Dear NIS Community,
My name is Roula Rustom. Serving the Al Nibras Bilingual International School (NIS) community as the school principal is a pleasure and a privilege. If I were to introduce myself in one sentence, I would describe myself as a lifelong learner who places a strong emphasis on creating a collaborative culture that advocates for the development of the whole child in a safe and positive environment where student well-being and agency are priorities.
I have been working in the field of education since 1994. I was fortunate enough not only to work in Lebanon, my home country, but also in the Gulf, including Kuwait. My vast experience in general and special education has enriched my perspective on quality education. I had the privilege of leading my previous school through its IB-PYP candidacy and authorization journey.
As an educator and a school leader, I was always interested in finding answers to the following questions: What are the characteristics of a happy student? How exactly does learning to cultivate a happy and meaningful life fit into education? And even more importantly, how do we teach it?
I believe that happy lives are made up of a combination of positive emotions and meaningfulness-both of which contribute greatly to a child’s learning process and well-being. Emotions play an integral role in education, affecting students’ motivation, attention, social functioning, and decision-making. As educators, we strive to recognize and validate our students’ emotional lives and help them work with all their emotions in a rich and balanced way.
Thus, creating safe and caring classrooms and designing engaging lessons, both of which promote positive emotions in students, are high on the NIS teaching faculty’s agenda. In addition to positive emotions, happiness also depends on a sense of meaning. We strive to help our students find more meaning in what they are learning to see the connection between their school work and their future work /career goals. Giving our students time to reflect on what they are learning and experiencing helps make the curriculum relevant to their lives. They see that not only are they learning content knowledge, but they are also learning to connect with each other, be empathetic, and understand their own needs and the needs of others.
At NIS, we will seek every opportunity to drill deeply into the complex layers of social, emotional, cognitive, cultural, and environmental factors that make each student who he or she is.
The NIS school leadership team is committed to creating a positive school climate that is rooted in shared values and responsible student participation. By building a caring environment in which students feel safe and supported, we believe we can help them gain a sense of belonging and attachment to school. These feelings are an important part of keeping students engaged in the educational process.
In our quest to create an optimal learning environment and a school culture welcoming of diversity, we strongly believe that character education helps children and young adults learn to perceive, understand, and act in ways that promote peace, justice, harmonious coexistence, and respect for diversity.
The NIS school leadership team has been relentlessly working together to figure out the best ways to nurture the joy of learning in our community. As such, we aim to discover each student’s interests, grow his/her passions, love what he/she is doing in class, and think of school as an exciting place not only to acquire knowledge and skills but also where learning is fun.
Our aspirations are numerous; however, none of them will be realized or will see the light without the support and collaboration of parents/guardians. Working together as full partners, we can foster a caring and sensitive school climate that respects and responds to students' differences as well as their similarities.
I invite you to join hands with me, with us the NIS team, as we look forward to a happy and successful year that will bring about growth, learning, and self-fulfillment to all the members of the NIS community.
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