Week at a glance - See our Head of School's weekly reflection
2026-05-22 10:44
"The protection of our children must be our first priority. They are the future." — Nelson Mandela
Dear Colleagues
This week has been the Times Educational Supplement Safeguarding Awareness week from 18-22 May. We have used this opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of child protection and safeguarding as our overall commitment to our value of safety. Children in both primary and secondary explored these topics in their wellbeing lessons this week.
When families choose an international school, they often speak of academic excellence, global citizenship, and diverse cultural experiences. While these are vital components of who we are, they all rest upon one non-negotiable foundation: the safety and well-being of our children.
In an international school setting, child protection and safeguarding take on an even deeper significance. Our community is beautifully diverse, bringing together families and team members from all corners of the globe. This unique environment requires us to be hyper-vigilant. We must ensure that our school is a sanctuary—a predictable, secure, and nurturing environment where every child feels seen, heard, and protected.
Safeguarding is not a checkbox exercise; it is the lens through which we view every decision we make. We employ a transparent and rigorous, multi-layered framework to keep our students safe.
Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. As you know, every team member undergoes mandatory annual safeguarding and child protection training. We also organised in the last couple of weeks online training on digital safety for all our teachers with an external expert trainer. These professional development opportunities ensure that you, our team members, are expertly equipped to recognise the signs of distress or abuse, understand the latest digital threats, and know exactly how to respond and report concerns correctly. I would like to remind you also about the My Concern platform and how important it is to report any concerns you have about a child;s safety or welfare on this platform. Our Designated Safeguarding Leads will then take further action to address and follow up the concerns you raised. We are collectively the eyes and ears that keep the children in our care safe.
Furthermore, our campus must remain a safe haven. To maintain this, we enforce a strict visitor policy:
No unchecked adults are permitted to roam our campus.
All visitors, contractors, and guests must sign in, wear a designated badge, and remain fully accompanied by a staff member at all times.
We do not presume we are perfect however. Our dedicated Safeguarding Committee meets every single month to review our practices, audit our logs, and update our policies. This ensures our procedures evolve alongside international best practices and that any potential risks are proactively managed. I am grateful to all members of this committee this academic year for all their hard work and vigilance.
We have excellent relationships with the local police and the welfare agencies who support us when we have to tackle difficult situations and as we strive to keep all members of our community safe.
Finally, true protection involves giving children the tools to protect themselves. Through our age-appropriate curriculum, we actively teach our students how to navigate the world safely:
Online Safety: Regular digital citizenship lessons teach students how to spot online dangers, protect their privacy, and report cyberbullying or inappropriate content.
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE): Our carefully tailored RSE lessons, following the approved ministry of education curriculum, empower students with an understanding of personal boundaries, consent, healthy relationships, and bodily autonomy.
Also this week MYP 3 enjoyed a trip to Omodos village organised by the English faculty. Thank you to Erato for organising this trip. All Montessori children have enjoyed a wonderful day out at the Camel Park today linked to this term’s topic and explorations on the natural world. Many thanks indeed to our amazing Montessori teachers for making this happen. DP1 students began their end of year examinations and Primary children have been completing their GL assessments. So daily life is as busy as ever at The Island School and the team working collectively and collaborating well makes it all happen. Thank you!