Taking place on Wednesday 29th April 2026 at 12:30 BST/UK, 15:30 GST/UAE. 
 

Wellbeing is not separate from education - it is the foundation upon which effective learning and teaching are built. This interactive panel webinar brings together leading experts to explore how schools can create comprehensive, sustainable wellbeing strategies that support entire communities. This session provides comprehensive, actionable guidance for embedding wellbeing into every aspect of school life - recognising that thriving students and thriving teachers are inseparable, and both require intentional, systemic support.

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                Speakers: 

Chairperson:

Sara Hedger
School Improvement Partner - Safeguarding & Child Protection, Aldar Education

Sara Hedger is a safeguarding, child protection, and wellbeing specialist with over 25 years of experience in education, working across the UAE, GCC and internationally. A former Principal with a Master's degree in Educational Leadership, her work centres on helping schools and corporate educational entities build organisational cultures where safeguarding and wellbeing are embedded into policy, curriculum, and daily operations, not treated as add-ons, but recognised as the foundations on which effective teaching and learning depend. She currently leads on safeguarding and child protection at Aldar Education, and has an independent safeguarding consultancy serving government and global clients.

Sara has extensive experience of translating policy into practice: designing and implementing frameworks that address the interconnected wellbeing needs of both students and staff, and equipping school communities with practical tools for early identification, prevention, and coordinated intervention before concerns escalate. Her background in complex multi-agency child protection casework gives her particular depth in the mental health and safeguarding interface, and in supporting leaders to move from reactive crisis management towards proactive, sustainable approaches that allow both educators and students to flourish.

Prof. Abhilasha Singh
Dean - COBA, Department of Management, American University

A staunch supporter of quality education with a strong commitment to academic excellence and unwavering dedication to the success of students, Abhilasha Singh is currently a Professor of HR and OB, before serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs for five years and Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs for three years at the American University in the Emirates, Dubai, UAE. Throughout her distinguished career, she was engaged in a series of academic administrative positions at various institutions and have been engaged in providing strategic directives at a senior leadership role and ensuring its implementation with determination. She has also been engaged in ensuring educational quality and compliance for national/international accreditation and is a certified reviewer of the Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry of Education, UAE. She is a passionate educational leader, engaged in not only leading the strategic plan, but also outcome-based student learning, and continuous improvement plans through a robust and scalable infrastructure, and, with a commitment to bring educational excellence in the region. Recipient of many awards and accolades, including the 2025 award for outstanding contribution to education; the highest award for Non-Resident Indians-The Hind Ratan Award 2024, Most Influential Women Award by Filmfare Middle East 2023, Women Leadership congress Award 2023 and the most admired global Indians 2021, she is also passionate about research that resulted in many research grants, published articles in journals of high repute and in frequent invitations to numerous speaking engagements to national and international audiences. She has a Ph.D. in Applied Psychology from Banaras Hindu University, India, and graduate certifications from IIM-C and MIT, US and she is a certified practitioner of Balance Scorecard, EQ, SHRM, CIPD, & MBTI. She also serves as a senior editor of a leading Q1 Scopus indexed journal and as an executive board member at the International Higher Education, Teaching and Learning Association (HETL).

Dr. Rageh Ghaly
Academic Director, Ibn Roshd Educational Company

Dr. Rageh Ghaly is an Academic Director at Ibn Roshd Educational Company in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with extensive experience in school leadership, academic improvement, and quality assurance across multiple countries. He holds a PhD in Education, a PGCE, and NPQSL. Dr. Rageh is a certified Cognia Accreditation Reviewer and a UNICEF-certified trainer and lecturer, with international experience in school evaluation and professional development. He specializes in building high-performance school and educational systems, embedding wellbeing and behaviour frameworks, and leading data-driven school improvement initiatives, supporting schools and educators in diverse international contexts.

Dr. Farah Sarraj
Chief Corporate Officer, Al Futtaim School Management Company

Dr Farah Sarraj currently holds the role of Chief Corporate Officer at Al-Futtaim School Management Company & Director of the Centre for Educational Research (CEAR); she also leads a dedicated Centre for Excellence in Arabic founded in 2018 by the Al Futtaim Education Foundation. Dr Sarraj’s advocacies include education for the 22nd Century, bilingualism, raising the profile of Arabic as a language for thought and life, and education for global citizenship. Dr Sarraj held several senior school leadership roles in the UK before she moved to the UAE in 2011. In the UAE, Dr. Sarraj served on the senior leadership team of a start-up school in the northern emirates before moving to Ajman University, where she lectured in the College of Education at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Dr Sarraj holds an MA and PhD in English Literature/Early Women’s Writing from the University of Manchester, a PGCE/QTS from Brunel University, London and an MSc in Educational Leadership from the University of Portsmouth. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts and is currently pursuing a Master’s in the Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at Kings College London.

Dr. Navin Valrani
CEO, Arcadia Education

As CEO of Arcadia Education and the Al Shirawi Group, Dr. Navin Valrani pursues lifelong learning as a personal goal. After graduating from the Wharton School, he completed his MBA at London Business School, obtained a Master's in Education Entrepreneurship at Penn, and attained a doctorate degree in education after publishing research on the relationship between teachers' cultural backgrounds and their use of technology in the classroom.

While Dr. Valrani has succeeded in various industries, his true passions lie in female empowerment and education. Under the Arcadia banner, he has established and operated schools in the UAE and significantly impacted education worldwide. Together with his wife Monica, he has endowed several scholarships, providing not just opportunities but a beacon of hope for female students to pursue higher education.

Dr. Valrani’s commitment to education extends beyond his professional life. He founded and teaches the renowned Junior MBA program at Arcadia School, an entrepreneurship curriculum that prepares students for the business world. His dedication to service and teaching has been recognized with the William B. Castetter Award and a position on the Board of Advisors at Penn's Graduate School of Education. He also serves on the Advisory Council of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.

Dr. Valrani's commitment to education is a family affair. He has been happily married for thirty years and has two wonderful sons. His wife, Monica, shares his passion and runs the Ladybird chain of nursery schools in Dubai, demonstrating their shared dedication to early childhood education.

Shahad Obeid
Assistant Head Primary - Student Experience and Progress, Beech Hall School Riyadh

Shahad Obaid is the Assistant Head of Primary for Student Experience and Progress, at Beech Hall School Riyadh. bringing over 10 years of experience in education. She is a dedicated inclusion advocate and wellbeing champion, committed to fostering environments where every student feels valued, supported, and empowered to succeed. Drawing from both her professional expertise and her lived experience as a mother of a child with autism, Shahad is passionate about driving meaningful change in inclusive education and student wellbeing.

Mohammed A. Al-Ghamdi
CEO, AlRoshd Education Co. 

Mohammed A. Al-Ghamdi is Founder and CEO of AlRoshd Education Company, a Dammam-based K 12 education company developing and operating next-generation schools in Saudi Arabia. He is currently leading the development of the company s first flagship campus, designed to serve approximately 2,700 students, with delivery underway. He is building the school around the AlRoshd 4P Model: Principles, Proficiency, Performance, and Presence; integrating Saudi values, future-ready skills, physical development, and character education to deliver globally competitive outcomes aligned with Vision 2030 and Saudi Arabia s human capital transformation.

In parallel, Mohammed is an active pre-seed and seed-stage investor, backing early-stage ventures in Saudi Arabia, with a focus on education, edtech, and sectors shaping future workforce capabilities.

He brings over 20 years of cross-functional experience across business strategy, engineering, project delivery, and venture building.

Mohammed holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, and dual MBAs from Columbia Business School (Finance) and London Business School (Entrepreneurship). He is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), applying a governance-driven, risk-aware approach to complex projects, partnerships, and capital development.