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Welcome to our Recent News Page!
Photography Club News
These panorama pictures were taking by the students of the RAHA photography club. This club is weekly discovering new aspects of photography. From understanding how to use your digital camera, through the photographic capture process, towards working in a real darkroom and making artistic pictures with a self made pinhole camera. Have a look....
Grade 5 Exhibition March 2010
The 'Exhibition', as it is officially known, is an important annual highlight in all international schools around the world. It happens only in Grade 5, when the students are in the final year of the Primary Years Programme. It provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate to an audience the skills they have developed through their first five years of school.This year every one of the 72 students from our three Grade 5 classes successfully displayed their exhibition boards on Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th March 2010. Over 1,000 visitors attended the exhibition including all the RIS students, parents and members of the community and over 250 visitors from Uptown School in Dubai and AISA (American International School of Abu Dhabi). There was a wonderful buzz and a passionate sharing of perspectives witnessed during the 2-day show. The children spoke knowledgeably about their causes and experienced the empowering feeling of having researched, compiled and presented all their information independently. It was a proud moment for all concerned!
 
Alongside the academics, the goal in an IB PYP school is always to encourage action as a result of student learning. In Grade 5, we focused in particular on 'research action', 'awareness action' and 'real action'. With this in mind, we saw a wide variety of action take place both in school and in the wider community.
 
Many students chose to share their issues by creating and putting up posters around school, some used home-made stickers and bookmarks to raise awareness and others designed and published their own website to communicate to a wider audience. Six students helped with the Grade 1 sports day and gave speeches about health and fitness. Another student organized a triathlon on 16th April for Grades 3 to 6 to participate and to raise awareness on healthy lifestyle choices. Others organized bake sales and eco-tools sales to raise funds for their cause. Several students put their language skills into practice by writing letters to the local newspapers raising awareness about different issues and one student had her letter printed in the Gulf News on the 1st March 2010.
 
There have been 'Clean-up the Beaches' campaigns and one boy raised funds through a sponsored 10km bike ride. All Grade 5 students collaborated to host an assembly for Grades 3, 4 and 5 to share their messages with the lower grades.
These are only a few examples of a very ACTIVE Exhibition Unit undertaken by our Grade 5 students this year!
 
Week Without Walls
Nepal 2010
For the Grade 9 and 10 Week without Walls trip, the students went to Kathmandu, Nepal to work with the local community and hike in the foothills of the Himalayas. Thirty-three students arrived in Kathmandu and were greeted by their guide for the week, Fabio; an enthusiastic young Frenchman. After dinner they headed to the hotel and had a good night's sleep to prepare for the week ahead.
The first project was working in a Hospital for Disabled Children, situated in the outskirts of Kathmandu. The students were asked to perk up the look of the entrance area, the main courtyard and to paint a mural on the walls of one of the wards. With such a large number of students working as hard as they did they were able to finish those tasks quickly and with only the mural left, a few members of the group took it upon themselves to devise a new plan to improve the play area. Before they began the climbing frame was rusty and dirty, the swings were drab, and the doll house was about to fall apart. When they had finished however, the area looked amazing! They had even managed to get a tire to make a swing - no small feat when you consider how valuable an old tire is in one of the world's poorest countries.
 
The second project was very different as the students had the chance to really interact with pupils from a local school. After a morning of painting more murals (with a superb "How Tall Are You?" height measurement scale by Mr. Thombs) the students went outside to play with the children from the school. Students from both schools had a great time playing with the sports equipment that our students had donated and they were given a wonderful presentation by the head teacher before they left.
 
After an amazing flight along the Anapurna mountain range, the students spent the next two days trekking in the Himalayas. The first night was quite an experience in a hotel, 2000 meters up and with the 2nd floor wall and half the roof missing. They all had a well deserved and romantic dinner by candle light that evening and went to bed. The second day was even more grueling than the first as the students walked for almost nine hours to Nagarkot and stayed in a beautiful hotel with a wonderful view of the mountain.
The flight home came all too quickly but not before they had the opportunity to do some sight-seeing around Kathmandu and check out the local shops. Everyone on the trip had an unforgettable time and thanks must go to Simon, Andrea, Julia and Jim, who were invaluable at making the trip run smoothly. Congratulations to each and every one of the students who spent a week helping others and learning a little something about themselves too.
Friday 16th April, 8.30 in the morning - Time for some action!
17 RIS Triathlon participants arrive at school with their bikes, swim gear and run kit. After the race briefing and body marking, they all head to the pool, excited and ready to start.
At 9am, the air horn goes: the athletes in the first wave swim 100m, as fast as they can. They climb out of the pool, run to their bikes and start a 3 loop bike course. Meanwhile the second wave also starts swimming their 100m. It's a fierce competition. Everybody tries their best. The run is 3 laps around the big pitch. It's getting hot. Everybody gets tired. But no one gives up. All 17 athletes finish the triathlon successfully. 17 champions! A fantastic performance!
Max is the overall winner and Kira is the fastest girl. But Annie, Alec, Ashley, Finn, Jessica, Kristen, Georgia, Abel, Sultan, Ruby, Anna, Chris, Kate, Julie and Mr Russell: they all are winners because they all complete the race speedily. Well done!!!
I want to thank all the athletes for coming to my training sessions and for taking part in the race. I also want to thank everybody that helped me with the organisation: Fiona, Drew, Matt, Kate, Poppy, Chris, my mom, dad, brothers, sister and Mr Mark Austin. But I especially want to thank Mr Mark Pringle for inspiring me. This one was in memory of you, Mr Mark. We all miss you!
Louis Defloor, 5A.
Well done Louis for organising a fantastic RIS Triathlon as part of his Grade 5 Exhibition. The event was a great success and is already being pencilled in as an annual event. Congratulations to all the competitors for their efforts and commitment. See you next year!
International Day
24 February 2010
Our International Day is a celebration of the many nations that work together in harmony as one big global family. We recognize each other as unique individuals and accept our different cultures, traditions, religions and customs. On this day we celebrate the richness of our community, sharing the occasion with our extended Raha friends and school family.
This year we opened our International Day with a warm welcoming song from all of the RIS Kindergarten followed by a parade of flags to recognize the 45 countries here at RIS.
 
Our Principal Mr. Wayne MacInnis opened the International Day assembly and a representative from the Australian Embassy spoke about Internationalism. The culmination of our assembly was a thrilling performance by Drums of the World of Dubai Drums which ended our assembly with a "BANG!"
 
The Drums of the World of Dubai Drums also participated in the International Day morning by presenting and teaching drumming to the primary classes.
At 12:30 the Raha International Global Village opened with stands from around the world. Parents spent the last few months tirelessly organizing the village to exhibit the many different and amazing traditional foods and artifacts from their home countries.
The school community shared in the wonderful festivities at the 3rd Annual Raha International Day. Children entertained the audience with an ongoing presentation of traditional and modern songs, dances and instrumental items from around the world.
Raha International School is a global community that embraces multiculturalism and celebrates the dynamic and diverse range of cultures of its international population.
It was a wonderful day and we would like to thank everyone who was involved!
Taaleem School to be the first MYP Accredited in Abu Dhabi
Raha International School, a Taaleem school, has become the first and only school in Abu Dhabi to be accredited with the Middle Years Program (MYP) International Baccalaureate Authorisation.
Based in the heart of Raha Gardens, Khalifa City A, Raha International School (RIS) opened in 2006 and follows the International Baccalaureate curriculum for children from KG 1 to Grade 11. RIS is the only school in Abu Dhabi to offer all three IB programmes.
Proud Principal of RIS Mr. Wayne MacInnis said "I would like to congratulate the leadership team along with all the Raha MYP teachers for their continuous hard work in achieving this milestone in the development of our school. I am extremely proud that our school has become the only one in Abu Dhabi certified to provide the MYP."
The MYP is designed for children aged 11-16 years. The program focuses on helping develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Apart from continuous assessment by the teachers, MYP offers a model of assessment which determines the student's results by comparing their performance against set standards.
Achieving MYP authorisation is a challenging process that demands the best from both motivated students and teachers. Furthermore, the school has to undergo a series of pre-authorisation visits by MYP teams and rigorous internal reports.
RIS was highly praised by the visiting IB teams for its safe, respectful and stimulating environment that encouraged independent thinking. Designed to reflect the regions' Arabian heritage, the school's architecture upholds a real philosophy of cultural understanding and its 10 acres are home to an enormous variety of inspiring learning spaces. In the words of the Accreditation report, staff at RIS were commended for "supporting students to become active, independent and responsible for their own learning." Furthermore, the MYP visitors were impressed with students for their "meaningful reflection on their learning and personal development."
http://www.ameinfo.com/224575.html
Art Competition
We are very happy to announce that two of our PYP students have won an Environmental Drawing Competition that took place in Dubai. There were hundred entries and 8 winners were chosen, two of which came from Raha International School.
Ibtisam Boucheloukh from Grade 4C
Ruby Bishop from Grade 1A
Ibtisam and Ruby were invited to the launch of Hamleys Mirdif City centre. There was a procession to the store with the Hamleys Bear and Band, where the winners were invited to cut the ribbon to officially open the store.
The winners' pictures have been enlarged and suspended from the ceiling and will be a permanent feature of our Mirdif store.
Congratulations to Ruby and Ibtisam and thank you to Ms. Impey for your support and guidance.
 
Ruby 1A artwork Ibtisam 4C artwork
Please click here to view the latest news in MYP Islamic A.
The Nepal group would like to thank Mr. Yom for coming in this week to help us learn some words in Nepali. Thanks for showing us how our names are written in Devanagari. Dhanybhad!
 "نشاط أمي تقرأ لنا قصة "
RIS STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN ABU DHABI CLASSICS SERIES AT EMIRATES PALACE
Beethoven's Fifth - 14th of January 2010
Congratulations to the Raha students from Grades 8,9,10 and 11 for their amazing performance at the Emirates Palace last Thursday evening. The students created their own interpretation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony visually and musically along with students from BSAK and Al Yasmina. A special thank you to Mrs Lilian Caplen and Mrs Nicki Standen for their help at BSAK . It was a huge task to arrange all four movements of the symphony, create visuals, film the performance and document the process into a short film.
We are extremely proud of our students for their dedication, motivation, confidence, drive and passion to learn new skills.
What an incredible achievement!!!
Mrs Anne-Marie Pignéguy and Mrs Daniela Parkinson
 
Disney in Concert - 15th of January 2010
On Friday 15th January 37 students from the MYP went to the Emirates Palace to perform with London's Philharmonia Orchestra. They were joined by the British School Al Khubairat and a choir from Al Ain and sang many favourites from Disney movies.
 
In the build up to the concert, the students had been rehearsing here at Raha during lunch followed by two practices at the British school;
first with Paul Rissman, a musician and educator from Scotland and then with the conductor Allan Willson from the UK.
The students involved did such a fantastic job and Anna and myself are really proud of their achievements. On the day of the concert they were impeccably behaved during a long dress rehearsal and the concert just blew everyone away.
Thank you to all who sang and I hope that you had just as much fun singing as everyone did hearing you!
Mr. Simon Green
 
"قد أنهى طلابنا في الصف العاشر جانباً كبيراً من قراءة (كتاب الأيام) للكاتب الكبير طه حسين. وقد سجلوا بعض انطباعاتهم حول تجربتهم الذاتية أثناء قراءتهم الكتاب. إليكم بعضاً منها : اضغط هنا لمعرفة التفاصيل .
Grade 2 Celebrate for Change Birthday Party
Across the globe, there are millions of children who don't know when they were born and never get to celebrate their birthdays. These kids are denied their basic human rights because they were never registered at birth. They're known by development professionals as "invisible" because their governments don't have any official record of their existence. Some don't even know their ages. UNICEF calls these children "invisible", highlighting their lack of rights in the 2005 State of the World's Children report. They are among the 50 million children born each year who are not registered at birth. Governments can easily ignore or overlook these children, especially when they're engaged in dangerous situations of child labour or fall in the hands of traffickers who sell them to slavery.
The Celebrate for Change lets us celebrate the birthdays of these children. The students of Grade 2 threw a party that raises awareness about these children and collected funds for children and their communities in the five countries in which Free The Children carries out development work: the rural areas of Kenya, Sierra Leone, China, Sri Lanka and Ecuador.
They raised a whopping 1807AED and would like to thank all of the parents who came and supported our party. With these funds, they bought a goat for three families, clean water for two families, they planted twenty trees in a school and gave a loan for a woman to start a small business, where the woman will invest her income back into her family, resulting in an improvement in the health and welfare of the entire family and community.
 
 
RIS Celebrates UAE's 38th National Day!
On Tuesday, 24 November 2009, Raha International School celebrated the UAE's 38th National Day.RIS students and staff wearing red, green, black and white attended the whole school morning assembly where they demonstrated their National Day pride and spirit by forming a human UAE flag.
 
Mr. Wayne MacInnis, the Principal welcomed special guest speaker, Mr. Ali Al Saloom, to join in the National Day celebrations. The famous UAE author, cultural consultant, professional speaker and TV show host of "Ask Ali", participated in the celebrations throughout the day and delighted several groups of students with question and answer sessions. Many questions were asked about the origins of Abu Dhabi and the UAE, also many questions about Islam and national dress were answered.The school campus was festooned to show off the school's pride in being a part of the UAE, with flags and traditional items displayed all around the school.
Students also had the chance to participate in traditional UAE activities throughout the day. These activities included clay pottery painting, henna decoration and traditional UAE games. Other activities included making bracelets and bookmarks, writing memories of Abu Dhabi, portrait painting and a display of historical photographs.
Students, staff and parents also enjoyed a falconry and camel display and they were even visited by Um Khammas, the cartoon character from the popular UAE cartoon Freej! A group of RIS students also performed and demonstrated traditional Yola and Naeesh dances. To end the day off, guests, parents and staff enjoyed a wonderful traditional UAE buffet.
"I liked talking to Mr. Ali because he told us how the UAE flag originated and how to survive in the desert. It was really cool."
Celeste Parkinson - Grade 2 student
"I enjoyed Ask Ali as he provided the students with very interesting and useful information about the UAE culture. I also enjoyed the Henna and traditional foods!" Lucy Yule - Teacher
"I thought it was really awesome how they set up all the different traditional activities. I enjoyed watching and participating in them with my friends. I also liked how they brought in Mr. Ali to talk about culture; it was really interesting and fun."
Jessica Meehan - Grade 8 student
Raha International Schools emphasizes to students not only to become passionate and confident citizens of the world but to understand the importance of a strong cultural understanding which will enable them to connect with their community. With over 40 different nationalities, students are encouraged to learn about, promote and embrace different cultures. Celebrating the 38th UAE National Day provided the perfect opportunity to teach students about the traditions of the UAE and allowed everyone to share in this joyous occasion.
 
For more pictures of our National Day Celebrations, please visit our gallery.
Grade 3 Excursion to the Corniche
Grade 3 enjoyed an active excursion when recently visiting the Corniche in Abu Dhabi. The students had been learning about forces and measurement during the Unit of Inquiry 'May the Force Be With You'. The day was spent engaging in a multitude of practical activities which involved demonstrating their understanding of what they had been studying in school. It was a fun filled occasion where the students could connect their learning with the real world. Many parents were there to support the groups as they carried out the maths tasks and scientific experiments. It was a fabulous learning experience for everyone.
 
Grade 3 Excursion to the Beach Rotana Hotel for Pizza Making
Grade 3 students were involved in two excursions to the Beach Rotana where they were invited to learn about how pizza was made. The students worked with top chefs to learn about the processes involved and then had the opportunity to make their own pizzas. The exciting part of the excursion was when they were able to taste the delicious pizza before enjoying the play area at the hotel! The whole occasion was excellent support for the language work that had been going on within the grade. The students had been looking at how to follow and write instructions. When making the pizza they had to demonstrate their ability to follow the instructions given by the chef.
 
RIS hosts ISAC Swim Meet
The second week of November RIS hosted our first ever International Schools Activities Conference (ISAC) competition. After several trips to Abu Dhabi International Airport and late in to the night on Wednesday 11th November, finally all our visiting schools had arrived for our ISAC Swim Meet. With over 80 students aged U'14, U'16 and U'19 arriving from Dubai, Oman and Qatar our RIS Host families collected their guests and set off home to provide them with a warm RIS welcome.
On Thursday 12th November our competition got under way and what followed was two days of strong competition and some fabulous swimming. Both Thursday and Friday began with heat races for all competitors in the morning , followed by the finals of events in the afternoon.
A fantastic social event was held at RIS on the Thursday evening, all participating swimmers and host students came along. The social was organized and supported by the RIS PSG and included a BBQ and buffet, DJ, Live band and movie. Everyone had a great time and all the visiting schools commented on how much they enjoyed the social evening.
Friday saw the last day of completion at the pool and after much excitement concluded with the presentation of medals and certificates to individual swimmers.
After two long and tiring days of competition it was time for our visiting guests to depart. Students and host families said fond farewells to their new friends and our guests packed their luggage on to the buses to begin their journeys homeward.
The Swim Meet was a great success with all participating students having a fantastic time. Congratulations to all the RIS swimmers and coaches for their efforts - Well done!
A Big thank to the student and parent volunteers for officiating, host families and PSG for all their help and support in making the meet such a great success. The PSG would also like to thank Lu Lu Express in Raha Mall who offered to support the PSG in their catering efforts and generously donated/sponsored the PSG with food & beverage items for the social event.
All the visiting schools complimented us on the work done by the RIS community and thanked us for making the event such a positive and valuable experience for the students.
Final Results:
1. American British Academy, Oman
2. The American International School Muscat, Oman
3. Universal American School, Dubai
4. Raha International School, Abu Dhabi
5. Qatar Academy, Qatar
Grade 2 students participate in Brazilian Parade
A Brazilian parade took place on 18th October on Abu Dhabi Corniche that celebrated the opening of the Corniche events for "Yasalam" and the last race of the season before the finale from the Yas Marina Circuit. A band lead 300 costumed children, 20 costumed performers, 14 samba dancers, 14 stilt walkers and many other entertainers - while the audience enjoyed Brazilian-themed food and drinks. As Grade 2 was doing a Unit called 'Let's Celebrate', 25 lucky students were chosen to perform in the Parade. They were given the task of producing headdresses and masks for themselves to wear.
This was a fabulous opportunity for all of our students to celebrate, take action and be part of the community. We saw many of the RIS community there encouraging these Grade 2 students. It was a great evening with an electric carnival atmosphere!
Grade 2 student reflection of the parade:
When we were getting ready for the parade, we pulled the names out of the hat. Georgia, Katherina, Sarah, Cali, James, Lachlan, Jaxon, Rashid and I were chosen! We made our hats. We painted and put glitter and ribbons on our hats. We also made our masks. We coloured, put glitter, feathers and ribbons on them. The people who were chosen went to a rehearsal and practiced our dance. We waved our pompoms high up in the air. We also got our costumes. When it was the day of the parade we were nervous. We got our faces painted and got ready. We were walking for two hours. I was super thirsty. We had fun. We are also going to be on the T.V and the newspaper! We also get to keep our costumes! There were ladies wearing fancy costumes. We had super duper fun!
By:
Hyomin Kim
Grade 2 student
Grade 10 Desert Camping and Teambuilding Trip
Between October 13 and 15th forty-three Grade 10 students took part in a two night field trip to the Green Turtle Adventure camp near Dhaid. On the way, we stopped in Dubai at the ‘Hoofbeatz’ equestrian centre where students took part in team building activities and worked with some horses in grooming and leading exercises. We worked on communication, trust and leadership and enjoyed meeting some exceptional animals.
On the second day we left the comfort of our sandy tents and carpets to go to the mangroves near Fujeirah. There we tried kayaking, canoeing, fishing and played beach games. Back in camp that night students showed off lots of talent and interesting skills in various challenges and skits that ranged from imitating a lion to doing the ‘worm’ to imitating a teacher! Creativity, teamwork, patience, humour, spirit and risk-taking all made it possible and entertaining.
On the final morning in camp we tried the ropes course and climbing activities. A lot of teamwork challenges faced us there as well as the need for courage and skill! It was impressive to see everyone reaching new heights on Jacob’s ladder and the climbing wall and leading their blind-folded partners across the cables.
And the students said:
“We would be lying if we said we weren’t a little bit afraid of leaving for the camping trip, but it turned out to be better than three days at Raha. Well, a lot better, as it was extremely fun. Our favourite activity was kayaking and we all found the last day was the best. The campfire on the last night was also great because we found out different things about each other that we didn’t already know. We also found our leadership skills improved by working together as a team. Thank you to everyone!”
(by Maddie and Catherine)
Please view our Gallery for more pictures.
Kindergarten Breakfast
On Wednesday the 21st of October, Kindergarten children and their parents woke up with a feeling of excitement all over Abu Dhabi, today was the Raha International School KG Breakfast!
People came with picnic blankets under their arms to settle down to enjoy the amazing aray of foods to start their day with a wholesome healthy breakfast. Their only problem was what to choose first, Finnish pancakes with strawberry jam, Arabic cheese bread, watermelon, a sausage roll, muesli bites or should I visit the live fruit Kebab and toast stations to make my own fruit kebab with grapes, pineapple and banana or butter my own toast and top it with vegemite, marmite or honey? After making the all important decision of what to eat and then having washed it down with some delicious juice, everyone was happy.
It was a fabulous morning where families were able to share together and have a chance to meet other families and friends in a warm, fun and friendly environment.
A great morning was had by all and we would like to say a special thanks to all of the parents that lent a helping hand to make this event happen.
The Kindergarten Team
 
RIS Staff participate in Dragonboat Race
Go Raptors! On Friday, Oct. 9, twenty teachers and spouses from Raha International School proudly showed off their ‘Raptor Pride’ by participating in the Shangri-La Invitational Dragon Boat festival. After two grueling training sessions the team was all fired up and ready to compete!
The team competed in two races and were very competitive, placing a respectable 19th out of 28 teams, and narrowly missing making the finals by only one second! The weather was beautiful, the BBQ was tasty, and Raha International School showed their community spirit once again. Well done team!
 
Bake Sale for Indonesian Earthquake Relief
On Monday, 19th October a group of RIS students held a bakesale. We wanted to raise money to help the Indonesian people who had suffered in the recent earthquake. More then twenty students brought in cakes to sell. Everyone wanted to buy them. It was very busy! The good news is that we raised AED 2663.
A group of us in Grade 3 (Safiya, Rebecca, Zai, Lina and Remy) visited the Red Crescent last week to present them with the money.
We would like to thank all of you who baked are bought cakes. We would also like to thank Ms Lucy for advising us.
A message from Safiya, Rebecca, Zai, Lina and Remy
 
Author Peter J. Murray visits RIS
On October 11 2009 the author Peter J. Murray came to our school and talked about three of his books. He told us the story of Bonebreaker, but not the whole story so that we would have to buy his books to find out what happened. Everyone enjoyed it, and we hope he will come back next year. Here is what some of the students and teachers thought of his presentation.
Waleed 2A “I liked it when he told us the story of Bonebreaker.”
Remy 3B “I liked it when one of my friends went on stage.”
Ibtisam 4C “I really liked it when he told us about the windmill.”
Connor 5C “ I liked it when he was singing in the mirror.”
Mrs Betsie 4C “He was highly entertaining and kept the kids totally engaged for 2 hours – he was sweating by the end of it.”
Mr Buckland 4B “I liked how he captured the children’s imagination.”
Written by Hana Tiltman 4A
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