Secondary

Message from High School Vice Principal,

Ms. Erin Lumpkins

Dear GAA Family,

It has been a pleasure to see so many students on campus following our Eid Break. As we enter our last month of school, middle school students will begin their final units of study and high school students will continue to work on their end of course projects. These final projects serve as a culminating assessment of what students have learned throughout the 2020-2021 school year.

Graduation

We will host our graduation in the GAA Auditorium on Thursday, May 27th at 5 pm. Due to limited seating capacity, only students and GAA staff will be allowed to attend the event, but we invite you to join us as we live stream the event using this link: https://youtu.be/NfbzRr01EXk Please join us as we celebrate the Class of 2021!

End of Course Projects

While high school students transition to the end of course timetable, middle school students will continue to attend classes as usual. The high school timetable will be similar to the IB testing schedule in that students will report to campus on the days and times that they have assessments. Once the assessments are complete, students may be dismissed. Please refer to the communication that was sent last week for specific due dates and timetables.

Sincerely,

Ms. Lumpkins

IMPORTANT! NEWS FROM ADEK

(Abu Dhabi Department for Education and Knowledge)

ADEK has requested our school to add student’s GAA emails to the eSIS website (student information database). If parents object to adding their child’s email to eSIS, please inform our Government Relation Executive (GRE) Razan Maoued by May 26 at r.maoued_gaa@gemsedu.com

NEWS FROM

SECONDARY SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

Science Newsletter - May 2021.pdf

MODEL UNITED NATIONS

Harvard MUN between June 4th – 7th.

Harvard Model UN, Dubai is an academic simulation of the United Nations & its organs that gives participants an experiential insight into how the UN really functions and develops a curiosity in the delegates to understand the challenges in our global communities and make them passionate about solving them.

This conference will be the 4th edition, the following students will be attending:

Rania Fayruza Aziz
Vinay Krishna Swamy

Let's wish them best of luck!

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT!

Noah Tamasker, aspiring Formula-1 driver, made great use of the Eid Al Fitr break and designed his own karting website. All the content came entirely from him and we are very proud of the way he is beginning to share his story.

He has already been approached to share his story with other teens and better understand the positive role sports plays in a teenager’s life.

We wanted to share this link with you all and feel free to share with anyone who might be interested in learning about Noah’s passion for karting.

Noah Tamasker Karting Website

JOHN WILLIAMS IN (Virtual) CONCERT

The events of 2020 and 2021 have presented many obstacles for musicians across the globe. These obstacles have presented opportunities to rethink traditional music education and embrace the technologies that we are privileged to have at our fingertips.

Students at GAA have embarked on a project to collaborate in recording music whilst in a combination of full distance and blended learning. The result is one of the greatest concert bands the school has heard, yet they have never played together.

Armed with a click track, a mobile phone voice recorder app and a set of headphones; the high school concert band has systematically practiced and recorded individual parts of Paul Lavender’s arrangement of some of composer John Williams’ greatest works under the musical direction of our Secondary School Music Director; Dave Holland. Entitled John Williams in Concert, our John Williams in (Virtual) Concert has allowed for a valuable insight into the recording process of session musicians and served as a relevant experience in overcoming barriers to artistic collaboration in a pandemic.

Using the studio facilities at GAA, Mr. Holland and a team of Digital Music students have collated the recordings, treated and presented them as a combined work. Aided by a touch of digital wizardry and an instrumental hand from one or two faculty members; this work is presented as part of the virtual Secondary School Arts Festival for 2021.

Four months in the making, 5:30 mins in length, 62 audio channels, 3,500 individual samples and over 50 editing hours; we invite you to enjoy John Williams in (Virtual) Concert, arranged by Paul Lavender.

Dave

On May 19 at 13:15 Mr. Dave Holland, and his Grade 10 students Nabel and Mathilda were interviewed by Dubai Eye 103.8 Radio at the Lunch with Lloyd program. Here is the full interview:

May 19 Interview.mp4

SENIOR WALK APRIL 22

Senoir walk 2021.mov

SENIOR LETTERS 2021

Deadline: May 22th

Here at GAA we have a tradition of collecting letters from seniors, their families, and friends, in congratulation of all that they have achieved through their 12 years of school. While we are not all currently at GAA, that does not mean we are going to miss out on the opportunity to celebrate our seniors.

This year, we have set up an email address specifically to collect these letters – SeniorLetters21_GAA@gaa-ad.com. Please include the full name of the senior in the email and in the subject line. An automatic response will be sent to verify your email has been received.

You can also write a handwritten letter if you wish. A box will be set-up at the reception for you to drop it off.

We will collect letters until May 22th.

IMPORTANT:

COVID-19 PROCEDURES

Student COVID-19 Testing Schedule for students aged 12 and above:

(attending school in person)

May 22 and May 23
June 1 and June 2
June 12 and June 13
June 22 and June 23

Location: G42 Laboratory at Mafraq Hospital - Shakhbout City - Al Mafraq - https://goo.gl/maps/VqoLBirQAn43JCzP6

School Code: KS-9086

Timings: 08:00am - 10:00pm (Please note that the testing timing may change during Ramadan)

Please upload the results through Parent Portal: http://oasis.gemseducation.com

How to upload covid test results on Mobile and Laptop.pdf

What if my child feels unwell at school?

Non-COVID-related: If your child develops any symptoms during school hours:

The student will be flagged by the teacher and will be referred to the school clinic for triage. If child does not have fever or any other COVID-19 symptoms, Nurse will contact the parent to investigate any possible illness at home by family member. Depending on the condition of the child, parent may be asked to collect from school.
If student is sent home, parent must provide doctor's medical certificate for return to campus.

COVID-related: Your child will be considered as a suspected case of Covid-19, if displaying any signs and symptoms such as cough, fever or breathlessness and:

Child will be moved to Quarantine Room, where they will be monitored by a School Nurse.
Nurse will contact the parents immediately to retrieve the child from the school.
The school shall not administer any medicines to the child.
The school will inform the parents about the nearest hospital and COVID-19 testing center.
If the child tests positive for COVID-19, parents are mandated to inform the school so that they can take measures to secure the health of other students and staff who may have been exposed to the virus.
If child has siblings at GAA attending in-campus, they must be quarantined at home as well.
Student(s) will be able to return to school after 2 consecutive negative COVID tests and doctor's medical certificate.

COVID-19 Reporting Procedures at GAA

We remind parents of our safety protocols with regards to COVID-19:

What if my child or a household member tests positive?

Notify school immediately by calling GAA's COVID-19 Hotline at 052 1048099 to enable us to activate appropriate response. Or email: pre_gaa@gemsedu.com
Keep your child and other GAA siblings isolated at home for at least 10 days and follow the instructions of Health Authorities.
Distance Learning will be enabled for your child.
Child will be cleared to return to school once they have 2 consecutive negative test results, submitting doctor's note and results to the school nurse.

What's the Return to School protocol?

Positive case: They must show a Clearance Report from SEHA or their Health Care Provider confirming they are clear to return to school. This report shows the high-level history of the case including date confirmed positive, the 2 negative results and that the patient has completed the isolation period.

Contacts of the positive case: contacts must continue their 10 day home quarantine, even if they test negative, and are only allowed back in school after receiving 2 consecutive negative test results (approximately day 1 and day 8 testing).

We thank you for your continuous support.

SECONDARY LIBRARY

Welcome to GAA Secondary Library website! Your access to the library collection, research databases, learning resources and more!

SECONDARY LIBRARY WEBSITE

GEMS Alumni App

As the GEMS community, we understand that it is not just mere nostalgia that we associate our alma mater with, it is much beyond that. Our GEMS alumni across 80 countries are doing amazing things and we want to celebrate their successes every step of the way! Download and join the #GEMSAlumni App today by clicking on the links below:

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details…

App Store : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gems-alumni/id1496962338

GEMS_Alumni_Flyer_Jan2021[2].pdf

May 27: Half-Day, school dismisses at 12pm. Dress Down Day with the donation of 5AED. Elementary Theme: Book Character Day.
May 27: Senior Graduation
June 10: Half-Day, school dismisses at 12pm
June 17: Grade 8 Promotions
June 30: Last day of school. Half-Day. School dismissed at 12.