Matthew Burfield

Matthew Burfield began his career teaching History and Citizenship in a Secondary School in South London 18 years ago. It was here that he learned the importance of engaging with young people and developing outstanding lessons. He was part of a team in this school that achieved Outstanding in its first inspection. He continued his career opening a brand new sixth form in another school in London where he was given his first opportunity in school leadership. He developed the Sixth Form provision to a Good level in Ofsted terms. Since then he spent time advising Head teachers in the UK whilst working for Essex County Council and then moved into international schooling in Athens, Greece 7 years ago. His first headship there was transforming an established school into the best British International School in the area. During this time, he took the school through the BSO accreditation process becoming a fully accredited COBIS school. The BSO outcomes during this first accreditation were Good with Outstanding features.

Matthew has attended the University of Essex for his Bachelor degree in History and Politics. Since then has postgraduate qualifications from the University of Sussex and the University of Warwick in Education. He continues his own learning journey by starting another postgraduate qualification and working towards his National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership (NPQEL) this year.

Matthew has completed the full training for Penta International as a BSO Accreditor and has been a part of several BSO teams around the world. In addition to this work with Penta and the BSO framework, Matthew has begun to work with COBIS as a Lead Improvement Partner for their Patrons Accreditation.

He is now the very proud Principal/CEO of the most successful school opening in GEMS history at GEMS Founders School in Dubai where he was the Founding Principal in September 2016. It is a vibrant and wonderful learning environment with over 4300 children currently enrolled and a diverse community of over 100 nationalities. Most importantly to him the children at GEMS Founders School are mindful and happy learners who love coming to school every day.”

In 2019 Matthew also became the Founders Brand and School Group Leader overseeing GEMS Metropole School , GEMS Founders School – Al Mizhar and future GEMS Founders Schools opening globally. This means currently he leads over 9500 children throughout Dubai and has the privilege of working with two more fantastic GEMS Principals.