March 17, 2017

Thomas Dentinger is the founding principal of the Lycée Français Jean Mermoz that will open in September 2017.

He started his career in France and then moved to several international French schools in United Arab Emirates and South America as teacher, head of section, head of educational technology implementation and assistant principal.

Since the start of his career in education, Thomas has spent more than ten years working in the UAE. 

March 16, 2017

Mr. Andrew Prosser, founding principal of Dubai Heights Academy, has over 16 years experience in education in England and the Middle East. Mr. Prosser’s passion and enthusiasm for ensuring each and every child receives an outstanding education is apparent in the ethos and feel of the schools he leads. His aim is for children to enter adult life with the skills, knowledge and values to make a difference within our local communities and globally. 

March 16, 2017

Naomi has over 16 years of experience as a teacher and leader and is currently

Headmistress at Foremarke School in Al Barsha, a British Prep school which prides

itself on its academic excellence and strong pastoral care. Prior to her Headship at

Foremarke in April 2016, she served as Deputy Head Teacher at Repton Junior

School where she successfully led the strategic implementation of the new National

Curriculum to an outstanding accolade from the KHDA. In the UK she has also

worked as a school improvement consultant supporting leadership teams in schools

across Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Naomi has been a freelance writer and

contributer to a number of UK government educational publications including “Pitch

and Expectations in Mathematics” and the standardization materials for “Assessing

Pupil Progress in Mathematics.”

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Naomi and her husband David, a pilot at FlyDubai, have lived in Dubai for 3 years

and have two daughters; Molly and Mimi who are also at Foremarke and are in Year

4 and Year 1.

March 17, 2017

Janice joined Hartland having twenty years’ experience of working in a diverse

variety of schools within the UK. Qualifying in 1996, and taking her first senior

leadership role as Deputy Head in 2003, Janice has always held the fundamental

belief that every child deserves the right to a high quality education. In 2007, Janice

undertook her first headship tenure in south east England where the Leadership and

Management of the school was consistently graded as “Good” by OFSTED on three

occasions. Following this Janice moved to her second headship in East England until

her new husband brought her to Dubai.This is Janice’s first role within the MENA

region and one she relishes every day at Hartland International.

March 17, 2017

Saturday panelist – Mr Roshan M Chaudhry, Head of middle and high, NIS.

Roshan is a business, computing and education professional (BSc, PGCE, QTS) from Great Britain and he has various expertise in different leadership & educational contexts including whole school educational technology implementation using external bench mark standards (ISTE). 

March 16, 2017

Dr. Kandace Williams comes to Clarion with a rich history of professional experience both nationally and

internationally. She earned her doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she

taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the College of Education.

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She began her international senior leadership postings as the Principal of the Kennedy School, a

bilingual, bicultural program and the U.S. Embassy School in Berlin, Germany. In Saudi Arabia, she held

the post of Founding Principal and a founding leadership team member of the Kaust School, the King

Abdullah University of Science and Technology school for children. The school, located on the university

campus, serving children of professors and tutors is the first co-gender children’s school in the Kingdom,

serving students from 75 countries. In the second year of operation, the school was named as an

International Baccalaureate World school.

As a Principal for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools System (170 schools) in Charlotte, North Carolina,

she lead her middle school team to national recognition for academic achievement and social

inclusiveness in the “Schools to Watch” program which recognizes exemplary middle schools in the U.S.

In the Reading School District, Reading Pennsylvania, Dr. Williams held the post of Chief Instructional

Services Officer for the 19-school system.

She is the proud mother of four grown children. Hers is truly an education directed family, all are

graduated from university and three hold higher post-graduate degrees as well.

March 17, 2017

Alan is an educator and administrator working in leadership positions in New

York City and at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He is the

currently the Co-Chair of the Harvard Principal’s Center, Co-Founder of Project

Zero New York, and served on the Project Zero Advisory Board, is a of member

of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance, Past Executive Board Member

Council of School Administrators, Past Vice President of the Bronx Elementary

Schools Principals Consortium and served as Director of the New York City

Mentor Teacher Program for the New York City Department of Education.

Hi career includes supervision of Principals in 32 New York City schools,

Principal of Journey Prep, Head of Lower School at Portledge School and

Assistant Head at the Speyer School for gifted students in New York.

At the Portledge School he implemented collaboration with Harvard Wide World

and Project Zero and put into practice a Reggio Emilia inspired Early Childhood

Program. At Journey Prep school, a public school in New York City he lead the

school to its position as one of the top 200 schools (1,700 public schools serve

1.1 million students) in New York City.

On any given day he is talking with parents in the lobby, learning alongside

children in the classrooms, touring the facilities with visiting educators, or

planning professional development activities for hundreds of teachers. Cohen

believes that the difference between a good school and a great school is one

where everyone is teaching and learning.

He is a Cahn Fellow at Columbia University. He received his bachelor’s degree

from Brooklyn College and holds a Master’s of Science, from New York

University. He is also the recipient of the Time Warner Principals of Excellence

Award and the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award from Education Update.

March 17, 2017

Mrs Davies has recently moved from the UK to open Manor Primary School in September

2016. She is an experienced Head Teacher who has worked in a number of schools as well

as supporting other schools to build their leadership capacity. With the many years of

teaching Mrs Davies is still very enthusiastic and has a real passion for learning. She enjoys

watching the excitement as children become immersed in their learning and seeing the

pleasure from teachers as they take enormous pride in enabling the children to do their very

best.

March 16, 2017

Teri O’Connor, elementary school teacher at NIS.  (11:00, 1:00 or 1:45)  Teri got her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida in 2002.  She is designated “highly qualified” in Elementary Education, Music, Middle Grades Education, and English for Speakers of Other Languages.  She has 14 years of experience teaching grades KG to 8.  She has been a mentor, grade-level leader, curriculum specialist, head of department for Maths and Science, and area director for Florida Association of Science Teachers.  She is currently Subject Coordinator for Elementary Science and Grade 2 teacher at Al Nibras International School in Dubai, UAE.