
It is my pleasure to inform you that our recent Irtiqa’a inspection report from the Abu Dhabi Education Council is now available for you to read. We have included a copy on our school website.
Reach British School opened in 2014 and this report clearly indicates that the school has improved significantly since the last inspection. As of May 2017 the school is now a Band B school and you can be confident that the education we provide for your children just keeps getting better!
We are pleased that the report recognises the strength of the current school leadership and its capacity to continue to improve the school. The report states that ‘the senior leaders provide purposeful educational leadership and guidance’. From September, we continue to strengthen the leadership in the school, when new experienced heads join to lead the primary and secondary phases of the school. They join a strong team that has the capacity and determination to ensure your children get the very best education.
Parents of children in Early Years would have noticed many developments in recent weeks, led by Sally Gibson, with an improvement in resources and the learning environment. This work has been recognised by the inspectors and the children’s attainment and progress in Early Years is seen to be ‘good’. We continue working to transform all other areas of the school to ensure all our students have access to an exceptional learning environment and good teaching, so they too can make the very best progress.
I am pleased to announce investment enhancing many areas of the school is planned to be completed over the summer. The main playground and the sports hall will be resurfaced to provide the students with state of the art sports facilities. More shading will be provided to develop our outside areas, particularly for our younger children to have their own designated play areas. Investment in our library facilities will ensure all our students have access to the best research and reading skills. We will open the science labs, enhancing the science curriculum in the school.
We are proud that the report recognises that our ‘more consistent implementation of effective behaviour management strategies is resulting in the corresponding improvement in attitudes and behaviour’. We recognise the importance of our students feeling safe and cared for, we are very proud of the work we have done in this area and pleased that the inspection recognised this, grading our care and support of students as ‘good’. Our Achievement Team is being developed further and will continue to be an important aspect of our work.
Learning is at the heart of what we do, and the inspection report recognises that we have begun to put in place a more systematic approach to managing learning in the school. Recruiting the best teachers who have English as a first language remains a priority. We are committed to providing these teachers with the best professional development and support to ensure your children are given every opportunity to thrive, academically, emotionally and socially.
We have a great deal to do to make Reach British School the best it can be. We are currently developing an action plan that will be submitted to ADEC, responding to the key recommendations in the report; I will make this available to all parents as I am keen that you are fully aware of our journey towards Reach British School being an outstanding learning environment for your children.
I am grateful to parents for their kind welcome since I joined the school. You are assured of my full commitment to Reach British School and, under my leadership, I look forward to taking the school forward and am confident that after the next inspection in two years’ time we will be, at the very least, judged as a good Band A school.
Mr. Dene Bright
School Principal