Dear Parents,

This SPOTS is a special one as so many celebratory events have happened for our seniors as well as exciting  experiences coming up for our students in grades 9-11. 

Our seniors had a special week last week with a mix of fun events as well as our annual celebratory senior walk. Thank you to all senior moms and dads who lined the red carpet to welcome our seniors as they walked out of the school for the ‘last’ time as students.

At our final senior assembly, we were very proud to announce our Valedictorian and Salutatorian.  We are happy to share the top two students of the class of 2022:

salutatorian: carlos eduardo rangel outeda

valedictorian: kamilla kincso kurucz

HSC week begins directly after the Eid break with trips occurring both locally and internationally. We could not be more excited to travel again and slowly get back to ‘normal’. I personally am very excited to join the Iceland group of students and get to know our amazing students and share in the adventures that await. 

Little by little, we have been able to bring back our cherished traditions which most recently started with dodgeball 7’s. The school pride was palpable and everyone left with their hearts full and hopeful that this was our biggest step towards being able to bring all of our cherished school traditions back.

Thank you for all your support these last few weeks as we navigated the last week of school for seniors and all the logistics leading up to HSC week. I am looking forward to writing the next session showing what our students in grades 9-11 have engaged in during this special time.

With gratitude,

Tammy Jochinke

As we look towards the end of the year we wanted to share with you the end of year exam schedule. These exams are an important opportunity for students to showcase their learning and progress against the standards under exam conditions. Teachers will be communicating with the students about the content of the exams. Further instructions will be sent to students at the beginning of June.

The week after exams are completed students will have an opportunity to review the exams as well as complete some enrichment activities and explore the next year's course work for grades 9 and 10 and grade 11 will complete the IB mid-course review. Further information will be provided at the beginning of June.

Please note:

• The schedule has been developed so that students should not have more than two exams in any one day.

• If you have a conflict with two exams scheduled at the same time or more than two exams scheduled for the same day one of the exams will be rescheduled to the make-up exam day.

• During the exams normal classes will not occur, students only attend school for their exams. 

• If a student has two exams in one day they can not leave campus between the exams.

• If students are absent for exams they will require a DHA doctors certificate explaining the absence

• Students are able to dress down during exams.

• Slices will be open for students to purchase food.

The IB mid-course review is a time for parents, students and teachers to connect and discuss the students' progress over the year. The students can review their strengths and areas for development and also reflect on their pre-predicted grades. During this time students will also be able to meet with their extended essay supervisor so that they can discuss their planning and how they complete their first draft over the summer. Please note that the first draft of the extended essay is due when students return after the summer break.

Since the announcement that the school will be closed for the Eid al-Fitr break from Monday May 2nd until Friday May 6th, we wanted to confirm that this has no impact upon the IB or AP exams, which will run as per the schedule.

This May, Dubai American Academy will once again be participating in PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment) supporting the UAE National Agenda. 

Issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA tests the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. Students will complete a computer-based assessment comprising of questions based on Mathematics, Science, Reading, Creative Thinking and Financial Literacy, with Mathematics being the major domain for PISA 2022. 

At DAA, a group of 105 students have been chosen to participate in the PISA assessment by the testing agency (KHDA/OECD) through random sampling. Sampling was based on a complete list of all the students born in 2006, within each school. All students who have been selected have been informed, as have their parents.

PISA develops tests which are not directly linked to school curricula. The tests are designed to assess to what extent students at the end of compulsory education can apply their knowledge to real-life situations and be equipped for full participation in society. In addition, since PISA is an ongoing triennial survey, countries and economies participating in successive surveys can compare their students' performance over time and assess the impact of education policy decisions. 

These tests are a mixture of open-ended and multiple-choice questions that are organized in groups, based on a passage setting out a real-life situation. The selected students along with their school principal and teachers also answer questionnaires to provide information about the school and learning experiences and about the broader school system and learning environment. The information collected through background questionnaires provides context which can help analysts interpret the results.

This was a very gratifying experience for me as I was able to try many new things and discover new interests. Another large part of the award is the qualifying journey, this is a journey where you hike and camp with others that are also participating in the award. Although it is a lot of hard work and I found it very difficult at times, it was an extremely rewarding experience. Being able to work together as a group to achieve something as well as making close friendships was worth the challenge. Duke of Edinburgh gives you an opportunity to discover new interests and talents, allows you to develop essential skills for life and work, and is a recognized mark of achievement. I recommend anyone who enjoys working with others, improving themselves, and is generally interested in taking on new challenges to try out Duke of Edinburgh.

Gr 11 Parent webinar “How to best support the holistic development of our high school students, class of 2023”

Dear parents of Grade 11 students,

We would like to invite you to a webinar on Thursday 12th May 8-9am with Mr Courlander (IB psychology teacher, teaching and learning coach and grade 11 grade level advisor) on the topic “How to best support the holistic development of our high school students, class of 2023.” It is evident that high school can be a time of significant personal and academic development. Within this unique stage of development and academic pressure, students can start to experience distress and the associated negative effects. We as a school value the holistic development of our students and aim to collaborate with our parent community to support the holistic development of each student. 

Attendees of the webinar will:

• Identify and discuss the most common sources of stressors for our high school students. 

• Discuss effective stress management strategies for supporting the development of our high school students. 

• Discover the HOW of Wise parenting.

Rory Courlander is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7687164376?pwd=VG50YUtpdjRxdDFGRTh5U3FZR1hHdz09

Meeting ID: 768 716 4376

Passcode: 748502