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MEET THE DEPARTMENT
CSR AWARD WINNER
Which CSR initiative do you
personally feel had the most impact
on the community?
Emirates International Schools have a
strong tradition of supporting a wide
and varied range of CSR initiatives
across both the primary and high
schools. Be it supporting a charity by
collecting food and blankets for the
victims of natural disasters, creating
care packages for labourers in Dubai,
or supporting the education of others
through the valiant efforts of agencies
like Dubai Cares and Breast Cancer
Awareness, the EIS community -
students, parents and teachers are
ready to step in. These CSR efforts
brings all the best elements of the
EIS community together creating a
friendly, warm team spirit which is
what makes EIS special. Some of
the highlights for the last 18 months
include the eco-schools initiative. This
is a student led initiative, which aims
to reduce the carbon footprint of the
school. Students in the high school
and primary school have worked hard
to conduct an environmental audit, and
run initiatives to litter less, recycle more,
reduce school waste and use electricity
and water more efficiently. Their work
has been commended by the UAE
chapter of the World Wildlife Fund.
What makes this special is that this
initiative has been driven by students
of all ages, engaging and working with
administrators, teachers, parents and
other non-governmental organisations.
The other stand out initiative is the
Year 12 annual trip to Mauritius. This
trip has been running for several years.
This year a record three projects were
completed. Students helped build a
classroom, boundary wall to a school
and create a garden/playground. Each
year a different cohort of EIS students
contribute their fundraising efforts,
time and labour to these projects. They
are supported by some inspirational
teachers who have facilitated this
project from start to finish.
What should be the biggest
motivation for their CSR programmes
across the Group?
The biggest strength of CSR at EIS
is that it is not seen as an additional
element to the work the school
does, but rather as an integral and
embedded part of our ethos. Our
school tag line is "helping children
find their place in the world" - part of
that is to help children understand the
world around them and find ways to
participate and take action on issues
that affect our communities.
Carmel Platt, Primary School Principal, accepts the Award on behalf of the EIS team
Corporate social responsibility is a way for companies to do their part in society. We all know how important CSR is to our
Chairman, Khalaf Al Habtoor, who has been promoting peace and prosperity around the world through his Foundation
and for many decades before its formal launch in January, 2013.
Emirates International Schools, this year’s winner has helped the local community in many ways. It has been involved
in environmental and conservation projects, including mangrove preservation, protecting dolphins, turtle rehabilitation,
and numerous community awareness campaigns from breast cancer to diabetes.
Phillip Burgess, High School Principal at EIS-Meadows reveals to our readers:
21 Meet the Department