Week 3- 9: September 14th- October 30

Director's Message

Dear Community Members,

COVID has certainly brought a radical change to how we go about our daily lives and its impact upon our school and the education of our students has been significant. We would love to return to normalcy so that we may engage our students and community in all of the wonderful things that we do each day at CAS. In the meantime, we extend our thanks to those parents who have cooperated with the school in maintaining the mitigation protocols which will maintain our campus safe. We thank our great educational staff for their professionalism and dedication to teaching in the midst of this health threat. At the same time, however, I must inform our community that I am not at all pleased with the irresponsible acts of sending children to school when confirmed cases of COVID have appeared at one's home or having gatherings of CAS students in homes against the Ministry of Health's mandates against such gatherings. As a result of these violations to our COVID handbook and the Ministry of Health and Education's guidelines, we have had to send home student cohorts for quarantining.

As you know, we have tried to maintain some activities that distinguish us. While we were not able to celebrate our United Nations Day with its legendary Parade, we were happy to see our students today and yesterday in their Halloween costumes. Many thanks go to our PTC members for organizing the trick or treat for the pleasure of our students.

Cafeteria Updates: Art Cantine Cafeteria services will be available, starting, Monday, November 9th. Please follow the link to fill out the form if you are interested in individually wrapped meals in a disposable container for your child, respecting the deadline of Thursday, November 5th. The monthly menu will be posted on our website on Monday. Please contact Ms. Sabrine Sekkat at artcantine@gmail.com for payment modalities and registration.
Uniform Updates: If you need to order your child's uniform, the Supplier is at school every Tuesday from 8:00 am to 9:30 am, and every Thursday from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm, as there will be no more online orders.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want, once again, to sincerely thank each and everyone of the PTC members for the wonderful and thoughtful New Parent Breakfast which they all organized. It was simply a great gesture and was most appreciated by everyone in attendance. They all invested lots of energy and planning into this project and it was very evident.

PTC Committee illustrated to these new to CAS parents what creative and dedicated PTC members we have and they introduced them to the CAS Cobra spirit!

Thank you!

Condolences: Most unfortunately, we have lost many in our community and, therefore, we extend our sincere condolences to our CAS community members for their losses:

To the Tazi family for the loss of Mrs. Hidaya Tazi, mother of Youssef Slimani- CAS Alumni
To the Benmansour family for the loss of Mr. Benmasour- father of Ghali in Grade 7, Yassine and Imane - CAS Alumni
To the Qaid Family for the loss of Mrs. Qaid - mother of Yasmine in grade 1 and Youssef in Grade 3.
To Ms. Souiki, CAS Library Assistant for the loss of her father
To Mr. Ali Chahid, our LS Arabic teacher, for the loss of his father
To the Talal Family for the loss of Dr. Talal, father of Halima, Hussein and Ahmed- CAS Alumni students
To the Mandre Family for the loss of Mr. Mandre, father of Jad Neil in Grade 8
To the El Yakoubi family for the loss of Mr. El Yakoubi father of Rayan and Tahar- CAS Alumni students
To Ms. Castro Marguerite, our French teacher, for the loss of her uncle Mr. Ortiz, a life time CAS friend and Seniors' plaque supplier, awards supplier, and door label supplier.

Each of these members has left their respective legacy and they will be in our hearts forever.

John J. Randolph

Covid Update from the school director

Dear Community Members:

We are into a good part of the first trimester and we are making sure that our students get the instruction they need despite the epidemiological situation surrounding Covid 19. Contamination numbers as we are all aware are escalating, and the 2nd wave is evolving rapidly and drastically around the World. As an Educational Institution, we are treating this pandemic as OUR NUMBER 1 priority. While we do not wish to close the school, we have to be tough and rigorous with Zero tolerance in case of non-respect of the mitigation measures set forth by the Moroccan authorities, by the US Government, by the WHO and noted in our COVID Handbook

The Hybrid schedule put into place is functioning adequately, with regular changes and new strategies that we revise and adopt depending upon the evolving situation we find ourselves during these unusual times which we have never experienced before. The weekly Face-To-Face that the students have is essential for their mental, social, and physical health in addition to the Educational one. It is our wish to keep providing Face-to-Face instruction to prevent our parents and the students from being home during this crisis. This is only possible if parents take part in this project, and monitor the social aspect of their children' s lives outside school. We cannot control where they go nor with whom they interact. We have sent a lot of correspondence in this regard, so we must rely on our parents to follow our guidelines.

That said, however, we certainly must admit that no one can escape Covid. So far, we have had 3 confirmed cases among our students. The protocol that we follow is outlined hereafter:

Step 1: If you have a confirmed case of COVID in your family or your child has contacted Covid 19, please call the School nurse immediately.

Step 2: The nurse informs the divisional Principals, Human Resources and the school Director.

Step 3: The Principals, after consultation with the Director, will inform the student's teachers and any other staff member as they deem necessary.

Step 4: Depending on circumstances, the whole cohort class is/could be sent home immediately, with a letter from the School Director, specifying the reason and the date when the cohort class may return to campus.

For confidentiality reasons, we will not communicate the names of students who have contacted the virus. We are in regular contact with our local district Caid who has paid a visit to CAS this week, went into classes and who commended us on the measures that we have in place.

We all have a moral and ethical responsibility towards our community members and we can only rely on our joint efforts to minimize the risks of contracting this or any virus.

John J. Randolph

Have you seen our Fall 2020 Re-Opening page on our website? It pertains many key information as well as a copy of our Covid Handbook available for download. Please click Here to access it.

Academic

*subject to change

Message from the Upper School Principal

Dear CAS Community,

First I would like to wish our Muslim Community a happy Eid Al Mawlid that will be celebrated Thursday and Friday this week.

It is most likely that we will keep offering both virtual and Face-To-Face instruction to our students for a while. Our Hybrid schedule is in place and all students follow their respective teachers simultaneously while the others are at school. We will keep communicating with parents about any changes that we bring to our schedules, and invite all to pay close attention to messages sent by our Upper School wonderful Faculty members that will undoubtedly provide any assistance to you and to your children.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join me to thank 3 of our seniors that are taking lead to raise Breast Cancer Awareness:

Sabrine Benzakour
Ahmed Al-Saleh
Hiba Hansali

These students are taking such a huge task to raise money by selling PINK masks in honor of Pinktober. So make sure you order yours and support the cause!

Please be informed that the minimum day has been cancelled. Students will attend all their classes, Period 1 to Period 6, on Wednesday, November 4.

Si Mohamed Sarhane

Upper School Principal

Message from the Lower School Principal

As always, the Lower School is a busy place...despite a pandemic! We are now in full swing of the Hybrid, Green/Yellow Program and we have been piloting live streaming learning sessions to enhance the quality of education you value at CAS. Our aim is to be fully streaming G3-6 classes within the next two weeks.

As mentioned elsewhere in the What's Up, catering services will resume November 9..the students are in for a delectable treat!

We are so proud of how serious our students are taking following safety precautions, as are those that care for them. When I am at arrival and dismissal, I observe social distancing and properly worn masks. Thank you! Most everyone has family signs, and if not, please create one to use following the holiday- it is a huge help to efficiently and safely dismiss students.

Thank you for all you do to support your child(ren), the Lower School and CAS!

Elizabeth Phillips

Lower School Principal

Department News available on the School Website

We invite you to regularly browse our school website's homepage as different departments will be featuring student's projects. For instance, Mr Eric Rose's English classes publish on a monthly basis The CAS Chronicles, a newsletter that is now available on our school website. Student's blogs will also be featured for you to read. The Lower School Art department news updates are also available there.

You may click on the links below to access the school website and student's blogs:

CAS Homepage

Alia Kafil's Blog

Christele Rose Keutche's Blog

College Counseling

First College Acceptance!

Congratulations to Matilde De Lambert (grade 12 student) for being admitted to the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations in Geneva, Switzerland. Graduates from this selective university are known to work in important positions, such as ambassadors for their respective governments or in leadership positions in International Organizations.

Matilde assiduously followed rigorous College Planning classes as a grade 11 student, which allowed her to apply early and to be admitted to the university of her dreams. We are very proud of her. Congratulations, Matilde!

University Virtual Visits

Ms Haroun organizes regular university virtual visits. These are open to students and parents of grade 10-12. Please look out for emails announcing future visits and sign up! It is a great opportunity for students to learn more on the college application process.

November 2nd, UK Universities

Upcoming Visits- Mark your Calendars!

November 6th, U.S. Universities

November 10th, U.S. Universities in Qatar

Community News

HalloweenDeco2020.mov

Halloween at CAS: Covid Edition

PTC moms have surprised our community again with their magic! With the student's and teacher's well-being in mind, they have come to school during our Fall Break and have whisked together an incredible decor bringing the Halloween Spirit to our school. Thank you PTC as you created a joyful surprise for our community on Monday when they returned to campus after break!⠀⠀

Due to Covid, there will be no Halloween celebration as we are accustomed to. However, students may wear Halloween costumes on Tuesday and Wednesday (based on their on-campus day). There are to be no costume masks, face painting, decorated face masks or weapons. Students should also avoid anything that covers the hands, which would prevent adequate hand washing and sanitizing. Students are still required to wear protective masks in accordance with safety precautions.

N.B. Credit for the scary voices in the background of the video goes to Mr John Randolph and Ms Halima Sarhane!

New Parent Breakfast by the PTC

Our annual New Parent Breakfast organized by our wonderful PTC moms was a great success! Considering Covid-19 measures, we received three different groups each at different time slots. Mr Randolph whipped his incredible omelettes for all of our guests! Each guest was offered individual breakfast baskets and CAS goodies. This is always a great opportunity for our new parents to meet and mingle with our PTC, parent buddies and key admin staff at CAS. It was a very warm and welcoming event for our new CAS families. A big thank you to everyone that came and especially to our PTC!

Thank you to our alumni mom of the class of 2020, Lamia Bouacida, who joined and helped organize the PTC in welcoming new parents at CAS. That’s the CAS spirit!

Order your Pink Masks in Solidarity!

Partnering with a CAS Parent and owner of kmama.ma , they have designed Pink masks that will be sold in pairs for 100 dh. Your masks will be available for pickup starting TODAY Wednesday, October 28th. The pickup schedule is as follows:

9:00 am- 2:00 pm: Front Gate with Brahim

2:45 pm- 3:15 pm at the front gate with Sabrine, Hiba, or Ahmed.

All those unable to pick up their masks tomorrow, please be assured that they will continue to be available for pick up after the break from Monday to Thursday at the same times mentioned above. If you have not ordered your masks yet, they will still be available to order until Sunday, November 1st. To place your order CLICK HERE!

Due to Covid-19 please make sure that you bring with you the exact change. Once we gather all of your contributions, we will assess the needs of the association Les Amis du Rubans Rose and will deploy the second phase of our project. We will share with you updates once we have them.

Once you receive your mask, wear it, take a selfie and send it to us to proudly share!

Pinktober: Share your story with us!

Supporting the fighters, Admiring the survivors and Honoring the taken!

In honor of Pinktober, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the seniors of the class of 2021, Sabrine Benzakour, Ahmed Al Saleh, and Hiba Hansali have come up with an idea for which they would like to continue to raise awareness and funds. During this pandemic, many cancer patients were not able to get their regular check ups with their doctors to monitor their disease, however, breast cancer continues to be VERY PRESENT. Did you know that approximately 1 in 8 women develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime and, if caught an early stage, their chances for survival are significantly increased? According to worldwide statistics breast cancer is known as the second most common cancer developed in a lifetime.

Fighting the fight alone is extremely hard and we know that many members of our close community have either lost a loved one to breast cancer or are currently fighting the fight or are strong warriors who have survived the fight. You are not alone and we would like to create a short film raising awareness. For many, these are private stories, for others they are more open to sharing them... reality is the more we share, the more we can support one another. It takes a lot of courage and strength to be willing to do so. If you would like to share a statement (written or via video) or share your story with us please contact us:

Email: Benzakour. Sabrine@cas.ac.ma

Phone number: 0661719906

Cafeteria & Uniforms

Cafeteria

Art Cantine Cafeteria services will be available, starting, Monday, November 9th. Please follow the link to fill out the form if you are interested in individually wrapped meals in a disposable container for your child, respecting the deadline of Thursday, November 5th. The monthly menu will be posted on our website on Monday. Please contact Ms. Sabrine Sekkat at artcantine@gmail.com for payment modalities and registration.

School Uniforms

If you need to order your child's uniform, the Supplier is at school every Tuesday from 8:00 am to 9:30 am, and every Thursday from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm, as there will be no more online orders.

Key Dates

University Virtual Visit

November 2nd, 6th and 10th

Halloween

Tuesday & Wednesday

October 27 & 28

Eid Al Mawlid

Thursday & Friday

October 29 & 30

No SCHOOL

Professional Development Day Cancelled

November 4th

There will be school ALL DAY please correct your calendars

Green March

November 6th

No School

World Science Day

November 10th

Be a Rocket Scientist! :)

Alumni Profiles

Zhor El Amrani Alumni Profile.MOV

Meet Zhor El Amrani

Zhor El Amrani was a member of the CAS community from 1989 to 2000.

She initially started her professional career in Communications operating her own agency.

Today, she is a clinical hypnotherapist and a consultant in self-development. She graduated from l’Ecole de Formation Professionnelle en Hypnose du Quebec, in Montréal (l’EFPHQ) - founded in 1985. Zhor holds a Masters in Hypnotherapy and Pedohypnose (hypnotherapy with children and teenagers) and a Masters in Neurolinguistic Programming, certified INLPTA ( The International NLP Trainers Association).

"I can say without a doubt that CAS was more than just a school... it was a second home, a place where you can grow as a human being, a place where you can believe that someday, you can be who you truly want to be. Thanks to our music teacher in the 8th grade, I discovered my love for guitar. Although my father bought me my first electric guitar when I was 5 😍, I truly started to play back at CAS.

I realized I could compose when I was 16 years old, the year I left Morocco to go live practically on my own in Montreal." " - Zhor El Amrani

Tribute to Dr. Stuart Cipinko

The late Dr Cipinko's book is now published and available for purchase on amazon. Many remember Dr Cipinko's class and used to cherish his teachings! He was a memorable professor that has marked many of his CAS pupils. What an honor for us to have had Dr Cipinko as one of us!

Below is a message from his loving wife Anne Reeves.

""Stu and I arrived at CAS in 1991. It was a decisive change for Stu, from university lecturing in Sociology and Social Psychology, to teaching IB History and Philosophy – not that Philosophy was outside his realm of thinking, reading, intellectual milieu (nor Psychology, Art History, Literature). Far from it, as any number of his former students at CAS would attest: he was a social science-humanities polymath, a truly wonderful, and exacting, teacher and mentor. Indeed, it could said that CAS – and its then Director Mr Randolph who hired Stu – furthered these aspects of Stu’s art, for an art is what teaching is, a Praxis (Stu’s perception, understanding). Here I quote one of Stu’s own descriptions of his work:

“Teaching is neither simple nor natural, and like any art it must be practiced and its requisite skills mastered. But teaching is always teaching of something; without content mastery and theoretical sophistication, there can be no meaningful exchange in the classroom…” CAS and the IB enabled Stu to practice his Praxis to the fullest extent. And he enjoyed, very much indeed, his six years of teaching there; of working with his students, Mr Randolph, Ms Osman, and the rest of the faculty at the time.""

What's Up Cobras