CES Newsletter Edition 2 20th December 2011 In this edition: Dear Parents, We have had a recent visit from Ms Kay Mongardi, Whole School News: accreditation consultant for the Council of International Schools. • Black and Orange Day • Student Achievement We were pleased to hear her report where she • Student Council Events reported a hugely significant improvement in school • Student Council Halloween culture and climate and an outstanding staff team Celebrations who is working extremely hard to make CES the very • School Pride best that it can. In saying that, she also reported • Headmaster's Coffee some significant work to do in Curriculum and Morning Assessment. We relish these findings and see this as • PTSA News an opportunity to become 'Better than Before'. • CIS Workshop In an exercise, she asked us to consider the significant progress that we had • Girls Football accomplished in a very short space in time. In doing this, I wish to congratulate our whole community on how it has come together to celebrate a new era for Secondary School News: English School. In this short space of time:

• Head of Secondary 1. we have welcomed 8 new senior managers and 67 new staff to Cairo and inducted • IB Learner Profiles them into the school 2. we have a created a renewed sense of pride in the way our students act and Primary School News: wear their school uniform 3. we have developed a real focus on character education, respect and manners 4. we have created a renewed sense of pride and passion with the schools house • Head of Primary system and school spirit week • Mural Competition 5. we have developed a new senior uniform and an ethos of service within our • International Primary senior cohort Curriculum 6. we have developed curriculum in 6 weekly blocks with three weekly behaviour reports and six weekly academic reports Foundation Stage News: 7. we have created a student council, a prefect team, implemented student leadership training and created Head Boy and Head Girl • Assistant Head of Foundation Stage We could not had made so much progress without the support of our whole • Black and Orange community - thank you! I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your Halloween family the very best holiday wishes for the winter break. Travel safe, enjoy family and • Kidsville we look forward meeting up again on January 8. • Reading can be fun! Educationally yours, Craig Monaghan Headmaster

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Black and Orange Day CES has had a very successful kick-start to our Charity Drives for 2011-12, with our annual Black & Orange Day. It’s the 3rd year of fundraising for our local National Egyptian counterpart sponsor school, the Mohamed Farid Secondary Girls School, to help provide them with an improved quality of schooling. Thanks to the giving support of our students and parents across the Primary and Secondary schools, through a House Competition Candy-O-Gram Sale and a Non-Uniform Day, we successfully raised 14,838LE on Sunday, October 30, 2011…CONGRATULATIONS CES, on our largest fundraised amount ever!!! The funds will go towards the purchase of toilet bowls and basins for their girls’ bathroom facilities, which CES will be supporting to install for our sponsor school, over the next month. It is thanks to the caring and giving nature of all of you, that we were able to work as a Team and give back to our local community, helping to improve the way of life in !

Student Achievement

It is exciting to hear when our students excel outside the school in their chosen sporting activities. Abdelrahman Kamal (Y6KC) won a series of events at a Cairo swim meet recently and, as a result of this, he will now be competing at the national level later this month. His strengths in the pool are butterfly and medley. Abdelrahman trains incredibly hard, both before school and after, and this takes focus, commitment and displays his strength of character. We can’t wait to hear of more of your successes Abdelrahman. Keep up the awesome efforts and I’m sure you’ll be re-writing the record books before long.

2 Whole School News... Edition 2 Student Council Events Calendar 2011 – 2012 What Can You Look Forward to This Year? CES Student Council (CESSC) has worked hard to plan a number of special events for this academic year 2011 – 2012. They have listened to what students across the school have said and have tried their best to ensure that everyone will be involved in a series of social, cultural and fundraising events. Check out the CESSC Special Events Schedule and see what you can look forward to this year! These events will be posted on the school website calendar with specific dates for all to view. Look out for announcements and letters that will be circulated before each upcoming event to make sure you are well informed. You wouldn’t want to miss out! We hope to see everyone enjoying a great year filled with memorable learning experiences! CESSC Supervisors Tamara Brunskill & Christopher Kalff

Year Month Event Description Groups From 3 - 6 pm the school gym will be open to all Years 5 – 6 students to participate in Thursday 15th Years Games Mania organized games and activities such as trivia, karaoke, Pictionary, video games, card December 5 - 6 games, board games and so much more! Food and beverages will be available. Let’s read to raise money for a good cause! Students will bring home books to read with “Read for 15th – 19th Primary their parents. Parents will track the amount of books read in a week and donate LE20 Good” Book January School per book read. The funds raised will go to charity! Members of CESSC will present the Week donations to the PTSA during the Winter Carnival. From 3 - 6 pm the school gym will be open to all Years 3 - 4 students to participate in Thursday 19th Years Games Mania organized games and activities such as trivia, karaoke, Pictionary, video games, card January 3 - 4 games, board games and so much more! Food and beverages will be available. Do you have any unwanted toys or clothes at home? Don’t throw them away! Save “Share the 5th – 9th Whole them for a special cause instead and bring them to school so that they can be donated Love” Toys & February School to orphans around Cairo. Members of CESSC will personally to present your donations Clothes Drive selected orphanages. Get ready for a night of glamour as the seniors head to a luxury hotel to party the night away in high style! This formal event will be open to students from other international Thursday 2nd Red Carpet Years schools as well. Get ready for pumping tunes from the DJ and to have your snaps taken February Valentine’s 10 - 13 as you make your entrance on the red carpet...CES goes to Hollywood this Valentine’s! Remember, it’s all for a good cause because 30% of the profits will go to charity! Bring it on, folks! Suit up for a wild session of paintballing in Rehab City from 3 – 6pm. Thursday 1st Paintball Day Years Form your teams and get signed up! Let’s see who the real troopers of middle school March Out 7 - 9 are! The day will start with a parade around the school track displaying the flags of the various nationalities at CES. This will be followed by a tour of the cultural stalls. Each class will pull Celebrating Thursday 29th Whole a country out of a hat and will be in charge of creating a cultural stall exhibiting all the World Cultures March School fantastic things the country is known for…art, dance, music, flora, fauna, famous people… Festival and best of all food! Each class will serve national dishes at their stall as well! Get your class parents to help out! Have fun celebrating the world’s diversity! Cinema & Lace up your bowling shoes and polish those bowling balls, Middle school is hitting the Thursday 19th Years Bowling Day bowling lanes! Sign up your teams and practice your backswing! Let’s see who bowls the April 7 - 9 Out most strikes and who bowls the most gutter balls! Splish, splash, let’s have a blast! Water balloons, tubs of coloured water, water guns, soapy Thursday 17th Summer Whole slip ‘n’ slide mats…enjoy the madness! Dress up in bright coloured beach wear and go all May Wet ‘n’ Wild School out with the wigs and face paint! Summer is close at hand and we’re going to celebrate! After two hard years of academic rigour, the Class of 2012 will be breathing a big sigh of Graduation relief! Goodbye high school, hello future callings! To mark the momentous occasion CES Tuesday 19th Ceremony & Year 13 will be hosting a graduation ceremony followed by a celebratory dinner. It’s time to invite June Dinner your families and charge your cameras…it’ll be a Kodak moment for everyone’s photo albums!

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CES Student Council Halloween Celebrations The ghouls and gals at CES celebrated Halloween in a sensational way this year thanks to the tremendous efforts of the CES Student Council (CESSC). From the “Critter Catwalk” and “Wicked and Whacky Races” in Primary to the rocking “Halloween Dance” in Secondary, everyone enjoyed the thrills and spills of each exciting event! The morning kicked off the celebrations en vogue! In an attempt to scare the socks off their school mates, the “cool cats” in Primary strutted their stuff during the “Critter Catwalk”, hoping to win the “best costume” award for their year level. Contestants hit the runway in spectacular style, razzling and bedazzling the audience with their spellbinding costumes! The roaring crowd raged at the sights while members of the Primary Student Council judged each round, awarding certificates to the fiends with the most glamorous and ghastly garbs! Congratulations to the winners! You really blew our broomsticks away! In the afternoon, the gremlins and goblins of Primary graced the sports field in their classes to compete inthe “Wicked and Whacky Races”. Pirates, witches, vampires and wizards rolled up their sleeves as they raced each other in a series of horrifically hilarious races: “Pumpkin Rolling”, “Broomstick Blastoff”, “Wrap the Mummy” and “Stagger like a Zombie”! Bravo to the awesome classes who won the races in their year levels! As night fell, Secondary students emerged from their lairs to transform the upper library into a den of disco doom! Skulls, pumpkins, bats and monsters were strewn among balloons, flashing lights, streamers and a sensational sound system! Sweets, treats and all things good to eat graced the food tables in the hallways. Secondary Student Council had made sure that the evening would be a true extravaganza! Long lines of costume-clad students from other international schools in Cairo were clamouring at CES’s doors to buy tickets. With over 150 guests, the event was a spectacular success and 30% of the proceeds will go towards a charity of choice! Thanks to all of their creative planning, organization and networking, Secondary Student Council has placed CES on the map as the most ‘happening’ school joint in Cairo! Great work, team! CES Student Council Supervisors Tamara Brunskill & Christopher Kalff

School Pride At CES we are working hard at developing a real sense of pride. Pride in oneself, pride in the school and pride in Egypt. Recently, we planned and initiated a school spirit week which had the above as its focus. We started with an orange and black Halloween day and finished with two games against our sister school, AIS. There were two football games that were staged. In the girls game, we lost to the AIS team; however, we drew against the boys' AIS team. We were very proud of both teams as they were taking on more experienced footballers and worked hard and showed real pride in school. Our off field performance was even better! Our students had a spirit assembly where chants were learnt and a real spirit was seen first hand by everyone there. "I have never seen our kids so passionate, fun loving and actually loving school" to quote a long standing staff member when watching the students chanting in the sports-hall. It is a day we will not forget for a while!!

4 Whole School News... Edition 2 Headmaster's Coffee Morning PTSA News The purpose of these get togethers is to talk about how PTSA enjoyed the school picnic. It was a great time things are going in school in general. It would be great for all. PTSA would like to invite you to another school for me to hear the perceptions of all parents, not just gathering. It’s the school Carnival on 24th of March parents who have particular issues or problems. This 2011. Please bookmark your calendar. is not a forum in which parents should come and air specific issues about their child or a teacher. Instead If you would like to help us out for the carnival, please it is a chance to speak about school progress and your email us at [email protected]. PTSA meets twice hopes and dreams for the school. These will always be monthly at 8.15am. We will work together to have a held at 8.15am. The upcoming dates are: fun day full of activities for kids and families. • Tuesday, 10 January • Tuesday, 7 February Your participation will be of great value if parents would • Tuesday, 6 March like to assist as sponsors for the day, please let us know. • Tuesday, 3 April • Tuesday, 8 May • Tuesday, 5 June Best Regards,

If you are interested in attending, please book a Heba Mohareb particular date with Ms. Sara ([email protected])

CIS Workshop Professional Discussion All teaching staff attending the CIS 8th Edition Workshop on Saturday 26th November 2011. With the majority of staff never having experienced an accreditation process before, they were very appreciative of the detailed overview delivered by Kay Mongardi, the CIS Regional Accreditation Officer.

The workshop involved reading evidence obtained from an imaginary school and measuring the school against some of the 8th Edition standards. Lively debate was heard from each table as they discussed the evidence and the extent to which the standards were met. The final part of the workshop focused on internationalism. Staff discussed what this meant in an educational context and the extent to which CES provides an international education.

Girls Football The girls' under 16 team played in the school tournament reaching the finals only to get beaten 3-2 , by EBIS; EBIS scoring a goal in the last minute. This was the first time in 3 years our girls had won a game so to get to the final was a tremendous achievement. The girls' under 16 team entered another competition 2 days later. The tournament was re-arranged and was in fact an under 18s tournament, but our girls still held their own. They managed to win 1 draw 2 and lose 1, coming third place. Another fantastic achieved by all the girls.

Well done. 5 Secondary School News... Edition 2 Dear Parents,

I hope you enjoy our second edition of the school newsletter, I know you will enjoy its contents.

At the time of writing, our talented group of teachers are working hard at reviewing and improving the target setting, goal setting, pastoral record keeping, follow ups, and improving curriculum and assessment methods. We look forward to the outcome of this review as we aim to be better than before in every thing that we do.

Secondly, I am pleased to announce to our school community that we have recently appointed the new Head of Secondary, Mr. Craig Waller. who will start with CES from February 5. He is a vastly experienced educator who led Cambridge International Examinations at New Zealand's number-one rated academic school. This school averages in the 5 top in the world results every year...yes top in the world. Mr Waller's leadership had a lot to do with this success and we hope he brings the same success to CES. We know he will bring the right ethos to Cairo English School and will really focus in on Curriculum and Assessment which is his love and passion. I know that the learning experiences in the Secondary School will definitely continue to improve under his leadership. His entry into the school will allow me to focus on school direction, recruiting the very best staff available, supporting and challenging staff and students to be the best that they can be.

I will handover the secondary school after 6 months of very hard work. I will continue to take an accretive interest in the secondary school's and primary school's progress, know that I leave it in good heart and with outstanding personnel to take the it to the next level.

Yours educationally,

Craig Monaghan Head of Secondary

Secondary Auditorium Mural

A group of IB1 students were commissioned to create a large scale painting to be displayed in the auditorium. As a basis for this piece, the students explored the theme of ‘Word in Art’ – a theme which holds a strong place in the history of Middle Eastern painting. The ‘Word’ as an art form, has been developed through calligraphy for thousands of years and has allowed for the letters in script to become visual elements in themselves. Exacting and proportional lines, shapes, curves and marks make them perfect elements to use in a large scale piece such as this. The students have referenced two Arabic artists in particular – Fathi Hassan, an Egyptian artist and Shakir Hassan Al Said – an Iraqi painter, who both work within this theme. The students have developed this piece mainly through the exploration of techniques and materials and the outcome is a representation of that organic process. The students have done a fantastic job on this collaboration and we would like to thank them for their hard work and ideas!

Mahinour Lotfy, Hussa Teimouri, Reem Shaalan, Mariam ElGammal, Mariam ElDessouky and Yomna Farid.

6 Secondary School News... Edition 2 As an IB World School offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, Cairo English School embraces a key document explaining how we aim to educate the whole person and encourage character building, as well as foster excellence in academics. This document is called the IB Learner Profile, and is summarized below:

The learner profile describes a list of attributes that promote academic rigour and the establishing of a personal value system leading to international-mindedness.

The programme encourages students to become:

• inquirers—their natural curiosity has been nurtured and they actively enjoy learning • thinkers—they exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to solving complex problems • communicators—they receive and express ideas and information confidently in more than one language • risk-takers—they approach unfamiliar situations without anxiety and have the confidence to explore new ideas • knowledgeable—they have explored themes that have global significance and have acquired a critical mass of knowledge • principled—they have a sound grasp of the principles of moral reasoning and have acquired integrity, honesty and a sense of justice • caring—they show sensitivity towards the needs and feelings of others, and have a sense of personal commitment to helping others • open-minded—they respect the values of other individuals and cultures and seek to consider a range of points of view • well-balanced—they understand the importance of physical and mental balance and personal well-being • reflective—they give thoughtful consideration to their own learning by constructively analysing their personal strengths and weaknesses

Thus, the IB Diploma Programme , and the years leading up to it, endeavour to teach the whole child, and we can picture this as a series of connected qualities we wish to see in our young people – the leaders of tomorrow:

Teachers have been assessing and reporting on individual student development regarding each of the ten attributes (three at a time).

The qualities we have been focusing on so far this year are: 1) Communicators 2) Caring 3) Risk Taking

(it should be emphasised this last does not advocate foolhardy conduct, but instead the willingness to take an INTELLECTUAL risk, or meet a new situation courageously)

These all come to the fore in the CAS programme and Duke of ’s Award Scheme followed by Year 11 and 12 students, but are also found throughout the School in many areas – the Shoebox Appeal, other charity fundraising efforts, community service, teams and performances amongst many others.

Parents and families can help by discussing with their child the value of striving to become a well-rounded individual with many fine qualities outside the narrow confines of academics. More Learner Profile attributes will be discussed with your child by the Tutors and Class Teachers as time goes by!

7 Primary School News... Edition 2 Dear Parents, This will be the second of series in a newsletters from the Primary School. In the last newsletter, I reflected on the start to the year and on what makes us the “Cairo English School in the Primary School”. I also touched on three specific links to the “National Curriculum for England and Wales”. I would like to expand on this theme and, this time, start to look at assessment. The best assessment is not just a test, which focuses on a set body of memorised knowledge at the end of course. The best assessment is on-going and can take a variety of shapes and forms. Assessment could be a test, it could be a one on one individualised test or a test administered at the same place and time for a large group of children administered by the teachers but designed and promulgated by an outside agency. Assessment could also be an observation of the child’s actions against set criteria. Assessment could take the form of observation of an activity. Different kinds of assessment lend themselves to different subjects. However, good assessment is on-going. Poor assessment is where children sit one or two high stakes exams in the year and do little else. Following this theme, you might then ask what we are doing about assessment and follow this with the question often asked of me by parents: How can you justify the A, B, C, D, E, grades that are awarded to children twice a term, six times a year? Again, let us look at some specifics: Specific one, in the last newsletter, I stated that we use the maths text book Abacus Evolve, the most commonly used text when teaching the “National Curriculum for England and Wales”. Before the report the teachers of a year group meet and design a test. This tests the level of attainment of the children on the course work covered. The Abacus Evolve System comes with advice and guidance for teachers in this area. They then meet and moderate the marks; this ensures marking consistency across the classes. Specific two, in the last newsletter, I stated that in writing we cover the different genres (different kinds of writing e.g. letters, argument, newspaper articles) as laid out by the “National Curriculum for England and Wales”. Before the report, all children complete a piece of writing of that genre, in a specific exercise book, kept just for that purpose. The work is then graded against a set of criteria called the Ros Wilson Observational Grading Scales. The children receive different marks when teachers note different aspects of their writing; for example, three of the 28 items a high end user would be expected to demonstrate are:

20 Can use literary features to create effect, (e.g. alliteration, onomatopoeia, figurative language, dialect) 21 Can interweave implicit and explicit links between sections 22 Can use punctuation to show division between clauses, to indicate, to vary pace, to create atmosphere or to sub-divide, (e.g. commas, colons, semi-colons, dashes, ellipses)

Four of the items someone at the very beginning of their writing journey might be expected to demonstrate are:

22 Begins to make phonic attempts at words 23 Writes captions, labels and attempts other simple forms of writing, (lists, stories etc) 24 Can write single letters or groups of letters which represent meaning 24 Can show some control over size, shape, orientation, in writing

The teacher collates the observations. Then this will give the teacher a National Curriculum level which we then convert into our A, B, C, D, E grades. This methodology is accurate and well accepted around the world; it is at the forefront of best practice in the British National and International Schools.

8 Primary School News... Edition 2 Specific three, in the last newsletter, I stated that in reading we use a reading lesson where pupils work on a series of reading books at a variety of reading levels. Last year, children were often graded as being at a reading level if they did or did not know the words in the story. The problem here is when a child can read the words and but does not understand what the book or page means. The other problem is that this tells us little about what strategies the child uses to work out words and/or meaning when faced with text they do not at first know. An example of a good strategy, which is not counted as an error, is if a child re reads a line or a phrase to either correct a mistake or to achieve better understanding. We have trained all our teachers to use what is called a bench mark kit. All children will read to their teacher, the teacher asks the child to read series of texts usually 100 or 200 words which are graded. When the child reaches a required level of accuracy and can answer a series of questions about a particular graded text, this accurately translates to a reading age. This reading age also translates to a Curriculum Level and then to an A, B, C, D, E grade for our report. However, probably of greater importance, while listening to the child read the teacher uses symbols to record just what it is the child does when reading. We can then analyse the child’s reading skills and support them in further teaching.

In conclusion, we have three different but appropriate and accurate forms of assessment for reading, writing and Maths. These assessment processes are on-going and useful for both guiding reporting to parents and further teaching. They are also a lot more work than just handing out a solely knowledge based test. Again, I would like to thank our teachers; it is easy for me to write about it but the teachers are the ones doing the hard work and implementing the procedures. In the next newsletter, I will expand on the theme of assessment in the International Primary Curriculum component of our curriculum.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Thompson Head of the Primary School

Mural Competition

Over the last term, the primary school has taken part in a house mural competition. Foundation Stage, KS1 and KS2 were asked to design and create a mural to be painted outside their classrooms. Each class was given one of th IB Learner Profiles and using their house colour, create a piece of art work. The designs were created by the students in each class, they then painted the mural onto the wall.

When the murals were complete Mr Monaghan and Mr Thompson judged the competition (no chocolate bribes were accepted by either judge).

The photograph to the right shows the winners of the competition.

A lot of effort and time went into creating the mural. Thank you to all the staff and students involved in the mural and a big thank you to Miss Vick, the primary school art teacher, who oversaw the running of the competition.

Brilliant work and well done!

9 Primary School News... Edition 2 Eight things we should all know about the International Primary Curriculum (IPC)

1. The IPC was launched in 2000 and is now being implemented in over 1000 schools in 65 countries. The IPC was introduced into the UK in 2003 where there are now almost 800 primary schools using the IPC to deliver the National Curriculum of England in a creative, rigorous way.

2. The principle of the IPC is to focus on a combination of academic, personal, and international learning for children worldwide combined with innovative, exciting, engaging and real ways to learn.

3. The IPC is helping to engage and inspire children of all abilities as a result of stimulating, child-centred, thematic, cross-curricular units of work.

4. Ninety different thematic units of work (each spanning between 4 and 8 weeks) on such stimulating, modern-day topics as Treasure, the Rainforest, Mission to Mars and Beyond, Chocolate, Fit for Life, The Olympics and Making the News span from early years through to early secondary education. Through its cross-curricular approach, each unit separates yet integrates the subjects of the English National Curriculum while enabling links to literacy and numeracy. Each unit ensures rigour, identifying clear outcomes.

5. The IPC directly supports teachers by providing rigorous and meaningful teaching frameworks. As a result, this allows teachers to spend more time planning creative, learning for their children.

6. The IPC provides comprehensive curriculum materials with cross referencing of IPC learning goals to the English National Curriculum.

7. Consistently, IPC schools are receiving ‘excellent’ and ‘outstanding’ reviews for curriculum provision. In the UK, HMI and QCA have both applauded the IPC’s rigour. Mick Waters of QCA has recently described the IPC as “excellent.” Schools are attributing improvements in test results to it. Other schools are associating improved attendance levels with the IPC.

8. The IPC is the first curriculum in the world to have international-mindedness explicitly built into the learning. Internationalism is embedded throughout, helping children to develop a coherent international- mindedness through all subjects; approaching their learning from their own local perspective as well as from the perspective of others around the globe.

Mark Thompson

Head of Primary School

Year 4 Airport Models of the IPC unit Gateways to the World

10 Foundation Stage News... Edition 2 Dear Parents, Welcome to the new home of the Foundation Stage newsletter where I hope to continue providing you with news about the many happenings and events which occur in Foundation Stage and provide you with information that will help support your child’s learning journey. The children have been busy showing the teachers all the wonderful things they have learned so far this school year. It is always heartwarming to walk around the department and observe children’s learning taking place; seeing children from last year’s FS1 suddenly grown and enthusiastically demonstrating their amazing first grasps of reading and writing skills. Assessment week got off to a good start and teachers are continually impressed by the children’s enthusiasm and enjoyment of learning! Black and Orange Halloween

It has been a hive of activity in FS. Back in October, we had enormous fun with our black & orange/Halloween parade; there were also pumpkin pictures and skeletons galore being created in busy classrooms!! We saw some fabulous costumes and everyone had a great day!! We also raised over LE3, 000 for our charity, ‘The Daughters of Egypt”. The foundation stage hallways are becoming more and more magical by the day with wonderful displays from our hardworking teachers and children, with ‘trees’ springing up along the way created by our amazingly talented carpenters!! Kidsville!!

In early November, the children went on their first field trip of the school year to Kidsville for some topic related fun! It is the first time we have been to this centre and the feedback from teachers in general was good although there was a tendency for the staff there to ‘do’ things for the children, something we try not to encourage in Foundation Stage; rather than letting the children explore the good quality resources they had on offer. Overall, the children had a great time and were very eager to show their creations on returning to school. At the moment, the teachers and children are busily rehearsing and preparing for the Winter Show. Invitations will be sent out soon. It promises to be a lot of fun!! I look forward to sharing more news with you all in the next newsletter and continuing the ‘Reading Can Be Fun’ segment. Kind regards,

Valerie Awad Asst. Head of Primary (FS) 11 Foundation Stage News... Edition 2

Do you remember learning to drive, how you had to get used to using the pedals with two feet while holding on to the steering wheel and watching the road all at the same time? It was difficult to coordinate and may have taken a while to get right. Your child is in a similar situation when they learn to read. Learning to read is new, it is not easy and it can take a long time. Your child is in good hands… Your child’s teacher is trained to teach children to read; that’s part of their job. Each teacher will have an individual method and plan. She is building a relationship with your child. It is important to trust the teacher’s judgement and respect the learning pace chosen for your child. The main skills which children need to develop are: • Pre-reading • Phonics • Word recognition In this newsletter edition, we will take a closer look at the pre-reading and phonic skills. These are already taking place in FS1 and continue in FS2 in order to establish solid concepts and skills. Pre-Reading Skills: These are the skills that children need in order to help them become a reader. Many of these skills are learnt naturally, during the course of normal childhood, at home and in a school environment. By talking and reading with your child, you will be doing a great deal to help develop these essential skills.

MATCHING: When we read, part of what we do involves matching. We are matching shapes, patterns, letters and, finally, words.

RHYMING: Research shows that children who develop an understanding about rhyming words have a head start in learning to read and spell.

LETTER SKILLS: As well as recognizing letter shapes, learning the most common sounds that each letter makes will give children a head start.

DIRECTION: Print goes from left to right, so children will need to be familiar with where to start each line and which direction to go in.

MOTOR SKILLS: Practising writing letters and words as they learn to read them will help it all sink in, so a good pencil grip and control is useful.

CONCEPTS OF PRINT: This is all about knowing how to handle books – holding them the right way up, turning the pages in sequence, exploring the pictures, knowing that the words can be read to tell a story.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: The more experience children have of language, the more easily they will learn to read. Your child needs to hear and join in conversations (with adults and children), and listen to stories and poetry of all sorts. 12 Foundation Stage News... Edition 2 Phonics First In Foundation Stage, we focus strongly on developing children’s understanding of how words work through a structured programme of phonics teaching.

A good phonic knowledge helps children to read simple words by saying each sound and blending them together. From the beginning, they are encouraged to use this strategy to read words in their reading books – and the more they practice, the quicker they acquire the ‘word building’ habit.

‘Heavy duty words’ Some words are used very frequently and children develop into fluent readers if they can learn to recognise them quickly without having to work them out. This is especially important for words that do not obey the rules for phonics – referred to as ‘tricky words’ such as ‘the’, ‘to’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘I’ and ‘was’.

Next edition will contain information on word recognition and guided reading…

Upcoming Events 17th – 19th January 2011 CESSC Event: Primary "Read for Good" Fundraiser 8th January 2011 19th January 2011 Secondary Assembly - 8:45 AM CESSC Event: Years 3-4 Games Mania After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM KS1-2 Assemblies Student Council - 3:00 PM 22nd January 2011 9th January 2011 Student Council Meeting After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM House Meetings - Team sports prep - 8:45 AM After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM 10th January 2011 23rd January 2011 Coffee with the Headmaster - 8:15 AM After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM 12th January 2011 24th January 2011 KS1-2 Assemblies Progress Reports issued KS1-5 25th – 28th January 15th January 2011 Eid El Shorta break CESSC Event: Primary "Read for Good" Fundraiser Secondary Assembly - 8:45 AM 29th January 2011 After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM House Meeting - Tabloid sports prep Student Council - 3:00 PM After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Student Council Meeting - 3:00 PM 16th January 2011 CESSC Event: Primary "Read for Good" Fundraiser 30th January 2011 PTSA Meeting - 8:15 AM After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM After School Activities - 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM 31st January 2011 Early dismissal - 12:00 PM

Cairo English School Mirage City New Cairo Egypt

www.cesegypt.com 13