I would like to welcome back returning families and students and to extend a warm welcome to new families and students.
The start of year in a new school can be a daunting time and a number of staff members make sure that we try and integrate new students into life at ACS as smoothly as possible.
For the 9th grade this process is helped by the trip to North Wales for a week to take part in an adventure week. We are considering whether it may be possible to have short trips also for the other grades.
This year, I will also be communicating via a weekly newsletter as I know that in the past some parents have felt a lack of communication. Hopefully we will get the balance right between not enough information and too much information! I would remind all parents, though that we are always available via the telephone, e-mail or you can come in at any time if you have an issue you would like to discuss.
Our primary focus is and will always be the young people you entrust to us and at various times of the year you will hear of various projects and initiatives undertaken by the school: all such initiatives have at their core a desire to strengthen and enhance the learning process for the students in our care. In my other newsletters I will cover some of these projects and initiatives and explain why we do them.
For now, I would say that we at the start of a year and for each individual student, now is the time to set goals and to make resolutions to ensure that when June comes around they can look back on the year with as few regrets as possible. High School only takes four years and these four years can appear to pass with bewildering speed. Here we are in a unique situation with so many young people gathered together from all corners of the earth to live and work together in a very pleasant part of England. Every so often people should reflect on the opportunities they have at this time of their lives as those four years will not last forever!