A frosty week has brought the beauty of winter and the hazards of living rurally with icy conditions in equal measure. Well done to those combatting tricky commutes to keep normal routines going. Many of you, along with some staff, have had their journeys doubled in length.
I am going on a journey very early tomorrow morning myself as I head off to visit our schools in Doha and Riyadh. We haven’t visited since late 2019 for covid reasons so it will be good to catch up in Doha and see in Riyadh a school in action from what was just a concept back then.
There are now 720 children at King’s College, Doha up to Year 10: those who started in Year 4 are now into their GCSE programme. King’s College, Riyadh has 350 children up to Year 4 having been open for four terms.
Simon Worthy, our DFO, is joining me for the Riyadh visit and Jonty Lawford, Deputy Head Academic at our College here, is with me for the Doha leg. As well as a major thrust being to provide and benefit from peer support and review in the schools, there are several engagements with parents, naturally, and with the likes of sponsors, Embassies as well as government officials including the UK DiT and DfE. The second site in Doha is due to open soon as construction completes meaning there is also a launch event about this exciting development while I am there. This new campus will be for Years 3 to 13 children with the current site becoming a Pre-Prep.
Finally, now we are through covid and able to re-engage properly, we are looking to rekindle and fan to flames the first sparks of collaboration between the schools we began a few years ago. There are plenty of shared opportunities to grasp.
A busy few days lie in wait, with every hour put to good use in the programme, so I am hoping to get an early night – but I find that never works for me.