ACADEMIC

On March 10th, Year 12 and 13 students had the incredible opportunity of attending a business dinner, very kindly sponsored by Clyde and Co, where we were given the chance to network with experts working in different industries. What made this event particularly special was the fact that almost all of the guests were Dubai College alumni, and it was very inspiring to see what students who had once been in our position have achieved. With a wide range of tables to choose from, including law, finance, medicine, entrepreneurship, accounting and engineering, the event catered to many students with a variety of interests. From the venue, to the food, to the company, the business dinner was an outstanding experience for our Sixth Form students.

As an aspiring lawyer, I was able to sit at the law table with two representatives from Clyde and Co, both of whom passed on their wisdom to the students at the table. Admittedly, I was nervous going into the dinner, as I had never been to a business dinner before, but the warm atmosphere made the experience very enjoyable. With conversation ranging from how global affairs and the rise of technology is impacting the industry, to the steps being taken to mitigate gender disparities in the workplace, I was able to gain a thoughtful insight into the legal field. I

believe it is safe to say that this occurred across all tables, as one only had to look around the room to see how engrossed everyone was in conversations about the industries which they are passionate about. As a student, I am grateful to have had this opportunity at such a young age and would highly recommend attending for future students who are given the chance.

Emily Davidson 13JMI

After two years of cancellations, a postponement in January 2022 due to heightened Covid-19 infections and a change in weekend, our Community Golf Afternoon eventually took place on a pleasant warm sunny afternoon on Friday February 25th.

It was truly a community event with students, staff, alumni and former parents gathering together and meeting around the clock for the annual team photo prior to tee off at 4pm. Players all took their positions at each of the 9 holes around the course ready for a shotgun start.

To some of the players’ relief, the format was a Texas scramble, so it didn’t matter what level of golfer you were, it catered to both beginners and more experienced golfers. It did help if at least one of the team was a good standard though as there were competitions for nearest the pin and longest drive, as well as a team prize! Driving around the course during the afternoon on the golf buggies, players were also treated to seeing the gazelles and peacocks roaming freely around the course! Congratulations to parent and sponsor Stephan Schupback who managed to come closest to the very difficult pin on Hole 8. The longest drive went to Darren Thorpe and Mellisa Williams and the team prize to Gary and Erin Keenan who were paired with Josslyn Lewis and Paul Siffre. Well done to all!

Sincere thanks to sponsors Park Hyatt and Esterpol and also to Jebel Ali Golf for donation of the team prize.

Mrs Debra Turpie Communications, Marketing & Alumni Relations

November saw Dubai College become a hub of dialogue, debate and discussion as departments and students celebrated talk around the school. Lessons were abuzz and voices were heard across activities, lessons and assemblies, providing platforms for our students to listen and to be heard. Oracy is one of our two learning and teaching foci at Dubai College (with the Science of Learning being the other) and the Oracy Month championed and shared the fantastic work occurring across the school.

Students in Years 7-9 were set the difficult challenge of completing an Oracy Odyssey throughout the month which required them to use twelve different types of talk in lessons, ECAs, rehearsals, assemblies or tutor time. Entries were collated at the end of the month and three prize winners were drawn from a hat: congratulations to Shaivi Kalwani (Year 7), Mustafa Alp Ata (Year 9) and Kashish Sajnani (Year 9) and to everyone who successfully navigated the odyssey and demonstrated an impressive array of oracy skills – House Points were awarded to those who entered. The highlight of month-long celebration of talk was No Pens Day Wednesday on November 24th. An initiative of the UK charity I CAN, we were delighted to participate with a day that promoted oracy as the primary mode of learning and teaching. Pens were put down, devices were closed and our campus echoed with voices across year groups and subjects.

At break time, 16 speakers took to the DC Soap Box at Speakers’ Corner to share their thoughts, concerns and humour with captive audiences in The Quad; it proved so popular that the soap boxes returned the following week and may become a more regular feature around the site!

Lunchtime saw the Junior Debating Teams battle it out by the outdoor chessboard, debating the motion ‘This House Believes that teenage criminals should be tried by a teenage jury’ – after such passionate speeches by our Year 10 debaters, the motion was defeated.

As talk-driven lessons resumed across classrooms for the afternoon, Mrs Sarah Lambert shared the oracy work here at Dubai College with a large global audience, presenting at the Global Schools Festival with Professor Neil Mercer on ‘Embedding oracy in a school curriculum and practice’.

When the school day drew to a close, 10 inspiring speakers geared up for an evening of ‘DC Talks: What’s Next?’. Ranging from Years 7-12, it was an impressive tour de force as our young speakers were empowered by their chance to use their voices to enlighten, entertain and inform the Auditorium audience with their ten minute, no-notes speeches. Organised by Inaya Nagji in Year 13, with a supporting team of peers, it was a fantastic student-led climax to a wonderful day of talk.

Oracy Month wrapped up with the third Dubai Oracy Hub evening webinar at which UK speakers Mr Jasen Booten and Dr Laura Kerslake shared ideas and tips regarding using coaching conversations to improve literacy and the Cambridge University Inquiring Science Project.

Please do follow our oracy work on Twitter (@DCol_OracyHub, #DCoracy) as we continue to develop our students’ voices, equipping them the essential skills of communication, confidence and respect for others’ views.

Mrs Sarah Lambert Specialist Leader in Education: Oracy & Harkness

January is often a time for new starts and what better way to kick off 2022 than with the launch of our first ever Revise and Retrieve Month?!

Revise and Retrieve Month ran from mid-January until midFebruary and offered students in all year groups the opportunity to reflect on their current study habits, to better understand how memory works and its impact on learning and to know how to implement the most effective learning strategies into their study and revision time.

We know that many students measure their progress on how long they spend revising, rather than how effectively they spend that time. So, the key focus throughout the month was encouraging students not just to work hard, but to work smart! In lessons, teachers focused on various aspects of the Science of Learning; all of which promoted active and effective study and revision techniques.

Retrieval practice was a real focus in Arabic and MFL, where students focused on actively recalling and testing their knowledge through brain dumps and quizzing techniques.

Collaborative problem solving was a hit in PE and Science whilst in Geography students acted on diagnostic feedback to help them further develop and improve.

Revision and retrieval was also a focus in our Positive Education lessons: Key Stage 3 students focused on the habits and behaviours of effective learners as well as how to implement spaced- and retrieval practice into their revision time. Key Stage 4 students learned how to use dual coding and elaboration

to enhance their understanding and application of a range of concepts. The highlight of the month, however, was our Train Your Brain Challenge which saw the launch of the first studentfocused and student-led learning platform in the region!

Over 430 students from all year groups embarked on the challenge. To participate, students needed to access the Revise and Revise Platform and watch Miss Causer’s video at the start of each week which detailed what the strategy is and the research behind it and then watch any three student videos from that week, all of which gave essential tips and advice on how the strategy can be effectively implemented.

In the week 1 videos we focussed on the importance of removing distractions, spreading out study sessions and breaking down revision into manageable and achievable smaller tasks. Week 2 was all about retrieval and included guidance on different ways to make notes, flashcards and quiz yourself on the key content revised. Week 3 taught students about elaborating and explaining things out loud as well as teaching others and week 4 focussed on using concept maps, graphic organisers and using images and visuals in an effective way to support the learning process. Students from Years 8 to 13 were involved in helping to create, edit and animate the 3-5 minute videos. It really is a platform made by students, for students!

Students were rewarded for their participation in the challenge with house points and prizes were also offered for students who shared evidence of the advice and strategies in practice. A number of students shared some of the fantastic ways in which they used the platform to support them in their own study and revision time, and our three very worthy award winners were: Avyan Arya (7RMH), Nikita Nair (7ASY) and Xuanyu Chen (7HPA). Congratulations to all three students and very well done for your efforts! The excellent ways in which Avyan used the platform are shown above.

Although the challenge is now over, the platform lives on and we aim to continue building and developing the Revise and Retrieve Platform next year as a hub for students to access advice, tips and a range of strategies to help them study and learn in the most impactful way possible.

Miss Laura Causer Specialist Leader in Education: The Science of Learning

Within Geography Society this year, we have all gained so much more geographical knowledge of the world around us, particularly through our weekly student lead presentations. Over the past year, each member of Geography Society has researched and shared their own unique geographical insight into a topic of their own interest. Also, as a crucial mention on behalf of the Geography Society, we cannot thank Mr Thomas enough for his commitment to us this year. Presentations would not be the same without his questions at the end!

Myra – I explored the cultural and historical significance of the ‘Hijra’ people (a ‘third gender identity’ in South-Asia) and how their status in society degraded from a community seen as blessed to one facing harassment and ridicule as a result of British colonisation.

James – the challenges which megacities face and the way in which megacities try and tackle the challenges that they face.

Paridhi – How the city of jodhpur in Rajasthan, India is impacted by the social, economic, and political issues around it. Trying to show a part of my culture, and how important it is to me. Ayman – this presentation explored the negative impacts of foreign aid, and how effective foreign aid was, while looking at real life examples such as Africa and China as well as various strategies.

Yasmine – My presentation explored Tuvalu, an island nation in the pacific and why it is the least visited country in the world. I presented Tuvalu’s topography and the importance of it, Tuvalu’s Climate Change Cop26 plans, and the island’s natural hazard risk.

Natasha – My presentation looked at the wealth gap between the stereotypical 'crazy rich' and 'mega poor' in Hong Kong, honing in on the reasons for this immense disparity and what can be done in the coming years to serve as a solution.

I would like to thank the all the members of the Geography Society during my time here at Dubai College, this year’s presidents have been superb, keeping me on the straight and narrow while driving the society forwards. I have loved the way they have approached the subject and challenged global perspectives and issues both past and present. We have heard from former DC students on their geographical journey and how they will shape the future of this planet. Lastly, I would like to thank the Geography Department for all their hard work and professionalism – you will be missed!

Mr Noel Thomas Head of Geography

World Book Day was quite an occasion this year at Dubai College. Students (and staff) were invited to come to school dressed as their favourite literary character; an activity that revealed some very creative people in the DC community! Mrs Catriona Riordan KS3 English Coordinator

An outdoor reading area was created and enjoyed every break and lunchtime and it held court to some of DC’s own student authors, who brought along their books and were interviewed by Mr Donovan. Activities in English lessons were book related and the students had a fantastic time as Literary Detectives.

After two years of lockdown and then social distancing we were able to have our annual Science Week once again this February. The idea is that we celebrate all things ‘STEM’ and involve as many students as possible throughout the week (or in the case this year, a few weeks!).

Science Week kicked off with a talk to Year 12 TopUp students by Crimson Education on ‘Careers in STEM and Finance’, with a focus on University applications and online internships with, amongst others, Uber, PWC and HSBC. Later in the second week we had a talk from a group from JLL (one of the largest global real estate services companies in the world) promoting women in engineering and construction. We hope to set up a link with JLL moving forward.

Over the course of a few weeks we had three STEM trips to EXPO, with the whole of Year 7 going across two weeks, followed by the winning Form Group in the Sustainability Challenge. This challenge was set up to develop awareness of sustainable lifestyles at home and school and they were guided around the Sustainability Pavilion by John Bull, the Director of the Pavilion and one of our DC parents.

Over the course of the two weeks we asked our Year 12 students to design lessons to teach to Year 7 and 8 classes, with a focus on the whole school drive in oracy. In fact, every Year 7 and 8 student had the opportunity to be taught by a Year 12 STEM class, that’s 16 lessons planned and delivered by Year 12; including a great Chemistry lesson resulting in a little smoke sending the whole school out for a fire alarm practice!

Every year we take this opportunity to clear a lab of all the desks and set up the school’s mobile planetarium, ideal as an enrichment tool in our Year 8 topic on Space. This has been our first chance to use the planetarium since lockdown and every Year 8 class had the chance to take a look inside. We will offer our Year 9s, who missed out last year, the chance to go into the planetarium later in the summer term.

Other activities taking place were a Science ‘Treasure Hunt’ across the school, essentially a huge online science quiz, and the KS3 Biology Photography Competition. We also asked some of our most successful students in the upper school to talk to Years 7 and 8 (in a TEDx style event) about their achievements and motivations to study and engage with STEM, both at DC and externally. We are acutely aware that the Year 7 and 8 students have not had a ‘normal’ start to secondary school and we now look forward to this next generation of

DC students taking all the opportunities that are on offer to them in the future.

The Chemistry House Competition took place across three days with Year 12 helping the lower school students through a forensics analysis. Year 8 had to use their powers of analysis and practical skills to solve a ‘whodunit’: 'Who is the Prime Suspect'. Cousteau were the winners of the competition!

The week almost ended with the Chemistry Extravaganza as Mr Miles put on a show for Year 9 in the Auditorium. You really had to be there to appreciate the noise and light, but perhaps the photos give you a flavour!

Finally, the Science Charity Cake sale raised over AED 400, with every known element represented in the form of a cup cake. All 118 elements sold out in ten minutes!

Mr Richard McGrory Head of Science

The Dubai Keynes Society had yet another outstanding year of topical talks from budding economists at DC and highly successful gurus of economics!

We kicked off the year with DC alumnus Tom Harding who returned to talk to us about his work in the UK Treasury. As the year progressed, we had talks from a number of students, speaking about topics ranging from the Metaverse to the dot-com bubble and fast fashion. After winning the MarketWatch Investing Competition with returns of around 700% and 1700%, Jasim Yousaf in Year 11 spoke about his experience with investing and the stock market. Representatives from Crimson Education joined us to give students crucial advice for university applications and careers in business, finance, and economics. Crimson later returned to join the regional finalists in the 2021 Tiger Global Case Competition, Vidhi, Aishwarya, and Devika, who spoke about their experience and success with the competition. We were delighted to welcome other external speakers such as Timothy Power who spoke about his career and experiences, Ewa Karolewska who spoke about food sustainability, security and climate change, Khatija Haque who broke down some key issues facing the global economy, and Jahangir Aka, who returned to analyse the impacts of Brexit and the pandemic on Lastly, we introduced discussion sessions in which students came to discuss topics such as COP26, women in economics, and inequalities. Thank you for an amazing year filled with brilliant speakers and thank you to Mr Christopher for continuing to ensure that the club runs as smoothly as possible!

The DC Stock Market Challenge gave students a first-hand look at how the stock market works on a daily basis. We were given $100,000 to experiment with, which allowed us to study and practice in a less risky environment, avoiding the dangers of risk and price volatility. It allowed DC students to trade a variety of stocks, options, and shares without endangering their hard-earned money. With some past expertise, I was able to devise my own strategy that focused on identifying overvalued stocks that were due for a correction and capitalizing on the opportunity. This strategy helped me throughout the competitions, and I was able to win three times. However, there was a significant risk aspect to this strategy, as at times I would lose $50,000 but at the end of the day in the green by $20,000. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the DC Stock Market Competitions and I hope that I will be victorious in the future.

Jasim Yousaf 11ACO

The DC stock market challenge was a great experience where I got to learn the complexities of trading and shorting stocks in a competitive environment without the risk of losing any money. With no prior experience in trading shares, I decided to short the largest Russian publicly listed companies as I paid attention to the news and observed the heavy sanctions placed on Russia The DKS Heads

due to the conflict in Ukraine. Luckily, my strategy worked, and I managed to make a profit of about 65%. Overall, it was an exciting opportunity for me to dip my toes into the field of investing and taught me just how volatile the stock market can be!

Nicholas Tsen 12BCH

‘What are the biological, psychological and social implications of increasing the human lifespan?’ or ‘How effective and ethical is psychometric testing in evaluating job applications?’ or ‘How does Machine Learning (using data) and Mathematics aid Artificial Intelligence to help us progress?’ These are three examples of HPQ Projects which have been submitted by our current GCSE students. As you can see they are topical, complex and thought provoking. They are representative of the high academic standards and interest our students have across the HPQ cohort in pursuing subjects and topics beyond the curriculum. Human rights, animal rights, the environment, advancements in Science, the pandemic, cryptocurrency and mental health have also been choices for study producing some insightful and well researched projects and these students are only in Year 11.

Taking it a step further at A Level, the EPQ, students can access four different courses: Dissertation, Investigation, Performance and Artefact. This broadens the range even more and our students again rose to the occasion with ever more challenging and eclectic projects. From leaning how to sew and make a flag representing a response to a political enquiry to learning how to carve a totem pole, students again proved that there is a never ending choice of areas to delve in to. Many more artefacts rooted in the digital world are showing high degrees of innovation with students creating apps, websites and developing coding. When they are not creating these, they are pursuing the other project forms to explore and debate these areas. Investigation projects covering topics such as the house buyer bias, personality and our perceptions of physical appearance to the effectiveness of deliberative democracy saw students create their own research tools to contribute their own primary evidence to the academic world. Their peers and teachers participated in the live research, either through questionnaires, small group discussions and interviews. Examples of EPQ Dissertations range from ‘To what extent does the media influence the outcome of a high-profile criminal trial?’ to ‘Can we detect primordial gravitational waves from Cosmic Inflation?’. Looking at the rising costs of football players, sustainability and the environment, space travel, health, the role of AI in healthcare, rights, politics and historical events and how they have impacted today underpins the unlimited scope for enquiry and innovation of our sixth form students. Excellent levels of engagement and thoroughly interesting projects have been produced.

Thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of an increasing number of students at both GCSE and A Level, paired with the equally enthusiastic engagement of over 60 staff as mentors and course tutors, this really is a meeting of minds. The EPQ and HPQ courses offer a unique experience in that they are more akin to a university style course with large group lectures, seminars and one to one to meetings. Independently driven, students are graded from the start of the programme for their time management, organisation, academic journaling of their experience and later a presentation, all the way through to the final project itself. A high degree of self-motivation is required to finish the course as well as critical thinking and a desire to explore the breadth and depth of resources and material available. It really does set the students up with skills for life, as confirmed by visiting alumni.

Well done Year 11 and Year 13 Classes of 2022.

Ms Helen Bastable EPQ/HPQ Co-Ordinator