Week Fourteen - November 30th 2021

Secondary School

Our National Day celebrations were a fantastic celebration of bringing our community together this week. Well done to all students and staff involved in showcasing their wonderful talents. While many of our students participated openly in the events which took place on the pitch, many more worked behind the scenes to celebrate this wonderful country.

Mr Sujay’s Design class created some delightful UAE images that were then transferred to T-shirts and mugs during class. Samples of the student work can be seen below. I think you will agree that there are some very creative pieces and artists within the group. Congratulations to all involved.

Likewise, Ayse in Grade 12 produced a stunning image which has been on display in the Secondary reception this week. The image captures the essence of the region beautifully. A fellow senior student, Cameron McLeod, also contributed to a piece being published shortly in the Khaleej Times. He was asked to record his vision for the UAE for the next 50 years. Look out for his comment in coming days.

Also, this week we had many of our Grade 6 to 12 students participate in the World Scholar’s Cup. Thanks must go to Mr Norton who has mentored these teams over the passed term. Not only did he sacrifice his whole weekend, he has also kindly written a substantial write up which can be read below. However, as I enjoyed the closing ceremony on Saturday evening, what stood out to me was the bond of friendships that had been formed, the celebration of differences (evident strongly through the alpaca) and the strong sense of community developed in a two day period. While our team of 30 students were risk takers and while many medals and trophies were secured; the experience and memories will last a lifetime. Well done to you all!

Finally this week, I would like to remind parents of the upcoming Winter fest that will take place next Monday, Dec 6^th. We encourage and hope to see parents at this community event. It will commence at 3:30 and conclude at 6:30. You are encouraged to browse the student stalls, observe the talent show and enjoy some of the delicious food offerings available. We look forward to seeing you there!

Amanda Murphy

Head of Secondary

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Nov 30th Martyr's Day

Dec 1-2nd UAE National Day (public holiday to be confirmed)

Dec 6th Winter Fest (3:30-6:30pm)

Dec 9th Term 1 ends (Winter Break)

Secondary School Polar Fest

Next week, secondary students are encouraged to bring festive decorations and accessories to decorate their homeroom doors. Decorating will take place throughout the week. A judging panel will visit all Homerooms and announce the 'best decorated Homeroom' on the StuELT Instagram page

On Thursday 9th December, students are encouraged to:

Wear winter clothing, such as festive jumpers.
Bring their laptop to participate in the winter quiz.
Embrace the festive spirit!

50th UAE NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS

Design

Students are learning and applying sublimation print technology and graphic designing. The unit's topic is to investigate UAE souvenirs and design a souvenir to celebrate 50th National Day. In this project, they explored the importance of Souvenirs, analysed different Souvenirs, and wrote design specifications for their potential client. Year 6 and 7 applied heat transfer sublimation printing on various materials like ceramics, cotton and nylon. Final products took the shape of coffee mugs, cushion covers, pillow covers, display plates and T-shirts.

Art work from Ayse

Grade 12

WORLD SCHOLAR'S CUP

Dubai Regional Round - Nov 2021

We have exciting news from one of our exciting ECAs at GIS. The World Scholar's Cup team participated in the Dubai Regional Round this weekend with outstanding results. The achievements, medals, and trophies one are listed below. One exciting note is that all 30 of our GIS scholars scored high enough to receive an entry into the Global Round of the competition. This is a truly amazing achievement!

For those of you who are not familiar with the competition, the World Scholar's Cup is an academic-based competition with four main events: debate, creative writing, a 'scholar's challenge' multiple-choice test and a 'scholar's bowl' team quiz. There are six subject areas with recommended topics for study that are released at the beginning of each calendar year. This year’s theme is ‘A World (Re)Renewed’ in light of the competition emerging from a two year hiatus.

The World Scholar’s Cup inspires confidence in our students, encourages teamwork and cooperation, and allows them to rediscover their love for learning. The goal of this tournament is to create a “global community of future scholars and leaders” and allows children to "discover strengths and skills they never knew they had” while discussing issues and topics relevant to today.

Please see an outline of our scholars' achievements below. It is worth mentioning that over 700 students participated in the competition, competing in over 200 teams. The students are separated into junior and senior in an almost even way, meaning that when a student places in the top ten, they were competing against roughly 350 students; if they placed in the top ten for a team competition, they were competing against roughly 100 other teams! We have some truly remarkable performances. Thank you to all parents for your support and thank you to the scholars for representing the very best of GIS!

Scholar's Challenge (Team)

3 Silver Medals

Scholar's Challenge (Individual)

Science & Technology - 3 Silver Medals, 1 Gold Medal

History - 5 Silver Medals

Social Studies - 3 Silver Medals, 2 Gold Medals

Special Area - 4 Silver Medals

Art & Music - 1 Silver Medal

Literature & Media - 1 Silver Medal, 2 Gold Medals

Honorable Mention - Yara Aboualy - 3 Silver Medals & 3 Gold Medals

Debate (Team)

4 Silver Medals

1 Gold Medal

1 Champion Trophy - Senior Division - 2nd Place - Nourhan Ibrahim, Yuheng Yang, Diya Menon

Debate (Individual)

12 Silver Medals

8 Gold Medals

Scholar's Bowl (Team)

3 Silver Medals

3 Gold Medals

Creative Writing (Team)

1 Gold Medal

1 Champion Trophy - Senior Division - 1st Place - Yusra Faheem, Naya Nassri, Mischa Sahgal

Creative Writing (Individual)

9 Silver Medals

7 Gold Medals

2nd Place - Senior Division - Yusra Faheem

4th Place - Senior Division - Mischa Sahgal

GIS Top Scholars

Gold Medal - Junior Division - Christian Salides

Gold Medal - Senior Division - Mischa Sahgal

Regional Champion Scholars

Silver Medal - Junior Division - 85 Place - Shabbir Sura

Gold Medal - Junior Division - 41 Place - Yara Aboualy

Gold Medal - Junior Division - 32 Place - Christian Salides

Gold Medal - Senior Division - 23 Place - Diya Menon

Gold Medal - Senior Division - 14 Place - Yusra Faheem

Gold Medal - Senior Division - 11 Place - Nourhan Ibrahim

Gold Medal - Senior Division - 9 Place - Mischa Sahgal

Regional Champion Teams

Silver Medal - Senior Division - 15 Place - Yusra Faheem, Naya Nassri, Mischa Sahgal

Gold Medal - Junior Division - 20 Place - Ayla Fardinfard, Yara Aboualy, Sanjna Tanna

Gold Medal - Senior Division - 7 Place - Yuheng Yang, Nourhan Ibrahim, Diya Menon

Student Council Committees

Reach out to the Heads of Committee if you would like to join!

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

From the Classroom (and beyond)

Please find results, scorers, action photos, match reports, Sports News and much more on our Jaguarsports website.

Stars of the Week

Neila M, Renia, Ziad Y, Ameera, Albert K, Mohammed P, Adam, Diyanah, Dhruv, Selim , Can, Fatima I, Fillippos, Yousef, Cruz, Riley, Ezra, Salma, Landon, Fatima M, Sophia, Lina B, Dhruv A, Rohan, Akansha, Anshi, Nour & Majd

Mathematics

Grade 7 students practiced how to calculate the area of squares, rectangles, and compound shapes consisting of squares and rectangles. Some students completed a scavenger hunt that involved research on more challenging facts, some students worked on person puzzles (math answers leading to clues to learn more about an important person) and some students worked on different levels of ‘Adventure - find the country’ worksheets. These are worksheets where students use their math answers and a decoder sheet to determine the country based on clues leading to landmarks, food, things to do, capital city, etc. in the specific country.

French

Students were inquiring into the 9 art types and had to develop their ATL research skills in order to present their designated art type to the class in French. France classifies art in 9 types, architecture, sculpture, painting, theatre, literature, cinema, comics, music and visual arts like photography.

Expo Trip

Grade 7 students represented GIS very well, as they learned from and very much enjoyed the Expo. The ball pool at the Hungarian pavilion was a particular favourite!

Stay Connected

Connect With Us (Secondary).pdf

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.