United Arab Emirates, 27 February 2018, (AETOSWire): The International Schools Partnership has announced it is taking admissions for its Dubai flagship The Aquila School, opening in Dubailand in September 2018. The school follows the National Curriculum for England and will offer the vocational BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) courses, one of a handful of schools in the UAE to do so alongside professional learning qualifications in IB and IBCC.
This school is founded on the core belief of offering ‘real learning for a real future’, with meaningful enquiry-based learning at the fore. Designing, constructing, and deconstructing will be practiced daily, offering an approach which re-invigorates the STEM platform and makes it accessible to more children through a focus on Arts integrated project-based learning.
The Aquila School opens with an experienced leadership with Wayne Howsen as Principal, taking on the role with over 20 years’ experience in school leadership. His last 6 years in the UAE were as Principal of the first school ever to be Outstanding in Abu Dhabi and the only school to be Outstanding twice. Howsen says, “Aquila children will have access to some of the world’s most prominent technological advances, and progress will come from the melding of technology and creative thinking through art and design. By combining vocational and technological opportunities with a truly creative arts education, The Aquila School offers a truly unique educational offering in Dubai.”
He added that the classrooms have been designed as learning spaces that will engage children by embedding technology and arts into teaching, introducing early music, food technology, design technology and theatre early on alongside the core subjects. Howsen’s track record proves how he can incorporate these activities into the curriculum without losing any academic rigour, and while ensuring every child makes as much progress as possible.
Located in Dubailand, the school boasts state-of-the-art facilities to compete with the best in Dubai. It includes dedicated art and music studios, design and technology labs, a landmark learning and reading centre, several Science labs, specialist IT-based research centres, and extended sporting facilities including football pitches, multi-use games areas, a full-length indoor swimming pool and indoor sports hall.
International Schools Partnership, the company behind The Aquila School, is a global group with 27 schools including five in the region. Christine Simmonds, Director of Schools for ISP Middle East, was previously a founding Principal Inspector for the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau and Director of Quality and Research for KHDA for five years. She has long been an advocate of innovative enquiry-based learning and was central to the school’s design.
Simmonds says, “We are creating a learning environment where arts and sciences are branches of the same tree, offering each child maximum choice to explore and learn according to their own strengths. Our school is already being noticed for its breadth of curriculum choice and its commitment to be the right fit for all students rather than a few.”
The Aquila School opens for FS1 to Year 6 students in September 2018. It will open a new year group each academic year, ultimately offering Year 13 and space for 1,500 students. Fees start from 38,500 AED and registrations are open, with more information found here.
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