As part of the build up the World Cup the Museum of Islamic Art have organised a Guinness World Record Attempt for the Most Languages in a reading relay of the book Le Petit Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. The event is taking place on the 12th of October 2022.

This book has been translated into many languages around the world and on the evening each reader will read a section in their language.

More than 150 people will be involved in breaking the record and we are lucky to have two members of the SEK-Qatar community involved as a reader and judge of the Irish language. Bernadette Coyne will be reading in Irish and Lorraine Kenny will be judging in Irish.

We are so proud of both Bernadette and Lorraine, we wish them lots of luck in breaking the record! We have even learnt some Irish ourselves, Go n’eirí an t-adh leat!

The event will be recorded for Qatar TV and filmed at the Museum of Islamic Art.

Follow them on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/let_the_world_read/

You can watch on the Facebook Live link below tonight (12.10.2022) at 19:30pm Qatar time- 17:30pm Irish time https://bit.ly/3Ey4Uza

We are really proud of being awarded this recognition for the 5th time in a row. Requirements for the award continue to remain very strict, hence only eight other schools in Qatar have been recognized as Microsoft Showcase Schools.

This has been only possible thanks to the great work of our staff and their constant efforts exploring new ways of innovating in their teaching in order to improve the learning experiences of our students. This year, we are proud of our 17 MIE Experts (Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert) among our staff.

We are part of an exclusive global network of schools and educators who support the culture of learning, innovation and continuous improvement. The community offers space to connect and share ideas as school life is moving towards a new era of digitalization.

As Microsoft likes to put it:

• Microsoft Showcase School program represents a global community of K-12 schools that harness digital transformation to create immersive and inclusive experiences that inspire lifelong learning and empower students to achieve more.

• “Showcase Schools create student-centered, immersive, and inclusive experiences that inspire lifelong learning, stimulating development of essential future-ready skills so students are empowered to achieve more.”

At SEK-Qatar, we live and breath this quote daily. We are committed to school-wide digital transformation to improve learning outcomes of our students and focus on future-ready skills.

From Grade 4, every student has their own laptop, as the device is being used in almost every single class. It is not only a single subject once or twice a week, It is the foundation for our every day teaching and learning. Leaders and educators in Showcase Schools thoughtfully consider the role of technology as they explore new ways to redesign learning spaces, restructure curriculum, reinvent pedagogy and reimagine what 21st Century leading and learning looks like across diverse contexts.

This year, we are becoming a 1:1 device school from Grade 1 to Grade 12. We are adding a dedicated device for each student in the classroom from grade 1 to grade 3. This will maximize the opportunities our students have to use the devices when needed because they will have a designated device for each of them with a personal profile. With the addition of digital ink (each device has a stylus) students will keep practicing their handwriting on their OneNotes (digital notebooks).

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we have become even more alert to inquire and learn about the digital potential in our school. Thanks to various Microsoft applications, remote learning has been made smooth, accessible and fun. This has increased our appreciation of the critical work educators and school leaders do to help every student achieve more.

As we start this academic year, we are excited to share our experiences with our community to finding innovative ways to equip our students with the tools needed for success inside and outside of the classroom.