Teachers’ Corner 2019-20

Teachers – The First Counselors was held on 25th January, 2020 at RAKMHSU conducted by Ms. Carol Mathias, Senior Lecturer – Psychology & Senior Student Counselor, RAKMHSU.

The workshop emphasized on the importance of counselling, boundaries of counselling, behaviour and classroom management.  It also provided couple of practical tips to deal with the emotional and behavioral issues with school children and how counselling proves to be an effective tool in helping them to tackle them and have a positive outlook towards life.

On 6th January 2020, the Ministry of Education conducted a training session at the Sharjah Men’s college – University City Sharjah for the teachers handling the subject of UAE S.St. The training session aimed to give an insight about the UAE S.St Curriculum (Semester II) to the representatives of the Non-Arab schools which began their academic year from April 2019. Mrs. Rizwana Taranum, HOD, UAE Social studies represented IPHS, RAK and attended the session.

The training was conducted by Dr. Georgia, Dr. Patrick and MOE Project Manager Mrs. Iman.

The workshop included discussions related to the revised curriculum standards set for Cycles 1, 2 & 3, Lesson Design and UAE S.St textbooks.

The main goal of this workshop was to:

• Present customised curriculum for UAE S.St.
• Introduce international content
• Use of scaffold Spiral learning
• To assure that the curriculum is comprehensive and challenging.
• To prepare students for the 4^th Industrial Revolution
• To emphasise key concepts of the UAE Vision for sustainable development.
• Precisely, the main objective of this specialized training session was to meet the National Agenda of the UAE and thereby attain the vision and mission of the Ministry of Education. The workshop was extremely informative and productive.

IPHS organised a workshop on DIABETES MELLITUS for the teaching and non-teaching Male staff on 2^nd January, 2020. The main objective of the session was

1. What is diabetes Mellitus?
2. How to diagnose it.
3. Symptoms and Risk factors.
4. Dietary Management and Complications.

Diabetes is a systemic disease that is characterized by increased blood glucose and symptoms due to increased blood sugar. He gave more explanation on symptoms of diabetes, Diagnostic test, Risk factors, health management and complications etc.

Diabetes may lead to many complications such as blindness, kidney failure, coronary thrombosis etc. so it really helped the participants to know more about the deadly disease. The session was informative.

Mental Health and Depression class was taken by Dr. Shehla Khan. She explained about Mental Illness, Depression, Causes of Depression, Treatment options etc.

Resource Persons

• Imran . R. Rangraze, MD (Internal Medicine), Associate Professor and Consultant, RAKMHSU.
• Shehla Khan, Senior Instructor, Department of Psychiatry, RAKMHSU.

IPHS organized a workshop on PREVENTIVE HEALTH CARE and MENTAL HEALTH for the teaching and non-teaching Female staff on 2^nd January, 2020. The main objective of the session was

1. How we can lead a healthy life.
2. Health Screenings.
3. Depression etc.

Health screening helps to identify if the patient is at risk of, or has a disease or condition, that was not previously known about. Health screening can help people who have a family history of cardiovascular disease, stroke or diabetes with the process of prevention and provide them with timely treatments.

Mental Health and Depression class was taken by Dr. Shehla Khan. She explained about Mental Illness, Depression, Causes of Depression, Treatment options etc. Both the sessions were very informative.

Resource Persons

• K.R Sheeba, MD (Obs. & Gyn.), Lecturer, RAKMHSU.
• Shehla Khan, Senior Instructor, Department of Psychiatry, RAKMHSU

Resource Person- Dr. Abhay Nigam, Specialist Physician- Internal Medicine, Al Zahrawi Hospital, Ras Al Khaimah

IPHS organised a workshop on diabetes for the teaching staff on 2nd January, 2020. The session focus was on Juvenile Diabetes.  The main objective of the session was

1. What is diabetes?
2. Why care at school is required?
3. Basic components of diabetes care at school.
4. Short and long consequences of diabetes.

Diabetes is a chronic illness in the body does not produce insulin (type 1) or does not produce enough insulin or properly use it (type2). He gave more explanation on symptoms of diabetes (type1 & type2), class room tips, and diabetes management plan at school, elements of DMMP etc.

Diabetes may lead to many complications such as blindness, kidney failure, coronary thrombosis etc. so it really helped the teachers to know more about the deadly disease and how to manage a child with diabetes. The program was a real eye opener.

At Prevented Safety Institute, in partnership with RAK Civil Defense and the RAK General Resources Authority 24 IPHS staffs attended a professional development session. The training helped in enhancing knowledge with respect to fire safety and security at school.

The training involved 2 hours of theoretical and half an hour of practical lessons covering fire and safety prevention conditions for various facilities and underlining their importance.

Workshop on IPhonics & SENCO was organized at IPHS on 30^th November 2019. Name of the resource Person was Ms. Caitriona Ni Fhiannachta (KIDZ INC. TRAINING AND CONSULTANCY, Dubai).

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME

• Early Identification and Intervention of Special Needs.
• Introduction to Phonics.

GAIN/ ACHIEVEMENT FROM THE PROGRAMME ATTENDED (IN BRIEF)

SEN

• A detailed insight that dealt with early identification and Intervention to support students.
• The trainer also put forth ways and methods to engage and accommodate Special Needs students in a normal class room setting.

PHONICS

The correct delivery of phonics right from the beginning is very important and lays a strong foundation for language understanding and development. The trainer gave the phonic expression for each letter and also introduced several other terms associated with this topic.

The trainer suggested a couple of games within the classroom to make the phonic learning a much easier and enjoyable one for the budding learners. It not only makes the learning process interesting but also ensures proper understanding of the phonic lessons.

Dr. Annamma Mathew, Vice Principal & Dr. Soumya Shree, Coordinator & Supervisor of Middle Section IPHS RAK, attended a workshop on Child Protection at Dubai Knowledge Park organized by Arabian Child Education Consultants FZ-LLC on 6^th November 2019.

The main objective of the workshop was to give an awareness on child abuse and how to tackle it effectively by minimizing the damage to the child and promote recovery.

The child abuse and neglect are generic terms that encompass all ill treatment towards children including serious physical and sexual assault. Student’s health, safety and welfare and well-being are top priority and the school has a responsibility to provide child protection by maintaining a safe environment. Schools should support children who have been abused by appointing a designated staff member to take primary responsibility for child protection. Discipline of students should always be handled in a manner that protects the child’s dignity and self-esteem. Confidentiality of students’ personal data should be maintained. Teachers are responsible for maintaining a safe and secure class room environment. All children involved in extracurricular activities are to be closely monitored by supervising adults. School buildings should be well maintained and equipped with security surveillance cameras and security personal to manage entry and exit to the campus.

Whenever a child wants   to talk about abuse, staff should

• Accept what the child says
• Keep calm & listen
• Be honest
• Let the child know that even when she/he has broken a rule, she/he is not to blame for the abuse.
• Never push any information.
• Immediately refer to a senior leader.

It was an informative session.

Al Rawabi Dairy Company is located in Al Khawaneej, Dubai with a farm of 12,500 cows in the middle of the Dubai desert. Al Rawabi is a leading dairy and juice company in the UAE with a wide range of products from milk, yoghurt, laban, juice and functional products. It is a first company to start a “Dairy Museum” and proudly offers to public the history artefacts of Europe and GCC.

IPHS staff visited Al Rawabi Dairy farm on 19^th October 2019. It was a fun and an informative trip for everyone.

IBPC RAK organized 150 years of Celebrating the Mahatma followed by Heartfulness Meditation at – RAK Hotel, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE  on 3^rd  October, 2019 ( Thursday).

Keeping in mind the undue stress and restlessness as a result of hectic and busy life, Heartfulness Meditation organized a session at RAK hotel, Ras Al Khaimah. They discussed three key points on how to Learn to Relax, Meditate and Enjoy the Beautiful Life from our busy schedule. Heartfulness Meditation program quick hand note was enclosed for understanding the subject and to enable participation. The session laid out discussions followed by meditation for relaxation. The discussions were oriented towards Helping to nurture goodness in fellow beings, raising human consciousness, productivity and performance, and transforming people – inside out.

There was current awareness campaign towards “FIT India Movement – Physically and Mentally”. The main theme for 150 years of Celebrating the Mahatma is “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” and conducted  an awareness campaign to stop single use plastic to save our precious nature.

Workshop was organized by IPHS on 14^th September 2019 in the school premises. HOD’s and Subject Experts of all the CBSE schools in RAK attended. The aim of the workshop was to discuss about the design of the CBSE Question papers for the subjects English, Mathematics, Science & Social Science of classes IX to XII for the upcoming Exams. All the participants actively discussed about the recent changes brought out by CBSE in strengthening current Assessment and Evaluation Practices. It was an informative and useful training programme.

Teacher’s Day was observed on 5^th September, 2019 and couple of programs were planned and executed in full spirit by the teachers. The teachers from Senior, Middle Primary and Kindergarten took active part in the teacher’s day celebrations. There was speech, games, soulful renditions, prize distributions and loads of fun – all in all it was a day that was enlivened with amazing camaraderie by the fellow teachers along with the Senior Leadership team members.

The programs were held in the school library from 9: 30 to 10: 30. It was flagged off by a welcome speech and prayer by Mrs. Beena Thomas, followed by an address by the Principal Mrs. Anubha Nijhawan and the Vice Principal Dr. Annamma Mathew.

The KG department conducted games that were packed with fun and frolic coupled with active participation and enthusiastic spirit from the staff and SLT members. The winners bagged prizes. The program winded up after a soulful rendition from Mr. Anil Kizhoot whose mellifluous voice enthralled everyone and thus it was a splendid day.

On 28^thAugust 2019, Ministry Of Education conducted workshop on customized curriculum for UAE which was held in Higher Colleges Of Technology, Sharjah and was attended by Mrs. Rizwana Taranum, HOD, UAE Social Studies & Mrs. Reena Agnes Fernandes. The workshop was to discuss on the revised curriculum and books on UAE social studies which comprised World history, History of the Arab world, Humanities, Social Studies, Culture studies, Teaching and learning, Educational Pedagogy &  Civic Studies.

The workshop was conducted by Dr. Georgia, Dr. Patrick and MOE Project Manager Mrs. Iman. The content contributors for the workshop were MOE & Higher Colleges of Technology. The workshop’s main objective was to meet the national agenda of UAE by 2020 and to prepare students for 4^th industrial development jobs. The workshop was concluded by discussing the themes and key concepts of UAE social studies curriculum.

On 26^th August 2019 and 27^th August 2019  IPHS, RAK conducted a Teachers Training Program lead by Only Success Leadership Training LLC. The trainers were Ms. Farah Salam and Ms. Suchita Sikh. The objective of the teachers training program was to develop the capacity and to extend the resources of the school by means of improvisation of instructional facilities by providing training on certain challenges that teachers face practically in classrooms. The topics covered for the Primary Section were Class Room Management, Essentials of an effective session, Multiple Intelligences, Art of Story Telling, Inclusion & Inclusive Strategies, Gender Sensitivity, Differentiated Instructions.

For the Secondary Session Understanding generations, Differentiated Instructions, Flipped classroom, Teaching with Technology were the added ones. CBSE requirement topics were also covered in the training. The training program helped the teachers to develop personally and grow professionally.

Training on IEP SMART target setting and writing was conducted for the teachers those who are having SEND students in class from Grade I to VIII. Trainer was Dr. MARDY E DIZON, School Visiting Psychologist. The objective of the training was

1. What is IEP?
2. How does the school use the IEP?
3. Why does your child need an IEP?
4. How is IEP developed?
5. Writing IEP

IEP is a document i.e. developed for child who needs special education. He briefed the elements and goals of IEP, IEP Team Members, General Accommodation and Strategies, Annual Goal and Resources /Frequency and steps in writing IEP. He made it more interesting with the help of case studies. The teachers were divided into groups and given case studies to write / develop an IEP. It was two and half hour training conducted in two different days (19-06-19 & 03-07-19) and teachers really benefitted from it.

ASSET results of the year 2018-19 were received on 9^th March 2019. Ms. Priya Shiva Kumar Head – Academics & Training, Sage Educational Consultants, conducted the post ASSET session for senior leadership team and teachers, to help them understand and interpret the ASSET results.

The workshop was approx an hour and the focus was on helping teachers to understand the importance of data mining and how to apply the information in their classroom teaching/learning.

The Staff, Parent Council members and Student Cabinet Leaders organized an Iftar Party on Thursday, 30^th May 2019 at 7:00 pm in the school campus to celebrate this sacred occasion of the Ramadan month. It was a great delight to see a good gathering on the occasion. The parents appreciated and enjoyed the collaborative Iftar Party at the school. It was a memorable evening for all those who were a part of this loving gathering. We thank all the sponsors who have contributed varieties of food to make the celebration a grand success.

Workshop on child protection was organised on 4th May 2019 at Kinderwood Nursery, Ras al Khaimah. The speaker of the day was Maliha Ahad, AIM Middle East Consulting and Training.

The objective of the workshop was to highlight the importance of ensuring safe and secure environment for children. The workshop dwelt on the subject of child protection and to develop more understanding of safe guarding and protecting the children in their sphere of influence.

The training also aimed to provide the participants with current international standards, including:

• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child, or UNCRC.
• UAE- 14 dimensions.
• Working together to safeguard Children.

The session was very informative and the participants Mrs. Sandra Fernandes, KG supervisor, Mrs. Shammy Santhosh, Primary Section Supervisor, Mrs. Divya Joseph, School Nurse and Mrs. Bitty Devasia, School Counsellor from IPHS extended their knowledge by sharing the information on the subject with other colleagues.  At IPHS orientation on the topic was handled by Mrs. Sandra Fernandes for KG section and Mrs. Bitty Devasia and Mrs. Shammy Santhosh for other sections namely Primary, Middle and Secondary.

The Crown Prince Court Abu Dhabi (CPC) had launched a ‘Principal Roundtables ‘-Event on 1^st May, 2019 to develop a national platform for the strategic collaboration between CPC and school leaders for the creative promotion and innovative development of Moral Education in the UAE in order to promote and progress the implementation of the Moral Education Agenda through innovation and creativity; inspire school leadership through work and practices were some of the objectives.

IPHS was represented by a member of the SLT who is also the HOD of Moral Education. Topics that were discussed and put forth by International Speakers are as follows:

1. Moral Education is a journey with the following strategies:
2. Pacing – slow
3. Learn- study possibilities
4. Collaborate-plan with your team
5. Prioritize -make journey priority.
6. Invest time and relationships.
7. Schools shared WWW through presentations and open discussion with regards to implementation of Moral Education Curriculum in the school.
8. Project and Field Reports
9. Possible places for visit Educational field trips related to the curriculum.
10. Barriers and challenges in implementation of curriculum especially parental implement and possible solutions were discussed at the forum.

The attendance and whole hearted involvement of each member who attended the event gave a new dimension to the implementation of Moral Education in respective schools.

Induction Programme on Fire & Safety conducted by Mr. Venugopalan Bhaskaran, Fire & Safety Incharge of IPHS on Saturday 30^th April 2019 for the newly joined teacher. Topics covered: Fire & Safety Measures, Fire Evacuation Plan, Procedure of Evacuation, Emergency Assembly Points and the Duties & Responsibilities of staff etc.

A session on Learning Disabilities and Disorders was conducted for all the teaching staff of Kindergarten and Class Teachers of Grade 1 on Monday, 22^nd April 2019 by Dr. Mardy E Dixon, Psychologist, Cambridge Center Consulting and Training of Family, RAK and visiting Psychologist of IPHS.

He started the session with the explanation of different types of neurological disorders and focused on early age learning disabilities, its symptoms and intervention methodologies. Session was very useful for the KG teachers, as it gives them an insight on how to analyze, identify and then take corrective action based on the analysis of their students.