The Junction

Friday 9 June 2023

A Note From Ms Davies

What does success mean?

As parents, we all want our children to be happy, healthy and to achieve “success”. In the same way, children want to feel happy and successful in their lives. Sometimes, there is a disconnect between parents and children when we try and define success. Any parent with a toddler who wants to enjoy “just one more story” before bedtime will realise that there is a forever changing definition of successful parenting; success for a parent may mean a settled toddler, asleep and happy in bed by 8pm, but success for the toddler may mean having twelve more stories and a significantly later bedtime.

Plato defined success as: “Determined not by the completion of some action, but by how one engages in all action with wisdom and intelligence,” whereas author Christopher Morley, wrote: "There is only one success -- to be able to spend your life in your own way." It is possible that both definitions of “success” are accurate.

Success for children may mean scoring a goal at playtime; whereas success for parents may mean their child achieving an A grade in a test. A five year old’s definition of success may include making a big messy mud pie in the garden, painting something beautiful (but unrecognisable to their parents), or enjoying the greatest game of tag. A teenager’s successful evening may be in persuading their parents to leave them alone to spend time with social media or gaming, while a parental definition of success may be in getting the teenager to actually communicate something about their life, when sitting at the dinner table. The paradoxical nature of defining individual “success” may sometimes lead to differences in opinion and a clash of opposing values.

Our life circumstances are also an important factor: as we all experienced during Covid, when illness, accidents, loss of income or bereavements happen in families, our definition of successfully traversing the challenges of life may change, as thriving can sometimes be defined as “successfully surviving”.

What does it mean to succeed? In a world with increasing emphasis on “good” grades, university, and career pathways, we can sometimes lose sight of the fact that success can be defined as being good at or enjoying any aspect of our lives: sport or art or drama, a hobby that you’re passionate about, loving your pet, friendships, family time, kindness, making great cakes, a really good football match! Drama, music, and sport at Jebel Ali School provide amazing opportunities to demonstrate all sorts of student successes, through performances, winning games, enjoying participation, and representing our school community.

It can be interesting to open up discussions with our children about how they define success. Throughout school, friendships and relationships are often part of a student’s definition of success. Enjoyment of a lesson or a subject may be more at the forefront of a child’s participation and definition of “success” than achieving a “good grade”. This is why a sense of belonging is so important for a successful school. Parenting and educational success is a constant negotiation as different generations strive to align their, sometimes diametrically opposing, definitions of what “success’ actually means.

Our values at Jebel Ali School include integrity, resilience, growth-mindedness and excellence; all of which combine to lead to success because we recognise the importance of each individual’s achievements. When discussing success with our children, it is essential to emphasise the importance of their individual success and not measure them against arbitrary standards…a C grade for your child may be a definition of their own “excellence”, an improvement from a previous test is a “success’.

Integrity in the relationship between child, parent, and teacher should involve honest discussions about “success” in terms of an evaluation of what they can achieve, their sense of self-belief, and how they can achieve their own “excellence”. The Jebel Ali School values are an integral part of our definition of “success’, as we understand that “better is always possible” across many fields of endeavour. We are proud, as a school, to be shortlisted for a number of awards, including for “Happiest School in the UAE”; one of the best measures of success is that we are a happy school and sustain joy in our students, this is inextricably linked with sustaining excellent academic standards and celebrating artistic and sporting performances.

This week, the Year 13 and 11 students are continuing with their A-level and GCSE examinations. Other students across the school are also sitting end-of-year examinations and assessments as well as preparing to showcase their talents in debate competitions, celebration assemblies, and the performing arts. During this time, it may be useful for us to remember both Plato's and Morley’s definitions of success, as “engaging in actions with wisdom” and spending a life “in your own way”. I hope we all have the integrity to engage in supportive conversations with our children about how they can engage their growth mindset to approach these assessments with resilience and aim for their own excellence, to know that “better is always possible”. As parents, let us also keep in mind the importance of integrity, of recognising and valuing that our children understand the importance of assessments, but they will also find “success” in a really excellent game, a song, a football match, a slice of cake or enjoying some time with their friends and family.

Ms Davies

Assistant Headteacher: Sixth Form

Week in Review

This week Year 7 students participated in a workshop by Art Dubai.

The students were shown the art by artist Jacob Dahlgren who creates Flags. The students were then asked to create their own abstract flag designs. 5 fantastic designs were chosen and these are being made into giant fabric flags and presented back to the school in a couple of weeks’ time, so look out for our Abstract Flag Display.

JAS Enterprise

JAS Enterprise is well underway with the most enthusiastic and innovative entrepreneurs yet. This term Croc charms seem to be the most in-demand product and Lehara, Ruby, Lila, and Zara have been packaging theirs ready to start selling multipacks this week. Other businesses have researched the market and decided on scrunchies, stickers, rings, stretchy men, and Rubix cubes. Students have completed their income statements and identified the need to keep costs low and revenue high! Watch this space for which business will make the biggest profit.

JAS Sport

JAS Secondary Sport

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

Chess

We are extremely excited to enter the first ever secondary DASSA chess competition next Thursday. Watch this space.

Ultimate Frisbee

Our numbers are slowly growing on a Tuesday evening which is great to see. Please note that Tuesday 13 June will be cancelled due to EOY exams. We will resume on Tuesday 20 June at 7 pm.

What’s On - WC 12 June

Living in the Online World

Helpful Hints

Vaping: What You Need to Know About E-cigarettes

Vapes.mp4

What Are E-cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are electronic devices that heat a liquid and produce an aerosol, or mix of small particles in the air.
E-cigarettes come in many shapes and sizes. Most have a battery, a heating element, and a place to hold a liquid.
Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Some look like USB flash drives, pens, and other everyday items. Larger devices such as tank systems, or “mods,” do not look like other tobacco products.
E-cigarettes are known by many different names. They are sometimes called “e-cigs,” “e-hookahs,” “mods,” “vape pens,” “vapes,” “tank systems,” and “electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).”
Using an e-cigarette is sometimes called “vaping.”

What Is JUUL?

● JUUL is a brand of e-cigarette that is shaped like a USB flash drive. Like other e-cigarettes, JUUL is a battery-powered device that heats a nicotine-containing liquid to produce an aerosol that is inhaled.

● All JUUL e-cigarettes have a high level of nicotine. According to the manufacturer, a single JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes.2

● JUUL is one of a few e-cigarettes that use nicotine salts, which allow particularly high levels of nicotine to be inhaled more easily and with less irritation than the free-base nicotine that has traditionally been used in tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

● News outlets and social media sites report widespread use of JUUL by students in schools, including classrooms and bathrooms.

How Does Vaping Work?

E-cigarettes (or “vape pens”) heat a liquid until it becomes a vapor, which is inhaled. The liquid (e-liquid or “vape juice”) can contain nicotine or marijuana distillate or oil. E-cigarettes can be refillable or pre-filled with cartridges containing the e-liquid. The pre-filled e-cigarettes (called “Puff Bars”) are designed for one-time use. After taking a certain number of “puffs,” the user throws the device away.

What is an e-cigarette aerosol?

E-cigarette aerosol is NOT harmless “water vapor.”

● The e-cigarette aerosol that users breathe from the device and exhale can contain harmful and potentially harmful substances, including:

○ Nicotine

○ Ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs

○ Flavorings such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to a serious lung disease

○ Volatile organic compounds

○ Cancer-causing chemicals

○ Heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead

● The aerosol that users inhale and exhale from e-cigarettes can expose both themselves and bystanders to harmful substances.

● It is difficult for consumers to know what e-cigarette products contain. For example, some e-cigarettes marketed as containing zero percent nicotine have been found to contain nicotine.

What Are the Health Effects of Vaping?

The health risks of vaping include:

● addiction: E-cigarettes contain nicotine, a drug that’s highly addictive. You don’t have to vape every day to get addicted.

● anxiety and depression: Nicotine makes anxiety and depression worse. It also affects memory, concentration, self-control, and attention, especially in developing brains.

● becoming a smoker: People who vape are more likely to start smoking regular (tobacco) cigarettes and may be more likely to develop other addictions in the future.

● sleep problems

● exposure to cancer-causing chemicals

● chronic bronchitis

● lung damage that can be life-threatening

Other health effects are possible that we don’t yet know about. Vaping hasn’t been around that long, so its health risks aren’t all known.

Why parents should be concerned

One problem with vaping is that teens hear that it’s not as bad for your health as smoking cigarettes and many think there is no harm. They really think that they are mostly flavors and that they are inhaling a pleasant gas.

One early study of 12th graders found that children who vaped (but were not previously smokers) were more than four times as likely to “move away from the perception of cigarettes as posing a great risk of harm.” The study and others subsequently have shown that teens who vape are much more likely to start smoking cigarettes.

The packaging does little to convey the risks. “They are very enticing the way they look. It’s not transparent at all. It says 5% nicotine, which sounds like nothing, so teens think 95% is water weight or vapor,”.

In addition, smoking is still, very much, portrayed positively in movies, and products are branded in such a way as to make vaping appear even cooler. But vaping isn’t only for the 'cool kids' — many teens are curious (with flavors like mango, cucumber and crème, who wouldn’t be?) and presented with the opportunity will give it a try.

How to talk to your child about vaping

Parents should start by educating themselves, so they know what they’re talking about going in, and take an inquisitive and curious approach to what their teen’s experience is. The most important thing is to keep it as a dialogue. You may find this Parent Tip sheet and What parents need to know fact sheet useful when engaging in conversation with your child at home.

The obvious reasons why anyone should quit vaping...

Wanting to be the best, healthiest version of yourself is an important reason to quit vaping. Others include:

Addiction: Addiction in the growing brain may set up pathways for later addiction to other substances.

Brain risks: Nicotine affects your brain development. This can make it harder to learn and concentrate. Some of the brain changes are permanent and can affect your mood and ability to control impulses as an adult.

Use of other tobacco products: Studies show that vaping makes it more likely that someone will try other tobacco products, like regular cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, and smokeless tobacco.

Toxins (poisons): The vapor made from e-cigarettes is not made of water. The vapor contains harmful chemicals and very fine particles that are inhaled into the lungs and exhaled into the environment.

Sports: Performing to one's best in sports and teams will be diiffcult as vaping may lead to lung inflammation (irritation).

Money: Vaping is expensive! The cost of the cartridges over time adds up. In addition, when children buy these products illegally they are usually paying additional costs.

To go against tobacco company advertising: Many e-cigarettes are made by the same companies that produce regular cigarettes. Their marketing targets young people by making fun flavors for e-cigarettes and showing young, healthy people vaping. They're trying to make children their next lifetime customers.

Mr Parnell

Deputy Headteacher - Pastoral

Article of Interest

Keeping a Gratitude Journal

How can you keep on top of your literacy skills over the summer? Keep a gratitude journal! Not only will it make you a better writer, help keep those muscles working and keep your brain engaged, it will also make you more reflective and most importantly, thankful for the things you have. Thankful for the opportunities afforded to you; thankful for your experiences; thankful for the people around you.

Imagine if we all took a moment each day to think about what we are grateful for, our lives would be so much happier and more peaceful.

So what is a gratitude journal?

You can find the following article on the National Literacy Trust, Words for Life website, the link is here: https://wordsforlife.org.uk/zone-in/activities/keep-gratitude-journal/

A gratitude journal is a place for you to record the things that make you feel happy.

It's such a simple thing to do but lots of people say they feel calmer or even happier after writing down things that made them happy. At times when things feel difficult or uncertain, it might be helpful to be able to look at this record of happiness to help remind you that things will not always feel this way.

There are lots of different ways to keep this journal. It could be as simple as a list written on a piece of paper, in a notebook or on your phone. But there are also beautiful examples where people use fancy lettering and illustrations to make their gratitude journals a place for being creative. Searching on social media for #GratitudeJournal will give you lots of inspiration.

One of the great things about journaling is that it is totally private, which means you make the rules! How often you write in your journal is up to you. Some people write in their gratitude journal every day but others use it less often.

Feeling creative? Here are 3 ideas to try

1) Try making your own notebook out of recycled paper!

We love this guide but there are plenty more online. Try searching for 'junk journal' or 'book binding' tutorials.

2) Learn the art of hand lettering

A quick internet search for 'hand lettering tutorials' will bring up a huge range of videos and worksheets so find the style of writing you like best and have a go. This playlist on YouTube is a great place to start:

3) Use templates

If drawing isn't your thing, there are lots of downloadable templates to make your journal look gorgeous. We have created a free printable with a different colour of the rainbow for every day of the week.

Download the template

Mrs Horsham

Teacher of English

Looking Ahead

Student Focus/Highlight

Sam Year 10 started learning rock climbing at Mountain Extreme for one of the tasks for his Duke of Edinburgh. He entered a competition at Rock Republic at the weekend that was streamed live. There were over 80 entrants, 6 finalists in the junior competition and Sam came 2nd, he lost 1st place by a hair's breadth. Considering he’s only been doing this for 6 months it was an amazing success especially since most of the people there have been doing it for years. We're sure it’ll be the first of many competitions for him.

Staff Profile

Emma Collery - Teacher of Science

Emma comes from the north-west coast of Ireland and knew from an early age that she would be involved in education. Science has always been her passion so this has steered her towards her current path. After finishing her Educational Science degree at the University of Limerick, she taught in London for a number of years before moving to Dubai over seven years ago. Emma has taught across many curricula including IB and A-levels and she has recently completed a MA in Education.

In her spare time, Emma enjoys Gaelic football and camogie but at a spectator level at this stage! She is grateful for the travel opportunities she has had during her time in Dubai, some of her favourite experiences include trekking to Everest Base Camp and Trolltunga in Norway.

Emma joined JAS in September 2021 and enjoys working in the fantastic all female Science department. Emma believes kindness and resilience are the most important core values. At JAS, Emma enjoys the kindness and respect between all members of the JAS community. Emma feels that resilience is an integral skill for everyone to enable us to face challenges, bounce back from setbacks, and persevere in adversity to achieve our goals.

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