Helen Somerville – Middle and High School Principal
Helen has worked in education for over 20 years at both the Middle and High School level. Graduating from Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand with a joint degree in English Literature and Linguistics, Helen soon moved internationally living and working in both the UK and Italy, while traveling extensively through Europe. She came to Egypt in 2000 and has worked in Port Said American School, Misr Language School, and El Alsson American International School as a Middle and High School English and Social Studies teacher as well as a Department Chair. While in El Alsson, Helen completed her M.Ed in Educational Administration and moved into administration as the High School Assistant Principal. When El Alsson moved the campus to New Giza, Helen changed roles, taking over as the Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning. She has extensive experience in curriculum development, teacher professional development, and providing both academic and career guidance for High School. She has a passion for teaching and believes in providing learning opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. Helen enjoys traveling, studying history and global studies, and spending time with her family.
Helen Somerville
Marian Saad
Vice Principal
“Education isn’t the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” Albert Einstein; this is the philosophy Ms. Saad tries to instill when working with heads, teachers, and students. Educators should empower students by training their minds to think, analyze, critique, and create to prepare them for dynamic future challenges.
Marian has been in the field of education for 15 years now, specifically in the American division. Having a very strong passion for education and leadership, and during her last post as Head of Academics, Marian has led and managed different departments to achieve the school’s academic goals and objectives. Within the context of the strategic development plan of the school and the driven data, Marian has advised and assisted heads of departments and teachers to deliver excellence in the full portfolio of the academic activity. She has worked with teachers, hand in hand, to implement the heart of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in a collaborative learning-based environment.
Within the search of creating a system that is focused on the students’ benefit, one of her major achievements is creating one standardized system that teachers from different departments and grade levels (1-12) can follow, to ensure consistency and maintain a clear follow-up system for all teachers. Ms. Saad started her career in education as a High School English Literature teacher which allows her to lead teachers based on real classroom experience.
Moreover, Marian is also an instructor of professional development as she has conducted training and workshops to more than 70 teachers from different departments to make sure that all teachers are aligned with the most recent teaching methodologies.
Ms. Saad holds a master’s degree in education from the University of South Wales in the UK and a Bachelor of Arts in English (BA) from the University of AinShams in Egypt.
Ms. Saad is a certified AdvancED reviewer and a certified ELEOT observer which provides her with the ability to efficiently judge a classroom-based on the AdvancED standards and key criteria.