Mission and Values
Sharjah English School prepares children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences they will face in life through promoting their social, cultural, moral and intellectual development. The school strives to provide a learning experience which is challenging and enjoyable.
The needs of our pupils are our prime concern.
We are at our core an English community school. This reflects the principles on which we were established, and our actual experiences over nearly four decades of successful operation.
In practice this means that we follow a UK curriculum, informed by UK government policy and practice, measure ourselves against demanding UK standards in terms of the quality of teaching and the success of learning outcomes. We operate standard and recognized tests at each Key Stage and prepare our students for GCSE examinations at 16 years of age, and A Level examinations at 18 years of age, recognizing that these qualifications have proven value internationally, as well as in the UK.
We expect all teaching staff to be fully qualified to the most exacting British standards, and to remain informed and current with developments and changes in UK educational policy and practice.
Being a British curriculum school also involves shared assumptions about values and the non-academic functions of a school: we place great emphasis on respect for others, tolerance of difference, academic and personal integrity, inclusion, multi-culturalism, and social and environmental responsibility. Our students will be guided towards principles of personal discipline and growth, health and fitness, social and political awareness and moral sensitivity, which will be part of their lives long after they leave the school.
We are an inclusive and diverse school, recognizing the nature of the community and society we serve. All staff, parents and pupils must understand that we are enriched by diversity and the range of nationalities, religions, cultures and levels of physical and intellectual ability represented in our school community. The school is non-denominational and strives to celebrate difference, recognizing that being a truly international school is going to provide students with a rewarding and nurturing education, one that will empower them as citizens of an ever-changing world.
Values: Teaching and Learning
As a relatively small school, we can maintain an intimate, student-friendly and nurturing environment. Teaching and learning within Sharjah English School reflect our strong beliefs about education in general:
- every pupil has to be valued and needs to attain the highest level academically of which he/she is capable;
- all pupils deserve the opportunity to learn and grow, personally, socially and morally;
- all students are individuals and the strengths and learning styles of each must inform our approach to teaching;
- to succeed with all children a school needs to be challenging and to push a child, but the environment must be secure and happy and free from threat;
- students should want to come to school;
- students should appear curious and engaged;
- teaching needs to be imaginative and inspiring and varied, only then can all be persuaded to participate;
- students in SES are in no doubt that the school expects much of them, but they are also secure in knowing that we offer them support and security to attempt challenging and new things;
- learning will flourish where there is a friendly, co-operative working relationship between the home and the school.