We caught up with some familiar faces who joined ACS Doha when the school opened in 2011, as they reflect on their memories and highlights as members of staff over the decade.
Zimbabwe-born Trevor and Catherine Furness joined the school after being inspired at a teaching career fair in Dubai.
Trevor is now our Middle High School Principal, and Catherine is G6 Grade Level Team Leader and a Middle Years Programme (MYP) mathematics teacher. They describe how they watched the community build from nothing, the importance of the PSO and how every student can realise their true potential.
“It was quite surreal at one stage because we started off incredibly small,” Catherine reflects. “It was wonderful. We knew the names of every single student there. In those days, I was in the Lower School, and we had all these lovely breakout areas because we had all these empty classrooms that we could enjoy, which was great. Then in January, we suddenly exploded with lots of new teachers coming in, together with growing numbers of students. We all that those initial few months when we grew close as a community. It was a very intimate, very close-knit group.”
Trevor continues: “The Middle High School, I remember, started with 65 students, so it was really small. It was wonderful, because when you've got such a small cohort, you can take them to wherever you want. The beach mangroves, that kind of thing. On a whim, you could pack them in a bus and move to an appropriate off campus learning area.
"I think that was really the start of building community spirit. Clearly, we had a parent body who had elected to join us, because we had the potential to offer something intimate and unique in terms of an educational experience.”
Fast-forward to 2021, and they are equally as excited about what the future holds for ACS Doha.
The idea that we use pathways to accommodate the needs of every student in the school is just, I think, an amazing opportunity to have every student realise his or her true potential.
You can hear more from Trevor and Catherine on our ACS Podcast, What Comes Next here.
Early Childhood Teaching Assistant, Myra Valenzuela, hails from the Philippines and joined ACS Doha after working in international education in her previous role at a school in Saudi Arabia for nine years.
“Most of my is time spent with the kids and I really love it,” Myra explains. “I wanted to immerse myself in a different environment to gain new experiences and growth. The role and the culture at ACS Doha was a perfect match for my goals and personality.
“The thing I love most about my job is that I became a part of the first steps of ACS Doha and also the first steps of children in their journey discovering more about the world. Practically-speaking, it’s challenging work dealing with children. They’re playful, and curious, but when you witness them gradually changing and improving, and their personality developing, and that’s the fulfilment of my job.
“I recently saw one of the first children I taught and he’s so tall, he’s taller than me!”
ACS’s values resonate strongly with Myra’s own. She says, “One of the core values of ACS is ‘act with kindness’. For me, it’s what makes people continue their service here. Also, ACS is known for its diversity, and its kind and compassionate environment. Everyone works together harmoniously and ACS welcomes everyone. Everyone has a unique contribution to make to each other and to the world, and they bring out the best in us by providing an environment that challenges us and develops our potential.”
A highlight for Myra was when ACS Doha became an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) school. The accreditation has had a big impact on the school, and Myra is proud to have been a part of that journey. But, ultimately, it’s about the people.
“I met a lot of people from all walks of life, and have given the chance to learn about their culture and beliefs. ACS has been a big part of me and I and so grateful for all the opportunity that has given to me.”
Myra Valenzuela
Omer Malik graduated in communication engineering and joined ACS Doha as an IT Officer. Originally from Pakistan, he’s responsible for managing and developing our IT systems to support our staff and students with their technology needs.
He played a critical role in installing the IT infrastructure at the old campus, and enjoyed the opportunity to use his skills and experience again, with the move to our much larger landmark campus. Omer was asked to lead the project in Doha, which he says, gave him a huge learning opportunity to deploy his IT expertise to complete the project in a timely manner.
Now Senior IT Engineer, Omer explains: “Ten years ago, I was attracted by the promise of joining a world-class International school, since my interest has always been in pursuing a career in education,” he says.
“The main reason I’m still with ACS today is that it has opened up my thinking and working approach through the benefit of working with both the UK and Doha teams.”
When it comes to his job, there are many things he Ioves about it.
“First of all, it’s the colleagues I work with that make my job fun and worthwhile. At ACS Doha, there’s a feeling of being valued and a beautiful sense of community that I have not seen anywhere else, and the feeling that I belong here. This makes it easier to get up and come to work every day. I also love the fact that I have a great degree of control and freedom within my job because of the trust placed in me.”
He values the opportunities to grow through personal development, teamwork and employee recognition.
There’s collaboration between team members, management is flexible, and ACS Doha recognises that its employees are its greatest asset.
Saima Alam’s journey to ACS Doha took her from Pakistan to Canada and then on to Bahrain, before settling in Qatar. It was her husband’s job that brought her to Doha and, after taking a career break, she joined the school as an Early Childhood teacher.
Like so many people from across ACS Doha, she values the diversity and sense of community. “This is very much an equal opportunities school,” she observes. “I have never felt different, because are all distinctive in our own unique way. I’ve made some long-lasting relationships and have always got on well with colleagues.
“The community, respect and friendship are so valuable. We have an ‘open door’ policy, and the principals and Head of School are approachable. I really feel that all of our voices count, and this is vital in helping build a community.”
Saima likes the fact that every day is unique, and “you don’t know what to expect.”
It’s rewarding to see children grow, when a child has progressed so far, that you know all the hard work is worth it. Some of our students have challenges and learning to read is a huge achievement. Magic really does happen.
Speaking from her EC classroom, Saima reflects on teaching in the new campus. “There is so much light and these classrooms really do bring the outdoors in. The children love the open spaces,” she says.
But ultimately, it comes back to community, and she credits ACS Doha’s leaders with doing a great job of community-building, and says, “There’s a reason why I’ve been here for ten years!”
Saima Alam
Omer Malik
Trevor and Catherine Furness
