Year 4 -6 teachers are currently preparing students for the GL assessments and set test style questions within: English, Maths and Science lessons. Our period 6 lessons provide a wonderful opportunity for students to understand the importance of these end of year GL progress tests, which will contribute to their target grade for next academic year. If your child is currently collected at 14:00 and you would like them to stay in period 6 till 14:40 please contact their class teachers to confirm this arrangement. In secondary, teachers across Maths, English and Science from years 7-10 (no Science GL test for year 7’s) are also preparing students for the GL progress tests in lessons. In secondary, the GL Progress tests will contribute 50% to the end of year grade reported on the end of year report.

Information for Remote Learners:

In line with a recent KHDA update that remote learners should get the chance to sit the GL assessments remotely, we are happy to confirm that we are able to facilitate the administration of the GL Assessments from home. This will require you to have access to a laptop, webcam or in-built computer camera, headphones and an internet connection. Please note the tests cannot be taken on an iPad.

If you are a remote learner please click here to signal your intention if you would like to take this test at home. This will need to be completed by Tuesday 8^th June at 12pm. Further details including the timetable, usernames and passwords will be communicated shortly.

Throughout the Year our primary teachers carry out summative and formative assessments to help them plan and prepare lessons. Over the next couple of weeks students will complete work independently in each subject area to help the teachers plan for our final weeks of term and prepare for the next academic year. These tests do not require revision from students and will take place during timetabled lessons for onsite and offsite learners. The weekly schedule for these assessments is as follows:

6^th June - Reading

13^th June -Phonics and Writing

27^th June – Maths reasoning.

These tests do not require any preparation from the students outside of school. However if you would like to support your child at home we encourage you to read regularly with them and check the class weekly update for useful websites and activities. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the class teacher.

During week commencing 13th June, our fantastic year 1 students will participate in the Phonics Screening Check. This short assessment will help class teachers to inform planning for the next academic year and assess students’ knowledge of sounds and application in reading. The students have been preparing for this throughout the academic year, in their Phonics lessons and revision materials and support are found on Seesaw.

If you have any further questions regarding this, please reach out to your child’s class teacher.

As we prepare for what we hope will be a return to more normal school routines for the next academic year, we have been keen to seek your view as to whether you would like a return to on-site learning on Thursdays during this term. The school day on Thursdays would run from 8.00am to 12.00pm with options provided for sibling supervision for parents with other children in the primary phase.

On-site learning on Thursday would be optional and the provision would be designed to enrich learning from the week through language consolidation, mindfulness and PE.

A huge thank you to Foundation Stage parents who completed our Foundation Stage survey. The survey was extended this week and 44% of parents have now responded with 89% of parents expressing a preference for their children to be able to return to on-site learning on Thursdays. We are seeking approval from the KHDA to implement this change to our operating model and will update parents as soon as the KHDA inform us of their decision.

Please do not hesitate to contact Head of FS and Primary Girls, Mrs Sarah Leonard, s.leonard_gns@gemsedu.com should you have any questions in relation to the proposal.

Last week FS2 and KS1 parents received an update on their class dojo page about the preparation taking place for our mixed gender education model in Year 1 – 3 next academic year. Teachers have sent a reminder about this activity, which needs to be completed on Seesaw. Please can parents complete this activity with the child so that we can ensure friends are grouped together next academic year.

This week students in Year 1 and Year 2 students took part in a special where boys and girls were be supervised in the same area. Our young students were very happy to see each other and spoke fondly about their time together in FS. Next week the teachers will continue to provide these transition sessions for our students and continue to follow DHA guidelines with health and safety prioritised. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the class teacher.

This year at GNS, we entered an aspiring team of Year 6 girls and boys to participate in the FIRST Lego League, a global robotics community preparing young people for the future through STEM learning and exploration.

Both teams worked collaboratively to design and code a fun, innovative and inclusive playground in a challenge to provide ‘Fitness for all’.

Team GNS Coders and Team MNFRS worked incredibly hard to showcase their efforts in a live judging session in front of a panel with some challenging questions on core values and teamwork.

Our teams walked away with medals for their solutions and were awarded ‘Team of Coding’ for the girls and ‘Team of Core values’ for the boys team.

Well done to both teams for their team work, innovation and coding skills, a fantastic achievement for GNS!

The students entered are as follows:

Boys team: GNS Coders

Omar Abu Shabaan 6BA

Saif Zainal 6BA

Muhammed Kalla 6BB

Moosa Almoosawi 6BB

Abdulla Kokhardi 6BB

Girls team : Team MFNRS

Maryam Ceyhun Qizi Afandi 6GB

Fatima Ali 6GB

Noor Omar Salahuddin Saeed Binbraik 6GA

Reem Bukashem 6GB

You can also view their video presentations through the below links:

Team GNS Coders:

https://gemsedu-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/p/n_kaushal_gns/EUpH7bwgT15Npqc0uCW6dlsB7nR-LN3JCgb8qL2LS36-tQ?e=DZLQcu

Team MFNRS:

https://gemsedu-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/p/n_kaushal_gns/EXz0R0F27d1HuYtcP-T1TJ0Bzu6zh0GSwBh3jpoTdM_2FA?e=TQRceq

Miss Sarah was delighted to be joined by Miss Lucy and Miss Tabatha, our Maths and Science leads, to explain the GL assessments for Year 4-6. Teachers in Year 4-6 will upload the presentation to Class Dojo so you can read through it if you missed it.

Please do reach out if you any questions:

l.astwood_gns@gemsedu.com Lucy Astwood Maths Lead

t.dickson_gns@gemsedu.com Tabatha Dickson Science Lead

s.patel_gns@gemsedu.com Serena Patel English Lead

a.motala_gns@gemsedu.com Anisa Motala Phonics Workshop

Thank you for supporting and encouraging your child through the Key Stage 4 i/GCSE option subject selection process. We are pleased to announce that this week confirmation letters have been sent to all year 9 parents confirming student option choices for Key Stage 4 (Year 10 & 11) study. If you have any questions please do contact your relevant Head of Secondary.

Boys: v.maiella_gns@gemsedu.com

Girls: t.hadfield_gns@gemsedu.com

Following the mock exams’ period, Year 11 students will take part in daily academic and pastoral activities that will bridge their way to post 16. During the month of June, Year 11 girls and boys will attend taster lessons and engage in bridging units for the selected subjects. These lessons are designed to consolidate Year 11 learning and give the students a clear idea about the content of the options they have selected for Year 12. Mrs Paola, our school counsellor, will provide pastoral guidance that is needed at this critical stage. We look forward to making the coming weeks highly beneficial and informative for our students. A calendar of events will be shared next week that will highlight all deadlines and activities. Celebrating our Year 11 students’ hard work remains on top of our plans this term. Year11 graduation will take place at the end of June. Details will follow in future communication.

Next week we will be celebrating world environment day and we are excited to invite you to take part in a new competition sponsored by DELL and Emirates NBD to design and Eco message for an Eco T-shirt! The closing date for this competition is the 13th June and the winning prize is 150 t-shirts made from recycled plastic with the winning design printed! To take part complete linked form and send your entry to ella.clemits@dgrade.com. The DGrade team will post the t-shirt design on their Facebook page with the name of our school and the student who entered. Their judging board will select the most inspirational t-shirt that meets ALL of the following requirements; used the attached form, drawn design in designated area, the design theme is recycling plastic to motivate people to recycle and the design includes the #SimplyBottles. Judges will be looking for creativity, an eco message, eye appeal and originality. Good luck and we look forward to seeing your entries!