The Sheikh Zayed Private Academy aims to honor the past and educate for the future by developing confident, responsible and caring young people of integrity who are well educated and prepared to meet the challenges in an ever-changing world.
To achieve our mission, we will work to our core values which are:
Pursue excellence in all that we do Celebrate achievement and participation of all Appreciate and foster UAE National Identity
Cherish the community and the environment
Promote Emirati culture and ethical values
Promote respect, responsibility, belonging and caring
Develop leadership capacity and global citizenship
I hope you and your families are safe and well. Welcome to our first newsletter of 2023.
As you know, we made 2022 – 2023 “The Year of Academic Rigor”. We have been focusing on raising the academic attainment of our students right from grade 1 to grade 12. One of the best ways to measure our success, is to analyze the student’s MAP scores. This is because MAP tests are standardized, and compulsory for all students who attend American Curriculum schools in the UAE. This means we can compare the results of our students with the results of students in all the other American curriculum schools in the UAE.
The following graphs show our school’s results compared to all schools in the UAE In each year, 0 = the UAE average. The gap between row zero and the colored line shows how much better our students are doing than the UAE average.
I am so proud of our students, teachers, and of you. I know many of you have attended our information events and are working with us to support your children’s progress. We are not complacent, and we want our students to achieve even greater results, but I hope you can see what a difference sending your children to SZPAG makes. At our school, we prioritize academic attainment and ensure our students are making excellent progress.
Yours in education
Carolyn Bailey Principal
The children returned to school after the winter break with such passion and enthusiasm for their learning. It was lovely to have them back in school. We have seen a real growth in their development and their ability to focus in class, engaging with the activities, and talking about their learning. This is traditionally the term where we see amazing progress in our children, so please send them to school every day. We appreciate that during the colder weather the children are more susceptible to illness, but please make sure they have outstanding attendance unless they are sick. It really is an action-packed term and we don’t want them to miss out on any exciting learning opportunities.
I have the pleasure of observing KG2C children working outside my office and it is always fascinating to observe their learning and see their skills develop. During investigation time, a group of children decided they wanted to build a marble run. As a team, they successfully designed their first run They analyzed the success of their design and realized the marbles would roll under the fence Working in partnership, they built a barrier to stop the marbles from going under the fence and onto the playground. The children then experimented with lowering and raising the marble runway They designed and investigated the effectiveness of different barriers and used a stop sign to show where the marbles should stop. The children worked on their marble run over a couple of days evaluating their design and making improvements They worked together as a team as they developed their engineering skills. As you can see below the marble run became more complex as time went on
The children in Pre KG had a fabulous time learning about cold weather. They came to school dressed in hats and scarves to keep warm. They made snow and experimented with ice. They learned words to describe the ice and how cold it was. They watched in amazement as the ice melted before their eyes. They had a pretend roaring fire in the classroom and the children pretended to toast marshmallows in the fire while drinking hot chocolate to keep warm.
We ended last term on a high with the Fairy Tale Ball. It was just magical to have the children preforming on stage in front of an audience after three years. Our Grade 1 children rose to the occasion and were so confident. They had a wonderful time at their party afterwards and so enjoyed having you there. Thank you to all of you who supported us at with this wonderful event, it was lovely to spend time with you
We had a fabulous sports days and our Pre KG children took part in their first one. The children came to school in class colors. The children had such fun and it was lovely to see their smiling faces as they worked together in teams on a variety of challenges. It was a good reminder of how important physical exercise is for our health and well-being.
Regular physical activity can help children:
Improve cardiorespiratory fitness
Build strong bones and muscles
Control weight
e symptoms of anxiety and depression
e the risk of developing health
ons such as heart disease, cancer, type
etes
ages healthy habits
es stress
ages social behavior
tes good sleep
ces concentration
es learning
We have started our orientation visits for the academic year 2023-24. We really enjoy meeting our new students and their parents. If you have not done so already, then please register your child for their orientation visit for next academic year. Places are filling up fast for KG1 and Pre KG Please contact our Registrations Manager, Shaza Tulimat, at 971 026195555 or email her at Shaza.tulimat@zayedacademy.ac.ae. We look forward to seeing you and your child very soon. It is an ideal opportunity for you to meet our team and we are always available to answer any questions you may have about the induction process.
Our lovely KG1 children are enjoying the cooler weather and are learning about different types of weather this term. They have been practicing using the correct language to describe the weather and recording the weather each day. They were very excited the when it rained! They are also fantastic mathematicians who are working on their numbers and tens frames in Math.
Thank you to all of our parents who attended our Practical Phonics Workshop We enjoy sharing ideas with you on how to support your child at home Parents had great fun learning and experiencing practical activities to support their children at home.
Our Grade leaders really enjoy these sessions as they are an ideal opportunity to answer any queries you have about the learning and curriculum in school
In EC we operate an open door policy and a member of staff is always available to meet with you at the start and end of the day to discuss any concerns you may have. If you need an appointment during the school day, please contact our receptionist, Miss Amal at Amal.Saleh@zayedacademy.ae or telephone 971 026195522 and she will arrange for someone to meet with you. We are always happy to welcome you into the building and work in partnership with you.
I can certainly see that everyone was relaxed and recharged as we leapt into 2023 and the start of Term 2. There is a real energy in the classrooms and learning is on full-power mode. Lessons and school life is being enriched by lots of events which are able to take place outside due to the cooler temperatures and the children are clearly enjoying these opportunities. You will see that we have been sporty, sustainable, and safety-focused in January.
As part of our support for parents understanding key strategies used within Singapore Math, it was wonderful to welcome parents to explore how we are using bar modeling in Grades 2 through 5. Parents were introduced to the concrete and pictorial method that helps students explore addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Student helpers supported the parents in answering some example questions using the bar model method. They were able to explain how they use the bar model and how it helps them solve the challenging math problems they work on.
On Wednesday 25th January, SZPAG had the honor of attending the Unified Champion Schools Awarding Ceremony. This event took place at NYU Abu Dhabi. Two of our Elementary students who participated in UCS events during the 2021-2022 school year represented SZPAG at this event and were interviewed by many dignitaries from the UAE and other countries. Our students shared the different whol- school events we host, they discussed our Unified Sports Days, our Unified Choir, and gave information about the ways SZPAG sustains our Unified Champion School status We look forward to continuing our work with Unified Champion Schools for years to come.
The Elementary Sports Days were held during week 3 this term The Grade 2 & 3 Sports Day was on Friday 20thJanuary and the Grade 4 & 5 one Thursday 19th January All students participated in 10 activity stations with their classes, including running races, hurdle races, egg and spoon races, football and basketball shoot outs, and a fun and challenging obstacle course The focus of both days was on enjoying physical activity, participation, and sportsmanship, which was clearly evidenced by the excitement, cheering and happy faces on both days! Well done and congratulations to everyone involved It was amazing to welcome students from MRC on both days. The children loved joining in with the different skills and games.
We have had special visitors to our weekly assemblies. Miss Kerry shared the exciting career focused ECA brochure with the children to help support their after-school club selections and Miss Carolyn talked to the children about our school vision, ‘Honoring the Past. Educating for the future’. Miss Amirah spoke to the children about the importance of keeping themselves safe and who to talk to if they ever felt that they weren’t safe Miss Rukaya and Miss Naquaa now award Arabic and Islamic awards weekly for the Arabi programme star readers and Quran recitation. And finally, Miss Kim joined us to celebrate the optional STEM homework project which many of the children participated in, which was wonderful to see. Assemblies are certainly busy and packed full of celebrating student achievements, as they should be.
Grade 2 has had an exciting and busy start to Term 2. Students have started researching their favorite animal as they focus on non-fiction writing. They have been discussing and identifying non-fiction text features. In math students have been expanding numbers with hundreds, tens, and ones They love using the “Crocodile” method and challenging themselves with comparing numbers. They are looking forward to the Grade 2 fieldtrip to the Emirates Park Zoo in March.
‘Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023’ not only provided students with the opportunity to reflect on what they already know and do regarding sustainability across the curriculum in school, but also to participate in activities that champion this very worthy cause!
We learned that ‘Sustainability’ is about the small changes we can make to look after the planet One activity that made an impact was the ‘Zero Waste Picnic’. The student council helped to raise awareness about the small changes that we can make to our packed lunches that make would make a difference.
Students were encouraged to pack their own lunches for this event keeping in mind the following three points of action:
Use reusable boxes when possible
Buy locally grown food to minimize the impact of transporting food from around the world
We did not quite make ‘Zero’ waste this time, but we made a big step in the right direction. A big thank you to everyone that supported this worthy effort!
Term 2 ECA’s have launched with a roaring success!
We have smashed our attendance record from last term with 260 registrations in the opening week. This term we are focusing on a ‘Careers’ theme with bi-lingual and bi-cultural influences to spark student interest in future endeavors We have collaborated with the Formula 1 in schools’ program to introduce team race car building; leapt into Junior Duke Awards developing independence, resilience and character, and created a competitive team of unified robotic engineers. Fear not, ECA registrations are still open if you have not registered Please click on the corresponding link to your grade level.
Grade 1 – https://forms.gle/qc5zxkdPqs1QSMwK9
Grade 2 – https://forms.gle/sZsHjypWK5xr66qF6
Grade 3 – https://forms.gle/QPyHTVmm1HJrFCa18
Grade 4 – https://forms.gle/cnY5CaCj6mJMMAcw9
Grade 5 – https://forms.gle/EsJQf1WsJ3aPsocS9
If you have any queries please contact Ms Kerry via Seesaw or email eca coordinator@zayedacademy.ac.ae
I am so delighted to welcome all of our students back to the building for the start of Term 2. We have welcomed a number of new students to our High School who have settled in very well. We have also welcomed a new Assistant Head of Secondary, Ms Shereen, who now teaches ESS; and a new Geography and ESS teacher, Ms Elaine. All of our new staff and students have commented on how friendly, happy, and organized our school is, and we are delighted to expand our SZPAG family.
A number of students in Middle School have now also achieved their Ruby Head of School Award on epraise, earning 300 epraise points since the start of the year! This is a real achievement, and we are so proud of our students who have managed this already. We hope to see them achieve their Emerald award later this year.
Finally, we have Sports Days, Charity Day, Reward Events, Soaring Falcons, and so many more events coming up this term that we are excited to celebrate and share with our students. Thank you all, as always, for your continued support of your daughters and the school.
Lyndsey Bryden Head of Secondary
To celebrate all of our students who consistently arrive to school on time and are ready to learn by 8 am, we have organized a bring-and-share breakfast for students Students who had earned enough ‘8 am good to go’ points in the last half term were invited to the canteen on a Friday morning to enjoy sharing breakfast and chatting with their friends. It was a lovely way to start the day, and the girls brought in some lovely foods to share generously Thank you to all parents who contributed to the event for their daughters and who helped them to have a positive and delicious start to the day We will host another event at the beginning of next half-term, and we hope even more students will join us next time.
This month, our Grade 12 students enjoyed a ‘color picnic’. Our Grade 12 SSL, Amani and Shamma, organized the event with the help of their Head of Year. As part of our Grade 12 event calendar, students wore a ‘onesie’ or a jalabiya in the color that was assigned to their class, and brought in food and blankets to enjoy a break time picnic with their friends. The girls enjoyed collaborating to plan a fun event and enjoyed sharing food and laughter with their friends – a wonderful time was had by everyone.
All Grade 10 students are invited to join our SZPA Future Leaders pilot program this term. This will run as an ECA on a Tuesday Students who fully participate in the program will earn a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award, and to achieve this, they must come up with a proposal for a project, product, or business that is linked to Abu Dhabi’s Sustainability Goals and is something that they are passionate about Students will learn about these Goals, learn how to write a proposal, use time management and critical thinking skills, focus on leadership and presentation skills, amongst others Students are in charge of their own projects, and will be mentored by Ms Naz, Ms Sarah, and Ms Zelda along the way We are very excited for students to join the project and help launch our Future Leaders Award this year. This program will be developed it in to a much bigger program next year
For our High School students, we want them to experience a project that goes beyond school, to help them stand out amongst other applicants for places at top universities across the UAE and beyond
We marked Abu Dhabi Sustainability week in January with information sharing in Homeroom to explain the significance of the event and the work Abu Dhabi does on Sustainability. We discussed what we could all do to help achieve Abu Dhabi’s sustainability goals. Students are encouraged to bring reusable water bottles to school to fill which will reduce the amount of single-use plastic they use, and are encouraged to recycle wherever possible to do so. We discussed the importance of these goals and we awarded points to all students who had their reusable water bottles in school – we have more projects planned for creating a sustainable future.
Grade 7 students are preparing for our Reading Fair at the start of February. All Grade 7 students have chosen a book to read. They have a large trifold board and they are working to complete different tasks and activities showcasing the book and their reading each week. On 3rd February, all students will come together in the Gym to showcase their work to teachers, Senior Student leaders, and parents.
Over the last term, we have been awarding a ‘Student of the week’ badge and certificate to a student in each homeroom, and a ‘Homeroom of the week’ award to each grade level. These awards are based on epraise points as well as other achievements. As well as this, we have a ‘Homeroom of the Half Term’ trophy for each Grade Level, which is an achievement that students work very hard to gain. We are really impressed with how hard our students are working towards these awards, and we are very proud of all of our winners so far.
Our ECA program is once again up and running for Term 2. We have School Show, prop making, music ensemble, soccer, young historians, mindful coloring, Prophet’s stories, active club, and lots of other clubs running for our students to enjoy. We want to remind you that we also have support clubs available on a Tuesday afternoon for all subjects that your daughter can sign up for and pop in to on a weekly basis, should she need any further support or guidance.
Grade 7 and HS students are working on their clay models this term. Grade 7 are building teapots and HS are working on sea creatures ‘From Penguins to Turtles!’ These are looking fantastic so far, and we can’t wait to share some photos of the finished models with you.
As well as this, Grade 9 have recently finished their knitting and crochet unit, and have produced bags, blankets, hats, you name it! They look really cool, and what a great skill to have learned for the future.
This month the Grade 9s explored plate tectonics and how earthquakes and volcanoes form. To demonstrate this learning, they worked in groups to design the best earthquake proof structure made using cards, bbq sticks and marshmallows. These models were created using challenging success criteria and were tested by other groups to see how they might withstand an earthquake. This activity was fun, challenging and worked to deepen students understanding of the interaction of humans with nature.
Dear Parents,
We are pleased to write to you again with the beginning of term 2. In this issue, you will find many special topics that include everything new in our school. As you all know, every day our students learn useful things, and they carry out many activities that bring joy and pleasure to their hearts, instill in them a love for learning, and promote a spirit of cooperation and independence.
Together, we will see what the tender hands have accomplished from innovations and achievements that will make you happy and proud
Best regards,
Jacky Boulos Head of Arabic
The Sheikh Zayed Private Academy for Girls held the parent teacher conferences to discuss students’ progress after receiving term 1 reports. We got the opportunity to meet with parents face to face and online via Microsoft Teams for those who were unable to attend. The meetings were positive as parents said they liked our programs that aim to develop the Arabic language and raise their children’s level in reading, writing and speaking through educational programs and platforms. Teachers have also thanked parents for their efforts in supporting our students and continuing the educational journey with them at home.
Out of our keen interest to provide extracurricular activities for our students at the Sheikh Zayed Private Academy for Girls, we are still continuing with the extra-curricular activities after school hours Each student has the opportunity to choose the activity he/she likes to practice inside school, which helps them improve the quality of time they spend at school. It also helps them build their self-esteem, boost their self-confidence, develop their work ethics and principles as well as their academic performance.
Students returned to school full of vigor and enthusiasm after the winter break to continue the learning process through “Arabi” program. In this program, we complete what we started by following various interesting methods to develop students' reading skills, increase their linguistic repertoire, and develop the different speaking and writing skills.
We at the Sheikh Zayed Private Academy care about teaching students the Arabic language, so in order to develop students' skills in the different areas of the "Arabi" program, we conducted the diagnostic tests in the skills of reading and writing for term 2 to be able to track students’ progress.
The Arabic Language
Shirt:
EC teachers put forward a set of activities and events aimed at enhancing the love of our mother tongue, which in turn contributes to the love of the Arabic language and encourages students to speak it and praise its beauty. The activities included reading in unusual places, as well as designing an Arabic Language shirt that includes letters of the alphabet, poems, or names of students. Students enjoyed these events through the beautiful participations that distinguished them, and these activities had a good impact on our students as well. Together we shall elevate and celebrate our Arabic language.
Students in Early Childhood need to define their starting point in order to enhance and develop their skills and abilities in learning, and this requires clear educational goals and objectives for students to be able to reach. In KG1, the student can define the goal he seeks to reach, and know where he is now, and where he will reach later He can also realize at the end of this stage that he will be able to achieve the educational goals related to Arabic Language skills (reading - writing - speaking) distinctly, and this is the goal we aspire to at this stage.
The Arabic Language Department launched the "Young Journalist" competition, which aims to encourage students to speak in standard/classical Arabic in order to enhance and develop their selfconfidence, encourage them to have a dialogue and conversation with others, help them overcome their shyness, and embolden them by conducting an interview with a person who is considered a role model to them.
The Arabic Poetry competition has been launched for middle and high school students Students will compete to memorize poems and recite them in an expressive way, and parents will be invited to attend this poetry evening.
The Arab Reading Challenge is the largest-ever Arab literacy initiative Launched by UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to raise awareness of the importance of the Arabic Language and ignite a cultural renaissance, as it challenges students to read as many books as possible (over 50) in one academic year in order to instill the love of reading in the hearts of young people and spread the culture of reading as a daily habit.
The challenge takes the form of a competition for reading in Arabic, as students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 participate from schools across the Arab world The competition starts in September every year and continues till April of the following year. Participating students progress through five levels, and each level includes reading ten books and summarizing them in special booklets called "Challenge Passports" After completing the reading and summarizing, the qualifiers stage begins according to standard criteria, and they take place at the level of schools and educational districts, then at the level of the country, up to the final stage that is held annually in the United Arab Emirates
After the launch of season 3 of the Quran Memorization Competition, the names of participating students were sorted, and parents will be contacted to encourage their children to memorize and follow up with them. Students will also be encouraged by the Islamic Education Department teachers who will help them to recite regularly in preparation for the qualifiers.
The Islamic Education Department is keen to provide our students with the basic information they must know, so we use various strategies that consider students’ levels and tendencies, eliminate boredom, and make students love the subject, taking into consideration the individual differences between them. These strategies include the practical part outside the classroom such as applying ablution and praying in the school mosque, and they also include the part applied inside class.
The “Highlights of Quran Verses” Project:
High School students completed an Islamic Education project during term 1 entitled "The Highlights of Quran Verses", where the aim was for the student to analyze a surah/verse or a passage from the verses of the Holy Quran thoroughly in full details.
Recycling is one of the best ways to preserve the environment by converting products that are not useful into useful ones. With the increasing awareness of a greener planet and the increasing environmental awareness among people, and in order to apply the motto ((My Environment is my Future)), Grade 3 students used tools from the environment to create a compass and find out the original compass points
Grade 6 and 7 students applied the strategy of cooperative learning and peer learning during lessons in Social Studies for their importance and great role in encouraging students to take responsibility, as each student must successfully perform her role in order to reach what is required of her. These strategies also work to raise the level of students and provide them with new skills and abilities such as: time management skills, effective communication skills, and leadership skills It also trains them to share their opinions and accept the opinions of others, and it helps strengthen the communication and dialogue between group members.
Students used applications such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Maps in Social Studies class to locate different places and apply what they learnt during the lessons of remote sensing and GPS positioning system. They identified the features offered by each application, and they measured distances and chose the shortest and least congested routes to reach the specified destination. They also used the 3D and 2D features to get to know the characteristics of the places more accurately.
As you know SZPAG achieved Apple Distinguished Schools status in September 2022. This is in recognition of the many ways we incorporate technology into our daily learning, enhancing, enriching and educating our students as digitally agile citizens. However, we have not been resting on our laurels SZPAG continues to innovate, which includes spending time and energy training our staff on how to best use technology in their learning environments.
For our students, Grade 1 and Grade 2 have been undergoing mini projects in coding, using applications such as Scratch Junior. We also have plans to introduce a robotics program to Grade 2 for STEM week later in this year.
Our teachers continue to use gamification platforms to engage our students with their own data, fostering the skills our students need to be agents of their own learning. For example, through looking at the data drawn from a quiz, the girls can identify their own areas for individual and personalized development.
They have individual learning targets and can then seek out the content and concepts that they need to work on for a retest at a later date. This ‘rinse and repeat’ approach goes a long way towards helping to embed learning.
It is always great to see our secondary girls using some advanced Apple Apps. Currently our Grade 8’s are working on building their own app, through iOS Design. Working in their groups, the students have chosen their own purpose for their app ranging from an app for a charity organization to one that is for helping people who are new to Abu Dhabi. Fusing a real-world problem with a digitally savvy solution tool is one way that we continue to upskill our students and prepare them for the skills they will need in their future lives and careers.
SZPAG has been shortlisted as a finalist by Emirates Safer Internet Society for the work that we have done on promoting safer Internet practices. This is ahead of the esafe’s first International conference next month. Whilst it is always joyous to have the school recognized, what is more important is our continual modelling and reminding our young people about how to keep themselves safe on the internet. Here are just a few ‘tips and tricks’ to help you guide your children:
Keep
Be
Only communicate and accept friend request from people you know
Use THINK before you type – It can guide your NETIQUETTE
T – Is it True
H – Is it Helpful
I – Is it inspiring
N – Is it necessary
K – Is it kind
Your child in elementary may be telling you that Ms Darlene or Ms Shaheen has been in their class and working with them. This is because our Elementary Inclusion Learning Assistants (ILA) are doing their best to reach as many children as possible who have gaps to close following the impact of Covid 19.
As a department, we aim to support as many students as possible to be able to access this support and thus, be included in the mainstream class learning. Sometimes students need help and support. Remember that learning is messy with ups and downs and bumps along road. These extra ‘push in’s’ to class are part of our strategy to help our children navigate these obstacles as quickly and confidently as possible.
We also held our elementary Unified Sports Day on 19th of January We were joined by students from the MRC-NECC school who were welcomed into our school community as partners in sport for the day. It was a truly wonderful day filled with healthy competition, excitement, and a whole lot of cheering.
We are pleased to announce that the 2023-2024 registration for new applicants is now open!
We are accepting applications in all grade levels starting from Pre-KG through Gr12. Seats are limited! If you or someone you know are planning to apply for a new child, please hurry up and complete the registration form by clicking on This Link You can contact the SZPAG _Registrar at Registrar@zayedacademy.ac.ae for more information.
