SES Newsletter-December 2012 by Rob Hitchings

Volume 3 : Issue No. 2 - December 2012

Sharjah English School www.sharjahenglishschool.org

Contents From The Principal’s Desk

3 Primary News

News From The Primary School

Foundation UAE National Day

Foundation enjoy a ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’

Autumn Party Day

Authors’ Visit to Primary

Year 2 Art

Year 3 Celtic Face Painting

Year 3 National Day Mosaic Falcons

Year 5 Science

Year 5 & Year 6 Art Attack

Year 6 ‘Weather’ we like it or not!

Key Stage 1 - The Donkey Seller

Key Stage 2 Christmas Performance

Secondary News Geek Squad

Middle East Mathematics Challenge

Secondary National Day

Science News

20-22

Year 7 Design & Technology Day

Dubai Rugby 7’s Training At SES

Year 7 Camp

25-26 Whole School News

SES At The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The Christmas Fayre

27-28

A Note From Our Nurses

Dates For Your Diary

From the Principal’s Desk... Dear Parents and Friends, The December issue of the SES Newsle;er usually struggles to keep up to date with the end of term shows and celebra@ons throughout the school; this year is no excep@on. I hope that you have @me to read through the reports of all the exci@ng events that have taken place to mark the celebra@ons for Na@onal Day and for Christmas. It has been a par@cularly colourful period at school. As always, the events over the past month have been supported indefa@gably by the Parents Support Group. I wish to thank them for all their efforts with the Fayre, in decora@ng the school and in suppor@ng all the musical and seasonal celebra@ons. They con@nue to play a vital and vibrant role in the life of the school and their dynamism is commendable. A huge thank you to teaching and support staff also, who have put huge amounts of their own @me to preparing for the varied end of term events. The clement weather of the past few weeks has seen the beginning of a busy camping season; the trips which have taken place so far have been very successful and have helped cater for both students’ social development, and in the case of senior students have also offered the physical and planning challenges associated with tackling the Interna@onal Award. The coming months will see many more outdoor adventures. SES believes in being as involved as possible in the Sharjah educa@onal community – one of our commitments involves collabora@on with the BEd courses at the Higher Colleges of Technology (Women’s College). We have hosted a number of SWC students recently, both for teaching prac@ce and for lesson observa@ons. The school is a popular des@na@on for these students, who feel they experience and observe the delivery of excellent teaching at first hand. During the coming school year, we are aiming to host training days and conferences for teachers and educators at the SES auditorium, which will help to raise further our profile amongst schools in the region. Other community links have seen our collabora@ons with the Dubai Rugby 7s con@nue; several of the teams used SES as a training venue prior to the compe@@on. Parents have given us very favourable feedback on the SES Communicator, to which most parents now subscribe. Can I urge those few parents not yet signed up to do so as soon as possible? On behalf of the school, I extend seasonal gree@ngs and best wishes for the New Year to all our families. I hope that you have a safe and peaceful holiday with loved ones and friends. The academic pressures, however, know no seasons. As we break for the extended holiday we urge our exam candidates in the senior school to mix their celebra@ons with some judicious study @me – January sees many of them come straight back into important examina@ons. Thanking you for your con@nued support.

John Nolan Principal

News from the Primary School As we reach the end of the first term I can hardly believe where the @me has gone since I joined in September. They say @me flies when you are having fun so perhaps that is the reason. This term we have welcomed several visitors in Primary. We enjoyed having students from the Higher Colleges, who are training to be Early Years teachers, observe our good prac@ce in Founda@on Stage classes. We have also welcomed 3 famous authors who were a;ending the Sharjah Book Fair. Gareth P. Jones entertained the children with his wi;y raps on the ukulele. Sally Grindley excited us with a quiz on animals with strange names while explaining how she researches topics for novels. Ian Whybrow, who has wri;en over 100 children’s books, provided an insight into the inspira@on for his stories, including the fact his real life sisters are all rolled into one annoying character in his books. We greatly enjoyed Na@onal Day Celebra@ons with art and cra_ ac@vi@es, Arabic songs and dressing up in the colours of the UAE flag. The school looked bright and colourful with flags, balloons and bun@ngs. There was quite a party atmosphere. We also held a very successful Fes@ve Fair. Thank you to all involved in the PSG who helped in the planning and prepara@on and on the big day itself. Your efforts certainly paid off! Carol singing in hotels, Christmas concerts and fun filled par@es completed our term. As we close for the holidays may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Fes@ve Season. If you are traveling I wish you a safe journey. I look forward to welcoming you all again in the New Year. Nan McKeown Head of Primary

Congratulations to Mrs Danae Zythoskee on the safe arrival of baby Finn - born November 14th at 12:35am. Here is a lovely photo of Mum and baby Finn. Finn is mid-yawn! His full name is Adrian Finnley Zythoskee and he weighed 2.6 kg and 51cm long at birth.

We will be saying goodbye at the end of term to Mrs Sarah McNabb. Sarah has spent 15 years at SES as a classroom teacher in Key Stage 1, having taught both Year 1 and Year 2 classes with distinction in that time. Sarah has been a hardworking and committed teacher throughout her time at SES and we are sure parents will join us in wishing Sarah all the best for the future. We thank her for her loyalty and her dedication; she has made a major contribution to the development of the Primary School. 4

UAE National Day In Foundation Any excuse is great to dress up and, of course, National Day was just such an occasion. We all wore the same colours; black, white, red or green. Some wore a Dishdash while others had dresses made out of UAE Elags. Even the teachers dressed up in the colours of the UAE Elag! We coloured in Elags and made colourful camels on pegs. We shared yummy food and played games. It was a fun day. Happy UAE National Day to all.

HH Dr Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi

News from the Primary School Foundation Stage enjoy a ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ It was a lovely day for a picnic and the children came fully prepared with their favourite teddy or cuddly toy. We started the day with a variety of games such as ‘Pin the honeypot onto the teddy’s hand’, ‘Parachute teddy in the air’ and ‘Bean bag throw into the teddy pot’. After all that hard work we then settled down for a rest with a teddy biscuit. We finished the morning with a well deserved picnic on the grass in the sunshine. There was plenty of food followed by a lovely dessert of teddy bear cake. It was a truly ‘teddyrific’ day for Foundation Stage!!

If you go out in the woods today You're sure of a big surprise. If you go out in the woods today You'd better go in disguise. For every bear that ever there was Will gather there for certain, because Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

News from the Primary School

Autumn Party Day On Wednesday 31st October the children in the Foundation Stage had an Autumn Party Day. The children were really excited before the event and to add to the occasion the children created lots of fantastic artwork to decorate their Foundation area. On the day the children came to school dressed in a fantastic array of fancy dress costumes. They really enjoyed the games and we loved watching their dance moves. A great day was had by all.

News from the Primary School Authors’ Visit to Primary This term we have been very fortunate to have three world famous children’s authors come into our school to talk about their lives as authors and their books. This was all part of the Sharjah Literature Fes@val. The authors who came to visit were Gareth. P. Jones, Sally Grindley and Ian Whybrow. Gareth P. Jones used his ukulele to sing songs about his books, while Sally Grindley talked about her wri@ng and endangered animals. Perhaps the best known of the three authors was Ian Whybrow, who is famous for wri@ng the Harry and his Bucket of Dinosaurs books, as well as the Li;le Wolf and Smelly Breff series. Ian spoke about how he became an author and told us one of his Harry stories. He then showed a short video of his Grandchildren reading a Wolfly Nursery Rhyme penned by the famous Wolf, L Wolf Arkswire (with a bit of help from Ian). The following week Ian sent an email to the school about his visit. Over the next few weeks we will be recording some of the Nursery Rhymes for L Wolf Arkswire’s website. Take a look at it in the New Year and hopefully you will see some of the primary pupils reci@ng poems on there. Dear Mrs McKeown, I should like to thank you, your staff and the children for my cheery welcome to your school. It was one of the highlights of my <me in Sharjah.

Some Wolﬂy Nursery Rhymes by L Wolf Arkswire, with a bit of help from Ian Whybrow

I'm wondering whether some of the children might like to prepare in groups, as large or small as are videoable, a couple of LiDle Wolﬂy Nursery Rhymes or songs to go on his website. My aim is to build a collec<on of performances from all over the place.

1-‐2-‐4-‐8-‐6

Here's a selec<on. Feel free to do any you think the children might enjoy working on. Enjoy the rest of the term.

1-‐2-‐4-‐8-‐6 Once I ate some Gooseabix! 4-‐7-‐9-‐8-‐10 Then I sicked it up again. Why did you let it go? Because it made me itch my toe. Then what did you do? I bashed its head in with my shoe. Two liGle dicky birds Two li;le dicky birds Siing on the wall. Baggsy-‐ me the fat one -‐ You get the small.

Look forward to hearing from you. All best wishes Ian

Baa-‐baa Black Sheep Baa baa black sheep, Have you got a sec? Yes sir, yes, sir. Aren’t you a wolf? Ooo heck!

Mary Had Mary had a li;le lamb Its ﬂeece was long and hairy. The lamb was very tasty -‐ But not as nice as Mary.

News from the Primary School Year Two In Year Two we have been studying Mother Natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design in our art lessons. We were particularly interested in the lines, shapes and colours that are all around us. The students have had great fun creating different versions of a Frangipani leaf using a variety of materials and techniques.

News from the Primary School Year 3 Celtic Face Painting Year 3 have been learning about Celtic warriors. The warriors were extremely aggressive, and made themselves look even scarier by painting their faces with a blue plant dye called ‘woad’. We studied Celtic patterns seen in artifacts like jewelry, and used these ideas to create different face paint designs. We then painted them on our friends’ faces. You can certainly see why the Romans found the Celts such a fearsome foe!!

News from the Primary School

Year 3 National Day Mosaic Falcons

News from the Primary School Year 5 Science Year 5 have been learning about Changing State. We have studied the processes of evaporation, condensation, freezing and melting. The children have investigated the factors that can speed up evaporation. They have used this knowledge to produce an advert for an electrical appliance that will make drying faster.

News from the Primary School

ART ATTACK Year Five and Six Art Club have been having great fun this week and with the festive season coming up you can imagine there has been a lot of glitter involved. Over the course of the term the club has learnt a wide variety of techniques, including: marvellous marbling with an amazing range of patterns produced; audacious autograph graffiti art, in bold neon designs; terrific terracotta model making, with a dash of mess involved; wonderful watercolours of flora from around the school and superior sketching skills. These are just some of the activities the pupils have enjoyed learning about.

News from the Primary School

“Weather” we Like it or Not! - Year 6 Dirt and rubbish vanish under my thick blanket, Fluttering gently, gliding and floating, I spread myself countrywide, Silence! Whispers extend across the garden, Glistening friends play…then fade away. Suddenly appearing out of nowhere it charges like a raging bull, Storming across the populated land, it arrives at a peaceful destination, The leaves gently flutter back and forth, leaving a trail of green, It whispers in the calm, crisp air, Floating through the spirit of the village like a ghostly voice, It glides over the world, giving a warm breeze of happiness. The gentle drips tap against my window, Spitting down on the colourful umbrellas like a timid mouse pitter-pattering across the table, They pour out of the sky like a child crying from the absence of her favourite doll, Gaining strength, they storm with energy across the heavens, Ramming through cotton wool clouds turning into the Dark Side, Suddenly the rain drums viciously down on my bare head, Losing energy as the tears run out, It glides from door to door, knocking quietly until it finally vanishes into thin air. It punches its way, as it crashes and pounds on the forest below, A vicious hail storm bursting with anger like Zaki on a bad day. It bellows with laughter as I struggle against its aggressive army, Howling loudly, it thrashes and rams through the unprepared village, Like a phantom closing in, Smothering the world like a sheet of death, The dark skies fire bolts of lightning paralyzing the innocent earth, Screaming as it illuminates the ominous skies.

News from the Primary School The Donkey Seller Congratulations to all Key Stage One children who participated in The Donkey Seller, our first KS1 production in the new auditorium. The young students eagerly took to the stage and put on a fantastic show. All the hard work and rehearsals certainly paid off with a wonderful evening full of colour, sparkle, song and donkeys. Everyone who saw The Donkey Seller left the theatre in a holiday mood. A big thank you goes out to all staff, parents and students who helped to put the show together with a special thank you to Ms. Stanley for all the time and effort she gave to make the show such a success. Well done everyone!

News from the Primary School Key Stage 2 Christmas Performance Memories of snow, Santa and mince pies were conjured up on Wednesday night as the Key Stage 2 Christmas concert returned for another year. Throughout the performance, the children sang a mixture of classic and modern festive songs to the delight of the audience. Year 3 presented their version of Horrid Henry’s Christmas Cracker, where cheeky Henry decided to swap around the labels on the presents. Year 4 recited a beautiful poem about snow, while the Year 5 Irish dancers got everyone in the party mood. Year 6 performed a rap about their experiences of Christmas, which was written by the pupils themselves, and Anneketrien put the icing on the cake, with a beautiful rendition of the Snowman theme tune, ‘We’re Walking in the Air’.

News from the Secondary School

The Geek Squad The “Geek Squad” members are ICT Prefects. They are a cool group of techie Key Stages 4 and 5 students who are knowledgeable about ICT and technology in general. Members of the “Geek Squad” have the privilege of supervising the ICT labs during break-times, helping students who have queries and reporting any issues that arise in the ICT labs. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to support the ICT Department and display their responsibility, talent and knowledge. Duties undertaken by Geek Squad members are considered as Community Service hours towards the Duke of Edinburgh Award. An experience like this also looks favourable in Personal Statements for university applications. I am very pleased to see our students working together to make the best use of the technology that SES has to offer. The “Geek Squad”…. You can still be a part of it! Interested students should contact Mrs. Bernier-Kawash in the ICT Department.

News from the Secondary School Middle East Mathematics Challenge: This is the ﬁrst year in which senior school students participated in this challenge. Overall 149 students participated on 6th and 7th November. The statistics are as follows: Total questions answered: 112718 Average questions answered:756.4966443 Congratulations to all the participants. In secondary age group, out of all the participating schools in the UAE: Joseph Babu came 3rd (18,189 points) Patrick O’Connell 17th (12,600 points) Joshua Vaughan 46th (8,819 points) Overall Joseph came 5th and is in the Hall of Fame for all the participating schools in the Middle East. www.middleastmathematicschallenge.com Saif Dawoodbhai

Maths Relay 7SO and 7AE competed in a Mathematics relay on 25th November.

News from the Secondary School

News from the Secondary School Science News Year 9 Edible Organ Systems In Science, we have been learning about which organs are part of which organ system and their functions. For homework, we were asked to make an edible organ system. On the day people brought in lots of goodies for us to eat and we were all able to describe what they were as well as their functions. We used a range of food for our models, ranging from cake to pasta and biscuits. We had a great time and we learnt from it too.

Year 12 have been working hard in AS Chemistry, conducting assessed practical work. They can be seen here making up a standard solution of Sodium Hydrogen Sulphate and then using it to determine the concentration of the unknown Sodium Hydroxide solution.

Year 13 conducted several experiments in studying the chemical reactions of organic substances. They participated in assessed practical work where they synthesised Aspirin (2-‐ethanoylhydroxybenzenecarboxylic acid ) from salicylic acid and ethanoic anhydride. They made the organic product, recrystallised and puriﬁed it and then determined the purity of their sample by measuring the melting point of their Aspirin sample. The results showed that their Aspirin was very pure. 20

News from the Secondary School Year 9 solving the question Who’s the Fittest? Exercising and measuring pulse rates before and after exercise in order to calculate recovery rates is a key indication of ﬁtness. The person whose recovery rate is the fastest is the ﬁttest. Recovery rate is the time it takes for a person’s increased pulse rate to return to normal. The winners in the class were Hind Abusnana and Mikolay Al-‐Jindi

Year 7 – Cooking in Science “Gordon Ramsey Eat your Heart Out!” Students in year 7 have been investigating chemical reactions and energy transfers of heat when cooking. These budding Year 7 cooks have used their scientiﬁc knowledge to produce perfect pancakes with home made ice-‐cream and delicious chocolate doodles.

News from the Secondary School Year 11 - Edible Cells

News from the Secondary School A Very Practical Day On Tuesday 20th November, the entire cohort of Year 7 students stopped all lessons and had their annual Design & Technology Day. The students spent the whole day working on their DT project in what proved to be a very productive day indeed. The day itself was designed to give the students the opportunity to focus on one project, the Automata. Since the Year 7s are currently divided into three groups for their Art and DT lessons, some students were at different stages of the project. The majority of the students spent most of the day in the workshop drilling, cutting, filing and sanding their work, although many others were painting their finished artefacts. As well as all the practical work , students took part in several challenging and fun activities aimed at clarifying the theory behind their product. Overall, it was a very productive day which all the students enjoyed. A big thank you goes out to all the staff who made this day possible but an even more special thank you goes to the Sixth Form Product Design students, whose help during the day was invaluable. “It was a truly awesome day!” Rohaan Imran “Can’t wait for the next one!” Dionysios Tanteles “DT Dominos was really fun!” Zack Doublesin

News from the Secondary School Dubai Rugby Sevens Training at SES This was the second consecu@ve year that Sharjah English School was designated as an official training venue for the Dubai Rugby Sevens. This year saw a very busy schedule of interna@onal teams over the week leading up to the popular tournament. It was an informa@ve and inspiring series of training sessions. Teams including Kenya, Scotland, France, Portugal, South Africa Ladies, Netherlands Ladies and New Zealand Ladies. All the teams arrived armed with coaches, managers and physiotherapists for a number of sessions on our sports field. France, who are now ranked 5th in the IRB Series, trained whilst wearing a GPS tracking device under the watchful eye of their performance coach. Kenya, who returned for a second year, had a new management structure in the form of ex-‐ England Sevens manager, Mike Friday and his strength and condi@oning coach, Chris Browne. Chris also kindly gave a short presenta@on to the Secondary PE Gi_ed and Talented students on the nutri@on and training aspects of elite rugby performance. Kenya, who finished 3rd at the Dubai Sevens, now lie joint second with Fiji in the IRB Series heading into the 3rd Series compe@@on in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. As the compe@@on con@nues to grow, and sevens rugby becomes an Olympic event, we hope to con@nue and expand our involvement with the compe@@on organisers.

News from the Secondary School Year 7 Camp â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ras Al Khaimah Tadrib Desert Oasis Camp Year 7 recently took on the exciting challenge of the annual camp trip. The camp was hosted by Raseel Travel and Educational Tourism, a company established to develop and run Outdoor Development programmes for students and teachers. The trip was designed to provide innovative learning outside the classroom which combined adventure and education in a positive and creative environment. The students left the camp with an increased awareness of several crucial issues: how to feel positively about themselves and what they could accomplish, an improved determination to overcome challenges, a consideration of how to plan and prepare for tasks, how to make an effective contribution to a group and recognize the strengths of others. All the Year 7 students demonstrated excellent behaviour, energy, enthusiasm and application throughout the trip. There was plenty of fun, including a talent show, a few songs around the camp fire and roasting marshmallows. Experiential learning provides a powerful way of engaging participants. It is motivating and has impact and credibility. Participants learn through what they experience and encounter. Using a variety of outdoor activities, learning takes place in a domain where actions have real outcomes and consequences. It stimulates new ways of problem solving, communication and decision making. It is an energising and inspirational learning method and enhances skills such as enquiry, experimentation, review and evaluation. On behalf of the Mrs Egan, Ms Shirazi and the Raseel Travel and Educational Tourism staff, I would like to extend a huge thank you and congratulations to Year 7. You were a credit to yourselves and the school. I look forward to next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beach Camp!. Ed Mosley Key Stage 3 Co-ordinator

News from the Secondary School Year 7 Camp

Whole School News and Information SES at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Sharjah English School was again ably represented at the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not by any of our speedier teaching staff or newly licensed student drivers, but by our school medical staff. For the 4th year running the Medical Centre at Yas Island was staffed by Doctor Shereen Habib, who was the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, and Nurse Mary Smythe was again the Lead Nurse at the Centre. Both were part of the medical team that looked after the F1 drivers, their teams, the full media contingent and all the VIPs in the hospitality area. It was a long weekend with the practice days, qualifying and the race day itself. Race day was very busy with incidents involving three drivers who needed to be attended to by the medical team. There were no major traumas, however. They claim they were too tired to attend the Kylie or Eminem concerts after the race, but we have our doubtsâ&#x20AC;Ś. Well done to both for being selected for this prestigious event. Dr Shereen and Nurse Mary will be reporting for duty again next year.

SES Winter Fayre The SES Winter Fayre was held on 7th December in glorious weather. It was a pleasure as always to welcome so many parents and families, including so many overseas visitors. The Fayre offered the usual opportunities to do some pre-Christmas shopping, ride a camel or pony, pick up a puppy or kitten, sample some fine savoury or sweet foods, throw a pie at your least favourite member of staff or simply mingle with other families and parents in the festive and happy atmosphere. The luckier participants also went home with some superb raffle prizes or goodies from the Silent Auction. Santa put in his usual appearance, arriving on a camel to greet the younger children; apparently he's now off somewhere preparing Geography lessons! Top prizes in the raffle, two Etihad Airways tickets, went to Mr John Wareing and our own Miss Theresa Santos. This year's event was enhanced by the presence of Dubai Drummers, who got both parents and children to lose their inhibitions and join in the rhythmic music making. DJ Dave Crane also kept the pace and jollity going with his stint on the microphone. Our own musicians attracted a large crowd to the auditorium for guitar, orchestra and rock performances. Many thanks to all our sponsors and supporters who donated various prizes and vouchers - your support is greatly appreciated as always. A huge thanks also to the members of the Parents Support Group, the volunteers and helpers, the teaching and admin staff, and the site workers for all their time and assistance.

Whole School News and Information

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.

Dates For Your Diary Please keep up to date and informed by using the SES Communicator

Be Aware and Stay Informed

Download your copy today! www.six-delta.com/school Want to access the Communicator on your Smart Phone? Scan the QR Code or use the link to access the mobile website. www.schoolcommunicator.mobi