`13th April 2023

Secondary Parent Letter - 2022-2023, Academic year

Dear respected parents, Assalamualaikum and Ramadan Kareem!

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed Ramadan. May Allah accept our fasting and good deeds. We all
hope you have a great spring break.

Registration Next academic year 2023-2024

We would like to urge all secondary parents to complete the renewal for the next academic year. Mashallah
the secondary school is already at full capacity, and we currently have a waiting list of families keen to join
our school. Can all families ensure they complete registration as soon as possible to secure their placement
for next year. We hope to see all our amazing students here again next year.
Should you have any queries or concerns regarding renewals, please do not hesitate to contact me
fahd.kahlaoui@iscs.sch.ae Jazakallah Khiaran.

- The renewal circular https://cutt.ly/N8ZaJKt

-The online renewal procedures https://cutt.ly/H8qHorx
-The updated School fees structure with transportation fees https://cutt.ly/O8HRwOF

New Teachers

We are pleased to welcome some new teachers who have joined the school for term 3. Below is a short Bio
on their education and experience and will be supporting a number of classes in preparation for the end of
year examinations.

Taslima Hannan- English Specialist Teacher

Taslima is an experienced English Language and Literature teacher with over 5 years teaching
experience from the UK.
Taslima completed her Bachelors degree is in English Language and Linguistics from the
University of Bedfordshire and has a PGCE and Qualified Teacher status (QTS) through the
Chiltern Training Group in England.
Taslima is very excited to join the school as a teacher of English and is confident that her English
expertise and experience will be highly valued by the students, parents and staff.

Zain Saleem- Science and Chemistry Specialist Teacher

Zain is a fully qualified Science and Chemistry specialist from the UK. Zain hold a both a Masters
and a Batchelors Degree in Chemistry with Pharmaceutical and Forensic Science and a Bachelors
degree from the University of Bradford, and has also completed his Post graduate certificate in
Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through the University of Sunderland.

Zain is very excited to join ISCS and will be taking over a number of science classes this term.
 Nishamol Haris – ICT & Computing Specialist Teacher

Nishamol is a highly experience computing teacher with more than 8 years teaching experience
in the UAE.
She previously worked in a very successful British school where she taught both IGCSE and A
level ICT prior to joining ISCS.
Nishamol holds a bachelor’s degree in information technology from Cochin University of Science
and Technology and has completed her Specialization in Computer Science as part of the
teacher licensing system through the Ministry of Education, UAE.

Nishamol is excited to join ISCS and will be supporting both our key stage 3 and IGCSE students.

Key Dates and Calendar

The link below is Term 3’s Calendar.
ISCS Secondary Calendar (Term 3)

AS/A Level Mock Exams & Study Leave

Inshallah, teachers will be holding mini Mock exams for key subjects after the Eid Break as per the Calendar.
These papers will be completed during lessons and teachers will immediately go through the papers with
students. The aim of these mocks is to identify which topics students require support in and will provide up
to date information on student progress.

We plan to hold intensive revision sessions throughout study leave for all subjects up until the day of the
subject exams.

Study leave will officially start on Thursday 4th May, however, this will be optional for students who have
secured B grades and above. Students who are working below a C grade will be required to attend all revision
classes in school until the day of their exam to ensure they accelerate their progress.

We hope that all students take advantage of the revision sessions that we will be offering during study leave,
a detailed timetable will be shared shortly to all students which will include the times and papers that will
be covered by teachers.

Class charts (Year 5-9/Gr 4-8)

I would like to remind all parents that for all students in Grades 4-8 (Year 5-9) that we are actively using
ClassCharts to inform parents on how their child is doing during lessons.

All login details have been emailed to all parents. If you did not receive your login details, please email Br
Cagdas at cagdas.Degirmenci@iscs.sch.ae

For more information on ClassCharts please see links below:

Parent Class charts-Meeting Recording.mp4

ISCS - Class charts Presentation.pptxz

 Online Revision and Support Classes
In support for our students who will be taking IGCSE and A Level examination in Term 3, we will continue to
provide additional support classes over the weekends. Please encourage students to attend these sessions
as we will not have session over the EID weekend.

Timings Males
IGCSE AS Level
Day Time
Subject Link Subject Link

First Lang: Meeting Link

English Lang &
Saturday 08:30 - 09:30 Mathematics Meeting Link
English ESL
ESL: Meeting Link

Saturday 09:30 - 10:30 Mathematics Meeting Link Biology Meeting Link

Saturday 10:30 - 11:30 Chemistry Meeting Link Chemistry Meeting Link

Sunday 08:30 - 09:30 Physics Meeting Link

Timings Females
IGCSE AS Level
Day Time
Subject Link Subject Link

Saturday 08:30 - 09:30 Mathematics Meeting Link

First Lang: Meeting Link

English Lang &
Saturday 09:30 - 10:30 Mathematics Meeting Link
English ESL
ESL: Meeting Link

Saturday 10:30 - 11:30 Physics Meeting Link Biology Meeting Link

Sunday 08:30 - 09:30 Chemistry Meeting Link Chemistry Meeting Link

Term 2 Report Cards

Inshallah we plan to release all Term 2 reports on Thursday 27th April. We will also be holding Parent
meetings shortly following the release of these reports on Sunday 30th April from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
 University Application Support
This term we had a number of students in grade 12/13 attend the university applications workshops. All
students who have attended have completed all their applications mashallah.

We will schedule a few more sessions of application support prior to the study leave. If any student in
grade 12/13 is yet to complete their applications or require any support, please do not hesitate to contact
Cagdas.degirmenci@iscs.sch.ae to book a session during study leave.

TIMSS – National Agenda Assessment

It is a pleasure to inform you that our school has been chosen by SPEA to participate in the Trends in
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2023 assessment. The assessment will take place on 9th May and
only 2 class from Year 9/Grade 8 will participate. The classes will be chosen by SPEA at random.

What is TIMSS?
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international assessment of student
achievement in mathematics and science in the fourth and eighth grades. The study has been conducted
every four years since 1995 by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement
(IEA). TIMSS 2023 is the eighth cycle of TIMSS.

TIMSS assessments measure how well students have understood the content, concepts and application of
skills at each grade level in mathematics and science. The assessments provide comparative data around
student achievement and contexts for learning mathematics and science. TIMSS data have been useful for
countries across the world to evaluate their educational systems and to make evidence-based decisions for
their educational policies.

Cerebry Platform
SPEA has teamed up with Cerebry company which provides a platform for all the Year 5/Grade 4 & Year
9/Grade 8 students in Sharjah for practicing on TIMSS questions. If your child has not received their login,
please contact us on Cagdas.degirmenci@iscs.sch.ae

We would like to highlight the importance of parent input in these types of assessments. It is also proven by
many research studies that, students who are supported and encouraged by their parents throughout the
assessment process have attained much higher results compared to their peers. We like to take this
opportunity to kindly request your encouragement and support for your child in the upcoming TIMSS
assessment. The scores obtained by our students will be an international and personal success for our
students.

Day of the assessment

The study will take part within the normal school day. Participating students will be chosen at random by
SPEA. We will ask your child to answer some multiple-choice and open-ended questions about mathematics
and science on a computer and to fill out a short online questionnaire afterwards.

The assessment lasts approximately 1.5 hours and the online questionnaire around 30 minutes. The students
will be given a short break in-between the two. As soon as SPEA shares the scores and attainment levels with
us, we will do the same with you.
 Communication Channels

Secondary Department Hotline: 06513 6588

To arrange meeting with teachers:
Secondary Receptionist: Sara.Mohammed@iscs.sch.ae

Secondary Supervisor Contact number (All Admin General queries): 07:00-2:30pm

Assistant Principal & Head of Secondary - Fahd.Kahlaoui@iscs.sch.ae
Assistant Head of Secondary - AbeerA@iscs.sch.ae
Head of Sixth Form- Cagdas.Degirmenci@iscs.sch.ae
Queries relating to Examinations - ExamOfficer@iscs.sch.ae

Kind Regards

Secondary Leadership Team