News from our Secondary Principal, Craig Randall
Dear Parents,
I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday. I have been told that Abu dhabi experienced similar weather to that of my hometown, Seattle, some actual RAIN!. Wow! In case you are worried about me missing the rain, no worries, we had plenty.
School has gotten off to an excellent start after the holiday, the students are calm and focused. Relaxation is good for the student's souls I guess.
We are down to the last three weeks of semester one so I encourage you to do everything you can to support your children in maintaining focus to ensure a solid grade or to bring grades up a little bit. In support of this, this week we have begun our after school student success program. All students with a D+ or lower in any of their core classes are spending an hour a week with their teachers after school to get extra support. Experience tells us this makes a big difference. Between our work at school and your support at home we believe we will be helping our kids to reach closer to their potential.
With the student success after school program we will analyse Semester one grades and begin this again early in the Second Semester in a continued effort to help students improve performance.
In some personnel news, I am happy to tell you that our beloved science teacher, Ms. Aida, will be returning to us next week. Everyone, especially her students, are excited to have her returning to us. On some less fortunate personnel news, Ms. Serene has decided that her recovery will work best from her home country of Canada. So, unfortunately we won’t have her returning this year. Luckily Ms. Williams continues to do an excellent job teaching our 6th grade math students. Lastly, Mr. Baciu, due to some personal family circumstances, will not be returning this year either. We are fortunate to have Mr. Gatlin doing an admirable job filling in with Social Studies and will announce permanent plans soon.
Craig Randall
Secondary Principal
I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday. I have been told that Abu dhabi experienced similar weather to that of my hometown, Seattle, some actual RAIN!. Wow! In case you are worried about me missing the rain, no worries, we had plenty.
School has gotten off to an excellent start after the holiday, the students are calm and focused. Relaxation is good for the student's souls I guess.
We are down to the last three weeks of semester one so I encourage you to do everything you can to support your children in maintaining focus to ensure a solid grade or to bring grades up a little bit. In support of this, this week we have begun our after school student success program. All students with a D+ or lower in any of their core classes are spending an hour a week with their teachers after school to get extra support. Experience tells us this makes a big difference. Between our work at school and your support at home we believe we will be helping our kids to reach closer to their potential.
With the student success after school program we will analyse Semester one grades and begin this again early in the Second Semester in a continued effort to help students improve performance.
In some personnel news, I am happy to tell you that our beloved science teacher, Ms. Aida, will be returning to us next week. Everyone, especially her students, are excited to have her returning to us. On some less fortunate personnel news, Ms. Serene has decided that her recovery will work best from her home country of Canada. So, unfortunately we won’t have her returning this year. Luckily Ms. Williams continues to do an excellent job teaching our 6th grade math students. Lastly, Mr. Baciu, due to some personal family circumstances, will not be returning this year either. We are fortunate to have Mr. Gatlin doing an admirable job filling in with Social Studies and will announce permanent plans soon.
Craig Randall
Secondary Principal
This week, students in grades 8, 9, & 10 worked on their high school four-year academic plan. A High School Four-Year Academic Plan is a set of personal education goals to help a student define their path to high school graduation and a future beyond high school. It is also a sequence of courses taken during high school that enable a student to earn a diploma. It is flexible and may change as a student’s goals change.
Each lesson focused on the nuts and bolts of high school and reviewed 1) the high school grading system, 2) what a credit is, 3) how a credit is earned, and 4) the number of credits required to graduate with an American high school diploma. Students also learned about and planned on the type of diploma option they would like to study: American high school diploma or the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma or the American high school diploma with some IB courses.
Students in grade 10 updated their plans from last year and focused more on IB course choices and how to put together an IB course plan according to university requirements, courses of study or majors, and how to select Standard Level and Higher Level courses.
Each student will receive an electronic copy of their plan and are encouraged to share it with their parents when they receive it.
Attention grade 11 and 10 who took the PSAT in October:
The results from the October SAT are finally available. Students should have received an email directly from the College Board on January 7, with information on how retrieve their scores online from the College Board website.
COLLEGES VISITING CAMPUS for Seniors & Juniors
JANUARY
January 26 @ 9am-9:45am — Global Study UK University Fair.
GRADE LEVEL INFO
SENIOR Info (grade 12)
1) Follow up on university applications that were already submitted to ensure all documents have been received and processed.
2) IB Mock Semester exams will start on January 20.
JUNIOR Info (grade 11)
The spring semester in college and university admission counseling is all about you. Look out for more information about College Info meetings for students and parents.
SOPHOMORE Info (grade 10)
- Students who registered for the PSAT 10
Key Points of PSAT 10
Who: grade 10
When & Where: Monday, February 22, 7:45am – 12:00pm; in the Auditorium
2) Academic Plans and discussions on course requests and high school diploma pathways: American diploma, International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, American diploma with IB courses; have occurred. Course Selection and counseling on course choices and diploma pathways will take place over the next 2 weeks.
FRESHMAN Info (grade 9)
Academic Plans and discussions on course requests and high school diploma pathways: American diploma, International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, American diploma with IB courses; have occurred. Course Selection and counseling on course choices and diploma pathways will take place over the
From our IB Diploma Coordinator, Patrick lyons
On Tuesday evening, I met with and presented to many of our GAA families regarding how best to support students in selecting or in completing the IB Diploma programme. There were many interesting points made and questions asked, prompting me to think about what information might be of use to families thinking about the IB Diploma for their Grade 10 students.
The presentation I gave is available through this link and in order to find out more about individual subject courses within the IB, I would advise parents to navigate to this page of the IB website. Once there, you will see dropdown menus that provide a wealth of information regarding University recognition, testimonials etc. However, the ‘Diploma Programme subject briefs’ menu has a library of short descriptions of each course offered worldwide.
As the Grade 10s begin looking seriously at their options in the next few weeks, I will also provide information on exactly how to choose a valid IB Diploma course.
At the other end of the spectrum, our Grade 12s will begin their mock exams next week and will get a taste of exactly what the real thing will look like in May – all the way down to the replica IB writing paper and cover sheets. This is vital preparation not only for the students but for GAA as a school as we prepare to run our first ever IB Diploma exam session in May. I have attached the timetable that has been shared with the students.
I wish them all the luck that their hard work and preparation deserve.
So we have hit the ground running in this first week and will keep building the opportunity and excitement throughout 2016.
Regards,
Paddy Lyons
The presentation I gave is available through this link and in order to find out more about individual subject courses within the IB, I would advise parents to navigate to this page of the IB website. Once there, you will see dropdown menus that provide a wealth of information regarding University recognition, testimonials etc. However, the ‘Diploma Programme subject briefs’ menu has a library of short descriptions of each course offered worldwide.
As the Grade 10s begin looking seriously at their options in the next few weeks, I will also provide information on exactly how to choose a valid IB Diploma course.
At the other end of the spectrum, our Grade 12s will begin their mock exams next week and will get a taste of exactly what the real thing will look like in May – all the way down to the replica IB writing paper and cover sheets. This is vital preparation not only for the students but for GAA as a school as we prepare to run our first ever IB Diploma exam session in May. I have attached the timetable that has been shared with the students.
I wish them all the luck that their hard work and preparation deserve.
So we have hit the ground running in this first week and will keep building the opportunity and excitement throughout 2016.
Regards,
Paddy Lyons
mock_exam_schedule_2016_-_schedule__1_.pdf | |
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Here is our Community and Secondary School Calendar - Scroll through the months to see what's planned for this year at GAA
Please make sure you check this calendar regularly for updates and new events.