Secondary School

Head of Secondary School's Message 

Dear Parents & Guardians

Thank you to all our parents who attended our Arabic Coffee morning this week. I missed the occasion due to a prior engagement off campus. However, Ms Wafaa advised that it was a very well attended event and a great opportunity to answer questions and share insights from our Arabic department. I would like to extend my gratitude to Ms Wafaa and her team for this initiative, I know that there is already talk of a follow up session. Watch this space!

This week, we also held our inaugural LitFest that was well received by staff and students. Thank you to Ms Terri for coordinating the weeklong activities, where students had the opportunity to get involved in a poetry slam, listen to some outstanding authors from around the world, including our own Mr Harry, and participate in Homeroom activities. Thank you to all students who ran workshops with our PYP students and to Ms Alisha and Mr Lewis, for assisting in the background. Congratulations are extended to the winners of the Poetry Slam: Sophie Allen, Nina Sitdikova, and Foteni Fasoula!

The LitFest culminated with our very first TEDx yesterday. Technology, Entertainment and Design Exhibition (TEDx) showcased the incredible talent within our school community, but also explored ideas that have the power to transform our perspectives and inspire positive change. As an educator, there are many positive occurrences that I have the benefit of experiencing each day. However, every now and then, something fills me to the brim with pride, something so heartwarming, it tugs at my heart strings. Yesterday, it was TEDx that had this effect on me. I, and others, were in awe at our student speakers. Their confidence, knowledge and passion for their topics (listed below) was infectious!

Yohaan Kapur - Physics in the real world 

Iman Bint Faiz - The AI wave and human empowerment 

Muhammad Musa Ahmad- Digital Footprints 

Artin Alvandi- Nature vs Nurture 

Fatima Imran- The masks people hide behind 

Zulfiqar Muhammad Raza - Experiencing Partition.

Abbas Hussain Pooya - Living with Type 1 Diabetes 

Reham - The importance of reading classics 

Aaron Mujtaba- The history of animation 

Rayan - The physical benefits of kindness

Yusra Faheem - The effect of cognitive biases in the stock market 

I am aware that there was a whole team, headed by Ms Terri, working on bringing Tedx to fruition, but none of this would have been possible without Yusra Faheem’s passion, drive and tenacity. Thank you, Yusra, for bringing TEDx to GIS.

Another busy week awaits us next week. In the meantime, enjoy the week ahead.

Kind regards

Amanda Murphy

Head of Secondary