The Junction

Friday 16 September 2022

A Note From Mr Parnell

The JAS Magic

Jebel Ali School has a long standing reputation for being a caring, supportive community that provides outstanding education to its students. There is a constant buzz of joy, excitement, creativity, and curiosity as you walk into classrooms, along the halls, and around the performing arts and sporting facilities. Walking around the site, you just get ‘a feel’ for the place, an awareness that something special is going on, a sense of success, and realising dreams and aspirations. We often refer to this as the ‘JAS Magic’.

There are so many factors that can influence our community and the outcomes of a child’s journey with JAS. You can ponder, and struggle to put your finger on the determining factors that created such an incredible learning community. For me, it’s all about ‘the people’. Most of my most memorable moments in my life have been impacted by the people that were present, or those who had a hand in creating the opportunity. I believe the people in any organisation, school or community are what make the difference. At JAS it's about the staff, the students, and the parents, coming together to achieve a common goal. Aligning their values and beliefs about what is important and working together to achieve desired outcomes. Ultimately, we want all our students to become the best version of themselves. A happy, well-rounded person, with the knowledge, skills and confidence to be successful and achieve their goals in the wider world. To believe that with the right attitude, hard work and dedication, they can always improve and develop themselves. We never stop learning.

In order to achieve these outcomes, our objective as a school is to ensure our core values (what we collectively believe in) underpin everything we do. When we use our values to make decisions, we make a deliberate choice to focus on what is important to us. Below are the six core values, that as a community a few years ago, we collectively agreed upon:

1. Integrity - the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.

2. Kindness - the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

3. Resilience - the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

4. Growth Mindedness - believing that our most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.

5. Inclusivity - trying to include many different types of people and treat them all fairly and equally.

6. Excellence - the quality of being outstanding or extremely good.

These stand at the heart of what we do at JAS and directly impact how we communicate, interact, teach and learn. We believe these values are essential in achieving our vision which is “to create a community who never stop believing that better is always possible”. However, it is important that we understand that our values are best represented in our actions and behaviours, which allows us to build and create a particular culture within our community. When values are shared, they build cohesion in a community. I would like to encourage you to promote and discuss these core values as a family to support the JAS culture of high expectations, dreaming big, and getting stuck in. After all, it's the people that make the difference, and we all have the power to have a positive impact.

Business and Economics

GCSE Business

This week the new Year 10 Business students were analysing how and why new business ideas come about. Tasked with creating a new product to be sold on Amazon.ae they analysed the local market and developed their own new product ideas. We had a range of innovative ideas from smart water bottles to mind reading headphones!

Living in the Online World

Article of Interest

How To Avoid A High School Burnout

High School is an important time for every student – it is a formative process, and every decision you make can have a profound impact on the rest of your life. However, high school is also a complicated process, and there’s a multitude of different aspects to process – advanced classes, extracurricular classes, standardised tests, and more. For many students, this can become overwhelming and difficult to cope with. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but you still need to take care of your mental health.

What Is Burnout?

Burnout is the occurrence during which a student becomes overwhelmed with all of the work they are facing. It is common and nothing to be too worried about – it’s easy to overcome and something that everyone will face.

Burnout is more typical when faced with an influx of work during the school year, especially during the hardest school years (junior and senior year). Stress is normal to face, but burnout is marked by overwhelming amounts of stress that make it difficult for you to face any of your problems.

What Are The Common Signs of a High School Burnt Out?

Various signs indicate you are facing burnout:

• Lethargy or complete alienation from work, where you no longer feel a need to be productive or motivated. You may feel distanced from your work and try not to think about it at all.

• Physical signs of stress, such as overwhelming exhaustion or headaches.

• Reduced productivity when you do work prevents you from working as hard as you usually can or at a much slower pace.

• Emotional signs of stress, wherein you distance yourself from others and are less motivated when trying to work on something

What Causes High School Burnout?

As a high school student, you are faced with many tasks daily. Any of these tasks can be responsible for burnout or can cause you to feel stressed. For example, schoolwork and homework assignments can cause burnout if you feel overworked for an extended period. The additional stress caused by an exceptionally competitive environment or household can also cause you to feel burnout from extracurricular activities or studying for standardised testing. While doing all of these things at the same time can seem overwhelming (and is the primary cause of burnout), there are many ways to cope safely.

How To Avoid A High School Burnout

Stress Management Strategies

There are various stress management strategies you can use to cope with the stress from your school and outside work.

• Create a routine – your mind will get used to the times in which you have to work and not feel so stressed outside of these times. This will also help you get some time to relax.

• Follow an effective studying method to maximise your productivity, such as the Pomodoro technique.

• Take breaks, even for a few days, if necessary.

• Do an activity that helps destress you, such as playing a video game or exercising. Exercising, for example, has proven effectiveness at minimizing stress.

Healthy Habits

If you form positive habits as you work, it’ll be easier to cope with your stress, and you’ll be able to minimize how much stress you feel during your work. Even the simplest of habits, such as brushing your teeth in the morning, create a routine that prevents you from stressing over simple issues. If you apply the same concepts to other areas – such as working for an hour when you get home then taking an hour break for a snack – your brain will get used to the routine and feel less stressed about work-related uncertainty.

It’s Okay To Say No

As a motivated student, you likely want to take on every task you possibly can – leading a club (or multiple), acing your tests, preparing for external examinations, and more. However, it’s impossible for anyone to do all of those things – you have to budget your time. It’s even better if you focus on what you actually enjoy – you’ll be more productive that way and be able to work more without feeling like you’re doing actual ‘work.’ On the other hand, you may also have to say no to things you do enjoy – just remember; you don’t have to do everything to become successful – just do what you enjoy most and what you believe best demonstrates your passion.

Practise Self-Care

If you commit yourself too firmly to one goal (raising a class grade, practicing for a big test), you may forget about some of the other important things in life. However, glossing over your health and self-care can make you even more exhausted and less productive. As a result, you should do what you need to do – take breaks, take care of sanitary necessities, and work effectively but not obsessively. If you have a good work/life balance, you’ll be a much better worker and be much more attentive and analytical.

It’s Okay To Ask For Help

Work is the hardest when you have no idea what to do. This may seem obvious, but students often struggle at school work just because they have no idea where to begin. If this seems to be the case, arrange a time to talk with your teacher or a friend – they’ll be glad to point you in the right direction. Asking for help is nothing to worry about – it can be a great time saver and is a necessary step to understand a subject and communicate its nuances effectively truly.

Have a Mentor

If you feel overwhelmed by everything around you, it is likely not a fault of your own. On the contrary, it’s something we’ve all been through and will likely go through again. Finding an experienced mentor that knows how to deal with stress and can guide you through the confusing puzzle that is high school is a great resource. Often, students can find mentors by finding adults or older students with similar interests.

Closing Thoughts

While burnout is a common occurrence, it isn’t something you should fear. Burnout is easy to fix and something that only takes a few lifestyle changes to prevent entirely. Luckily, the same changes that prevent burnout will improve your overall quality of life – if you make positive habits and lower stress in your life, you will be a more effective and productive worker. If you ever feel the symptoms of burnout, just take a step back and relax – that’s often all you need. Burnout is a temporary state of mind and one that you can easily move past if you just put your mind to it.

Emily Berry