Dubai Gem Private SchoolPrincipal & Leadership Team

Dubai Gem Private School is led by Principal Parie Stoneman, who joined DGPS at the start of the 2023–2024 academic year, succeeding Humera Ibrahim, who had held the role since September 2016. Ms. Stoneman's arrival marks a leadership transition at a school that had benefited from considerable continuity under her predecessor. Her early communications signal an active, community-oriented style — introducing extracurricular activities, a student rewards system, and a clear emphasis on parental partnership. The senior leadership team is notably broad, comprising Vice Principal Dr. Poonam Mahindra, alongside deputy heads covering secondary, foundation stage, operations, and MOE subjects — a structure that reflects the school's scale and curriculum complexity.

The school's governing board includes Mr. Kevin Bensusan and Mr. Alan Egbert. However, KHDA's 2023–2024 inspection identified governance as an area requiring attention, with governance rated Good and a specific recommendation to strengthen school governance — particularly around governors' educational expertise and their ability to hold leaders to account. Overall leadership effectiveness was also rated Good, with inspectors noting that self-evaluation, while rigorous in process, produces judgements not always well aligned with the evidence gathered. These are meaningful flags for parents to weigh alongside the school's many genuine strengths.

On teaching quality, DGPS fields 121 qualified teachers supported by 30 teaching assistants and 2 dedicated guidance counsellors for a student body of 1,069. This produces a student-to-teacher ratio of 1:8 — significantly more favourable than the Dubai private school average of 1:13.6 across 204 schools with ratio data, and among the lowest of any British curriculum school in the city. [MISSING: staff qualification percentage data, e.g. proportion holding Masters or above]. Inspection findings describe teachers as consistently applying subject knowledge and using varied approaches, with particular strength in secondary and post-16 phases where teaching is rated Very Good. In foundation stage and primary, teaching is rated Good, with inspectors noting that differentiated planning is not always executed in practice and that questioning does not consistently promote deeper individual reflection.

Parent and community engagement is a genuine strength. Parents and the community rated Very Good by KHDA — the highest sub-rating in the leadership section — with an active Parent Council (2025–26), regular parent workshops, feedback meetings, and surveys that directly inform improvement planning. Governors are noted as actively seeking to strengthen parental engagement. The school's personal development provision was rated Outstanding across all four phases — foundation stage, primary, secondary, and post-16 — a rare and consistent achievement that speaks to the culture leadership has sustained over many years. Founded in 1973, DGPS is one of Dubai's longest-established schools, and that institutional depth is evident in the stability of its community relationships even as its senior leadership evolves.