Day 1 • Pre-Event Drinks • 6th November
An exclusive evening on the water to kick off the Outstanding Schools Dubai weekend. Join senior school leaders, speakers and partners for drinks and canapés aboard a private yacht — a relaxed, premium setting to connect before the main event. Venue to be confirmed.
Interested in attending the full Outstanding Schools experience across all three days? Register your place for the Conference and Awards Day and mark your interest for Day 1 and Day 3 — tickets are limited. Register Now →
Premium Pass required. Register free for your place at the Conference and Awards AND indicate your interest where requested.
Day 2 • Conference & Awards • 7th November • Nord Anglia Swiss International Scientific School Dubai
09:00 - 09:30
The State of Outstanding • Vision, Achievement and the Road Ahead
This opening keynote is not a call to do better. It is a celebration of what has already been built, and an invitation to imagine what comes next. Because the most outstanding schools in the UAE are not standing still. They are asking: what does excellence look like in five years? Ten years? What is the school of the future and how do we build it today?Â
09:30 - 09:45
Headline Sponsor Session
09:45 - 10:15
Intelligence, Imagination and the Future of Learning • AI as Education's Greatest Opportunity
AI is not just a tool that helps us answer questions. Used wisely, it may be the most powerful answer our generation has available. This is not a session about whether AI is coming. It is here. This is about how the world's most forward-thinking school leaders are seizing it — thoughtfully, responsibly, and with genuine excitement about what it makes possible.Â
10:15 - 10:30
Coffee BreakÂ
10:30 - 11:00
The Vision to Lead Differently • How Outstanding Schools Become Even More Extraordinary
The school leaders who will define the next decade are the ones with absolute clarity about what their school stands for. This keynote is a celebration of that kind of leadership — and an invitation to every school leader in the room to lead with the same absolute conviction about what their school is for, and what it can become.Â
11:00 - 11:40
Outstanding for Whom? Every Voice, One VisionÂ
'Outstanding' means different things to different people. This panel brings the perspectives of regulators, teachers, parents and students alongside school leaders – not to manufacture consensus, but to explore the tensions, trade-offs, and difficult leadership realities that sit beneath the idea of an 'Outstanding School'.Â
11:40 - 12:10
Networking & Refreshments Break
12:10 - 12:55
Breakout Sponsor Sessions -Â Delegates choose from four concurrent sessions.
ACER
A global, not-for-profit organisation that brings over 95 years of expertise to improving learning.
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MagmaMaths
A maths platform to advance pupil learning, designed to support teachers in making more informed decisions in the classroom
12:55 - 13:55
Networking Lunch
13:55 - 14:25
Track Breakout Session 1 -Â Delegates choose from four concurrent sessions.
Track 1 — Leadership & Governance
Built to Last • The Leadership Disciplines of Enduringly Outstanding Schools
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Track 2 — Teaching, Inclusion & Safeguarding
Measuring What Matters • The Assessment Revolution Happening in Outstanding SchoolsÂ
Track 3 — People & Culture
Leading with Clarity • How Outstanding Schools Build Cultures That LastÂ
Track 4 — Operations, Finance & Technology
The Intelligent School • Harnessing AI Without Losing Yourself
14:25 – 14:40
Track Sponsor Insight Sessions
Short partner-led insight sessions within each track.
14:40 - 15:10
Track Breakout Session 2 -Â Delegates choose from four concurrent sessions.
Track 1 — Leadership & Governance
Who Defines Excellence? The Bold Leaders Shaping Their Own Standards
Track 2 — Teaching, Inclusion & Safeguarding
A Culture of Safety is a Culture of Love • Building Safeguarding into the Soul of a School Â
Track 3 — People & Culture
The Communities We Are Building • Why Culture Is a School's Greatest AssetÂ
Track 4 — Operations, Finance & Technology
Built for Growth • The Operating Models Behind the Region's Most Ambitious School GroupsÂ
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15:10 - 15:25
Networking Break
15:25 - 15:55
Track Breakout Session 3 -Â Delegates choose from four concurrent sessions.
Track 2 — Teaching, Inclusion & Safeguarding
The Foundation of Everything • Why the World's Best Schools Start at Age Three
Track 3 — People & Culture
The Loyalty Question • What Makes Extraordinary Teachers Choose to Stay
Track 4 — Operations, Finance & Technology
The Cyber-Ready School • Building the Digital Foundations of Tomorrow
15:55 - 16:25
Afternoon Tea Break
16:25 - 16:55
Track Breakout Session 4 -Â Delegates choose from four concurrent sessions.
Track 1 — Leadership & Governance
Beyond the Classroom • How Sport, Performance and Voice Build Extraordinary Young PeopleÂ
Track 2 — Teaching, Inclusion & Safeguarding
The School That Never Stops Improving • A Case Study in Continuous Excellence  Â
Track 3 — People & Culture
The Leaders You Didn't Know You Were Growing • Building the Next GenerationÂ
Track 4 — Operations, Finance & Technology
The Early Years Opportunity • The Investment That Changes EverythingÂ
16:55 - 17:25
The Vision to Lead Differently • How Outstanding Schools Become Even More Extraordinary
This closing keynote moves beyond the school gates to ask how excellence scales across a system — not just within it. Our closing speaker will explore the infrastructure, partnerships and investment shaping the next chapter of education in Dubai, and what it means to lead collectively toward a standard worthy of the word outstanding.