Secondary Newsletter
Giving you a snapshot of our monthly news
Secondary Principal Message
Dear parents and AJAC community,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the first AJAC Newsletter of 2019. Our Newsletters will now be sent out at the end of each month as we look back on some of the things we have enjoyed during that time.
As the newly appointed Secondary School Principal, I am now into my 4thweek here at AJAC. It’s been a busy time, and I continue to enjoy enormously this new role. For me, the most enjoyable aspect will always be engaging with the students, and I have now been into nearly all the classrooms of our Secondary teaching staff to observe the learning and teaching which is taking place in all subjects. The school is blessed with high-quality teaching staff, and your sons and daughters bring a keen willingness to do well in their studies.
It has been a pleasure to meet so many of you over this past month, and I thank those parents who attended the “Meet and Greet” sessions held in Week 2. The end of this Week 4 will be another opportunity for me to be introduced to many of you at our Parents-Teachers-Students day.
As well as presenting to parents, I made it a priority in Week 1 to speak both to students and teachers, and some of the slides that I used feature visually with this article. Amongst the key messages was that change is inevitable as a new Principal comes into post and that I see it as my responsibility to you, as parents, to “raise the bar” and to increase expectation levels across the Secondary School. This process has already begun and will continue.
A further, equally important point that I wished to get across was my belief that what Ajman Academy needs most of all at this current time is stability and direction. I felt privileged and humbled to have selected by the School Board and Director to take on the leadership of the Secondary School, and I do so with a commitment to staying in post for the longer-term. There is so much potential still to tap into here, and I am determined to take the school on an improvement journey that will prove to be professionally exciting for our teachers, pleasing to the school’s parents and, perhaps most notably of all, educationally beneficial to our students.
We have already put a strong focus on students wearing the correct uniform and arriving at school on time. Changes to the start of the day have helped ensure that our first lesson begins on time and the non-use of iPads at break and lunch times is already leading to greater social interaction and more students taking the relax outside in the fresh air. More changes will follow as we plan thoughtfully for the future, identifying key areas of school improvement and draw up our strategic management development plans.
This is a very exciting time for all involved with Ajman Academy. With many years of experience in various roles in education and 6+ here in the UAE, I know that there is so much more than we can do for your sons and daughters as we begin to tap into the huge potential of the school. Your on-going support is important to us and I look forward very much to working with you on what I know will be an enjoyable journey of school improvement here at AJAC over the coming years.
Do enjoy the rest of this Newsletter which offers just a small glimpse of life here at Ajman Academy every learning week. Your sons and daughters are a delight to work with and make us all very proud.
Colin Bibby
Secondary School Principal
Sports & Physical Education
Also, Mr Hayden is ensuring that all Grades are working towards a goal and hereunder you can see what each Grade is focusing on:
- In our MYP classes, the Unit of Inquiry is: Being an Olympian (athletics unit) and Fitness Components.
- Grade 9 students are focusing on ways of being fit and knowledgeable
- Grade 10 students: the boys are channelling their volleyball skills while the girls are gearing up on their athletics.
Under 12's
Under 14's
Under 16's
School production: “Robin Hood, Superman and Friends”
A cast of 20 is working hard in rehearsals on this year’s production, “Robin Hood, Superman and Friends”. The cast will perform, most likely in the last week of this term, a series of one-act plays.
All the plays are humorous, and cast members have been asked to play a number of different roles. This will add to their experience and given them additional challenges.
The rehearsals are run during ECA times after school on Sundays and Tuesdays and are beginning to take shape. We do have some "behind the scenes" pictures that were taken in the early stages of rehearsals.
Watch this space for more news as the students “grow into" their roles! Performance dates will be published in the next newsletter.
Mr Andrew, Ms Gillian and Mr Mohammad
Snaps of our Arabic Classes with Ms. Latifa in Arabic A & Ms. Mabrouka in Arabic B
تستمتع طالبات الصف السابع بتلقي بعض حصص اللغة العربية في الهواء الطلق، مستغلات جمال الجو الذي يذكي حماسهن ونشاطهن.
Individuals & Societies
The start of term 2 has seen much activity within the Individuals and Societies Department.
Students are currently studying the Global Context: Orientation in Space and Time. The Key Concept of change has been particularly significant to the students as they have been introduced to many positive changes to the Secondary School this term.
Grade 6 students are studying map work and are exploring different types of maps and how to navigate maps using the skills they have learnt including direction, scale, contour lines and grid references. We hope these skills will help them when they take part in the International Award in Grade 9.
Grade 7 have had an enjoyable four weeks learning about the great explorers in history and understanding why people explore today and in the picture collage below you can see the 7G1 & 7G2 identifying what helped European’s explore during their market place activity.
Grade 8 students are studying the great revolutions of the past and why they occurred. They are presently researching the Industrial Revolution and its importance in society today. Many of the students have been surprised at how many items that are still in use today were invented during the Industrial Revolution.
Robotics & A.I.
It was a very close competition, and all the students were very excited about supporting their classmates. Our very own secondary principal Mr Colin was caught up in action competing against our Grade 8 girls - who turned out to the be winners as well!
We would like to extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to Ms. Budoor Al Shamsi - Director General Office Manager - Ajman Digital Government and Ms. Joni Cholwich - Chief Operating Officer - Ajyal Talent for attending this event and for all the support they have extended throughout the initiation of this program at Ajman Academy.
Student Leadership Program
Mr Hamdani comes from a hospitality background with over 20 years of experience in hotels and is currently cluster general manager for Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman, Ramada Beach Hotel Ajman and the new Wyndham Garden Ajman Corniche.
The purpose of his visit to Ajman Academy was to share his knowledge and experiences in sustainability. Mr Hamdani is actively involved in various charitable and sustainable programs and has been selected as speaker in some of the environmental sustainability conferences, including Sustainable Development Congress, Ajman Green Economy Conference; GCC Ecotourism Conference, Hotelier Sustainability Summit, among others.
We sincerely thank Mr. Hamdani for his time with us.