Newsletters

Dear SIA Community It’s fiesta time! This week the staff and our learners have been preparing for our SIA Fiesta this weekend and also getting some performances ready for our upcoming National Day celebrations. At SIA we really are enjoying being able to hold more celebrations and events as it is supporting bringing our community together and of course gives us opportunities to grow our learner leadership. We have had many amazing things going on at SIA, such as the U10, 12, 14 & 16 learners are competing in an EISSA swimming gala in Ajman where we had multiple wins and successes. Also, we have formed a great link with an external company called lighthouse, who will support the mental wellbeing of staff and learners within our school environment. They will be coming into the school to deliver some seminars and activities surrounding these aspects. In particular our focus this year will be on mindfulness which is something I have been growing and supporting in schools both in the UK and UAE since 2010. Leaners, staff and parents have reported a range of benefits to regularly practicing mindfulness which can be very powerful e.g. Improved self regulation, improved concentration, mental clarity, being able to relate to others and ones self which are all very much endorsed within the HPL framework. Keep an eye out for the date to come and learn more about mindfulness and our approach. Furthermore, our Year 9 & 10 learners played against capital school coming out 7-0 winners, this was a great result, our learners are getting access to so many amazing sports competitions and activities. Week 3 of our podcast is underway with our learner leaders (Arwa & Mahnoor). This week they are discussing some sustainability projects we are working on as a school and have invited the Head of Secondary Ms Kush to come and discuss some events going on across Secondary. One of our Primary learners, Swarna is working with two of our Year 13 learner leaders to complete a sustainability project for National Day, creating a Burj Khalifa tower made out of recycles plastic bottles. Although I am not physically in school at the moment a highlight this week was hearing from Ms Daisy about book week. Our learners have been bringing books to life through role play, dressing up as their favourite characters and buddy reading with different year groups. We have also been very lucky to have parents come into school and listen to our learners read. I would like to thank Mr. Barry, Head of English for arranging so many different, exciting and engaging activities for our learners. Take care #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community This week at SIA has been another amazing week as we grow our provision, celebrate our learner successes and take pride about living in a forward thinking country such as the UAE. We celebrated flag day, had our gifted and talented learners completing exams for the Olympiads and learners in Year 6 taking part in the Chevron Readers Cup. We also saw our learners take part in netball fixtures away in RAK, our learners in Years 5 and 6 playing football matches against Capital school and a swimming gala taking place. We have had daily activities for Dubai 30×30 fitness month including Irish Dancing, Football and Netball. So many activities in one week from our amazing staff and learners. In secondary our learners have been very busy with their studies. Last Thursday we had a Science Revision Day for Year 11 IGCSE students which was a huge success, and many learners were excited to have a full day in the labs, learning the course and carrying out some practical experiments. Our learner leaders have been busy helping to orchestrate the many events we have going on in Secondary too. This week we also celebrated ‘Autumn Day’ with our Teacher Flash Mob click here and spent time considering our health and wellbeing through the Dubai 30×30 Month with our many sporting assemblies every day. The way the learners spoke about Autumn and what it meant to them was fantastic. So many learners also brought in food donations for our hard-working assistant teachers, cleaners and bus drivers, without these people in our school we would not be able to be a school, thank you to all who contributed. Next week I know our learner leaders are visiting classes during form time to discuss the benefits of mindfulness and start promoting mindfulness activities. We will soon be inviting our parents into school as part of our ‘Scholars Speaks’ about mindfulness and our approach with growing this across the community and how you can support at home. Watch this space! Have a lovely weekend #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal #celebratingdiversity James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community It has been such a wonderful week back after half term. My highlight was on Tuesday as we all came together to celebrate Diwali as a school community and I would like to thank Lynn from SPEA for joining us. The community were exposed to Indian dance and culture in a wonderful ceremony organised by Ms Fareeha and our secondary learners. A special thanks to our wonderful choreographer Harshita Mamtani in Year 12 who even managed to get our teachers grooving! It was a wonderful showcase of how culturally diverse we are as a community but how we can all come together to celebrate each other’s uniqueness. These type of celebrations are very much in keeping with being a British School Overseas and provide opportunities for us to explore values such as tolerance and equity. As an HPL school we link to empathy, open mindedness and concern for society. On Monday, our Key Stage 5 students visited a university fair on Monday to continue to explore their next steps and assess the paths that lie ahead of them. Our Year 11 scientists have also been hard at work in preparation for their IGCSE exams and were able to partake in our first of three “Focus on Science Days”. Our learners had opportunities to further explore the curriculum throughout the day including many practical experiments to really bring Science to life in the classroom! This week there have been many amazing highlights, our Year 9 girls are travelling to RAK, representing the school in our external netball league in the EISSA league. We have had so many learners taking part in our external sports leagues, this is amazing for the school and we are excited for many more to take part moving forward. The girls have been training during break times in order to represent the school. Furthermore, our SIA Podcast has seen Episode 2 take place this week with our two learner leaders (Mahnoor & Arwa) talking about events which have taken place in the school so far and key events coming up. The Podcast has been broadcasted on our social media platforms, showcasing the amazing work done by our learners. Truly an amazing week at SIA. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal #celebratingdiversity Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community As we reach half term, I always take a little time to reflect on what we have achieved and what wonderful learning opportunities have occurred during the first few weeks. I am very proud of how we have started the year and have seen how HPL is being further embedded in lessons and across the school. What really stands out to me is our focus on developing our British and global values through the VAA’s and our continued commitment to celebrating cultural diversity and being that inclusive community school. This was one of the reasons I joined SIA and I know is something my team wish to grow further. Last week, the whole school community wore PINK to raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer. We wrote handwritten letters to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer and created a canvas as a sign of hope and love for all. This canvas will find a place to be hung in school as a reminder of those struggling with breast cancer and to celebrate the collaborate effort and support from us at SIA. The pictures showcase some of the amazing messages and support shown from our learners. The impressive SIA student leadership team as they all came together to work on numerous projects together and now are seeing the fruits of their results as successes pile up. The Pakistan Flood Charity drive was a huge success last week in collecting items and donation money and now this week the year 12 and 13 students worked hard to sort everything into boxes for shipping. A room full of donations turned into a neat stack of boxes ready to be shipped. To my learner leaders – you are amazing, thank you. Mr Donal reminded me that the quote for this week is “If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now.” ~ Master Oogway You should always try hard to always push further than what you can do now. You never improve if you don’t try new challenges that are difficult. And making mistakes means you’re on the right track, as long as you learn from them. This is something we explicitly teach our learners as part of HPL. This fall into the VAA ‘being a risk taker’ which is an important skill in life as we aim to strive to grow and develop beyond our comfort zones. An example of how we are supporting learners further this year is our approach to assemblies which essentially are run through the learners and learner leadership. I was able to attend our celebration on Prophets Day where the learners were delivering a presentation and quiz which was just brilliant. The learners in the lower school are now taking RWI books home. Learners have been able to use their phonic knowledge to read their story to their family members and also explain what the story is about. Every Thursday learners will come with a new story and new spellings based on the sounds they have been learning in their phonics lessons. Having embedded RWI into multiple schools I can tell you from experience that RWI will have great impact and really support your child’s development. If you wish to learn more, then do make sure you attend our workshops led by our in-house expert Ms Heather. Have a wonderful and peaceful half term break. #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal #celebratingdiversity Take care James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community Happy World Smile Day ‘What makes me smile is seeing all my happy learners enjoying being at SIA and bringing the VAA’s to life in a classroom’ . CLICK HERE for some smiles. I have to say what made me smile on Thursday was walking around Years 1 and 2 and being met with such enthusiasm. The learners were all engaged in our phonics programme, Read Write Ink, and I have to say all the learners were not only engaged but the classrooms and corridors were just alive with learning and fun. I know we had a good number of the community come to Ms Heather’s workshop on Thursday where you discussed what RWI is and how to support further at home. This is a really important step and it helps your children access their learning but also quite good fun to practise at home. I know I enjoy practising phonics with my little girl. I would like to thank all our community for the recognition of our teachers’ efforts and dedication on ‘World Teachers Day’. I am proud of the SIA teachers as well as all my staffing team who go the extra mile to support the school and ultimately learner outcomes. I have such a dedicated team who are really aspiring to ‘be the best they can be’ and ‘walk the talk’ in terms of the HPL ACP’s and VAA’s. At SIA we are Empathic, Hardworking and show Agility. Please CLICK HERE to watch our video. In Secondary this week our learners started with their half term assessments. The learners have been showcasing the school VAA’s through their Hardwork and Collaboration in preparation for these assessments. We also saw our house captains take their positions and become the newest members of our learner leadership team which demonstrates further how we develop the democracy which is aligned with ‘British Values’ as a BSO school . Some of these young people have shown they are real risk takers by taking on the responsibility of leadership and have possibly taken their first steps to becoming our future head boy or head girl. I am really excited to see what they have planned for our houses this year and see how they move them forward as the school continues to get better and better. Have a great week #Keepsmiling #bethebestyoucanbe #proudprincipal Take care Enjoy your weekend James BattsPrincipal Read More

Dear SIA Community It all felt so positive in school this week as we said ‘goodbye to face masks and hello to smiles’. When I joined SIA a year ago we started the year on distance learning and spent a good part of the year working through the challenges COVID presented whilst striving to offer the best provision possible for our learners. We have come such a long way in a year and I think we are all excited for what this year has to offer and I for one cannot wait to have more enrichment opportunities available. Our Learner Leaders are really setting the tone across SIA and I have really valued spending time with them this week as they are truly awesome. They have been very busy this week setting up and running our new charity drive for the people affected by the Pakistani Floods. They have been working hard in collaboration with the Pakistani Association Dubai to gather dry goods, blankets, hygiene supplies and monetary donations in order to support those in need. I am very proud of our learners who continue to grow into global citizens, displaying their concern for all members of society. HPL could be seen and heard where ever you may be heading around school with a highlight being how the HPL language was being developed in so many lessons. In Primary our learners could be heard explaining how they are hardworking and how they can show empathy towards their friends. Learners really understand this language and can relate to being ‘Harry the Hardworking Hedgehog, Ellie the Empathetic Elephant or Alan the Agile Alligator’. I am sure you can imagine the big smile on my face when dropping into these lessons. Such a pleasure and I cant wait for more of the same next week. Have a wonderful weekend and please do encourage your children to spend some time using literacy planet, bug club and Century tech. #bethebestyoucanbe #Highperformancelearning #proudprincipal Take care Enjoy your weekend James Batts Principal Read More

Dear SIA Community What a lovely week we have had and I would like to thank Mr Ahmed and Ms Maha for coming in to see me to discuss the future of FOSIA and our focus on Sustainability, Charity and Mindfulness. We are really keen to grow the FOSIA with the view of getting our parents more involved in enrichment opportunities and raising the awareness of these important areas. Although Mr Andy leads on this we are all excited to be involved as a shared responsibility. I would like to thank you for such a strong attendance to our ‘Meet and Greets’ and I appreciate the positive feedback. In our secondary meet and greet our learner leadership team took the lead alongside Ms Kush, Mr Donal, Mr Andy and Ms Fareeha in showcasing all the new systems and improvements we are putting in place in secondary as we continue to progress on our HPL journey. I am really enjoying having our amazing learner leaders so involved and I am looking forward to seeing how this wonderful group grows. We also celebrated gratitude day on Thursday where our learners were able to share what they are grateful for which was refreshing to hear. We had a company come in to deliver a seminar for our Year 12 and 13 classes about studying in universities abroad on Wednesday and it helped the learners to research more into the endless possibilities available to our hard working and resilient learners. We held our house elections to continue adding to our ever-growing learner leadership team on Thursday, it was fantastic to see our learners creating campaign and analysing the needs of their peers. Congratulations to all who were involved. Finally, we also launched the sign up for our ECAs which will offer a range of choices for our learners to further themselves academically, athletically and creatively after school on Mondays. These will begin on the 26th of September. #bethebestyoucanbe #Highperformancelearning #proudprincipal Take care Enjoy your weekend James Batts Principal Read More

Dear SIA Community As I go on my daily walk around school I am so proud of how far we have come on our development journey and our intensified focus towards our High Performance Learning goals. I can really see how our learners are understanding the HPL language and are demonstrating the metathinking, self-regulation and a number of our Values, Attitudes and Attributes. For example today I met Eliza Aguilar in year 5 who walked past with her home learning project, which was to construct a solar system. It was so awesome that I just had to grab a photo, which you will see in the newsletter. She had demonstrated a number of HPL skills that would fall under the headings Linking, Analyzing and Creating. For example this project took imagination and precision but also the all important attribute of perseverance as she worked diligently and systematically to complete her wonderful project. This week I also attended our learner leaders first assembly where they promoted the house elections to the students of KS4 and KS5. House election campaigns have begun and the school is buzzing with excitement for the upcoming elections I also, had some positive parent partnership where the parents of Mariam, Mr. and Mrs. Mohamed Elshahawy came in to share their proud parent moments with me. I often have these learning conversations with Ms Verma our CEO and the extended board members as we consider ourselves to be thought partners to support the growth of SIA. Ms Verma is one of those inspirational leaders who has ‘walked the talk’ in terms of our HPL VAA’s over the years. Her story is quite compelling and if you are keen to learn more please follow the link below: CLICK HERE #bethebestyoucanbe #Highperformancelearning #proudprincipal Take care Enjoy your weekend James Batts Principal Read More

Dear SIA Community What a week at SIA and only week two. We started this week with recognising and raising awareness for charity on the International Day of Charity and ended the week focusing in on Literacy for the International Day of Literacy. These are both very important to us at SIA as supporting Charity is one of our key initiatives and links with our HPL philosophy through empathy and concern for society. I have to admit my favourite part was seeing our learners in primary taking part in buddy reading. Where we got to see and hear all learners reading to each other they were reading with passion, expression and excitement. Promoting reading and literacy is also one of our big focuses at SIA as you will be aware with our ever developing provision for reading and literacy that includes Literacy Planet, Bug Club, Read Write Ink, Century Tech and our parents coming in to support reading. Literacy planet, Bug Club and Century tech are all resources that are to be used both in school and at home daily so if you need any support please do contact your child’s teacher who will be happy to help. This week we had our learner leadership selection process which was an amazing opportunity for me to hear the ideas and dreams of our Sixth Form learners. This process showcased how much our learners have embraced our VAAs and want to help promote them to our school community. The Head boy and Head girl interviews were just amazing and again demonstrated just what wonderful and talented learners we have at SIA. My focus was on the VAA’s as part of our HPL journey in order to be inclusive and support growing Empathy, Hardwork and Agility for all learners. I am very excited to see what our learner leaders action this year and will meet them regularly for updates. I would like to remind our parent community that support the school through parent partnership is vital for the success of our learners, your children. It is important to us that your voice is heard and that we have the chance to communicate how we are developing our provision to support your child’s future success as global citizens. As you know we have a parent committee ‘Friends of SIA’ and we would be keen to grow the parent representation so please do contact the school if you are interested in supporting the school to grow and have the time to get involved with supporting enrichment and learning. Finally, as a British School Overseas we today are saddened to learn of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. From serving in World War II through to her commitment to serving her country is something that certainly deserves great respect and we will take some time next week to pay tribute and reflect on the lessons we can learn from such an incredible individual. I wish you a very happy weekend #bethebestyoucanbe #Highperformancelearning #proudprincipal Take care Enjoy your weekend James Batts Principal Read More

Dear SIA Community What a wonderful first week back at school. I really enjoyed welcoming the learners back to school and meeting so many lovely families on the front gate and at pick up time. What really stood out for me was the number of happy faces, which as the Principal of SIA makes me feel really proud. I know we are planning some meet and greets next week in FS starting on the 6th. This an opportunity to come into school and learn more about our provision and some of our processes this year. For example we are very excited about introducing Read Write Ink and Century Tech. I know Ms Kush is keen to share her thoughts on planning for your childs ‘flight path’ through school and what that could look like with options and assessments. Keep an eye out for that dates and times of these sessions. For those of you who haven’t been able to meet Mr. Danny and Ms. Kush this week at the gates. Please watch their videos linked below. KUSH BAINS DANNY MELLOR We had a very special ceremony this week for our SIA High Performers which was attended by the director of SPEA Dr Ali Al Hosani and his esteemed colleagues. Dr Ali Al Hosani supported me with handing out certificates to our superstar High Performers and we enjoyed discussing our HPL journey as we continue to strive to become the first school in Sharjah to be HPL certified. This was a proud moment for all and our amazing learners certainly should give themselves a pat on the back. HIGHEST PERFORMERS CELEBRATION Next week is the International Day of Charity and I know Mr. Andy, our assistant head for pastoral and enrichment, is very keen to raise money for a good cause and will be sharing all the details with you soon. I wish you a very happy weekend #bethebestyoucanbe #Highperformancelearning #proudprincipal Take care Enjoy your weekend James BattsPrincipal Read More