Dragon’s Den start-up new product development and funding integral to the curriculum…
Students at Citizens School in Dubai will be encouraged to develop unique business ideas, design innovative products – and even pitch for start-up funding, in its new Dragon’s Den style entrepreneurship initiative.
Teaming up with global education platform 8billionideas, students will get to work on an invention every week, have access to an entrepreneurial mentor and experience lessons dedicated to new product development. Vitally, students at Citizens School Dubai will then be given access to a dedicated Citizens Ventures funding programme, with the aim that those ideas with commercial viability have the necessary funding already in place to secure IP and see them transformed into market-ready physical products.
It’s all part of the new K-12 school’s commitment to inculcating the kinds of values and skills that will prepare its children for a future in which “they will have jobs that haven’t even been invented yet.”
Dr Adil Alzarooni, Founder of Citizens School Dubai, explains:
“With recent statistics showing that around 40% of nursery school children today will need to be self-employed to have any form of income in adult life, we need to re-imagine learning to meet 21st-century needs.”
“At Citizens our aim is to identify potential, stimulate passion, nurture talent and celebrate bravery to incubate the producers, performers, competitors, creators, innovators and thinkers of tomorrow.”
“As one of the positive global disruptors in the education sector, 8billionideas is set on a mission to give every student on the planet the skills and belief to change the world. Leading cutting-edge innovation across education, their goals are very much aligned with our belief in learning as a lifelong process and preparing students for jobs that haven’t been created yet.”
Nurturing business talent as part of a bespoke curriculum
Entrepreneurialism is one of the key strands of ‘Citizens Tapestry’ – the school’s bespoke education system consisting of six fundamental threads that are woven over and through the framework of the UK National Curriculum. As well as Entrepreneurship, the other values that the Citizens Tapestry cover are: Mindset; Health & Wellbeing; Sustainable Leadership; Global Citizenship; and Digital Literacy. The Tapestry has been influenced by some of the world’s leading researchers on education, motivation and mindsets, as well as cognitive scientists including Dr Carol Dweck, Matthew Syed and John Hattie, Guy Claxton, and Graham Powell. The curriculum has been developed in partnership with the leading UK-based British Schools Group Chatsworth Schools.
David Harkin, CEO, 8billionideas told SchoolsCompared.com:
“Our mission is to give every student on the planet the skills and belief to change the world.
We are so excited to be working with Citizens School to help bring to life the vision of the entrepreneurship strand of the Tapestry.”
“We are big believers that the focus for children should be learning about real entrepreneurship, and they must be able to have confidence in articulating and developing their ideas.”
The joint collaboration will allow children to unlock their entrepreneurial spirit from the moment they enter the school. They will have the flexibility and room to be creative, building confidence and knowledge over time, so that as a Citizens student, they feel confident in changing the world in whatever way they wish in the future.”
Major partners coming on stream to hub the Citizens School curriculum…
Citizens will open in August 2022 in the City Walk area of Dubai and has started taking admissions. The school is non-selective and inclusive. The learning experience for students at Citizens School Dubai is built around each child’s unique requirements, “empowering them with choices to explore themes, expand interests and determine the routes that they want to go on to reach their full potential.”
Further partners are set to be announced to hub four further 4 themes of Citizens Tapestry: Health & Wellbeing; Sustainability; Global Citizenship; and Digital Literacy
Underlining its commitment to preparing children and supporting the digital economy, Citizens School has also confirmed that it is set to be the first school in the emirates to launch with cryptocurrency as an accepted payment option.
Read more about 8billionideas here.
Read more on the opening of Citizens School Dubai in August 2022.
Read more about Chatsworth Schools in the UK here.
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