The Junction

Friday 18 November 2022

A Note From Mr Green

‘Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much’

Helen Keller

I love this quotation. It taps into my moral compass and importantly provides inspiration when looking for a much-needed lift. I first encountered this remarkable lady when I was in Primary school. A series of assemblies on ‘Amazing people from History’ had led us to a talk about Helen Keller. Her story is an incredible one and I would urge anyone to read about her, if you do not know who she is. As a Harvard University graduate, she was a prolific writer, political campaigner, champion for women’s suffrage and workers’ rights and she advocated strongly for world peace. She was also deaf and blind.

As you can imagine, Helen Keller has been an inspiration to so many people over the years, but inspiration can come from people much closer to home. One need only read this week’s junction to take inspiration from students achieving fabulous things, be it in the classroom, the art studio, the music room, the swimming pool or the sports field. Individuals have inspired this week and not just those featured in this week's edition. Our great staff members have also provided inspiration. Mr. Laird, our Head of Music, this week spoke passionately, at GESS Dubai, about how influences outside the classroom can affect the curriculum inside one. Mr. Parnell, our Deputy Head of Care and Wellbeing, has featured on several Media outlets to inspire others as he gears up for the Triathlon World Championships in Abu Dhabi next week. Ms. Davies, our Assistant Head in charge of Sixth Form, has had an article published in Education UAE on the joys of teaching teenagers. And these are just a few of the inspirational moments that can make a difference to so many people.

Being inspired by the people around us can help us extend our self-limitations and provide us with a new reference point of what is possible. These people not only inspire others to raise their expectations, but help people, in general, realise how our beliefs and values can spur us on to success. The best part of inspiration is that it has the power to transform our lives in an instant. It can move us away from the ordinary and toward the extraordinary, exciting world of possibility.

This time next week we will not only be welcoming yet another inspirational individual to the school, in the form of Ms. Linda Bonner (please see the article below ) but we are excited to once again host our Festive Fayre. Our incredible PTA continue to go ‘above and beyond’ in creating a special, there I say, magical, day for our community. They do so because it makes us happy. They do so because they all believe in a shared goal that they want to achieve together. It’s what makes Jebel Ali School unique. We understand that happiness comes from authentic, rich social bonds and meaningful relationships. We understand that the strength of our community enables personal development, friendships that add joy to life, and potential to collaborate with others to generate greater impact for our school and beyond. In short, as a community, they too inspire.

We can therefore learn much from the words of Helen Keller and her words have greater resonance when we reflect on the necessity of working together to make a difference. It creates an opportunity for all members of our community to come together, and reinforce the values of our culture as a whole. It allows us to connect, to collaborate and to demonstrate care and kindness. It shows the trust we have for each other. Without this, the awareness of opportunities for collaboration and mutual support would never be acted upon.

Organising a Festive Fayre is incredibly challenging, but it’s what binds and builds bonds between us. It is one of many ways that our community is able to come together. When we have deep and meaningful relationships with other people in our community, it enhances happiness, and in so doing, allows us to be in a better place to collaborate with and support each other to achieve more than any one of us could achieve alone.

I cannot thank our PTA, our staff, our students, our parents, our sponsors enough. If you haven’t yet bought your tickets or your tokens or simply made a date in your diary, I’d ask you to so straight away.

It's going to be an amazing day and a wonderful celebration of our special community.

Mr Stephen Green

Head of Secondary

This week our Year 8 students have been putting their planning into action and photographing delicious food items, as part of their Barry Morgan inspired food photography project. We looked at different ways to compose and light a photo resulting in a range of beautiful shots. The Art department offers each year group the opportunity to experience a photography taster once per year as a sampler for our Photography GCSE.

History

This week in History Year 8 students have learnt how to analyse Tudor portraits, looking specifically at how artists would include secret details within the portraits.

These symbols were things like little eyes and ears to represent how the Queen would be able to see and hear all within her kingdom, flowers to show youth, and a quill to show intelligence.

Students were challenged with creating their own self portraits and including the hidden symbols!

Living in the Online World

From our visiting speaker, Mr. Barry Cummings, Chief Awareness Officer from Beat the Bully

Presenting our digital awareness and wellness sessions to years 3 through to 13 and then to parents was a real pleasure. We hope that the conversations will continue regularly around the subject.

Some observations from my day.

It was really interesting to see that 90% of years 3 and 4 are all online gaming. The usual games like Roblox and Minecraft are being played. But games like Call of Duty are in the mix as well. It has a 17+ or M rating for content and also facilitates shared servers with strangers. Games have ratings like movies for a reason. Something for parents to be aware of and discuss with their youngsters.

A particularly interesting comment and question from a young lady in Year 4. She mentioned that if she was on a platform that she shouldn’t be on and got into trouble, or something made her uncomfortable, should she tell her parents? She was worried about doing so because she thought she would get into trouble for being on the platform she wasn’t supposed to be on, and that would stop her from telling mum and dad.

We need to help our children really understand that we as parents are there for them regardless of the situation and re-assure them that coming to us for anything that makes them feel uncomfortable or unhappy is of the utmost importance to us. Demonstrating to them that we can actively listen, not jump in, not punish and not judge will give them the courage and comfort to come to us when things go wrong. But we have to show them this is the case, not just tell them.

Years 5 and 6 were still not putting together that having people they don’t know in real life following them or sharing a gaming server with them was potentially hazardous. There were a number of stories and statements from this year group about them, or a friend, being scammed online. The common thread through all of the stories was being scammed by someone they didn’t actually know. This emphasised that these year groups need some assistance with the ‘don’t talk to strangers’ messaging. They all remember hearing this from mum and dad, but in practice are ignoring it by allowing people they don’t know to connect with them in the digital space.

Years 10-13 were very receptive to the messaging around their digital tattoo. Some positive feedback on the day from students attending as well as after the event.

The parents that turned up were in some cases shocked but also very grateful for the session. It stood as the starting point for a continued education for mums and dads to keep up to date with what’s happening in the digital space and the feedback from those that attended was that the session was very much needed. Continued attention and conversations on the subject are essential.

When the communication is sent out, our virtual private sessions that I referenced, where parents can book one on one time with me to discuss issues specific to them is here - https://bit.ly/BTCBPARENTS - the whole process is online, they can pick a date and time slot from the diary on the page, make a payment, fill out a pre meeting questionnaire so that the time spent is focused on their specific requirements, a Zoom meeting invite will be sent out and on the selected date and time, we will jump on the session. All the details are on the page so it should be straight forward for a parent to book as required.

Let me know if there is anything further I can help with.

Kind regards

Barry

Barry Lee Cummings

Chief Awareness Officer

Here is the presentation in case you missed it.

PTA

Article of Interest

In Arabic students enjoyed learning about the UAE this week. In addition to learning about the seven Emirates and tourist attractions, they did a presentation about their work.

E Hasan

Director of Arabic Language