Welcome to The Aquila School

I am incredibly proud to have the privilege and responsibility of being the Principal of The Aquila School.

Having worked in the UAE for twelve  years and now entering my twenty-sixth  year as a principal (Yes – I really am that old!)  I am excited by the unique opportunity to continue to employ brilliant and experienced teachers to create an amazing school.

We are a busy school but we try to keep things simple - ask anyone who has been in our school for more than a minute what matters here - and they will say 'safe, happy and learning' - these three words are our raisin d'etre! If they have been here five minutes or more they would start to talk about 'amazing learning'.

Promoting quality British education in the UAE

We believe in providing pupils with ‘amazing learning’ – helping them to learn to levels that amaze them and to inspire them to be successful now and equip them to be successful later.

We inspire and support children to discover and pursue their passion in learning through maximum choice and authentic learning linked to real life.

Our vision places the interests and needs of children at the heart of everything we do.

We want Aquila children to be well equipped for future work and life experiences:

  • resilient
  • independent
  • thoughtful
  • caring
Wayne Howsen, Principal

I am delighted to be working alongside Mrs. Kylie Cleworth, our Head of Primary and Mr Benjamin Atkins, our Head of Secondary – and our excellent team of leaders, teachers and support staff to make this happen. We all share similar aspirations for The Aquila School, creating an exciting learning environment for our pupils – where children love coming to school and make as much progress as possible.

As an international, British cuirriculum school in Dubai, we welcome and celebrate a diverse learning community.  From FS to year nine, our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum for England with a global flavour, in order to ensure our children become truly ‘international’ in their outlook and attitude. In years ten and eleven we offer GCSEs, International GCSEs and BTECs at Level 2 as well as an ASDAN pathway. Finally, in year twelve and thirteen, we offer the International Baccalaureate, with a huge range of courses from both the Diploma and Career-related pathways (IBDP & IBCP), alongside BTECs at Level 3. We integrate the wonders of Dubai’s locality and ecology along with the culture and heritage of both the UAE and our children’s home countries, to inspire learning and create a sense of responsibility for our local and global environment, whilst promoting sustainability and care for the environment. As well as focusing on academic excellence, our curriculum incorporates technology (food, IT, art and design), as well as the performing arts, while truly valuing community, school connectedness and relationships – all to ensure children love coming to school and love learning.
You are very welcome to come and meet us to find out more.
Wayne Howsen, Principal