Official School Photos

Grades 6-10 students will be having their photos taken next week (Monday 13th November- Friday 17th November). Students in grades 6-9 will have their picture taken during a PE class, and grade 10 students will occur during a World Studies class. Each student and parent have received email with their respective schedules on Wednesday November 8th. NO PE UNIFORM. Both new and old school uniform tops are acceptable.

We are celebrating Kindness Day on Monday 13th November. Students are invited to wear orange on this day. Please be mindful that although students can wear orange, they should bring a school shirt with them to change into on Monday for the official school photoshoot.

AP or IB

If you have a student in Grade 9, 10 or 11, you are invited to a presentation on our new course offerings for SY24-25. GAA will be offering Advanced Placement courses next year. On Tuesday evening, November 22 at 6:30 p.m., we will present information about the AP and the IB program. Here is a link to an AP letter sent earlier this month, please fill out the survey to provide your input about AP course offerings. Thank you.

Kindness Day

On Monday 13th November GAA will celebrate Kindness Day. Students are invited to wear an orange color themed outfit.  When choosing your outfit to honor this day, please choose articles of clothing where the majority of the outfit features the color orange. If a student does not choose to celebrate Kindness day or does not wear the majority of the color orange, they must wear full uniform. If a student does not dress in line with these expectations, the action is considered dressing out of dress code and a uniform violation will be invoked.

Have a nice weekend!

Mr. Wyncoll

Dear GAA Families,

We are almost at the halfway point in the school year and greatly appreciate your partnership in helping our GAA Wildcats be great and experience an engaging and productive school year. 

Our students have learned many exciting things in their science classes. As part of our learning mission, we foster inquiry based learning - Mr Hueston and Mr Cotman have supported this learning through the design of their labs. 

Mr Cotman’s DP1 class had a lab on water salination:

Mr Hueston’s DP 2 course had a differentiated lesson about the structures of the heart

Civic Engagement

GAA Wildcats exhibit our expectation of Caring  - Thank you to our amazing 11th grade students who supported the Breast Cancer initiative. They tirelessly created bracelets, crafted thoughtful messages of encouragement and hosted a bake sale for donations to Red Crescent.  

Dress Code

Please continue to keep your students  in adherence to the GAA dress code. Students should wear either the golf shirt and appropriate slacks or skirt and sweater, old school uniform with tie and sweater or senior sweatshirt and school slacks.  Students are able to express their individuality through their footwear (mindful of safety guidelines). 

Kindness Day

We will celebrate Kindness Day on Monday the 13th by wearing orange.  Students who choose to participate are asked to wear fully the color orange for their clothing or mostly the color orange.  It is not enough to wear an orange scarf, pin or singular article of clothing.  National Dress would not align with this opportunity unless it is orange. 

Fire Drill

Our next fire drill will be November 22 at 11:20 (C block).

Attendance

Please be mindful of your scholar’s attendance.  We have seen an increase in absences. To help you be mindful of the occurrences, you may have received an email from the school indicating the number of absences for your child.

Dear Families,

We were finally able to have our Breast Cancer Awareness assemblies this week, and the kids did an awesome job. A big round of applause to Marcello Hauranieh, Chloe White, Rayanna Alketheeri, and Rajaa El Baba for putting on a great presentation. The Heads of Grade also gave out the student awards for the month of October. Way to go Wildcats!

As you know, our school provides vaccines at the clinic. In grade 8, students are able to take the HPV9 (Human Papillomavirus Vaccine). If you would like your child to take this vaccine, please fill out the forms below and send them in by Monday next week. The vaccine will be given on the 15th. 

Reminders:

• Class photos begin next week. Please see the photo schedule below. 

• Next week is a Blue week, and starts with block G.

• Monday is National Kindness Day, and students can wear orange to support the day. 

Have a great weekend. 

Ms. Williams  

MS Vice Principal

As we have started to get settled, we are noticing that the uniform is not being followed as per the Student Handbook (see page 18) Please note that students are not allowed to wear their Middle School sweatshirt unless it is Friday. We are also seeing a problem with the length of the girls’ skirts/skorts. Please see the requirements below. On Monday, the teachers will begin to log any uniform violations as we are well into the school year.

Please respect UAE and GAA dress code:

• No tight clothes.

• No spaghetti strap shirt

• No exposed mid-riff.

• No hoodies

• No offensive logos or expressions on clothing

• No skirts/ shorts above the knee.

The Secondary Administration may require a student to return home for the purpose of changing clothing. Our policy is: Wear clothing that is respectful to yourself and others.

Dear Grade 12 students, 

You have by now received an email from our vendor C.L.Seifert regarding Cap and Gown order instructions. 

C. L. Seifert is a company that has been manufacturing High-end graduation equipment for more than 153 years and are operational in 7 different countries. They are appointed by the Royal Courts since 1903, making them the leading supplier to the royal families in several countries.

We request all graduating students to kindly place your order for the graduation caps and gowns before midnight of 21st of November 2023.

Any late orders will not be accepted as this will cause a delay for other graduates who completed their order on time. The web shop will not be accepting orders after this date as time is required to have the gown prepared.  

Kindly use the incognito tab (private browsing) on your browser to avoid conflict with cached data on the browser.

For log in to the portal, please note the following:

• Student ID - Please make sure to type in your Student ID (LAST 6 DIGITS ONLY!)

• School name: GEMS American Academy Abu Dhabi

• If anyone wants to buy the items separately kindly email the vendor back at info@clseifert.ae which item you wish to purchase and they shall assist you

Link to social platform : https://clseifert.ae 

For the attention of Grade 11 and 12 Students and Parents

Upcoming University Representative Visits (PARENTS ARE WELCOME).

• Tuesday,  November 14th,  from 10:00-11:00, GAA will be hosting University of Oregon, Butler University, University of Colorado Boulder, and Loyola University Chicago, and Indiana University. The location of the visit will be the MPR.

• Wednesday,  November 15th,  from 12:00-1:30 - David Cliffe from the University of Huddersfield and Dr. Andrew Jenkins from the Business School at Huddersfield.  Dr. Jenkins will be giving a short session on  Business Marketing: ‘Brands and Branding’. After the session, there will an informal session for students to learn more about Huddersfield and ask questions. If you are interested in attending, you must complete this form by Monday, November 13th at 3:00 p.m.  The location of the visit will be announced closer to the date.

• Monday November 20th,  from 12:00-1:00 - Andrea Triplow from  RCSI Medical University Bahrain. Andrea will be discussing the "Pathway to Medical University’" breaking it down into Explore, Decide, and Apply.  She will look at the "Role of a Doctor", the questions you should ask yourself about the university you are applying to, and the application process. If you are interested in attending, you must complete this form by Wednesday, November 15th at 3:00 p.m.  The location of the visit will be announced closer to the date.

• November 13: World Kindness Day

• November 13-17: Official School Photoshoot for Grades 6-10

• November 20-24: Little Thinker Book Fair

• November 24: Pizza and Popsicle Day by GAAPA and Booster Club

• November 29: UAE National Day Celebration at school

• December 1: Commemoration Day and National Day Public Holiday (NO SCHOOL)

• December 13: Middle School Sports Day

• December 14: High School Sports Day

• December 18-January 1: WINTER BREAK (NO SCHOOL)