Half-term Roundup pt.1

This Article was written by Oleksandra Shatvorian, Year 8

It seems like time has flown by! We have already reached the end of another term! The school had many new events and opportunities and in this article, we will focus on some of the major events this half-term:

First Volleyball Game:

Introducing Kent College Dubai's newest sport fixture: U19 volleyball! For quite a long time, the KCD students have wanted to engage in volleyball as a team, but now, it's finally happening!

In the last half-term, the team played three games. On the 30th of January, there was a home game against UAS Dubai. The girls played set A. Another game they had was on the 6th of February against Uptown International School, which was also a game played at our own school. Our team has also played three matches against Dwight School Dubai and won a match with the score of 26-24. Alice was recognised as the player of the match.

What are the benefits of joining the team? Everyone naturally displays a variety of personality qualities. Some people are talkative, outgoing and can converse with anyone they meet about any subject, while others are quite secretive and prefer to spend their time alone. No matter who you are, there are advantages to joining the team for everyone. Social skills and confidence are gained by teamwork and dealing with various situations both individually and as a group. Also, your physical shape will vastly improve! You can now enjoy yourself, spend time with your friends, and advance in every way possible by finding a passion and a hobby for yourself.

Football:

The KCD has many sports fixtures which our talented students join and achieve outstanding results. KCD has shown excellent efforts and resilience this half-term in football, which has been a popular sport fixture for both boys and girls. The teams analyse each game, improving their skills by focusing on what they have done well and what they need to work on.

We started off this half term with a great U16 boys' win 1-0 over Repton School. It was wonderful to see the U12 boys make such an incredible comeback, as well, as this half term they won many games, including those in Repton School and Repton Nad Al Sheba, where they defeated the school with the score of 5-1.

Additionally, there were also gold medals for the U13 football team boys in the Dubai Schools Games Plate Competition, which consisted of approximately 30 other schools and Kent brought home the win!

This term, the performances of the girls' teams were indeed impressive. The U13 girls team, who participated in the Dubai School Games competition, won three of the group matches and made it to the quarter-final of the competition! The U15 team has also made it to the quarter finals of Dubai School Games , winning two games with the scores of 4-0 , 4-1.

The junior school U8 and U9 girls' teams have demonstrated excellent effort and achievements by winning numerous games both at home and on other school pitches.

Exams for Year 11s and Year 13s:

There were lots of important events for the higher grades as well, such as exams for students in years 11 and 13 this half term. Year 11 students sat GCSE mock tests, and year 13 students completed their A-levels or IB coursework. The students have spoken about their experience and we wish them great success and results!

Year 8 Desert Trip

Our school regularly organises geography trips. In different year groups, students explored other Emirates. As part of the geography trip this half-term, year 8 students visited the Al Hamriyah beach in Ajman, Umm Al Quain and Wadi Shawka in Ras al Khaimah. The geography teachers and the head of year went with the students to see the beaches and different locations in various places. . At the Al Hamriyah and Umm Al Quain beach, the year group examined the coastline, the geological factors that formed it and practised fieldwork methods and techniques with an Ecoventure instructor. They had some free time and fun evening activities such as campfires or races.