Dear parents,

It is hard to believe we have such a short time left till winter break. I am unsure where this term has gone.

In the background over the last few weeks, our Arabic and Islamic teams along with some of our local families and staff have been 

◾ Planning UAE week - which will culminate with our National Day celebrations and include excursions for some of our children, and invitations for our families to visit and take part in cultural activities 

Friends of AIS Dubai families have also been 

◾ Supporting our various sporting teams

◾ Busily preparing for the winter souk,  asking for prize donations, organising food, activities and ensuring the day will be fun for all 

It will be a lovely way to lead into our winter break and a true celebration of the amazing diversity we have at AIS Dubai. 

At some point in the very near future, the school will have our first official KHDA inspection. They were in on Monday and provided some very positive feedback about the way we have endeavoured to fit the framework, given our first two years here.

 ◾ Our attendance is really trending upward which is so important - keep it improving though and during inspection week, it would be great to have all our children on time for National Anthem at 8 am. 

◾ The steps we have taken to ensure KHDA feel comfortable with us having parents on site has received positive feedback, however they have advised us of some further steps to take. 

◾ These include, 

1. Parents (other than early years) must be out of the building before the official start to the day, so after 7:50 am, parents will not be admitted past our foyers.  

2. Parents are only to enter via the main entries. We have already taken steps toward this in addition to parents not being permitted into hall areas until ECAS are over.  Many parents will already be aware for this round of ECAS - no parents have been permitted into the school areas until after students have returned from their ECAs and moved to the collection areas. This Is working much better, with staff feeling more comfortable in knowing the whereabouts of their children after ECAS and being able to monitor collection more closely.

3. Tags for parents when moving around inside the school building (we will explain this more before the end of term) 

As we head into the break, we have been looking at the progress of your children both in and out of the classroom and I know so many of you are so proud of their progress.  They confidently tell me and show me how clever they are ( except the older ones who are too cool to do that of course) and they are always so proud! We love that our children love learning and want to participate in the various opportunities they receive across the week. 

It is a credit to your children that they are able to so easily articulate what they have learnt and what they feel good about and we hope this never ceases. They certainly stepped up this week when KHDA were here and then again on Friday when the inspectors asked them about their learning and how they were going. 

Over the observations period this term, we have many positive stories about the discussions children have had with the adults in the room. My favourite was when one of the inspectors started to engage with one of our older students about the work they were doing. The student responded very politely, "Would you mind going away please? I am trying to do my work".

You can't ask for any better than that to show that our children love their learning opportunities.  

Ms Karen McCord

Executive Principal

Monday to Thursday - 8am to 3pm

Friday - 8am to 11:30am

The uniform shop will be open between:

Monday to Friday - 8:30 am to 9:30 am

Early Years - PreKG and KG1

Junior Primary - Prep, Year 1 and 2

Upper Primary - Years 3 to 6

Junior Secondary - Year 7 to 8

PreKG, KG1 and Prep will enter through Entrance A

Years 1 and 2 will enter through Entrance C

Years 3 and 4 will enter through Entrance D

Years 5, 6, 7 and 8 will enter through the Atrium

From 8:10 am please enter through the below

PreKG, KG1 and Prep will always enter through Entrance A

Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 will enter through the Atrium to receive their late slip.

Is your child not feeling well, please review our illness policy.

As we move into Cold and Flu season, we have prepared this fact sheet to assist in ways we can limit the spread.

Dear Parents,

AIS Dubai would like to invite you to attend our annual Winter Concert, on Thursday, 7 December at 1:30 pm (doors open at 1:00 pm, with soloists performing as you enter from 1:10 pm).

This is a whole school concert to showcase the huge amount of talent that we have at AIS Dubai as well as offering an opportunity for pupils and parents to come together in a celebration of the winter season.

The show will involve performances from all students.  It is a great opportunity to see what we are doing throughout the school and hear how our students progress as they move through the years.

Parents, this is where we need your help. Please can the children of each year group bring the following to school on Wednesday, 6 December (except Pre-K and KG1, please send to school asap):

Parents, this is where we need your help. Please can the children of each year group bring the following to school on Wednesday, 6  December (except Pre-K and KG1, please send to school asap):

The children will wear their school uniform on the day and change at school so that they look neat and tidy for the performance.

A FINAL request from parents. I would like to make a community video for our finale. If you would like your family to be part of that, please email me one family photo of your family or children celebrating (no matter what the event) . The photo needs to be emailed to me no later than Monday,  27 November (heidi.collyer@aisdubai.ae).

We look forward to seeing you there!

Kind regards

Heidi Collyer 

A heartfelt thank you to all the wonderful parents who have generously stepped forward to lend their support for this year's AIS Dubai Winter Festival. For our new families joining us this year, here are a few key points about this festive celebration:

⭐ The Winter Festival is a special occasion where the AIS Community comes together to celebrate the fantastic start to the school year.

⭐ Beyond fostering community bonds, the primary aim of this event is to generate funds for our year 6 students' camp experience. Understanding that additional activities can pose financial challenges for families, we aspire to alleviate some of the costs by subsidising a portion from the proceeds of the Winter Souk.

⭐ Parents are warmly invited to the Winter Concert, scheduled from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm on Thursday, 7 December.      ⭐ Following the concert, the Winter Souk will kick off at 3:00 pm on the Sports Oval of the school.

⭐ The event will exclusively use a pre-purchased coupon system to avoid cash transactions with vendors on the night. ⭐ Coupon booklets will be on sale from Monday, 20 November, in the atrium at the start of school and will continue to be available for purchase until and including the night of the event.

For those parents who have volunteered to contribute items, whether they be prizes for the night or food for the stalls, please take note of the following details:

⭐ All prize and auction donations, wrapping paper, Christmas trees, and cardboard boxes can be brought to Reception A anytime from now until the days leading up to the event.
⭐ Fresh food donations can be delivered to Reception C on the day of the event.

If you haven't yet had the chance to lend a helping hand but still wish to, there is still plenty of time to register and get involved. You can sign up through the link provided below.

Children are encouraged to wear their sports uniform every day until the end of November when the challenge concludes, with the exception of dress-up days mentioned in the newsletter.

Year 1 and Year 2

Join us for an informal morning to have a chat with the teachers and meet other parents from the year group.

Come and watch the amazing performance the children have been preparing for the winter concert.

We are excited to come together as a school community with delicious food, games, and entertainment for all.

Thank you to Matrix Martial Arts for orchestrating an incredible 30x30 morning at AIS Dubai last week. The children undoubtedly had a blast, and many may have returned home enthusiastically raving about the experience. If anyone is looking to connect with this fantastic team, their details are provided below. 

Matrix Martial Arts opened its first branch in Dubai, UAE, by Sensei Shaikh and Sensei Snehal Shaikh. After a long 20-year experience teaching martial arts in Sydney, Australia, we are thrilled to provide our best knowledge and skills to the community in Dubai. Matrix martial arts training focuses on modern, practical, and effective techniques, providing practitioners with the true essence of martial arts. Matrix Martial Arts is the only martial arts club owned and operated by Australian Professionals and a member of the United Arab Emirates Karate Federation, the Australian Karate Federation and the New South Wales Karate Federation.

We are located in the G04 Kia Flagship building, Al Qouz-1, Dubai, and we are open throughout the weekdays and weekends; contact us at 058 667 1200. 

What a wonderful week at AIS this week. Our students have been actively engaged in 30 x 30 activities. Prep have had their first excursion and had a brilliant day at the Dubai Safari Park. Our classroom learning has demonstrated the progress and maturity each of our students has made so far this academic year.

As the weather starts to cool down, you are reminded that school zipper jackets are the appropriate warm item of school clothing. As we continue to enjoy some outside play times throughout the day, you are reminded that your child needs to have a school hat. We have implemented the NO HAT, NO OUTDOOR PLAY policy to assist in keeping our students sun smart and safe. 

Our uniform shop in the Atrium offers the convenience of acquiring these items for your child. Ms. Najwa can assist you through the online booking form at the top of the newsletter, or if you prefer, you can make your purchase in person.

At school for 30x30, we are continuing our fun fitness activities. Classes will participate in teacher-led activities for 30 minutes during the day as appropriate for their class timetable. Please remember hats and water bottles as these may be outside. 

As we head toward the end of our first Term at school, we have a number of school-wide activities coming.

Week 13: Our school has a theatre performance group visiting the school on Friday, 24 November. Our Pre-Kg to Year 6 students will be entertained and involved in the production of Peter Pan. 

Week 14: We are preparing for our National Day celebrations at AIS, which will be held on Wednesday, 29 November, at school. As with last year, our commitment is to the UAE's culture, history and values. This year, we are including an afternoon of fun and Emirati hospitality. Please see the additional information that will come home via email next week. We celebrate National Day on the 29th, as the 30th is Martyrs Day and a time for reflection and reverence. The school will break for the National Day long weekend on Friday, 1 December, and return on Monday, 4 December. 

Week 15: This is the last week of Term 1 and full of festive excitement. On Tuesday the 5 December, we will have our school Athletics Carnival. All students will participate in the sporting activities being held on this day. 

The planning for our Winter Concert and Souk is well underway. The children are doing a wonderful job of learning and practising their songs and dances for the spectacular, and we can't wait for the December 7th. After the concert, you are invited to stay and participate in our Winter Souk event. We hope this becomes a tradition for our end-of-year celebration and a way for our community to come together to celebrate the festive season and the end of our first school term. Keep your eyes peeled for ways to help, participate, enjoy and donate to make this an event showcasing the AIS community spirit. 

Our winter break is at the end of Week 15, starting Monday, 11 December. The school will resume for the Second Term on Tuesday, 2 January. 

Ms Linda

Primary Head of School

Dear Parents,

I hope this message finds you well. We are delighted to share some of our students' achievements from this week. Arseni Horkh, from year 5, has designed an electronic game using Arabic letters named (Arabic Chasing Letters). You can view it at this link https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/906748238. We are also pleased to witness the progress of our students as they move from beginner level to intermediate level after the first semester exams.

We want to inform you that the Arabic Week will commence Monday, 27 November, and run until Thursday, 30 November. We have prepared a variety of entertaining activities led by our students. Organizing such events provides an excellent opportunity to enhance students' understanding and love for the Arabic language. Details will come out next week.

To maintain and improve our students' proficiency in the Arabic language, it has been decided to assign weekly homework of 20 minutes. This homework will be shared through our communication channels, such as SeeSaw for years 1 and 2 and Google Classroom for Years 3 through 8.

We are pleased to inform you that the school has subscribed to an excellent Arabic Language learning platform called 'I START ARABIC' (https://www.istartarabic.com/en/login) for Arabic B students. And for Arabic A students, ' I READ ARABIC' https://www.ireadarabic.com/en/Login to enhance students' reading skills. The login details have been shared with Year 1 and 2 students through SeeSaw and on the Google Classroom for Years 3 to 8. Do not hesitate to contact us if you encounter any issues logging into this platform. 

We appreciate your support.

Kind Regards, 

Arabic Team 

House points have been awarded for this week's House Challenge and participation in the 30x30.