Matthew Burfield

Matthew Burfield began his career teaching History and Citizenship in a Secondary School in South London 20 years ago. Since then he spent time advising Head teachers in the UK whilst working for Essex County Council and then moved into international schooling in Athens, Greece 11 years ago. His first headship there was transforming an established school into the best British International School in the area.

He is now the very proud Principal/CEO of the most successful school opening in GEMS history at GEMS Founders School (GFS) in Dubai where he was the Founding Principal in September 2016. It is a vibrant and wonderful learning environment with over 5800 children currently enrolled and a diverse community of over 100 nationalities. Most importantly to him the children at GFS are mindful and happy learners who love coming to school every day.

In 2019 Matthew also became the Founders Brand and School Group Leader overseeing GEMS Metropole School and GEMS Founders School – Al Mizhar. He was appointed as a Vice President – Education in January 2021 and is now leading 7 schools in the UAE with over 20000 children in total.

Matthew has completed the full training for Penta International as a BSO Accreditor and has been a part of several BSO teams around the world, including Kuwait and the UAE. In addition to this work with Penta and the BSO framework, Matthew works with COBIS as a Lead Improvement Partner for their Patrons Accreditation and Compliance visits here in the Middle East. Matthew has the honour and a privilege of representing BSME schools as a member of the Executive Committee where he holds the portfolio for professional development. Matthew is a great believer in life long learning and recently completed his NPQEL which has really supported him in his executive leadership role