Senior Leadership Team (SLT)

Samina Khanyari – General Manager, Jumeirah International Nurseries

Samina’s core belief is that “every child deserves the best start in life”, which has helped guide her into developing an accomplished career in early years education. Samina is an educator par excellence who has a wealth of over 17 years’ experience in Early Years Education.

Samina has been at the forefront of developing JINS into one of the outstanding Early Years brands across the U.A.E. With hands-on approach, strong leadership skills, remarkable determination along with her passion about making positive changes for young children, Samina supports the vision of the group for Early Years, motivating and inspiring everyone to continuously deliver an outstanding education and care to the children. Samina is extremely solution-focused and energetic in running the academic and operations of the nurseries for the group. She manages a large team of senior leaders and teaching teams as well as working with international educators across the Fortes group. Samina ensures that JINS is continuously connected to the most up-to-date research and thinking worldwide.

Samina holds a double master’s degree; one in Educational Leadership (MSc EdL) from the University of Leicester UK and the other in Business Administration (MBA) with the core focus on Management.

Carol Oliveira-Head of Curriculum- JINS

Carol Oliveira is the Head of Curriculum at Jumeirah International Nurseries.

With 15 years of experience working within the education sector in Dubai and overseas, Mrs. Oliveira is passionate about providing young children with high-quality early education and care. She advocates that the Early Years are one of the most important stages in a child’s development and she is committed to working in partnership with parents to ensure that each child receives the support their need, from an early age, to reach their full potential.

In addition to a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies, Mrs. Oliveira has completed her CACHE Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Educator and CACHE Level 5 Diploma in Childcare Leadership. Her diverse cultural background and experience living in different parts of the world – including the UK, Italy, Brazil, and Vietnam – have enhanced her ability to support children and parents from various cultures and backgrounds too.

She is committed to creating a learning environment where all families feel welcome and valued.

Michelle Williams- Head of Early Years, JINS RIS The Greens

Michelle Williams is the Head of Early Years at JINS Regent The Greens.

Mrs. Williams has over 7 years experience in Dubai within the education sector and has recently joined the Jumeirah International Nurseries team.

She has a CACHE Level 3 in Early Years and a CACHE Level 5 in Leadership.

She has always been intrigued by how young minds work, and how to set the foundation of a young child’s future. The health and mental wellbeing of children has always been a passion of hers, hence she works hard to assure children are given the environment, care and tools they require to help them blossom, grow, gain confidence and life long skills they can carry with them on their next education journey.

Mrs. Williams is very family orientated and cherishes time spent with her daughter and husband,  however in her free time she enjoys, meditation, yoga, art, music and walking.

She is excited for the new journey ahead and looks forward to meeting all of the parents and wonderful children in the near future.

Jedine Hitzeroth, Head of Early Years, JINS Al Safa

Jedine Hitzeroth is our Head of Early Years at JINS Al Safa.

Ms. Hitzeroth has been in Dubai for over 20 years and has had a passion for children and developing them according to their needs and interests. She started her journey by studying child psychology and special education needs.

With a desire to work with children in their own school environment she continued to complete CACHE 3 which led her to work as a special educational needs teacher and teacher in main stream schools. Working hard to develop herself professionally her desire to be the best teacher she can be did not stop there. Jedine has another passion, leading and developing teachers to be the best they can be and completed the CACHE level 5 in Leadership, however she did not stop there and continued to study further and qualified as a trainer, assessor and IQA of all CACHE teaching and leadership qualifications and moved on to training and development of young adults, teachers and staff.

Jedine helped to spearhead and run a training center in Dubai for the last six years and has joined us at JINS Al Safa in 2022 where she is working with both her desires, children and teachers. We are excited to have her onboard.

Jedine shares the same values as us and believes that each child is unique and the role of their environment and partnership with parents is key and she is always looking for ideas and ways to improve the child’s environment, experience and learning.

In her spare time Jedine enjoys camping and walking her dog.

Namrata Nayar-Head of Early Years, JINS Downtown

Namrata Nayar is Head of Early Years at JINS Downtown.

Mrs. Nayar has over 18 years of experience in Early Years education and has been part of the JINS Family for 8 years. Mrs. Nayar has a Bachelors’s and Master’s Degree (M.A) in International Politics and a Degree in Education (B Ed).

Teaching is her passion and true calling. Mrs. Nayar is a big believer in the power of Nurseries – as they lay the best foundations for each child, allowing them to have every opportunity to meet their potential in life. She also advocates the need for a strong partnership between the home and the nursery environment.

Mrs. Nayar ‘s opinion is that the focus in early education should be on providing a stimulating and motivating environment for the children, where safety is paramount. Her goal is to make sure that the learning and working environment is extremely positive, where her team knows what the children and their families need, and where their needs are met.

Mrs. Nayar’s motto is, “Challenging to achieve”, which is brought to life every single day in the classroom.

Philippa Wallace- Head of Early Years, JINS JVT

Philippa Wallace is the Head of Early Years at Jumeirah International Nursery, JVT.

Mrs. Wallace has over 15 years’ experience with Early Years Education and has been part of the Fortes Education Leadership team as well as a Curriculum Coordinator for 6 years.

She has a CACHE Level 3 in Early Years and a CACHE Level 5 in Leadership and uses her in-depth knowledge and understanding of Educational Best Practice to ensure the Curriculum is delivered with excellence. Teaching has always been a strong passion of hers and she lives by the quote, ‘Tell me and I forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn.’ – Benjamin Franklin

She loves watching children grow holistically in experiential environments and believes that building strong partnerships with parents is an essential part of a child’s learning journey.

Mrs. Wallace is a keen singer, dancer, and reader and enjoys spending her free time with her three wonderful children.

Amira Salem- Head of Early Years,  JINS Ghoroob

Amira Salem is the Head of Early Years at Jumeirah International Nursery, Ghoroob, Mirdif.

Mrs. Salem has over 11 years work experience in Early Years education, locally and internationally.

She has a Bachelors Degree in English Literature, a Master’s degree in TESOL, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education.

Mrs Salem has been in Dubai for 9 wonderful years with her two beautiful girls who are her inspiration. Working with children has always motivated her and she thrives in providing them with a positive learning environment and opportunities that enable children to become independent and confident global citizens.

In her free time she enjoys being in nature, visiting the beach, and camping/ hiking with her family. She is also a fan of attending ballet shows, reading and travelling.

She is looking forward to meeting new children and their parents and starting an exciting journey together – full of adventures, learning and fun.

Jade Penketh- Head of Early Years, JINS Villanova

Jade Penketh is the Head of Early Years at Jumeirah International Nursery, Villanova.

Ms Jade  has over  15 years of successful nursery experience in UK and  Dubai in the Early Years sector. Ms Jade has been consistently recognised for her excellent performance and contributions to the success of the Early Years management in all her previous works. Ms. Jade has the Level 5 certification in Leadership and Management of Child and Young People and the Level 3 in Health and Social Care.

Ms Jade is passionate about partnership and collaborative working with parents and the development of her staff team to ensure that each child has the best quality of education throughout their journey at JINS.

She believes that each child should be given endless opportunities to learn and grow through sensory and physical play. Ms Jades places great emphasis on the learning and development of each individual child and supports her team to ensure each child’s individual learning experience is unquie. Her approach to management is to ensure parents are listened to and communicated with as they play a vital part in their child’s development. Together, she strives to support parents with their child’s development at home as well as the nursery setting.

Ms. Jade has an open door policy at the nursery and is available to meet with parents at any time for questions, support and advice.

Ms. Jade prioritises and places emphasis on the continuous professional development of her entire staff team to ensure they are updated regularly regarding any curriculum updates or changes to ensure they have all the tools nessecary when educating your little ones.

She is excited to be part of your child’s individual learning journey and welcomes all parents to come and take a look at the child focused environment of her nursery setting and to get an opportunity to meet her experienced team in VIllanova.

Poppy Loughran- Head of Early Years, JINS Ibn Battuta

Poppy Loughran is the Head of Early Years at JINS Ibn Battuta.

Poppy brings with her over 15 years of Early Years’ Experience within both the UK and in Dubai. Poppy has been with Jumeirah International Nurseries for 4 years and has over 8 years of Leadership and Management experience within Dubai. Poppy has qualified with her CACHE Level 3 & Level 5 in Leadership and Management in early years.

Poppy is a strong believer in providing every child with outstanding early years education, that promotes awe and wonder in each child. One of the reasons Poppy is extremely passionate towards early years is because not one day is the same. Every child will bring excitement, joy and happiness to the nursery, and being able to work within early years is a wonderful privilege.

Laura Partanen- Head of Early Years, JINS JBR

Laura Partanen is the Head of Early Years at JINS JBR.

Mrs. Partanen is proud to have devoted over 12 years to supporting children internationally, ensuring that they achieve their fullest potential in each and every way. Mrs. Partanen understands that the learning journey of a child begins from birth, with parents as a child’s first teacher.

Mrs. Partanen has a Bachelor’s degree in Education with extensive knowledge of the EYFS. She has led educational teams within the UAE and in Finland and uses her outstanding knowledge and understanding of educational best practice to ensure that the EYFS Curriculum is delivered with excellence.

Yasmin El Sayed- Head of Early Years, JINS The Palm