Simon O'Connor

Simon O'Connor was the Director of Deira International School with oversight over both the primary and secondary schools. He has over 25 years of experience in education and joined DIS in August of 2020. Before this, he was Principal of Jumeirah College, an outstanding school in Dubai, since 2013 and is now one of the longest serving principals in British Premium Schools in Dubai. He is passionate about learning and ensuring all students are challenged in lessons for them to achieve their full potential. He strongly believes that if this is to be achieved students should be happy at school, and therefore the wellbeing of our community is a key focus for all of them there. Before moving to the UAE, he taught History and Politics for over 20 years in a variety of different school contexts. In his last role in the UK, he worked as a school leader in a very successful grammar school in Kent. His role there was curriculum lead and he was also responsible for the management of a teaching school and working across an academy chain of schools which he helped to found. His key education interests are teaching and learning, curriculum design and assessment, and leadership models across schools. Within this context, he worked as an Associate with High-Performance Learning and led the program across ten GEMS schools. He is also very keen to develop the wider student experience, and this was the motivation for a recent link with ArtsEd theatre school. As a student he studied for a BA in History and Philosophy at the University of Wales, College of Cardiff where he was a choral scholar at Llandaff Cathedral. he then studied for a PGCE at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was also a choral scholar. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Education Leadership and a National Professional Qualification for Headship.