As we come towards the end of the
academic year for most students, we are happy to welcome the new Pre-Term
students who joined us this month. The Pathways pre-term programme is a unique
focus on skills rather than on subject content. Over these two months our new
students develop an understanding of the skills expected of an IB student at
any level – the skills of researching by formulating the right questions, the
skills of reading widely, of applying their knowledge to real-life contexts, of
communication and presentation and most importantly, the skills of reflection.
Pre-term parents will be able to see evidence of this at the special
presentation which students will be doing for you towards the end of May.
I believe that reflection is one
of the most important and least developed skills in most schools. We cannot
understand new ideas or how to improve or what we are good at unless we learn
to reflect or consciously think about these areas. Like most powerful tools
reflection must be taught and from Primary school to Senior school all our
students are trained in this. In fact reflection is often the most important
way of getting a young person to learn new behavior too. In this newsletter you
can see many examples of reflection – from the pre-term students, to reflection
on the personal project presentations. Many parents will have seen this through
the year for yourselves with the Student Led Conferences or the reviews of the
E-portfolios.
We are happy to have in school
our incoming Senior School Principal Mr Alexander Abraham.
He has spent the
week interacting with teachers and students both formally and informally. Over
this week he has been introduced to our existing systems at Pathways by Mr
Jaffar and I am confident that this time will enable him to move into his new
role very effectively once he formally joins us in July.
Meanwhile students are preparing
for the final academic activities of the year. Primary school has moved into
their final units of enquiry, Form 5 is beginning preparation for their version
of the PYP exhibition and Form 7 up are focusing on the upcoming end-of-year
exams. IB Diploma written examinations begin on 2nd May and Form 10’s IGCSE
written exams on 7th May. Modern Language oral exams have already begun. We
wish them all the best of luck as they go forward. Meanwhile other
demonstrations of learning through the year such as for middle school Clubs and
Music will be on display. Similarly students of Form 2 and 3 will invite parents
to share the work they have done on reading through the ORT display.
Finally, as last year, the Summer
Camp will run from 3rd June – offering
music, dance, drama, Design Technology, art and sports. This is open to
students from Pathways and other schools so please feel free to spread the
word. You will be receiving more
information shortly.
Shalini Advani
School Director
