News from our Secondary Principal, Katherine Banner
Student Spotlight
Last week I talked about our Campaign of Kindness Week and mentioned a wonderful example of kindness initiated by grade 7 student, Habiba Bibars. I was so impressed with Habiba’s project that I wanted to know more about her thinking behind the project. She talked about empowering others, helping to pave the way for those coming behind her and giving credit to those who helped her with her presentation--all excellent leadership qualities. I left our time together feeling uplifted by this thoughtful and kind young leader and all that she brings to GAA Thank you Habiba!
Last week I talked about our Campaign of Kindness Week and mentioned a wonderful example of kindness initiated by grade 7 student, Habiba Bibars. I was so impressed with Habiba’s project that I wanted to know more about her thinking behind the project. She talked about empowering others, helping to pave the way for those coming behind her and giving credit to those who helped her with her presentation--all excellent leadership qualities. I left our time together feeling uplifted by this thoughtful and kind young leader and all that she brings to GAA Thank you Habiba!
GAA Goes PINK
Sadly, nearly all of us have either had a family member or friend who has been impacted by breast cancer. It is important that we continue to bring awareness to this terrible illness. Our GAPPA parents, under the leadership of Terri Farnum Fortino, have helped GAA GO PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness this week. We enjoyed the pink nail station getting manicures in the main lobby and the yummy pink bake sale. Our girls benefitted from a presentation by Dr. Samira Ahlad, Family Medicine Consultant from the Danat Emarat Hospital for Women and Children on breast cancer and the importance of early detection.
Harvest Festival
Harvest Festival is right around the corner--Thursday, October 27th from 5:00-7:00 pm on the soccer field. This is an annual event that celebrates the autumn season and the traditional harvest period in many countries. It is organised by room parents and parent volunteers who decorate booths, organise carnival like games and hand out treats to participants. Each booth chooses a theme and this year they include Country Pumpkin, Pokemon, American Football, Toy Story, Pajama Party and The Hungry Caterpillar! Booths compete for the ultimate prize of best decorated booth and there are also prizes given for the best costumes. Last year secondary students participated from the Prom Committee, the Russia trip and the Key Club! This event is fun for the whole family. Bring your appetites as shwarma, popcorn, baked goods and drinks will be on sale!
Parent Curriculum Information Sessions
We are now 6 weeks into our curriculum and your children have been engaged in a variety of learning experiences, assessments that exercise their thinking, communication, and research skills, and opportunities for teachers to get to know them better. Throughout this time, you too have likely joined us in a parent information session and/ or back-to-school night where you had the chance to hear about the teachers, our curriculum and life at GAA. We have two more upcoming parent information sessions; please come join us in hearing more about what GAA offers your child:
Inaugural Principal’s Roundtable
The Principal’s Roundtable is a monthly gathering of student council representatives from each grade level, 6-12, with the purpose of advising me on student issues. It is a time where I can get a totally student perspective on how things are going at GAA. Although the ultimate aim is to gather information from students to help continually improve, it is also an opportunity for me to teach students the important leadership skills necessary to work collaboratively, have efficient meetings and how to “get things accomplished.” In our first meeting, very much like adult meetings, we will develop our meeting agreements, talk about agenda setting and generally get to know one another. Our first meeting is a Thursday lunch meeting in the Board Room. I am so excited to work with our talented student representatives!
Regards,
Katherine Banner
Sadly, nearly all of us have either had a family member or friend who has been impacted by breast cancer. It is important that we continue to bring awareness to this terrible illness. Our GAPPA parents, under the leadership of Terri Farnum Fortino, have helped GAA GO PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness this week. We enjoyed the pink nail station getting manicures in the main lobby and the yummy pink bake sale. Our girls benefitted from a presentation by Dr. Samira Ahlad, Family Medicine Consultant from the Danat Emarat Hospital for Women and Children on breast cancer and the importance of early detection.
Harvest Festival
Harvest Festival is right around the corner--Thursday, October 27th from 5:00-7:00 pm on the soccer field. This is an annual event that celebrates the autumn season and the traditional harvest period in many countries. It is organised by room parents and parent volunteers who decorate booths, organise carnival like games and hand out treats to participants. Each booth chooses a theme and this year they include Country Pumpkin, Pokemon, American Football, Toy Story, Pajama Party and The Hungry Caterpillar! Booths compete for the ultimate prize of best decorated booth and there are also prizes given for the best costumes. Last year secondary students participated from the Prom Committee, the Russia trip and the Key Club! This event is fun for the whole family. Bring your appetites as shwarma, popcorn, baked goods and drinks will be on sale!
Parent Curriculum Information Sessions
We are now 6 weeks into our curriculum and your children have been engaged in a variety of learning experiences, assessments that exercise their thinking, communication, and research skills, and opportunities for teachers to get to know them better. Throughout this time, you too have likely joined us in a parent information session and/ or back-to-school night where you had the chance to hear about the teachers, our curriculum and life at GAA. We have two more upcoming parent information sessions; please come join us in hearing more about what GAA offers your child:
- College Preparation on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 9:45am and at 6:15pm in the auditorium. You are invited to learn more about the college application process, SATs, graduation requirements, and what your child can do to increase their chances in getting accepted to their choice of colleges. (ideal for parents of students in grades 9 and up)
- Social Studies on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 9:45am and at 6:15pm in the auditorium. Discover not only what but also how your children learn about global and local issues of past, present and future through our Social Studies courses and UAE Social Studies links and lessons.
Inaugural Principal’s Roundtable
The Principal’s Roundtable is a monthly gathering of student council representatives from each grade level, 6-12, with the purpose of advising me on student issues. It is a time where I can get a totally student perspective on how things are going at GAA. Although the ultimate aim is to gather information from students to help continually improve, it is also an opportunity for me to teach students the important leadership skills necessary to work collaboratively, have efficient meetings and how to “get things accomplished.” In our first meeting, very much like adult meetings, we will develop our meeting agreements, talk about agenda setting and generally get to know one another. Our first meeting is a Thursday lunch meeting in the Board Room. I am so excited to work with our talented student representatives!
Regards,
Katherine Banner
In grade 6 math we have been working on operations with integers. Students got to find the value of their name using our integer alphabet. They also competed in groups to see who could find the highest and lowest value words. Students have also been working on creating accurate number lines with positive and negative decimals, fractions and whole numbers.
Congratulations to our Under 14, JV and Varsity Swimmers for their excellent performance on Saturday at Hamdan Olympic Swimming Complex in Dubai.
Under 14 Swimmers: Ahmed Al Qubaisi, Mark Follinus, Emily Alexandra Kvalvaag, Nathan Scott, Alice Martins Freitas, George (Rocky) Burger, Eric Zhou, Robert Turkama ,Nika Vredenbregt, Daniel Martinez De Maranon,Sofia Barbero, Adithya Ajith Mathew, Caitlyn De Freitas,Jamie Charles Broadhead, Saif Khraiwesh, Junhyeok Heo, Ane Chacon Galdeano and Melanie Osley.
JV Swimmers : Carolyn Burt, Ahmed Azab, Anthea Meijer, Alexander Golubkov, Paula Vergara, Marion Hanquet, Nicholas Roselt
V Swimmers : Donghyan Cho,Madison Roby,Nina Brisbane,Ryan Jong Yeon Park,Alexander Meijer, Dominika Krzymowska, Ishmeet Singh, Kayleigh Herrmann, Ethan Burger
Our swimmers compete against 10 schools from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha and more than 300 swimmers.
Top Results for this meet:
Under 14 Swimmers: Ahmed Al Qubaisi, Mark Follinus, Emily Alexandra Kvalvaag, Nathan Scott, Alice Martins Freitas, George (Rocky) Burger, Eric Zhou, Robert Turkama ,Nika Vredenbregt, Daniel Martinez De Maranon,Sofia Barbero, Adithya Ajith Mathew, Caitlyn De Freitas,Jamie Charles Broadhead, Saif Khraiwesh, Junhyeok Heo, Ane Chacon Galdeano and Melanie Osley.
JV Swimmers : Carolyn Burt, Ahmed Azab, Anthea Meijer, Alexander Golubkov, Paula Vergara, Marion Hanquet, Nicholas Roselt
V Swimmers : Donghyan Cho,Madison Roby,Nina Brisbane,Ryan Jong Yeon Park,Alexander Meijer, Dominika Krzymowska, Ishmeet Singh, Kayleigh Herrmann, Ethan Burger
Our swimmers compete against 10 schools from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha and more than 300 swimmers.
Top Results for this meet:
- Nick Roselt (JV) he finish first in every event and won 4 gold medals.
- Marion Hanquet (JV) she won 3 gold medals and 1 Silver.
- Alexander Meijer(V) bronze in 50m. Breaststroke.
- Eric Zhou (U14) Bronze in 50m. Backstroke.
- Daniel Maranon(U14) Bronze in 50m. Butterfly.
- Well done to our Under12 100m. Freestyle Boys Relay(Nathan, Saif, Ahmed and Daniel) for winning 3rd place and Under 12 200m. Freestyle Relay Boys(Rocky, Eric, Ahmed and Daniel) for winning as well 3rd place.
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.