KUWAIT: The British School of Kuwait (BSK) has celebrated the achievements of their Year 11-13 students with a glittering virtual graduation ceremony which premiered on social media recently. Following the national anthems of Kuwait and the United Kingdom, Year 13 student Abdelrahman Fares delivered a reading from the Holy Quran, and was followed by the first speech of the evening, offered by BSK Chairman Sadiq Al-Mutawa when he delivered his Welcome Address.
The school was also privileged to be able to include within the event program Guest of Honor speeches from Dr Abdulmohsen Al-Huwailah, Assistant Undersecretary for Private and Qualitative Education at the Ministry of Education, Dr Salman Al-lafi, General Manager of the Private Education Department and Belinda Lewis, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the State of Kuwait. All speakers spoke engagingly and in high praise of the students, recognizing their tremendous efforts and achievements and encouraging them to continue to demonstrate resilience, strive for excellence and to contribute to the betterment of society.
The roll of honor included the graduation tiers of over 160 recipients as well as details of the subject prize and commendations awards. For Year 11, this was read by Assistant Head Teacher Hannah Glendinning and Assistant Phase Coordinator Victoria Martin, with the Sixth Form rolls of honor being delivered by Assistant Head Teachers Simon Amura (Year 12) and Tom Campbell (Year 13). A delightful musical interlude was provided by Director of Performance Music, Emily Jeffcott, with her piano rendition of Hornpipe from The Water Music by GF Handel.
In delivering his address the Principal of BSK, Paul Shropshire, elaborated upon the innovations and adaptations that have taken place in order to ensure a quality online learning experience as well as commending the graduates for the hard work and positivity they have shown and reminding them of the many exciting opportunities that lie before them.
The special awards section provided an opportunity to recognize some outstanding individual achievements. Academic Excellence Awards were conferred upon the highest achieving students in each year group. In Year 11 these awards went to Adham Abouelella and Aditya Tiwari, whilst in Year 12 Omar Elfouly, Moheb Eskaross and Jamie Yzabel Santos were all recognized for their outstanding grades, as was Year 13 winner Cian Williams.
The Student Leadership Award went to Year 12 student Ananya Das for her contributions, and the prestigious Head Teacher's awards were also awarded to one student from each of the three year groups, with the accolades going to Youssef Abou Elkhair (Year 11), Reem Elassy (Year 12) and Antarip Kashyap (Year 13).
In her address BSK Founder and Director Vera Al-Mutawa warmly congratulated all graduates on their achievements and reflected upon the character and determination they have shown in completing their studies to such a high standard, particularly during this time, as well as offering her thanks to the entire staff of The British School of Kuwait for their tremendous efforts and to parents and families for their continued support. Her speech was then followed by the awarding of the most coveted award of the evening, the Founder's Medal of Honor, which this year was bestowed upon Deputy Head Girl Aynour Abou Elkhair.
The penultimate item of the program was the much anticipated Head Students' Address, with Head Boy Antarip Kashyap and Head Girl Farah Badr offering their thanks and reflections on their time at BSK on behalf of the student body, as well as their hopes. The rousing finale of the event was the presentation of the Class of 2020-21 by Head Teacher Miss Emma Bowie, a fitting end to mark the achievements of this exceptional graduating class.