Secondary School

Working together, children learn to solve problems and make decisions thereby successfully contributing to their community. They connect local concerns with global issues and gain an awareness of others. All this will serve them now and years later as they transition out of school and into the adult world.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Mahatma Gandhi

Community and Service

The Community & Service (C & S) programme is designed around the following model, in which the student is central, and is able to positively influence his/her school, local, and global communities.

At DIAB, students will be given the opportunity to impact at least one level of community through activities and tasks that are authentically embedded within all subject areas of the MYP. Students will also be given opportunities to get involved in the three levels of community through the Community Project in Grade 9.

Action (learning by doing and experiencing) and Service have always been shared values of the IB community. Students take action when they apply what they are learning in the classroom to solve real-world problems. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a commitment to service—making a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. Service as action is an integral part of the MYP, but especially so through the MYP Community Project.

The aim of C&S is to empower students to participate in service within the community, thus preparing them to become productive global citizens.

Creativity Activity Service (CAS) from 2020

CAS stands for creativity, activity, service. All IB students must complete a CAS programme which can be documented as early as the first day of Grade 11 and continues throughout the Grade 12. A students involvement in the CAS programme is expected last a minimum of 18 months. The CAS programme includes documented evidence of participating in various experiences and at least one CAS project (minimum of one month’s duration) with a reasonable balance between creativity, activity, and service.

The component's three strands, often interwoven with particular activities, are characterized as follows:

Creativity

Includes the arts other experiences that involve creative thinking. It involves exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretive product or performance

Activity

Involves physical exertion that contributes to a healthy lifestyle and usually complements academic work elsewhere in the DP.

Service

collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need. It is an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected.

CAS encourages students to be involved in activities as individuals and as part of a team that take place in local, national and international contexts.

Creativity, activity, service enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development as well as their social and civic development, through experiential learning, lending an important counterbalance to the academic pressures of the rest of the IB Diploma Programme. It should be both challenging and enjoyable - a personal journey of self-discovery that recognizes each student's individual starting point.

CAS involves: 

• Real, purposeful activities, which meet one or more of the learning outcomes.
• Personal challenge --- tasks must extend the student and be achievable in scope.
• Students using the CAS stages (investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration) to guide CAS experiences and projects.
• Thoughtful consideration, such as planning, reviewing progress, reporting (done on ManageBac).
• Evidence and reflection on outcomes and personal learning.

Students in the Secondary School have several opportunities to develop leadership skills. The Student Council and the House System offer multi-faceted roles and events for students to inculcate not just leadership qualities but also team work skills.

Student Council

The purpose of the Student Council at DIAB is to develop student leadership, student voice, service and engagement. The council comprises a number of different committees. These include:

Service Learning, Sustainability, Sports, School environment, Peer support, Arts and Public Relations

The council's structure is an Executive Committee of four persons: Chairperson, Vice-chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. The Executive Committee is supported by two representatives from each Grade who together form the wider Council.

The Student Council meets together weekly. Committee representatives also attend focused meetings with parents and staff on a regular basis.

The Sports Department strives to have its athletes reach their full potential in all areas of the sports experience academically, socially, and thorough the competitions. Athletes are held to the sports code of conduct and also to academic requirements.

As your child becomes involved in the sports program at DIA, they will experience some of the most rewarding moments in their life.

Student athletes are striving to succeed in two demanding areas simultaneously- academics and sports. Student athletes have the responsibility of developing and working toward an educational goal as well as training in their sport. The Sports Department encourages and assists student athletes in maintaining academic eligibility so they can continue to participate in sports.

Sports Activities, Teams and League Information

In keeping with our philosophy of making our students ambassadors of the community, at Dubai International Academy, Al Barsha we encourage ideas that make a difference to our everyday lives. We have student-led Clubs which have a mission defined by the student committee of the Club and all activities are conceived and executed by the students under the guidance of a member of staff.