Student Newsletter: Edition 1

KINGS' SCHOOLAL BARSHA

Inside this edition...A new school, still the Kings' way

Photos from International DayHighlights of the secondary curriculum

Messages from...

The Head Teacher

It seems like everywhere you look at Kings' School AlBarsha something new is starting: first InternationalDay, first sports captains and first PSHE day. The firstedition of the Student Newsletter is a fantastic forumfor our gifted and enthusiastic writers to show off theirtalents.

One of my favourite slogans which I often share withparents is ‘Results the right way’. This means thatgetting good academic results is really important; butthere is so much more to a successful school life thanthat. It means developing all aspects of your character,

including getting you on the sports field, on the stage, singing and playing music.You need to try everything!

Art teachers don’t like it when a student says “I’m no good at drawing”. Englishteachers feel the same about your writing. You can all be great writers. Perhapssome of you will become journalists or novelists one day. Perhaps when thathappens you will look back to the Student Newsletter as the real start of yourcareer!

Bill Turner

The Student Council

We are really pleased to berepresenting our fellowstudents on the StudentCouncil this year. The viewsand opinions of each studentat Kings’ School Al Barshacounts and we welcome yoursuggestions. In return, wepromise to make sure theStudent Voice plays animportant part in everyaspect of school life.

In addition to Student Voice, we will also organise charitable events and runprojects that support the wider community. An example of a charity event thatwas successfully organised by students was Pink Day in support of Breast CancerAwareness. Impressively 11, 263 dirhams were raised with staff and studentswearing an item of pink clothing and the Year 9 girls completed a sponsored run.

We are really excited about this year and will be calling upon every student in thesecondary school to be actively involved in making Kings’ School Al Barsha a trulyamazing experience!

Front Cover Image

Students enjoyed thePhoto Booth on thePhilippines stall at Kings'School Al Barsha's firstInternational Day. Seeinside for more photos.

Contents

Pause for thought

News and Views

Art/DesignTechnology andScience

International Day

Geography

Sporting Roundup

What's on nextmonth

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Zainab Al-Haq (9I) Yasaman Ayati (9K) Lorena El Kadri (8K) Kun Tena Wisse (8K)Felix Selwood (7N) Tara Alkhas (7N) Venezza Chapra (7G) Zain Saquib (7G) Sebastian Farah (9I)Cyrus Dabbagh (7I) Zara Paul (7K) Bader Alonaizy (7K) Soraya Skinner (8I)

Q: Why do others work so selflessly inorder to address injustice in our world?

PAUSE FORTHOUGHT

STOPPING THEPOACHERS

careforthewild.com/

At Kings' School Al Barsha on PSHE Day,Year 8 were delighted to receive guest speakerMrs Patsy Stagman. Patsy has workedtirelessly for Dubai Rhino Conservation overmany years to raise awareness of the

desperate situation for rhinos globally.

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Keeping Safe Online Drama Queens Kings'In the classroom and on the stage

As our school continues to grow,students will be introduced tomore technology including theroll out of BYOD (bring your owndevice) option to students. Allparents, students and guardianswill need to read and agree to theBYOD policy.

To keep all of our students safeonline, a number of programmeshave been run. Form tutors havehelped students work throughbooklets encouraging them tostay safe online and also to directthem if they require advice orsupport.

All students have received theirnew e-mail address andpassword; these will need to bekept safe as many departments inthe school will use this address toset and collect home learning.

Students should contact Mr Hydeif there are any problemsaccessing their school emailaddress.

There is a tremendous buzz about Drama at Kings’ School Al Barsha, asspecialised teaching to all secondary year groups is well underway.

Year 7 have been exploring themes and notions surrounding Darkwood Manor,a house with a sinister history. Within lessons, practical workshops have ledto the consideration of many issues from relationships, isolation, irrational fearand social expectations.

Meanwhile, Year 8 have developed skills in the use of status in performanceand are examining social issues of gender ideology in their Billy Elliot unit ofwork.

Year 9 are examining a dark period in history, The Salem Trials, through role-play, physical theatre and a range of explorative strategies. Students aregetting very excited about GCSE Drama and the imminent Black Box Theatreopening.

Outside of lessons, students have been developing an adaptation of AChristmas Carol by Dickens as part of Kings' first year theatre performance.‘The Timely Redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge’ has been written by John Pughespecially for the Kings’ ensemble of keen actors. Mr Pugh, Kings’ SchoolsLeader of Performing Arts, says of the cast, "They have developedtremendously in recent weeks and levels of commitment, maturity and loyaltyare notable. We are having a lot of fun playing with ideas and exploring themesas part of the learning, talent is developing in exciting ways!"

The performance will be presented in the Black Box Theatre in February(stretching the festive season out a little longer).

News and Views

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The English Department has hit the ground running this year withstudents in Years 7, 8 and 9 jumping straight into a challengingcurriculum. Year 7 started with Travel Writing, linking in perfectly withthe school’s first ever International Day! Year 8 delved into Perceptionand Reality, focusing on the magnificent city we all now call home -Dubai. Finally, our Year 9 students have successfully completed aprogramme of study on GCSE skills, exploring the world of non-fictionand persuasive writing and highlighting the skills writers use to achievetheir purpose.

The English Department are working tirelessly with all students to equipthem with the skills needed to excel in their GCSE English exams in thefuture. As our Year 9 cohort at Kings' School Al Barsha will be the firstto study the new GCSE specification in English, the impetus is to ensurethat the Key Stage 3 curriculum prepares them in a challenging,engaging and stimulating way.

We have some exciting events for aspiring writers at Kings’ with theupcoming Emirates Literature Festival and the opportunity to writearticles for the next edition of the Student Newsletter.

The English Department has had a thrilling start to the new academicyear at Kings’ School Al Barsha and are keen to celebrate our young,aspiring writers.

English - Poetry in Motion Hypote-news

The Maths department have beenadding to the excitement of the firstterm by pushing forward with a vastand varied curriculum. Students ofall levels are being asked to solvereal life mathematical problems in afun and creative way.

Year 7 students are covering topicssuch as algebra, improper fractionsand the area of 2D shapes.

Year 8 students had a whole day ofprobability problems and have alsocovered fractions and percentages.

As part of the school’s InternationalDay celebrations, Year 9 studentstook part in an internationalcurrency exchange task, using realtime changes to the currencymarkets to explore the world offinance.

Did you know...We have 47 nationalities represented at Kings' School Al Barsha?

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Ferrari World - Abu Dhabi

This term, Year 9 students visited Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi for the F1 School World finals. This gave students an insight intothe competition which will form the basis of an in-house F1 schools competition. The winners will be entered into the NationalFinals.

Art and Design Technology

The Art and Design Technology department at King's School Al Barsha have had a busy first term. The students have been ona number of educational visits and have had the opportunity to design and create some very unique pieces of art. The Art andDesign Technology team have really enjoyed stretching the boundaries of the student’s imaginations and have been so pleasedto see how the students have risen to the challenge. The curriculum is designed so that students find solutions to real lifeproblems in an inventive and creative way.

Structures project - This term, Year 7 students were engaged in the design, development and prototyping of buildingstructures.

Jamie’s Italian

Year 9 students visited Jamie's Italian Restaurant to gatherprimary research for their pop-up restaurant projects.

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Science is FunThe Science department has had an incredibly busy and exciting start to the year. All of our students have taken part ina science skills based unit titled ‘Science is Fun’. This unit covers topics from space and forces to optics. The focus has beenon embedding skills that will create successful scientists at Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and beyond.

The topic concluded with a bang when the students presented their Mission to Mars projects. Students designed a fairexperiment; they collected, processed and analysed data which was used in a scenario of a manned space flight to the redplanet.

Year 8 pupils were very focussed as they sliced up eyeballs in the name of Science. After removing the lens, theyobserved the refractive index of the mammalian eye. They were lucky not to be covered in lashings of aqueous humour.

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The Biggest People of International Day...

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...and the littlest people

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Geography -A trip around the SchoolThe Geography curriculum provokes curiosity about the natural and human worlds. It developsknowledge of different places and environments, an understanding of maps, and a range ofinvestigative and problem-solving skills. As students study Geography, they will encounter differentsocieties and cultures. It will inspire them to think about their own place in the world, their values,and their rights and responsibilities to other people and the environment.

Year 8

Year 8 focused on Global Geographical Issues and ActiveCitizenship. They investigated issues that are changingour world and how, as individuals, we can be activecitizens. We looked at 'The MillenniumDevelopment Goals' and establishment of NGOs.Students worked enthusiastically on a globalissues group poster, a newspaper articlescaffold and an NGO promotional brochure.

Year 9

Year 9 focused on 'Active Earth' with anoverarching question: Why does theearth move? Students learnt aboutplate tectonics and resulting naturaldisasters. A research based project onnatural disasters was also completed.Currently, students are focusing onpopulation and investigating thequestion: Are humans evenly spread?Students are learning about the push andpull factors relating to population and whysome parts of our world are more populated thanothers.

Year 7

Year 7 students are looking at 'Their Place in the World'. They have acquired new skills such as mapreading, atlas work and comparing the different types of Geography. In their next ID unit, they canlook forward to 'Spotlight on Dubai' with an exciting field trip to the Burj Al Arab.

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Sporting Roundup

In other newsNetball: The U12 and U14 netball squads have started off their pre season, playing in a variety of different tournaments in preparationfor the start of the league in January. They will be taking part in tournaments at JESS Ranches, Sharjah English Speaking School andWellington Silicon Oasis.

Football: The U12 and U14 footballers have been working hard in training and represented Kings' School Al Barsha against differentschools including JC, Uptown and Repton.

Year 9 Girls in the Pink

Year 9 girls had an early start as they raced along the beach to raise money for Breast Cancer Arabia. They did an amazing job raisingover 9000AED. Olivia Riley and Lyana Bakhandeh impressively raised 2600AED and 1660AED, respectively. PE teacher, MissLeadbeater, praised all those that participated as they made Kings' School Al Barsha and themselves very proud. Follwing this success,it is hoped that this will become an annual event.

MEET YOURS P O R T SCAPTAINS

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George Wehbe, John Rees, Soraya Skinner, Nora Mohammed Subair,Lyana Bakhandeh, Fatima Ali, Sana Warsi, Mia Millman, Sunaa Sharif

January 2015

What's happening next month...

StreetAn exhibition as part of theStreet Photography Series

at Gulf Photo Plus.

Term Starts Mamma MiaThe songs of ABBA broughtto life on stage with theworld famous musical at

the World Trade Centre

Dubai MarathonThe 15th edition of themarathon is back again to

challenge one and all.

Kings' Quiz NightQuestion. Answer.

Repeat. Win.

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Science PIM3.45pm and 6pm

ID Units PIM3.45pm and 6pm

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