Sharing Good Practice
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF TAKING OVER
AN OUTSTANDING SCHOOL
BY: IAIN COLLEDGE
I
n 2016, I was delighted to be
offered the role of Principal at Raha
International School in Abu Dhabi.
The school was a rapidly growing
and high performing school, offering
all three IB programmes. It had also
just been awarded an ‘Outstanding’
rating by the Abu Dhabi Education
Council (as it was then called) making
it one of only a small number of schools
with this highest accolade. Everyone
at the school and its parent company,
Taaleem, was deservedly very excited
and proud of this huge achievement,
which
was
made
particularly
impressive, as the school had only
been in operation for nine years. When
I accepted the job, the school with an
enrolment of about 1,650 students,
with many grades over-subscribed,
was in the process of planning for its
10-year anniversary celebration.
had been given to the school prior to
my arrival, but whilst I was delighted
for the team, it left me with a feeling
of unease and a continual knot in
my stomach. I couldn’t help but
ask where it left me. The rating had
been achieved without me, so how
could I possibly show improvement
under my leadership? ‘Outstanding’
is the highest rating given by the
Department of Education. I worried
that the only way forward was to
either just maintain the status quo or
go down in ratings. Even though I am
You may have expected me to be
delighted and perhaps even somewhat
relieved that the ‘Outstanding’ rating
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Class Time
quite pragmatic about these things,
the ‘Outstanding’ rating really did feel
like a weight around my neck because
I had to ensure we received the same
rating again two years down the line.
I knew that in an environment where
inspections were becoming more
rigorous every year, this was never
going to be an easy task.
I decided to make moving ‘beyond
Outstanding’ my core focus during
the run up to and during the first few
months in my new role. This mission