Dear High School Community,

Thanks to everyone who attended Back To School Night. We hope it was a valued chance to meet with faculty and gather an understanding about the courses your child is taking over the year.

COVID-19 Updates

Thankfully we report that there were no cases in the High School this week. However, we remind parents to keep your child at home if they are sick. We have a high vaccination rate in our division but we remain vigilant and determined to sustain a safe learning environment for all our students and staff. Thank you.

We reiterate our plea to parents not to send their children to school if they exhibit symptoms related to COVID-19. Please err on the side of caution and take them to be tested.

Virtual Back to School Night (BTSN)

Here’s the video that launched the evening.

Senior Surprise

Wednesday and Thursday saw our first Senior Surprise for the Class of 2022! Thanks to all our parents who were involved in making the event memorable. It was so good to see parents back on campus again! Enjoy the photos.

AP Updates

It was wonderful to meet our parents last night at Back to School Night, and I hope that a clear understanding of the nature and scope of our AP Courses resulted from these important (virtual) face to face meetings. Our AP program is flourishing, with our numbers currently at all-time highs of 297 AP students and 586 total exams. This is indicative of the success of our talented faculty and hard-working students and is definitely something to celebrate. As most students have now begun to take summative assessments, again I encourage all students to self-advocate and reach out for help from their teacher or myself if they have any struggles. If you have any questions about our AP Courses or the AP Capstone Diploma program, please contact our AP Coordinator at: joshua.giddens@asd.edu.qa

IBDP Diploma Updates

Our Full DP Juniors have commenced their DP Core classes which focus on improving key skills such as time management, referencing, social emotional and work/ life balance. In addition, there is an added focus on the IBDP Learner Profile which is integrated into all IBDP courses offered at ASD. Our DP course students will also be accessing these skill sets via targeted Zoom sessions in the coming weeks. Students will be supported if they are underperforming to ensure we offer early intervention in semester 1. If you have any questions or you would like additional information please do not hesitate to contact the IBDP Coordinator, Ms. Katrina Charles at katrina.charles@asd.edu.qa

Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD)

Every three years, representatives from FCD come to visit ASD and spend time getting to know our students, while imparting upon them the perils and devastation that come from dependency on drugs, alcohol and other addictive agents. This year, they will be visiting our Middle and High Schools virtually from September 20 through 23. Grade 9 and 10 students will be learning with the FCD representatives during the Health and PE classes, while Grade 12 and 11 students will have opportunities during their study blocks to meet with them. They will also hold a session for ASD parents on Tuesday, September 21 at 6:00 pm to share insights about teenage risk-taking, patterns and tendencies when it comes to drug and alcohol use, among other things. The link for the FCD Parent Zoom session is here.

Key Upcoming Dates

Tuesday, September 21: Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD) Parent Session

Wednesday, September 22: Curriculum Night

Thursday, October 7: Parent Advisory Forum

Details of these meetings will be shared with you closer to the dates.

Weekly/Monthly Calendar

Our day rotation schedule can be found here. Please note it will be updated as per directions from the Ministry of Health when necessary.

Teaching and Learning Moment

We are excited that this week has seen Little Shop of Horrors rehearsals begin in earnest! For the first time in 18 months, the theatre is alive and kicking with students coming together to sing, dance and act their way through the opening numbers of the show. The stage crew has been selected, the scenery designed, and puppets are starting to be built. The band has been given their music and has begun their rehearsals too! We are thrilled to be back treading the boards and can’t wait to bring this show to life. If you want to help with costumes, props, hair, make-up, front of house, etc then please get in touch with Katie Millard at katie.millard@asd.edu.qa to see how you can join the Little Shop Team!

Service Updates

In our desire to ensure our parent community has more access to Learning Service information, we have provided access for parents on the “Learning Service” tab on the HS Office Teneen page. The same information is available on the HS Student Teneen Page for students. Supplementary information can also be accessed on our Learning Service Libguide. This page is now updated and live.

This week, we officially rolled out our Virtual Service Job Fair. This showcased nearly 50 student run service organizations at ASD that students can be a part of. All of our Service Clubs are anchored by one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. At ASD, we promote a learning service model of community engagement which means that the emphasis is on learning about issues surrounding development issues and exploring ways to engage meaningfully with these issues on a local level.

Active participation in these groups can be used to meet ASD’s Graduation Service Requirements which are once again explained in this video and in this brief. The Video and the Virtual Job fair were all shared with students on Sunday of this week. Students have until Thursday, September 23 to sign up for an information session with a group if they are pursuing their Grade 9 and 10 service commitments. Involvement in these groups can also be used to meet IB CAS requirements.

All of this information is also available on the Learning Service Libguide and we encourage you again to have a look at it.

For questions about service or IB CAS at ASD, please contact Mr. Shang at cshang@asd.edu.qa.

Counseling

Senior College Night

Save the Date! The Senior College Night will be on Monday, September 20! Click here for more information! All Seniors and parents will receive an email with the Zoom links for the different rooms.

Counselor Coffee

We will be hosting our first Virtual Counselor Coffee of the 2021-2022 school year on September 20 at 8:30 am! We will be introducing the Counseling Team as well as talking about our services and events for the year. Please find the zoom link for the event here

Senior Counselor Course

We will begin our Senior Counselor Course on Sunday, September 26. We will be sending information to all Grade 12 students and parents prior to the course so there is a common understanding as to what we will be covering and when it will be taking place.

University Visits

We are having University visits again! A representative from SCAD visited us this past week and it was great to see the student interactions!

We will communicate any in person visits, but please also pay attention to the counseling page on Teneen for any visits--whether in person or virtual!

Save the date for the virtual International University Fair Qatar on September 28-29 from 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm! More information will come soon!

Resources

We encourage students and parents to check out the HS Counseling Teneen page within the Main HS Office as it has lots of resources available for students and parents.

Have a great weekend.

Michael Roberts,

High School Principal