WHAT IS THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME?
Al-Sana'a is not a subject to be studied. It is a world to be entered.
Gordonstoun students have always learned by doing. In the mountains of Scotland, on the North Sea, in communities across the world. At Gordonstoun Jubail Island, the landscape changes. The conviction does not.
The Al-Sana'a’ Character Development Programme takes the Gordonstoun tradition of adventurous, purposeful learning, and roots it in the UAE's most extraordinary environments.
Kurt Hahn's conviction, which founded Gordonstoun itself, holds that character grows through real challenge and service; through learning both responsibility and compassion. Al-Sana'a', the UAE's own guide to a virtuous life, teaches the same lesson through hospitality, respect for elders and duty to kin.
Together, they ask the same of every GJI student: responsibility and true service to oneself and community. There are tough challenges. But they are encountered within a culture of welcome, respect and support.
Our students do not only study the heritage. They live it. They grow to understand it. From FS1 to sixth form. Every year, progressively deeper. Becoming stronger.
THE SERVICES PROGRAMME
Service is not optional. It is the point.
Every student serves, weekly, with a genuine beneficiary — not a symbolic gesture.
A young learner cares for something living and takes a turn as Class Host. An older student monitors a mangrove channel or brings in a date harvest.
In the senior years, service becomes duty: training toward search-and-rescue, hosting and recording the testimony of elders, and carrying real responsibility for someone else's safety. From FS1 to Sixth Form, what a student gives — and what they're trusted with — grows every year they are here.
KEY FACTS — CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
100% of
students
Every contribution matters
Across the
whole school
Programmes for all ages
Community
builders
Contributing through energy and service
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