Head’s Blog

Recently I read a discussion in an aviation forum I follow (yes, I continue to be an aviation geek) about a passenger who was offloaded from the plane that she had already boarded because she could not stow her carry-on luggage in the overhead bin. This seems non-sensical, as the crew is there to help the passengers, isn’t it?

As we get to the end of January, I look back at the beginning of this term, the final term for our Class of 2023 and my own final term at this wonderful community. During the break we worried whether the expansion of COVID cases in China was going to affect us and discussed contingency plans (fearing going back to the darkest days of the pandemic).

You are probably aware that UWC has a special sensitivity to refugees, from our UWC Refugee Initiative (in partnership with UNHCR) to Amala, the first international high school curriculum for displaced youth set up by two UWC alumnae. More alumni and current staff are involved in this  initiative for which I have the utmost respect and which deserves any support we can give them.

Last week I had the privilege of attending UWC Atlantic’s 60th Anniversary Celebration. Some of you may know that UWC is a name that replaced the original “Atlantic Colleges” that Lord Mountbatten had envisioned, a group of similar schools but the name did not quite work when the next two schools opened in Singapore and Canada.

Greetings from lovely Dilijan, where our Class of 2023, after the emotional re-encounters upon arrival on campus, has had two weeks of lessons, catching up with Extended Essays, planning for our CAS programme and, of course, preparing for the arrival of our new students, our Class of 2024.