FORWARD - Issue 98

General

Primary School News Primary

Secondary School News Secondary

Issue Issue25 59 98 26 October 2017 [2017-18] 27 August Thursday, 2015 [2015-2016] 10 October 2013 Issue

Events & ASA Events-CCA

School SchoolClinic Clinic

Sports Activities

E– Team

Raffles World Academy Advisory Council Update Established in 2011, the Advisory Council continues to play a significant role in the improvement of the school through its contribution to the school Board of Directors. The objectives of the Advisory Council are to drive school improvement, expectations of the UAE National Agenda, guide development, monitor progress and holds the leadership of the school accountable for the quality of education delivered. The Advisory Council is fully representative of the school community including: parents, professionals from the community, members of higher education, RWA senior leadership, Innoventures Education group management and a Board Director. Feedback from stakeholders, including parents, staff and students, contribute significantly towards school decision making.

The Advisory Council meets formally three to four times a year. The Advisory Council is also informed about various internal and external reports related to the school’s progress including reports by accreditation bodies, external consultants, summary of parent surveys, the school improvement plan, and academic results.

Parent inputs are also channeled through other forums including focus groups, formally scheduled parent gatherings and direct feedback.

Parent interaction with members of the Advisory Council

Raffles World Academy Advisory Council Update [contd.]

At the recent Advisory Council meeting on 17 October 2017, the following were covered: Review of the start of the academic year 2017-2018, and last year’s IGCSE and IB DP results.

Focus for 2017-2018: Move towards “Outstanding” with particular focus on achieving consistency; UAE National Priorities; Innovation as a driving force; Professional development; Enrich CCAs, Innovents and external competitions; GIVE – the gift of Innoventures Education and the philanthropic initiative which has teamed up with Dubai Cares to sponsor the construction of primary schools in Nepal, and other initiatives in the future. The student body has chosen education and clean water as the themes for GIVE funds.

Primary Innoventures Education contributes an equal amount of the funds raised by its schools.

Review of role and responsibility of Governance in driving forward the UAE National Agenda a) Towards realizing its target of ranking within the top 20 countries in PISA and top 15 countries in TIMSS before the deadline of 2021 b) Focus on the Emirati students c) Introduction of Moral Education d) Formalising further the teaching of UAE Social Studies e) Improving the provision of SEN f) Widening the scope of innovation by students g) Raising further the focus on reading literacy 

Enhancements to the inspection framework for 2017-2018, RWA’s self-evaluation and ratings



RWA’s philosophy and drive towards improvement in focusing on fundamentals, visible leadership, professional development of staff, accountability of middle leaders, sharp focus on achievement, student interventions and parent involvement - taking advantage of parental and community expertise to enrich the curriculum and co-curricular activity programme.

Following the meeting, there was a reception for parents to meet with members of the Advisory Council and discuss any aspect of the school and education of their children. All members of the Advisory Council have opportunities to visit classes and observe not only teaching and learning but also the various facilities provided to students for holistic learning.

A profile of the Advisory Council members is appended in the following section for your reference.

Raffles World Academy Advisory Council

RAFFLES WORLD ACADEMY ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS HAMDI OSMAN, Chair Hamdi is the Chairman of Solitaire IGT. He graduated in physical education from Helwan University, Cairo, in 1976. He then moved to the US to pursue his interest in professional soccer and in 1978 joined FedEx, an organization he served for 33 years. He is on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Freights and Logistics, the American Business Council and the Supply Chain & Logistics Group (SCLG) of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He was also a member of the International Advisory Council and the School of Business and Management, American University of Sharjah from 2002 to 2005, and on the Board of Trustees of the American School of Dubai between 1998 and 2006. He is a former CEO of FedEx for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa.

Primary

POONAM BHOJANI, Deputy Chair Poonam is an Economics Honours Graduate with an MBA from India's premier business school, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Prior to envisioning and cofounding Dubai International Academy, Poonam has had significant industry experience working on leading edge technology solutions with a range of organizations across India, Hong Kong, USA, Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands, Oman and UAE. She is the CEO of Innoventures Education and has served as the President of the Middle East IB Association of Schools and is the Secretary of the Dubai Private Schools Group.

DR. SEHAMUDDIN GALADARI

Hello Everyone,

Dr. Galadari graduated with Ph.D. from Imperial College, London. He is a visiting Professor at Harvard As the PYPSchool Coordinator and Deputy of Academics - Early Years I spend of my time in classrooms planning Medical and Senior ViceHead Provost of Research Outreach, and most Managing Director of the NYUAD with teachers, speaking to students and finding out what creative learning experiences students are having Research Institute. He joined the UAE University in 1991. He has served as Vice Provost for Researchand & wanting.

Originally this is myBoards third year working with the Primary Leadership Team at RWA,Emirates but sixth Graduate Studies from and Canada, on the Advisory of Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research, year with theAbu school.

In this I have seen grow Research in its commitment and enthusiasm towards teaching and Foundation, Dhabi andtime Chairman of theRWA Medical Grant Committee of Sheikh Hamdan Award learning.

If you have any inquiries into the teaching and learning at RWA I look forward to having a chat. for Medical Sciences. He has been a visiting Professor at Imperial College, University of Glasgow,

Duke University Medical Centre, Medical University of South Carolina and POSTECH in South Korea.

Sincerely, Nick Gastaldi Deputy Head of Academics - Early Years

ASHISH DAVE Ashish Dave is a Partner and Group Chief Financial Officer at The Abraaj Group. Prior to joining Abraaj, he was a Partner at KPMG and head of Deal Advisory in the UAE and Oman, and a member of its Executive Committee. He worked with KPMG in the UK, Africa, Middle East and India with clients in banking, insurance, transport and logistics, retail and fund management. For 5 years, since 2008, Ashish was a Partner and Group CFO at The Abraaj Group, a private equity fund manager investing in global emerging markets.

Ashish has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales ethics committee and is currently a member of its Members Advisory Board.

RAFFLES WORLD ACADEMY ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS

ABDULLATIF ALMULLA Abdullatif AlMulla holds a Master's in Economic & Social Development, and Public Administration, from the University of Pittsburgh, besides a PG degree in Corporate Communication from the Duquesne University.

He is the Group CEO of RMB Group and Ramadi Investment Group. Prior to that he has served at the Dubai Holding Group across its various business units, General Manager of Microsoft South Gulf and led the growth of Microsoft subsidiaries in the Gulf. During his 9-year stint, he played an instrumental role in driving Microsoft's growth in the region successfully. AlMulla serves as a Board member in many companies and is highly regarded as an industry leader for his consistent delivery of results and endorsement of creativity, strong values and ethics.

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ANIL BHOYRUL Anil works as Editorial Director of Arab Publishing Partners, part of the ITP Publishing Group – overseeing the content for a number of international celebrity and fashion titles. He has worked in journalism for the past 25 years. He was a business journalist with Daily Mirror in London before moving to Dubai eleven years ago.

A British citizen, he was born in Mauritius and later moved to the UK, where he graduated in Civil Engineering in 1988. Anil has three children with one child at Raffles World Academy.

MICHAEL STEPHEN, Secretary Michael Stephen is a Chartered Accountant and has a Diploma in Portfolio Management with over 20 years' experience in consulting and industry. He was part of the core team of Innoventures Education that set up Dubai International Academy in 2005. Michael started his career in an accounting firm focused on audit, tax, corporate law, and business and investment advisory services. He is a Fellow of the Association of International Accountants, UK and has been on the faculty of a business school in Dubai.

News from Grade 1 Team Grade 1 have been conducting science experiments to further their learning. They have been working through the scientific process, including making predictions, observing, analyzing results and making conclusions.

First, they identified fatty foods, relating this to how they can have a balanced diet. Then, they used vaseline and glitter to explore how germs spread. After that, they observed how different drinks affect our teeth and how we should ensure we brush our teeth regularly!

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We can’t wait to see what we can explore next!

Modern Foreign Language Update In MFL, students had a smooth and exciting start to the year. They were all keen either to learn a new language or to build on their previous knowledge.

Students learned how to introduce themselves through a variety of activities and instructional methods such as: songs, stories, media, structured games, puppets etc. which motivated and stimulated their abilities.

Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that empowers students to independently document what they are learning at school and share it with their teachers, parents, classmates, and even the world.

The most important feature of Seesaw is that it can easily capture student learning in Primary any form such as photos, videos, drawings, text notes, and links to show what students know. RWA students from KG1 to Grade 5 can access, capture and upload their work independently.

When students add to their Seesaw journal, content is uploaded, organized by student, and immediately accessible to teachers from any device.

It makes it easy for students and teachers to review progress over time and demonstrate growth. This also enables browsing work from the entire class, or for a single student. Optionally, teachers use folders to organize work by subject area or project. Seesaw portfolios are a great asset at parent teacher conferences or even student-led conferences.

At RWA, Seesaw is used to capture the learning process, not just the end result. Students use Seesaw's built-in audio recording, drawing and caption tools to reflect on what they've learned or explain how they got their answer. This gives students an authentic audience of their peers, parents and even other classrooms around the globe, encouraging better work and real feedback.

Teachers control who can view what student content, and can customize which feedback options are available in their class.

Seesaw includes parents in the learning process by inviting them to view updates to their child’s Seesaw journal. Seesaw’s immediate, visual updates actually get seen by parents and provide encouragement for students. Teachers at RWA approve all new additions and comments before anything is shared with parents.

News from the Deputy Head-Lower Primary & PYP Coordinator What does homework look like in RWA Primary?

At Raffles World Academy, we believe in a holistic approach to homework. This means that although homework is sent each week, it is not to take over student’s lives outside of school. Students need to spend time with their families, participating in different clubs and group and having some time relaxing. To find a balance there are mandatory and encouraged work for students. All of this is flexible to fit the needs of students. However, the one part of homework that we are most passionate about is reading every day. If families find that the homework is too demanding, the rest of the sections can be discussed with teachers. Please ensure this happens before tensions are created. Keeping with our holistic approach, families wanting more homework needs to be discussed. The RWA belief is that the homework is more than enough for one week in keeping that balance of student living. Please remember that homework should not be a battle. It instead can be a chance to share in the learning of students with their families.

Cheers,

Primary

Nick Gastaldi PYP Coordinator RWA PS

News in Grade 2 It was a fantastic end to our unit in Grade 2, when we put on our Interactive Museum.

We had been learning about people who have made a difference in the world. We researched them, put a presentation together about them, and then dressed up as our person to share our learning with our parents. We are looking forward to starting our new unit about signs, symbols and communication.

News from Arabic A Department Arabic A students from KG2-Gr5 are enjoying their learning journey in Arabic, they are learning through lessons which connect to their real life, and they have also started to do their spelling last week. They will now begin to explore how to write their articles and paragraphs.

All of them celebrated the peace day in different ways.

They are building strong relationships with each other as we reach the end of Unit 1, and they feel more confident to express themselves in Arabic.

News from Grade 3 It is an extremely busy time in Grade 3. Students have finished their ‘sorting out’ and are moving onto ‘going further’ in their UOI studies. Our grade 3 students have been identifying the difference between rights and responsibilities as well as identifying people who have rights and who do not have rights. In addition, our students have been recognizing conflict during game time and are identifying different conflict management strategies to solve these conflicts.

In maths, we have been working on Roman numerals and they have been showing amazing commitment to their learning. The students have created their own Snakes and Ladders game, using roman numerals.

Primary

Next week, we are scheduled to go our first field trip of the academic year.

We will be visiting the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding where this trip ties in with our central idea of learning and understanding the perspectives of others.

RAZ Kids This year we have been very lucky with the introduction of RAZ kids in RWA. RAZ kids is a fantastic resource which allows teachers to assess the reading and comprehension levels of their students. From there, teachers can allocate all types of levelled books, such as fiction, non-fiction, biographies, journals etc. We also have access to Science A-Z through this wonderful resource, meaning all sorts of scientific readings can also be accessed- this is great for teaching and learning about science units!

Children in Grades 3-5 should by now, all have the kids A-Z app.

This allows them to access the work allocated by their teacher, as well as work through reading books at their assigned level at their own pace.

Connecting Science to Everyday Life Connecting science to students’ everyday life experiences is an important theme in science education discourse.

‘Everyday life’ is brought into the classroom and made into school tasks within different types of activities; enculturation into science, education of scientifically literate citizens and making science interesting. ( Andrée M. (2005) Ways of Using ‘Everyday Life’ in the Science Classroom. In: Boersma K., Goedhart M., de Jong O., Eijkelhof H. (eds) Research and the Quality of Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht)

The Junior Scientist Club The students have been exploring everyday products like glue, shaving foam, hand wash and detergent to make slime.

Primary

They have also been looking at how basic circuits work.

Everyday life in science classrooms as embedded in science classroom practice The Grade 4’s have been researching the aspects of the human body and doing experiments to explore these phenomena. They looked at the digestive system and how it works. Making connections to our everyday activity of eating.

The KG 2’s have been looking into lifecycles and how they are connected to everyday life

The Grade 1’s have been looking into how energy and nutrition impact our lifestyles and how this affects growth and biology.

RWA went pink on 12th October 2017 In honour of breast cancer awareness day, RWA went pink on 12th October 2017. A team of very organised CAS students volunteered and came together to make pink ribbons for everyone to wear that day as an international symbol of breast cancer awareness. They also organised a bake sale with pink themed baked goods to sell during lunchtime to raise money for the Innoventures charity GIVE. The atmosphere around school was fantastic, as we came together as a school community to honour this day in true RWA spirit. We also had a special guest appearance from our secondary school band who performed a number of songs at lunchtime, also dressed in pink to honour the day.

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Swimming in KG Swimming in KG

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Our swimming unit in KG has been extremely successful with all of our students being placed into their ability animal groups. We have three bands for KG2 which are Shark, Dolphin and Jellyfish and only two for KG1 being Sharks and Jellyfish.

The students in KG2 have demonstrated their water confidence as well as really progressing with their flutter kick and body positioning in the water. It is evident from all our classes that the students love the water and feel safe and happy whilst playing and learning.

Sports Education in grade 3, 4, 5 Grade 3, 4 and 5 have been busy exploring the different sports from all over the world. In particular they have been testing their golfing, basketball, football, rugby and even badminton skills. We have some extremely talented students, with a significant amount reaching the top 40% in Dubai according to external professionals that have come in to lessons to observe their abilities.

News from Grade 4 Team In the words of Benjamin Franklin- “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.�

Now that the year is well and truly under way, grade 4 students have started to take a real responsibility for their learning and solid friendships have been formed.

During literacy classes students are really enjoying using Kids Plus on their iPads and reading interactive books on how human body systems work. This research tool enables them to inquire into areas of their Primary own interest, and compose their own explanation texts on different body systems. Students are also making great connections to their science learning through their literacy activities. Their learning is being stretched by understanding different types of health and how medicines can impact our body; they really are becoming experts!

In math, students have spent a lot of time learning how to answer reasoning questions and explaining how numbers work. They have also been stretching their thinking solving addition and subtraction problems with up to 7 digits!

Thank you to all the grade 4 students that contributed to the box appeal! What an empathetic and caring bunch they are!

Secondary School Swim Squad A massive congratulations to the secondary school swim squad for all their amazing efforts at the first gala of the year, especially dedicating their time to compete on a non-school day. We went to DESC to contend against four other schools in what turned out to be a very competitive afternoon.

We took part in a whopping 65 events including individual races, relays and the squadron where 16 members of our team compete in a frantic, quick fire relay – a site to definitely see!

It was fantastic to see the amazing team spirit demonstrated throughout the afternoon, with swimmers constantly cheering on their fellow teammates. Our efforts were rewarded with first place finishes in the Under 14 Girls and Under 14 Boys - 25 Metre Freestyle Relay. Yet, many of the other races were extremely close with split second times determining positions.

We look forward to the upcoming galas.

Parents Association [PARWA] PARWA were excited to support the First Chinese proficiency contest in the UAE taking place at RWA .

One of our students Salma Yousuf 11b actually won a place in the final !!

PARWA had their first bake sale of the year .. thank you for making it a great success and all funds raised will go straight back into RWA projects and activities.

Primary

Upcoming Dates  11th October PARWA general meeting in Al Baraha 8am onwards  16th October Bake sale to raise money for art event .

PARWA had their first bake sale of the year .. thank you for making it a great success and all funds raised will go straight back into RWA projects and activities.

Line Prefects Grades 1-5 - Signing of agreements It was our great pleasure to host the Line Prefects in the administration block of the school, to discuss and sign their Line Prefect Agreements.

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Dr. Tabassum and Mrs. Maccallum enjoyed the discussions had with the students about the importance of being a good leader and role model for their peers.

We are very proud of these students, who have shown leadership skills, as well as great self-management skills.

270 Boxes for the Box Appeal at Raffles World Academy!

In RWA we believe in instilling social responsibility in our students so they can grow up to make a difference in the world.

This year, RWA community and students came together again for a very good cause: The Box Appeal by Radisson.

Our students throughout the school have been excitedly collecting the items and filling the boxes to be given to low income laborers who struggle to afford basic hygiene items.

We have filled 270 boxes this year hoping to put 270 smiles on laborers’ faces. Way to go Stallions!

You have made a difference in your community once again.

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News from Grade 3 It has been an eventful time in grade 3. We have just finished our first unit of inquiry. Last week, our grade 3 students were fortunate enough to go on their field trip to the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding to learn all about the history of the UAE and the perspectives of people who lived in Dubai many years ago.

Our students’ first visit was to the coral house where they were greeted warmly by our hosts. Next, grade 3 students learned about the tradition dress of the Emirati people.

It has been an eventful time in grade 3. We have just finished our first unit of inquiry. Last week, our grade 3 students were Primary fortunate enough to go on their field trip to the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding to learn all about the history of the UAE and the perspectives of people who lived in Dubai many years ago.

Our students’ first visit was to the coral house where they were greeted warmly by our hosts. Next, grade 3 students learned about the tradition dress of the Emirati people.

RWA Beats As part of our CCA program at RWA, we have established the RWA primary band ‘RWA BEATS’.

Many researchers and studies have proved that playing a musical instrument relieves stress, improves social skills, builds confidence, teaches patience, fosters creativity, and improves memory, and most of all it’s FUN!

Our band has 17 talented musicians from grades three, four and five playing a variety of instruments including: piano, cello, violin, guitar, drums and percussions.

RWA BEATS are rehearsing every Tuesday and we are already looking forward to their first performance!