Private School

Inspection Report

Al Awa'il Private School

Academic Year 2015 2016

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Al Awa'il Private School

Inspection Date

26 - 29 October 2015

Date of previous inspection

11 - 13 February 2014

General Information

Students

School ID

136

Total number of
students

381

Opening year of
school

2004

Number of children
in KG

40

Principal

Aziza Mohamed Ahmed

Number of students
in other phases

1. Primary
2. Middle
3. High

School telephone

+971 (0)3 7806070

Age range

4 - 17 yrs

School Address

Al Ain Falaj Hazaa

Grades or Year
Groups

KG - Grade 12

Official email (ADEC)

alawail.pvt@adec.ac.ae

Gender

Mixed

School Website

www.alawailprivateschool.
com

% of Emirati
Students

10%

AED 6,350 AED 10,000

Largest nationality
groups (%)

1. Egypt
2. Sudan
3. Syria

Fee range (per

annum)

Licensed Curriculum

128
114
99

42 %
17%
14%

Staff

Main Curriculum

Ministry of Education (MoE)

Number of teachers

29

Other Curriculum

------

Number of Teaching
Assistants (TAs)

External Exams/
Standardised tests

No

Teacher-student
ratio

15:1
14:1

Accreditation

------

Teacher turnover

14%

KG/ F
Other phases

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Introduction
Inspection activities
3

Number of inspectors deployed

Number of inspection days

58

Number of lessons observed

Number of joint lesson
observations

Number of parents
questionnaires
Details of other inspection
activities

49; (return rate: 12%)

Lesson observations; meetings; work scrutiny;
review of documents; surveys; discussions with
students, teachers, parents and governors

School
---School Aims

School vision and mission

The schools mission is to prepare students for

successful careers through the development of their
minds and their personalities and the health of their
bodies. The school administration believes that the
means to achieve this is the practical application of
theoretical material and linking school activities and
the world abroad.

Admission Policy

The school admits all applying students, provided

capacity is available. Activities and interviews are used
to determine the students educational requirements.

Leadership structure
(ownership, governance and
management)

The schools leadership comprises of the Principal, Vice

Principal, subject coordinators, supervisors.

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SEN Details (Refer to ADEC SEN Policy and Procedures)

Number of students
identified through external
assessments

Number of other students

identified by the school

Intellectual disability

Specific Learning Disability

Emotional and Behaviour

Disorders (ED/ BD)
Autism Spectrum Disorder
(ASD)
Speech and Language
Disorders
Physical and health related
disabilities

Visually impaired

Hearing impaired

Multiple disabilities

SEN Category

G&T Details (Refer to ADEC SEN Policy and Procedures)

G&T Category

Number of students
identified

Intellectual ability

Subject-specific aptitude (e.g. in science, mathematics,

languages)

30

Social maturity and leadership

Mechanical/ technical/ technological ingenuity

Visual and performing arts (e.g. art, theatre, recitation)

Psychomotor ability (e.g. dance or sport)

Page 4 of 18

The overall performance of the school

Inspectors considered the school in relation to 3 performance categories

Band B

Satisfactory (Acceptable)

Band C

In need of significant improvement (Weak or Very Weak)

(C)

High Performing

Satisfactory

Acceptable

Band B

Good

Band A

Very Good

Performance Standards

BAND

Outstanding

School was judged to be:

Weak
Band C
In need of significant
improvement

Performance Standard 1:
Students achievement
Performance Standard 2:
Students personal and
social development, and
their innovation skills
Performance Standard 3:
Teaching and assessment
Performance Standard 4:
Curriculum
Performance Standard 5:
The protection, care,
guidance and support of
students
Performance Standard 6:
Leadership and
management

Summary Evaluation:
The schools overall
performance

Page 5 of 18

Very Weak

High performing (Outstanding, Very Good or Good)

Weak

Band A

The Performance of the School

Evaluation of the schools overall performance
The quality of education provided by the school is weak. Senior leadership and
governance have not created an environment for the school to successfully meet
the required performance standards. The main weakness is the lack of a unified,
strategic self-evaluation process. As a consequence, the school does not have
concise, measurable, development targets for eradicating the schools significant
weaknesses particularly in improving student achievement.
The quality of teaching is weak as is the curriculum and its delivery. Neither is being
appropriately modified to meet the learning needs of individuals, or specific groups
of students. Almost all students do not make the progress they are capable of.
The school has developed a positive ethos of care and personal development.
Relationships are very good, students are very happy, enjoy coming to school and
behave very well.
Progress made since last inspection and capacity to improve
The school has made little progress on the majority of the recommendations made
by the last inspection report. There is some indication that the school is beginning
to have a greater understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. The health and
safety issues have been mainly successfully rectified. Standards in Arabic, Islamic
education and social studies are now in line with curriculum expectations.
The school has not developed a cohesive approach to school improvement focused
on the quality of teaching and learning. The senior leadership has some
understanding of the components necessary; the implementation of a unified plan
of action is not robustly being put in place. Teachers have undertaken professional
development training to improve the quality of teaching and learning and develop
students 21st Century Skills. Lessons provided little evidence of these skills and
techniques being taught and used appropriately. The school is still not successfully
developing students capacity to both work independently and cooperatively with
others, mainly due to the weak teaching and a textbook dominated curriculum.
The curriculum is still very narrow and does not effectively meet students needs
and interests. There are some early green shoots of improvement evident in the
Kindergarten (KG). A wider range of higher quality resources to support the
delivery of the curriculum across the school are still not in place. The school states
they are waiting for the new approved building to be built before committing
funds.
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Senior leaders will require external support to improve the quality of educational
provision and raise standards at a more rapid pace.
Development and promotion of innovation skills
Innovation is not embedded in the curriculum or a part of the overall school culture.
There are some isolated encouraging developments in collaborative learning and
implementing innovation in individual lessons and in the KG. Innovative practice is
best evidenced by high achieving girls in the upper grades in mathematics, science
and English. In these classes, students take control of their own learning by leading
and guiding their peers, and by so doing developing their research, presentational
and leadership skills. This was particularly evident in a mathematics lesson on
rotation that was skilfully led by girls in Grade 9. There is too much teacher control
and domination of lessons to allow opportunities for creativity, originality and
independent learning and thinking. Teachers and leaders do not really understand
what genuine innovative practice is and many mistake activities for innovation.

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The inspection identified the following as key areas of strength:

the school has developed a positive ethos where relationships are very
good, students are very happy and enjoy coming to school and are very well
behaved
standards in Arabic, Islamic education and social studies are in line with
curriculum expectations
teachers are trying to implement more active teaching and learning
methods with greater challenge now featuring in a minority of lessons
in the upper grades there are good examples of students taking control of
their learning, by leading lessons and guiding their peers which develops
their research, presentational and leadership skills

The inspection identified the following as key areas for improvement:

the rigour and understanding of school self-evaluation

students achievement in English, mathematics and science
teaching in English to improve all four areas: speaking, listening, reading and
writing
lesson planning, teaching and assessments to be more focused on meeting
the needs of both individuals and groups of students
increased opportunities for students to show their potential and take more
control of their own learning
development of the role and accountability of subject coordinators
the learning environment in KG by providing more quality resources and
teaching that encourages playing and exploring, discovery and
independence

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Performance Standard 1: Students Achievement

Students achievement
Indicators

Islamic
Education

Arabic
(as a First
Language)

Arabic
(as a Second
Language)
Social Studies

English

Mathematics

Science
Language of
instruction (if
other than
English and
Arabic as First
Other
subjects
Language)
(Art, Music, PE)

KG

Primary

Middle

High

Attainment

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Progress

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Attainment

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Progress

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Attainment

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Progress

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Attainment

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Progress

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Attainment

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Progress

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Attainment

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Progress

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Attainment

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Progress

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Attainment

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Progress

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Attainment

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Progress

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Learning Skills
(including innovation, creativity,
critical thinking, communication,
problem-solving and
collaboration)

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The school does not administer any international benchmarking tests. Attainment
cannot therefore be objectively measured against international comparisons to show
how well the students are performing compared to international standards.
Attainment in English, mathematics and science is below age-related expectations
and curriculum standards, with the development of learning skills being weak across
all grades. Students low proficiency in these key subjects affects their ability to access
other areas of the curriculum. Students with special educational needs (SEN) and the
gifted and talented make weak progress. In English, diagnostic assessment has been
introduced in grades 11 and 12 to plan teaching and remedy diagnosed weaknesses.
As a result, attainment and progress have begun to increase in these grades since the
start of the year.
On entry to the school, all students speak English as an additional language (EAL) and
have very limited skills in speaking, reading and writing. Most students do not
demonstrate the levels of knowledge, skills and understanding that are in line with
curriculum expectations. Children in KG1 acquired very few words and few children in
KG2 can speak in simple sentences. Standards of achievement continue to be weak
across the school phases. The exception to this is a minority of female students in the
upper grades, who demonstrate good understanding of higher order learning skills
and use these effectively to lead the learning of other students. They are highly skilled
in using ICT to research and present topics.
In Arabic, Islamic education and social studies standards in reading and writing are in
line with curriculum expectations. In KG, children make acceptable progress from
their starting points as they develop sufficient vocabulary, speak clearly, read and
form letters correctly and speak with appropriate intonation and accuracy. They
understand the changes of the letter within words. In Islamic education, children
understand the principles of Islam and can explain what the Five Pillars of Islam mean
at an age-appropriate level. Children can memorise appropriate Surahs (verses) from
the Holy Quran and the names of Allah.
Progress in English, mathematics and science and other subjects is weak as teaching
does not meet the needs of the range of abilities. The more able students are not
being challenged and those with learning difficulties are unable to complete tasks in
the allocated time to an acceptable standard. Too much time is spent on consolidation
of skills already acquired, which hinders the progress of higher ability students in
particular.
A textbook and teacher-dominated approach to lessons, with closed questioning and
low challenge seriously minimizes opportunities for problem-solving, innovation or
independent investigations. In science and mathematics, few opportunities are
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provided for problem solving and experiential learning. As a result, most students are
passive, complete minimal work and make weak progress. In a Grade 8 mathematics
lesson on two-step equations, the students did not complete any individual work.
They spent the entire lesson watching the teacher, then other students, repeat
calculations from the white board. Examination of student workbooks in
mathematics and science indicates that in lessons this is the normal practice with
minimal challenge or work being required of students.

Performance Standard 2: Students personal and social development,

and their innovation skills
Students personal and social development, and
their innovation skills Indicators

KG

Primary

Middle

High

Personal development

Good

Good

Good

Good

Understanding of Islamic values and awareness of

Emirati and world cultures

Good

Good

Good

Good

Social responsibility and innovation skills

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Students behaviour, attitudes and relationships in lessons and around the school are
very good. Students demonstrate very good levels of self-discipline and are very
respectful to adults and other students. They are happy, enjoy coming to school and
appreciate all that it offers. There is a sense of purpose in the school with a very
positive ethos of caring for each other and respecting each other's views. Attendance
is very good at 96%. Almost all students arrive at school on time and they are very
punctual to lessons.
KG2 children help look after those in KG1 when they have joint lessons and set them a
good example of how to behave. In KG1, the children play well together and most
learn to take turns. KG children are overly dependent on adults who do not encourage
the children to be independent, experiment and explore their world, make choices
and think for themselves. Most students do not have the skills to be innovative, take
risks in their learning or have enough opportunities to develop their critical thinking
skills.
A high percentage of students have good knowledge of UAE culture, traditions and
understand UAE society and how it impacts on their lives. They have a good
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appreciation and knowledge about UAE heritage and how the UAE is developing.
They are not provided with enough opportunities to learn about and experience other
world cultures.
Boys and girls are involved in their own student councils and monitoring duties at
break times. This is at a low level of student involvement and their influence on the
school is minimal. Students have a limited understanding of the need to protect the
environment, conserve energy and protect their world.

Performance Standard 3: Teaching and Assessment

Teaching and Assessment Indicators

KG

Primary

Middle

High

Teaching for effective learning

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Assessment

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

The quality of teaching is not at an acceptable level as the majority of lessons across
the school were deemed weak. More effective teaching was observed mainly in the
subjects taught in Arabic and in some English lessons in the higher grades. Teachers
dominate lessons by talking too much and repeatedly going over examples on the
white board themselves or by selecting students from the class. Teachers pay little
attention to promoting critical thinking, problem-solving or independent learning.
Students are not challenged to reflect or consider innovative ways of doing things so
they do not develop these attributes. Lesson planning and implementation do not
cater for the full range of abilities. Work that is planned specifically for lower and
higher ability students is not often observed in actual lessons.
Teaching and assessment are better when teachers pitch questions at the right level
and encourage dialogue between students. This was only evidenced in a minority of
lessons. Most lessons are not adjusted to enable students of all abilities to participate,
with teachers using mainly closed questions and not giving students time to think
before answering. Few teachers make timely interventions to review progress, deal
with common misconceptions, share good examples or have discussions or debate
about learning and how individual students can improve.
Teaching in KG and in the subjects of English, mathematics, science is weak as there
is too much reliance on textbooks or worksheets. This allows little opportunity for
creativity, individual interpretation, experimentation or opportunities to apply skills
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in relevant contexts. Scrutiny of student workbooks revealed that many teachers

were just ticking work with little or no comment or encouragement to allow students
to know whether they were being successful and what they needed to do to improve.
Assessment for learning is not understood or implemented. This slows the pace of
learning and reduces the level of challenge in the majority of lessons.
The quality of assessment practices and procedures is weak. There are no external
benchmarking tests, so the school cannot be objectively measured against
international comparisons. Baseline assessments are used to assess students starting
points. Teachers do not review students outcomes and agree necessary actions to
improve learning opportunities with enough rigour and application. Moderation
strategies are not an integral part of assessment practices.
Teachers have good subject knowledge in Arabic, Islamic education, mathematics and
science. Teaching in Arabic, Islamic education and social studies provides clear
explanations which enables students to acquire appropriate skills, knowledge and
understanding. A large minority of English teachers lack fluency and do not provide
suitable models for students. Teachers encourage and praise students and have very
good relationships with them. Students communicate well with each other and the
teacher during lessons, especially the girls in the higher grades. Many students, are
passive in lessons and the dominant style of teaching inhibits their learning.
There are some examples of genuine collaborative learning where students share
knowledge and skills and develop independent learning. In the older grades in
English, mathematics and science students were delivering lessons to the rest of the
class. These students were clearly developing skills in leadership and deepening
their understanding through application.

Performance Standard 4: Curriculum

Curriculum Indicators

KG

Primary

Middle

High

Curriculum design and implementation

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

Curriculum adaptation

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

There has been no significant development since the previous inspection and many
of the weaknesses in the curriculum remain. The only area where there is clear
evidence of change is in the KG, which now has a theme-based curriculum to develop
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childrens creativity, independence, resilience and creativity; this is still at a very early
stage of implementation. There is good coverage of UAE values, culture, and heritage
across the curriculum.
The curriculum lacks breadth and balance and fails to motivate or challenge students
sufficiently. There are few opportunities for students to develop their own ideas,
make links with other subjects, or connect learning with real life situations. The
curriculum in the majority of lessons fails to apply learning beyond textbook exercises
and many of these are not fully completed. Students have few opportunities to
express creativity or discover or develop talents. There are gaps in the coverage of
the curriculum so new learning does not build sufficiently upon previous work. This
adversely affects students achievements, particularly the development of basic skills.
There are no extracurricular activities offered to students. There are limited links with
external partners to support and enrich the curriculum and help to inform students
career or future educational choices. There is not a diverse enough range of activities
or resources that allow students to know more about the world around them and to
fully appreciate similarities and differences.

Performance Standard 5: The protection, care, guidance and support

of students
The protection, care, guidance and support
of students Indicators

Health and safety, including arrangements

for child protection/ safeguarding
Care and support

KG

Primary

Middle

High

Good

Good

Good

Good

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

There is a strong, nurturing ethos and sense of mutual respect in the whole school.
Students are well cared for and safeguarding procedures for child protection are very
secure. Students said that they feel valued and well cared for and parents are
supportive of the caring environment of the school. There is insufficient focus on
developing healthy lifestyles and some aspects of the promotion of safety are
underdeveloped.
Arrangements to ensure health, safety and security are acceptable. The school
premises are adequately maintained. Maintenance and record keeping are
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appropriately kept. Safety drills are not undertaken on a regular basis to ensure
students and school staff are well practiced and prepared in the event of an
emergency evacuation. The school clinic is effectively run and medical records are
appropriately completed and stored. The school nurse is not sufficiently involved in
healthy lifestyles promotion or given enough opportunity to contribute to the overall
curriculum of the school. Canteen staff promote healthy eating choices.
Some areas are cramped and the staff work area is accommodated within a busy
corridor that is not ideal. There is no prayer room. The school has plans approved to
increase capacity and specialist rooms which, when implemented, will enhance the
school environment for all.
When they join the school all students are assessed using standardized tests. The
school does not have an SEN specialist and provides very limited support for students
who require additional learning support and those who are gifted or talented. These
students and higher achievers do not make sufficient progress because intervention
strategies are minimal with lesson planning objectives rarely adapted or planned to
meet their particular needs.

Performance Standard 6: Leadership and management

Leadership and management Indicators
The effectiveness of leadership

Weak

Self-evaluation and improvement planning

Weak

Partnerships with parents and the community

Acceptable

Governance

Acceptable

Management, staffing, facilities and resources

Weak

The leadership of the school is keen to improve and understands broadly what needs
to happen to ensure change and improvement. There is a strong commitment by
teachers and support staff to do the best they can for the students. However, senior
leaders do not have a clear improvement strategy founded in accurate self-evaluation
to generate sharp school development targets to bring about change. Teachers are
not provided with rigorous targets that will affect impact, change and improvement
quickly enough or that can be easily measured for success. The senior leadership team
(SLT) have good relationships with students, teachers, parents and governors and
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communication with them is good. They enjoy the respect of the staff and morale is
very high.
Self-evaluation and improvement planning are weak. The schools self-evaluation
form (SEF) has not been completed. Although the SLT undertake a schedule of lesson
observations, the feedback and target-setting are weak as they are not focused
sufficiently on the impact of teaching on student progress and learning. The subject
coordinators are keen to improve the teaching in their departments but they lack
training and guidance and a coherent whole school policy for teaching and learning.
Assessment, testing and monitoring are based on simple internal tests and
procedures. These are ineffective in identifying the real strengths and weaknesses in
student performance to bring about improvements in the curriculum, teaching and
learning experiences of students.
Middle leadership is weak and underdeveloped. Many post holders have recently
been appointed and have received little or no training. Their current role is not
effective in holding teachers to account so that they are meeting the needs of all
students in lessons. They see themselves as managing departments and not as leaders
of learning and standards.
Parents overall are satisfied with the school. They appreciate the high level of care
provided for their children and say that the school is a happy place that their children
want to attend. Academic reports are sent out to parents three times a year with
consultation meetings taking place. There are relatively few productive partnerships
with other organizations in the local, national or international contexts.
Governance arrangements are acceptable. The Governing Council comprises seven
members of which three are parents. They are highly supportive of the principal. The
Council provides oversight of financial, legal and human resource issues ensuring that
sufficient funding is available for staffing, resources and improvement projects.
Teachers feel that the Governing Council appreciates their work. The governing body
is not rigorous or effective enough at holding the school to account for student
learning and outcomes.
The school runs very smoothly day-to-day with routines and procedures well in place
and understood by all. Staffing, facilities and resources are managed well.
Professional development is provided both in-house and through externally provided
training on key aspects of modern pedagogy. The impact of the training is not evident
in many classrooms.
The premises are adequate for the curriculum on offer. There are no specialised
facilities for science and limited facilities for sports. The two small libraries are well
stocked, organised energetically and well used by students. The celebration of
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student work and promotion of student interest in classrooms and corridors is

minimal. The print environment is particularly poor with few labels, captions or
questions to engage students interest in reading or to provide models for their own
writing.
Resources are very weak. Classroom resources are mostly textbooks with insufficient
materials to support the textbooks or to allow students full access to the curriculum.
In KG, there is a serious lack of quality resources that encourage exploration,
discovery and experiential learning. New story books for the KG were housed in the
library and remained unopened in their packaging until the inspection. In science,
mathematics and technology there are very few resources for experiential learning in
the early years and lower grades. The specialised science room has very few chemicals
or laboratory equipment to provide an adequate curriculum for students. The
information and communications technology (ICT) room has the minimum amount of
resources, for example students in a Grade 9 lesson were sharing one robotic kit
between eight students. PE provision still lacks an internal space.

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What the school should do to improve further:

1. Improve students achievement, particularly for English, mathematics and
science, by ensuring that:
i. lesson planning is more focused on meeting the needs of individuals
and groups of students
ii. teachers assess student progress throughout the lesson to see
whether they are meeting the learning objectives
iii. all work is marked accurately and provides guidance for students on
how to improve their work
iv.
teachers allow students more control over their own learning and
the opportunity to show what they are capable of.
2. In English, improve teaching in all four modes of speaking, listening, reading
and writing and, in particular, teach the range of writing skills needed for
academic success.
3. Improve the rigour of school self evaluation by:
i. thoroughly analysing student performance data; monitoring
systematically the quality of teaching and learning and identifying
the most important strengths and weaknesses in school
performance
ii. developing the role and accountability of subject coordinators to
become leaders of learning within the leadership structure of the
school.
4.

Build on recent initiatives in the KG by improving the learning environment

through more quality resources and teaching that encourages playing and
exploring, discovery, independence and allowing children to choose the way
to do things.

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