Below are a few pointers to help other
schools on the journey to exceptional:
5 5 Don’t make the next steps all about
the inspection framework. Think of
the students only and look to put
the cherry on top of the icing, on top
of the cake.
5 5 Let everyone in the community be
part of the process. Create focus
groups and gather us much input
as you can to ensure maximum
ownership.
the name to ‘Raha’s Exceptional
Journey’ to avoid this confusion.
We now have staff and students
regularly referring to the term
‘exceptional’ during the normal school
day. They consider what it means to
be exceptional and staff regularly
contemplate what we have achieved
on the journey as we progress through
the school year.
In order to showcase the achievements,
we make on the journey, we have
footprints for everything that fit within
each of the journey statements. These
are printed and cut into real footprint
shaped visuals around the school. At
the time of writing we have achieved
52 footprints, and these are being
added to all the time. Much of what
we achieve is not necessarily new or
revolutionary, but because it is beyond
the expected, it makes the strategy
successful.
as anyone that we are able to achieve
outstanding yet again. I can’t say this
is all down to the creation of Raha’s
Exceptional Journey, but I sincerely
believe that developing a strategy such
as this, one which galvanizes the entire
community, ensures we never take
our foot off the pedal, and nurtures
our support for the community and
not just our students. This approach
has played a major part in getting us
where we are at now.
The exceptional journey is never
ending because perfect schools
don’t exist. There is always room for
improvement. Accepting this fact and
working towards a common purpose
of continuous improvement, is what
Raha’s Exceptional Journey is all about
and we are excited to continue this
lifelong journey well into our future.
5 5 Be willing to take constructive
feedback. Really listening without
getting defensive is essential to
finding areas of improvement that
you might not even be aware of
and is one way effective change can
happen.
5 5 The journey to exceptional should
be never-ending. Don’t set too many
finite targets, see it as a continuous
development programme. Plan for
a review every few years to ensure
the targets are still relevant and
accurately reflect what the school is
trying to achieve.
5 5 Celebrate
successes.
Publicly
showcase steps on the exceptional
journey, so that the whole school
keeps the sense that the goals
are not just talk, but concrete and
achievable.
5 5 Whilst working towards exceptional,
it is still important to not take your
eyes off the framework and make
sure you show inspectors that
you are already working beyond
outstanding – it’s quite difficult for
inspectors to push back on that one!
I am delighted to say that six
months ago we again received an
‘Outstanding’ rating from the Abu
Dhabi Department of Education and
Knowledge (ADEK) and we are now
the only K-12 school in Abu Dhabi
to receive this judgement twice.
In addition, we have been voted
amongst the top ten schools in Abu
Dhabi, top 5 Secondary schools and
the only outstanding IB school in the
UAE at this time.
During the past two years my fears
of taking over an outstanding school
have greatly diminished. I now know
what makes the school tick and have
gotten to know the amazingly talented
staff and students. I feel as confident
34
Term 1 Sep - Dec 2019
Iain has been Principal of Raha International School since 2016. Raha is an
outstanding IB school in Abu Dhabi, with over 2,000 students. After beginning
his teaching career in England, Iain has lived in the Middle East, Asia and Central
Europe and has over 20 years’ experience of 3-18 international school leadership.
Iain is a qualified inspector for Ofsted and also regularly inspects schools in Dubai.
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