Founder’s Message

It is my privilege to welcome you as the Head and Founder of Scholastica Preparatory. An enriching and unique vision for Early Years and Primary education, the school did not materialize overnight. Rather, the vision of Scholastica Preparatory was the result of many epiphanies and journeys, including my own, which led to this path. My observations as educator and school leader within high pressure performative academic environments made me realize that thinking of our learners largely in terms of outcomes, targets, scores and efficiency had diverted us from the real focus of education, namely the need to value, understand, stimulate and embrace learners just as they are and the need to make quality teaching and connection with the learner the foremost priority of the educator. Thus was born the idea of creating a school community like Scholastica Preparatory which offers a challenging, secure and respectful environment for our learners to thrive in.

Our school has chosen to take the “whole child” approach, capitalizing on learners’ individual differences and learning styles, while encouraging them to learn in interaction with their teachers, peers and the environment. At Scholastica Preparatory, we believe that when learners comprehend and their intentions and actions are truly understood, true development ensues and they progress to their next level of learning! With the help of our early years and primary specialists and expert academic team, we enable our learners to forge meaningful relationships with adults as well as with each other which help to lay the foundation for academic and social thinking that is strengthened over time. We encourage our learners to be logical and creative thinkers and draw upon play-based pedagogy alongside complementary state of the art approaches embedded in early years and primary research to foster their learning.

Our success as a school is measured not just in test scores or what the children know and can do but also in the joy they experience in making friends, contemplating nature, helping others or in their imaginative self-expression, whether this takes the form of weaving magical tales on paper, using canvas and paints to let loose their inner artist or singing their hearts out. We are a school that values experience and interaction alongside classroom instruction as important sources of learning. Every day our young learners learn to observe, experience and reflect and to make considered decisions and choices that will help them to become reflective thinkers and self-assured members of society over time.

I invite you to take some time and explore our website and learn more about our background, our philosophy, our academics and our community. I hope that once you do, you will feel, as we do, that Scholastica Preparatory is a school with a difference, a community wherein each learner is valued, encouraged and supported to realize his and her potential to the fullest.

Mehwish Ali Shigri

Founder & CEO
Early Childhood & Primary Practitioner & Educational Leader.
U.K & U.A.E