An Update From Sarah

Hi, it’s good to be back in Dubai. While I’ve been in the UK finishing my doctorate, I have kept up with many friends and colleagues in the UAE but of course seeing everyone face to face is much better! At Quest we are all working hard, focusing on supporting our learners and the passionate and caring education community in schools and nurseries. This has been a challenging six months for everyone, but we are looking on the bright side and using the lessons we’ve learnt in lockdown to provide a range of training opportunities that reach even more educators, supporting them as they return to face to face teaching.

As nurseries and schools reopen, I have been out and about these last few weeks, talking and listening to nursery owners and managers to understand what you need to support your children’s wellbeing and mental health so that you can focus on what children really need and reduce the number who will struggle. As we navigate new ways of working, we want to support staff wellbeing too as only when staff are secure and happy will they be able to meet the challenges of the academic year ahead.

This term we are going to continue our successful online CPDs, offering a range of webinars and zoom training specifically aimed at supporting children’s wellbeing and emotional resilience and staff wellbeing, so look out for the calendar that will be coming out very soon.

We are delighted to announce that UK Makaton trainer, Karen Soehnle, is now able to offer online Makaton certified courses taught via Zoom. Some of you have had the pleasure of attending her face to face, exciting and informative Makaton courses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai over the past two years so I know you will enjoy a chance to learn more. These Makaton courses, run in groups of no more than 8 people, have proved very popular in the UK and fill up quickly so please watch for more information in the next two weeks, or if you are interested in joining contact us (details below) and we will email you directly with the information.

Alongside the L2 and L3 CACHE Early Years courses, our popular short CACHE L3 and L4 Award SEN courses for experienced practitioners are being offered again this term so please see our website for further information or give us a call.

Lastly, we are very pleased to be working with Inclusion Experts in the UK to promote their Masters Program in Inclusive Educational Leadership accredited by Buckingham University. We will be hosting an informative interactive Webinar in the first week of October about this online UK degree where you can find out more and get a chance to talk to Daniel Sobel, CEO of Inclusive Education, and ask him any questions you may have. This uniquely structured degree is supported by coaching for individuals and schools. Daniel works with hundreds of schools in the UK and his approach has been shown to make a real difference to children’s lives with his positive approach to SEND and emotional wellbeing. The degree starts in January 2021, so now is the time to investigate the benefits to both yourself and your school of this amazing Masters’ degree. Please let us know if you are interested.

As we start another busy term, I know the current uncertainties make life stressful but, as an optimist, I feel that we will get through these strange times and get back to what we do best, enabling the children in our care to be happy and safe. We look forward to helping you achieve that, as always. Have a good term.
Stay safe, Sarah

Email Pamela: admin@quest-me.education or call 04 2766737.