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www.sharjahenglishschool.org Sharjah English School Volume 2 : Issue No. 2 - November 2010 Skipping at SES Foundation Teddy Bears’ Picnic Update on International Award Desert Trip
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www.sharjahenglishschool.org
Sharjah English SchoolVolume 2 : Issue No. 2 - November 2010
Skipping at SES
Foundation
Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Update onInternational Award
Desert Trip
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ContentsFrom The Principal’s Desk 3
Primary NewsPrimary NewsPrimary News 4
All As One 4
Year 5 Desert Safari 5 - 6
Skipping at SES 7
Foundation Autumn Party 8
Foundation Teddy Bears’ Picnic 9
Secondary NewsSecondary NewsYear 9RF Art 10 - 11
Year 11 Geography Fieldwork 12
Key Stage Four Camp 13
Going Green Update 14
International Award Desert Trip 15 - 16
Swim Around The Burj 17
Maths Problem Of The Month 17
Whole School NewsWhole School NewsSES and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 18
Malawi Soft Toy Appeal Update 18
PSG Christmas Fayre 18
Dates For Your Diary 19
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From the Principal’s Desk...
Dear Parents and Friends,
We hope that everyone has had an enjoyable and relaxing Half-Term and Eid. It will help prepare us for the frantic weeks ahead as we tackle many exciting challenges between now and Christmas. The school is echoing to the sound of seasonal music, rehearsals are afoot for the Nativity play, examinations and assessments for GCSE have already begun, many groups are heading off on camping adventures and safaris, and the Christmas Fayre is just around the corner.
Many parents have expressed delight at the impressive rate of progress on the new building. I am delighted to report that construction is on schedule and as people can now appreciate the scope and orientation of the building, we can begin to anticipate the enormous benefits the facility will provide. As part of the new construction the Board of Governors is exploring uses and improvements to other areas of the school site which are currently unused, and together these should all represent a major enhancement of the facilities the school can offer.
ABRSM music examinations began on November 21st. These have been facilitated by the delivery of a new piano. The funding of the piano was made possible through donations and the fund-raising efforts of the music teachers – a special thanks to Mrs. Katy McClane for her efforts here.
As always I thank parents for their support for the school; can I ask that everyone support the PSG’s efforts by attending the Fayre on December 10th? The usual offerings and entertainment will be supplemented by some new stalls and games this year. As well as supporting the school, you have the opportunity to win some wonderful prizes, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, parents and friends.
I would be grateful if parents ensure that they have received recent important letters or communication regarding feedback on school photos and on school gate opening times. There has also been a note for secondary parents on bringing valuables to school. If you have missed any of these, please contact school reception and we can forward you the information.
Regards,
John NolanPrincipal
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News from the Primary School
How quickly this month has 2lown! This must be due to the fact that the number of events and pace of work has been turned up a further notch. Parent/Teacher interviews already seem in the distant past but we do hope you had an informative time meeting the staff.
The children have become very involved with our nominated charity All-‐as-‐One and really enjoy hearing how the money they raised has been spent and seeing pictures of the children they have helped. Please read the article below about the success of our non-‐uniform day for this worthy cause.
The rehearsals for the Festive celebrations are well underway and both staff and children are working hard to ensure that the performances will be polished and entertaining. Do please make a note from the dates below so you don’t miss out on rock and rolling angels, mercenary troops, lame camels and cool carollers.
“The Wimbledon Effect” (when in the weeks following the tennis championships the parks are full of budding Roger Federers ) manifested itself around the school and social areas of Sharjah recently after our visit from the World Skipping Champion! The children’s workshops were thoroughly enjoyed and even the most uncoordinated of pupils and staff attained a very commendable number of skips!
May I take this opportunity of wishing you all a very happy National Day.
Miss Jenefer Race -‐ Primary Headteacher
All As One CharityThe Primary school held a non-‐uniform day on Sunday 31st October to collect money for All As One who were in desperate need to raise Dhs 30,000 to maintain their orphanage in Sierra Leone. We collected a total of Dhs 3,410 and were delighted to present the cheque to Geri Mitchell, a volunteer for All As One. Geri gave a presentation to the children about the charity’s work and life at the orphanage.
Below is an excerpt from the November All As One Newsletter:
Sharjah English School had a special day of raising funds for the children in Sierra Leone. They raised over Dhs 3400 and made a special school presentation of the gift to our Dubai Operations Director, Geri Mitchell. These school children are so dedicated to helping the children in Sierra Leone that they even have a large “All As One” on display at the school, with photos and information about our projects and the kids in our care. It’s such an encouragement!
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News from the Primary School
Year 5 Desert SafariThe Year 5s from S.E.S went on a fantastic desert safari camp. Unfortunately, the safari and the great demonstrations from the instructors only lasted for two days.All of the students were standing in front of the class communicating proudly. Both classes were so excited that they could not wait anymore. The teamwork they did to help each other with their baggage was amazing.On the bus the children were cheering and having a blast. Two hours later, we arrived at the rafting place where the Year 5s learned how to raft and how to make them. Then we swapped groups and our group went kayaking and canoeing. By the way, when we were in the kayaks a 2lying 2ish went into somebody else’s boat and the instructor had to throw it back into the swamp.The guides did a good job of scaring all the kids in the camp (if they wanted to), by saying be careful of the 3s’s: spiders, scorpions and snakes! All the students stayed awake and they were so tired when they woke up. At 6:30am, the activities continued with a little breakfast in the morning. We went sandboarding. It was hard to keep hydrated with the sand boarding. The activities were so exhausting when it got to the end. I enjoyed the team building skills even though some of them were very tricky.Next, we munched our way through lunch and got ready to go back to our families. All the Year 5s were upset that it was the end of the vacation. We had a great time and were thrilled with our adventures.
By Jade Sillere - 5SW
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News from the Primary School
Year 5 Desert SafariLast Wednesday we went on a safari trip. In the bus we were singing Degu Degu and lots of other songs.
When we arrived everybody was shou:ng hurray, yes, and uhoooo! But we didn’t go in our tents. First, we went to a motel to get changed. There were a lot of cats and there was a thing for the chickens. It was so funny and when I got in there were a lot of a geckoes. I was so scared.
We then went kayaking. It was so funny; I thought we were going to be two in the same kayak but no, I was by myself. We also went canoeing and we were three in a canoe. Some people were preFy scared, because the instructors at Ecoventure told us that there were s:ngrays!! Actually I don’t know what a s:ngray is but when I saw the faces of the others, I knew that it was maybe not very good. But I was okay because the instructor would not take us to a dangerous place.
We played lots of games that were awesome and some:mes a liFle bit difficult. I can’ t remember the name of the river.
AJer, when we arrived at our tents it was so cool because we played and then we had a campfire and a talent show. AJer that we ate marshmallows. I had never eaten marshmallow like this but it’s very good. I loved them
In the morning aJer breakfast we went on the sand boards! The sand boarding instructor showed us how to fall. It was so funny! First I sat on the board but on the second go I stood up and the third :me also! AJer it was more, more MORE!! Mrs Stubbs also went on the board.
Thanks Mrs Stubbs! Thanks Ecoventure! It was one of the most fabulous days I have ever had. Thanks.
Written by Elio) Sistac
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News from the Primary School
Skipping at SESOn November 9th and 10th Harold and Jamie from Skipping Workshops visited the Primary School. Over the two days they conducted differentiated workshops for all the classes from Year 1 to Year 6. Children were challenged by a variety of ‘skips’ including Crossover, hopping on one leg, Double Dutch, French skipping and Pretzels. Older children were also shown a new competitive skipping game called 'Rotation Points'.
Skipping helps develop co-ordination, co-operation and communications skills, and is an activity that boys and girls can do together. As a regular activity, skipping can improve fitness and is accessible to anyone with a rope. Everyone who took part, including some teachers, will also testify that it is very hard work. The buzz of excitement and smiling faces at each session were a testament to how much the children enjoyed the workshops. Whether anyone will become adept enough to challenge Jamie’s place in the Guinness Book of Records, remains to be seen.
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Foundation News
Autumn PartyOn Sunday 31st October the children in the Foundation Stage had an Autumn Party. The children were really excited before the event and to add to the occasion the children created lots of fantastic artwork to decorate their Foundation area.On the day the children came to school dressed in a fantastic array of fancy dress costumes. The children really enjoyed the party games and there was some really creative and active dancing during the dance competitions!A great day was had by all.
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Foundation News
Teddy Bears’ Picnic (Song)If you went down to the garden that dayYou were sure of a big surprise.If you went down to the garden that dayYou'd see the children in disguise.
For every child that ever there wasWas gathered there for certain, becausethat was the day the teddy bears had their picnic.
Every teddy bear, that's been goodwas sure of a treat that dayThere were lots of wonderful things to eatAnd wonderful games to play
On the 8th November the Foundation children had a teddy bears’ picnic in the school’s gardens. The children were very excited to bring their bears that day and really got into the spirit of the occasion by dressing up as bears. The picnic got off to a fun start with teddy games and finished with a teddy bear’s story.
A really great day was had by all.
Teddy Bears’ Picnic
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News from the Secondary School
ARTYear 9RF have been working in both two point perspective
and three point rounded p e r s p e c t i v e w i t h s o m e excellent results. They were asked to design a city of the future and be creative with
their building designs. They have exper imented w i th different mediums and worked with dark to light tones to create shadows.
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News from the Secondary School
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News from the Secondary School
Year 11 Geography FieldworkYear 11 recently started their Geography GCSE controlled assessment by completing a fieldtrip to the Jumeirah Palm. The students were investigating the impact that The Palm is having on natural coastal processes such as long shore drift. The day was very successful with the students working hard to collect all the data they needed to write up their investigation. After the fieldwork we just had enough time for a quick ice cream and a game of beach volleyball.
Look out in the New Year for more news from the Geography Department.
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News from the Secondary School
Key Stage
Four CampThe KS4 students went on a camping
trip on Thursday 28th October along with six members
of staff. It was a fantas:c school trip, star:ng with all the students walking 3.2km up the
hill to the campsite. Following that all the students had to set up their own tents. Although it took a while it was definitely a great laugh. We finished the day playing games, having a barbeque, presen:ng our talents and singing around the camp fire while ea:ng marshmallows. The next morning we packed up and con:nued our journey back to school. It was a great experience and a fantas:c trip; thank you to the staff that organized it! Gaby Toledo
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News from the Secondary SchoolFlame TreesThe ‘Going Green Club’ initiative to encourage tree planting by having students and parents sponsor a flame tree has been a tremendous success. To date there have been over 150 trees planted on the school grounds and the tree ‘owners’ will receive certificates identifying the location of their tree, and will be able to assist with watering and maintaining the tree if they wish.
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News from the Secondary School
Coming towards to the end of our Half-‐Term Eid holiday, the Interna:onal Award Students came together to prepare for their expedi:on. On Thursday 18th November, all 38 students arrived at school at 8am, to start their long journey to the desert. We arrived there at about 9.30am, and had a couple of expedi:onary groups with us to go through naviga:ng, GPSs and maps. We all started the trek at about 10am, and spent 5 hours trekking in the desert. As it was a hot sunny day, the sand was soJ and the trek was long and :ring; for the first day we did a trek of 12 km.
We seFled into the campsite at about 4pm. All the groups had to put up their tents and cook their own dinner. The next morning we woke up at 7am and packed up our tents to go for another 10km trek. AJer about 5 hours of trekking we leJ the desert at about 2:30pm. Thanks for the teachers who took their :me to help us get around, we hope you all enjoyed it!
Wri)en by Gaby Toledo
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News from the Secondary School
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News from the Secondary School
On Friday, 12th November, 6 Secondary pupils (Anton, Savva, Kyle, Alan, Jessica and Nina) took part in the Medecins Sans Frontier
charity swim around the Burj Al Arab. They were accompanied by several staff members and parents, and the youngest spectator was 9 week old Maisie Garrett -‐ cheering
on her Mummy. Well done to all the swimmers for participating in an event which is hard work, but for a good cause.
Swim Around The Burj
Similar Rectangles
Maths Problem Of The MonthAnswer to last month’s problem - A4 PaperRatio of width : length
The answer will appear in the next issue of the newsletter.
A B
CD
E
F
1
1
ABCD is a rectangle with AD = 1 and DC =Where AEFD is a squareEBCF is a second rectangle similar to ABCDFind the exact value of
Hint: consider the ratio of the sides of each smaller rectangle and solve the quadratic in terms of Facts in this problem is known as the divine ratio or the golden ratioLeonardo Da Vinci discovered it and painted using this number
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Whole School News and Information
SES First in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix!Though Sebastian Vettel may have won the actual race and the F1 World Drivers’ Title, Team SES also had a major role to play in the recent Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Our school nurse, Mary Smythe, and school doctor, Dr Shereen Habib, were both part of the official crack medical team who looked after the drivers during the practice sessions and during race day itself. Their duties included administering to the drivers who were involved in the crash at the start of the main race. For the second year running Dr Shereen was the medical co-ordinator at the medical centre and Mary was the lead nurse on the medical team.
Congratulations to them both on being selected for this prestigious event!
Toys for MalawiUnder the auspices of the Student Council, the secondary students recently raised 4,000dhs and donated soft toys for an orphanage in Malawi. The toys were taken to St. Mary’s Rehabilitation Centre in the village of Chezi, outside of Lilongwe by Mrs. Brigitta Daniels who brought the centre to the school’s attention and who was traveling to Malawi with the charity Rainbow Children (www.rainbowchildren-malawi.com).
Hopefully the toys will bring some joy to the lives of 600 orphans in one of Africa’s poorest countries.
Christmas Fayre News The PSG would like to invite everyone to the Christmas Fayre on Friday 10th December. It’s a great day out for the whole family, with games, camel rides, face painting, entertainment and stalls selling crafts, food, Christmas gifts and much more. Why not come along for a family lunch, let the children play, listen to some live, festive music and pick up some bargains – furniture, jewelry, pottery, Christmas decorations, cosmetics, toys or just relax with a real cup of coffee in our indoor café.There are many chances to win great prizes, and there is still time for you or your company to donate. Please call Nicola on 050–4814589 if you wish to contribute a prize or help to sponsor the event.
We are always grateful for volunteers so let the school know if you have half an hour or s o f r ee on t he day, o r c a l l Lynn Dougan on 050 -8618316 , ema i l : [email protected]. We are especially looking for help this year with the First Aid Station. If you are able to assist with this please contact Sue Hennessy at the secondary school.
Hoping to see you there from 2pm till 5pm.
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Dates For Your Diary
December 2010December 2010
Thursday 2nd National Day Holiday
Sunday 5th Islamic New Year Holiday
Monday 6th Dress Rehearsal for Nativity
Tuesday 7th Nativity Day Performance -‐ 12pm
Wednesday 8th Nativity Evening Performance -‐ 7pm
Thursday 9th SES UCAS Deadline
Friday 10th Christmas Fayre
Sunday 12th Key Stage Two Concert -‐ Evening Performance
Monday 13th Foundation Concert -‐ Day Performance -‐ 12pm for Foundation 1 Parents
Tuesday 14th Foundation Concert -‐ Day Performance -‐ 12pm for Foundation 2 Parents
Tuesday 14th School Carol Singing
Wednesday 15th Carol Singing * to be con)irmed
Thursday 16th Last day of Term One -‐ 12pm Tinish
January 2011January 2011
Sunday 2nd Term Two Starts
Monday 10th -‐ Tuesday 1st GCSE & GCE Examinations
Monday 17th Year 7 Parent Teacher Meeting
Wednesday 26th -‐ Thursday 28th Bronze & Silver International Award Camp
February 2011February 2011
Thursday 3rd Secondary Sports Day
Tuesday 8th Year 12 & Year 13 Parent Teacher Meeting
Thursday 10th International Picnic
Tuesday 15th Prophet’s Birthday
Friday 18th -‐ Sunday 20th Half Term Break
Wednesday 23rd Year 8 Parent Teacher Meeting
Saturday 26th Secondary Ski Trip Departs
March 2011
Friday 4th -‐ Saturday 12th Year 6 Ski Trip
Don’t forget to check the school
website for the weekly bulle5n for
updates and further informa5on
