Dear Parents & Guardians,

Welcome back! I hope you were able to enjoy the Winter Break with family and friends, and that you are all refreshed and ready for the coming weeks. It certainly has been wonderful to welcome the whole community back to school, refreshed and excited for what lies ahead.

During our first week of 2023, our Arabic team (across the primary and secondary schools) coordinated Arabic Language Day, which included a community-wide, celebratory welcome upon arrival to school, in addition to various activities throughout the day to celebrate and reinforce the importance of promoting Arabic language among UAE nationals and expatriates, alike. Thank you to Mr. Majid, Ms. Wafaa and your respective teams for delivering such an enjoyable and culturally significant event.

Secondary students also enjoyed the opportunity to visit the GIS Expo. A big thank you and well done must go to our student leaders, for organizing and executing such a well-received showcase of the student-led projects and initiatives that are available for GIS students to expand their service and leadership experience, to develop a variety of skills and to connect with like-minded peers. Throughout the day, students have been excitedly signing up for projects and activities. We look forward to observing the growth and impact of these initiatives, both on our students and the wider community.

Looking ahead to next week, MYP students will engage in interdisciplinary units (IDUs) of study.

"In the Middle Years Programme (MYP), interdisciplinary learning supports students to understand bodies of knowledge from two or more disciplines or subject groups, in order to integrate them and create new understanding."

https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/curriculum/interdisciplinary/

An Interdisciplinary Unit is created through the collaboration of the teachers in two learning areas. Every MYP class and student will be involved in a unique school experience. Grades and classes will work together in two learning areas to find out how much these have in common and how learning from one translates into learning in another. Finally, all students will create a product to showcase their learning and YOU will be invited to see what they have done. Our students, last year, did fantastically – here are some photographs from last year to give you a taster of the week ahead.

Additionally, Stu Williamson Photography will visit next week to capture this year's student photographs. As well as being available for families to purchase, these photos will feature in the yearbook. Students are expected to wear full GIS uniform, as usual. The schedule is available below. Students who have PHE on the day that is scheduled for them to have their photo taken should wear their uniform to school and pack their PHE kit to change into.

On the subject of uniform, prior to this week, all secondary parents/guardians received an email about secondary school uniform standards and expectations. I'm happy to report that, for the most part, we have seen a positive shift in standards, with the vast majority of students proudly presenting in full uniform. And, I must say, it's great to see - thank you for your support and encouragement!

Looking further ahead, please keep an eye out for upcoming Parent ConnectEd workshops, which will be of particular interest and significance to Grade 10 families. These sessions will cover CP/DP pathways and the associated requirements/expectations for students who are embarking upon which. Also, this term, Grade 12 students will undertake their trial exams and Grade 10 students will be working towards the Personal Project Exhibition. Moreover, there are a host of community events to look forward to throughout term 2.

As ever, we encourage your ongoing engagement and partnership.

Amanda Murphy

Head of Secondary School

Language Stars of the Week

G6

Mohamad Dimashkieh, Avishi Sharma, Martina Escobar Rea, Axel Bioteau¸ Luna Moya Aleman, Lucia Grigerova, Selda Golkhandan, Matheus Gondim

G7

Yassin El Sherif¸ Fathallah Ben Ali¸ Branislav Lukic¸ Termeh Ghorbany, Leon Kimsa-Zieman, Aashrit Prathap, Sebastian Merila

G8

Andre Sousa¸ Alwy Badawy¸ Maya Abou Zeid¸ Johanny Antoine N'diaye¸ Vasiliki Chrysochoou¸ Lumi Makipaa

G9

Maitreyi Singh, Noora Abdullah, Serine Abou Chakra, Adam Saldanha, Riti Pagdar, Emma Soobramoney

G10

Aahil Merali¸ Manya Singh, Anissa Bouzambou, Harshvardan Nistala¸ Tamara Bayoumi, Rania Abdulhussein¸ Erol Makaeaci

The following list did not make it into the previous newsletter, prior to the Winter Break:

G6

Lucy Lawrens, Avishi Sharma¸Ksenia Kudryavtsev, Siddhant Shrivatsa, Yousef Fawzi, Gabriel Ferreira, Anannya Rakendu

G7

Luciana Moya Aleman, Sara Bint Faiz¸Armaan Kazani¸Milena Flores-Benita¸Kareem Elsheikh, Sonam Kishanchand¸Foteini Fasoula

G8

Lorena Santos, Saleha Kauser, Layal Mworeh¸Moonkang Cho, Mohammad Almheiri, Alexander Rushika

G9

Aadit Chandrani, Pranay Neeraj¸Isidora Munoz, Aymen Kherraf, Emma Soobramoney

G10

Ayaan Abbasi, Manya Singh¸Amelia Muttrie¸Ella McCluskey¸Fatima Mahmoud¸Hiba Hassan