During an October 2019 School Associate meeting with Glen Radjokovitch, Head of School at GEMS International School in Al Khail, Dubai, Senior Associate Bill Turner mentioned the many requests he receives from candidates to better understand the International Baccalaureate (IB), and for a way they could position themselves to be credible interviewees for IB schools. As a result, Glen offered to host an “Introduction to the IB” evening.
On the evening of November 25th, Bill co-hosted a 90-minute, professional development session at GEMS, attended by 19 SEARCH candidates from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Al Ain. Attendees heard a 30-minute introduction to the school and the IB framework in general. They then broke into a PYP group and an MYP/DP group for programme-specific training.
Leading the session were Head of Secondary Lee Hole; Head of Primary Kim Conleen; Assistant Principals Raquel Nahas, Sarah McClean, and Nic Walters; Primary Years Programme (PYP) Coordinator Mark Kraboujanis; Middle Years Programme (MYP) Coordinator Rafael Angel; and Diploma Programme (DP) Coordinator Ruari Cunningham.
The most gratifying aspect of our Search Associates’ job is to give wonderful schools and educators any, and all, the support they need. We call it our Personal Touch. Candidate Danieta Glenister thanked Bill and GEMS for the presentation that “gave a lot of food for thought,” and Jan Breder wrote,
Thank you for arranging tonight's information session. It was most informative and has only made me want to rejoin an IB school all the more. Please pass along all our appreciation to the GEMS International's administration for giving up so much of their evening and sharing so many valuable insights with us.
