Hello MS Parents,

I would like to start by thanking you for your emails, feedback and encouragement since the start of the school year. It is truly a community approach and effort to teaching and learning. I would like to discuss a few topics that are very important to all of us in the MS GAA community. If your child is absent from class, we will be contacting home via classroom teacher, Head of Grade, Dean of Students or myself to follow up. We are being intentionally proactive by contacting families as we have very high expectations for your child and ourselves, and we expect students to be in every class on time and ready to learn. We are not a community where unexcused absences are acceptable and it takes everyone’s encouragement, so we thank you for your support with this matter.

Starting on October 11^th, we will transition to our Hybrid Phase 2 schedule seen HERE. We will align with the High School which will support our MS/HS teachers, and this will be the schedule students will have when they return to campus, so having them get into the routine now will make the transition smoother. This schedule will now have a 2 day Blue Day then a 2 day White day repeating pattern. A calendar has been shared with all MS students which can be found HERE. Please print and keep for your reference. Advisory Teachers have explained this to their students and can answer any questions you may have.

Google Classroom invites have been emailed to parents and class summaries are turned on so parents can see what is happening in the classrooms via a summary to your email account. If you are not receiving these, please email your child’s teacher directly so they can assist you.

Dear Students and Parents,

In order to limit the movement within the school, students will remain in classrooms for lunch, beginning Sunday, October 11^th. Students will eat lunch in the dedicated areas and will not be permitted to go to Ground floor, until further notice.

We have requested Slices Cafeteria to set up the food distribution location near Planetarium on the 2^nd floor to provide lunches for students who would like to purchase food.

The lunch must be ordered online 72 hours before via Slices website https://app.slices.ae/login and will be collected by students in the above mentioned distribution location. It is recommended to place orders on a Thursday for upcoming week.

Students may continue to bring lunch from home with their own utensils.

Please check out Slices Catering Section of the newsletter for useful documents:

• Slices Sign Up Guide

• Breakfast Snacks Menu for October

• Lunch Menu for October

We have implemented all reopening policies and we strictly follow all guidelines to maintain compliance at school to safeguard the return of students. This responsibility isn’t ours alone and as students of GAA, you must all be dutiful and commit to doing your part in keeping our school safe. This Code of Conduct is designed to create a community of care around all our students; by reading and signing the code and then acting accordingly, you set the example for your friends and fellow students.

Please feel out either one of the below forms and submit to Secondary Secretary at secsecretary_gaa@gemsedu.com:

• Student Code of Conduct (in English)

• Student Code of Conduct (in Arabic)

Covid Testing for Students Returning in Person

All students must present negative Covid test results prior to arriving on campus. Please upload the test results through this link: High School Student Covid Test Results

Dear GAA Families,

In case you travel outside UAE during half-term long weekend, please remember to complete The Health and Travel Declaration form (online form). The paper form (English and Arabic) may be emailed to: communication_gaa@gemsedu.com.

Attention all students! Are you passionate about the planet? Do you want to take action to find solutions to a global issue? Do you want to be a student representative for GAA at a student-lead virtual global-conference on climate change? I thought so! Take your knowledge, skills, and passion, and put it towards bettering the planet for your future.

The purpose of SCOPE 2020 is to empower students with high levels of climate change awareness, deep climate change research and collaborative global problem-solving skills. This inter-school conference caters to stimulating creative thinking skills and expressions of this generation to come through art, public speaking, creative writing, and a delegation. For more information, and to apply for this amazing experience, please watch the video and read the attached document.

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

SECONDARY LIBRARY WEBSITE

Library Newsletter 30^th Sep 2020

ESM and DELTA is offering a range of online Sport and Enrichment activities for TERM 1. You can contact academies directly using the information in this brochure.

For general information referring all ESM Academies, please contact:

Faizel Simon

ESM Relationship Manager

Email: faizel@esm.ae

• October 13 - IBDP Night

• October 18 - Half Term / No School

• October 29 - Half Day / School Dismisses at 12:00.