School Accomplishments
El Zahraa School has made significant achievements in order to reach its strategic goals. Here are the several aspects that played major roles in our success:
1) School Facilities:
In consequence of the increasing number of students in our school, we have given due care to improving the school facilities including science labs, computer labs, multimedia lab and library. In 2014-2015 all the classrooms were equipped with projectors and in 2015-2016, the internet speed was also enhanced to 8 Mbps and additional emergency line was installed according to MAP requirements.
In 2016-2017, all classes were equipped with smart boards to increase the usage of technology across the school. The school installed its own server to guarantee the protection of its website and to create emails in order to communicate with all students and staff.
In 2018-2019, the school purchased one leased line 20 MB upload-download and three ADSL lines 30 MB download.
In 2019-2020, the school renovated the computer labs to cope with the technology needs for growing number of students. The school Installed Surveillance cameras in some of the most important areas in school and some classes. Purchased “Kario Connect” mail server (software and hardware) with capacity of 5000 emails to serve all school teachers and students, and 7 zoom accounts to cope with the online learning process during the COVID.
In 2020-2021, the school increased the number of computer labs to be 4 labs equipped with 79 computers, smart boards and air conditioners. The school also purchased 2 computer servers for the ACT Exams, one more leased line 10 MB upload-download, two 6 kilo watt UBS, and 21 zoom accounts to cope with the online learning process during the COVID.in addition to, renovating classes’ furniture and Purchase 100 desks to encourage students grouping
In 2021-2022,
The school Installed 6 interactive boards instead of the smart boards that were equipped inside the classrooms, purchased 200 Microsoft accounts for the teachers every account gives 15 accounts for the students, and continued renovating classes’ furniture through Purchasing 70 desks to encourage students grouping
2) School Awards:
- 2009/10: A Certificate of Appreciation from the Social Education Dept. of the Educational Eastern Directorate, Alexandria.
- 2011/12: The Quality Assurance Review.
- 2011/12: Award of Excellence in the Social Education.
- 2012/13: The School was accredited by National Authority for Quality Assurance.
- 2012/13: The School was awarded a prize for the organization of the annual fair.
- 2013-2014: The school received two certificates of appreciation for the participation in a Festival called “Alexandria the Town of Security & Tourism”
- 2014-2015: The school was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation; 4th Place in Poetry Competition at Educational Eastern Directorate, Alexandria.
- 2015-2016: The School principal was awarded a certificate of approval as a member of an Advanced External Review Team.
- 2016-2017: The School Quality Assurance Accreditation was renewed for 5 years.
- 2019-2020: The School has won the best script award in Pharos University competition “Act Your Job” among fourteen various international schools in Alex.
- 2020-2021: The Head of English Department was awarded a certificate of approval as a member of an Advanced External Review Team.
- 2020-2021: One of our talented students won the first position in the musical playing competition “Stay Online”. That competition was organized by the General Administration of Executive Affairs under the supervision of Mr. Major General/ Mohamed Elsharif, Governor of Alexandria – Dr. / Muhammad Saad Muhammad Director of Education Directorate – Professor / Raafat Abdullah and Director General of Executive Affairs.
3) Test Center license:
In 2018-2019: El Zahraa American School succeeded to finalize all the procedures and requirements to be the first ACT test center in Alexandria, Egypt.
In 2019-2020: El Zahraa American School succeeded to finalize all the procedures and requirements to be an SAT test center in Alexandria, Egypt.
4) Pharos University Protocol
In 2018-2019, The School signed an agreement with Pharos University for the duration of 3 years.
The main idea of the protocol is to exchange training and educational experience between two establishments and expose the University students to variety of different professions and possible future career and for the school students to prepare them for future learning at University campus.
5) Standardized test implementation:
In 2015/2016 our school implemented the standardized test MAP, which aims to evaluate student learning progress in English & Math subjects. The test is conducted twice a year. The school is offering the test for free to encourage all the students to participate in the learning process.
The school also holds the yearly PSAT as a standardized test, which serves as a practice test for the SAT, yet, its score can’t be submitted to colleges. The most common reason for taking the PSAT is to receive feedback on strengths and weakness.
In 2018-2019, the school implemented the ACT Aspire as a standardized test.
6) Professional development plan:
The school holds several annual training workshops for its teaching staff in various fields including Methodology, using data, classroom management, teaching strategies, digital learning, multiple intelligence, model lessons and learning styles. In addition, Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool (ELEOT) was implemented in 2016-2017 as a way to make effective learning and to make sure that all the students are involved in the learning process. Many of the school staffs have increased their English proficiency level attending courses for beginners, intermediate and advanced levels. In 2019-2020, the Placement tests are implemented online for the first year at school in order to enhance the digital learning and the use of technology among school staff.
The school implemented a rubric to assess and evaluate teachers’ performance. PD department develops individual development plan (IDP) is used to record employees’ short and long term career goals through reviewing and discussing the employee’s strengths and weaknesses. Teachers who did not meet the expected performance levels are placed in a professional development plan and are provided with additional resources and regular progress reviews. They are given the opportunity to participate in Global conferences provided by the school for free in order to develop their teaching and learning skills. The school Board is very dedicated to register for teachers in the Annual Cognia Conferences to share their experience and knowledge with their colleagues. Many of the teachers are pursuing their personal development by enrolling in educational diplomas and master degree programs.
In 2021-2022 and after purchasing Microsoft office 365 accounts, workshops were held to train the staff on how to use Microsoft teams. In addition to training workshops on Microsoft forms to help staff members do the students’ quizzes, exams and progress sheets.
– Conducting the Professional Learning Community (PLC):
PLC is a collaboration tool used to improve the communication skills among the teachers, exchange experiences and consult each other by sharing knowledge about what students need to know and what are students able to learn. The school allocates specific time for PLC team members according to published agenda and calendar for physical meetings inside the school’s campus or Professional Learning Communities tool through Office 365 digital tool which are published and authorized by all staff and students.
– Mentoring program:
PDD is charged with developing, evaluating, and refining the Induction and Mentoring program for new teachers. Lead mentors help new teachers to familiarize themselves with school’s community, school’s curriculums and school’s rules. At the end of the program, the lead mentors design assessments/surveys to evaluate the success of supported beginning teachers in the transition as educators in the school, The main components for assessment of the program include contact time with mentees, quality of interactions, quality of the relationship with the mentor, student outcomes, integration within the school and culture, and modeling of best practice.
– Online AFS program: This program is to embrace a global mindset and global knowledge and to translate teachers’ personal global competence into professional classroom practice.
– ELEOT Certifications: All head teachers of the main subjects passed the ELEOT course and exam and become ELEOT Certified.
The school board always cares that salary raise depends on staff qualifications and the percentage of their annual evaluations.
7) Digital Resources:
– Data warehouse: The student performance data is collected and uploaded on Microsoft One Drive to be accessible for all the teachers in order to follow the students’ progress
– Digital Library: Pdf books are uploaded on Microsoft365 for students and teachers use. The resources can be used not only for pleasure reading, but for challenging and critical questions during the exams as they contain materials from the international competitions. In respect of students, they can develop their reading skills; expand general knowledge on variety of subjects as well as creativity and critical thinking.
– BYOD: Bring your own device program allows students to bring their mobile phones to support learning activities and allow students to take more control of their own learning and access various of digital resources
– Providing Online Simulations: Free tool from the University of Colorado that provides interactive, game-like simulations for physics, chemistry, earth science, biology, and math classrooms. The goal of the activities is to provide students with an open-ended exploratory environment where they can engage with science content like scientists.
8) Scientific Awards:
In 2016-2017, two of grade 11 students got 1st position in the National First Tech Challenge (FTC); a competition in which teams of grades 7-12 are challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head to head challenge in an alliance format.
In 2021-2022, two of our gifted students participated in INTEL scientific competition and got promoted to the second level.
9) Sports achievements:
We’re proud of our students who have contributed in various sports activities. Many of our students have been awarded prizes on both national and international levels. This includes football, basketball, handball, volleyball, karate, fencing, swimming, table tennis, hooky, sailing, diving and athletics. Nationally, the students were awarded the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places; internationally the biggest achievement was in swimming category winning 3rd place in Germany and the 2nd and 3rd place in African championship. In fencing the student won the 2nd place in the African Championship and in sprinting the student won the 3rd place in the Arab Countries Championship and the African Championship.
In 2018-2019, the school won the first rank among various international schools in a Tele match competition in Pharos University.
10) School voluntary work:
Our school actively participates in a number of social activities throughout the school year. The school social team visit several social institutions like: orphanages, nursing houses and hospitals to provide the necessities for their occupants. After identifying their needs, other visits are arranged on a regular basis and the team provide them with a variation of gifts, financial support, clothes, and medicine.
The social team also organizes a special event day for orphanage children by taking them to a recreational place for fun. During the Holy month of Ramadan, the team offers distribution of food to the needy. In the winter season, clothes and blankets are collected and distributed among the poor.
11) Parent involvement:
As this issue plays an extremely important role in students’ achievement, our school doesn’t limit the connection with the parents to a direct contact only through conferences. There are many ways that the school contacts the parents, for instance, having an access to the school website, traditional publications and the School Management System which is updated on a regular basis together with the Facebook Group and Page as the school believes in the importance of the social media as a tool of recognizing the outstanding students’ achievements.
WhatsApp Groups: Each grade has its own WhatsApp group, this group is a very useful and efficient way of communication among all of the grade’s parents. The aim of using WhatsApp group is to send messages to the entire group, and inform the parents with any updates which are relevant to school and their children.
The school website becomes Mobile friendly: The school website has become mobile friendly, so the website performs well on a mobile device like a phone or tablet-which helps increase parents’ involvement and provides them with the latest school news.
