Secondary Newsletter
Giving you a summary on our 2018/2019 Academic Year
Dear All,
It is hard to believe that I am now writing the last Secondary Newsletter of the school year. That said, in thriving schools, things are very busy and the weeks fly by; as such, I see the fact that the term 3 has past so very quickly as another sign that things continue to unfold positively in so many ways in the school.
Term 3 typically brings the end of year assessments and examinations. All students in the school have been a part of this, and I hope that, as you receive the reports of your sons and daughters, you can appreciate some of the progress - both academic and more holistic - that they have made during this past year. Particular best wishes are extended to our graduating Grade 12 students who have now completed their external examinations and await results which will determine their next steps. I have been so pleased with our Grade 12s: impressively dressed, conscientious in attendance to lessons and mature in their dealings with their teaching staff, they have been excellent role models to the younger students in the school. I hope that each of them receives the results that their individual commitment levels deserve and that they go on to meet their own ambitions out in the big, wide world.
The end of the school year also inevitably sees members of staff leaving. I will express my gratitude to each of them personally, but also take this opportunity to thank them publicly for their dedication to Ajman Academy during their time here and to wish them happiness as they follow pastures new.
Of course, the end of one school year quickly leads into the beginning of the next one, and plans continue apace for the school year 2019-20. The secondary school is fully staffed for September, and I look forward to welcoming an excellent group of newly appointed teachers who I know will commit wholeheartedly to the ongoing improvement journey in the secondary school that is already resulting in enhanced outcomes in many different areas.
My thanks also to all parents who have shown trust in the school through your re-enrolments. Numbers at this stage of the year are higher than ever before, and that is such a positive sign that encourages all associated with the school to maintain our vision to make Ajman Academy one of the very best schools in the Northern Emirates.
My final words of appreciation go to all of the students of the school, without whom none of the above would be relevant. I continue to be enormously impressed with the way your sons and daughters have responded to changes made, higher expectations introduced and challenges laid before them. Schools are underpinned by the attitude of its students and Ajman Academy is blessed with young people who make us all incredibly proud.
My best wishes for an enjoyable summer vacation of quality family time. See you all again for the start of the new school year on Sunday, 2nd September.
Colin Bibby
Secondary Principal
السادة أولياء الأمور،
أكاد لا أصدق أنني أكتب نشرة المدرسة الثانوية الإخبارية الأخيرة لهذا العام الدراسي. يقال أن الوقت يمر بسرعة في المدارس المزدهرة وها نحن نشهد نهاية الفصل الدراسي الثالث والذي مر بسرعة كبيرة مما يدل على أننا مستمرين بالارتقاء بالمدرسة من كافة النواحي.
شارك الطلبة في امتحانات نهاية العام خلال الفصل الثالث ويمكنكم أن تلحظوا التقدم الذي أحرزه طلبتنا عند استلامكم تقرير نهاية العام. أود أن أخص بالذكر طلبة الصف الثاني عشر الذين أقدم لهم أطيب التمنيات بالنجاح والتفوق بعد إنهائهم كافة الامتحانات الخارجية وبانتظار النتائج التي سوف تساهم في تحديد خطواتهم المستقبلية. سرني التعامل مع طلبة الصف الثاني عشر الذين التزموا بزيهم المدرسي وحضورهم الصفوف ونضجهم خلال التعامل مع أستاذتهم حيث كانوا قدوة ممتازة للطلبة الأصغر سناً في المدرسة، آملاً أن يتلقى كل منهم النتائج المطلوبة لتلبية طموحاتهم الخاصة في هذا العالم المليء بالتحديات.
تشهد نهاية السنة الدراسية أيضاً مغادرة بعض أعضاء الهيئة التدريسية، وأود هنا أن أعرب عن امتناني لكل واحد منهم شخصياً، كما أود أن أغتنم هذه الفرصة لأشكر لهم تفانيهم خلال فترة وجودهم في أكاديمية عجمان، وأتمنى لهم السعادة والنجاح في تحقيق أحلامهم.
نستمر بالتخطيط للسنة الدراسية القادمة ٢٠١٩-٢٠٢٠، حيث تقودنا نهاية هذا العام لبداية عام جديد. فقد قمنا بتعيين مجموعة من الأساتذة الأكفاء في المدرسة الثانوية والذين سيلتزمون بصدق في رحلة التطوير الجاري التي أدت إلى تعزيز النتائج في العديد من المجالات.
أتوجه بالشكر أيضاً إلى جميع أولياء الأمور الذين وضعوا ثقتهم في المدرسة من خلال إعادة تسجيل أبنائهم/ بناتهم. ومن الجدير بالذكر أنه تم تسجيل عدد أكبر من الطلبة مقارنة بذات الوقت من العام الماضي وهذا مؤشر إيجابي لتشجيع أعضاء المدرسة كافة للحفاظ على رؤيتنا وجعل أكاديمية عجمان واحدة من أفضل المدارس في الإمارات الشمالية.
أخيرا وليس آخراً، أخص بالشكر كافة طلبة المدرسة، الذين لولاهم لما استطعنا تحقيق هذا النجاح، وما زلت معجباً باستجابتهم وتكيفهم مع التغييرات التي تم إجراؤها وتجاوزهم كافة التحديات التي واجهوها، حيث يشكل الطلبة الداعم الرئيسي لأي مدرسة، وقد تباركنا في أكاديمية عجمان بمجموعة من الطلبة الذين يشكلون مصدر فخر كبير.
أطيب تمنياتي لقضاء عطلة صيفية ممتعة والاستمتاع بوقتكم مع العائلة. متطلعاً لرؤيتكم جميعاً مع بداية العام الدراسي القادم يوم الأحد٢ سبتمبر.
كولن بيبي
مدير المدرسة الثانوية
Grade 12 Graduation
On Thursday 27th June 2019, Ajman Academy celebrated the graduation ceremony of our Grade 12 students, our class of 2019! The ceremony was held at the luxurious beachfront hotel, The Fairmont Ajman.
Over 200 people gathered to celebrate the graduation and successes of the class of 2019. It was a moving moment for all the graduates, for their families and loved ones as well as for the teachers who have supported them throughout their academic life.
The ceremony included speeches from Mr Fiyaz, Ms Yasmeen and myself. Abdulaziz and Murtaza spoke about their school life experiences, while Anfal and Sultan showed their appreciation for the teachers. The students were presented with their graduation certificates, and at the end of the ceremony, with great pride, the graduates took part in the traditional tossing of their caps!
I want to thank everyone who attended and showed their support for this ceremony. A special thanks to; Ms Yasmeen for the organisation, Mr Colin and Mr Fiyaz, for their continued support and Mr Ahmed for his valuable help with IT.
Thanks again to everyone for making this a memorable and successful event!
Sincerely
Ms Shama
Grade 12 leader
Science News - Who Kidnapped Mr Fiyaz?!
During the penultimate week of the Summer Term, the Secondary Science department tasked the Grade 5 and 6 students with working together to find out.
The day was filled with students utilising their collaborative, critical thinking, and questioning skills to analysis the Forensic evidence gathered from the scene of the crime.
Techniques such as Chromatography, to analyze the pen that was used in the threatening note that our precious Director had on his person; Fingerprints to determine who touched Mr Fiyaz’s cup; they used the pH scale to decide whether or not it was an acid or alkali that was used to poison Mr Fiyaz and then Flame testing to know which substance passed from the perpetrator to the victim. Finally, armed with all these results, they created crime map posters to communicate their theories of who did the dastardly deed!
Did you guess it?
It was none other than our beloved Mr Colin! He protested his innocence, of course, but the evidence was too damning to deny. Time has since passed, and Mr Fiyaz has graciously forgiven Mr Colin for his lapse in judgement.
Thank you to the AJAC Science department and our newly recruited CSI agents, Grade 5 and Grade 6, for solving the case!
Sports and Physical Education
EISSA Volleyball
On the 11th and 12th of June, two teams from AJAC travelled to RAK Academy to play Volleyball.
The Under 14 team won convincingly, five sets to zero. They played as a team and showed the value of practice.
The Under 16 team had a more difficult challenge; however they rose to the occasion winning two sets to 1 after falling behind early. This team has been together for two years now, and have set a great example to the younger pupils.
Swimming - a note from our Head Swim Coach Mr Burak Bilgutay
During the 2018-19 Academic Year, our AJAC swim squad participated in 14 national and international competitions whereby we obtained 198 medals including 60 Gold, 55 Silver and 83 Bronze.
During the course of those events, our swimmers also broke 3 Championship Records and won 6 Trophies and 1 Championship Cup.
Myself, coach Irakli & coach Vivian would like to thank all our parents and swimmers who put such a significant amount of hard work, effort and dedication to swimming this year, and as you can see from the timing of our swimmers in the photo below, all of this paid off!
Next year will be full of new challenges. Our swimmers will try to make their way up to the higher level competitions, and some will even try to break EISSA & BSME records or obtain High Point Trophies with lots of medals. All these goals will be possible via another set of continuous hard work and focus from Sep-19 to Jun-20.
And we will make it happen!
Staff Sports
On the 18th and 19th of June, some AJAC staff members played friendly competitions in Table Tennis and Badminton.
Mr Javier defeated Mr Diego in a very close Final for Table Tennis, and in Badminton, Mr Max, Mr Ahmed from accounts, Ms Fiona and Mr Sumesh from HR were the superstars!
A lot of fun all around and some secret talents that have been brought to light!
Individuals & Societies
As we approach the end of another busy academic year, it is pleasing to be able to look back and reflect on the progress and achievements of our students in the Individuals and Societies Department.
Students studying the MYP in Individuals and Societies have continued to grow and have shown a remarkable improvement in not only their knowledge and understanding but also in their approaches to their learning.
Our students this year have completed a month-long investigation in each grade of MYP, and their results were not only accurate but showed an improvement in their research skills as well as their referencing. I don’t think there is one student in Grade 6, 7 or 8, who is not aware of the importance of Academic Honesty and how to reference work. Highlights from this year included the masks made by Grade 6 student’s representing their History unit; the research into the Sustainable Development Goals in Grade 7 and the impressive models constructed by Grade 8 students to show the Earth’s layers as well as the movement of Tectonic Plates.
We look forward to even more exciting activities next year in MYP.
Students studying their IGCSE’s in Business Studies, Economics and Geography, have shown commitment and hard work.
The GR11 Economics students have had a productive few months, as they have completed the whole of The Market Systems, this academic year.
Next year will be a busy year, as there are three sections of the curriculum to study before the final external exams, in the summer.
In the Autumn term, we will begin with: The Business Economics, then move onto The Government and the Economy and finally the Global Economy. Well done to the Economics students, it has been a pleasure to have taught you this year.
Business Studies students have covered various topics of the specification throughout the year. Grade 9 students were busy studying types of Business Activity, Organisational structures and Entrepreneurs managing a business, Motivation, and Methods of Recruitment and Selection.
Grade 10 students have studied and understood the importance of the Finance, Marketing, and Operations Departments. They have also carried out some research on Brexit, linking it to external influences and their impact on business activity. We look forward to an even more fruitful and productive year, next year!
Grade 9 and 10 Geography students are in a positive position as they have already completed two-thirds of the syllabus. Students will complete the Fieldwork Studies in Term 1, and this gives us ample time to complete the last two units of Coastal Processes and Urban Studies before starting a rigorous revision programme, to ensure students can access all questions in the final examination. It is pleasing to see renewed interest in Geography as we welcomed two new students to the IGCSE class this year.
As a department, we look forward to welcoming our students back to what will be another busy and exciting year in Individuals and Societies. We wish all our students a restful holiday.
Food Technology
This month the Grade 7 and 8 students have participated in the Master Chef competition. The students were very creative with the food they produced and enjoyed making their products, which impressed the judges!
Well done to all students involved!
Apple Professional Development for our Teachers
Achieving Apple Distinguished School status is a journey that Ajman Academy has been undertaking throughout the academic year, and this has involved action planning with our Technology Vision.
To get started, we had a team of Apple Trainers who came in to deliver a whole school workshop called ‘The Elements of Learning’. The workshop was a great success as it taught staff how to turn a traditional lesson into planning a series of outstanding lessons with the use of iPads and Apple Apps. The rubric below illustrates each element of learning and how they are measured in the classroom.
The elements of learning rubric will continue to be used in the new academic year, for teachers and subject departments to plan, deliver, and self assess their technology transformed lessons.
The next stage of Professional Development will involve the Apple Trainers coming in again, to carry out coaching and mentoring in individual subject departments. Trainers will work with teachers to coach and guide the planning of lessons with the use of iPads, actively be involved in those lessons alongside the teacher, and then reflect together on how successful these lessons were.
We are very excited about this journey of technology integration into lessons to support the curriculum and content being taught and are looking forward to showcasing our outstanding technology-based lessons to our community and the team of Apple inspectors in June 2020.
Nicola Sachse
ADS Lead in Secondary
English: Student's Work
Grade 7 students have been writing a balanced argument on the topic:
Can the individual have an impact on the world?
In their argument, they had to present both sides of the argument in a formal and unbiased fashion without revealing their opinion until the conclusion of the debate. They then needed to deliver their case in front of a classroom of their peers, without relying on their notes. Souleymane was the only student who managed to accomplish this feat and do so with sophistication, demonstrating his ability to communicate his ideas with clarity and confidence.
A proud accomplishment for Souleymane!
Can the individual have an impact on the world? - by Souleymane Diallo
Everyone knows that thousands of individuals have made an attempt to have an impact on the world. Some people have, and some people have not. For years, we have been told by parents and teachers that we can have an impact on the world, but can an individual really have an impact on the world? This argument will explain the reasons why an individual can and cannot have an impact on the world.
It depends on the individual’s characteristics to be able to have an impact on the world and being passionate is one of them. Leonardo DiCaprio is very passionate about stopping climate change and in his Oscar speech, he managed to get 34 million people aware of climate change. It raised more awareness than Earth Day.
Secondly, the individual needs to have a good reputation to be able to gain the world’s attention. If you are known for having a criminal record, having the slightest impact on the world is nearly impossible to accomplish. If you want to have an impact on the world, you need to be known for the good you have done, not for a criminal record. If you have a good reputation, people will side with you. To support my evidence, Psychologist Stanton E. Samenow Ph.d quotes, "If you take my crime away, you take my world away."
The third characteristic an individual needs to have to be capable on having an impact is good leadership. Being able to lead is crucial in having an impact. The individual needs to be able to tell people what to do and how to do it.
Sportsmanship is an important part in leadership. We need to learn to accept people’s mistakes and correct them kindly. As an example, Martin Luthor King Jr lived in the Anglo-Saxon times, where most black people were slaves and earned barely any respect. He stood up and made his speech, ‘I Have a Dream’. This speech ended all of slavery in the United States of America.
Although these factors show that there is a reasonable chance an individual can change the world, there are a few factors that contest and oppose the chances of the individual’s probability on impacting the world.
One of those factors are humans’ resistance to change. We are blinded of the bad we are doing or contributing to bad things by profit, greed, and selfishness. As an example, Climate change was made publicly know 30 years ago but we have barely done anything to stop it.
To have an impact on the world, what you have done or said has to be well know which requires support. The conflict to this is that the most popular things nowadays are nonsense and people waste their time and money on useless things rather than good things. Making a speech or a video popular without any support is impossible to accomplish. Boosters like sponsors or shout outs could be ways the individual can be supported. Like the quote says, ‘ We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.’
Some government and presidents will do anything to protect the citizens and the country, others only care about profit, income, and their own personal gains. To support my statement, The Algerian president, President Bouteflika, is using the money he gets from presidency only for him and his family. He is not even trying to increase the strength of the economy. These types of governments are corrupt governments. If the points and demands in the argument threaten their profit, they will immediately shut the whole idea of applying the demands to the country but like Leonardo DiCaprio said, ‘if enough people stand up and act it will force the politicians to side with the public.’
To conclude this argument, my opinion to this debate is, an individual cannot have an impact on the world simply because of our amounts of selfishness, greed, and insolence towards something very important.
Maths
Throughout this term, many of our students have been focused on their Examinations or internal end of year mock examinations while some of our Grade 11s were able to use some of their scheduled Maths time to focus on other subject areas after receiving several outstanding results in March.
Our Grade 6 – 8 have been following the MYP programme and have been investigating several Maths topics, including Shapes, Statistics, and Patterns. The Grade 8 students next term will be moving on to the IGCSE 1-9 Mathematics programme and will build on the knowledge they have gained so far. Many of our grade 11 students will make the big leap in the new Academic year and progress on to studying AS/A2 Mathematics.
While Summer break is a time to relax and refresh, there are several resources available that the Maths team would recommend to aid any additional study.
Khan Academy
Based on the Common Core Curriculum, but with so much content.
Students practice at their own pace, first filling in gaps in their understanding and then accelerating their learning.
DrFrost Maths
Provides an online learning platform, teaching resources, videos and a bank of exam questions all for free.
OnMaths
Their committed expert team regularly update the site with links to their own highly rated youtube videos. Clear and concise, their revision techniques are perfect for visual and auditory learners on a mission to learn fast.
Moving on to As Level
The jump between IGCSE and AS Level can be quite daunting. Prior preparation can make the transition a lot less stressful. One of the Key resources that have helped many students over the years is the Head Start CGP book.
Recommended Summer reading for those beginning the new course in September.
Throughout the year, students have been using Mathswatch for Homework, but alongside this, students have been working independently to improve their Mathematical knowledge. From Grade 6 – Grade 11, students have taken control of their learning and strived to improve, but more importantly, to gain a place on the MathsWatch Leaderboard!
Have a look below to see the 2018-2019 top 10 Ajman Academy Maths students.
Well Done to all!
Artificial Intelligence
Based on the UAE's 2020 vision to harness technology to serve human well-being, Ajman Academy in collaboration with Ajman Digital Government and Ajyal Talent ran the first Ajman Digital Champions Artificial Intelligence (AI) Programme in the UAE.
Ajman Academy has developed the curriculum to be one of the IB MYP subjects by making the program more accessible to middle school students (Grade 6 - Grade 8).
Throughout the year, students focused on topics related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), which provided a fun, engaging, and hands-on opportunity to explore and experience it for themselves.
The curriculum is based on one full academic year with students learning four different topics: Electronics, Robotics, Renewable Energy and Artificial Intelligence.
Each Unit contains activities and competitions that enable students to engage in discussions, view videos and even to create things such as smart homes, robots, windmills, machine learning models and participating in national Robotics competitions.
Asma Sobhi
ICT and A.I Leader
Moral Education
In term 3, the children in Grade 6 have learned about ‘Mental Health.’ They have understood the link between mental and physical health and how to maintain good mental health.
They have explored the nine basic mental health issues young people experience and how to identify if someone is at risk.
They learned that October 10th is the World Mental Health Day, and they designed attractive posters to mark the day.
They have also understood that mental health issues can affect anyone and that they should not be ashamed of it but to know how to access structured support that can be provided by formal counselling or by their peers.
They have shown their understanding through two assessments in term 3 and concluded it by a good game of Plickers in class.
Ajman Academy's 2018/2019 Yearbook
Please pass by and collect your copy if you have not received one yet!