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Sharjah reveals plans to build four new ‘future schools’ that focus on outdoor learning and mindfulness
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Sharjah reveals plans to build four new ‘future schools’ that focus on outdoor learning and mindfulness

by Tabitha BardaJune 1, 2022

The Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) has announced it has partnered with Arada, Sharjah’s largest housing developer, to collaborate on designing a series of future schools in the emirate.

Their aim is to build world-class schools that reach the highest contemporary and sustainable design standards. The Arada architectural teams say they are planning to “incorporate experiential and expansive spaces that are served by both natural and artificial light within each future school, to enhance mindfulness and support the acquisition of knowledge”.

There will also be a focus on nature, unstructured play spaces, and creating something of a forest school environment:

“Outdoor learning spaces will serve as extensions of the classroom, providing pupils with the opportunity to observe and interact with nature. Open areas in circulatory spaces as well as the provision of large, multi-purpose open areas will encourage exploration and flexible play as children interact among various age groups at school and broaden their social skills.”

Sharjah school growth

The first collaboration between SPEA and Arada took place last September with the launch of the first school at Aljada, Sharjah’s largest master community. SABIS International School – Aljada (SIS-Aljada) offers education to students from Kindergarten to Grade 3 and will have an eventual capacity of 4,000 pupils when the second and final phase of the school opens in August 2022.

Following the opening of SIS-Aljada, Arada’s immediate plans involve opening four more schools: two further international schools at Aljada, as well as one international school at each of its two other Sharjah communities, Masaar and Nasma Residences.

Joining forces for good

The Memorandum of Understanding for the partnership between SPEA and Arada was signed this week between Dr. Muhadditha Al Hashimi, Chairperson of SPEA, and Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, Vice Chairman of Arada. The agreement will also see the launch of joint training programmes, as well as joint initiatives and events designed to promote the educational sector in Sharjah.

On the signing of the MoU, Dr. Muhadditha said:

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“We are pleased to partner with Arada towards achieving our shared goals for imparting quality education to serve the public interests of Sharjah. We look forward to building schools that are in line with Sharjah’s ambitious and far-reaching education goals to become an attractive environment for students and teachers and enhance the wellbeing of the education society.”

Prince Khaled commented:

“Delivering communities with access to high-quality schooling is a priority for Arada, and is in line with Sharjah’s wider commitment towards education as a whole. We are therefore pleased to be able to use our in-house architectural expertise to collaborate with SPEA to design progressive and sustainable academic spaces that will help shape Sharjah’s future generations.”

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About The Author
Tabitha Barda
Tabitha Barda is the Senior Editor of SchoolsCompared.com. Oxbridge educated and an award winning journalist in the UAE for more than a decade, Tabitha is one of the region's shining lights in all that is education in the emirates. A mum herself, she is passionate about helping parents - and finding the stories in education that deserve telling. She is responsible for the busy 24x7 News Desk, our Advisory Boards and Specialist Panels - and Parents United's WHICHPlaydates - a regular meeting place for UAE parents to discuss the issues that matter to them, make friends and network with others. You can often find Tabitha too on Parents United - our Facebook community board, discussing the latest schools and education issues with our parent community in the UAE - and beyond.

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