Dear Parents & Guardians,

What seems to have been a very long term draws to a close today; and what a busy week it has been.

There certainly was a mixture of sporting and ‘winterfest – ivities’ this week.

Firstly, thank you to Vansh and StuELT for organizing the two staff v’s student matches. It was wonderful to see the large crowds drawn to watch the games. They generated a lot of cheering and laughter, building great spirit! Much to the student’s disappointment however, the staff won both games – well done to all involved.

Ms Hadeel celebrated all things swimming on Monday afternoon with an amazing prize ceremony for our swimmers in the Indoor sports hall. What an amazing range of prizes that were awarded.

Of course, we must also celebrate our success in the football – some extremely impressive wins by the U12 boys football – what a week it has been!

Our StuELT did a fantastic job promoting festive spirit across the Secondary school. The festive clothing and door decorating went a long way to generate spirit among the students. Congratulations to all for the amazing door display. Well done and thank you to everyone who participated and assisted in organizing any aspect of this week.

Our second community Winterfest was held last night, and what a magical evening it was. Our stall sellers did an amazing job of organizing, coordinating and selling their wares, assisting to raise funds for UNHCR, a very worthwhile cause. I was blown away by the talent in the GIS’ Got Talent! Absolutely we do. How wonderful to see young and old up on stage performing. Thank you to all staff for their effort in making this event so successful. I really do not know where to start with regard to thanking people for their input into insuring Winterfest was a great success. Ms Mary Ann, Ms Emely, our outstanding facilities team, Mr Javier, Ms Ellie, Ms Emma, Ms Caroline, Ms Panayote, Ms Amanda E, and our teachers, my utmost thanks to you for your outstanding work and effort….with Winterfest, but also with every day that you are working for and with our students!

Our annual Book Fair was also a big hit this week. Ms Terri, along with Ms Louise did a terrific job of ensuring our students had access to a wide range of books to purchase. I do hope that you managed to find a great book to read over the break.

Term One Reports will be issued later today through the GEMS Parent app. We hope that you take the opportunity during the break to sit with your son or daughter to celebrate their academic success and to plan updated goals for the second term.

Thank you all for your ongoing support and I wish you a safe and happy Winter Break.

Amanda Murphy

Head of Secondary School

Language Stars of the Week

G6

Mohamad Dimashkiah, Dardana Tanatar, Avishi Sharma, Axel Bioteau, Belma Demir, Ethan Kent & Rhulani Maluleka

G7

Egemen Kolenoglu, Luciana Moya Aleman, Maliha Pathan¸Milena Flores-Benita¸Anirvaan Choudhary & Ameera Goel

G8

Haluk Kocer, Martina Franquet, Sana Ben Ali¸Samy Ghabbour¸Moonkang Cho & Zaina Hewedi

G9

Aleeshaye Najeeb, Taha Makani, Eliana Abidaoud, Wassel El Hallak, Hassan Al Zubaidi, Gabriel Eleuterio & Achille Roux

G10

Nurilham Bin Ramlan¸Manya Singh¸Amelia Muttrie, Mikhail Bukshtynovich, Yulia Kutsa, Maria Chashnikova, Olexandra Kuzmenko & Nada Shuhaib

Arabic - The UAE Ambassadors Programme

Grades 6-12

At GIS, we are thinking of the UAE leaders from the IB learners’ perspective. Each month we have an IB Learner Profile (IBLP) attribute that we focus on. Homerooms are investigating how the three leaders have demonstrated the monthly IBLP characteristic by looking at their words and their actions. The UAE ambassadors collect the research and announce the homeroom which presented the best evidence every month.

Our UAE ambassadors announced the winner for this month, 6A! They have contributed a lot of ideas and facts that match the IBLP and the UAE leaders - Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, and finally Sheikh Zayed, may he rest in peace. What wonderful open-minded leaders they are! 6A was awarded our mascot, the camel "Al-Faiz"! They were also given treats.

There was also a running competition to see who could come up with the best cultural proverb related to the Emirati proverb: "Who doesn't know the thing, will miss value it," and Omar from Grade 11 has won this competition! He will be awarded treats too! Don’t forget, if you are visiting us, to scan the QR on the display board on the second floor to learn how to say the proverb in the Emirati dialect.