Dear Students and Parents,

This is it, our final Sahifa newsletter of 2021! When we started this year, we knew it was going to be different. We didn’t realize how challenging it was going to be. Learning to be together again, to collaborate with one another, and to relearn certain habits was much more challenging than we had anticipated. I continue to be impressed with our community, our ability to adapt to changing situations and to show compassion towards one another. We’ve made fantastic progress and continue to grow as a school!

We’ve all been working hard and have been looking forward to having this break to enjoy with family and friends. While we don’t have homework over breaks, I do encourage students to look for a good book to enjoy over the holidays. Take a moment to relax, away from electronics, and be sure to find time to have fun with family and friends. Mr. Mitchell and I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a safe and restful break (and a happy Qatar National Day to all our Qatari families!) and look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year!

Please note that classes resume on Monday, January 3 (Day 3). Have a great break everyone!

Rob Gohr

Middle School Principal

American School of Doha

Technology & Screentime over the break…

'Tis the season for our children to request holiday gifts! If you're like me, and would rather give a gift that doesn't add to your child's screen time, consider this list of screen-free gifts from Screenagers. Holiday time often comes with more screen time. Consider some of these alternative activities for reducing screen time over the holiday, or, if you're more ambitious, having a completely screen-free holiday! Devices and computers are great, but we need to control them so they don't control us. Find ways to substitute screen time with other healthy activities!

After School: Where can students be?

We are quite excited to be able to once again host after school clubs and activities on our campus! While we encourage our students to participate in our after-school sports and activities, we do not allow students to hang out with friends after school on campus. We also have some students work in the Library until 4:00 pm or who seek help from their teachers after school. Students who are not engaged in clubs, sports, activities, or after school support, are asked to make their way home.

Students needing to wait after school for a sibling or who have a late pickup from school, are asked to wait in the reception area in front of our MS/HS Offices. Students are not allowed to remain in our Dining Hall & Beanery, gymnasium/fields, or common areas. We thank you for your support in this.

DragonCards: Needed to Access Campus

All students who attend ASD have been issued a school photo ID called a DragonCard, which contains a Smart-chip that provides them access to campus, allows them to make purchases on campus, borrow library books, and use photocopiers as needed.

We need students to carry their DragonCard with them to school to help reduce these issues. In an effort to help, we will run a weekly report of students who have 3 consecutive days of missing ID cards. We will then notify parents to let them know that if their child reaches 5 consecutive days without their ID, we will automatically re-issue the student a DragonCard and deactivate their old card. The cost of the replacement card is QR50 and will be deducted from the family account. Our hope is that by the first reminder, families can help us to find ID cards and use them to access our campus. We appreciate your support with this.

Yearbook Pre-orders

Pre-orders of the 2021-22 Yearbook are starting up, only 120 QR!

How to order:

1. Ensure you have 120 QR on your DragonCard (no cash purchases)

2. Visit room the MS Office to place your order.

If you would like to order a Yearbook from last year (2020-2021), there are a few still left. These are available for a reduced price (100 QR). Please visit the MS Office if interested.

AMA Committee would like to thank “Brain Education” for a very inspiring and enlightening speech session for last Sunday conducted by Master Maz. His words and experiences are very strong and powerful that made us understand ourselves more and better and it can really help us in our everyday lives.

We will have another session with different topics this coming year and we encourage everyone to join us then as it is very worth it!

The link for the whole session will be shared with you soon.