Nursery founder "Vandana Gandhi" becomes the 1st ever woman in the history of the awards to achieve this milestone

1st company in the schooling sector, led and managed by 100% women workforce honored for its excellence, innovation and contribution to UAE's economic development

Robust measurement tools designed to measure student performance, 95% parents rated the nursery outstanding

28th May, 2015, Dubai, UAE

British Orchard Nursery, UAE's largest and most awarded nursery chain has once again proved its mantle by winning the highly coveted Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business (MRM) Award for business excellence and outstanding achievements. This is the first time in the history of these awards that a women entrepreneur has received such a great honor. Since the launch of MRM awards in 2005, over 1,200 organizations across a variety of economic sectors have applied for the award, however to date only 109 companies have been awarded. British Orchard Nursery becomes the 1st in schooling sector and the 1st ever company founded by a woman and run by an almost 100 percent women workforce, which makes this award all the more special. In the 8th cycle of the Business Performance program the award recognized the nursery's contribution to UAE's economic development and commitment to quality.

Receiving the award, Ms. Vandana Gandhi, CEO and Founder of the British Orchard Nursery chain, said," I am humbled and honored to receive this prestigious award. This is no mean feat for the nursery service industry sector, especially when we have to deal with the sensitivities of human emotions. Handling little children and laying the foundation for greater future achievements is a challenging but rewarding task. Awards like these reinforce our faith and commitment towards the cause of providing quality pre-school education. We as a team are proud of our achievements and all this has become possible because of the support of the UAE Government and the leadership of the rulers which provides a very conducive environment for business success".

Winner of the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award (DQAA), Dubai Human Development Appreciation Award (DHDAA) 2014 and many other prominent awards, the MRM award is another highlight in their journey of excellence, innovation and creativity. Dedicated to helping children reach their highest potential, British Orchard Nursery with its 14 branches across UAE holds a reputation for excellence and a deep commitment to developing young minds.

Inclusion of in-depth Arabic curricula into the early years, focusing on children's personal development across the branches alongside providing on job UK diplomas for staff in association with CACHE (Under Her Majesty in UK) are some of the key initiatives that the nursery chain has undertaken. Striving to outperform, British Orchard Nursery has created a robust measurement based teaching model which demonstrates an outstanding curriculum teaching linked to children's assessments. 95 percent of their parents have rated it exceptionally high on curriculum, safety and care standards as per the annual quality audit feedback.

With women empowerment in focus, the pioneering corporate franchising concept has allowed British Orchard Nursery to partner with many Government institutions in UAE, namely DEWA, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Women's College and ADCO to provide quality pre-school education and trusted day care services within the office premises. This indeed puts the nursery chain at the forefront of helping working Emirati mothers utilise their full potential as proximity to their little ones helps them concentrate on their work whilst increasing the productivity.

"We recognise the need to inculcate culture and values in children from young age and hence have incorporated Arabic language, Islamic studies, UAE culture and values as an integral part of the curriculum along with providing well researched teaching methods." added Ms. Gandhi.

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Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Awards (MRM Business Award)
Held annually under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the prestigious award's Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Performance Program encourages companies to adopt global best practices and improve their performance while allowing them to obtain an organisational learning experience through self-assessment. The award is the winner of the Dubai Government Excellence Programme for the 'Best Administrative Initiative' in 2007

With its emphasis on innovation in line with this year's UAE Year of Innovation, the 8th cycle of the annual award is encouraging the private sector to adopt best excellence and innovation standards in institutional performance. The Award ceremony also marked the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Performance Program's expansion across the GCC countries by honouring organisations that participated in the year-long 8th cycle of the program and outperformed their peers across the region in business excellence.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Awards (MRM Business Award) recognize and reward firms that contribute to the UAE's economic development.The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched the MRM Business Awards in January 2005 to encourage businesses to analyse their current practices and, ultimately, to enhance performance by promoting excellence.

"British Orchard Nursery - "Sowing Seeds of Success"
British Orchard Nursery is the Middle East's first largest nursery chain to be ISO 14001, 18001 and ISO 9001:2008 quality certified. Dedicated to helping children reach their highest potential, British Orchard Nursery is a well established nursery chain, holding a reputation for excellence and a deep commitment to developing young minds. Their passion for providing quality care and education is evident in their success and increasing number of branches. The nursery now occupies 14 sites across the UAE, with branches in Bur Dubai, Jumeirah, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and Dubai Media City, JBR (Dubai Marina, RTA, Dubai Women's College, Deira, DEWA, Dubai Municipality, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi (AlNahyan, & Al Bateen) and ADCO

Over the years it has become a well-trusted centre of excellence in UAE for early years' education. It follows British National Early Years Curriculum, with the addition of structure and progression, whilst still adhering to OFSTED (The British regulatory body) guidelines.  The Nursery chain has won numerous awards over the years including a Dubai Quality Appreciation Award (DQAA) as well as Dubai Human Development Appreciation Award (DHDAA) 2014. Having highly trained staff and fantastic facilities, the nursery caters to children from 6 months to 4+ years. Remarkably, the many facilities include an extensive gym and fitness centre specially designed for juniors, developing healthy practices through their "Gym-Juniorz" program, expertly promoting children's strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, self confidence and self esteem.

The curriculum is planned to meet the needs of each child as an individual, ensuring that all seven areas of learning are interlinked throughout the day, providing in-depth and fulfilling learning experiences for children to explore, create, discover and study. The nursery provides extended care for children through their afternoon apple's club and also fun filled and stimulating experiences at their holiday camps.

The Nursery facilities include comprehensive creative spaces that offers role play to develop children's social and imaginative skills; soft play; swimming pools; construction area where children recreate real life events and situations; a library, a water play area where they can develop understanding of challenging concepts in a 'hands on capacity'; sand area to explore scientific and mathematical concepts; messy play or painting area to develop creativity; grass area etc. The school offers Arabic lessons, ballet, and gym lessons as well as computer classes.

For more details visit www.britishorchardnursery.com or call 800-PRE SCHOOL

For more information, please contact
Anuroopa Mukherjee
Pulse 360 PR & Marketing Communications
Mob: 050-6787335
Email id: anuroopa@pulse360me.com

© Press Release 2015