Private School of Scientific Innovation, Sharjah

Principal Abdel Karim Amdouni leads the Private School of Scientific Innovation, having taken up his post at the start of academic year 2024-2025. His appointment is one of many recent changes: the SPEA inspection report, conducted in February 2025, confirms that staff at almost all levels — including vice principals and heads of departments — are new this academic year. This is a school in active transition, and parents should understand that context clearly before drawing conclusions from any single data point.

The school is operated by Al Mawahib Educational Group and governed by a Board of Governors chaired by Taher Omar Al Hammadi. Governance was rated Acceptable in SSI's first-ever SPEA review, with inspectors specifically identifying the need for governors to strengthen their systematic monitoring of the school's leadership — a meaningful gap at this stage of the school's development.

The most pressing leadership concern identified by SPEA is staff turnover. The school recorded a staff turnover rate of 55% in 2024-2025 — an exceptionally high figure that has disrupted institutional continuity across all levels. With 57 teachers and 14 teaching assistants currently in post, the school maintains a student-teacher ratio of 1:9, which is notably more favourable than the Sharjah city average of 1:13.6 among private schools. While this low ratio is a genuine structural advantage, its benefit is partially offset by the inexperience of a largely new staff cohort. [MISSING: staff qualification data — percentage holding Masters or equivalent not provided in inspection sources]

Teaching quality was rated Acceptable overall by SPEA, with inspectors noting that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment must improve to reach the next level. Lesson observations — 104 in total, 89 conducted jointly with school leaders — revealed inconsistency across phases, with Phase 2 emerging as the weakest area. The capacity of middle leaders to drive improvement within their departments was flagged as a specific area requiring development, suggesting that the challenge is not confined to classroom delivery but extends to the school's internal quality assurance structures.

On a more positive note, inspectors observed that students maintain positive relationships and attitudes to learning, and personal and social development was rated Good — a meaningful signal that the school's culture, despite its turbulence, is nurturing. Parent engagement is referenced in the school improvement plan, with surveys conducted as part of the SPEA process, though the depth of that partnership remains Acceptable at this stage. Leadership effectiveness and self-evaluation were also rated Acceptable. The school's trajectory will depend significantly on whether the current leadership team can stabilise staffing, build middle leadership capacity, and translate its stated vision into measurable improvement across all phases.