Week Ten - November 12th 2020

Secondary School

Our school librarian has done a great job of managing our library services recently and this now means that students are back in the swing of borrowing books from our school library. The librarian (Ms Bethany) has been visiting classes and explaining the process for checking out and returning books. Reading is such a key factor in student success and, without exception, the most successful students that I have worked with have always been keen readers. It may be worth considering, with your child, how much time they spend reading each week. It doesn't have to be a book! Students can read magazines, newspapers, journals and blogs (although screen time is obviously something to consider. It is also a great way of staying connected with your mother tongue or heritage language and having your child read in the language of your home country is always something to encourage.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has written to me and spoken to me about the news of my departure from GIS (at the end of the school year). I will write a more formal thank you and farewell towards the end of the year (I'm not ready for that yet!). Your well wishes and thank yous have been really touching and is part of why my decision was so hard. This school (and most importantly, the students that I have served) will always be in my heart. Nothing within the walls of GIS has driven my decision to move on; quite the contrary.

Finally, thank you to those families that have completed the parent survey that went out earlier this week. We have received some wonderfully positive feedback that helps us to solidify our best practice along with constructive feedback to help us to improve. Please, look back in your inbox if you have not completed this survey as we really would like to ensure that we have the voice of our whole community if possible.

The value of being an avid reader!

My name is Laiba Abbasi and this is my second year in GIS. Like many of you, most of my days consist of going to school and studying, which gets tiring. So to take a break, I tend to spend some time reading. Every book is its own world and when you read them you get transported there. Many people may find books very boring; but, in my opinion they just haven’t found a book that interests them and captivates them.

I started reading at a really young age with books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Nancy Drew. Reading helped take my mind off of the stress from school and assignments. By the time I left my old school, I think I’d read most of the books available in the school library.

I try my best to read a few minutes before going to bed. It's proven that you should stop using electronic devices before you go to sleep so I use reading as a substitute. I think my favorite book as of now is The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

When I came to visit GIS, one of the things that attracted me to the school was the wide variety of books of different languages available in the library. I was able to find many classics as well as other well known books within our school library which allowed me to continue to practice my hobby. I no longer have to hoard books in my house and can instead borrow as many different books as I want, which also helps me reduce paper usage. Meanwhile, our school library has a good selection of books (and a great selection of e-books as well) a lot of students don’t take advantage of that and I think that it’s because they feel overwhelmed, might not have much knowledge about books or their preferred reading style and they may feel like reading will be an additional burden.

I’ve also noticed that many libraries in Dubai lack variety; which is why, both of these problems inspired my Personal Project. If reading is something that interests you, or it’s something that you’d like to explore... follow @book_haven2 on Instagram and TikTok to find book reviews and recommendations of books that helped me fall in love with reading.

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

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

Flying, painting and preparing Extended Essay

Our DP 2 students spent a day of timetable this week to dedicate some time to their Extended Essays. The Extended Esssay is a four thousand word, academic paper based on a research question (developed by the student) from a subject that they are studying within the Diploma. It was such a pleasure to see the quality of research questions, the dedication of the students and the improved capacity to develop such a demanding essay (amongst everything else that a DP student has to manage).

It was great to visit our Grade 10 Aviation elective this week and see students starting to work on the simulators. Students in this elective are working with Mr Vikas and will develop their understanding of the principles of flight, drone construction and basic piloting (amongst other aspects). They seemed to be having a blast when we visited them in the Centre of Excellence classroom.

Ms Laurie was delighted to share the work of Ali and Amber this week. They had been working hard on producing a piece of art work independently and the outcome was brilliant. Ali chose a family portrait and Amber took inspiration from Disney's Frozen.

It was very impressive to see our DP2 Spanish B students presenting on environmental issues in the target language. The demands of Language B in the Diploma Programme are extremely high and it's great to see that our students are making such great progress.

DP2 students working on their extended essays

Aviation elective students take flight on the simulators

Ali and Amber proudly showing their independent art work

DP2 students presenting on environmental issues in Spanish B

#WeRTalented - FINAL CHANCE TO ENTER

The first round of performances can be viewed in the video below!

There's still time to get your entries in for round two of #WeRTalented!

This initiative is all about showcasing the various talents of GIS students. Are you a gymnast, musician, songwriter, freestyle footballer or basketball player, skateboarder, skier, magician, etc.?

If so, please record your talents and submit them to Ms. Anastassia or Mr. Barry, who will create and share a compilation of talents to showcase to the community.

If you have a talent, please share and celebrate it! The deadline for submissions is Saturday 14th November.

The Dubai Student Wellbeing Census

Dear Parents,

The wellbeing of your children is important and KHDA is working with schools to measure their wellbeing so that schools can take action to help them learn about their own wellbeing and improve it. When children add their voice to the Dubai Student Wellbeing Census, they become part of an initiative that will help them to succeed at school and in life.

Students in grades 6-12 will respond to a variety of wellbeing questions including happiness, relationships with friends and teachers and physical health.

In previous years, students participated in the Census online while at school. This year, many students will be taking the Census at home. Our remote access learners will undertake the survey at the same time as their in-school classmates, while the teacher provides guidance via Phoenix Classroom and Zoom.

The survey will take approximately 30-minutes and is scheduled as follows:

Grades 6-10 Sunday 15th November 9:00-9:40 (during Advisory)
Grade 12 Wednesday 18th 2:30-3:15
Grade 11 Thursday 19th 9:45-10:25

For further information about the census, please refer to:

The ‘Parent Letter’ (provided in Arabic and English), which was emailed to you earlier this week.
This Informative Video

Digital design isn't always on a screen

Digital design can still include pen and paper processes and our tweet of the week demonstrated this beautifully. I'm sure you will agree that the quality of work is incredible. The Arabic App design looks very eye catching!

CAT4 Assessment

November 22 - 25th

Dear Parents,

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.

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 who have not undertaken the CAT4 screening for two years or more.

GIS Secondary School Parent WhatsApp Groups

WhatsApp groups are being created by our 'Secondary School Parent Representatives', as a means of enhancing access to information and updates at GIS. All GIS parents are invited to join the groups that are pertinent to your family.

Grade 6 Representative

Nesha