From the Principal #127
5th November 21
The school is back in its stride after half-term, and I am pleased that everyone has returned having had the opportunity to rest over the long half-term holiday. The new two-week half-term (a first in the College’s 90-year history) results from the new Structure of the Day, which aims further to improve the wellbeing of our staff and students. And I know that our hard-working students have had a good balance of work, rest and play over the holiday, with the Lower School and Year 12s sitting their exams this week and the Year 13s sitting their second round of milestone tests next week. Soon we will have our rounds of Parents’ Evening, which are all taking place virtually and will be an opportunity for you to connect with our teachers and discuss your daughter’s/son’s progress. Please do sign up for these evenings when the notifications arrive. By working together, we can bring the best out of your child, allowing them to grow in confidence and to succeed. Remember to discuss our values of tolerance, respect, academic curiosity, community, and kindness (I hope our students haven’t forgotten them over the holiday!) and how they help create our warm and positive culture, which is conducive to learning.
And speaking of warm, we have been discussing the likely outcome of COP26 – the vital UN summit on climate change currently taking place in Glasgow, Scotland. With the absence of some big countries, it was always challenging to negotiate areas such as emissions, fossil fuels, climate finance and adaptation. It was great to see one of our former DLD students, Lord Lebedev, who owns the Evening Standard newspaper in London, speak passionately at COP26 about climate change and what we have to do to protect our planet. Our students, the next generation of leaders, have been discussing what needs to be done and how they need to change their habits to help conserve resources and live more sustainable lives. If we don’t take this opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce harmful emissions and switch to cleaner energy, then all that has been said, discussed and promised will be a lot of hot air.
Best wishes
Irfan
Irfan Latif, Principal
Photo: Katielee Arrowsmith
