A Message from the Executive Principal
It has been an absolute delight to welcome families and students back to school this week for the start of the new academic year! I have enjoyed hearing from the students about their summer adventures and hope that you all had a fantastic holiday!
The start of the new school year always brings excitement and this year is no different. Our amazing Operations Team have been working hard all summer to complete a huge amount of upgrade work in our buildings in order to improve the learning environment for your children. We remain committed to investing back into the school for the benefit of the community, and over the break have refurbished our Secondary classrooms, Music Rooms, installed new student lockers, developed our KG Garden and Jungle Gym, and modernised the corridor spaces. The new student desks and chairs for the Secondary classrooms will arrive in October half-term and then this phase of the refurbishment will be fully completed. I look forward to inviting parents to visit and see the work for themselves!
Today we welcomed many of you into school to meet your child’s Homeroom Teacher We are particularly proud to introduce our new teachers, all of whom are native English speakers. In the Primary Phase we welcome Ms. Jill, Ms. Zarina, Ms. Ashley, Ms. Dagmara and Ms. Natasha, and in the Secondary Phase we welcome Mr. Michael, Ms. Emma, Mr. Neil, Ms. Bianca and Ms. Saleha. I know that you will extend a warm welcome to all of them as they settle into life at KGIS and life in Oman
I wish you all a successful year and look forward to working in partnership with you. Our door is always open!
Ms. Liz Stanley Executive Principal
P A R E N T N E W S L E T T E R 3 1 A U G U S T 2 0 2 3
Key Dates
Please make a note of the following important dates:
Tuesday 5th September: Primary Parent Workshop for English (8:00am and 5:00pm)
Wednesday 6th September: Secondary Parent Workshop for English (8:00am and 5:00pm)
Tuesday 12th September: Primary Parent Workshop for Mathematics
Wednesday 13th September: Secondary Parent Workshop for Mathematics
Tuesday 19th September: Primary Parent Workshop for Science
Wednesday 20th September: Secondary Parent Workshop for Science
Wednesday 27th September: Parent Workshop for University and Careers Guidance
Wednesday 4th October: Parent Workshop for Supporting Special Educational Needs
Please click here to access the Academic Calendar for this academic year
Learning Overviews
Weeklylearningoverviewsforeachgradewillcommenceinnextweek’snewsletter. Areminderthatallstudentsshouldbespendingaminimumof20minutesperday reading. Olderstudentscanreadindependentlyandyoungerstudentscanread withaparentoroldersibling. Wethankyouforyoursupportindeveloping students’literacyskills!
KGISUniversalIslamicValueforSeptember: Benevolence
KGIS Year of Giving
Building a Mosque in Senegal
The KGIS Universal Islamic Value for the month of September is ‘benevolence’ and the academic year of 2023-2024 is declared the ‘KGIS Year of Giving’! We are excited to inform the entire school community that we have committed to raising funds to build a much-needed new mosque in a small community in Senegal, West Africa. During the course of the year, staff and students will be involved in organising a range of fundraising activities within the school and we hope that as many parents as possible will get involved to help support this amazing project! An ambitious total of OMR 35,000 is needed to complete the entire project so we have lots of work to do! The school community will be able to follow the progress of building the mosque, and we plan to take a group of teachers and students to visit the project in Senegal in order to volunteer and experience giving in action
During the summer holiday, Ms. Liz was fortunate to be able to visit the town of Podor in Senegal where the mosque will be constructed in order to meet the Imam and key community members in order to plan the project. You can see some pictures of the current mosque which is in a very bad state of repair taken during her visit below. The Imam of the Mosque, El Hadji Cheikh Baba Ndiongue has recorded a video message for the KGIS Community You can click here to see the video.
How to Contribute
Parents who wish to make a contribution to the Mosque Building Project can do so by clicking on this link. We thank you for your generosity and support! Parents who have fundraising ideas are encouraged to share these Please email Ms. Liz directly if you have an idea that you would like to share or if you would be willing to volunteer and help organise some fundraising events in school!
Student 10 Riyal Challenge
During the month of September, we are setting a challenge to all students! We challenge each student to raise a minimum of OMR 10 Students could do this by undertaking chores to earn money at home, by saving their pocket money, or by selling unused toys, books and items of clothing. We challenge students to be creative! Each student will be asked to post their OMR 10 notes in the House collection boxes and at the end of September the House with the most notes will win points towards the House Cup!
Homeroom Baisa Buckets
Each Homeroom will be issued with a ‘Basia Bucket’. Students and staff can add their spare coins or Baisa notes to the bucket during September and October. The first three Homerooms to fill their buckets will win points for their House!
Examination Success!
Congratulations to all our Grade 10, 11 and 12 students who sat public examinations for IGCSE, A Level and the Oman Bilingual Diploma (GED) in May and June. We are very proud of the excellent results you achieved. These results are testament to your hard work, determination and commitment and are truly well-deserved Thank you to your dedicated teachers and parents, without whom these successes would not have been possible.
A Level Results
This year a huge 18% of all grades were A or A* grades, with 59% being A*-B grades. These grades signify outcomes that are above UK and international averages Special congratulations go to Mohamed Elsheikh and Sajad Al Attar who achieved the highest grades. We are excited to see what the future holds as you continue your journey to university and beyond! Mohamed has gained a place at the University of Warwick in the UK to study Mechanical Engineering, and Sajad has gained a place at the University of Auckland in New Zealand to study Medicine
Oman Bilingual Diploma (GED) Results
Congratulations to our Bilingual Diploma students! To date thirteen students have been awarded government scholarships for university and we await further announcements as we anticipate a lot more to come! We will share full scholarship details once we receive these.
IGCSE Results
This was another strong year for our IGCSE students despite the challenging grade boundaries imposed internationally by the examination boards as they return to pre-Covid gradings. 30% of all grades achieved were in the top 9-6 bracket and the 9-4 achievement rate at KGIS was in line with that of the UK. Special congratulations go to top performers Minatallah Elsheikh and Kinjal Deehoo who achieved a total of six 9-7 grades!
We
are
Catering
healthy, nutritious meals for
students. Please contact Ms. Amira at admissions@kgis-edu.com for any queries or requests relating to catering. Click here to see this week's menu School
Contact the School For General Enquiries please contact the School Reception: E: reception@kgis-edu com T: 2407 3500 / 2407 3501 For academic or pastoral concerns and questions, please contact your child's Homeroom Teacher in the first instance via email Uniform Shop The Uniform Shop is situated at the Main Reception and is open Sunday to Thursday from 8:00am-3:30pm Finance Office The Finance Office is situated at the Main Reception and is open Sunday to Thursday from 8:00am-3:30pm E: finance@kgis-edu.com T: 2407 3517 Admissions The Admissions Office is open Sunday to Thursday from 8:00am-4:00pm E: admissions@kgis-edu com T: 2407 3504 www.kgis.edu.om
proud to partner with Azima
to offer
all
Catering