I hope you all enjoyed a restful break having time to spend with friends and family, but more importantly, time to rest and recharge! The turn of the calendar to 2025 brings so much optimism as we look to all that is coming up this year. I enjoyed visiting all of the classrooms on Monday to welcome students and staff back, especially noticing the difference between our youngest students who were bubbling with energy and our teenage students who seemed to be coping well with being awake well before they would like to be after a 3-week break from the school routine.
We have been working hard for 2 years to prepare for our CAIS Peer Review Team visit which will determine if UA will earn CAIS accreditation. The time has come as the visiting team will start their review on Sunday beginning with a tour from some of our Student Ambassadors, followed by meetings with the UA Board and the Senior Leadership Team. The 10-person Peer Review Team is made up of school leaders, educators and business/operations staff from CAIS schools across the country. They will be at UA until Wednesday of next week. The staff and the Board of UA are excited to have this opportunity to show off our school to the team.
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome a few new staff members to UA. Ms. Becky Greenhough has joined the Junior School as our new Learning Resource Teacher (after the departure of Ms. Pasqual in December), Ms. Katie Cameron is joining us in the senior school (to take over Ms. Hibberd’s teaching role as she continues her own education) and Ms. Chelsea Pederson is starting a temporary contract until the end of February as our Junior French teacher (while Ms. Dall is on leave).
This is the time in the school year when time seems to go faster. Students and staff will accomplish a great deal over the next couple of months as we move towards spring break. I am confident that everyone is up for the challenge and will continue to enjoy the journey here at UA.
Yours in education,
Mr. Slinger