Al Yasmina School Primary Newsletter

13 September 2012

Issue 01

Dear Parents,

Message from the Primary Principal, Mrs. Tait

Welcome back to Al Yasmina! We have had a wonderful start to the new academic year. The

atmosphere in school has been wonderful. This week, the Principal of The Pearl Primary School visited

and her comments were glowing, commenting on the calm and purposeful atmosphere throughout

the Primary school.

The children are really enjoying hearing the U.A.E National Anthem each morning and it‟s a rousing

way to start the day. Once the anthem has played, the children know that the school day has

started, so please endeavor to be in school before this. We also ask that all parents and visitors stand

silently when you hear the anthem playing, as a mark of respect and to be good role models for the

students.

Safeguarding Issues

As part of our safeguarding review we have introduced a few new procedures:

Parent and visitor access to school- As from Sunday, FS1& FS2 parents will be able to bring

children into the classroom to support their child settling into new routines from 7:45 am.

As from Sunday, Year 1- Year 6 parents will not be allowed access into the building. For the

parents of younger children, please rest assured- staff will be strategically placed around

school to help them.

School bell to start day- The bell will be replaced with 3 whistles to indicate the following:

Whistle 1 - all children stand still

Whistle 2 – KS1 enter the school building

Whistle 3 – KS2 enter the school building

We will also display signs so the children know when to go into school. We hope that this will

reduce the number entering the doors at the same time. Please assist your child in

understanding the new procedures.

End of day- We are aware the end of the day can be quite difficult, due to the number of

students in primary and with this in mind, we have reviewed our procedures.

- Parents are asked to wait at the shaded area by the climbing frames to ensure clear

walkway through for classes to collection point.

- Teachers will bring their class out for collection from the playground at designated

times.

- Once they have assembled the class teacher will raise their class sign, to indicate that

parents may collect their child. Please do not remove your child from the class line

whilst they are walking to collection point.

- Any children not collected 10 minutes after finish of the school day will be taken into the

reception area. Their name will be written in a register and parents are requested to

sign out, in the presence of the receptionists, so that we know who has collected the

children.

Collection Points at the end of the day:

Year 1 will stand behind the picket fence outside FS1

Year 2 will wait under the shade in class groups.

Year 3 will stand behind the picket fence outside FS2

Year 4/5/6 will stand in the shaded area

Apologies for all the rules and regulations, however with such a large number of people and

children‟s safety being paramount, it is essential we get it right. I know that once ECA‟s begin,

numbers outside at the end of the day will reduce and many problems eliminated. Thank you in

advance for your support and cooperation, it is most appreciated.

Communication via email

From next week, communication to parents will be through a single daily „mailshot‟. We are working

towards limiting the number of emails sent to parents. All relevant Year group letters or documents

will be sent to parents at the end of each school day. If there are no letters or documents for a

particular year group on the day, we will inform you that there are none.

Mrs. Annie Elmer - 40 Years in Education !

The start of the school year 2012-13 is particularly special for

one of Al Yasmina‟s founding members of staff, Mrs. Annie

Elmer. This year marks the start of Mrs. Elmer‟s 40th year of

teaching, yes that is 120 terms!

Mrs. Elmer began her teaching career in 1972, in Perth,

Scotland. She worked in a variety of different schools, both

in the cities and rural areas for Perth and Kinross Council. In

1998, Mrs. Elmer was given the opportunity to work in a

specialised base for children with Autism. After a couple of

months, she was hooked!

In May 2008 Mrs. Elmer swapped the rolling hills and lochs of

Scotland for the sunshine and sand of Abu Dhabi, ready to help prepare Al Yasmina for its grand

opening taking up the post of Primary Special Need Coordinator (SENCO). As the SENCO, Mrs. Elmer

not only teaches children throughout the primary school, but coordinates their learning support

needs. As well as working with many of the children at Al Yasmina, Mrs. Elmer continues to be a pillar

of support, sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience with all of the staff at Al Yasmina for

which we are all immensely grateful.

Anyone who has made it to 40 years in teaching definitely deserves a gold medal! We wish Mrs.

Elmer an amazing 40th teaching year at Al Yasmina.

Message from Reception

Lateness

If your child is late to school, please report to the Primary Reception for a late pass before going to

class. If they are not marked in on the register each day, we will need to send a message to inform

the parent that their child is absent. It is imperative that this is adhered to as we do need to know if

children are present in case of any emergencies.

Absent

Please contact the school if your child is absent the day. If they are not marked in on the register

each day, we will need to send a message to inform the parent that their child is absent. You can

contact the school by telephone (02 501 4888) or send a text message stating the reason why they

are absent to the following mobile number: 050 619 7351.

Lost Property

All lost items will be available after 1.30pm at Main Reception. For all named items, an email shall be

generated to the parent to advise that the item is with us. If it is not marked, I will donated it to our

second hand uniform shop.

Forgetting things at home!

We ask that all forgotten books, lunchboxes, PE kits etc. that are brought to the Primary Reception,

be marked clearly. We ask that parents encourage their children to take responsibility in

remembering what to bring in on the specific day.

Friend of Al Yasmina (FOY)

Welcome Picnic

FOY would like to invite parents and students of Al Yasmina to our FOY Welcome Picnic on Saturday,

22 September from 4pm – 6pm. Please see attached flyer for more details.

Disco

FOY is hosting a Primary Disco for all children in Year 1 – Year 6 on Sunday, 30 September in the

Primary Sports Hall.

Year 1 – Year 3 will be from 4pm – 5pm (15dhs includes snack and drink)

Year 4 – year 6 will be from 5.30pm – 7pm (20dhs includes snack and drink)

Tickets will be available at the door.

From the School Nurses

Medications in School

Please note that if your child has a medical condition which

requires him/her to take medication / inhaler, you will need to

notify the school nurses on 02-5014722 and provide the school

clinic with spare medication for emergency in school / on school

trips usage.

All medications handed into the school nurses need to be in their

original container with a copy of the doctor‟s prescription. The

prescribing doctor should be a Health Authority Abu Dhabi

(HAAD) registered doctor.

HAAD has issued new standards regarding the administration of medications in schools, which we are

obliged to follow. This will result in new forms which will need to be completed by all parents, to

include “medications prescribed by a treating physician” and “medication required in an

emergency situation occurring within a school”. The new forms will be e-mailed to parents in the

coming week and will also be available as hard copies in the school clinic.

From the Primary Library

The primary library would like to welcome the children and parents back to school. The children (with

the exception of FS1) have started taking out library books this week, and the FS1 will visit us once

they have settled into their classes. Please remember to bring your book bags each week in order to

be able to take out library books. Year 3 had a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate their moving

up to the Key Stage 2 area of the library, where they can now take out two library books each week.

Please remember to bring your book bags each week in order to be able to take out a library book.

Next week we will be celebrating Roald Dahl week and a giant peach will be moving throughout the

school for the children to find. A house point will be awarded to the classes who are able to spot the

peach each day!

Year 3 Cormorants excitedly cutting the ribbon before

entering the Key Stage 2 area of the library for the first time

this academic year.

Foundation Stage 1 (FS1)

Hello everyone and welcome to FS1. We all arrived this week and have now met our teachers and

made some new friends. We have done so well learning class routines and finding our lockers and

classrooms each day. Next week we will be staying for the full day, finishing at 1.45 pm. Please make

sure the adults who collect us arrive on time. Thank you.

We have an exciting week ahead next week as we meet our specialist teachers who will be taking us

for Music, PE and Library each week. They are going to pop into our classrooms first to say hello so we

can start to remember their names and faces. Next week we will be learning about the Golden Rules

in our classrooms- Kind Hands, Kind Feet and Kind Words. Maybe having a little chat at home with our

parents will help us understand how we can try to behave in class and play nicely with our friends.

Next week FS1 will also start to explore their surroundings within school going to visit both the Shared

and Outdoor areas of the Foundation stage.

We need to bring our PE bags in to school every Sunday and it will stay in our locker for the full week.

We will take them home each Thursday to be washed ready for Sunday. Please can we ask parents

to check that all our school uniforms and lunch boxes are labeled properly as we are learning to look

after our belongings. Please include our name and our class on each and every item.

Next week we will celebrate our first Stars of the Week for FS1. Each class has a special mascot who is

allowed to go home and spend the weekend with someone from their class every week. You can

then put some pictures and writing in the mascot diary to show all the different things you did

together. It is such fun when we read all about it each Sunday when the mascot and the dairy come

back to class!

Have a lovely weekend and make sure you get lots of rest before your first week in school full-time!

Foundation Stage 2 (FS2)

Wow, what a great start to the year! All of the children have settled in so well and are enjoying

being back at school. This week we have been getting to know our new class members, talking

about our class rules and finding out what our friends have done over the summer – some of us have

been to some amazing places!

We have also been proving to our class teachers how clever we are with writing, phonics and maths

– the teachers have been very impressed!!!

Please can we remind you that the children should be eating a healthy snack e.g. fruit, and should

also bring a hat to school, every day. If your child does not have their hat they will not be allowed to

play outside. Thank you for your co-operation!

Next week

Next week our new topic „All about me and the things I know‟ starts with a mini focus on „Me‟. Here

are a few ideas on what you could do with your child at home:

Talk about how old they are and when their birthday is

Where they come from/where they were born

Start to think about the things they like and dislike

Practice counting to 10

Phonics Focus:

Revision of Phase 2 sounds: s a t p

Useful websites: http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/phase-2-games.html

http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/Phase2Menu.htm

Key dates

Wednesday 19th September – show and tell in class (children are allowed to bring one thing that is

special to them to show the class)

Year 1

Greetings from the Year 1 team! It‟s been full steam ahead in Year 1 since we started!

Our children have settled really well into their new classes, learning new names, new routines and

lasting fifteen minutes longer in the day! Our teachers too have also enjoyed meeting you all and

remembering new names!

So far, the „Ourselves’ topic this term has led us to find out all about

each other and made some funny faces to brighten our rooms! Our

homework books have been decorated fabulously! Well done

parents, helpers and children!

We are delighted to welcome a few new faces into

Year 1, including teachers!

Can you spot them?

We know that they have all settled well and made new

friends already.

Next week, some of our aims are to design, describe and decorate aliens in Literacy,

learn about our senses and record our family trees! You could support your child and us

by hearing them read and talking about their family relations.

Year 2

We have had an exciting start to our new school year! We have been exploring our new classrooms,

getting to know our new classmates and our new teachers.

We have started our new topic…. Creatures of the Desert. In ICT we have been

researching some creatures and completing an „Animal Information Log‟.

In literacy we have been reading Anthony Browne‟s „Into the Forest” and

writing our own version of the story. In maths we have been revising shape,

calculations, more than and less than.

Phew! What a busy first week!

Next week we will be looking at story settings and using Wow! Words to

describe them (ask your child for an example of a wow! Word and be

prepared to be impressed!) We will also be writing acrostic poems. In topic

we will be focusing on Bedouins and how they live and we will be making

some Bedouin related items in DT! Maths will be all about calculations!

Year 3

Welcome to Year 3. It has been a busy start to the term getting to know the children and establishing

class routines. All the children have settled in very well and are working hard with their new teachers

in their new classrooms.

Next Week‟s Learning focus will be:

Literacy- Comparing Fiction and non-fiction texts and identifying features of these.

Numeracy- The children will be learning their number bonds to 100, practicing the addition and

subtraction skills.

Science- As an introduction to our Teeth and Eating topic the children will learn about food types

and food groups.

Topic- We are learning about Ancient Egypt and the children will find out the importance of the Nile.

Trip information

We have a trip to Café Ceramique in Dubai planned for the week beginning the 23rd September.

Please let us know if you have not received the information /consent letter. We would ask that

payment and consent be returned to school no later than Wednesday the 19th please.

PIM

I look forward to seeing you at the Parent Information Meeting on the 19th of September to give you

more information and to answer any questions you have about Year 3. – Mrs Julia Hargrave

Year 4

It‟s been an excellent start to Year 4! Everyone has been working hard to settle their new classes in

and lots of wonderful work has already been produced. All of the classes now have a friendship tree

which we will help the children to forge new friendships and strengthen already existing ones. It has

been lovely to hear how the children spent their summer holidays and it was a nice surprise to the

teachers to see how eager they were to start the year! A big thank you to all the parents, who have

helped their children settle into Year 4 so easily - we feel it has been a very positive start to the year.

Next week:-

Next week, every child will have a reading book and will need to begin reading every night with an

adult. All children must bring in their reading books to school every day. As well, Year 4 are looking

forward to learning more about their new topic, „Healthy me, Amazing Me‟. Why not begin

researching into our new Science topic: Moving and Growing?

In Mathematics, the children will be starting a new unit that focuses on counting, partitioning and

calculating number. We will also be starting our new Literacy topic, based on the story „Georges

Marvelous Medicine.‟ Have the children read any Roald Dahl books before?

Year 5

Y5…Lights, Camera, Action…

It‟s been all go in Year 5, with everyone very excited by our first topic. We‟ve started by looking at

aspects of Pride, Aspiration, Respect and Trust (PART) and the children created their own Hollywood

style hand prints, which incorporated one of the PART values. These are created by Eve Miragliotta

and Ty Power.

We have also been looking at where we have come from in the world and have been celebrating

our similarities and differences within class by creating flags and caricatures of ourselves. This one was

created by Tiana Liyanage.

We are also delighted to welcome a few new faces into our Year 5 team. We hope that they have

enjoyed their first week in Al Yasmina and we look forward to getting to know all about them, as the

term goes on.

All in all, a great start to the year!

Next week in Maths, we will be working on Place Value and written methods for Addition and

Subtraction. In Literacy we are looking at the thoughts and feelings of different characters whilst

studying „Film Narrative‟. In Science we will be working on light and shadow, in our topic of „How we

see things‟. In Art & DT we are looking at the design of a zoetrope – do you have any idea what this

is? In ICT we are researching artefacts. Finally, in Topic, are looking at how the first moving images

were made.

Year 6

What a wonderful first week we have had in Year 6. The children have been busy completing a

variety of assessments, and have enjoyed the challenges these have offered. As well, we have

started our topic, „There‟s no place like home‟ and the children have been sharing their facts from

their home countries and dividing them into social, economic, historical, geographical, political and

cultural groups. It has been interesting comparing these facts with others in the class.

The Year 6 team is so pleased to see the children coming into school each day dressed so smartly

and with all the correct uniform… keep it up Year 6!

Next week we shall be reading, analysing and then creating our own mystery/detective stories…. So

get the old Sherlock films out and start hunting for clues! Children will be encouraged to use the

sentence openers that they were introduced to this week – so try to recap your work on ISPACE

please! In numeracy we shall be looking at counting, partitioning and calculating. It would be helpful

to remind the children about the value of negative numbers, what happens when you add a positive

to a negative number and recognising place value after a decimal point.

Dates for your Diary

Sunday 16 September - Rugby trials for U11s and U12s from 2.30pm – 3.30pm

Sunday 16 September - Year 6 Parent Information Meeting at 8am

Monday 17 September - Year 5 Parent Information Meeting at 8am

Tuesday 18 September - Year 4 Parent Information Meeting at 8am

Wednesday 19 September - FS2 Show and tell

Wednesday 19 September - Year 3 Parent Information Meeting at 8am

Thursday 20 September - Year 2 Parent Information Meeting at 8am

Saturday 22 September - FOY Welcome Picnic (see attached flyer for more details)

Tuesday 25 September - Individual Photos

Wednesday 26 September - Individual Photos

Al Yasmina School

Tel: 02 5014888

email: primarypa@alyasmina.sch.ae