Dear Parents,

We have enjoyed a particularly busy few weeks in and out of the classroom. Schools are fascinating, living organisms and the pleasure of working in any school, is that every day and every week is different. Our school community was represented this month, demonstrating the uniqueness of Oryx International School.

We enjoyed visits from the MoEHE School Inspector Mr. Fahad Al Gahni, who reviewed some of our documentation and took a tour of the school. As in previous visits, Mr. Al Gahni was very impressed with the standards set in the school from policies and procedures through to facilities, safety & security.

We enjoyed several visits from Qatar Airways including a film crew who are developing a link with a school in New York, the IAAF Doha 2019 and Aspire Academy Teams for a fitness testing session, a meeting with members of the QR Security team in advance of our Health, Safety & Security meeting in October, and a full School Board meeting.

We also enjoyed a 3-day visit from Orbital Education CEO, Mr. David Pottinger and Regional Head of Schools, Mr. Michael Clack. As part of his visit, Mr. Clack delivered safeguarding training to all members of the teaching and administrative staff, visited some lessons and reviewed our Safer Recruitment practices. We were joined by the Orbital Education Chairman, Mr. Kevin McNeany for the Board meeting.

Our Year 10 students visited the Doha Stock Exchange as part of a work experience programme, we held several trials after school for our sports teams, started sport competitions against other schools, our ASAs commenced and selected our Secondary Head Boy and Head Girl. In addition, we welcomed parents to several information workshops and elected our new PTSA members, who held their first meeting of the year.

We look forward to another different but equally exciting October.

Kind regards,

Mr. Derek Laidlaw

Important Information for this week

After School Activities and sport events (School provided)

Please remember the following conditions once your child has been enrolled in an activity;

  • It is our parents’ responsibility to ensure that any changes to bus service days and times is communicated directly to Tri-Logistics and to the school via email.
  • Children attending school ASAs must be collected at 15.00 promptly.
  • Siblings of children attending an ASA cannot be supervised by school staff and it is parents’ responsibility to collect them at 14.00. They must not be left unattended.
  • You are welcome to watch sports trials taking place after school and to support our teams at our forthcoming home games. Your support will be very much appreciated. Siblings cannot be left unattended at trials or at matches and you should ensure that they are not distracting the players or coaches.

Punctuality

I am very pleased with the punctuality shown in the mornings and during the day by our students. It is an important characteristic to develop in our youngsters and by setting a good example, parents and staff alike, are helping to establish this good habit.

The end of the school day at 14.00: I would remind parents the importance of collecting children from school at 14.00. School staff have duties after that time and are not available to supervise. Any children left after 14.10 will be brought to the main office and parents called, as per our procedures. On the rare occasion you are unavoidably late, please inform the school office.

Birthday celebrations in school

I would like to remind parents that we do not allow food, including cakes, to be brought into school (or for take away) to celebrate birthdays. If you wish to provide a small gift bag for classmates that is fine.

I would also remind parents that we are a ‘nut free’ zone.

Trained Staff Lifeguards

Our school trained lifeguards are Nichola, Kishore, Lee, Sanneka, Moses, Zaahir, Katherine, Craig and Ana.

Prayer Rooms

The two prayer rooms in admin building are available to students at lunchtime and after school.

If you wish your child to use the prayer rooms please send a request to Exec.PA@oryxschool.qa

Due to the location of the rooms, children in FS and KS1 should not use these facilities.

Beginner Level English Classes for Parents

English Lessons for parents will be offered free of charge on Thursday’s at 07.30 – 08.30 starting on 7th November. You must commit to attending 18 – 20 sessions to be eligible.

There will be two levels of classes, Complete Beginners and ‘Just above beginners’.

If you would like to register, please email Michael.peacock@oryxschool.qa. Places are limited to 32 on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

Evacuation Drill

We carried out our second fire evacuation drill of the term on Wednesday 2nd October. I was very pleased with the overall performance of the children and staff and we have made significant improvements to our procedures. The children in particular were very well behaved during the drill and they all knew what to do and where to report. We evacuated the whole school in 4 minutes 5 seconds, which involved more than 1,400 people on site. There are some small amendments we can add to improve our timings for the next drill