Dear Ash Mount Community,
I hope you have all enjoyed a positive and refreshing start to the New Year. Whether your break included travel, time with family and friends, or quieter moments at home, I hope it offered space to rest, reconnect, and reset.
As we begin January, our Voices of Ash Mount blog moves into the next part of our school vision: Live with Compassion. Over the coming weeks, we will explore what compassion looks like in education, not only how we care for others, but also how children learn to be compassionate towards themselves.
Educational research consistently shows that children learn best when they feel emotionally safe, valued, and understood. Compassion underpins wellbeing, strengthens relationships, and creates the conditions for meaningful learning. Importantly, living with compassion includes learning to recognise one’s own emotions, respond kindly to mistakes, and understand that growth takes time.
What this looks like in school
At Ash Mount, living with compassion will be part of daily school life. In practice, this means:
- adults modelling empathy, calm, and respectful communication
- children learning to recognise and name emotions, in themselves and in others
- classrooms where mistakes are viewed as a natural and valuable part of learning
- time and space to reflect, reset, and try again
Compassion is not separate from learning; it enables it.
How families can support this at home
Families play a vital role in nurturing compassion for self and others. Simple, everyday actions can help:
- talking openly about feelings and emotions
- encouraging children to consider how others might feel
- modelling patience, self-kindness, and calm problem-solving
- helping children understand that it is okay to find things challenging
These moments help children develop empathy, resilience, and self-awareness.
I also hope families joining us enjoyed reading our December Newsletter. It is always a pleasure to share updates from across our growing community, and if there is anything you would like included in future newsletters, questions, ideas, or topics, please do let me know.
Living in Dubai gives our children the opportunity to grow up in a diverse, international community. Learning to live with compassion here means understanding different cultures and perspectives, while also developing a strong sense of self.
As we begin this new year together, I look forward to exploring what Live with Compassion means for Ash Mount and for the children we serve.
Warm wishes for the year ahead,
Abigail Fishbourne
