Hello Middle School,

I hope you all had informative meetings with your child’s teachers and you have a better understanding of where your child is in their learning. If you were not able to meet with a teacher, please know you can always email the teacher directly and request a meeting to discuss your child.

A reminder that parents are not to call their children on their phones during school hours. If a parent needs to get in contact with their child, they can contact the Secondary Secretary at secsecretary_gaa@gemsedu.com or secsecretary_gaa@gaa-ad.com and Mr. Dobbs will pass on any messages.

National Day

Our next GAA event is National Day which we will celebrate at school on Monday, November 29th. Our Middle School time slot to go out and enjoy the activities planned on the field is from 12:20pm to 1:40pm which will also coincide with our lunch break.

The celebrations will include activities, food trucks and student performances. Secondary students should be modestly dressed and are encouraged to celebrate UAE heritage by wearing the following:

• School uniform or National Dress (abaya or kandora) - Abaya and Kandura must be worn CLOSED and in the traditional manner as a recognition of respect to the UAE Cultural/Traditional Values. Students may not use this as an opportunity to wear their chosen casual clothing with traditional clothing open draped over the back.

• UAE Flag scarf

• UAE Pins

• A covid face mask with Emirati Flag colors

For National Day, ADEK has confirmed that distributing food between classmates is allowed, as long as the items are individually packed and sanitized. The distribution must be done by a teacher.

Coffee with the Counsellors

Ms. Nora Eldrageely, our Middle Counselor as well as the counselors from KG and Elementary are excited to share their virtual ‘Parent Coffee Morning with the Counselors’. This is a pre-recorded discussion addressing relevant topics e.g. healthy eating, positive parenting etc. They would like parents to share their ideas on the discussion points.

Here is the first video:

• Coffee with Counselors Video:

• Sleep Tips Sheet

A reminder that our last day of school before the winter break will take place on December 9th and this is also a half day.

Thank you all and have a great weekend!

Scott Macdonald

Middle School Vice-Principal

Dress Code Awareness Day

We have noticed a significant number of students that are not in compliance with our dress code. The aim of our uniform is for students to present a neat, work-like appearance at all times and to take pride in being members of GEMS American Academy. In accordance with ADEK policy, the school’s uniform is compulsory and should reflect the school’s commitment to honor UAE traditions, culture and religion.

We understand that Threads was out of stock at the beginning of the school year, but all uniform inventory has been replenished and is available for purchase.

On Sunday, November 28th, we will observe Dress Code Awareness Day. On this day, all students will be expected to wear their full GAA uniform.

• Uniform compliance will be checked at the beginning of the day.

• Students that are not in full uniform will report to the cafeteria and the school will contact home.

• Students will remain in the cafeteria until a parent/guardian can bring the appropriate uniform to school or pick them up to be brought home.

• Students that have PE should wear their school uniform to school and change into the PE uniform for class.

Please see below for pictures and descriptions of our GAA uniform.Dress Code Awareness Day

We have noticed a significant number of students that are not in compliance with our dress code. The aim of our uniform is for students to present a neat, work-like appearance at all times and to take pride in being members of GEMS American Academy. In accordance with ADEK policy, the school’s uniform is compulsory and should reflect the school’s commitment to honor UAE traditions, culture and religion.

We understand that Threads was out of stock at the beginning of the school year, but all uniform inventory has been replenished and is available for purchase.

On Sunday, November 28th, we will observe Dress Code Awareness Day. On this day, all students will be expected to wear their full GAA uniform.

Uniform compliance will be checked at the beginning of the day.

Students that are not in full uniform will report to the cafeteria and the school will contact home.

Students will remain in the cafeteria until a parent/guardian can bring the appropriate uniform to school or pick them up to be brought home.

Students that have PE should wear their school uniform to school and change into the PE uniform for class.

Please see below for pictures and descriptions of our GAA uniform.

Dress Code Awareness Day

We have noticed a significant number of students that are not in compliance with our dress code. The aim of our uniform is for students to present a neat, work-like appearance at all times and to take pride in being members of GEMS American Academy. In accordance with ADEK policy, the school’s uniform is compulsory and should reflect the school’s commitment to honor UAE traditions, culture and religion.

We understand that Threads was out of stock at the beginning of the school year, but all uniform inventory has been replenished and is available for purchase.

On Sunday, November 28th, we will observe Dress Code Awareness Day. On this day, all students will be expected to wear their full GAA uniform.

Uniform compliance will be checked at the beginning of the day.

Students that are not in full uniform will report to the cafeteria and the school will contact home.

Students will remain in the cafeteria until a parent/guardian can bring the appropriate uniform to school or pick them up to be brought home.

Students that have PE should wear their school uniform to school and change into the PE uniform for class.

Please see below for pictures and descriptions of our GAA uniform.

Dear Seniors,

University application season is underway. Although some of you have already applied during the first round of Early Decision deadlines, more deadlines are approaching - please pay attention to the posted dates of your respective schools. If you have a university application deadline that occurs over the winter break (December 10-January 1), please make sure that you submit your applications by the university deadlines. Universities do not take into consideration the various high school holiday breaks.

Additionally make sure you have updated the universities you are applying to in Unifrog in your applications list. If your universities are not in your application list on Unifrog, they will not receive your documents.

The Counselors will submit documents until 12:00 p.m. on December 9th. If your university is one that allows student submission of transcripts or grades, please make sure to request the transcript and/ or anticipated scores by 3:00 p.m. on December 8, 2021. We will begin submitting documents again on January 2, 2022. We will not be available to submit documents December 10-January 1. Although we will not be available to submit documents, you are still able to continue to apply to universities of your choice.

Regards,

GAA High School Counselors

Since the return to school and students back in the building we are excited to see students engaged in Sport and actively participating in physical activity. After so long-distance learning in front of laptops this is so important. This year in Secondary PE we are putting a particular emphasis on student health and wellbeing through sport. We will explore multiple sports and fitness activities to enhance student's physical capabilities.

We are excited to announce the return of Sports Day on the 7th and 8th of December. The format will be as follows:

• Grade 6&7 on the 7th of December

• Grade 8&9 on the 8th of December

It is a great opportunity for students to support their houses and they can showcase their abilities in a variety of sports including football, handball, ultimate frisbee and sprint relays. This will help bring back competition within the school through sport which has been missing for so long due to COVID. Students have eagerly awaited this return as it will be a time for celebration and fun.

We are also happy to see the Athletic Department back up and running with a full ASA program along with events for the community such as The Pumpkin Run at Al Hudayrait Island.

Our DP1 Business management students have recently completed a project in which they have created written business plans (based on an innovative idea of their choice) using the concepts from Unit 1 in the Business Management syllabus. At the end of the written project students have created shark tank pitch/ advertisement or infomercial about their specific product or service in their business plan.

The project took six weeks to complete and the aims of this project were:

• To apply the content, Concepts to context (real life situation)

• To build independence and work toward a project at an Internal Assessment level through utilizing the ATL's

• Self Management

• Collaboration

• Reflection

• Thinking

• To give students opportunity for voice and choice

• To learn the content by applying it to something tangible and authentic.

• To understand the IB Rubrics

• To practice and implement the IB learner traits

Click below to see some of the videos:

GAA High School Career Day will be held on January 27th from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. We are looking for presenters to speak to our students about their careers.

As a speaker you would:

• Host three or four 30 minute Sessions that focus on your career journey and specific education required for your career

• Interact with 15-20 high school students at a time

• Lead informative and engaging discussion in regards to your professional career path

• Ask and answer questions

If you are interested in being a presenter, please fill out this Google Form by Thursday December 9th.

• November 28: High School (9-12) Dress Code Awareness Day

• November 29: UAE National Day Celebrations (students only).

• December 1-2: Commemoration Day and National Day holiday (NO SCHOOL)

• December 5: 4:00pm Boys Varsity Soccer and Basketball games against ACS @GAA gym and field

• December 7: Middle School Sports Day

• December 8: High School Sports Day

• December 8: 4:00pm Girls Varsity Soccer and Basketball games against ACS @ACS gym and field

• December 9: Half Day, school dismisses at 12:00pm

• December 9: Teachers vs Students Varsity Soccer Winter Cup, High School students only, 11:00-12:00.

• December 12-30: Winter Break

• January 2: Semester 2 starts