Week Nine - October 28th 2021

Secondary School

It was wonderful to welcome everyone back to school at the start of this week, looking refreshed after the mid term break.

Not everyone managed to rest and relax however! We had a number of students participate in elite level sporting events over the break. Their commitment and dedication is commendable and we will shortly include a write up on these students to celebrate their success. Should you have news worth sharing, please do reach out so that we can celebrate as a community.

One young student who does deserve a mention this week however, is Malavika Ram. Malavika, a member of our Grade 9 cohort, participated in the World Scholar's Cup on Oct 15 & 16. Her performance and results are outstanding to say the least. She received a trophy for highest scoring scholar, gold and silver medals and was also chosen to participate in the Debate Showcase (top debaters from the tournament). We are so proud of Malavika's efforts and look forward to hearing more about her success in the future!

Two teams of Grade 6 & 7 students who participated in the Zumi Robotic Competition, also deserve a mention this week. Aadit Warty, Moonkang Cho, Jeet Modha, Diyanah Samji, Alborz Iranpour, Declan Kaplan, Xavier Simon and Ashmira Pathak have been giving up their lunch times for many weeks now in preparation for this artificial intelligence competition. Thanks must go to Mr Sujay who has been working so hard with them since the year started, and Mr Vikas who attended the competition with the students. While they did not make it onto the podium this year, they really enjoyed the experience and are already planning their return next year.

Students weren't the only ones busy last week. Our very own Mr Micheal Norton, Teaching, Learning & Assessment Coordinator, presented at the IB Global Conference. Micheal's presentation, Unleashing the Power of Student Voice: Integrating Student Voice into School Development Processes, attracted a lot of interest from educational leaders around the world. Well done Michael! We are so proud that you are a GIS staff member, we are lucky to have you!

This week was Spirit Week in the Secondary School and we had some very creative costumes seen around campus. Some stand out efforts were the Dinosaur, the Judge and the of course, the Beach Boys Squad! Well done everyone for building school spirit.

Finally, we had the StuELT (Student Executive Council) handover today. The ceremony took place in the MPH with the Grade 11's being present, while other grades watched via live stream. Mr Simon, Ms Kim and I had the absolute pleasure to chat to each Executive member earlier this week. Hearing about their past accomplishments and their plans to build on the solid StuELT foundations filled us with pride!

Therefore, I am honoured to announce the incoming StuELT (Student Executive Council). Well done to:

PRESIDENT - NOURHAN IBRAHIM

VICE PRESIDENT - JANA AL BALLANY

HEAD OF ACADEMICS - OM NAMBIAR

HEAD OF HOUSE - MOHAMMED Al NASRAWI

HEAD OF SERVICE - JHANAVI RAVI

HEAD OF SOCIAL - DIYA MENON

HEAD OF SPORTS - CIGDEM KAVCAR

HEAD OF STUDENT LIFE - JUDE AWWAD

With that, our deepest gratitude is extended to the outgoing StuELT. Taleen, Neila, Sarah, Zoya, Akshita, Eashani, Kiana and Tara who have left a lasting legacy at GIS. While I have only worked with this team briefly, they have impressed me so much with their maturity, attention to detail and confidence. We thank you for your service to our community.

Amanda Murphy

Head of Secondary

StuELT 2020/2021

StuELT 2021/2022

StuELT Handover

With the Executive Positions now decided, our focus shifts to the appointment of Deputy Heads of Committee, who will be announced next week, following final discussions.

Aspiring Committee Members should submit their expressions of interest by November 6th. Expressions of interest will be submitted to the appointed Heads of Committee. There is no selection process for Committee Members - we welcome all students to join their committee of choice and we look forward to your contributions!

Please direct your expressions of interest to:

Academic Committee Om Nambiar omvedant.n@gemsisak.com

Student Life Jude Awwad juod.a@gemsisak.com

Service Committee Jhanavi Ravi jhanavi.r@gemsisak.com

House Committee Mohammed Al Nasrawi mohammed.a9@gemsisak.com

Social Committee Diya Menon diya.m@gemsisak.com

Sports Committee Cigdem Kavcar cigdemazra.k@gemsisak.com

GIS Community Calendar - subscribe by clicking

Oct 31st October Dress-up | Dubai 30x30 begins

Nov 1st Grade 8 Expo 2020 Trip

Nov 3rd UAE Flag Day (dress in UAE flag colours, as instructed below)

Nov 4th Diwali | Progress report issued to parents

Nov 10th FCD Workshops (information for students and parents below)

Nov 11th Grade 10 Expo 2020 Trip

Nov 18th Grade 11 (CP only) Expo 2020 Trip

Nov 21st Grade 9 Expo 2020 Trip (may have additional G10 students - TBC)

Nov 24th Grade 7 Expo 2020 Trip

Nov 25th Dubai 30x30 ends

Nov 28th GIS' UAE National Day Celebration

Nov 29th Grade 11 & 12 (Non-CP) Expo 2020 Trip

Nov 30th Martyr's Day

Dec 9th Festive Quiz | Term 1 ends (12pm finish for students)

On Wednesday 10th November, we will welcome a prevention specialist from Prevention Solutions within the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundationfrom the FCD.

The prevention specialist will present the most up-to-date information available on the physiological and psychological effects of various drugs, and provide a forum for discussing social, cultural, and personal issues that relate to the choices people make.

One thing that makes Prevention Solutions unique is that all of the prevention specialists are in healthy recovery from their own alcohol or other drug addictions. Most prevention specialists began their own drinking and drug use during middle school and high school. They have experienced the pressures, personal issues, and social situations teens face with regard to alcohol and other drug use. They also have first-hand knowledge of the destructive aspects of drug use, and how, in their case, occasional use led to addiction.

Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation believes in involving the whole school community in prevention education, not just students.

FCD Prevention Solutions_Letter to Parents.pdf

STARS OF THE WEEK

Fathalla, Haluk, Jose, Yara, Rehan and Omar

Students, do you have a question that you'd like to ask the prevention specialist?

If so, please complete this Google Form.

*Please understand that, depending on the number and quality of questions received, the prevention specialist may not directly address all questions.

From the Classroom (and beyond)

Women's Health

We would like to thank two Grade 11 DP students for all their hard work organizing Women’s health awareness month; especially their involvement in the event which saw all students wear pink and assisting with sales of pink popcorn and pins. Great work Allison Bell and Sabine El Hallak!

Reading for Pleasure

More and more students are reading for pleasure each week - this is wonderful to see and will serve students well, both academically and in their personal, social and emotional well-being!

Spanish

Grade 6 Spanish students completed posters, containing information about themselves.

I&S - Public Speaking

Grade 7 students worked hard during this unit to develop engaging speeches and to perfect their public speaking techniques. This week they delivered their memorised speeches on an influential youth of their choice in front of their peers and did an amazing job!

Inter School Competition: AI MASTERS CHALLENGE - Zumi Vaccine Delivery

Four Students from Grade 7C (Jeet Modha, Aadit warty, Diyanah Samji and Moonkang Cho), participated in the ‘Artificial Intelligence Masters Challenge’ organised by Atlab at Amity School Dubai. In this competition, students used AI and programming skills to solve the challenges. The theme for the competition was ‘Vaccine Delivery’, the goal was to navigate from the Start position to the Finish position, and it was a fully autonomous challenge. i.e. Zumi can’t be touched or controlled once Zumi starts.

Students Reflections

Moonkang Cho - This competition taught me many things. It was my first time coding, and programming a robot was new to me. My teammates and I faced many challenges and overcame them throughout our journey, but we also had so much fun. One valuable thing I learned was to enjoy whatever I'm doing because, in the end, they're all important memories. I was always a little worried about the competition and that I would fail, but after it ended, I felt relieved. I wanted to try again and show others how much I have improved my skills. Unquestionably, this would be the highlight of my year.

Jeet Modha - We guys did a really good attempt in the competition.For this competition me and my team had about 8 days to work on it only during lunch time. We learned a lot of things such as using python programming for AI related tasks, during the competition. Next time, we will try our Best and Bring a trophy for our school.

Aadit warty - The journey was fun. I made new friends along the way but I couldn't really understand so much. There were positives and negatives along the way, one negative was our robot broke down in the middle of the run because something went wrong in the code. Positively, I learned some advanced programming concepts.

Diyanah Samji - While going through the process of programming the zumi I have learnt many things and although I've also faced many challenges, with the help of my teammates and teacher I was able to overcome them. Not only did this experience teach me something, but it allowed me to be intuitive with my decisions.

DP Mathematics - Application and Interpretation

Students started with an investigation into “Ain Dubai”. The problem was simple to ask but tricky to solve: “In what height are you if you spend 18min on the ferris wheel? Investigate necessary measurements and do the calculations.

It was lovely to see how passionate our students were, not even knowing that this topic would require mathematics on Diploma Level. Different options were discussed, different approaches analysed and we are happy to share that the majority of the class had at least a good attempt at how to solve this tricky problem.

We are now working on sinosoidal waves and its applications and will soon dive into calculus to be fully ready for the upcoming World Exam 2022

Music

Grade 8 students are currently studying “Saharan Sounds,” where we are exploring the various styles of Music from different regions of Africa. This week, students have been focusing on the Music of West Africa, by learning how to perform as an ensemble on the Djembe.

Arabic

Grade 7 (phase 2) students collaborated to create posters about appearance.

Drama

Grade 10 Drama Elective students are currently exploring a unit on “Monologues”. Students have been focusing on the importance of vocal pitch, tone, rate and volume to express the ideas of the character effectively. This week, students performed famous monologues while their peers assessed their work. Ms. Emma was so impressed with the standard of these performances. Well done Grade 10 students!

Science

Students and Science Teachers were jumping for joy this week as Science labs are open and students can develop their scientific skills. We started as we mean to go on by giving students hands-on learning experience. Students in science have been working on The Body systems Unit. We have been looking at the circulatory system and we dissected a lamb's heart. We looked at how the heart works and its structure and this helps the heart perform its role.

Arabic Department Competition

Music Activities

Grade Level WhatsApp Groups

Our Grade Level WhatsApp Groups offer parents another means to remain informed key events and developments in the secondary school. Parents can join the relevant groups by scanning the QR codes below. While we have a temporary admin for the Grade 8 WhatsApp group, we are seeking a permanent replacement. If you would like to volunteer your support, please complete this brief Google Form.

More information about the roles and responsibilities of secondary school parent representatives can be found here.