Metropole News
Bulletin #3 | GEMS Metropole School, Motor City
From the Principal's Desk ...
On behalf of the staff here at GEMS Metropole, I would like to wish you and your families a safe, happy winter vacation period.
Over our lengthy Term One, we here at MTS have continued to work on our previous 'Post Action Inspection Plan' through the development of the 8 points in our Parents Summary Statement, a short video of which is embedded in this newsletter and the understanding of each and every child's learning journey.
Whilst we continue to monitor student behaviour and well-being we also continue to promote tolerance with a student body of nearly 130 nationalities through the awareness of UAE expectations and the understanding of all cultural differences.
Upcoming KHDA Visit
As part of this visit, Staff, Students and Parents are asked to complete a general survey to assist with the overall review. May I take this opportunity to welcome you all to take the survey. Parents, please go to https://www.khda.gov.ae/Parents
Ready to go ...
Nikita bagged gold medals for all her events - 100m, 200m & 400m and also won the Individual Champions Award for Seniors Category. She broke the meet records for 100m and 200m in her category:
100m - 13.17s (previous meet record 13.49s set in 2015)
200m - 27.75s (previous meet record 28.59s set in 2008)
After School Activities Sign-Up
Booking is open from Thursday, 21st Dec. 2017 to Tuesday, 2nd Jan, 2018 using our chq ASA booking system.
Visit mychq.net/mts to sign-in.
Term 2 ASA's begin on Sun, 14th January, 2018 from 2:45pm to 3:45pm.
In the interest of fairness, the approval system previously operated on a first come, first served basis. Going forward, the system will now be completely randomised by the system. After the booking window closes, the system will make the allocations. Parents will be notified of their child's allocation on Thurs, 4th January via the email address on record at the school.
GEMS Metropole School is offering 100 Free ASA's across a wide variety of interests from Year 1 to Year 11.
Should you have queries or concerns about the ASA's, please email: asa_mts@gemsedu.com
GEMS Rewards
GEMS Education is delighted to introduce GEMS Rewards, an exclusive programme for our community of students, parents & staff. GEMS families can now explore cashback opportunities and enjoy incredible savings and discounts across various experiences.
If you have not yet installed GEMS Rewards app, please do and register using your log in credentials sent to your e-mail address registered at the school. Please e-mail d.morsi_mts@gemsedu.com if you cannot find your log in credentials or visit www.gemsrewards.com and the Live Chat will help you from there.
New to Metropole?
You can find the approved and recommended models and configurations at the jtrs e-store. jtrs is our preferred school partner to purchase and supply Apple equipment. Visit jtrs.ae, click the 'Sign up' link at top to register if you haven't already. Just need a GEMS Metropole branded durable and protective iPad cover? Purchase one here.
Now available in the jtrs e-store are laptops for Secondary students!
Primary School iPad Programme Update
Teachers will be receiving a new iPad on the first day back to get Term 2 off to a great start.
UAE National Agenda here at MTS
GEMS Metropole School aspires of very high educational standards achievements. We have embraced the UAE National Agenda targets and in the process of ensuring Metropole students exceed set targets.
At the beginning of 2014, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the UAE National Agenda, which includes a set of educational development in the UAE. The educational targets cover a wide range of areas affecting the quality of education and student achievement across the different phases. Two of the major targets are concerned with the UAE ranking in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and in TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). The UAE will be among the 20 highest performing countries in PISA in 2021 and will be among the 15 highest performing countries in TIMSS in 2021.
TIMSS (Trends International Mathematics and Science Study) is an International benchmarking Test conducted by the KHDA is held every 4 years in Science and Mathematics for Years 5 and 9. TIMSS was held in February 2015 and next TIMSS will be held in 2019.
PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) International Benchmarking Test conducted by the KHDA is held every 3 years in Science, Mathematics and Reading for 15 years old students. PISA was held in May 2015. Next PISA will be held in 2018.
H. H. Shiekh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched UAE National Agenda in 2014, which includes a set of educational development goals for the UAE. The educational targets cover a wide range of areas affecting the quality of education and student achievement across the different phases. Two of the major targets are concerned with the UAE ranking in TIMSS and PISA.
TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), for the past 20 years has measured trends in Mathematics and Science achievement at years 5 and 9. It has been conducted on a regular 4-year cycle. PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. The UAE aims to be among the 20 highest performing countries in PISA and among the 15 highest performing countries in TIMSS.
Parent Council Update
As we come top the end of our first term, the GEMS Metropole Parent Council would like to look back at all the events completed since the beginning of this academic year.
We have expanded our Parent Council and welcomed several new members. We are now working on building new relationships and expanding existing ones. More parents are welcome to apply if you are interested in being a part of our team.
This term, the Indian mums decorated the Main Reception for the celebration of Diwali to give a very festive look. Indian sweets were also distributed on the day. This was followed by the Pink Day decorations which were done in support of the Breast Cancer Awareness Week. As part of this Awareness, Parent Council Members organised talks for the students in the KS 3 and KS 4 assemblies by brave and positive Cancer Survivors. Informative seminars were also conducted by the Medcare Hospital for our Year 11 students and all staff members. The Pink Crafter Ladies supported by Parent Council Members were able to raise almost AED 4000 for their charity.
Prophets (PBUH) birthday was acknowledged by distributing dates and Arabic coffee to the school community.
We also had excellent support from parents for the used jacket sale. We hope to have more such sales in the coming months with your continued encouragement and support.
We would love to hear from our parents about any new ideas and feedback you would like to share with us. We hope to continue to build our school community and our students’ wellbeing with your ongoing support in the second term as well. We have some exciting plans for the Spring fair and International day!
Please feel free to contact us on parent.council_mts@gemsedu.com
October 'Teacher of the Month' - Elisa Cook
This is what our teachers say ...
- Elisa is a wonderful teacher who has a great knowledge of the curriculum. Her creative and innovative ways of teaching are inspiring.
- She happily shares all her resources and is constantly offering help to others. Elisa is a great asset to the FS department.
- She is always very positive, helpful and approachable.
- Elisa is an amazing teacher. She is constantly sharing ideas with the FS department.
- She has a huge awareness of what is needed in an FS classroom and has even offered to sit down and talk to specialist teachers about how they can make their classes more FS friendly.
November 'Teacher of the Month' - Madeleine Fellows
This is what our teachers say ...
- She gives us informative PD's that have changed our perspective on how we should teach and cater for children's needs.
- She is the most excited teacher I've ever met! Always excited to teach and learn!
- Everyone in our department adores her!
- She finds innovative and creative solutions for everybody.
- Constantly being bubbly and enthusiastic no matter what the hour.
- She goes above and beyond to make teachers feel welcome.
- She is always there for support.
December 'Teacher of the Month' - Saiqah Amin
- She is what I aspire to be as a teacher - the epitome of an outstanding Head of Department. I would pay to be part of her department and would definitely be lost without her.
- Saiqah looks after her team even when she is feeling at her lowest ebb. She will quite rightly tell you if you need ‘a clip round the ear’ but she does it while being so supportive, caring, kind and nurturing.
- She takes on more than just her work load in the most amazingly efficient way. She's a manager, secretary, psychologist and friend. She's smart, brilliant and has inner strength.
GEMS Metropole School
Website: https://goo.gl/R9ZhSU
Location: https://goo.gl/cqiQpR
Phone: +971 4 550 7200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gemsmetropoleschooldubai/
Twitter: @metropole_gems