MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to the first ever edition of our DBSEH Half-Termly Journal. Through this publication we aim to ensure you feel informed of our school priorities, understand the innovation taking place around them in school, and learn what this looks like for your child.

Student Wellbeing underpins all of our priorities this year and can be unpacked through the themes of Student Agency, Opportunity, Inclusion, and Parental Engagement. Take a look at the following pages to discover how we have delivered against these in school over the past seven weeks in the hope of providing our students with a strong and confident start to the academic year.

Those of you with a keen eye may have already spotted these key themes if you follow us on social media. If not, please check out our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages to see how we are focusing on these areas day to day at Dubai British School Emirates Hills.

Every half term you will hear from our different leaders to find out how the priorities manifest in different pockets of the school. I hope that you find this interesting and join us in celebrating our ongoing achievements. If there is something you would like to hear more about, please do get in touch to let us know.

SarahReynolds Principal

Wellbeing remains the key priority at DBSEH this year and we are committed to ensuring that it is at the heart of all that we do.

We are excited to have launched the year by implementing the Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum across all year groups from FS1 to Year 13. Positive Education is an approach that blends academic learning with the development of character and wellbeing. Through weekly discrete lessons that focus on explicitly teaching life skills and the implicit reinforcement of key messages in lessons, assemblies and daily interactions we are intentionally designing and ensuring opportunities for our students to flourish not only while they are at school but also preparing them for a positive future.

The introduction of 'What Makes Me Special' Day in FS and Primary, and 'What Makes Me Happy' Day in Secondary have enabled students (and teachers) to share and gain an insight into others’ interests and talents, celebrating diversity and inclusion; supporting the development of creating connections with others and ultimately providing platforms for everyone to shine!

'My Day Friday' in Foundation Stage continues again this year and ensures our youngest learners have opportunities to showcase their uniqueness by choosing their outfit for themselves once a week. By exercising the practice of low-stake decision-making in our youngest students, we aim to lay the foundations of positive identity that will continue to reap benefits as our students grow into young adults.

GeorgiaLavery Head of Primary

A key element of our school’s mission to promote student wellbeing is acknowledging the importance of mental health. We support the World Health Organisation’s efforts to ‘make mental health and wellbeing a global priority’. World Mental Health Day 2022 was marked with staff and students wearing green, as well as raising awareness and knowledge about mental health all week for our entire community; students, staff and parents. We were delighted to welcome The Free Spirit Collective who led research-based learning sessions for students across the secondary school.

These explored what commonly gets in the way of young people achieving their best and being their best, and strategies which can be used to overcome these obstacles. It explored the thinking traps which young people often fall into, common emotional regulation issues which hold them back from achieving what they are capable of, and practical mindfulness-based strategies which can be used to treat these mental health barriers.

In addition, parents attended a session exploring young people's mental health on global and local scales, including the impact of Covid-19, the challenges young people currently face, and the common mental health issues seen among adolescents. The discussions considered what parents can practically do at home to support a child and strengthen their mental health, and gave DBSEH parents a chance to ask a practising psychologist their questions about teenage mental health and any concerns.

SheridanTeasel Deputy Head of Secondary