Week Eleven - November 19th 2020

Secondary School

It's been another busy week in school this week with so much going on. I could not write the newsletter this week without recognizing the wonderful Under 18 girls football squad. This is the first time we have managed to get enough of our older girls together to take part and the uptake has been incredible. More than 20 girls are establishing themselves as regular participants in the Tuesday morning sessions with our external provider and the Wednesday after school sessions with me. Girls sport is a focus for our Head of Sports Committee this year and with the U18 football and the U16 basketball, our girls are really stepping up to the plate!

You will see in this edition of the newsletter, that students across the school are engaging in a plethora of opportunities and activities both in and out of school. Many of the activities and projects that students lead on in our school need our community to engage to increase the impact or value of them. Please take some time to read the stories, check out the posters and connect with the social media accounts or web pages to see what they have and will be working on.

You can also see that some students will be undertaking assessments from GL in the coming days and weeks. You can find more information about this is the section later further down this page. The data that is gathered from these assessments forms only a small part of our complete picture of students so students should not worry about these tests but simply apply themselves in the same positive way that they do with every other element of school.

My name is Zoya Kherani and I am the Head of Academics at GIS. This October, I had the privilege to participate in an international competition called Buddies without Borders (BWB). BWB Forums are month-long, web-based collaboration and competition projects attended by students around the world.

Students are grouped internationally into teams, and together throughout the month they will debate and co-author recommendation papers.

The most appealing part of this competition was its structure. You had the liberty to voice your opinion in an unrestricted manner. Being part of this competition was more than winning and achieving something, I learnt that there is a lot of power in open discussion. Just being able to sit and discuss topics freely, brings people together and allows many people to have the confidence to speak up.

I found it exhilarating discussing with fellow participants on the forum and trying to look for solutions to global problems.

At the end of the competition, I was chosen as one of the TOP 5 finalists for the Best Representative Award. It was a proud moment for me to have been nominated and represent my school.

These competitions are not only made for the sole purpose of achieving greatness and excellence, they are created for students to enjoy and develop their myriad of skills students didn't know they had. For any of you looking to collaborate with international fellow students, I’d highly recommend participating to broaden your horizons and learn how a student's voice can be a catalyst for change.

Voices around the world project

Young people in schools around the world are fighting back against Covid-19 with music.

Voices around the world is an international virtual choir, where students come together to make an international music video – this consists of thousands of voice recordings, videos and pictures that students can send off to be used.

When a student signs up, they will have access to the choir parts so that they can learn and send their vocal recordings. “Voices around the world” will do the magic of mixing their audio and video recordings together into a final full music video of all the students who choose to join in.

All recordings need to be submitted before the end of November.

For more information and to see last year’s video please visit: https://consiliumeducation.com/itm/2020/10/28/music-therapy/

If a student is interested in taking part, they must have parent/guardian permission. This can be done by completing this Google Form please - https://forms.gle/mrk6LHHv8pmoSGwA6

Choir Auditions

#WeRTalented Showcase

Dubai 30 for 30 and GIS MyHealth - Get involved!!

Taking flight & sowing seeds

We were made to feel very inadequate by our Grade 9 students this week as we visited their Math class. Their knowledge was fantastic but their resilience in working through the problems was the most impressive aspect of the lesson.

In Grade 10 electives, we returned to the Aviation and Aeronautics elective to check out the simulator work of our students. The realism of the simulators was incredible to see and our students certainly seem to be getting to grips with the processes and skills required as young pilots

It's great to see the work of our ACe students within their ASDAN programme. This week, they continued their work on 'key skills' and growing plants was the focus for the team. Can't wait to see the green shoots of success!

Grade 9 students working on Quadratic equations in Math

Grade 10 Aviation and Aeronautics students working on the simulators

Students from our Achievement Centre (ACe) showing their green fingers during their ASDAN lessons

GL assessments at GIS

CAT4 Assessment

November 22 - 25th

To gain a better understanding of the learning needs of our students, we are going to be administering a series of short cognitive ability assessments with students in grades 6-11. The results from the assessment will be used to improve the support we provide to students in their learning, and to determine whether further intervention is needed.

The Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) assesses a student’s ability to think across four different reasoning batteries:

Verbal reasoning – thinking with words
Quantitative reasoning – thinking with numbers
Nonverbal reasoning – thinking with shapes
Spatial reasoning – thinking with shapes and space

Further explanation of these batteries is provided in this video.

We would like to stress that this is an assessment of ability and not attainment, so no pre-learning or preparation is necessary. Students should not feel worried about taking CAT4, as prior knowledge is not required to complete it. The results will be used together with our internal assessment practices, to inform teachers about the strengths and development areas of each student.

Remote access learners will take the assessment at the same time as their in-school peers. Zoom conference links will be shared with all remote learners who are required to take the test.

CAT4 data is valid for three years. For this reason, students undertaking the assessment will include:

All grade 6 students
Newly/recently enrolled students at GIS, who have not yet undertaken CAT4 screening.
Returning GIS students whose test results have expired.

Test Schedule

Students can view the schedule by clicking on this LINK.

*Students must be logged into their @gemsisak gmail account.

PASS Survey

DP Thursday 26th November

MYP Sunday 29th November

Secondary school students will complete a short survey generated by ‘GL Assessment’, based on their feelings and attitudes towards self and school.

‘Pupil Attitudes to Self and School’ (PASS) is an attitudinal survey that helps schools to gain insights into the mindset and attitudes of pupils. The online survey comprises a series of short psychometric statements linked to key educational goals. The data derived from the survey can be used to tackle a variety of issues among individuals and/or groups of students. Specifically, PASS data supports schools to:

Monitor student well-being
Understand how students’ attitudes affect their learning
Inform teaching strategies and intervention programs to raise levels of student well-being and attainment.
Tackle challenging behaviour, by identifying early those most at risk of developing behavioral problems in the future.
Address attendance concerns.
identify and support emotionally vulnerable young people and those with possible mental health issues.

The survey will take approximately 30-minutes. Further information about PASS and the nine attitudinal measures that it focuses on will be shared in due course.

Learning Science Through Song

Who says DP bio is boring and dry. Ms Kolarov bringing the fun with a song about anatomy to help students remember skeletal anatomy. Check out Ms Kolarov's twitter account to see the video.

GIS Secondary School Parent WhatsApp Groups

Thank you to the parents listed below, who have volunteered to administrate our grade level WhatsApp groups. All GIS parents are invited to join the groups that are pertinent to your family. To do so, click on the links provided. We hope that these groups facilitate enhanced communication and understanding of community developments.

Grade 6 Representative

Nesha