Head of school

Dear Students, parents and guardians,

At the end of the academic year finally a new look for our newsletter. Rather than a rather dull – if I say so myself – update from the head of school, we will aim for a more colourful approach with more people to contribute. We hope you will enjoy this better!

I look back at the academic year ’22-’23 with a mix of joy and concern. It has been fantastic that we had a full academic year without being impeded by restrictive pandemic measures. We have been able to have 1452 students in the building on a daily basis and plan and do the things that we have always done, for the first time in four years. Yet the ‘back to normal’ has been tricky at times, and much more multi-layered than I think most of us had foreseen. To start with the students: depending on their age of course, they have missed parts of social interaction in their formative teens. And it is true what they say: we sometimes see 16-year-olds behaving like 13-year-olds, 13-year-olds behaving like 10-year-olds. I can’t remember a year that we have been busier with small incidents: inane graffiti, flooded toilets, broken bikes, lost or stolen things. Nothing too excessive, just a lot of it, and a great deal of time and energy spent at school for ‘pedagogic conversations’.

And then of course students’ emotional well-being: our support department has doubled in size since the pandemic, and students are noticeably feeling more pressure and find it hard to switch off, and as a school we are looking hard for ways to battle this in our programmes and course offerings, not always successfully as teachers notice there is some academic catching up to do as well. It has been a challenge to find the balance, and it continues to be. And then there is also a group of students who really need help to switch on rather than off. How best to help them?

On the staff front we have had challenges this year with five international staff on longer term sick leave. More than ever before we have noticed the nationally reported teacher shortage, especially with sudden and unforeseen gaps to fill in the middle of an academic year. In turn, this has put extra pressure on our own teachers who had to be asked to go the extra mile. And then I realise this has not been our best year of communicating things clearly, which has understandably led to frustration. I thank everybody, and especially our parent council, for their constructive feedback. Believe me we are working to get ‘back to normal’, whatever that may mean!

Now before you think that all is bleak at ISRLO, fortunately there has been more than enough to celebrate to outweigh all these challenges, and hopefully the rest of this newsletter bears witness to this. Highlights for me were our first ever Language Awareness Day, a wonderful presentation on student well-being by Dr Martijn van der Spoel (he’ll be back!), and since the pandemic I have developed my personal daily highlight: standing at reception in the morning seeing our students come in, luckily now without hand sanitizers or face masks. Seeing them connect with classmates and school shows me what a wonderful environment we work in in education.

I wish you all a wonderful summer. If you are moving on, thank you for being part of our school community and all the best in your next adventure. If you are at ISRLO next year, I look forward to seeing you all safe and healthy in the first week back at school.

Best regards,

Mathijs Hekkelman,
head international school

International Evening  June 2023

As one of the organisers for this event, teacher, Chris Ellison gives his insight into this well received and most enjoyable event:

A sunny afternoon in June, a light breeze, a cornucopia of food from all around the world and many new faces: the perfect recipe for the social gathering of the year. The International Evening brought students, teachers and family together to meet, greet and eat in a delightful busy gathering on the school’s front patio. Afterwards, we moved to the auditorium to watch and listen to musical and dance performances from all of the levels of the international school; once again confirming that we have a considerable amount of artistic talent amongst our students. A special shout out to our final Jazz ensemble: four students from four different year levels that play together with joy and panache. Well done all!

An Insight Into the Technical Crew

Head of the school  Technical Committee, Alex Graham in MP4a plays an important role as does the rest of the technical crew members in providing technical support for many events at school such as the annual Musical show and International Evening. The crew are usually given a script of the event which they follow, making some adjustments where necessary. Alex’s particular interest is with the sound desk and enjoys compiling the sound schedule for the Musial.

Alex says “It is great that we are given the freedom to play with all the technical equipment which I find intriguing and interesting”

“I found all the equipment overwhelming at first but then it is easy to learn how to use it “

If you wish to join the Technical Crew, look out for the Sign Up list at the start of  the new academic year!