Sharing Good Practice
Visitors/Key Speakers
The Middle-East is a hotbed for
sporting and academic talent.
Frequently, these individuals are happy
to come into school and give inspiring
presentations. Dubai has ‘Team Angel
Wolf’ and ‘Lee Ryan’. Abu Dhabi has
‘Omar Nour’ an Egyptian Triathlete,
‘Ahmed Al Shoaibi’ an Emirati author
and many more. All can be contacted
through their social media accounts,
neighbouring GCC countries also have
similar talent on their doorsteps.
Invite the fire brigade, road traffic
police, police K9 department to school
with their vehicles for the children to
see. Never underestimate the role
the parents can play in enriching the
curriculum. You’ll have parents who are
doctors, dentists, nurses, government
workers, soldiers and even Sheikhs, who
will support the school in many ways.
TOP TIP - Struggling to get
people to come into school or issues
with approval? Skype an astronaut or
an author overseas.
Community Action
organisation and improve enterprise
opportunities at the same time. Hold
a charity day, involve the children in
the planning of this. Make Ramadan
hampers for workers, hold shoe-
box campaigns to send amenities to
people less fortunate, have a ‘hat day’
at school sending proceeds to charity.
National Days are a great way to
celebrate the local culture and history
of the country you reside in and are
extremely important days for the locals.
Organise celebrations incorporating all
aspects of the local culture and heritage,
food, history and national identity.
TOP TIP - Create a ‘National
Day Committee’ with children,
parents, governors and a range of
staff members to collaborate ideas.
Tasks can be distributed effectively,
and workload in planning such
events shared.
Evidence the Impact
Once you’ve successfully helped to
enrich the curriculum, one of the
most important things to remember
is to evidence the impact that it has
had on the learning, as well as the
social and emotional development of
the students. This is going to result
in instant ‘Kudos’ from your Senior
Leadership Team as it will help in the
formulation of the School SEF prior
to the next inspection. It is also great
evidence to have to hand, in your end
of year performance management
review with your line-manager, and
if you’re lucky enough to receive
performance related pay, everyone is
a winner!
‘Go the Extra Mile’
We expect our students to ‘Go
the Extra Mile’ so why don’t we as
teachers?
Such activities offer pupils a range of
opportunities to enjoy and engage
with, realise their full potential, find
their strengths and weaknesses,
succeed and fail, but most importantly,
learn along the way.
Don’t be lazy, don’t keep reminiscing
about your old school, don’t let barriers
get in your way, find solutions to your
problems, find ways around them,
give your children the best possible
experiences that you can. Chances
are your happiness levels (and your
students') will increase and your overall
job satisfaction will improve too.
Take part in awareness events in the
local area such as beach clean-ups
with your school Eco-Council. Create
a link with a local animal welfare
organisation and set up a cat feeding
station outside of the school.
There are a number of diabetes/
mental health/awareness raising walks
and events around the GCC countries
each week, such as ‘Darkness into
Light’. Promote them on social media,
send out flyers, meet your families
there and continue to solidify those
effective home-school links.
Raise
money
for
a
charitable
Phil Yates, Vice Principal, Al Rabeeh School, Abu Dhabi. For more information
and ideas about how teachers at Al Rabeeh School are enriching the curriculum
visit @Al_Rabeeh_School via Instagram.
Class Time
|
|
Sep - Oct 2018
| 37