This Week's News from Alison Cobbin, Head of School

Dear Dwight Community,

Dwight London/ITN film

As I am sure you are aware, we were very excited to have an ITN film crew visit us in September. Over the course of the day, the film crew visited all the school sites and interviewed a wide range of children and some parents. Our children are amazing! The producer was effusive with praise for our students and the child-centred ethos of the school. We are very proud that our film was premiered at the IB Global Conference in The Hague at the end of October to launch a year-long series of events to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the IB.

The film creates a window into life at Dwight and helps those outside our community understand why Dwight is a great place for children to learn and thrive. If you have not yet seen our short film, please click here to view it. Unfortunately ITN could not include all the footage in our 4-minute video, but keep an eye out for extra footage appearing on the website in the near future.

Dwight Global Group

Following the success of the Dwight global collaboration at our brilliant Choir Festival in October, we are now looking forward to the Dwight School celebration at Carnegie Hall in February. It was wonderful to see London students at the choir festival catching up with others from Shanghai and New York that they met on previous exchanges and Carnegie concerts. A group of around twenty Dwight London students will head off to New York in February to perform with musicians from the other Dwight Schools on the world famous stage of the Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall and there is already excitement building across the four Dwight campuses.

I am delighted that one of our D1 students is joining a group from Dwight Qibao, along with three students from Dwight New York to visit Yunnan province in China during our winter break. They will experience life in a rural part of China and be part of a service project in a local school.

Working with the other schools in our Dwight family creates precious and meaningful opportunities for our students and staff to make real connections with students and staff in other parts of the world. With the opening of Dwight Dubai in August 2018, we plan to continue to expand the opportunities for our students and staff to engage in the Dwight global community.

Scholarships in the Upper School

In January we will be holding a scholarship presentation day for students entering the Upper School in September 2018. We do not require scholarship applicants to sit an examination, but ask them to provide references and make a presentation to a panel about how they exhibit the attributes of the IB Learner Profile and a global outlook. If you know of any friends or colleagues who have children who would be interested in the applying for a scholarship to join our Upper School in 2018, please direct them to the scholarship page on our website. The deadline for applications is 24th November.

Upcoming Parent Workshop - Understanding Third Culture Kids

Third Culture Kids is the term used to describe children who grow up outside of their passport country because of a parent's work abroad. About 70% of our students at Dwight may fall into this category. All of our students are Cross Culture Kids because they come into daily contact with people from other cultures. The experience of international mobility presents advantages and disadvantages for children whose routines, friendships, schools, and linguistic and cultural environments are disrupted because of this. With a better understanding of what these benefits and challenges are, parents and educators can work collaboratively to help children negotiate the complexities of international relocation. This workshop will draw on research to offer insights into the special qualities and characteristics of Third Culture Kids and provide a forum for discussing strategies that can help our students and their families embrace the exciting positive and life-changing advantages that can be gained while growing up abroad.

The workshop will be led by Mary Langford, Admissions Director ,whose own international journey began at the age of two. She attended eight schools in five cities in three countries in three languages before she completed high school. Mary has worked with international schools and families as an educator, researcher, writer, speaker, independent consultant and trainer for over 35 years.

To register for the workshop at 6.30pm om Thursday, 30th November, please click here, I look forward to seeing many of you there.

Wishing you all a relaxing weekend.

Kind regards

Alison Cobbin

Head of School