Liwa International School - Qattarah
Executive Summary
Liwa International School - Qattarah, an American curriculum school established in 2022, has received an overall Good rating in its latest ADEK Irtiqa inspection for the 2023-2024 academic year. The inspection, conducted in February 2024, highlights the school's commitment to providing a supportive educational environment.
Key strengths include good levels of achievement in social studies and English, a successfully promoted reading culture across all phases in both English and Arabic, and rigorous health and safety protocols. The school also benefits from effective partnerships with parents and strong leadership from the principal and senior team, which positively influences the overall school environment.
Areas for development focus on consistently raising student achievement across all subjects, enhancing the quality of teaching and assessment, and further modifying the curriculum to meet diverse student needs. Improvements are also recommended in student care and support, particularly for students of determination and gifted and talented students, and in strengthening the impact of middle leadership.
Overall School Performance
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Acceptable
Weak
Very Weak
Liwa International School - Qattarah Overall Rating
Good
ADEK Performance Standards
The six Irtiqa inspection standards used by ADEK to evaluate school performance across Abu Dhabi.
Students achieve good levels in social studies and English, supported by a strong reading culture across all phases. However, attainment in Islamic Education, Arabic, Mathematics, and Science is acceptable. Standardized assessment results (MAP) indicate weak to very weak levels in reading, mathematics, and science across phases, despite internal data suggesting better-than-expected progress. social studiesEnglishreading cultureMAP results
Students generally demonstrate positive attitudes, respect, and good behavior within the school. Their understanding of Islamic values and Emirati culture is acceptable but inconsistent, and knowledge of world cultures is developing. Attendance is acceptable at 92%, but punctuality needs improvement. positive attitudesrespectIslamic valuesEmirati cultureattendancepunctuality
Teaching for effective learning is consistently good across the school. However, assessment practices are acceptable, with a need to personalize teaching, implement problem-solving opportunities, ensure accurate internal assessments, and fully implement the new feedback system to track individual and group progress. effective learningpersonalized teachingproblem-solvingassessment datafeedback system
Curriculum design and implementation are good, providing a balanced American program. However, curriculum adaptation is acceptable, requiring further modification to provide sufficient challenge and support for all student groups, expand opportunities for creativity and innovation, and plan cross-curricular links across all subjects and phases. curriculum designcurriculum adaptationchallenge and supportcreativity and innovationcross-curricular links
The school maintains rigorous and good health and safety protocols, including arrangements for child protection. Care and support are acceptable, with recommendations to improve attendance and punctuality management, review IEP targets, and enhance support for students with additional learning needs, including students of determination and gifted and talented students. health and safetychild protectioncare and supportattendancepunctualitystudents of determination
The effectiveness of leadership, school self-evaluation, parent partnerships, governance, and management of resources are all rated good. However, there is a need to provide professional development for middle leaders, ensure their active involvement in target setting and monitoring, and improve consistency in assessment practices. effectiveness of leadershipself-evaluationparent partnershipsgovernancemiddle leaders
Key Highlights
Standout achievements identified by the inspection team that distinguish this school.
Strong Academic Areas
Students achieve good levels in social studies and English, demonstrating solid foundational knowledge in these subjects.
Vibrant Reading Culture
The school has successfully promoted a reading culture across all phases in both English and Arabic, supported by well-equipped libraries and reading programs.
Rigorous Safeguarding
The school maintains rigorous protocols and stringent arrangements for health and safety, ensuring a secure environment for all students.
Effective Parent Partnerships
Strong partnerships with parents foster a sense of shared responsibility, reinforcing the school's commitment to supportive education.
Strong Leadership
The principal's leadership, along with the senior leadership team, positively influences the overall school environment and staff relationships.
Well-Resourced School
The governing body ensures that the school is well-resourced across all subjects and phases, supporting effective teaching and learning.
Academic Performance Breakdown
While internal assessment data often indicates better-than-expected progress, this does not consistently align with observed student knowledge and skills in lessons. External standardized assessments (MAP) reveal weak to very weak levels in reading, mathematics, and science across various phases, highlighting a discrepancy between internal and external measures of achievement.
Leadership & Management
Effectiveness of school governance, strategic planning, and leadership capacity to drive continuous improvement.
Leadership Approach
The principal and senior leadership team demonstrate effective leadership, fostering positive relationships among staff and ensuring the school is well-resourced. They are dedicated to improving student attainment and are actively reviewing the curriculum to incorporate higher-order thinking skills, while also promoting a sense of shared responsibility with parents.
Inspection Findings
Students' Achievement
Attainment in English and Social Studies is good, but acceptable in Islamic Education, Arabic, Mathematics, and Science. Progress is variable, with internal data showing better-than-expected progress, but external MAP results indicating weak to very weak levels in core subjects. There is a need to improve public speaking, writing, reading fluency, mental mathematics, scientific report writing, and innovation skills.
Personal & Social Development
Students show positive attitudes and respect, with good behavior and awareness of healthy lifestyles. However, their understanding of Islamic values and Emirati culture is inconsistent, and knowledge of world cultures is developing. Attendance is acceptable at 92%, but punctuality needs improvement.
Teaching & Assessment
Teaching for effective learning is good, but assessment practices are acceptable. There is a need for more personalized teaching, opportunities for critical thinking and problem-solving, accurate internal assessments, and consistent feedback implementation to track individual and group progress effectively.
Curriculum Design & Adaptation
Curriculum design and implementation are good, but adaptation is acceptable. The curriculum needs further modification to challenge and support diverse student groups, expand opportunities for creativity and innovation, and integrate cross-curricular links across all subjects and phases.
Protection, Care & Support
Health and safety protocols are rigorous and good. Care and support are acceptable, with recommendations to improve attendance and punctuality management, review IEP targets, and enhance support for students with additional learning needs, including students of determination and gifted and talented students.
Areas for Development
- •raise students’ achievement to at least a good level across all subjects and phases by ensuring students develop knowledge of prescribed Surah and Hadeeth, improving public speaking and writing skills in Arabic and English, enhancing reading proficiency and fluency in Arabic, engaging students in UAE heritage activities, developing mental mathematics and word problem-solving skills, improving experimental design and scientific report writing, encouraging student responsibility for learning, linking learning to real life, and improving innovation, enterprise, and entrepreneurship skills.
- •Ensure that the quality of teaching and assessment is consistently good or better across all core subjects and phases by ensuring teaching is sufficiently personalized, implementing opportunities for problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation, and enterprise, ensuring internal assessments provide accurate and reliable measures, analyzing assessment data to track progress, fully implementing the new feedback system, and exploring options to benchmark attainment in Arabic medium subjects.
- •improve and modify the taught curriculum, particularly the provision for different groups of students by modifying the curriculum further to provide sufficient challenge and support, providing effective support for students with additional learning needs, expanding opportunities to develop creativity, innovation, and enterprise skills, and planning and implementing cross-curricular links.
- •improve the care and support of children and students across all phases by improving attendance and punctuality management procedures, reviewing IEP targets and regularly tracking progress for students with additional learning needs, improving support for students of determination, and improving provision for gifted and talented students to extend their learning.
- •Improve the effectiveness of leadership, particularly the role and impact of middle leaders, by providing professional development for middle leaders, ensuring their active involvement in setting improvement targets and monitoring student progress, providing additional training for staff on assessment practices, ensuring self-evaluation considers external assessments, monitoring teaching and learning effectively, linking success criteria in the school improvement plan to student outcomes, providing professional development for staff on supporting additional learning needs, and seeking options to mitigate teacher turnover.