Volume 4, Issue 32 Thursday 19 May 2016 https://www.facebook.com/KingsSchoolAlBarsha https://www.linkedin.com/company/kings-schools Dear Parents Following last week’s music recital, the Expressive Arts Suite at Kings’ Al Barsha has taken on a very different. but no less important. function this week as the setting for making history for Kings’ Education as our new school took it’s first step into the future with our first ever cohort of students sitting their GCSE Science Examinations. While that was going on, other students across the younger year groups sat international tests in English, Mathematics and Science. This was a huge week of assessment for our students and my sincere thanks go out to the dedicated team of staff who ensured this whole process ran smoothly for the young people involved. I am confident that they will do well! The Black Box also witnessed a very entertaining and thought-provoking Assembly by Mrs Fantham (Deputy Headteacher) on another of our Kings’ Learners Behaviours (KLB). Mrs Fantham challenged our students to make their minds up about the purchase of high-tech goods within a budget constraint in order to perfectly demonstrate the importance of the KLB of ‘critical minds’. To seamlessly complement this, Mr Hurst then explained to the students the importance of this KLB to the game of chess and then proceeded to present the best trophy I have ever seen to the winner of this year’s Kings’ School Al Barsha Chess Champion. I loved the trophy so much that I insisted on a photo for next week’s newsletter with this year’s finalists Mikhail and Ralph. I cannot thank Mr Hurst enough for his contribution to this extra-curricular activity. What other school in the world (over & above Dubai!) would have almost a fifth of its cohort playing in an annual chess championship? A parent this week described him quite simply as ‘the best maths Teacher in Dubai’. #inspired&passionateteachers. Two things that I particularly enjoyed this week involved working directly with our fantastic young people. Firstly, I attended the Guardians of Knowledge Debating Society in our fantastic Library. If we can lay claim to ‘the best maths teacher in Dubai ‘ then we can certainly say the same for our School Librarian. Mahdu is quite simply inspirational in her post and is a large part of the reason why children love reading at our school and more interestingly why it is actually ‘cool’ to read at KSAB. The debate gave me ‘food for thought’ on whether we need to introduce bells as the schools grows in size. Secondly, later in the week I had the pleasure of working with a group of Year 7 students on an ‘anti-bullying’ and ‘restorative justice’ drama production. I have challenged them to help me to present the importance of student happiness & well-being to a large group of our primary school parents next week. Hopefully slightly more entertaining than the powerpoint presentation I had initially planned… In them, I trust. I must take this opportunity to thank Miss Leadbeater for her leadership of the school’s House- system this academic year as we move into the final stages of the highly-prized House Competition. The sporting theme continues with a House Swimming and Charity Running event coming soon. There is a rumour sweeping the campus that I will wear a traditional ‘skirt’ if Stuart House takes the title! ‘Ye Jacobites by Name’… Later in this newsletter you will read more about our amazing swim team. As you know, academic success and competitive sports are important to us as a school and you will read later in the week via an announcement from Kings’ Education about our ambitions in these areas as we seek to offer opportunities to gifted & talented young people across Dubai to join us at Kings’ School Al Barsha via the offer of very selective Academic & Sporting Scholarships. The school is filling up fast and places are at a premium but we are still keen to offer a very small number of places to other ambitious young people who may add another dimension to our talented and happy student body as we open the full capacity of our wonderful new facilities for 2016-17. Alan Williamson Principal Kings' School Al Barsha (Follow me on Twitter AlanDWilliamso1)
Transcript
Volume 4, Issue 32 Thursday 19 May 2016
https://www.facebook.com/KingsSchoolAlBarsha
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kings-schools
Dear Parents
Following last week’s music recital, the Expressive Arts Suite at Kings’ Al Barsha has
taken on a very different. but no less important. function this week as the setting for
making history for Kings’ Education as our new school took it’s first step into the
future with our first ever cohort of students sitting their GCSE Science Examinations.
While that was going on, other students across the younger year groups sat
international tests in English, Mathematics and Science. This was a huge week of
assessment for our students and my sincere thanks go out to the dedicated team of staff who
ensured this whole process ran smoothly for the young people involved. I am confident that they will
do well!
The Black Box also witnessed a very entertaining and thought-provoking Assembly by Mrs Fantham
(Deputy Headteacher) on another of our Kings’ Learners Behaviours (KLB). Mrs Fantham challenged
our students to make their minds up about the purchase of high-tech goods within a budget
constraint in order to perfectly demonstrate the importance of the KLB of ‘critical minds’. To
seamlessly complement this, Mr Hurst then explained to the students the importance of this KLB to
the game of chess and then proceeded to present the best trophy I have ever seen to the winner of
this year’s Kings’ School Al Barsha Chess Champion. I loved the trophy so much that I insisted on a
photo for next week’s newsletter with this year’s finalists Mikhail and Ralph. I cannot thank Mr Hurst
enough for his contribution to this extra-curricular activity. What other school in the world (over &
above Dubai!) would have almost a fifth of its cohort playing in an annual chess championship? A
parent this week described him quite simply as ‘the best maths Teacher in Dubai’.
#inspired&passionateteachers.
Two things that I particularly enjoyed this week involved working directly with our fantastic young
people. Firstly, I attended the Guardians of Knowledge Debating Society in our fantastic Library. If
we can lay claim to ‘the best maths teacher in Dubai ‘ then we can certainly say the same for our
School Librarian. Mahdu is quite simply inspirational in her post and is a large part of the reason why
children love reading at our school and more interestingly why it is actually ‘cool’ to read at KSAB.
The debate gave me ‘food for thought’ on whether we need to introduce bells as the schools grows in
size. Secondly, later in the week I had the pleasure of working with a group of Year 7 students on an
‘anti-bullying’ and ‘restorative justice’ drama production. I have challenged them to help me to
present the importance of student happiness & well-being to a large group of our primary school
parents next week. Hopefully slightly more entertaining than the powerpoint presentation I had
initially planned… In them, I trust.
I must take this opportunity to thank Miss Leadbeater for her leadership of the school’s House-
system this academic year as we move into the final stages of the highly-prized House Competition.
The sporting theme continues with a House Swimming and Charity Running event coming soon.
There is a rumour sweeping the campus that I will wear a traditional ‘skirt’ if Stuart House takes the
title! ‘Ye Jacobites by Name’… Later in this newsletter you will read more about our amazing swim
team.
As you know, academic success and competitive sports are important to us as a school and you will
read later in the week via an announcement from Kings’ Education about our ambitions in these
areas as we seek to offer opportunities to gifted & talented young people across Dubai to join us at
Kings’ School Al Barsha via the offer of very selective Academic & Sporting Scholarships. The school
is filling up fast and places are at a premium but we are still keen to offer a very small number of
places to other ambitious young people who may add another dimension to our talented and happy
student body as we open the full capacity of our wonderful new facilities for 2016-17.
Alan Williamson
Principal Kings' School Al Barsha (Follow me on Twitter AlanDWilliamso1)
Year 5 – 8 students from Kings’ Al Barsha competed in a swimming gala at DESC School on Thursday 12th May. There was some tough competition and the other
schools present included DESC/DESS, JESS, Nord Anglia and Repton. The Year 7s performed exceptionally well to finish in 4th position, for both the girls and
boys. The race of the day was the Year 7 girls 4 x 50m freestyle relay, consisting of Maya Held, Tabitha Brown, Annabelle Millington and Hattie
Gravestock, who finished in 2nd position overall. A huge well done to everyone involved! I am looking forward to the final gala of the year, which will be a relay
gala, hosted at GEMS World Academy on Thursday 26th May.
Miss Lucas
In Design Technology, the
Year 9s are producing
Alessi inspired book ends.
Within this unit, students
are learning the concept
of how to use existing
iconic designs from
well-known designers to
influence their work
together with developing
woodworking skills by
creating traditional wood
joints.
This House believes………..
As part of the Library’s regular Monday and Thursday Lunchtime Open Debates & Discussions, students
debated whether we should have a school bell and whether schools should be segregated by gender.
The students were delighted to have Mr Williamson and Assistant Head teacher Mr Donaghey join in. They were
both very impressed at the enthusiasm and quality of the arguments and the discipline shown by our
spontaneous debaters. They were also amazed at the professionalism demonstrated by our student
moderators.
These sessions are held in the Library every Monday and Thursday lunchtime. The topics are chosen by students and are open to all. They are moderated by
our very talented Library Knowledge Guardians.
The discussions encourage spontaneity and are run as informal drop-in sessions giving all students an
opportunity to express their points of view on topics relevant to them or just be informed and entertained!
The best by every child
Monday 23 May PIM: Assessment for Learning and changes to the
structure of the school day for academic year 2016-17 -
Wednesday 25 May Year 10 GCSE Science P1 Science Unit 1:
Universal Physics (1 hour)
Thursday 26 May ECAs finish
29 May - 4 June Year 10 Mock Exam Week
Tuesday 31 May Year 6-7 Step-Up Day
Tuesday 31 May Year 6-7 Step-Up Day Parent Meeting 6-7 pm
Wednesday 1 June Secondary Awards Evening 6-7 pm
Thursday 2 June Sports Awards 2-3.30 pm, Primary Hall
Monday 6 June First day of Ramadan (TBC)
Wednesday 15 June Iftar
Wednesday 29 June Q4 reports issued - last day of school for Y7-9 students
Thursday 30 June Year 10 Student-Led Reflection Day (by appointment only)
Thursday 30 June Staff Inset day
Kings’ Learning Behaviours -
Leadership
Leadership in Year 7 PE
Year 7 girls are looking at the New Zealand Haka. Each Haka has a leader and via this cultural tradition, they have been looking at the characteristics of a good leader and
evaluating and improving each others performances.
Year 7 are making great progress in the Arabic
language, giving a full description of the time
along with their timetable and daily routine.
The best by every child
KSAB class & team photographs are now available to view on the Pret a Portrait website
To access these and place your orders, go to:
www.pret-a-portrait.net and input the sitting ID: KABS280216P
Early Bird Discount of 10% is available if you order by 25 May
At lunch time on Tuesday, in our shiny new food technology suite, Miss Bonham and Nurse Nancy replaced the usual soggy sandwiches and dehydrated fruit with an array of healthy,
tasty, vitamin enriched smoothies and snacks! This was all to increase awareness of the importance of eating superfoods as our growing bodies develop. The lucky group of 25 students were given the opportunity to make their own “traffic light” smoothies, tasting
along the way and discussing the flavours. Miss Lucas, Miss Sanderson and Miss Hamid helped at the “guess the ingredients” station, where Miss Lucas offered a delicious
alternative to chocolate spread (made with avocados!) which the students LOVED! Banana Bread, Quinoa Frittatas and a White Bean Dip were also on offer, and the students enjoyed
debating about which healthy substitutes had been used.
The final event was a health-food orientated Quiz, with Halima Gaffar in Year 8 winning the grand prize of a bunch of bananas! Well done to all the staff and students who took part,
and if you missed it this time fear not - we hope to run the event again at the end of May.
Monday 23 May will be the last morning for mixed
rugby touch. I would like to thank all that participated for making it a great success and I hope to see you
If Ramadan does begin on Monday 6th June, the following will apply. The school day for students during Ramadan will be 8.30am - 1.30pm. Students can
arrive from 8.00am and wait in the Black Box. Students will be allowed into the main secondary building at 8:15am.
The school day finishes at 1:30pm for secondary students. INSET day Thursday 30th June - students will not be in school, except by appointment
for Year 10 only.
The parent cafe will remain open for non-fasting students, staff and parents, but will be suitably screened out of respect for those that are fasting & the importance of
Ramadan. The first floor of the Art and D&T building will be used as a designated area for staff and
students that are fasting.
Non-fasting students will continue to have lunch in the Music Recital Room. Students can sit along the outside decking, but will not be permitted to eat or drink in that area.
Please note the timings of the school day below with the change to one break between
period 3 and afternoon registration.
Periods Timing Duration
Morning Reg 8:30 - 8:35 5 minutes
P1 8:35 - 9:15 40 minutes
P2 9:15 - 9:55 40 minutes
P3 9:55 - 10:35 40 minutes
Break 10:35 - 11:00 25 minutes
Afternoon Reg 11:00 - 11:30 30 minutes
P4 11:30 - 12:10 40 minutes
P5 12:10 - 12:50 40 minutes
P6 12:50 - 1:30 40 minutes
Join Ms Gilmartin and Mr Morris on
Wednesday 1 June @ 7.15am on the Astro-turf to run 1KM in support
of Global Running Day. You can earn House Points by taking part! Register your support and
