Dear GAA Families,

I hope that you and your family members are all healthy and well and that you had a restful mid-term break. It was a good return to school, as both students and teachers came back refreshed. On campus there were many examples of innovative and personalized teaching and learning projects and our afterschool athletics and activities season is now in full swing. I am encouraged that through our programs students are exploring new interests, making friends, and working collaboratively. The positive impact on health and wellness is noticeable.

Next week we will be hosting an ADEK Irtiqaa inspection team. The inspectors will be on campus to measure the performance and quality of our school in four areas: Student Achievement, Teaching and Assessment, The protection, care, guidance and support of students, and Leadership and Management. As part of the inspection process, a short survey was sent to parents for your input. Your feedback is important as we strive to improve the educational experience at GAA.

A second survey was also sent last week announcing the ADEK Vaccination drive, and your interest in the opportunity for your child to be vaccinated on campus. Please take a few minutes to respond to both surveys. You can scroll down to see the message.

On October 28, we made a school wide contribution in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. Secondary students, led by Senior Aysha Elsunkaeva, proposed a “Pink” Dress Down Day activity. You can see some of the photos on our Social Media: Instagram 1, Instagram 2. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Red Crescent Breast Cancer campaign. Thank you to all students that joined in the cause to fight breast cancer.

As always If you have any feedback or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me or the GAA Team.

Warm Regards,

Robert Rinaldo

Dear GAA Families,

We have just received a communication that in support of the efforts to move towards the blue tier (ref. Blue School Initiative), ADEK is currently coordinating with the Department of Health to facilitate COVID-19 in-school vaccination. If you would like to know more about the Blue School Initiative, please read the October 7 Issue of GAAzette (bi-weekly GAA newsletter).

ADEK has requested that we submit the number of students that are interested in getting the COVID-19 vaccination at school.

For this purpose, we kindly ask you to complete this survey by October 30: https://forms.gle/tWfXBac6Y2S8xfVC9

Kind regards,

Mr. Robert Rinaldo

Head of School

عائلاتنا الأعزاء ،

تود دائرة التعليم والمعرفة وبالتعاون مع هيئة الصحة دعم جهود المدارس المبذولة للوصول للمستوى الأزرق لمبادرة المدرسة الزرقاء، ولذلك تقوم دائرة التعليم والمعرفة حاليًا بالتنسيق مع هيئة الصحة لتوفير التطعيم ضد فيروس كورونا في مدارس أبو ظبي الخاصة للطلاب الراغبين بذلك.

وعليه، لقد طلبت دائرة التعليم والمعرفة من المدارس إرسال عدد الطلاب المهتمين بالحصول على لقاح COVID-19 في المدرسة.

لهذا الغرض ، نرجو منك إكمال هذا الاستطلاع بحلول 30 أكتوبر: https://forms.gle/tWfXBac6Y2S8xfVC9

ملاحظة: إذا كنت ترغب في معرفة المزيد عن مبادرة المدرسة الزرقاء، يرجى قراءة عدد 7 أكتوبر من نشرة المدرسة GAAzette.

أطيب التحيات،

السيد روبرت رينالدو

Dear GAA Parents,

What an incredible start to the year! We are proudly welcoming our students every morning to enjoy their school day!

New plan updates:

We want to share that our students and teachers are doing a great job during Arabic, Islamic, and UAE SS classes.

We started this year by building knowledge and skills for our students’ posts to the current pandemic situation before beginning with the MOE curricula and that to help our kids develop their Arabic language basic skills. A baseline assessment is held for all of our students to see where they are and help them grow professionally according to their needs. Arabic Teachers are creating a personalized plan for each student to support their learning. We started this year to offer support classes to some of the students who need exceptional Arabic support one time a week; moreover, to the after-school classes offered by our teachers as afterschool activities to support the learning of Arabic and Memorizing Quraan.

Teachers will share with you more information during the Parent-Teacher Conferences on November 10-11.

Islamic and UAE Cultural aspects

GAA students fully respect and appreciate the heritage and culture that underpin and influence contemporary life in the UAE. They initiate and involve themselves in a range of cultural activities since the beginning of the current Academic year: for example, Prophet Mohammad’s birthday-Al Noor Mosque virtual visit.

As we all know, the whole country celebrates the UAE Flag Day on 3rd November 2021, which coincides with the day HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan became president of the UAE.

In honor of Flag Day, our KG and Elementary students can dress up in the UAE Flag or UAE Traditional dress color to celebrate this special occasion. We will play the National Anthem while the whole school proudly will stand up and sing in their classes. A group of High-school students with the Head of School, Mr. Rinaldo, will proudly raise the UAE flag during that time.

The students will enjoy several learning activities during their classes in celebration of this special occasion to learn about the UAE Flag Day

Finally, we want to thank you for all of your effort, help, and support!

Stay safe and God bless

Sincerely,

Director of Arabic Studies KG-G12

Samah Awad

أولياء الأمور الكِرام،

تحيّة طيبة وبعد،

أود بداية أن أتوجه لكم بكل الشّكر والتّقدير لكل ما يقدم من مجهود معنا لمصلحة طلابنا، كما أرجو من اللّه عزوجل أن يديم علينا نعمة الصّحة والعافية. فقد كانت بداية هذا العام الدّراسي محملة ببريق أمل عودة الحياة لطبيعتها إن شاء الله. نستقبل طلابنا كل صباح بفرح وسرور تقديرًا لامتنانا عن عودتنا إلى المدرسة.

يبذل معلمونا وطلابنا مجهودًا رائعًا في الصّفوف الّتي تقدم باللّغة العربيّة، كنّا قد بدأنا منذ بداية العام بالتّركيز على بناء معارف ومهارات الطّلاب السابقة من خلال العودة إلى كافة المهارات لتأسيس الطلاب فيها قبل البدء بالمنهج الوزاري. كما قمنا بقياس مهارات الطلاب من خلال الاختبار التّشخيصي ووضع خطط فردية لكل طالب حسب مستواه واحتياجاته. كما بدأنا هذا العام بحصة دعم أسبوعية في المرحلة الابتدائية لبعض الطلاب الّذين يواجهون صعوبات في تعلم اللّغة العربيّة لقياس مدى فاعلية البرنامج، بالإضافة إلى أنشطة ما بعد الدّوام لدعم مهارات اللّغة العربيّة وتلاوة القرآن الكريم.

يتمتع طلاب مدرسة أكاديميّة جيمس الأمريكيّة بمعارف وقيم عالية ، ويظهرون احترامهم ومعرفتهم لعادات دولة الإمارات العربيّة وقيمها من خلال إشراكهم في العديد من الأنشطة المنهجية واللا منهجية . فقد احتفل طلاب الطلاب بالمولد النبوي الشريف.

كما نعلم جميعًا بأن يوم العلم يصادف في الثّالث من نوفمبر وذلك بمناسبة ذكرى تولي صاحب السّمو رئيس الدّولة الشّيخ خليفة بن زايد آل نهيّان - حفظه الله- مقاليد الحكم، وبدعوة من صاحب السّمو الشّيخ محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم نائب رئيس الدّولة رئيس مجلس الوزراء حاكم دبي - رعاه الله -بأن يكون هذا اليوم يومًا للعلم.

سيحتفل طلاب مدرسة أكاديميّة جيمس الأمريكيّة بيوم العلم يوم الأربعاء ٣/١١/٢٠٢١ من خلال إنشاد النّشيد الوّطني لدولة الإمارات العربيّة المتحدّة، ورفع المدير الأستاذ رونالدو مع مجموعة من طلاب المرحلة الثّانوية علم الدّولة عاليًّا على أنغام النّشيد الوطني بعزةٍ و،شموخ.

كما ندعو طلاب المرحلة الابتدائيّة ورياض الأطفال فقط لارتداء الزّي الوطني وألوان العلم( المرحلة الابتدائيّة) تعبيرًا عن حبهم وفخرهم، بالإضافة إلى القيام بالعديد من الأنشطة الصّفيّة التّعليميّة الّتي تُجسّد أهميّة هذا اليوم، وتربط قيمة الانتماء بالمنهج المدرسي من خلال على ربط المواد التّعليميّة بالهُويّة الوطنيّة وتعزيزها .

أدام الله علينا الصّحة والعافية

دمتم بأمان اللّه وحفظه

ودام عزك يا الإمارات

الأفراح عامرة في إماراتنا الحبيّبة

مديرة قسم المواد الّتي تدرّس باللّغة العربيّة

سماح عوض

As you know, GEMS American Academy is a very diverse community. Of course, this diversity extends past our classrooms and student body. Our parents, teachers, and support staff are all diverse and come with different backgrounds and life experiences. This is just one of our great strengths! Because of our diversity, it is important that we all understand certain aspects of education together, as one community. This year, I hope to bring to you several short social media videos, direct from our curriculum, of how we at GEMS American Academy are being intentional and focused on four specific areas. These areas are:

Student Well-being - Student Voice - Preparing Students - Personalized Learning

With so many great things happening here at GAA, it is important that we try to celebrate and share the impact that is happening within our curriculum. Hopefully, with more videos like these throughout the year, you will have a better understanding and appreciation for how we are developing global citizens who have the confidence and conviction to pursue their dreams and impact the world.

Please take a moment to see how our students are experiencing this first hand. And, please make sure to follow us on social media, so you can see the other great things that are to come.

Dear GAA Parents,

We are pleased to announce that the registration for the 2022/23 school year is NOW open. The registration is ONLY for NEW students who would like to join GAA for the next academic year.

To register your child/children who are not currently attending GAA in the 2022/23 school year please click on this link https://www.gemsaa-abudhabi.com/Admissions/Enrol-Online

Please complete the online registration at your earliest convenience and ensure to complete the “Sibling information”. Priority placement will be given to siblings of students already at GAA.

Please spread the word to your families, friends and community! Do not forget to use GEMS Ambassador Program: Introduce a new family or friend to the GEMS community and earn back 4% of the referred child’s annual tuition fee in the form of GEMS Points, which will be redeemable against school fees or transport fees. Please click here for more information.

*Kindly note that re-registration/re-enrollment of our current students will start in February. All information regarding re-enrollment and instructions on how to complete your child’s re-enrollment will be sent at a later date.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact any member of the admissions team.

Warm Regards,

Asma El Derby

Registrar

registrar_gaa@gemsedu.com

This year at GAA we will be participating in the Dubai Fitness Challenge.

This is a month long initiative that is already into its fifth year and something you may have heard/ done yourself.

The DFC asks participants to complete 30 minutes of exercise for each day of November (30x30). *Please note the official dates start from 27 October but for the ease of the pupils we will simply use the whole month of November instead.

The exercise can be absolutely anything from walking, jogging, team sports, fitness classes or even PE lessons.

Join us and get fit and healthy!

Dear Parents,

Your child's photo will be live and available for purchase in 6 weeks.

The following additional photoshoot dates have been scheduled:

• February 6-7: ABSENTEE PHOTOSHOOT for students who were absent during Elementary and Secondary Photoshoot.

• March 5 & 12: CLASS OF 2022 CAP & GOWN PHOTOSHOOT - for Grade 12 students and their family members.

IMPORTANT: We are currently working with Stu Williamson on solutions for Distance Learner photoshoot. We will inform families soon.

All students KG to Grade 12 returning to face-to-face learning, including Students of Determination, must show a negative COVID-19 test result valid for 96-hours prior to returning to school FOR THE FIRST TIME or returning from an international travel.

After the first entry to school and September 28 onwards:

• Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Students below 12: TESTING EVERY 30 DAYS

• Vaccinated Students above 12: TESTING EVERY 30 DAYS

• Unvaccinated Students (including those with approved vaccination exemption) above 12: TESTING EVERY 7 DAYS

• Any student aged 6 and above, returning from an international travel, must submit a negative PCR test not older than 96 hours (Source: ADEK Parent's Guide for Returning to School) and completed Student Travel Declaration Form. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FORM.

• GAA Designated Testing Center: Biogenix Lab, Masdar City. School Code: KS-9086

Please upload the results on parent portal http://oasis.gemseducation.com See instructions here: UPLOADING RESULTS ON PORTAL

Regardless of the current pandemic situation, we call our families to follow the safety measures for the well-being of all our community members.

Below are some useful information.

• November 3: UAE Flag Day: KG & Elementary students invited to dress in UAE Flag colors or Emirati traditional clothing.

• November 10-11: Parent-Teacher Conferences (NO SCHOOL DAYS)

• November 13: Fun Fitness Hour at The Room (Zayed Sport City): Secondary students and families only.

• November 14: Dance for Kindness for Elementary: Wear Orange Color!

• November 14-18: Kindness Challenge Week

• November 24: Powderpuff - Seniors vs Juniors

• November 25: Half-Day, school dismisses at 12.

Our preferred Apple provider, JTRS (Just The Right Solutions), has created an e-store from which you can purchase a number of Apple products below retail costs. JTRS Education is offering discounts on MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs and iPads, as well as add-ons, cases and extended warranties.

Below, you will find a document on how to locate and sign-up for the e-store to see the discounted products and make a purchase. Once purchased, JTRS Education will be in communication with you about when they will be delivered to the school. Once they have been delivered to GAA, you may pick your devices up from the ICT office here at the school.