Dear Parent/Guardian,

January has already melted away from under our feet, as it’s that time in the academic calendar when we prepare for the last 6 months before the exams start in the senior school, and the Year 6’s look with anticipation to graduating from Primary to Secondary.

Already the year has started where we left off, with fantastic news of our students. It has just been announced that Zoe Patterson in Year 13 has gained the highest mark in the UAE for her A/S English Literature this academic year, and that Toby Payne has been selected from 2000 students to give one of only 8 opening speeches at the Model United Nation’s conference in Qatar last week.

I am also delighted to inform you that four of our Year 5 pupils were selected to compete in the Masdar Sustainability Competition. Masdar City is the hub for environmental innovation, funding research and technology dedicated to sustainability. Yasmine Hekmatpour, Adrika Lal, Iftikhar Chowdhery and Hanna Al-Balushi were challenged to build a model of a sustainable house, complete with a presentation and an informative poster within a week. The model house was built to fit the environment of Ras Al-khaimah. The children incorporated sources of renewable energy such as solar panels and wind turbines. The 4 students even thought of a way to obtain clean water without depleting natural resources. The project won 3rd place and made a lasting impression on everyone. Regardless of these students winning an award,   I am proud of their persistence and hard work.

I would like to extend special thanks to Masdar our LSA & Mrs. Erin Hekmatpour for organizing this opportunity for the students. It was wonderful hearing them telling me about their project and experiences with such excitement. Well done to all!

Finally our new website is complete: www.aaess.com. I am hoping that you will be able to keep up to date with AAESS on a regular basis, where you will find regular news items about what is happening here at the School. I am also hoping you find the site useful and I look forward to your comments and feedback on it. The site will change slightly and grow and develop over time, but you will be able to catch up with all the wonderful things that our students get up to as the year progresses.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Thomas B.Ed(Hons) M.Phil NPQH

Principal