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

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