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Naira Hamdy

School Principal

In her 22 years in education, 10 of which have been spent in the UAE, Naira has taught elementary, secondary and higher education in subjects like Math, Science, ICT and theory of knowledge. She has been an IB team leader, school visitor, consultant, reader, workshop leader and online facilitator in the IB community for over two decades; as well as a school inspector for the ECIS, ADEK and KHDA. Naira is also an international speaker who specialises in working with other educators to find innovative and sustainable ways to transform teaching and to model a professional learning community approach. Her areas of expertise include designing innovative learning experiences, professional learning, cultural leadership and community building.

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Inas Al Derbashi

Head of Secondary

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Adam Fitzgerald

Deputy Head of Secondary and MYP Coordinator

Adam is an experienced IB Educator with a history of outstanding teaching and learning. Graduating from Mary Immaculate College in Ireland with a BA in English and History in 2012, Adam moved to the UAE to start his teaching career and completed his PGCE in International Education in 2015. Having worked in outstanding schools in the UAE, this is his first senior leadership role having previously held middle management roles in both academics and student well-being. Adam is well versed in the IB and has specialized in MYP learning. Adam’s areas of expertise include curriculum development, MYP Projects and Service as Action.

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Carole Ansell

Head of Wellbeing

I moved to Dubai from the United Kingdom in 1993. I have witnessed so many changes in the city. My two daughters were born and attended school in Dubai, they now work in the United Kingdom but regularly return for holidays. Having completed my bachelor's degree and PGCE I began my teaching career as a Nursery Teacher. I have been teaching in Dubai for 20 years. Much of my career has been spent teaching in Primary across all year groups in both British Curriculum and International Baccalaureate schools. More recently, I have taught subjects in Secondary which have included Social Studies, Moral Education, Design and Technology and Music. For the past five years I have been an Assistant Principal responsible for the pastoral care of the Primary and Secondary students. My personal philosophy of education is to build trust and respect and have fun whilst doing it. I strive in fostering a culture of high expectations and creating and maintaining a positive wellbeing culture for all of our students, parents, teachers and the wider community. 

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Gavin Mellalieu

Grade Leader G4

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Sheugnet Carter

DP Coordinator

Sheugnet Carter is a seasoned educator with over 20 years of international teaching experience, most of which has been with International Baccalaureate programme schools.  She is a diploma programme specialist as well as a consultant for the pre-authorization of the diploma programme in schools, a team leader for verifications visits and programme leader for evaluation visits for IB world schools in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Sheugnet’s teaching specialities are English Language and Literature and Psychology, for which she is an examiner and moderator.  She has 20 years of experience within the UAE and has embraced the wonderful sense of community, family and respect as shown within this wonderful country she calls home.  Sheugnet has two adult children who are IB graduates.

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Maureen Mc Grath

Grade Leader G1

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Nour Bourghol

Grade Leader G2

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Annama Joseph

Grade Leader G3

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Sebastian Infanti

Grade Leader G5

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Ghada Al Jashaam

PYP Arabic Leader

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Megha Kapoor

Head of Science

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Zaheer Siddique

Head of Mathematics

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Roupina Akijian

Head of English

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Saleh Mostafa

Head of Islamic Studies

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Gary Coughlan

Head of Design Technology

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Alison Dawson

Head of Innovation and Inclusion

I began my teaching career as a class teacher and a PE Coordinator in England. My enthusiasm for Technology and love for challenges and new experiences led me to Dubai in 2001 to become a specialist IT teacher. During my 20 years in Dubai, I have gained valuable experience and held a range of roles including class teacher, subject specialist, Head of Department, Deputy Head, Co-Head and, most recently, Head of Primary.

Throughout my years in education, I have always been a passionate advocate of inclusive education and have leadership experience in this area. I am also a member of a school board, where I am the Inclusion Governor.

I feel very fortunate to have spent so many happy years in Dubai and am delighted to join the Dar Al Marefa family as Head of Innovation and Inclusion. I am married with two sons who are both in secondary school in Dubai.

 

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James Wakefield

PYP Sports Leader and ECA

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Tahera Al Hashmi

School Counsellor

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Susan Allenspach

Head of Primary

I have been an international educator for many years, having lived in Switzerland, Australia, Qatar, Korea, and Albania. I am the proud mother of two wonderful boys, my eldest child Julian was born in Switzerland and has successfully graduated from the IB Diploma programme and now attends university in Australia. My youngest child Elias is in Grade 9 MYP this year.

 

I have been the Director of Albanian College Durres, and prior to this, I was the Lower School Principal of Dwight School Seoul for four years. I really feel I have found my passion as an IB PYP school leader. I have been in leadership now for 17 years in various positions including PYP Coordinator in 2 IB world schools. Through these experiences, I have grown in my leadership style and I believe that these opportunities have allowed me to develop highly effective communication and interpersonal skills. As Head of Primary, I understand that a major part of my role is to work collaboratively with leadership, teachers, students, and parents. I believe I can positively contribute to the School Leadership Team by bringing my experience of the IB as a pedagogical leader and my enthusiasm for learning to promote and model good teaching practices.

 

I have over 25 years of experience in teaching and education, and I am an enthusiastic, positive person who has a passion for providing quality education and going the extra mile for both staff and students. I am focused on student achievement and skilled at providing professional support and guidance to teaching staff. I am a clear and caring communicator, who is both approachable and encouraging.  My family and I love to travel and we enjoy sharing new experiences, especially meeting new people. We are no strangers to relocating and new starts, I feel that these experiences have taught us resilience and empathy towards others.

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Mohamed Essam

Head of Arabic

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Habiba Jaballah

PYP Coordinator

Habiba is a lifelong enthusiastic, passionate, and ambitious Tunisian trilingual educator with twenty-eight years of teaching and leadership experience. For the past six years, she has had the pleasure of representing the International Baccalaureate Organization. Throughout, she became an experienced IBEN in the following roles: First, PYP Workshop Leader, a role that always motivates her to learn more about international schools’ communities and strengthen her PYP knowledge and skills to mentor the PYP fellows to meet the IB standards of teaching. The second role is a PYP Advanced Consultant, which has helped her become an open-minded educator who has a comprehensive understanding of any school’s context, thus providing IB candidate schools with the necessary recommendations toward achieving their goals to become an IB world school. Third, as a PYP Visiting Team Member, she learned to be a better, more resilient communicator. She was always met with the chance to practice all her PYP knowledge and skills to assess schools within their different contexts to meet the IB standards and the PYP requirements.  Adding to that, she has also been a certified CIS Visiting Team Member since 2015. Stepping away from leadership roles within international organizations, she holds an MBA from Bedfordshire University, The UK, and a Diploma in Educational Management of Private Schools issued by Skylark International Educational Services, Jordan, accredited by AdvancED.     

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Nesreen Gul

KG Leader

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Dina El Gammal

Admissions and Marketing Manager

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Ibrahim Abdulla Ahmed Al Ghurair

A Business Management graduate from Boston University Questrom School of Business, USA, in 1999 Ibrahim joined the family-owned Al Ghurair Resources – a key player in the agri-commodities sector – as a Commodity Trader He progressed to be part of the pre-opening team of the first oilseed extraction plant in the Gulf, which is now a major global player in oilseed products. From there he took various responsibilities in the group, including the restructuring of several major units.

With a passion for architecture, established Muraba, a boutique property development company, focusing on developing A-grade residential projects.

Ibrahim is a board member of the Al Ghurair parent company, and a father of six, all of whom are all enrolled in the International Baccalaureate programme.

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Dr. Nevine El Souefi

Dr. Nevine El-Souefi is an internationally-recognised educational consultant, and has worked in the field for more than 25 years as a teacher, trainer, curriculum designer and academic advisor. She is the founder and CEO of Edupedia, a leading educational consultancy firm.

Dr. El-Souefi is a certified and experienced International Baccalaureate (IB) trainer and consultant. She is the leader of the curriculum review committee at the American University in Cairo (AUC) – Graduate School of Education – Diploma Programme. She is also certified as an international trainer; has co-authored several publications; and holds a master’s Degree from AUC in TEFL and an EdD in Teacher Education from the University of Leicester, UK.

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Arturo Lujan

Arturo Lujan, has recently joined AGI Ventures as CEO. Arturo holds a BSE (Economics, Finance and Management) and MBA (Master in Business Administration) from WHARTON School of Business with Honors; Advanced Management Programs from HARVARD Business School; amongst others. He is certified as Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB - CEO) for Driving Accelerated Profitable Growth. Morevoer, he is the First CEO in Spain certified with the prestigious Marshal Goldsmith SLC for Leadership Development.

He has an extensive history in leadership which included prestigious Fortune 100 Companies and Private Equity Firms, like 3M INNOVATION (Top 20 Fortune and 1st Most Innovative Company), TETRA PAK (Global Leader for Industrial & Consumer Sector), LEVANTINA NATURAL STONE COMPANY (1st Global Leader in Natural Stone and Largest PE Deal in Spain - Owned by BNP Paribás and PE Charter House), Stone House Capital Group (Backed by US and International PE Funds), PRAXIS GLOBAL IT (Leading FinTech & IT Company in Latin America), 3E ENERGY EFFICIENCY (PE Owned in Spain), JUANEDA-VITHAS HEALTH CARE GROUP (Swiss PE Group), and REWARDS TO (Silicon Valley PE) amongst some Prestigious and Leading Global Companies.

Arturo leads company value creation, accelerated growth, results improvement, cashflow optimization, M&As, strategic and operational excellence. Moreover, as a result of his strong focus on Developing Teams and People, the companies that Arturo has led ranked consistently in the "TOP 5 GPTW" (Great Places to Work) in their respective Countries.

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Dr. Abdullah Saad Al-Khanbashi

Dr. Abdullah Saad Al-Khanbashi is a recognised UAE administrator and academician. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee (1997); M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville (1991); and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville (1990).

In the past 25 years, he held many important positions. From 2008-2012 he served as the Vice Chancellor of the UAE University, the main federal University in the United Arab Emirates. He was also a key member of the UAE University Council and the Chairman of the Academic Affairs Council, as well as other specialized University committees. He also served as UAEU Provost (Chief Operating officer) from 2005-2008. Dr Al-Khanbashi made a significant contribution to the development of tertiary education in the UAE.

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Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar

Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar has been dedicated to educational development for over 20 years. She has used her expertise in educational leadership and evaluation to cultivate partnerships that promote high impact sustainable solutions to pressing education challenges in the Middle East, Canada, Africa, and Asia.

Dr. Ben Jaafar currently serves as the CEO of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education where she manages one of the largest privately funded philanthropic education initiatives in the Arab world. Prior to this role dedicated to promoting education for elevated livelihoods for over 200,000 Arab youth, she was the Managing Director of EduEvalConsulting, where she cultivated partnerships with governments, international agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and multinational corporations to promote evidence-based decisions for a greater positive impact on education. Her work on major educational development projects with organizations such as the American Institute of Research, Ericsson, UNESCO, UNICEF, and War Child UK focused on SDG4. She holds a PhD in Educational Leadership, and a MA in Curriculum Studies from the University of Toronto. She is passionate about coupling her experience with her academic background to promote knowledge sharing and education for good. But if you ask her, she will tell you “I am a mom who is trying to make the world a better place.”

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John Short Ring

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Debra Teles

Debra Teles, is Group VP- People and Culture, having joined the business 16 March 2020, for AGI Group, one of the largest diversified Groups in the Middle East, operating in more than 20 countries, and employing more than 28000 people, across various sectors of Foods, Retail, Energy, Construction, Power and Engineering, transport, Hospitality Real Estate, Automotive, Printing and Publishing Exchanges, Retail, Education, Shipping and Travel Agencies.

Debra has more than 30 years’ experience and a proven track record of driving business results through People. Her People and Culture experience has been gained internationally through multinational organizations such as Reckitt and Benkisser, Coca Cola, JD Group, Emirates Leisure, MMI and most recently Meraas.

She is responsible for delivering the People and Culture strategy, governance framework and policies across Al-Ghurair Investment Group. Culture change, leadership development and talent management are at the helm of Debra’s capabilities, which includes developing and implementing Group Emiratization programs, emerging leadership and executive training programs, and career and succession planning.

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Tagreed Mohammed Taher Abdulla Almuhatadi

Tagreed graduated from the Collage of Education (with an English and Linguistics major) from the United Arab Emirates University in 1986. She is highly experienced in teaching and educating students as she was part of the Ministry of Education team.

She later joined the family business in jewelry as an events coordinator and established the first jewelry boutique in the U.A.E. Tagreed is also a board member of Jawhara Jewelry Company, which now has more than 50 branches across the U.A.E.

With a passion for volunteering, she joined and supported many institutes and schools such as Red Crescent and Al ittihad Private School in Dubai. Tagreed joined the parents’ council in Dar Al Marefa Private School in 2011 and was elected soon after to become the head of parents’ and teachers’ council in school since then.
She is a mother of two sons and a daughter (a llieutenant in the Dubai police, a doctor in Dubai Health Authority, and her youngest daughter is enrolled in Dar Al Marefa’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme).