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Introduction from the Founding Head
Welcome to the new paradigm in education. It is my privilege to announce that GEMS Nations Academy will open in September, 2016, in Dubai. Our
new school will pair innovative teaching methods with new digital communication tools to form a network of connected, creative learners. Offering
the American curriculum, enriched by a diverse international context, we will take every student on a new journey of academic achievement and
self-discovery, going beyond what schools have accomplished before.
Today we all belong to an information age that is radically changing the way we live and learn. Individuals, organizations, and nations are
challenged to keep pace. Leadership is redefined as innovation, creative problem-solving, and the use of new tools to achieve ambitious goals.
But greatness is using these skills to advance the cause of prosperity, sustainability, and peace—to imagine a future that brings people together
and fulfills our highest hopes—for our children and for our nations.
After more than two decades leading prominent private schools in the United States, I have joined GEMS Education to create a school that
will set the new standard for international education, for student engagement, and for connected learning. In highly interactive classrooms,
our students will be encouraged to cultivate their exceptional potential in full measure, guided by gifted teachers. A broad spectrum of
activities will stimulate the many dimensions of each child’s intelligence. Challenge and opportunity, in equal measure, will be the natural
outgrowth of close engagement of our teachers and students in an environment of intellectual intensity.
A center of excellence where students will experience a sense of belonging, Nations Academy will give them the courage to try
new things, to take intellectual risks. GEMS believes that we learn from our mistakes as well as from our successes, and it takes a
supportive community to encourage the development of curiosity, creativity and imagination. We are ideally situated at this crossroads
of cultures in Dubai, a city that, like our students, is dynamically growing, embracing innovation, and creating the future.
Indeed, our students will be supported in developing the knowledge and skills to thrive in this new world. But the hallmarks
of a GEMS education are our enduring values: leading through innovation, pursuing excellence, growing by learning, and global
citizenship. With this holistic approach, we aim to produce not just great learners, but great people.
With the opening of GEMS Nations Academy, we are bringing a fresh answer to the age-old question of how best to unlock the
extraordinary potential of every child. The keys are resourcefulness and resilience, imagination and creativity, challenge and
support, collaboration, caring, and community. We will always remain relentlessly optimistic as we pursue innovative ways to
challenge and inspire. And like our students, we will never stop learning.