Senior Leadership Team

Principal

Andrew Homden

Having graduated with a degree in Modern History from Oxford in the late 1970s, Andy has worked mainly in British schools overseas since 1980. A Housemaster at Island School in Hong Kong, he was appointed Head of Humanities at Guildford Grammar School in Perth, Western Australia, before becoming Deputy Principal of the British International School in Jakarta, and subsequently Director of Schools at the Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur. He took his Masters in Education at the University of Western Australia in 1994 and joined Taaleem's Dubai British School from Bangkok Patana in Thailand, where he was Head of School. He has also worked in Istanbul, where he was the Director of Enka Schools. Andy joined Jumeira Baccalaureate School in September 2010.

Primary Headteacher

Susan Carpenter

After graduating from The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, with a degree in Fine Art, Sue took her PGCE in Primary Education, also at Newcastle. She started her teaching career in 1982 and by 2001 was Headteacher of Beaufront County First School in Northumberland, England. Sue's headship was extremely successful, as she helped the school to achieve outstanding judgments across all areas in its last school inspection. Of her leadership, the inspectorate wrote; "The inspiration and dedication provided by the Head Teacher are exemplary." She has an extremely clear vision for raising standards and improving provision". In 2008, Sue joined the staff at Dubai British School, where her teaching style and love for children earned her the respect and admiration of students, colleagues and parents alike. Sue left DBS in April 2010 to join the team at Jumeira Baccalaureate School as Primary Headteacher.

Erika Elkady worked at the International Secondary School of Eindhoven (ISSE) in her home country, The Netherlands, from1996 to 2007 where she taught MYP and DP History. She was the school’s first Approaches to Learning Leader and Personal Project Coordinator. In 2004 she became the ISSE’s acting MYP Coordinator until she moved to Uptown School in Dubai in April of 2007 where she was appointed as MYP Coordinator. In August 2008, Erika also became the Deputy Head of Uptown High School (UHS). Under her leadership, UHS became an MYP authorized school in May 2009. Erika has been an MYP consultant for the IB since 2004 and has been a team member on various pre-authorization, authorization and evaluation visits. She has also been a Workshop Leader for Humanities, Coordinators and the Personal Project. She joined JBS in September 2011 as the Secondary Headteacher.

Georgina was Key Stage One (KG2 – G1) Leader at Dubai British School from 2005 – 2010 and is a founding member of staff with Taaleem. Having graduated with a BA Honours degree in Education and Media Studies from Trinity College, Carmarthen, she commenced her teaching career at Hook Junior School, in Hampshire. Her enthusiasm for teaching then led her to New Zealand, where in an innovative school; she explored using the Reading Recovery Programme and focused on using 'creativity' across all areas of the curriculum. Georgina joined JBS from DBS in 2010 and was appointed as our first Primary Deputy Headteacher in September 2012.

MYP Coordinator

Zena Muhtaseb

Zena received her Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Toronto, where she specialised in Molecular Biology and Genetics. She then went to York University and obtained her Bachelor of Education, specialising in secondary science. She taught high school science in Canada for four years before moving to Bahrain to teach IB Diploma Biology at Bahrain Bayan School, and later MYP and Diploma Science, Biology and Chemistry at the Amman Baccalaureate School. Zena joined JBS from Uptown High School in September 2011. She is also a Diploma Examiner and Moderator for Biology and an MYP Moderator in Chemistry.