GEMS Our Own English High SchoolPrincipal & Leadership Team

GEMS Our Own English High School is operated by GEMS Education, one of the world's largest private education operators, and governed through a Local Advisory Board subject to KHDA oversight. The school's current principal is Dr. Sheeba Jojo, whose welcome message leads the school's official communications. The KHDA inspection report dated September 2023 references Thomas Koickal as principal, appointed 1 April 2014, while the school website now presents Dr. Jojo in that role — indicating a leadership transition has occurred, though the precise handover date is not confirmed in available sources. Overarching strategic leadership sits with Mr. Thomas Mathew, CEO, who has been with the school since 2014 and brings extensive CBSE leadership experience including a National Teacher Award (2015) and a CBSE Teacher Award (2008). Supporting the senior team are Ms. Ashwini Deshmane, Head of Kindergarten, who joined GEMS in 2016 with over 30 years in education, and Ms. Susan Marks, Head of Middle School. This layered leadership structure across phases reflects the operational demands of a school of this scale.

KHDA's 2023–2024 inspection rated the effectiveness of leadership as Very Good, with governance also rated Very Good and parents and the community rated Outstanding — the highest possible grade in that domain. Inspectors noted that senior leaders have established a purposeful, inclusive learning community and that the Local Advisory Board is well-informed and committed to school improvement, with parents actively engaged as partners. The school operates a Parent Voice programme and holds a dedicated Parent Engagement Week, practices that inspectors credited with sustaining high levels of parental satisfaction. This is a meaningful signal for families: governance here is not passive.

With 465 teachers serving 10,413 students, GEMS OOD records a student-teacher ratio of 1:22. This is notably higher than the Dubai private school average of 1:13.6 across 204 schools with available data, and warrants attention from prospective parents. The school's scale — the largest in Dubai — inevitably creates pressure on individual teacher attention, and KHDA inspectors flagged that the needs of students of determination and gifted learners are not always fully met in lessons, a finding consistent with the ratio challenge. Staff qualification data is not published in available sources [MISSING: percentage of staff holding postgraduate qualifications], though the leadership profiles visible on the school website indicate supervisory staff holding Masters degrees and professional certifications such as Trinity College London ESOL and TELLAL qualifications. Inspectors noted that teaching quality reaches Outstanding in Secondary but remains at Good in KG and Primary — a gap the school has been asked to address by sharing best practices across phases.

Stability is a genuine strength of this institution. The school has held a KHDA Very Good rating for eight consecutive years, from 2015–16 through 2023–24, and has maintained the same rating for ten of its last eleven inspected years. Staff longevity is also evident: Ms. Mehr Husain has been associated with the school for 32 years, and several supervisory staff members have served for a decade or more. No inspection commentary signals systemic staff turnover concerns. The school's vision — articulated by Dr. Jojo as educating the whole child through a blend of academic excellence, character development, and care — is reinforced by inspection findings on outstanding personal development and student leadership across all phases.