brighton college al ain newsletter
DESCRIPTION
November 2013 edition 3TRANSCRIPT
Brighton
College Al Ain
Newsletter
Inside this issue
Scholarship Programme.............. 2
Art .............................................. 4
Trips ............................................ 5
National Day Celebrations .......... 6
Music .......................................... 8
Scholarship Programme Launched
We are very pleased to announce that, in keeping with our desire to promote and celebrate academic,
sporting and culture excellence Brighton College Al Ain will be offering Scholarships for both new and
existing pupils. Full details of the Scholarship programme can be found on pages 2 and 3 of this News-
letter.
Mr Alun Yorath, Head Master
November/December 2013, Edition 3
Why do we offer Scholar-ships?
1. Children who are recog-
nised for their excep-
tional gift or talent are
role models for the
whole school communi-
ty.
2. Scholarships carry a 25%
reduction on fees- this
may allow a child to be
schooled at Brighton
where previously the fee
structure did not allow
this to happen.
3. Scholarships are highly
aspirational and give
children something to
aim for. A child that is
currently at the College
will be just as eligible to
compete for a scholar-
ship in the future as a
new applicant.
4. We will regularly cele-
brate the work done by
our Scholars. Their sta-
tus as a Music, Sporting
or Academic Scholar will
be publicly recognised.
Approximately 80 Academic, Music and Sporting Scholarships are available for the academic
year 2014-15
What is a Scholarship?
How does my child qualify for a scholarship?
2
A scholarship is won by a child on merit alone. The child must
demonstrate exceptional academic, sporting or musical talent.
The scholarship will lead to a 25% fee reduction for the child and
public recognition that the child has been awarded this scholarship.
To be considered for a Scholarship your child must currently be study-ing at Brighton College or have been offered a place for next year. If your child is currently at the College and you wish for your child to be considered for a scholarship then you will need to complete the scholarship consideration form available from the Admissions Of-fice from Sunday 5th January 2014. Please note that your child will only be allowed to sit the scholarship academic paper or the Music/Sporting practical assessment if the Head of Junior or Senior School endorses the application. If your child has not yet applied for a place at the College then you will need to complete a standard application and your child will need
to sit the necessary entrance tests for entry to Years 2-10. Only if your child has been offered a place for September 2014 may you then com-plete the scholarship consideration form available from the Admissions Office from Sunday 5th January 2014. Please note that your child will only be allowed to sit the schol-arship academic paper if their per-formance on the entry tests places them in the top sector of children applying. We will inform you about this when you complete the scholar-ship consideration form. Any child may apply for a sporting or Music scholarship by completing the scholarship consideration form. On-ly shortlisted pupils will be called for a practical assessment. Shortlist-ing will be based on the information you complete on the scholarship consideration form.
The Scholarship consideration form will be available from 5th January 2014. Please contact the Admis-
sions Office in the New Year for further information.
2
The Admissions Office
The Admissions office is
located adjacent to the
reception desk in the Recep-
tion building at the College.
Contact the admissions
office
03 7133 999
admissions
@brightoncollegealain.ae
What are the Academic Scholarship tests?
For entry to Years 1-4 we
will assess the children over a
morning or full day in school.
They will take part in a wide
range of activities and mini-
assessments that will test all
aspects of a child’s capabili-
ties
For entry to Years 5-10
children will sit three exams
in Maths, English and Sci-
ence. These papers will be sat
in one morning with short
supervised breaks between
each paper. We do not pro-
vide samples of the testing
material used. All test papers
are retained by the College
after completion and remain
the property of the College.
Scholarship timeline
All new children being considered for Scholarships will need to have applied for entry to the College by Thursday 6th February 2014
Sunday 5th January 2014
Admissions office opens for applications for September 2014
entry
Sunday 12th January 2014
Individual tours for parents and children for entry to FS1-Year 1
begin- Please contact the Admissions Office to book a tour
Sunday 19th January 2014
Entrance tests for entry to Years 2-10 begin- Please contact the
Admissions Office for further information
Tours of the College for Parents and Children for entry to Years
2-10 begin- Please contact the Admissions Office to book a
tour
Tuesday 21st January 2014
Open Evening for prospective and current parents 6pm-8pm
Thursday 6th February 2014 3pm
Applications for entry to the College from children who intend
to apply for Scholarship consideration close- Please note
that after this date any further applications will not be eligi-
ble for consideration for scholarship
Sunday 23rd February 2014
Scholarship testing for all eligible pupils begins
3
Unsuccessful candidates may re-apply for considera-tion the following year. Please note that the number of NEW scholarships available in the future will be
considerably less than the first year’s offerings.
Preparing for National Day in the Art Depart-ment
It has been an amazing few weeks watching the pupils of Brighton College embrace the challenge of producing a series of artistic pieces for National Day. Inspiration came from several sources: national dress, buildings, animals, Islamic pat-terns and landscapes, henna designs, sand dunes and the ocean all contributed to ensur-ing that the compositions were representative of cultural, histor-ical and contemporary aspects of life in the UAE. The careful application of paint and oil pas-tel brought rich colours to the art and illustrated the creativity and sense of beauty that our pupils are able to express in their work.
The imaginatively-designed and beautifully-crafted pieces ranged from pictorial hangings to sculp-tures of buildings and clams with pearls. It was clear to see how much our pupils enjoyed working on the project, with ‘fabulous’, ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ just some of the words used by pupils to describe their experi-ences. The pupils were a credit to the College, working tirelessly prior to the event during numer-ous lunch sessions in order to ensure that the finished pieces were of the highest standard possible.
Many pupils from Year 5 to Year 9 were involved with the wonderful creations and it was so pleasing to see the older members of the College mentor the younger pupils. I hope that next year is as eventful and pro-ductive as this one. I am sure that it will!
Mrs Claire Hackett,
Head of Art
Art @ Brighton
‘Fabulous’, ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’. Just some of the words used to describe art projects in the build up to National Day.
4
House Competitions
House competitions have been a great success this month with girls Netball being fiercely contested!
Next term we have a range of house competitions planned:
House Golf Competi-tion at AAESGC
House Adventure Rac-ing Competition at Wadi Adventure
College Sports Day
House table-tennis com-petition
House Pop-Idol compe-tition
Visits and Trips
“If learning is confined to the classroom then children are losing valuable opportunities to discover”
5
Brighton College places great
emphasis on trips and visits.
Learning outside the classroom
brings a subject to life. In the last
month we have been busy with
day trips visiting venues in Al
Ain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi Science Festival- Yas
Island
Senior School Computing Trip
Abu Dhabi Science Festival- Al
Ain Zoo
Senior School Science and Computing
Trip
Brighton College Abu Dhabi
performance of Blood Brothers
Senior School Drama Trip
Ski Dubai
Senior School Social Trip
Lulu supermarket and local
market
Junior School ‘Where our food comes
from” trip
Al Ain Music Festival- Al Qatara
Arts centre
Senior School Music Trip
Next term we already have
many more trips planned,
including:
Zakher Park
FS1-2 trip to discover more about the
environment and plants.
Al Ain Zoo
I. Joint Junior and Senior School Art
and Science Trip
II. Senior School ICT database trip
III. Junior School Africa Studies trip
Ski Dubai
Another Senior School Social trip!
Wadi Adventure
Senior School Physics trip
Al Ain Raceway
Senior School House trip
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque,
Abu Dhabi
Senior School Islamic Studies trip
Musandam Adventurous training
Year 9 adventurous training trip to the
Northern Emirates.
Al Ain Palace
Junior School cultural trip
Cement Factory
Senior School Art trip
Dino Live
Junior School Dinosaurs trip
Local Farm visit
Junior School Trip to a local farm to
learn more about food production
Dubai Creek and Daid
Junior School overnight trip for Y4
pupils only
And many more……..!
“The whole world is a classroom and it’s the most exciting classroom there is!”
House Totals
Over 1000 house points have been earned this term as a result of competitions and individual house points for work, acts of kindness etc..
In the Junior School the final totals are:
Fenwick 407 points
Chichester 389 points
Ryle 384 points
Hampden 357 points
In the Senior School the final totals are:
Chichester 226 points
Fenwick 204 points
Ryle 186 points
Hampden 156 points
An Interview with two pupils
What is National Day?
Karien – “National Day is when
people of the UAE celebrate the
development of the country”
Mouza - “It is a day for us to re-
member the union of the UAE”
What sorts of celebrations take
place?
Mouza - “Parades, shows, we
dress in traditional clothes, we eat
traditional food with our family
and guests. The men and chil-
dren of the family go to the pa-
rades and out on the street to
celebrate, whilst the ladies stay at
home and have a party.”
Karien – “They dance with sticks,
dress up, decorate their cars, houses
and the streets. The houses also
display large UAE flags.”
What about the College, are you
preparing anything special for
National Day?
Karien – “Yes, we have painted large
displays which will be hung along
the windows. We have also been
busy making small models of land-
marks in the UAE and decorating
the college in the colors of the flag,
red, black, green and white. There
are also many rehearsals taking place
in Drama & Music for performances
which will take place during our
National Day celebration. I am really
looking forward to National Day at
Brighton College.”
Mouza - “Yes, I am part of a show
and my parents are donated items
for the celebration, like, flags, tradi-
tional food, etc. I am also helping to
paint the large displays and have
donated many aluminum cans to the
Arabic Social Studies department as
they are creating a Buj Khalifa.”
When is the College celebrating
National Day?
Mouza & Karien – “On Thursday,
28th November”
National Day in the UAE is cele-
brated on the 2nd of December,
what will you be doing?
Karien – “I think we will go to Abu
Dhabi and join in the festivities. It is
great to see so many people joining
together and celebrating their coun-
try, it shows how proud they are of
their achievements.”
Mouza - “I will be enjoying the day
with my family and friend. I feel very
proud to be an Emirati citizen, it is a
country which has developed rapidly
thanks to its leaders and people.”
National Day
6
Pupils studying the Story of Our Land carefully prepared a variety of fascinating projects in preparation for National Day. They started by choos-ing topics based on aspects of the UAE which especially interested them, then set about planning their projects and allocating tasks between the group members. Pupils then embarked on a fact finding mission carrying out fo-cused ICT based research on their projects. There was plenty of creativi-ty and artistic flair on display as the students applied the finishing touches to their colourful and imaginative dis-play boards. Year 9 produced excel-lent displays exploring the rich culture of the Bedouin Arabs and how their traditions are treasured and practiced by contemporary city dwelling Emira-tis. They also included displays depict-
ing the life of the late Emir Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nayan and his significance in founding the Union. The Year 8 projects included infor-mation on the Royal Families of the U.A.E., and also the extremely rapid development the country has wit-nessed over the last few decades. Y7 produced displays exploring the coun-try’s diverse industrial landscape with particular focus on the growth of tour-ism, showing many of the fascinating historic and modern-day attractions. The projects, which were exhibited for National Day, proved very popular with visitors to the College, many of whom commented on their education-al value and how interesting they were.
Johnny Hunter – Head of Humani-
ties
National Day was celebrated at the College on Tuesday 3rd December
English Awards
Reader of the Month
Theodora Zavos Year 7
She has read The Miserable Mill, Jakes Tower, The Secret Garden and is currently read-ing The Austere Academy. She puts a lot of time and effort into her reading and the activities on the reading record which she is very close to completing. She loves to read because (in her words) "you can almost visu-alise what you are reading." Her favourite book that she has read so far is The Misera-ble Mill because of the mys-tery surrounding the story and the exciting and tense narrative. Theodora has now completed the bronze record! Serraillier Poetry Prize
Urhum Habib (8) and Martha Hunt (9) made Brighton Col-lege history twice in Novem-ber when they were an-nounced as the inaugural winners of the Serraillier Po-etry Prize, in the very first assembly to be held at the new College Theatre.
The talented Hampden duo took to the stage to receive their awards following mem-orable performances of the winning poems by an illustri-ous professional actor. Mr. Bridge, no less!
7
Arabic Sports Competition
The Physical Education department
took a break from their usual sporting
activities for a day to embrace tradi-
tional games and pass times as part of
the National Day celebrations at
Brighton College Al Ain on the 28
November. Staff, pupils and parents
played Al Ghomaid, Al Ma Okazi, Al
Qaraheif and Al Qabba. Director of
Sport, Chris Branch, said “We have
had a fantastic day experiencing the
games that have been passed down
through generations.” Al Qabba
proved to be a particular favourite.
Players must hit a 20cm stick that has
pointed ends causing it to jump up
from the floor. While in the air the
player must hit the stick as far they
can. It all sounds so easy! For several
of the staff this was the first experi-
ence of National Day and the atmos-
phere of celebration and national
pride.
Chris Branch – Director of Sport
“National Day sports were my favourite bit of the day- I learnt new sports I had never seen be-fore” An Emirati boy.
Mrs Salam Ali, Head of Islam-
ic Studies writes about the Na-
tional Day preparations
The BIG celebration is nearing, colors
of red, green, white and black are be-
ing distributed all across the school,
and we can almost smell the scent of
the Arabic coffee in the air, and the
delicious traditional Emirati food as
we are all ecstatic to celebrate UAE's
42 years of unity.
On this joyous event, a vast amount
of various festive activities such as
dances, singing, yollas and other types
of fun will take place all around the
college.
The college will present a holistic pic-
ture of the Old, and Modern UAE
involving all staff, pupils and the par-
ents in different activities. All will get
into the spirit of the union and enjoy
themselves remembering that this spir-
it is derived from the vision of Shaikh
Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who
bestowed on the community a passion
to continue to progress the nation. We
are celebrating the big achievements
made by the UAE leaders while wish-
ing all the UAE people more and
more success and prosperity.
Instrumental Lessons
We are able to offer instrumental
lessons to pupils during the school day.
Pupils attend these lessons on a rota
basis so that they do not miss the same
lesson each week. Please speak with a
member of the music department if
you would like your child to learn a
new instrument.
A Music-making week at Brighton College
Comments and Suggestions
We welcome any suggestions or feedback about the College Newsletter. Please send your comments to the Head Master’s PA, Mrs Jill Preston, ([email protected]). Please include the following text in the title of the email “COLLEGE NEWSLETTER FEEDBACK”
Senior School Girls’ Choir performed at Al Qatara Arts centre as part of the Al Ain Music Festival
7 Brighton College pupils performed at the Young Musi-cians Evening host-ed at the College Theatre as part of the Al Ain Music Festival
Over 80 children and 10 staff performed on stage for the final end of term Winter ‘Music and Dance’ Production attended by over 200 guests
Musical events at Brighton