Newsletters

Dear SIA Community, We are still all buzzing here at SIA from the fantastic Fiesta. I watched all the acts and was so very proud of each and every performer. Another big thank you to you our community for supporting this event. RAFFLE DRAW WINNERS We are also delighted to share our Spring Fiesta Raffle draw winners below: 1st Prize – Seba 3B 2nd Prize – Chanaya 2C 3rd Prize – Zayed – FS1 -A 4th Prize- Marley – 4B We have some amazing pictures, now turned into memories from the Spring Fiesta day which will be shared soon. This week we have had a focus on wellbeing and mental health across the school. This started with our learner leaders presenting in Mondays assembly about the importance of both and the importance of promoting both. In Primary each learner completed a well- being check-in every morning, encouraging them to express how they are feeling to their teacher and discuss why. It was wonderful to see all the activities arranged by the learners such as meditation, journalling, pyjama day and zen zones. It was great to see our learners exploring the importance of mindfulness and well-being around the school. For example, throughout the day, learners were encouraged to check in with their peers regarding well- being and their feelings. This develops communication and language skills as well showing lots of empathy towards one another. As you are aware we have a really big focus on reading post COVID but also to make sure learners can access learning as quickly as possible at a young age. The love for reading across the Primary is growing exponentially and watching the learners receive certificates for readers of the week has been fantastic. Our 6A class that went to the Mohammed Bin Rashid library this week were complimented on their excellent behaviour; the guide said, “6A was one of the best classes they have ever had.” They had the opportunity to go into the Treasure Room and look at many first edition books, for example, Shakespeare and Jane Austen. In Secondary we have been very busy promoting our learner’s love of learning Science during our Science specific week. We have had Expo City Trips where our learners experienced workshops in Robotics and they were also partaking in “Would You Rather?” activities also. On top of this, our Science Department ran some amazing activities in the auditorium such as the Crime Scene Investigation for the 11-13 learners and our Science Exhibition for Year 7-10 learners. It has been an amazing showcase for science this week and we are very proud of Ms Nourhan and her science team for all their efforts. Finally, our sporting superstars have had another huge week. Our U18 boys finished 2nd in the EISSA football league and our U16 girls finished 3rd in the EISSA football league. What an amazing result for our learners in their first-ever league appearance. Thank you to our amazing PE team for all their efforts. I met them this week to say well done for participating and showing great respect and teamwork. Have a wonderful weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community This week has been national storytelling week and it has been a real pleasure to see our learners taking part in various activities promoting our love for reading which has created quite a buzz both in the classrooms and corridors. Learners have taken part in acting out stories, buddy reading and read aloud sessions. I know Ms. Daisy was really pleased to see just how confident our learners were when they were telling their peers about their favourite story. Walking the corridors this week we saw learners exploring different types of books, reading to each other, bringing in their reading journals and discussing various books. Learners are busy working on a story for a competition and we cannot wait to see the final products of this. Ms. Tanita got the opportunity to watch the year 6 learners sing a song called, The Climb – they sang in chorus and it was a beautiful melody; they analysed the lyrics of the song and had discussions about the meaning of perseverance despite challenges. Year 6 – The Climb.MP4 In Secondary we have been celebrating our fantastic learners and all the achievements they make each week. We have had our celebration assembly on Thursday where our learners’ received certificates for Empathy, Hard work & Agility which are the Values, Attitudes & Attributes we expect from an SIA learner in line with our High-Performance Learning vision. We have also had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate the achievements of one of our learners in Year 12, Shahzad Ameer, who received his Outstanding Learner Award from the Cambridge Exam Board for his super results in IGCSE Science last May. This award showcases the Hard work that was put in by Shahzad and his teachers in the Science Department to help him reach his full potential. We at SIA are all very proud. Finally, in Secondary Sports News, we have had more successes over the past 2 weeks with our boys’ and girls’ teams representing SIA with pride in the EISSA league. The girls were amazing last week and continue to be footballing superstars. This week the Under 18 Boys won all 3 games with some great performances from Syed, Omar and Sadeed. The Under 16 Boys also won one of their games and a special shoutout to Artur from the PE team for having a great game! We are now finished all our preparations for sending our teams to Bahrain this weekend to represent us in the BSME competition. All our players and staff are really excited, and we know they will do us all proud against the other top British Schools in the Middle East Have a wonderful weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, Say it with me ‘Rain, Rain go away, come again another day’ Coming from the UK rain would disturb our days regularly as you can imagine. I remember as a child saying this over and over again with a big smile on our faces as we planned what to do as the rain had stopped play. This is exactly what we did this Thursday as the rain created challenges getting to school for the whole community but we remained resilient and pulled together as all good communities do. I would like to thank my colleagues, our learners and you our parents for supporting us to get online and continue our learning. I have really enjoyed seeing so many of parents from our SIA community coming into our school to listen to our learners read. Our learners showed how they practice and how ‘hard working’ they are through their reading skills, using their phonic knowledge of blending and segmenting. If you would like to become a parent reader contact hfrench@sia.ae and please remember to come say hello to me whilst you are in. In upper Primary our learners became teachers as they presented their research of soil found in the UAE; they linked their prior knowledge of learning about soil for this. Watching them present with confidence and enthusiasm was a treat and real example of how our learners’ skills have developed over time. While we had some learners becoming teachers, we had some of our learners that became electricians this week; it was fabulous to see them working collaboratively to explore and construct circuits. Learners in Year 5 had the amazing opportunity to visit the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library; reading came to life as they read along with a robot and interacted with a motion picture book. Reading is something we promote heavily at SIA as it is so important to be a good reader if you are to be able to access a range of learning materials and progress. Please do practice reading at home and sign into bug club, literacy planet and century tech to support. In Secondary it was all good, as we had several exciting highlights that contributed to the education and well-being of our learners. Firstly, we organised a trip for our Year 12 and 13 learners to Mamzar beach as a way to unwind and relax after their exams. This trip provided them with an opportunity to enjoy the beach, bond with their peers, and de-stress after a busy exam period. Secondly, our business learners had an opportunity to participate in an internship trip, gaining real-world experience and learning about different aspects of the business industry. In addition to that, we also started our internal internship programme, providing our learners with hands-on experience and the opportunity to learn from experienced professionals. I am really looking forward to gaining feedback from our internship programme. Our PE department was busy this week with fixtures for U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18 learners, giving our learners the opportunity to showcase their athletic abilities and compete against other teams. It was a great way for all involved, with an opportunity to build those all important VAA’s such as teamwork skills and develop a sense of sportsmanship. I am super proud of the provision in school and the holistic opportunities our learners engage with daily. It was busy and productive week with many opportunities for our learners to learn, grow and develop towards being global citizens. We are looking forward to continuing to provide our learners with a well-rounded education that promotes their physical, emotional and social well-being. I wish you a lovely weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, I always enjoy when our learners come to visit me and this week I had Saif from 7C pop down to show me his sustainability project which was just awesome. As you know we have made a pledge to learning more about sustainability and becoming more sustainable which looks different across the school and phases. Saif had demonstrated his HPL attribute of ‘Hardworking’ by building a remote control robot from Sustainable materials. Well done Saif I am proud of you. It was lovely to welcome back Ms. Stephanie who has rejoined our FS department and has settled in our new FS1 learners so well. It has been a pleasure to see our FS learners learning all about growing, planting and healthy eating. FS1 learners shared their chopped fruit with other classes today and explained why we must eat healthy food. It is so important to consider both at school and home our nutrition and how it affects both our health and learning. I have the pleasure to be part of the well-being committee for SPEA and we at SIA certainly have a vision to develop well-being across our community. Watch this space as our new policy is nearly ready to present to you all. This week we have introduced our new Sixth Form Internship Programme which will give our senior learners an opportunity to experience some real-life work experience within our school community and using some of the skills they have built up through their year’s of schooling here at SIA. We are excited to announce such a fantastic opportunity and we will keep our community updated on their progress. Our Year 12 and 13 learners have finished their January Edexcel exams this week and we are so proud of the efforts they have put in. Our Secondary Boys Football teams have had some huge wins this week as well with our U12 and U14 boys going undefeated this week! Well Done Boys! I wish you a lovely weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, It has been wonderful seeing the focus on phonics and reading, especially within our continuous provision areas. I have enjoyed seeing our learners hearing, blending but also responding to the teacher and each other. I am so impressed with the mutual respect and care our learners show each other across the school. This was very evident in our morning assemblies, especially Thursday’s celebration assembly. The way our learners celebrate each other’s successes is something to be proud of as a community. In Primary our learners are certainly reading more confidently and with pride, there is a love for reading throughout EYFS and Primary. We now have a buddy reading system as well where older learners will 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. This week our senior secondary learners started their external exams for A Level Maths, Science, History and GCSE Arabic. Our learners have been really positive in how the exams have been going and are really happy with their preparations. We also had our external results from our October/November exams and we are super proud of our learners who all achieved a passing grade. This is a huge achievement for our learners and they are all delighted with their results. We also had our Secondary girls Under12, Under 14 & Under 16 footballers had a chance to compete in our EISSA football competition this week and did an amazing job. Our Under 16 girls had a superstar in Rana in Year 10 being our top goal scorer. All our girls represented the school with pride and we can’t wait to see them in their next fixtures. I wish you a lovely weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, Happy New Year! Monday was just a fab first day back for term 2. Smiling faces and high 5’s as we welcomed back our learners. Just an Awesome way to start the day and year. I was speaking with Ms Daisy yesterday and this is what she had to say: ‘My highlight this week has been seeing how happy and excited our learners are coming back to school. They have all wanted to share their exciting news of what they did over the winter break with their friends and teachers. All of our learners have settled back into school life very quickly and are very keen and excited to learn.’ I couldn’t agree more and seeing our learners happy is what SIA is all about and we were able to capture this through our school pictures. CLICK HERE New Year, New Teachers! We are thrilled to welcome new teachers to the SIA community and wish them the best of luck. Our sixth formers are kicking off this year preparing for their external exams and I have to say I am super impressed with how they are approaching this with laser focused determination. At the end of term 1 we were able to recognise a number of learners who had earned international recognition for their academic achievements, and we are confident they will surpass their own expectations and continue to excel. It is with great please that I am able to announce two promotions at SIA. Firstly, Mr Danny, is taking on a larger role as the Vice Principal at SIA whilst continuing as your Head of Primary. Danny has been integral in supporting the development of SIA during his short tenure and this is something that I am very thankful for as I know many of you as parents are also. Our second promotion is Ms Fareeha, who has taken on the role of Assistant Head for Learning and Wellbeing. I am very proud of Ms Fareeha and I know this will be a popular appointment. Fareeha is an individual with high expectations of herself and our learners who she is truly dedicated to see ‘be the best they can be’. Good luck to them both and I know they will be awesome! I wish you a lovely weekend. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community What a fantastic term and a fun festive week to finish on. As we head into the winter break we have an opportunity to reflect and be grateful for all the wonderful moments during term 1. I have really enjoyed having the chance to see enrichment and our learner leadership grow to the point where we have something going on in school almost daily and our learner leaders take ownership for multiple activities and of course are part of developing our HPL VAA’s. The learner leaders have planned learner led assemblies for all staff and other learners, house competitions and a video encompassing all the amazing work they have carried out this term. I am very proud of our learner leaders and thankful to Mr Andy and the APHs for supporting them so brilliantly. Across the school I have seen further focus on our VAA’s and understanding of HPL, including a well-attended parent workshop. Our learners are kind, caring and listen to each other in and out of the classroom. As a school we have taken part in Flag day, National Day, Diwali and our Foundation Stage Winter concert. Our learners worked very hard and persevered on learning their dances and songs but also showed interest in learning about other cultures and concern for society through charity initiates, such as raising money and sending food to Pakistan after the floods. The learning provision has further developed this year and we have received wonderful feedback about this. For example in FS and lower primary we have seen our learners grow their phonics knowledge using our Read Write Inc Scheme which we introduced this year. It has been fantastic watching them recognise new sounds along with blending and segmenting words. In upper primary and Secondary our learners have been busy at home completing the nuggets on Century Tech which has become very popular amongst our learners. The Head of Friends of SIA, Mr Ahmed, was talking to myself and Mr Kumar, our COO, just recently about the impact it is having and I am pleased our online provision is supporting at home and school. As you will have seen on our social media, we received the news about the achievements of our learners in last summer’s Edexcel board examinations for Year 11 to 13. Ilia Mosaddegh achieving the highest marks in the world for GCSE Psychology, Vinay Mohan receiving the highest marks in the Middle East for A Level Further Mathematics and Jaya Ramesh, Samira Miah and Vinay Mohan receiving awards for being high achievers in all of their A Level exams! We are so proud of all of our learners and this is a testament to the hard work and determination they show to be the best they can be I wish you all a safe and relaxing winter break and we are already excited for term 2. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Have a lovely break Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community What a wonderful week at SIA! Our week started with our national day celebrations with some great performances from our learners showing off our love for the UAE. I was really pleased and thankful to all the parents, Ms Lynn from SPEA, our COO Mr Kumar and his excellency Mr Khalfan Saeed Al Marri for attending and supporting this event. I further have to say thank you to Ms Mouna and the SIA team for planning the celebration and their endless commitment to developing our provision for our learners. A term that a parent used was ‘togetherness’ which I think really does capture our vision as we aim to ‘shine together’ as a learning community. We also had our staff v learners football game and for the first time ever our teachers have been defeated! Well done to the learners for all their skill and determination to achieve their goal of beating the teachers! It was a really great game. On Wednesday we had Dr Daniella from Lighthouse Arabia, who gave a talk surrounding mental health to our SIA community, it was a great learning experience for all and everyone left with more insight on how to care for their well-being and focus on mindfulness. As previously mentioned developing mindfulness and having a growing focus on well being is very important with supporting our learners to ‘be the best they can be’. If you are interested in developing mindfulness at home this may be of interest: https://youtu.be/ULJSacYFzzQ https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/ This website has some good activities that you can click on and follow. #bethebestyoucanbe #enrichment #proudprincipal #mindfulness Have a lovely break Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community I would like to thank you all very much for welcoming me back into school this week and for all the well wishes. Having such a caring community is something I truly enjoy as the Principal of SIA. As per usual we have had a wonderful week with lots to celebrate but I have to say that for me this week I have enjoyed those moments in between meetings where I can see the learners through my window enjoying being involved with 30 x 30 or singing and dancing as they get ready for the winter concerts. I was stopped in reception this week by two of our Primary learners who could not wait to tell me about what they were doing in the concert and what costumes they were wearing. What was really impressive was how they related this to our HPL VAA’s and were using term such as collaborating and empathy – Proud Principal moment. Lots of happiness at SIA which is just wonderful. In Primary our learners had the chance to take part in 30×30 fitness events at Kite Beach. These experiences outside of school are essential for learner development. Our learners carried out a range of fitness activities on the beach, working together, representing the school in an excellent manner. Furthermore, we have had assemblies across the school with a focus on wellbeing and mental health. It is imperative we look after our learners wellbeing, they know who are wellbeing champions are and where they can go for support. Mindfulness is going to be a big focus for term 2 and we are inviting you as parents into school next week to learn more about this and how you can support this at home.   In primary and secondary we have a group of learners working on a range of sustainability projects with recycled materials, they will present these projects across the school. The group has grown considerably with learners across all phases getting involved, this is great to see. Our learner leaders have also been compiling a video using male staff and learners to promote men’s mental health. This has been another great week, plans are in place and underway for National Day celebrations next week, we are very much looking forward to this. Have a lovely weekend #bethebestyoucanbe #enrichment #proudprincipal Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community, As we continue on our journey towards becoming an HPL school we enjoyed a visit from Ms Carrie Beech this week who always brings a wonderful energy into SIA. I was really pleased with the number of you, our parents, that came into school to listen to Carrie explain further detail about HPL and some top tips on supporting at home. A major highlight was Ms Carrie supporting our Podcast with our learner leaders. They had the chance to sit with her and discuss all things HPL, such as the SIA roadmap, projects they have worked on so far, how HPL has developed them as a person and as a learner and discussed Ms Carries journey into HPL and school development. Continuing our sporting success at SIA, we have seen our boys compete in the swimming gala at Ajman Academy in the external EISSA league. Our U14 boys came in 1st place which is an excellent achievement, everyone who competed did the school proud. It has been great to see so many additional enrichment activities taking place, giving our learners access to wide opportunities outside of the school curriculum. This has been such a good week with many more exciting events to come. Our assessment weeks have started in the secondary phase which is a great opportunity for our learners to showcase the progress they have made over the term. This allows us to gauge where they are at in the curriculum so our teachers can get planning those vital next steps for academic improvement. We have been preparing our learners throughout the term to excel in these assessments. Best of luck to everyone in the coming assessment period. As we approach UAE National day our learners are prepping and practicing songs and dances ready for what no doubt will be some wonderful performances. In Primary the learners have also been learning many facts about the seven Emirates and different buildings in the UAE. FS learners have been building the Burj Khalifa out of many different materials. Finally, for all those who have access to century tech please do encourage your children to get involved with the winter cup competition starting the 13th November. Points are earned for each nugget completed and we will celebrate the winners at the end of term. Further information will come through on class dojo. Have a great weekend and remember to complete those nuggets Take care #bethebestyoucanbe #highperformancelearning #proudprincipal James BattsPrincipal Read More