also have our Tanzania trip this week, where our students will have the opportunity to engage in activities and projects that improves the lives and experiences of individuals and families in Tanzania.  It was great to see our students walking around school today in their hoodies. 

A core component of effective empathy is taking the time to understand another person’s perspective, empowering students to speak to each other and their teachers in a much more effective way than they might otherwise have done.  Therefore, we are reviewing our curriculum offer at the moment to ensure learning inside and outside of the curriculum creates opportunities for students to encourage reflection and growth.  

Reflection at all levels is important and I want to thank the families who attended the Year 9 Options evening and those who shared with me their feedback on the school mission and vision statement.  We are striving to ensure that we create the best learning environment for our young people and your feedback is already shaping the direction of the school.  Next week we will be releasing our parents survey and I would encourage as many of you to feedback about your experiences to date and areas where you feel we can enhance our offer, I thank you in advance for this.

I close by wishing our U13 all the best at the BSME this weekend and I hope to see many of you there cheering on our talented youngsters.

Have a great weekend, 

Liam Cullinan

Principal

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