The Wave May-June 2017

Inspiration

Integrity

Achievement

Class of 2017

On May 24, Twenty eight proud TKS students graduated from G12. This cohort of 10 female and 18 male students are spreading their wings, with many of them heading for Universities across the globe. University applications are still underway for some of these students, while others can confirm they will be attending the University of Charles - Czech Republic, University of Warsaw, University of British Columbia, University of Cincinnati, Leiden University Netherlands, University of Texas- Dallas, Ryerson University, Universite´ de Montreal, McGill University, University of Exeter UK, University of Toronto, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Southern Utah University USA. In the words of their DP Coordinator, Edwige Thivin-Boutry “as I see these young adults move away from the comfort and security of KAUST, I cannot help thinking that we, as a school, have achieved our mission, ‘to empower students to be resourceful and responsible global citizens.’ I also hope they will appreciate and treasure nature, plants, animals, and all the very simple but wonderful things they will experience in their young lives. May they remain true to their dreams and make choices that fulfill their lives.”

From everyone at TKS, we wish them all of the very best!

By Catherine Owen, Communications Coordinator

June 8, 2017

From the Director

We are pleased to offer our last edition of The WAVE as this year draws to a close. This edition highlights both culminating events and year-end accomplishments. We are proud of our students, teachers, staff and parents. Partnership throughout the year has supported and empowered our students, and we celebrate the many achievements of 2016-2017.

On a related note, The School Board of Education has supported the school throughout the year, and I want to take this opportunity to thank our Board members for their service to the school.

It is my honor to give special thanks to Board Chair Mr. Nadhmi Al Nasr who has served with distinction since the inception of our TKS Governing Board, and who recently informed me of his decision to step down from the position. TKS is forever indebted to Mr Al Nasr for his advocacy for the school and his wise counsel. His leadership has been essential to our success.

Ensuring a smooth transition, we enthusiastically welcome Dr. James Calvin, Vice President Academic Affairs, as our new School Board of Education Chair. As a board member for the past several years, Dr. Calvin is already familiar with the school and its workings. Dr. Calvin’s passion and commitment to education are renowned, and moving forward his contributions will ensure that The Kaust School continues to thrive and progress. We very much look forward to working with Dr. Calvin.

Finally, I am pleased to share the results of the TKS CIS Survey that we conducted in February. The next few pages contain a report of the parent responses that highlight what we are doing well and what we need to improve.

In closing, I wish you safe travels if you are travelling, and I wish everyone a rewarding summer break.

Leny

CIS Survey Results: Report Why we did it

The KAUST School is committed to receiving regular feedback from key stakeholders to help us on our journey to become a beacon school, by identifying the strengths of the school and areas for improvement. The survey was designed and managed by The Council of International Schools (CIS), one of our accrediting bodies so the survey is an important element of our accreditation process.

How we did it

Participants:

Constituency groups and target number of respondents Parents 1595

Students 364

Faculty 316

Support Staff 20

Board of Education 12

TOTAL 2307

Survey links to specific sets of questions were emailed to all the constituency groups. Reminders were sent using text messages and email. Staff and Students were given time during the school day to complete the survey. The survey data is anonymous and was collected by CIS and shared with the School for analysis.

Format:

The survey offered single choice questions for each group ranging from 120 for TKS Staff to 60+ for other groups. Participants could choose from one of 5 options for each question, Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree and don’t know/doesn’t apply. The Survey is broken down into 8 domains aligned to CIS accreditation standards.

Response Rates:

Overall we received 1595 responses (68%) from all the groups, individual groups all recorded 50%+ response rates. As 281 of these were incomplete, the total number of complete responses was 1293 (56%). For analytic purposes only the complete responses have been taken into account.

CIS Survey Results: Report Overall Summary

The School has an overall satisfaction rate of 84% (this is agree & strongly agree responses combined). Both Faculty and Parents (with highest number of responses at 244 and 818 respectively) are at 85%. Students’ satisfaction rates are 81%, with 212 responses.

Questions are organized into eight domains, aligned with CIS accreditation standards and the following summarizes these domain satisfaction rates for parents.

CIS Survey Results: Parents What our Parents said 51% of parents responded to all 65 questions related to the 8 domains. Among the 818 parent responses 40% were from parents with children only in Kindergarten (KG), 30% with children only Elementary School (GES), 25% with children only Secondary School (GSS) and remaining 5% from parents with children in multiple divisions.

Parent overall satisfaction rate is 85%. Parents rate the School highest for its Staffing and Students’ learning and Well-being with 93% and 91% satisfaction rates and lower for Governance, leadership and ownership, at 80%.

Parent Questions with the Highest Satisfaction Rates:

Parent Questions with the Lowest Satisfaction Rates:

Caring Inquirers Reflective

Major Themes for Parents: Parents are most satisfied with:

 Mission, vision and values are relevant, well understood and implemented by leadership  Well-being and Safety  IT resources and its use  Premises and facilities  Class sizes and staffing levels  Teachers skills, qualifications and experience  Cultural diversity enhancing learning  Student engagement  Financial security and financial planning

Parents are less satisfied with:

 Lack of discussion around mission, vision and values  Communication of discussions and decisions of the school's Governing Body/Board and financial plans  Fit of the curriculum to the child’s needs (lowest for GSS)  Opportunities to leverage and learn other languages and cultures  Food quality and nutritional value

Next steps: in the coming months TKS will consider ways to increase satisfaction in areas identified for improvement as we continue our journey towards being a beacon school.

from Justin Somerville, KG Principal Dear Parents, Staff are currently in the process of finalizing end of year reports for Kindergarten children. This provides an opportunity to reflect on the school year and the growth that has taken place for each individual child.

Learning is a journey and in this respect, we should not always be focused on the final outcome. It has been incredible to see the social and emotional development of the children in the KG this year, as well as their continual growth as inquirers and learners. As parents, I am sure you will have observed this too.

As you will be aware, we have started transition visits for the three KG grade levels. This provides an opportunity for children to experience a new space and environment and to interact with older children in preparation for the move to a new grade level. Transition visits have been a huge success and the children were excited by the new challenges that lay ahead.

On behalf of the Kindergarten I would like to thank you for your continued support as parents. Once again, we have had a fantastic year and this would also not be possible without the amazing efforts of our dedicated and professional KG staff. Next year will provide new and exciting opportunities, with everyone relocating to the Kindergarten Campus which includes the Harbor East and West buildings.

We wish you all a happy and safe summer vacation with your family and friends.

Dismissal Times for last day of school (June 15) for KG: K1 K2 K3

11:15am 11:45am 12:15pm

Important Message from the Health Office This year we have a new vaccination which is listed as REQUIRED in addition to the regular schedule of needed immunizations in K3 and Grade 6 (and any catch up). Any child in school K-12 who has not had the shot against meningitis will need one dose and some who had it before may need a booster.

The Saudi Ministry of Health has escalated the importance of this vaccine for our region so KAUST Health and TKS have added it to the REQUIRED list for school Thank you very much to the parents who have already taken your children for their vaccinations.

Remember that KAUST Health (KH) will not update the TKS Health Offices so you must take the next step to scan the updated records to your child’s school nurse: nurses@thekaustschool.org

A Trip to the Beacon for K1 Inquirers

As part of our current unit of inquiry around using materials for different purposes, many of us have been very interested in creating various structures in our classroom with a range of different materials. Because of this, we decided that it would be an interesting experience to visit a significant structure in our community, so we chose the Beacon. We experienced climbing and exploring in the space. We also enjoyed lying on our backs on the cool shaded floor and looking up through the top of the Beacon. We listened very carefully to the different sounds we could hear. We heard birds, water and wind, it was very peaceful.

What a fabulous structure to visit. Some of us think we might be able to make something similar in our classroom with some of our construction materials.

By: Rebecca Somerville, K1 Teacher

Reflective Risk Taker

from Jeff Woodcock, GES Principal Grade 5 Recognition Ceremony On Tuesday June 6th, we celebrated our G5 students as they spend their last days in the elementary school and prepare to move on to middle school. Our G5 Recognition Ceremony also acknowledges the end of these students’ days in the Primary Years Programme, which spans from K1 to G5.

This year’s group of grade five students is special for many reasons. They are the biggest cohort of grade five students in the short history of TKS with 85 students. This year also notes the first time we recognize students who have spent all eight years of the PYP at The KAUST School. This group of grade five students were also the first group to be in our state-of-the-art elementary expansion building.

While I was asked to give a farewell speech at the event, I decided that since the students were just going to be moving down the hall to GSS, a farewell speech would not be necessary. Instead, I offered them some key pieces of advice on the transition to middle school, which I gathered from our current grade 6 students. This advice included: middle school is not that scary, do your homework (definitely), try not to be overwhelmed by the increased options in the cafeteria, and don’t ride your bicycle with your helmet hanging from the handle bars (protect that valuable brain!). I also shared with the graduating grade five students that even though they are moving to the middle school, we are still just down the hall if they want to visit and we are all incredibly proud of them.

Congratulations G5!

Kindness Rocks!

Rock complimenting is writing kind words or sentences on a rock and putting them outside where people go the most. I think that this activity can bring people together. The reason why we do this is to make people happy and proud of themselves. It's also to encourage people to cheer-up when they are in a bad mood. Also when you see someone reading your rock compliments and they have a smile, you may be proud of yourself that you made people happy.

So today the creative appreciation class has created lots of rocks with compliments on it. For example, “your cool!”, “keep calm and be awesome”. We have set them out on the playground. We enjoyed this activity because making people feel better and happier makes us happier. People can do things for people even though you don’t know them. We all value each other. We can make a better life for other people. I hope you spot some rocks with compliments to make you feel happy and better.

Also, I’d like you to try making some rocks with compliments too!

By: Bumjoon Cha - G4 BT Student

Principled Caring Reflective

The Value of Visitors and Field Trips

During our current unit of inquiry, we’ve been to the mangroves, the golf course and Ms. Andrea’s garden. We’ve also had visiting speakers - one from the Red Sea Research Center, and Mr. Scott Herrington. The purpose of the field trips was to study the ecosystems and how abiotic (non-living things) and biotic (living things) interact. “We saw crabs in the mangroves jellyfish in the water and the birds who distract enemies from their nests.” (Malak) “We learned first hand which animals live in these areas, observe their habitats and how they protect themselves.” (Yusra) “At the monument we saw a lot of jellyfish - we learned how to pick them up safely.” (Alishah) The field trips and visitors helped us learn in a fun way, now we understand things better.

“In real life instead of pictures we understand the scientific principles,” Alishah By, Yusra, Malak and Alishah in G3 DM Students

Communicators

Inquirers

Knowledgeable

Cooking Club Six students in G5 had the chance to practice their culinary skills and learn a few new ones in an afterschool Cooking Club that ran throughout the second semester. Taking part in this club gave the students the chance to see their daily learning translate into real-life experiences– adding fractions, estimating, rounding, skimming/scanning and reading for meaning.

Parents may also be pleased at their improved ability to tidy up! Some of the recipes the students made included tuna salad sandwiches, cupcakes, cookies, egg salad sandwiches, brownies, and bread. One major perk of this club was getting to eat the food they created.

The students involved were: Weam Otaif (5JS), Ezra Yudhanto (5CM), Reval Hejazi (5CM), Sara AlHazmi (5CM), Majd Sarhan (5LK), and Mohammad AlYami (5LK). Special thanks to Ms. Linh for her time, patience and energy to help run this club!

By: Susanne Herrington, G5 Learning Support Teacher, Learning Support Coordinator

Inquirers

Reective Risk Taker

from David Tigchelaar, GSS Principal The last 6 weeks have been full of academic demands. G6 - 10 students worked on their last summative assessments of the year, the G10 students participated in the e - assessments, the G11’s participated in the exam week and the Group 4 project and the G12’s wrote their final exams, the culmination of their secondary school career and participated in the G12 week: four days of developing life skills that will be helpful as they transition into a phase where they will live independently and manage their own life.

There has also been a lot of action to provide a balance for all the academic work. The G12 Gala and Graduation stand out as special events to celebrate the transition of our G12 students into a new phase of their life. PHE has organised many water sports events and we had our ongoing co-curricular programme end with several swimming events. The G8 performance showed that our students are skillful actors, musicians, artists and organisers and generated good entertainment.

We completed all exams before the start of Ramadan and this allowed us to engage in many creative projects.

Examples include the G8 maths probability games , the G9 Documentary Film Festival, the Recycling Project in I&S, the G10 Poetry IDUs between Art, Design and Language & Literature. It is great so see so much creativity and energy. The students are engaged and learning a wide variety of skills.

We are halfway through the wonderful month of Ramadan which allows us time to reflect and share. The Iftar organised by students on June 7 demonstrated their commitment to our host country and host culture. We look forward to the second half of Ramadan and to Eid.

Poetry Alive - Shakespeare Throughout March and April, TKS had a focus on the poetic form, with G9 and 6 from GSS and G1 in the GES enjoying reading, analysing, performing and creating beautiful poetry. From April 9-11, we were treated to a world class poetry education workshop, Poetry Alive with Michelle Schwantes and Carney Schuck.

Students were thoroughly entertained by Michelle and Carney’s stage show that brought many well-loved poems to life. Some of the students’ favourites were Fire and Ice by Robert Frost and The Seven Ages of Man by William Shakespeare. Diana (G9) said the thing she liked the most was “how they involved everyone in the audience.” Rand (G8) said she enjoyed the performance, adding, “they were really energetic and entertaining.”

During the workshops, some of our students took time to warm up but once they could see how to apply the techniques that Michelle and Carney demonstrated, they learned to develop character, to project their voices and to maintain the audience's interest throughout. Poetry Alive was a distinct highlight in our series of poetry activities and events this year.

With one final unit in Language and Literature, how could we put these new talents to the test?

In May, G7 and G9 began exploring language and characterisation though the famous Shakespearean comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing, respectively. There were monologues that students penned themselves, modernised and mini versions of the plays and even friezes of key scenes, consolidating their understanding of a text that initially seemed out of reach for some.

This week, the G9 group presented a full scale production of Much Ado About Nothing at The Circle Theatre in the GES. It was very well-received and students no doubt benefitted from the preceding months of focus on form, performance skills and the beauty of language. It will be G7’s turn to entertain us next week. Break a leg, everyone!!

By Hannah Greenfield, English Teacher

First OOK Curriculum-Based Field Trip

Risk Taker

Inquirers

Reflective Risk Taker

In early March, DP Year One Literature students collaborated on a field trip proposal for the first Out-of-Kingdom (OOK) curriculum-based field trip. Based on the study of Jean Anouilh’s Antigone, students penned the proposal, did all the prep work and assisted with curriculum planning and travel arrangements. Naomi Bakken opened the proposal with the rationale that the field trip would provide “experiential knowledge that is vital to learning as it involves the capacity to draw information from past experiences to shape how one lives new experiences”. Tayla Martin added that the trip “will allow the Literature students to add personal insight to their Written Assignment, as well as have a better understanding of the four components of context and the impact literature has on society.” With that, our first OOK curricular field trip with born.

Six students, accompanied by DP Literature teacher Laney Rweyemamu and DP TOK teacher Jennifer Hermanson, spent four days exploring Delphi, Thebes, Athens and the surrounding areas. They tracked the journey of Oedipus and Antigone from Thebes to Delphi to better understand the historical and political implications of life as a female like Antigone in Ancient Greece. They visited the Acropolis, Parthenon and Theater of Dionysus in Athens where the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were performed. This led student Matilde Gomes to wonder about the “value and role of theater in Ancient Greece”. Next was a visit to the Theater of Epidaurus, one of the best-preserved ancient theaters in all of Greece, famous for the harmony of its design and remarkable acoustics. Here a scene from Antigone was read while all of the students scattered around the theater to see if what they heard about the acoustics was true. Finally, students watched the play “Ruins of Passion” and participated in a discussion with actors. Student Arfah Imran felt that this experience helped her to “understand the emotions in a tragedy, and the similarities and differences of Antigone in both the text and in live theater”. The final theater mask-making activity allowed Zaina Popalzai to “better understand of the value each prop has in play and how it helps to contextualize the piece”.

“Overall this year's OOK trip has been an immense success. Being able to discover the culture-rich country of Greece with my fellow classmates and teachers provided a memorable learning experience and exploring the various sites of Delphi and Athens were eye-opening. I also enjoyed exploring the bustling markets and traditional restaurants as a class and to be able to integrate into and experience the Greek society,” student Isha Khurram commented.

By: Laney Rweyemamu, MYP Language & Literature/DP Literature

The Invasion of Hygenia

This semester, G8 students worked collaboratively as a whole grade level during their arts classes to create a musical production. The piece “The Invasion of Hygenia" was created by the students working together on different elements of the production: costumes, set, props, lighting, composing and playing original, live music, acting, directing – with as much responsibility given to the students as possible. It was a huge undertaking, and the first time in TKS Secondary school history that there has been a full-scale musical production on the auditorium stage. The G8 students definitely rose to the challenge and they worked very, very hard! They put on an enormously entertaining and enjoyable production for parents and students – including some audience participation! - and as teachers, we are enormously proud of what they were able to achieve.

Photos: Catherine Owen, Communications Coordinator

Open-minded

By: Claudia Kennedy, Drama Teacher

Risk Taker

Communicatiors

G5 Girls Football Tournament

Photo by Dania Daum, G2 Teacher and Coach

The BISJ Tournament was scorching hot, but fun. On Friday, May 12th, girls from G4 and 5 went to the BISJ soccer tournament. TKS and BISJ were separated into 3 teams and competed against each other. The teams had coaches, team captains, and fun! By winning one game you would get two points and getting tied meant you would get one point. Losing meant 0 point scores, but that was okay, since everyone had to move forward and learn from their mistakes.

TKS Blue won first place, beating the best BISJ team 3-1 in an exciting penalty shootout, and TKS Yellow won fourth place.

TKS Green was positioned in 6th place and BISJ Jeddah Rangers, Jeddah United, and Jeddah City filled in the gaps. Weam Otaif was top-scorer with 3 goals, while Tailin Sladakovic and Beatrice Rueping also scored 2 goals each.

Tournaments all fall into one statement, “We work together and keep our mindset into a positive state to achieve more.”

Girls who didn’t have a chance, try next time! Who knows? Maybe you’re another Ronaldo. You have an inner special talent. You just haven’t found it yet. But when you do, you have to tend it like a flower to make it beautiful.

By: Andrew Wright, Coach and Haadiyah Mohammed, G5 CM

Risk Taker

Principled Open-minded

Dive Right In

Open-minded

Risk Taker

Knowledgeable

Where else in the world do secondary students have the rare opportunity of becoming dive certified as part of their P.H.E. (Physical and Health Education) MYP course?

As part of our G10 aquatics unit, students received certifications as PADI Open Water Divers. To say the least, we are so incredibly lucky to have had the chance to discover life deep in the ocean and indulge in an experience far from the ordinary P.H.E. unit. Not only were we encouraged to learn about things ranging from assembling dive gear to the fundamentals of a successful dive, but we were also encouraged to push our limits and extend our boundaries into emerging ourselves in a completely different (sometimes terrifying) atmosphere.

After weeks of hard work reading chapters about dive theory and practicing many consecutive dives, we were ready to take our knowledge to the ocean. There, fond memories were created while swimming with friends and gaining exposure to life under the sea. Not only did we get to see countless eye-catching animals and coral (Nemo included), we also created unbreakable bonds with our peers and dive instructors.

Living so near to the Red Sea, it is easy to take events like these for granted. However, the entire Grade 10 class can agree that this has been an unforgettable learning experience. We’d like to thank our P.H.E. teachers Mr. Davies, Ms. Teddy, Mr. Clint, and Ms. Martin, as well as Mr. Ibrahim and the Coastline dive instructors and crew, for making this possible.

by Aliya Al Uariachi, Abril Soewarso-Rivera, and Zoe Somerville G10 Students

Kayaking from South Beach

During this year, the G7 students learned how to kayak and investigated how communication is adapted in response to the environment by working with a partner.

The unit culminated in a kayaking trip from South beach to the KAUST Beacon.

The students showed great perseverance and teamwork to complete the journey.

The PHE department would like to thank the Coastline instructors for their continued support.

By Clint Harris, P&H Teacher

Communicators

Inquirers

Knowledgeable

MUEC Trip to Jordan

On May 4th, the TKS track and field team departed from the King Abdulaziz Airport to the Queen Alia Airport in Amman, Jordan. The track team went there for the MEUC (Middle East Unity Cup) with 20 athletes ready to run, throw and jump. Everyone tried their hardest to bring medals home and many medals were won, making it a successful meet.

From a student's perspective, I felt that it was a great experience for everyone to try out. Other highlights included visiting the Dead Sea, hiking in Petra and the Bedouin camp. The Dead sea was one of the favorites as students were not used to floating without doing anything. The Bedouin camp was a new experience where the athletes circled the campfire, slept in tents and enjoyed a traditional Bedouin meal. Hiking in Petra was amazing since it connected the modern day with the past times and students got a feel for what they see and learn in textbooks. Overall, it was a great experience and I would encourage people to go to Amman, Jordan next year.

By Youssef Elhagrasy G7 Student

Inquirers

Open-minded Knowledgeable

Waterbabies - G6

During the year, the G6 students have participated in an aquatics unit of work investigating the statement of inquiry: Developing our interaction, through movement, with the environment is vital for long term sustainability.

This culminated in a snorkeling trip on the Red Sea, where the students got to apply the skills they learnt to acquire photos of marine life. They then used these photos in an advert they were creating to promote the beneďŹ ts of snorkeling.

The most recent trip is highlighted in the photos. Students had great fun spotting numerous different species of ďŹ sh, and were even treated to a visit from some dolphins.

By Clint Harris, P&H Teacher

Risk Taker

Principled Open-minded