School Talk: UAE
Welcome to "School Talk: UAE," your go-to podcast for all things education in the United Arab Emirates.
Join us as we sit down with teachers, experts, and parents to explore schools across the UAE.
Each episode provides valuable insights and perspectives from those directly involved in shaping the educational experience.
Whether you're a parent, an educator, or simply curious about the state of education in the UAE, "School Talk: UAE" is your window into the dynamic world of learning in this region.
School Talk: UAE
Grow With Us: A School Model Rooted in Community, Empathy & Innovation
What happens when a school decides that education should extend beyond its walls and into the heart of the community? Dubai Schools Nad Al Sheba answers this question with their revolutionary "Grow With Us" approach to learning.
Principal Dr. Carla Caviness takes us behind the scenes of a school that's redefining education in the UAE. While they offer the American curriculum as their foundation, it's their extensive network of partnerships and community initiatives that truly sets them apart. Working with organisations like DP World, Emirates Literature Foundation, and National Bonds, they've created authentic learning experiences that benefit not just students, but parents and the wider community as well.
"What you can't teach with AI is collaboration and inclusion," Dr Caviness explains, highlighting how Dubai Schools Nad Al Sheba focuses on developing distinctly human qualities that technology cannot replicate. From community clean-ups at Blossom Park to harvesting honey with bee farmers, students engage in hands-on experiences that foster independence, empathy, and real-world problem-solving skills.
Their commitment to sustainability shines through initiatives like the "Hour of Power" when all lights are turned off at midday, and their school-wide ban on plastic bottles. These aren't just one-off projects but embedded practices that cultivate lasting environmental consciousness.
Join us for this fascinating conversation about how Dubai Schools Nad Al Sheba is preparing students to be "independent learners who thrive in their communities and beyond." If you're curious about the future of education and how schools can become true community hubs, this episode offers inspiring insights and practical examples of innovation in action. Have you experienced educational approaches that extend beyond traditional boundaries? We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Hi, welcome to School Talk and this special mini-series featuring conversations recorded at a live podcast principal event hosted by Spinneys. We sat down with experts and school leaders to discuss key topics shaping education today. Let's get into today's conversation. Dubai Schools, nanoshiba, is making waves with its innovative approach to education. I'm joined by Principal Dr Carla Cabaniss to discuss the unique program shaping student learning and how they're setting new standards for education in the UAE. Dr Carla, thank you so much for having a conversation with us today. Thank you for inviting me. You are from Dubai Schools, not Oshiba, and we're going to be talking about unique educational programs. Kick us off. What is that to you?
Speaker 2:Hello everyone. My name is Dr Carla Cabanavanis and I'm the principal at Dubai Schools, nara Oshiba. So at Dubai Schools we have a unique educational offering. We do offer the American curriculum, but that is supported by extracurricular activities to ensure that we educate the whole child. We have a slogan this academic year called Grow With Us. No pun intended, I know we're growing with spinnies. We do have that saying because we want our school to be a hub for the community, for the parents, for the students, for our stakeholders as well as the staff there. And we offer several additional attributes to the curriculum through partnerships like On to Table, dp World Emirates Literature Foundation, as well as National Bonds for Financial Security, and not only for the students but for the parents, as well as national bonds for financial security, and not only for the students but for the parents as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so in terms of uniqueness, how are you setting yourself apart from different schools in this approach?
Speaker 2:We are shifting the culture for the students as well as the parents. We're not only in the business of educating the students who are with us from KG to grade seven this year, but also their parents and their caregivers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think in terms of selling that to parents. So when people come on tours or come and visit the school, is that just another prong where you can say, well, look, we offer this education, but we also offer this as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's definitely one of our unique selling points. It allows us to expand beyond the school walls and out inside of the real community. For example, we did a project where the school went out to clean for National Cleanup Day. We went to a park called Blossom Park, right around the corner from the school. Our parents showed up, drivers, people from the community. They came out to help support the initiative and it drives that community feel and it really underpins grow with us as we grow.
Speaker 1:We want to continue to give back to the community yeah, and in terms of the future competencies of your students, your families, your community. Some people might not agree with it in the room now. Everybody in the world has the same knowledge now fingertips. I could find out everything everyone else can find out, but I feel like schools now need to be doing exactly what you're doing that extra part of it, that community side of it to take what that knowledge you've got and then apply it to different ways 100% agree.
Speaker 2:The new trend in the world now is AI. Everything is right there. I bring the tips. What you can't teach is, or what you can't find with AI and artificial intelligence is collaboration and inclusion, and it's one of our core values at school. We want to really encourage empathy within the learners. We want to encourage collaboration and just not being cooperative learners or people that just do, but people that think and truly have empathy about the world and what's next for the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that empathy, that collaboration is huge, because I always said there, if you don't know how to talk to someone, if you don't have to sit down and have a conversation with someone you've never met, then you're going to struggle when it gets to those pivotal points in your life and AI isn't going to do everything for you.
Speaker 2:Another thing that we've done at the school to align with these partnerships and the E33 game changers that KSDA has just set out is allow students the opportunity to have those real life experiences. We did the veg pledge and veg pledge. They came in and they showed our students how to be independent and make their own food. You know, some students are overly dependent on others that support them in the home and support them in school. Sometimes teachers don't allow that gradual release and those students to be independent. But partnerships like this encourage our students to be independent thinkers and people that can do things independently without help and support, because in the future they don't need it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and feedback from the wider community.
Speaker 2:Amazing feedback from the staff, the students, the parents. It does truly allow a hands-on experience and a learning experience. We do financial literacy with National Violence. Parents came in and they were educated on financial literacy, financial stability for the future for your students, and they were able to actually win prospects with National Violence for savings in the future. Our parents really loved it because it taught them something that they didn't learn in school and it's setting them up for the future for their kids. Our students learned how to harvest honey from a bee farmer, so it's something that they can really do and use in the future.
Speaker 1:When we talk about sustainable schools, but also a sustainable life, yeah, and I think those learning experiences are so much more authentic. Let's get them hands on, let's do that.
Speaker 2:They always ask about like the queen bee and like, oh, we saw a bee, we have to save him now. And so they want to say they want to be more sustainable. We have this initiative at school called the Hour of Power. At midday you cut all the lights off and we try to say, and so all of the students, they remember these things, oh it, the hour of power time.
Speaker 2:We had an initiative where we don't bring plastic bottles to school anymore. So if someone forgets it, oh, we need to share this cup. We need to wash this cup out, we need to reuse it. All of these small initiatives lead to long-term change and thinking for the students. So, inshallah, in the future there will be independent learners who thrive in their communities and beyond.
Speaker 1:That's what we want for our students. Really, that's what we want.