SEK International School Qatar

The SEK Qatar swimming team has just finished their participation in the Qatar Foundation Inter-School Invitational 2019 with great results!

Last Friday December 13^th at H2O Swim Club students Riad Harfouche (G10), Syed Hamza Salim (G9), Leonardo Bettoni (G8), Margherita Mino and Omar Salim (G6), Matilde Bettoni and Madison Smith (G5) competed in backstroke, freestyle and butterfly.

Our team conjunctly won 9 podium medals, including one first place medal for Margherita in 100m backstroke, along with other 17 medals that account for their team work and efforts.

A special congratulations and thank you to each swimmer who represented our school against 8 other school teams. We’re proud of you!

Surrounded by traditional music, sweets, flags and artwork from our students depicting iconic Qatari scenes, students, families and staff celebrated the most important day in the country at SEK Qatar.

Pupils from all grades were involved in making today special, and showcased their talents in a heartfelt way to really convey the love we all feel for Qatar as our home. Whether we were born here or live here as part of the expat community, we can all agree that we get excited every 18^th December -ever more so since we have the opportunity to fully enjoy it with our children!

The event gave a little bit of everything you can expect to truly experience a bit of the Qatari culture. Poems, traditional songs and dances that stated “I love you, Qatar!”, a play that helped understand Qatari customs and traditions, the folkloric and admired sword dance performed by PYP boys, and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem with MYP students playing the music and grade 4 students singing it in sign language.

After the show, parents enjoyed the different exhibits from MYP and PYP students. Some of them had fun with face and henna painting, others admired the artwork in the main hall, and we can say almost everybody visited the traditional food stations.

We want to show our appreciation to the teachers that were in charge of putting everything together as part of the QND committee, thank you for your hard work! And of course a big praise to all the students that performed today and got our hearts filled with pride and gratefulness for living in this wonderful country.

Hour of Code  just finished in our school and we couldn’t be more excited about all the things our students, teachers and staff learned about the basics of coding. If you have never tried coding, we promise that through their easy-to-follow exercises you can understand the first steps of building a game, a program, a software or any other digital platform -which comes in really handy when your kids are so immersed in technology. You can visit their website anytime during the year and learn along with your children.

From December 9^th until the 15^th we got to demystify code through Hour of Code activities, which provide a simple, fun and creative introduction to computer science that shows anybody can learn the basics. It is accessible for all ages regardless of previous coding experience, and one of the best parts (aside from the good laughs you get with their activities) is the skills you gain while practicing: problem-solving skills, logic and creativity to mention just a few!

This worldwide event is an initiative created by Stephen Curry and code.org, and takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week, held annually in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper.

We hope children and adults alike get involved in this great learning experience and discover how computer science can enrich life!

With the surprise of looking at a very real human heart up close, our students experienced this week the wonderful world of virtual reality (VR). This was the first time the school implemented this technology, with hopes of extending its use to many different classes -like biology, physics and math.

The students no doubt will take advantage of having access to the VR devices and software, for it has been shown to have many benefits in education. Making contents more fun creates a different kind of interest in the students, thus increasing their engagement and involvement in the class and the topics. It also provides with visualizations that would otherwise be impossible in school -talk about seeing a human heart!

But not only that, VR can be used for teaching social and emotional skills like empathy and self-regulation, as it allows for the creation of different environments -which definitely rings a bell in an international school such as ours, with so many different cultures intertwined in our classrooms.

Using VR also opens the dialogue of interacting with technology from a young age, allowing for discussions like the importance of human connection and real-life experiences, or how to avoid addiction to technological devices, a conversation that is so important not only for younger generations, but for adults as well.

We’re proud to continue growing, and excited to see all the amazing things that we will be able to learn together with this new technology.

With the slogan “UnLearn, ReLearn: What it means to be Human”, the WISE Summit 2019 saw masses pass by Education City last week. From November 19^th to 21^st, adults and children eager to learn focused on why and how individuals, societies and ecosystems can unlearn, learn and relearn to become lifelong-learners in our rapidly changing world.

Our participation in the event began with PYP students performing a cheerleading and gymnastics routine, as well as an upbeat dance show for the Doha Learning Days event that served as introduction to the summit -special thank you to Ms Natalie and Ms Alex for their hard work in preparing them! The girls rehearsed and performed at school before the big day so teachers, staff and many other students got a chance to support them and enjoy their efforts. 

Later on, at WISE Summit, almost seventy SEK Qatar students from grades 7, 8, 11 and 12 engaged actively in sessions and learning labs that offered a wide array of relevant topics to this day and age. Conferences and hands-on experiences that sparked conversations around artificial intelligence, mindfulness, technology, ethics and sustainability, amongst many others, gave our students plenty to reflect on.

We’re excited that all the newly acquired knowledge will pass on from the attending students and teachers to their peers, helping to accomplish the goal of strengthening the curiosity and collaboration skills we try to encourage in our learning community every single day.

Al Faisal Without Borders Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al-Thani, came to SEK Qatar this Wednesday November 20^th to begin with the execution of the program “Farm Your Country”, an initiative dedicated to spreading agriculture and preserving the environment as part of the implementation of Qatar National Vision 2030.

The Foundation cooperates with the Department of Public Farms and the Ministry of Education to reach the goals of educating students on how to cultivate and produce healthy foods, as these actions represent a way to care for the environment -think about buying less, consuming less plastic and overall producing less waste, some of the reasons why we’re excited that students from grades 5 and 8 are taking part in this initiative.

An engineer came to our school and guided the students in how to plant some vegetables and decorative plants. Our students will now need to water the plants and study the process, as the engineer will visit us periodically and students will meet with her to talk about their observations and insights.

The program enhances the cooperation and collaborative skills of students, as they need to work together to do tasks such as mixing soil and periodically caring for the plants, increasing the student’s sense of responsibility towards others and the planet.

Fourteen students from grades 6 and 7 took off to a 5-day field trip to Cyprus this past November 10^th, and we can say they have learned, enjoyed and grown so much from this short yet enriching experience!

The trip focused on exploring the island, visiting its breathtaking coasts and mountains, and on learning about the geological history of Cyprus and its traditions. Along with teachers Riadh and Harang, the boys and girls hiked more than 20 km in total, allowing them to put into practice their navigation skills by using a compass, and planning and following maps and trails for the hikes, which took them through beautiful forests and waterfalls. The stunning island and The Youth Development Agency provided a true education without limits.

Students also had a very meaningful reflection time talking about their emotions and personal growth throughout the trip, highlighting empathy, resilience and their desire to explore.

We feel grateful and proud that all of them are developing into adventurous learners.

Today our Grade 10 students had the opportunity to participate in the Innovation Camp (I-Camp) led by Injaz Qatar, as part of the Doha Learning Days taking place during the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). The half-day program allowed the students to learn about entrepreneurship, collaborative work and identifying business opportunities focused on improving the environment.

From 8am to midday the participants had a motivational experience that culminated in a competition for the best business proposal. The group was divided into 5 teams that competed against each other -games and dynamic activities included. Each team chose an environmental issue and developed a business proposal. After doing a brief presentation about their idea the jury selected the best project, with the winner being a system to reduce food waste.

We’re convinced the I-Camp equipped our students with new entrepreneurial and team building skills.

Over the weekend of 7th-9th November, SEK International School Qatar participated in the 15^th annual DCMUN conference here in Doha. Our students represented the delegation of Morocco and spent many of hours trying to find effective solutions for global work problems. Some of these topics included protecting journalists’ rights to speech and distribution of information, taking measures to prevent an arms race in outer space and overcoming the long-term impacts of the Gulf War in Iraq and Kuwait. Students completed research, openly shared their ideas with others and collaborated with each other to find plausible solutions for current global issues. We are happy to congratulate Najah Al-Resheq on receiving an honorable mention for her efforts in the International Labor Organization Committee and commend all students on their efforts.

SEK Qatar celebrates UN day. Our SPARK club students from grade 7 have initiated this fantastic event that will commemorate and inspire our unique worldwide student community. Our students from grades six to ten in the Middle Years Programme have opened their classroom doors today for other students wishing to learn more about their own cultures. Flamboyant decorations, typical tasty food and engagingly interesting facts and quizzes have kept our students exploring and learning more about their peers’ multicultural backgrounds.

United Nations day was an empowering day that has led our student community to travel across different cultures and countries in a day. The best way to learn is when you have fun. More days like these. This is what education is about. Explore, inquire and learn. We are SEK.