Digital Strategy for a Growing School Group

Victoria International School of Sharjah (VISS) was founded in 2007 with the support and vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah. In collaboration with the Victorian Government of Australia, VISS aimed to establish a lighthouse international school in Sharjah. By 2021, VISS had become an established K-12 school, running the Victorian/Australian Curriculum and leading into the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Notably, the school consistently exceeded the world average diploma score.

Recognizing the strength and expertise of VISS, His Highness decided to expand its reach across Sharjah. In 2021, VISS established VISS Regional Schools in Mileiha, Khorfakkan, and Kalba. Additionally, a new VISS premium school was opened in Tilal in 2023. These expansions marked the birth of the VISS group.

The original campus in Al Taawun, Sharjah City, was designed with technology in mind. In 2012, VISS launched one of the first iPad programs in the United Arab Emirates. The school continued to innovate and expand its digital strategy in various areas, including learning platforms, virtual reality, and coding.

However, VISS faced two challenges that are common to international schools. Firstly, maintaining a high staff retention rate was a challenge. While VISS Al Taawun had a good staff retention rate for an international school, key staff members inevitably moved on. This posed a challenge in ensuring that the level of expertise in the field remained consistent.  

The primary challenge was establishing the group and maintaining the desired level of expertise, particularly in effectively utilizing digital technologies in the classroom. Clearly, the top priority for new schools is to provide buildings and teachers. These new schools were designed as premium school buildings with education at the forefront of their architecture. Since regional schools primarily cater to Emirati students, they have a different fee structure. However, the standard of teachers and the curriculum remain consistent across all VISS schools.

The new schools benefited from the expertise gained over nearly 20 years of premium education in Sharjah. Additionally, they shared and implemented policies and practices that could be replicated and implemented elsewhere. The curriculum encompassed policies related to technology, including platforms, school Management Information Systems (MIS), and devices. While all teachers were provided with MacBooks, students from Grade 4 brought their iPads. iPad trolleys were also made available for younger students. However, upskilling new staff and sustaining a professional development program in this area proved challenging, as anyone who has been involved in starting a new school can attest.

Now that the new schools are established, and considering the upcoming expansion of the VISS Group, it’s an opportune moment to review the strategy for the future. It’s worth noting that, like the new schools, the VISS Group is a new and growing organization. The original ‘group’ was formed by leveraging the expertise of the staff at the original campus. Indeed, even now, approximately half of the group team originally worked at VISS Al Taawun. Combined with some excellent external appointments, the group boasts a good mix of contextualized expert knowledge.

The team is lean and always has a lot to do. However, the Group has recognized the need to consolidate and refresh its approach to digital learning across all its schools. 

So, what are our goals? First, we need to establish our current position and our desired future. We have valuable experience from our previous campus, so we know what good practice looks like. After a brief evaluation, we’ve decided that iPads will remain our main program.

Another important issue is to determine how much digital strategy is mandated by the Group and how much is contextualized and governed by individual campuses.

To start, we appointed digital ambassadors for each campus. These representatives were carefully selected to be both leaders and current classroom practitioners. As the Group lead on this, I reached out to Apple Middle East and their Education Lead, Chaltham Ali. She was incredibly supportive and arranged training for us, the Group team, and our campus principals. She also helped us connect with partners who can support our journey in the future.

Once we’ve made key decisions about our vision, we need to implement them. While certain policies are set at the Group level, each school sets its own vision based on its context and team. Schools will continue to access training and build capacity within their campuses to ensure that if key staff move on, the strategy remains sustainable and continues to benefit students from the resources they have.

Finally, monitoring at the Group level will allow us to share our expertise with new campuses as they open. This way, they can open with their digital strategy embedded, and new teachers can hit the ground running.

Jim Stearns
Deputy Director of Schools
Victoria International Schools of Sharjah