Newsletter Issue 65 – Thursday 26th October 2017

I am very happy to be introducing my first Newsletter, one which really demonstrates our community feel and the wide range of opportunities the children experience in a week. There have been many highlights to this action packed week, from our first Parents Evenings of the year to Pink Day there has just been so many exciting and beneficial experiences for our community. The week began with a bang, with the introduction of the Dubai Fitness Challenge where staff, children and parents were invited to start the day with a range of 30 minute fitness activities. It was also brilliant to see such an amazing turn out at Parents Evening, as we highly value the partnership with parents. We aim to ensure that every teacher knows the strengths and targets of every child in their class and shares the personalised targets with you. Another event which demonstrated the true community feel that is embedded in DESS was Pink Day. This event included a Bake Off, parent talks and the selling of a range of pink items to raise money for Brest Friends. It was fantastic to see staff, parents and children coming together for this worthwhile cause. I hope you enjoy this week’s Newsletter as we share more of the fabulous experiences that take place every day at DESS. We look forward to seeing you after your week of rest, raring to go for the second half of the term. The teachers have already been beavering away to ensure that even more outstanding learning opportunities are in store for the children for the rest of this term.

We start by sharing our ‘Stars of the Week’, Chitra and Deepti. They were nominated by various members of staff for working tirelessly to ensure DESS had a memorable Diwali. Congratulations Chitra and Deepti. Our previous week’s ‘Star of the Week’ was Mrs McGrogan. She was nominated for being a continuously positive staff member who works very hard over two Key Stages. Congratulations Gillian.

Stars of the Week

We are proud to announce that the following children each received this week’s Star of the Week. Each child received a certificate during assembly and a big round of applause from their teachers and fellow classmates. Well done to everyone!

Thursday 19th October Thursday 26th October Archie Marsh FS2B Brooke Davey FS2B

Millie Challenger FS2G Victoria Pluckrose FS2G

Dexter Byrnes FS2O Zahra Akbar FS2O

Heidi Siklos FS2R Rudy Chalmers FS2R

Amar Padda FS2Y Tamara Karam FS2Y

Ava Frost 1B Omar Luca Khoury 1B

Abdullah Butt 1G Rayyan Asif 1G

Seanna Hirani 1O Abdurrahman Malik 1O Euri Megan Santos 1R Ava Lambe 1R Sheaarah Shameej 1Y Oliver Webster 1Y

Jessica Carter 2B Felix Wielgosz 2B

Jake Davison 2G Alice Wingrove 2G

Firtuna Abrefa 2O Olivia McConville 2O

Stanley Naisbitt 2R Lara Hassan 2R

Finian Hogan 2Y Zaleia Bardouille 2Y

Hayden Fenn 3B Elodie Vincent 3B

Joseph Randall 3G Isaac Costello 3G Casey Shelton 3O Daisy King 3O Caitlin Hales 3R Georgy Dymtchev 3R

Inara Sutherland 3Y Inayah Lakhani 3Y

Feres Zebadia 4B Isabella Irwin 4B

Tia Tobin 4G Anaya Ahmed 4G

Georgie Gathercole 4O Kushal Pagarani 4O

Nevin Rawlings 4R Prianne Raipancholia 4R

Dilan Gauba 4Y Freddie Tebbs 4Y

Ranveer Jethwani 5B Deya Hristova 5B Cian Turner 5G Jack Maine 5G Rory Ord 5O Oliver Hart 5O

Matheo Schulpen 5R Hafsa Aneel 5R

Poppy Pearson 5Y Marnus Wessels 5Y

Milla Cass 6B Joshua Rennie 6B

Caitlin Gowdy 6G Vaughan Dingle 6G

Alicia Cook 6O Sophie Winders 6O

Amelia McCormac 6R Mineshi Singh 6R

Nell Tierney 6Y James Hitchcock 6Y

Arabic Stars of the Week

Sebastian Mauger Year 1 Abdullah Aneel Year 1 Sanyam Bathla Year 2 Ronin Merry Year 2 Heidi Edgar Year 3 Alexa Davey Year 3 Ram Hatem Year 4 Aamir Boriawala Year 4 Isaac Hadri-Khoussa Year 5 Sama Abuhejleh Year 5 Ruby Dunne Year 6 Arman Jain Year 6

Diwali Celebrations at DESS

The Festival of Lights, Diwali, was celebrated at DESS with colour, splendour and sweet treats. Staff and parents designed some elegant yet striking Rangoli patterns at the entrance of the school to welcome our school community. Deepti and Chitra from the Accounts Department were extremely delighted that DESS was taking part in the Indian festival and sharing in this celebration across the whole school. During the day, the children decorated Diyas using vibrant colours and jewels. They also attended a special assembly where we heard about the Story of Diwali and watched an Indian dancer performing to some upbeat Bollywood tunes. The day finished off with some traditional Indian food, shared by the parents at pick up time. We look forward to our next cultural celebration and bringing the community together.

Parent Arabic Lessons

Marhaba! Our DESS Café is open for parents every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday morning between 7.50am to 8.20am for a daily dose of Arabic. You don’t need to sign up, just simply drop your child at their classroom and pop in before you leave. We have four amazing Arabic speaking parents who help Soha (DESS Data Manager) to run these sessions. These Arabic sessions are relaxed and fun and a useful tool to help your child at home. Everyone is welcome whether you are fluent or a beginner. Shukran and see you there!

Drawings by Me

Stop Press! The Drawings by Me deadline has been extended until the 6th November.

Thank you for your support with Drawings by Me; we hope you have placed your orders as they make fantastic gifts and great memories but you now have longer to place your order.

Product photos are available to view on the following link: https://goo.gl/wmXeSS

Orders will be delivered to DESS after November 16th. Many thanks for your support with this venture. Mrs Reid Art Leader

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

Mr Walsh’s Eco Club News

As part of our Eco Club, the children wanted to find out more about how the school managed its electricity and water and how they could make this better. Therefore, we invited Mr Rycroft, the Site Manager, to our meeting to discover the mechanics behind the maintenance and powering of our school.

Mr Rycroft took us on a tour of the facilities and showed us where the water storage tanks were kept. He informed us of the cost and amount of water that our school needs to function properly and told us about how he is trying to make DESS a more environmentally friendly school whilst at the same time reducing costs.

We talked a lot about water saving and maintenance. Mr Rycroft said that his team were always alert to any leaks around the school but that it would be even better if the children could help to spot any wastage of resources and inform Mr Grenville or himself about these issues.

We also were fortunate to have a tour of our electrical facilities and Mr Grenville and Mr Rycroft showed us where the electrical meters and how to read them. Our Eco Club were definitely inspired by this tour and discussion and his talked has helped us come up with future possible solutions to help make our DESS community an even greater environmentally friendly place.

Whilst we regularly carry out energy management surveys across the classrooms in the school, as a group we have decided to try and persuade teachers and staff to monitor better their use of air conditioners in classrooms. Look out for our recycled poster campaign coming your way.

Girls Football – Repton Tournament

Well done to the girls who competed in the Repton Football Tournament on Thursday 19th October. The girls played really well, winning their group to progress to the knockout stages but unfortunately they got knocked out in the quarter finals by Sharjah English School.

U11 Boys Footballers Clinch Prestigious Tournament Win

The season has started well for the DESS Under 11 boy footballers. After a win in the league against JPS, the boys travelled to the annual Repton tournament full of confidence. DESS managed three straight wins in the group stages against Kings' Al Barsha, Foremarke and Victory Heights. This led to a Quarter Final clash with Horizon. After a tight match the game went to penalties with DESS coming out on top. The semi-final was an equally close affair against a very strong Repton side, ending 1-1, meaning a return to the dreaded penalties. Once again DESS snuck the win.

The Final was played in hot sunshine against a well drilled and compact JESS Jumeirah team. Both teams played attractive free flowing football but failed to convert any chances. For a third time, DESS were faced with the prospect of a penalty shootout. Goal keeping heroics from Noah Vizzard combined with the dead eye shooting of James Linton, Nicol McMillan, Badr Alami resulted in a famous victory for the boys in red.

Well played everyone, you did Mr Cuddihy and DESS proud!

DESS Positively Pink Day

Wearing a range of pink colours from fuscia to magenta, children, staff and parents took part in a host of Pink Day activities. Personalised bunting made by the children was hung across the school to mark the day. We were delighted to host a special coffee morning with a focus on Breast Cancer awareness for our parents. Special thanks to Dr Sarah Sharif and Mrs Emma Rymer for sharing their expertise and experiences with our parents. As well as the specialist talk, Mrs Nicola Theo held a Pink yoga session, focusing on how a positive attitude can support us when we are experiencing health issues. One of the many highlights of the day was the Pink Day Bake Off! Hot off the press, we have so far raised from donations alone over Dhs17,000! We certainly have a host of superb bakers at DESS. Congratulations to the winner Nadia Kilani! The day finished with a splendid Charity Pink Bake sale which was only possible because of your generosity in donating so many wonderful bakes. Finally, we would like to thank Brest Friends, a local charity linked to Al Jalila Foundation, for their support. All money raised from Pink Day will be donated to this charity which supports cancer patients in the UAE.

Parking and Traffic at DESS Please help where you can by ensuring that you park safely; do not double park at all around the school or on the pavements and ensure that your child/children are supervised. There are still many instances of double parking which is endangering children’s lives. If you are fortunate enough to have a driver, please ask them to park properly and not to double park in the road. Please be aware that illegal parking is reported to the police and fines have been issued. Our busy premises staff and SLT spend over an hour a day trying to monitor this situation in the heat; therefore, we ask you to please be respectful if you are asked to move on. I understand that people become anxious at pick up time but let me assure you, your children will be supervised at all times. Please help us to keep everyone safe.

Upcoming Events Please note that as the DESS Newsletter is biweekly, please refer to the Parent Portal in the first instance in case there is a date change.

Staff Inset Day (No students in school) Sunday 29th October Staff Inset Day (No students in school) Monday 30th October Half Term Tuesday 31st October to Thursday 2nd November Social Studies & Moral Education Parent Forum Monday 6th November Foundation 2 Theatre Trip Wednesday 8th November DESS Ski Trip 2018 – Meeting for Parents Tuesday 14th November at 5.30pm in Latifa Hall House Day Wednesday 15th November DESS Christmas Cracker Gala Sunday 26th November 2pm – 4.30pm National Day Celebrations Wednesday 29th November Martyrs Day Thursday 30th November (to be confirmed) National Day Sunday 3rd December (to be confirmed) DESStive Day Wednesday 6th December DESPA Show – An Enchanted Christmas Wednesday 6th December DESPA Show – An Enchanted Christmas Thursday 7th December U11s Festive Football & Netball Tournament Thursday 7th December DESS Choir at Media City Friday 8th December Foundation 2 Concert Sunday 10th December at 1pm in Latifa Hall Church Service Sunday 10th December 3.00pm – 4.00pm FS1 Concert Monday 11th December 11.30pm – 12pm Year 1 & 2 Concert Monday 11th December 1.15pm – 2.15pm Year 3 & 4 Concert Tuesday 12th December 1.15pm – 2.15pm Year 5 & 6 Concert Wednesday 13th December 1.15pm – 2.15pm

Last Day of Term 1 Thursday 14th December

Enjoy the weekend break!

Ruth Gibson

Assistant Headteacher