The Day the Stars Came to Town – Top Schools, Teachers and Educationalists Celebrated at UAE’s Education Oscars in Dubai. Full Story in Words and Photos.

The Stars and Shining Lights of Education in the United Arab Emirates

A very big thank you, and huge congratulations, to all of the many schools and educators who attended this year’s Top Schools Awards to celebrate the quite extraordinary achievements by so many inspirational individuals who have played such a defining and inspirational role in the education of a generation of children.

There were so many highlights, but for us, the greatest joy was to see the way educationalists drawn from across the region celebrated each other. This was a very special morning in the history of education in the UAE in which so many exceptional individuals came together to celebrate collective and individual achievement.

We were hugely proud to be there with each of the extraordinary educationalists recognised at the Top Schools Awards – and to celebrate with them.

The British School Al Khubairat – Best British School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best British School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Mark Leppard MBE, Headmaster, The British School Al Khubairat, the ADEK Outstanding ‘Ivy League’ not-for-profit in Abu Dhabi.

You can learn more about the ADEK Outstanding British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi here: https://www.britishschool.sch.ae

Our Judges said:

“At The British School Al Khubairat innovation is everywhere. You even find studios in corridors where children paint, invent, create – there is nowhere where activity and the bustle of learning is not alive and bursting at the seams with creativity, invention and freedom of expression.

“The new Science and Innovation Centre fires the engines even further.

“But, above all, this is a deeply, deeply humane school, one driven by its belief in young people, all young people, and the potential of learning as a force for good. Girls are celebrated here as all children are. Those forgotten in other schools are the centre of the universe. The compassion of never walking by on the other side is an embedded way of life.

“The result is a richness of education, and educational opportunity, that creates students that will grow to be the adults you would value as friends. Here you find students, and educators, with hearts and minds that see the bigger picture, a deeply human and inclusive one – and then make it real.”

Read our Judges’ views in full: https://schoolscompared.com/news/top-schools-awards-news/the-best-british-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

GEMS Dubai American Academy – Best American School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best American Curriculum School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Ethan Hildreth, Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer, GEMS Dubai American Academy, and Mrs Tammy Jochinke, Head of Teaching, Learning, & Innovation, GEMS Dubai American Academy.

Learn more about GEMS Dubai American Academy here: https://www.gemsaa-dubai.com

Our judges said:

“In 2023, finally, this centrifugally important school for GEMS Education school has found, in Dr Ethan Hildreth, a Superintendent and CEO to match, and exceed, all the love, investment, and potential, of this extraordinary school. Over more than two hours, we deconstructed every part of the school through his eyes.

“This is a school that defines the pinnacle of investment in almost every aspect of curricular provision. From sporting facilities to Performing Arts infrastructure, from Television and Radio production facilities to provision for Music, from technology investment to a robotics facility that is the envy of much industry, from ceramics and sculpture to fashion, this school has everything.

This remains, after all, the single most expensive school ever built in the UAE. What Dr Hildreth has brought to the table is the substance to make all this work together and the emotional intelligence, academic brilliance, compassion and vision to turn bells and whistles into meaningful centrifugal parts of each child’s education. His impact on teaching faculty and students, which we witnessed first-hand, is quite extraordinary. Today this is a school that is firing on all cylinders – which in this case is quite a few more than most schools have in their toolbox.”

Read our Judges’ views in full: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-american-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills – Best International Baccalaureate School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best International Baccalaureate School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Hitesh Bhagat, Principal, Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills.

Our Judges wrote:

“The wider impact of Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills extraordinary investment in children and young people is the understanding here that creativity and innovation, the absolute core of what the IB is seeking to achieve, depend on children having the freedom, confidence, security and happiness to think and construct the world without needing to worry about anything. Care for children runs very deep. The longest established IB continuum school in the Emirates then builds on this with a whole child programme so big you simply run out of space to count the number of opportunities available to each child.

“This is a school that believes in the IB without qualification in its ambitions to give every child the ability to be so much more than the sum of academic results. DIA students are risk takers, explorers and innovators, just as they are caring, principled and outward-looking. Here the focus is on a world bigger than the sum of its parts and one much bigger than the solitary child. A community has been created here, one brimming with, inclusion, child happiness and achievement – both academic and whole child. It’s something to behold.”

Read our Judges’ views in full: https://schoolscompared.com/guides/best-international-baccalaureate-schools/the-best-international-baccalaureate-curriculum-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

GEMS Our Own English High School – Best Indian Curriculum School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Indian Curriculum School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Thomas Matthews, Executive Principal, GEMS Our Own English High School Dubai.

Our Judges wrote:

“GEMS Our Own English High School really, really matters to GEMS – and what you see here is an absolute commitment to the wellbeing and happiness of children with whatever investment is required on tap to deliver that, whenever it is needed. The school has a humanities stream that sets a benchmark for what all Indian schools should be doing for their children, and creates a vibrancy, excitement and passion for learning that you do not find anywhere else, however good the school.

GEMS Our Own English High School is a potent, deeply moving mix of history, investment, scale, commitment, conviction educationalists, inspired school leadership, the support of GEMS to the nth, a curriculum that stretches with compassion, and a profound commitment to inclusion…. the combination leads to a profoundly beautiful, distinctive and important school for the Emirates. Look beyond the fees to what is achieved here and you cannot but be so much more than impressed.”

Read our Judges’ views in full: https://schoolscompared.com/events/the-best-indian-curriculum-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

You can learn more about GEMS Our Own English High School Dubai here: https://www.gemsoo-dubai.com

King’s Interhigh – Best Online School and Home Learning Community in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Online School and Home Learning Community in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Tahoora Khalil Urehman, Head of King’s InterHigh Middle East.

Learn more about King’s Interhigh Middle East: https://kingsinterhigh.co.uk/online-british-school/united-arab-emirates/

Our Judges’ said:

“King’s Interhigh is the fastest growing online school in the region, has the best digital learning platform in our tests, is focused on delivering core subjects well in a way that supports each student individually (the nearest competition was more scattergun) – and feedback is uniformly positive in our surveys (this was the only school operating in the region that had no negative feedback in any of our surveys).

[…]

“Parents choose outstanding online schools because they are right for their child(ren), deliver a world-class education for the right child – and on that basis we should be supporting them. King’s Interhigh meets the very highest standards of education, has hugely warm feedback from its Home Learning Community in the UAE – and is here for the distance. For many families today, and many more to come, King’s Interhigh is the perfect school and a lifeline to a future brimming with every possible opportunity.”

Read more from our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-online-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Jumeirah English Speaking School Arabian Ranches – The Best International Baccalaureate School with a Blended Curriculum in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Blended International Baccalaureate Curriculum School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to

Learn more about Jumeirah English Speaking School Arabian Ranches: https://www.jess.sch.ae/about-jess

Our Judges said:

“JESS is a phenomenon. It is very difficult to find a critique of this school that is not trivial or will stick. Some may say it is a lazy recommendation simply because it is widely recognised that the quality of the International Baccalaureate, technical stream and whole child education here is class leading, but we should not discount schools simply because they are benchmarks for what an outstanding education should look like and deliver for its children.

“Students are confident, never arrogant; teaching faculty are uber qualified, but also conviction educationalists that demonstrate commitment to leaving no child behind and creating unforgettable lessons that are always inspiring; lessons are fascinating and innovative across the curricular (teachers are empowered here and thrive] – there is no following a script; the environment is beautiful, maintained to the highest standard and conducive to both innovation and learning – and the culture of leaving no child behind stretches from structural provision of extended subject option and qualification pathways to the substance of a school culture that recognises the underdog as much as it does the more obvious talent. Last, but not least, students here are very, very proud of their school. They would choose no other.

“In our view JESS Arabian Ranches is the benchmark school in the blended IB sector. Jumeirah English Speaking School Arabian Ranches is a school intrinsically important to UAE Education, is beyond-outstanding across-the-board, is inspirationally and strategically led by a group of arguably the most committed conviction educationalists in the Emirates, and defines in so many ways the future of education. It simply could not be more highly recommended.”

Lear more about our Judges’ views on JESS: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-blended-international-baccalaureate-curriculum-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

GEMS Jumeirah Primary School – The Best Primary School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Primary School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mrs Rachel Higgins, Principal and Chief Executive Officer, GEMS Jumeirah Primary School

Learn more about GEMS Jumeirah Primary School: https://www.jumeirahprimaryschool.com

Our Judges said:

“This is GEMS Education’s flagship British Primary – and it really shows. Established in 1996 with just 30 students, this was GEMS’ first UK curriculum school.  More than a quarter of a century later, little wonder that when you ask parents for the best Primary Schools in Dubai, you wont find a list without JPS.

“It’s not about the accolades which come thick and fast, including BSO (across-the-board) and KHDA “Outstanding School” status. Nor is it about the history, or the buildings. In this school it is about, instead, that rarest of all combination of outstanding leadership, outstanding teachers, phenomenal structures of learning and looking after each child, an absolutely beautiful inclusiveness with very mighty engines to respond, GEMS investment – and the impact of adoring parents and students.

“Year, after year, after year, these blend to create nothing less than absolute perfection. If you were to try and design the perfect Primary, this would be it. Longstanding School Principal Rachel Higgins is of a calibre that she could lead any school, anywhere in the world, and achieve the extraordinary for children.”

Read the full report of the Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-primary-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Home Grown Children’s Eco Nursery – The Best Early Childhood Centre and Nursery School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Early Childhood Teacher and Nursery School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Ailsa Gordon, Head of Nursery and Director of Quality and Assurance, Home Grown Children’s Eco Nursery Dubai – Al Safa Branch.

You can learn more about Home Grown Children’s Eco Nursery here: http://www.homegrownnursery.ae

Our Judges said:

“Home Grown Children’s Eco Nursery Al Safa offers a stellar and grounded education for younger children, scaffolds every possible linkage needed for graduation to “big school”, protects all the innocence of childhood – and is a quite exceptionally happy place for children. Well-being is best in class (Source: EDSTATICA^TM]

“This is an Early Childhood Centre that we know exceptionally well, with one of our team having direct experience of its provision over many years. Our depth of understanding here is significant. The nursery school is unique in the UAE in its approach, curriculum, investment and leadership. The result might well be described as what Utopia looks like if you were designing a nursery based on the well-being of children. The attainment and progress that every child makes here is built on that foundation, and follows from it, in that order. CSR, and the teaching of altruism here, is both inspiring and moving.

“A to Z the most high achieving nursery school of 2023 – 2024, absolutely beautiful in every possible way, extraordinarily insightful in its curriculum, and a treasure trove of adventures for our youngest children, Home Grown Children’s Eco Nursery is very, very powerful reminder of just how important, and valuable, Early Years education is for our children.”

Read the full report of Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/events/the-best-early-childhood-centre-and-nursery-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Brighton College Dubai – Best New School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best New School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to xxxx, Brighton College Dubai.

Learn more about Brighton College Dubai here: https://www.brightoncollegedubai.ae

Our Judges said:

“Putting aside all the benefits of alumni and brand, in its own right the education at Brighton College Dubai is formidable, driven by arguably the most three important pillars you can imagine to aspire to for our children: confidence, kindness and curiosity. Those three drivers of learning, through which a Brighton education is delivered and structured, build humanity, engagement, a love of learning and a powerful sense of responsibility in every Brighton child that they can change the world for the better – and must do so.

The end result is a land of opportunity for children, one filled to the rafters with ambition, compassion, humanity and hope, and one with every single ounce of academic achievement that parents could wish for their children.”

Read the full report of Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-new-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

The British School Al Khubairat – Best School for Sport in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Sport in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Mark Leppard MBE, Headmaster, The British School Al Khubairat.

Learn more about The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi here: https://www.britishschool.sch.ae

Our Judges said:

“Sport, in the way it is physically structured at The British School Al Khubairat, becomes significantly less “scary” a prospect for those whose first inclination might well be to seek out a chess board or a reading book.

“The bigger picture still is the inclusiveness of this beautiful school – and the many ways that it ensures that every child finds their mojo – and sees it celebrated to the nth.

“Sport leadership is inspirational. It comes from the Head ultimately – Mark Leppard adores Sport and his enthusiasm is infectious. But it is professionalised here in one of finest Sports leaders in the Emirates in the shape of Johnny Coombs, NPQSL, Director of Sport, who is also Chairman of the BSME Sports Collective. We love the way the school has stepped in to provide leadership opportunities for him to develop in such a way as not to take him away from his extraordinary impact on the lives of children – and his galvanising of staff to bring the absolute best out of them.

“Those gifted in Sports are humanised as precisely human, three dimensional, approachable, and warm. Children at BSAK are never seen as simply machines to deliver goals or points on a table. It is quite lovely, and so very telling, that despite the countless accolades of this giant of a school for those gifted in Sport, there is always time and affirmation of those who are less gifted. This is a joined up school. Those gifted in Sport are never Other, and nor do they Other those less gifted than themselves.

“The British School Al Khubairat deserves all the many accolades it receives on the field, and in the pool, and on the courses. But also deserves this Award for the bigger picture of BSAK being a school that makes Sport much more than the sum of its parts, and its understanding that Sport is about helping all our young men and women becomes the very best that they can be. Even the Sporting Duffers amongst us. It sets an example, and we think, a very fine one for all of us, young and old.”

Read the full views of our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-sport-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Nord Anglia International School Dubai – Best School for Music in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Music in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mrs Amira Fouad, Head of Instrumental Music and Director of the Nord Anglia International School Dubai Music Academy and Joy Stibbs, Head of Music, Nord Anglia International School Dubai.

Our Judges said of Music at Nord Anglia International School Dubai:

“Nord Anglia International School Dubai was founded, ground-up, on its ambitions to craft the world’s most outstanding education in Music for its students – and it shows. The backing does not come more impressive. From the deep Performing Arts Programme partnership with world-renowned Juilliard, to the The NAS Music Academy, and from The National Youth Orchestra to being the Exclusive Education partner of Dubai Opera, Music is absolutely centre stage at this KHDA Outstanding School.”

Read the full view of our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-music-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

The British School Al Khubairat – The Best school for Fine Art and Creative Studio Work in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Fine Art and Creative Studio Work in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Dan Emery MA, Head of the Department of Art, The British school Al Khubairat.

Our Judges said:

“Every year we are absolutely blown away by the achievement of students in Fine Art, and the huge breadth of related creative disciplines, at The British School Al Khubairat. What is achieved by the Department of Art at The British School of Al Khubairat is moving in its impact across the spectrum of human emotions, deeply impressive in its technical delivery across every age group, passionately celebrated across every aspect of the life of the school and pioneering in its innovation, breadth of endeavour and the exceptional way that students in Art are celebrated nationally – and globally.

A visit to the British School Al Khubairat is an extraordinary experience for so many reasons, but not least in that this is a school in which Art is not confined within the walls of studios, or a classroom, but distributed across the campus in an overwhelming celebration of the best of humanity and the whole child. The British School Al Khubairat is a giant Art Campus in which the boundaries of Art, and its related disciplines, twist and turn and flow and permeate across every discipline, every aspect of the learning journeys of its remarkable students.

You have to begin the story with it hugely dynamic, beyond-passionate evangelist for Art Dan Emery, a Head of Department whose work ethic is like a giant rocket engine in its impetus to inspire an appreciation of the intrinsic creativity of young people and the capacity of Art to transform our world for good, understand it meaningfully, and become who we are in the most broadest sense. He is an absolute whirlwind of inspiration and deep commitment to his discipline. Mr Emery is not an individual to hold back – this is a Teacher and Leader in Art on a mission.

The most extraordinary initiative of the school in Art is its Open Studio project. It is hard to describe the power of this. Essentially The British School Al Khubairat has become a giant workshop and studio. There are studios everywhere as far as the eye can see as you enter the school – the place is alive with talent, and passion and some of the most beautiful Art in all its aspects we have seen in any school in the Emirates. And to watch young artists in residence, whose talent belies their years, drawing and painting and sculpting before your eyes is… a privilege you do not forget. The courage, ambition and innovation of this school to do this is in another league.”

Read the full story of how are Judges were blown away by achievements in Fine Art and its related disciplines at The British School Al Khubairat: https://schoolscompared.com/events/top-schools-awards-events/the-best-school-for-fine-art-and-creative-studio-work-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Learn about the Department of Art at The British School Al Khubairat here: https://www.britishschool.sch.ae/life-at-bsak/art

Dubai British School Jumeirah Park – The Best School foe The Performing Arts in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for The Performing Arts in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Dubai British School Jumeirah Park

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Theatre, Dance and The Performing Arts in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Miss Ruth Sanders, Head of Performing Arts, Dubai British School Jumeirah Park and Mrs Rebecca Coulter, Principal, Dubai British School Jumeirah Park.

Our Judges said:

“Dubai British School Jumeirah Park has become the powerhouse school for The Performing Arts in the Emirates, with investment in its students at every stage of the curriculum beyond-outstanding. In our view, for parents seeking a Tier 1 Premium, world-class Performing Arts education for the children Dubai British School Jumeirah Park has earned its place right at the top of the tree.

“The curriculum culminates in the BTEC Level 3 in Performing Arts qualification, in this case geared to powerfully open up specialist school, university and industry opportunities for every student, with each student equipped in graduation with a passport “written in the stars” and, on results achieved to dates, the qualifications to ensure they are competitive with the best graduating students in Performing Arts, including Dance and Theatre (A Level), anywhere in the world.

“Beyond this, Jumeirah British Jumeirah Park offers far and away the most exciting, beautifully conceived, in-depth, stretching – but hugely fun Performing Arts BTEC designed delivery we have seen in the Emirates to date.

“Students invest arguably two of the most important years of their lives in a ground-breaking, hugely demanding, richly rewarding thrill-ride of a learning experience that builds not only accomplished artists in their field, but beautifully well-rounded, interesting young men and women that would be a delight to invite to dinner, or count as a good friend.

“No school, and the competition is extraordinarily fierce in this sector, betters the offer here which is an absolute credit to its teachers, the school leadership that have invested hearts, soul and financially to deliver the best in the sector, and the whole school for getting behind this stand-out, life filled and afforming, Performing Arts, Dance and Theatre curriculum and its deserving status within an otherwise outstanding-plus and remarkable school.”

Read the views of our Judges in full: https://schoolscompared.com/events/the-best-school-for-theatre-dance-and-the-performing-arts-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Learn more about The Performing Arts at Dubai British School Jumeirah Park here: https://www.dubaibritishschooljp.ae/school-life/performing-arts

Dubai English Speaking School and Dubai English Speaking College, DESS and DESC – Joint recipients of The Top Schools Award for Best School for Technical, Vocational and Industry Education in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for The Best School for Technical, Vocational and Industry Education in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Finn Page, Teacher of History, representing Dubai English Speaking School and Mr Matthew Davies, Head of Technical, Vocational and Industry Education, Dubai English Speaking College.

Our judges said:

“The most award-wining school in the Emirates, and justifiably so, our view of this beyond-outstanding school starts with a vital point. Many believe, misguidedly, that Technical Education is an area of the curriculum that finds its first true focus in Secondary education only: Dubai English Speaking School (DESS) proves that they could not be more wrong.

If there is a single abiding shining star of an aspect of this absolutely exceptional school for younger children it is in its Design Labs – an absolute whirlwind centre for adventure in construction, building, design, innovation with every conceivable tool for making reality out of imaginations that we have seen in any school in the UAE. The richness and ambition of the journey that young children take in the basic building blocks of Engineering, Science, Technology and Mathematics at Dubai English Speaking School (DESS) set the benchmark in Early Years Education. Deserved joint winners of the overall Best School in the UAE bar none at The Top Schools Awards in 2019-2020, the schools’ single minded purpose is to ensure that every one of its children achieves every ounce and more of their singular ambitions, potential and talents – and no child, ever, gets left behind.

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The depth and breadth of the subject and qualification technical stream specialist pathways are outstanding – but the icing on the cake is the sheer vibrancy of life at Dubai English Speaking College at British Sixth Form. Students are given the freedom to explore their future and grow as young men and women, Sixth Form facilities are beyond-outstanding and hugely warm – and the sense of purpose here, that something extraordinary is taking place as each student approaches their graduation, is something to behold.  And no student, ever, is left behind – the commitment is for every DESC student to graduate with a future – and all the tools to make it one that sparkles.

“Dubai English Speaking School and Dubai English Speaking College are an absolute… inspiration.”

Read the full views of our Judges: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-technical-education-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Learn more about Dubai English Speaking School: https://www.dessc.sch.ae/dess/welcome-from-the-headteacher

Learn More about Dubai English Speaking College: https://www.dessc.sch.ae/desc/sixth-form/choose-vocational-btec-and-rsl-

The Arbor School Dubai – The Best School for Environmental Science, Sustainability and Eco Literacy in the United Aran Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Environmental Science, Sustainability and Eco Literacy in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Brett Girven, Principal, The Arbor School Dubai.

Learn more about The Arbor School in Dubai here: https://thearborschool.ae

Our Judges said:

“The Arbor School stands out in so many ways, but it is the radical approach to environmental education adopted here with passion, seriousness and intent, that is absolutely stand-out. The result in is an exceptionally inspirational and meaning-rich education for students.

Abundance, rather than Sustainability, is explored here, this through a diverse syllabus stretching across the same broad spectrum of British curriculum subjects you will find at all outstanding British schools, but with a much greater depth of purpose. Do not expect a school that is a narrowly focused on green issues and teaching in a limited array of subjects that are focused only on ecology. That is not what the school is about.

Instead, Arbor is focused on working out how the world can build globally sustainable communities based on a world that works for all people. This is a radical, activist approach to sustainability and very different from the way that sustainability and eco-literacy are taught and explored by other schools.

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The Arbor School is a rare pioneer in education. Brave, principled, innovative, many see first the six biodomes that dramatically define the landscape around it. But impressive as these are, these are mere pointers to the much richer education and underpinning philosophy that really go the heart of what is being achieved here for children. The richness of offer here is truly something to behold. This is a school that is leading the world in all that it achieves for children and its rich and pioneering re-drawing of the foundations of an outstanding education.”

Read the complete story from our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/events/the-best-school-for-environmental-science-and-sustainability-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Kings’ School Al Barsha – The Best School for Children of Determination in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Children of Determination in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Kings’ School Al Barsha

Learn more about Kings’ School Al Barsha here: https://kings-edu.com/albarsha/

Our Judges said:

“Kings’ Al Barsha currently welcomes children with almost every type of Determination, in areas areas from behaviour, social and emotional determinations; sensory and physical determinations; medical conditions and health related determinations; communication and interaction determinations including hearing impairment; and the range of specific learning determinations from dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and ASD, to those who are gifted and talented. Kings’ School Al Barsha is a genuine home for every child.

And investment is serious. The school has specialists in Speech and Language, Dyslexia, Autism, English as an Additional Language and Gifted and Talented. The leaders of the SEND Departments are British Qualified to Masters level.

It is worth quoting in full one of our advisors here:

“I can tell you quite factually that Kings’ Education – and particularly Al Barsha, is the best school for Children of Determination I have experienced in more than five years working at the very heart of this sector. The Team here are absolutely world class.”

The test of a civilised society is surely how well it treats its children, and the way it treats its most vulnerable. Kings’ School Al Barsha comes out with flying colours for both. What an amazing school. What an amazing achievement. It does not come better in Education than this.”

Read the full report from our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-children-of-determination-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Best School for Value Add and Leaving No Child Behind in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Early Years Teacher in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Peter Rowlands, Head of Secondary, Raffles International School, Mrs XXXX, Raffles International School, and Mr Steven Giles, Principal, Raffles International School.

Read about Raffles International School here: https://www.rafflesis.com

Our Judges said:

“Value-added is a measure of the impacts on the achievement of children of teachers and schools. A baseline is established, when a child joins a school, generally using SAT tests or an equivalent, which takes account of the differences in prior achievement, and other measured characteristics that students bring with them to a school, when they join. Mixes of Year End and Year Beginning tests throughout a child’s journey at school, often using something called GL CAT 4 testing which is independently calculated, then maps the journey of each child – and gives time for teachers to make interventions to ensure that no child is left behind, but also that children in the middle, or at the top of a year’s performance, are also inspired to continue to achieve, and over achieve.

[…]

“The achievement in Value-add at Raffles International School, given this context – one in which the school strategy is built around its importance as the single most powerful lever to leave no child behind, is so impressive. But what the technical detail of Value Add does not reveal is the sheer impact of this investment on the happiness that flows throughout this school. This is one of those very rare schools where the happiness of children – and their welfare, is placed centre stage – and that dynamic of care extends to their families too. This is a school that listens to children – and parents. Mr Giles is an inspiration here – and the sense of joy he brings to his purpose is something to behold. The impact on teachers – the sense that they are valued, is palpable. There is nothing he will not do to deliver for children – and that is exactly how it should be.

“Raffles International School is our definitive, and much admired, Best School in The Emirates for Value-add and Leaving No child Behind in the Top School Awards 2023 – 2024.”

Read the complete view of our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-value-add-and-leaving-no-child-behind-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

GEMS World Academy Dubai – The Best School for Girls and Young Women in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

At the special request of Dr Saima Rana, Chief Executive Officer and Principal, Gems World Academy, and Chief Education Officer GEMS World Academy, The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Girls and Young Women in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to two remarkable young ladies and students, Miss Yasmine Al-Sabih and Miss Farrah Al-Sabih, representing GEMS World  Academy Dubai. The young ladies were proudly accompanied by Sahar Taheri, Corporate and Community Engagement Manager, GEMS World Academy.

You can read more about GEMS World Academy Dubai here: https://www.gemsworldacademy-dubai.com/en/

Our Judges said:

“It says so much about our history that still in education we do not place centre-stage so many of the greatest injustices in our history. It was not so long ago that women were denied almost any form of voice, property rights, voting rights, employments rights… almost any legal rights at all. Today, increasingly, for example within the British and IB curriculums, the history of the British and American Empires, past injustices such slavery and patriarchy are being taught – and it is not before time. Modern politics in the Western World is increasingly dominated by discussions of compensation and apology. Many of us would say… at last. It takes education to make a difference – and if we do not start facing the history of our forebears, then change does not happen. Education is at the centre of everything good in this world. Teachers are the centre of the universe – and they are our hope. Only through education do we make a better world. Through education the oppressed are given the tools of power to fight back.

And it matters. Today we think that so many problems have been resolved. Clearly, they have not. The gender pay gap is around 20% globally, and around 3 billion women around the world do not have any form of economic equality. In 2023, 50/50 Women on Boards™ (50/50WOB), the non-profit education and advocacy campaign focused on gender balance and diversity on corporate boards in the United States, announced that as of Dec. 31, 2022, women held only 28.4% of the Russell 3000 company board seats. This represented a 0.2% increase from the previous quarter, and a 1.7 percentage increase year-over-year. The percentage of women joining boards continued to slip in Q4 2022 to 36% and the percentage of women joining boards in 2022 was 39%, significantly lower than 2019 and 2021, which were over 40%. To reach gender parity by 2030, the percentage of women joining boards on an annual basis needs to surpass 50%. The same story holds true in the UK with only around 40% of women holding positions on the Boards of major companies – and there is significant dispute about the relative power of men and women even when women are in positions of seniority. Throughout the workforce worldwide, is heavily imbalanced in favour of men, to put it mildly (which of course we should not).

[…]

Dr Rana brings to GEMS World Academy not only a mission to change the world, but one rooted in the deepest, all consuming care for her School. Dr Rana has brought every ounce of her experience to transforming her beloved school to multiply to the nth the opportunities for its girls, young women – and all its children.

In her role, and her choice to remain rooted to the coal face of education at her beloved GEMS World Academy, and its remarkable children, as well as in playing an absolutely centrifugal role in the leadership of GEMS Education globally, it is our view that Dr Saima Rana is well placed to make a profound difference in the world for young girls – and women.

We could not have imagined a more profoundly inspirational, hope-filled and courageous leader of the Top Schools Award-winning Best School for Girls and Young Women in the United Arab Emirates: the outstanding-plus GEMS World Academy Dubai.

Today, at The Top Schools Awards 2023 – 2024, the wonderful, and wonder-filled Miss Yasmine Al-Sabih and Miss Farrah Al-Sabih, from GEMS World Academy accompanied by Sahar Taheri, Corporate and Community Engagement Manager, GEMS World Academy, could not have made their school more proud.”

Read the complete views of our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-girls-and-young-women-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Sunmarke School Dubai – The Best School for Innovation in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Innovation in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Dr Neil Hopkin FRSA, Director of Education, Fortes Education.

You can learn more about Sunmarke school Dubai here: https://www.sunmarke.com

You can learn more about Fortes Education here: https://forteseducation.com

Our Judges said:

“Sunmarke is, in our view, one of the crown jewels in UAE Education – and an absolutely perfect example of how innovation can be used to engineer outstanding provision for children by ripping up the rule book of the ways that orthodoxy and complacency says things should be done.

“This is a school designed ground-up by innovation, for innovation, to deliver absolutely everything for the individual child. Sunmarke, in many ways, can be seen as one giant Laboratory of innovation in STEAM, this in the broadest sense of a school that builds a school around everything that makes the life around us – and then makes all the complexity of human life and learning in its many aspect available to children.

“Sunmarke is a school built around the innate belief in the tidal wave of curiosity within every child, and allowing that to be freed long before children are pushed into the structures that constrain exploration by imposed knowledge. Education, and the environment for children here, is an absolute tour de force and almost spiritual impact. It hits the gut, the mind, and the heart like a a train released from the need for tracks, guided only by the beauty of the journey and the grasp of a future that you can be part of.

“Sunmarke school has been hidden under the radar of so many parents for so long. It is time to put that right.”

Read the full review of our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-innovation-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

GEMS International School Al Khail – The Best School for STEAM in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for STEAM in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Simon Herbert, Chief Executive Officer and Head of School, GEMS International School Al Khail, and Mr Vikas Singh, Head of Design Technology, GEMS International School Al Khail.

Learn more about GEMS International School Al Khail here: https://www.gemsinternationalschool-alkhail.com/en/

Our Judges said:

“For this Award then we gave our schools the most extraordinary challenge: to design and engineer their own working Jet Pack leveraging their outstanding students and the teaching of departments across each school, including the Arts. The aim? To use the Jet pack to solve some fundamental problem, with the imagination to only limit on the adventure of the heart and mind each school chose to undertake. What we were seeking was a way of understanding how well schools can draw different departments together to showcase how truly outstanding schools break down the walls between subjects for their children.

The results were beautiful, visionary and quite astonishing in their ambition from all our schools, but particularly from GEMS International School Al Khail – which took our breath away.

[…]

Pioneering, visionary, inspirational – and academically and technically ambitious for children, GEMS International School, Winner of The Top Schools Award for Best School for STEAM in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024, represented so powerfully here by its students, sets new benchmarks for education in STEAM in the UAE.

Fasten  your seatbelts

Blast the rockets

The Passengers are stepping up to fly the Jet

… and brace yourselves. There is so much more to come from this innovation-rich, hugely inspirational, absolute powerhouse GEMS Education Centre of Excellence for STEAM, Aviation and Space Technology.”

Read the full story from our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/events/the-best-school-for-steam-science-technology-engineering-the-arts-and-mathematics-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

The Arcadia School – Best School for Architecture to Inspire Children

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best School for Architecture to Inspire Children in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to The Arcadia School Dubai.

Learn more about Arcadia School Dubai: https://arcadia.sch.ae

Our Judges said:

“It can happen at any part of our lives, but so often as we grow older. We realise like the brightest star in the darkest place what is really important in life – and it is certainly not material things, the latest fashion, or really anything to do with vanity. When you look around you understand, often painfully, that inequality and complacency are two of the most awful things in our world – and that Education is the most important tool we have to put the world right.

It is this that led the remarkable Mohan Valrani, Industrialist and Co-founder of the Al Shirawi Group. to begin the most important investment of his life in Education in Dubai. The passion to change the world here was immense. Mr Valrani called in the who’s who of every single industry that he needed to help him build schools that would define the very best education available to our children. And he started setting out his vision with two requirements: that The Arcadia School, and those that would follow, would make no compromise with ensuring children received the very best education possible; and, as importantly, that Teachers, the absolute centre of the universe, would be recognised and cherished.

Architecturally, this would be no “just throw up a box” affair. Mr Valrani went to the very best Architects in Education in the region: Johnson. Chairman. Godwin, Austen, Johnson. (GAJ). “Throw me everything you have” he instructed. “I do not want compromises.” The discussion is the stuff of legend – but the results, in the two Arcadia buildings which make up The Arcadia School, speak volumes. GAJ are responsible for many of the school buildings that have defined the landscape for Tier 1 architecture in Education as it has evolved over more than fifty years. Many will know them best for Dubai College, a building that stands today, as was intended, as a forceful statement on the power and wonder of Education and one designed, in part, to reflect the history of the great UK boarding schools who have been the educational homes of some of the most influential figures in history…”

Read the full story from our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-architecture-to-inspire-children-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Hartland International School – The School Most Loved by Parents

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for School Most Loved by Parents in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Helen Sadler, Chair, Hartland Friends Parents Association, Hartland International School Dubai.

Learn more about Hartland International school here: https://www.hartlandinternational.com

Our Judges said:

“Hartland International School opened its doors for the first time in September 2015. As a standalone school with no “Mothership” entity, the growth, development and achievements of this Tier One British Curriculum school over the last eight years have been wide-ranging and inspirational.

Opening with a primary phase only, the school has grown year on year. Today its Sixth Form is one of the finest in the emirates. Rated as a “Very Good” school with Outstanding features for its last two inspections – and pretty much the highest Award given by the KHDA for a relatively new school, Hartland International School Dubai also one of only three schools in the UAE to have gained the Patrons Accreditation and Compliance Award from COBIS; was the first school in the UAE to achieve the NACE Award; and, was ranked by British School Overseas (BSO) as across-the-board Outstanding.

Students from Year 2 upwards have access to specialist provision you just do not see elsewhere at this phase of learning – and this outstanding level of provision, and belief in children regardless of their age, extends through to the secondary phase and Sixth Form which are fundamental to the ambitions of the school…”

Read the full story from our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-school-most-loved-by-parents-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-in-proud-association-with-edstatica-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Safa Community School Dubai – The Happiest School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Happiest School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mrs Leanne Fridd, Principal, Safa Community School Dubai; Mr Jack Luukas, Deputy Head Primary, Safa Community School Dubai; and, Mr Mike Davies, Head of Secondary, Safa Community School Dubai.

Learn more about Safa Community School in Dubai here: www.safacommunityschool.com

Our Judges said:

“We have reviewed this beyond-outstanding landmark British curriculum school throughout its life since being founded in 2014. Safa Community School was awarded The Top Schools Award for Best New School in the United Arab Emirates in 2019-20, a hugely creditable achievement given a competitive landscape then including some of the crown jewels in UAE education today.

Since launch this school has set quite exceptional benchmarks for its provision – and underlying every single one of them is its unique culture of child happiness that defines this school today across every single aspect of its provision.

This school was designed at the outset around the happiness of children and today it ranks as the most profound example of what a school, built ground up around the welfare, wellbeing and happiness of each child individually, can achieve academically, ethically, and whole child.

And what this school achieves for children defines Safa Community School as one of the most outstanding British curriculum schools, not only in Dubai, but the Emirates.”

Read the full views of our Judges here on this remarkable school: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-happiest-school-for-children-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Gabriella Ridley, Head of FS2, Horizon English School – Best Early Childhood Teacher in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Early Years Teacher in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Miss Gabriella Ridley, Head of FS2, Horizon English School Dubai.

You can learn more about the Outstanding Horizon English School Dubai where Miss Ridley teaches here: https://horizonschooldubai.com

Our judges said:

“Miss Ridley holds a very important and special place in Education. Miss Ridley captures all that is outstanding in the profession of Early Years teaching – and she represents, by definition, a symbol of the appreciation that must, and should, be given to all those who work within, and dedicate their lives to, this vital and complex phase of Education.

“The technical skills, human qualities, capacity to inspire and engage young minds, and sense of vocation that Miss Ridley brings to Horizon English School is a leading voice and light for all those outstanding teachers in Early Childhood settings who lay the very foundations of our children’s lives with such accomplishment and passion.”

Read our Judges’ views in full: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-early-childhood-school-teacher-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Jamie Summers, Teacher of STEAM, Sunmarke School Dubai – The Best Primary School Teacher in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024.

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Primary School Teacher in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mr Jamie Summers, Teacher of STEAM at Sunmarke School in Dubai.

Learn more about the Signature Programmes in STEAM at Sunmarke School in Dubai here: https://www.sunmarke.com/signature-programmes/steam-design-thinking/

Our Judges said:

“Mr Summers encapsulates the heart of The Top Schools Awards this year in our ambition to celebrate and evangelise the capacity of  STEAM to change the world so that it can a better place for the future generations to come. Mr Summers teaches that we do not have to accept the world as it is when it is not working properly – we can repair it!  We can re-invent it! And one thing that we found so inspiring is that Mr Summers is a Secondary teacher who has, in the most astonishing and inspirational ways, scaffolded all the wonders of STEAM down to the Primary children at Sunmarke School, creating in the youngest ones, a generation of students which, under his teaching, are filled with ambition ignited by imaginations set free.

“Mr. Summers brings over two decades of teaching experience to Sunmarke School drawn from his teaching of Design, Technology and Art in the United Kingdom.  He has brought and combined all his skills in teaching graphic design, product design and woodwork, with his passion for The Arts, to bring STEAM in all its wonders alive for young children. He has transformed the phenomenal STEAM Centre at Sunmarke into a giant engine of the imagination filled to bursting with real solutions to make human life meaningful, hope-filled and happy…”

Learn more about our Judges accolades for Mr Jamie Summers, Teacher of STEAM, Sunmarke School Dubai here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-primary-school-teacher-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Almas Qureshi, Head of Technology, Raffles World Academy – The Best Secondary School Teacher in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Secondary School Teacher in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mrs Almas Qureshi, Head of Technology, Raffles World Academy.

Learn more about Raffles World Academy here: https://www.rwadubai.com

Our Judges said:

“In the year in which The Top Schools Award has focused on STEAM, we wanted to make our top Secondary Teacher Award one that would recognise an educator deeply committed to STEAM in its broadest aspects. We wanted to recognise an educator with an understanding and commitment to the intrinsic inter-meshing of all subjects within an outstanding education, and the vital importance of inter-disciplinarity in schools. Miss Qureshi is an educator in Technology at one of the top International Baccalaureate schools in the emirate, Raffles World Academy.

The IB depends on just these sorts of linkages between subjects, drawn from the broadest spectrum of disciplines, including vitally the Arts, to deliver the sorts of problem solving on which it depends – and for which it is celebrated. Whilst the battles rage about the best education in the world, and particular whether that comes from the depth intrinsic to a ‘gold standard’ A level Education with its focus on three, or perhaps four subjects, or the breadth of one based on a Baccalaureate, the reality is that a depth-based education can rarely match the IB for its ability to pull in knowledge from a much greater resource pool of knowledge…”

Read more about our Judges praise for Mrs Qureshi here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-secondary-school-teacher-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Dr Saima Rana, Chief Executive Officer and Principal, GEMS World Academy Dubai and Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education – The Best Principal in the United Arab Emirates 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Principal in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Dr Saima Rana, Chief Executive Officer and Principal, GEMS World Academy, and Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education.

Our Judges said:

“One of the most inspirational school leaders we have ever met, the one thing you take away from you after meeting this whirlwind of intellect, compassion, emotion, ambition for children and sense of purpose and duty, is that Dr Rana cares so deeply for the children under her care that nothing must come in the way of meeting their needs and doing the right thing for them. we actually wondered if she ever sleeps. There is a substantial sense of urgency about her perceived mission to put right the many wrongs of this world, and she sees the future success of children as her personal, as well as professional, responsibility. It clearly weighs heavily on her. It is when, however, you see the way she lights up when speaking with children, of all ages, and the way, at every turn as she leads us through her beautiful school, she smiles to bursting when pointing out how “everything here is now for children” that you realise what you have in front of you is a conviction educationalist. This is her life’s work – and it will always be. Of that she leaves you with no doubt.

Dr Rana throughout our extensive discussions questions everything, and has views about even more. The speed of her thinking and the agility of her mind is quite something to experience. It’s exciting, and you have to have your brain engaged to keep up. But it is this speed that has delivered the most extraordinary transformation of GEMS World Academy. She has achieved in a year what we have seen take a decade or more in other schools to get close to. She has paid a high price. Managing change is the gift of leaders, and it rarely, if that change is ambitious, urgent, serious and visionary, as it is here, does not cause waves. Leadership is not always a place that makes friends around you; it can be isolating to be disruptive of the status quo. Human being struggle with change. Many, understandably, take the easy way out. But if you are running a school, and your children depend on you, there is no time to delay. What Dr Rana has undertaken here is… courageous. The result is both visionary, ambitious and truly impressive.

The achievement of Dr Rana at GEMS World Academy is to have root and branch transformed a school. That does not just mean flooding the school with investment wherever it was needed. That has been achieved – and the results just in terms of visual impact are breath-taking. But the bigger, more profound, and significantly more complex and difficult changes, are cultural. What Dr Rana has done is remodelled a school, root and branch, so that no decision is taken that does not put the interests of children first.  When children are placed first in everything, no exceptions, change is massive. But so too are the impacts on those same children. Some might say she has given them a future they would never had had with out her. That is called changing the world in any ones language.

One final note. Dr Rana’s belief in empowering girls is important and serious. As she explained, it is too easy, and lazy, to be diverted by relating different issues facing young men, to girls growing up at the edges of a history of oppression of an entire gender. It is equally lazy to believe that structural inequalities have disappeared. It is the duty of educators to recognise this and ensure that girls are empowered in a world that has still not caught up.

“You can read our extraordinary interview with Dr Saima Rana here:

The SchoolsCompared Interview. ‘Bob Dylan, The Future of Education and Not Trading Away Kindness for Cynicism.’ Dr. Saima Rana on the Record.”

We think that that Dr Rana has achieved great things, astonishing things – and in such a short space of time at her school. But my goodness, on this trajectory, Dr Saima Rana’s potential future achievements have the potential to transform education on a global scale. GEMS Education has exactly the leader, and deeply humane, child-centric, and progressive convictional educationalist, in Dr Saima Rana, to do just that.”

You can read the full report from our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-principal-and-head-of-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/ and here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-school-for-girls-and-young-women-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Mark Leppard MBE – The Best Principal in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Principal in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mark Leppard MBE, Headmaster, The British School Al Khubairat.

Learn more about: The British School Al Khubairat here: https://www.britishschool.sch.ae

Our Judges said:

“Over many years the impact of Mr Leppard’s leadership of The British School Al Khubairat has never ceased to impress us, and deeply. Every visit finds something new in his extraordinary school that we have never seen elsewhere. But, it is sitting with Mr Leppard, and his giving of his time so freely, that makes you realise just how exceptional he is. Deeply humane, emotionally intelligent, rich in life’s experiences, and something of a story teller with countless stories of children and what is important in life, each with a beginning, middle and hope-filled ending,  that provoke thought and admiration in equal measure, Mr Leppard is one of those leaders who makes a difference, and does so with a heart as big as any you will find in the UAE.

Every time we visit his school, and visit him, we feel privileged. He, and his school, should feel so proud. And as humble as he is, we hope that, just this once, he will thrill in our collective admiration of him, and that of all of those who speak so highly of him within his school, and across schools the length and breadth of the UAE.”

Read the full views of our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-best-principal-and-head-of-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

The British School Al Khubairat – The Best school in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best Principal in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024 was presented to Mark Leppard MBE, Headmaster, The British School Al Khubairat.

Read about the extraordinary The British School Al Khubairat here: https://www.britishschool.sch.ae

Our Judges said:

“What an amazing year for the Beyond-Outstanding, class-leading, school of the Emirates.

The British School Al Khubairat near swept the board, winning not just three of the most prestigious Top School Awards of 2023 – 2024, but also the highest Award given for school leadership in the Emirates –  and the highest Award given for Overall Best School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024.

The crown jewels in UAE Education, The British School Al Khubairat was awarded:

• The Best British Curriculum School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024
• The Best School for Sport in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024
• The Best School for Fine Art and Creative Studio Work in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024
• The Top Schools Award for Best Principal in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024

and the highest  Top Schools Award of the Year:

• The Best School in the United Arab Emirates 2023 – 2024.

This is The Year of The British School Al Khubairat and its extraordinary, life-affirming, deeply humane,  inspirational and rightfully so admired Headmaster, Mark Leppard MBE –  and it absolutely could not be any more deserved.

What an astonishingly beautiful, awe and wonder, fireworks-filling-the-sky, school this is.”

Read the full views of our Judges here: https://schoolscompared.com/top-schools-awards-2023/the-best-school-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-revealed-top-schools-award-winner-official/

Brian Johnson, Chairman, Godwin, Austen Johnson, GAJ Architecture and Design – The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in the United Arab Emirates

In 2023 – 2024, The Top Schools Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in the United Arab Emirates 2023- 2024 was awarded to Brian Johnson, Chairman of architectural firm Godwin, Austen, Johnson (GAJ), in recognition of his profound and extraordinary impact on the development of architecture in UAE education 1975 – 2024. The Award followed The Top School Award for Best School for Architecture to Inspire Children in the United Arab Emirates being awarded to The Arcadia School Dubai, a school architected by GAJ.

Read the full story of this extraordinary gentleman and his legacy of light in Education across the Emirates here: https://schoolscompared.com/news/the-schoolscompared-com-award-for-outstanding-contribution-to-education-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2023-2024-brian-johnson-chairman-godwin-austen-johnson-gaj/

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