DESC Newsletter 18

Question 1 (Super Easy): What colour roses will florists around the world be selling in huge amounts, over the course of this weekend?

Question 2 (Easy): What do Martin Garrix, Young Thug, Machine Gun Kelly, Bastille and Stormzy have in common?

Question 3 (Fairly Easy): Last week DESC students sat assessments in several of their subjects – what is the term we use at DESC for such a week in the calendar?

Question 4 (Very Easy if you got Q’s 1-3 correct): What is the common theme of in answers 1-3?

There seems to have been a very RED theme going on here at DESC, across Dubai or even on a global scale as the supermarkets and gift shops turn red in preparation for everybody’s favourite event of the year – Valentine’s Day. Isn’t it funny how the colour red can be deemed to be relevant to so many events, emotions, feelings and scenarios which actually bear no resemblance to each other?

Why would red be the colour associated with love whilst also being used as the symbolic colour for anger and rage? Hold on, don’t answer that! Some might say that there’s an inextricable link. I couldn’t possibly comment but if it were ever appropriate to put a laughing emoji into a newsletter, now might be the time.

Red represents physical energy. It symbolises action, confidence and courage – all things we would want our students to demonstrate in RED week which, of course, took place last week. Red is an intense colour, packed with emotion, and studies show that the colour red can create physical effects such as elevated blood pressure and increased respiratory rates. This is obviously not the desired effect of assessment weeks and we try our very best to prepare students for all of their exams as they move through DESC.

Red is also the colour that spells danger, according to Billy Ocean. Apparently, there is a scientific reason behind this. It goes something like this, “…red light is scattered the least by air molecules. The effect of scattering is inversely related to the fourth power of the wavelength of a color. Therefore blue which has the least wavelength of all the visible radiations is scattered the most and red which has the highest wavelength of all the colors we can see is scattered the least. So red light is able to travel the longest distance through fog, rain, and the alike.” Who’d have known? Certainly not I. Nor Billy Ocean for that matter!

I would like to think that our students don’t view RED week as something that signals danger. For us at DESC, we see it as an excellent opportunity for our wonderful students to demonstrate what they’ve learnt in their lessons and this is (often) evident in the results that we have seen. 

‘Red’ is also used in many sayings and phrases. Caught red-handed and red herring are two for which the origin of the term is unclear, whilst red rag to a bull is a strange one considering bulls are colourblind. If you find any definitive reasons for these terms, please do let me know. If you’ve read my newsletters before, you may have noticed that I like to drop in a few musical references. So, a little something for you to think about as Red also features in the title of a huge number of songs – how many can you name? I’ve already given you Billy Ocean so I’ll help you on your way with the name of the artist who sang the most obvious one – Chris De Burgh. And by the way, REDemption Song by Bob Marley doesn’t count!

There was one day this week that was rather unusual in that red was not allowed for once. On any given day during lessons, at lunchtimes and after school, the DESC sports fields and courts are a sea of red as our students don their PE kits to make the most of the excellent facilities and high-level coaching that we provide in a vast range of sports. However, on Wednesday the students ditched their red PE shirts for their House colours, as the whole College participated in what was a fantastic event. For the whole day, our students competed in the DESC Sports Festival which really encapsulated what DESC is all about – yes there was excellence in abundance but the level of support, encouragement and sheer participation was outstanding and was an absolute joy to watch. Thank you to all involved in making it such a tremendous occasion.

Many students (and I’m sure some parents) will have enjoyed the ‘warm-up event’ of REDFEST DXB; tickets for the main event are now on sale as DESCFest fast approaches. Last year’s inaugural festival of music was a huge success and this year will be even bigger and better, featuring many musical talents, including Society, who actually played at RedFest! We hope to see as many of you as possible supporting our amazing and talented students at this unique event. And, of course, on the horizon is our eagerly awaited production of West Side Story, tickets for which will be on sale after the half-term break.

Thank you to all of our staff and students for another brilliant half-term. And also, to all parents for your continued support – it really has been yet another hectic but extremely successful few weeks.

Enjoy the break, I’m sure you’re all REDDY for it!

Michael Fallon
Assistant Headteacher

Inter-House Sports Festival

The first day of the much awaited Inter House Sports Festival was held on Sunday, 9^th February where competitors enjoyed participating in the traditional Athletics Field events and the middle distance event 1500m.

The first competitors of the day were the Year 11 and the Year 12 & 13 students who were the included in this year’s programme of events for the first time. They displayed competitive determined spirit and support for each other throughout the competition and most impressively met and broke a record in the Boy’s High Jump and the Girls’ 1500m.

The bar had been set high, but the year groups that followed did not disappoint, with highly contested competitions and a further three records broken in the Long & Triple Jump.

In the low temperatures and high winds, reminiscent of a traditional British Sports Day, that welcomed us on the second day of Sports Festival, the students were enthused about the opportunities to compete in a multi-sport programme of Football, Touch Rugby, Volleyball, Handball, Water polo and the Fitness Challenge along with the much loved Blue Ribbon events on the athletics track.

Many of the Water Polo competitions were so highly contested that penalty shoot outs determined the allocation of points for each House. Our Year 12 students, known as the ‘Games Makers’, officiated the House Football, Touch Rugby, Volleyball and Handball competitions with ease, and it was impressive to see many of the staff participate in the Fitness Challenge this year.

For the last hour of the Festival the whole school surrounded the athletics track to support our fastest track athletes in the relays. The atmosphere was electric as students showcased their skill and speed to gain vital double points for their House.

To end the day, the House captains gathered with anticipation onto the track in the hope to win the House Festival trophy as Mr Randall announced the final results.

As always, the final scores were particularly close, but the loudest cheers were heard from Earth House as they were crowned Sports Festival Champions 2020.

A very big thank you to all of the PE & Sport staff for organising the event, the performances from students and to the parents who came to support.

Final Results

Sports Festival Records

A huge congratulations to the following students who broke or met records this year:

• Year 12 & 13 Boys High Jump: Robert Sproul: 1.78m
• Year 10 Boys Long Jump: Jake Silverio: 5.2m
• Year 10 Boys Triple Jump: Jake Silverio: 11.5m
• Year 12 & 13 Girls 1500m: Megan Dingle: 5.42
• Year 7 Boys 100m: Boys: Bilge Doruk Ilkilic 13.42
• Year 12 & 13 Boys: 100m: Matthew Tye 11.08

Attenborough’s Director of Photography: Kimodos, Submarines and Living in the Arctic

DESC students and staff alike were thrilled to welcome BBC Director of Photography Gavin Thurston to the College on Thursday, 6^th February. The Emmy and BAFTA Award winner delighted Media Studies, Photography and Geography students with insightful and personal accounts into his life as a cameraman.

Having worked on seventeen Attenborough documentaries (alongside many more including Big Cat Diary and Meerkat Manor) the wealth of experience that Thurston brought to the presentation was informative, inspiring and empowering. You could hear a pin drop. Thurston prompted the audience to consider how often we actually listen anymore? He reminded us that in remote areas of nature, we listen ‘for’ sounds, whereas in our modern context, city life means that we actively choose not to hear; there is too much noise. We are desensitised.

Following the presentation, BTEC Creative Media and Photography students were invited to take part in a workshop with Gavin who shared insider tips and shared the scope of his photography work; from the wildlife genre (that will always be his passion) to shooting Armani adverts.

Journeys in the Wild: The Secret Life of a Cameraman, Gavin Thurston’s book is available now.

Year 11 Band Society Perform at RedFest DXB

The whole of DESC would like to congratulate Year 11 band Society on their recent success within a number of Performing Arts events across Dubai. The band originated in late 2018 with the line-up of Sean Hucknall on guitar, Alfie Lane on Bass, Rhys Caswell on drums and Dan Tucker joining on vocals. The band started doing covers of their favourite songs and entered our DESC Got Talent competition, performing a mashup of Seven Nation Army and  

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. After four different heats the band went on to win the whole competition and gained quite the fan base. Following this success, Society went on to perform at the Market Outside the Box event, where they performed their first original song Basement Days in front of the Burj Khalifa. Society then went on to win a competition on Virgin Radio, with their music being featured on the radio station. This then led to the amazing opportunity to perform at RedFest DXB on Friday, where they opened for artists such as Stormzy, Machine Gun Kelly and Noah Cyrus.

Inspired, the band are now working on a debut self-titled EP with the producer Megatronic in the school’s brand-new recording studio. The band has gone from strength to strength and we are extremely proud of all that they have achieved so far and look forward to their future success.

Silver D of E Adventurous Journey Qualifying Expedition

27 highly-motivated students were triumphant in the completion of the Adventurous Journey component towards their Duke of Edinburgh International Silver Award. With Ras Al Khaimah providing the beautiful scenery, our hikers were challenged to refine their orientation and map reading proficiencies when planning their routes to each of the check points. We know that not all learning happens in the classroom, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is about preparing our DESC students to be world-ready. As part of their adventurous journeys, students deliver a presentation linking to an element of their trip. Animals, food and wellbeing were amongst the topics presented using vlogs, pictures and speeches as the mediums. Special mention to Joshua Schultz and Enya Crone who were awarded Best Male and Female hikers.

Our students relished the opportunity to be independent thinkers and after two nights camping in the remotest of locations, they were left with an overwhelming and well-deserved sense of achievement. Be sure to check out all the exciting updates from the trip on twitter @DESCDubaiTrips.

A huge thank you to Challenging Adventure for hosting us and to the members of staff who gave up their weekend to support the students.

Year 8 Geography Trip

On the 10^th and 11^th of February the Geography department led two of our favourite days of the year. This involved all of Year 8 pupils going to ‘UFO free beach’ and undertaking various fieldwork techniques to test some hypothesis that they had made in class before they went. Although the weather wasn’t on our side, we still had a brilliant time and enjoyed a really valuable learning experience. Below is an explanation of the day written by; Sophie Winders, Evie Copeland and Milla Cass.

THE COASTAL TRIP!!!

On Tuesday, 11^th February, Year 8 were lucky enough to go on our first Geography field trip. We went to UFO beach in Jumeirah and had lots of tasks to complete, studying both the tourism and the beach formation.

For our first activity, we had to evaluate the appearance of the beach. We noticed it was relatively clean but there was a lack of nature. Outside some of the residences, we noticed piles of rocks, which was not a favourable view for tourists. After this we did a pedestrian count, it wasn’t busy due to the weather conditions and the fact that it was early morning on a weekday. We compared three different locations; UFO beach, Mercato Mall and behind the beach residence. It was obvious that near to Mercato Mall there was a higher volume of pedestrians due to the many activities available inside. We carried out a traffic count at these three locations and we noticed Mercato Mall was again the most populated area.

We found it interesting to go back to the beach and study its coastal formation. We began by testing longshore drift, we measured 10m and threw a ball into the sea, timing the speed at which it would travel those 10m. We compared our results over three times and our most successful time was when the wind became stronger. To understand the use of groynes in UFO beach, we drew an annotated field sketch and watched as the sediment was caught by the structures.

Finally, we looked at the beach profile and observed the slopes and drops in the sand. We measured out the difference between each one using poles and used a clinometer to tell us the angle. We found out that the lower the slope, the bigger the angle.

Our Geography field trip was lots of fun as well as lots of learning. It would be amazing to do it all again!

By Sophie Winers, Evie Copeland and Milla Cass

Year 12 BTEC Hospitality Trip

The Year 12 BTEC Hospitality students have been busy again this week with a visit to the newly opened JA Lake View Hotel.  Students were given the fantastic opportunity to visit the Resort and tour behind the scenes at the 348 bedroomed 5 Star hotel.  On arrival, students were warmly welcomed with fresh juices and met by Resort Cluster Manager William Harley-Fleming, before being escorted round the hotel by Narek (Duty Manager), Ceyril (Asst. Front Office Manager) and Samuel (Quality Assurance Manager).  Visits included behind the scene stops at the food and beverage department, finance, HR, housekeeping and quality assurance, where students were given an outline of the duties and responsibilities involved in each department.  Students then headed to the hotel’s very own butchery; where they had the pleasure of meeting the resident cow – not real of course and used for training purposes!  Students then made their way up to the roof terrace and lounge, where the amazing views of the golf course and resort could be admired.  The tour concluded with beverages and snacks being taken in one of the hotel’s suites whilst relaxing on the terrace.  Overall, an exceptional experience and students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and hospitality of the JA Resort.

House Awards and Competitions

During the first weeks of 2020; the House Team have been thrilled with the attitude of students around the College. In another busy half term, students have once again excelled in participating in a wide range of activities, showing continued motivation to thrive in life at DESC. We have seen students from all 4 Houses involved in a variety of events including; Netball, Football, Badminton, Portrait Puzzle, Photography Competition and the IKEA Construction Challenge. This week we have also had the pleasure of seeing fantastic participation in all four Houses during our Sports Festival, where students have taken part in a variety of sporting events. Now that we are halfway through the year, it is a good opportunity to look back and be proud of everything our students have achieved and look forward to all the new and exciting opportunities that are still to come.

Every week our students work hard in Moral Education, developing the skills they will need to be well-rounded

individuals in later life. Character Conversations have started again and will continue into next half term; giving students the opportunity to reflect on what skills and attributes make them so important to our school.

At the end of another extremely successful, yet busy, half term, The House Team have taken time to reward one student from each form, who has epitomised what we believe all our students should strive for. This is reflective of their demeanor, manners, attitude and effort. We would like to congratulate all of the students below for their hard work and ongoing commitment to the culture here at DESC.

Design & Technology Pop-Up Exhibition and House Competition

There has been a distinct competitive buzz about Earth House this week for with the inaugural Design and Technology Pop-Up Exhibition and IKEA Construction Challenge. With vital House points up for grabs, students from all four Houses signed up to compete for speed and accuracy in building a flatpack item from IKEA. With rounds every day for specific year groups, students were poised with screwdrivers and their IKEA instructions to frantically construct as fast as they could to be the winning team from their year group.

We had some bespoke medals made in the Design and Technology department for the winning pairs from each day of competition and an overall prize for the fastest time by the end of the week, with a distinctly “construction” theme. With a fantastic backdrop of design and practical work in our Pop-Up exhibition from Design and Technology students across Years 7-10, the stage was aptly set.

Desert took the lead on Sunday, despite Year 7 students Alex and Matteo assembling their product incorrectly, having to disassemble and rebuild it, they finished victorious after 17 minutes and 56 seconds, with the remaining Houses scrambling to catch up. Monday saw Year 8 competing and once again Desert proved they had the winning formula of excellent teamwork and precision in Milla and Evie, using the instruction booklet to its fullest to be victorious with an amazing time of 5 minutes and 24 seconds, smashing the Year 7 winning time. Despite Sky House only having one competitor, Noah powered through the construction in a remarkable individual time of 12 minutes and 36 seconds. The Year 9s raced into the lead with Rohan and Alex proving teamwork and reading the instructions benefits all types of construction, coming in with a score of 3 minutes and 58 seconds! Today, Year 10 and 11 competed and it was a really close race with Earth leading for most of the event, only being pipped to the post by Ghady and Joshua from Desert in as Earth fixed their base on the wrong way around.

So, to the overall House winning order is:

• 1^st: Earth
• 2^nd: Desert
• 3^rd: Coast
• 4^th: Sky

All Year group winners also receive house points. Congratulations to all competitors!

Check out the photos and videos for all of the daily challenge and winners on our twitter page @DESCreativeArts

DESSC Success at Junior Emirate Schools Karting Championship

Monday evening saw the second round of the Junior Emirates Schools Karting Championship. DESSC’s team had been successful during the first round, where they achieved first place, so the students were keen to race in Round 2.

As students have to be under the age of 13 to enter into the Junior ESKC, it’s great that this allows us to enter a combined DESS and DESC team.  Team members listed below:

• Harry Hannam E7F
• Muhammad Durrani S7C
• Isaac Hadri-Khoussa C7B
• Vehaan Subramanian DESS 6B

This team have been competing in Junor ESKC since DESS Year 4 and have won a number of medals and trophies. The boys are committed and passionate – they love racing! The team is jointly managed by the parents of the team, headed up by Holly Hadri-Khoussa (Isaac’s mum) with Sheba Bashir Kichloo (Muhammad’s mum), Sarika Subramanian (Vehan’s mum DESS) and Rachael Hannam (Harry’s mum), who all support and assist.

I’m delighted to report that the boys have done it again by finishing in first place for the Junior ESKC Round 2! Harry also recorded the fastest lap of the race! Huge congratulations to the boys and well done for always showing championship character and most of all, drive and perseverance.

GCSE Dance Workshop with FatBoyz Dance Company

On Sunday, our Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE Dancers were fortunate enough to experience a fantastic street dance workshop from the renowned dance company FatBoyZ. The company specialise in hip hop style dance and have performed for Her Royal Highness the Princess of Jordan, celebrities including Elizabeth Hurley, the Prime Minister’s family, sporting legend Dame Kelly Holmes, pop stars including Will Young and John Newman and were also formally invited to perform at the top of the Burj Khalifa. They have also performed at RedFest. Students were challenged technically during the workshop and developed their use of timing, unison, dynamics, musicality and coordination skills learning a routine. They explored performance skills, such as using their facial expressions and projection to communicate the meaning of dance. They thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and can’t wait to use what they learned to inspire their performance and choreography practical examinations.

Year 13 Students Compete in Inter-School STEM Challenge

The scene was set for some serious STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) action last Thursday at Curtin University in Academic City. Four exceptional students from Year 13 – Melchior Raywood, Macsen Illes, Shivsaransh Thakur and Varhsa Rajagopalan battled it out against over 50 other schools from around the region. The first round was the written test, with the scores from each team member going towards an overall score which determined if they would go through to the next round. With tough questions such as “what is the common name of pink mold?” and “what order do Moths belong to?” the Year 13s had their work cut out for them. Only 30 teams would go through, but we manage to come a comfortable 17^th and so were able to progress to round two. The second round was the practical one and this involved building a structure from spaghetti and marshmallows (resources were limited so none could be eaten making temptation an extra challenge!). At the end of 30 minutes masses were placed on top of the structures to see how much they could support before fracturing. DESC students came into their own here and were placed second which meant they were straight to round three and down to the final 12! After a short lunch break and some discussion of tactics the students were ready for the knock-out round in which they would have four minutes to answer ten questions in a head-to-head with another school. Alas, it was not meant to be and in true Murphy’s Law fashion all of the questions for the other teams would have been a breeze but the ones DESC were asked were the trickiest of the lot. The group were sadly knocked-out but were happy with how far they’d come and went home with a certificate and the experience of a nationwide STEM competition.

A Level Drama Final Scripted Performances

This week saw our A Level Drama students complete their final Scripted Performance pieces that will contribute to 30% of their overall A2 grade. Students are assessed on their ability to work from page to stage whilst taking influence from a prescribed practitioner. Firstly, the audience observed monologue performances from Yerma, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Road and Antigone with students exploring the work of Stanislavski to create realism and Grotowski’s use of physical movement. Secondly, we saw the play 1984, based on the original George Orwell novel and the influence of Antonin Artaud and his ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ that aims to bombard the audience’s senses. This was followed by contemporary play ‘Tissue’ exploring one woman’s journey after her breast cancer diagnosis. The group were inspired by physical theatre practitioner Frantic Assembly and their use of movement and lifts to portray relationships. Thirdly, was Olwyn Wymark’s Find Me, which saw the group exploring the true story of Verity Taylor who resides in Broadmoor mental health unit. The groups influencing practitioner was dance and physical theatre inspired DV8 that allowed them to explore Verity’s emotions through stylised movement. Finally, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where again the group embraced Antonin Artaud’s extreme emotion and grotesque imagery in order to achieve a cathartic reaction from the audience. Students have excelled throughout the process of this unit and we are extremely proud of their dedication to the intensive rehearsal process. This is the final performance examination of our Year 13 students, with many opting to continue with their Drama studies at university and so we look forward to hearing all about their future success.