DBSEH
WELCOME
to the 2025-26 school year!
We’re thrilled to welcome all our families—returning and new— to what promises to be a truly special year at Dubai British School Emirates Hills. This year marks a major milestone as we celebrate our 20th anniversary, a moment to reflect on our journey and look ahead with excitement.
We’re especially proud to have opened the brand-new Islands campus, expanded our community with new families, and refreshed our facilities at DBSEH. Whether you’re joining us for the first time or have been part of our story for years, we’re so glad you’re here.
BrettGirven Principal
THE DBSEH ASSETS IN ACTION
FLOURISHING IN A CONNECTED WORLD
A Positive Vision for Education
Today’s young people are growing up in a world full of exciting opportunities —but also big challenges. They’re more connected, socially aware, and environmentally conscious than ever before. At the same time, they’re navigating complex issues like climate change, mental health, inequality, and rapid technological change. In this fast-changing world, education should do more than prepare students for exams - it should help them flourish. Inspired by the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, we see flourishing as living a good life: one filled with purpose, strong relationships, and a deep connection to the world around us.
This doesn’t mean we’re stepping away from academic excellence. In fact, flourishing strengthens it. We still want our students to be confident communicators, skilled in maths and computational thinking, and deeply informed about global issues. But we also want them to grow as whole peoplewith strong values, emotional intelligence, and a sense of responsibility.
Student Assets Profile
At Dubai British School Emirates Hills, we’ve created a Student Assets Profile to help every child recognise and grow their unique strengths. These assets include being a:
Critical Thinker
Asking thoughtful questions and making fair decisions.
Critical Thinker
Imagining new ideas and solving problems in original ways.
Systems Thinker
Seeing how things connect and understanding the bigger picture.
Ecocentric Thinker
Caring for nature and making choices that protect the planet.
Curious Explorer
asking “why?” and “how?” and seeking out new knowledge.
Resilient Learner
Bouncing back from setbacks and learning from mistakes.
Courageous Voice
Standing up for what’s right and leading with integrity.
Compassionate Contributor
Showing kindness and helping others feel safe and supported.
Active Collaborator
Working well with others and valuing different perspectives.
Confident Communicator
Sharing ideas clearly in writing, speech, and digital formats.
Wellbeing Champion
Making healthy choices and supporting others’ wellbeing.
DBSEH Assets
These aren’t just skills for the future - they’re strengths our students already show in everyday life. Over time, this profile will grow with them. Teachers will design purposeful learning experiences that help students stretch and apply these strengths in real-world contexts. And as students mature, they’ll begin to self-assess their capabilities, reflecting on where they shine and where they want to grow - building confidence, ownership, and a sense of direction.
Flourishing is also about community and connection. We want our students to feel safe, inspired, and valued. We want them to know that success isn’t just about grades—it’s about making a positive difference in the world.
In short, flourishing is a culture we live every day. It’s about helping children grow into confident, kind, and capable young people—ready not just to succeed, but to contribute, connect, and thrive.
CURIOUS EXPLORER
“When children play, they aren’t just passing time — they are building worlds, ideas and connections that shape who they are. ”
― Greg Bottrill
CURIOUSLY EXPLORING AT ISLANDS
At the Islands Campus, curiosity sits at the very heart of our approach to early education. From the moment our youngest children arrive each morning, they step into a world designed to spark imagination, inspire questions and nurture their natural desire to explore. Whether they are building, painting, investigating or sharing discoveries with their friends, every corner of our campus invites curiosity and wonder.
Curiosity is not simply encouraged - it’s celebrated. We see it in the way our children pause to ask, “I wonder why…?” or lean in closer to observe something new. It’s in these small yet significant moments that deep learning begins. Our teachers carefully design environments that encourage openended exploration and provide opportunities for children to find answers through play, discovery and collaboration.
This year marks an exciting milestone for the Islands Campus, as we have opened our very first Rising 3s class. Our youngest learners have embarked on their DBS journey with great enthusiasm, exploring their very first topic: Teddy Bears. Through stories, songs, sensory play and creative activities, they have been developing key communication and social skills while also building the foundations for a lifelong love of learning.
In our EYFS classrooms, teachers have created wonderful learning environments that encourage children to be curious, to make independent choices and to challenge themselves through play. Carefully designed zones and continuous provision areas inspire imagination, exploration and problemsolving. Whether it’s creating stories in the role-play corner, investigating natural materials or building collaboratively in the construction area, each activity is an opportunity for children to take ownership of their learning. Teachers skillfully support these moments, extending ideas through questioning and dialogue to ensure that curiosity leads to meaningful learning.
As our children move through the Early Years and into Key Stage 1, curiosity continues to be the driving force behind their learning. This term, our Key Stage 1 students launched their first concept through making “Footprints in the Sand.” Through enquiry-based learning, children are encouraged to become question-makers as well as question-solvers, asking why, how, and what if as they explore themes connected to their world and experiences. By investigating real-life contexts and following their own lines of inquiry, our students develop critical thinking, creativity and a genuine sense of ownership over their learning.
Looking ahead, we are thrilled to soon unveil “The Cove” a brand-new indoor learning environment created especially for our Foundation Stage children. The Cove will bring our seven areas of learning to life through immersive, play-based experiences. Children will explore their imaginative side in The Lighthouse role-play area, express creativity through art and music in Starfish Studios and deepen their understanding of the world in Captain’s Corner, where they’ll investigate early concepts in mathematics and science. Every zone is thoughtfully designed to capture children’s imagination, encourage curiosity and provide meaningful opportunities for exploration.
Curious Explorer October 2025
Beyond the classroom, curiosity will also continue to flourish in our outdoor learning environments. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding our outdoor provision for both Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, creating spaces that encourage movement, investigation, collaboration and challenge. Here, children can dig, build, observe, and question, all while developing problem-solving skills and resilience through play.
At the Islands Campus, we believe that curiosity is the spark that ignites all learning. By fostering inquisitive minds and adventurous spirits, we are helping our youngest learners become lifelong explorers - confident, capable and ready to make their own footprints in the world.
It’s been wonderful to see curiosity come alive across our campus this half term - a true reminder that the smallest questions often lead to the greatest discoveries .
ACTIVE COLLABORATOR
Co-Operation & Collaboration
Even before the children returned, our staff were already embodying this asset. Teachers from across the school came together to plan, share idea, and shape the learning journey for the year ahead. These were not just planning sessions but moments of genuine collaboration. Everyone contributed, everyone listened and together, we built something stronger.
So what makes Active Collaboration different?
We have previously spoken to the children about co-operation—working side by side, sharing tasks, being helpful which is a great start. Collaboration goes a step further: it’s about building something together, combining ideas, and learning from one another.
Active Collaborator
However, Active Collaboration is the next level. It is when learners fully engage listening carefully, contributing thoughtfully, challenging ideas respectfully and adapting together. It is not just about doing things together; itis about thinking together. It is purposeful, energising and powerful. And our students are already embracing it.
Across the curriculum, children are learning how to collaborate actively. In English, they are co-writing stories. In Science, they are investigating together. In Maths, they are solving problems as teams. They are learning to lead, to listen and to reflect—not just on what they did, but how they did it.
In PE and sport, Active Collaboration is everywhere. Whether it is building trust in team games, synchronising in dance, or supporting each other through a challenging circuit, students are discovering that success is not just about individual skill it is about communication, empathy and shared effort. They are learning that the best teams are not just made—they are built, moment by moment, through collaboration that is active, thoughtful and kind.
As we introduce this new asset, we invite you our parent community to explore it with us. Ask your child how they worked with others today. Celebrate the moments when they solved a problem together or helped a friend to succeed. And reflect on how collaboration shows up at home whether it is planning a family activity, cooking a meal together, or simply listening to one another.
Because when we truly collaborate, we don’t just get things done—we achieve something greater.
RESILIENT LEARNER
THE STRENGTH TO GROW Nurturing Resilience Through Change
To be a resilient learner is “the ability to cope with setbacks, adapt well to change and keep going in the face of adversity - skills that underpin effective learning and positive mental health” (DfE, Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools, 2018). In our schools, resilience is not a future aspiration - it is something our students already demonstrate daily.
This Academic Year has been one of extraordinary growth and adaptability for our whole school community. For our youngest learners moving to the new Islands Campus, and for those at our expanded Emirates Hills Campus, resilience has been more than a value, it has been a lived experience. Our students have embraced new environments, met new friends and teachers, and adjusted to new routines with a confidence and enthusiasm that speaks volumes about their character. Despite these transitions, they continue to flourish in safe, nurturing and joyful classes.
As educators, we recognise that resilience is not about simply ‘bouncing back’; it’s about bouncing forward - learning from experiences and using challenges as opportunities for growth. Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset research reminds us that when learners believe their abilities can be developed through effort and perseverance, they become more motivated and resilient in the face of setbacks. We see this mindset in action every day, in the way a Year 1 child persists with Phonics, a Year 6 student refines and justifies their reasoning in Mathematics, or a Year 9 learner revises their hypothesis in a Science enquiry.
Across both campuses, our enquiry-based learning approach has been instrumental in nurturing this spirit. When students are invited to ask questions, test ideas and explore multiple solutions, they learn that mistakes are not failures but vital steps in the learning process. As John Hattie acknowledges in his research on Visible Learning, ‘Errors are opportunities to learn; they are not signs of failure.’ By creating Learning Environments where curiosity and perseverance are celebrated, we are helping students internalise this truth.
Teachers, too, have modelled resilience - designing purposeful, meaningful learning experiences that stretch students’ thinking and connect learning to real-world contexts. Whether through outdoor investigations, cross-curricular projects or student-led enquiries, our educators have shown that resilience grows strongest when learning feels authentic and empowering. Beyond academics, flourishing in our community means feeling safe, inspired and valued. We want our students to understand that success is not measured only by grades or accolades, but by the positive difference they make in their friendships, their teamwork and their sense of global citizenship. As they navigate change with courage and optimism, they are laying the foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing.
In celebrating our students’ adaptability and perseverance this year, we are reminded that resilience is not just a skill, but rather a mindset, a habit and a strength of character. It is what enables our learners, from Foundation Stage to Sixth Form, to thrive in a changing world and to keep asking, exploring and growing with confidence and joy.
CRITICAL THINKER
CRITICAL THINKING WHAT, HOW, AND WHY?
At Dubai British School Emirates Hills, we believe that developing critical thinking is an incredibly powerful tool for a young person to acquire. Among many other things, critical thinking helps our young people learn how to distinguish between fact, opinion and not-so-fact in the vast and exponentially growing amount of information available, particularly online. Given the powerful influence of social media feeds and algorithms, that is a skill we could all constantly work on as adults too!
More broadly, critical thinking is the ability to analyse information carefully, question assumptions, and make reasoned decisions. It’s not about being “clever” or knowing lots of facts. It’s about being curious, thoughtful, and open-minded. A critical thinker doesn’t accept things at face value—they ask why, how, and what if.
In the classroom, critical thinking appears in many ways in every subject. In English, the motivations of a character might need exploring, asking whether their actions were justified or influenced by their environment. In Science, students might evaluate the reliability of an experiment, and whether results were affected by bias or error. In History, learners might compare different sources about the same event, identifying which ones are more trustworthy and why. In Maths, a student might well question whether there is a swifter or more reliable way to perform very many skills.
Critical Thinker October 2025
However, critical thinking isn’t just academic it’s a life skill. We all have to decide whether to believe a story we have seen on social media. A critical thinker would ask: Who posted this? What is their credibility? What other evidence supports the points? Could there be another side to the story? This kind of thinking helps young people navigate the world with confidence and integrity and builds their wisdom.
Two of our wonderful Year 11 students have applied critical thinking in very practical ways. Issa explored and questioned ways to help fund her cohort’s Graduation Ball and took action to make it happen. Dania thought carefully about something she would like to see and created a very popular student-led Debate Club. Of course, the very essence of serious debate is critical thinking. Everyday decisions benefit from critical thinking too. Choosing what to eat could be an exercise in critical thought if nutrition, cost, and sustainability are considered.
At DBS Emirates Hills, we encourage students to practise these skills across all subjects and as many situations as possible with teachers nurturing critical thinking in lessons in many ways. At home maybe try asking thought-provoking openended questions? Turn ‘Did you have a good day?’ into ‘What made you think today?’ or ‘Did anything surprise you today?’ These small shifts can spark deeper reflection and help everyone become more aware of their thinking.
In a world full of vast information, opinions fed by algorithms, and endless choices, critical thinking helps students become not just successful learners, but responsible citizens. It empowers them to make informed decisions, solve problems creatively, and engage with others respectfully.
So next time someone close to you asks a difficult question or challenges an idea, celebrate it, even if you need to figure out an answer together. Let’s nurture those growing critical thinking skills.
SYSTEMS THINKER
THE POWER OF SYSTEMS THINKING
At DBSEH, we believe every learner can be a Systems Thinker — someone who recognises patterns, predicts outcomes, and acts responsibly. This mindset is nurtured from Early Years onwards, but it is particularly visible in our older students studying GCSE, A-Level, and BTEC, where complex ideas, processes, and people interconnect across subjects and disciplines.
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In A-Level Psychology how biological, cogn systems combine to sha wellbeing.
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Systems Thinker
Teachers bring Systems Thinking to life through inquiry, reflection, and application. Lessons involve “what-if” scenarios, project simulations, and realworld case studies. In collaborative tasks, students debate ethical implications, evaluate multiple perspectives, and propose solutions grounded in evidence. Cross-curricular projects build on this — a Year 12 sustainability study, for instance, might combine Chemistry, Geography, and Business to design renewable-energy strategies for our local context.
The result is a mindset shift: students become more confident tackling complex problems because they see how everything fits together. They move from simple cause-and-effect answers to deeper understanding — asking not just what happens, but why and how it influences wider systems.
Systems Thinking nurtures one of DBSEH’s core Student Assets — the Systems Thinker. By developing this capability, our learners combine academic excellence with ethical awareness and global perspective. They graduate ready to lead with clarity, creativity, and compassion — recognising that in an interconnected world, the most successful thinkers are those who can connect the dots.
COURAGEOUS VOICE
BRAVE ENOUGH TO SPEAK UP
At DBSEH, we are committed to nurturing the qualities that help our learners flourish not just in school, but in life. This term, as we begin our journey with the new DBSEH Assets, we have been inspired by the many ways our students are showing what it means to be a Courageous Voice.
As our asset statement reminds us: “I am brave and speak up for what is right. I make good choices, even when it is hard, and I try to do the right thing even if I feel unsure. ” Over the past half term, we have seen this in action across our classrooms, corridors, and community.
For some learners, courageous voice has meant standing up in assembly and sharing an idea with confidence, even when their heart was racing. Putting themselves forwards for student leadership roles takes a great deal of confidence and we have witnessed our students deliver speeches with determination and gusto intertwined with nerves all in the bid to secure their role as a student leader. For others, it has been found in smaller, quieter moments raising a hand to ask a thoughtful question, telling a teacher when something felt unfair, or offering kindness to a friend who needed support. These are the brave choices that shape our culture and show that doing the right thing often begins with a single word.
For some of our students who English may not be their first language, we have seen the courage it takes for them to speak in a new language. For many of our learners, every new word in English represents bravery. Teachers and Assistants have worked carefully to provide the encouragement and reassurance needed for those voices to grow stronger. Their progress is a powerful reminder that courage comes in many forms, and every step forward deserves celebration.
Courageous Voice October
Staff, too, have played an important role in nurturing courageous voice. By modelling respectful dialogue, encouraging reflective thinking, and celebrating every contribution, teachers are showing students that their words matter. Creating safe spaces where voices are heard and valued allows courage to take root and grow.
What is clear from this half term is that courageous voice looks different for every child. For some it is bold, public, and visible; for others it is quiet, tentative, and personal. Both are equally powerful, because both show bravery and integrity in action.
As we move into the next half term, we are excited to continue building a community where courageous voices are encouraged, celebrated, and respected.
When our students are brave enough to speak up for what is right, to make good choices even when it is difficult, and to do the right thing even when unsure, they do more than find their voice — they help shape the world around them.
CONFIDENT COMMUNICATOR
Confident Communicator
VOICES THAT INSPIRE, CONNECT, AND LEAD
At Dubai British School Emirates Hills, confidence doesn’t happen by accident it grows through conversation, curiosity, and courage. This term, our theme Confident Communicators has come alive in every corner of the school, reminding us that the ability to express yourself with clarity and heart is one of the most empowering skills a learner can develop.
Every day, we’ve seen students speak, question, and create with purpose from storytelling and songs that build early language, to debates and presentations that stretch thinking and invite new perspectives. It’s been a celebration of voices big and small, brave and thoughtful all contributing to the vibrant learning culture that defines DBSEH.
Moments of joy and discovery have filled our classrooms. Students sang, shared, and laughed their way through language and storytelling, learning that communication isn’t about perfection — it’s about connection. They listened to one another, responded with empathy, and learned that every word carries meaning and every voice matters.
Our learners also showed that communication can change the world around us. Through creative projects like the Upcycling STEAM Challenge, one student transformed everyday materials into a thriving garden of herbs — turning sustainability into an act of storytelling. These projects remind us that ideas, when communicated with passion, can grow into something truly inspiring.
Confident Communicator
That same spirit of confidence and purpose shone through during our annual EPQ Showcase. Our Sixth Form students presented their Extended Project Qualification research with poise and professionalism, each one sharing a piece of their intellectual journey. Their ability to communicate complex ideas with authenticity impressed everyone, including our special guest, Alan Williamson, CEO of Taaleem, whose presence made the event even more memorable. It was a proud moment for our entire community — a reflection of what it means to think deeply, speak clearly, and engage meaningfully.
Communication this term wasn’t limited to academics it was also about compassion and courage. Our Wellbeing Warriors and Head Peer Mentor, Nicole King, led powerful assemblies on Mental Health and Dyslexia Awareness. Their honest and heartfelt messages reminded us that real confidence is rooted in kindness — in using your voice to support, not overshadow, others.
Across our school, from the youngest learners to the graduating class, our students are learning that communication builds more than vocabulary — it builds character. When they speak, perform, question, and listen, they’re practicing leadership, empathy, and respect.
Confident Communicator
And behind every confident communicator stands a teacher who listens, encourages, and empowers. Together, we’re shaping a generation that knows how to speak with courage, listen with heart, and act with purpose.
At DBSEH, our students aren’t just learning to use their voices they’re learning to make them count. One conversation at a time.
