News for 23rd April 2015

Message from Principal

Dear Parents

Today I was expecting to write something quite different but I have just finished a 5-hour long meeting with the surprise KHDA/DHA inspection team.

They came to ensure that our facilities, procedures and documentation were all in order.

Surprise inspections are, in my opinion, a very good thing. They show a team what a school is really like and I am on record as having stated that schools can sometimes achieve higher ratings than they deserve by cynically “gaming” inspections.

In any event this was a compliance inspection not a grading inspection and we have not yet had any official confirmation of our status (that will come in a matter of days).  However one gets a feeling from informal (unofficial I should add!) signals from the inspection team that they were impressed with our school.

One area they did comment on was that they were very impressed (rightly so) with our students.

I have to say that the students reminded even me as I walked around with the team about why our school is truly outstanding.

No school is perfect; no Principal should rest on his or her laurels, which are after all merely borrowed from the teachers and students. But…if you will permit me, on this day I have decided to take a brief moment on all our behalves and will say

“Well Done” to all of us we should be very proud.

Have a lovely weekend

Michael Embley

Message from Head of Primary

The big news at NAS Dubai this week was, of course the announcement of our participants in the Global Orchestra. The announcement was made in a special assembly on Wednesday in front of the children from Years 1 to 8. I was so proud to hear that Isabelle Pearson had been chosen to attend the summer school in New York, which will culminate in a performance from the NAE Global Orchestra. Isabelle will be singing in the choir, which consists of 35 pupils from all across the NAE family of schools. We are sure that she will have a fabulous time in New York and that she will be a fantastic representative of NAS Dubai. Two talented students from our secondary school will join her and I know that Mr Cullinan is equally proud.

Elizabeth Lamb

Message from Head of Secondary

This week in secondary we had the opportunity to celebrate a number of successes with Livvy Tomlinson and Alex Rantala representing NAS at the first ever ‘Green Energy Council Meeting’ in Abu Dhabi, Ellen Coughlan and Sarina Kosrow visiting the top of the Burj Khalifa as a result of outstanding attainment in our literacy challenges and now Christopher Ghantous and Walid Al Zarooni will be representing our secondary in New York as part of the Global Orchestra.

On Monday we had cyberbullying.org in school who met with our parents and students about being safety online. This was an excellent and informative session and thank you for all the feedback. I know that a number of you are now taking the opportunity to engage in dialogue with your children regarding the use of mobile phones and the internet. 

The next parent session taking place will be an introduction to ‘my maths’ led by Mr Ormston.. It will allow you to gain an insight into how this software impacts on student learning and how you can support them at home. I will be able to confirm the date next week.

Finally I would like to thank Mr Malcolm, Miss Rault and Miss Hassan for their organisiation of the French trip. The celebration event that was held on Monday was amazing and truly highlighted for me the reasons we offer school trips. This experience is one our students will never forget and only happens when dedicated teachers are willing to organise these opportunities for learning beyond the classroom.

Liam Cullinan

Sports Report

On Thursday 16th April NAS welcomed both Dubai British School (DBS) and Emirates International School (EIS) for the final contact rugby matches of the season. First up for NAS Dubai was DBS,  NAS was looking to exact revenge after they had been beaten in a tight contest only one month earlier.

The heat didn’t bother NAS who started the game at a frantic pace with Callum Hamilton, the team captain, once again proving his ability and strength to fend off would be tacklers and score two early tries. Liam Alderson, managed to secure several vital turnovers at the breakdown, took his opportunity to score out wide. Rory Collins also evaded the defense to score a well-deserved try. Finn Fehnert and Seb Donnelly were stand out players – tackling everything that came their way, often holding the ball up to win a turn over. The final score was 4-2 NAS.

In the second game against EIS, NAS Dubai once again started strongly and were rewarded for their efforts through further tries to Callum and Liam (2). Amir Murgian finished a superbly worked team try; after the ball went through several set of hands Amir did well to dot down while under pressure. NAS worked hard on defense and only allowed EIS to cross their line once. The final score was 4-1 in favour of NAS.

It was an excellent way to finish the season, all of the boys who have taken part in the contact team this year have done NAS proud, well done to you all. We look forward to much of the same next year!

Daniel Grindrod

PC NEWS

Thank you very much to all who came along to the Family Fun Day.  We hope you and your children enjoyed yourselves ... it certainly looked as if everyone was having a great time!  It was so rewarding seeing the excitement and joy on the children's faces, which we felt made the huge effort involved by everyone concerned so much more than worthwhile.  

We would like to extend a sincere thank you to ALL of you who helped out in the lead up to the event and also of course on the day at your own class stall(s), as well as at the prize booth, ticket desk, beverage stands and Chatter Box Cake stall. Class Reps you all did an amazing job of organising and co-ordinating the running of your stalls. The team effort that went into preparing and running each and every activity was fantastic.  Thank you so much to absolutely everyone for devoting your time ... without all the assistance offered the event would not have been the wonderful success that it was.

Sunday 26th April – South African Freedom Day at Chatter Box Café

Friday 5th June – PA Gala Dinner (invites will be available soon!)

PA Committee

The remaining class photographs will take place on Sunday 26th April.

NAS Dubai News Team