SummaRISe - Issue 144

Thursdayth21 May 2015 Issue 89 Thursday, 28 June 2018 Issue 144 GENERAL GENERAL

NURSERY

KG PRIMARY

PRIMARY SECONDARY PRIMARY

SECONDARY SECONDARY

Recent Happenings Year 1 and Year 2 Concerts

Year 6 and Year 11 Graduation Ceremony

PARIS SCHOOL CLINIC

Message from the Principal Dear Parents, Welcome to this final edition of SummaRISe for the academic year 2017-18.

For this edition I have asked the RIS team to offer some suggestions or ideas for keeping students’ minds active and engaged during the summer holidays. Everyone at RIS has worked incredibly hard throughout the year and some R’n’R time is definitely deserved however that does not have to mean switching off the grey matter completely.

Holidays are a great time to get things done that might otherwise have been overlooked or put off until ‘later’. Reading is an obvious choice. With Raz Kids online reading programme for Primary and Kindle and iBooks offering free or heavily discounted titles for older readers, there is no longer any need to go on holiday with a separate case for books. In order to make reading particularly relevant, I look for books or stories set in the county I am visiting – your children might enjoy making those connections themselves.

Children may roll their eyes at the thought of a ‘holiday diary’ however a Video Diary or vlog prompts the same level of reflection and can be made very entertaining with short clips, is enjoyable and can be collaborative to put together and is easily shared with friends and family. Selecting a week or two of the holiday, ideally where you are somewhere new, and ‘commissioning’ a holiday vlog gets the observation and reflection skills working and putting it all together, trying new tricks with editing and adding filters, text and music develops ICT skills.

There are plenty of opportunities for online courses, particularly for older students, many of which focus on life-skills but serve to broaden horizons and may well support school study in time. Ms. Atkins has mentioned some of them in her article and I would wholeheartedly endorse this. Duolingo and Babble are both highly engaging language courses available for free through the App Store or Google Play and other areas of interest as diverse as agriculture and web design and available through Khan Academy, Udemy and many leading universities.

Of course, holiday is also a time to relax, unwind and reconnect with friends and family and I hope that in the coming weeks, you will stay safe, enjoy the down time and take the opportunity to reflect on what has been an exciting and interesting year. To those families leaving Dubai and moving on to new opportunities, I thank you for being part of the RIS Family and hope you take many happy memories with you. Please do not forget to collect your RIS Yearbook if you have not done so already. For the vast majority who are returning in September, I look forward to starting the new year with you and seeing RIS continue its development ‘towards excellence’.

Have a safe and happy summer.

Tim Richardson Principal

Important dates for August/September 2018 DATE Wednesday, 29 August Sunday, 2 September Monday, 3 September

EVENTS Subject enrolment for Year 12 and Year 13 Orientation Day for new students (Nursery to Year 13) Regular lessons starts for Year 1 to Year 13 ( full day)

Sunday, 2 or Monday, 3 September Tuesday, 4 - Thursday, 6 September

Nursery & FS 2 Parent and Student Introductory meeting FS2 Phasing-in shortened hours, 7:40 - 11:00 am

Tuesday, 4 - Thursday, 13 September

Nursery Phasing-in shortened hours, 8:00 - 11:00 am

Sunday, 9 September Sunday, 16 September

Regular lessons starts for FS 2 (full day) Regular lessons starts for Nursery (full day)

GENERAL

NURSERY

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

Dear Children, Parents, Grandparents and Extended family, As I write this letter the Dubai sun is out, the sky is blue and the Nursery is buzzing with the hum of joyous activity. The class of 2017-18‌. Another cohort of children leaves the Nursery on to the next stage of their educational journey. At this point it all starts to get a little more serious and the stakes become higher. Let your children take advantage of all the opportunities available in the big school. Encourage them to ask the questions and make their little voices heard.

I will miss seeing the bright and loving faces in the corridors, Casas and playground, but I have plenty of great memories of our times together including our rainbow of Colour days and National Day. Our Book week became a starting point for discussion about family and unconditional love. Our 3-4 year olds had fun field trips to Orbi and Kidzania. We displayed our creativity during our Art Exhibition. On Sports Day, we displayed our enthusiasm and enjoyed some memorable End of term parties. Our recycling planting project changed the way our outdoor area looks. With all this, we continued our Montessori education, assisting our children to develop life skills in a holistic environment.

This Summer spend a lot of time reading aloud to your children. It will not only be fun, but a way of building intimacy with your children. Literacy specialists tell us that reading aloud helps with developing language and all its nuances, with building comprehension, building critical thinking skills, and discovering classic text structures. Beyond that, there are still more advantages to be gained. Good children's books offer a strong sense of values and responsibilities. Helping your child learn about things such as friendship, kindness, patience, and bravery in the context of a story is one way to develop shared values. Stories have power. We share joys and sorrows through stories. Books allow you and your children to visit many worlds together, and hear many voices. Through books, children begin to feel the power of many different stories, and learn that their stories matter too. Books read aloud bring comfort to children. The world outside can be hard, confusing, and scary, as children navigate through social interactions. A child's inner world can contain fears, worries, and other strong emotions, and books provide ways to talk about all of this.

Parents, it has been my pleasure getting to know not only your child, but you as well. Having parental support and open lines of communication is an essential part of any successful school year. There is an open invitation to you to come back and share your successes with us and we hope that you will do this, not just next year but in years to come. Each of you will stay part of Raffles Nursery. I hope your dreams are fulfilled and that you live safe and happy lives.

Best wishes, Garima Kapoor Assistant Head Early Years

Father's day performance

Daddies...you are special!

Modesh World show in the Nursery

Certificate Ceremony

Our little children move onto the next phase in their academic life

GENERAL

NURSERY

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

PRIMARY SCHOOL Dear RIS Community, Congratulations to everyone for completing a very successful academic year. It has been some journey! The pace of change and developments has been breathtaking and a more dynamic and eventful school I do not know!

May I take the opportunity to thank all of our parents for their ongoing contributions and support. A school is not a school without parents. In a large school it is hard to achieve a personal relationship with every parent – but I have much enjoyed all of my interactions with all of you. I would like to remind parents that my ‘door is always open’. In an ideal world, we’d all be happy 100% of the time with the services we receive – but that’s not reality. What we can strive to offer is 100% commitment to making RIS the best it can be, and if our standards ever drop then we need to know about this as soon as possible. As always, you have a 100% guarantee from me that I will do my utmost to improve the provision for your children.

The students have worked incredibly hard this year. I hope that they have enjoyed the year, and that their enjoyment is not just a result of trips and special events BUT as a result of being challenged in their studies and through their ACHIEVEMENT. As with our excellent GL Progress Tests Results, we routinely celebrate our high achievers. With improved data analysis we want to better celebrate students next year who perhaps didn’t achieve the highest attainment standard but who made the greatest progress from their start points.

It has been a very successful year in terms of students’ attainment. Our results especially in IBTs and GL Progress Tests have been great – in KHDA-speak “Very Good” for the most part. We are definitely in a stronger position than a year ago as we again launch into the run-up to inspection (anticipated in early November 2018). It will undoubtedly be a super busy start to the new academic year, and so we are most grateful for the long summer break to re-charge our batteries – staff, students, and parents alike.

We hope that you will be able to kick-back and relax this summer somewhat, wherever you may be.

Please do encourage your children to explore the wider world as far as possible through travel, visiting places of interest, or simply through reading and exploring online. Typically many education systems around the World experience the post-summer / back-to-school dip in student attainment, but there are plenty of ideas out there to keep those young minds active: https://www.brainscape.com/blog/2011/06/ keep-your-brain-active-over-the-summer/ . I love especially point 8 therein: “Keeping a daily diary”.

Asking students to record the things they did (in writing or audibly) will help distinguish those long (hot) lazy days from one another, and to aid those popular back-to-school English writing tasks such as “What I did in my summer holiday”.

May I wish you all a great break. The very best to those members of the RIS Community who are moving on. I look forward to seeing all our returning members in September!

Best wishes, Edward Cooper Head of Primary School

Key Stage 1 News Dear Parents, Its with mixed feelings I write my final SummaRISe at RIS. As I finish my 9th Year at Raffles International School I reflect upon my time spent supporting your children.

It has been a wonderful time, I have never worked with such a diverse group of children and families; I have learnt so much from them all. It has given me immense joy coming to work each morning knowing I will be spending my time with children with great imaginations; I could write a delightful book on the stories I have been told by your children.

I have seen great achievements, some may have seemed small, but in the world of a 4-year-old, they are big achievements, and worthy of a celebration. You should all be very proud of your children, developments happen daily and can sometimes be missed due to busy lives – and social media .

As some of you may know, that next year I will be opening the new Innoventures Education Early Years School, Raffles Starters in Springs Souk, Springs 7; as the Head. I am looking forward to this challenge but at the same time know I will miss RIS. I would like to take this opportunity to praise the wonderful teams of teachers I have worked with these past years, FS, Year 1 and Year 2. They all have so much passion being a role models for young children and have dedicated a lot of time supporting your children’s academia.

I wish all the children and teachers the very best, I am sure they will continue to flourish in all they do.

Have a lovely summer break, spend quality time with your children and read, read, read. In the words of Dr Suess – ‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go’.

Thank you.

Susie Mcshane Deputy Head, Primary School KS1

Key Stage 2 News Dear Parents, This is my final SummaRISe and it gives me great pleasure to know that the children have completed another year at Raffles International School. Looking at the holidays ahead, I would encourage your children to look at our school website and to try and complete the Reading Challenge. In previous years some children had spent every day of the holiday reading and had taken note of the number of minutes spent on this. The best readers are awarded with prizes when they begin school again in September. Please also look at the summer packs that are available on the website to encourage your children to continue some revision work.

Reading will help your child continue their learning as well as encouraging your child to keep a diary of key written events during their break. It always works well when children can record their experiences and to be able to share this with their new teacher once returning to school.

I was very privileged to be part of the Year 6 graduation last week. It was a real joy to see our children come to the end of their Primary education and have worked so hard this year with different examinations. It has been a tough year but a rewarding one in so many ways, Year 6 have been involved in so many enriching events throughout their primary career. It was a joy to hear the Head boy and girl relive their vivid memories of their time at RIS. Where the Year 6 children gave a brilliant show of song and dance as well as being awarded their graduation certificates and prizes. I have known these children since they were in year 3 and what an absolute joy it has been to watch them develop and grow into beautiful flowers of knowledge. I wish them well in their next onward journey into Secondary School.

On this Thursday 28th June we had World cup day for our children. It was an exciting time and we have discussed the different matches with the children during assemblies and class time this week. Children have learnt some more facts about the World Cup and were dressed up in their football shirts or international flag colours.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for all your support this year. I have enjoyed the time spent with your children immensely. I look forward to working with you and your families in September. I wish for your holidays to be happy, safe and restful and look forward to seeing you all on the first day of school Monday 3rd September.

Jasmit Kang Deputy Head, Primary School KS2

GENERAL

NURSERY

PRIMARY

PRIMARY SECONDARY

SECONDARY

SECONDARY SCHOOL We are nearly there! The end of an exciting and fast year which has seen the Secondary School grow and thrive. We now have the opportunity to celebrate and reflect on all the accomplishments seen over the past months.

Students have worked tirelessly throughout the year in all areas of the curriculum; academic and enrichment.

The culmination of this for our Year 11 students was their Graduation Dinner which was held at The Fairmount Hotel on the Palm. The students not only attended this looking glamourous and smart, they also planned, organized and coordinated the event. Their enterprise skills were evident with photo booths, awards, beautifully laid out tables and invitations. We even had a hair cutting ceremony. Daruish allowed Mr. Lambrias to cut his long hair, which was then donated to a local cancer organization which make wigs for patients.

The Sheikh and Sheikha for the evening were Ahmad Hassan and Joud Taha.

The exam season is now coming to a close. The final iGCSE and A level examinations have finished and students, and parents can breathe a sigh of relief! That is until results day which is August 16 th for AS levels and August 23rd for iGCSE and GCSE. All students will have log in codes to access these, which are available from Ms. Isma. Thank you to all the staff and parents for their endless support with these. The internal examinations and Gl tests for students in years 7-10 have also ended. Throughout the students have demonstrated resilience and focus, which will serve them well as they progress onto the next year.

Despite all this going on students have also found the time to devote to other initiatives;

Reading with younger members of the RIS community

Entering the IVEI art competition and

Running our Ramadan Fridge Thank you to everyone who supported us with this. It will be back next year! A special thank you must also go to Broccoli Pizza and Pasta, and Mr. Nasser for the loan of the fridge and the donation of water each day. It was very much appreciated by our workers who visited. Finally thank you to our own support staff who helped monitor and fill the fridge each day, especially over the weekends when the students were not here. They too were recognized by our sixth form students with gifts for Eid. Next week the Secondary students will celebrate the end of the year with a trip to IMG on Wednesday July 4th. If you still wish your son or daughter to take part please ask them to see their Head of Year.

Looking forward to next year we will once again welcome the Year 6 students to visit the Secondary School on Thursday June 28th. This time they will be given the opportunity to ask questions and share their hopes for the future with current staff.

Parents of students in Years 6-8 are also invited to a meeting to find out information on developments in maths and science in the next academic year. The meeting will take place in the Lecture Theatre on Monday, July 2nd at 8:15a m. All are welcome.

Finally please remember the new timings for the Secondary School starting in September.

Secondary School Timings 2018-2019 Thank you for all your support this year. We wish you all the best over the summer break and look forward to seeing 7:40 am returning students refreshed on September 3rd. For those Registration moving on we wish you the best in your new adventures. Lesson starts 7:50 am Please keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on.

Break 10:20 Bryony Lynch Peter Rowlands Lunch 13:10 Deputy Head Secondary School Head of Secondary School School finish 14:40

Message from the Head of Sixth Form Dear Parents, As our Year 12 students prepare to venture off into the world of work this week, we opened our doors and welcomed prospective Year 11 students for an introduction into Sixth Form life.

With the Sixth Form more than doubling in size, it has certainly been an eventful week. Year 11 have had taster lessons of each of the A Level subjects that they can select next year, they have had sessions on leadership, future planning and were also introduced to two new courses that we will be running at Raffles next year - the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and Level 3 BTEC in Business.

Having finished their AS Level examinations, Year 12s have been interviewing for prospective summer work placements, just before they start their work experience. Preparations are also now fully underway for UCAS applications (University & College Application Service - which allows students to complete one application for almost all UK universities and colleges) which are due in Term 1 of Year 13.

By the end of 2018, Raffles International School will have it's first students' accepted into universities around the world.

As we approach the summer holiday, it is time to remind our Year 11 and 12 students that when applying for university, every application from every student contains what we call the black and white' information. Name, address, subjects studied, grades predicted etc. The long summer holiday is a perfect opportunity for students to build upon their letter of application. This is the part of the application that 'adds the colour' and makes each student an individual and stand out.

In preparation for writing their personal statement, students should consider; Work experience  This can be in the form of work shadowing a professional or volunteering. It doesn't have to be related to your field of study although this would be beneficial. It could be anything from 1 day to six weeks.

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)  There are a wide range of websites offering free MOOCs, including many Ivy League universities.

Completing a MOOC will allow students a small glimpse into what further study in their chosen area would look like - and could be a great starting point for the EPQ. Academic Reading  At interview, many universities will want to know that students have looked at their chosen area of study beyond the prescribed A Level curriculum. The long summer is always a good time to review texts and work by prominent figures in the chosen area of study. For example, for a student considering architecture - can they name the works of some famous architects and what inspired the designs of their work?

Expeditions, Personal Challenges and Charity Work  Show that you stand out from the rest. Undertake an activity that challenges you, makes you push yourself or allows you to hep others.

Personal Statement Draft  Students can start to think about their letter of application and the reasons why they want to study a particular university course. For students still unsure of the route they want to take, maybe spend time research different courses, universities and countries.

Finally, students should find time to read and to relax. Reading for pleasure will allow students to build their vocabulary and improve their English. Whilst taking some 'me time' to relax (whether it be a few days in bed, watching TV or playing games) will also allow students chance to recuperate before the demands of the new year re-commence.

A reminder that IGCSE and AS Level results will be available online on the following dates:  14th August: CIE AS Level Results  14th August: CIE IGCSE Results  16th August: Edexcel AS Level Results  23rd August: Edexcel IGCSE Results I look forward to welcoming our Year 12 students back to Raffles as the first Year 13 cohort in September and to meeting many of the Year 11 students and parents as they sign-up for Sixth Form following results day.

Should you be travelling this summer, I wish you a safe journey.

Leena Atkins Head of Sixth Form and Mathematics

Year 11 to 12 Transition Week

Secondary School Counselling News Year 9 Students Learning Life-Skills through Basketball Coach Fabrice, our Year 9 students, and I spoke about what it means to be in a team, to be respectful, to work together, and to persevere. Coach Fabrice spoke about his journey that led him to Basketball, through which he remained engaged in the game rather than joining neighborhood gangs. It was also through Basketball that Coach Fabrice learned the value of hard work, and the benefits he received educationally as well as materialistically. Here a few points that were discussed and taught through our practice session:

1. It’s Okay to Make Mistakes There will be times when players make mistakes, whether that be losing the basketball in a dribbling drill, turning the ball over during a game, or taking a bad shot. But we still remain one team, with the same ambitions and goals.

2. How to be a Leader Throughout a youth sports season all players should have the opportunity to be a leader on their team.

3. How to be a Follower Just as it’s important to learn how to lead others, it’s also incredibly important that players learn how to be led by others, how to play as one team. “If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them” – Lao Tzu. 4. Body Language Speaks Volumes Body language says a lot about how a person is feeling and what they’re thinking. Coach Fabrice certainly pushed our students, showing them how much tougher and resilient they actually are.

5. How to Control Emotions Competitive sports can be frustrating. There might be unfairness by the referees. Every player will experience games where the basketball just won’t go in the ring.

6. Setting and Achieving Goals I’m a big believer in goal-setting in all aspects of life. Everyone should do it. Here it was interesting to see how encouragement can go a long way.

7. Success Requires Hard Work Players need to learn that, to improve one’s game requires hard work. While talent definitely plays its role early on, sooner or later it’s the hardest workers that rise to the top and this is true in many different aspects in life.

Conclusion Without taking away from the competitiveness of the sport, it is also important to understand that the life lessons learned by players are much more important than the final score of a basketball game.

It is all about Vision Our Secondary Students as well as Parents created Vision Boards. We started off by doing a free building exercise which got us thinking about authenticity and uniqueness. We also looked at our own core values, parental values, as well as social values. And finally we discussed who should be in our Life-Club.

Then it was time to get creative and start thinking about our future goals by looking for pictures that represent our experiences, feelings, and possessions. No Vision Board is complete without affirmations, inspirational words, quotes, and thoughts. In the middle of each board, we wrote “I am …………………..” as well as our BHAG (big hairy audacious goal). A Vision Board is an ever changing project that helps us remain conscious of our goals, hopes, and dreams. Through this form of creativity our neurons get stimulated and subconsciously we become aware of what we need to do to get where we want to. Here some of the fantastic projects:

The Guest House This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice. Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whatever comes. Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. Jellaludin Rumi With these beautiful words I wish you a wonderful summer break, and I look forward to seeing you back in September 2018. Thank you for all of your kind emails, talks, and friendships throughout this academic year. It has and remains a true privilege to be part of the RIS family.

Prisca Toland Secondary School Counsellor