Understanding My Brain

Our PYP counsellors have been nurturing student wellbeing by helping learners understand how their brains work as they grow and develop emotionally and socially (see presentation below). In a recent assembly for Grades 2 and 3, students explored the “Brain Team”—the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the hippocampus—through engaging visuals and interactive discussion. These brain parts were introduced as helpful characters: the Wise Leader (prefrontal cortex), the Security Guard (amygdala), and the Memory Saver (hippocampus). Students learned how each part contributes to their emotions, decision-making, and responses to stress, laying a strong foundation for self-awareness and emotional regulation.

The counsellors emphasized practical strategies for wellbeing, such as deep breathing, naming emotions, and pausing to respond rather than react. By teaching that “you are the boss of the helpers in your brain,” the session empowered students to take ownership of their feelings and behaviour. Understanding what happens in their brain during moments of stress or excitement helps children make thoughtful choices and manage challenges in healthy ways. This ongoing focus on brain-based learning supports our commitment to developing balanced, reflective learners in the PYP, and builds a strong base for lifelong wellbeing.

Safeguarding Focus: TRANSPORTATION

As part of our ongoing commitment to student wellbeing, our GIS PYP continues to spotlight monthly safeguarding themes that support a safe and caring environment. This month, our focus is on transport safety, an essential part of daily life for many of our students. Understanding how to travel safely to and from school builds not only awareness but also independence and confidence in our young learners.

Today, we welcomed the team from STS (School Transport Services) for a special safety training designed especially for our early-years students. The session included information on how to board the bus safely, buckle up, and follow important rules that keep everyone secure during their journey. 

Adding a touch of excitement, students also enjoyed a cheerful visit from the STS mascots, who helped reinforce key messages. It was a meaningful experience that made transport safety fun, friendly, and easy to understand for even our youngest learners. 

Looking ahead, our wellbeing and safeguarding initiatives will continue as we support our students in being well, ensuring students are supported in their daily lives.

Upstanders

At GIS, social and emotional learning (SEL) is deeply embedded in our Primary Years Programme (PYP), supporting the development of the whole child—socially, emotionally and academically. This month’s learner focus on being an upstander aligns closely with key PYP attributes such as being principled, caring, and courageous. An upstander is someone who actively supports others, speaks up against injustice, and chooses to do what is right, even when it’s difficult. By exploring this concept, students are encouraged to reflect on their personal responsibility within their communities and how their actions contribute to a more just and inclusive world.

Since our return from the break, GIS students engaged in assemblies that used stories, role-play, and collaborative discussions to explore what it means to be an upstander in various contexts—from the playground to the wider world. These learning experiences were designed to help students make connections to the PYP transdisciplinary theme Who We Are. In addition, a parent presentation helped extend this learning beyond the classroom, offering insights and strategies for fostering upstander behavior at home through our weekly ConnectEd session. Together, we are nurturing internationally minded learners who act with integrity, empathy, and a strong sense of social responsibility.

Wellbeing Enhancements

We are committed to fostering a safe, supportive, and healthy learning and playing environments for all our students. As part of our ongoing wellness initiatives, we have introduced several key enhancements to ensure the wellbeing of our students. These have come as a result of surveys completed by our students in grades 3-5. The feedback was enlightening and helped our pastoral team to develop and enhance various aspects of our social and emotional learning curriculum as well as overall wellbeing. Here are some of the recent changes we are delighted to share:

• Increased Supervision – Additional staff members are present during recess and transition periods to enhance student safety and engagement.

• Strategic Duty-Staff Deployment – Duty staff have been reassigned to areas where additional support is needed, ensuring effective supervision and assistance.

• Assemblies on Low-Contact Games – Students are learning about fun, inclusive, and safe play options to encourage active engagement while minimizing unnecessary physical contact.

• Targeted Student Support – Personalized assistance, based on Upstrive survey results, will be provided to students who may need extra emotional, social, or behavioral support.

• Mindfulness and Well-being Activities – Activities promoting safety, kindness, and respect are being integrated into daily school activities through our homeroom class meetings.

• Bus Nanny Training – Our bus nannies have will soon undergo additional training to ensure student safety, reinforce positive behavior, and provide a caring environment during transport.

• Bus Essential Agreements Presentations – After the spring break, students will attend presentations on bus safety and behavior expectations, reinforcing the importance of respectful and responsible conduct while traveling.

These enhancements aim to create a positive and nurturing school environment where every child feels supported and valued. Thank you for your partnership in prioritizing student wellness!

Tracking Wellbeing

We’re excited to share that the PYP has launched two surveys to help us better understand and support student wellbeing in grades 2-5! As results come through in the next few days and as part of our ongoing commitment to creating a happy and healthy learning environment, we’ll be gathering insights on two important topics: conflict and sleep. The first survey will explore how students navigate disagreements and friendships, helping us ensure they feel safe and supported at school. The second will take a closer look at sleep habits—because we all know that well-rested kids are happier, more focused learners!

These surveys are designed to be simple, engaging, and age-appropriate, giving our students a voice in shaping their school experience. Your child’s participation will help us identify ways to strengthen our school community and promote positive habits both in and out of the classroom. Thank you for your support as we work together to make school a place where every child can thrive—awake, refreshed, and ready to learn.

Enriching Our Community

Our primary school community is making a difference by organizing our yearly Ramada food drive for our support staff.  Students, teachers, and families will soon be coming together to collect non-perishable food items in the coming weeks. To get things started, Dr Vasavi Gopinath, doctor and owner of Healthy Kitchen Co., has donated high quality tea.  This tea is both healthy and enriching for our support staff who will celrate Iftars. Thanks Dr. Vasavi. We are please that businesses around Dubai will take part! If your business would like to partner up for this food drive, please contact Javier Lucero at j.lucero_gis@gemedu.com .

Through this effort, we are not only helping to provide meals but also teaching our students the importance of kindness, generosity, and community spirit. This initiative shows how even small acts of giving can have a big impact on the lives of others. More information to come on this wonderful initiative that looks out for the wellbeing of those who serve. Click here to see what our Student Council is preparing for Ramadan

Ambition Meets Media

GIS is well known for our innovative approaches to learning. This is evident in our designation as the best STEAM school in the country. With that in mind, PYP teachers and students are working on a podcast to  improve wellbeing. Combining the idea of read-alouds and calming podcasts, our team is taking on the task of creating high quality audio and video projects that can engage, sooth and even help little one's fall asleep. While in the initial stages, the project is growing quickly with an expanding genre of book readalouds. We eagerly anticipate the official launch of the staff and student-created initiative!

100 Days of Onboarding 

A thoughtful onboarding process helps students feel welcomed, valued, and supported as they transition into a new school or community. It provides them with the information, resources, and connections they need to navigate their new surroundings courageously. By fostering a sense of belonging and understanding, onboarding reduces anxiety, builds relationships, and empowers students to engage fully in their learning and social interactions. Ultimately, a strong start helps pave the way for growth, success, and wellbeing.

With that in mind, our PYP Wellbeing Ambassadors have spent the week visiting each individual student that joined the school this term, bringing a lovely card, words of encouragement and connection to our student leaders for ongoing support. As the year progresses, our Wellbeing Ambassadors have more check-ins and little tokens of appreciation coming to our new joiners. 

We welcome them and look forward to ensuring that the first 100 days are filled with learning and joy!

During Winterfest on Friday, students, staff and parents were able to display their talents for the GIS crowd on the main stage in the amphitheatre. Both heartfelt and fun, the shows brought to light the best our community has to offer. 

Further along the outdoor areas, students from across the school were able to run their own holiday stalls which included goods, food and games. Folks from across the entire school socialized and created memories, and even new friends, as they took in the winter spirit. 

We are fortunate to have such a vibrant and lively community. We look forward to putting together more events that brings our community closer together. 

Student Leaders Taking Action

Our student leaders have been busy at work preparing for a vast array of initiatives. Whether it's a healthy eating campaign, the 30x30 fitness challenge, World Kindness Day or our winter spirit week, much is going on and we are proud to see our student leaders taking action and hard at work in bringing exciting learning and community-building to GIS.

The Eco Warriors are currently gardening! They are finding ways to grow plants in the school garden that product fruits or vegetables. Students are researching ways to make the most of our environment as well as the school property. They are working with our stellar facilities crew on ways to catch opportunities to collaborate and become more sustainable. 

Our Wellbeing Ambassadors are elbows deep into our Kindness Day campaign. They are creating "kindness boxes" that will be shared with the PYP along with and activity that will help promote kindness and wellbeing. They have also begun work on our PYP healthy-eating campaign that will see students across the school trying to develop strategies for better eating habits. 

Dubai Fitness 30x30 Launch

The launch of the Dubai Fitness Challenge 30x30 was an incredible success! This city-wide initiative was supported by our GIS community and, in PYP, began with HIIT (high intensity interval training)  on the Pitch. House Captains and P.E. teachers led students from our upper primary in a large-scale workout on the pitch. The action continued through the week with a culminating workout with the DFC maskots in the New Indoor Sports Hall. 

We were and are elated at the enthusiasm that the GIS community brings to so many events, especially our physical fitness events. We enjoy seeing students working towards a healthy lifestyle with practical and engaging activities that students and families can take home. A HUGE "thank you" to our P.E., Events and Facilities departments for putting together an incredible line-up of events. 

GIS Mental Wellness Week in Action

Wellness Week was a smashing success! The week contained something for everyone. Students across all of the PYP homerooms entered into a variety of themes that explored mental wellness. From self affirmation, to the "Power of Yet", students found great depth in exploring self in their class meetings. 

We are also proud to announce the official launch of Upstrive in the PYP, a social and emotional learning platform that we are currently using to monitor students' wellbeing. Each day, students in grades 3-5 are "checking in" using a list of emotion emojis. Using this data, we will be able to create bespoke learning for students to better develop social and emotional skills. 

Parents also got into the action! Through our parent ConnectED sessions, parents were able to self-reflect on their own parenting skills as they explored resilience and the impact of technology on child development. 

We are looking forward to futher expanding out social and emotional learning opportunities for all stakeholders. Please reach out to any of our staff with more ideas!

Class meetings offer students and whole classes the opportunity to develop a variety of social, communication and self-management skills through the Positive Discipline framework. We are very fortunate that time has been allocated in all PYP homerooms each day for students and teachers to connect through class meetings. Each meeting is like a fingerprint, very different in the learning and connection it contains due to its adaptive nature. 

In the photo above, students from Mrs. Maya's 4F homeroom are using scenarios to develop skills. This example has students discussing school procedures and how to participate in them safely and kindly. In the early part of the school year, class meeting are often focused on routines and procedures with deeper dives into problem solving once the basics are covered. Through class meetings, classes can use the power of "us" to work their way through most any problem. 

30th August 2024