Daria’s First School Year

Some photographs immediately become part of a family’s history. Not because the light is perfect, or because every child happened to look at the camera at once, but because they catch the beginning of something larger. For Daria, this is one of those photographs: her first school class, her first classmates, and the wonderful Miss Ciske Louw — whom we feel incredibly lucky to have found.

Before school, Daria attended the British nursery The Forest Oasis Nursery — another warm and happy chapter. There she grew used to English, to lessons, to her small circle, and to the fact that every morning opened up a little life of her own: without her parents, but with friends, games and important things to do. We loved that nursery, so the move to school made us a little nervous. But it quickly became clear that this new chapter was every bit as lovely.

At Raffles World Academy Daria found herself in a wonderful class: lively, close-knit and full of different personalities. Miss Ciske turned out to be exactly the kind of first schoolteacher one remembers for years — kind, attentive, calm, and able to create a sense of safety around the children. For us, that is probably the most important thing. At this age, a child should not yet have to ‘produce results’; they should come to love the very idea of school, feel that they belong there, and head there every morning without fear.

Now all three of our children attend the same school, and the family logistics have finally become almost human. In the morning I take all of them together; at 1:30 p.m. I pick up Daria, then make a second trip for the boys. Perhaps this year we’ll put them on the famous yellow school bus — and the system will become even simpler.

But convenience is not even the main thing. What matters is the feeling that all three now share one place of their own — with their routes, friends and school stories. And we have gained another point on the map of Dubai that is slowly becoming part of our family history.