Daisy RanaPrincipal and HeadOver 26 years of educational leadership experience
Raised between the backdrop of two cultures, British and Indian, Daisy’s educational philosophy has been sculpted across a variety of contexts and countries from UK, Taiwan, India and China and in globally recognised prestigious international schools.
A continuous cycle of learning, reflection and growth has been Daisy’s mantra as she seeks to intentionally build today, the next generation of learners, problem solvers, collaborators and humanitarians ready to serve a more compassionate world for tomorrow.
Much of Daisy’s career has been devoted to instructional leadership at both classroom, school and regional level. She has developed structures, systems and processes for ensuring a high quality of educational provision from the day a child skips into a school to the moment they graduate with pride and head towards universities around the world. In addition, Daisy is soon to become a qualified executive level coach with a passion to deepen the understanding professionals have of themselves and others.
With a particular interest in Third Culture Kids, Daisy’s has championed the challenges and triumphs of families as they navigate the transition between and within different cultures and serves to create global citizens who embrace diversity and foster inclusion.
Jyothi ThyagarajanSenior Leader Academics and Student AffairsOver 35 years of experience in education
Jyothi has worked in leading CBSE and IB schools. In the course of her career at The British School, she not only taught English Literature and Language at the IGCSE level but also Literature at both the Higher Level and Standard level for the IB students. She became the Key Stage 5 Coordinator and then the Deputy Principal of the secondary school. Her most recent assignment was as Director Development, The Ardee Schools in New Friends Colony, Gurugram and Goa where she was responsible for revamping the curriculum, introducing relevant policies and procedures and most importantly getting the Cambridge accreditation. She believes in constantly upgrading her skills and has attended various training sessions at the Principal’s Training College, London and IIM, Ahmedabad to name a few. She has been awarded the Indu Chowfin Award for excellence in teaching. As an educator, she believes that education should make students critical thinkers as well as open minded, balanced and principled individuals who are accepting of different ideologies and work towards a more peaceful world.
Miguel Vazquez Gomez Head, College CounsellingOver 10 years of experience in College Placement Counselling
Miguel is an expert in the college application and funding process, specialising in finding a true ‘fit’ for each individual student. He has extensive experience in advising creative and culturally diverse students for their successful matriculation to a college or university of their choice. He has placed over 100 students annually to some of the most prestigious and selective colleges and universities in the USA and Canada. Miguel has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of San Diego, USA, and a certification in Fundraising and Development from the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Poonam DahiyaHead- Senior ProgrammeOver 25 years of experience in school management
Ms. Poonam Dahiya has 25 years of proven track record in the educational sector which includes 15 years of experience with International Baccalaureate® (IB). She has worked as Diploma Programme Coordinator in Pathways World School Aravali, Gurgaon and Greenwood High International School, Bangalore. Poonam is a Principal examiner with IB and was also an external member of the curriculum review committee for language acquisition courses. She is a Diploma Programme workshop leader for Language acquisition and Language and Literature and has led many workshops for these subjects across the Asia Pacific region. Poonam has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miranda House College, Delhi University. She has done her B.Ed from Central Institute of Education, Delhi University, following which she completed her Masters.
Prerna ShivpuriHead- Primary Programme Over 18 years experience in the field of education
Prerna has been in the field of education for over 18 years and in the area of Teacher Education since the last seven years. She was one of the founding members of ‘I Am A Teacher’ (IAAT) and was the Head of Academics, IAAT for the Mumbai Centre in American School of Mumbai. Trained in systems thinking and experiential education, Prerna has worked with some of the most progressive schools and organizations of the country such as – Shikshantar School, Heritage Xperiential Learning School, Azim Premji University and The Teacher Foundation, Bangalore. As an educator and a Coach, Prerna has been designing and facilitating experiential training programmes for diverse groups of teachers. She has led several teams of educators and has been involved in conceptualizing and launching innovative Teacher Education programmes across schools and organizations she has worked with. She has experience of working on the Pre- service, the In – service as well as Online Teacher preparation programmes with educators across the country and overseas. Prerna has a Bachelors in Education and has studied Early Childhood care and education. She has also been a student of Conflict transformation and Peace building. Her areas of interest and expertise are Mindfulness in education, Inquiry based learning, Assessments and Early learning pedagogies.
Prerna Shridhar MannanHead- Middle School Over 15 years experience in Experiential Curriculum and Pedagogy
Prerna believes that a true teacher is a facilitator who creates a learning environment that is intellectually stimulating and a safe space where students take ownership of their learning. She has consistently worked towards designing and executing multidisciplinary learning expeditions and believes in igniting students’ interests in socially relevant issues to help them become active citizens. She has a Postgraduate degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics and is trained in the field of Expeditionary Learning. She has been a facilitator for Experiential Educator’s Conclave, an annual event organised by the Centre for Experiential Education.
Spokey WheelerDirectorOver four decades of international experience and expertise in leadership and management in education
Spokey has successfully led, transformed and reviewed schools and their networks, working with government, commercial and not for profit organisations, international agencies and universities throught his career spanning UK, Singapore, Germany and India. He co-founded Adhyayan Quality Education Services Pvt. Ltd., an educational leadership movement that is helping to transform the learning and lives of children from the poorest and the most underprivileged families. Spokey has led the strategic planning, development and delivery of a leadership programme designed for over 7800 school principals in government schools across Kerala, Pondicherry, Maharashtra and Rajasthan for the National Centre for School Leadership. He has also provided sustained strategic and operational guidance as the international education consultant for The Open University’s ‘Teacher Education through School-Based Support’ across various states in India. His previous work also includes designing and developing ARK’s ‘School Leaders India’ programme while serving as a teacher training consultant for the World Bank in India. He has a B.Ed Hons and MA from Sussex University. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Ariana Abadian HeifetzMentor, Social Emotional Learning Author and Consultant on Leadership Development, Empowerment and Gender Discrimination
Ariana is the creator of the Human Framework, and works with adults and children at all levels of the school community to foster emotional intelligence, leadership, conflict resolution skills, and mindfulness of social-conditioning through workshops and curriculum development. She formerly worked for the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana in Uttar Pradesh as a Program Expert on Leadership and Communications where she led trainings for young women on menstrual hygiene and discriminatory social myths. She has authored a graphic novel, ‘Spreading Your Wings,’ to inspire mindset shifts around menstrual hygiene and the female body, which is published by Zubaan Publishers. She has been a visiting faculty for I am a Teacher for the last 5 years, in addition to working as the Deputy Director at The United State of Women, Washington, D.C. While Deputy Director she collaborated with the Obama Administration’s White House Council on Women and Girls to launch the first United State of Women Summit. She is a graduate of Carleton College, USA.
EZETTE GRAUF Head, Teaching and LearningOver 20 years of experience as a Leader in Education
Ezette is an internationally respected leader in education strategy, redefinition of curriculum and pedagogical change. She has designed and implemented curriculum frameworks internationally, most recently in Australia and the Middle East and was the head of curriculum for the Government of Abu Dhabi. She has also held Directorship and Principal positions in various locations around the world. Ezette holds Master of Education and Bachelor of Arts degrees with a double major in Linguistics and Literature and also holds numerous other graduate diplomas including the Teaching of Reading.
Noora Fatima NoushadMentor - Design and TechnologySpecialist in Digital Literacy and Maker – Centred Pedagogy
Noora joins us from The University of Pennsylvania where she holds an M.S.Ed in Learning Sciences and Technology. At Heritage, she pioneered Design Thinking and Maker Mindset as part of the curriculum, further driving the school’s experiential and project-based pedagogy. She is a published learning scientist who has led multiple initiatives on imparting mobile computing skills to middle school students across public and private schools in the United States of America. She has led research on the Milken-funded project, Code for Philadelphia, a curriculum that focused on building students’ engagement in STEM through the creation of mobile apps. Her work has been presented at Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference in London and published in the International Journal of Learning Sciences.