THIS - Newsletter - February 2022

NEWSLETTER February 2022

hamiltoninternationalschool.qa

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

MESSAGE FROM THE SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM Dear Parents, January was full of Distance Learning successes. Amazing Learning experiences were evident across all the classes, with our students engaged in a range of interactive learning opportunities. The majority of lessons were ‘Live Lesson’, providing students with the opportunity to interact with each other in real time, collaborate in online break out rooms and to maximize learning opportunities. In addition to daily lessons in their core subjects, students also participated in Specialist Days too, ensuring they had the chance to be immersed in other subjects such as PE, Music and Languages. We also recognized the value of keeping Distance Learning innovate and fun for the students, so we implemented extra ways to brings smiles to children’s faces. We had ‘Sunglasses Sundays’, ‘Mustache Mondays’ and ‘Wacky Wednesdays’. In addition, the Student Council led our first ‘Hamilton Online Bake Off’ which Ian Rinaldi, Head Of Primary was hugely popular with students. We have some amazing bakers in our school. Their cakes looked amazing. headofprimary@this.qa You, our parents play a key role in our school and are very important to us. We cannot highlight enough how well they have done during January. The challenges that distance learning puts on households is huge and their part in our partnership needs to be recognized and applauded. To gauge your feedback, we sent out a Distance Learning survey which was completed by approximately 400 parents across the whole school, providing us with invaluable feedback. From these responses: Elementary results: ·99% student participation ·93% very satisfied or satisfied with their class teacher / Distance Learning offering ·90% of parents felt the duration of lessons was the perfect amount or a little too much.

Secondary Parent results were equally impressive, including: ·100% student participation ·88% very satisfied or satisfied with their class teacher / Distance Learning offering ·93% of parents felt the duration of lessons was the perfect amount or a little too much Collectively, we also worked on Parent feedback to make learning experiences even better to support students and parents across the school, including: ·Providing easier access to lesson links ·Enhancing amazing learning opportunities in 24% of Arabic and Islamic lessons ·Giving more opportunities for student interaction on live lessons Under the direction of the Ministry, we have now returned to 100% onsite learning. It is amazing to have our students back onsite and the classrooms buzzing again with amazing learning experiences. This does, however, bring Covid related challenges that have been imposed on us and we work within the directives we are given to ensure we comply with all Ministry standards. We appreciate that weekly home self-antigen tests, ‘close contact’ regulations, masks and social distancing can, at times, cause frustration amongst the community, but we continue to ask for your full support.

If a visitor came into our school, they would not realize the students have recently returned from being online. Their resilience and flexibility with their onsite / online transitions on a frequent basis is a testament to them. It genuinely doesn’t stop amazing me and, as I have said before, I still do not feel we can fully comprehend or appreciate how well they have done during these times.

We are so proud of our students and hope that 2022 brings a year of amazing onsite learning opportunities.

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Back To School

Our students came back to school with so much excitement and enthusiasm. They came well prepared and ready to continue the term on site.

As per the MoEHE guidelines, students must bring every Sunday, a declaration form of an antigen test and show their ehteraz status at the gate.

GOOD TO BE BACK!

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Kindergarten

Our Kindergarten children love being in school, especially when they can do activities outdoors.

Activities at The Hamilton International School are refined to meet the evolving needs of our students. We aim feed their curiosity and create the conditions that inspire engaging play and deep learning.

February 2022

Our Pre KG students learned all about their numbers during their distance learning lessons.

Our KG1SM creatively re-wrote the rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star " to reflect the work they have been doing in their new Space topic, The children worked collaboratively to discuss space related language and words that rhyme to come up with this beautiful lullaby.

We hope you enjoy our first published poem!

The Hamilton International School

Our KG1 students are learning all about capacity in maths.

They have enjoyed using water to explore this topic.

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Elementary Our Grade 2 students recently started their new IPC topic – “Active Planet “ , where they are learning about the changing nature of planet earth. They are beginning to understand how these changes cause earthquakes and volcanoes.

Very soon they will be exploring how humans can protect themselves from these natural disasters.

February 2022

Our Grade 3 students are starting the new IPC topic - Paintings, Pictures, and Photographs.

This week they shared a range of mixed-up artwork and they tried to guess what they thought it could be.

We can't wait to see how much they are going to learn as part of this topic.

Grade 3 IPC Topic Our Grade 3 students are also learning about light and in particular transparent, translucent and opaque objects. The students were challenged to find items from their home and decide which category the fell into and explain why.

The Hamilton International School

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Grade 4 Exit Point For our Grade 4 IPC topic " Fasinating forces " - Exit point, students were tasked with completing an experimental project.

They had to design and build a plane or a boat following certain specifications such as building a boat that will float for at least 10 minutes or investigate news ways to make planes travel faster. The students had to link their forces knowledge to the experiment and present their boat or plane to the class.

Grade 5 Mission To MARS For our Grade 5 IPC topic " Mission To Mars " - Exit point, Students produced short videos to showcase their knowledge and understanding of the planet Mars. In the videos they explained all the details on how humans can produce food, find water and overcome the harsh climate of the planet Mars.

On the other hand, students were challenged to design a shelter for the humans who one day will live on planet Mars according to a strict criteria.

They had to include annotations of their design choices.

Congratulations to Jamie, Patricia, and Parth for winning and presenting innovative designs that included farming stations, energy sources and health facilities such as gym!

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Secondary At The Hamilton International School, our teachers go the extra mile to bring our students meaningful and impactful distance learning lessons.

Here, you can see Mr. Perry using advanced technologies, like chrome key effect and technique to deliver a lesson to our secondary students.

Arabic Studies To keep our Arabic learning engaging, our Arabic department put on a Reading Olympiad event while on distance learning. All our students at Hamilton participated, and the result was seen in their improved language skills.

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

PE Classes

It was great to see our children in action during their PE lessons.

Our amazing PE teachers always ensure our students understand the benefits of being active.

We celebrated Sports Day early with all our students taking part in a variety of games.

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Amazing Distance Learning Events At The Hamilton International School, our distance learning lessons are always engaging.

Our teachers have been busy ensuring that our students are taking part in fun and meaningful learning lessons.

They had dress to impress day, crazy hat Tuesday, Pyjama and Teddy Thursday, Sunglasses Sunday, and a lot more.

PRE KG Fancy Dress Day

KG2 Hat Day

February 2022

Grade 2 Pyjama & Teddy Day

Winter Day

Grade 4 Pyjama & Teddy Day

The Hamilton International School

Blue Day

Sports Day

Grade 5 Wacky Wednesday

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Bake Off Competition Our Elementary Student Council have organized a great virtual Bake-Off as a fun way to bring our school community together while we are still online.

Students are simply asked to bake and decorate cupcakes, cornflake cakes or an actual cake and upload a picture for our judges to see.

Judges won't be able to taste their creations, so participants must get their mouths watering scores based completely on presentation.

We are amazed at seeing our talented young bakers create such amazing looking treats.

Because we had an over whelming amount of students participate, the council decided to have four winners, one from Early years, one from KS1. and two from KS2.

Congratulations to Martha, Nur Dhalia, Chloe, and Shirin What great chefs!

Bake Off

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

The Hamilton International School

February 2022

Grade 2 Art Competition We are amazed by the talents our students have.

The team of Grade 2 challenged our students to create a piece of artwork of their teachers.

The students found creative ways to make some amazing art work. We saw 2d and 3d versions of our teachers.

Congratulations AlJawhara, Naif, Eleen, Omar, and Tamara.

Online Learning Survey Results Elementary

Online Learning Survey Results Secondary

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

Enrichment Opportunities ISP Futures Programme, is an initiative dedicated to raising awareness of environmental issues, and engaging our communities in making a difference.

Students at ISP schools are invited to apply for a grant for an environmental project or event of their own design. this programme has launched in the beginning of the first term.

At The Hamilton International School, our secondary students are encouraged and empowered to take the initiative to make a positive change in their community by, working in one of the following areas: Caring for the environment (ISP Futures related) Educate a child Animal Welfare Two of our students have come together and started the Global Issues Club so that they could raise awareness about environmentally friendly practices, especially at the school.

Already Gianna and Sheryl have: Launched a design competition in secondary - All secondary homerooms have been challenged to design a three-compartment recycling bin with the best design winning a plant for their class.

Working with the Head of Facilities at Hamilton, they ensured all secondary classrooms had recycling bins.

They applied for an ISP grant, under the ISP Futures program. The grant is worth 2000 QR. Their application outlines that they intend to use the money to plant trees, get indoor plants, and organize a fair in spring. " We would like to make Hamilton a green school. We want to encourage students and teachers to recycle paper and plastic material. We would also like to get trees and plants around the school to improve the quality of air and raise awareness about environmental issues " said the representatives from the Global Issues Club. "

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

ISP Arabic Spelling Bee The ISP learning opportunity aims to celebrate the beauty of the Arabic language and encourages our students to practice their spelling skills and mother tongue language.

The ISP Arabic Spelling bee has started.

The Hamilton International School students from various grades joined the first round and are ready to move to the second round.

We are so proud to participate in the competition and have high expectations towards our students and what they are capable of doing.

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

ISP Chess Tournament Following the success of last year’s edition, the ISP Chess Tournament is back! The competition will bring teams of ISP students together to play fast chess in an online tournament.

By taking part in the competition, ISP students will improve their game, develop their problem-solving and decision-making skills and play against other ISP students.

Key Facts: Three rounds of 90 minutes each: Regional Heats > SemiFinals > Finals Swiss Tournament. 3+1 Blitz games Age Range: Junior Category: 5 –12 Senior Category: 13 - 18 Participants per school: 15 Junior / 15 Senior Matches to be played on Chesskid.com Improve cognitive abilities, such as attention, memory, and logical thinking

Timeline: 24 February: Registration Deadline 9, 10 & 15 February: Coordinator Welcome Meetings 7 March: Accounts set up 9 & 16 March: Test Tournaments March & April: Regional Tournament May: Semi-finals 27 May: Finals

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

ISP Big Read The ISP Big Read is a four-week-long event where ISP School students aged 5 -11 will come together to celebrate the joy of reading and writing. ISP students will accelerate their reading skills on the award-winning platform Reading Eggs, write stories with the inspiration and guided support of the Story Factory, as well as participate in a variety of narrative-based activities in the classroom and beyond, online with other ISP Schools around the globe. Our young readers will be inspired even more with guest speaker sessions where ISP students have the exclusive opportunity of meeting some famous authors!

Key Facts: One month programme to engage students in a literacy with reading, comprehension and writing activities on Reading Eggs.

Open to all students aged 5 – 11 Key activities: ISP Library Story Factory Meet the Author sessions ISP Bookworm sessions Key dates: 8 February: Schools to confirm their participation by appointing a school administrator.

14, 15 & 16 February: Coordinator Welcome Meetings & 3P Learning Webinars.

22 February: Account set up.

4 – 31 March: ISP Big Read

February 2022

The Hamilton International School

UPCOMING CALENDAR OF EVENTS Midterm Break Starts

7

Qatar Sports Day

12

School resumes

14

KG1 Entry Point

15

KG2, G1, and G3 Entry Points

17

Virtual Open House - Elementary PRE-KG Entry Point G1 Exit Point

FEBRUARY

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Refer A Friend We recognize that parents and friends are the best ambassadors for our unique style of learning and community-minded environment. To thank you for every friend that you refer to Hamilton, you will receive QAR 1,000 as a reward. This can be credit to use towards any school related cost or cashback by end of the academic year. Contact the Admissions Team for Terms & Conditions admissions@this.qa