Issue No. 18. - Al Bateen Secondary School

ABU DHABI
PARTICIPATION
RESPECT & RESPONSIBILITY
INTEGRITY
DETERMINATION
EMPATHY & TOLERANCE
ISSUE NO. 18
25th JUNE 2015
AL
BATEEN
KEY DATES
‫تواريخ هامة‬
Tuesday 30th JUNE
Iftar Cancelled
Wednesday 1ST JULY
Last Day of Term, 1:30pm
Thursday 27th AUGUST
Year 7 & 12 Induction, 9-11:30am
H Sunday 30th AUGUST
Students return back to school
،‫رسالة من مدير املدرسة‬
‫دافيدهتسون‬
‫السادة أولياء األمور‬
‫بعد التحية‬
Photo above: Student editors say a few words during ‘The Writing is in Our Hands’
book launch
MESSAGE FROM
THE PRINCIPAL,
MR DAVID HUTSON
As the academic year draws to
an end, is school life not
supposed to slow down before
the summer break? We have
had many exciting events in the
last two weeks: Aldar’s ‘We’ve
Got Talent’ at the Emirates
Palace; our Annual Awards
Evening; Master Chef; Summer
Concert; Enterprise Day; House
Quiz; Higher Education Day;
and the launch of our first book
titled, “We are Writers!” You can
purchase a copy of this book for
just AED 60 and our Year Book
for AED 80. Take your money to
Reception to reserve a copy.
Thank you to students, parents
and staff for another wonderful
academic year, my first as
Principal of this fantastic
school.
‫ها وقد اقرتب العام الدرايس من انتهائه‬
‫ فلقد كانت‬.‫واقرتبت العطلة الصيفية‬
‫لدينا العديد من األحداث املثرية يف‬
‫ حفل مواهب‬.‫األسبوعني األخريين‬
‫أكادمييات الدار الذي أقيم يف فندق قرص‬
‫ باإلضافة إىل الحفل السنوي‬،‫اإلمارات‬
،‫ ومسابقة أفضل الطهاة‬،‫لجوائز الطالب‬
.‫ وورشة عمل الجامعات‬، ‫والحفلة الصيفية‬
‫هذا باالضافة إىل إطالق أول كتاب لطالبنا‬
‫ وميكنكم رشاء نسخة‬."‫"نحن الكتاب‬
60 ‫الكتاب من موظفي االستقبال بقيمة‬
‫ كام متوفر األن كتاب العام الدرايس‬.‫درهم‬
‫ درهامً وميكنك حجز النسخة‬80 ‫بقيمة‬
‫عند موظفي االستقبال‬
‫أتقدم بالشكر للطالب وأولياء األمور‬
‫وموظفي املدرسة عىل املجهود املبذول‬
‫ كام أمتنى لكم قضاء‬.‫طوال العام الدرايس‬
‫عطلة صيفية هادئة وممتعة‬
I wish you a peaceful and
relaxing summer break.
‫رمضان كريم‬
Ramadan Kareem.
Al Bateen School, ALDAR Academies, P.O. BOX 129071, Abu Dhabi, UAE;
Tel. 02 813 2000;
Email: reception@albateen.sch.ae;
Website: www.albateen.sch.ae
AL BATEEN
SCHOOL
ABU DHABI
JUNE 2015
AROUND THE SCHOOL
was a great experience. The
book comes as a great way to
showcase
the
school’s
wonderful creative writing
talent. I’m very grateful for all
the people who came and
supported our launch and
bought the books that we all put
a lot of effort into. I was
overwhelmed to be awarded a
small plaque that has my name
and ‘Head Editor and Team
Leader’ on it. It was an honour
to be given this award by Mrs
Smith and to be recognized as a
team leader. I’m definitely
looking forward to next year’s
book launch and helping to
make the next book!
Photo above: Student Writer, Zena Younes 11A, reads some of her work during the of
‘The Writing in Our Hands’ book launch
THE WRITING IS IN OUR HANDS 2015
EDITION BOOK LAUNCH
The library was a sea of proud
faces and the colours of
celebration filled the room on
the eve of Ramadan 17th June
2015. This was the grand launch
for Al Bateen’s first published
book called The Writing is in
Our Hands where students,
parents and teachers gathered
to
celebrate
this
fine
achievement. This has been a
wonderful journey and a project
that our students have taken on
with creativity, determination
and dedication. We have had
teams of students involved in all
areas of production: writing, art
work and design, videography,
event management, marketing,
and editing.
This was an evening to meet
and hear from our students,
listen to what this experience
has been like for them and of
course hear some of their best
pieces of writing and, in some
cases, click and clap to the
beats of their poetry! We had
ball gowns, smart suits, awards
and professional photographs,
games, quizzes and raffles. It
was
surely
a
wonderful
celebration and I thank all of
you for coming and joining us.
Well done to all of the students
who managed to have their
work
published
in
this
collection; I do hope you
treasure this copy of The
Writing is in Our Hands and
continue writing and sharing
your work with others.
Mrs Francesca Smith
Head of English
THE HOST SAYS A
FEW WORDS
Aaliyah Khwaja
Year 9 Student
A HUGE THANKS
At Al Bateen, we have been
working on a collection of some
of our best pieces of writing,
with the aim of putting together
a book that celebrates our
finest achievements. We would
like to thank you for all your
outstanding contributions. A
very special thanks to all the
incredibly hardworking Year 9
students who helped this book
become such a piece of art:
Aaliyah’s editing team, Zeyad’s
food team, the design team
consisting of Aisha and Ahmed,
Sarah A’s advertising team and,
most importantly, Mrs Smith!
Without her and all the other
teachers
of
the
English
department (Mrs Henderson,
Ms Greaney, Miss Cox, Mrs
Watson and Miss Donnelly, Mr
McMahon, Mrs Fry, Mrs Coom
ISSUE NO. 18
and Mr Daly, this book would
never have been completed.
On behalf of all students and
teachers, we would like to give
special thanks to our generous
sponsors: Mrs Kuleib from
Inspire Sports and Mr Al
Qubaisi from Finance House.
Due to their generous support,
it was possible for us to publish
our own book and also plan a
launch event for all of our
friends and families.
Agnes Widensky,
Shayma Khan
Year 9 Students
AWARDS EVENING
2015
The Annual Awards Evening,
hosted by Alia Yasin (Head Girl)
and Zaamin Khwaja (Head Boy),
was a fitting way to celebrate
and reflect upon student
achievement. We are blessed
with so many talented students
so to be nominated for an award
meant that a student had done
something special. Amongst
the many awards, presented by
Heads of Department and
Heads of Year, the audience was
treated to splendid musical
performances from Andrea
Motha,
Natasha
James,
Carlotta Romano and Hanaa
Ahmed.
I had the opportunity to host the
SUBJECT AWARD
school’s first book launch.
WINNERS
Along with my role of chief
ARABIC NATIVE: Jasmin El
editor, I was the emcee of one of
Badawy
the most important evenings of
ARABIC NON-NATIVE: Agnes
my life. I’ve never experienced
Widensky
being an emcee - or even a book
ART & DESIGN: Colombine Lord
editor and having these roles in
BUSINESS STUDIES: Vandita
Al Bateen’s first published book
Ritolia
has been significant for me in
terms of my achievements. In
my opinion, there are no words
to describe how perfect the
evening was for us all;
everything
ran
perfectly
according to plan and the
atmosphere was really positive.
I particularly enjoyed the food
(which only lasted for a little
while) and dressing in my
favourite formal dress, as well
as seeing all my friends and
schoolmates
dressed
up
fabulously; it like it was the
Oscars. Speaking in front of 100
people and introducing the Photo above: Editors of ‘The Writing in Our Hands’ , Zeyad Wadi and Ahmed Da’na,
guest speakers and students 9G, say a few words during the launch
AL BATEEN
SCHOOL
ABU DHABI
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY:
Hamdan Al Zaabi
DRAMA: Aurora De Luchi
ENGLISH: Zena Younes
GEOGRAPHY: Damin Attygalle
HISTORY: Kristen Louis
ICT: Vandita Ritolia
ISLAMIC NATIVE: Zayed Al
Mazroui
ISLAMIC NON-NATIVE: Nadine
Da’na
LANGUAGES - FRENCH: Zena
Younes
LANGUAGES - SPANISH: Elisya
Faizul
LEARNING SUPPORT: Abdulla
Mostafa
MATHEMATICS:
Agnes Widensky
MUSIC: Alexandra Kiel
PHYSICAL EDUCATION:
Mariana Al Varez
PHILOSOPHY: Aysha Hajsaleh
PSYCHOLOGY: Mariam Omar
SCIENCE – LOWER SCHOOL:
Mohanned Abdel Fattah
BIOLOGY: Zena Younes
CHEMISTRY: Damin Attygalle
PHYSICS: Ayumi Kobayashi
SOCIAL STUDIES NATIVE: Lina
Khalid Awad
SOCIAL STUDIES NON-NATIVE:
Agnes Widensky
STUDENT OF THE YEAR
AWARD WINNERS
JUNE 2015
YEAR 7 STUDENT OF YEAR
AWARD: Elisya Faizul
YEAR 8 STUDENT OF YEAR
AWARD: Farah Abo Asali
YEAR 9 STUDENT OF YEAR
AWARD: Jasmin El Badawy
YEAR 10 STUDENT OF YEAR
AWARD: Vandita Ritolia
YEAR 11 STUDENT OF YEAR
AWARD: Ayumi Kobayashi
SENIOR SCHOOL STUDENT OF
YEAR AWARD: Nowshin Kabir
SCHOOL AWARD
WINNERS
Photos: Students of the Year Ayumi Kobayashi and Wojciech Rudnicki (above)
MASTER CHEF WINNER 2015 Principal’s Award Winner, Alia Yasin with Principal, Mr Hutson (below)
Xinyu Wang
SPORTS AWARD – MALE
Zayed Wadi
SPORTS AWARD – FEMALE
Layan Wadi
THE CAS AWARD
Harshtha Viswanathan
THE COMMUNITY AWARD
Ayumi Kobayashi
STUDENT OF THE YEAR FEMALE
Ayumi Kobayashi
STUDENT OF THE YEAR – MALE
Wojciech Rudnicki
PRINCIPAL’S AWARD
Alia Yasin
HEAD OF YEAR UPDATES
whole-school awards evening.
From me, a BIG WELL DONE to
all those winners who took
subject awards, merit awards
and attendance awards. I am
also very impressed by many
who didn’t quite reach a subject
award
but
who
have
outstanding subject reports and
always perform so very well in
lessons
and
in
their
contributions to the Al Bateen
community.
Photo above: Mr Smith, Head of Year 8, faces Wojciech Rudnicki, 8B, in a table tennis
play-off during the Year 8 Celebration Assembly
GOODBYE TO
YEAR 7 AND BEST
WISHES FOR
YEAR 8
As I have already announced to
our Year 7 students I will be
moving on to our sister school
Al Ain International School from
ISSUE NO. 18
August to Head the Maths
Department. It has certainly
been an incredible honour for
me as Head of Year 7 to work
with such wonderful students
and fantastically supportive
parents.
We have enjoyed
celebrating the successes of
the year group both in our own
assembly time and during the
I wish you and your wonderful
children a most pleasant
summer break and all of my
very best wishes for academic
excellence and exciting and
fulfilled lives at Al Bateen in
Year 8 and beyond.
Shukran and ma`a as-salāma
Mr Nigel Stuart
Head of Year 7
CELEBRATING
SUCCESS
Our final assembly was held
last week and there were many
reasons to celebrate. Maria
Khakimova and Alice Ferrarese
provided two beautiful musical
pieces on piano and cello.
STUDENTS OF THE TERM:
Hager
ElKasabi
8C
and
Wojciech Rudnicki 8B. These
students have made excellent
academic progress this year
and
have
shown
great
determination in achieving their
goals.
100% ATTENDANCE (GOLD
AWARD): Farah Abo Asali, Sara
AlShehhi, Camilla De Leo,
Farah El Badawy, Naser
AlAmeri, Chanse Hamilton,
Talal El Tayeb, Nawal Ismail,
Google Izzo, Sai Danthakani and
Jawad Abdulwahab.
PRINCIPAL’S AWARD (OVER
150 MERITS): Farah El Badawy
and Hager ElKasabi 8C. These
two students have worked
exceptionally hard all year and
between them have achieved
over 400 merits! One of the
highest figures in the school’s
history!
During
Awards
our whole school
Evening it was a
AL BATEEN
SCHOOL
ABU DHABI
pleasure to see Farah Abo Asali
8A awarded YEAR 8 STUDENT
OF THE TERM and Wojciech
Rudnicki awarded STUDENT OF
THE YEAR. This is a fantastic
achievement by both students
who act as
excellent role
models with the school
community.
I wish everyone a happy
summer break and hope that
students come back refreshed
and ready for the challenges
and opportunities ahead in Year
9.
clear. They are all graduates,
graduating from lower school
into a new phase of their life,
some might even say the very
start of their future career path.
The start of their I/GCSEs is
nearly upon us, the focus of this
year will be on academic
success and achieving to the
best of each student’s ability.
We will strive to recognize each
students individual needs and
cater for these through
student supports, revision
sessions, interventions and
gifted & talented extension
Photo above: Student entrepreneurs take to selling services and products during
support.
Mr Matthew Smith
Head of Year 8
THE END OF OUR
LOWER SCHOOL
JOURNEY
As we come to the end of our
lower school journey, Year 9
students are celebrating a year
of great success, academic
attainment
and
CAS
achievements. Some notable
awards from our Term 3
Celebration Assembly were:
CAS AWARDS: Teppei Gotto &
Jasmin ElBadawy
HOUSE CHAMPIONS:
Kingsley = Agnes Widensky
Colombus = Zayd Shokair
Armstrong = Sally Amir,
Ibn Battuta = Yoswarit
Lakhornwong
STUDENTS OF THE TERM:
Aaliyah Khwaja, Zeyad Wadi.
STUDENT OF THE YEAR:
Jasmin El Badawy
TUTOR GROUP OF THE TERM:
9H
TUTOR GROUP OF THE YEAR:9G
I am pleased to say that these
decisions were exceptionally
difficult as we have so many
high achieving performers
within Year 9 and I had to
consider a variety of factors
such as attendance and
punctuality, merit scores and
participation levels in the
pastoral side of school life at Al
Bateen. Year 9 students have
many strengths and I am
delighted to be seeing them
through into the coming
academic year.
My message to the students at
this point in the year is very
JUNE 2015
ISSUE NO. 18
Enterprise Day at Al Bateen.
I would expect, and indeed like,
every student in Year 9 to enjoy
and wonderful summer filled
with memories, families and
friends and return for the
beginning on the 2015/16
academic year with a mature
attitude and an even stronger
desire to learn.
Miss Lisa Handy
Head of Year 9
WELL DONE
As the year draws to a close I
would like to take the
opportunity to congratulate the
Year 10 students on their
achievements.
During
the
summer term I have seen a
large number of students
appreciate the importance of
their studies. Independent
learning is vital to succeed at
I/GCSE level and this is
something that is beginning to
become
common
practice
amongst this cohort. I wish
each and every one of you the
best of luck on August 20th when
you receive your official I/GCSE
results for Statistics, English as
a Second Language, Arabic and
French.
I would also like to congratulate
Aminah Mohammed, Layan
Wadi and Vandita Ritolia on
their nominations for Student of
the Year. We are truly fortunate
as staff to teach such positive
students, and the three
nominated students epitomise
this attitude and approach to
learning.
Vandita
was
successful in winning this
award as she demonstrates an
unrivalled enthusiasm and
commitment
towards
her
studies and her role within the
school community. Well done
Vandita.
I hope you all have a lovely and
well deserved summer break
and we will see you fresh and
ready to learn in the final
chapter of your secondary
school life.
Mr Nicholas Makin
Head of Year 10
KEEP UP THE
HARD WORK
The IGCSE results will be
available from Thursday August
20th. There are two methods in
which students can obtain their
results. The preferred method
for accessing results would be
online via www.resultsplusdirect.co.uk. In order to receive
the examination results in this
way, it is essential that students
use their school email address
and the password accredited to
this. If any student has
forgotten
their
login
details, they should come in to
school before the end of the
academic year to resolve the
issue and to avoid any
disappointment in August. The
alternative way of receiving the
examination results will be to
come in to Al Bateen Secondary
School in person on Thursday
August 20th between 10am and
1pm. I will be in school between
these times to assist with this.
I will be leaving the school at
the end of the academic year
and expect my email account to
be disabled. Therefore, any
enquiries regarding exams or
email access should be sent to:
School email access: ithelpbateen@albateen.sch.ae
Examination results: dmcdonald@albateen.sch.ae
I wish every Year 11 student an
enjoyable summer break and
the very best of luck in their
future studies.
Mrs Adele Minter-Bradley
Head of Year 11
aminter@albateen.sch.ae
Photo above: Student entrepreneurs take to selling services and products during
Enterprise Day at Al Bateen.
AL BATEEN
SCHOOL
ABU DHABI
THE IB COLUMN
JUNE 2015
ISSUE NO. 18
House Debating competition
with the Head of House, in
addition to achieving fantastic
grades in all her subjects.
with the PE Department by
leading an after school fitness
class for girls, has led a fitness
class for staff during our ‘Staff
Well Being Week’ , received a
Philosophy award at our annual
Awards Evening, excels in all
her subjects, and
has
organized
summer
study
groups in Mathematics for
herself and her peers.
HARSHITHA SAI
VISWANATHAN
Senior School Student
Committee Member
Harshitha won the CAS award
at our end of year Awards
Evening. Her activities this year
have included volunteering at a
local
veterinary
clinic,
conquering her fear of deep
water by learning to scuba dive
and
gaining a certification,
being accepted by Cornell
University’s Summer College in
Biochemical Sciences, and this
year has also taught herself
sign language to be able to help
hearing impaired children.
Photo above: Senior School students gain insight into their university careers during
the recent Higher Education Day, held at Al Bateen
ON MERIT
This week we would like to use
the IB column to praise some of
our Year 12 students for all they
have accomplished this year.
Some of the accomplishments
below are, we believe, the mark
of incredibly caring people,
who, every day, devote time and
effort – even and especially
when they are tired – to making
a difference in the lives of
others. We are incredibly proud
of congratulating the following
students at the end of a
remarkable first year of IB.
ALIA YASIN, HEAD GIRL
Winner of the Principal’s Award
(June 2015)
Alia has contributed to the life
of her school by helping with
charity events, representing the
school during sports events,
awards
evenings,
open
mornings, etc. Alia has led
assemblies for her year group,
released interviews for local
and national newspapers, led a
Higher Mathematics workshop
for Year 11 students, written an
article about ‘being balanced’
for Abu Dhabi Week and, in
addition to her contributions to
the life of the school
community,
has
achieved
phenomenal results in the first
year of her IB DP.
SEIF WADI, DEPUTY HEAD BOY
Seif has won a number of sports
awards for his dedication and
participation in the swim team
and in the football team. He has
represented the school on
many formal occasions (awards
evenings, sports events, etc),
has liaised with a recycling
company and with the school’s
leadership team to ensure that
a recycling programme is in
place at Al Bateen from next
year and to raise awareness of
environmental
sustainability.
Along with other students, he
has helped lead a workshop on
creativity for younger students
at a local school and also
volunteers for Inspire, coaching
young football players. All this
of course comes in addition to
achieving fantastic grades in his
subjects.
ZAAMIN KWAJA, HEAD BOY
Zaamin used to be a basketball
and rugby player; he had to stop
playing competitively when he
injured his knee and, rather
than giving up, he started
coaching other students, and is
now an example of resilience
and courage to many younger
students. Zaamin has led year
assemblies, co-led the basketball and the rounders club with
staff members, led an IB workshop for Year 11 students,
worked incredibly hard towards
very good results in all his subjects, and helped the school
prefects educate younger students about the importance of
respect for the community and
for one’s environment.
BATOOL KHALIL
Batool scored in the top 10% in
the world in her SATs and ACTs
(for entry into top American
Universities), was nominated
for Senior School Student of the
Year, was Stage Manager in the
schools ‘Alice in Wonderland’
production, and co-led the
SAI RUSHALI SRIVASTAVA,
PREFECT
A brilliant mathematician, Sai
Rushali also acted in our ‘Alice
in Wonderland’ production and
was selected to audition for
Hollywood by IPOP. She
co-leads weekly CAS activities
for younger students, including
Bollywood
dancing,
has
regularly performed and read
her original poems at a number
of school events, and has
published a short story in Al
Bateen’s ‘The Writing is in our
hands’ book.
LUKA POWELL
Luka performed at the ‘Aldar’s
Got Talent’ event at Emirates
Palace on Monday 15th June, as
well as on a number of other
occasions,
coaches
and
mentors younger girls, has
excelled in all her Higher
Level subjects, and has been
nominated for a Philosophy
award.
AMANDA BALDWIN, PREFECT
Amanda performed at the
‘Aldar’s got talent’ event at
Emirates Palace on Monday 15th
June, as well as on many other
occasions. She coaches and
mentors younger girls, has
excelled in all her Higher Level
subjects,
and
has
been
nominated for a Business
award.
AYSHA HAJSALEH,
Editor in Chief of the Student
Magazine (‘AB Buzz’)
Aysha initiated and ran Al
Bateen’s first school magazine,
coordinating a total of around
30 students. She has organized
and managed a promotional
event to launch the online
version of the magazine, works
NADEEN DA’NA
Head of the Senior School
Committee
In addition to excelling in all her
subjects, Nadeen leads the
Senior School Committee for
recreational activities, and has
designed part of next year’s
Senior
School’s
uniform.
Nadeen won two awards at our
annual Awards Evening in June,
and is a constant example of
kindness and courage to all
those around her.
NOWSHIN KABIR, PREFECT,
Winner of the ‘Senior Student
of the Year’ Award
Nowhin won the award for
‘Senior Student of the Year’,
thanks to her hard work,
kindness to others and ability to
be fair and balanced at all
times. Nowshin has worked
very hard this year on the
design
for
the
school
magazine’s print version and
website, helping Aysha and
Kristen lead a group of students
from all year groups. Nowhin’s
academic achievement and
attitude to learning in all her
subjects are phenomenal.
KRISTEN LOUIS
‘AB Buzz’ editorial committee
Kristen has had a brilliant year,
and received a very well
deserved History Award at our
awards ceremony. Kristen
works with Aysha, Nowshin and
other Senior students on ‘AB
Buzz’, in addition to achieving
fantastic results in all her
subjects. She
has also
mentored younger girls at Al
Bateen, has volunteered in Al
Mushrif, has taken part in the
Dubai Business Cup and has
been a Mathematics tutor
throughout the year. To all these
students, we would like to
simply say: THANK YOU FOR
THE EXTRAORDINARY THINGS
YOU DO, EVERY DAY.
Dr Chiara Tabet
IBDP Coordinator &
Head of Senior School