Hawar International School was established in 2001 and had less than seventy five students. We started with kindergarten through to the third grade of elementary school. Today we have a population of nearly 1000 students with our first graduating cohort from high school in the academic year of 2010.
The location of the school was selected to establish the school through studying the development of the region and where a lack of distinctive educational services or where educational services were limited by what was offered from the public schools. The goal was to offer this unique service to integrate our education system in which the country’s government ensures to provide integrated educational services in all parts of the Kingdom.
We were well placed to be the first school in the Kingdom of Bahrain offering students with special needs services from learning and physical difficulties and underachieving in schools that did not have any attention or appropriate services. In addition to that we offered excellent services for mainstream and talented students, and the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Bahrain welcomed our school philosophy and provided all possible moral support to implement the project and the proposed ratio for special education students was twenty percent of the total number of students in the school.
Despite the small space allocated to the school, we put in mind that this was an advantage in enabling us to work as a family in a quiet atmosphere committed to the values and the Islamic provisions of the traditions in Bahrain. Customs and trends prevailing in the community meant that we chose separation between boys and girls and the allocation of separate classes for boys and for girls, starting from the first grade in elementary until high school.
With the first experience for integration of students with special needs in the Kingdom of Bahrain we faced the problem of lacking previous reference in the Kingdom of Bahrain for this unique experience, however, we were very enthusiastic to turn this to success and worked hard in the selection of specialist staff with considerable experience in this area and achieved a rapid spread and good results. As we have developed the expertise of the staff of outstanding qualified teachers to work with students of all categories and group ages, along with a good selection of the curriculum which was approved.
The school made sure since the first day to provide a sophisticated and distinctive education in both Arabic and English using an international world curriculum, and maintaining the limited number of students in classrooms so every student gets enough attention from the teacher and sufficient time to use the resources and facilities within the school.
We had basic objectives during the establishment of the school; the most important being:
The Maintaining no discrimination between students in terms of sex, colour, religion and dealing with everyone equally so that academic reality is the basis of the interaction between the students in addition to humanitarian principles
Access to internationally accredited certification and international recognition
To develop an interest in community issues, whether the local community or the global community
Special education programmes gain attention and support
Providing up-to-date and state of the art technologies to serve the curriculum
With the passage of time, the size and location of the school became inappropriate with our ambitions to provide integrated quality services. This was a strong challenge as the school started to outgrow its buildings and land and a barrier stood in front of responding to the desires and needs of our children, which called for the need to plan to build a school containing all the important and essential physical attributes to the educational process and the appropriate classrooms facilities.
Over time, the school received confidence from the leaders of the Kingdom of Bahrain and with the grace of God His Majesty the King (may God protect him) granted a piece of land to build a new school, and we began our first steps of organised planning and started building the new school based on precise feasibility building studies and the costs and the number of students expected to accommodate and the quality of services provided and the number of technical personnel with expertise on the project list. Of course, this great project needed a lasting and continuous use of professional and technical faculty, appropriate equipment and devices along with the appropriate furnishings.
Our ambitions in charge of a large school where dreams go beyond the limits of the existing included:
Building an integrated building for the school, fully fitted with safety features, and contains the latest state of the art devices that serve studentsl
Using the idea of green buildings in the construction of the new school building
Constantly aspiring to twinning between us and various schools of quality around the world
Through our strategic planning the school would link with the UNESCO schools which focus on issues such as education for sustainable development, peace and human rights, cross-cultural education
Aspire to invest in the capacity and capability of the school in the local community service and involvement in community issues
During the past few years the school has seen a strong demand from the citizens of the Kingdom of Bahrain and neighbouring countries such as Saudi Arabia Eastern Province to enrol their children in the mainstream or in our Educational Support Unit. The demand from Saudi Arabia is an indication of the lack of such a service in the eastern region, and we were recognized, thanked and appreciated by the Ministry of Education in Riyadh for this programme after a visit from a delegation from Riyadh in 2007. The delegation wanted to identify the nature of the services provided, and they commended the programs offered to students. This resulted in the transferring of many scholarships from Saudi Arabia to attend our school.
We look to the future now with more considered planning and expansion of the resources we can offer to our students. We do this with their educational experience and future learning in mind. Now with our fifth graduating class celebrating their success and moving on to universities and careers around the world, we look to the next generation and helping them achieve their aspirations and dreams.
School Address
Hawar International School
Building 22, Road 42, Block 910 West Riffa, Kingdom of Bahrain
P.O. Box: 38338
