Our secondary students in Grade 10 deserve huge commendation this week for their Personal Project Exhibition. My thanks to Ms Sandy in particular, our MYP Coordinator, and all the project supervisors. I was privileged to be one of the project supervisors again this year and am aware of just how much effort goes into the PP by the students. It is a wonderfully student-driven aspect of the IB journey and certainly prepares students well for the DP essay and CP reflective project. Inquiry, action and reflection are the key components and the transdisciplinary nature of the project is compelling. Well done all for the presentations!

Another student came to my office this week with an idea to present. This happens often at GIS – ideas from many sources – and I am so pleased that students feel they can present to leadership and be supported to take their ideas further! This week it was Yara A (Grade 10) and I have not seen a better and more engaging presentation in some time. Yara proposed a Student Inclusion Committee and suggested the embedding, through various means, of a better understanding of and environment for neurodivergent students. Well done Yara and thank you – I look forward to seeing the Committee develop and work with students, staff and parents to ensure the most inclusive and successful outcomes for all.

There are plenty of people in GIS whose work might go unnoticed (unless something goes wrong!). This week I would like to commend our Dr Sanam, and nurse Neethu Scaria, Neethu Joshy and Jessa Lyn Leong for their care and attention to detail, as evidenced by the below certificate from the GEMS group. 

Finally, it has been another superb Literary Week for the Primary School and we thank Ms Louise for her encouragement and organisation. Children and adults have discussed books throughout the week, and have been caught reading in a variety of unusual places!

On Tuesday our U19 girls volleyball travelled to Universal American school (UAS) for a friendly. This was always going to be a big test for our girls as UAS currently compete in Division 1. Although our girls lost, they gave a great account of themselves and lost each set by only 2 points. They will have learnt a lot from this friendly to take into their last competitive game of the season next week against Raffles World Academy.

Also on Tuesday we had 3 of our students represent the school in the last round of the secondary DASSA Golf Championships. All of the boys represented the school excellently well, but a special congratulations to Grade 6 student Riccardo B, who qualified for the finals on March 13th at Arabian Ranches.

On Wednesday we had a busy day of fixtures, Firstly our U11 girls travelled to Gems Founders where they played 2 games against Founders and our neighbors WEK. It was excellent that we had enough girls to field 2 completely different teams for each fixture. Our G5s held a 0-0 against Gems Founders and our G6 girls came up just short narrowly losing 1-0 to WEK. Our U19 girls netball squad made the short trip to WEK for their last netball fixture of the season. WEK who have an established netball program for the last number of years proved too strong for our girls who gave a great account of themselves. Our U14 girls volleyball squad hosted DBS Jumeirah Park in the Indoor Sports Hall. The girls played brilliantly well and battled out a 2-1 victory in what was a great performance.

On Thursday both our boys and girls U16 volleyball squads were in action. The U16 boys hosted Southview in the Indoor Sports Hall. The U16 girls travelled to DIA Al Barsha for their fixture. Our U16 boys put on a strong performance and came out on top with a 2-0 victory. The girls in a similar fashion put on a great performance and were victorious with a 3-0 victory. 

On Friday our swim squad took part in an International Swim competition at Hamdan Swim Complex. You will find more information on how our kids did in next week’s newsletter.

Congratulations to this week’s Jaguars of the Week. Go Jaguars!