Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi there,

My family is moving to Dubai in April and I am bringing my 10 yr old daughter to vew some schools in a couple of weeks to see which ones might be good for her. She will be 11 by September and shes English as are we. Could anyone point us in the right direction or recommend good schools here for her. We dont mind if its a mixed race school or not, I would just like to get an idea of what is considered a good school here based on education and recommendations.

Hope you can help me!
thanks

Stuart

Excellent that you are making a trip with your daughter to decide on a school. The important considerations (apart from the obvious one that it is a "good" school) are

Location - look at a map of where you live, and work, and where school is. Don't pick Deira for school if you live in Dubai Marina or The Greens. Or vice versa.
Cost - fees will be from 20k-50k dirhams per year, more as she gets older
Curriculum - you probably want UK NC, but could consider IB in the future
Availability of places - popular schools are very difficult to get into

Here's a start point - you can filter on curriculum, and sort by cost and area.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/schools-dubai.php

Schools which have an Arab/UK or UAE/UK curriculum tend to be quite different from schools marked as UK curriculum only. They are usually established to cater to Arab families who want a British education for their children, but want a greater degree of Arab / UAE culture and atmosphere than found in the more western UK curriculum schools. Unless you and your daughter have a strong desire to enrol in a school with such a curriculum, they probably won't suit you (saying "I don't mind ..." does not sound like a strong enough desire to me). And there seem to be a greater proportion with a poor reputation than for other curriculum schools - the KHDA is the education authority in Dubai and reviews schools on an annual basis.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/khda-school-inspections.php

And a general introduction to education in Dubai

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/education-dubai.php

The UK curriculum schools that most would rate the best are Dubai College, DESC, DESS, JESS, JAPS. They are all difficult to get into (except perhaps for DESC), and expensive.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/dubai-college.php
http://www.dubaifaqs.com/dubai-english- ... ollege.php
http://www.dubaifaqs.com/dubai-english- ... school.php
http://www.dubaifaqs.com/jumeirah-engli ... school.php
http://www.dubaifaqs.com/jess-arabian-ranches.php
http://www.dubaifaqs.com/jebel-ali-primary-school.php

Also consider the Star International Schools.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/eta-star-education.php

GEMS run a large number of schools in the UAE, some with UK curriculums. They are less popular with some parents because they are profit making schools. But so are most other private schools in Dubai.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/gems-schools.php