AL NOOR-ABA NEWS

17th August, 2017

Superintendent’s Message A warm welcome to all our new and returning families. For those able to take holidays I trust they were enjoyable and relaxing. For those of you who were involved in a move to Oman I doubt that you had much of a holiday but hope that you are settling in well.

In choosing ABA, we recognise your commitment to the school and for what it stands. Our school’s Mission, Vision and Values outline our fundamental beliefs and underpin all that we do at ABA. The IB programmes are very much a part of our school as the philosophy of the IB is truly in line with our beliefs.

“The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.” (IB, 2015)

I am proud and honoured to lead a school with such aspirational goals and a clear sense of purpose. As I enter my 32nd year of international education, I know more than ever that our students are lucky to enjoy the global learning environment offered in a school like ABA. It offers opportunities for friendship, challenge, success and happiness. It also helps students understand the responsibilities that go with that. It is a great preparation for life.

The whole staff at ABA are excited about the year ahead and are very much looking forward to achieving our goals.

Housekeeping notes

On the subject of nationalities, of which 70 are represented in school, I need to remind parents that the school should be informed of the passports held by families. This information needs to be submitted to the authorities. Please inform the school if you need to update your information.

On a very different note, it is not surprising that traffic has been heavy on the first few days of school. It is the same every year in every school. However, it has been made more difficult this year with the ongoing roadworks limiting access to the rear of the school.

Upcoming Dates 20 Aug Grade 2 Parent

Orientation Session Upper Foyer 7.40-8.20am 21 Aug Grade 3 Parent

Orientation Session Upper Foyer

7.40-8.20am 22 Aug Grade 4 Parent

Orientation Session Grade 6 Common Room

7.40-8.20am 23 Aug Grade 1 Parent

Orientation Session Grade 1 Area

7.40-8.20am Middle School New

Parent Meeting Secondary Lecture

Hall 7.45-8.45am 24 Aug Grade 5 Parent

Orientation Session Grade 6 common room

7.40-8.20am

If you could drive to school earlier or later than usual but clearly in time for school, it may ease the congestion. In the afternoons, the traffic has usually cleared by 2.30pm. Your patience and understanding will always be appreciated and certainly help keep the afternoon temperature down.

Related to this is the question of safety. The use of safety belts in the front seats of a car is compulsory. The use of safety belts in the back seats and child safety seats for younger children will clearly help reduce the risk of injury in a crash. Parents in the first couple of days have been shocked to see students not wearing seat belts when being brought to school. If your child is taken to school by driver, please emphasise the importance of this. I wish you all the very best for a wonderful year.

Simon Taylor

Message from the Health Office A warm welcome to everyone from the Health office.

For new students to the school, please ensure all health forms and vaccination records are returned to the health office. For returning students, please up-date us on any health matters which have occurred or changed over the holidays. If your child is off sick during the school year please let the health office know. This enables us to keep track of the illnesses and number of cases of each illness occurring. If you have any questions or queries regarding health matters, please to not hesitate to contact or drop into the health office.

Jo Verling – School Nurse

Message from the Elementary School Principal

Welcome back to a new school year at ABA. Teachers have been working hard for the past week or more to prepare for the start of school, and we were all delighted to welcome the students in on Tuesday. A special welcome goes to all of you who are new to the ABA community. As newbies ourselves, my family and I really appreciate the warm welcome that has been extended to us. This is a supportive and caring community of which we can all be proud to be a part. A reminder of the Parent Orientation Meetings is below. These will be a chance to get to know the specifics of your child's grade experience this year, including routines, expectations and a little more about the learning focus for the year.

Grade Date Time Location

Grade 2 Sunday 20th August 7.40-8.20 Upper Foyer

Grade 3 Monday 21st August 7.40-8.20 Upper Foyer

Grade 4 Tuesday 22nd August 7.40-8.20 Grade 6 Common Room

Grade 1 Wednesday 23rd August 7.40-8.20 Grade 1 Area

Grade 5 Thursday 24th August 7.40-8.20 Grade 6 Common Room

K3 Monday 28th August 7.40-8.20 EC Hall

K2 Tuesday 29th August 7.40-8.20 EC Hall

The Student-Parent Handbook 2017-2018 is available to view on the website and via this link. Please take some time to familiarise yourself with its contents. I'd like to highlight some of the information you will find in the Handbook.

• Classroom doors open at 7.15am and school starts at 7.30am. Students who arrive at school after 7.40am MUST report to reception and collect a late slip so that attendance can be updated. This is particularly important to maintain our safety requirements and be aware of all students on campus.

• You will recently have received a letter updating you on the school dress code. Students in Grades 1-5 may wear plain navy blue or khaki skirts, skorts, shorts or trousers. Girls up to Grade 3 may wear black or navy leggings. All skirts, skorts or shorts should be knee-length or longer.

• Homework - this year you will notice a shift towards prioritising daily reading as the main home learning task for

our students. Grade teachers will share specific home learning routines and expectations with you. We aim to ensure a variety of engaging and authentic tasks where possible.

Looking forward to your support and partnership to contribute to a positive, learning-filled year. Sam Cook

Message from the Middle School Welcome back to all returning parents and a special welcome to all new families to ABA. The first few days of the school year were filled with excitement and stories from the summer. We are hoping that your son or daughter has a great year filled with opportunities to grow academically, socially and emotionally. I am pleased to introduce several new middle school teachers to ABA. I hope that you will give them a warm ABA welcome when you meet them. Welcome to Edwin Nast (Humanities), Martin Grist (English), Kristen Wesby (Spanish), Celina Aggarwal (Math), Valerie Ritchie (Science), Josephine Hagard (English), Clelia Salvati (French), Raymond Bailer (Humanities), Glenda Semple (P.E.), and Julia Hall (P.E. Intern and graduate of ABA). Meet the Teacher

Please join the middle school staff on Tuesday, September 12 for our Meet the Teacher evening. The evening will begin at 5:30 in your child’s advisory room followed by a meet and greet with the remaining teachers. Further information will be sent in early September.

Communication

As in previous years, we will be hosting several coffee mornings and evenings to further develop communication and understanding of our Middle Years Programme (MYP). Please check your email regularly for invitations for these workshops.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Students in grades 6, 7 and 8 are part of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program. According to the ABA BYOD programme, students are required to bring a laptop to school and register it to access the ABA WiFi. It is an expectation that all students in grades 6- 8 bring a device to school (fully charged). A BYOD agreement can be found in the Secondary Student Parent Handbook on the ABA website.

Adventure Oman

Please review the following dates for our Adventure Oman camps. It is an expectation that all students attend these camps. You can find more information about the program on the Parent Portal on the ABA website. Grade 7 – November 21, 22, 23 Grade 6 – December 11, 12, 13 Grade 8- February 20, 21, 22

John Savage

Message from the High School

Welcome to our High School

On behalf of the High School staff I wish all returning and new High School families the very best for the year ahead. New staff started their orientation to ABA on August 1st and returning staff returned to work on August 8th. This time has been used to further develop a shared understanding of when effective learning happens (more on this through the year), the role of learning mentors and of course ensuring everyone is ready for the return of students.

We were pleased with the IBDP results and share our congratulations to the Class of 2018! Next week we will share some of the headlines from these results via this newsletter.

Are you a teacher?

ABA aims to provide students with qualified instructors even when the regular teacher is out so that learning continues each day. We are fortunate to have certified and experienced teachers on our substitute list but can always use more. If you are a certified teacher and interested in subbing for absent teachers from time to time, please pay a visit to Marinda van der Merwe in our Secondary Admin Office (or email mvdmerwe@abaoman.org) with a copy of your CV, so that we can add you to our substitute list.

Learning Mentors

You might have noticed that in the High School we have introduced the term Learning Mentors to replace the previously used advisors. This is a subtle change to reflect how we have begun to shift the emphasis of this role. Although administrative work such as registering students at the start of every day, learning mentors will become increasingly

important for the education of students in the High School. The simple idea behind the shift is to ensure every student has one adult taking notice of their holistic education. To facilitate this idea in practical terms we have increased the number of mentor groups in Grades 9 and 10 from 4 to five, allowing us to reduce the size from around 21 students to 16 or 17 per mentor group. A key to the success of this initiative is every student having the opportunity to have a 1 to 1 conversation with their mentor through the academic year, this will be happening at different touchpoints around the time reports are written. We look forward to discussing this further during the parent coffee mornings held throughout the year. In consideration of the above you might enjoy reading the article below that makes reference to the importance of young people having a reliable adult in their lives to develop resilience.

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/15/03/science-resilience Discovery Week 2018

Grade 11 students will participate in Discovery week from the week beginning January 14th-18th 2018. These trips have taken place for a number of years and before deciding exactly what trips will run we plan gauge student interest after the summer break.

At this stage we are considering:

• Cambodia children’s project • Thailand children’s home

• Outward Bound Sharqiyah Sands • Scuba diving in Oman

• Environmental work with the Botanical gardens • Language and CAS trip to Spain

• Vietnam/ Laos

Presentations were made before the summer to students and in the next 2 weeks, students will be polled for us to establish provisional numbers and then reach decisions about which of the above trips will run. Deposits will then be made around September and full payment during October.

We understand that overseas trips are expensive (approximately 700-900 OMR) so we are working to ensure there are less expensive options available.

Grade 9 Outward Bound

Following the success of the Grade 11 trip, we are delighted to share our intention to again partner with Outward Bound (http://www.outwardboundoman.com/) but this time for Grade 9. The intention is for all Grade 9 students to participate in a desert trip in December, for 2 nights and 3 days. The likely dates are 10-12 December. For students choosing to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh International Award (http://www.intaward.org/ approximately 6 OMR), this trip will serve as the bronze level adventurous journey. We anticipate the basic cost to be around 130 OMR per student, there might be an option for a small group of students to participate in a camel expedition although this would be at a higher cost.

Interested in learning barista skills?

Many students will have part-time jobs during their university studies. If interested in learning barista skills High School students might be interested in completing the course advertised below. Application forms will be emailed to Grade 11 and 12 students.

Date: Sat 26 August 9-11am Cost: 19 OMR Contact them is by Whatsapp on 98246267 Simon Walker

Message from the School Counseling Department Introduction to School Counseling Department

To the new ABA families, welcome to ABA and Oman! For the returning families, welcome back! We are looking forward to an exciting year in the school counseling department. As school counselors, our role is to serve as advocates for all students. Please take an opportunity to review our mission, beliefs and philosophy listed below.

Our school counseling team includes:

School Counselor Grades Office Email

Colette O’Driscoll K-5 Elementary Office codriscoll@abaoman.org

Claire Anthony 6-8 Secondary Counseling Area canthony@abaoman.org

Rachel Keys

University and Career 10-12 Secondary Counseling Area rakeys@abaoman.org

Alli Hostetter Personal, Social, Emotional

9-12 Secondary Counseling Area ahostetter@abaoman.org

The Counseling Department is pleased to introduce Mrs. Alli Hostetter as the incoming social and emotional High School Counselor at ABA. Alli relocated to Oman just a little over a year ago from Asheville, North Carolina where she had worked as a school counselor/student support advocate for the last several years. While she is newer to Oman, she was raised in Saudi Arabia and is very excited to be living back in this region with her husband and son. Alli is really looking forward to being a part of the ABA community and is committed to developing the whole student by supporting their academic, social and personal goals during the high school years.

Comprehensive School Counseling Program K-12

Mission Statement

Our comprehensive school counseling program advocates for all students and enhances ABA’s mission, vision and values by promoting academic, career, personal/social and global perspective development.

Beliefs and Philosophy

The ABA school counseling department believes:

• the comprehensive school counseling program is preventative in nature and plays a critical role in supporting the academic, career, personal/social and global perspective for all students.

• our program complements and enhances the mission, vision and values of ABA as students develop K-12.

• that counselors are advocates for all students.

• that all students are unique and will support them in achieving their maximum potential according to their learning styles and strengths.

• that counselors at ABA are committed to ongoing professional development in their field and current best practices in the international context.

• that our program promotes intercultural understanding and respect for the various backgrounds and beliefs of all stakeholders.

The Counseling Team

Message from the Music Department Elementary Music Announcements Grades 1 - 5

What’s happening in Music?

All students are involved in a mini project called Music & Me for the next 2 weeks, this is an opportunity for them to share what they love about music with the rest of their group. This can take any form, for example:

• They may wish to sing or play an instrument for the rest of the class.

• They may wish to bring in an object from home, their favourite CD or a programme from a concert they have attended and talk about it with us.

• They could share something with us which is specific to their own culture or beliefs.

• They may also wish to tell a story about a friend or family member that has inspired them.

Music & Me begins on Sunday. Please join me in supporting them to feel prepared and confident for this project.

Recorder Club will begin again on Wednesday, 1st Break for any grade 5 students or pupils in other grades that already have basic skills. We will rehearse weekly and perform in the Winter Concert on December 10th at 5pm

Our Elementary vocal group, Vipers Voice will begin alongside the other After School Activities on Sunday 3rd September. Please sign up for both season 1 and 2 although Vipers Voice will end after the Winter Concert on December 10th and not re-start after Winter Break. Vipers Voice is on Sundays and Wednesday’s after school from 2.15 until 3pm.

Please contact me if you have any questions: zgange@abaoman.org

Zita Gange

Message from the fine Arts Department

Natasha Meiliunas – Arts Coordinator

Message from the Extra Curricular Program ABA is proud of its extra-curricular program and the many contributions our students, coaches, directors, and supervisors have made in building a strong sense of community. We expect that all students will embrace the school’s tradition of outstanding sportsmanship, citizenship, pride, dedication and fair play. We believe the opportunity to take part in any activity is a privilege. With privilege comes responsibility. Each student participating must maintain a high standard of behavior while, at the same time, striving to achieve their academic potential.

It is important that students and parents know what is expected. This week secondary school students were given a small booklet with the requirements for participation in an ABA team. We ask that you please sit with your child and go through the expectations. MS students need to return the forms to their advisory teacher and HS students return their forms directly to their coaches.

Try out

Participation in teams has a valuable impact on ABA students, and we hope you will encourage your child’s development as a confident, responsible and caring learner by supporting their dedication to both academic studies and a team. Sports Seasons and MESAC Events

Below is the outline of the sports season and MESAC events:

MESAC

JV and Varsity

Volleyball, Swimming, Golf and Academic Games Sunday 20th August

Grade 6 Volleyball Monday 28th August

Grade 7 Volleyball Monday 28th August

Grade 8 Volleyball Monday 28th August

Grade 6-8 Tennis TBC weather permitting

Middle School Grades 6, 7, 8

High School JV and Varsity

MESAC Events

Season One August 20th - October 31st

Gr 6 Boys and Girls Mini Volleyball Gr 7 Boys and Girls Volleyball Gr 8 Boys and Girls Volleyball Gr 6-8 Tennis October - December

JV Boys and Girls Volleyball Varsity Boys and Girls Volleyball Swimming

Academic Games

Season Two November 6th - February 11th

Gr 6 Boys and Girls Soccer Gr 7 Boys and Girls Soccer Gr 8 Boys and Girls Soccer Gr 6-8 Cross Country

MS soccer to finish on February 26th

JV Boys and Girls Soccer JV Boys and Girls Basketball JV Boys and Girls Tennis

Cross Country

Senior Fine Arts

Season Three February 13th - April 15th

Gr 6-8 Track and Field

Gr 6-8 Badminton February 13th - March 13th Track and Field

JV & Varsity Badminton Forensics

Season Four March 13th - May 18th

Gr 6 Boys and Girls Basketball Gr 7 Boys and Girls Basketball Gr 8 Boys and Girls Basketball

Jr. Fine Arts

Coaches needed If you or someone you know has any experience in coaching Volleyball I would love to hear from you. We have plenty of resources and experienced Volleyball coaches that can assist you if needed. The training times are normally straight after school and range from 1-2 hour sessions.

If sport is not your interest we are seeking an Academic Games coach. Academic Games consist of quizzes and math, science, current events, art and literature Olympiads. What a great way to stimulate your mind and be involved with the students. You will be working alongside an experienced Academic Games coach who has plenty of resources to share. Training is 3 times a week straight after school for 60-90 minutes.

Curriculum

On top of the daily curriculum the PE department will be offering sports days for every grade level, swimming galas for grades 3-5, break time challenges and Middle School Intramurals. We hope to see you at these events. After School Activities Running a comprehensive and successful Extra Curricular Program requires a lot of time and dedication from the activity leaders and full commitment from the students. We hope you will join us in encouraging your child/children to become responsible risk takers when it comes to their extra-curricular choices. Please follow the link for 2017-2018 Viper Swim Team Information & Registration Term I: https://goo.gl/forms/ISvKB7IMskINxsym2 Communication Channels in the PE and Activities Department

To ensure the PE and Activities department can attend to your enquires, below is a list of contact details.

Grade level Teacher Email address

K1, K2, Gr 1, 3. 5 Erin Bshennaty ebshennaty@abaoman.org

K3, Gr 2 and 4 Raewyn Jack rjack@abaoman.org

Gr 1-5 swimming Charlie Semple csemple@abaoman.org

Secondary Subject Coordinator, Gr 6,7,9,10 David Wood dwood@abaoman.org

Gr 6,8,9,10 Tamer Melek tmelek@abaoman.org

Gr 6-9 Glenda Semple gsemple@abaoman.org

Activity Groups Contact person Email address

Vipers Swim Team Charlie Semple swimmingteam@abaoman.org

ES ASA and Muscat Primary Sports League (MPSL) Raewyn Jack rjack@abaoman.org

Sec ASA, Muscat Secondary Sports League (MSSL), Middle East South Asia Conference (MESAC)

Paul Brace pbrace@abaoman.org

MESAC housing and visas Abi Wilson awilson@abaoman.org

Vipers Booster Club VBC Committee boosterclub@abaoman.org

Paul Brace – Activities Coordinator

Message from the Tanzania Team

Mufti-Day Wednesday 30th. August In Tanzania, government law requires students to wear a uniform to school. If children do not own or possess a school uniform, they are not allowed to attend. In the village of Loibor Siret, with which ABA has links, there are many children (we will have exact numbers next week) who do not

attend school as they cannot afford a uniform.

Last year, with the kind and generous donations from the ABA community, we were able to purchase uniforms for 85 children, and we are hoping to do the same again!

Non-Uniform for Uniforms

On Wednesday 30th August, all money raised from the mufti day will go towards supplying these children with a uniform so that they can have an education. One uniform to get one child into school costs OMR5. Please give generously.

Let them be educated!

The Tanzania Team

Messages for the Community

Welcome to the VIPERS family! With the start of the new academic year the campus has been buzzing with plenty of familiar and not so familiar faces. The Booster Club were front and center welcoming back our VIPERS and their families. We are looking forward to another sensational year at ABA. To our new students and parents…Welcome to the VIPERS family!

‘VIPERS’ is the name given to our athletes, artists, and academic students when they represent ABA both home and abroad. The VIPERS Booster Club is here to inspire, encourage, and support our VIPERS. With lots of fun activities and events planned for the year, and a great selection of merchandise, the Booster Club are ready to ‘Show our Stripes’!

You may have seen the new VIPERS banner hanging outside the ECE. As part of our pledge, the Booster Club have organized two banners to be placed around the school during events and activities. GO VIPERS!!

The Booster Club will once again be offering a great selection of merchandise throughout the year, so keep an eye out for details of our next Pop-Up Shop in upcoming newsletters. NEW sports bags are on order from the UK and hope to have them here early September, 2017…don’t miss out…stocks are limited. See our friendly Booster Club team to pre-order yours today!

If you would like to be part of the exciting Booster Club family, lend a hand for special events, offer your skills, or would just like to know more about the club, simply drop us a line at boosterclub@abaoman.com. Booster Club is a great way to ‘support our kids’ while making new friends and having fun.

Yours in community spirit – VIPERS Booster Club