A Quick Update

I haven't posted in a little while and this is because things have been a little busy.

A few key developments are worth mentioning:

1: All school children have been back face-to-face since the 22nd of November, which is excellent.

Thomas will get to be in school in person for at least 3 weeks before the winter break and I'll actually get to meet the year 7&8 classes I have on my timetable, but have never met. 

The first week went well - Thomas enjoyed school, made some new friends and my 7&8s were brilliant!

Thomas in his new school uniform

2: Quarantine free entry to Malaysia look like it is on the cards as of January and travel corridors are set to open for vaccinated travelers between Malaysia and Singapore - so that's a target we'll be aiming for, but we'll have to keep an eye on the new variant and it's global impact.

3: I will be running the entire faculty as of September - so that's a job and a half! This is good as there are a number of areas across the school that I know I can contribute to and to take some advice a great friend of mine once was given and passed on to me - 'If you don't like something about the place you're working in, don't complain, put yourself in a position to change it.' This is not always possible though, but I was lucky enough that the opportunity presented itself for me here. I have a good foundation of training and experience to draw upon, and I have been lucky enough to have had excellent leadership models to follow and amazing support from my colleagues across my career. I will be leaning heavily on that past experience and will doubtless be reaching out for advice and guidance over the coming weeks and months.

4: We have seen what happens when a community comes together.

I'm not going to go into details here, it is not my place to do so, but suffice to say there was a need for the school and local community to come together to offer support to someone in the most challenging of circumstances. We, as a community have offered everything we can and will continue to do so.

To find ourselves amongst people who can and will offer their time and resources to support others in need has been a real privilege and we have contributed as we can and will do so for as long as needed.

The school I work at too has been exceptional - people from the very top, and I mean the very top, have stepped in and leant their considerable support and resources. Despite the nature of the circumstances it is a heartening thing to see the way people have rallied round.

Here's an arbitrary picture of KLCC

5: We aren't coming home at Christmas - the tax situation and the current covid restrictions on travel make return to the UK impossible until the summer, but we'll have a full six weeks then. This will be a tropical Christmas! When in Penang, do as the Penangites do!

We're actually going to go on a Malaysian road trip and take in KL and Johor (that one is for Lego Land), so that's going to be very interesting.

And it turns out that they go big on Christmas here - so that's nice!

Hope everyone is keeping well you aren't too wind blown.

Wishing you all the very best

 

John, Nic and Thomas