Newsletters

Dear SIA Community, I hope this week’s newsletter finds you in good health and high spirits as we head into the weekend. I wonder who has put the ‘I’ in kind this week? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJW7nyqTU-c At SIA growing our provision beyond the classroom supports learning through collaboration, focus, and a provision that continues into the central learning areas. I have seen our FS learners have been exploring water, making a prediction about how colour can be changed and why the water level rises at times. Year 1 learners have been busy carrying out a variety of Science experiments, following on from their trip to the Science museum and year 2 had the chance to use all the skills they have learned in school at KidZania on their trip. I was impressed with how the language was being developed and the learners were providing explanations of what they were experiencing or seeing within their experiments. We regularly change our display boards around the corridors as we develop themes and move on to different topics. I can certainly say they are looking fantastic and the learners’ work displayed demonstrates the significant progress they have made this year and their ability to comment on their learning through the VAAs and ACPs – this is truly awesome. Across the school we have started our GL assessments and the SLT has been popping in to see how the learners are getting on during these assessments and seeing them engaged with the task at hand. For example, we have started our NGRT Assessments in which tteststs the reading abilities of our learners and help our teachers to support learners with how their lessons are delivered to ensure that every learner can access our lessons and further their learning. As the scorching heat of summer in the UAE approaches, we at SIA feel compelled to address an important matter concerning the well-being of our learners. Living in the UAE, we are all familiar with the intensity of the summer heat and the potential risks it poses. The health and safety of our learners are of utmost importance to us, and as a community, I would ask that we work together to ensure that we are a ‘Sun Safe’ school. Today’s celebration assembly was wonderful as always and I had a chance to visit with one of our lovely young learners, Mathew Yr8A, who competed in the UAE open badminton tournament finishing runner-up in the under-15 boys. What an amazing achievement! To address this concern, we have a comprehensive heat policy that outlines the necessary steps we will take to safeguard our learners during the hot weather. The key points of this policy include: Restricted Outdoor Time: It is essential that we minimise learners exposure to the intense heat during peak hours. Therefore, we will be limiting the time spent outside and conducting activities indoors whenever possible. This decision aims to reduce the risk of heat-related ailments among our students. Sun Protection and the wearing of hats: Sunscreen and hats play a crucial role in providing children from harmful UV rays. We kindly request your assistance in providing your children with sunscreen and hats to ensure they are adequately protected while they are outdoors. Please ensure that you apply sunscreen on your child before they arrive at school. Daily Temperature Checks: Our vigilant staff will conduct daily temperature checks to monitor the ambient conditions both indoors and outdoors. This will enable us to make informed decisions regarding outdoor play and adjust our activities accordingly. We understand that our learners also benefit from spending time outdoors, and we will continue to strike a balance between their well-being and their need for physical activity. Our dedicated team will closely monitor the weather conditions and make timely decisions regarding outside play, always keeping the safety and comfort of our learners in mind. Thank you for your ongoing support and trust in Scholars International Academy. Together, we can ensure the well-being of our learners as they continue to thrive academically and holistically. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James Batts Principal Read More

Dear SIA Community, I am delighted to share with you how we recently celebrated the King’s Coronation at our British school overseas. It was a day filled with excitement, learning, and reflection as we linked the values, attitudes, and attributes (VAA’s) that are at the heart of our school community. Our learners engaged in various activities throughout the day, but the main focus was on considering what they would do to support a better society for all if they were a King or Queen for the day. This activity was designed to encourage our learners to think about their roles as responsible global citizens and how they can contribute to society in meaningful ways. It was a real highlight to have our FS parents coming to SIA and joining in our learning time. Parents had the opportunity to take part in lots of different activities including crown-making for our coronation day. Parents also had the chance to experience our specialist lessons such as music, Arabic, and PE. We will be holding another come-and- play day in June, and we look forward to many more parents joining us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q213LBt_yZY I am proud to say that our learners demonstrated incredible empathy and concern for society. They showed a deep understanding of the issues faced by different communities and came up with creative and thoughtful solutions to address these challenges. They were thoughtful and respectful in their discussions and demonstrated a real commitment to making the world a better place. As a school community, we celebrate the values that make us unique and encourage our learners to become responsible and respectful global citizens. We are proud of our learners and the incredible empathy they showed during the King’s Coronation celebration. We look forward to continuing to support them in their journey toward becoming caring and compassionate leaders in their communities. As you know we celebrate how we put ‘The I in kind’ weekly and this activity aligns with our school’s VAA’s, particularly our focus on developing learners who are caring, compassionate, and responsible. By encouraging our learners to think about our community from different perspectives and reflect on how they can contribute positively to society, we are nurturing a sense of social responsibility that will stay with them for years to come. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMWuNUX0LIQ As a school community, we celebrate the values that make us unique and encourage our learners to become responsible and respectful global citizens. We are proud of our learners and the incredible empathy they show daily to each other. We look forward to continuing to support them in their journey toward becoming caring and compassionate leaders in their communities. This week was another busy week in Secondary at SIA with our exams continuing for Years 11 to 13. Best of luck to everyone doing their exams! We have also had a lot of excitement in school in our classrooms as our learners continue exploring their curriculums through the HPL lens. It is wonderful to see all our learners asking questions to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the concepts they’re learning in each and every lesson in Secondary. Thank you for your ongoing support of our school community. Have a great weekend! #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James Batts Principal Read More

Dear SIA Community, I would like to start my letter today by writing to express my heartfelt gratitude for all the lovely moments that myself and my Senior Leadership Team (SLT) have experienced while standing at the front of the school in the mornings. Your positive conversations, simple good mornings, smiles on the faces of our learners, and even the occasional hug, truly make our day and serve as a testament to what a wonderful community we have. As a school, we are committed to walking the talk of our Values, Attitudes, and Attributes. We believe that these principles are not just words on a page, but values that we must live and breathe every day. Your warm and welcoming interactions with us and with each other are a clear indication that these values are being lived out in our community. We are honoured to serve as the leaders of such a supportive and caring community. Your kindness and positivity have a significant impact on our learners and staff. Your simple acts of kindness demonstrate to our learners what it means to be a compassionate and empathetic member of society. Let us see who put ‘The I in Kind’ this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZUksBOYBxc In FS and lower Primary this week we have been going into phonics lessons and hearing our learners blend and segment. They are using ‘Fred in your head’ and ‘Fred fingers’ to help sound out words that are new to them. Our learners are reading confidently and with pride, there is a love for reading throughout EYFS and Primary. Our buddy reading system takes place with every foundation class, older learners listen to our younger learners and support them on their reading journey. Our learners are excited to share their phonics knowledge with their parents during their home learning activities as well. Ms. Heather and Ms. Daisy are running phonics workshops every Tuesday morning 8-9 am to showcase different ways in which you can support your child at home with tier phonics. Please do come along as Ms Heather will also talk through HPL and it is always a pleasure to have our parents in school. The increasing proficiency of collaboration between learners when visiting classrooms has been phenomenal to see; the learners are able to increasingly articulate their ideas clearly and listen to the ideas of others and even change what they may have originally thought based on what their peers may say. These are all important life skills that will serve them well as they progress through school and have the opportunity to investigate and discuss more complex topics and ideas. Our IGCSE learners have started their exams with English, Science, and Maths. It has been a great start to the exams and the learners have been feeling good about how their papers have been. They have been working hard all year long and it’s great to see their effort paying off. Also, our Under 14 and Under 16 girls took part in the EISSA basketball competition on Thursday, we are really proud of the girls who continue to represent the school with pride. It has been fantastic to hear all the amazing stories from our learners who travelled to Bear Grylls Survivor Camp last week for their residential trip. It sounds like a lot of fantastic memories have been made to last a lifetime and lots of new skills learned by our amazing learners. Many of them already cannot wait for next year’s trip. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, For those I haven’t seen, Eid Mubarak. We had a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Eid during our Eid assembly on Wednesday morning with the whole school. We celebrated our learners, who were fantastic during the Holy Qur’an competition, where they received their medals and certificates. Throughout the last two weeks what I have really enjoyed around the school is witnessing acts of kindness, support, enjoyment and the determination of those learners taking exams. Let us have a look at who put the ‘I’ in kind over the last couple of weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_bFApUDTp8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABffTDyFgco The lower Primary team were also sharing my sentiments and saying this week how they have enjoyed seeing how happy, excited, and keen all of our learners were when coming into school. They have been so busy learning all about our VAA of ‘hard working’ and how we can show it in lots of different ways. Our learners have been learning lots of new sounds in phonics, putting these sounds into words and sentences. They have also been excited to learn about volume and capacity using the water. All of our learners have been showing their HPL skills of collaboration and Empathy by working together with each other and listening to their peers’ ideas and suggestions at all times. Learners are so excited to share their learning and talk about what they have learnt. It has certainly been a busy second week back at school with many lessons being more learner-led, especially in upper primary and secondary. Walking into classes and seeing the learners being able to increasingly take ownership of their own learning, ask questions, and articulate their learning using the HPL ACPs, and VAAs has been wonderful. Two classes from Year 5 were selected to participate in the TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study), where learners in Year 5, from many different countries around the world, took part in this study. The learners were resilient and persevered in completing the study this week. I am super proud of them all! Our learners in Years 11, 12 and 13 have started their external exams this week, and they are all happy to get started to showcase all the hard work they have done throughout their courses. This is a very important time for our learners, and we wish them all the best of luck! Your teachers, your parents and your peers are all very proud of all the hard work you have put in over the years and we hope you get the results you deserve. Our EISSA girls’ basketball fixtures will commence next week for our female learners under the ages of 14 and 16. We know they are all excited to represent SIA and show the other schools what we are made of! Finally, we will be having another Scholars Speaks showcase coming up before the end of the month, where parents and learners will have an opportunity to learn more about Entrepreneurship and Financial Management with Mr. Ziad who is a representative from Leap Financial Services, and who aims to teach children some beneficial money habits. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, Welcome back for term 3! Please see below some of our welcome-back videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REYLQ-beHVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhM62F6v2Bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydGLq-3Twnc I am pleased to share that as part of our continuous drive to develop our school ‘to be the best we can be’ we have received our school performance review by SPEA and we have secured an overall judgment of ‘Good’ with ‘Very Good’ elements. We improved our rating across all the areas of the UAE frameworks performance standards with ‘Very Good’ for two standards (Students’ personal and social development, and their innovation skills), 5 (The protection, care, guidance, and support of students) and for governance and parent partnership. I am very proud of the team’s efforts and the continual support from our SIA community. I know that a big highlight this week for myself and my team is seeing how happy our learners have been coming back to school. It has been fantastic to hear all about their adventures over spring break. Our learners have come back to school, settled into their classes, and were excited to learn. We are looking forward to all the exciting activities we have planned in term 3. One of our highlights for this week is the Yusai’d charity project that our learners organised in collaboration with Dubai Scholars. We believe in showing appreciation and kindness to our support staff, and for that reason, we invited them to share an Iftar meal with us. This project is a symbol of our community’s inclusivity and appreciation towards those who work hard to ensure our school runs smoothly. We are proud to say that our staff has been working towards achieving the HPL (High- Performance Learning) award, which is a recognition of schools that have implemented the principles of HPL and can show their achievements in developing intellectual curiosity, collaboration, effective questioning, and other learning skills. Our staff has been showcasing their hard work over the last two terms, which we believe will have a positive impact on our learner’s academic journey. We continue to strive for excellence in all aspects of our school life, and we look forward to the rest of Term 3. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, Ramadan Mubarak. I received a lovely Ramadan message from a colleague at SPEA which I wish to share. “On this festive occasion, I wish peace transcends the Earth, I wish your life is brightened with positively and harmony. Happy Ramadan to you all’. At the school, we held a special Ramadan assembly to help our learners appreciate the holy month and its significance. We believe that it is important to instill a strong sense of community and respect for different viewpoints in our learners, and we hope that this assembly helped to reinforce those values. I really enjoyed seeing how many mums, sisters, aunts and grandmothers came into school on Tuesday to celebrate ‘Mother Figure Day’. At SIA, we celebrated all the important women in the learner’s lives. We did this by holding special assemblies where learners talked about why these women are important, we made special cards and had visitors into the classes to talk about their favourite women in their life. Learners were confident to talk about why people are important in their life and showed empathy to other speakers who talked about different mother figure in their life. FS2 and Year 4 learners performed a special song at our assemblies about all the important women in their lives which were just brilliant and I was so proud of the learners commitment to learning the words and actions. Overall the day was a touching tribute to mothers and women everywhere and demonstrated a deep appreciation for the sacrifices and hard work that mothers do. Our staff had a fantastic opportunity to learn about Chat GPT with a talk from our learner Ehab, who demonstrated how it can be effectively used in teaching practice. Ehab’s presentation was well received by all staff and showcased his dedication to his studies and his commitment to sharing knowledge beyond his peers. I am certainly super proud of Ehab and look forward to seeing what impact Chat GPT may have on supporting learner outcomes. On the sports front, we have held all awards ceremonies for sports day for Year 3 and also Years 7, 8, 9, and 10, and they were nothing short of amazing. The learners excelled in their performances and showed exceptional team spirit, determination, and sportsmanship. We are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and look forward to continuing to support them in their sports journey in term 3. Finally, we celebrated Head of Secondary Awards on Thursday’s assembly to showcase the achievement points for our strongest learners across secondary. It was an amazing way to end the term and provide recognition for their hard work and dedication. Overall, it has been an incredible term and I thank all the community for the continued support and appreciation. I know we all look forward to continuing the momentum next term. Have a wonderful weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, This week was indeed another busy week and further opportunities to celebrate. I am certainly proud of us all this week for the wonderful concerts and two really positive days with the Assistant Director of HPL. I am very pleased to say that HPL is evident and embedded across SIA and we are certainly on track for our accreditation visit in May. It is always a highlight when we get to see our learners practice and perform their sing- along. These enrichment opportunities are wonderful and provide the type of learning experiences that support growing life skills. All learners have learnt songs, dances, and lines, and we have watched their confidence grow over the week. There was buzz of excitement when the whole of the primary had the chance to perform on stage in front of their parents. In Secondary more opportunities were provided to help further the experiences of our learners across the phase. We had our final collapsed study day for our IGCSE Science learners as they prepare for their upcoming exams in May. We also had our PE learners compiling their coursework evidence for their assessments in June which involved an array of sports such as Shotput, Cross Country and Athletics. The Hardworking attitudes of these learners was showcased through their Resilience, Perseverance and their consistent Practice in order for them to perform at their highest level in these sports. They are a shining example of our HPL philosophy. Well done to all involved! As mentioned last week it is our vision to celebrate the ‘I’ in kind weekly at SIA. Please see the link below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQflfn330Jc Have a wonderful weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community This week has been about Sport at SIA, as we had our Primary & Secondary Sports Days on Wednesday & Thursday which was a fantastic opportunity for our learners to get out of the classroom and showcase their talents in the world of sport. There was something for everyone and it was an amazing day put together by our PE Department that was really enjoyable for all. Well done to all those who got involved and to our amazing PE department for organising two truly wonderful days. Our learners and staff will need a rest over the weekend after all the activities at Sports Day! In FS the learners made rain hats for teddy bears using lots of different materials and had to predict which ones would be water proof and the put it to the test. It was just so wonderful seeing them working collaboratively and having so much fun in the process. In Primary we had Science week and it was amazing to see our learners making rockets using balloons and looking at how force can move objects. In lower primary they were also looking at how people age over time and the different stages of life which also supports our learners understanding why we are different linking to our VAA’s. What really stood out for me is just how much language development has happened over this year and the impact of these type of focused activities and our Read Write Ink programme. We also got the opportunity to celebrate reading – 6A won the competition and were rewarded with being able to have some free time to play and chat and have some food in the PE Hall on Thursday afternoon. This week our secondary learners have been celebrating International Women’s Day on Wednesday where we celebrated the amazing achievements of all of the wonderful women in our lives, both at home and in school. This was a lovely day where we got to showcase the amazing achievements of all of our superwomen! At SIA we learn about being Empathetic which is one of our HPL VAA’s. Within the heading of being empathetic is a set of three VAA’s that look at the way in which we approach working alone and with others to achieve stronger outcomes. These are collaboration, Concern for society and being confident. Something we are proud of at SIA is our growing positive culture which was recognised by the inspection teams when they visited us. The ability to know the contribution you make to a society is important as this supports citizenship, making a difference, creating a sense of community and recognising that we are all different and that is ok. You may have seen that on the wall next to the FS doors we have a sticker that K()ND which essentially asks us the question ‘how have you been the I in kind?’. Each week we ask this of ourselves and celebrate this by making a little video and through our celebration assembly’s. It is my aim to celebrate this through the newsletter weekly so please do see the link below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQoPgAot7Zo Have a wonderful weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community This week we were visited by the British School Overseas Inspection team and it was a pleasure to welcome them into our school. Although I can’t divulge the result at this stage, I will say it all is very positive indeed. As always, thank you to all that supported me and my amazing staff who are just so dedicated. I really enjoyed Thursday in school as we celebrated World Book Day. Our community dressed up as their favourite book characters and our learners also brought in their favourite books to share with their friends. Learners used their phonics knowledge to read their books aloud. I could hear conversations about characters, the beginning, middle, and end also where the story is set. Our Year 3 and 4 learners got the opportunity to visit Adventura this week; they were well- behaved and applied many of the skills, values, and attitudes we teach at school in practice on their field trips. Receiving pictures and videos of the learners smiling, overcoming fears, helping peers, and generally having fun has been a definite highlight for me this week. Look out for some pictures in the newsletter next week. Episode 9 of the podcast with Ms Annabel aired this week, where our learner leaders discussed all things well-being with our school Counsellor. SCHOLARS SPEAKS LINK Furthermore, we celebrated an amazing achievement with two of our secondary learners. Saleh and Marwa from Years 11 and 9 had the opportunity to meet the Sheikh after winning the Sheikh Sultan award for celebrating the spirit of Youth. This is an outstanding accolade, they completed charity work and some community projects to achieve this award. Our Year 12 and 13 exam results have been published with some outstanding grades for our learners. Our senior learners in the school are celebrating lots of success across the board. These achievements this week are amazing, and we are very proud to showcase them. Well done to our learners and to our Secondary staff that support our learners to ‘be the best they can be’. #proudprincipal Have a wonderful weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, As you will be aware the SIA had our visit from the SPEA review team this week and I am pleased to say it was very positive indeed. It has been great for us at SIA to have had the opportunity to validate all the work we have done through all the positive feedback we have been getting this week. Thank you to all within our community for supporting us as we continue to ‘be the best we can be’. I really enjoyed seeing all FS to Year 2 learners take part in sports day and I big thank you to all the parents that came and supported. The learners had lots of fun using the different skills that they have learned in their PE lessons. The learners all showed how hardworking they are when trying different activities. Our learners thoroughly enjoyed watching their parents, teachers, and teaching assistants take part in a race as well. It has indeed been a really exciting week across the whole school, our learners have been showcasing all of the amazing opportunities they have had this year already and all of the amazing learning and events that are yet to come. There have been many practical, hands- on activities in lessons this week. Learners have demonstrated the VAA-empathy by collaborating with one another, listening to different viewpoints, and offering constructive feedback to their peers. We have also had some wonderful assemblies this week to celebrate International Mother Tongue Day on Tuesday and Mindfulness Morning as part of Wellbeing Wednesday. Our learner leaders play a big role in assemblies, and they truly are just amazing – very proud Have a wonderful weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More