Al Sedra Newsletter 2019/20 Issue 26

19th March 2020

YOUR WEEKLY UPDATE ON ALL THAT’S GOING ON AT THE GULF ENGLISH SCHOOL

19th March 2020

IMPORTANT INFORMATION Subject International examination Dear Parents of Year 11,12 and Year 13 Hope all is well.

Following the GCSE and A-level cancellation announcement from the U.K. we would like to confirm that the examination boards have informed us that international examinations will continue as planned and as per the published timetables.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind students that they should continue to prepare for their examinations and attend virtual lessons or any of the revision sessions provided by the teachers as well as completing all set tasks and handing them in on time.

You shall receive confirmation on oral and practical examinations which will take place over the next couple of weeks from subject teachers.

For further information please contact us on info@gulfenglishschool.com Kind regards Leadership Team

19th March 2020

IMPORTANT INFORMATION Dear Parents,

We would like to start by thanking you for your continued support at this challenging time.

We are delighted at how positively pupils have responded to the change in their learning environment. Pupils from Pre-school to Year 13 have been participating in online sessions and uploading and submitting set tasks daily. When monitored today, we have had an 84% participation rate using Firefly this past week; this is a great start and we will now focus our attention on increasing this number to include all GES pupils.

To ensure that this takes place, we are dealing with any connectivity issues we periodically experience.

If you are still experiencing difficulties logging into Firefly, please do not hesitate to contact us at school - we have staff ready to assist parents and pupils to ensure all families are accessing this learning. For support with firefly access, kindly contact Mr. Christopher Goodchild on christopher.goodchild@gulfenglishschool.com

In the meantime, here are some guidelines we would like to remind parents of - these will assist our pupils adapt to this new way of learning and will also assist us when we do eventually return to school.

1.

Establish a routine at home – the same as a child would have had at school.

Encourage pupils to complete school work during school times, logging into online sessions and then completing tasks. Maintain an appropriate bedtime routine; ensure that your child has 11 hours sleep at night.

(This will help to ease them back into their school timetable when the time comes)

2.

Encourage independence: We are delighted with the support parents are giving their pupils, however, we would ask that you also encourage pupils to take on more and more responsibility for their learning. For example; teach them to log in and out of Firefly, set the task and then leave them to complete it independently where possible. Encourage them to listen intently to the online lesson or recording and then complete the task. Encourage them to plan ahead and be prepared – log into Firefly 10 minutes before the online lesson

begins, be ready for the start etc.

3.

Monitor your child’s learning: Take an active role in your child’s learning. Ask them what they have learnt, check on Firefly to ensure that they are uploading their completed tasks for marking.

Log into our Reading and Maths platforms to ensure pupils are reading each day etc.

Over the last week we have had many conversations with parents and received email questions and feedback on our current online learning programme. In response to these, we would like to clarify the following points:

- Pupils’ participation in our online learning program is being recorded and marked.

This is less of an attendance register and more the recording of engagement. Please do encourage your child to log into the online learning sessions, however, if you miss a certain slot, our current system allows you to listen to the recording at a more convenient time. Submitting work in response to task set will satisfy our participation requirement at this stage.

- Task are set according to the timetable set for each class. Please note that our lessons and tasks are planned to meet the learning needs of all the pupils in each class; this means that the work will be leveled. At times, 3 different tasks will be set to accommodate the different levels in that class - your child does not need to complete all three tasks but only the one that is appropriate to their level of learning. If you are unsure of which task to complete, or the level your child might be working at, please email your class teacher for direction.

We would greatly appreciate your feedback on your child/children’s initial experience of our efforts to date to maintain high quality teaching and learning via our online learning program. This quick survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LFD9NZ5 is designed to give us the feedback we need to improve this provision.

Yours sincerely, The Leadership Team

19th March 2020

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

19th March 2020

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Gulf English School 2020/2021 School Calendar

August 2020

September 2020

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

November 2020 Su 1 8 15 22 29

Mo 2 9 16 23 30

Tu 3 10 17 24

We 4 11 18 25

Th 5 12 19 26

Fr 6 13 20 27

Su Mo Tu 1 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 29

Th 3 10 17 24

Fr 4 11 18 25

October 2020 Sa 5 12 19 26

Su Mo Tu We Th 1 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 27 28 29

December 2020 Sa 7 14 21 28

Su Mo Tu 1 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 29

Sa 6 13 20 27

Su Mo 1 7 8 14 15 21 22 28 29

February 2021 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 28

We 2 9 16 23 30

We 2 9 16 23 30

Th 3 10 17 24 31

May 2021 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

We 3 10 17 24 31

Th 4 11 18 25

Sa 3 10 17 24 31

January 2021

Fr 4 11 18 25

Sa 5 12 19 26

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 29 31

Fr 5 12 19 26

Sa 6 13 20 27

Su Mo Tu We Th 1 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 27 28 29

Fr 4 11 18 25

Sa 5 12 19 26

March 2021 Tu 2 9 16 23 30

Fr 2 9 16 23 30

Sa 2 9 16 23 30

April 2021 Fr 2 9 16 23 30

Sa 3 10 17 24

June 2021 Su Mo Tu 1 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 29

We 2 9 16 23 30

Th 3 10 17 24

First and last day for students Staff INSET CPD Afternoons School Holidays

Holidays 2020/2021 11th August: Staff start

7th-11th February: Mid-term break

15th June: Last day for students

25th August: First day of school for students

4th-8th April: Spring break

24th June: Last day for staff

18th- 24th October: Mid-term break

12th April: First day of Ramadan

20thDecember-2nd January: Winter break

9th-13th May: Eid Al Fitr (Tentative)

Year 11, 12 and 13 students may have international examinations (IB, AS-level and IGCSE) until end of June 2020.

Examinations will run during Ramadan and the Eid break.

All dates are subject to Ministry of Education Approval.

19th March 2020

INFANTS After our e-learning training, we are now prepared to make the transition from the classroom to the cloud to move teaching and learning beyond the four walls of the classroom for all our students.

Our staff have, and will continue to, provide quality teaching for students in an ‘online environment’.

The team have been uploading tasks and activities on Firefly daily; this should help our children during these testing times.

19th March 2020

JUNIORS We are live and online in Year 6! This week we have been using Firefly for all our teaching and learning. There has been some excellent work submitted and a really strong effort shown by some of our pupils. Plus, lots of imaginative ways of demonstrating learning – the Y6 teachers have been so impressed with the lengths that students have gone to in order to continue with their education!

We really are supportive, caring, responsible and respectful in this year group!

We are just beginning our live webinar sessions and are enjoying a fully interactive teacher-student experience! Some thoughtful questions have been asked during the live Q&A sessions and teachers are delighted to be back in the *virtual* classroom!

Take a look at some snippets of our excellent work. Keep up the incredible effort Year 6!

19th March 2020

SECONDARY What are we exploring in Geography?

Year 7 are learning about how important energy is to our daily lives. They are investigating how we get and use energy, here in Qatar.

Year 8 are learning all about the importance of sustainability and how this impacts our global community.

Year 9 are investigating the causes of natural hazards, and how we humans have adapted to living in areas prone to danger from volcanoes and earthquakes.

What are we exploring in History?

Year 7 are continuing their studies in medieval Europe following the Battle of Hastings. They will investigate medieval castles, medieval towns and villages, famous murders and intrigue as well as factors of change such as the Black Death and The Peasant’s Revolt.

Year 8 have begun the topic ‘Age of Change’. They will study different revolutions and periods of change around the world from 1700-1900 C.E. This will include the Industrial Revolution, the USA from the Wild West to independence, the French Revolution, the Irish Famine and the Indian Mutiny.

Year 9 are studying the causes, events and consequences of World War Two. They will investigate key battles including: D-Day, Stalingrad and Dunkirk.

We are working hard to make sure that work continues as normal for our students during the school closure. The Humanities department is therefore setting regular work on Firefly for all of our classes. We are also following the schemes of work, as planned. Please continue to log on to Firefly to complete the tasks set by the Humanities teachers.

19th March 2020

CONTACT The Gulf English School PO Box 2440, Doha, Qatar Main School: Tel: +974 44578777 Main School: Fax: +974 44861256 Infant Unit: Tel: +974 44886791/90 +974 44886201/93 Infant Unit: Fax: +974 44876821

Email: info@gulfenglishschool.com

Website: www.gulfenglishschool.com