SummaRISe - Issue 128

Thursday May 2015 Issue 89 Thursday, 01th 21 June 2017 Issue 128 GENERAL GENERAL

NURSERY

KG FS

PRIMARY PRIMARY

SECONDARY SECONDARY

PARIS SCHOOL CLINIC

DATE

EVENTS

June

Wednesday, 07 June

Year 6 Graduation Ceremony

Thursday, 08 June

Nursery Concert

Wednesday, 14 June —Thursday, 15 June

Year 1 Annual Concert

Thursday, 15 June

Nursery to FS - Certificate Ceremony

Thursday, 22 June

Students' and Teachers’ last day

Thursday, 22 June

Nursery Rainbow Day

Tuesday, 26 June

End of Ramadan & Eid Al Fitr*

Tuesday, 27 June

IGCSE Examinations end

Message from the Principal A curriculum ‘fit for purpose’ part 2

Following on from my last article, here are two specific challenges for a school curriculum ‘fit for purpose’: 

prioritise depth not breadth of learning

The balance between breadth and depth is a fundamental consideration in all curriculum design. Breadth relates to the range or amount of content covered in the curriculum. Depth relates to the development of deep understandings of key concepts and principles and the ability to apply these understandings in unseen contexts. Ideally, a curriculum would promote both broad and deep learning; in practice, an emphasis on one form of learning often limits opportunities for the other. What is essential is that we retain the importance of knowledge, understanding and skills.

A mastery of factual and procedural knowledge is essential in all school subjects, although this knowledge must be more than a list of facts and formulas; it must be organised around core concepts or ‘big ideas’ of the discipline. We must also make sure our teachers have sufficient time and resources to develop deep appreciations of core disciplinary concepts. 

promote cross-disciplinary, team-based problem solving

An important question at any time is how well the curriculum is preparing students with the knowledge and skills required for life and work beyond school. In the past, the curriculum prepared students with skills and knowledge for a lifetime of work in specific, well-understood occupations. Looking ahead, the curriculum must prepare our children for working lives that may span a range of occupations, many of which may not currently exist. An increasing number of students are likely to work in cross-disciplinary teams that form and re-form around emerging challenges.

To prepare our children for life and work of this kind, the curriculum needs to include a greater focus on the collaborative solution of real, complex problems. For example, in addition to assessing and reporting student learning only in the context of the ‘core’ subjects, students should be encouraged to work in teams on cross-disciplinary challenges. Through these challenges they could be taught how to apply disciplinary knowledge and understandings in new contexts and assisted to develop skills in working as a team, creating innovative solutions, communicating, solving problems and using technology.

In conclusion, RIS is committed to delivering the highest standards of teaching and learning. At RIS, we strive to achieve a healthy balance of developing student’s knowledge, understanding and skills in all aspects of their education. High quality teaching is delivered through effective and imaginative lesson planning, the sharing of deep subject knowledge and a range of assessment methodologies. RIS students are encouraged and expected to collaborate, innovate, interact and communicate effectively in all lessons, striving to achieve the highest of academic standards in all that they do.

Through the use of enquiry, research and critical thinking skills alongside the meaningful integration of technology, RIS aims to promote independence and responsibility as part of high quality teaching and learning. At RIS we recognise the centrality of our curriculum in preparing students for life and work in the 21st Century.

Purpose, principles and focus of self-evaluation Self-evaluation contributes to school improvement by providing an accurate assessment of how well the school is performing and what it needs to do next. It leads to the identification of improvement priorities and to evidence-based school improvement planning, which results in clear benefits for pupils. National College for School Leadership School self- evaluation is basis of self-improvement and school improvement. In the best schools, self-evaluation is a culture that is evident at all levels: students, teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders and governing body. It is characterised by:  openness and honesty  a willingness to try things, with a no-blame attitude if something does not work  strong mutual support, with a commitment to professional development and sharing successful ideas  devolved responsibility to staff  good accountability systems, underpinned by meaningful performance management  good assessment and management information, so it quickly becomes evident what is working and what is not  integration into the school’s planning and improvement cycle It is reinforced by developing staff and students’ abilities and opportunities to operate autonomously. So pupils are taught to evaluate their own and others’ work, how to learn independently and how they can play a part in the development of others’ learning, and of the school as a whole. Staff are given opportunities to take responsibility beyond their own area of expertise, are expected to evaluate their own and others’ performance and to contribute to their area-wide and whole-school evaluations.

What does good school self-evaluation look like?

Valid and reliable evidence underpins good evaluation. The best schools collect it systematically with internal checks on quality and external moderation of judgements. The most important components are as follows:  External results represent progress against national expectations, and moderated internal assessments represent progress against targets.  The quality of learning and teaching, based on robust assessments, is used developmentally.  In good schools, the learning ethos is reflected in the collective desire to improve pedagogy by  learning from each other, and an understanding of what ‘outstanding’ looks like.  Evidence about learning also comes from systematic work scrutiny, student voice feedback and focused learning walks.

In conclusion, self-evaluation is mainly common sense. The simpler it is, the more likely you are to be able to do it well, communicate it clearly and use it as an improvement tool.

I would like to thank The National College for School Leadership for the basis of this article.

Mr. Michael William Clack Principal

Dear RIS community, Further to the announcement of the new Head of Secondary, Mr. Peter Rowlands, I am delighted to share with you the following news regarding the leadership team of our school from August, 2017.

Mrs. Susie McShane has been promoted to the position of Deputy Head, Key Stage 1 (FS2 – Year 2). Mrs. McShane started at RIS in 2009, as Nursery Coordinator, she continued her journey as KG Coordinator to Assistant Head, Primary and will now continue to develop and support the early years as Deputy Head. Within the role of Assistant Head, Mrs. McShane led her team to achieve many ‘very good and outstanding’ ratings during KHDA/ DSIB inspections. Her department was also recognized as outstanding in the recent visit from the Council of International Schools.

On receiving the news of her appointment, Mrs. McShane responded, ‘I am very much looking forward to working with Foundation through to Year 2 with a special focus on transition from each year group. My aim is to work closely with the teachers in the early years to provide a solid foundation for the children to prepare them for Key Stage 2. My whole school responsibility of Learning Skills has allowed me the opportunity to share best practice across the school.

From August, 2017, Mr. Gary Williams will take up the position as Deputy Head, Pastoral. Mr. Williams has been an educator for eighteen years. He has gained a vast amount of experience in secondary and primary schools in the UK. His roles have included Deputy Head of PE/Year; Head of PE; Head of Year and Assistant Head. As the Dean of Students he has been at the forefront of student welfare initiatives and pastoral care. Mr. Williams stated that he is, ‘Looking forward to 2017-18 especially in my new role as the Deputy Head, Pastoral where I will continue to support the academic and social development of all children under my care’.

Mrs. Garima Kapoor, Assistant Head will have responsibility for Nursery (Early Years), Mrs Jasmit Kang, Deputy Head will have responsibility for Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6). Mrs. Zeba Khan will continue in her role as Vice Principal and Head of Primary.

Mrs. Bryony Lynch has been appointed as Deputy Head, Secondary School. Mrs. Lynch has been teaching for over twenty years. She has been a Head of Year and more recently SENCO at an outstanding school in the UK. In addition to these responsibilities, she also worked for Exeter University on their graduate teacher training programme and as an examiner for a leading examination group in the UK. Since joining RIS as a teacher in the Learning Support Department, she has taken up the responsibility as Head of Year 9 and Environment Coordinator. On her appointment, Mrs Lynch responded, ‘It is an absolute privilege to be appointed as Deputy Head and to be given the opportunity to share my passion and enthusiasm for education in such an exciting environment. I am committed to providing an excellent education for all our students and to work together with the new team to ensure that this happens. Inherent in everything we do is a culture of high expectation and aspiration. My ambition and vision is to help lead and support the secondary school in the next phase of the journey, ‘Towards Excellence’.

On behalf of the RIS community, I very much look forward to welcoming and working with Susie, Gary and Bryony within the new senior leadership and management team, 2017.

Mr. Michael William Clack Principal

GENERAL

NURSERY

FS

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

Message from the Vice Principal and Head of Primary School It is time to say ‘Good Bye’ to the academic year 2016-2017. I look back with pride and some nostalgia at the year gone by and look ahead with optimism and excitement to the new academic year 2017-2018.

Every school year ends in reminiscing and celebrating student achievements and school improvements unique to the school year. For me 2016-2017 will stand out for the increased number of competitions our Primary School children have successfully participated in and made the school proud by being the winners of some of them as well. Competitions were in different fields like sports, Information Technology, academics, debates and the performing arts, both between the IVEI schools as well as with other schools in the region.

Some of the competitions students participated in this year are: Chess, Quran recitation, Primary School debate, KenKen mathematics competition, football, short film competition to name a few.

Qur'an Recital & Arabic Writing Award Ceremony

DESC Junior Mathematics Competition

Parents are strongly encouraged to make use of the summer packs put together by our teachers to keep the children academically engaged during the long summer months. Summer packs for all Year levels, Scholastic Reading Challenge, Mathematics Whizz, useful websites as shared by teachers are some of the ways we can make sure that children make the ‘Summer Leap’ rather than loose some of the skills they have acquired over the school year.

This year we have put a special summer pack for our EAL children. The EAL Department has worked hard over the past several weeks to provide comprehensive support for parents over the long summer holidays. Proficiency in English Language skills is necessary for children to successfully access all areas of the curriculum. I strongly encourage parents to make good use of the summer packs, and make sure there is no loss of learning during the holidays.

Please continue to read to and listen to children read through the summer months. Like always, I cannot emphasise enough the importance for children to engage with books and develop the love of reading.

Developed reading, comprehension, inference and critical thinking skills have a profound impact on learning outcomes across all curriculum areas.

If you are travelling back to your home country, please do remember to bring back a book or two in your home language to support the bi-lingual section of our library, your National flag for the school, and National dress for the children in preparation for International day celebrations.

A thank you must go out to PARIS (Parent Association of Raffles International School) for their support, hard work and dedication which made a difference to the school year. Family fun day, Winter celebrations, Teacher appreciation are just a few of the many events and contributions of PARIS. On behalf of the school community, I extend our sincere and heartfelt appreciation.

I take the opportunity to thank parents for their support throughout the year to enrich the school experience for all our students. Parent Volunteers, class parents, members of PVRP (Parent Volunteer Reading Programme, CIS Self-Study members and parents who have contributed to the National and International day celebrations for the many hours they have given to support our students.

Best wishes for a safe, enjoyable and relaxing summer break, and safe journey to all those travelling far and near. I look forward to welcoming you ‘Back to School’ in August 2017. For those of you moving on best wishes and do try to keep in touch. I wish RIS families a wonderful, relaxing and safe summer, and to all Muslims families ‘a blessed month of Ramadan’ and a joyful Eid-ul-Fitr.

Mrs. Zeba Khan Vice-Principal & Head Primary School

Message from the Dean of Students A school self-evaluation (SEF) is a collaborative, reflective process of internal school review. It provides teachers with a means of systematically looking at how they teach and how pupils learn and helps schools and teachers to improve outcomes for learners.

All schools within Dubai continue to strive for excellence and improvement. In order to guide schools in the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) recognises the importance of self-evaluation as an essential part of any schools’ ongoing cycle of review and improvement planning. The self-evaluation form is an important tool in this cycle. It helps all schools to measure how well they are doing in different areas, leading to an overall evaluation of the quality of education. The DSIB believes that the SEF should be a working document used by school leaders and governors to inform them of their school’s improvement.

The school self-evaluation can be a fundamental force in achieving school improvement and this review establishes what the key debates are in relation to school self-evaluation, what principles and processes are associated with it, and what the implications are for school self-evaluation as a means of leading school improvement.

In general here at RIS in a continuous process we will aim to review how well we are doing as a school within the current climate. We will then aim to reflect on how well we should be doing and what we can do to further improve.

Review (how are we doing) – The school will consider its impact on student’s outcomes for each of the performance standards in the UAE School Inspection Framework.

Reflect (how well should we be doing) - the vison, values and aims of the school based on our student population will drive our improvement React – (what will we do to improve) – as a school we will decide which actions will best bring about the desired changes.

Gary Williams Dean of Students

June 2017: Awareness Month - Processing Speed “Processing speed is the pace at which you take in information, make sense of it and begin to respond.

This information can be visual, such as letters and numbers. It can also be auditory, such as spoken language.

Having slow processing speed has nothing to do with how smart kids are—just how fast they can take in and use information. It may take children who struggle with processing speed a lot longer than other children to perform tasks, both school-related and in daily life.

Saying too many things at once can also pose a challenge. If you give multiple-step directions “When you come downstairs, bring your notebook. And can you also bring down the dirty glasses, and put them in the dishwasher?”—a child with slow processing speed may not follow all of them. Having slow processing speed makes it hard to digest all that information quickly enough to finish the task.

Slow processing speed impacts learning at all stages. It can make it harder for young children to master the basics of reading, writing and counting. And it impacts older kids’ ability to perform tasks quickly and accurately.”

Slow processing speed can affect kids in the classroom, at home and during activities like sports.

Children might have difficulty with:

Parents and teachers may notice that a child:

 





    

Finishing tests in the allotted time Finishing homework in the expected time frame Listening or taking notes when a teacher is speaking Reading and taking notes Solving simple math problems in their head Completing multi-step math problems in the allotted time Doing written projects that require details and complex thoughts Keeping up with conversations

   

Becomes overwhelmed by too much information at once Needs more time to make decisions or give answers Needs to read information more than once for comprehension Misses nuances in conversation Has trouble executing instructions if told to do more than one thing at once

Reference: www.understood.org/ /en/learning-attention-issues/

“All Children with special needs just need a little help, a little hope and someone who believes in them” Faryal Saeed Head of Learning Support

GENERAL

NURSERY

FS

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

Dear Parents, Grandparents and Extended Family, The Raffles Nursery received an accreditation from the Pre School Learning Alliance in 2016, when we completed the Reflecting on Quality (Quality assurance Scheme). However, this was just the beginning.

Self-evaluation for the Nursery took a landmark step in the right direction with the Reflection on Quality programme. Reflection on Quality has been built on the Pre School Learning Alliance’s 20 years’ experience of quality improvement and quality assurance.

The self-reflection we have undertaken over the past academic year has been based on a core belief that children learn through play. The process did not end there and since then we have undertaken a continuation of development for a strong team through shared responsibility for improvement.

Through the on-going use of the observe-reflect-improve-review process used in Reflecting on Quality, we have built on the commitment that our team has already made to quality improvement and encourages the on-going, full involvement of all team members. Phase one has involved reviewing and building on the changes we have made since we originally engaged with the quality improvement process. Phase two will involve developing and completing a continuous quality development project to which all our teachers and assistants are contributing.

This means through first hand experiences that are child led and involve exploration and discovery.

Children learn as members of social groups. Taking this into account, we have made a lot of changes in our learning environment, both indoors and outdoors. All of these changes incorporate the beliefs of the Early Years Charter which underpins the philosophy that every child matters.

Through involvement with parents as the children’s first teachers, we have sought ways in this academic year to take your opinion on what we do, how we do it and what else we can continue to do or do better.

The nursery team remains committed to our children and passionate about what we do and the only way we can strive higher is through reflective practice.

Mrs. Garima Kapoor Assistant Head - Early Years

GENERAL

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FS

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

Drumming session

Topic related learning extends outdoors during 'Birds'

Fizza building three letter

Ghaya working Cards and counters

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Nursery

FS FS

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

PRIMARY SCHOOL FS2 News The Foundation Stage journey 2016-17 is coming closer to the end of a very successful year filled with learning and fun.

We are busy consolidating our learning that took place throughout the year. It is impressive to see how independent and self-disciplined the children have become, setting their goals and achieving their personal targets.

The children participated in their third assembly in May. They were introduced to another RIS core value which is ‘Responsibility.’ It was pleasing to see the children involved in a discussion on different ways through which they can show responsibility at home and at school. Mr. Clack visited the assembly to reinforce the core value with a little story and distributing class certificates.

In our Graduation Ceremony, the children were very proud collecting their certificates. After the certificate ceremony, the children performed with great pride and confidence.

Teachers and parents were really proud to celebrate their achievement with them.

As part of the transition from FS to Year 1, the children had the opportunity to visit Year 1 classes for one period to get remilitarized with the environment.

Wishing all the Muslim families a blessing month of Ramadan.

FS Team

Year 1 News Year 1 has seen many new changes and additions throughout the year. We introduced brain yoga every morning before the lessons start for the day. Brain yoga is a simple and effective technique to energise and recharge the brain. Since introducing this in term two we have really noticed how it relaxes the children and gets their brain ready for the learning that day.

We have introduced ‘Letters and Sounds’ phonetic programme this year with the aim of boosting the children’s phonetic knowledge and preparing them to be fluent readers. There are six overlapping phases in which the children are split up each morning. The children have been exposed to different phonetic blends and diagraphs. We have seen immense improvement in the children’s phonetic knowledge.

GENERAL

Nursery

FS FS

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

In creative writing we have added different genres including, instruction writing, fact-finding missions, recounting events, postcards and we have had an extra focus this term on rhymes. The children are thoroughly enjoying writing a wide range of their own poems. We truly have some Shakespeare’s in the making.

This term, Year 1 we are doing a lot of abstract work in mathematics. In the last few weeks the children have been working with time, sorting and organising data and halves of small numbers and shapes. This is to prepare the children for the transition to Year 2.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all the families a Ramadan Kareem.

Year 1 team

Year 2 News We ask our students to reflect on their work daily. We ask them to proof read, edit, amend, and rewrite work in class in order for them to develop as reflective, confident and mindful individuals.

As teachers we are working as reflective practitioners. We revise our teaching methods daily, even sometimes during a lesson depending on students understanding and engagement. We are always looking for new ways to improve our practice and incorporate innovative ideas into our lessons.

As we are expecting all this self-evaluation to take place individually it is a priority that RIS as a whole school self-evaluate as well. We as teachers often look at the day to day running of the school and are mainly focused on teaching and learning but it is important to consider the ‘bigger picture’ when evaluating the school as a whole.

At RIS we have just gone through a CIS accreditation. As part of this accreditation we undertook a school evaluation project taking over a year to complete. This process has been incredibly beneficial in identifying our strengths as a school as well as our areas for development. This will in turn inform our action plan for school improvement in the next few years.

Although this cycle of self-evaluation was for CIS, it is important to all staff and students at RIS that this self-evaluation cycle will be a continuous one to drive improvements over the whole school.

Year 2 Team

GENERAL

NURSERY

FS

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

Year 3 News Over the past few weeks the Year 3 students were very active in revising for their end of year assessments.

The students undertook a series of written Cambridge Progression Tests as well as GL assessments, which they completed on computers. The students worked very hard to prepare for these assessments.

They felt a huge sense of achievement once the assessments had been completed. All their hard work paid off and they deserved to be proud of themselves, as we are of them. As a Year 3 team, we now look forward to starting exciting new topics for the remainder of the school year and preparing our children for the transition to Year 4.

As well as the students undergoing examinations during this time, the school also underwent a final accreditation visit from the Council of International Schools committee. Our school has worked very hard to prepare for this visit, undergoing a thorough self – evaluation.

Year 3 looked bright and cheerful, ready to welcome visitors. The children were pleased to welcome the visitors into their classrooms. They were happy to answer questions and were also very proud to show off all of their hard work. In particular, students were excited to display their “Circle of Culture” projects which they have been working very hard on over the course of the year. It was a wonderful, refreshing experience for all.

Year 3 Team

Year 4 News Year 4 have had a very busy few weeks with all our recent assessments. The students have now completed both the GL and Cambridge assessments and we are very proud of them for all their hard work and determination to succeed.

In science, we are very proud of the hard work the students put into their projects and presentations for the recent Science Fair. It was a pleasure to see each student displaying and representing their very own investigations. The students focused on some lovely topics and it allowed us to learn from one another. It has certainly allowed the students to develop their scientific procedure and knowledge.

Over the next number of weeks the children will be completing a lot of project based lessons and activities. We will continue to work and improve our research skills in all subject areas. We will also have the opportunity to self-evaluate after the examinations and look back over the topics we may have found difficult throughout the year. In addition, we will be preparing our children for the transition to Year 5.

Year 4 Team

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NURSERY

FS

Primary

SECONDARY

Year 5 News In Year 5 we work together to combine our own self evaluations within our classrooms, together with the year group and ultimately with the school community. The school Self Evaluation (SEF) is used to not only improve the school for the children in terms of learning, but also to ensure we are providing a holistic learning environment for each and every child.

Every year, Raffles International School takes on a Self-Evaluation Improvement Plan. This works in three steps, first a review to find out what we are doing, then we reflect on how well we should be doing and finally we react to plan what we will do to improve. Each teacher in Year 5 plays an important role in the self-evaluation which ultimately leads to a superior school environment.

Recently we underwent a rigorous, yet rewarding accreditation by The Council of International Schools.

Before our visiting team arrived, all teachers had the opportunity to take part in a whole school self-study report which went hand in hand with our self-evaluation work. We delved into a range of areas throughout the school including; Teaching and Learning, Governance and Leadership and Faculty and Support to name a few. The Year 5 team found this reflection of our school to be extremely rewarding in terms of moving forward and creating an improved outlook for the future.

Year 5 Team

Year 6 News The past fortnight has been very interesting where learning was more hands on and linked to real life.

The annual Science Fair was a great success where students were able to link the strands of STEM in their project work and confidently speak about their investigations. The judges were impressed by the quality of presentations and topics chosen by Year 6 students.

Year 6 completed their end of year topic assessments and the results will go towards their final reports due in June. Students have been reflective and have worked on their areas of growth to improve their grades and we are sure the results will ‘speak for themselves’.

Currently, as a link to World War One and Poetry study, students created war poems and were able to incorporate various techniques into them. 6E have these poems displayed on corridor boards for all to read. We have also been studying Spirals in nature and Fibonacci numbers.

Most importantly, Year 6 have been revising and reviewing for GL Assessments which are taking place this week. We have used SATs papers and past IBT papers to familiarise students with the format of the papers and incorporated assessment style questions into everyday lesson planning. We wish them the very best in these tests.

Coming up is the Graduation and there is a lot of excitement and preparations are in full swing.

Invitations have been sent out and we hope to see all of you, Wednesday, 07 th June.

GENERAL

NURSERY

FS

Primary

SECONDARY

In order to grow it is important to self-evaluate oneself; whether it be writing tests, doing revision work or journalising ones work. When students evaluate themselves, they are assessing what they know, do not know, and what they would like to know. They begin to recognise their own strengths and weaknesses. They become more familiar with their own beliefs, and possibly their misconceptions.

After they self-evaluate they will be able to set goals that they feel they can attain with the new knowledge they have about themselves; to move onto the next phase of school- the Secondary School.

Year 6 Team

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NURSERY

FS

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

SECONDARY SCHOOL Self-Evaluation All private schools in Dubai are expected to submit a School Self-Evaluation Form on an annual basis for the purposes of improvement planning. The Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) “recognises the importance of self-evaluation as a crucial part of schools’ ongoing cycle of review and improvement planning. The self-evaluation form (SEF) is an important tool in this cycle. It helps schools to measure the impact of their work in different areas, leading to an overall evaluation of the quality of education. DSIB believes that the SEF should be a working document. It should be used to inform school leaders and governors of the school’s improvement activities and enable all schools to update their documents on a regular basis” (1).

Raffles International School have developed an annual SEF that focusses on six Quality Indicators (Qis):  Student’s achievement  Student’s personal and social development, and their innovation skills  Teaching and Assessment  Curriculum  The protection, care, guidance and support of students  Leadership and Management For each of the standards, RIS must gather evidence in an evaluative manner and provide a self-evaluation rating on a scale 1-6 (1 = Outstanding 6 = Very Weak). Evaluative evidence comes is generated through many different aspects of school life including internal and external assessment data, lesson observations, events and activities and punctuality and attendance. All teaching staff and leadership at RIS are consulted through the process, to ensure a robust and accurate self-evaluation is created. This document, then used by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB), forms the start of the school inspection process.

Needless to say, self-evaluation is a rigorous process. It requires thought, reflection, and consultation, the review of targets and goals and collaboration. According to the National College for Teaching and Leadership the purpose of school self-evaluation is “to enable the school to identify its strengths and weaknesses and to tackle areas for development rigorously in order to improve the quality of provision that pupils receive and the standards they achieve. It is a reflective, systematic and analytical process, through which schools get to know themselves well and identify the best way forward for their pupils.

Self-evaluation is part of an ongoing cycle in which the school reviews its performance and asks 'How well are we doing?” (2).

Recently, all parents received a copy of the 2016/2017 RIS school inspection report. In this report parents can see the DSIB’s comments on RIS’s school self-evaluation. http://www.khda.gov.ae/DISB/AttachmentDownload.aspx?DOC_ID=8JCoaKIxF2k%3d

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Secondary

As always, if you would like to communicate with me regarding anything related to the Secondary School at RIS, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail, give me a call or stop by the office.

Ian Plant Deputy Head of Secondary References https://www.khda.gov.ae/Areas/Administration/Content/FileUploads/Publication/Documents/ English/2015-40-24-08-38-Self_Evaluation_and_Improvement_Planning_EN.pdf http://www.inspiringleaderstoday.com/ILTMaterials/LEVEL2_SSE-v4.0-2014_08_22-11_16/school-selfevaluation/sse-s2/sse-s2-t03.html

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Secondary

Year 7 News As the end of the year approaches, a teacher’s mind naturally turns to evaluations. Here at RIS we believe that there is much value to be found in students taking part in ongoing self-evaluation. Studies show that self-evaluation is a great way to get students to assess how they approached the course with an eye to improving their learning strategies in the future. It can also help cement the particular skills they learnt throughout the course — in effect, they remind themselves of the skills they have acquired, and may be more likely to put them to use in the future.

Self-evaluation can take many forms. A significant strength at RIS is our next step marking approach where students are asked to respond to teacher feedback regularly by either making necessary corrections or thinking about what could be improved upon next time. A more summative approach is to explicitly talk to students and ask them to reflect upon questions such as: What strategies did I use for the course? How did I study for the tests? How did I approach the assignments? Which strategies worked well? Which ones didn’t work?

Ultimately, self-evaluation encourages students to take responsibility for their learning. By asking students to reflect not only on how the course has served them, but also on how they have served themselves and their classmates.

Year 8 News As we reach the closing weeks of the academic year, students start to reflect both on their achievements this year, and what they will be looking to achieve in the next academic year. As they head into Year 9 our students will be more mature, responsible and focused on their academic aspirations.

They will need to be as the expectation we have of Year 9 students is high. I have always regarded Year 9 as the practice run for IGCSE, and it is where students are expected to develop the skills they need for successful future study. These are not just the subject specific skills that they would need to achieve a good grade, but the so called soft skills that give them the edge in terms of preparing for examination. For example, skills of organisation, being able to make sure that when they are given work they can file it in the right place. It is the skills of dealing with and integrating new information into what they already know. The skill of knowing what to do when they are not immediately able to make sense of what they are learning. All of these skills are needed in order to be successful at IGCSE.

I have every confidence that our students will meet that challenge, and I know that in many of their subjects as they approach the summer break students are already practising these skills. In my teaching I have always found the students who are most successful are not those most naturally gifted at a subject, but those who have developed the right habits of learning and organization. Now is the time for our students to start practicing and developing those skills.

Year 8 Team

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NURSERY

FS

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Year 9 News The Holy month of Ramadan is now upon us. This is my first experience of Ramadan in the UAE and I was keen to understand and learn more about the different philosophies behind it. To this end I enlisted the help and knowledge of some of the Year 9 Muslim students. The students explained to me that Ramadan is a period of reflection and self-control. Integrity, collaboration, respect and responsibility, four of RIS’s core values mirror this.

During Ramadan the Year 9 students will be given the opportunity to reflect and to evaluate their achievements over the past year. In tutor time the students will be involved in self-evaluation. They will also be setting themselves targets and challenges for the next academic year, especially as they embark on their IGCSE courses.

Alongside of this as a year team we will also be looking closely at what has gone well and what areas we would like to further develop. Collaborating together, self-evaluating on how we teach and how students learn will enable us to improve outcomes for our students. This process guides teachers to improve the educational experiences that are provided for your children and also help us, as teachers, to identify where we need further professional development. Throughout, central to our thoughts will be the students and ensuring that all students attain their best possible results.

This week the year group had their celebration assembly. We acknowledged our successes and also rewarded students with commendations for excellence and effort. Aneeka Khan and Hyunseok Yoo have been awarded Student of the Year for Year 9. Congratulations.

Finally ‘Ramadan Kareem’ to all our Muslim students and parents. If you wish to further discuss any of the points raised above please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Year 9 team. bryonyl@rafflesis.com Year 9 Team

Year 10 and 11 News We would like to take this opportunity and wish Ramadan Kareem to all the Muslim families in our school. May this holy month of Ramadan be a month of blessings, a month full of forgiveness and guidance for everyone.

In school, students have almost completed all their assessments, internal and external. It is now the time to look back and reflect on the school year; what is has been achieved, what went well and what can be improved. Reflection is about students becoming aware of their own thinking processes, and being able to make those transparent to others. It enables assessment of the "why" and "how" of the learning, and what needs to be done as a result. It is the teacher's responsibility to support students to improve their skills in reflection. Teachers should model and teach reflective processes to the students, plan lessons to incorporate time for student reflection, and use those same skills to reflect on and improve their own practice. Self-reflection is self-assessment, and one of the most significant learning tools we can model for our students.

GENERAL

NURSERY

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Primary

SECONDARY

Similarly to students, the school also goes through a process of self evaluation. The purpose of self evaluation is to enable the school to identify its strengths and weaknesses and to tackle areas for development rigorously in order to improve the quality of provision that students receive and the standards they achieve. Self-evaluation is part of an ongoing cycle in which the school reviews its performance and asks 'How well are we doing?' It provides an accurate assessment of how well the school is performing and what it needs to do next. It enables the school to identify priorities for improvement, plan the necessary actions and put in place the support and resources to bring about that improvement.

Year 10 and 11 Team