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Al Yasmina School Primary Newsletter

13 December 2012

Issue 12

Dear Parents,

Dates for your Diary

Sunday 6 January - Start of Term

Monday 14 January - ECAs start

Farewell from Primary Principal, Mrs Tait

I would like to begin by sending a huge ‘Thank

you!’ for all your support and kind words.

I will leave Al Yasmina with many fond memories

which I will always cherish. It has been an

amazing experience meeting, and working, with

such great children, parents and staff. There are

very few jobs in this world that are so varied

bringing so much joy on a daily basis.

Thank you to the Friends of Al Yasmina for my

beautiful necklace and photograph album.

Parental support is so vital; I have really enjoyed

working in partnership with you all. Working together towards our shared goal: to provide the best,

holistic education for your child, has been both an honour and a great deal of fun.

The staff are a wonderful, motivated and creative team who have been a pleasure to work with. It

has been a joy to have worked with such an inspiring team.

Last but by no means least I have to mention the children. They are an absolute delight and have

made every day a joy. Thank you all for making my time here at Al Yasmina, and Abu Dhabi, a once

in a life time experience which I will never forget. Al Yasmina is truly a unique and special

community.

I send my fondest regards to the whole community, and I wish you all the very best for 2013 and the

future.

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From The Music Department

Wow, what a fabulous end to the term the Music Department has had!!

On Saturday, the children donned their Santa hats and turned up in force to provide musical

entertainment at the Festive Fayre. There were performances by the choirs, brass groups, pianists and

flute players, and the atmosphere was fantastic. Thank you and well done to all the children who

took part.

Monday evening saw the culmination of the term’s very hard work as over 400 children took part in

the Al Yasmina Festive Concert. There were stunning performances by five choirs, the orchestra, a

string ensemble, woodwind ensembles, brass ensembles, piano solos, plus a very special rendition of

a festive song by our guest performer – none other than Mr Gale! The audience, which was packed,

then joined the children in a hearty festive sing-along to round off a fabulous evening of

entertainment. Huge congratulations to all of the children who performed, and many thanks to our

wonderful instrumental teachers for getting these children to such a very high standard.

There was even more music to enjoy in assembly this

morning. Year 6 Ospreys played Jingle Bells on the

xylophones and glockenspiels as the children entered the

hall, which sounded really pretty. The Intermediate Choir

sang a specially-written farewell song to Mrs Tait, to wish her

all the best for her future.

Finally, a big well done to this week’s Musicians of the Week: Katherine Vandy (Year

3), who played her violin beautifully for the rest of her class; and Pippa Kelly (Year 2)

who sang as enthusiastically and musically as she always does in her music lesson.

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We’re already looking forward to next term and lots more exciting musical events. Meanwhile, the

Music Department would like to wish you all a VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY!

ABRSM Results

Congratulations to the following musicians for doing so well in their ABRSM instrumental exams:

Yasmin Gabi (Year 4 Wagtails) grade 1 flute Merit

Annabelle Harrison (Year 5 Mynahs) grade 1 clarinet Merit

Friend of Al Yasmina (FOY)

Festive Fayre

The festive fayre at the weekend raised more than 24,000 for Operation Smile, a yet-to-be-decided

charity and Al Yasmina School. Many thanks to FOY for organising this successful event.

Joseph Inaty from Year 3 Curlews is proud winner of guessing the amount of ‘candy

in the jar’ -competition. The winning guess was 1350!

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FOYVEG

FOYVEG is ON for the New Year! We are partnering with the Abu Dhabi Farmers' Services

Centre (ADFSC) to deliver fresh, high-quality, low-priced vegetables to parents at the

school.

Please place your orders now with Lisa at FOYVEG@hotmail.com. The deadline for

January orders is Thursday, January 10. Full payment in cash is due by 3.30pm on

Monday, January 14. Payment should be placed in an envelope with your name, email and phone

number on the front, and dropped in the FOYVEG box in the atrium. Order choices for January

include soup mix (7kg) 30dhs, salad mix (7kg) 40dhs and veggie mix (2kg or 7kg), 15dhs/40dhs.

The first scheduled delivery is Wednesday, 16 January from 1.30 - 3.30pm, delivery location to be

confirmed. Orders must be collected directly from the truck. After 3.30pm, all remaining boxes will

be delivered to reception. Neither reception nor FOY is responsible for the boxes once they arrive in

reception. Boxes unclaimed by Thursday morning will be given away to school labourers, so please

collect your vegetables on time (or send a friend if you can't make it).

There will be deliveries on January 16, 23 and 30 from 1.30pm - 3.30pm. You will be informed of the

truck location. We will not take weekly orders, so please order for the month (e.g. John Smith - soup

mix x 3; plus veggie mix (2kg) x 3). Payment in this case would be 30dhs x 3 + 15dhs x 3 = 135dhs.

We look to expand to other produce in February and move to on-line ordering and payment. ADFSC

will have sample veggie boxes on display at Al Yasmina the first week of the second term (6 - 10

January). Please spread the word! All profits from this venture go to local Abu Dhabi farmers with 10

per cent going to FOY to support our students and charities. The service will be expandedto include

produce in February and future plans include on-line ordering.

Questions? Contact Lisa at FOYVEG@hotmail.com

From the Arabic Department

قام طالب الصف الرابع بالتعرف على الجملة االسمية والفعلية من خالل األنشطة التفاعلية الصفية.

قام طالب الصف الخامس بالتعرف على الحروف الناسخة من خالل األنشطة التفاعلية الصفية وقد استمتعوا بأداء دور المعلم الصغير من خالل سرد قصة أصحاب الجنة .

وتم اإلعالن عن نجم األسبوع في الصف الخامس الطالبة زينة فؤاد ومن الصف الرابع مارك ،حيي، نورا ،لينا وسعود

Year 4 learn about the kinds of sentence through classroom interactive activities.

Year 5 students learn about grammar through classroom interactive activities and they enjoy acting

the teacher role through the curriculum story.

The star of the week in Year 5, Zaina Fouad and in Year 4 Mark, Haii, Nora, Lena and Saud).

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From the PE Department

Touch Rugby Schools League – Term 2:

Starting in term 2, primary children will have the opportunity to compete for the school in Touch

Rugby. Each Monday Al Yasmina will host the Abu Dhabi Touch Rugby Schools League which

will involve teams of mixed U9 and U11 boys and girls. The competition will take place between

3:30pm and 5pm following on from ECA clubs.

Children have already signed up for the ECA's however they can still sign up for the touch

rugby team if they wish. Please send an email to Miss Oliver (joliver@alyasmina.sch.ae) with

your child’s name and class to sign up.

They may also wish to sign up to the ECA club that will take place on Monday 2:30pm until

3:30pm for all primary ages, Tuesday 2:30pm until 3:30pm for years 3 and 4, Wednesdays

2:30pm until 3:30pm for years 5 and 6. Link: www.uaetouch.ae

From the Finance Office

All term 2 tuition and bus fee invoices (hard copy) were given to students during this week. Term 2

fees are due on Sunday, 6 January 2013.

The Finance office will be open during the break. The working hours are Sunday to Thursday from

9am until 2pm.

Foundation Stage 1 (FS1)

This week FS1 have been busy making craft items and cooking yummy treats. We even made

snowmen with our fingerprints and then drew on little hats, scarves and carrot noses.

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Our topic after the break is ‘At the Zoo!’ We will be exploring all sorts of animals from around the

world, starting with us going on a safari! We are very excited to see what animals we will meet along

the way. This week we have started making animals from the zoo to display in our class windows.

In the first week of Term 2 all of the FS1 classes will start their swimming lessons. Please ensure your

child brings their swimming kit on the correct day, including a towel. If your child still needs help to

dress and undress, please practice this with them over the holiday as it is very important that they

can change quickly for swimming. Thank you!

We would like to wish you all a very happy, relaxing end of year holiday.

Congratulations to last week’s ‘Stars of the Week

A well BIG ‘Well Done’ to all of our ’Stars of the Week’ from last week:

Sebastian Greene from Yellow Class, Louis Woods from Green

Class, Reem Aitaee from Blue Class, Grae Mileham from White

Class, Fatima Al Mansoori from Red Class and Nandi Dube

from Gold Class.

AND to our ‘Stars of the Week’ from two weeks ago:

Abdulla Al Mosa from Yellow Class, Sultan Al Nahdi from Green

Class, Latifa Al Hammadi from Gold Class, Haya Al Ramahi from

White Class, Khaled Al Kaddah from Blue Class and Ghaya Al

Hameli from Red Class.

Foundation Stage 2 (FS2)

Happy holidays everyone!!!

FS2 have had a fabulous term and have learnt so much!! We have had great fun telling our friends

things about ourselves and showing our teachers all the clever things we know– what I want to be

when I grow up day was the best day ever!! We have also had a great time learning about and

tasting different foods from around the world. Ask us about the interesting facts we have learnt about

lots of different countries - you will be astounded!!

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Next term we have got lots of exciting things planned as we move on to our new topic ‘At the zoo’.

The children will need to get their binoculars ready in the week beginning the 27th January, as we set

off on an animal hunt to The Emirates Park Zoo. We will be taking it in turns (one class per day) to visit

the zoo and see how a real life one works. A letter, outlining all the information you will need, will be

sent out in the first week back of school.

As there was no newsletter last week we would like to say congratulations to last week’s ‘Stars

of the Week’…

Mikyla Coetzee from Orange class, Salma Sari from Amber class, Joseph Sassine from Purple class,

Shaikha Al Hosani from Ruby class, James Vandy from Jade class.

We would like to say our final congratulations for 2012, to the boys and girls who have been our ‘Stars

of the Week’ this week. The class mascots are all very proud of you!!

Well done to…

Mansoor Al Junaibi from Orange class, Anees Mohammed from Amber class, Rian O’Connell from

Purple class, Iris Hutchenson from Ruby class, Mariam Al Shamsi from Jade class.

Good luck to Anees Mohammed who is leaving us this term. We hope you have a fantastic time at

your new school, we will miss you.

Finally all the teachers and children would like to say a very big thank you to our classroom assistants

and helping hands who have been amazing this term, we wish you a very happy and restful

holiday!!!

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Year 1

Firstly, we would like to thank all the parents who joined us for the

Open House Celebration on Sunday. It was a pleasure to see so

many parents come along and join in our festive activities. We hope

you enjoyed the opportunity to see us at work and participate in

our learning!

On Tuesday Year 1 ventured out on their first school trip to the

Heritage Village. It was a very exciting day for everyone involved!

Our trip was linked to our topic Houses and Homes and also our Social Studies lessons about Bedouin

culture in the UAE. We had the chance to experience what it feels like to sit in a Bedouin Tent and

see real camels up close! We had a fantastic day out and we would like to thank all the parents who

volunteered to help make this trip so successful. We are looking forward to the next one already.

The Year 1 Team would like to thank all the parents for their support this term and wish you all a very

happy and safe holiday. We look forward to seeing you again in January!

Congratulations to last week’s ‘Stars of the Week’

Here are our wonderful Stars for the last two weeks:

Abdullah Al Hammadi (Sparrows), Alex Miragliotta (Cuckoos), Khalid Al Balooshi (Larks), Ali Massad

(Robins) and Cassidy Joseph (Doves).

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And last week’s Stars of the week”

Harriet Carmichael (Sparrows), Sarah Sari (Larks), Kiera Follows (Cuckoos), and Neiva Officer(Doves)

Grace Wilkinson (Robins).

Year 2

Last week Year 2 have climbed back into their time machine and left behind The

Great Fire of London, 1666 to return to the present time to learn all about dragons!

In Literacy we have been reading several different dragon stories and completing a book review.

We have read ‘George and the Dragon,’ ‘The Paperbag Princess’ and ‘The Dragon Machine.’ Have

you read these stories? Which is your favourite and why?

In Maths this week we are learning about division. Poor Dennis the Dragon has lost his dividing flames

so we have had to complete lots of activities and help him to solve the problems.

During our open morning the children read the story ‘Tell Me a Dragon’ which has the most beautiful

illustrations. They used this book to help them design their own dragons. We then painted or used

collage materials to make our dragons come to life. The children worked really hard on these and

they all look fantastic.

We are looking forward to becoming photographers next term during our ‘Click’ topic. We will out

and about in Abu Dhabi taking photographs which we are going to be using in some exciting ways!

Congratulations to last week’s ‘Stars of the Week’

Last Weeks Stars of the Week were: Flamingos – Henry Clifton, Sandpipers – Motumi Mapetla, Storks -

Thomas Hodgson, Herons – Mahmoud Anani, Spoonbills – Ali Nizameddin.

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This Weeks Stars of the Weeks are:

Flamingos – Giulia Franchini, Sandpipers – Jad Haddad, Storks – Lara Elsisi. Herons – Danish Husni,

Spoonbills – Dana Busaibe.

Year 3

The end of a very busy term has come already. We

have learned a great deal about the Ancient

Egyptians and the children are now officially grown

up members of Key Stage Two! Thank you once

again for all of your support throughout the term

with projects, homework and costume making.

We have some fantastic photos of the day if you

would like a copy please send a USB in next term

and we can put them on for you.

We have had a very busy last week of

term. The children have put all of their

learning about ‘instructions’ to good

use and have made lemonade,

Chocolate Crispy cakes and Honey

Joys this week. They have also been

consolidating their number skills by

solving problems.

Now that we have finished learning about The Ancient Egyptians we can look forward to starting our

new topic in January – Australia. We will begin by finding out about where Australia is in the world.

We will link our literacy work by studying some traditional Australian Myths and legends. In Maths we

will begin learning about how to tell the time.

We would like to wish everyone a happy and safe winter break and look forward to welcoming

everyone back in January for another busy, fun packed term.

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Congratulations to ‘Stars of the Term’

Dexter Power – Curlews, Raees Liaqat- Cormorants, Lottie

Commons – Terns, Kaitlin Strika – Buntings, Naina Menon –

Ravens

Year 4

Year 4 have had a very successful first

term with a great ending. The children

and teachers all really enjoyed our trip to

Dubai. The children were extremely

brave reaching the top of the world’s

tallest building and produced some

excellent sketches of the Burj Al Arab.

We were very proud of the children’s

behavior on both days of the trip.

This week has seen our talented musicians and singers performing

at the school festive concert, a huge well done to those who took

part. In literacy this week we have been going back to basics to

brush up our writing skills in preparation for next term. In maths the

children have been getting creative with coordinates and using

compass points to follow directions. In science the children have

been improving their investigative skills. Next term we are looking

forward to starting our Roman topic and preparing for our exciting

residential trip to Hatta.

The Year 4 team would like to thank all of our parents for their

support so far this year and hope everyone has an enjoyable and

relaxing holiday.

Congratulations to last week’s ‘Stars of the Week

Well done to last week’s stars Abdullah Alkindi, Alfonso

Alexio, Yanaal Niyazi, Amna Al Hammadi and Syed Mustafa.

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Year 5

Wow….what an exciting term! It has flown by so quickly and so much has been achieved. The

children have grown in confidence and have shown some amazing talents.

Our F1 topic week last week was the perfect way to finish the term. It gave the children the

opportunity to combine their creative skills along with the knowledge that they

have acquired over the past few weeks. In groups, they each took on a job

role and developed a complete F1 team. Between them they decided on a

name for the team, designed and created an aerodynamic F1 car, designed

(and in some cases produced) a team uniform consisting of a cap and shirt,

wrote a mission statement and presented a sales pitch to explain how they

came up with their ideas. The children worked incredibly hard and showed

fantastic enthusiasm for this task and all the year 5 teachers were really

impressed with the teamwork shown. All children must be commended for

their efforts.

The team shirts for Fast and Furious and Champion Cheetahs from

Parakeets

Every team produced work to be proud of but unfortunately we could

only choose one winner per class. Thank you to all those Year 5 parents

who helped in the impossible task of judging the following winners:

Supersonic Cheaters from Nightjars, Fast and Furious from Parakeets,

Lightning Bolt from Mynahs, Voltz from Sunbirds and Thunder Smashers

from Swallows.

The children voted on every other presentation in the year group to decide on an overall winner for

the year group.

Congratulations to Blazing Flamez from Nightjars who

produced a very professional presentation. Here they are

with their uniform design. What an eye-catching display of

colour!

The Year 5 teachers are all looking forward to another brilliant term after the winter break and would

like to wish you a very happy and restful holiday.

Reminders :

• Please remember to take photos of any coastlines you might see if you are travelling this

holiday ready for our new topic, Changing coastlines.

• Bring in any old newspapers or cardboard/boxes etc. for use in Art/DT

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Congratulations to last week’s ‘Stars of the Week

Dana Al Marzouqi (Mynahs), Beth Wormley (Parakeets),

Areesha Hassan (Sunbirds), Alyaa Alhosani, (Nightjars) and

Wasay Khan (Swallows).

Year 6

What a wonderful last couple of weeks the Year 6 have had this term. The trip to Parti Perfect was a

huge success and the children thoroughly enjoyed making their various chocolates and truffles… I

think however the eating part was the most enjoyable by pupils and teachers alike!

The children have worked tirelessly on their chocolate enterprise, designing posters and making

boxes as well as creating unique and tasty chocolate treats that were sold on Wednesday. The

children have had to think about pricing, profit and margins and apply this all to the Big Sale. All

profits made (after the parents have been paid back the initial ingredient costs) will be going

towards the purchase of an electric wheelchair. A child in Year 6 has a cousin who suffers from

Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a condition that results in significant muscle wasting and deterioration

throughout the body. As mobility becomes trickier, the child’s independence is being hampered. By

availing of an electric

wheelchair, the child will be able to remain independent for as long as possible. I am sure you will

agree that this is a very worthwhile cause to support.

I would like to congratulate the children on a very successful first term in year 6. The children have

impressed me with their hard work and determination. I know that this will continue through to 2013.

Of course 2013 will be a very exciting and challenging year for the children; they will complete their

‘primary’ education and move onto secondary. We will all be working hard to ensure that the

children will be fully prepared both academically and socially.

The year 6 team and I would like to thank all the parents for help that has been given throughout the

term in school, and of course the help and support you offer your children at home. Have a

wonderful, safe and enjoyable break.

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Well done to our stars of the week this week!

Congratulations to last week’s Stars of the week. A great

example of positive attitude, impeccable manners, and

determination to do their best. Well done children!

Garrance Queromain, Harvey Abbas, Kristina George, Adriano

Cantelmi