Dear GAA Families,

I hope that you and your families are well as we move towards the close of the school year.

Our High School graduation ceremony was a beautiful closing to the careers of our Seniors. I want to again congratulate the class of 2023. You will be remembered for all you accomplished despite Covid, and how as a class you embodied the best traits of a GEMS American Academy student. In the weeks ahead we will recognize the promotion of our KG-2, 5th grade, and 8th grade students to the next level of their learning journey.

I want to thank all of you that have taken the time to share your feedback on the latest GEMS Parent Survey. Your comments have been helpful and will receive attention and follow-up.

The survey remains open throughout the coming week. I encourage you to please share with us your views and comments. As a reminder, a 9 or 10 makes you a promoter of the school, a 7 or 8 a passive supporter of the school, and a score between 0 and 6 makes you a detractor.

It is my hope that you feel we are fulfilling our mission and supporting your students in their academic achievement and confidence. We are committed to our student-centered approach and your feedback is valued.

Let’s finish out the school year on a positive note, celebrating the hard work and successes of all our students. I thank you for your commitment and look forward to receiving your feedback.

Kind regards,

Robert Rinaldo

Head of School

👏THANK YOU!

Teacher/Staff Appreciation last week was amazing! This last week was a great way to show our teachers and staff that we as students and parents appreciate them!

👏THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS: Thank you to the many parents that helped make this week memorable for all - the snacks, lemonade, pizza and raffle items were much appreciated! The teachers and staff enjoyed last week and it could not have happened without you! THANK YOU!

👏THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP: Thank you Flore Bachellerie for capturing last week and making a fun video! Please take a look at the great week we had! Thank you to all the parents who came and helped make it happen!

🎥Teacher Appreciation Week Video: https://youtu.be/zinsQVH14oM

👏THANK YOU FOR YOUR PHOTOS: For those that submitted Thank You photos, thank you! This video has been running throughout the school all last week. Note, there is no sound since sound couldn’t be played in school. Thank you Elmira Zaynasheva for putting this together!

🎥Thank You Teacher Video: https://youtu.be/6Q2uoH-V6NQ

👏THANK YOU FOR YOUR NOTES - We had almost 400 notes submitted. We covered the front lobby with them! Thank you for taking the time to thank a teacher.

👏CAN I STILL THANK A TEACHER? - Please feel free to thank your individual teachers before the end of the year. Just because it's not an official "appreciation week", we know they would appreciate it!

Thanks again for all your support! 💙

-GAAPA Staff/Appreciation Planning Committee (Flore, Kausar, Harini, Briannie, Erin and Gayleen)

Dear Parents,

Thank you all for participating in electing our GAAPA Board for the 2022-2023 school year. We are very excited about this coming year.

The newly elected GAAPA 2022-2023 Board positions are as follows:

• Co-Chair Team: Flore Bachellerie and Kausar Tahir

• Vice-Chair: Lana Hamwi

• Secretary: Aliki Christina Georgakaki

• Treasurer: Briannie Burlacu

Appointed Board Positions:

The new board members will be working to appoint interested parents to the volunteer positions below. If you would like to be considered for a position, please submit your name and details by Saturday, June 11, 2022 here: https://bit.ly/GAAPAInterest.

(Note: If you have already submitted this Appointed Positions form, no need to do it again.)

Description of positions: https://bit.ly/GAAPAInterest

The open positions are:

• Event Coordinator (Specific Event Committee Chairs report to Event Coordinator)

• Purchasing/Sales Coordinator

• Volunteer Coordinator

• Communications, Design, & Social Media Coordinator

• Teacher/Staff Appreciation Coordinator

• Secondary School Liaison/ Parent Ambassador

• Elementary School Liaison/ Parent Ambassador

• Arabic Liaison/ Parent Ambassador (Fluent in Arabic and English)**

**From our original list and recent conversations with parents, the GAA Parents Association board have added an Arabic Liaison/Parent Ambassador board position. This volunteer position/parent will help be a liaison with GAA’s Arabic parent community, school staff, and must be fluent in written and spoken Arabic and English. If this is a position that interests you, please submit your name and details. We would really appreciate your help, language skills, and ideas!

We look forward to an amazing year at GAA next year!

Best Regards,

The 2021-22 GAA Parents Association Board Members

The GAA Booster Club is a parent volunteer organization that helps support our Secondary Athletics and Fine Arts departments, with the mission of providing fun and community building events for the students and families of GAA. Support is shown in many ways, including volunteering time, raising money and contributing funds to better enhance the team or organization’s performance. Booster Club is an important mean of connecting parents and other community members with the curricular and co-curricular activities of students.

In addition to supporting our students, we are members of the GAA Community and we work with other volunteer groups on campus to promote community as well as partnering with GAAPA for events throughout the year.

Dear GAA Community,

Over the school year, in our Grade 7 Physical Education classes, students continue to maintain their fitness status by demonstrating in each PE unit their running goal and reflect on their performance.

In the last month all students were giving the opportunity to show their best score. What is your best run score?

Please congratulate all winners from Grade 7 with the best results over 120 students.

• Gabriel Andrés Figueroa Camacho

• Aksil Amayas Hadjar

• Chiara Lo Monaco

• Rurica Suzuki

• Mariam Amro

• Thijs Jan Castricum

• Adam Gadit

• Yazan Sawan

• Muhammad Khan

• Adrian Cardona Pena

• Yousif Amier Alawadhi.

Nothing is impossible, you are WILDCATS!

Ms.Iliana Jaltova

Grade 7 Physical Education Teacher & Aquatics Director

Our next round of in-school PCR testing is scheduled for June 15 and 16.

Thank you to those families who have submitted completed online forms. There is no need to submit consent form for every testing session.

If you have not submitted in-school PCR consent form AT ALL, and wish to have your child tested at school, please complete the online form. One form per student is required.

NO NEED TO SUBMIT IT FOR EVERY TESTING SESSION.

Bedayat Program - the aim is to equip parents with strategies to support their children during and after divorce—to shield their children from parental conflict and promote positive child wellbeing. Please check out the flyers for more information.

Another year is almost over! But memories will remain forever! Get your copy of 2021-2022 Yearbook from Main Reception.

• If you have pre-paid earlier this year, please show proof of payment to collect your copy.

• If you wish to buy now, please pay AED 175 at Accounts Office room 9 and collect your copy from Main Reception.

• Previous year yearbooks are also available at discounted price. Please check with Accounts office.

Great traditions continue – on June 2nd GAA staff and students met up at magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque for another wellness event “Grand Walk”.

ESM Holiday Camps will be offering all GEMS American Academy students the opportunity to attend a multi activity camp for children aged 4 – 11 years old from the July 4th – 12th August 2022.

It will be the same, fun and exciting camps run in the past with the same coaches and school staff that you already know, love and trust. We have been working hard with GAA behind the scenes to ensure we will be able to exceed the strict guidelines and ensure the safety of your child through the following additional measures….

• Regular temperature checks and hand sanitization for all staff and children throughout the day

• Sanitization of all equipment between each activity sessions

• Onsite nurse at all times

• Full sanitization of the facilities each day

• All children will need to show a GREEN ALHOSN display every day at security to attend camps.

ESM would like to thank those of you who have already registered your children for the summer camp with us.

Please note that places are very limited due to the ongoing COVID restrictions and ESM will not allow walk in this summer camp – pre-registration is essential.

Your children will have a chance to kick back, learn something new and have some fun, while being active indoors taking part in our multi activity camp.

As parents you will have peace of mind that your child is well looked after and enjoying the camp experience.

Campers will take part in 4 different age appropriate activities daily which will include the following: (some activities are venue specific depending on facilities and the amount of children registered)

Football, Dodgeball, Badminton, Relay Races, Basketball, Rounders, Fun & Games, Arts & crafts, Obstacle Courses, Mini Tennis and Musical Games.

REGISTRATION:

• Registration and payment for the Summer Camp is now open and MUST be done online – no walk ins will be accepted.

• We have a new website so we would require ALL PARENTS to create a new account with us to complete the registration.

• Please note we require a minimum of 20 children for the camp to go ahead therefore pre-registration is essential. If the camp is cancelled, parents will receive a full refund.

• Places are very limited, to avoid disappointment, CLICK HERE to first register for ALL parents, then follow the process to make the booking at the GAA venue.

FEES & DISCOUNTS

• Please do note that only online registrations and payments make you eligible for the weekly discounted rate, there are no discounts on daily bookings.

• Take advantage of our current offer and receive a 20% off weekly bookings by entering the discount code GSUM20 (discounts applicable for single transaction only). This offer is only valid from the 3rd till the 12th June 2022. (AED720/week/child after discount)

• From June 13th to the 7th August parents will receive a 15% weekly discount. (AED765/week/child after discount)

• An additional 10% siblings discount will be active from the 3rd June to the 7th of August 2022 for your second and third child.

• Weekly and siblings discount is not valid for daily bookings and all discounts applicable to camp fees only and not the bus service.

TIMINGS:

• Drop off from 8.15 – 8.45am

• Activities start from 9.00 – 1.30pm

• Pick up from 1.30 – 1.45pm

BUS SERVICE

• Please note that there is a BUS SERVICE available for this camp from BBT but it would be for venue specific camps and the closest venue to where you live – please make sure you look at the covered areas below.

• We require the bus bookings to be done before every Tuesday afternoon 2pm for the following weeks bookings.

• Bus fees are fixed at AED200/child/week to the same pick up and drop off area.

• AREA THAT CAN BE COVERED - Abu Dhabi City, Muroor, Reem Island, MBZ, Baniyas, Al Raha Gardens, Al Reef Villas, Al Zeina Raha Beach, Al Bayha

For more information and queries, please feel free to contact ESM on holidaycamp@esm.ae or WhatsApp +971503611547.

Please check out our camp booklet which will give parents an idea on how ESM Holiday Camps operate.

We look forward to seeing you all again very soon!

Kind regards

ESM Holiday Camp Team

Please note that any Lost and Found items not picked up by Friday, July 1st will be discarded and uniforms will be donated to Used Uniform Shop (courtesy of GAA Parent Association).

Please check-in with Reception regarding any valuables.

Thank you!

• June 20: Child Safety and Injury Prevention awareness lecture by SSMC and Mayo Clinic @GAA Auditorium, 08:30am

• June 22-23: KG2 Promotion Ceremonies @8:00AM

• June 23: Grade 8 Promotion Ceremony @11:00AM

• June 27-28: PYP Exhibition

• June 30: Grade 5 Promotion Ceremony @11:00AM

• July 1: Last Day of School & Final Reports Come Out!