JPS Weekly

February 26th 2015

Jumeirah Primary School,

Dubai

Issue No. 21 - 14/15

NOTICE BOARD
DATE

EVENTS

SUN 1 MAR

7.30am9amMusic Celebration Year 5 Main HallParents Welcome

MON 2 MAR

7.30am9amMusic Celebration Year 4 Main HallParents Welcome

11.30am12pm5C Class Assembly in the classroomParents Welcome
2pmYear 4 Netball at Repton School
2pmBoys Rugby at GEMS W.A.S.O.

TUE 3 MAR

7.30am9amMusic Celebration Year 3 Main HallParents Welcome

2.30pmYear 6 Netball at JPS School

WED 4 MAR

7.30am9amMusic Celebration Year 2 Main HallParents Welcome

2pmGirls Football at Safa School

THU 5 MAR

7.30am - WORLD BOOK DAY PARADEPARENTS WELCOME

12pm DC Athletics Tournament

FRI 6 MAR

8AMJC TRASH 2 CASH EVENT

** DATE FOR THE DIARYPAID AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES SIGN UP WILL TAKE
PLACE ON WEDNESDAY 25TH MARCH AT 1.45PM3PM IN THE SPORTS HALL **
A message from the Principal

The first exciting week back in school after the half term break began with a School Council trip to buy playground equipment.
Thank you to the School Council members and Mr. Semakula for raising the funds to buy new playground games.
This week, we have also had Sports Day for Key Stage 2. Well done to all the children who took part and thank you to the parents who attended to support your children. The Year 6 event at Sports City proved to be a great idea and everyone loved the
chance to participate in a very professional stadium.
The music celebration rehearsals have also taken place this week in preparation for next weeks performances.
place in the school hall next week.

These will take

We are preparing for a very important week for the school next week with the DSIB inspection.
This is an annual inspection
which serves to assess the quality of education services provided by JPS. The findings of the report will be published later in the
year and in the meantime please do complete the survey sent to you a couple of weeks ago. If you have misplaced this survey,
Tracy, the school secretary, will be able to provide you with a new username and password. Wish us well we are all looking forward to showing off the wonderful school community that we are so privileged to live and work in.
I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow at the Spring Fair.
Warm regards,

Catherine
Catherine McKeeverCEO/Principal

JPS NEWS
GEMS MySchool Hotline
We are proud and excited to share that GEMS Education has launched a new Hotline
exclusively for its parents.
GEMS MySchool Hotline has been created to enhance the experience and services
provided to you as a GEMS parent. We encourage you to call the hotline should you
wish to provide feedback, ideas and/or suggestions about your childs school, your
overall GEMS experience and any other way that we might improve.
Available to GEMS parents in both English and Arabic, GEMS MySchool Hotline is the
first of its kind and is accessible seven days a week, between 8am and 6pm at 800
School (724665).
For more information about GEMS MySchool Hotline check your emails or the flyers
and posters around the school. We hope that the school remains your first point of
contact for any concerns you have, but the GEMS MySchool Hotline gives you
another way to share your feedback.
For decades, you have trusted us with the future of your children. By providing us
with honest and direct feedback, we hope that we not only strengthen our relationship with you, but that we are able to find out what we need to do in order to serve
you and our community better.

GEMS MySchool Hotline / To serve you better

800 724 665

KDHA School Survey

We recently sent home an envelope with a unique code for all parents to access
the KHDA website and complete the online survey which is a vital part of the
school inspection process.
This is an extremely important and valuable process for the school and a great
opportunity for parents views to be heard.
Completing the survey should only take approximately 10 minutes and we value
and appreciate the opinions and suggestions shared which reflect your ideas and
feelings.

JPS NEWS
CHILDRENS SAFETY AT SCHOOL
Parents have full responsibility for their children until delivered to class. Similarly, on
collection of children at the end of the day it is the parents responsibility to fully
supervise their children. Please do not allow children to play on any playground equipment before or after school.
One of the issues we are facing is where families do not vacate the premises when
school has finished for the day and this is a concern for us all. Please ensure you
pick up your children promptly and supervise them when they are on school premises.

JC NEWS

JPS FRENCH NEWS

Dear Parents
The French Department is looking for more mums and dads to take part in the
French Passport, similar to Maths Passport, to help your children with their
French. If any parents able to speak French ( even a little bit ) can offer their
time during the school day could you please email i.binnie_jps@gemsedu.com .
Looking forward to have you on board of the French department !
Merci beaucoup
La French Team

JPS LIBRARY NEWS

Parent Library Volunteers!!
We are looking for parent volunteers to assist with putting books on to
the shelves. No experience required a smiling face and helpful hand is all
we need! The hours are 7.30am to 8.30am on any school day.
Please send an email to r.nurmohamed1_jps@gemsedu.com
No act of kindness no matter how small, is ever wasted
The Lion and the Mouse- Aesop Fables

Kind regards,
Reefat Mohamed
Lead Librarian

JPS SPORTS NEWS

NETBALL
WELL DONE TO YEAR 5 AND YEAR 6 NETBALL TEAMS
Well done to the Year 5 and Year 6 Netball teams who have recently both
finished runners up in their respective tournaments. Before half term JPS
hosted a Year 5 Valentine Netball Tournament that had 12 teams participating. Both JPS teams had a brilliant afternoon playing some excellent
netball. The A team managed to progress from the group stage to beat
DESS in the semi-final before narrowly losing to a very good Repton team
in the final. The girls played their hearts out and did a brilliant job finishing runners up! Also a big thank you to the PTA, student leaders and Netball team parents for helping keep everyone fed and watered all afternoon
at the PTA stall!
The Year 6 team recently attended an U12 Tournament at DC which
meant they had to play against some Secondary School Teams. The girls
were absolutely amazing and managed to make it to the final of the plate
tournament beating a few Secondary teams on route including Repton,
JESS Ranches, DC C and JC. For the second time in the day, JPS were up
against some familiar faces of JC in the final. It was a hard fought, closely
contested game but on this occasion JC came out on top. Nevertheless
the JPS girls did the school proud finishing runners up.

JPS NEWS
World Book Day Thursday March 5th 2015
Dear Parent or Guardian,
As you will already know, Thursday 5th March is World Book Day!
To allow you as much time as possible to arrange costumes for the big day, we wanted to
inform you that the choice will be yours this year! The only rule is that the character must
be from a book. A few ideas from the children already are: Harry Potter, Wheres Wally, Horrid Henry, The BFG, The Twits
There will be prizes for the best dressed on the day and parents will be invited to attend the
parade at the start of the day (exact times to be confirmed).
We will also be holding the JPS Readathon, where children will decide how many books
they can read in a week and raise money through sponsorship for charity. A letter about this
will be going home in the next few weeks.
Heres to happy reading and thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards,
Emma Deans and Jenny Barratt
(FS/KS1 and KS2 English Leaders)

As part of world book day next Thursday we are very lucky to have a local author
coming to JPS to share this special day with us. Sherina Hosein-Mohammed, a parent at
JPS, will be joining us on Thursday 5th March to share with us her experiences as an
author. All Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 children will get the opportunity to hear from Sherina H.M
in a special assembly. We will be able to find out, first hand, what motivates,
encourages and inspires an author. During the assemblies, children will have the chance
to ask their own questions about what makes a successful author.
Sherina will also have a stand set up on the astro-turf during pick up time at 1:15pm,
on Thursday where signed copies of her book The Code of Seven will be available to
purchase for (soft copy) 62aed and (hard copy) 120aed.

JPS ARABIC & ISLAMIC NEWS

Dear Islamic Studies Parents,
Given the importance of the Holy Quran in Muslim life, and its impact on building
character and conscience, the Department of Islamic Education has started a competition for students, in Years 1 to 6, who take Islamic Studies.
The competition, which covers the Thirtieth Part of the Holy Quran, will be during
term two and term three, to be completed by 30th April, 2015.
We are asking that you, as parents, please work together with us to encourage your
children to complete the card that is attached to their Islamic Book. YouTube is a very
useful tool simply type in the name of the Surah.
There will be prizes at the end of the contest for those children who have mastered
the Thirtieth part of the Quran.
We thank you and very much appreciate your support.
Yours sincerely
Hazem Kamel Head of Islamic

JPS ARABIC NEWS FOR NON-ARABIC SPEAKERS

Dear Parents,
The Arabic department are proud to announce the Arabic Flip learning for the NonArabic speakers.
Arabic Flip learning is designed to expose students to their new learning at home and
uses the class time to apply new knowledge through activities. It will also enhance
the childrens learning and help an individual child take his or her next step in their
development plan.
The Arabic Flip learning will definitely give the parents the opportunity to learn Arabic with their children!
You can find these flips on Weebly:

I do look forward to hearing from you with your feedback.

Yours sincerely,
Ghadeer AdawiehHead of Arabicg.adaweih_jps@gemsedu.com
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JPS MUSIC NEWS

Music Assemblies
12th February

Eman Murshed (6B)

Abigail Hasker (5A)

Gus Rifai (3D)

ALS
T
I
C
E
R
PIANO
Tiara Jabri (5B)

Manav Gopal (6A)

Ella Garvey (3E)

Zaara Ahmad (5B)

Dana El Toukhy (3C)

JPS MUSIC NEWS

Udday Singh (3C)

Amir Al Saffar (3B)

performed on his guitar

Eleftheria Sermpeti (3E)

Manit Parashar (3B)

Eli Bass (6B) choreographed her

own dance to Chandeliere

Alexandra Hide (3C)

VIDEOS OF ALL PERFORMANCES

Amelie Hawkins (5A)
sang You Raise Me Up

CAN BE WATCHED ON WEEBLY

UNDER MUSIC ASSEMBLIES

GEMS NEWS
GEMS Young Musician of the Year
On Tuesday 10 February 2015, the re-scheduled final of the
GEMS Young Musician of the Year competition took place at
GEMS World Academy, Dubai. The evening was successfully
hosted by the Head Boy from WIS, George Ledingham, and Shihab Maghraoui, another senior student from WIS. Although no WIS students made it to
the final, we were represented in the competition by Reem Albudoor, Isha
Kewlani and Maddie Mavro. Special congratulations to Maddie who made it
through to Round 2. The Final was well attended and presented an opportunity for all the competitors to receive their congratulations, certificates of
participation and round 2 feedback. In addition, the GMA orchestra performed as part of the programme. The orchestra features several WIS students including Nikhil Mendez, Emily Park, Harris Park, Emma Werner, Gaeun
Lee, Bianca Mirpuri, and Mads Sander, The title of GEMS Young Musician of
the Year 2015 went to Denis Morozov, a guitarist from GWA.

GEMS Rock School

In the first week of the Spring break, GMA will be running the
first ever GEMS Rock School. The course will run from Sunday 29 March until Thursday 1 April and is a week-long
course providing an opportunity for students to form and
work together in pop/rock bands, coached by specialist
teachers, culminating in a performance at a live performance venue at the
end of the week at Jazz@PizzaExpress. For more details, please see Miss
Hobbs, Mrs Evans or Mrs Frith in school. Alternatively, please visit the GEMS
Music Academy website
(gemsmusicacademy.com) or email
music@gemseducation.com.
Karen Hobbs
Director of Student Leadership
Head of Music

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JPS NEWS
NBAD GEMS Co-brand Credit Card
Made especially for the GEMS Schools parent community!

The NBAD GEMS co-branded credit card has changed the discount rate from 9% to
7% with effect from 20th March 2015, when using the card to pay your school tuition
fees in advance. All other benefits will remain the same. For details on the benefits
call 800 2211 or visit www.gemseducation.com/gems-titanium-card
Alternatively please contact our personal banking representatives:
Mr. M.Shamsi
Mr. Binoj Jose

055-2747417 / 056-3714631
055-5327221

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E-SPORTS NEWS
Dear JPS Parents,
E-Sports will be offering a multi-sports activity camp at GEMS Jumeirah Primary School.
If you Register before the 5th of March 2015 you'll be eligible for our Spring Camp Early
Bird Special which will entitle you to receive a 20% discount on the weekly rate (AED725
-20% = AED580) !!
The Camp will take place from the 29th March 9th April 2015 .
Children between the ages of 4-14yrs will have lots of fun and stay active with mini-tennis, basketball, dodge ball, football, Arts & Crafts and swimming sessions.
Camp timings: Drop off 08:30 | Start 09:00| Finish 13:30| Pick Up 13:30-13:45
What to bring: Swimming gear, Towel, Water bottle, Snack and Lunch Everyday
To Register print the attached registration form, complete it and email it to
camps@esportsdubai.com (a clear photo of the completed registration form is also accepted)
alternatively you can visit our website www.esportsuae.com/page/camp-information
We look forward to welcoming you!
E-Sports Camp Team

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JPS NEWS
We are delighted to invite you to GEMS Wellington International Schools
forthcoming whole school musical production of

Hairspray.

Staff and students have worked tirelessly during evenings, weekends and holidays to produce what is anticipated to be their finest show ever.
To reserve ticket/s for any of the four performances please email :
t.bishop_wis@gemsedu.com

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JPS NURSES NEWS

Head Lice and Nits Prevention & Control
Head lice are spread most commonly by direct head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact. However,
much less frequently they are spread by sharing clothing or belongings onto which lice have
crawled or nits attached to shed hairs that may have fallen. The risk of getting infested by a
louse that has fallen onto a carpet or furniture is very small. Head lice survive less than 12
days if they fall off a person and cannot feed; nits cannot hatch and usually die within a week
if they are not kept at the same temperature as that found close to the scalp.
The following are steps that can be taken to help prevent and control the spread of head lice:
Avoid head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact during play and other activities at home, school,
and elsewhere (sports activities, playground, slumber parties, camp).
Do not share clothing such as hats, scarves, coats, sports uniforms, hair ribbons, or barrettes.
Do not share combs, brushes, or towels. Wipe off nits and lice on the comb with a clean
tissue. Run the tissue down the comb and throw the tissue in a plastic bag. Seal and throw
away the plastic bag to prevent another infestation. The lice will die in the sealed bag because
they don't have a food source. Disinfest combs and brushes used by an infested person by
soaking them in hot water (at least 130F) for 510 minutes. The hot water will kill any remaining nits or lice on the comb.
Do not lie on beds, couches, pillows, carpets, or stuffed animals that have recently been in
contact with an infested person.
Machine wash and dry clothing, bed linens, and other items that an infested person wore
or used during the 2 days before treatment using the hot water (130F) laundry cycle and the
high heat drying cycle. Clothing and items that are not washable can be dry-cleaned OR
sealed in a plastic bag and stored for 2 weeks.
Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay. However,
spending much time and money on housecleaning activities is not necessary to avoid reinfestation by lice or nits that may have fallen off the head or crawled onto furniture or clothing.
Do not use fumigant sprays or fogs; they are not necessary to control head lice and can be
toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
To help control a head lice outbreak in a community, school, or camp, children can be taught
to avoid activities that may spread head lice.

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JPS UNIFORM NEWS

We would like to remind parents of the correct uniform, which should be worn by the
children at all times whilst at GEMS Jumeirah Primary School.
Foundation Stage:
Uniform as listed below except boys and girls wear JPS polo shirts and no ties.
Boys: Years 1 to 6
JPS shorts
JPS White short sleeve shirt (JPS logo on pocket)
Short blue socks
Black shoes (trainers not acceptable)
Navy blue pullover which has the JPS logo
JPS blue tie
Navy blue trousers may be worn in the colder months
Girls: Years 1 to 6
White JPS blouse
JPS pinafore dress
Short white socks these should be plain white
Navy blue tights can be worn in the colder months
Black shoes (no heels. Trainers are not acceptable)
JPS Navy blue cardigan which has the JPS logo
No nail varnish
No make-up

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CHILDRENS BIRTHDAYS BEING

CELEBRATED WITHIN THE SCHOOL DAY
We want to ensure that all children feel happy and
special, especially on their birthday. We do however
encourage a healthy eating policy within the school.
Therefore, we feel it would be more appropriate that,
should you wish to bring something in for your child to
share with all his/her class mates, then a non-edible gift may be brought
in. This can be something like a pencil, stickers, homemade personalized
bookmark, etc. These items can again be left at Reception where they
will be sent up to the class. We hope you agree this is a much more suitable and fun way to help a child celebrate their birthday with the whole
class.

RECEPTION AREA
We would like to remind all parents that once they have collected their
children at 2.15pm, it is important for health & safety reasons, for everyone to vacate the premises, unless you have a meeting with a member of
staff. It is not possible for parents to wait in the Reception area, which is
a working area until 4pm. We would appreciate all parents working with
us to ensure that the school is a safe environment at all times.

LOST PROPERTY
Please ensure that you check the Lost Property bins, situated near to the
Quiet Garden, if your child misplaces anything. At the end of each month,
we will donate any unclaimed items to charity. Please always ensure that
all clothing is named so that it can be returned to the rightful owner if lost.

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