SES Newsletter-February 2012

Volume 3 : Issue No. 3 - February 2012

Sharjah English School www.sharjahenglishschool.org

My Fair Lady

Historical Days, Trips and International Culture & Cuisine Key Stage Two

Contents From The Principal’s Desk

3 Primary News

Primary News and Parakeets

4

Foundation visit Sharjah National Park

5

Foundation 2 - People Who Help Us

6

Foundation 2 - Chinese New Year

6

Key Stage 2 - Literacy Focus

7 - 13

World Book Day

14 - 16

Year 3 Roman Day

17

Year 4 - The Egyptians

18 Secondary News

Secondary Careers Advice

19

Star Quiz Challenge 2012

19

My Fair Lady

20 - 22

Year 10 - Al Ain Zoo

23

Maths Problem Of The Month

23

Foundation 1 and Year 10 DT

24

International Award Update

25 - 26

Year 7 Castles

27

Year 8 Geography Ecosystem Trip

28

Maths Updates

29 Whole School News

BSME Conference

30

ABRSM Notices

30

Gym Equipment Donations

30

Spring Party

30

International Picnic

31

QR Codes

32

A Note From Our Nurses

33

Dates For Your Diary

34

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From the Principal’s Desk...

Dear Parents and Friends, Welcome to our 4irst newsletter of 2012. As you will be aware from your children, there has been a lot going on, and the following pages will give an indication of some of the key events of the term so far. I hope you 4ind the articles and photographs both informative and entertaining.

With the cooler weather, this term is always busy with camps, trips and outdoor sports. The students working their way through the International Award are coping well not only with the demands of the expeditions required but also the service and skill components of this demanding quali4ication. Though as a small school we will often struggle in sports to compete against much larger schools, we continue to develop in all our sporting disciplines, and can be proud of the results we are achieving. By the time you receive this newsletter, groups will be preparing for some exciting overseas trips also, for skiing and rugby. We wish everyone well on these adventures.

Can I thanks parents for their cooperation with duty staff in trying to improve the traf4ic situation at both school gates; access and through-­‐4low seem to have improved and incidences of poor parking have diminished noticeably.

The school website, which has gone through a number of technical problems, is now running properly in a newly designed format. Though functional, it is our intention to enhance the site considerably over the next few months – please do check in regularly to view the progress and updates.

Best regards,

John Nolan

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News from the Primary School As this is my first correspondence of the year, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year and a very successful 2012.

I am pleased to welcome to Primary, Mr. Graham Mabelson, who has joined us as our Deputy Head.

Some of you will already have met him and I know that he is looking forward to meeting you all over the course of time.

The term is well underway. As always, it will be busy, taking advantage of the clement weather to hold outdoor events, sports days and inter-school fixtures.

There is so much going on in Primary as you will see when looking through the articles and photographs. You will be pleased to read that the Foundation children have solved the mystery of the missing sunflowers! World Book Day was celebrated in great style; we all gained great enjoyment from the activities and learned a lot. It was wonderful to see children and staff alike dressed in their favourite book characters – I must say it was difficult to recognise some of the actual pupils they were so convincing in their costumes. The children also had another opportunity to dress up when they were encouraged to wear their national dress or costumes relating to their country’s culture on International Picnic Day. Some photographs from this event can be seen below.

Once again, we are anticipating a fabulous term, full of learning opportunities which we hope the children will enjoy, along with making good progress in their studies.

Miss Jenefer Race -­‐ Primary Headteacher

Some students in national dress

The sunflowers are going missing.

The green parakeets are at it again. Did you ever wonder who is stealing the sunflowers? We caught the culprits. They are very sneaky. In Foundation 1 we love bird watching. We see all sorts of birds in our area and love to describe their colours. One day a few children were walking along the path when, suddenly, some green parakeets picked a sunflower and flew with it to a nearby tree. There, they perched and picked all the sunflower seeds from the middle of the flower. When they were ready they dropped it to the ground. What clever birds!

4

News from the Primary School Sharjah National Park

Foundation classes went on their very 4irst outing this year. We visited Sharjah National Park. We were very excited as some of us had never been on a school bus before; we climbed on, buckled up and then we sang ‘The wheels on the bus’ all the way to the park. When we arrived the guards promptly opened the gates and let us in. After we had walked along a long narrow path we saw a huge adventure park. There were slides and swings and climbing frames. Some of us even sat in little huts and talked. It was great to be out in the sunshine and watch different birds and squirrels.

After lunch in a shaded area, the teachers took us to the high slides. While we were waiting for our turn we saw many aeroplanes taking off. They felt so close it seemed as though we could touch them, if we reached high enough. After sliding down many times we left the park and went back to school. Some children were so tired they slept on the bus! What a great day we had.

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News from the Primary School Foundation 2 -­‐ ‘People who help us’ As part of our topic on ‘People who help us’, Foundation 2 have been talking about all the different people who help us in so many different ways. We began the topic by learning all about the people that help us in school. The children went on a tour of the school and visited, amongst others, Mrs. Hill – our librarian, Mrs. du Preez – our school secretary and Ms Yvette – our school cleaner. We have also been learning all about doctors and nurses and were very lucky to be visited by our school nurse Mrs. Smythe who was able to show us how to take our temperature, heart beat and we even bandaged Mrs. Passey’s head! Mrs. Wood also visited us to tell us all about police of4icers and we all really enjoyed trying on her police hat and blowing her whistle. Next week it’s 4ire4ighters, so watch this space for reports of sirens and 4lashing lights!

Chinese New Year We were very fortunate to have Mrs. Xu visit us in Foundation 2 and talk about Chinese New Year.

We learned about the different animals that make up each year and that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon.

We also learned about how important this festival is to the Chinese people and what they have to do to prepare for it, from cleaning their homes to visiting friends and family. The children were then taught how to make a simple Chinese lantern and these were used to decorate the classroom.

Gong Xi Fa Cai or as we say in English, Happy New Year!

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News from the Primary School Key Stage 2 Literacy Focus For this edi+on we are show casing some of the Literacy work in Key Stage 2. Literacy plays a crucial part in daily life at SES. Although taught in dedicated lessons, we also recognise that pupils develop Literacy skills while they learn about other subjects in the curriculum. As well as reading and wri+ng, literacy involves the development of speaking and listening skills. As you will see over the next few pages, teachers at SES use a variety of approaches to teaching literacy. Here are some examples:

Year 3 – Greek Myths The children in Year 3 have been studying Greek myths in Literacy. We made ‘wanted’ posters using interes+ng descrip+ve words and phrases to describe the character of Polyphemus the Cyclops.

7

News from the Primary School Year 4 – Poems Year 4 have been busy wri+ng poems.

Year 4 Poem Books

8

News from the Primary School Year 4 – Poems

I Remember…

I remember, Running and beating Aziz in a race, Eyes staring at me when I work, My dad leaving us at the airport, Elephants shooting water at me in India, Making a cake explode, Beating up a blue belt in boxing, Electronic devices used on a plane, Raindrops in the house because of the raging storm.

We love SES SES is the best school yet, I’d make a million pound bet.

The teachers are a thrill, Especially Mrs. Hill.

At music you can play the instruments, But you can’t bring in those sweets called runts.

At Library you can read, read, read,

Paula Arnold 4AS

And the computer helps you find what you really need.

At Arabic you learn a lot,

I remember Running in sports day the quickest I could, Eating with my dad, Megan saying you have to get out of my room now, Eating a worm, “Yuck!”

My Mummy kissing me for good luck, Birds flying in the sky and singing a song, Elephants stamping on the floor as loudly as the could, Really crying when I fell over.

Sometimes you can get out the play dough pot.

At French you get to watch TV, I get to say things all about me.

So that’s why SES is the best, We love SES.

By Hannah 4PS

Hannah White 4AS The Dog Next Door

I remember, Rocking my cat in the baby pram, Expanding my bed, Masha bringing me my meal when I was sick, Eating a cake on my first birthday, My Mummy hugging me when I was sad, Buying honey cake for my birthday, Explaining to my Mum how much I love her, Ringing my Dad in Russia.

Oh that dog next door, It always stamps and barks on the floor.

I wish that dog would stop, How the time goes on the clock.

Every day that annoying dog, He also barks in the fog.

Oh that dog next door!

By Anneketrien 4PS

Katya Bachmakova 4AS

LADY BUG

WHAT I DO SUNDAY I CALLED MY FRIENDS MONDAY I GO TO SCHOOL TUESDAY HANG OUT WITH DAD WEDNESDAY PARTY DAY THURSDAY DO MY WORK FRIDAY SEE THE WORLD JUST KIDDING ON THE MAP SATURDAY DO IT ALL AGAIN!

BY FRASER AND SAUL 4PS

The Stars THAT LADY BUG, OH, THAT LADY BUG, The stars of love, the stars of light, SHE EATS ALL THE SLUGS, OH, THAT LADY BUG. The stars that keep the whole world bright.

SHE IS SO RUDE, The stars that sparkle up above, SHE SAYS NO TO SPINACH, BUT SHE SAYS YES TO LICHEN. The stars that make us fall in love.

OH THAT LADY BUG. The bright, yellow stars, SHE SAYS BUG EQUALS SLUG. AND SHE NEVER SAYS PLEASE, Can grow bigger than Mars.

SHE ONLY SAYS LEAVE. The stars that keep the universe alive, SHE ALWAYS HAS FLEAS, OF COURSE SHE NEVER EATS PEAS. Without the stars we won’t survive.

OH, THAT LADY BUG.

By Ellie & Ellen 4PS OH, THAT LADY BUG.

9

VEA 4PS

News from the Primary School Year 5 – Following InstrucAons Can You Follow our Instruc+ons?

Year Five have been studying instruc+ons and the type of language used to give clear direc+on.

Their task was to create instruc+ons that were clear and concise. Both classes have used impera+ve verbs and +me words that they have been learning about in Literacy.

10

News from the Primary School Year 6 – Adventure Quest Stories In Year 6 we have been wri+ng quest stories. Our main focus has been developing the use of detailed descrip+on by using powerful adjec+ves and adverbs. The children have also been thinking about story structure by trying to build up tension to make them as exci+ng as possible. Here are some excerpts from their recent work. If you want to read on or find out more please take a look at their collated stories in the folder by the Primary office.

Strolling back from his hunt, Richwood had a deer slumped over his shoulder. He wandered down the hill gazing at the beautiful farm that gradually appeared in front of him.

Running down the hill he was swallowed up by the barley field.

He was finally home.

Richwood walked into the kitchen calling, ‘’Mum I’m back from hunting!’’

He waited for a reply but nothing came. He called again but there was still no answer.

Scouring the house, he searched for his mother. He checked everywhere but she was nowhere to be found. He didn’t know what could have happened to her; it was very rare that she would go out the house without telling him. He tried to run positive thoughts through his head like perhaps she went to fetch some berries from the wood, but even he knew something was wrong.

A bright light. A sudden roar.

A crack in the wall.

“It’s the Keleera!!!” screamed one of the two, tall figures that were inside the small hut.

A sudden yowl of a baby… the giant foot of the great beast grasped the two tall figures.

But, the beast had not seen the little figure with midnight blue eyes hunched in the cot made of wood at the back of the hut. The memory flashed through Nisha’s mind. The raven had given it to her.

That raven was her only friend.

She started down towards the orphanage that was her home.

Ragged children ran about, their clothes grimy and dust caked.

Nisha was tired. The white raven blinked its beady black eyes and, with a cry, unfurled its angelic white wings and took off.

Joshua Vaughan

Chloe Bull

11

News from the Primary School “The leader who stole your parents is called Laze.” explained her Grandmother.

As Rachel heard this she saw something which nearly frightened her to death.

Pulling urgently at her Grandma’s hand she pointed her finger at the door as two sharp knocks sounded.

“It’s the ravens,” muttered Rachel, “I must escape!

They must be after me!” As she said this, her Grandma’s hand clenched tightly around hers.

“Go through the back door, there shouldn’t be anyone there!” whispered her Grandma. “But won’t they do something bad to you?” asked Rachel worryingly.

“No, young one.” “Go, go, go!!!” cried her Grandma urgently. Whispering her farewells, Rachel clambered off the bed and headed out the door.

David and Saphira walked along the dead, sandy road.

Suddenly they heard a humongous screech and saw a ten feet tall vulture! The beast charged towards them with a sharp beak and flaming eyes.

“Good luck soldier!” Saphira shouted as she transformed into a gold bird and flew onto a dead tree. The soldier was struggling and sweating in frustration. His teeth were grinding together and

and his eyes were stinging.

While the vulture was about to take a landing on David, he instantly pulled out the beautiful sword which the priest gave him without thinking about it. David, with all his might, plunged the sword through the heart of the vulture. David was breathless, but he killed the horrible beast.

Michelle Delves

Anna Szumska

12

News from the Primary School The cup smashed; Flo went quiet. Angus, her spoilt stuck up cousin, came into the kitchen, ‘’Ooh you’re in trouble!’’

Then Flo’s horrid Aunt and Uncle came in. Flo knew it was going to be another bad day. She went straight to her small room at the back of the house. She was Furious!

All of a sudden the picture of her parents hit the old wooden floor.

Flo kneeled on the cold floor holding the picture in her small grubby hands. How she missed her parents. Flo wished that big dreadful dragon would cough them right up. She was as sad as a bird with no wings.

Meara Siviter Johnson

’Ahh!’’ Charles screamed. The serpent was coming to get him. He was trembling with fear; his heart beating faster and faster by the minute.

Thinking what he should do Charles rowed as quickly as he could towards the island.

He could hear and see the serpent.

It was coming to get him. The next second he found himself in his old ragged bed. The nightmare of his parent’s killer was over and he was also still in one piece.

Katie started to feel heavy hot heavy breath above her .When she looked up she saw two big red eyes filled with fury. Katie snatched the large sword out of her bag and held it tight. The monster’s scaly skin frightened Katie, she had never seen anything like it before.

The monster’s sharp claws scratched Katie’s skinny arm. She felt the venom pass through her veins. Katie was angry, hurt and upset. She grabbed her sword and plunged it into the monster’s stomach.

Reem Abusnana

Adnan Lakdawala

13

News from the Primary School The children and staff in Primary celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as their favourite book characters. We saw a variety of famous characters, from Pippi Longstocking to Harry Potter, from Oliver Twist to The Mad Hatter - and Pinocchio even made an appearance in Year One! The children showcased their costumes during a whole school assembly at the end of the day, after spending time during the day writing and creating their own books, to be read during class swap book sharing sessions.

The Book donation list for the new library is now live online and available at the following link: http://goo.gl/ZKdXM or access the list using the QR code.

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News from the Primary School

15

News from the Primary School

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News from the Primary School Year 3 Roman Day Salvete! Once again Year 3 have had a taste of what it may have been like to be an Ancient Roman for the day! We dressed up as gladiators, slaves, emperors, centurions and 4ine ladies to enjoy a day of all things Roman. This included chariot racing, practising our tortoise formation (testudo), being slaves and masters at a Roman feast and Roman musical chairs!

17

News from the Primary School Year 4 – The Egyptians As part of their Egyptian topic, the Year 4 children were given the opportunity to experience first hand how the ancient Egyptians made their own mud bricks. The activity involved getting thoroughly messy and was enjoyed by all. The children were intrigued to learn that a mixture of mud and straw makes a strong building material and that this technique is still used nowadays in certain African countries.

Year 4 Play Performance Recently some children in Year 4 produced a short play for their class. They wrote the script, organised props and costumes and then performed with confidence! The play was written to support Topic work about the Ancient Egyptians and was enjoyed thoroughly by the audience.

18

News from the Secondary School http://www.isco.org.uk/

Careers at SES Parents and students of Years 10, 11 and 12 were invited to a presenta+on recently about a careers advice ini+a+ve being run by the school in partnership with the Independent Schools Careers Organisa+on (ISCO).

The event was very well a\ended and a large number of students have signed up for the programme, the ini+al part of which was undergoing three hours of psychometric exercises to determine ap+tude for par+cular careers and professions. Students can also look forward to using their own dedicated area of the Futurewise website and have access to advice and consulta+on with ISCO staff for the en+re +me they are at school or college.

So far the exercise has been received very favourably by the students involved and it will form an important complement to our regular UCAS and careers advice programmes.

Anyone seeking addi+onal informa+on about the programme can contact the school or Miss McNulty, Head of Business Studies, at mmcnulty@sharjahenglishschool.org STAR QUIZ CHALLENGE 2012

The 24th of January saw 14 students from Years 9 and 10 head off to the Sheikh Rashid Auditorium at the Indian High School in Dubai to represent SES at the Star Quiz 2012, the “UAE’s most prestigious School Quiz Challenge.”

The first thing that struck us was the huge number of students there from schools all over the UAE, apparently 30% more entries than last year.

After registering, the students found their allocated seats in the auditorium, having given in their mobile phones. All the teachers had seats upstairs so there could be no contact during the questions.

The quiz actually started a little late, after we had seen a run through of last year’s final rounds. There were 30 questions in all, on a variety of topics and the students were given a minute to deliberate before writing their final answer down. After a short lunch break, when snacks were provided, they headed back in to the auditorium for the results. 27 teams were to go through. Would a team from SES make it?

There were a few more questions for some spot prizes and then the names of the schools going through were announced. Unfortunately, nobody from SES was on that list. Disappointing!

Next time we will have to start practising much earlier and improve our knowledge of Cricket, IT and Gadgets and Science! It was a ‘Challenge’ but fun too.

Mr. Roger Doyle

19

News from the Secondary School My Fair Lady Our new auditorium was inaugurated in style at the beginning of February.

The Drama Club and the Orchestra presented My Fair Lady, the classic musical by Lerner and Loewe, to an apprecia+ve audience over two nights.

Eliza Doli\le’s struggles to become ‘a lady’, under the tutelage of Henry Higgins, Professor of Phone+cs, were brought to life by students from Years 7 to 13.

The actors on stage were ably supported by a backstage crew and technicians also drawn from the student body. The orchestra kept the whole thing moving along, hieng both the comedy and the bathos perfectly. Audience and children lef the performances humming such familiar songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night”, “I’m Ge@ng Married in the Morning” and “Wouldn’t It Be Lovely?”

Special men+on must be made to some of the principal actors and singers: Robyn Boulton as Eliza Doli\le, Aakanksha John as the Professor, Adam Bates as Pickering, Bader Jayoushe as Freddie and Ibrahim Salama as Alfred Doli\le who handled the script, accents, singing and dancing with confidence and verve.

Credit and thanks are due to director, Mrs. Catherine Sinclair, musical director, Mr. Laurence Powell and to the host of other staff who guided the students through the demanding rehearsal process.

Congratula+ons to all involved!

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News from the Secondary School

21

News from the Secondary School

More photographs from My Fair Lady are currently being uploaded to an online album which will be available shortly at http://tinyurl.com/sesm4l. The password is m4l

22

News from the Secondary School Year 10 Trip To Al Ain Zoo Year Ten Ar+sts’ visit to Al Ain Zoo was very successful, as the animals were all very keen to show off in front of the lens and the students were quick to take some exci+ng photographs . These will take pride of place in their GCSE sketchbooks as primary research and are being used at the moment as inspira+on for some very good work.

During the afernoon of the trip, when the animals were in a mood for a sleep, the students sat and sketched. So, all in all, it was a produc+ve trip. We were also glad to see that the animals seem well looked afer and content.

These are two examples of the work in progress by Georgina Liu and Julia Sistac.

Maths Problem Of The Month Answer to the previous problem

a+b=8 1/a +1/b=2/3 a=8 and b=2 Values for a and b can be swapped.

Well done to Sara Motamedi in 7SO who submi\ed an elegant solu+on to this problem.

The problem for this month is:

Eight unit cubes are arranged to form an imaginary 2 by 2 by 2 cube.

What is the largest number of unit cubes one can remove from this arrangement if the resul+ng shape has to have the same surface area as the original?

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The answer will appear in the next issue of the newsletter.

News from the Secondary School FoundaAon 1 help the Year 10 DT students.

On Monday 30th January a group of ten Founda+on 1 students came across to the Secondary school Design and Technology department.

As part of the year 10’s DT coursework, they have to partake in primary research and, as this year’s set task is to design and make a child’s toy, where be\er to start than here in the school with the Founda+on 1 students?

They were fantas+c: the students came into the class, played with a variety of toys and interacted with the Year 10 students. It was good to see the Founda+on and Secondary students working so well together. The Founda+on students have helped the Year 10 DT students be\er understand which type of toy is more popular and why. This informa+on will first be analysed as a class exercise and then used to help them develop their designs.

Hopefully, during the course of next year, once the toys have been made, the year 10 students will go back to the same group and see how they respond to their toys.

Thank you parents of F1 for allowing your children to help us.

Mr. Savage Head of Design and Technology

24

News from the Secondary School Interna+onal Award Update – News from the Teams On the weekend of the 28th and 29th of January 2012, six teams set out on their bronze assessed expedi+on for their Interna+onal Award. This is what they had to say……………………..

Team JILMR says: On Saturday we trekked through the Wadis in Aasmah, making a couple of wrong turns, but were the first to reach camp. The second day was harder to navigate. We were singing songs together on the trip to keep ourselves going. It was tough but we finally got to the pick-­‐up point.

We had to do everything for ourselves as a group, including naviga+ng, carrying all our gear, cooking our own food and building our own camp.

Team Man versus Wild says: On Friday we bought all the necessi+es for the trip; packing the rucksack was the hardest and most challenging thing. If you get it wrong you can be uncomfortable or overloaded for the whole trek.

On Saturday we arrived late and almost got disqualified. We all had nicknames in our group. We walked past the campsite at the end of the day but then, realising we had gone too far, we retraced our steps, checked our readings and finally ended up in the right place. The food we cooked was terrible but it got us through.

Team Phoenix and Kluts say: It was a beau+ful hike through the Wadis. On the first day we walked 12 kilometres through stunning scenery. Afer singing various songs and chan+ng “mushroom soup” for five hours, we eventually arrived at the camp. We enjoyed a cooked meal. Then we had roasted, or should I say toasted, marshmallows at the camp fire. Our sleep was rudely interrupted by cockerels crowing and dogs barking. We were ready to depart at 07.30. The second day’s scenery was even more spectacular. Marching in high spirits we arrived at the finish line at a very punctual 12.30 with blisters to show for all our hard work.

Team We’ve Got Liam and team Odd Future say: Afer a few weeks of training afer school with the crew, doing survival skills, pitching tents, cooking etc., we were ready for the expedi+on. On Saturday morning I met my team and ate a day’s worth of food with them before depar+ng from school! Burs+ng for the toilet I was led by a friendly shop owner to a “cosy” house around the corner, a toilet, a small hole in a floor in a pitch black room. We set off with Man Versus Wild hot on our heels. We got to the first checkpoint without overtaking anybody. Here we had a rest and some music. The weather got be\er throughout the day. We set up our tent as far away from the teachers as possible and got our food on before the sun went down. Our den was pre\y epic. It was a place to chill out afer the hard day. At 4am the cockerels started and it was very cold. We set off early and then it happened: I lost my mum’s camera! But we had great sa+sfac+on in comple+ng the trek.

The groups are all to be congratulated as they have all passed this sec+on of the award. Well done guys!

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News from the Secondary School

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News from the Secondary School History: Year 7 Castles Year 7 students recently completed some very impressive castle projects after studying how the Normans kept control of Britain. There were some terrific examples of castles from a variety of time periods and the standard was incredibly high. The two overall winners, Nickey Van-Tooren and Anna Lis from 7SO and Sakina Surury and Lamia Altayyani in 7AE, completed excellent castles and produced fantastically detailed booklets explaining all the features they built. There were also excellent examples of castles from Luke Miles, Zaine Horger, Tareq Assi and Seyee Kim and Abigail Tulon. A terrific all round effort from Year 7, Well done!

27

News from the Secondary School Year 8 Geography Ecosystems Trip Emirates Marine and Environment Group – Jebel Ali The Year 8 Geography students have recently been studying global ecosystems, including Savannas, Tropical Rainforest and Desert. To supplement their learning, every member of the year group attended a trip to an environmental coastal reserve in Jebel Ali. The students were first given the task of a beach clean up. Working in groups, walking along an extremely scenic coastline, each student collected anything they deemed harmful to the ecosystem. They also took note of the diversity of life found, the most impressive being a juvenile sea snake, an infant turtle and the skull of a bottle-nosed dolphin.

We then visited the protected mangroves, walking bare foot through the mud, avoiding the inverted breathing roots of the plant life, thousands of sea slugs and hundreds of small crabs. Students undertook the challenge of removing algae that was weighing down the plant life and ultimately killing the mangroves. The algae is becoming difficult to manage due to offshore human activity that was resulting in large quantities flowing inshore during high tide.

After lunch students were given the opportunity to feed an endangered species of fish, the hamor, that was being kept in the EMEG ponds.

The Year 8 pupils took on all tasks with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. They were exposed to an ecosystem many of them had not known about other than for recreation. As usual, the school was represented excellently by a talented year group.

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News from the Secondary School Year 11 I am pleased to report that ten of our best Mathema+cians in Year 11 sat their GCSE examina+on in November 2011 and all passed with flying colours ( 100% A*/A).

Well done to all!

The missing tenth mathema+cian is Marya Jawwad!

Forthcoming Mathema+cs Events this term: Intermediate Mathema+cs Challenge: 2nd February Good Luck to all the par+cipants in Key Stage 3 and 4.

World Maths Day: 7th March Students can start prac+sing in February and compete against students from around the world on the day.

Par+cipants usually raise their a\ainment in Mathema+cs as a result of this fun compe++on.

Last, but not least, on March 14th we will be celebra+ng Pi( ) Day. enthusiasts around the world celebrate this transcendental number on this date as the month and the day form the first three digits of Pi, 3.14.

Mathema+cians through the ages have tried to evaluate it and, using modern computers, it can be evaluated to millions of decimal places.

More importantly, this constant occurs in formulae involving circles. You may remember from your school days the following equa+ons involving Pi:

To mark this day students can bring circular food such as “Pies” to school to celebrate.

There is a prize for the student who brings an item which approximates closest to 29

Whole School News and Information Sharjah English School has been a member of the Bri+sh Schools of the Middle East (BSME) for a number of years. Mr Nolan recently a\ended the annual conference of the organisa+on in Abu Dhabi. BSME brings together over 70 Bri+sh curriculum schools throughout the UAE, the Gulf region and the wider Middle East. Membership permits the school to stay abreast of recent developments in educa+on, access the latest research, offer career development opportuni+es to staff, and simply provides a professional forum for support and dialogue.

Over the next year, BSME is carrying out an accredita+on and inspec+on process, which will ensure that the educa+onal provision in its schools meets the most exac+ng standards. This accredita+on and inspec+on process is one in which SES will be par+cipa+ng and we will provide you with details in the coming months.

The next ABRSM Theory Examination (all grades) will be held on Saturday, 25th February at 9am in the new school building. Please route any further questions through your child's instrumental teacher or Mrs McKay who can be contacted via the school office.

Unwanted gym equipment cluttering up your home?

The PE Department is planning to expand its existing gym facilities and is looking for donations of gym equipment.

Please contact Laura Burroughs for further information. lburroughs@sharjahenglishschool.org

PSG Spring Party The PSG ‘Spring Party’ will be held on the 22nd March, 2012 at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.

If you are interested in providing sponsorship for this event please contact Nicola O’Connell. nicolaoconnell5@gmail.com

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Whole School News and Information A Taste of SES Thursday the 9th February saw the school playground transformed into a mini-­‐ Global Village for the annual Interna+onal Picnic.

There was a great turnout of parents and students and everybody was able to sample savouries and sweets from all over the world. Primary students and some parents showed off a variety of na+onal costumes, adding to the colour.

The tremendous carnival spirit helped bring home to us again that one of the strengths of SES is its diversity. The Picnic made a big impression on some poten+al parents who were visi+ng the school that afernoon and was a great adver+sement for the close partnership that exists between parents and the school.

Many, many thanks to the members of the PSG for their work on organising the event and thanks to all who supported it by coming along. We are sure that the Picnic will once again have raised an impressive amount of money towards the school’s development.

Photographs courtesy of Ophelie Sistac

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Whole School News and Information You may have noticed some black and white blocky squares as you have been reading this newsletter and wondered what they are. These are QR codes.

Year 9 ICT students have recently been introduced to the world of quick response codes, or QR codes, as they are better known. These are essentially 2D barcodes that were 4irst designed for use in the motor industry and are typically read using mobile devices. QR codes are increasingly being used in everyday life due to their large storage capacity, ability to be read quickly in comparison to traditional barcodes and in conjunction with the massive worldwide growth in smartphone and mobile device ownership.

The students have discovered that QR codes not only store URLs for websites but can also contain text and contact information and have many uses within the classroom environment for both teachers and students.

QR codes are becoming widely used in education as a way to save time, reduce paper usage and as a quick way to access websites or other resources as well as a way to set homework.

Within SES we are starting to use QR codes, not only in lessons, but also in some of our communications with students and parents. For example, the 2012 Options Booklet for AS and A2 choices, contains QR codes that link to the various subject examination board websites, allowing you to scan and access quickly the appropriate website without having to type in a lengthy web address.

How to read a QR code Reading a QR code is not just limited to mobile devices and smartphones as there are free computer applications such as Desktop QR Scanner (http://odoa.eu/DesktopQRScanner.zip) that can utilise your webcam. If you have an iOS device, such as an iPhone, iPod Touch/iPad (with camera), there are hundreds of free and paid apps in the App Store. Some Nokia and Blackberry phones come with QR code apps pre-­‐ installed and for Android users there are also plenty of apps in the Android marketplace. Once installed, you do not have to be connected to read a QR code as the software can decipher the code whether you are online or of4line.

Creating a QR code Creating a QR code is almost as easy as reading one. There are lots of websites that create QR codes as well as browser extensions/add-­‐ins for most browsers.

Just ‘google’ QR codes or try out http://qrcode.kaywa.com.

Here are a few to try out!

Mr. Hitchings Head Of ICT

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Whole School News and Information A Note from our Nurses Please do not send your child to school if they are showing any signs of sickness.

Please help the medical team keep Sharjah English School as germ free as possible by following these guidelines.

Kind Regards, Mary Smythe and Rita Datinguinoo School Nurses

GUIDELINES FOR KEEPING SICK CHILDREN HOME FROM SCHOOL The following guidelines may be helpful for you when making the decision to send your child to school or to keep him/her at home.

Please keep your child at home from school if he or she: • Has been vomiting or had diarrhoea during the night. Your child should not return to school until 24 hours since their last episode of vomiting/diarrhoea.

• Has a cold with fever, sneezing or coughing and a persistent runny nose •

Has an oral temp of 38 degrees or higher. Your child should be fever free for at least 24 hours before returning to school. (Without taking fever reducing medicine).

•

Has a severe sore throat.

•

Has a pink bloodshot eye with yellow or green discharge.

•

Has just begun antibiotics. Any child with a contagious condition such as strep throat must be taking the medication for 24 hours before returning to school

•

Have lice or nits, until treated and free of nits.

•

Has a rash all over his/her body. A child with a suspicious rash should only return to school after a diagnosis has been made.

Keeping a sick child home prevents the spread of illness in the school and allows your child to rest and recover.

Nut free school There are students in school who have severe, life threatening nut allergies. In an effort to make the school environment as safe as possible for them we would like to remind parents that Sharjah English School is a nut free zone.

Please ensure that no nuts or nut products are put into your child’s lunch box. Always read the labels on pre packaged snacks as they sometimes have hidden nut products in them. Many health and cereal bars contain nuts so please check before putting them into the lunch box. In some homes the lunch boxes are prepared by maids/helpers so please share this information with them.

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Dates For Your Diary February 2012 Monday 20th

Secondary Sports Day

Tuesday 21st

Year 10 & Year 11 Parent/Teacher Meeting

Friday 24th -­‐ Monday 27th

International Award Gold Expedition

Tuesday 15th

Year 12 & Year 13 Parent/Teacher Meeting

Monday 27th

Primary Parent/Teacher Meeting

Tuesday 28th

Inter School Athletics

Wednesday 29th

Primary Parent/Teacher Meeting

Wednesday 29th

Year 8 Parent/Teacher Meeting March 2012

Friday 2nd -­‐ Saturday 10th

Primary Ski Trip

Saturday 3rd -­‐ Friday 9th

Secondary Ski Trip

Sunday 4th -­‐ Friday 9th

Geography Field Trip -­‐ Cyprus

Sunday 4th

Last Day For Swim Squad

Wednesday 14th

Sixth Form Options Evening

Sunday 18th -­‐ Tuesday 20th

AS/A2 Art Exam

Sunday 18th

GCSE Options Evening

Monday 19th

Swimming Gala -­‐ Year 1 and Year 2

Wednesday 21st

Last Day of Primary Clubs

Wednesday 21st

Class/Sibling Photographs

Sunday 25th

Swimming Gala -­‐ Year 3 and Year 4

Monday 26th

Swimming Gala -­‐ Year 5 and Year 6

Monday 26th

Foundation Trip -­‐ Animal Sanctuary

Thursday 29th

Battle Of The Bands

Thursday 29th

End of Term 2 April 2012

Sunday 15th

Start of Term 3

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