Dear Ash Mount Community,
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful half-term break; a chance to rest, reconnect, and enjoy some family time. For those who celebrated Diwali, I wish you a joyful and prosperous new year. As we mark these moments of light, renewal, and hope, it feels fitting to reflect on the importance of community and the UAE’s commitment to tolerance, values that sit at the heart of our vision at Ash Mount: to learn with purpose, live with compassion, and lead with courage.
Every member of our school community, past, present, and future, brings something unique, and together we build a richer, more connected whole. As we design Ash Mount, we are deliberately creating a school that celebrates this diversity; a school where every learner feels seen, respected, and valued.
This week I had the privilege of attending the IB Global Conference in The Hague, where educators from around the world came together to explore the theme for 2025: Our Humanity, Connected. It asks an important question – How do we remain connected in this era of constant change?
The conversations were deeply inspiring. As global educators, we are united by our shared humanity. Through this connection, we have a profound impact on students, school communities, and the world. The sessions focused on the new skills and competencies young people need to flourish, not only academically, but socially and emotionally. They challenged us to prioritise qualities like self-awareness, empathy, and innovation, and to design education systems that keep these human strengths at the centre.
It was a powerful reminder that while technology, globalisation, and change continue to accelerate, our responsibility as educators remains the same – to prepare students for an uncertain future with hope and resilience.
That message ties perfectly to our theme this month, A School Designed for the Future, and this week’s focus: Curriculum with Purpose: balancing academic excellence with the skills of the future.
At Ash Mount, we are designing a curriculum that is rich in knowledge, skills, and understanding. It draws on the best of international education, while remaining grounded in the values and aspirations of the UAE. Our approach ensures that children develop a strong academic foundation, but also the broader competencies that help them thrive in life – critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and emotional intelligence.
The curriculum we are building will be deliberately agile, designed to grow with the world around it. Our goal is to prepare students not just for today’s challenges, but for the opportunities and questions of tomorrow, many of which we can’t yet imagine. Being agile means recognising that learning is never static; it evolves as our students, society, and world evolve.
Later this term, I am excited to be speaking at Dubai Design Week, where I’ll be joining a panel on Designing Environments to Support Wellbeing and Excellence. This conversation feels particularly meaningful as we continue shaping Ash Mount’s learning spaces and curriculum together. Our physical environment, our teaching philosophy, and our values are all interconnected,each influencing how our students feel, think, and learn.
When I stood at the IB conference this week, surrounded by educators who believe in the same things we do, purpose, compassion, and courage, I was reminded once again that we are building something special here at Ash Mount. A school designed today to prepare students for tomorrow; a place where purpose and humanity will always lead the way.
Best wishes,
Abigail Fishbourne
Founding Principal, Ash Mount School
