Sharing Good Practice
weeks and then there is a two week
break until the next project to prevent
“charity fatigue”. The projects that we
did in the last year included; A charity
drive where all classes competed to
raise the most money- we raised over
20,000 AED. A clothes drive where
we managed to donate 38 cartons
of clothes (the school target was 30).
During Ramadan, we had an Iftar drive
where students made bags out of
newspaper, parents and staff donated
money and the school purchased over
300 Iftar packets which were all packed
up by parents, students and staff, who
then distributed them at Iftar time on
the streets of Abu Dhabi.
Promoting Teacher
Empowerment
It is well known that when teachers are
empowered to develop the school, it
not only empowers them as leaders,
but it also improves their classroom
practices. In our school, we have 17
sub-committees all ranging from
Data, Media, to School Development
and Health and Safety. Teachers
register for a sub-committee that
they would like to be involved in,
once all teachers have registered,
the committees meet, elect a lead
and design the objectives that they
as a group feel are a priority for that
particular committee. The committees
then meet at agreed intervals and
work towards their objectives. This has
been an extremely successful initiative
in the school.
Awards Ceremonies
We try to promote a very positive
culture in the school, staff perform
best in environments where they are
most comfortable. To that end, we
have a ceremony at the end of each
term, where we award certificates for
performance and contribution over
the term. We follow this up with a staff
raffle and a whole school lunch. We
want to show that every individual is
valued and is important to the school.
Developing Leadership Across
the School
We have an active Student Council
in the school, students are free to
nominate themselves, an election
amongst their peers is conducted and
the council is formed. Once the council
is formed, the council themselves elect
from the members present for the
various roles, from the onset, students
are given the ability to make their own
decisions. The council works on various
projects within the school and meets
with the school’s Senior Leadership
team Weekly - in these meetings the
Council represent the student body
and their views and provide feedback
to the Senior Leaders.
For staff, we are developing a Lead
Teacher program where teachers who
are exceptional performers in the
classroom are empowered to be able
to coach and mentor other teachers,
lead Professional Development and
contribute in the development of the
school.
The use of technology at
Shining Star International
School
Robotics
In an ever changing world, it is very
important to have technology as
a focal point of learning within the
school. Within the school timetable,
we have implemented a Robotics
programme, where students work in a
custom designed robotics lab to solve
complex problems using technology
in a hands on fashion.
Online Reading Program
In order to raise literacy levels,
the school has an online reading
program where students have access
to thousands of books and are
encouraged to read a minimum of
one book a day. Students can listen to
books being read by native speakers,
they can record themselves reading
and then they must pass complex
quizzes in order to unlock the next
reading level. In the past 6 months,
students have read approximately
35,000 books and have advanced 400
reading levels.
The school is on a mission to become
a model of creativity and innovation.
The day to day practices across the
school and in particular the classroom,
reflect this goal.
Alyas is from Manchester, England and has been living in the UAE for the past
11 years. He specialises in school improvement, he has led numerous schools
on the verge of closure and helped them to become high performing Band
A Schools. Mr Alyas has been working with his current school; Shining Star
International School in Abu Dhabi for the last 2 years.
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