Parents

Charter Schools are government schools for local Emirati children that are managed and staffed by a third-party company. They use the US curriculum that has been modified to incorporate elements of the UAE curriculum, and with the exception of certain subjects, is taught in English.

New Century Education believes that schools should be conducive environments where all students can learn, feel safe, and develop life skills. To ensure this is consistent for all stakeholders in our schools, we have a Code of Conduct we expect all to follow and align with.

For everyone, we expect:

• Full compliance with the regulations and laws of the United Arab Emirates

• A commitment that child safeguarding is never at risk through your actions or decisions

• Demonstration of respect for the heritage and culture of the UAE by being honest and dignified

• Promotion of a positive school community.

For our students, they should:

• allow everyone the opportunity to learn without disruption

• be respectful and tolerant of other people’s opinions

• demonstrate a positive attitude towards learning and opportunities provided, attending lessons on time

• follow the instructions of adults

• be polite and act with kindness, a positive role model

• help others, or find a member of the teaching staff who can help

• be responsible and do not endanger their own or other’s safety

• respect and care for the facilities and property regardless of who it belongs to

For our parents, they should:

• engage with their child’s learning

• respect the guidelines set out in the Parent Handbook

• commit to their child’s full attendance at school as much as possible and justify any poor punctuality and absence

• approach the school to discuss any concerns through the appropriate channels

For our staff, they should:

• respect each child as an individual and cater for their varying needs

• remain professional at all times, regardless of the situation and ensure confidential matters remain so

• use positive behavior and reinforcement strategies to support students

For our visitors, they should:

• sign in at every visit and only move through the school while accompanied or with explicit principal’s permission

• never take photos/videos (similar) without principal permission

• only engage with students as appropriate, e.g., inspection team looking at work samples

• respect the school’s culture and the wider community

We are committed to providing a secure place where children have a fundamental right to feel safe and protected from any form of abuse. Therefore, we aim to provide secure, caring environments, highly skilled and aware staff, and a curriculum that promotes self-esteem, nurtures well-being, and empowers children to protect themselves.

In our school, child safeguarding protection is defined as all measures, steps, and actions that must be taken to protect students from risks that may cause harm or injury while they are in the school’s care, including traveling to and from the school using school transport, and engaging with activities organized by the school whether on or off-site. Our care for your children when we are responsible for them is our first and foremost priority.

We will safeguard our students in compliance with legislation including the UAE Child Protection Law 3 (2016). It is now mandatory to report suspected cases of abuse. All school staff are authorized and mandated by the school to report all cases of suspected abuse and/or neglect directly to the Ministry of Interior – Child Protection Center within 24 hours upon suspicion.

Our school will deliver the curriculum by combining personalized, self-paced learning, interdisciplinary inquiry, and mentoring to develop critical and creative thinkers and problem-solvers, who are equipped and empowered for entrepreneurship, innovation, and service. We offer a blended model of learning that incorporates and leverages technology with best practice face-to face teaching methods.

The curriculum will support inquiry-based and phenomenon-based learning. The curriculum is forward designed to meet wider governmental aspirations of the National Innovation Strategy and UAE Centennial 2071 Vision with an Education for the Future focus on:

• Advanced science and technology, space science, engineering, innovation, health sciences, arts, design, and humanities;

• Entrepreneurship and innovation;

• Promoting principles of community service and volunteering.

Our delivery of the American curriculum also reinforces the UAE student profile, which contains learning that guides “students’ holistic development, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, balanced bilingualism, and national identity. The curriculum offers the development of the whole child through intellectual, physical, social, and emotional learning.

Our vision for teaching is that we believe all students can and will learn. Our teachers will emphasize using ‘Making Thinking Visible’ routines to help students make sense of their ideas and experiences with new information. Teachers align personalized learning tasks to the Common Core Learning Standards in each unit of study, embedding opportunities for students to develop self-awareness and foster a classroom culture for deeper learning and risk-taking.

Personalization and differentiation will be key to our delivery and implementation. Our teachers will be expected to know each of their students well and understand the best conditions for each student to learn and develop in. Students’ learning styles are as unique as their personalities. We plan to offer our students learning opportunities and tasks that enable them to produce evidence of attainment and understanding at the highest possible levels. Our tasks will be matched to the varying needs of learners evident in each class. Differentiation and personalization will also be evident in assessment as we want to know what each of our students can do and what they need further development in.

Intervention programs will be implemented where not all students are responsive to universal instruction provided at the level of the entire school. We place an emphasis on the quality of teaching and learning, both academic and social, and on the quality of the learning environment at the level of the school. Targeted evidence-based interventions organized for groups of students with lagging academic and behavioural skill sets will be delivered by supporting staff, including teachers. The school will have a variety of academic programs that support learners in language development, literacy, numeracy, and Students of Determination. Teachers and teams will develop individualized learning programs for students following a tiered system of support and parents will be involved in this at every level.

When possible, the school will offer extra-curricular activities after school. These sessions will offer focused engagement with interests, hobbies and complimentary skills and will be run by our staff. Each semester, we will send out a list of activities on offer to enable students and families to make preferred choices. The days and timings will be confirmed each semester before sessions start.

Students are expected to attend school as per the ADEK approved calendar which will be shared with parents prior to the school year starting. Events and breaks will be referenced in regular newsletters to ensure parents and families have advance notice.

Students should be at school by 8am. They should not be picked up until the school day finishes at 3pm. Should a student be unwell, parents will contact the school by phone or email by 8am to inform them of the student’s absence. If they do not, the school will follow up by phone.

Entrance to the school begins at 7:40am. We ask that all parents park their cars at allocated parking zones and follow the school’s safeguarding safety policy and the road safety laws on the commercial road outside the school. Common courtesy and consideration of everyone’s safety and wellbeing is expected at all drop off and pick up times. Entrance to the car park remains open throughout the day.

If you choose to have your child(ren) travel by bus, then we will need to have your full details registered with our provider, Emirates Transport. In the first week of school, they will confirm routes and timings for pick-up and drop off.

A bus conductor will check your child in as they board the bus in the morning and sign them out as they disembark in the afternoon. Your child must behave well on the bus and respect the adults, following stated rules. Failure to do so could result in the suspension of the service.

The wearing of seat belts is mandatory.

All New Century Education schools have clear expectations for behaviour of students, staff and adults within our school community. We appreciate your support to ensure your child understands these rules and the consequences if they are not followed.

Our expectations are that students should:

• Comply with all School rules and instructions

• Behave responsibly and not endanger the safety and welfare of others or self

• Care for the facilities and property of the School and of others

• Arrive at School and lessons on time and justify any tardiness and absences

• Participate in promoting a positive School community image

• Demonstrate a positive attitude and apply the very best effort toward learning

• Behave responsibly so as not to disrupt the classroom or the learning of others.

• Commit to the heritage and culture of the UAE

• Show respect to all members of the School community, and Parents/Guardians and other members of the local community

The school must provide a safe environment for all stakeholders, especially students. Therefore, when parents visit the school, they will be issued a parent visitor pass by the security which they must wear. All visitors will have to comply with this.

To keep all stakeholders of our school safe, we have a number of guidelines that we expect everyone to follow:

If you are unwell, please do not attend the school in any capacity.

If your child can attend school but has medication to take, please arrange to meet with the nurse as they are the only person who can administer this.

Everyone must sign in and out of the school, whether a parent or visitor.

If the fire or emergency alarms sound while you are at the school, stay calm and follow the instructions of the school staff to move to an evacuation point.

If you see something broken or something that could be a safety hazard, please report it to a staff member or the school reception.

Please ensure all of your contact details are up to date and accurate in case we need to contact you.

If you are driving within our school grounds, please do so slowly and carefully, being mindful of children.

All students have set break times every day for eating and play, with supervision at all times. A range of activities are provided by staff for students during break times.

Each break will start with time allocated for eating. If your child is bringing a packed lunch to school please remember that it is essential that they are provided with nourishing, healthy food for their snack and their lunch, in an unbreakable container. Your child should also bring a water bottle to school every day.

We have extensive policies and procedures in place for our school with respect to fire, natural disaster and emergency lock down procedures. In the event of an emergency, our school staff have been trained to ensure safety is the first priority. Therefore, students need to follow their directions. We will have regular drills to ensure students know what to do if an emergency occurs.

For visitors’ safety we ask all people to sign in at the front gate/desk and wear a visitor’s badge at all times. If you are at the school when an emergency occurs, we ask that you remain calm and follow staff instructions.

In the event of an emergency, parents will be expected to come to collect their child directly from the school or the evacuation point.

We ask that if either or both parents are going to be away from the family home for some time, the school is informed for two reasons:

To be clear on emergency contacts and who is authorised to collect your child if needed during this time

To monitor your child and ensure they continue to learn and behave as expected, providing support as needed.

For any reason, if you wish to remove your child from our school, there are ADEK and school processes to be followed. Please make a time to speak to school administration so the transition can be smooth, and your child(ren) has full reports to take with them.

If you have a concern or a complaint, we ask that you first speak with the relevant staff member, for example the subject teacher or homeroom teacher. The grade leader may be involved at the request of the staff member or if you wish them to be there. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may make an appointment to speak to a member of the senior leadership team. We appreciate it when our parents and families communicate their concerns to us first and allow us the opportunity top resolve these for them.

Our school will use a robust, credible, balanced, and comprehensive assessment system and procedures. Each part of the system plays an important role in ensuring that all students are achieving skill mastery, progressing towards goals that they set themselves, and are receiving the best possible instruction and intervention customized to their needs.

Assessment is a daily part of the life of the school. Informal assessments, through the monitoring of children’s work and understanding of concepts, are used by teachers to inform their teaching. More formal methods of assessments provide feedback on student progress and ensure a rigorous approach to curriculum delivery.

Our school’s system of assessment conforms to the requirements of the ADEK expectations for American Schools, with provisions for mathematics, science, and English language. Assessments align with the UAE national curriculum and the assessment policies of the UAE Ministry of Education for national subjects. Our balanced and comprehensive system of assessment is built upon evidence-based practices, to ensure that the evidence collected highlights if students are making progress in achieving proficiency on targeted skills.

Students will be regularly assessed using varying and authentic assessments to continuously monitor and feedback information to education stakeholders about the progress of learners. Students will self-evaluate and reflect on their learning with teachers and parents to ensure a consistent understanding of progress, attainment and next steps. If a student misses an assessment, they will be required to complete it on their return to school.

We will report on student progress regularly through written reports and home-school conferences. You can ask to meet your child’s teacher(s) at any stage to discuss queries and concerns you may have.

If a student is identified as requiring additional support for a certain subject, for learning across subjects or for behavioral needs, parents will be advised and asked to support proposed strategies to assist the student to engage fully at school. Communication will be clear and transparent. Parents must advise the school at the start of the year (or when the child joins the school) if they are aware of any developmental or academic needs, sharing copies of any reports or assessments that may have been previously carried out.

Your child’s health is important to us. We have a full-time clinic on site where students can go if they are feeling unwell or have been hurt. The clinic will keep full medical records and you will be informed if your child visits. If your child needs to be collected, we will call you. We ask that you make arrangements for collection within 30 minutes of the call.

If your child needs to regularly take medication (short or long term) during school time, you can visit the clinic and complete a form to authorise the clinic to issue the medication. Your child should not have the medication in their bag or be self-medicating.

From time to time, the school clinic will carry out health screenings or other practices as directed by the Abu Dhabi Health Authorities and ADEK. You will be advised of these ahead of time and given relevant information.

The responsibilities of the school include:

• Providing students with appropriate medical care as per the regulations set.

• Promoting and reinforcing awareness about healthy lifestyle habits, including choice of food and practice of exercise.

The responsibilities of the parents include:

• Sharing with the school all information related to their child’s medical condition and history, including medications started before or after enrolment.

• Ensuring that any meals and snacks provided to students adhere to the school’s policies and guidelines in this regard.

We have qualified nurses who play an active part in the life of the school. You will be informed if your child has visited the clinic and will be called if you must collect your child from the clinic. If you are asked to pick up your child, it is because they are unwell and may be putting the health of themselves or others at risk.