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Sharjah, Arada to design future world-class schools

Outdoor learning spaces will serve as extensions of the classroom, providing pupils with the opportunity to observe and interact with nature

Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Arada, the leading master developer behind modern urban communities in Sharjah, to create a partnership that will see both organisations collaborate to design future schools in the emirate.

Signed today between Dr Muhadditha Al Hashimi, Chairperson of SPEA, and Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, Vice-Chairman of Arada, the agreement will also see the launch of joint training programmes, as well as joint initiatives and events designed to promote the educational sector in Sharjah.

As part of the partnership, Arada's architecture team will work with SPEA to design world-class schools in line with the existing contemporary and sustainable design standards by the two parties.

Dr Muhadditha Chairperson of Sharjah Private Education Authority, said: “We are pleased to partner with Arada towards achieving our shared goals for imparting quality education to serve the public interests of Sharjah.

"We look forward to building schools that are in line with Sharjah’s ambitious and far-reaching education goals to become an attractive environment for students and teachers and enhance the wellbeing of the education society.”

Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, Vice-Chairman of Arada, said: “Delivering communities with access to high-quality schooling is a priority for Arada, and is in line with Sharjah’s wider commitment towards education as a whole. We are therefore pleased to be able to use our in-house architectural expertise to collaborate with SPEA to design progressive and sustainable academic spaces that will help shape Sharjah’s future generations.”

Arada’s architectural team is planning to incorporate experiential and expansive spaces that are served by both natural and artificial light within each future school to enhance mindfulness and support the acquisition of knowledge.

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Outdoor learning spaces will serve as extensions of the classroom, providing pupils with the opportunity to observe and interact with nature. Open areas in circulatory spaces as well as the provision of large, multi-purpose open areas will encourage exploration and flexible play as children interact among various age groups at school and broaden their social skills.

The first collaboration between SPEA and Arada took place last September with the launch of the first school at Aljada, Sharjah’s largest master community. SABIS® International School - Aljada (SIS-Aljada) offers high-quality education to students from Kindergarten to Grade 3 and will have an eventual capacity of 4,000 pupils when the second and final phase of the school opens in August 2022.

Following the opening of SIS-Aljada, Arada intends to open two further international schools at Aljada, as well as one international school at each of its two other Sharjah communities, Masaar and Nasma Residences.