Accreditation and Inspection
 
On 30^th and 31^st January we will be visited by the accreditation officers from the IBO who are assessing us as a candidate school to offer the IB Diploma. We are well prepared and look forward to their visit.
 
Shortly afterwards we will be formally inspected for the first time by KHDA who will be with us for four days from 6th to 9th February. We feel we are prepared and have gained from the focused self-review that inspection brings to a school believing that the process is healthy and improving.
 
The OECD ( the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) declares that:
 
“While a school might perform well and promote high levels of student achievement, this is unlikely to be achieved in the longer term without effective self-review”.
 
These are wise words and at NAS Dubai we know that we achieve at high levels and we also know that we have to maintain them and continue to improve.  As such, we welcome these accreditation and inspection visits as they help us to know ourselves better and through that process will help us to target further improvement.  As we mature we will become increasingly effective embracing the quality mechanism of self-review that is starting this year.  Our staff should be commended for all of the hard work that has gone into this first review cycle. Whatever the final judgment, the process has helped us to refine our understanding that we are a very good school with many examples of learning and teaching that are outstanding.
 
Please give your support to the process by completing the questionnaire as requested by KHDA and know too there will also be the further annual parent survey that is commissioned for all Nord Anglia Schools that comes out later this term.
 
Meantime, KHDA write:
 
Schools have responsibility for sharing the online survey links with parents, principals, teachers and older students. All respondents should complete the surveys prior to the inspection. The surveys give inspectors valuable information. A low rate of return suggests a lack of engagement by your school community. Please try to increase your return rate by strongly encouraging stakeholders to complete the surveys.
 
Please find below (or at the top of this newsletter) the online survey to be completed by parents. It is important to select the correct school name from the list before answering the questions.
 
Parents: https://khda.gov.ae/Parents
  
Enjoy the survey confident that you are part of the process of continuing self-review and improvement.
 
Thank you
 
Matthew Farthing
Principal