Sydney Atkins
Vice Principal and Designated Safeguarding Lead - GEMS Modern Academy
With over fifteen years of experience in teaching, staff and pupil development, Sydney serves as Vice-Principal at a Private School in Dubai. In 2017 Sydney transferred to an international school in Al Ain – where he served as Vice Principal and helped to improve the school’s ADEK rating in thirty three UAE inspection parameters. In 2020 Sydney returned to home-base, Dubai. During his career, he has worked in the ICSE, CBSE, IB and IGCSE curricula and is particularly passionate about educational technology and its potential to revolutionize learning. In 2014 Sydney was certified as a Leading-Edge Digital Educator by the US based company CUE, after pursuing a rigorous yearlong course based on the National Education Technology Plan, Common Core State Standards, and the ISTE Standards (formerly known as the NETS) for Teachers. He is a Microsoft Certified Educator and also has a degree in Communication from Trinity College, London. In 2016 Sydney was listed as a ‘Reading, Writing and Social media Influencer’ by Klear.com a UK based influencer database. He was the recipient of the ‘Stanford University Exceptional Educator Award’ in 2016 and the ‘Outstanding Educator Award’ from the University of Chicago, in 2020. He is currently pursuing a Certificate in School Management and Leadership (CSML),a multi-course certificate program for PreK-12 school leaders, provided by an innovative collaboration between the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and Harvard Business School.