Dear all,

Welcome to the last newsletter of Spring Term 1! It's been one of our busiest weeks of the year so far. Let's find out about Valentine's Day, Amaliya and Lily's Bake Sale, the Year 3 Assembly, Maslenitsa, House Competitions and the British Ambassador's Residence function......

Tuesday was the 14th of February so we celebrated Valentine's Day in style! We had a great House Door Competition where each form classroom door in Secondary was decorated with the look of love. We also had a non-uniform day and the students dressed mainly in red and pink. Of course, it would not be Valentine's Day without cards, so Amaliya and Lily (Y9) made a beautiful letter box that ended up being stuffed to the brim.

I want to make a special mention here to Amaliya and Lily, because they independently organised and delivered the whole-school bake sale. The money raised was for the victims of the Turkish/Syrian earthquake and sum total was substantial, so a huge thank your and well done to the Year 9 girls. They made us proud, once again.

On Wednesday, myself and a cohort from EIS, including Ms. Nura, Ms Aida and Mr. Smith went along to the British Ambassador's Residence to host a function to raise awareness of our fabulous school and sell our achievements. The event was very well attended and the feedback was extremely positive, so we very much enjoyed the day. I would recommend people to pay that place a visit as it is stunning inside and out. Well done to all involved.

Thursday kicked off with the excellent Year 3 Assembly that epitomized the virtues of courage. Of course, just getting up there on the stage to perform in front of parents and then the whole of Primary takes a lot of courage in itself and they never let us down. I have to say, that was the loudest I have heard children sing for an assembly performance in a long, long time. Even when the speaker seemed to disconnect, no one noticed and they kept bellowing out the songs - amazing! It was a very pleasant event for me, personally, to see how the children have really developed their English language skills; to think, many of those children had zero English not so long ago. What a difference.

Thursday was also special, particularly for Primary, as it was their main House Competition day, which was run by Ms Holly. Having led the Y3 assembly twice that day, it is safe to say, Ms. Holly had had a busy day! The children enjoyed a plethora of activities as a carousel of events were spread throughout the school. The same was repeated on Friday for our Maslenitsa celebration day.

A big thanks to the Russian contingent for organising the Maslenitsa day - Ms. Marina & Ms. Larisa for Secondary and Ms. Katrin and Ms. Marianna for Primary. It was a superb day; the best I have seen at my time at EIS I would say, so well-done ladies, fantastic stuff. Of course, we finished the day with the burning of the doll, which is always a highlight for many.

Have a wonderful half-term break everyone and safe travels if you are out and about!

All the best,
Head of school
Lee N. Daglish

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