MIDDLE SCHOOL

Dear DAA Middle School Families,

Week Without Walls is upon us!  We are so excited for the lifelong memories that our students and staff will be making next week!  There are some details that you will want to check out below, and also from your child’s group leader.

As Mr. McGarvey addressed in the Grade Level Newsletter, we have noticed an increase of unkind behavior among students.  With over 100 different nationalities, we are proud to be truly international and believe that our differences make us stronger.  This week, all students attended an assembly to reiterate our expectations and some staff members shared their personal story to help reaffirm the foundation of our Culture of Kindness in the Middle School.  Students got the opportunity to dive more deeply into the topic during CREW classes this week.

As Mahatma Gandhi famously said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  Together, with the support of our families, we can continue making DAA a wonderful place for all of our learners.

Upcoming Dates

• February 28 - March 4 - Middle School Week Without Walls

• March 14 -  March 16 - NO SCHOOL - Parent Teacher Conferences (MS & HS)

• March 25 - Last day of school before Spring Break

• March 28 - April 10 - Spring Break

• April 11- First day of school returning from Spring Break

For all events, click here for the K-12 Academic Calendar.

Term 2 ASA and Lunch Activities are off to a great start. Ms. Eversteyn, Mr. Murphy and Ms. Ambrocio are running an ASA for the Art competition held by the Emirate Environment Group. The 12-14 year old category is “How are you personally contributing to a more sustainable world?” There is great industry and verve from our team of students, seen above.  

In the third image we can see Macramé with Mr. Steenson, who are well into their work;  It looks great. If you would like to be involved with our lunch activities there is still availability in:

• Meditation (lunch)

• Snakes and Ladders (lunch)

• Financial Literacy (lunch)

• Guitar Club (lunch) 

• Chess Club (lunch) 

• Quran Recitation (lunch)

• Eco Committee (lunch) 

• Book Club (lunch)

Please email Mr. Murphy, s.murphy_daa@gemsedu.com, for more information.

All our trips are being finalized and students and teachers are excited for the upcoming week and the experiences that have been prepared for them! Trip leaders will be sending daily updates from each of the trips so you can keep track of what our students are up to this week!  Trip leaders have shared their method of communication with families already, so if you’re unsure, please ask your child to contact their leader.   In the event of an emergency, please contact one of the Middle School Administrators at +971 52 105 4944 or call the middle school office at +971 4 704 9722.

As mentioned in the previous edition, from March 7th, students will need to use their Student ID to pay for food in the cafeteria, otherwise they will not be permitted to purchase food.  This will help with the efficiency of the lunch line and help maintain safety with COVID. Please see the pertinent details below:

All families who have access to the GEMS Parent Portal have automatically been provided with a Slices account. To recharge your Slices account through the web browser of the GEMS Parent Portal, please follow the below instructions:

1.  Login to your parent portal account using your web browser:https://connect.gemseducation.com/

2.  Using your debit or credit card, please top up your catering balance by clicking the ‘Catering’ button on the left hand side of the screen.

3.  Gr.6-12, students can access the Grab and Go System using their student ID card. 

Ms. Shevine is the DAA Slices Contact Representative. For any queries, please reach out to her as follows:

WHATSAPP: 971 54 792 7509

EMAIL: daa@slices.ae

As part of our Middle School Safer Internet Week students have submitted a number of great video entries for Positive TikTok Trends.  Our Learning Intention was to create videos that would generate a positive impact on our community.  As you will see from the mixtape, many students felt recycling and environmental causes were the top priority.  Here’s a link to the mixtape.

The Middle School Fine Arts department is delighted to present the talented and creative artworks from our grade 6 Quarter 2, and Semester 1, Grades 7 and 8 student’s Unit 2 projects. Currently the actual artworks are displayed in the commons area and on the screens around the school, but so the wider DAA community can view the artworks we have created this digital exhibition for you. We hope you enjoy. Congratulations to all of our students for making this happen. 

Would you like to contact a middle school teacher or staff member?  Please see the list of email addresses here.

If you are still having technical troubles, please make sure to raise a ticket if the teacher is unable to help your child with a fix.  Send an email to studenthelpdesk@gemsdaa.net and they will help resolve the issue.