PARENT UPDATES 7 February, 2021
FROM OUR DIRECTOR Dear Parents,
Thursday was a landmark day for Fairgreen as we reached a total of 500 students enrolled! I remember when we started operations in a villa in The Sustainable City. From our desks (in the kitchen), we would look out onto the construction site and watch the building grow gradually (too gradually as it would turn out!), wondering what it would look like, feel like and sound like with hundreds of young people inside. After the strange beginnings on the site of our Dunecrest friends, we moved to our own campus when it was completed in January 2019. All this time, we had no idea what the future held, and we certainly didn't expect Covid-19. However, it will take more than a pandemic to stop Fairgreen. Huge thanks go to our founding families, who took a chance on us back then, and many are still with us. Three years in Dubai is like 13 years anywhere else - things move so quickly here. Now, at 500 students, we can be so proud of what we have all achieved together. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.
Celebrating our 500th student led me to think about what the future holds for Fairgreen. We have completed the hiring process for next year's teachers and the team will be extremely strong. We will offer our IB Diploma and Career-related Programmes for the first time and our current Grade 10 students will be our first ever graduating class in summer 2023. What a special time that will be!
The Mission of Fairgreen is to provide an exceptional international education that embraces sustainability in all its forms. This 'exceptional international education' is translated into our 7 Fairgreen Pillars. These are: Academic Growth & Achievement; Sustainability; Character; Wellbeing; International-mindedness; Innovation; and Social Responsibility. We share these with our students often but I'm not sure how familiar it is to all parents. It's helpful to know that these are our areas of focus and the extent to which we focus on each one depends on data and need. For example, this term we are focusing more on Academic Growth and Achievement to ensure that any learning gaps that may have arisen during online learning are identified and remedied. We are also concentrating our efforts on Wellbeing and Innovation. That does not mean we are not focusing on the other pillars, just that most time, energy and resources, are spent on these three at the moment. Survey data also helps us to decide which pillars require a greater focus. As always, if you would like more information on any of this, please let me know.
Have a wonderful week!
Graeme
EARLY YEARS ADMISSIONS FOR NEW STUDENTS If you have a child that will be NEW to Fairgreen for the 2021-22 school year, entering Pre-KG, KG1 or KG2, please know that now is the time to begin this application process. Please fill out an application for your child that will be NEW to Fairgreen for our Early Years programme as space is limited in these grade levels. CLICK HERE to fill out the application.
Re-enrollment of current students will begin soon. We will notify you once that process begins.
If you have any questions, please email our Admissions Director at admissions@fairgreen.ae
FROM THE KHDA Dear Parents,
Every year, we encourage students' parents to take part in the annual KHDA survey, which gives our team insights about your school, and all schools in Dubai. This year is no different.
The KHDA Parents' Survey, #BecauseYouSaidSo, is open now until Thursday, February 11. It takes just 10 minutes to complete. Many parents in Dubai have already received a link to the survey by email. The more parents who complete the survey, we better insights we'll get. Please take the survey via this link.
We'll be sharing the overall results of the survey with everyone in our community in the next few weeks. As an extra incentive, each parent who takes part in the survey will go into the draw to win a free annual pass to Dubai Parks & Resorts.
As ever, we are grateful for your support and cooperation.
Regards,
Knowledge & Human Development Authority
IMPORTANT DATES This week!
Please note your child's Student Photo Day below:
9 February: Early Release & Dress Down Day
Please see below for timing and dress down information for our next Early Release Day.
9 February, 9 A.M.: Zoom Parent Coffee
Topic: Together for a Better Internet For Parents of Students in Grades 4-10
Fairgreen parents of students in Grades 4-10, please make time to join this all-important Zoom Parent Coffee this Tuesday at 9am. Our school leaders and staff have a great presentation and discussion planned for you.
Please CLICK HERE to join the Zoom. Meeting ID: 710 9271 7980 Passcode: S76j77
HOUSE UPDATE Fairgreen's Got Talent
Thank you to everyone that has entered our Fairgreen's Got Talent Competition. We have so many talented students here at Fairgreen such as: magicians, footballers, gymnasts, dancers, comedians, horse riders, dog trainers and many more. On the padlet, each upload says 'waiting for approval' the reason for this is because we didn't want everyone to see all the auditions. Each house leader is able to see the submissions and that is why they have created a list of all the acts they have received, so please don't worry if it hasn't been approved. Our house leaders are now watching all of the wonderful acts and will be selecting who will represent their house in the grand final!
FANtastic February
Remember this Tuesday is one of our spirit days. Come dressed as a fan of your favourite sports team or come dressed as a person you admire/are a fan of. Everyone dressed in this theme will earn a house point for their house.
House Points Total
Aqua continue to lead the way but Terra have overtaken Ignis and are now sitting in second place. Caeli are still in fourth and are hoping to close the gap and catch Ignis.
FROM OUR HEAD OF INCLUSION Dear Parents,
On behalf of The Developing Child Centre (TDCC), we would like to share information about an upcoming talk on "Sensory vs Behaviour" they are hosting for free for the Dubai community. If you have any questions about attending, please contact the centre directly.
The Zoom ID and passcode for this session can be found in the flyer below.
HIGHLIGHTS Grade 8 Begin Making their Eco-classroom Models
Mr Landete's Grade 8 Design students have been learning about sustainable construction and energy sources used in the built industry. They have designed their own functional eco-classrooms incorporating sustainable elements. Now students are beginning to construct models of their designs. Can't wait to see the final projects!
Grade 10 Beginning to Present their Personal Projects
For Grade 10 MYP students, the capstone of this segment of their IB journey is creating and presenting their Personal Project, an interdisciplinary body of work students present on a topic of their choice. For example, this year we have a student designing their own computer and another who is designing and presenting on a new educational space for the school. CLICK HERE to view our student Sarah's mixed media exhibition on gun violence in America and how these tragedies link to how gun ownership is legislated. Sarah presented an incredibly thoughtful and well-executed experience that was both heart-rending and educational. Excellent work! We appreciate the guidance of our teacher and staff supervisors who have been working with our students over the past 6 months that they have been creating their Personal Projects.
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