Hard to believe the past week has gone so quickly. As we watch the outside of the school slowly being transformed by the implementation of grass and new safety railing so too are we transforming what is going on inside the school. Primary teachers are completing their first Maths units and have been pre-assessing in order to begin their next unit on Number & Number Sense. I had fun working in grade 2 with Ms Marcia and her students this week as they began the Number & Number Sense strand. Teachers are nearing the end of their first unit of inquiry and have been busy engaged in collaborative planning and preparing for their next unit. You will receive updates about the next unit, if you haven’t already. As a whole school we continue to develop the alignment of our curriculum to ensure a clear, articulated learning journey for our students.
On Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending ABA where we were privileged to meet and listen to Mr Olli-Pekka Heinonen, the former Minister of Transport and Communications in Finland and the current Director General of the International Baccalaureate Organization. In his speech he talked about the most successful IB schools being those that engaged in collaboration, had leaders as learners and who took their local context in account. This opportunity to begin to build community partnerships and meet other representatives form IB schools in Oman begins an exciting chapter for Ellesmere Muscat. Mr Heinonen also talked about the changing world that we live in. We have lived through the industrial age, and the information age. The next stage is the interaction age. I thought this was so apt given the amount of time many of our students (and ourselves) spend on devices! Yes, the technology has certainly brought with it many advantages but it has also brought with it disadvantages and one of the biggest ones we see in schools is the desire of students to spend time on a device rather than interacting with their teachers or peers. Ellesmere Muscat will be taking a deeper dive into how we can navigate this interaction age and help our students develop their communication and collaboration skills as part of our ATL’s.
Have a wonderful and safe weekend!