On the IT front, the school’s website has finally been updated, with a flexible design that we can now edit in-house and update regularly with news and events. There is some extra information still to be uploaded, but please feel free to see the basic “new look” on www.bsc-edu.com. The “e-learning” section is still to be developed, as the school has started to introduce a modern School Management and Information System and e-learning platform with the local iTSmart company. The British School in Cairo was also chosen by the International Academy for Advanced Research (IAAR) for an award of a partly-funded BTEC Junior Leaders’ Scholarship and Programme, which we hope to be able to introduce at some point in the future, if there is sufficient demand from our older pupils. The Programme would include a variety of leadership and character-building activities, including a subsidised summer camp at an Egyptian coastal resort such as El Gouna, for students from Year 7 and above. BTEC qualifications are widely recognised overseas as broad-ranging and vocational qualifications, including by UK and international universities. They are also offered alongside IGCSE courses or GCSE courses at some of the other well established British international schools in Egypt.

We have an excellent staff team to start the new academic year, and are particularly delighted to welcome on board a new Deputy Head for Primary and Early Years, or “Head of Primary” for short, Ms Dalia Okasha, who has just completed her Masters Degree in Educational Leadership and has worked in senior roles at British international schools for many long years, as well as working in teacher training with Sunderland University, northern England. We also have a new Head of Science and senior Science Teacher in KS3, Mr Syed Ahmed, who has a very strong track record in teaching the Year 7 and Year 8 Science Curriculum in Cairo, and we would also like to welcome/ welcome back all our other excellent new teachers , co-teachers, administrators and support staff. We would like to welcome all new and returning staff members, and all pupils and parents, as we return to school, and we wish you a very happy and successful academic year in 2016/17.