THE WESTMINSTER SCHOOL, DUBAI

OCTOBER 2014

TERM: 1 * ISSUE: 2

A NEWSLETTER THAT CONNECTS LB 8B3 WITH THE WESTMINSTER SCHOOL, DUBAI

Look Ahead...
Page 1:
Lets Stop Bullying
Creative Challenge

Page 2:
Digital Week
Scrabble Competition
Environment Week
Islamic Assembly

Page 3:
Teachers Day
Box Campaign
World Food Day

LETS STOP BULLYING:

What is Bullying? Bullying is intentional (not an
accident); a bully hurts someone on purpose.
Different Forms of Bullying: Physical: e.g. kicking,
hitting and damaging their belongings; Verbal: e.g.
name calling, taunting, threats and making offensive
remarks; Indirect: e.g. spreading nasty stories about
someone, gossiping and excluding people from social
groups like games; Cyber: Sending nasty emails, texts
or making nasty phone calls.
Did you know? Bullying will stop in under 10 seconds when peers (other children)
intervene nearly 60% of the time. 85% of bullying takes place with bystanders present.
- Fattah, 8B3
Creative Challenge for Schools:
On January 5, 2014, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
Crown Prince of Dubai, announced and inaugurated the My Dubai initiative, requesting
residents and visitors to share compelling moments of their lives on social media using the
hashtag My Dubai.
The Westminster school, Dubai, is well known for its community work which we believe,
impacts our students overall Personal and social development skills. We believe that it is
important to venture beyond the classroom to make a positive contribution to the society
we live in. To accomplish this task, our school has undertaken yet another school
community service Project a charity project Creative Challenge for Schools .This year,
in response to His Highness Sheikh Hamdans initiative and in partnership with the Dubai
Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and with the support of the
Ministry of Education and Dubais Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA),
Dubai Cares is launching a creative challenge for schools.
- Ali Reda, 8B3
STUDENT OF
THE MONTH

ALIYAN

Digital Citizenship Week:

Sunday: October 19, 2014
Core value periodAll the classes throughout the
school conducting one lesson from Digital Citizenship
Curriculum (CSM).
Debate on internet freedom - This was audio
broadcasted to all classes where the discussion
continued with the teacher so that all students could
participate. The feedback of the discussion in class
was posted on the blog.
Monday: October 20, 2014
Evaluating the digital literacy level of the students
through a test.
The test was initiated by the class teacher by sharing
the Google form with the students. ICT teachers got
the students to complete during their ICT lesson.
Teachers also attempted the literacy test so that the
digital awareness level was plotted.
The analysis and the graph was uploaded in the digital
hub and other sites the following week.
Tuesday: October 21, 2014
World Tweeting day promoting the Digital Citizenship
Awareness.
Invite celebrities like National Leaders, His highness,
Alumni, Digital leaders from GCO and Principals of
schools, for tweeting.
Wednesday: October 22, 2014
Digital Learning Day Book free day/(Flip lesson) like
Digi Day probably one period in each class.
The Digi day was purely the same lesson using student
and teacher device to give an insight on teaching/
learning.
Thursday: October 23, 2014
A session of awareness created by Dubai Internet City
for our students on Cyber Security and National
Policy.

Scrabble Competition:
On October 3, 2014, I from my class participated in the
Inter-School Scrabble Competition. It was a very delightful
experience aside from the fact I got stuck with two 16
year old to face out of the 3 games. It also improved and
improvised my knowledge about vocabulary with the
alphabet 'X'. All in all it was a very amusing time.
- Aliyan. Jafri
ENVIRONMENT WEEK:
Wednesday: October 29, 2014 - CARDBOARD BOX
CHALLENGE - Students used their creativity to make
objects with old cardboard boxes.
THURSDAY: October 30, 2014 - Digital Poster
CompetitionTheme: We can make a difference.
Debate in each ClassTopic: Are there certain lines that
we should never cross?
Islamic Assembly:
Grade 7 and 8 Islamic students were invited to an Islamic
Assembly. The students were hosted by a very soulful
Islamic scholar. She taught us very important Islamic
Etiquettes that no longer deem to be followed. She was as
keen on hearing our inquiries as much to what she was
explaining. It was very humble and modest session and
left us to ponder over our self-behavior.
- Aliyan. Jafri

SMALL CHANGES,
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT
A: Why did the computer go to the doctor?
Riddles B: Because it had a virus.
of the X: Why was the Mathematics book sad?
month
Y: Because it has too many problems.

Teachers Day:
It's always trouble where to start when
you have a ton of information to write.
This is a write-up that'll fall in this
category. This is my fourth time being a
teacher so I have been in a teachers boot
for four days. And these four days
demonstrated that the struggle is real.
From the lesson plan till the last second
before the bell rings, as a teacher you have
to be bundled and buckled up for the
challenge to handle 30 odd students. It's
very funny- due we live in a time lapse that
highlights the individual gain every single
human perceives of, it is rather strange
with the matter of a teacher. For teachers
are natural selfless people as they teachnot to get their paycheck and bid 'aloha'
and leave for vacations- for the future
uprising of each and everyone of us as a
student. Thankyou teachers. *Salute*
- Aliyan. J

Worlds Teachers Day - October 2, 2014, Thursday

Phase 1 Orientation/Introduction:
The Senior Leaders of the school introduced the Student Leaders.
During this time the necessary instructions were commuted.
Phase 2 School in progress
The Student teachers conducted classes from the 2nd to 5th period. The
teachers were present in each class for the purpose of evaluation.
Phase 3 Evaluation Phase
One Student-teacher from each year level shared their experience of
the day. Also the student teachers in charge of the higher
management shared their experience of managing the day. Concluding
remarks by the Student Principal followed by the Principal of the
school were shared. The students Teachers reassembled in the
Multiplus to share their feedback and experience of the day. A video
was displayed of the students working during the day. Furthermore,
the Student Principal and the Principal of the school himself shared
their views of the day.
Back to school box campaign:
The students actively took part in the SEWA day activities which was
mainly focused on community services. It was a week- long activity
(29/9/14 14/10/14).
The project the 'Back to School Box' is a charity project launched
by the KHDA- Knowledge and Human Development Authority in
association with the Department of Islamic Affairs, through which
we have volunteered to put together boxes of basic stationery for the
less privileged school children in the UAE. Students were encouraged
to bring the stationery items listed in the check list and hand it over to
the respective Learning Bay coordinator.
All the collected items were brought to the multiplus by the student
representatives from each Phase after proper checking and was handed
over to the Department of Islamic Affairs during the global dignity day
assembly which was held on 15th October, 2014.

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16

October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.
Aliyan and Rafae as Student Teachers on
the Teachers Day at TWS

The World Food Day theme for 2014 is Family Farming: Feeding
the world, caring for the earth.