GEMS Founders School Mizhar

GEMS Founders School Mizhar follows the National Curriculum for England from Foundation Stage through to Sixth Form, integrating UAE Ministry of Education requirements in Arabic, Islamic Studies, and Social Studies throughout. The curriculum is structured across Key Stages 1 through 5, with the school offering a notably broad suite of qualifications at the upper end: GCSE, IGCSE, AS Level, A Level, and BTEC pathways. The Sixth Form, which opened in 2022, now offers A Levels across five option blocks covering Art, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Computer Science, Drama, Economics, English Language, English Literature, French, Geography, History, IT, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, and Sociology - alongside Level 3 BTEC qualifications in Art, Business, IT, and Physical Education. A defining pedagogical feature of GFM is its commitment to Computational Thinking as one of four curriculum pillars. The school describes it not merely as a subject but as a way of approaching any problem - an orientation that begins in Foundation Stage with Bee-bot programming and extends through to Year 10 with drone programming, Sphero robotics, and Python coding. The Innovation Lab has been purpose-redesigned with visible zones for problem identification, critical thinking, and solution development. Alongside this, the school has adopted High Performance Learning (HPL), a curriculum delivery model based on the belief that all students, regardless of background, can achieve at high levels. GFM runs Innovation Challenges across year groups, requiring students to select a Sustainable Development Goal and apply the four stages of Computational Thinking - Decomposition, Pattern Recognition, Abstraction, and Algorithm Design - to develop real solutions. On academic outcomes, the picture is encouraging at GCSE level and promising at A Level. The 2024 IGCSE cohort of 125 students sat 847 examinations, achieving an 83% overall pass rate. Notably, 16% of entries achieved Grade 9 (the highest possible), 29% achieved Grades 9-8, and 47% achieved Grades 9-7 (equivalent to A*-A). The first A Level cohort in 2024 comprised 41 students sitting 109 examinations, recording a 95% overall pass rate with 20% of entries achieving A*-A grades. These are creditable results for a young school at a mid-range fee point, though they sit below the benchmarks of Dubai's premium British schools. KHDA inspectors rated English, Mathematics, and Science attainment as Good across all phases, with mathematics progress rated Very Good in Primary and English progress Very Good at Post-16. Arabic and Islamic Education attainment remains at Acceptable across most phases - an honest limitation the school is working to address. For students with additional learning needs, GFM's inclusion provision is a genuine strength. The KHDA inspection team awarded the school's inclusion practices a Very Good rating, praising the dedicated inclusion team, rigorous entry assessment procedures, and the school's transparent communication with parents around Individual Education Plans (IEPs). With 361 students of determination enrolled, this is not tokenistic inclusion - it is embedded practice. EAL support is provided through the school's broader language framework, and the curriculum is designed to accommodate students at very different starting points, though inspectors noted that differentiation for higher-attaining students requires further development. University destinations are referenced on the school's homepage, with GEMS students noted as being accepted by leading universities, though specific destination data is not publicly available for this campus.