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House Captain elections took place this morning, with students in Year 6 making some very impressive 2 minute speeches as to why they should be selected. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 had the difficult task of casting a vote out of approximately 30 candidates.

We are very pleased to announce that The British International School Abu Dhabi will be hosting the prestigious U15 BSME Games 2014 (British Schools in the Middle East).

Throughout the months of October and November, Years 5, 6 and 7 will have the opportunity to participate in their respective school camps. The camps will be run by North Star, under the supervision of the BIS Abu Dhabi staff.

Parents are reminded that the 2013/14 yearbooks can be collected from the main reception. If you did not purchase a yearbook but would like to, the good news is there are still some copies available.

Congratulations to our Year 11 students for their excellent GCSE results received in August 2014. We are really proud of our students for their hard work and dedication, and we look forward to building on the success of our students further.

So what did you do over the summer? Go on holiday? Work on your tan? Catch up with old friends? All legitimate leisure time pursuits, but one BISAD student makes all that seem woefully inadequate. Her answer to the above question: “I published a book.” Amidst the hustle and bustle of the first day back, IB student Sehar Raza (aged 16) was quietly clutching an interesting looking novel which she had impressively written over the last eighteen months and published over the summer holidays!

On Thursday 28th August, we received notification that the Ministry of Education instructed ADEC (Abu Dhabi education council) to change the dates to ensure 3 weeks break at the end of Term 1. As such, Term 2 will now begin on Sunday 11th January and in order to ensure 190 instructional days, the February half term has been removed.

With two successful orientation days behind us, our priority now is to get everybody back to school, settled into the routines of school life and feeling at home. Find out all the information you need on back to school practical arrangements for both returning and new students.

We are most looking forward to holding our Orientation Days for children and parents at 9am-12.30pm on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th August 2014.

Starting school for the first time is an important and exciting time for your child. Nicola Exley, an Early Years Foundation Stage year group leader at The British International School Abu Dhabi, is often asked by parents “How can I help my child to be ready for starting school?” Here are a few key ways in which you can support your child to prepare for their new venture.

The process of recruiting high quality staff to join our exceptional team of practitioners is one of the most important aspects of the role of school leader. It is a process which began way back in December 2013 and continues throughout the school year. After months of interviews and UK visits, during which we took potential candidates through the rigorous interview process, the following team of staff has been successfully appointed to join our talented Primary team and we look very much look forward to their input and the expertise as they work with us to drive our standards forward even further.

As you are aware we have a new Head of Secondary Mr Craig Mclaren joining us in August, and we are looking forward to his imminent arrival. Mr Mclaren has already been in touch with a number of staff and from the moment he joins us will be hitting the ground running. Of course he won’t be the only new starter; we have a variety of new faces joining our talented team.

Assemblies took place during the last week of school, with children having the opportunity to thank our ancillary staff for their hard work throughout the year and present them with gifts of a 100 AED gift voucher and 80 AED in cash.

The annual Year 1 spelling bee took place today. 4 children from each of the Year 1 classes took part, each representing their house. All participants from Ash, Willow, Oak and Elm worked hard to spell words which they have learnt throughout their time in Year 1.

Abu Dhabi Education Council, in collaboration with Tadweer and Save the Grace (Hefth Al Ne’ma) Project, are launching an initiative to encourage volunteer work among students, and involve the local community in humanitarian work. As part of this, they are encouraging parents to donate your children’s unwanted school bags and stationary items (such as crayons, pencils, etc.) which will be given to those less fortunate.

Last week has seen the last of the Foundation Stage trip to ‘My First Gym’. It has been a great learning experience not only with the children’s physical development but also for their understanding of what it means to keep healthy and that a balanced diet, exercise, personal hygiene and sleep contributes to this.

On the first day the children were able to taste what secondary life would be like and conducted themselves in a mature way with nothing but praise from all the teachers they met. The English department arranged a very interesting and tasty lesson and during their Science lessons children were able to create and hold fireballs!

Almost 60 students in Year 10 began their work experience program. For an entire week, students have an opportunity to experience life in the world of work, develop the skills that they have been learning in school and begin their first steps towards a future career. A large number of companies and institutions in the area have worked hard to arrange programs and activities for students so that they get a true feel for what it’s like to work there.

We are the Eco Warriors and we are trying to make not just the school but you more eco friendly. Eight people make up this group. We are James, Doug, Imaam, Zayed, Abdulrahman, Ruby, Yvette and Elias.

Introducing our inaugural Primary School ‘Reading in an Unusual Place’ competition this summer – to enter, students need to have a photograph taken of themselves reading in the most unusual (safe!) place you can think of during the summer break.