“The ancient Babylonians knew of pi's existence nearly 4,000 years ago. A Babylonian tablet from between 1900 and 1680 B.C. calculates pi as 3.125”.

QLA’s Math Department celebrated its 7^th Annual Pi day on March 14^th with enthusiasm and the full support of school administration and other departments. All teachers and student-participants wore a Pi day t-shirt to get into the spirit of the day. The day started with the human formation of the Pi symbol with the participation of the whole school. The venue of the event was decorated for the occasion displaying artwork done by QLA’s students.

This year, Qatar Leadership Academy, member of Qatar Foundation, welcomed: Nord-Angilla Al-Khor, Qatar Academy – Doha, AKIS (BS), EMS Al-Khor and AKIS (CBSE) to be a part of this event. After the arrival of the guests, students took part in different icebreaker activities, which gave all of them an opportunity to interact and collaborate with students from other schools.

Following that, the Math Jeopardy and Visual Arts competitions took place. The Visual Arts competition comprised of all the teams making posters based on the Pi day theme. The Math Jeopardies ran parallel to the art competition. QLA lifted the trophy of the Art Poster making competition. AKIS (BS) won the grades 7-8 math jeopardy as well as the grades 9-10 math Jeopardy competition. Apple pies were served to all the students, guests and teachers for a tasting, which embodied the connection of math with real life.

The activities designed for Pi day were meant to create a motivating environment for math and generate a curiosity among the students about the letter Pi and Math at large. The Math Department at QLA hopes to continue this celebration in the future with greater interest and more involvement from other schools throughout Qatar.

Science and DT department organized a Beach Cleanup activity trip to Al Khor beach on October 17, 2017. The program was a collaborative effort between Qatar Leadership Academy and Al Khor Municipality. QLA cadets were learning about hazards of plastics and other non-degradable items that are left on the beach, to the aquatic animals. The students wanted to reduce the impact of human activity on our environment, especially on aquatic biome.

A total 26 students from grade 11 and 12 took part in Al Khor beach clean-up activity. The activity began with the lecture of Al Khor municipality officials about the importance of maintaining the beaches clean. They taught the students, how to use various cleaning tools for effective cleaning of wider beach areas.  

في أجواء تعاونية نشطة، نظم قسم العلوم في أكاديمية قطر للقادة، حملته السنوية لتنظيف شاطئ الفركية في مدينة الخور بمشاركة طلاب الأكاديمية وعدد من موظفيها ، وذلك في إطار الجهود المتواصلة لنشر التوعية المجتمعية بأهمية البيئة البحرية المحلية والحفاظ عليها، لمساعدة المتنزهين على الشواطئ على الاستجمام في بيئة نظيفة وصحية.

وانطلقت الحملة بمشاركة عدد من الإداريين في بلدية الخور والذخيرة ، حيث أشرفت إدارة الشواطئ العامة في البلدية  على توزيع القفازات والقمصان وأكياس القمامة والمكانس، كما تضمنت حملة تنظيف شاطئ الفركية مجموعة من الفعاليات منها قيام السيد محمد المسند ممثل بلدية الخور والذخيرة بتقديم  عرض تقديمي مميز حول المهام والأدوار التي تقوم بها إدارة الشواطئ العامة والبلدية لحماية البيئة البحرية وتحدث أيضا حول أهمية إعادة التدوير المخلفات، وإشار  إن نجاح مثل هذه الحملات ، واستقطابها لعدد كبير من المشاركين فيها، يعكس التزام المؤسسات التعليمية ومنها أكاديمية قطر للقادة  ببيئتهم البحرية، لا سيما إن هدف هذه حملة التنظيف هذه هو التذكير بأهمية الوعي لدى أفراد المجتمع، بمخاطر التلوث على البيئة البحرية وعلى الكائنات البحرية، وبالتالي على المجتمع ككل.

Thank you so much for the overwhelming support given by you for the QLA green house during the last academic year. The second phase of green house is already in full swing with great additions and modifications. We have automatic sprinkler installed on the roof, which will deliver water to the plants in controlled volume at specified times. In addition to that, we have changed our planting techniques. Instead of using pots on table tops, we will plant the vegetables directly in the ground. Also, we intend to experiment with “Hydroponics” this year.

Students started working in the green house on 28^th of August. Grade -7 science project is already in progress. This project intends to figure out the best plants and vegetables that can be grown in Qatari green houses. They also plan to study ways to improve the quantity of vegetables produced in the green house.

We have two green houses. The following is the list of vegetables that are planted in the greenhouse this year.

This green house project is very important for Science & DT Department, as we get to use it as an outdoor laboratory for controlled experiments. With the help of green house, we can manipulate the environment in which plants are growing. Level of light/ shade, type of irrigation, type of fertilizer, temperature, humidity etc. are some of the factors that can be controlled or investigated.

Some of the hypotheses that our students intend to test this year include,

1.            The yield of vegetables from plants grown inside the green house is 6- 10 times higher than that are produced by outside cultivation.

2.            The green house will prevent the attack of pests and insects by 30% compared to the outdoor cultivation

3.            Students will also compare the plant growth in terms of organic fertilizers Vs. chemical fertilizers. Hydroponics is another area that we want to investigate and promote. We will use organic farming techniques. A tissue culture lab is in pipeline too. Students and teachers are hoping to prepare and use organic insecticides and pesticides.

I hope that, we can continue to provide our students with opportunities and exposure in agriculture which will help in nation building.

Mr. Sunny Joseph

Lead Teacher, Science & Design Technology