GEMS World AcademyPrincipal & Leadership Team

GEMS World Academy – Abu Dhabi is operated by GEMS Education, one of the world's largest private education groups. The school's current principal is Shahina Ahmad OBE, Executive Principal and CEO, who joined in August 2025 — bringing with her over three decades of educational leadership and a national honour awarded for outstanding contribution to improving student outcomes. Her track record is notable: as founding principal of Eden Girls' School in Waltham Forest, the school was rated Outstanding by Ofsted at its first inspection and ranked 13th nationally for pupil progress in the 2019 government league tables. Parents should note, however, that her appointment is recent, and the inspection report covering 2023/24 was conducted under a previous principal. The transition represents both an opportunity and a variable to monitor.

The senior leadership team is experienced and internationally credentialled. Kate Bradley, Vice Principal and Head of Secondary, brings over 15 years of senior leadership experience across the UK, UAE, Switzerland and Jordan. Khadidja Bessoltane, Assistant Principal, oversees community, culture and languages and holds the Golden Woman Award for Most Emerging Leadership in Education. Sabah Rashid, Head of Lower Primary and Lead IB PYP Coordinator, holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from UC Irvine and a School Management and Leadership certificate from Harvard. Nora Elkady, CP/DP Coordinator and Deputy Head of Secondary, brings 14 years of educational experience including MYP coordination and IB examiner roles. The breadth of this team is a genuine strength, though the ADEK inspection noted a need to redefine senior leadership roles to better reflect the importance of Arabic medium subjects — a structural gap worth watching.

The 2023/24 ADEK Irtiqa inspection rated WAA's overall performance Very Good — a rating the school has held consistently since at least 2021, demonstrating meaningful stability across a period of significant change that included a campus relocation and a doubling of the school roll. Within that overall judgment, governance was rated Outstanding, management, staffing, facilities and resources were rated Outstanding, and parents and community engagement was rated Outstanding — three of the strongest sub-ratings available. Leadership effectiveness was rated Very Good, with inspectors noting that the principal and governing board ensure a purposeful learning climate. Areas for improvement include strengthening the monitoring of teaching and learning, improving inter-phase collaboration, and ensuring consistent best practice across all subjects — signals that leadership systems are still maturing in a school that has grown rapidly.

On staffing, the school employs 72 teachers supported by 52 teaching assistants, serving 875 students. This produces a student-to-teacher ratio of 1:12 — meaningfully better than the Abu Dhabi city average of 1:13.6 across all private schools, and a positive indicator of individual attention. Teacher nationalities are drawn primarily from the United Kingdom, United States and Ireland, consistent with the school's IB and National Curriculum for England framework. [MISSING: percentage of staff holding Masters-level qualifications or above; staff retention/turnover rate]. The inspection report does not flag staffing instability, and the appointment of a comprehensive new leadership team since 2021 appears to have been managed as a deliberate restructuring rather than disruptive churn.

Parent engagement is a standout feature. The school provides a dedicated parent café and lounge on campus, runs regular reading workshops and home-learning support sessions, and maintains what inspectors described as highly successful partnerships with parents and national and international organisations. This community orientation is reflected in the Outstanding rating for parent and community engagement — a rare distinction among IB schools in Abu Dhabi, where only 10 of 40 IB curriculum schools hold an Outstanding overall rating.