It was a delight to receive the news this week that GIS has been shortlisted by SchoolsCompared.com Top School Awards for Best IB Curriculum School in the UAE! This is in recognition of the dedication of our staff, students and parents, along with the clarity of our culture and strategy for the future. It was a privilege also to hear that I have been nominated for Best Principal Award, for which I am thankful to staff, parents and students for the teamwork here and to GEMS leadership for their support. 

I had a visit this week from our Primary School Head of Islamic, Ms Rasha, who let me know how well Cady A (Grade 1) performed in an Inter-school Arabic & Islamic Festival, securing a podium position for her recitals. Well done to Cady for such a confident performance.

On the subject of Arabic, we are always looking for opportunities for our students to improve their language skills in real world settings. Ms Wafaa, her department and team of students have introduced a superb new concept, ‘GIS Speaks Arabic’, complete with news items and up-to-date information. Please click below for the first episode:

I mentioned last week that I would update you as soon as possible with regard to the opening of the road at the back of our three GEMS schools. At present, RTA and Emaar are still in negotiation and I am being kept apprised by GEMS operational management. I shall communicate as soon as I hear anything further. What I can tell you is that I have been in discussion with our friends and colleagues at WEK next door, and we have organized a morning arrangement for our Secondary School students. If you are driving a secondary school student into school, you can either drop him/her in the large WEK car park and they can be escorted to walk, or you can turn left at the entry roundabout and drop off (not on the roundabout), before returning the same way you drove in, thereby avoiding the detour around the school. 

Kind regards and have a good weekend.

On Monday our U12 boys basketball boys kicked off the week with a victory against Brighton College. The boys worked on what they needed to after last week’s loss and emerged 18-12 victors after a great performance. Congratulations to Aly I who was awarded MVP for this fixture.

On Tuesday the U12 girls basketball squad welcomed RWA to the MPH for their first home fixture of the year. It was a great team performance by the entire squad. The girls emerged victorious with a 25-22 victory. Congratulations to Lynn A, who was awarded MVP for this fixture. Our U15 badminton squad travelled to Jebel Ali School for the DASSA badminton competition. All students got to play in a number of competitive games and learned a lot from the experience as well as achieving some great results.

Wednesday was a very successful day for our Jaguars. Firstly our U14 boys basketball squad hosted Gems First Point in their second game of the season after an incredible season opener last week. The boys started very strong registering 25 points in the first quarter. Mr. Keith rested most of our Grade 9s in the 3rd and 4th quarter but some of our Grade 7 and 8 students stepped up with the  boys emerging 70-21 winners. Congratulations to Albert K Grade 7 who was awarded MVP for this fixture. Our U19 badminton squad travelled to Jebel Ali School for the DASSA badminton competition. The team finished in 2nd place overall with Aliakbar and Harsh winning the boys doubles competition and Raghavendra and Sanjna winning the mixed doubles competition.

On Thursday the U15 cricket squad played English College in a quest to remain unbeaten for the season. This was the boys toughest test to date as English College had some very strong players. GIS batted first and scored 76 runs over 10 runs. The boys then bowled incredibly well, bowling them all out for 66 meaning the boys finish the group stages top of their group. They will now face a strong DIA Emirates Hills side in the quarter finals.

Results

U12 Boys Basketball: Brighton College 12 – 18 GIS

U12 Girls Basketball: GIS 25 – 22 Raffles World Academy

U14 Boys Basketball: GIS 70 – 21 Gems First Point

U19 Badminton: 2nd Place

U15 Boys Cricket: GIS 76 – 66 English College (All Out)