26 March 2020

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents,

As-salaam aleykum

Distance Learning

I need to express a huge thank you to all the staff, parents and most importantly the students who had adapted to the Distance Learning (DL) provision this week. After hours of planning, the general feedback was it went more smoothly than some had expected. However, you have the opportunity to further enhance DL with your feedback in the surveys from the Primary School and Secondary School - in their sections below.

Corona-virus precaution update

More information can be found at the end of this newsletter with a message from the School Doctor and the launch of our bespoke Wellbeing site managed by the Counsellors.

School documentation

As we are being advised by the authorities to limit access to the school site, please e-mail the Registrar for any electronic copies of any required documents: registrar@alsalamcommunity.ae

New Head of Secondary School

I am delighted to announce that we have appointed a new Head of Secondary School who will join us in May. I have provided a detailed biography in the Secondary School section below.

Finally, whilst we are #inthistogether it is very important to have a #digitaldetox and offline and off-screen(s) time this weekend with your families. Please stay indoors, please stay safe insha'Allah.

Regards

Mr K. Amin-Ali

BEng (Hons.) MA PGCE (Cantab.) NPQH NPQEL

Founding Principal

FS & Primary updates

Primary Distance Learning (DL) - Feedback

Dear Parents,

Thank you for supporting the Primary School's Distance Learning (DL) throughout this week!

As always, we believe strongly in working together, and in partnership with the parents in the best interest of all our learners.

We have created a short survey as we would like your feedback on the Distance Learning this week.

forms.gle/3mA1Qqb9K9egTJxE8

Primary School Yr 4-6 Distance Learning Timings

AM Reg 8:50am - 9:00am

P1 9:00am - 9:45am

P2 9:45am - 10:30am

Break 10:30am - 10:45am

P3 10:45am - 11:30am

P4 11:30am - 12:15pm

P5 12:15pm - 1:00pm

ATTENDANCE

Please be reminded that at the start of each lesson, teachers will take a register of student attendance as usual using the online attendance register, this is from Year 4 to 6 only.

Secondary updates

IGCSE, AS and A level Exams

The Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) and Pearson Edexcel Qualifications Boards have made the difficult decision not to run all the International Examinations in the May/June 2020 series in any country.

Cambridge and Pearson recognises the very hard work students and their teachers have put in towards these exams and they want to ensure that they achieve the grades they deserve to move to the next stage.

Students will receive a grade and a Certificate from Cambridge International and Pearson Edexcel using the best available evidence of school assessments and student achievements. This will ensure students do not face a disadvantage as a result of these extraordinary circumstances.

Further update and finer details for schools on assessment and how students will receive these grades will be sent by Cambridge and Pearson soon.

We understand that you will have some difficult questions, so the school will try its best to answer as soon as we get the final guidelines, please feel free to contact us by email at exams@alsalamcommunity.ae so we can support you in the best way possible during this difficult time.

For the official announcement please visit this link:

qualifications.pearson.com/en/campaigns/rest-of-world-covid-19-coronavirus-update.html

www.cambridgeinternational.org/news/news-details/view/update-from-cambridge-international-on-may-june-2020-exams-20200323/

We welcome the new Head of Secondary - Rani Iqbal

I am very pleased to announce our new Head of Secondary who will join us from May 2020. Rani Iqbal comes from the UK, having worked in schools near Manchester and also in London.

She trained and worked as an English teacher, before taking on whole school responsibilities and senior leadership roles. Her responsibilities have included leadership of curriculum, assessment and teaching and learning.

Since 2015, she has spent nearly 5 years at The Sheffield Private School here in Dubai, where in her leadership as Head of Secondary, she has developed an excellent team delivering outstanding outcomes in both Secondary and Post-16 including over 50% A*/A in English and Maths at IGCSE. Her innovative curriculum pathways has ensured achievement for all. She has implemented BTEC vocational qualifications in both Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 (Post-16) which has enabled students to have meaningful outcomes to continue their learning after completing Secondary School.

In addition, she developed an active Sports ethos where teams have competed and been very successful in the DASSA Dubai inter-schools competitions.

A very successful Head of Secondary School, whose passion is to create sustainable change to improve the outcomes for all students. Her philosophy is that all children deserve the best education that a school can provide, and she is relentless in her pursuit to make this a reality.

She is highly skilled in rapport building and positively influencing staff at all levels, with an excellent track record of school improvement and attainment and progress. Her approach is to establish a high standard of education by building cohesive teams that work collaboratively on a creative curriculum, within established systems of care, to ensure the best possible outcomes for all students.

She is currently completing her National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) and leads by example for lifelong learning.

We are indeed very privileged to have Rani join ASCS and we will be arranging opportunities for parents and students to meet with her in the coming weeks insha’Allah.

Mr Amin

After School Distance Learning Programme

Secondary School's intervention programme has continued online with our teachers providing extra academic support to students in smaller groups. Students are invited to the program through recommendations from the Subject Teacher in collaboration with the Subject Leader and Secondary School's Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning.

First Week of Distance Learning Survey - Secondary School

The Secondary Senior Leadership Team are reviewing the school's approach to distance learning and are interested in finding out parents' views on the current Programme that is being provided.

Your feedback is important as we assess Distance Learning days, so please take some time to answer our survey :

forms.gle/nmLonAituPyTaDoU6

Secondary School Year Distance Learning Timings

AM Reg 8:50am - 9:00am

P1 9:05am - 9:40am

P2 9:45am - 10:20am

P3 10:25am - 11:00am

P4 11:05am - 11:40am

Break 11:40am - 12:05pm

P5 12:05pm - 12:40pm

P6 12:45pm - 1:20pm

P7 1:25pm - 2:00pm

We are committed to the academic and physical wellbeing of our students. We intend to maintain the high standards of learning despite these challenging times. However, the provisions we have made for distance learning will only be effective if your child participates in the classes being conducted online by our staff. Therefore, it is imperative that your child logs in and takes full advantage of these classes. It is important that they remain in class for the entire duration of the lesson.

Teachers will take a register of student attendance every lesson as usual using the online attendance register on iSAMS.

Health & Wellbeing

A Message from our School Doctor

What can we do to help our community?

VID-20200326-WA0005.mp4

We are pleased to launch a bespoke Google website to support parents and students during these challenging times of staying at home.

The site is maintained by the Counsellors and they can be reached confidentially on counselling@alsalamcommunity.ae

The direct link for the site is:

https://sites.google.com/alsalamcommunity.ae/learning/wellbeing

Click here for more information and helpful tips for you and our students

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