learning well, enjoying life, exceeding expectations al

LEARNING WELL, ENJOYING LIFE, EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

Al Rayyan Record

27th November, 2014

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the newsletter. I recently met with the class Parents and Campus Parent Representative to

discuss progress made and any concerns. It was a very positive meeting and some very useful

suggestions were made to continue to improve our campus. You will hear details about different

projects once we are in a position to start work on them.

Drop in for Coffee!

I would like to invite parents to drop in to the Staff Room for coffee on the first

Thursday of every month. It will be a chance to have a parent coffee shop at Rayyan

and for those of you who are free, to meet and have a chat. I hope you will be able to

use this opportunity to meet other parents informally and make new friends.

Parking

I realise that parking is now becoming more and more congested in the morning and afternoons. To

alleviate the problem, from Sunday, Staff will be using a new parking area and gate to enter school.

This will free all of the space at the front of the school for parents and children. However, there are

two things I must insist on:-

Parents or drivers, who park on the opposite side of the road, must bring their children into

school. Security Guards are there to control traffic and make sure it is running smoothly. They

have strict instructions not to take children across the road-it is not their responsibility.

Parents and drivers must make sure they leave at least one metre between the wall and their

parking place to allow parents and children to walk safely into school.

Thank you for your cooperation with this. I will continue to monitor the flow of traffic to see if further

improvements can be made.

30th December– Year 6 Fujairah Trip

2nd December—EY2 Beach Trip/Y5 Art and Craft

Workshop/Y1 and Y2 French Assembly

4th December—Drop in Coffee Morning

8th December— Y4 Zubara Trip

9th December—Music Assembly

11th December—ECAs End/ Reports out to Parents Year 5 creating a key note

presentation in Qatar History


Al Rayyan Record

Please do not hesitate to contact the School Secretary, Mrs Sally Horton ray-

[email protected] for any administrative matters or myself if you have any concerns or

issues.

Kind regards

Ann Djedid Head of Campus

Arabic Department

Thank you to those parents who have raised a few concerns with the Arabic Programme. Ms Enaam, our

Arabic Coordinator is already taking steps to improve provision and as part of this, has introduced a new

communication system. A form is available at Reception for you to write your concerns and leave your

contact details. She will then contact you directly to discuss any concerns you have. I am sure this will be

a positive step to improve communication between parents and the lArabic department.

Fujairah Trip

We are now on the countdown to the annual Year 6 Fujairah Residential Camp which is the highlight of

the year for our Year 6 children. It is a fantastic opportunity for them to team build, make new friends and

test their own strength of character as they participate in some outdoor pursuits and develop resilience

and independence. I am sure they will have a fantastic time!

I will be sending an email update to parents every night of the stay and you can follow the events on

Twitter. Our username is @FujairahCISD

Learning is Fun!

Last week Early Years 1 had a lovely day at our Gharaffa Campus as the exit point to their IPC unit. They

had great fun splashing water and making new friends. Year 6 also visited the Roza Hassad Farm- Qatar’s

state-of-the-art flower production facility and brought back some beautiful blooms! Early Years 2 are

going to watch a production of “The Ugly Duckling ‘at the Rayyan Theatre in Souq Waqif. The following

week they will also visit the Intercontinental Beach as the exit point for their IPC unit and participate in

learning focused activities. Year 4 will be visiting Zubara Fort next week to see the excavation and heritage

site. This week Year 5 have a trip planned to watch some ‘Horrible History’ which reinacts scenes from the

past in an amusing way and next week they will also be attending an Art and Craft workshop. So there are

lots of fun learning opportunities going on and I look forward to reporting on some of them in the next

newsletter.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Al Rayyan Record

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to the latest newsletter.

I hope that your children continue to enjoy the learning and activities provided for them at Rayyan and

Gharaffa. This weekend sees the start of the Year 6 visit to Fujairah and I know that both children and

staff are looking forward to their adventure. So far this term the children have had the opportunity to

take part in many different enrichment activities including visits to the theatre, to a football match, to art

galleries and concerts. Before the end of term we will also have the opportunity to watch an

international basketball match. We will try wherever possible to include these activities within the

curriculum offer covered by the school fees. However, occasionally it may be necessary for us to ask you

for a contribution towards an activity. I appreciate your understanding.

I have been delighted to meet many new and prospective parents over the past few weeks as the

school’s popularity continues to grow. We are building a really strong reputation not only for our

academic program but also for the way in which we nurture our children, ensuring that they learn in a

safe and supportive atmosphere which encourages every child to succeed. On several occasions recently

prospective parents have commented on just how happy the children seem at school and about the

wonderfully warm welcome they receive at both Rayyan and Gharaffa. This is just the type of school we

want to develop, one where happy children come into school eager to learn and one where parents feel

confident that their children will be safe, cared for and supported to succeed.

This week we have enjoyed some staff training on the uses of digital media in marketing the school and

sharing our story. In January we will be developing this further with regular activity on Twitter and

Facebook. Whilst our website will continue to be an important communication tool we want to move

into much more responsive and immediate forms of communication. This will be piloted with

communication about our Fujairah tri and will develop further next term.


Al Rayyan Record

Our ECA program for next term is now almost complete and you will all receive information about

the offer next week. If we could have some idea of your preferences before the end of term that

would be fantastic. We are hoping to develop a space at both schools where parents can wait with

younger siblings whilst older ones are involved in ECAs. I was horrified to hear that some of you had

to just sit in your cars whilst ECAs were on and we must be able to provide a better solution than

that. We also have plans to develop an after school club to ease the end of the schools day and

provide some after school care. More information to follow.

Look out for more facilities developments on both campuses over the next couple of months as we

continue to improve our sports facilities. Our new ipads have also arrived and now our IT upgrade

has been completed the children and staff will be able to develop the use of the latest technology to

support their teaching and learning. Exciting times ahead!

Please keep in touch with us and let us know how we can further improve our offer for your

children.

Best wishes

Graham

Y3 IPADs in Guided

Reading

Y3 Using a

dictionary

Y2 Circuits in

science Y1A Pirate

activity

Y1A Improving

drawing skills EY2A Role Play EY2C Collage

Y2 Buildings

Entry Point


Al Rayyan Record

Learning in EY1a

Learning is so much fun in EY1a! We would like to take you on a journey of our daily

experiences.

To develop and strengthen our fine motor skills, we have a variety of activities in our

classroom available to choose from.

Drawing, colouring and pasting

Beading PlayDough

Building with Popoids Puzzels


Al Rayyan Record Building with Magnetic blocks Building with Lego blocks

Painting

We are developing our social skills and communication and language when we dress up

and pretend in our Role Play area.

In Maths we are learning to count, and to recognise numbers and shapes. We love to

do sorting and matching activities.


Al Rayyan Record

Last week we started our “Sand and Water” IPC unit. As an entry point in IPC, we visited

our Gharaffa Campus where we had a lot of fun interacting with the Early Years 1

children at Gharaffa while playing in the paddling pools and sandpit.

We are also learning about the properties of sand which, when dry can flow like a liquid

and is difficult to hold. Prints and solid shapes can be made from wet sand. It is so much

fun to experiment and discover which objects can sink and which ones can float.

We enjoyed listening to stories like “Commotion in the Ocean” and “The Rainbow Fish”.

We are looking forward to the coming weeks as we will be learning a lot more about the

different sea creatures, listening to more stories and doing some awesome art and craft

of the different sea animals.


Al Rayyan Record

If you were in Villagio on the 13th of November, you might have seen a lot of Dutch speaking people on the

skating rink! More than 60 students and their parents from the program for Dutch speakers in CIS/The

Globetrotter were gathered to do one of the sports The Netherlands is famous for: skating! But, this wasn’t

just for fun! The event is organized in the Netherlands by Plan Holland (part of the INGO Plan International) to

raise awareness about water and the lack of it in the world. Therefore it is called “Skating for water”.

It wasn’t a coincidence that it was this week. All over the Netherlands many children were participating in the

same event on many ice rinks all over the country. But it was special in another way, because Compass/The

Globetrotter was the first school abroad ever who was participating in this event!

During the past month, all Dutch speaking children from year 2 till year 7 have had lessons about water in

their extra hour of Dutch on Sunday. We learnt about for example about water in the world and in our part of

Europe, salt and sweet water, why we need to be careful with water and how water from the sewer is being

cleaned again through an interesting process. We also learn about the year 1953, the year in which a big flood

hit the South part of the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. In Dutch we have many expressions with “water”

in it, which are difficult to understand if you don’t use them often, like here in Qatar. Therefore we also teach

the children these expressions.

To prepare for the event, we also arranged a special lesson with help of Plan Holland. Through a Skype

connection, students were taught by a teacher in The Netherlands about the project and why Plan Holland is

helping this year in Zambia. Plan offers water wells, toilets and gardens in schools around the country, to

promote that all children (and especially girls) can go to school.

All participants were really enthusiastic about the event, it had a great atmosphere. Some students from year

4 commented: “I am really proud what we did and that I skated 17 rounds!” and “I think we learnt that water

is something to be careful with. Girls in Zambia sometimes need to walk two hours to get fresh water!”

S k a t i n g f o r w a t e r e v e n t

D u t c h D e p a r t m e n t / T h e G l o b e t r o t t e r


Al Rayyan Record

CHILDRENS NUTRITION COURSE; WHAT SHOULD I FEED MY CHILDREN?

At CIS Doha we value the importance of our students’ well being

In our effort to promote awareness of healthy eating habits, we will be offering a seminar to parents that will

focus on optimizing children’s diet and providing practical tips on healthy eating.

This seminar is part of the Additional Learning Needs Department’s initiative to create community links which are

beneficial for children’s well-being and to continue to support parents in their role.

The seminar will take place at:

Compass International School, Rayyan Campus December Thursday 4th

9:00 – 11:00am

Parents will have the opportunity to:

Learn about how to optimize their child’s diet

Improve their child’s immune system

Improve their child’s concentration

Manage their child’s weight

Gain practical tips to deal with fussy eaters

Obtain more ideas for the nut free lunch box

A qualified Nutritional Consultant with a BSc in Nutritional Medicine (UK trained) will take you through the course

presentation and equip you with the knowledge you need to make changes to your child’s diet.

The course content will include:

The importance of good nutrition in maximizing your children’s health and avoiding chronic illnesses.

The basic criteria for an optimal eating plan for your child, including the perfect plate.

Meal, snack and treat suggestions, including nut free options for the school lunch box

Practical tips for fussy eaters.

Practical information on where foods can be purchased in Doha.

Course presentation:

1 hour interactive talk given

Opportunity to ask questions to a qualified Nutritional Consultant

Presentation slides given to take away at the end of the session

Links to recipes online

What will be gained:

An understanding of why good nutrition is important and how it can be linked to optimal health such as optimal

functioning of the immune system, improved concentration at school and weight management.

Knowledge of the basic food groups, including proteins, complex carbohydrates, essential fats and super foods.

Foods to avoid will also be discussed including, Trans fats, refined sugar and additives.

Knowledge and practical skills to help you make better food choices for your child, including recipe suggestions.

This seminar is sponsored by our school so is free of charge - we are hoping that you will take advantage of this unique opportunity. We are looking forward to seeing you all there .

With warmest regards,

Additional Learning Needs Department

learning well, enjoying life, exceeding expectations al

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