Flag Etiquette All Kids Should Know

It is important to share a country’s customs and national symbols with children of all ages. With our flags our goal is to do our small part to inspire pride in our community. At the International School of the Turks and Caicos Islands, we currently have over 113 children on roll with 9 classes. At the time of writing we have 21 different nationalities represented within our staff and student body. This makes an incredibly rich environment for children’s learning to take place. It allows us to truly respect difference and celebrate diversity. We really are an international family. More about our school.

The Flag Masters

Our PTA have purchased a National Flag to represent all the nations at our wonderful school. We have chosen some responsible early risers to help with the raising of the flags each day. Vijay Kalliecharan, Charles Downes, Hallie Chung and Michael Saunders are the Flag Masters! Michael says: "It's great to learn about all of the flags from all of these different countries." Charlie says: "I like getting to school early to do this job in the mornings." Vijay says: "I didn't know that flags weren't supposed to touch the ground." Hailie (who wasn't sure at first if she wanted to be involved - but loves it now) says: "It's cool!!  I love learning to do this!" This will be a tremendous learning process for the children to understand flag etiquette, to have respect for national symbols and to learn the flags of the world!

Flying the Flags 

Many thanks to Karen and Downes and the PTA, for their support in this. We have approximately 40 flags in total and they will fly in rotation. Each nationality represented in our school community should be represented over a 2 week cycle. There will be a rotation of FOUR flags each day.

Learning Curves

Of course the children have a lot to learn and they are of course keen to get it absolutely perfect.  The first week saw a few flags flying upside down! The children have since learnt that flags are only flown upside down as a distress signal! Sorry to the distressed Filipinos, St. Lucians and Germans in our community! The children have a book to follow now so it should not happen again! They have also learnt how to handle the flags correctly. They have learnt that when a flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and the flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary. Plus when a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of a country. There is so much to know!  

International School of the Turks and Caicos Islands Flags