GEMS Founders School DS DWCPrincipal & Leadership Team

GEMS Founders School DS DWC, operated by GEMS Education, is led by Principal and CEO Thomas Banyard, whose academic and professional credentials are among the most distinguished in Dubai's British curriculum sector. Banyard read Physics at Oxford University, completed his PGCE there, and built his early career at Tonbridge School, Kent and as Head of Physics at King's College School, Wimbledon — one of the UK's most academically selective independent schools. His international leadership experience includes serving as Founding Headmaster of King's Wimbledon Thailand, where he guided the school to a BSO Outstanding rating in all areas at its first accreditation — a meaningful signal of his ability to build quality from the ground up. He subsequently led RGS Dodderhill in the UK before joining GEMS. For a school that opened in 2024, having a principal of this calibre at the helm from day one is a material advantage.

The senior leadership team is structured with clear phase accountability. Lisa Cunningham serves as Head of Primary, Paul McEvoy as Head of Secondary, and Chelsey Seymour as Deputy Head of Primary. Zoe Allinson leads Key Stage 2, bringing deep phase-specific expertise, while Rollen D'Souza manages School Operations. Oversight sits within a broader structure: Matthew Burfield, Executive Principal of the Founders Schools group, provides group-level leadership continuity, and a Local Advisory Board is in place — members include Dr. Funke Baffour-Awuah, Corporate Head of Wellbeing at GEMS Education, and Jennifer Duggan, Oxford AQA Schools and Qualifications Regional Manager for the Gulf. This governance composition reflects both clinical wellbeing expertise and curriculum assessment credibility.

As a school founded in 2024, GFD has not yet been inspected by KHDA/DSIB and carries no formal inspection rating. Parents should note this is a structural reality of any new school, not a reflection of quality — among Dubai's 105 British curriculum schools, 19 are currently classified as New Schools awaiting their first substantive inspection. The school holds BSO accreditation, which provides an independent quality benchmark in the interim. Teaching staff are recruited on a 60:40 split of UK-trained to internationally trained teachers — a deliberate staffing model the school terms its 'Founders Plus' positioning. Student-teacher ratio and total staff headcount data are not yet published; the Dubai average across all schools with available data is 13.6 students per teacher, a figure GFD has not yet been benchmarked against.

Parent engagement is structured and intentional. The school operates a Wednesday Family First Forum — weekly meetings between parents and key staff — alongside a Family First Parent Café on campus and a Family First Padlet as a digital information hub. This three-channel approach to family communication is notably more formalised than many comparable new schools and reflects Banyard's stated 'Family First' leadership philosophy. The school's wellbeing infrastructure — including trained Mental Health First Aiders, a school counsellor, and the MYTE emotional regulation programme — further signals a leadership culture that extends beyond academic delivery.