Secondary Newsletter
All the latest news from 12th October - 31st October, 2017
Principal’s note
I am pleased to be able to share with you that we have taken full occupation of our new secondary school boys building. Our new facilities are extensive and impressive. In particular, I would like to recognise the work of Mahmoud Naffa, our Manager of Facilities, Maintenance and Projects. Under his lead, the project has been delivered to us successfully and we are grateful for his expertise and hard work.
Please mark Thursday 26 October in your calendars. On this day, we will be holding the first of our Learning Dialogues. All students are to attend with their parents as the learning dialogues will be “student led”. This means that your child is involved and engaged in the process of their learning. Students should be able to inform their parents about how they’re doing, what their goals are going forward and what kind of learners they are. Further announcements will be made shortly via D6 Communicator.
I hope that you enjoy this edition of our newsletter.
Peter Ross
Principal
Secondary Parent's Coffee Morning
Football Competitions
The U10 team had a 2-1 loss to Sharjah English School and a 0-0 draw with Australian International School.
The U12 team had a high scoring win over Sharjah English School 6-4, and a 4-0 loss to Australian International School.
The U14 team had much better numbers this week and won 4-1 against Victoria International School of Sharjah and a forfeit win over Wellington International School. Well done boys!
The U16 team continued to dominate the competition with a 3-0 win over Victoria International School of Sharjah, 3-0 win over Wellington International School and 3-0 win over Australian International School.
Netball Practice
We are very proud of our netball team for the effort they put in during their practice sessions in preparation for the competitions. This week, we had just over 20 girls practicing netball for the 2nd encounter of the EISSA Netball League. Training for all ages are taking place on Tuesdays after school. We would like to wish our team all the best of luck in their upcoming game.
Sharjah Inter-Gulf Netball Trials
Last year a Sharjah Netball Team was set up and trials were held at Ajman Academy. The team was very successful in the Inter Gulf Competition that took place in Dubai last year. This season it is taking place in March in Fujariah.
Teams will be selected for U12, U14, U16 ages. Girls must fall into these categories to play as visa will be needed. Trials are being held for all students in the Northern Emirates who can qualify for the team. The dates and times for these trials can be found in the picture below.
There will be a cost involved for those successful players - which will cover training, kit and the tournament.
Student Leadership Program
After a positively productive 2016-2017 academic year filled with projects and powerful ideas, it is time for our Secondary School Student Leaders to take the next step.
As a school we understand the importance of developing student leadership and so we strive to provide opportunities through different type of events to empower our student leaders.
To this end, on the 30th and 31st of October 2017, Ajman Academy will be welcoming student leaders from international schools on the catchment area to join our own AJAC group of student leaders for an intensive and specific 2-day Leadership Training Event.
Our student leaders have been selected and identified and within these leaders, sub groups have been created for Prefects, Sports Captains, Student Council and Head Boy/Girl (for Grade 12).
We would like to congratulate all our student leaders and wish them all the best in the upcoming training workshop.
Eco-Council Members
We are really excited to announce that our eco-council students have been selected for both primary and secondary. Students across from Grade 1 through to Grade 12 will be working to make Ajman Academy a green flag school and create awareness to all parents, fellow students and staff on how we can be environmental friendly and what actions we can take. Please join us in congratulating our Eco-Council members and we look forward to seeing their terrific work throughout the year.
Read Theory - What is Read Theory?
Read Theory is a powerful educational tool that offers online reading activities for all ages and ability levels. The custom web application adapts to students’ individual ability levels and presents them with thousands of skill building exercises that suit their needs.
BOOSTING YOU CHILD'S PROGRESS IN EVERY SUBJECT
To succeed in all the subjects, students need to be able to read fluently in English, understanding both the individual words and the meaning of the text they read.
Reading improves students’ vocabulary, which helps them to explain ideas more accurately and clearly in every subject.
The English Department aims to help all students make significant progress in reading this year, so we are registering students in grades 6 to 11 to use ReadTheory.
Your child has been given a Username and password for the ReadTheory website. Please encourage your child to complete the exercises.
Your child should aim to answer the questions as accurately as possible; if they do not understand key words, they may use dictionaries (paper or online), translation dictionaries (paper or online), or, the read aloud facility on iPads and Macs (ctrl spacebar) to help them.
Ideally your child will complete one exercise a day, scoring 80% + on the questions.
You and your child can see how they are doing by clicking on the progress icon and looking at the graphs tracking their progress.
We look forward to you supporting your child’s reading development through regular use of this programme.
Elise Marlow
Subject Leader, English
Attendance and student absences
Educating your child is an important job and to do it well, we need your support. Attending and arriving on time to school means that your child(ren) arrive each day ready to learn in in their classrooms. Regular attendance sets up a pattern for your child's entire schooling. Please assist us in this process by scheduling routine doctor and dentist appointments for after school or over school holidays.
If you need to make arrangements for early release of your child before 2:40 PM, please provide a note to your child’s home room tutor with prior written permission. This will ensure that you are not inconvenienced and kept waiting whilst your child is released from their classroom.
If your secondary school child is to be absent from school please do email g.denvir@ajmanacademy.com. If the reason for absence is medical, please provide the school office with your child’s medical certificate.
Parent Support Group
Our parent partnerships are important. We have an active parent network and involvement in our parent support group assists with development of closer relationships with teachers and increases parent opportunities to share ideas.
There are some exciting projects being planned for this year - do see Miss Yasmeen Ali if you are interested in becoming involved or email directly: y.ali@ajmanacademy.com.