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Sofitel Dubai Downtown
MENA Leadership Summit (18 - 19 February)
Lead sponsor

Programme

Tuesday
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Registration, refreshments and networking
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Welcome and housekeeping
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Introduction and welcome
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Juggernaut Thinking
Be unafraid of the level of your excellence.
Be intentional in mindsets that underpin your level of excellence.
Embrace the level of agency needed for your life and leadership.
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International schools are a powerhouse of creativity and innovation - how are they shaping the future of K-12 Education?
With the increasingly competitive nature of international education, how can you embrace new models for schooling, such as remote teaching and hybrid education and stand out from competitors.
What are the implications for the future of schooling?
Mark will draw on his experiences at JESS, Kellett and other international schools.
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Questions and answers
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Morning refreshments, networking and exhibition
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Workshop choices
1A Navigating the global recruitment crisis
- New models for talent management
- Making the most of your teaching resource
- How to incorporate remote teaching into your curriculum mix.
1B Challenging conversations
Equip yourself for tricky conversations with a toolkit that will give you confidence and positive outcomes.
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Lunch, networking and exhibition
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The north star of leadership
Explore the importance of authenticity in leadership and the range of elements that come together to give a leader authenticity.
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Discussion and Questions
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Workshop choices
2A The art (and the craft) of leadership
Explore the balance between personal leadership presence and practical skills.
Engage in tasks that will enable you to reflect on the importance of cultivating authenticity, building trust, and developing strong team dynamics.
Leave equipped with both the relational and tactical tools needed to inspire and guide your teams.
2B Making the transition from Head to Principal - CEO
Upskilling school leaders to take on the top job.
2C Let's talk and develop
Develop a systematic professional dialogue to ensure teachers and leaders take responsibility for their own professional development and improvement in an international school environment.

Aspects include:
Identifying the brilliant basics of international school teaching, learning and leading
Creating and maintaining portable professional performance portfolio (PPPP)
Rhythms and routines: registering, recording and reviewing great teaching and leading habits.
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Afternoon refreshments, networking and exhibition
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Confessions of a serial leader
Leading an international school requires a particular and acquired skill set – particularly in Dubai (UAE) where there are significant external pressures and where everybody is from somewhere with different experiences (or limited experience) of what is effective and constructive leadership.

In this session John will articulate the lessons learnt over many years leading schools and leaders, the top tips, what to watch out for, the soft and the hard skills to lead the leaders in an international school environment.
Wednesday
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Registration, refreshments and networking
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Welcome and housekeeping
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Empowering every child to reach their potential
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Effective team leadership
Devolve leadership, empower your team and ensure accountability and growth.
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Leaders' roundtables and Q & A
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Morning refreshments, networking and exhibition
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Workshop choices
1A Shifting the needle: Driving school improvement by micro shifts in cultures and practice.
Target improvement, identify focus areas and drive change to ensure excellence.
1B Leading through transition
How to grow strong leadership from solid foundations and build a legacy that survives transition and change.
1C Standing out: Designing and articulating a long term plan
In a competitive market for both staff and students, the way that leaders design and articulate their school’s unique approaches and strengths matters.  This session explores six questions that every school leader needs to articulate a response to.  Every school has a version of vision and values, and every school has an improvement plan but there is space for some important thinking and design in between.  Come along to sharpen your school’s long term development plan or to rethink it in order to stand out.
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Lunch, networking and exhibition
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Workshop choices
2A Artificial Intelligence
Leverage AI mindfully to enable staff and students to flourish.
2A Parents as partners in excellence
Practical steps to engage parents, manage expectations and work in partnership for excellence.
2C Transforming school culture
Foster a team culture which is committed to accelerating ambitious outcomes for students and effect change to drive school improvement.
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Afternoon refreshments, networking and exhibition
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Global horizons: lessons from international school growth worldwide
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Leadership roundtables
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Reflections and next steps