November 9, 2025 • 29 mins
We meet Richard Drew, principal of Jumeira Baccalaureate School, and trace his path from sporty Nottingham kid and clarinettist to long-serving IB headteacher in Dubai. He shares why character, inclusion, and patient culture-building stay at the heart of JBS.
• shifting from football to rugby and the habits sport builds
• why learning an instrument strengthens patience and focus
• choosing a BEd in PE and finding purpose in teaching
• early rugby career, injury and lessons in resilience
• Australia exchange and the haves vs have-nots divide
• UAE PPP years, translators and cultural fluency
• stepping into JBS and leading through change
• IB identity and Character Mark Plus recognition
• Inspire and Aspire inclusion embedded in school life
• staff continuity, community trust and belonging
• philosophy of happiness, health and safety driving learning
• future plans to mentor leaders and give back locally
• life outside school: cycling, cooking and family sport
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
You are listening to the Teach Middle East podcast.
Connecting, developing, andempowering educators.
SPEAKER_01 (00:42):
Hello everyone, Lisa Grace here from the Teach Middle
East podcast.
Today I'm speaking with RichardDrew, and he is the principal of
the Jamiro Baccalaureate School.
And we are actually going to getto know him.
So we're all going to learnabout him together.
Because I've only met Richardjust now.
And so he's going to tell meabout himself and you're going
(01:05):
to learn about him.
And we're going to learn abouthis work, his school, and what
makes him tick.
Welcome to the podcast, Richard.
SPEAKER_02 (01:12):
Good morning.
Thank you very much for invitingme on.
It's really a pleasure to behere.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
I'm glad that you are so open to a conversation
that's unscripted.
A lot of times when we do these,people are like, oh, please send
me the questions.
I want to know what I'll beasked.
I get nervous, but you are upfor it, right?
SPEAKER_02 (01:30):
Yeah, I might be a bit nervous, but I'm ready to go
and I'll try my very best togive you the information that
you want about myself.
SPEAKER_01 (01:37):
Brilliant.
I'll start off easy then and askyou to give me the little
Richard version.
Not little Richard, the one weknow, but little Richard, as in
growing up.
Where did you grow up?
Tell us a little bit more aboutyour background.
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
So I am from Nottingham, which is in the East
Midlands in England.
I am the youngest son of afamily of four.
I have two older brothers and asister.
And we were predominantly stateeducated.
But my sister, who who is numberthree in the family, won a
scholarship to a fairlyprestigious private day school
(02:16):
in Nottingham called NottinghamGirls High School.
And then when Little Richardcame along, the my parents
thought that that might be agood a good place for me to go.
So I went into the boys' highschool, which was the kind of
sister-brother school across theroad.
And that that had a real shapingon my life because we're a very
sporty family.
My father was actually aprofessional footballer and
(02:39):
played for Knotts County, whichis the kind of lesser of the two
clubs in Nottingham.
Many people will know NottinghamForest, been in the news
recently with a change ofmanager.
But my father played for KnottsCounty in the 50s.
So very sporty family.
And that changed my directionbecause it was an independent
day school that played rugby andnot football.
And I was a football fanatic upto the age of 11, but then had
(03:00):
to kind of change my game plan alittle bit.
Went through O levels as theywere called then.
That now dates me, doesn't it?
And then A levels and went on touniversity to study physical
education and teaching.
So I went to do a four-yearBachelor of Educations degree in
physical education.
So yeah, loved being outdoors.
(03:21):
Anything sporty was me.
We were very fortunate to beintroduced to the snow from an
early age to our parents, soenjoy skiing and still do.
Also, um, surprisingly for somepeople, picked up a clarinet at
the age of 11 and learnt to playthe clarinet.
So I'm a decent clarinetist andthat comes out occasionally.
(03:43):
Like to cook because my motherwas a was a chef and uh yeah,
had a had a really happy, asmany people would reflect,
family upbringing with veryclose brothers and sisters.
There's only six years betweenme and my eldest brother.
So we we were all very close inage, two years roughly between
each of us.
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
Brilliant.
So you you actually can play aninstrument.
I wanna I can I want to segueinto that.
How important is it for youngpeople, for children to get into
music and and maybe learning aninstrument, especially in these
times when everybody's kind ofdoomed.
SPEAKER_02 (04:18):
Well, real uh for me it's really, really important
because I think it's you can bemany things in terms of your
your life growing up, you know.
Yes, you can have things for me,it was sport, but also you know,
learning music and gettinginvolved in music brought a
different dimension to who Iwas, and you know, the kind of
the patience and the rigour ofpractice and and playing in an
(04:40):
orchestra as I did in the schoolorchestra and the school band
and and wind quartets and thingslike that, and gave me an
appreciation of of a differentside of things.
So obviously growing up as ateenager uh in the in the 70s
and 80s, listening to the musicof the time, you know, the old
punk rock era was in in thosedays, but also having a real
appreciation of classical music,you know, and I I actually
(05:01):
having played various classicalpieces as I went through the
grades with my clarinet playing,I still find it really relaxing
and soothing to listen to, youknow, Maps Art or whatever now.
And and I have I have twochildren of my own, and and my
wife and I were very keen forthem to play a musical
instrument.
I always wanted to play thedrums, but my mum and dad never
(05:22):
did that.
So guess what my boys do?
They learn to play the drumsfrom a very early age and both
still play the drums and play toa very competent level.
So no, I think it's reallyimportant, but I think just like
sports, music, drama, arts andcrafts, but and anything that
children can be exposed to, Ithink is really important
because it just makes them amuch more rounded person,
(05:43):
hopefully.
SPEAKER_01 (05:44):
Yeah, I do agree with you.
I'm trying to get my one of mysons, he's quite musical, and
I'm trying to get him to playsomething.
So we'll see.
Fingers crossed.
And then good luck with that.
So you actually chose a path ofeducation because you did a B
Ed.
SPEAKER_02 (06:01):
Yes, I did, yeah, the good old B Ed.
I suppose I I wanted to be aprofessional sportsman, but my
parents were very committed tous, you know, doing well in
school and and getting auniversity education.
And I suppose that always seemedlike, you know, being a P
teacher always seemed like thenext best thing to being
(06:21):
involved in sport and beingaround sport if you couldn't be
a professional sports person.
And so, yeah, I chose a B ed inphysical education, which meant
that across the four years of mydegree, I was always exposed to
in-school practice.
So we would do teachingpractices every year for a block
of time.
And I loved working with youngpeople in my area.
(06:42):
I I used to get as much pleasureout of helping those children
who found sport difficultbecause it wasn't they weren't
naturally gifted or talented inthat area or or you know, the
health benefits it as much asworking with those top
performers as well.
And during my A-level years andthen into my degree, working at
things like you know, youthsport games or disabled sports
(07:03):
activities that went on in a bigcity like Nottingham was a real
lovely exposure to me to workingwith young people and get
getting the benefits out ofseeing them succeed and be happy
and be successful or achieve,you know, whatever that meant
doesn't necessarily have to win,just achieving a better jump in
the long jump or a better timeon the track or you know,
scoring the goal in football orwhatever it may be.
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
Yeah.
And so sports became such anintegral part of your life that
it actually took youprofessional.
Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:34):
It did, yeah.
So having gone to thisindependent day school where
rugby was the beal and end alland and and then loving the
game, I carried on playing foruniversity and then basically
was fairly successful at at kindof representative levels,
schoolboy level and universitylevel, and then got picked up by
Bedford Blues who kind of wereinterested in me and said if you
(07:58):
get a teaching job around here,then you know we'd be interested
in signing you on.
But you have to remember in thethe the game of rugby only
turned professional in the early90s.
So when I started in the late80s, I graduated in 89.
It was still an amateur sport,although don't tell anybody, but
we were being paid as well.
So actually it was a it was agood income earner as well as
(08:20):
your lowly teaching salary as anNQT.
I was also earning a little bitof money from from playing
rugby, which was known as petrolmoney or boot money.
But then the game did turnprofessional, and and it turned
professional during the seasonwhen Bedford were in the second
tier of rugby, but we got movedinto the first tier through a
decent season.
So had a season playing on andoff in the the first tier of
(08:43):
English rugby, which is nowcalled the Premiership.
And whilst I I was then beingpaid for playing, I was also
still a teacher as well, and itwas still very much a uh a
professional stroke amateur gamein a sense, as it still is
today, actually.
It's only really the the PremierLeague players that are fully
professional, even thechampionship players, of which
Bedford is still in thechampionship, kind of on a
(09:05):
hybrid contract of someprofessional money and some
private money through jobs thatthey do.
But like lots of rugby playersgot a pretty bad knee injury,
and that kind of finished myplaying career at the age of 26,
actually.
So yeah, it was a short butsweet career which I enjoyed and
still have a lot of fun beinginvolved in rugby now.
(09:27):
My my two sons are very involvedin playing rugby as well.
SPEAKER_01 (09:29):
So yeah.
So you do you follow any teamaround?
Do you follow the England team?
SPEAKER_02 (09:35):
I I I have a soft spot for for Bedford Blues
because I played, but my eldestson has been involved with the
Northampton Saints Academy aswell.
So we very much follow theSaints in in the premiership.
And Bedford and the Saints arevery well connected.
In fact, Bedford are now theSaints kind of junior club, even
though it's a championshippremiership relationship.
So yeah, we follow the Saints,and if we ever get a chance to
(09:57):
go back and watch them, we goand watch them.
And I said, with my son'sinvolvement, that's been a been
a really nice, nice relationshipthing going on.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
So then your career as a teacher took you from the
United Kingdom to where?
Where did you go first, or didyou come straight?
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
So the my first yeah, my first kind of journey
outside of the UK was toAustralia.
So I I basically got involvedwith something called the
Teaching Exchange Programme inAustralia.
And I went to Perth, GovernorSterling Senior High School,
which was a pretty rough andready state school.
It was quite interesting becauseit lived next door to a school
(10:35):
called Guildford Grammar.
And Guildford Grammar is aschool where you know the do you
remember the actor Heath Ledger,who played various main roles in
Hollywood?
He was an ex-pupil of GuildfordGrammar, and there was a fence
that split the two schools.
And Guilford Grammar's side ofthe school, the grass was lush
and green, and the GovernorSterling side, it was all dry
and burnt, and it was definitelythe haves and the have-nots.
(10:57):
So I did 18 months in Perthworking there, and then came
back as part of the exchangeprogramme.
I had to come back to my schoolthat I was working at in
Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire,and then developed a journey
into leadership, became a headof department, then a director
of sport, then assistant headand a deputy head, and then a
head teacher.
And then moved out to the UAE in2009 to be involved in the PPP
(11:23):
project in ADEC, actually, whichwas still involved with Talem,
who I still work for now, butthat was the when Talim were in
a in a joint partnership with acompany called Addison Learning
from the UK.
SPEAKER_01 (11:35):
That's interesting.
2009, I came in 2010 as a partof the PPP with Nord Anglia.
SPEAKER_02 (11:41):
Nord Anglia, yeah.
So we both worked in the sameproject.
Yeah, I was the lead advisor fortwo schools, one in Banyas and
one in Shamka.
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
And I was in Al Ain for three schools, one in Jali,
one in Mwaji, and one in Zhaka.
That's so interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
No, and you know, that experience for me, those
two and a half years, becausethe project, as you know, closed
down in 2012.
But I learned a huge amountabout me as a person, the
culture of the UAE, living andworking with Emirates, which was
fabulous.
And I think it stood me in realgood stead for me coming into
(12:19):
Dubai for the last kind of 10-12years of my career.
But a really wonderful time, andyou know, I think the
opportunity to see things reallymove forward and grow and build
relationships with not onlyEmirates but other Arab teachers
from the GCC and beyond.
Um, now a very fond time, andI'm still in touch with some of
(12:41):
those teachers and those guysfrom that period of time.
But I learned a lot about myselfactually because it was, as you
will know, Lisa, it was verydifferent to what we would have
been experiencing in the UK.
And you having to think on yourfeet and do things differently,
and also think about the cultureof the country and the kind of
way in which people werelearning at that time.
SPEAKER_01 (13:01):
Yeah, I think when I look back at that time, I think
I had a whole lot of fun.
A whole lot of fun.
At the time, I didn't realize itwas fun until it ended.
I was like, oh, that wasactually quite nice.
And there was so much I learned,so much change that I had to
witness and be a part of.
And it was fabulous.
(13:21):
I mean, I then went on to workdirectly for ADEC for several
years.
But I think during that PPPtime, those initial times when
we were just all coming in andeverybody was like, what are
these people here to do?
kind of thing.
It was quite a learning curve.
SPEAKER_02 (13:37):
It's amazing what you have to learn to do.
So really fond memories ofworking with two translators,
one in each school.
Ahmed Hirsch was a guy from, youknow, kind of Beirut, and he
basically was my translator.
And you know, some really funnymoments of having to kind of
talk to some grade 12 boys in apretty stern way about an
(14:01):
incident that we were not toohappy with.
But him having to translate itinto Arabic so they could
understand, and me saying tohim, you know, excuse me, you
know, you need to be really,really quite stern when you say
this, you know.
And and whether he was sayingwhat I was saying, I don't know.
But it was definitely a learningcurve for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (14:19):
They say that you you you have to trust the
translator.
I think my translator was calledSaween.
So hey Saween, I don't knowwhere you are in the world, but
it was it was a very interestingtime.
So then you moved into leadingyour current school.
SPEAKER_02 (14:33):
No, I didn't.
There was there was a little bitof a hiatus period.
So Tallem and Edison kind ofparted ways, and then Tallem
asked me to join them as adirect member of staff and moved
to Dubai.
And so then I basically had acouple of years where I was kind
of moved around the company alittle bit.
So I spent some time at a numberof the Tallem schools in Dubai
(14:56):
supporting, helping out, andsometimes where there were
problems with staffing issues atsenior leadership level and just
supporting the principals.
And then that was how I ended upat JBS actually in 2015.
They'd had a newly appointedprincipal, had only been in post
for a short period of time, andsadly he'd taken quite seriously
ill.
(15:17):
So they asked me to step in tolook after the school in his
absence, but then it becameapparent that he was not going
to be well enough to return.
And obviously they'd thought I'ddone a good job, so then they
offered me the job morepermanently.
And that was 11 years ago, andI'm still here.
So yeah, it was a prettyinteresting journey at the time,
and and stepping into schoolsand again those lessons learnt
(15:40):
from the PPP, having to be ableto be flexible and learn the
layout of the school, you know,how the parents worked, how the
school worked, who theleadership were, and support
them as best you could, probablystood me in good stead,
actually.
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
Eleven years in the same school, Richard.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
Eleven years, yeah.
I must be one of the longerserving principals in in Dubai
and probably one of the longerserving principals in one
school.
I'm sure there are others thathave done a lot longer.
You might know that more than Ido.
But yeah, I'm certainly thelongest serving principal in the
TLIM group by some way.
And uh yeah, one of the longerserving staff members of Tallem.
If you if you count my time withthe PPP, it will be 16 years as
(16:21):
of December, I think.
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
Yeah.
So you were there during Ross'stime.
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
Yeah, well, even before Ross with Ziad, actually.
Dr.
Ziad was the first CEO.
Um and ironically, Dr.
Ziad is still around and he'svery much involved with Tallinn
from uh uh an ownershipmanagement point of view, but
he's also a parent of mine.
His three boys are at my school.
Oh wow.
So I see Dr.
Ziyad most days, and wesometimes smile and laugh about
(16:49):
the the past.
Such a great, great guy to tohave as a parent and also as a
colleague.
He's you know a huge amount ofknowledge.
And then Ross took over from Dr.
Ziad, so I worked with Roz forsome time and now Alan.
So yeah, I'm on my third CEO.
SPEAKER_01 (17:03):
Tell me what makes it easy for you to stick around
that long because it's not easyfor many people to stick around.
SPEAKER_02 (17:11):
Oh, that's a really good question, and I think it's
a mix of professional andpersonal.
I think stability personally,when you've got a young family,
and my my boys were really youngwhen we came here, one and
three, and having stability forthem to be here and and for them
to, you know, go through theireducation here.
My eldest is about to startuniversity actually next week.
(17:31):
So he's come through the wholejourney.
So, yeah, wanting stability andactually really being very
fortunate to live and work inDubai, bringing up a young
family safe for your family, foryour wife, opportunity, you
know, fantastic opportunities.
If anybody's listening andthey've only been here a short
period of time or they don'tknow Dubai, fantastic
opportunity to bring yourchildren up, the you know, the
(17:53):
parks, the beaches, all of thosethings.
So that really appealed.
But professionally, I think itwas always about, you know, JBS
when I took over was muchsmaller than it is now.
We've kind of almost doubled innumber and we're at capacity,
which has been fantastic for theschool and for Tallim.
But always wanting to, what canwe do better next?
What can we grow?
What can we develop?
(18:14):
How can we improve?
And having that opportunity tobe in one school for that period
of time allows you to see thatjourney through.
I mean, I've always thought thatschool improvement is a little
bit like an ocean liner.
You know, if you want to turnthe ocean liner round, it
doesn't turn round, you know, in30 minutes, it turned around in
a few hours because you've gotto stop the liner first of all,
(18:35):
and and you don't just stop anocean liner from travelling in
one direction, but it takes timefor it to stop.
Then you've got to maneuver itround, then you've got to bring
it back to the point with whereyou decided you were going to do
something, and then you've gotto carry on the journey.
And and I think that that'ssomething that is a real
challenge here in Dubai becausethe fast-paced nature of the
(18:55):
environment and people wantingthings to change
instantaneously.
And I don't think schools andinstitutions can change
instantaneously.
I think you've got to build aculture, you've got to build
relationships, and you've got toget the right people.
You know, that old adage ofgetting the right people on the
right bus in the right seats isreally true about institutions.
(19:16):
And certainly here in Dubai,that's as true as anywhere else
in the world.
SPEAKER_01 (19:20):
So I think it was a good mix of you personally
wanting to stay around, to growyour family, and to grow the
institution in which you weremade to lead.
So tell me about JBS then.
What are you excited about thatyou guys are doing there now
that you want to shout about?
Shout about it right now.
SPEAKER_02 (19:40):
I haven't been here for 11 years, I love JBS.
I drive into work every morningwith a smile on my face.
It's a great school in the heartof Jumera.
We're an IB school, which we'rereally proud of.
We've got a fantastic community,which is somewhere in the region
of about 93 nationalities at themoment.
I love the dynamic of localcommunity, our Emirati parents
(20:03):
who are so supportive, ourFrench community are so
supportive, and then the mix ofeverybody else.
We're really passionate aboutthe character of the school.
We're a character educationschool, one of the first, I
think, in the world outside ofthe UK to gain the Character
Mark Plus Award.
And a school of good characterlinks in very much with the IB
learner profile and what thatactually means to be a member of
(20:27):
the JBS community.
So we're excited about that.
We're excited about thecontinued growth of the school
in terms of its provision forextra cricker activities, ECAs,
sports, and and also developingyoung people that are going to
go out and be leaders in theworld.
I think it's really important.
We have about 20% of ourpopulation are local MRITs, and
(20:48):
when you've got that commitmentto Dubai and the wider UAE
world, it's really important forus to grow those young people
and to be the next leaders ofthe country and getting them off
to great universities and beingsuccessful in what they do.
But I think more importantly,it's a school where people are
happy and can belong and canfeel that they can grow and
(21:10):
develop, and that's from parentsto teachers, but more
importantly to the students.
We're really proud of ourinclusion work that we do here
at JBS.
And we have a program calledInspire and Aspire, which has
children in it that have someserious learning needs, but we
embody them into the heart ofthe school, and they are our
students, and they wear ouruniform and they do all the
(21:32):
things that all the rest of ourstudents do with the support of
some really talented teachersand power teachers and support
staff as well.
So, yeah, it's really excitingtimes for us to continue to grow
and develop.
And, you know, we're maturinginto our skin a little bit.
We've kind of gone through theteenage years, and maybe now
we're in our early 20s, andwe're really settling down and
(21:52):
developing things and structuresand systems that a growing
school needs to have and becomesmore challenging as we get more
students in the school.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
I love that.
I love the fact that you look atit as a child, then a teenager,
then a young adult, and now yourschool is a young adult and it's
maturing and it's has its own.
SPEAKER_02 (22:11):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (22:11):
I love that.
I love that analogy.
SPEAKER_02 (22:13):
And you know, I think as well as myself, we've
got many staff who have beenhere five, six, seven years.
In fact, I'm not the longestserving member of staff.
A number of other staff havebeen here 11, 12 years, you
know, which goes to show wellyou have that mix of new, young,
dynamic blood or experiencedyoung blood coming into the
school, which always gives youdifferent eyes on your practices
(22:37):
and what you're doing.
There's also that core of staffwho've been here a long time,
who know the families, know thestudents.
You know, some of my grade 12swho will be graduating next year
have been here since, you know,KG1, KG2, as long as I have.
And I've seen them come in aslittle ones and are now, you
know, taller than me and smarterthan me, and are hopefully going
off to do wonderful things.
(22:58):
But I've seen their journey andI've lived it with their
families as well, which isfantastic, as have quite a few
staff here at JVS now.
SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
Isn't that just beautiful?
Isn't that just the greatest?
It is.
SPEAKER_02 (23:10):
I think I think if you kind of are listening to
this and you want to know aboutmy philosophy of education, you
know, education and learning isimportant, but so is is
happiness and health and safety.
And I genuinely believe that ifif people are happy and healthy
and are safe, then they willlearn.
And I think the longer you knowthose people, know those
families, then that thathappiness, health part of it,
(23:31):
and safety part of it comes moreinto play.
And, you know, there are manyfamilies here that I've known
for a long time, again, as havemany of the staff.
And it is like a big family,actually.
And when you're an expat and youlive away from home, I think
your friends and what you do arereally important.
I think, and in school, you'revery lucky because you've kind
of almost got an instant familyto wrap around you if you allow
(23:52):
that and you grow thoserelationships.
SPEAKER_01 (23:55):
I really, really love that.
You know, it's I think it'severy parent's dream that the
person who leads the school issomeone who is committed to the
school for the long haul.
I know for me as a parent,that's what my my dream is.
I'm lucky though, my kids go toa very good school here in Abu
(24:16):
Dhabi, where the principal'sbeen there for a decade.
I don't know now if I've givenit away, but whatever.
Like, so at the end of the day,you want that because you want
that leadership to remainconsistent.
And sometimes things change fordifferent reasons, I get it, but
that consistency is to becelebrated.
So I'm giving you your props,Richard.
(24:37):
Well done for spending.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (24:39):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Now, and your parents ask me,you know, I've heard you're
leaving.
And sometimes I say, Well,that's news to me, but I'm not.
And obviously, there will come apoint in my career where it's
time to call it a day.
But as I sit here and feel atthe moment, I feel that JBS will
be my last teaching role.
You know, it's the school that Iwill finish teaching at.
Whether I go on to do otherthings outside of teaching
(25:00):
afterwards, you never know.
But that's how strongly I feelabout it.
You know, I couldn't see myselfat this moment in time sitting
here ever going to lead anotherschool, either in the UAE or in
another part of the world.
It feels like this is where Iwant to finish and complete.
And that has symmetry to itbecause by the time I am ready
(25:21):
to do that, then I will haveseen probably those free K
students through that.
There will be still some of themhere.
There definitely are still someof them here.
I know they are.
I will have seen them throughfrom when I started to when they
finished, to when I finish.
And that that feels like a niceplace to be, you know, the
symmetry of that.
SPEAKER_01 (25:40):
Yeah, it is.
So then let's project into thefuture a little bit because I
always like to ask thisquestion: what do head teachers
do when they stop being headteachers?
SPEAKER_02 (25:51):
I suppose it depends at what age they are.
I mean, I will be workingtowards the end of my career.
What will I do?
If I'm not workingprofessionally, which may be in
a supportive role of a group ofschools, I already have an
executive principal role withthe group.
So I support many of our otherschools in certain ways,
particularly around leadershipand professional development for
(26:14):
both staff and students.
And then I also have a role withthe IB.
So I'm the chairman of the UAEIB Association, which was an
association that existed andthen kind of through COVID and
afterwards died of death, andthen we resurrected it.
So we're fairly new in terms ofthe resurrection of the
association.
We had our first conference inFebruary of this year where over
(26:35):
500 teachers are turned up for awhole Saturday, which was
wonderful.
So I'm busy with that.
Whether things like that kind ofcarry on.
But you know what?
I'd really love to think thatwhen I do call it a day working
professionally and working for asalary, wherever I am, I could
give back.
And this sounds crazy, but I'dlove to go back full circle and
I'd love to, you know, maybe bethat older gentleman listening
(26:59):
to younger children read, or inmy sporting capacity, you know,
run the undernines boys or girlsfootball team for a primary
school for free, just because,you know, that's what I like to
do.
That's the kind of thing I seemyself doing.
And also, obviously, hopefullyfollowing my boys around a
little bit and seeing them playrugby on a Saturday or a
Wednesday or whenever it is.
(27:19):
So, yeah, those are that that'swhere I see myself going.
SPEAKER_01 (27:22):
Oh, brilliant.
Last question.
That was so wholesome.
I think I think my listenersknow the kinds of things I like
to hear.
That was just so wholesome.
Last question.
When you are not in school,Richard, and you're not leading
JBS, how are you taking care ofyou?
What are you doing?
SPEAKER_02 (27:41):
Well, if you're around at about 5:30 in the
morning, you'll see me up at ElCudra on my bike with anybody
who wants to ride with me.
We have a little cycling grouphere at JBS, but I sometimes
think they don't want to ridewith the principal on a Saturday
morning.
So I ride around El Cudra, 50K,60K, 70k, whatever.
It's it's a bit bit morechallenging at the minute, hence
(28:03):
the early starts because of theweather.
Yeah, so I like to cycle becausethe knees the knees are a bit
shocked.
So cycling helps.
I like to cook.
So I've got my mum's kind ofinterest in cooking.
I love cooking.
I love cooking just generallyduring the week, but I love
cooking for people to comearound and have dinner.
And yeah, I love to engage withwith my two sons and go and see
(28:24):
them play rugby or or othersports that they're involved in.
But yeah, hopefully trying to beactive.
I still manage to ski eventhough the knees are a bit short
once a year.
Take a few panodol and get outon the slopes.
So the outdoor life is good.
So we're waiting for the coolerweather to come in so that we
can get down the beach or go outwalking or whatever.
So those are the things I liketo do.
SPEAKER_01 (28:45):
Brilliant.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast with me, Richard.
It's been very, very lovely.
SPEAKER_02 (28:51):
No, no, it's been my pleasure, and thank you for for
inviting me.
It's been great talking to you.
You are listening to the Teach Middle East podcast.
Connecting, developing, andempowering educators.
SPEAKER_01 (00:42):
Hello everyone, Lisa Grace here from the Teach Middle
East podcast.
Today I'm speaking with RichardDrew, and he is the principal of
the Jamiro Baccalaureate School.
And we are actually going to getto know him.
So we're all going to learnabout him together.
Because I've only met Richardjust now.
And so he's going to tell meabout himself and you're going
(01:05):
to learn about him.
And we're going to learn abouthis work, his school, and what
makes him tick.
Welcome to the podcast, Richard.
SPEAKER_02 (01:12):
Good morning.
Thank you very much for invitingme on.
It's really a pleasure to behere.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
I'm glad that you are so open to a conversation
that's unscripted.
A lot of times when we do these,people are like, oh, please send
me the questions.
I want to know what I'll beasked.
I get nervous, but you are upfor it, right?
SPEAKER_02 (01:30):
Yeah, I might be a bit nervous, but I'm ready to go
and I'll try my very best togive you the information that
you want about myself.
SPEAKER_01 (01:37):
Brilliant.
I'll start off easy then and askyou to give me the little
Richard version.
Not little Richard, the one weknow, but little Richard, as in
growing up.
Where did you grow up?
Tell us a little bit more aboutyour background.
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
So I am from Nottingham, which is in the East
Midlands in England.
I am the youngest son of afamily of four.
I have two older brothers and asister.
And we were predominantly stateeducated.
But my sister, who who is numberthree in the family, won a
scholarship to a fairlyprestigious private day school
(02:16):
in Nottingham called NottinghamGirls High School.
And then when Little Richardcame along, the my parents
thought that that might be agood a good place for me to go.
So I went into the boys' highschool, which was the kind of
sister-brother school across theroad.
And that that had a real shapingon my life because we're a very
sporty family.
My father was actually aprofessional footballer and
(02:39):
played for Knotts County, whichis the kind of lesser of the two
clubs in Nottingham.
Many people will know NottinghamForest, been in the news
recently with a change ofmanager.
But my father played for KnottsCounty in the 50s.
So very sporty family.
And that changed my directionbecause it was an independent
day school that played rugby andnot football.
And I was a football fanatic upto the age of 11, but then had
(03:00):
to kind of change my game plan alittle bit.
Went through O levels as theywere called then.
That now dates me, doesn't it?
And then A levels and went on touniversity to study physical
education and teaching.
So I went to do a four-yearBachelor of Educations degree in
physical education.
So yeah, loved being outdoors.
(03:21):
Anything sporty was me.
We were very fortunate to beintroduced to the snow from an
early age to our parents, soenjoy skiing and still do.
Also, um, surprisingly for somepeople, picked up a clarinet at
the age of 11 and learnt to playthe clarinet.
So I'm a decent clarinetist andthat comes out occasionally.
(03:43):
Like to cook because my motherwas a was a chef and uh yeah,
had a had a really happy, asmany people would reflect,
family upbringing with veryclose brothers and sisters.
There's only six years betweenme and my eldest brother.
So we we were all very close inage, two years roughly between
each of us.
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
Brilliant.
So you you actually can play aninstrument.
I wanna I can I want to segueinto that.
How important is it for youngpeople, for children to get into
music and and maybe learning aninstrument, especially in these
times when everybody's kind ofdoomed.
SPEAKER_02 (04:18):
Well, real uh for me it's really, really important
because I think it's you can bemany things in terms of your
your life growing up, you know.
Yes, you can have things for me,it was sport, but also you know,
learning music and gettinginvolved in music brought a
different dimension to who Iwas, and you know, the kind of
the patience and the rigour ofpractice and and playing in an
(04:40):
orchestra as I did in the schoolorchestra and the school band
and and wind quartets and thingslike that, and gave me an
appreciation of of a differentside of things.
So obviously growing up as ateenager uh in the in the 70s
and 80s, listening to the musicof the time, you know, the old
punk rock era was in in thosedays, but also having a real
appreciation of classical music,you know, and I I actually
(05:01):
having played various classicalpieces as I went through the
grades with my clarinet playing,I still find it really relaxing
and soothing to listen to, youknow, Maps Art or whatever now.
And and I have I have twochildren of my own, and and my
wife and I were very keen forthem to play a musical
instrument.
I always wanted to play thedrums, but my mum and dad never
(05:22):
did that.
So guess what my boys do?
They learn to play the drumsfrom a very early age and both
still play the drums and play toa very competent level.
So no, I think it's reallyimportant, but I think just like
sports, music, drama, arts andcrafts, but and anything that
children can be exposed to, Ithink is really important
because it just makes them amuch more rounded person,
(05:43):
hopefully.
SPEAKER_01 (05:44):
Yeah, I do agree with you.
I'm trying to get my one of mysons, he's quite musical, and
I'm trying to get him to playsomething.
So we'll see.
Fingers crossed.
And then good luck with that.
So you actually chose a path ofeducation because you did a B
Ed.
SPEAKER_02 (06:01):
Yes, I did, yeah, the good old B Ed.
I suppose I I wanted to be aprofessional sportsman, but my
parents were very committed tous, you know, doing well in
school and and getting auniversity education.
And I suppose that always seemedlike, you know, being a P
teacher always seemed like thenext best thing to being
(06:21):
involved in sport and beingaround sport if you couldn't be
a professional sports person.
And so, yeah, I chose a B ed inphysical education, which meant
that across the four years of mydegree, I was always exposed to
in-school practice.
So we would do teachingpractices every year for a block
of time.
And I loved working with youngpeople in my area.
(06:42):
I I used to get as much pleasureout of helping those children
who found sport difficultbecause it wasn't they weren't
naturally gifted or talented inthat area or or you know, the
health benefits it as much asworking with those top
performers as well.
And during my A-level years andthen into my degree, working at
things like you know, youthsport games or disabled sports
(07:03):
activities that went on in a bigcity like Nottingham was a real
lovely exposure to me to workingwith young people and get
getting the benefits out ofseeing them succeed and be happy
and be successful or achieve,you know, whatever that meant
doesn't necessarily have to win,just achieving a better jump in
the long jump or a better timeon the track or you know,
scoring the goal in football orwhatever it may be.
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
Yeah.
And so sports became such anintegral part of your life that
it actually took youprofessional.
Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:34):
It did, yeah.
So having gone to thisindependent day school where
rugby was the beal and end alland and and then loving the
game, I carried on playing foruniversity and then basically
was fairly successful at at kindof representative levels,
schoolboy level and universitylevel, and then got picked up by
Bedford Blues who kind of wereinterested in me and said if you
(07:58):
get a teaching job around here,then you know we'd be interested
in signing you on.
But you have to remember in thethe the game of rugby only
turned professional in the early90s.
So when I started in the late80s, I graduated in 89.
It was still an amateur sport,although don't tell anybody, but
we were being paid as well.
So actually it was a it was agood income earner as well as
(08:20):
your lowly teaching salary as anNQT.
I was also earning a little bitof money from from playing
rugby, which was known as petrolmoney or boot money.
But then the game did turnprofessional, and and it turned
professional during the seasonwhen Bedford were in the second
tier of rugby, but we got movedinto the first tier through a
decent season.
So had a season playing on andoff in the the first tier of
(08:43):
English rugby, which is nowcalled the Premiership.
And whilst I I was then beingpaid for playing, I was also
still a teacher as well, and itwas still very much a uh a
professional stroke amateur gamein a sense, as it still is
today, actually.
It's only really the the PremierLeague players that are fully
professional, even thechampionship players, of which
Bedford is still in thechampionship, kind of on a
(09:05):
hybrid contract of someprofessional money and some
private money through jobs thatthey do.
But like lots of rugby playersgot a pretty bad knee injury,
and that kind of finished myplaying career at the age of 26,
actually.
So yeah, it was a short butsweet career which I enjoyed and
still have a lot of fun beinginvolved in rugby now.
(09:27):
My my two sons are very involvedin playing rugby as well.
SPEAKER_01 (09:29):
So yeah.
So you do you follow any teamaround?
Do you follow the England team?
SPEAKER_02 (09:35):
I I I have a soft spot for for Bedford Blues
because I played, but my eldestson has been involved with the
Northampton Saints Academy aswell.
So we very much follow theSaints in in the premiership.
And Bedford and the Saints arevery well connected.
In fact, Bedford are now theSaints kind of junior club, even
though it's a championshippremiership relationship.
So yeah, we follow the Saints,and if we ever get a chance to
(09:57):
go back and watch them, we goand watch them.
And I said, with my son'sinvolvement, that's been a been
a really nice, nice relationshipthing going on.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
So then your career as a teacher took you from the
United Kingdom to where?
Where did you go first, or didyou come straight?
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
So the my first yeah, my first kind of journey
outside of the UK was toAustralia.
So I I basically got involvedwith something called the
Teaching Exchange Programme inAustralia.
And I went to Perth, GovernorSterling Senior High School,
which was a pretty rough andready state school.
It was quite interesting becauseit lived next door to a school
(10:35):
called Guildford Grammar.
And Guildford Grammar is aschool where you know the do you
remember the actor Heath Ledger,who played various main roles in
Hollywood?
He was an ex-pupil of GuildfordGrammar, and there was a fence
that split the two schools.
And Guilford Grammar's side ofthe school, the grass was lush
and green, and the GovernorSterling side, it was all dry
and burnt, and it was definitelythe haves and the have-nots.
(10:57):
So I did 18 months in Perthworking there, and then came
back as part of the exchangeprogramme.
I had to come back to my schoolthat I was working at in
Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire,and then developed a journey
into leadership, became a headof department, then a director
of sport, then assistant headand a deputy head, and then a
head teacher.
And then moved out to the UAE in2009 to be involved in the PPP
(11:23):
project in ADEC, actually, whichwas still involved with Talem,
who I still work for now, butthat was the when Talim were in
a in a joint partnership with acompany called Addison Learning
from the UK.
SPEAKER_01 (11:35):
That's interesting.
2009, I came in 2010 as a partof the PPP with Nord Anglia.
SPEAKER_02 (11:41):
Nord Anglia, yeah.
So we both worked in the sameproject.
Yeah, I was the lead advisor fortwo schools, one in Banyas and
one in Shamka.
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
And I was in Al Ain for three schools, one in Jali,
one in Mwaji, and one in Zhaka.
That's so interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
No, and you know, that experience for me, those
two and a half years, becausethe project, as you know, closed
down in 2012.
But I learned a huge amountabout me as a person, the
culture of the UAE, living andworking with Emirates, which was
fabulous.
And I think it stood me in realgood stead for me coming into
(12:19):
Dubai for the last kind of 10-12years of my career.
But a really wonderful time, andyou know, I think the
opportunity to see things reallymove forward and grow and build
relationships with not onlyEmirates but other Arab teachers
from the GCC and beyond.
Um, now a very fond time, andI'm still in touch with some of
(12:41):
those teachers and those guysfrom that period of time.
But I learned a lot about myselfactually because it was, as you
will know, Lisa, it was verydifferent to what we would have
been experiencing in the UK.
And you having to think on yourfeet and do things differently,
and also think about the cultureof the country and the kind of
way in which people werelearning at that time.
SPEAKER_01 (13:01):
Yeah, I think when I look back at that time, I think
I had a whole lot of fun.
A whole lot of fun.
At the time, I didn't realize itwas fun until it ended.
I was like, oh, that wasactually quite nice.
And there was so much I learned,so much change that I had to
witness and be a part of.
And it was fabulous.
(13:21):
I mean, I then went on to workdirectly for ADEC for several
years.
But I think during that PPPtime, those initial times when
we were just all coming in andeverybody was like, what are
these people here to do?
kind of thing.
It was quite a learning curve.
SPEAKER_02 (13:37):
It's amazing what you have to learn to do.
So really fond memories ofworking with two translators,
one in each school.
Ahmed Hirsch was a guy from, youknow, kind of Beirut, and he
basically was my translator.
And you know, some really funnymoments of having to kind of
talk to some grade 12 boys in apretty stern way about an
(14:01):
incident that we were not toohappy with.
But him having to translate itinto Arabic so they could
understand, and me saying tohim, you know, excuse me, you
know, you need to be really,really quite stern when you say
this, you know.
And and whether he was sayingwhat I was saying, I don't know.
But it was definitely a learningcurve for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (14:19):
They say that you you you have to trust the
translator.
I think my translator was calledSaween.
So hey Saween, I don't knowwhere you are in the world, but
it was it was a very interestingtime.
So then you moved into leadingyour current school.
SPEAKER_02 (14:33):
No, I didn't.
There was there was a little bitof a hiatus period.
So Tallem and Edison kind ofparted ways, and then Tallem
asked me to join them as adirect member of staff and moved
to Dubai.
And so then I basically had acouple of years where I was kind
of moved around the company alittle bit.
So I spent some time at a numberof the Tallem schools in Dubai
(14:56):
supporting, helping out, andsometimes where there were
problems with staffing issues atsenior leadership level and just
supporting the principals.
And then that was how I ended upat JBS actually in 2015.
They'd had a newly appointedprincipal, had only been in post
for a short period of time, andsadly he'd taken quite seriously
ill.
(15:17):
So they asked me to step in tolook after the school in his
absence, but then it becameapparent that he was not going
to be well enough to return.
And obviously they'd thought I'ddone a good job, so then they
offered me the job morepermanently.
And that was 11 years ago, andI'm still here.
So yeah, it was a prettyinteresting journey at the time,
and and stepping into schoolsand again those lessons learnt
(15:40):
from the PPP, having to be ableto be flexible and learn the
layout of the school, you know,how the parents worked, how the
school worked, who theleadership were, and support
them as best you could, probablystood me in good stead,
actually.
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
Eleven years in the same school, Richard.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
Eleven years, yeah.
I must be one of the longerserving principals in in Dubai
and probably one of the longerserving principals in one
school.
I'm sure there are others thathave done a lot longer.
You might know that more than Ido.
But yeah, I'm certainly thelongest serving principal in the
TLIM group by some way.
And uh yeah, one of the longerserving staff members of Tallem.
If you if you count my time withthe PPP, it will be 16 years as
(16:21):
of December, I think.
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
Yeah.
So you were there during Ross'stime.
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
Yeah, well, even before Ross with Ziad, actually.
Dr.
Ziad was the first CEO.
Um and ironically, Dr.
Ziad is still around and he'svery much involved with Tallinn
from uh uh an ownershipmanagement point of view, but
he's also a parent of mine.
His three boys are at my school.
Oh wow.
So I see Dr.
Ziyad most days, and wesometimes smile and laugh about
(16:49):
the the past.
Such a great, great guy to tohave as a parent and also as a
colleague.
He's you know a huge amount ofknowledge.
And then Ross took over from Dr.
Ziad, so I worked with Roz forsome time and now Alan.
So yeah, I'm on my third CEO.
SPEAKER_01 (17:03):
Tell me what makes it easy for you to stick around
that long because it's not easyfor many people to stick around.
SPEAKER_02 (17:11):
Oh, that's a really good question, and I think it's
a mix of professional andpersonal.
I think stability personally,when you've got a young family,
and my my boys were really youngwhen we came here, one and
three, and having stability forthem to be here and and for them
to, you know, go through theireducation here.
My eldest is about to startuniversity actually next week.
(17:31):
So he's come through the wholejourney.
So, yeah, wanting stability andactually really being very
fortunate to live and work inDubai, bringing up a young
family safe for your family, foryour wife, opportunity, you
know, fantastic opportunities.
If anybody's listening andthey've only been here a short
period of time or they don'tknow Dubai, fantastic
opportunity to bring yourchildren up, the you know, the
(17:53):
parks, the beaches, all of thosethings.
So that really appealed.
But professionally, I think itwas always about, you know, JBS
when I took over was muchsmaller than it is now.
We've kind of almost doubled innumber and we're at capacity,
which has been fantastic for theschool and for Tallim.
But always wanting to, what canwe do better next?
What can we grow?
What can we develop?
(18:14):
How can we improve?
And having that opportunity tobe in one school for that period
of time allows you to see thatjourney through.
I mean, I've always thought thatschool improvement is a little
bit like an ocean liner.
You know, if you want to turnthe ocean liner round, it
doesn't turn round, you know, in30 minutes, it turned around in
a few hours because you've gotto stop the liner first of all,
(18:35):
and and you don't just stop anocean liner from travelling in
one direction, but it takes timefor it to stop.
Then you've got to maneuver itround, then you've got to bring
it back to the point with whereyou decided you were going to do
something, and then you've gotto carry on the journey.
And and I think that that'ssomething that is a real
challenge here in Dubai becausethe fast-paced nature of the
(18:55):
environment and people wantingthings to change
instantaneously.
And I don't think schools andinstitutions can change
instantaneously.
I think you've got to build aculture, you've got to build
relationships, and you've got toget the right people.
You know, that old adage ofgetting the right people on the
right bus in the right seats isreally true about institutions.
(19:16):
And certainly here in Dubai,that's as true as anywhere else
in the world.
SPEAKER_01 (19:20):
So I think it was a good mix of you personally
wanting to stay around, to growyour family, and to grow the
institution in which you weremade to lead.
So tell me about JBS then.
What are you excited about thatyou guys are doing there now
that you want to shout about?
Shout about it right now.
SPEAKER_02 (19:40):
I haven't been here for 11 years, I love JBS.
I drive into work every morningwith a smile on my face.
It's a great school in the heartof Jumera.
We're an IB school, which we'rereally proud of.
We've got a fantastic community,which is somewhere in the region
of about 93 nationalities at themoment.
I love the dynamic of localcommunity, our Emirati parents
(20:03):
who are so supportive, ourFrench community are so
supportive, and then the mix ofeverybody else.
We're really passionate aboutthe character of the school.
We're a character educationschool, one of the first, I
think, in the world outside ofthe UK to gain the Character
Mark Plus Award.
And a school of good characterlinks in very much with the IB
learner profile and what thatactually means to be a member of
(20:27):
the JBS community.
So we're excited about that.
We're excited about thecontinued growth of the school
in terms of its provision forextra cricker activities, ECAs,
sports, and and also developingyoung people that are going to
go out and be leaders in theworld.
I think it's really important.
We have about 20% of ourpopulation are local MRITs, and
(20:48):
when you've got that commitmentto Dubai and the wider UAE
world, it's really important forus to grow those young people
and to be the next leaders ofthe country and getting them off
to great universities and beingsuccessful in what they do.
But I think more importantly,it's a school where people are
happy and can belong and canfeel that they can grow and
(21:10):
develop, and that's from parentsto teachers, but more
importantly to the students.
We're really proud of ourinclusion work that we do here
at JBS.
And we have a program calledInspire and Aspire, which has
children in it that have someserious learning needs, but we
embody them into the heart ofthe school, and they are our
students, and they wear ouruniform and they do all the
(21:32):
things that all the rest of ourstudents do with the support of
some really talented teachersand power teachers and support
staff as well.
So, yeah, it's really excitingtimes for us to continue to grow
and develop.
And, you know, we're maturinginto our skin a little bit.
We've kind of gone through theteenage years, and maybe now
we're in our early 20s, andwe're really settling down and
(21:52):
developing things and structuresand systems that a growing
school needs to have and becomesmore challenging as we get more
students in the school.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
I love that.
I love the fact that you look atit as a child, then a teenager,
then a young adult, and now yourschool is a young adult and it's
maturing and it's has its own.
SPEAKER_02 (22:11):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (22:11):
I love that.
I love that analogy.
SPEAKER_02 (22:13):
And you know, I think as well as myself, we've
got many staff who have beenhere five, six, seven years.
In fact, I'm not the longestserving member of staff.
A number of other staff havebeen here 11, 12 years, you
know, which goes to show wellyou have that mix of new, young,
dynamic blood or experiencedyoung blood coming into the
school, which always gives youdifferent eyes on your practices
(22:37):
and what you're doing.
There's also that core of staffwho've been here a long time,
who know the families, know thestudents.
You know, some of my grade 12swho will be graduating next year
have been here since, you know,KG1, KG2, as long as I have.
And I've seen them come in aslittle ones and are now, you
know, taller than me and smarterthan me, and are hopefully going
off to do wonderful things.
(22:58):
But I've seen their journey andI've lived it with their
families as well, which isfantastic, as have quite a few
staff here at JVS now.
SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
Isn't that just beautiful?
Isn't that just the greatest?
It is.
SPEAKER_02 (23:10):
I think I think if you kind of are listening to
this and you want to know aboutmy philosophy of education, you
know, education and learning isimportant, but so is is
happiness and health and safety.
And I genuinely believe that ifif people are happy and healthy
and are safe, then they willlearn.
And I think the longer you knowthose people, know those
families, then that thathappiness, health part of it,
(23:31):
and safety part of it comes moreinto play.
And, you know, there are manyfamilies here that I've known
for a long time, again, as havemany of the staff.
And it is like a big family,actually.
And when you're an expat and youlive away from home, I think
your friends and what you do arereally important.
I think, and in school, you'revery lucky because you've kind
of almost got an instant familyto wrap around you if you allow
(23:52):
that and you grow thoserelationships.
SPEAKER_01 (23:55):
I really, really love that.
You know, it's I think it'severy parent's dream that the
person who leads the school issomeone who is committed to the
school for the long haul.
I know for me as a parent,that's what my my dream is.
I'm lucky though, my kids go toa very good school here in Abu
(24:16):
Dhabi, where the principal'sbeen there for a decade.
I don't know now if I've givenit away, but whatever.
Like, so at the end of the day,you want that because you want
that leadership to remainconsistent.
And sometimes things change fordifferent reasons, I get it, but
that consistency is to becelebrated.
So I'm giving you your props,Richard.
(24:37):
Well done for spending.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (24:39):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Now, and your parents ask me,you know, I've heard you're
leaving.
And sometimes I say, Well,that's news to me, but I'm not.
And obviously, there will come apoint in my career where it's
time to call it a day.
But as I sit here and feel atthe moment, I feel that JBS will
be my last teaching role.
You know, it's the school that Iwill finish teaching at.
Whether I go on to do otherthings outside of teaching
(25:00):
afterwards, you never know.
But that's how strongly I feelabout it.
You know, I couldn't see myselfat this moment in time sitting
here ever going to lead anotherschool, either in the UAE or in
another part of the world.
It feels like this is where Iwant to finish and complete.
And that has symmetry to itbecause by the time I am ready
(25:21):
to do that, then I will haveseen probably those free K
students through that.
There will be still some of themhere.
There definitely are still someof them here.
I know they are.
I will have seen them throughfrom when I started to when they
finished, to when I finish.
And that that feels like a niceplace to be, you know, the
symmetry of that.
SPEAKER_01 (25:40):
Yeah, it is.
So then let's project into thefuture a little bit because I
always like to ask thisquestion: what do head teachers
do when they stop being headteachers?
SPEAKER_02 (25:51):
I suppose it depends at what age they are.
I mean, I will be workingtowards the end of my career.
What will I do?
If I'm not workingprofessionally, which may be in
a supportive role of a group ofschools, I already have an
executive principal role withthe group.
So I support many of our otherschools in certain ways,
particularly around leadershipand professional development for
(26:14):
both staff and students.
And then I also have a role withthe IB.
So I'm the chairman of the UAEIB Association, which was an
association that existed andthen kind of through COVID and
afterwards died of death, andthen we resurrected it.
So we're fairly new in terms ofthe resurrection of the
association.
We had our first conference inFebruary of this year where over
(26:35):
500 teachers are turned up for awhole Saturday, which was
wonderful.
So I'm busy with that.
Whether things like that kind ofcarry on.
But you know what?
I'd really love to think thatwhen I do call it a day working
professionally and working for asalary, wherever I am, I could
give back.
And this sounds crazy, but I'dlove to go back full circle and
I'd love to, you know, maybe bethat older gentleman listening
(26:59):
to younger children read, or inmy sporting capacity, you know,
run the undernines boys or girlsfootball team for a primary
school for free, just because,you know, that's what I like to
do.
That's the kind of thing I seemyself doing.
And also, obviously, hopefullyfollowing my boys around a
little bit and seeing them playrugby on a Saturday or a
Wednesday or whenever it is.
(27:19):
So, yeah, those are that that'swhere I see myself going.
SPEAKER_01 (27:22):
Oh, brilliant.
Last question.
That was so wholesome.
I think I think my listenersknow the kinds of things I like
to hear.
That was just so wholesome.
Last question.
When you are not in school,Richard, and you're not leading
JBS, how are you taking care ofyou?
What are you doing?
SPEAKER_02 (27:41):
Well, if you're around at about 5:30 in the
morning, you'll see me up at ElCudra on my bike with anybody
who wants to ride with me.
We have a little cycling grouphere at JBS, but I sometimes
think they don't want to ridewith the principal on a Saturday
morning.
So I ride around El Cudra, 50K,60K, 70k, whatever.
It's it's a bit bit morechallenging at the minute, hence
(28:03):
the early starts because of theweather.
Yeah, so I like to cycle becausethe knees the knees are a bit
shocked.
So cycling helps.
I like to cook.
So I've got my mum's kind ofinterest in cooking.
I love cooking.
I love cooking just generallyduring the week, but I love
cooking for people to comearound and have dinner.
And yeah, I love to engage withwith my two sons and go and see
(28:24):
them play rugby or or othersports that they're involved in.
But yeah, hopefully trying to beactive.
I still manage to ski eventhough the knees are a bit short
once a year.
Take a few panodol and get outon the slopes.
So the outdoor life is good.
So we're waiting for the coolerweather to come in so that we
can get down the beach or go outwalking or whatever.
So those are the things I liketo do.
SPEAKER_01 (28:45):
Brilliant.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast with me, Richard.
It's been very, very lovely.
SPEAKER_02 (28:51):
No, no, it's been my pleasure, and thank you for for
inviting me.
It's been great talking to you.
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