MEETING THE CHALLENGE

A spirit of inquiry underpins the education ethos at Bunat Al Ghad Academy in Jordan, where students are given the support and the space to cultivate their curiosity and develop as individuals. While the nurturing environment of the school acts as an incubator, it’s up to each student to determine their own direction and set their own goals.

“We believe that the most important role for the teacher is to facilitate learning and help the student better understand how to use their abilities to learn,” says Khaled Al-Adwan, General Manager at Bunat Al Ghad Academy. “Our environment is challenging and innovative. We urge students to wonder and search by stretching their abilities and setting higher standards each time a goal is achieved.”

Situated in the country’s capital, Amman, the school provides an evenly split bilingual programme that enables students aged three to 17 to master both English and Arabic language skills. English, maths and science are taught according to the Cambridge International Examinations programme, with Arabic, Islamic and social studies based on the Jordanian national curricula.

Value added

“We practise Islamic values more than we preach them,” says Al-Adwan. Part of the school’s mandate is to instil pride in the students’ cultural and religious identity. “We concentrate on the humanistic and manners part of Islam as we want to balance our international academic perspectives with cultural and religious content. That way, students can preserve their identities and learn to think and assess all issues related to values and religion.”

Overseas trips offer students the chance to broaden their horizons, with recent destinations including Turkey, England and Saudi Arabia. “We believe that the students should be exposed to different cultural contexts during their school life,” says Al-Adwan.

Pupils have access to a diverse programme of extracurricular activities, such as football, basketball, swimming and martial arts, in addition to indoor pursuits including chess, robotics, maths club, painting, handicrafts, cookery and photography. Students are encouraged to choose their preferred activities just as they are given the freedom to discover and fulfil their academic potential.

Beyond academia

While academic standards at BAA are high, students are given the scope to succeed wherever their talents take them. “Students go through different stages of learning maturity,” says Al-Adwan. “We make sure that we’re always there with them during these stages: guiding but not forcing; showing but not dictating; helping but not dominating.”

This environment contributes to the school’s success in producing well-balanced, high-achieving students ready to pursue the next phase of their academic careers. “We are one of only a few schools in the region that caters for all aspects of a student’s needs: academic, psychological and cultural,” says Al-Adwan. He credits the school’s character-building programme, with its emphasis on collaboration and compassion, for the positive attitudes students display towards each other and their teachers.

It’s part of the school’s broader emphasis on life skills. “Over the next five years we will continue to refine our approach,” says Al-Adwan, “which preserves the individual identity of students while providing them with the tools to become successful lifelong learners.”