Message From the Head of School – June 10, 2020

End of year assemblies are bittersweet occasions in the best of times. Bitter because in international schools we know that roughly one/fifth of our student population will be moving on, moving on to university life or to different countries to continue their education. Bitter because faculty members who have called BIS home and who have impacted our students so powerfully are returning to their home countries or continuing their international teaching careers elsewhere and they will be deeply missed. Bitter because another year has gone by, full of memories, laughter, friendship, challenge, and learning.

SY19-20’s ending seems a bit more bitter than any other year. Why is that? Well for those of us tuning in today it means we can’t hug a friend goodbye, a colleague, or high five a student. The pandemic doesn’t allow for that. It means we are also saying goodbye to more students and faculty and staff than we had hoped for. This is the effect of COVID-19 on our school. It is a bitter pill to swallow, one that continues to get caught in my throat as I think about the impact this pandemic has had on our institution. 

Thank goodness, end of year assemblies are also sweet events. Sweet because we celebrate the best of times with friends and the special moments that made this year memorable. SY19-20 had plenty of sweet moments, many moments that highlighted the great work of our students, faculty and staff, and our community.

We often learn more about ourselves in times of high stress than when there are smooth seas to sail upon. If that’s the case BIS can look itself in the mirror and state – during Covid-19 – BIS rose to the occasion in every possible way. In fact, this year, maybe more than any other school year, BIS fulfilled its mission statement throughout the year and most importantly throughout the pandemic’s impact on our school. 

Engaging and empowering globally-minded, confident learners to reach their utmost potential in an active, creative and respectful learning community.

So many thank yous need to be said at the end of a school year. I would like to start by thanking our courageous cleaning and maintenance crews who have come into school each day to make sure the campus continues to improve and will be ready for students in August. 

Our Administrators, Ross and Craig, have worked tirelessly throughout the year to improve the student experience. They each contributed to all aspects of our school throughout their tenure, a prime example is their oversight of our school’s transition to Distance Learning – thank you, gentlemen. 

Nathaniel Erickson and our IT Department to deserve a huge thank you for bringing our teachers up to speed on applications that we all now take for granted, assisting with our distance learning logistics and helping our assemblies and graduations look so wonderful.

Which leads us to our faculty, the BIS faculty jumped in with both feet to our Distance Learning preparations. They learned all of the tools and then added others, shared and improved teaching experiences through collaboration. They took on feedback from students and parents and again improved student learning. Well done! 

To our students, thank you for your kindness as us boomers figured out the tech. Thank you for showing up to classes at higher attendance rates than during regular school. Thank you for supporting your classmates and friends through this difficult time. 

To our parents, thank you for your support! What an experience this has been, your support of your child’s learning has been 100% the key to our success!

To our parent class representatives and to the PTA – thank you for your valuable communication and support of BIS throughout the year.

Now it’s time to say goodbye to our administrators and teachers who are leaving BIS.

I wish you a wonderful summer ahead. Enjoy time with family and friends, a good book, and I encourage you to follow a new passion.

 

Loyally,

Garth Wyncoll

 

A few final notes:

Health Committee SY20/21

If you are interested, or if you know of a qualified health professional, who may be interested in helping to guide our school’s response to Covid-19 and related issues, please do let me know at headofschool@baliis.net. We will meet virtually throughout the summer to ensure we are prepared for opening day.

Opening Plan SY20/21

Hamish Sutherland has created our Opening School Plan with input from the Health Committee members, as well as many schools which have already opened and health organizations that are guiding schools in this work. While this document is a working document and will be constantly edited and amended based on the most current information, we welcome you to have a look and provide feedback. Thank you for your time in reviewing this important planning document.