Week Twenty Two - January 28th 2022

Secondary School

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Secondary Curriculum Information

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Dear Parents & Guardians

This week was yet again a very busy week for us here in the secondary school.

Well done to our Grade 12 students who are halfway through their Trial examinations. Feedback to date has been positive, with many students pleased with the preparation that they had carried out to date. The Trial exams are a vital attribute of the lead up to the World Examinations in May. Not only do they allow students to experience the examination setting as close to the real thing as possible; it also provides an outlet for pre- examination jitters and errors to be made before hand. We wish our Grade 12 students all the best for the remaining exams.

Continuing with our spotlight on teaching and learning, we commenced the transition process for our Grade 10 students this week. All Grade 10 students participated in an online assembly hosted by Mr Adam and Ms Mariona, our DP and CP coordinators respectively, in preparation for this extremely important academic next step. The various elements of the DP and CP were outlined in detail, and the pathway possibilities which they lead into. On Wednesday, a ConnectEd session on the same topic was made available for parents of not only Grade 10 students, but also Grade 9 parents. This well attended ConnectEd informed parents of entry requirements into all of our senior pathways. Thank you to all those who participated. We understand some could not be available to attend, therefore, you will find a recording here* and a copy of the slideshow here.

In coming week, Grade 10 parents will be invited to attend an individual meeting with their child. These meetings are vital to ensure that all of our students are best placed for success in the future. We encourage all of our parents to have the necessary conversations now with their child in preparation for these meetings. We fully appreciate that many students may not know at this stage what they would like to do in two years’ time. This is perfectly normal, many young people struggle with this decision at such an age. Therefore, we urge you to download the Lifology app to assist your child to gain a clearer understanding of where their strength and interests align. We look forward to assisting our families on this journey.

This week also saw our Grade 6 to 10 students participate in the second round of MAP tests for this year. These tests provide important information for us as a school as we continue to individualize the learning needs of our students. Well done to all for your approach to these assessments.

Finally, this week, I would like to congratulate the Grade 10 students on their IDU (Interdisciplinary Unit) work. This is an MYP requirement, which saw our Islamic Department work with the Mathematics Team. A display of the work has been set up in the Secondary Foyer. Further information from Ms Sandy and Mr Mike can be found below.

I wish you a relaxing and safe week ahead.

Amanda Murphy

Head of Secondary

*Please note that for the time being, due to technical difficulties, the recording can only be viewed through a gemselearning account. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and will let you know as soon as it is fixed. The presentation commences at 2 mins and 49 secs

Jan 24 - Feb 4th DP Mock Exams

Feb 2nd PTCs (8-4pm) - no school for students

Feb 3rd PTCs (8-8pm) - no school for students

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January 12th - Keeping a Big School Small

Presentation Slides

PTCs

Secondary School parent-teacher conferences (PTCs) will take place virtually on February 2-3rd.

The purpose of these conferences is to discuss the progress and attainment achieved by your child throughout Semester One. These conferences will be facilitated by your child’s subject teachers, though there is an expectation that students lead elements of these conversations, providing an opportunity for them to articulate their learning so far and to demonstrate an understanding of their areas for development.

Please see further details below regarding expectations of school attendance during these dates.

Please use the following link to schedule meetings with your child’s subject teachers - https://ptcfast.com/schools/GEMS_International_School_Dubai

Effective time keeping has proven to be even more pertinent during virtual conferences. We encourage families to schedule meetings carefully and to avoid booking back-to-back appointments, as this has been found to cause delays for families.

Some directions to follow on the day:

Please stick to appointment times to avoid meetings being cut short.
At the time of your appointment, click on the teacher’s link. These links will be published just prior to the PTCs taking place.
1. You will then be directed to a waiting room/page in the call.
2. In this room, you should request to enter the call at the time of your meeting.
3. The teacher will permit you into the call when they have completed their previous call.
We advise that you keep the links page open in a separate tab, as this will allow you to easily navigate to your next teacher meeting.

Should you have any questions, please contact Ms. Mary Ann Dimatera at m.dimatera_gis@gemsedu.com

ECAs

Pre-order Food Through Slices

Students are encouraged to bring a packed lunch to school - particularly while COVID-19 restrictions are in place - as it ensures that they are able to eat and drink as required throughout the school day.

If you wish to make use of the Slices catering service, please note that:

Food deliveries will not be permitted from external restaurants/catering services.
Food orders must be ordered through Slices in advance by completing this GOOGLE FORM.

Orders for following weeks must be placed by 10am each Friday.
Orders must be placed in advance for the full week (Monday to Thursday).
Same-day orders/deliveries will not be possible.

Food orders will be delivered to the students' classroom.
Students will not be permitted to visit the canteen in order to purchase water or snacks throughout the day.

Please consider an appropriate quantity and variety of foods to sustain your child for the duration of the school day.
Students are encouraged to bring sufficient water with them to school to sustain them throughout the day.

Our Student Voice

The Link Magazine is a secondary online school magazine where our students talk about their interests through weekly articles. This includes world news, GIS events and many more thought provoking concepts. Make sure to check out our Website and Instagram!

@gis_elt

@gis__thelink

Essential Agreements for Online Learning

From the Classroom (and beyond)

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

You can also read reviews of the latest GIS sporting action via the GIS PHE site, curtesy of our Head of Sports Committee, Cigdem Kavcar

Stars of the Week!

Joaquin Barrionuevo, Mazin Bayoumi, Andre de Sousa, Maya El Sherbiny, Youssef Ramzy, Vasiliki Chrysochoou, Aleeshaye Najeeb, Filippos Lamprinos, Saeed al Moneer, Riti Paghdar, Suhani Kothari, Karim Malak, Aliakbar Merchant & Sanjna Tanna

Visual Arts

Students are at the halfway point of grade 10 visual arts and are finishing off their first unit, PORTRAITURE: BEFORE & AFTER. After week 10, students displayed their finished BEFORE portraits that represented their daily life, at the beach, in a cafe, in their garden, in graphite. For their AFTER portrait, we explored WATERCOLOR & SURREALISM as they took their imagination to another level. Take a look at some of the WIP (works in progress) featured below and keep an eye out for the full display at school coming soon.

Devika Menon

Daniela Franquet

Lina Badawi

Students have been working on their collaborative projects that feature work from PYP, MYP, and DP students in a long, 19 week display of outstanding communication skills. Being assigned a randomly selected drawing from a PYP student, the G9 students had to create a MONSTER PROFILE by the visual cues given in the drawing (textures, colors, environment, etc), without having any discussion with the student who created the original work. After this profile was created, the G11 students were randomly assigned a MONSTER PROFILE created by the G9 student and they were required to create a monster that fits the profile, without ever seeing the original PYP drawing. I was impressed by the sophisticated level of communication and collaboration skills as the transfer of information was…interesting…and the creativity and skill development was, and still is, exceptional in its continued progress. See below a couple examples of the communication process and be sure to keep an eye out for full exhibition details coming soon.

Monster Profile

Creative Media

Our CP Creative Media students have elaborated short music clips with techniques that they have learned in their specialization so far with Mr. Lewis Griffiths. You will see high quality audio and video, the use of professional transitions to communicate a storyline developed by our students.

Please check out Yonden Frank and Kabir Kantharia’s productions below. Our students would like to give a special thanks to Claudia Marin and Bhavna Windra for their artistic voice collaboration in the music videos.

Yonden Frank: Click Here

Kabir Kantharia: Click Here

Science

Students have been looking at the periodic table and the electron- configuration of an Atom. Students were randomly assigned an atom and they had to show how the electrons orbit the nucleus using the 2,8,8,8,.. Electron configuration. Students could use any household objects to represent the electrons. Students were very creative with their representation of electrons.

Mathematics and Islamic Studies (Interdisciplinary Unit)

The idea of an Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU) involving Mathematics and Islamic Studies is quite strange in the first place if you look at this superficially. With Islamic Studies we have a religion that involves trust, faith & love and mathematics can surely hardly be associated with faith or trust. Right or wrong - black or white - FULL STOP. So what do both subjects have in common? What could be interdisciplinary here?

It does not come with a surpise that many important developments were done based on Islam. Think about navigating to Mecca (Hajj) in earlier years when google maps was not even invented, think about calculating moon phases to determine important dates for muslims (ramadan, etc,...), think about the beauty of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Mosque and its geometrical perfectionism

In GIS the Islamic and the Math Department agreed on the statement of inquire that “Geometry is evident in multiple forms in Islamic cultural expressions” and we are proud to let all of you know that this IDU was fantastic and our students truly embodied the traits of the IB learner profile.

Our grade 10 students not only analyzed calligraphy, demonstrated creativity by producing islamic art, constructed polygons that often occur in islamic patterns and did some serious math to even mathematically calculate or construct key features of these shapes, but they also learned about the pillars of Islams and how mathematics influenced the development of islamic patterns. We are proud that this week was such a success, to see how engaged and passionate our students were, how they challenged themselves to explore these interesting connections and we are looking forward to the second week of our IDU in June.

Secondary School Drop-off and Pick-up Procedures

Morning Drop-off: 7:50 - 8:05am

*Homeroom begins at 8:10am

When arriving at school (from 7:50am onwards) students are to make their way directly to their assigned homeroom. Students should avoid gathering to socialize or delay their movement through school at arrival and dismissal.

Monday to Thursday

All students will be dismissed at 3.15pm.
Bus gates will close at 3:25pm.
Buses will depart at 3:30pm - AFTER non bus users have left the campus.
Students that are not picked up by 3:35pm will be directed to the main reception area.

Friday

All students will be dismissed at 11.40am.
Bus gates will close at 11:50am.
Buses will depart at 11:55am - AFTER non bus users have left the campus.
Students that are not picked up by 12:00 will be directed to the main reception area.