Sunrise English Private SchoolPrincipal & Leadership Team

Sunrise English Private School is led by Principal Dr. Thakur S. Mulchandani, supported by Vice Principal Mr. Thomas Francis MA, M.Ed. The school's leadership structure also includes a published Senior Leadership Team and a Governing Board operating under the regulatory oversight of ADEK (Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge). The school is independently owned and operated, with no affiliation to a larger operator group. While the inspection report does not specify the principal's tenure in years, the school's communications consistently reference Dr. Mulchandani as the face of the institution, and the 2024–2025 ADEK inspection explicitly identifies vision and leadership as a key strength of the school.

The most recent ADEK inspection, conducted in October 2024, rated leadership effectiveness as Very Good — the highest sub-domain rating in the Leadership and Management section — noting that senior leaders have established a clear strategic plan shared with the entire school community. This is a meaningful improvement from the previous cycle. The school has published a School Vision 2025–2030, signalling a deliberate long-term strategic direction. Governance, however, was rated Good, with inspectors recommending that the Governing Board take a more active role in ensuring the school is equipped with necessary technology and resources. School self-evaluation and improvement planning were also rated Good, with inspectors calling for more rigorous use of assessment data and a clearer link between the self-evaluation form and the School Development Plan — areas that represent the leadership team's most pressing development priorities.

On teaching quality, the 2024–2025 inspection found that teaching in the early phases (KG and Cycle 1) has improved to Very Good, attributed to purposeful lesson planning. However, teaching in Cycles 2 and 3 was rated Good, and assessment was rated Acceptable in Cycles 1 and 2, reflecting a concern that teachers are not yet using data effectively enough to personalise learning. The school employs 157 teachers supported by 7 teaching assistants, drawn primarily from Indian, Egyptian, and Emirati nationalities. [MISSING: staff qualification percentages, e.g. proportion holding Masters or above]

SEPS operates with a student-to-teacher ratio of 1:18, which is notably higher than the Abu Dhabi city average of 1:13.6 across all private schools. For a school of 2,848 students, this ratio warrants attention from parents, as it suggests larger average class sizes than many comparable institutions in the city. Among Indian curriculum schools in Abu Dhabi, this is a relevant consideration given the school's scale.

Parent engagement is a documented strength. The inspection rated Parents and the Community as Very Good, noting a well-established relationship with families that reinforces the school's role in the local community. The school organises parent meetings ahead of international assessments such as TIMSS and PISA, maintains a parent login portal, publishes a Parent Handbook, and communicates actively through social media channels. The school's overall ADEK rating has been Good in every inspection since 2017–2018, representing a stable — if not accelerating — performance trajectory following earlier Unsatisfactory ratings in 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. That sustained recovery and consistency over four consecutive inspection cycles is a meaningful signal of institutional stability.