Week at a glance - See our Head of School's weekly reflection
2026-05-08 13:21
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." — Confucius
Dear Colleagues
This week, our school has been buzzing with discussions about the world of work. As we celebrated Labour Day on May 1st last Friday with a public holiday to respect and honour all the workers and their contributions to society, we are taking the opportunity to look beyond the classroom and help students understand the diverse paths available to them, as well as the ethical responsibilities that come with being a global professional. We have played the song “Hall of Fame’ by The Script this week as it celebrates working hard, achieving your goals and choosing the profession you love which will lead to you ‘standing in the hall of fame!”. Moreover, thank you to all the hard working colleagues in our school whose endeavours enable students to have a great experience everyday!
In Secondary Wellbeing time, students explored a future career or job they are interested in and developed their research skills finding out what types of activities the career involves and what qualifications and personal qualities and characteristics an individual needs to succeed in the role. They presented their findings in an informative leaflet or infographic. These will be gathered and added to our ‘Island Futures’ Careers portal which is launching in the next academic year. The students also enjoyed an assembly this week focussed on careers and career choices.Thanks to Sean and Tania for organising these events.
We are proud to offer a robust support system to help our students navigate their future academic and professional journeys. We have a full time University and Careers counsellor on campus, Sean who uses his skills, expertise and knowledge to guide students as they begin to consider their future careers and study pathways. This year Sean has worked with Grade 10, focusing on DP and CP options for next year and aligning subject choices with future career interests. He also works intensively with Grades 11 & 12 and their parents, navigating the complexities of university entrance exams, personal statements, and global application deadlines. Next year we are recruiting a second counsellor to build and enhance the team and ensure we continue to offer vital individual guidance as our student numbers grow and support all our students when they are planning their futures. Our school also utilises the Unifrog platform to support the university application process. It allows students to compare every university course and apprenticeship, while also helping them build their portfolios and log "soft skills" that employers value. Thanks to Sean for a great year!!
A key focus this week in a similar vein has also been Fair Trade. We want our students to understand how their choices as consumers affect the lives of workers globally, ensuring producers in developing countries receive fair wages and work in safe environments. This topic is being explored in detail by one of our CP students for their Reflective Project. The student imports and sells tea for his BTEC Entrepreneurship enterprise and is facing an ethical dilemma of ‘Should small businesses put people before profit?’ A question that is certainly asked in boardrooms around the world.
This academic year we have launched our IB Careers Related Programme which combines both the academic rigour of the DP subjects and a Careers Related Study course delivered by SUMAS university. Our successful accreditation allowed us to become the only full IB Continuum School in Cyprus. Central to this is the CP Core which supports students in the development of career ready skills. It is already proving to be very successful with the students who are most focusing on entrepreneurship and technology this year but there are also routes in fashion design and the arts. Next year we will also add further qualifications within this programme from Pearson BTEC with the L3 Diploma in Enterprise & Entrepreneurship and will be undertaking the accreditation for these qualifications this week.
Indeed, the Grade 11 CP students have been exploring potential work experience opportunities. Work experience is an unpaid opportunity to spend 2 weeks in a real workplace, understanding what a particular job involves, learning how to communicate and collaborate in unknown teams and getting to grips with a different level of responsibility and focus. We are always on the lookout for potential opportunities so if you know of any please let Tania know..Placements take place in June, after the DP1 Mock Exams.
In Grade 9 next academic year we are launching an Entrepreneurship and Technology programme which will complement the MYP curriculum with an exciting afternoon programme developing leadership, creativity, entrepreneurship and industry recognised qualifications.. If you are interested in registering your child for this programme please contact our communications team. At The Island School we continue to build new programmes which accommodate and promote a wide range of children’s interests.
Last Thursday we enjoyed an amazing performance by students in both primary and secondary in the school’s dramatic production of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Thank you to the wonderful and talented actors and also to the Performaning Arts teachers who supported and guided them and to all the parents and students who attended the show. It was a wonderful evening!
This week we have also had further participation and successes in the Cypriot Maths Olympiads. Our students’ success was recognised in the award ceremonies that the Cyprus Math Society hosted. We are thrilled to celebrate the incredible success of our students in the recent Regional and National Math Competitions. Our mathematicians secured a total of 18 National awards, with standout performances from Year 9 (8 awards), Years 10 and 11 (4 awards each), and Year 8 (2 awards). Our success continued at the Regional level with 26 awards in total; this included 3 awards for Year 5, 1 each for Years 6 and 7, 2 for Year 8, a massive 9 for Year 9, 4 for Year 10, and 6 for Year 11. From our youngest competitors to our seniors, these results reflect the hard work and dedication of our students. Well done to Nikos and their teachers for supporting this success!
So in conclusion we have reminded the students this week that hard work and diligence pays off and choosing the right academic and career pathway will help them excel in their learning and in life. We also teach them that we should respect all workers and professions and the contributions they bring to our society.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend resting from your hard labours of this week!