From the Director

What I am excited about this week…
 
Thanksgiving! The upcoming American Thanksgiving holiday is my favorite holiday of the year. The focus of the day is to share a meal with family and friends and to pause and be grateful for all that we have. No commercialism, no materialism, just gratitude and the company of loved ones. Who could ask for more? Whether you are American or not, I hope you take a few moments over the long weekend (or every day, for that matter) to take stock of all that you have to be thankful for. Better still, take some time to make sure that the special people in your life know that you are grateful that they are there. Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Shine! Don’t miss next week’s choral event, Shine! This celebration of song will feature student choirs, the community choir, and the St. Matthias Choir. The show will begin at 18:30 sharp on 5 December in our Tiyende Pamodzi Theater.
 
Flash Gordon Redux: Lusaka 2019! Congratulations to the cast and crew of Flash Gordon. What a fun and memorable performance! These productions take months of hard work and a grand vision. Many thanks to the Director, Vanessa Tolino, and all of the teachers and support staff who helped make this happen.  
 
 Academic Calendar for 2020-21! The Board of Directors has approved our 2020-21 academic calendar. It is attached to this newsletter so that you can begin planning for next year. As usual our calendar reflects the following priorities:

• 180 student days - starting after Farmer’s Day in August and ending as early in June as possible. The reason for the early June finish is to have as few school days as possible AFTER the Grade 12 students have started their IB exams so that they can benefit from as many academic days as possible beforehand.
• Equal semesters – we try to end our first semester before the December/January school holiday. We want those semesters to be as similar in length as possible.
• Respect for Zambian national holidays
• Four-week holiday in December and January
• One-week holidays in October and March/April