Dear families,
Next week is Inclusion Week. As a school, fostering a welcoming, supportive, and
productive school environment is an essential element of what we do. Therefore, within our
SRI KDU school promises of Holistic Character Development and Welfare and Safeguarding,
we place a strong emphasis on the importance of Inclusion and Social and Emotional
Learning (SEL). Inclusive education is about us as a school, adapting to the needs of each
student, promoting respect for diversity, and eliminating barriers to learning and
participation. It’s essential for preparing all students for both their environment in Malaysia,
and a diverse world, promoting social cohesion, and enhancing students’ life skills. SEL is
deeply intertwined with inclusion, as it equips students with critical skills needed to
understand, respect, and connect with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Through SEL, students learn to manage their emotions, set goals, show empathy, make
responsible decisions, and maintain healthy relationships. These competencies are
foundational for building an inclusive school culture where every student is respected and
empowered. Our compulsory curriculum subject, Personal, Social, Health and Economic
Education programme (PSHE) underpins both inclusive practice and SEL, allowing students
of all ages to gain and enhance emotional intelligence and social skills. Author and
educator, Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking work on Emotional Intelligence (EI) spoke of EI
being the skillset of the future and how it is a better predictor of success than a high IQ:
“And in the day-to-day world no intelligence is more important than the interpersonal. If
you don’t have it, you will make poor choices in all areas of your life. We need to train
children in the personal intelligences, starting in school.”
As explained already, we have both a curriculum and school events at SRI KDU that support
the development of inclusive practice and SEL, one example being the upcoming SEL
afternoon event, run by Miss Shahiraa; an invitation to this event can be found at the
bottom of this newsletter. As a prelude to this workshop, it is worth looking here at what
supporting Inclusion and Social and Emotional Learning could look like for parents at
home.
For self-awareness, it’s perhaps important to support your child in understanding their own
identity, which can include their strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and how they can relate
to others. Daniel Goleman identifies that focusing on strengths with a constructive and
open approach to improving on perceived weaknesses not only increases self-confidence
but enhances accurate self-assessments, avoiding the Dunning Kruger effect! Ensuring your
home is a space where all feelings are respected and where children can learn to express
themselves in a safe and supportive setting, also creates an inclusive environment and
mirrors the SRI KDU approach. Exposing your child to diversity is considered essential to a
child’s all-round development by renowned authors such as Alden E. Habacon. By merely
sending your child to SRI KDU, an international school environment, you are already
exposing them to the diversity of people, cultures and perspectives, fostering a broader
understanding of the world for your child. An exposure to books, films, and experiences
that showcase diverse cultures and perspectives is also useful in enhancing your child’s
global perspective and ability to relate to others of all backgrounds.
For self-regulation, modelling a calm and controlled approach in stressful and emotive
situations sets a positive example for your children. SRI KDU teachers are trained in
restorative practices that reflect this skillset. Within this training, the use of voice (tone and
pitch), alongside a calm manner, are key in ensuring we model a respectful way to deal with
conflict and heightened emotions. This modelling of emotional self-control for children
encourages them to express themselves similarly and appropriately in social settings and
when faced with challenges. Other positive effects of this ‘self-management’ include
resilience and the ability to change course when necessary; Similarly, optimism, having a
positive outlook despite occasional setbacks, and the integrity that comes from being an
honest and open person, even when that might be difficult, also epitomise the importance
of self-management at an early age. Empathy is closely linked to all the above. Children will
note how we make connections with others, how we acknowledge others’ emotions and
how we are non-judgemental or judgemental. Can we understand the person’s feelings and
communicate - connecting and paying attention?
This is a complex and challenging area for the pure reason we are all human and whilst we
endeavour to achieve high ideals, we will not always reach them. With this in mind, any
support or help is always useful. Therefore, if SEL interests you and you would like more
practical ideas on enhancing SEL at home, Miss Shahiraa’s ‘hands on’ workshops during the
SEL evening will provide you with some strategies and resources to make these valuable
connections. We would look forward to seeing you there.
Have a lovely weekend,
David Wilcock,
Head of Primary,
On behalf of the Senior Leadership Team.
We visited numerous international schools in Klang-Valley and Sri KDU Subang Jaya was not even on our list. Reason being it is way out of our travelling radius. However, we are glad we made the visit to the school before our final call, and it was the best decision ever! It was a huge transition period for us during the first 2 weeks into school, but the school’s team (Teachers, Administrative and Parent’s Teacher Association) made us feel right at home. We were given clear guidance and was kept well informed on the happenings in the school. My daughter blended into the community quite well with the care provided by the Homeroom teacher. All the teachers here are the kindest, as she told me. She looks forward to going to school and has become more disciplined in terms on knowing what tasks she needs to complete daily. She has gained so much confidence during this short period of time and was given the encouragement to explore and develop her abilities here. She was just selected as the new Primary House Captain for Year 6 AY2022/2023.
Every parent want to find the ‘perfect’ school for their child and are afraid of making the wrong decision. For us, as long she is safe and happy, we believe, she will eventually find the way to her own success.