May 4th 2014

Dear Parents

I hope that you have had an opportunity to read our DSIB Report which was published last week. We are all delighted and feel that the DSIB have recognised the strengths of GCS which is why we are now ! Some parents have asked us for a more detailed explanation of our Report and so we ‘Good’will be holding a meeting on May 12th at 08:00 am in the Primary Collaboration Room. At this meeting we will be able to explain the school’s developments and the areas that we will continue to focus on for the next year.

I would like to thank everyone who was involved with the DSIB inspection in the school; students, teachers and parents, for their support and hard work to make this rating of . It was certainly ‘Good’a team effort that brought us all together with a common goal…which we achieved.

The DSIB inspectors were very impressed with our school and requested that they highlight one of our students in the KHDA presentation to their Board. They were very impressed with the standard of work and the opportunities that the student had, to showcase his particular talents. The KHDA also phoned me today to ask if they could report on the way in which we teach Arabic in Kindergarten as an example of good practice. Many thanks to the teachers who made this possible.

Our two Global Outreach Programmes were extremely successful and the students have returned from Nepal and Tanzania having had unforgettable experiences. The trips certainly made an impact on their lives and have given them new perspectives on many things. To further develop our Programmes, I was in India last week to try to set up another trip which would be for Grade11 students. The project in India would require the students to design their own scheme in an orphanage in Lucknow. It would be the culmination of the other trips and would satisfy the requirement for the IB Service component. In this way, our ‘Global Outreach’ Programmes would give students opportunities in different parts of the world, developing from a very supervised trip in Tanzania, to a project in Nepal that allows more flexibility, to a project in India that would be designed by the students themselves…but supported by our staff. The’ Global Outreach’ could then develop down the school to incorporate more local service opportunities.

We are very much focused on the International Baccalaureate this term, as our Grade 12 students take their Diploma exams starting tomorrow. The exams continue through May and the results are published early July. Good Luck to all our students, it is a very stressful time and they need our support. Our Grade 5 students are also under pressure as they prepare their ‘Exhibition’. This is the culminating event of the Primary Years Programme and is an independent study based around a theme….which this year is ‘Sharing the Planet’. Students are supposed to show all aspects of the Learner profile in the Exhibition and show evidence of independent inquiry. The students will be presenting their Exhibitions from May 13th in the gym and so please come along and see what our Grade 5 students can produce. Finally, our IB workshops will take place the weekend of May 16th and I am looking forward to welcoming over 200 educators from around the world. School will be closed on May 18th for these workshops and also for our own teacher training.

A reminder to send photos into school so that we can make your identification badge. As our school grows and there are more people on Campus, it is important that we know who everyone is for security reasons. Photos can be emailed to dda@gcschool.ae . Many thanks for your cooperation with this important safety procedure.

On a similar note regarding safety, I have to remind you to please take more care at ‘pick up and drop off’ times in school. Some cars are being driven very dangerously and are also parked in front of the school on the road; others are on the bend approaching school where children are crossing. On several occasions, some parents have been extremely verbally abusive to our security staff. This is unacceptable in any case, but particularly when we instil in our students the need to be respectful to everyone and our students see parents being rude. Please be patient at this time when everyone is in a hurry either to get to school or to leave school! We are a big school and need to follow the procedures which we have implemented to keep our students safe. Thank you.

For those of you who are moving and have items you would like to sell, we will be holding our annual ‘Jumble Sale, Garage Sale, Flea Market, Second- hand stall’ on May 31st.. If you would like to sell your things you can purchase a table for AED 100 through the Secondary Reception. Please talk to Ms Pauline at Reception or send an email to secondary@gcschool.ae to secure your table. The sale will be from 1000 – 1300 but set up will be from 0900.

I look forward to meeting you on Campus or at the next Principal’s coffee on May 30th at 08:00 am.

Kind Regards,

Angela Hollington

Principal