“An exceptionally curious as well as receptive and engaged student … willing to explore unfamiliar material rather than simply memorize it.”
01Academic
Ridhaan reads widely and has a sustained, self-motivated interest in languages, and a broader curiosity about how different systems work and connect.
Languages I’m Exploring
English
Fluent
Hindi
Fluent
Arabic
At school
French
At school
Spanish
At school
German
By choice
German: from a trip to a hobby
Ridhaan has studied German weekly with a native tutor since April 2025. He began to prepare for a family trip to Munich; after the trip he asked to keep going, and German has since become a personal hobby rather than a school subject.
Half of each lesson is language, half is culture: German history from the Roman era to Reunification, geography, food and customs, and even German home computing and puppet television, which connects to his own love of hand puppetry. He has not sat a German exam. He studies it simply because he enjoys working out how languages fit together.
What he can do now
- Read, pronounce and spell almost any German word
- Conjugate regular verbs he has never seen before
- Work with the nominative, accusative and dative cases
- Tell questions, statements, requests and commands apart
- Switch between casual and polite forms
Olympiad highlights
Rank 1
in the UAE, English Olympiad Qualifier, Grade 2 (Gold, Nov 2024)
1st
in class, International English Olympiad 2022–23 (77.02 / 100)
1st
in class, International Mathematics Olympiad 2022–23 (83.03 / 100)
Reading Ambassador & reading dogs
Sharing a love of reading
Recognised as Reading Ambassador in August 2024, Ridhaan helped promote enthusiasm for reading across the school.
He researched the Reading Dogs programme, prepared a presentation and petition, and proposed it to the principal at DESS to support children’s reading experiences. His request was for a reading dog during library sessions for one week each year, supported by student signatures.
Proposal only · Decision pending approval · Not an implemented programme
Certificates
English Olympiad Qualifier · Gold
International English Olympiad 2022–23
International Mathematics Olympiad 2022–23
Reading Ambassador