Wow, the summer break feels a distant memory by now, as so much has happened in PE and school sport in the last 6 weeks!
In lessons, students completed their first unit of team building through problem solving games, which was highly successful throughout the age ranges. Most students clearly understood what made a team function well and perform in a coherent way; to achieve a common goal; by the end of the unit.
Some quotes from students demonstrate their learning during the unit’s assessment:
“Communicate your thoughts and ideas to your teammates.” Natalie.
“You have to listen to other people’s ideas.” Isabella
“Co-operate and be responsible.” Abdul
“Don’t blame people…..they are on your team……if one person fails, then the whole group has failed.” Janine and Hannah
“Don’t fight with teammates.” Sachin
“Work as a team.” Trina
“Be open-minded to other peoples’ ideas.” Ali
“Don’t shout at others when something goes wrong.” Tahlyn
The unit was great viewing from a teacher’s perspective and it was so interesting to see how each group came up with a different idea of how to achieve success in the same task. It really did show me how ABIS students are thinkers and inquirers, and can think outside the box to achieve their goals.
Swimming was the other unit that was running alongside team building and again, it is pleasing to see how quickly ABIS students can pick up new skills and be reflective in their learning. The rate at which some pupils have learned in the last 6 weeks, particularly some of our new students, who have never swam before, is phenomenal! Well done! The cool weather is making life hard for us in the pool once more, and we will try to limp to November Eid (tentative, November 3rd) before moving off of swimming and onto Athletics, which will prepare us for our annual Sports Day, the date of which has been moved to January 18th. 
Outside of lessons, the After School Activities have started with gusto, and I was very pleased with the variety of activities that students could choose from. We worked hard to ensure that every student could choose an activity on each of the 3 activity days, and from what I can see, everything has settled down nicely, and children and teachers are really enjoying the programme and reaping the benefits from these interesting activities!