Our Middle and Upper School students returned to start classes for the new year on Thursday.  It was wonderful to meet so many bright, engaged, curious, polite and welcoming young men and women – a school without its students is just an empty shell, and the Awty campus became fully alive on Thursday morning!

Then, on Friday afternoon I met my new ToK (Theory of Knowledge) class for the first time.  I gather that it is a very long time since a Head at Awty has taught a class of students on a regular basis, and I have received more than a few (very favorable!) comments about my choice to do so.  Some people worry that I am creating a rod for my own back by taking the time to teach an IB Diploma class – my reply has been that forming the lives of young people was the reason I got into education in the first place, and the day I stop teaching is the day I should retire.

For the teachers at Awty, the new working year started about a week before the students returned.  We had been having very invigorating and informative orientation and professional development sessions, sustained by some wonderful catering by Tim, our resident chef from Australia (and my only compatriot on the Awty staff).  The food here is sensational!

One of the key professional development sessions in which all the teachers participated this week was a workshop on the topic of cyberbullying conducted by Marje Monroe and Doug Fodeman.  Marje and Doug founded Children Online in 1997 to focus on the impact of technology on child and adolescent development.  On the basis that prevention is better than cure, their session with the faculty provided a comprehensive and up-to-date set of practical tips to deal with the issue of cyberbullying.  This was followed up by a two-hour information session with parents on the same evening, arranged (by necessity, unfortunately) at somewhat short notice.  Despite the short notice, the session was fairly well attended, and it was appreciated so much by everyone present that we seem to have already built a consensus that we should get Marje and Doug back to Awty to speak to an even wider audience.

We have started the new academic year with a record enrolment – almost 1300 students.  My new school has more staff than my previous school had students, and it is certainly a much more complex organisation, more akin in size and scope to the several schools I headed in Australia and New Zealand from 1989 to 2004.  Dare I say at this early stage of my headship, I have found Awty to be an enormously satisfying, energising and positive community with a real sense of wanting to move forward with a vision, energy and purpose that authentically serves the needs of its fabulous students.

This is my kind of school!