DESC Newsletter 14

I will begin my first newsletter of this New Year with some uplifting news.  You may remember from my newsletter at the end of last term that I updated you on Hannah Muldoon, the Year 11 student who fell critically ill on the Performing Arts trip in November.  During the Winter Break, we received encouraging messages that Hannah’s condition had improved and that she had regained consciousness and was no longer in a critical condition.  Her health situation has steadily developed and is getting better each day.  Hannah remains in hospital and faces more challenges in her quest to return to full health, however, it was a delight to see her pictured with family and opening up gifts with a smile on her face.  We continue to wish her well and our thoughts are with her and her family.  This is great news to begin the new term, new year and new decade.

A belated Happy New Year to you all and I trust you had a restful and enjoyable Winter Break.  I enjoyed reading many reviews over the holiday, a number of which attempted to compile the ‘best’ films, sports people, music etc. of the decade.  One article in particular caught my eye that outlined the ’15 super-trends that defined the decade’.  They were: the plastic backlash, women’s rights, streaming, veganism, renewables, mental health, rethinking gender, women’s football, vaping, smartphones, social media, fracking, austerity, migration and populism. Quite a list and you can read the full article here. This made me think about the decade ahead and what we can expect to be dominant themes over the next ten years.  Here is my own meta-analysis of what is to come based on the limited reading I have done – I hope you find it interesting and it evokes some curiosity.

2020-2029 will involve 5G, climate change, ubiquitous AI, global collaboration, cheap renewable energy, cures for major diseases, autonomous vehicles and flying cars, on-demand everything, cellular agriculture, space tourism, new currencies and apparently, Liverpool may even win the Premier League?! Remember where you heard all this first.  Like the last decade, the new one will bring major changes, challenges and incredible opportunities.  Our children, Generation Z, will become the next leaders and inherit the responsibility for navigating the decade after that. I hope we can help make an impact this year, and in the next ten years, to help prepare them for the ‘challenges they will face tomorrow’…as we say at DESC.  I am clearly not the only person who has been thinking about the future. This year has been designated by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as one to prepare for the next 50 years of progress and development here in the UAE.

Back to the present, and the weather has been the talking point over the last week and I would like to thank you for your support and kind words following our decision to open on Sunday.  This is becoming a contentious issue, faced by all schools, and not one that is necessarily going to have a favourable outcome for all concerned each time we face a similar situation.  Whenever we have a decision to make, our primary concern is for the health and safety of all students and members of our community.  We have to base the decision on the condition of the College and surrounding areas and our decision to remain open on Sunday was made due to the fact that we were able to be operational – thanks to the hard work, once again, of our site staff.  Given that, inevitably, we will face similar situations in the future, I feel it is worth stressing that we respect individual decisions based on safety and ability to travel and that, therefore, not all students may be able to attend on days when the weather is adverse.  The decision is yours as parents and we fully understand if your child is not able to attend under such circumstances.  Hopefully, the weather will now settle, and this will not be an issue over the course of the rest of this term.

All parents have been sent an email with a link to a survey.  As the email explains, we have visitors in College from Sunday, 26^th January as part of an inspection under the British Schools Overseas framework.  We would appreciate as many responses as possible.  We always find any feedback helpful and use it as part of our development.  Equally, the information provided is always used by our visitors to help them make a judgement on the quality of provision your children are experiencing and how engaged you are as parents in your children’s education.  It should not take too much time to complete and I thank you for your cooperation in engaging with this opportunity.  Click HERE to access the survey.

Year 11 students are currently immersed in mock examinations with the Year 13 students soon to follow. We hope they use this opportunity to ready themselves for the final push towards the examinations in GCSE, AS, A level and the final assignments required from our BTEC students. 

For the rest of the College it is business as usual as we continue into the New Year; ECAs have begun, trips will take place, learning continues, and we wait with anticipation for the stories to unfold as we make our way through 2020. Perhaps flying cars may be the answer if this weather continues to cause issues?

Once again, best wishes for 2020, thank you for your continued support and I hope the weekend is enjoyable and restful.

Chris Vizzard
Headteacher

DESC Junior Maths Cup 2020

On Tuesday, 14th January, we held another very successful Junior Maths Cup.

Eleven Dubai Primary Schools attended and all of the pupils had a very enjoyable morning. JPS were victorious taking the top place, with Repton coming second and Royal Dubai School claiming third place.

All the schools that took part displayed huge amounts of teamwork and great mathematical prowess throughout the day’s activities. Well done to everyone and thank you to their teachers for coming along to support them.

Workshops at the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy

Living within the UAE we are fortunate enough to have so many enriching opportunities for our students at DESC. This week was no different as the Performing Arts faculty took over 30 students to Sharjah Performing Arts Academy for a day of inspiring workshops. We began the day with a tour of their exceptional facilities, including their green screen, industry-standard recording studios and their impressive theatre. Our talented students were then challenged with workshops in Acting, Dance and Musical Theatre. A plethora of activities allowed students to develop and demonstrate their improvisation, as well as vocal and physical talent.

We look forward to collaborating with SPAA on future projects.

Be sure to check out all the updates on our Performing Arts Twitter and Instagram @DescPerforming where you will find pictures and videos of us in action.

Dialogue That Matters

The New Year has kicked off with yet more 1:1 character conversations with tutees, allowing time to talk about not only the red weeks, data and progression but how your son or daughter is doing in College/life right now. 

Here at DESC, we feel it is very important to build relationships with the students and to also give students the forum to be able to share successes, concerns, worries, targets and achievements from both inside and outside of the College with their Form Tutors. 

Students can often worry about asking questions in group settings, so this also gives them opportunities to ask questions and, possibly even more importantly, the teachers have time to listen to the student more carefully than when presented as a whole form.

It’s a nice environment in the Houses when you see the relationships between the tutors and their tutees, and  one student stated; “I can tell that my teacher cares, it was interesting to share similar experiences of different subjects with my teacher and not only did they get to know me more, I got to know them more too!”  

It is this comment that made me realise that the emphasis here should be related to successes, mindset, wellness and students being aware of self-efficacy. Let’s praise these students for who they are, not just the grades they get. Happiness in life is not just grades, in-fact it is love, and you can’t love without loving yourself first.  So instead let’s look them in the eye and say ‘how are you?

A very interesting TedTalk for parents helps support this notion.

Performing Arts Collaborates with Ranches Primary School

Never let it be said that DESC staff aren’t up for a challenge!  On Monday, rather than the comfort of the Performing Arts department, Miss Neate and Miss Wetherell found themselves in the Foundation Stage of Ranches Primary School delivering Performing Arts workshops based on The Jungle Book.

This was an excellent opportunity to strengthen the links between the two schools further.  FS2 are currently learning about the animals that live in the jungle and their performances of The Bare Necessities included characterisation and vocalization of different animals that you would find in this habitat. The children developed skills such as musicality, communication, coordination, collaboration and confidence. The sessions were met with great enthusiasm from the children and staff and we very much look forward to returning in the future.