About Us

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Our Approach

We were established in 1981 with the belief that every Anglo-Persian child should grow up proud of their heritage and articulate in their language and culture, feeling part of a community they are able to positively contribute to, both now and in the future.

Ultimately we endeavour to teach the whole child. This means we teach them about Persian language and culture and celebrate their Persian roots, traditions and history, whilst at the same time nurturing their Anglo-Persian identity, celebrating diveristy and actively promoting and respecting bilingualism.

Our values of Honesty, Kindness, Courage, Commitment and Respect sit at the heart of all we do and form the foundation of our strong and diverse community of students, staff and parents, both within the school and without, both now and for the future.

By embedding these values in a whole school ethos, we encourage our students and their parents to be part of a community not just a member of a class or a school, thus helping them forge friendships and a level of confidence and self-knowledge that they carry with them outside of the school and into their daily lives and futures.

We support this using a wide range of relevant resources, techniques, experiences and guest speakers. For example we have a rich and extensive collection of books in our Dr. Saeed Goodarznia Library that students are encouraged to borrow and take home, or join our librarian for storytelling sessions as part of a long such tradition. When we couldn’t find appropriate textbooks for our students we decided to write our own and now publish and sell our own textbooks to Persian supplementary schools globally. We update these regularly and now on our third editions!

Furthermore our strong and active ‘Friends of Rustam’ group, made up from parents both past and present, organise many of our cultural festivals and events, as well as selling delicious home-made Persian food every Saturday.

Everyone’s entire experience from the moment they arrive at school is full of learning and growth opportunities, be they students or staff, be it in class, experiencing regular events and trips, or interacting with others in the wider school community.

Our Mission

Rustam School deliver a high quality learning environment.

Our Vision

At Rustam School we believe that students’ best learning comes from a friendly environment.

Our Values

We believe firmly in honesty, kindness, courage, commitment, respect

Our People

Around 50 experienced staff are involved in the day to day running of the school including the management team, fully qualified teaching staff, trained teaching assistants, volunteers, members of the parent teacher association and administrative staff.

Our teachers are trained with teaching qualification from Iran and Britain. Many of them are teaching in mainstream schools. At Rustam we welcome volunteers as teaching assistants and in supervisory capacity. Many of our parents and former pupils provide invaluable support in the school.

All members of staff, including volunteers are selected via a rigorous application and interviewing process and DBS checked.

Mrs Shahla Taheri White

Mrs Shahla Taheri White, After completing teachers training, she first taught at a comprehensive school in Hackney (East London) before returning to Iran. After some years of teaching in Tehran Secondary schools, she co-founded the Rustam Abadian International School.

Following the Iranian Revolution, she came back to London in 1980. She gained qualifications Teaching Community Languages an ESL. She studied successfully for the London University MA in Language and Literature in Education. During this time She was Head teacher of Rustam Iranian School London . She then moved to the Hertfordshire Educational Service as an advisor eventually becoming Head of its Minority Ethnical Curriculum support service in 2003.

Mrs. Taheri-White has published various articles in educational journals and contributed to books concerning mother-tongue teaching. Thus she has devoted a working life-time to international education. Our strong and experienced leadership ensures that it is not just our pupils that are learning. By promoting a ‘growth mindset’ amongst all at the school, they ensure that all our staff are inspired and up to date with Continuous Professional Development. CPD activities are constant, including access to external providers as well as monthly staff meetings and in-house training. This allows us to provide modern and effective teaching for all our students whilst developing the skills and careers of the teachers themselves.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the team in any capacity please contact us or complete one of the application forms here (link to application forms)