Week Two - September 9th 2022

#WeRGIS Weekly

From the Head of School's Desk

Dear Parents,

It was a real pleasure to represent GIS this week at the monthly German Emirates Club Business Breakfast. I was one of six principals (the only GEMS school) to be selected by the GEC to present, and then participate in an educational panel for the audience of CEOs of German speaking companies. I spoke of the culture, ethos and strategic priorities at GIS, along with the advantages of a four-programme IB school. Our school and our vision attracted a good deal of attention and elicited many incisive questions.

My thanks this week to Ms Meena, our college counsellor, for inviting the excellent iXperience organization to our school. Well over fifty students were regaled by the engaging educational journey of Aaron Fuchs and his excellent advice on university entry. The opportunity for GEMS students for internships through iXperience are first rate and we are grateful to Mr Matthew Tompkins, GEMS Director of Student Employment, for organizing this event.

In amongst the usual start-of-school business, I was delighted to receive a picture from Yara (Grade 2). As you can see, this is an image of me on a good day, in my wellington boots, strolling through the woods!

I would like to reassure all parents that whilst our focus is always on teaching and learning, the traffic situation is being addressed proactively. I have held another meeting for the three Principals and MSOs of our Al Khail Schools. I also had a meeting yesterday with traffic flow specialists. Not only this, at a higher level, my GEMS group colleagues have met with senior management from Emaar and I can assure you that the road planning will go ahead. By next week I shall have further confirmation. I am also grateful to my WEK colleagues for their review of entry timings and offer to compromise further to create a larger window of drop-off timings between our two schools. We at GIS are doing what we can to push for action and I am pleased to say there has been significant movement. This may not be apparent to you yet but I shall not let this drop and am also happy to speak to any parent who wishes to have further details.

Finally, as Principal/CEO of GIS, a school with fundamental values of compassion and service to others, I would like to pay my respects to Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II, the longest reigning UK Head of State, for her lifetime of dedication and steadfast service. Monarchists and non-monarchists alike have long held Queen Elisabeth in admiration as someone dedicated to a life of duty and care. The GEMS group, as you know, recognized the Platinum Jubilee through a scholarship programme, which befits the memory of Her Majesty.

May I wish you a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Simon Herbert

Extra Curricular Activities and ECA's

Dear Parents,

Please note that our Term 1 ECA offerings are now finalised and available to view on SOCS. Both our school teacher led internal and external offerings can be found on SOCS, however you will notice that External Activities are Invite Onlyas these need to be registered for at ESM.ae. The registration process for this is quite lenghty, so check the external offerings on SOCS to see if there are any activities you would like to join first.

Key Points:

- Parent Sign up will open on Monday September 12th at 4pm for both internal and external activities

- Inteternal activities, which are led by school teachers and included in your tuition fees, can be signed up for on SOCS (LogIn Support)

- External activites, which are delivered by outside companies and come with an additional charge, can be signed up for on ESM.ae website. (Registration Guidelines attached)

- All ECAs will begin on September 19th

- Competitive squads are marked as Invite Only, as these will be selected after an initial trial. Please find remaining trial dates, as well as other important information HERE.

Hello GIS community,

Over the last few weeks a lot of things have happened and I hope you and your family have all had a good start back at GIS!

We have formed a parents committee with some new and familiar faces. Have a look at the photos to get to know us, we will introduce ourselves more in the next meeting and we hope to get to know more of you too.

GISPA members wear a red school tag, you can always approach us when you need to!

The first pre-loved uniform sale was a huge success. We hope to organize another one soon; for this we need some new donations (see poster).

We are already busy with organizing some events and also a coffee morning; so please check the newsletter and your messages for updates!

See you soon!

GISPA team

(GIS Parent Association)

GIS Community Calendar 22/23

If you would like to subscribe to the the GIS Community Calendar, please click HERE for the link.

This calendar will be continually updated to reflect key dates and events.

STS_Parents as Partners_2022 With RoSPA.pdf

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