DESC Newsletter 17

This week we witnessed an important event that is set to change the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. I am of course referring to Brexit when, on 31^st January 2020, the UK officially left the European Union. Whilst not wanting to delve into politics, this set me thinking about the nature of change around the world, how we might instigate change and, most of all, how to embrace alterations in our world. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “the only thing that is constant is change”.

Back in 1973, when Great Britain initially joined the then European Economic Community (EEC), 67.2% of voters were in favour of the decision. Some 43 years later, when the public were asked to vote in a referendum on whether we should remain in the European Union, 52% of the population voted to leave. There are members of the British public looking forward enthusiastically to the change that Brexit will bring whilst some citizens feel a degree of trepidation about the future. All we can know is that there will be significant changes for citizens of the UK in the coming months. As to whether the new relationship between the UK and Europe will be for the better, only time will tell. It will, however, be important for UK citizens to embrace the change.

There was another milestone this week. Last Sunday, 2^nd February marked the thirtieth anniversary of a momentous day in the history of a nation. After decades of segregation, violence, international isolation and internal division, South Africa ended apartheid and began the process of creating what Archbishop Tutu termed the ‘Rainbow Nation’. Many South Africans were fearful of the seismic transformation necessary in the ‘beloved country’ and it is true that South Africa’s journey has been difficult. However, most South Africans have embraced the new South Africa and continue to work for a society based on, in Nelson Mandela’s words, “justice, peace and prosperity for everybody and equality and solidarity among the people”.

We are reminded also that we face challenges and change in terms of climate. As creatures of habit and custom, it is difficult for many of us to alter our behaviour and embrace the changes necessary to combat the environmental problems confronting the world. It is clear that we struggle to grasp something as abstract and complex as climate change; too often we are not prepared to make the lifestyle compromises required for long-term benefit.

Success in adapting to ecological issues will indubitably require all of us to draw on our ingenuity and capacity to change. Similarly, the world of work will continue to evolve and offer the opportunity to embrace the inevitability of change. In a previous newsletter article, I discussed the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the ‘Exponential Age’, where I identified the changing nature of employment and jobs. I have been very fortunate in my career, being in the same profession all my working life. This is far from the norm and we need to prepare students for jobs that might not yet have been created. The skills involved in working in an employment landscape transformed by rapidly expanding automation and AI will present extraordinary challenges. Clearly it is important to develop students with a Growth Mindset who are able to embrace change.

I began with a pre-socratic philosopher but will close with the words of a contemporary wise man. Self-help guru Jack Canfield writes, “change is inevitable in life. You can either resist it and potentially get run over by it, or you can choose to cooperate with it, adapt to it and learn how to benefit from it. When you embrace change you will begin to see it as an opportunity for growth”.

Have a lovely weekend.

Roger Hancock
Assistant Headteacher

U12 DASSA Tennis Championships 2020

On Sunday and Tuesday of this week, our U12 and U16 tennis stars took part in the annual DASSA Tennis Championships. The tournaments were an enormous success for the College across the board, with impressive performances in both age groups.

The U12 team showed enormous character and resolve to go completely unbeaten in the tournament on the way to winning their championship titles. Cara Du Toit successfully won the U12 Girls Singles event, coupling brilliant skill and expertise under pressure and using her explosive forehand to devastating effect against what was really high-quality opposition from the like of GEMS WSO, Dubai College, Dubai International Academy and GEMS Metropole.

The U12 Boys Doubles event was equally impressive. Hayden Bitcon and Mate Vadasdi were a truly electric partnership, with stinging cross court backhands, strategically brilliant drop shots and wonderful support play from both players throughout the fixture. Most importantly, all three players showed wonderful character; they praised their opponents when good shots were played, commiserated them when shots went outside of the tramlines and showed impressive levels of humility and grace in their victory.

The U16 fixtures were incredibly closely fought, with the highest standard that staff had witnessed at U16 level to this point in the DASSA Tennis tournaments. Hadi Thabet and Ved Desai returned as defending champions of the DASSA Doubles Boys U16 champions of 2018-19. They fought hard and showed both passion and determination on court, winning the championship final with a brilliant service game.

Yahia Ahmed also played some outstanding tennis in the U16 DASSA Boys Singles, with his characteristically fiery forehand and ferocious backhand slice. He reached the final against the UAE No.2 ranked player. Playing at two years above his age group, this was an incredible achievement for Yahia; one to watch in future DASSA championships.

Finally, in the Girls U16 Doubles, Malak Sayed and Fareeda Ahmed partnered up to produce a brilliant performance against strong opponents throughout the competition. Both represented the College admirably, with wonderful attitude, grit and skill. In the end, they lost in the final to a tie break, which was a cruel way to end what was a brilliant overall performance.

The DESC Tennis team will now be looking forward to the UAE National Schools Tennis Championships later on in the year.

Mr J Roberts, Mr N Bradley and Mrs L Sturt

Year 13 BTEC Sport Residential

Belaying, traversing, handling of craft, capsizing, route planning… just a few of the key skills that the Year 13 BTEC Sport group had to learn and perform on camera as evidence for their outdoor and adventurous activities unit. The group of 17 headed off to Hatta Fort Hotel last Sunday, where they were met by the fantastic Adventure Centre team. The two-night action packed stay consisted of mainly rock climbing, kayaking and navigation skills in the beautiful Hajar mountains in Hatta. The first half was filled with laughter and a few nervous squeals as the students had to step out of their comfort zones whilst abseiling down dam walls, using knots that they had just learnt to tie themselves. Once the wind died down, we headed out to the picturesque Hatta Dam. The students were taken through key skills all morning before having to perform the dreaded capsizing drill, whereby they had to roll the boat, submerging themselves in the icy dam water.  Safe to say that their competence getting back into the boat far exceeded the willingness to jump out!

Huge thanks to the staff at the Adventure Centre for being so accommodating and helpful from start to finish!

DASSA Swimming Championships

Last week over 50 DESC students took part in the DASSA Swimming Championships, held at the Hamdan Sports Complex. In a day full of determined performances, the culmination of days, weeks, months and years of hard work, our students came away with performances and results to be proud of. On top of the 10 individual medals, the team highlights, which demonstrated the strength of swimmers here at DESC, were undoubtedly the U12 Girls winning the 4x50m Freestyle and Medley relay and the U14 Boys smashing the 4x50m Freestyle and Medley relay DASSA. Well done to all students involved, we’re extremely proud and excited to see you continue progressing over years to come!

Here is the list of swimmer’s names and places if you would like to add anything about this in the newsletter.

Individual events

• Isla Edgar: 1st Place – 50m Freestyle
• Ruby Parkinson:  2nd Place – 50m Freestyle and 2nd Place – 50m Breaststroke
• Tamar Hagelen:  2nd Place – 50m Freestyle and 2nd Place – 50m Butterfly
• Thomas Clifton:  3rd Place – 50m Freestyle and 2nd Place – 50m Backstroke
• Jasmine Mattison: 3rd Place – 50m Butterfly
• Adam Kandil:  3rd Place – 50m Butterfly
• Stanley Gibbs: 2nd Place – 50m Backstroke

Relay Events

• Zara Hendrikz – Ruby Parkinson – Jasmine Mattison- Isla Edgar:  1st Place – U12 Girls 4x50m  Medley Relay and 1st Place – U12 Girls 4x50m  Freestyle Relay
• Isla Henry – Seren Morris – Estee Lalouette – Maddy Gissing:  3rd Place – U14 Girls 4x50m  Medley Relay
• Thomas Clifton – Osama Kandil – Aly Maghraby – Basel Manna:  2nd Place – U19 Boys 4x50m  Medley Relay and 2nd Place – U19 Boys 4x50m  Freestyle Relay
• Margaux Raywood – Isla Henry – Seren Morris – Maddy Gissing:  3rd Place – U14 Girls 4x50m Freestyle Relay
• Annabel Farrington-Knight – Isabelle Roberts – Eve Barrowcliffe – Caitlin Dawson:  2nd place – U16 Girls 4x50m Medley Relay and 2nd Place – U16 Girls 4x50m  Freestyle Relay
• Stanley Gibbs – Omar Abou-Sheara- Daniel Dehli – Adam Kandil: 1st Place – U14 Boys 4x50m Medley Relay   (NEW DASSA CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD) and 1st Place – U14 Boys 4x50m  Freestyle   (NEW DASSA CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD)

Year 12 BTEC Hospitality Trip to Eataly

Instead of Mrs Barber telling you what we did on our trip, we would prefer to tell you ourselves….

On Monday, 3rd February, our Year 12 BTEC Hospitality class visited Eataly at the Dubai Mall. On arrival, we were warmly greeted and escorted round Eataly by Salim Al Masih, General Manager and Rudy Haddad, F&B Operational Control Manager. The tour kicked off with authentic Italian coffee, which was then followed by freshly made waffles and crepes. Gelato was our next stop before we sampled some of the many chocolates on display.  Onto the savoury where we sampled a range of speciality cheese, including a delicious truffle cheese imported from the Toscana Region.  A big highlight of our day was making our own Pizza in the Eataly display kitchen, which made us feel like real Italian chefs.  This gave us more of an understanding of how important it is to make simple ingredients shine and not to overcomplicate a recipe; which many people do.  The inside information that we were given on the back of house tour will have a big impact in developing our knowledge as we progress through our Hospitality course. 

Written by year 12 Hospitality student Issy Casas on behalf of the class.

House Update

It has been a busy couple of weeks for House Events and it is about to get even busier with the final week of this half term approaching. Last week we had the first ever painting competition introduced to the House Events calendar  Kindly ran by the Art department, it was extremely popular with almost 30 students taking part across the two days.

This week we have had the Sixth Form mixed Rounders which was as competitive as ever, with the girls teaching the boys the intricate tactics of the game, not to mention the proper rules!

The final week of term is jam-packed as we have the introduction of the new Design Technology House competition, which Mr Miller is very excited to lead. We all know how hard IKEA furniture is to build but if you think you’ve got what it takes.

And how could I finish without mentioning the event of the year, Sports Festival! Students have been busy signing up this week for the whole host of events on offer. Sunday will be the Athletics field events only and students participating in these should come to College in their House PE kit and attend their allocated lesson for their year group. Wednesday will see the main event held at DESC for the second year since the introduction of the new festival format last year. All students in Y7 – 12 will be taking part and wearing their House Shirts with pride. The current standings are below, but with this being a GOLD event, everything could change after next week. Good luck everyone!

Current Standings

KS4 Geography Field Trips

It’s been an extremely busy couple of weeks for our GCSE Geographers here at DESC; both our Year 10 and 11 students have been hard at work collecting, presenting, and analysing data as part of their GCSE studies in Geography. The skills the students developed during their fieldwork are assessed in their third exam paper and, as such, these fieldtrips are an essential part of their GCSE Geography course.

On the 19^th and 20^th of January (after a week’s delay due to rain), our Year 10s set off into Dubai to carry out a study on how the characteristics of the city change as you move from one part to another. We began the day in Al Satwa (considered to be the Zone of Transition), where our students carried out data collection on the number of people and vehicles in the area, an environmental quality survey, as well as field sketches of the area. We were then taken to Al Manara (considered to be high-medium class residential), where our students carried out the same data collection. Finally, it was off to the Central Business District (Bay Square for the purpose of our study), where our students carried out their final pieces of data collection and enjoyed a well-deserved lunch.

Last week it was the turn of our Year 11s, and we headed off to a very different environment to that of Dubai; Wadi Shawka in Ras Al Khaimah. Here, our students collected data to study how a river (or wadi in this case) changes in terms of its features as one moves from the upper course, to the lower course.  Despite a lack of water in the wadi itself, the students demonstrated independence in their work whilst taking measurements of the channel width, depth and wetted perimeter, and carry out a pebble analysis.  Once we arrived back at the College, the students continued to work on their data presentation until the late busses took them home.

The staff members of the Geography department would like to commend all of our GCSE Geography students on the excellent work ethic, dedication and maturity they demonstrated over the course of the last two weeks of field trips. A special thanks to Mr Stockwell for organising the field trips, as well as all the members of the Geography department who supported the students and their colleagues.

Specialist Shakespeare Workshop for CAPA Class

It was a real treat to welcome Chris Gould, Head of Drama, from Sharjah Performing Arts Academy to provide two bespoke Shakespeare workshops for the CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts) Year 12 students.

As part of their Elizabethan Theatre unit, it felt wholly appropriate to invite Chris along, who is a Shakespeare expert, to support them with their ensemble scene from Macbeth as well as their individual soliloquy’s.

The students explored iambic pentameter through movement, as well as learning all there is to know about Shakespeare’s intentions from stock characters, stage entries and politics to managing a raucous, tomato throwing audience in 1595!

The CAPA class are going to enjoy a number of specialised workshops throughout the duration of their course, allowing for many opportunities to work alongside professional performing artists gaining valuable, practical experience in the Arts.

Lighthouse Arabia’s Teen to Teen Mental Health First Aid Course

Thirty Year 12 Psychology students and the Sixth Form Wellbeing Prefects participated in the certified Teen to Teen Mental Health First Aid Course by Lighthouse Arabia on Thursday, 23^rd January. The tMHFA course helps students understand the connection between thoughts, feelings and behaviors and recognise when a peer is experiencing any major changes in these aspects of their mental health. The course then addresses ways in which an individual can respond to these changes and seek the help required.

The four-hour course taught students how to identify and respond to various mental health problems. Whilst increasing DESC’s students’ awareness of mental health problems, the course also focused on the appropriate response to mental health crises. A particularly useful skill students were taught was how to identify warning signs of a mental health crisis. We were also informed of the importance of language choices and empathy, swapping phrases like “you shouldn’t feel that way” to “how long have you been feeling this way”?  The course ended with role-plays carried out by students in order to put into practice the language and techniques we had explored.

The skills we acquired through the tMHFA course helped us practically apply our A level Psychology knowledge of mental health issues to everyday life. I would without a doubt recommend this course to all students and believe it to be particularly relevant to A level Psychology students.

Ida Calvert (Year 12)

U19 and U16 DASSA Netball Tournament

The U19 and U16 DASSA Netball tournament took place on Saturday, 25^th January at Repton School, with schools from across Dubai entering teams to compete.  DESC entered seven teams in total. 

It was a great day with lots of brilliant netball being played. All DESC teams played skilfully, demonstrating grit and determination throughout the tournament.

All the girls worked hard to achieve great results. It was an excellent day of competitive netball which was enjoyed by everyone. It was fantastic to see so many of our senior girls giving up their time to enter and enjoy the tournament. Well done to all the girls involved and once again a big thank you to all who came to support.

Year 11 GCSE Drama Devised Performances

This week saw our Year 11 GCSE Drama students complete their final Devised Performances that will contribute to 20% of their overall iGCSE grade. The students created a range of thought-provoking, emotional and extremely stimulating pieces of theatre. Our cohort consisted of six group performances, each with their own unique style and theme. The selected stimuli included Natural Disasters, The 2000s, Around the World, Myths and Legends, Influencers and the Seven Deadly Sins. These choices allowed students to explore a wide range of themes and issues that are relevant to a modern-day audience, including social media, bullying and relationships. Students excelled within their practical exploration, successfully developing sophisticated characters that communicated varying levels of emotional intensity for the audience. The students have excelled throughout the process of this examination and we are extremely proud of their dedication to the intensive nature of rehearsals.