Gems United School: New Name, New Leadership, New Vision

GEMS United School, known previously as Bradenton Preparatory Academy (BPA), is announcing a new year with new leadership and a new direction. 

Senior Leadership includes four Americans and one Canadian, each with advanced degrees, with a combined 100 years of education experience in top-tier American, Canadian, and international day and boarding schools.  Driven by their passion for doing what’s best for students, this “All-American” team is taking GEMS United School (US) to the next level.

GEMS United School is a premium American curriculum community school based in Dubai Sports City, where curious learners are inspired to reach beyond themselves. GEMS United School, a school of approximately 550 students in grades PreK-12, offers 12 Advanced Placement courses, multiple humanities and science electives, 28 winning athletic teams, choirs, bands, student councils and newspapers, partnership with The Danish Language School for heritage language courses (with more languages planned), and even a full string orchestra. 

GEMS United School offers one of the most authentic American education experiences available in the UAE. The first school in the UAE to offer Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles, GEMS United School continues to expand its AP program.  GEMS United School is home to the 2017 GEMS Education Mariamma Varkey Outstanding Teacher of the Year.  The School won the AUD School Sports Challenge 2017-18 and celebrated a championship elementary golf team. Panther athletes are nationally and internationally ranked in their home countries.

Katharine “Kate” Vavpetic, Head of GEMS United School, said: “With the full support of GEMS Education, I’m excited to embark on this journey! At GEMS US, we are curious learners inspired to reach beyond ourselves. We have focused on personalized learning for years and our new “American PLUS” program is testament to our expertise. Students select their learning paths based on their own data and the learning opportunities presented. Our school is joyful, filled with learners of all ages collaborating to fulfill challenges, especially on Maker Mondays. It’s the iterative process, as we reach beyond what we thought we could do, which leads to that inspired ‘EUREKA!’ moment, when something new is discovered or created. The wonder, energy, and connectedness of all our learners is what makes our school special.”

The GEMS United School sports facilities include two full-court indoor gymnasiums, a 25-meter swimming pool plus a learner pool, outdoor and covered badminton, tennis and basketball courts, an elementary Astroturf pitch plus a large outdoor and covered Astroturf multi-purpose place space with a playground area, two additional multi-purpose Astroturf areas, and a track and field.