• Home
• /
• Supplements

Developing Future Leaders

Roger Hancock, Principal, The Sheffield Private School talks about the curriculum in place to educate and guide the next generation

The Sheffield Private School is situated in Al Nadha 2 and provides an affordable British curriculum to students from Foundation Stage 1, all the way through to year 13. The school is led and managed by experienced British educationalists and we pride ourselves on recruiting highly trained and fully qualified teachers who are adept at delivering best British practices. We are a High-Performance Learning (HPL) school that encourages our students to be the best they possibly can be. We continually strive to develop our excellent staff via our proactive Professional Development Programme. We have an expectation that colleagues will work responsibly as opposed to accountably and we ascribe to the Dylan Wiliam quote that ‘Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.’

The most important principle we ascribe to is to make learning an enjoyable and challenging experience, which stimulates and inspires students to fulfil their potential. Students today are faced with a rapidly changing and sometimes daunting future. It is crucial that we focus on student wellbeing to help develop students whose focus is not merely to pass examinations, but to develop a capacity to continue learning throughout their lives and to develop the personal skills that will enable them to be happy in life and play their full part in society. We monitor the performance of our students regularly and implement a range of strategies to help them improve. We operate a plethora of extra-curricular activities together with a full sporting fixture list, so there is something for everyone at TSPS.

We have a very experienced Head of Wellbeing who monitors the staff and student wellbeing across the institution. We would describe our culture as one where students are happy and engaged in their learning. We have striven to create an environment where students feel safe, empowered, valued and are trusted to take personal responsibility for their own learning. The school possesses a unique, friendly and community orientated feel.

TSPS aims to provide a stimulating and rewarding learning community for both students and teachers. We have an increased focus this year on further upskilling our young and dynamic teachers with the provision of courses and qualifications through the National Professional Qualification of School Leadership programme. Not only is TSPS creating leaders of tomorrow among our students through our teaching, but we are also helping to support the professional development of the next generation of school leaders. A well-structured Teacher Professional Management Process, supports our teachers on their path to continual improvement. This makes TSPS an inspiring place to work, as well as gives our parents confidence that their children are receiving some of the best trained and skilled teachers available in Dubai.