It has been wonderful in school to be able to celebrate Merdeka properly. We have had assemblies, and parades celebrating Malaysia’s 65th anniversary of independence, and this will continue next week until Malaysia day on Friday. Seeing students and staff in their national dress, with flags and hearing the songs has been uplifting for all of us. A quick reminder that next Friday is a public holiday to celebrate Malaysia day.

Earlier in the week, I sent an email about the use of masks. In keeping with the Ministry of Health announcement on Wednesday, we have made masks optional. I also asked that everyone respects the wishes of others by not questioning their use of masks. As Malaysia continues to move into the endemic phase of COVID, we will all need to adapt to a new normal, which hopefully brings us back to the pre COVID situation. I am sure everyone is looking forward to that. Please remember, however, the Ministry of Education has yet to make an announcement about schools and so this might change.

Now that the northern hemisphere schools have started their new school year, sports fixtures will start to happen properly again for the first time since February 2020. Sport is a fundamental part of the school experience and it will be really good to have students competing with themselves and others on different sports fields and courts. Playing sport is a good reflection of life in general. To be good at sport, you do need to practise properly and prepare yourself, and indeed show resilience to build up your skills, some of the time you will lose and that can be a good learning experience, at other times, hopefully you win and that can teach you about respect and humility. I look forward to seeing teams and individuals playing over the coming weeks and months.

Peter Wells