Webinar: Embarking on the new normal for schools - a blueprint for a safe and strong return by GESS Education

Embarking on the new normal for schools - a blueprint for a safe and strong return

About

Reopening schools in a safe and responsive way that meets the needs of students, parents and teachers will present many new challenges. Ensuring the physical safety of everyone as well as supporting social, emotional and mental health will be key. What strategies and practical actions have schools taken and how do you monitor and adapt your approach whilst keeping students engaged and learning? With new stringent regulations and different approaches to getting students back to school including hybrid learning how can you achieve the best results possible as you embark on the new academic term. Join us at our GESS Talks webinar and listen to our expert panel as they discuss the lessons learnt from the past 6 months and the strategies that were put in place to effectively and safely restart schools.

WEBINAR ENDED

Presenters

GESS Education

Janecke Aarnaes

Director - Universal American School, Dubai (Chair & Moderator)

Janecke Aarnaes is a global citizen and an international educator with more than 25 years of experience in teaching and leadership. Janecke, newly appointed Director at Universal American School of Dubai, an IB World School and a leading American international school in the region, came to Dubai in 2017 to set up and be the Founding Head of Dwight School DubaI, also an IB World School with a strong American legacy. Prior to that she held the position as Head of School at Oslo International School (OIS) in Norway, also a cutting-edge private K-12 co-ed IB World School. Janecke has held numerous leadership roles, including seven years as Head of School at Sonans Oslo, a strategic project role as Business Development Manager at the Scandinavian School of Brussels (SSB), where she also served on the Board of Governors. She was also an Officer to the College of the EFTA Surveillance Authority in Belgium, a judicial inter-governmental institution in Brussels tasked with monitoring implementation of EU legislation. Her experience furthermore includes stints with private educational start-ups, such as the Sonans Privatgymnas, a Norwegian upper secondary school for adults, where she was the Founding Director, and for performing a demerger at SSB that resulted in the founding of the Norwegian School of Brussels (DNSB). Janecke is also a respected board member of the ECIS, the Educational Collaborative for International Schools. She holds a post-graduate diploma in Leading Innovation and Change from York St. John’s University in the United Kingdom and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology, Political Geography and French from the University of Oslo in Norway. Furthermore, she has studied international relations in Paris and loves languages. She is fluent in English, French and Norwegian and can additionally communicate in Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Italian and German.

Mohamad Saad

Director - Ajyal International School

Mohamad Saad has been in the education sector for more than twenty years, both as a teacher and senior administrator. He has worked in leadership positions in schools that follow the American curriculum, British curriculum, the IB diploma, and UAE curriculum. His last 11 years have been in senior management: program manager/interim campus director, business manager, and principal in international schools, local schools with international programs, government body, and higher education institute. Mohamad is a strong believer in technology inside the classroom; technology that supports teaching and learning, not to substitute or replace. He holds an MBA in leadership from University of Northampton, a PGD in finance and accounting from University of Liverpool, and bachelor’s degree in English language from the Lebanese University and is currently underway in his NPQH certification. Mohamad is also the former Chairman of Al Ain Private Schools Principals Association and was on the mock inspection teams in Fujairah and Sharjah in 2018.

Henning Fries

Chief Operating Officer - The Dwight Schools

Henning Fries is the Chief Operating Officer of The Dwight Schools, a global network of leading International Baccalaureate (IB) Schools. Dwight has campuses in New York, London, Seoul, Shanghai, and Dubai, as well as in the cloud through Dwight Global Online School, extending a Dwight world-class education to students everywhere.
Mr. Fries, who joined The Dwight Schools in October 2019, is responsible for advancing and harmonizing the group’s quality operations across all international campuses. Dwight, which was founded in 1872 in New York, is a pioneer in global education. It is the first school in the Americas to offer the comprehensive IB curriculum from preschool-grade 12. Dwight was also the first independent school in the U.S. to create an international campus abroad in London in 1972. Today, Dwight Schools span the globe and each one shares the same commitment to “igniting the spark of genius in every child.”
Prior to joining Dwight, Mr. Fries was the CEO of Bloom Education, the specialist education division of Bloom Holding operating world-class schools in the UAE. At Bloom, he played an instrumental role in the development of Dwight School Dubai, which opened in 2018. Bloom and Dwight joined forces to launch Dwight’s first campus in the Middle East, bringing an unsurpassed level of excellence and innovation in international education to both the city and larger UAE region.
A results-oriented executive, Mr. Fries has led large multicultural teams in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East in the private education and hospitality industries, which included such major organizations as InterContinental, Mandarin Oriental, Fairmont, and Starwood. In his most recent role, Mr. Fries formed five state-of-the-art schools in the UAE with Dwight, Brighton College, and MindChamps. He earned a Diploma in Hotel Management from the Hotel School SBC in Germany and an MBA from Henley Business School in the UK.

Kevin Fullbrook

Deputy Director - Al-Bayan Bilingual School, Kuwait

Kevin Fullbrook is currently Deputy Director at Al-Bayan Bilingual School, Kuwait. Having started his career as a Math and Physical Education teacher in a remote Australian school, he then worked at a range of schools across the country, before serving in leadership positions in the Middle East, China and Australia. Having participated in the Think Tank on Global Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2016, Kevin then went on to be named one of 'The Educator' magazines Rising Stars of Education under 40 years old. He is also a HundrED global innovation ambassador for the HundrED project out of Finland, a not for profit organization that seeks out and shares outstanding educational innovation around the globe. He has a Bachelor of Applied Science, Bachelor of Education and an MBA, and is a fully qualified Justice of the Peace.

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