Newsletter Issue 76 – Thursday 10th May 2018

Simon Sinek is known for talking about the successful philosophy of companies and individuals finding their ‘Why’. It seems common sense but is often missed. At DESS, over the past 55 years, we have firmly established our ‘Why’: the children and their community that raises and educates them.

The standing ovation on the last night of the Year 6 performance and the pride felt last week was one of those moments where we (staff, parents and children) remember why, on our first visit through the gates, we all chose DESS. As it says on Mrs Shaddick-Brady’s pin board in her office “and one bright star outshines them all”, every child and staff member involved in the show, truly did, no matter what their role and in their own unique ways. We couldn’t be prouder of the Broadway worthy performance!

Four people who also had a moment to shine over the past two weeks are our Stars of the Week:

Mrs Mead, Miss O’Boyle and Mrs Hunt: I will let you guess why this incredible Performing Arts team were awarded the star this week!

Miss Wilding’s award was also linked to the performance as she went above and beyond spending a whole weekend finishing the scenery and painting the backdrop so everything was perfect!

Enjoy the weekend break.

Rebecca Eldred

Assistant Headteacher

Ramadan Timings

Please be advised that DESS will be implementing Ramadan timings from Wednesday 16th May 2018 for logistical reasons, unless it is called earlier.

Start of each day

FS1 - Year 6: The school day will start at 8:00am for all children. The school gates will be open from 7:45am.

Finish times

FS1: The school day will finish at 12.30pm everyday as usual for FS1 children.

FS2 - Year 6: The school day will finish at 1:00pm for all children from Sunday to Wednesday.

FS2 - Year 6: The school day will finish at 12:50pm as normal for all children on Thursdays.

We anticipate that there will be delays, due to increased traffic, at both drop-off and pick-up times. Please allow plenty of time for your journey so that you are on time to collect your child/children, as staff will need to promptly vacate the school site by 1:30pm.

The DESS Café will be open from 12:15pm as a cool space to wait but will not be serving refreshments.

Aladdin Production

Last week saw the amazing performance by Year 6 of Aladdin. The children have been working on the show since January and it was fantastic to finally see it all come together. Every child acted, danced and sang their hearts out and were rewarded with a standing ovation for their efforts. A production like this does not happen with the rub of a lamp and we were extremely lucky to have so many people involved. A huge thank you to all the fantastic parents who gave up their time so willingly to decorate the hall, do hair and make-up and make numerous trips to Satwa. Thank you to Glenn Lloyd and Emma Devine for helping the children with their acting skills. Tracey Wilding and DESPA ensured that all the children and Latifa Hall looked amazing by organising the colourful costumes and staging. Thank you to Reniel Nueda, Sujesh Ovallath, Malachy McGrogan and the fantastic site staff for making sure that everything ran smoothly. And finally a huge thank you to the Year 6 team for putting in so much effort with the children. It was a wonderful way for the Year 6 children to finish their Performing Arts journey at DESS and hopefully they will have memories of it for many years to come.

Year 6 F1 in Schools

To kick-off Term 3, Year 6 children were set the STEM challenge of creating and managing their own Formula One teams. In teams of 3 or 4, the children gathered sponsorship from companies around Dubai, branded their companies with merchandise, created their cars using a range of computer aided design and finally created a formal presentation to showcase their teams and cars. All of this in a two-and-a-half-week period! On Tuesday 24th April, the children blew our minds with the exceptional quality of their stalls and presentations. The skills and attributes they have gathered from all of this year’s IQ180 projects really shone through. They all showed maturity beyond their years and made everyone associated with Year 6 very proud. Unfortunately, only 4 teams could make it through to the final (it was only supposed to be three but F1 in Schools have allowed DESS to have four finalists as the four teams could not be split). The successful teams for this year were: Elite (6R), Black Mambas (6Y), Bolting Blizzard (6R) and Lightning Falcons (6Y). These teams will now go forward to represent DESS at the National Finals on the 12th May in Abu Dhabi. Sponsorship money raised but not used during the competition will now be collated and given to our school charity, Dubai Cares. Once all the money has been received, the final amount raised will then be shared through a message on the portal. On behalf of all of Year 6 teachers and children, thank you to all parents and sponsors for the fantastic support and effort in this project.

DESS Eco Warriors

The Eco Warriors have been continuing to see how we could improve the environment in our DESS community. We realised that the DESS Café was using polystyrene plates for all meals. So, we decided to create a poster campaign to encourage the use of proper plates. Once we were armed with our persuasive posters, we approached Tracey in the café and told her about our issues. Happily, she wholeheartedly agreed with us and informed us that the DESS Café had already stopped using straws as they are not biodegradable. Swiftly following our meeting with her, the DESS Café now have reusable plates and cutlery. Well done Tracey and her team.

The children have also been going around the school carrying out their litter picking duties. To their horror, on one day they were able to fill up two bags of rubbish from around the site. To help combat this, the children have created an eco-awareness video which can be viewed on YouTube.

Please follow the link below to view: https://youtu.be/l5ntBGcanKI

Our Eco Warriors have also asked if we can have a whole school anti-litter poster competition. The winning 5 entries will be enlarged, laminated and displayed around the school grounds.

Please send your posters to Mr Walsh in 2 Green by Thursday 17th May.

Last week, Mr. Rycroft, the Site Manager visited us and talked about the environmental dangers that batteries can have when placed in traditional rubbish tips. Therefore, he has asked if the children in the school could design a bin for old batteries. Amazingly, he stated that the winning entry will be transformed into a real bin. Please again send your entries to Mr Walsh in 2 Green by Thursday 17th May.

Meanwhile, the Eco Warriors are continuing to monitor energy usage throughout the school by checking if lights are needed and whether interactive whiteboards and air conditioning units are being managed properly. The Eco Warriors are definitely making an environmental difference in our school.

KS2 Music Showcases All of the children in Key Stage Two have been working extremely hard this year on the new instrumental programme that we introduced last September. Year Three started to learn the Recorder, Year Four the Ukulele, Year Five took on the Violin and Year Six have mastered the Guitar. On the back of this we would love to show you what the children have accomplished and we invite you to attend one of our five showcases in May. The dates are as follows: Tuesday 22nd May: Three Yellow, Four Yellow, Five Yellow, Six Yellow

Wednesday 23rd May: Three Red, Four Red, Five Red, Six Red

Monday 28th May: Three Green, Four Green, Five Green, Six Green

Tuesday 29th May: Three Blue, Four Blue, Five Blue, Six Blue

Wednesday 30th May: Three Orange, Four Orange, Five Orange, Six Orange There will also be some individual performances from children and an amazing spectacle from the DESS Dance Squad each morning. The showcases will take place in Latifa Hall from 8am to 9am. We look forward to seeing you all there.

No Worries Week – 14th to 20th May 2018

Drawing closer to the end of the school year and Ramadan, it is a perfect time to reflect and think about our behaviour, moods and wellbeing. Both at school and home, thinking about our stress footprints and the choices we make can help to improve our mental health.

As a school, we will be raising awareness of Mental Health by completing different wellbeing and mindfulness exercises daily and using our ‘Tigger’ approach to help bounce back and develop our resilience.

Stars of the Week

We are proud to announce that the following children each received Star of the Week. Each child received a certificate during assembly and a big round of applause from their teachers and fellow classmates. Well done to everyone!

Thursday 3rd May Thursday 10th May Ciara Smyth FS2B Sharelle De Menezes FS2B Altus Beyer FS2G Alexandra White FS2G Erin McLean FS2O Emma Viadas FS2O Abdullah Siddiqui FS2R Tamannaa Khanchandani FS2R Felix Newton FS2Y Ekaagra Singh FS2Y Elsa Young 1B Henry Milne 1B Rafi Parkinson 1G Tyler Porter 1G George Kasparis 1O Chaewon Lee 1O Lana El-Ali 1R Kassandra Dymond 1R Sulaiman Khamlichi 1Y Akshobh Atreya 1Y Ellie Sheath 2B Cooper Cahill 2B Riley Lord 2G Martim Ramilheira 2G Tamara White 2O Mason Booth 2O Ayaan Esmail 2R Isabella McGeehan 2R Gabriella Mathias 2Y Isabel Osei-Ntem 2Y Aaron Davidson 3B Dylan Henry 3B Erin O’Boyle 3G Joseph Randall 3G Maira Shah 3O Abi Wallis 3O Evelina Makriyianni 3R Keenan Powel 3R Sohan Jayasinghe Arachchige 3Y Rian Winters 3Y Noah Subel 4B Soha Anser 4B Amelie Lewis 4G Flora Hogan 4G Maisie Heywood 4O Yasmin Khaid-Adeti 4O Ilaakshi Saha 4R Ilaakshi Saha 4R Sami El Moshalgi 4Y Saiyan Pankhania 4Y Isabella Chamberlain 5B George Roberts 5B Lucy Christopher 5G Shannon De Silva 5G Xanthe Vallance 5O Miya Galvin 5O Maria Dee 5R Rian Higgins 5R Isabella Vidal Nel 5Y Zachary Lake 5Y Angelina Nair 6B Shiven Tanwani 6B Sabrina Sheriffdeen 6G Vaughan Dingle 6G Banafsheh Saklatwalla 6O Seb Small 6O Nick van Loon 6R Josh White 6R Arya Ranjan 6Y Georgia Kirk 6Y

Arabic Stars of the Week

Abigail Main Garcia Year 1 Aoife Carbery Year 1 Clark Ford Year 2 Samuel Bradford Year 2 Zara Manning Year 3 Cillian Rouse Year 3 Khadija Aziz Year 4 Anaya Ahmed Year 4 Jack Ford Year 5 Hafsa Aneel Year 5 Aarav Jha Year 6 Kanz Al Temimi Year 6

Team Angel Wolf

The whole school was invited to a talk on Thursday 26th April led by Mr Nick Watson from Team Angel Wolf who shared their own personal experiences and inspired us to live our best versions.

On Wednesday 9th May, Team Angel Wolf invited a limited number of children to join a programme, where the children were able to interact, play and assist children of determination, who were also invited to join in the programme. This was held after school at the beach and in the sea, having fun, games and races, with the use of floating wheelchairs. It was a great platform for children, to create true integration and inclusion with lots of natural, active play and fun, to be enjoyed ‘together’.

We hope that this can be a more regular opportunity to give more children a chance to participate and learn from each other.

Team Angel Wolf were pleased to have DESS join them at the beach and a big shout out to the amazing students who represented DESS! Rio and his friends loved playing and working with them, it was a very special moment when Thomas entered the water for a swim conquering a fear he once had and overcoming it thanks to the love and support shown by our children. A special shout out to the thoughtful Zach Stott who remembered Rio's birthday and took him a special birthday gift! Please take a look at the DESS website to see the video of this wonderful afternoon.

Respect and Tolerance Week – All Different All Equal 22nd – 26th April 2018

The children all showed their support when raising awareness for the UAE’s Anti-Bullying week at the end of April. Our focus was on Respect and Tolerance; here at DESS we value the children’s health and wellbeing making sure that every child has an enjoyable childhood but also understanding their responsibilities within their community. Raising that awareness of how we are all different but equal, unique in our own way and accepting was the focus of our special week. The whole school shared time to discuss and share their thoughts and ideas during this week in class, all tying in with their Moral Education Topics.

Our DESS library shared age related texts to encourage circle time and discussions led by their classroom teacher. Our week ended by wearing ‘odd socks’ to show we are all different and all equal.

Community News

Congratulations to DESS Year 4 students

Sienna Norris (4B) and Kiva McMurren (4Y)

who were awarded the Player of the Year

trophies (U9s and U10s) at the end of

season Dubai Hurricanes Netball event at

the Jumeirah Beach Hotel on the 28th

April. Well done Sienna and Kiva!

DSIB Inspection Report

Please be advised that the DSIB Inspection Report was published yesterday on the KHDA website

and is also available on the DESS Website. Upon reading the report you will notice we have

increased our number of outstanding indicators, and will continue to do so this coming year.

Year 5 Athletics Transition Event at DESC

52 children from Year 5 who have attended athletics club at DESS were invited up to DESC to take part in a festival of athletics recently. Children took part in 8 different athletic activities on the day, gaining points at each activity for their respective teams along the way. Well done to Team Yellow who gained 1st place, followed by Team White 2nd and Team Red in 3rd. Special mention to Isla Edgar (5B) who was nominated as girl athlete of the day and Harry Davison (5O) boy athlete of the day! Thank you to Harrison and MacKenzie, Year 13 BTEC Sports Studies students at DESC who ran the event, as well as the Year 10 and Year 12 DESC helpers.

Quran Awards Assembly

Congratulations to all children who

participated in the Quran competition and

well done to all medal winners. We had a special guest from the Islamic

Affairs and Charitable Activities

Department, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Zahid, who

happily joined us to mark this celebration

and to present the medals to the winners.

Upcoming Events

Please note that as the DESS Newsletter is biweekly, please refer to the Parent Portal in the first instance in case there is a date change. FS1 Superhero Dress up Day Sunday 13th May

Arabic Award Ceremony Sunday 13th May (8am – 9am) Latifa Hall

DESS Record Breaker Swim Gala Monday 14th May (2.45pm – 4.15pm)

4B & 4R Dubai Frame Trip Tuesday 15th May

Quran Workshop for Parents Tuesday 15th May (8am – 8.30am)

4Y & 4O Dubai Frame Trip Wednesday 16th May

4G Dubai Frame Trip Thursday 17th May

Years 5 & 6 Maths Challenge Thursday 17th May (8am – 12.30pm JESS AR)

Yellow Musical Showcase Tuesday 22nd May (8am – 9am)

Quran Workshop for Parents Tuesday 22nd May (8am – 8.30am)

Red Musical Showcase Wednesday 23rd May (8am – 9am)

Staff Inset Day (No Students in School) Sunday 27th May

Green Musical Showcase Monday 28th May (8am – 9am)

FS1 Transition Meeting Monday 28th May (8am – 8.30am)

Blue Musical Showcase Tuesday 29th May (8am – 9am)

Quran Workshop for Parents Tuesday 29th May (8am – 8.30am)

Orange Musical Showcase Wednesday 30th May (8am – 9am)

House Afternoon Thursday 31st May (10.30am – 12.30pm)

Quran Workshop for Parents Tuesday 5th June (8am – 8.30am)

ME League Quiz at Hartland School Tuesday 5th June (8.30am – 12.30pm)

FS1 Fab Finish Wednesday 6th June (7.45am – 9.45am)

Year 6 Leavers Party Wednesday 20th June (5pm – 9pm) Palace Hotel

New FS1 Parents Presentation Wednesday 20th June (3.30pm – 4.30pm)

Year 6 House Day at DESC Sunday 24th June

Sports Awards Assembly Monday 25th June (8am – 9.30am)

FS2 New Parent Presentation Monday 25th June (3.30pm – 4.30pm)

Year 6 Leavers Assembly Wednesday 27th June (8am – 10am)

End of Term 3 Monday 2nd July 2018