Volume 4, Issue 26 Thursday 24 March 2016

https://www.facebook.com/KingsSchoolAlBarsha

https://www.linkedin.com/company/kings-schools

Dear Parents

What a fantastic end of term at Kings’ School Al Barsha. Two things that I passionately believe are part of what makes an ‘excellent school’ are a flourishing Expressive Arts

curriculum and an engaging competitive sports programme. I know many of you share that thinking. Last week Secondary led with an incredible Drama Programme and this week I attended the Year 5 & 6 end of term production. Both events filled me with hope and

pride in relation to what is being achieved and what will be achieved in the future in our schools. As you read on you will also see that the school are pushing the boundaries of

Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise which are key objectives of the UAE Government in relation to Education. I have been tweeting about ‘ice@KSAB’ and the Formula 1 Event in our stunning new facilities highlighted all that is ‘cool’ in terms of Learning at Kings’ Al

Barsha!

The newsletter also highlights that our Competitive Sports Programme goes from strength

to strength. Inspired perhaps by our Year 6 Boys who won in the final of the national seven-a-side football competition (will we mention that they beat Kings’ Dubai in the final..?) our Year 7 Netball Girls won their League and the Rugby Boys await news on

whether they have achieved enough to secure their Championship as well!

We have made tremendous progress as a school in relation to moving forward these two components of what, together with outstanding learning and compassionate care, arguably

makes a school ‘excellent’ and interestingly, when I spent time with our new Chief Executive of Kings’ Education this week we

agreed that ‘excellence was a journey’ rather than a final destination. Whatever

the best sportspersons in the world do, they then want to do it even better! I think that’s a fantastic ‘growth mindset’ message

for our ambitious students as they reach the end of another outstanding term.

Have a great holiday and remember that

learning doesn’t stop for any of us…

Alan Williamson Principal Kings' School Al Barsha

(Follow me on Twitter AlanDWilliamso1)

The best by every child

Does your child feel tired when doing home learning and struggle to write as much as they should?

Many smartphones and tablets now have a built in microphone with "speech to text"

capability. Encourage your children to use this facility when completing home learning - reduces time, energy and allows them to showcase knowledge. If they would like to learn how - pop into LInK and receive a free tutorial.

Please remember to put your child's

name in their blazer and other items

of school uniform so that we can

ensure items of lost property are

returned to their owner.

On Tuesday 22nd March we had the

pleasure of welcoming the author Julia Johnson to Kings’ School Al

Barsha. Ju l ia de l ivered an interactive presentation to our Year 7s and 8s about where her passion

for writing comes from, what she uses as inspiration and how she

structures her planning when writing some of her famous books. Julia has written a book about our sponsored

rhino, ‘Ubuntu,’ and we discovered how much our school has influenced

her writing in this story. We also met her very own knitted version of Ubuntu – who made sure he got

involved in the presentation!

A very big thank you to all pupils who

organised or took part in the

Family Fun Day!

The best by every child

On Tuesday 15th March a team of athletes went to compete

in the School Swim Run Series Final held at Rashid School for Boys. The race, known as an aquathon or duathlon

requires its competitors to swim 200m (Year 7) or 250m (Year 8 & 9) in a pool and then run as fast as possible around the 1.5k (Year 7) or 2k (Year 8 & 9) course to the

finish. The race was very competitive with a number of schools having been training and preparing for a long time.

Unfortunately, we did not manage to have any podium finishes, however all of our students were able to get PB

(Personal Best) times and we came home delighted with our achievements. We also had a few standout performers who gained top 10 places. Christopher Weiss coming 6th in the boys 8 & 9, while still only being year 8 and also Maya

Held who came 9th overall. A huge congratulations to all of the competitors who took part in the events: Maya, Ruanne, Hattie, Claudia, Aila, Sanad, Matthew, Sam, Anthony, Christoffer

and Reza. Most of all we would like to thank the teachers - Mr Lightbody, Mr Hurst and Mrs Burfield for helping us during the event.

Thank you!

Maya Held

Here are our results

First name Last name Age Group Race 1 Final race Improvement

Maya Held 7 girls 00:11:31 00:10:52 39 seconds

Ruanne Whitelaw 7 girls 00:14:01 00:12:26 1 min 34 secs

Hattie Gravestock 7 girls NA 00:12:28

Claudia Casin 7 girls NA 00:12:38

Aila Farkouh 7 girls NA 00:13:02

Sanad Ibrahim 7 boys 00:12:18 00:11:18 1 min

Matthew Burfield 7 boys 00:13:08 00:11:35 1 min 32 secs

Sam Burfield 7 boys 00:12:40 00:12:23 17 seconds

Anthony Hage 7 boys NA 00:12:35

Christoffer Weiss 8+ boys 00:12:14 00:11:34 40 seconds

Reza Al Hariri 8+ boys 00:21:53 00:19:29 2 minutes 24 secs

The best by every child

After our first lose of the season last week the U12 rugby squad were keen to put

things right and get back to their winning ways. We had our final game of the season against WSO at home and expected a strong performance to end the

season on a high. Unfortunately WSO called off due to not being able to field a team. The squad and coaching staff were hugely disappointed as it is never a good way to finish a season.

KSAB are still currently top of the league with five wins from six games, but there are still games to be finished off and the results could affect the final positioning of

all teams in the league. Fingers crossed we stay top!

Mr Jones and Mr Stewart would like to thank all squad members for their dedication, enthusiasm and teamwork over the season. We look forward to seeing

you at pre-season...

Match Report - U12 Netball

We had such an amazing game, even though we only had 6 players.

Well done to Aysheh for playing out of position. Also well done to

everyone for competing in all the games this season. We could not

have done it without you Miss Leadbeater!

We have now been undefeated all season and are the winners of the

Division 4 League.

Sports Captain — Jenny Campbell, Year 7

The best by every child

Sunday 10 April School reopens

Sunday 17 April ECAs begin

Monday 18 April Year 7 Parents’ Evening 3.45 -7pm

Wednesday 4 May Year 10 Parents' Evening

Thursday 5 May Al Isra wal Mi'raj Day (TBC)

Monday 9 May SLC Year 7-9

Tuesday 17 May Year 10 GCSE Science B1 Science Unit 1:

Influences On Life (1 hour)

Thursday 19 May Year 10 GCSE Science C1 Science Unit 1:

Chemistry In Our World (1 hour)

Thursday 19 May Outdoor ASAs end

Wednesday 25 May Year 10 GCSE Science P1 Science Unit 1:

Universal Physics (1 hour)

Sunday 29 May Arts and Music Exhibition

29 May - 4 June Year 10 Mock Exam Week

Thursday 2 June ECAs finish

Sunday 5 June Awards Evening (TBC)

Monday 6 June First day of Ramadan (TBC)

Tuesday 14 June Year 6-7 Step Up Day

Thursday 23 June Iftar (TBC)

Thursday 23 June Sports Awards

Wednesday 29 June Q4 reports issued

Thursday 30 June Year 10 Student-Led Reflection Day (appointment only)

Thursday 30 June Staff Inset day

View our fun activities and events at:

Kings' School Al Barsha - https://www.facebook.com/KingsSchoolAlBarsha/

Kings' School Dubai - https://www.facebook.com/KingsSchoolDubai/

Kings' School Nad Al Sheba - https://www.facebook.com/KingsSchoolNadAlSheba/

On Thursday 17th March the year 10 Art GCSE

students, accompanied by myself and Mr Ayman,

experienced their first ever Art Dubai - the highlight

of the Dubai art calendar. They were not

disappointed!

Starting off with a quick look at the cutting edge

galleries of Serkal Avenue in Al Quoz, we moved on

to the Madinat Jumeirah for the art fair itself. We all

enjoyed the buzz of the venue, where galleries from

around the world show work of key artists to

prospective investors. The concept of a commercial

art world was new and interesting to our students,

but the main reason for the visit was to inspire and

inform their own work. We look forward to seeing

the evidence of this inspiration as the students

develop their art further next term and beyond!

Especially with our new facilities!

Mrs Judith Renfrew

The best by every child

Monday 21st March was a big day for the Art, Design and Technology

Department - the second ever F1 In House Challenge took place in

our amazing new building!

Six teams of four Year 9 students took part, having designed scale

model F1 racing cars, pit displays and team uniforms as well as

securing sponsorship and fundraising.

They were judged on their portfolio of ideas, pit displays and the

presentation of their projects to a panel of four scrupulous judges, as

well as the race itself. This was the culmination of the whole term's

work, and teams dedicated much of their time outside of school

hours to the project, as did the D&T teachers and the mentors who

supported them.

The day was enormous fun, and a brilliant experience for all

concerned. Well done to the teams who won in each category, and in

particular ‘Mach 9’ who were the overall winners! The next heat takes

place in Abu Dhabi next term - good luck to the teams selected to

take the project to the next level - and beyond.

Mrs Judith Renfrew

On Thursday 17th March, Year 10 looked amazingly smart in their formal business wear as they

made their way to Arabian Ranches Golf Club for a ‘Meet the Experts’ day. A number of guest

speakers attended the event in order to help Year 10 consider decisions about their future careers

and study.

After the initial welcome drinks and breakfast, we listened to Sam Turner who informed us about

living and working in Dubai post-education. We then completed a Personality Test during our

coffee break, which helped us to think about careers which may be well-suited to us. Dr Afridi gave

us an extremely thought-provoking talk titled:” A Healthy Mind Platter.” We learnt that we can not

actually mutli-task! So listening to music whilst studying does not actually work, contrary to

popular belief! We were later joined by Dr Hadi form The Camali Clinic, who spoke about the

importance of having a positive attitude towards independence and responsibility. Just before

lunch, Barry Lee Cummings spoke to us about our Digital Tattoo and his own Entrepreneurial

Journey. We then enjoyed a formal sit-down lunch before listening to and interacting with some

DESC sixth students, who helped guide us in our revision planning and time management.

The Week Without Walls newsletter is now available to view in Resources on the Communicator under the heading

‘Offsite Education’

The best by every child

Kings’ Al Barsha

Chess Tournament

Three weeks in and we are now down to the final 16. The matches are getting closer and

closer as the competitors get nearer the business end of the tournament. The favourite Ralph Holt eased through to the final 16, along with a number of surprises with students

from the lower years pushing hard against more senior opposition. Well done to all competitors thus far and good luck to those who play the final 16 rounds the first week back after the holidays.

Draw for last 16 – Previous round’s results follow students name

(*Harry Horton qualified as a lucky loser)

Mr Hurst

Mr Hurst and the Maths team have been busy again

showing how Mathematics is used in real life situations.

This time year 7 and 8 took a good look at how cyber security uses numbers, codes and logic to set up security.

They had a series of challenges provided by Cyber Security UK with a limited time to solve them.

All the students who took part not only solved some very

challenging puzzles, but learnt some amazing facts about how history, science, numbers and language all play a

part in breaking and setting codes.

Cyber Security UK has set up a challenge which anyone of

any age can take part. They use this as a form of both a

fun challenge and possible recruitment for those who do

well. If you are interested in taking part use the link or https://cybersecuritychallenge.org.uk/

the QR code.

The best by every child

The term 2 Uniform Cup winners celebrated today in Year 7 & 8 with their reward pizza

party. Students from 7N, 8I and 8A celebrated their accomplishment, which was based on outstanding standards of uniform, punctuality and organisation. Miss Hamid's group won the prize for the second time this year, whereas it was the first time for Mrs Bakari and

Mrs Keeley's groups.

Kings’ School Al Barsha is looking forward to hosting its first Movie

Night on 11th and 19th of April.

The first evening will be a movie directly related to work the

students will be covering during the final term of the year. We

believe showing your child these movies enables them to benefit from

another medium as a resource in their study of current events and history.

However, movies, along with our hands-on activities such as reading, in-class discussion groups,

trials, debates, and research projects, also give students a well-rounded opportunity to discover the

world. Movies go beyond dry facts.

The following week will be popular movies so students can sit back, relax and enjoy themselves

amongst their friends.

Mr Hurst would like to thank all the parents for their assistance in getting the forms back promptly so

that this event will be really successful.