Newsletter 16th October

These 2 weeks have seen a number of VIP visitors from across the Nord Anglia Education family of schools.
Senior leaders from across the globe attended a leadership development course, which was held here in Dubai.
I was one of a number of lead speakers. The main focus was on the skills of leadership and creating/maintaining a world-class school, both academically and pastorally.
There are always a number of things that vie for the attention of any school leader but it is key that their focus stays on doing what is best for the students. This was the main message of the conference. However I will admit that this is easier stated than achieved and young prospective principals (relative to me!) do benefit from taking time to look at their own practices and confirm their decision-making through this lens. Equally I have always found it invigorating to have my own ideas challenged and to take time out to analyse the way in which we at NAS make choices that affect the way in which our pupils experience our school. A lesson that no teacher ever forgets is that one's students (in this case heads of school from across the globe) often teach you far more than you teach them!

Week At A Glance

We will be regularly uploading our ‘Week at a Glance’ onto the parent portal.  This will highlight what events will be happening throughout the school in the coming week.

Last week we recognized Armistice Day with a minutes silence and our secondary school presented assemblies about what Remembrance Day is about.  Year 3 undertook their first field trip to Greenworks Plant Nursery; the photographs and write up will be available soon.

National Day Celebrations & Holidays

The school will be celebrating the 43^rd UAE National Day on 1^st December with in-class activities, traditional treats and coffee for parents, a guest speaker and an Arabic National Day picnic.  Please stay tuned for full details.

The school will be closed on 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th December in recognition of the 43^rd National Day Holiday.  We will reopen on Sunday 7^th December.  Calendar

Sports

Congratulations to our U11 football and netball teams who both played matches at home this week.

Our football team drew 1-1 against Greenfield Community School.  The netball team played a friendly match and lost however they highlighted how well they are progressing as a team!

At the time of sending we did not have a result from the U11 football tournament at DESC.

Book Launch

On Sunday 16^th November at 8am in the Auditorium we’re having a book launch to promote “Wowsers my Trousers” the latest book by our very own Farah Georghiades!

Year 5 will welcome local author Rachel Hamilton into class from 9am – 11am.  She will be working with the children and reading excerpts from her latest book ‘The Case of the Exploding Loo’.

Parent Association

The next PA meeting will take place on Monday 17^th November at 8am.  Location is to be confirmed.  The meeting will focus on class representatives and the Christmas Fayre.  Please join us if you wish to assist.

Class Representatives

NAS Dubai is calling on you to become a parent representative for your child’s class.  We are looking for one, two or even a small group of volunteers per class who will be responsible for (but not limited to):

1. Communicating to the class parents regarding events put on by NAS Dubai Parents Association and Chatter Box Café
2. Coordinating parents and volunteers when it comes time to participate in Parent Association led activities, events and assisting with the Chatter Box Café
3. Being the liaison between the parents, the Parents Association and Chatter Box Café team.
4. Attend the PA meetings to enable you to pass on the relevant information.

We know your time is at a premium, but we hope this invitation will encourage you to volunteer as a class parent-representative.

If you are interested please let your child's classroom teacher know. 

Note for the Week

We live in a world surrounded by technology. And we know that whatever field our students choose to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly hinge on understanding how technology works. But only a tiny fraction of us are learning computer science, and less students are studying it than a decade ago.

That’s why our entire school is joining in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week (Dec. 8-14). Last year, 15 million students tried computer science in one week. This year, we're joining students worldwide to reach 100 million students!

Our Hour of Code is a statement that NAS Dubai is ready to teach these foundational 21st century skills. To continue bringing programming activities to your students, we want to make our Hour of Code event huge.

This is a chance to change the future of education.

See http://code.org/  for details, and help spread the word.

Miss Anisah Hasan

Teacher of Computer Science