Saudi Arabian International School - Bedouin Yearbook (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

Page 29 text:

TOP: BELL CANADA GIRLS roke odvonroge of bui rime by tolklng wlrh friend . practicing muiicoT Injrrumentj or dolr 9 homework Student hove to woke up oround 6 o.m. ro ger ro school on rime Above: CHERlDA SNOOK. AVA ClAMPINI AND JENNY CONNER d-scuss sixth groders becoming port of rhe Junior high. The junior high reoched on enrollment of 800 + wlth rhe new grode level. $= CAMILLA LOFSTLAN0. ANIKA HOGEL AND ANIKA KNUTSON ger reocquolnted on rhe first doy of school School storred much eortler this yeor due to on eorty Hodj breok. Summer wosn’r officiolly over until September 23. bur you couldn't tell rhor ro over 2.000 kids reporting ro school on August 31. Regardless of 100° F temperatures, summer clothes and the beckoning pools, when the olorm went off it wos goodbye summer ond hello SAIS. Mony students were just getting bock from long vocations of traveling ond home visits which mode them slightly reluctant ro ger bock on the school bus. Others were anxious to see their old friends, meet new people ond take on rhe challenge of o new grode level. As is the cose every school yeor. students found mony things different from how they hod left them In the spring: things thor would effect their academic ond social lives. The most obvious difference wos the “new oircondifioned gymnasium, no longer to be colled rhe covered oreo. It wos o welcome relief for the P.E. classes, not ro mention rhe P.E. staff who conducted dosses our in the sun. Next to the gym on entire new bus docking oreo hod been laid making it easier ond safer for children ro load ond unload. Other physical chonges Included badly needed music and storage rooms os well os redesigned offices. One of the biggest surprises this yeor wos the changing of the school name from Riyadh Inrernorionol Community School to Saudi Arobion International School Riyadh. For most it wos hord to get used ro or first. RICS wos eosy to soy ond it wos unique to rhe kingdom. Students found thor they would also hove to ger used ro alterations in their academic lives. Where students hod ortended six classes per doy on o rotating schedule, they would now hove to go to seven on o non rotating basis, although Individual class time wos reduced ro 45 minutes. Grode percentages were upped requiring 93% for on A. 83% for o D etc. Although some chonges were more popular than others, students soon adopted ond began wondering “What chonges will the future bring?”. 25

Page 28 text:

ft THIRD GRADERS line up outside building D ofter o long hot recess period Teoch.ers Ike this new system moking it eosy to find their dosses 24

Page 30 text:

Whor hoppens when over 18 new sroff members con'r moke ir to school on opening doy? This wos certoinly o memoroble porr of rhe students’ yeor. Due ro documenrorion problems mony dosses srorred with substitute reochers. And it wosn’r until mid October thor rhe new foculty members wolked into their dosses for the first time. Decouse of hord work on the porr of the substitute teochers ond students, those first six weeks progressed os usuol ond o smooth transition took ploce. New sroff weren’t the only ones ro orrive lore. Mony students enrolled two or three weeks into the school yeor os vocorions extended into lore September. It is the norure of SAIS-R to hove mony students coming ond going throughout the course of the yeor, olrhough historically rorol enrollment gradually increoses until lore April or early Moy. ERIC SHOEMAKER. SON of Don ond Gkxto. gets used ro life on the SAIS reochers compound os his dod flnolly gers stoned on organizing his office os Elementary Vice Prindpol. New reochers from oil over the Kingdom hod rhe some difficulty of tote orrlvols.