Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 25

Featured School
in the local Emirati community, with
more than half of our students being
UAE nationals. As a school we strive
to embrace the challenges of the 21st
Century, although this is not at the
expense of the school’s identity, culture
and heritage. Our vision statement
says that ‘Al Dhafra Private Schools
will enshrine educational excellence,
where culture and tradition are
honored.’ This balance between the
old and the new is evident in so many
ways in our school, for example our
children are extremely proud of their
Arabic identity and strive for excellence
in its language, as well as aspiring for
the highest quality in their English
language skills and exploring new
technologies and global opportunities.
Our arts subjects have also offered
us unique opportunities to honor the
culture and tradition of the UAE, whilst
developing many transferable skills,
including
creativity,
collaboration,
critical thinking and entrepreneurship.”
“Every child is an artist”
(Pablo Picasso)
Al Dhafra is an inclusive school with
a strong reputation for supporting
the different needs of its students.
The school regularly celebrates the
achievements of all of the children, and
the arts have provided an effective and
enjoyable way of accomplishing this.
“For example, all of our elementary and
middle school children exhibit their
art and design work at our annual art
fair. All our KG students participated in
music and dance performances this
term, to entertain our other students,
the parents and the local community.
Our students have also organized a
visit to the neighboring Al Noor Center
for disabled children, to support the
UAE Year of Tolerance, entertain the
children and support their learning,
whilst sharing their own musical
talents. Some of our own most talented
artists have special educational needs
themselves, and their excellent
achievements in the arts provide a
real boost to their self-esteem and
wellbeing. Also, through leading and
developing events such as this, our
children improve their leadership and
other real-life skills. They have led a
number of large scale arts events
during recent years, including school
productions, talent shows, community
events and school fairs”.
Combining Excellence and
Culture
At Al Dhafra they always look for ways
to celebrate the culture and heritage
of the UAE, through Art, Music and
Dance. Their gifted students were
commissioned by the school to
prepare a professional quality art
exhibition, in order to celebrate the
history and identity of the UAE. Mira
and Alyazia, went on to showcase their
work at the Abu Dhabi Private Schools
Annual Forum. They chose to feature
Emirati landscapes and animals
associated with the UAE, such as the
falcon and the camel, as the focus of
their exhibits.
The extraordinary quality of this work
inspired the entire school community,
and acted as a catalyst to further
celebrate the students’ artistic talents.
Later that same year, they had a large
number of the secondary students
asking to showcase their work in
the Sultan Al Hameli Theater, to the
delight of the local community. The
students’ artwork included; canvas
paintings, drawings and pottery. The
Art Coordinator, Mr. Alaa Yousef also
conducted specialist workshops with
the students, where he showcased
Class Time
his own masterpieces, whilst also
facilitating levels of mastery not often
seen in a private school. Mr. Alaa
himself is a celebrated artist, whose
work has been commissioned across
the world, including a period of
employment for members of the royal
family in Saudi Arabia. The school art
exhibition coincided with trips to the
Louvre art exhibition in Abu Dhabi,
where the students learned about
the works of Di Vinci and Picasso
and then practiced some of their
techniques through their own work.
The school now has an abundance
of high quality artwork on display
throughout the school, including
four huge murals which represent
the school houses, depicting falcons,
camels, stallions and scorpions.
As well as enjoying the art exhibition
the younger students also became art
critics and wrote reviews of the work
which they viewed, helping to further
develop their descriptive writing
skills. Also the artists themselves were
asked to explain their masterpieces to
their audiences, sharing the creative
process, artistic skills and techniques,
which they used and the inspiration
for their work.”
The impact of the Arts
Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
25