Secondary Section

Year 7 can be daunting for all students, at Hartland, it means moving up to the second floor, a rite of passage for our Year 7 students. They arrived full of promise, looking slightly swamped in their new blazers, laden with new supplies. It certainly didn’t take them long to adapt to new routines, new teachers and older students.

7YEAR 7

Mr T Lappin Mrs M Naylor Mrs L Rogers

Almost immediately the Year 7 group became part of the secondary community, volunteering for Charity Committees, Student Council and Leadership positions. They have embraced everything on offer and contributed to school life immensely. They have built positive relationships with all their peers throughout the secondary school.

Our Year 7 group are certainly active and have participated in a range of enrichment activities this year including the whole school 30 x 30 challenge, DIDI, F1 in Schools and Sports Day. A group of Year 7 Boys and Girls also made up a large part of the Tolerance Project in collaboration with Rashid and Latifa Schools. They have also proved that they have a flair for the dramatic arts, and many had roles in the annual Shakespeare Under the Stars’ performance of Romeo and Juliet.

During the online learning weeks, the year 7 group have certainly proved that they can adapt to a different learning situation and become creative in their learning. They took part in one of the first virtual sporting fixtures against Kings School Al Barsha. Many arrived to their online learning platform, dressed in their national dress to celebrate our first virtual International Day.

The Year 7 group have had an incredible year; full of adventure. They have grown, gaining new skills and most importantly learning to take responsibility for themselves, their learning and ultimately the impact that they can have as a year group.

A school year like no other for our wonderful Year 8 students. During our time in the physical building the students accomplished so much and took every opportunity that was available to them. They continue to impress us during online learning, demonstrating maturity and a strong work ethic. As form tutors we are proud of every student and look forward to their continued development in Year 9. Below, the students have shared with us some of the highlights from Year 8.

8YEAR 8 Ms K James Mr G Rodgers

DIDI by Alisa Tsurkan 8R DIDI was a great opportunity for us to be involved in. We were part of a company and needed to create a design or improve the current design. This competition developed many skills, for example, teamwork, leadership, decision making and being organised and on time. I have enjoyed brainstorming and seeing the animation slowly come together.

Our team still managed to communicate and talk about how we can improve the work even through online learning. I am proud of our team for continuing to work on the project and I am grateful for still being able to continue with DIDI even though we are learning from home.

Shakespeare under the stars by Isobel Hulme 8R

Shakespeare under the stars was an amazing experience for me to be involved in. It allowed me to study a variety of Shakespeare’s plays and the history of when Romeo and Juliet was set. I was also doing one of the things I enjoy most, which is drama. I enjoyed getting into character and making the scenes while making new friends and spending time with the ones I already had.

costumes were beautiful and so was the staging. When it got to the night of the performance I was so nervous because we had been practicing for months but all that hard work paid off, the show was beautiful and the audience thoroughly enjoyed it. Make sure to keep your eyes out for next year’s performance. DIDI by Samuel Mendonca 8R DIDI was an amazing experience for me as I was able to work like a designer and I acquired many new skills through my involvement. I really enjoyed it because it helped me to understand how being a designer works and it also helped me to work as a team and collaborate. I am very proud that my team made it through to the final.

Continuing DIDI through a screen also made it more unique because we had to figure out how to make something impressive, within our own houses which was a new challenge for us. Overall it was a great experience and I am glad I selected it as an enrichment.

Sports Day by Valentina Salgado 8R

Sports Day was an amazing event with many different athletic events that everyone from Year 7-10 took part in. It was very enjoyable since there was a big variety of events and you could decide which one to do and take part in. This gave students the option to show off their skills or improve on them. This was a day to enjoy ourselves, not only to compete but to support our peers from our classes and houses. Sports day involved teamwork and collaboration since every point you achieved affected your house. The whole thing was very well thought out, the

Sports day was a bit challenging for some students as performing in front of people can be uncomfortable, however it gave us the chance to stretch ourselves and see how much we could achieve. It personally gave me a chance to cherish time spent with friends and I was proud of what I accomplished during the day. Overall, it was a great day where everyone got to enjoy themselves.

Sobha Academy Trip by Nicola Parsons 8H The Kerala Trip was a great experience for us girls. Our wonderful hosts took care in making sure that we all enjoyed and learned from their beautiful culture. One of the outings I personally enjoyed was visiting one of the dams located near the Sobha school, the views were breath-taking and the nature that surrounded it was gorgeous. One thing that really stood out about the trip was the phenomenal hospitality and kindness the locals showed us. Lastly, I’ll always remember the amazing dances that were performed on Kerala day and at one point they invited us on stage to join in on their dance (which was very difficult but really fun).

My MUN experience by Elizaveta Soboleva 8H I enjoyed MUN (Model United Nations) a lot. We had to do things like write speeches and position papers, work in groups on writing resolutions on big topics, and then present them to our committee. I was really nervous about speaking in front of so many people, especially those many years older than me, but then I got settled and it wasn’t so scary at all. I acquired many skills such as cooperation, collaboration and improved my public speaking and confidence.

History Competition by Gautam Nambiar 8H

While working on the presentation for the History competition, I did in depth research on World War Two, the history of the atomic bomb and its significance in today’s world. Besides gaining rich knowledge, I developed problem solving skills and resilience as well as improved my communication and presentation skills.

The experience was challenging yet exciting. I look forward to the competition next year.

Tolerance Project by Alime Bakhshish 8H This year we had the chance to participate in the Tolerance Project with Latifa School for Girls. This tolerance project lasted about 5-6 weeks where the first steps consisted of brainstorming ideas of what we wanted to do, there were many choices; a recycled fashion show, colour run and cooking; afterwards creating a cooking recipe book. Under voting conditions, we then all decided on cooking as groups of 4 - 2 girls from each school. Each group picked out a recipe for each week. What I personally learned in our regular discussions is that we all had something in common, we were all around the same age, had similar interests and all co-operated, no matter where we came from or what language we spoke.”

Year 9 is always a key year for students, as we see them change and develop. In particular, they begin to focus on their futures, as this year marks the end of key stage 3 and the beginning of GCSE years. The students have had to consider the individual journeys that they will embark on next year; for some it’s an exciting prospect and for others it’s a little more daunting, however, all of them have stepped up to face these challenges head on and I am so proud of each and every one of them.

9YEAR 9 Ms J Haugh

It has been an awesome year for our tutor group. I feel so privileged to watch these students grow and become mature, independent young adults. The number of activities we have taken part in has been huge.

Some of the highlights include; the girls trip to India, Sports Day, Shakespeare under the stars, DIDI competitions, Student mentoring and multiple assemblies. Even though it’s been an extremely different year to anything any of us have experienced in the past I still feel that students have continued to progress in both their academic and social education.

The resilience this group of amazing people have is outstanding and they have constantly kept my spirits high. Overall what makes this group special is the friendship and kindness that we show each other on a daily basis, as well as the constant laughter we all share. Thanks for giving me one of the best school years yet.

‘When the girls netball team won all of our games in the league’

Maria Oganesyan

‘National day’.

Alicia Segovia Barrios

‘When we got 5 fire drills in a WEEK CUZ OF MISS HAUGH’.

Karim Tarek

‘The Switzerland trip’.

Sakina Fakhruddin

‘when i went to my first conference at MUN’.

Heelan Adour

‘Different types of school holidays’.

Jack Pan

‘Going to Kerala’.

Chaeli-Jade Pienaar

This year students in Year 10 started their GCSE/IGCSE courses in the core subjects, along with the option choices they made in Year 9. Last year students chose which subjects to study in Year 10. The selections made were subjects that they enjoyed and suited their abilities. Careful consideration was taken before students made their final choices.

10 YEAR 10

Mr G Brown

As a result of such careful consideration of option choices at the end of Key Stage 3, the transition to Key Stage 4 has been relatively smooth. The majority of students quickly adapted to the extra rigour and demand that the GCSE/IGCSE require.

Students have experienced new subjects such as Business Studies, Media Studies, Psychology and Computer Science. Other students have studied Key Stage 3 subjects in greater detail and have enjoyed the courses in Geography, History, Music, Art, Physical Education and Modern Foreign Languages. There were obstacles along the way, but the determination of students to overcome new challenges and excellent relationships with staff resulted in pleasing attainment and progress across an array of subjects.

The move to remote learning in March was always going to be difficult. But the fantastic attitude and effort of students in Year 10 was recognised early on by subject teachers. Students in Year 10 were not prepared to allow the changing of lesson delivery and content to impede their learning. This approach is testament to their maturity and academic independence. Moving forward, I look forward to welcoming the students back to school in September and continuing the fruitful journey to the end of key Stage 4.

DUKE OF EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL AWARD

This year Hartland International School embarked on the Duke of Edinburgh International award adventure. Our Year 10’s were enrolled onto the Bronze award with weekly enrichment sessions to support them completing their physical, skill and service section alongside developing the skills needed for two days trekking and one night camping in the dessert. This was a self-sufficient expedition which required the student to demonstrate map reading, compass navigation, teamwork, leadership and many more valuable life skills.

Students prepared for the expedition with an afternoon of tent building, camp craft, navigation practice and guidance of how to pack a rucksack. This was held at school with the leaders from Challenging Adventure. In their four groups students decided on who would bring the shared equipment and what and how they would cook food during the two days.

The practice expedition was a great success. Our Year 10’s showed dedication, commitment and resilience throughout the expedition. Each day the students walked 12km over difficult rocky terrain. On day one students had the support of the Challenging Adventure leaders and staff to guide them through the navigation, on day two students had to direct themselves using the skills they had learnt. The students were in charge of cooking their own dinner on gas stoves and thoroughly enjoyed the camp fire toasting marshmallows under the Ras Al Khaimah night sky.

The students acquired many skills on their practice expedition and have learnt from mistakes they made. I am looking forward to the students completing their assessed expedition in Year 11. Below are some quotes from some of the students.

‘DofE has been a great journey so far. The expedition has really helped me become more independent and it made me more open to experiencing new things. I developed navigation and compass skills which I had never done before. I also improved my painting skills and became more creative while working on my skill section.’

Jana Khalifa

‘The DofE expedition this year was a great experience; we all had a lot of fun spending two days with our friends and being outdoors. We also learned and put to practice a lot of new skills such as using a map and compass. I am looking forward to the assessed expedition as it was such a fun and rewarding experience.’

Peter White

‘DofE was a wonderful experience. I learnt a great deal from this experience. During the expedition process, I learnt to use the map and the compass. I developed my netball skills, participated in MUN and taught Year 7 and 9 children Maths. The entire expedition encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone and do things that I would otherwise never have done.’

Nandini Nambiar