The Junction

Friday 14 October 2022

A Note From Mr Brown

Friday 14th October - Kindness

The Brownlee brothers were responsible for one of the defining images of the modern-day sport in 2016, when Alistair Brownlee carried his brother over the finish line of the World Series Finale. Just 500m from the finish line, Jonathan Brownlee held a commanding lead before falling victim to heat exhaustion in the grueling temperatures of Cozumel, Mexico. Alistair caught up and rather than pushing on to potentially win the race himself, decided to help Jonathan to the finish line. Alistair had the opportunity for personal glory, but knew that helping his brother might secure him the title in the overall series. Alistair threw Jonathan over the line into second place, before claiming third for himself.

The Brownlee brothers inspired a generation with this incredible sporting moment.

Around the same time in 2016, Jebel Ali School moved to the new Akoya site and opened a secondary school. The first Year 7 cohort contained just 34 students, some of whom are still with us, now in Year 13. The small group quickly formed a tight bond and under the guidance of Mrs. Doughty, a Culture of Kindness developed, which has become entrenched as the “JAS values” evolved. Many of the students had been at Jebel Ali School for most of their education, and I began to understand the “JAS Magic” that had been ensconced into them by our Primary School colleagues.

This was never clearer than at the DASSA Athletics day held that year in Sports City. We were a small school, but with some fantastic athletes. Mr. Parnell and Ms. Channon encouraged all of the students to get involved with the day and one of those was Shakkthi.

Shakkthi was in my original tutor group, 7SBR. Shakkthi was kind, polite, funny, popular and studious. Shakkthi was a fantastic student; but in Year 7, Shakkthi was not a natural runner. Armed with resilience, grit and determination - wanting to do his part for the team, Shakkthi signed up for the Athletics. Shakkthi knew that Jebel Ali school had a NO FAIL culture, but Shakkthi did not know how far the 800m event was.

On the morning of the event, he asked me how far he was running. Not wanting to deter his infectious enthusiasm, I told him to take the first lap very slowly and see what he had left for the second. My advice was: whatever you do, don’t chase the fast kids at the start. Unfortunately, not one to shy from a challenge, Shakkthi chased the pack…

Just over 2 minutes later the champion crossed the line. The champion was not Shakkthi. Shakkthi was struggling, he was just coming to the end of his first lap. The race invigilator told Shakkthi he did not need to finish, but with the words of Senor Guererro, “FAIL is just your First Attempt In Learning” ringing in his ears, Shakkthi pushed on, determined to finish.

This is when the magic happened. 33 blue vested students began to cheer Shakkthi on for his final 400m. He closed his eyes and pushed on, and the cheers were not getting any quieter, in fact they were growing louder. As he looked over his shoulder, the 33 blue vests now followed him. All of the students from Jebel Ali joining him in support of his final lap.

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Year 7 Supporting Shakkthi 2016

I knew then that I was lucky to be part of something different. The love and enthusiasm his peers showed Shakkthi was both sensational and humbling. No PB, no DASSA record, no gold medal could compete with the JAS triumph we had just witnessed. A truly unique moment…or so I thought.

Last week during Cross Country Club, lightning struck twice. Some of the boys in Years 7 & 8 asked if they could run with students that were still completing their laps to cheer them on. Different students, different staff, different venue. That same JAS magic being displayed 6 years later. The JAS magic as an embedded aspect of our days, our school terms, our school years and our school legacy.

Oliver, Endre, Marcus, Rufus, Dylan and others cheering Kaitlyn

The practice of Bookending, where a television series, a novel or a story begins and ends with a metaphor or a moment or an example; can be used to show the cyclical nature of human life. The Wire was one of my favourite examples of this. Young characters growing old and filling the vacant positions left by their predecessors. This is not a scripting accident, it takes years of careful planning and plotting of character arcs from the writers. I also think that these examples of our Culture of Kindness are the culmination of years of careful planning. The culmination of our JAS values, the culmination of an ethos which permeates our school; be kind to each other and respect every single person every single day. From day 1 in Foundation Stage, to fond farewells in Year 13, kindness is engrained in every single thing that we do.

Whilst the writers may have changed, the values have not. This term we celebrate our Culture of Kindness.

Stay safe and have a fantastic half term everyone.

Mr Brown - Deputy Headteacher of Secondary

Important Notice

STS Additional Routes

Due to popular demand, STS Group are looking to expand their bus services for JAS families.

With two established bus routes and further interest from parents in a number of additional communities, STS would like to explore the possibility of adding more routes. Please contact STS directly if you would like a bus route from the following communities in particular: Green Community, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Sports City, Motor City, Town Square and Mira.

You can register your interest for current or new routes by emailing sde-jas@sts-group.com, OR calling Kelvin on 0552023732.

Week in Review

YEAR 7

This week some Year 7s undertook their first Drama assessment. It was fabulous to see them putting their newly learnt performance skills into practice! Well done, Year 7!

YEAR 8

Our Silent Movie unit is sadly drawing to an end as students finished filming their final scenes and began editing their movies this week. We can wait for our silent movie premiers after half term!

YEAR 9

Our Year 9s are creating some serious tension in the Blood Brothers finale!

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GCSE DRAMA - DUBAI OPERA ‘FOOTLOOSE’

Our GCSE Drama and Music students absolutely loved attending the musical performance ‘Footloose’ at Dubai Opera last week. We are so thrilled to have theatre trips back!

It’s been a busy start to the year in Drama, but it’s definitely been the most exciting one we’ve had for a few years and there’s plenty more to come! Finally, we leave you with Ananya, Bethany, Ceren and Bella to send us flying into half term!

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Secondary Production - Oliver!

Oliver! 2023 - Week 5 in Rehearsals

Our final rehearsal before half term saw a range of new cast members jumping into their rehearsals for the first time! The enthusiasm this has been incredible and, from all of the Production Team, we’d like to say thank you. We’re CONSIDER you all PART OF THE production FAMILY. Have a brilliant half term!

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Cast List

Director - Ms. R Channon

Musical Director - Mr. A Laird

Assissant Director - Miss. K Hansford

Choreographer - Mr. S Sonsin

Stage Manager - Yasmina Habib (Year 11)

If you need to contact any of the Production Team please do so via schoolproduction@jebelalischool.org

Secondary Production Google Classroom: Aztar5o (students only)

Rehearsal schedule is updated on GC every Friday afternoon for the following week. Please check this weekly to see when you are needed in rehearsal.

Rehearsal Times

Monday 12.50pm-13.15pm

Wednesday 3.30pm-5.00pm

Thursday 06.50am-7.20am

JAS Art department had an amazing professional development opportunity this weekend and attended an advanced two-day Screenprinting workshop with artist Majd Alloush at Tashkeel Art Centre. We practiced separating photos into Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black bitmap images before exposing the images to light-sensitive emulsion. We then printed one on top of the other to create the impression of a full colour image. GCSE and A-Level students are already enthusiastic to learn these new skills.

English

Year 9 Students have been creating job specifications for different reciprocol reading roles that they will be taking on during our fortnighly library lessons. They worked very effectively as a team to identify the skills, responsibilities and experience needed for the role; they used their mastery IT skills to produce an aestehtically pleasing job description and then, as a group, they presented this to the rest of the class. At the end of the preentations, all students were given the opporutnity to apply for the reading role that they felt suited their skill-set.

Library

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Old School

By: Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, my favourite book series with so many to choose from, there is one in particular that stands out the most to me, and that is Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Old School. It’s a book about how Gregory (the main character) would have imagined the old days when his parents were kids. Jeff Kinney (the author) adds so much good humour and it always makes me laugh. I’ve read 100,000 words worth of Diary of Wimpy kid novels and they have tons of them in the library. In my opinion, the series in general is amazing but you don’t have to like the series, you can read whatever you like but the main game is to keep reading!

Reviewed by: Muhammad (Hubaib) Kaludi 7TMA

DRY

By: Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

When a drought spreads through California and exaggerates into catastrophic proportions, one teen is put in the position to make life or death decisions for her family in this apocalyptic, nerve-wracking tale of survival during the dark times of the drought - or the Tap-out - as everyone calls it. More and more things become an endless list of don’ts: Don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers, don’t water your lawn and most importantly, don’t give out your last drops of water… This book is a fantastic thriller for anyone who loves dystopian fiction, disaster and suspense.

Reviewed by: Maya Brown 11MGO

Science

Year 7 students have been learning about cells, tissues and organs. They had the chance to dissect a heart and discuss the different tissues found within the organ.

Business

Yr 10 Business students devised a strategy to add value to a bag of chocolate buttons - they investigated quality, design, convenience, branding & USP.

Yr 12 Business students have studied on-the-job and off-the-job training this week.

They have learnt the importance of having good listening and communication skills to achieve results.

Extended Project Qualification in Business

The Extended Project Qualification EPQ is an opportunity for A Level students to pursue their interests in more depth, it also counts towards their UCAS points. This week Leen, a year 13 Business student presented her extended project qualification to the year 12 Business students. Leen has spent a year researching the issue ‘To what extent is the Code of Conduct essential to a business?’ She now demonstrates an excellent understanding of this issue and was able to teach this to her peers.

Computer Science

Year 11 and 12 Computer Science students were given the opportunity to go on a trip to GITEX Global, the world's largest technology exhibition, with 5,000 companies from 90 countries showcasing the latest innovations. Gitex Global, which started in 1981, has put Dubai on the global technology map and put technology at the top of Dubai's priorities.

Highlights from the day included meeting the world's youngest programmer, visiting the coders HQ lounge and hackathon area and watching robot and AI demonstrations.

Social Studies

8MRA Moral and Social Studies

This week 8MRA presented their findings from their research project. They worked in groups and investigated 4 challenging physical environments and found out how people survive and adapt there.

Mental Health Awareness Assembly

Mental Health Awareness Talks October 2022

This week the staff and students took some time to talk about the importance of Mental Health and how it impacts everyone in their lives. Mr Parnell delivered an assembly to Years 7 - 9 on Monday and on Tuesday the Year 10 - 13 students received a talk from guest speaker Dalia Alzoyd from The Lighthouse Arabia. The key messages included:

‘It’s okay not to be okay’ - life is not perfect all the time, we all struggle sometimes, but it’s how we recognise and manage these situations that is important.
We are all different and everything is relative. What is a small issue for one person could be a big issue for someone else. Try to be empathetic towards each other.
Steps we can take to support our mental health include, socialising, exercising, eating well and getting a good sleep.
Speak to someone if you are struggling - it takes courage to admit you need support.

JAS Secondary Sport

JAS Secondary Sport

Please see a reminder below of any key documents you need for any information regarding JAS Sport.

Football Highlights

Our U12A girls football team sealed a fantastic win this week with the U12B girls coming up against some tough competition with Repton Al Barsha. A special mention goes to Lola for her fantastic effort and play throughout the whole match. Our U16B boys football team played their first league game against NAS with a tough defeat but nevertheless lots of promise for the rest of the season with a special mention to Max for consistent effort throughout the match. Congratulations to the U13 boys football team who managed to secure a 2-1 win in the last 10 minutes of their game in a fantastic match against DBSJP and to the U14 boys who celebrated their first goal of the season scored by George.

Basketball Highlights

It has been great to host our first secondary basketball matches this week. The U16 and U19 girls basketball teams have had a fantastic week coming away with two wins against EISM and DBSEH. Congratulations to Dana for scoring 21 points in the U19 girls basketball game this week!

Ultimate Frisbee

The Ultimate Frisbee club is in full flight with over an 100 students on the field every Thursday morning from Year 5 to Year 13. We look forward to inviting some other schools over to JAS for some friendly competitions after the winter break!

Netball Youth Sevens

Good luck to all of the girls competing in their first round of the Netball Youth Sevens this evening. The U11, U13 and U15 team will be playing a series of group games tonight that will lead them into the second half of the competition on Friday 28 October.

What’s On - JAS Secondary Sport - WC 24 October

Pink Run Cross Country ECA

Secondary cross country runners wore pink for their run in DAMAC on Wednesday, to celebrate DAMAC's own breast cancer awareness day.

JAS Enterprise

The JAS Enterprise ECA is in full force and it’s possibly the best bunch of future entrepreneurs ever! This week The teams learned to calculate revenue, costs and profits which they then applied to their own business ventures. The products are almost ready and Mrs Secker was the first customer treating herself to a ‘tech deck’ which even came with the free training of one trick!!!

Living in the Online World

Millions of parents leaving children online unsupervised, poll suggests.

Many say they do not bother with safety restrictions because their children will find ways around them

Oliver Lewis

Wednesday 31 August 2022 09:23

https://www.independent.co.uk/

Millions of parents fear their children are more digitally literate than they are, as a survey reveals six in 10 have seen their safety controls bypassed. And four-fifths let their offspring browse unsupervised.

A poll of 2,000 people with children aged between seven and 17 found 40 per cent of these parents discovered their offspring had an advanced understanding of technology when they observed their own skills being outmatched. This superior ability to navigate the digital world was a concern for 55 per cent of these parents.

Money being spent without them knowing (59 per cent), accessing inappropriate content (50 per cent) and speaking with strangers (37 per cent) ranked among the top worries. In an attempt to keep up, 42 per cent were spending time learning how to use their devices, and 39 per cent were educating themselves as much as they could about online safety.

But despite these concerns, nearly one in four (23 per cent) did not bother with parental controls. One-quarter of those claimed to believe their child would just evade them anyway. However, more than one-fifth (21 per cent) of this group admitted they simply did not know how to set them up properly.

The survey was commissioned by Avast as part of a back-to-school campaign, which aims to educate parents in helping their children to navigate the internet safely. Jaya Baloo, chief information security officer for the antivirus company, said: “Parenting in 2022 is getting more complex – from a young age, children are coming into contact with the internet and a variety of devices which allow them to access it.

“We understand children also face social pressure to connect with their friends online on different, sometimes questionable social platforms, and that it is increasingly difficult for parents to keep up with technological advances and their children’s ever-growing knowledge of it”.

“Our research demonstrates parents are naturally concerned their children know more about the internet than them, but there are straightforward steps and easy to use tools that parents can use to educate themselves and ensure their children can enjoy the many positive and educational aspects the internet has to offer.”

The survey also found 83 per cent of children with access to the online world were allowed to use the internet unsupervised. On average, age 10 was the point at which they had been allowed online without the watchful eye of a parent looking over their shoulder. But some as young as five were allowed to roam freely online. Half of parents claimed they did not have enough time to constantly monitor their children, while two in three had had arguments with them about their activities.

On average, these children had three devices which can access the internet, while nearly two-fifths (39 per cent) had four. Some 57 per cent of parents realised that this array of tech posed a risk, and 46 per cent wanted more guidance on cyber security.

You can learn more about the online world by signing up to the Jebel Ali School subscription to National Online Safety that is free for parents.

Looking Ahead

International & Residential Trips 2022-2023

We are extremely excited to share with you the upcoming international and residential trips for the 2022-2023 academic year. These experiences are subject to the number of students who sign-up. Below you will find the dates, a brief description, and approximate costs. Further information will follow.

Pink Day

Helpful Hints

Five ways to look after your mental health as a student

School life is usually hailed as some of the best years of your life – and 99% of the time, it really is. However, sometimes a student lifestyle can take its toll on your mental health. With the stress of trying to keep up with your studies as well as keep up with your social life, it’s natural to feel a little overwhelmed. That’s why in honour of Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ve gathered a few tips on how to look after your mental health as a JAS student.

1. If you're feeling stressed, talk about it

A problem shared is a problem halved. Sometimes the pressure of studying and exams can be a lot to handle - it’s completely natural to feel apprehensive. If you do find yourself feeling stressed or anxious, please don’t keep it to yourself. Talk to someone, whether it’s a friend, family member or your course tutor. There will always be ways to help you feel better about your situation! If for whatever reason, you don’t want to talk to someone you know, you can always talk to Mrs Ali, our amazing school counsellor.

2. Keep active

The idea is dreadful to some, but some light exercise for 20 minutes a day is key to helping with low moods, even if it’s just walking briskly to your lecture and back! The endorphins that are released during exercise are clinically proven to help you feel happy, sleep better and concentrate more.

3. Take some 'me' time

It can be difficult trying to find time for yourself at school when you’re trying to keep up with everything else, but try to relieve the pressure and do something you enjoy to take your mind off of things. Watch your favourite TV show, draw or listen to music. Meditating is also a great way to calm your mind, even just for 20 minutes a day.

4. Set small goals

Mental illness can make the smallest of tasks seem impossible, so don’t try and push yourself too hard. Make your to-do list achievable and realistic, no matter how small the tasks may seem. Whether it’s tidying your room or writing a paragraph of your assignment, all the small wins matter and take you one step further than before.

5. Get some sleep!

Easier said than done, we know, but trying to get some sort of sleeping pattern will benefit you massively. Science has shown that a regular sleeping pattern is more beneficial than actually getting more sleep, so try to go to bed and wake up at similar times every day. If you’re struggling to switch off, try listening to something calm to send you to sleep or getting a night-light (they’re for adults, too!)

Article of Interest

Student Leadership at JAS

This year at Jebel Ali School, we have several new and exciting leadership opportunities for students. We have three programmes running this year; we are building a house system which will be run by our student heads of house and their team of house captains from across the year groups; we are growing our student council, led by our prefects and head students who will be leading projects to promote the JAS Values across the school community; and we have a peer coaching team run by students in the sixth form.

Beginning with our sixth form, we have newly appointed heads of house and prefects. Our students applied for their positions and were formally interviewed by members of our staff leadership team. We were exceptionally lucky that a committed, enthusiastic, dedicated, resilient and strong field of applicants from our student body applied for these roles. We were particularly impressed with the way our students spoke confidently about how the JAS Values were integral to student success, growth and development. As a result, the task of selecting successful candidates, knowing that we would disappoint some, was particularly tough. However, we hope that the students who experienced the process gained valuable skills in applying for jobs and an interview process, and will not be deterred from applying for other positions or contributing their valuable ideas as our student leadership teams grow.

Now that we have our senior student leadership teams in place, the next step is to select students from lower down the school to represent their year groups. Our student heads of house will be looking for students from years 7-11 who aspire to excellence and leadership, who will be able to represent their year group and who will work as part of a team to encourage student participation in events and competitions. Students will be expected to commit to their respective roles, liaise with staff, parents and students, and reflect our school’s core values.

Teaching students about the importance of good leadership aims to prepare them for life after school. Skills identified by Kotter, in Leading Change, such as “establishing direction, developing a vision for the future… aligning people, communicating direction… motivating and inspiring, energising” are the fundamental elements we want to teach our young people through our student leadership programme.

If you think that you embody these skills or want be considered for a leadership position within our school community, our senior student leadership team will be accepting applications in the coming weeks. Begin gathering evidence, and thinking about how you demonstrate patience, confidence, collaboration, honesty, integrity and organisation in your every day life. Think about what you want to change and what you want to foster and grow as part of our community.

To borrow the words of Toni Morrison, “if there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must write it”.

Congratulations to the following students:

Heads of House

Benjamin Massingham - Water

Cara Buchan - Water

Yanis Hall - Fire

Sonny Hudson Allen - Fire

Kate Duncan - Air

Thomas Howard - Air

Jaya Brown - Earth

Inaaya Ansari - Earth

Prefects

Lily Pinto-Jackson

Dana Elliott

Erin Dempster

Myra Arora

Saniya Hasan

Lauren Skinner

Mrs Horsham

Student of the Month

Each month staff collectively vote for a student who consistently performs to the best of his/her ability across a variety of subjects and/or has made a positive contribution to whole school life, often going above and beyond expectations.

Staff may nominate as many students as they like from each year group by adding a student name and the reasons from their nomination, including identifying the JAS Value that has been demonstrated by said student. Staff may also support the nomination of another remember of staff by adding their initials and comment. The winners receive a JAS Student of the Month badge, have their names engraved on our in-school display, and go into a draw for a 100AED Vox cinema voucher.

To be nominated is a wonderful recognition for a student, to win, even more so. A huge congratulations to the following students who have been awarded Student of the Month for September 2022.

Year 7 - Sofia Watson

Year 8 - Suraya Alami

Year 9 - Grace Hoeben

Year 10 - Elliott Bathe

Year 11 - Hamza Ansari

Year 12 - Lewis Coombes

Year 13 - Leen Al Jayyusi

Staff Profile

Sinead O'Neill - Math Teacher

Ms O’Neill joined us this year as a Maths teacher. Ms O’Neill graduated from St. Mary's University College, Belfast in 2019 with a B.Ed (Hons) degree in Mathematics with Science. She taught both subjects at home for a year and a half before deciding to emigrate to Dubai. She worked at GEMS Metropole, teaching Maths and Science, for another 18 months and she is looking forward to continuing her journey at JAS.

Ms O’Neill is looking forward to developing her teaching style with support from the Maths department and also aims to expand on her technology skills, with a particular focus on Apple resources. She is passionate about promoting mindfulness and would like to get involved with ECAs surrounding this.

Sinead says of the JAS values:

“Growth mindedness - It encourages lifelong learning. Teachers can share best practice, students can support each other and anyone can learn a new skill. I believe that failures and mistakes are just temporary setbacks, and do not define us.”

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