THURSDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2015 Issue 194

PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS GENERAL SECONDARY

SCHOOL NEWS

COMPETITIVE SPORTS NEWS PADIA

U A E NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS

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KNOWLEDGE SUMMIT 2015

MS. POONAM BHOJANI, CEO INNOVENTURES EDUCATION PARTICIPATED AT THE SUMMIT

http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/education/lebanon-providing-excellent-example-of-educating-refugees-brown-1.1633227

http://www.albawaba.com/business/pr/first-day-knowledge-summit-2015-778492

(The article below appeared in Al Bawaba Business on Tuesday, 8 December 2015)

Knowledge experts and influencers from the region and around the world discussed the role of innovation and education in developing innovative future generations in the Arab world, during the first day of the Knowledge Summit 2015 currently being held in Dubai.

Speaking at a session on ‘Innovation in Education – Future Outlook’, His Excellency Eng. Hussain Al Hammadi, UAE Minister of Education, said: “Innovation in education is the key to resolving challenges by finding new solutions to old problems. The UAE Vision focuses on education as a main pillar, in order to transition our nation from an economy based on oil to one based on knowledge. The first step in achieving this is to improve the curriculum, and we are collaborating with ministers, universities and various sectors, such as the industrial sector to develop a curriculum that empowers students.”

HE Eng. Al Hammadi added: “The second step is to create a programme that will improve the skills of students, while enhancing the curriculum to be aligned with international standards. This will enable students studying in the UAE to smoothly transition to any educational establishment across the world.”

HE Eng. Al Hammadi said the UAE is also focusing on investing in teachers, considering they are the key to improving education. “By investing in developing their talents, we will enable steps one and two to be realized in the most efficient manner.”

HE Elias Bou Saab, Minister of Education and Higher Education, Lebanon, said: “His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid taught us to remove the word ‘impossible’ from our dictionary. Innovation is a key factor, and we must help students to be creative thinkers. We should encourage them to be innovative throughout their education and career.”

HE Saab said the education sector in Lebanon is facing several challenges and these must be addressed by developing laws that enable education to improve at the same speed as innovation.

HE Lahcen Daoudi, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Management Training, Morocco, said: “Science and knowledge aim to discover the laws of the universe, and both are developing at a fast rate. However, in order to implement these discoveries in real life, we have to have the ability to understand. Knowledge must evolve as quickly as science. It is imperative that we create a culture of knowledge before we can implement a culture of innovation. Our focus should be on enabling a society that is both innovative and creative, by giving youth the means to innovate.”

Speaking at the session, Poonam Bhojani, CEO of Innoventures Education, said: “Technology is a key factor in ensuring innovation in everything we do. We have implemented several technology-based innovations in our schools, including introducing robotics using simple tools, such as Lego. Harnessing the Bring Your Own Device trend and technologies such as Apple TV and tables enables us to empower students to drive their own learning experience. Virtual labs enable students to experience using their tablets to explore experiments such as DNA replication. Even social media can be used, in order to engage parents more in their child’s learning.”

Addressing an exclusive session, Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the UK, discussed the role of education in not only securing children’s futures, but in ensuring an innovative society on day one of The Knowledge Summit 2015, the leading platform to discuss the most innovative solutions in the transfer, dissemination and localization of knowledge in Arab Communities.

“Even in the most hopeless of situations, we can create hope,” said Brown. “When it comes to the refugee problem in this region, where young people are without hope, we have got to give them that hope by making sure that they have education. It’s said that you can survive for 40 days without food, you can survive for 8 days without water, you can survive for 8 minutes without air, but you cannot survive for one second without hope. Education is about

hope.”

He said the key to innovation is critical to the success of education, and pointed out that the countries that hold the potential of being successful in the global economy would not be the biggest countries – but rather those that

(From right) Hussain Al Hammadi, UAE minister of Education, Elias Bou Saab, Lebanese minister of Education, Lahcen Daoudi, minister of higher education, scientific research & management training, Morocco and Poonam Bhojani, CEO, Innoventures Education at a session Innovation in Education : Future Outlook at The Knowledge Summit 2015.

specialize in innovation. Companies in these countries will be innovative, adaptable and flexible, and new technologies, particularly information technologies, will be exploited to make the goods of the future, Brown said. Speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Innovation and Information Technology’, Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality, said Dubai has become one of the fastest growing cities in the world driven by the quest to become smart and sustainable.

“Dubai has achieved massive development in recent years as various departments competed with one another to become more innovative. The entities in Dubai have adopted the innovation path inspired by the call by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to aim for the number one position in every field,” said HE Lootah.

Speaking at the session, Stephen Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple Inc. and inventor of Apple II computers, said youngsters in the 18 to 23 age group are best capable of achieving innovation and should therefore be targeted with innovation initiatives. He also called for a new approach to education focused on creativity rather than academic excellence to achieve an innovative future.

Patrick Baudry, Retired Lieutenant Colonel of the French Air Force and former astronaut, said the focus of education should be to encourage creativity and imagination in young people, with the aim of solving the problems facing the world.

Anousheh Ansari, co-founder and chairperson of Prodea Systems, said personalization and augmentation are the distinguishing traits of current technological developments.

“At present personalization of technology is focused on collection of data. However, soon personalization will be all about augmentation of abilities,” Ansari said. She said information technology in future will not be a separate field but it will be part of every area of activity.

The Knowledge Summit 2015 is organized by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF), under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The Summit is being held from December 7 to 9 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai.

WALKATHON IN AID OF ‘GIVE’ CHARITY ON SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2015

Dear Parents,

We have had a very busy term, full of events and activities that contribute to the holistic development of students at DIA. This week, as we approached the winter break, we enjoyed the Primary School concerts on 14th and 15th December.

We would like to thank parents for their support in getting the Parent School Contract completed in a timely manner. Those who have yet to do so are kindly requested to complete the process before 22 December between 8am and 2pm.

The IBT standardized testing was successfully completed for all students from Year 4 to Year 11 last month. Primary students were issued mid-year reports this week, following which we had Parent Teacher Conferences on 16th. This year we brought forward the mid-year assessments for MYP to December, including formal exams for Year 10 and the mock e-assessments for Year 11. For the first time this year, there will be external examinations for students in Year 11 who will be completing the MYP. DP students will take their exams in January and mid-year reports for secondary students will be issued in February.

With the onset of cooler weather we have been able to schedule field trips and camps. Our Year 6 students had their annual camp in early November and later in the month we had the Duke of Edinburgh Silver award training camp for secondary students. Trips scheduled in December are the DOE Bronze award camp, the CAS trip to Uganda and the CGS MUN conference in Athens.

Students continue to represent our school really well – both in the community as well as in specific events. In acknowledgement of outstanding practice at DIA, some of our senior students and staff members have been invited to present their innovative ideas at forums organized by the KHDA. The Innoventures Education schools have an annual calendar of inter-school events that enable our students to collaborate and compete with students from our sister schools Raffles World Academy, Raffles International School and Collegiate American School. Significant among these were the debating competition, the Academic Olympiad, a Walkathon, a musical evening and a variety of sporting fixtures. DIA has had a strong presence in the local school leagues in a variety of sports. In cricket we are among the top four schools in Dubai. Our primary students have accrued the most number of points in all football leagues. Our teams have secured either first or second places in volleyball and netball and swimming.

As an international school all our students have the opportunity to celebrate and appreciate their own and other world cultures through assemblies, displays and activities. We showed our respect and appreciation for the values and culture of our host country through the observance of Flag Day, Martyr’s Day and National Day. We thank our parents for their support and participation in the life of the school in a variety of ways. In particular we would like thank PADIA, our parent association, for all the events they organise through the year and more recently the wonderful Winter Souk, which many of you enjoyed last month and Santa’s Grotto this week for our primary students.

School closed for the winter break on 17th December 2015 at 2.40 pm and will reopen on 3rd January 2016. I wish all our families a restful, safe and happy holiday, a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Warm regards,

Pratibha Rao, Principal

Seasons Greetings to all our Students, Parents and Staff !

ACADEMIC YEAR 2015 - 2016

Please Note: The above dates are subject to change. For calendar updates please refer the school website - http://www.diadubai.com/learning/academic-calendar/2015-2016/

DECEMBER 2015 Wednesday, 16 - Wednesday, 23 December CAS Trip Uganda Thursday, 17 December Last day of school before Winter Break - Full Day School Friday, 18 December - Saturday, 2 January Winter Break Wednesday, 23 December Prophet's Birthday

JANUARY 2016 Friday, 18 December - Saturday, 2 January Winter Break Sunday, 3 January Students and staff return after Winter Break Thursday, 14 January PASA Expo Day 12.30-3.30pm Saturday, 23 - Saturday, 30 January THIMUN Hague Sunday, 24 January PADIA New Parent Coffee Morning Thursday, 28 January PS & SS PD Half Day. Early dismissal at 12.00pm

FEBRUARY 2016 Monday, 1 - Saturday, 6 February THIMUN Qatar Saturday, 6 - Monday, 8 February Silver DoE Assessment Wednesday, 10 - Thursday, 11 February Year 4 Camp (all students) Sunday, 14 February ASAs1 End Thursday, 18 - Sunday, 21 February TBC - Mid Term Break Sunday, 21 February ASAs2 start Thursday, 25 February Mini Olympics KG1&2 Thursday, 25 February Year 3 Sleepover Sunday, 28 February Year 1 & 2 Sports Day Sunday, 28 February - Thursday, 3 March Book Week-PS Monday, 29 February Sports Day - SS

MARCH 2016 Sunday, 28 February - Thursday, 3 March Book Week-PS

Tuesday 1st March Year 3 & 4 Sports Day

Wednesday 2nd March Year 5 & 6 Sports Day

Thursday, 3 March PS Book Day

Thursday, 3 March SS Parent Teacher Conference - No school for SS students

Thursday, 3 March PADIA Movie Night

Thursday, 3 March DP 1 Geography Trip

Thursday, 3 - Friday, 4 March Gold DoE Trip

Saturday, 5 March International World Book Day

Sunday, 6 - Thursday, 10 March Year 5 Camp

Tuesday, 8 - Thursday, 10 March Emirates Literature Festival

Thursday, 10 March Literature Festival Character Day - SS

Thursday, 10 March International Evening

Friday, 11 - Thursday, 17 March Year 6 Cyprus Trip

Friday, 11 - Saturday, 12 March Bronze DoE Trip

Wednesday, 16 March DIAMUN Opening Ceremony

Thursday, 17 March PD Day (no school for PS & SS students)

Thursday, 17 - Saturday, 19 March DIAMUN

Tuesday, 22 March Year 9 Science Fair

Friday, 25 March - Saturday, 9 March Spring Break

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PS CONCERT

PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS GENERAL

SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWS

YEAR 2 STUDENTS BECAME PIRATES FOR A DAY AS THEY CELEBRATED THE WEEK OF THE BIG WRITE!

On Thursday December 10th the Year 2 students went to the beach in search of buried treasures! Through all their gained knowledge on pirates, they wrote Captain James P. Hook a letter telling him how they will save him and all the other pirates on their lost ship! At the beach, they spotted Captain Hook’s ship and waved the pirates down. They wrote messages in the sand, played pirate games and sang pirate songs. We are very happy we saved the day……and Never Land!

PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS GENERAL

SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWS

4SS SCIENTISTS

4SS students participated in the Year 4 Science Fair and showed off their knowledge of the scientific process. Students came up with their own questions, formed a hypothesis and tested their experiments in their groups. Your hard work paid off 4SS … it was a great Science Fair.

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS RIDE FOR CHANGE

The Journey of Hope was a four day cycle charity event from the 2nd of December to the 5th of December. It coincided with the UAE national holidays. The Journey of Hope aimed to support low income residents of the UAE with lifesaving medical support for when they need it most. The cycle was across all seven emirates, starting in Fujairah and ending in Abu Dhabi. We proudly had

two students; Omar El Halabi (5NT) and Harsha Bharadwaaj (6DG) join us for the cycle on Day 2 in Ras Al Khaimah, along with Mr. Colm. Ten of the teachers at DIA completed all four days of the cycle. We were extremely proud of all who participated. It was a very exciting and worthwhile journey. Cycling through the emirates with the support of the police and hospitals in each emirate was fantastic. In total we covered a distance of 260km through varied terrain. Miss Camille joined us for two days of the cycle, assisting us with registration and as a driver for a back-up vehicle. We would love to have many of you join us for this very worthwhile charity event next year. It will surely be a highlight for you, as it was for us.

By Samantha Yousef

PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWS GENERAL SECONDARY

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SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWS

DIA STUDENTS’ SPACE ADVENTURES

On a Thursday evening, 14 young DIA students set out on one of their longest plane journeys so far. There were big suitcases, anxious parents and tons of excitement. Of course, we were off to Space Camp!

The Space Camp was preceded with 2 days of tourist activities in Atlanta. This included The World of Coca Cola, the CNN Towers and 6 Flags Amusement park!

In the Coca Cola Tasting Room, getting to taste all the diverse flavors of cola which are sold in different parts of the world was definitely an unexpected treat! At CNN students were given a guided tour which was a great insight into the production and broadcast of news. Both these visits were followed by souvenir shopping and students were thoughtfully picking out presents for their family back home.

Students impatiently waited for their visit to 6 Flags and once there, these little daredevils enjoyed everything from the Carousel to the Loopy Roller-Coasters!

The next day it was time to board a short flight to Huntsville to commence the Space Camp. We were greeted with a friendly crew from the NASA Space and Rocket Center who welcomed us into the campus. Students were divided into groups and allotted rooms. And so began the 6 days of non-stop space-adventure!

The campus itself was sprawling green and lined with trees. The most striking feature was of course the life size Saturn 5 space shuttle in the middle of a wide open area and many other rockets and planes throughout the campus. Winding pathways connected different buildings, which included museums, residences, offices, training halls, classrooms and a huge cafeteria.

Students soon mingled with their team-members from other schools and warmed up to their trainers. Their days were filled with various team building activities, training sessions, history lessons, mock space-missions and exhibition visits. They also had a chance to watch an I-max movie and attend a live telecast of a Rocker Launch!

It was almost like being at 6 Flags all over again when they got to play around with the Simulators, Zero G- Force accelerator, MMU, Space shot, Microgravity Trainer and Multi Axis trainer, to name a few. Some groups also had the opportunity to go underwater and actually experience how the astronauts are trained for space missions. Not even 3 days of continuous rain could dampen the fervor and excitement of our students.

It was an enriching experience for them with an unmatched exposure. Their curiosity and interest in the subject was reflected very well through their questions, tasks and presentations during the camps. Their potential was challenged through several activities and their unmatched level of confidence, responsibility, and team spirit made them successfully complete the training.

On the morning of the 6th day, they were all packed and proudly waiting for their Graduation Ceremony. After some very encouraging and inspiring words from their trainers, they were presented with the graduation certificates and various prizes. It was a very proud moment for all. They had been told that they are the ‘mars Generation’ and that for them there is a vast opportunity to go to space or be associated with future space missions!

Filled with joy and hope, they started their journey back to Dubai eagerly waiting to

share their exciting adventure with their friends and family!

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BADMINTON NEWS

Tvisha was 2nd runner up in U17 Girl category in

Trakeesh Badminton Tournament on Dec 11,2015.

FOOTBALL NEWS

DIA 5-2 DAA

DIA U14 footballers continued their winning ways with their best performance so far this year.

Even though the score line suggests otherwise, DAA were by far the best team the Wolves have

faced to date.

DAA started impressively and kept possession for long periods however they were never really able to penetrate the

wolves defense thanks in no small part to great defending from Marco Castellano, Willem van de Kreke and Emile

Lund . Finally 10 minutes in, the Wolves got possession of the ball and great link up play between Anton Viguier and

Talal Mutwalli resulted in Mutwalli scoring a fine goal beating the goalkeeper at his near post. Within 5 minutes the

wolves were 2-0 up when the same two players linked up for Anton Viguier to brilliantly side foot his 5th goal of the

season. DAA continued to look threatening but became guilty of over playing the ball and great pressing by Talal

Mutwalli resulted in him intercepting a pass and side footing home his second goal of the game. DIA were full of

confidence now and a great piece of skill by Anton Viguier on the right wing and a quick cross to Mutwalli almost saw

him make complete his hat trick only for the DAA defender to intervene and deflect the cross into his own goal. DAA

scored a fortunate goal when a long range effort beat the solid Mark Kuznetsov in goal. At halftime DIA led 4-1.

DAA started the second half like they did the first and pressed the Wolves into their own half. This resulted in the

Wolves struggling to get the ball out of their own half. This pressure continued until midway through the second half

when Viguier released Bolke Rijnders with a weighted side foot pass and Rijnders confidently shot past the keeper.

DAA scored a consolation with 5 minutes to go but the Wolves held on for their third straight win.

By Coach John Ganly

PADIA

FOOTBALL NEWS

DIA 2-1 ASD

DIA Wolves were very impressive in defeating ASD on Sunday 13th December. DIA took control of

the game early and Man of the Match Talal Mutwalli crossed a lovely ball from the right into star

striker Anton Viguier who scored with an impressive volley. It didn't take long for DIA to score

again with Viguier brilliantly flicking a shot by the ASD goalkeeper and Omar Abdallah tapped in to make it 2-0. DIA

pushed on and could have been 4 or 5 nil ahead with Vigueir and Bolke Rijnders both hitting the crossbar in the second

half. Fortunately they did not rue all the missed chance despite a late wonder goal scored by the ASD centre back from

25 yards out.

By Coach John Ganly

OLYMPIC CHAMPION RUBÉN DARIO LIMARDO GASCÓN VISITS DIA

The Olympic Champion Rubén Dario Limardo Gascón and his team visited DIA. The Champion shared his great and inspiring story about his life, the commitment and belief that he had in his abilities to be able to win the gold medal in London 2012.

The students truly enjoyed this inspirational story and they all had the chance to speak with him and ask him questions.

Thank you Rubén Dario Limardo Gascón for sharing your story with our students. You have inspired them for Life!

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WINTER SOUQ

It is that time of year again when it gets cold outside and you have the warm fuzzy holiday feeling inside. Though Dubai cannot boast of an actual winter, residents of the emirate make full use of the dropping temperatures. The city is coloured with all kinds of open air souqs that bring the local community together to enjoy the weather along with food and a little shopping. DIA’s Winter Souk is one such event organised by PADIA for students, friends & family of DIA.

Winter Souk 2015 was a super success as always. The plain looking quad suddenly transformed into a Winter Wonderland with beautiful decorations painstakingly made by the PADIA team and colourful stalls of vendors displaying & selling their wares.

The busy day had performances by kids, with the cheer leading squad, choir and bands. The highlight of the DIA Winter souk is the Raffle draw. The draw this year was especially successful because the mega prize was the coveted iPhone 6s along with the PS4 and many other exciting gifts.

PADIA would like to congratulate Year 6CC for selling the most number of tickets and winning the Raffle sales contest.

As 2015 comes to close and we get ready to welcome 2016, the last PADIA event for the year was Santa’s grotto where our primary kids will met Santa himself in his Grotto. Watch this space for some candid moments with Santa.

PADIA