Newsletter No.1
Dear Parents,
ESM has opened again-in mellow late summer weather, almost ten months after our enforced closure in early November 2020. The mood across the School has been very much one of Looking Forward in these opening days, not lamenting the past. Or, as Laurey sings in “Oklahoma”: Never’ve I asked an August sky, where has last July gone?
The buzz, a mixture of anticipation, excitement, and relief, has been palpable in every corner of ESM.
We welcomed back 864+ Students, amongst them 220 new Children and 19 new Teachers (10 of them international). There are of course Covid regulations in place as the new Academic Year gains pace and lots to live up to after the best-ever IB Diploma Results announced in August.
Several new Additions take the eye this term: from the Lawson Hill Institute Centre in Tokyo Street, a short walk up the road, to the new Gymnasium on the north side of the Main Building and the re-configured 1:15 area of Registration, Finance and School Shop.
Our Ambitions for the year are reflected in the Full Term 1 Calendar which includes the UBAC Sporting fixture list (with Football as the main Sport this Autumn), a return to the popular Friday Lunchtime Pop-Up Events and our first full Musical (quoted above) to be performed in the last two and a half years: 4 Shows at The Opera House later in the month. The Term now runs into Week 7 until the 13th of October.
Our aspirations extend to (we hope) excellent reviews from our impending PYP and IB Diploma Inspections taking place virtually this month and run by the International Baccalaureate. And, soon after, to the re-scheduled British Schools Overseas (BSO) Inspection. In every way ESM aspires to be the doyen of UB International Schools boasting a British ambience.
As always, our intention is very much to involve our Parents in the activities and success of ESM. To that end, we ran two Parents’ Information Sessions and a full Orientation Day ahead of our New Start. With pandemic restrictions continuing, our Opening Ceremony was confined to Grades 1 and 12, but, for all that, no less meaningful and important. You can see a video of that occasion, and of many other ESM Events as they occur, on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/englishschoolofmongolia/
We have long Waiting Lists for places in several Grades this term, a pretty good indication of the School’s popularity. For this support and the general level of enthusiasm for ESM amongst Parents, Students, and Staff, we remain as ever hugely grateful.
Regards,
Graham Hill
Director
The English School of Mongolia