Bloom Announces New Education Chief

Bloom Education, operator of Brighton College Abu Dhabi and Brighton College Al Ain, has announced the appointment of a new director of educational development. Susie Ballantyne will join the group to oversee the launch of several new schools and nurseries for the group. Henning Fries, CEO, at Bloom Education, told business weekly, Arabian Business, "the appointment of Susie Ballantyne is part of Bloom Education's continuing efforts to develop a robust educational portfolio that delivers high quality learning and sets global benchmarks in the education sphere." Ballantyne previously worked with the GEMS Education Group and was knowledge manager from 2011 to 2013, then went on to become senior manager- knowledge until 2015. For the past year Ballantyne has been an education consultant with Daymer Group, a UAE based education consultancy aimed at those planning to enter the UAE's education sector. She told the publication, "I will focus on driving educational development and creating innovative opportunities to enhance Bloom Education's portfolio and help the organization achieve quality strategic outcomes." In September 2015 Bloom signed an agreement with Bidayaat- a UAE based childcare company to open 10 new nurseries by 2020. In the same month, the National reported that Bloom was looking to Dubai to develop a new British curriculum Brighton College Dubai,  as well as a new IB school in conjunction with, "one of the best schools in the United States, based out of Manhattan," said Bloom chief executive, Sameh Muhtadi a the time. Bloom Education's Brighton College-Al Ain received one of only four Outstanding ratings awarded by ADEC inspectors during the 2015/16 inspection cycle, while Brighton College-Abu Dhabi was rated Very Good.