Middle East’s First ‘7billionideas’ Workshop Boosts Entrepreneurial Spirit Among Students
Dubai, UAE – All set to enter the exciting realm of entrepreneurship, hundreds of school children, aged 3-11, gathered at the Arcadia school campus on Saturday, 7th January to discuss and realise their unique ideas for a positive social cause.
Located in Dubai’s Jumeirah Village Triangle, Arcadia teamed up with UK-based ideas company ‘7billionideas’ to teach young children the basics of entrepreneurship. Students, parents, and top educationists, across several nationalities, partook in the highly informative first 7billionideas workshop spearheaded by CEO of 7billionideas David Harkin. CEO of leading job portal Bayt.com Rabea Ataya, CEO of the Arcadia School Dr. Navin Valrani, and Founding Principal Graham Beale actively interacted with all event attendees.
Rabea proceeded to give the opening speech to a packed auditorium and said, “UAE has always had a long legacy which encourages young businessmen and women. The growth of this great nation is the direct result of a thriving entrepreneurial spirit. Programmes like 7billionideas will foster this spirit and give birth to the next generation of entrepreneurs in the UAE.”
Commenting on the long-term benefits of the programme on students, David said, “Arcadia is the first school in the Middle East to work in partnership with 7billionideas. The programme prepares students for long-term academic excellence and motivates them to work towards career achievement of students in the UAE.”
Commenting on the success of the first edition of the event, Dr. Navin said, “We are thrilled that the response from parents and students for the event has been so positive. The initiative has been implemented for students from FS1 and upward and will allow them to dream big about the possibility of their ideas.”
“We’re delighted to be the first school in the Middle East to host our first 7billionideas workshop. It’s a great opportunity for all children to learn from seasoned entrepreneurs.
We look forward to many such workshops in 2017,” added Graham.
Students attended a session hosted by David Harkin from 10am to 12pm and were encouraged to participate in several other activities that were designed to develop teamwork, presentation skills, public speaking, and listening skills by combining idea generation and development. The event was open to students from across the Emirates.
About The Arcadia School
The Arcadia School, located in Dubai’s Jumeirah Village Triangle, offers the National Curriculum for England to students studying from the Early Years Foundation Stage (FS1) to Key Stage 2 (Year 6). The community-focused school opened in August 2016 and aspires to be one of the leading British primary schools in the world by instilling into students a lifelong passion for learning, and by nurturing innovation and the pursuit of excellence amongst the teaching staff.
The Arcadia School is the first in a series of community-based schools delivering the vision of Mohan Valrani and the Al Shirawi Group. As the Chairman of the school, Valrani is an avid believer in providing the very best education for future generations.
Believing that a school’s greatest asset is its teachers, the group is building The Arcadia House, a dedicated accommodation facility within JVT for school staff. By offering the enhanced benefit of quality housing, the school is investing fully in its teachers’ happiness and wellbeing thereby encouraging them to aspire to excellence within the classroom.
The curriculum at the school is backed up by the Talk for Writing program from the UK. Talk for Writing enables children to imitate the key language they need for a particular topic orally before they try reading and analysing it.
Future Dubai-based schools for Arcadia Group include The Arcadia Senior School, also in Jumeirah Village Triangle; and The Arcadia Primary and Secondary School in Jebel Ali.
Address: Orchid Street, District 9, Jumeirah Village Triangle, Dubai
Phone number: 04 558 5010
Email: info@arcadia.sch.ae
Facebook: facebook.com/ArcadiaSch/
Twitter: @Arcadiasch
Instagram: instagram.com/arcadiaschool/
Website: www.arcadia.sch.ae