Embedded Files
Week Twenty Four - March 15th, 2024
Kim Conlin
Head of Primary
Dear GIS Primary Families,
Thank-you to everyone for their cooperation for adjusted hours during the holy month of Ramadan. We will continue with our Ramadan school hours next week, running from Monday to Thursday, 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM, and on Friday from 8:30 AM to 11:40 AM.
I am excited to attend our Community Iftar scheduled for Tuesday, March 19th. This event is a wonderful opportunity for our school community to come together, share a meal, and celebrate the spirit of Ramadan.
We also have two important parent talks lined up for the coming week. On Tuesday, there will be a parent session focusing on resilience and bravery. This session will be presented by a guest speaker and psychologist, offering valuable insights and strategies for supporting our children. On Wednesday, our SEN team is hosting a parent session about neurodiversity. This session aims to provide information and support for families with neurodiverse children, fostering a deeper understanding and inclusivity within our community.
Finally, Friday marks the end of term 2 and the beginning of spring break and the Eid holiday. We wish all our families a blessed Ramadan and a joyful spring holiday.
Newsletter at a Glance
Newsletter at a Glance
In this edition you will find:
Announcements / Reminders / Upcoming dates
Peek Into Learning
Student Life Updates
Student Spotlight
PYP curriculum resources
Absence Procedure
Whole School Calendar
Upcoming Dates
Upcoming Dates
March 19th - last day of Food Drive collection
March 19th - GIS Community Iftar!
March 19th - Parent Session by Reverse Psychology
March 20th - Neurodiversity Awareness Parent sessiom
March 25 - April 12 - Spring Break (no school)
April 15 - First day back to school after Spring Break Term 3 begins
April 16th: KG2 - Grade 2 ECA sign up
April 17th: Grades 3-5 ECA sign up
April 18th: Grades 6-12 ECA sign up
April 22nd - First day of ECA
Announcements and Reminders:
Announcements and Reminders:
Extended to Tuesday 19th !
Ramadan Initiatives
Ramadan Initiatives
As Ramadan emphasizes the spirit of kindness and compassion, this year, our community at GIS has united to organize a whole-school food drive initiative, with the invaluable assistance of our students. The aim of this food drive is to extend a helping hand to our school support staff, acknowledging and honoring their unwavering dedication and hard work.
Each year level, from PreK to DP, has been assigned a specific food item to contribute. These items will be combined at the end of the drive to create boxes, which will then be distributed among our support staff.
As of this week, the collection for the food drive is in full swing, and it will continue until Tuesday, March 19th and will be disributed on Friday, March 22nd. The items most to be considered are rice and flour. We extend my heartfelt appreciation to all those who have contributed thus far.
Student Life
Student Life
This column featuring insights from our students in the Gems International School (GIS). Authored by the student leaders themselves, this column will spotlight their leadership initiatives aimed at fostering global citizenship, international mindedness, and intercultural competencies within our school community. These self-initiated activities exemplify the spirit of student agency, showcasing how our students actively engage in shaping a diverse and inclusive environment. Stay tuned to learn more about the impactful contributions our students are making to our shared journey towards global understanding and cooperation.
Breaktime Changes
Greetings to all parents,
Has your child told you about the new rules in the canteen and playground? If not, we will inform you about the new changes that have been placed in the canteen and playground.
Why have these rules changed?
Student leadership observed many problems and points that they thought could get better. They did all this for the safety of GIS and their fellow students using the canteen. We knew that the canteen could turn from ok to good so, student leadership worked very hard coming up with rules that could change the canteen in a positive way.
What did we do?
With the help of the amazing staff here at GIS we put up signs and we also put the students in their house colors. Student leadership and the teachers are very grateful that the students respected our idea and gave us no problems with the new rules that we arranged. So a big thank you to our students at GIS for supporting the new rules. We noticed the students' behavior and then we started to give house points to every principled pirate we saw.
How did we do it?
Student and adult leadership combined their power to make this possible. Student leadership met up with mr. Javier and mr. Barry and discussed problems and how we can take action. The next step was for mr. Javier and mr. Barry to meet up with ms. Aamna, they all discussed it and students later met up with mr. Simon where the rules were final and complete. The rules were presented to students in hope to encourage them to follow those rules.
What are the next steps?
We will take a survey from students and teachers about how it changed. Additionally we will look at the behavior of kids now then we've added these rules. If we will see progress in behavior (we already see) we might change the rules as they were before.
Impact of our initiative: an impact that we have made is that the noise level in the canteen has gone down 50%. That's a big change. Another change we have made is that the behavior in the canteen has been much better and people have been acting much nicer to each other. And it has overall been a much more peaceful environment for students and teachers
by Student Council and House Captains
Peek into Learning: Thinking Skills
Peek into Learning: Thinking Skills
Thinking skills are an important part of our PYP curriculum because they help kids become curious, knowledgeable, and caring adults. Thinking skills are broken down into three subgroups: critical thinking, creative thinking, and information transfer (using what you know in different situations).
Early Years to Grade 1: In these grades, thinking skills are all about being curious and exploring. Students learn how to think critically by learning to observe, ask questions, and talk about their thoughts. They learn about the world by noticing small details and patterns, and while they play, they try out new ways to solve easy tasks. KG1 students, for example, explore living things, learning how they grow and change, engaging with the natural world directly through observation and hands-on activities. KG2 students learn about motion and forces by playing with how things move. This is their first experience using and questioning scientific ideas.
Grades 2 and 3: As students move into Grades 2 and 3, their thinking skills become more refined. They learn how to break down ideas, find problems, and think about different ways to solve them, which improves their ability to think critically and analyze. As they come up with new ideas and make improvements to old ones, their creative thinking takes on a whole new level. In Grade 2, students explore simple machines, applying their understanding of scientific principles to understand how these machines make our lives easier, demonstrating their growing ability to link theory with real-world application.
Grades 4 and 5: By this point, students should be able to identify problems and come up with multiple solutions. They use sophisticated critical thinking skills to look at material, evaluate evidence, and make well-thought-out arguments. They are more creative when they come up with new ideas and look at things from different points of view. In Grade 4, the focus on energy challenges students to think about conservation, transformation, and the practical use of energy, bridging the gap between scientific concepts and real-world applications. Grade 5 students explore the human brain and artificial intelligence, engaging in complex comparisons and critical discussions about the future of technology and human thought.
Across all grades, thinking skills evolve from simple observation and questioning to complex analysis and creative problem-solving. This progression not only deepens students' understanding of academic content but also prepares them for the challenges of the real world.
SAVE THE DATES for our future Connect Eds
The purpose of the Connect Eds is to support our parent community with information related to social, emotional, and academics for their children.
We have a plethora of knowledge and expertise in our Primary School Team, and they will provide practical information and strategies.
The parent community is an integral part of GIS, and we feel it is essential to make them part of our learning community.
We hope to see many of you at the Connect Eds, and closer to the time, we will send you more information on the ConnectEds in our Newsletter for times, locations and the facilitators.
Keep up to date with what is happening in your child's class!
Keep up to date with what is happening in your child's class!
Parents have all received a notification to sign up for the Toddle platform. This is an exciting enhancement to our parent communication, and this year you will receive weekly updates through the Toddle platform.
This IB affiliated platform will offer opportunities for parents to remain up to date with their child's academic progress.
The below class pages will host resources for parents and will no longer have weekly messages. All information will be sent through Toddle, so please inform your class teacher if you have any trouble registering.
Class information and schedules
Class information and schedules
Information for new/starting families
Information for new/starting families
Drop off and Pick up
Drop off and Pick up
(please note that times differ during the holy month of Ramadan)
Drop Off (7:50-8:10): Parents PK-G1 drop in classroom
Drop Off: (7:50-8:10) Grade 2-5 through gate 8 or gate 4
Late: any student arriving after the national anthem must get a late slip at front reception/gate 4.
----------------------------------------------------
Pick up (3:05 or 11:30 on Friday): PK-G1 pick up from classroom
Pick up (3:15 or 11:40 on Friday) Pick up through gate 8 or 4
*due to crowding at gate 4, we have allocated a safe space near the pirate ship for PYP students to wait for parents. During adverse weather or lengthy waits, students will be moved to the canteen. Follow up with with a parent or guardian will take place after 30 min. We appreciate parents effort to collect children in time.
My child will be absent
My child will be absent
Any absence (whether it is planned or unplanned ) must be communicated via email to the homeroom teacher and gis_primaryleaverequest@gemsedu.com by 8:00 AM. STS/bus users must also copy the STS manger on the email. vijesh.kumar@sts-group.com
A planned or extended absence beyond 2 days requires the completion of an absence request form.
Absence for more than 3 days requires prior approval if planned or a doctors clearance for illness related leave (in some cases a medical certificate is requested )
My child will leave during the school day (exceptional/unavoidable cases only)
My child will leave during the school day (exceptional/unavoidable cases only)
Parents are urged to schedule medical, dental and other appointments after school hours or during vacations.
A request must be submitted before a child can be released once in school for health and safety and reasons.
Filling in the form 24hrs in advance is expected where possible.
At the time of collection, please come to the Primary Reception at Gate 4.
Key Contacts
Key Contacts
GIS Primary Behavior Policy 2.pdfPage updated
Report abuse