Star International School Mirdif announces the appointment of new Principal

Star International School Mirdif has announced the appointment of new Principal. Neal Joseph Oates has been named the new Principal of Star International School Mirdif by Star Education, a customised English Curriculum school, effective for the next school year. Neal Oates has worked at schools around the area that are known for their academic standards, and he joined the Star Mirdif team in September 2019.

Principal Oates has a strong and successful educational history, having won many accolades for work in the STEAM curriculum, including the BETT 2019 leadership awards, the GESS awards, and the 2018 Microsoft Global E2 competition held in Singapore. His next steps for the school have stemmed from his previous awards as he comments, “I plan on building on our past successes and developing a world-class education for our school community. We have recently added a STEAM+ curriculum across the school and we are investing in developing our facilities and the technological infrastructure to support the ever-increasing demands which new technology places upon our school.” 

Mr. Oates began his career at Star Mirdif in the midst of the pandemic, coinciding with the school’s growth, which saw the opening of the secondary phase, allowing more students of all ages to make new memories at Star Mirdif. Mr. Oates’ perseverance and strength helped sustain parent loyalty throughout COVID-19 by assisting kids with distant learning while keeping the school’s cohort together.

As the newly appointed Principal of Star Mirdif, Neal Oates, has commented, “I am privileged to have been appointed the Principal of Star Mirdif. During the last two years, we have built a strong foundation alongside the growth of the school. I am looking forward to the future successes of all of our students.” Mr Oates is proud to be further building on the work done by Ms Gill Roberts, former  principal of Star Mirdif, who was recently promoted to Director of Education across the three Star schools.

Ms Gill Roberts stated, “Mr Oates has worked diligently as Vice Principal over the past two years becoming familiar with children, parents, staff, systems, procedures, values and the family ethos of the school. During the Distance Learning era of lockdown 2020, Mr Oates catapulted the school into the 21st century with huge improvements to technology, digital infrastructure and alternative learning; systems which empowered school, staff and children to achieve success through the pandemic. Rising from this, Star Mirdif, under the leadership of Principal Neal and his team has a vision to become one of the leading British schools in Dubai, well equipped with the resources to tackle the challenges of the 21st Century. I believe there is no holding them back! Star Mirdif is on the journey to becoming a school offering a world class education to all.”