December e-Newsletter

December 2017 Issue No. 3



FoR Your Information












The E-Newsletter of the Friends of Repton





































































Innovation Week - National Day

Contents












Introduction from Friends of Repton ................................... 3



Innovation Week .......................................................................... 4



Innovation Week by Mrs Abou Samra ................................. 6



Ms Trinnaman & Innovation Week in Fry Campus ........ 8



Innovating Together .................................................................. 10


Reptonian Work ........................................................................... 12



The Walking Bus .......................................................................... 15



National Day ................................................................................. 16



More Reptonian Work............................................................... 19



From the School Counsellor .................................................. 22



Repton Parents Support Circle .............................................. 24



Recipe .............................................................................................. 25



Winter Fest .................................................................................... 26



Upcoming Events ....................................................................... 28


Special Thanks ............................................................................. 29

December 2017 Issue No. 3






For Your Information









The e-Newsletter of Friends of Repton







“Individual curiosity has always been a driving force for innovation”.



What an exciting month we had since our last edition! Lots of activities and special

events that boosted the children’s curiosity and creativity, took place at school during
Innovation Week. Also, the whole Repton community enjoyed an amazing morning in

Fry Campus for the National Day celebration. And we captured all that!



With all the Science in mind and the Spirit of the Union still in the atmosphere, in this
issue of FoR Your Information we include some interviews with the Heads of

Science, paintings and projects from the kids about Science and National Day, some
useful tips from the School Counsellor, recipes, photographs and so much more.



We are very pleased to have received many artworks from the students. We would

like to take this opportunity to thank you all, children, parents, teachers and staff, for
your contributions to this e-Newsletter.




We hope you enjoy looking at the many moments we compiled in this edition and
you have a wonderful and restful winter break.



Thank you!



Friends of Repton Parents Committee

e-Newsletter Subcommittee

December 2017 Issue No. 3








INNOVATION WEEK













‘Innovation Week’ was an exciting and fun-filled week with different
activities that engaged children’s curiosity and interest in Science in
different ways: Dress Up Day, the Science and Innovation Fairs, Rotation

Day with the participation of lots of parents, etc. Everything organized by

the Heads of Science, Mrs. Amanda Abou Samra (Rose Campus) and Miss Lee
Trinnaman (Fry Campus).

FoR Your Information got lots of pictures of this week and the chance to
interview both Heads of Science. Let's have a look ...

December 2017 Issue No. 3








INNOVATION WEEK

december 2017 Issue No. 3



Innovation








Week










by Mrs Abou Samra










FoR Your Information met with Mrs Amanda Abou Samra and asked her

about her passion for Science, her role as Head of Science in Rose

Campus and some anecdotes of the week.




FYI: What do you like most FYI: What is your approach

about being Head of Science? when teaching Science to small

AA: I love working with all of the kids?
year groups at Rose Campus and AA: It is really important that

helping to develop their love of Science lessons are interactive,
Science. I also really enjoyed very hands on and visual for the

organising ‘Innovation Week’, children. We are constantly
preparing all of the events questioning the children,

throughout the week and ensuring building up their critical thinking
that all of the children took part in skills and for the children to

different activities. It was a question why and how things
fantastic learning experience for happen. We give them the

the children across both opportunity to explore, discover

campuses. and to work in collaborative
groups.

december 2017 Issue No. 3





FYI: Was Science your favourite

subject when you were at

school?
AA: Yes! Definitely!




FYI: What did you like about
Science when you were a kid?
AA: I particularly loved doing

experiments in school, discovering
and investigating new things. One

of my earliest memories was doing
a ‘Minibeast Hunt’ in Primary 1 and
investigating their environment. FYI: What was the funniest


thing during the week?
FYI: What was the best thing AA: The company ‘Mad Science’

about Repton Innovation Week visited our school on the Sunday
2017? of ‘Innovation Week’ to do an

AA: The best thing about assembly for the FS and KS
‘Innovation Week’ was the fantastic children. It was a surprise for the

response that we received from children and they all absolutely

parents, staff and the children. loved watching and partaking in
Everybody worked together to all of the experiments. It was
make our Innovation Week so wonderful to see the reactions and

successful. The dress up day facial expressions of the children

costumes were amazing and the at the outcomes of the
children loved having the experiments.

opportunity to showcase their
‘family project’ during the Science THANK YOU

Fairs. Our Rotation Day was also
fantastic and we really appreciate

all of the parents who took the time MRS ABOU SAMRA!
to support all of our events.

Issue No. 3
december 2017 INNOVATION









M I S S WEEK IN

T R I N N A M A N


a n d FRY CAMPUS














We also had the opportunity to ask some questions to Miss Lee


Trinnaman, the Head of Science of Fry Campus.





FYI: What does it mean to you to be the understanding overall. With this in mind,
Head of Science? wherever possible, I include practical

LT: Is is a privilege to be selected from activities in my teaching. I also believe it is
the many applicants to be Head of extremely important to encourage children
Science at Repton Abu Dhabi. I am to question the world around them and

passionate about helping all children to learn that a negative outcome is just as
enjoy learning about Science. Being important as a positive one when carrying
Head of Science means I can have an out an experiment. The world of Science is

impact on every child’s experience of continually changing and I have
the subject, which is a big responsibility, continuously sought to improve and
but an exciting one. develop my Science teaching, embracing

the use of ICT, purchasing sets of iPads for
my science department and developing
FYI: What is your approach when their use as a tool for teaching and

teaching Science to young students? learning. It is just as important to develop
LT: With regard to Science teaching and the creative mind as to discover existing
learning, I firmly believe that a child theories, but above all a child must enjoy

who discovers an answer for their learning experience if they are to
themselves will develop a much deeper stand any chance of success.

december 2017 Issue No. 3





FYI: How do you encourage curiosity in

your students?
LT: I always encourage questioning, even
if we go a bit off the lesson topic. Asking

questions is so key to Science and
innovation that I feel this is a key element
to encouraging curiosity.



FYI: Was Science your favourite subject

when you were at school?
LT: I enjoyed school and was lucky to be
taught by some amazing teachers. It is very
difficult to pick my favourite but I guess on

balance my favourite lessons were PE and
Dance. In fact, it was two of my amazing
PE teachers who inspired me to become a
teacher myself. In academic subjects, I

loved both Maths. and Science in equal
measures, but these were closely followed FYI: Can you tell us any anecdote
by Geography. from this week?
LT: This week has been full of lovely

FYI: What was your favourite activity anecdotes it is extremely difficult to
during Repton Innovation Week 2017? pick just one, but walking into our

LT: I honestly cannot pick a favourite! weekly staff briefing at the very start
Every class embraced each challenge they of the first morning with a human
were set with so much enthusiasm and satellite, various versions of Einstein

energy it was a pleasure to be in the lesson and some Mad Scientists was
with them. A highlight was definitely the F1 definitely a very interesting, and

challenge which involved Year 2 students unusual start to a week!
from Rose Campus working with Year 3 and
Year 6 at Fry campus. Seeing the range of THANK YOU MISS
ages working so well together was simply

brilliant. The Year 6 children were excellent
role models for all the children they worked TRINNAMAN!

with and even helped clear up at the end!

Innovating Together
Issue No. 3
december 2017













'At Repton this week the children have been celebrating Innovation


Week! Children from both the Rose and Fry Campus have had

opportunities to develop their innovative talents by engaging in a


range of scientific and critical thinking problems. On Tuesday Year 2


visited the Fry Campus to design their own cars for a race. They


were aided by Year 6 children and created some fantastic designs.

Here are some pictures of them having fun together on the Fry


Campus. I am sure that everyone involved will remember it for a very


long time.'


Yusuf Devereaux-Ward - Year 6 Class Teacher

Innovating Together
Issue No. 3
december 2017

december 2017 Issue No. 3

Reptonian Work









FS WORK







































































Salma - FS2 Turtles

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FS 2 Seahorses

































































Enjoy The Video of Mylo's




Experiment

december 2017 Issue No. 3

Reptonian Work







YEAR 2 WORK









































































Antonella's Macaroni Skeleton

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On Sunday November 26th, The Walking Bus was launched.


This new initiative, coordinated by Mrs Hannah Dean and

Nurse Dely, gathered lots of Repton children and their

parents, who walked or cycled in an organised group from

The Arc to the School.

december 2017 Issue No. 3









NATIONAL DAY














Repton School Abu Dhabi marked the 46th Anniversary of UAE's National

Day with a big celebration organized by the Arabic Department. The
children enjoyed lots of activities including face painting, palm leaves

arts and crafts, henna, Falcon and Camel Corner, Pearl diving (for Year 2

children), and the visit of some very special guests for our younger kids.

december 2017 Issue No. 3









NATIONAL DAY















The UAE has become one of the most significant and popular Middle Eastern
countries. This is due to the amazing progress it has achieved in the past years in all

aspects. The United Arab Emirates established itself as a leading country in 1971 by
the union of seven Emirates which include Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaima,

Umm Al Quwain, Sharjah and finally Abu Dhabi as the capital of this union led by

Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
High achievement has been the number one goal of our great leaders to make this

country nothing but the best. These involved accomplishments in many aspects but
most importantly, from my point of view, education. Today, UAE offers wide-ranging

education to both males and females from Kindergarten to high standard
Universities, with nationals being able to study for free. Moreover, there is a wide

range of private education for all citizens. “The greatest use that can be made of
wealth is to invest it in creating generations of educated and trained people”. (H.H

Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Founder of UAE).
As a UAE national, the love of this country has only been growing and no matter

how hard we work we won’t be able to repay the contentment it created for both its
national citizens and the expatriates living on its land. The harmonious environment

created by our beloved leaders made UAE a multicultural hub with so many
different nationalities all living and loving this country.


Maryam Bahram (Mom of Ameena Ahmed - Year 3 Foxes)




UAE 46th

National Day

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NATIONAL DAY

december 2017 Issue No. 3


Reptonian Work










YEAR 1 WORK

































































Vrisan Shah - Year 1 Elm

december 2017 Issue No. 3
Reptonian Work








YEAR 2 WORK









































































Aysha - Year 2 Flamingos

december 2017 Issue No. 3
Reptonian Work









YEAR 3 WORK









































































Mariam Gerges - Year 3 Foxes

December 2017 Issue No. 3



From the School Counsellor
























We live in a country where changes happen very often,
sometimes we move from city to city or to a different country.

How can we, as parents, help and prepare our children for those
changes? How can we make them look forward to that? Does the

approach depend on the child age? With those questions in
mind, FoR Your Information met with Ms Kate Kalamidas, the

School Counsellor of Fry Campus and got some useful tips on

this topic. Let’s see what she recommends…


I am a strong believer in empowering children and give them the skills they need. The first

step is to give them knowledge: they need to know what the situation is. Talk to your child
as soon as you can about what is going to happen, so they can start preparing as well. But
we need to be enthusiastic. Change is very exciting. It is always a bit scary but it’s a

natural part of our life. Even if we stay in the same town without moving to another
country, at some point in their lives there will be a change.


Responding to changes in a welcoming way, will be very positive for your child. If we
work and support them in the right way, they will learn to be adaptable, flexible, hence, in

their adult life this will help them a lot.


The first thing is to talk to them in advance, if possible, about the change they will be

facing, so they can prepare themselves. This will give them a lot of opportunities to talk to
their parents, to express their fears, sadness, etc.


When we give them this information gradually, we give them a sense of security. The
change will not be so scary anymore because it’s not unknown

December 2017 Issue No. 3




4. You can find clubs and activities

that they are interested in, in your
Some Tips new destination, so that they can

realize that even though their

surroundings have changed, they can
still continue doing the things they like.

This will help them create new
friendships. They may need to learn a
1. We need to be empathetic because they
are going to leave people behind that they new language, you can help them

care about. But we can help them start becoming familiar with it by
watching videos or movies in that
understand that those people will be always
part of their life; they will not see them in language. Make them familiar with the
the same way, but with technology culture because the more information

nowadays it’s fantastic. We can send we give them, the more skills they will
have to deal with this change that is
messages, emails or talk through video chat.

The world has become much smaller in this coming up.
sense. We can also remind them that those 5. Take things that are important to
people will not go away, and they have the them like photos, toys, books, etc.

bonus to add new people in their life. And things that can recreate your home
overtime they will realize that yes, they are
environment wherever you are going.
leaving some friends behind for now, but

they may see those friends again at I think the most important part is
university, they may work together in the communication: it’s really important
future or come back and live in the same that they know they can go to their

city. These are some positive things that can parents and tell them what they are
happen with changes. feeling without fears of


2. For daily basic things, you can inform the disappointing them. It’s important to
school that you are going to move. If we make them understand their parents
know in advance we can work together are not going to be upset about

involving the teacher too. This helps them them not setting well, because it’s
lower their anxiety. normal to miss their friends, their
school, activities or places. It’s
3. Talk with excitement about the new normal to feel that way.

things they are going to find in the new
country, specially things they don’t have in Thank you Ms Kalamidas!
their home country.

December 2017 Issue No. 3










REPTON PARENTS



SUPPORT CIRCLE












The Support Circle is an initiative by Repton School in association with the Friends

of Repton, where parents can share and discuss parenting challenges and strategies
with the School Counsellors.



All parents are invited to be a part of The next meeting is scheduled for
the Support Circle and contribute Thursday January 25th and the topic

with their valuable parenting will be announced closer to the date
strategies. This Support Circle Group in the Parents Portal (Engage).

aims to involve parents in sharing

their ideas and experiences. It is a THE SCHOOL COUNSELLORS
confidential and non-judgmental

place to share and help others Rose Campus:
through your advice and support. Ms. Chaishta George

[email protected]
The first Support Circle meeting of

this academic year took place on Fry Campus:

November 2nd and the topic was Ms. Kate Kalamidas
'Moving and Adjustment'. Apart from [email protected]

the tips already presented in the
previous article, we also discussed

about the challenge a different Thank you Ms George

language presents to children and
parents as well, when moving to a and Ms Kalamidas

different country.

december 2017 Issue No. 3





Recipe Time

































































Recipe By: Mariam Al-Shamsi


Mother of Humaid and Shaima(Y3 and FS2)

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On Saturday December 9th, the Friends of Repton


organized a Winter Fest at Rose Campus. Children and

parents had a wonderful time with lots of games, stories


and crafts. We would like to take this opportunity to

extend our deepest gratitude to all the volunteers that


put a lot of time and effort to prepare this Festival,

to the School authorities, teachers, and staff for their


support with this event, to all the families that joined us,

and special thanks to the security guards, the


maintenance and cleaning staff, and the audio technician


for all their help. We could not have done it without them.

THANK YOU!!!

december 2017 Issue No. 3

december 2017 Issue No. 3











UPCOMING EVENTS














































8





8





8

december 2017 Issue No. 3



Thank SPECIAL THANKS


you!!!







Mrs Amanda Abou Samra



Ms Lee Trinnaman





Teachers Ms Chaishta George

Ms Kate Kalamidas




Mr Yusuf Devereaux-Ward



Mrs Hannah Dean



Nurse Dely











To All FoR Team Members
FoR Team A Very Special Thanks to:










Gina Graciela Sara

december 2017 Issue No. 3



Thank SPECIAL THANKS


you!!!










Salma - Fs2 Turtles



Mylo - Fs2 Seahorses


Students Vrisan Shah - Year 1 Elm





Antonella - Year 2 Flamingos


Aysha - Year 2 Flamingos




Mariam Gerges - Year 3 Foxes










Parents Maryam Meer




Mariam Al-Shamsi








See you in January