Good afternoon Middle School Families,

We hope you are all having a wonderful start to October. With our temperatures settling down we will start having lunch time activities outdoors under the shaded tennis courts area where students can play football or basketball. We have noticed that students really need a physical outlet during the day and we feel this will help.

We have had inquiries from parents about how we will tackle the learning gaps from our COVID times and we are meeting with Heads of Departments as well as looking at our recent MAP testing (Measure of Academic Progress) results to see where the gaps are. Each department will assess the grade level and decide on specific actions to help close these gaps. Please speak with your child’s teacher about ways they are remedying this challenge.

We truly are seeing the effects of students in withdrawals and being in an emotional state when phones are taken away for being out when not allowed. Our current rule in our Student Handbook is that phones are not allowed in Middle School as soon as they walk in the doors in the morning until the end of day, with a window of time during lunch break where they are allowed to access their phones. We sent out a survey to teachers asking if our Middle School teachers believe students need access to their phone during the school day in relation to their learning and the majority response was no. We also asked teachers if students need more time to meet the expectation and review the reminders of the Student Handbook and the response was a large majority yes. So we are going to allow more time for students to meet our phone expectations. We may in the future decide that there will be no phones in middle school for the entire school day (even lunch) depending on phone related issues and teacher feedback.

As a reminder, GAA has identified the following school expectations to teach and promote our high standards of responsible behavior:

• Be Safe - Students are taught that physical and emotional safety are prioritized. Students can only learn and play once their safety is secure.

• Be Respectful - Being respectful involves treating others the way you want to be treated, having a positive regard for peers and adults and valuing differences in culture.

• Be a Learner - The principle “Be a Learner” essentially relates to valuing the learning process and learning community.

• Be Kind - Fostering a Culture of Kindness is a top priority at GAA. Students are taught values of kindness and are expected to treat others with kindness at all times.

When we observe students who are having difficulties following these four expectations, we will have mediation sessions and support plans from the Student Support Team and notify parents to keep them informed and to be part of the support team.

An update on student lockers. Our new lockers are here and we are waiting for them to be placed in the middle school hallways. We expect this will take place during our mid term break.

A reminder we have our Midterm break the week of October 17th -21st. We will return to school on October 24th.

We thank you all for your constant support and please email me or call with any questions or concerns.

Have a great weekend.

Regards,

Mr. Scott Macdonald

Middle School Vice Principal

Please find the link to our Virtual Senior Night Presentation here. We will host a Live Zoom Session on Sunday, October 10th at 4:30 to answer questions you may have. Please click here to submit your questions regarding the presentation. The link to the Zoom session is below:

• Topic: GAA Virtual Senior Night Q & A Session

• Time: October 10, 2021 04:30 PM Dubai

• Link: https://gemseducation.zoom.us/j/89552086222

Regards,

GAA High School Counselors

We remind parents to submit the completed vaccination consent forms for Grade 8 and 11 students.

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

SECONDARY LIBRARY NEWSLETTER

• October 10: Senior Night Live Q&A at 4:30pm. Zoom Link: https://gemseducation.zoom.us/j/89552086222 Submit your questions here:

• October 11: In-school free PCR testing for students in Grades 6-12

• October 12: IB Night

• October 17-21: Mid-term Break

• October 24: School resumes, PCR checking

• October 24-28: Secondary School Photoshoot by Stu Williamson

• October 28: Half-Day, school dismisses at 12. Dress Down Day in support of GAAPA with 5 AED donation.