Gharaffa Buzz | Monday 4 March

Dear Parents,

Portugal, Brazil, Qatar, Holland, Germany, Malaysia, England and Sudan were just a few of the countries represented at last week’s FCS coffee morning.  Thank you to all parents who were able to support this event. 

Last Thursday’s assembly, led by 1B was entertaining, quirky and very interesting.  It’s always wonderful to see our children brimming with confidence as they share their learning.  During assembly we found out about the children’s ‘Plants and Flowers’ IPC unit and enjoyed listening to songs which demonstrated their IPC learning.  Well done, to all our 1B children and to Ms Sweeney and Ms Avice for presenting such a lovely assembly.  Also in Thursday’s assembly we presented medals to Ahmed and Sara Hanafy who recently presented Compass at a Judo competition which took place at Beta Cambridge School in Al Wakra.  Both children were presented with medals came in second place.  Well done to both Ahmed and Sara.  Following this, our PE department presented medals and certificates to the Year 3, Year 4 and Year 6 athletics teams, the Year 6 team brought home a number of gold, silver and bronze medals whilst the Year 3 and Year 4 children were presented with certificates for their third place success.  Well done to all our participants.

Last Wednesday, our Year 5 children spent the night in the desert under the stars.  The children had a wonderful time and had opportunity to make friends with children from the Rayyan and Madinat Khalifa campus.  Whilst at the camp, the children enjoyed taking part in a range of activities such as rounders and football, swimming in the sea and participating in team games.  In the evening the children prepared for a talent show, displaying a multiple range of talents such as comedy, singing, dancing and football skills.  The highlight for most was toasting delicious marshmallows around the campfire. Exhausted children and staff arrived back at the school on Thursday.  It was noted how well our Gharaffa children behaved during the trip.  Thank you to all the staff who accompanied the children and created such a memorable experience.

On Friday and Saturday, our Year 5 and Year 6 children competed in the BISQ games (British International Schools of Qatar) hosted by Aspire.  The atmosphere was fantastic as our students fought to win each event, playing against 14 other British International Schools. On Friday, the girls competed extremely well in the football match where they made the semi-finals.  At this point they lost their match, falling into fourth place.  Whilst the match was taking place outdoors, the boys were competing in Basketball inside.  The boys also played extremely well, coming in 10^th place.  Following these two matches, our swimmers demonstrated their skills in the pool.  Once again, the atmosphere was electric as our Compass team won race after race.  The final placing was 3^rd place.  On Saturday, the day began with the boys’ football outside and the girls’ netball inside.  The football match was a very exciting event as the boys demonstrated resilience and determination.  Similar to the girls, the team won match after match, making it to the semi-finals, losing only in the penalty round against Doha College. The boys came in 4^th place. The girls’ netball was also an impressive event as the girls fought well against the other teams, winning some matches and losing others.  Their final result was 9^th place.  Compass once again did well at the Athletics where our athletes demonstrated stamina and skill.  After numerous events, the Compass team came 6^th place.  The final results at the end of the BISQ weekend placed Compass International School Doha in 7^th place.  I would like to take this opportunity to praise all of our children for their hard work this weekend.  I observed some highly skilled sportsmen and women who were determined to succeed and felt very proud to be associated with the school.  I would like to also thank our amazing PE teachers who have worked hard over the past few months to ensure our team were ready for this weekend’s event.  The teachers have arrived early in the morning and given up weekends to train the students.  Thank you to all our PE department, led by Mr and Mrs Lyon, the coaches and Learning Assistants.  We have an exceptional team.  I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the PE teachers from Madinat Khalifa and Rayyan for their hard work and support over the weekend.  Thank you once again to our amazing group of parents for being there to support our athletes.

Yesterday, Ms Reid led an IPC (International Primary Curriculum) workshop.  Thank you to all parents who were able to attend the meeting.

The school is very much looking forward to Maths Day on Thursday.  Please remember to dress your child as a Rock star as ‘Maths Rocks!’

Have a good week.

Karen Wilson

Head of Gharaffa campus