Dubai schools

[expat3]

Hey ,

We are moving to Dubai next year.

My son starts reception next year , kindly help me shortlist five best British schools in Dubai if anyone has any personal experience or know anything through your friends / relatives.

We have no location constraints
Our work is flexible and can work from home mostly.

Only priority is a community living / apartment living where my son has access to parks and hang out with kids after school ( if this point even counts )

Have you tried the Living Overseas board? There is a post on there about moving to Dubai which you may find helpful and it may be a better place to ask your own question.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/living_overseas/4729812-moving-to-dubai-practical-questions

My daughters went to IDEA Early Learning Center from the time they were two to four for nursery, they have a ‘Kindergarten’ too so can stay until six. We loved it, the staff, the curriculum everything was fantastic.

But we wanted ours to go into school in the first year rather than stay at IDEA for another year and start school a ‘year late’.

They’re now at Kings School and again we’re really happy, we’ve been there for three years and it’s fantastic, DDs both love everything about it.
We’ve moved recently so looking at moving DDs to GEMS or Dubai British School to avoid the endless traffic 😡😳😬 and everybody we know seems to be really happy at either of those. We also have friends with DC at Ranches Primary and they also love it.

@yelloworchids hey thank you so so much.
I will look into ranches and kings. I heard Dubai traffic is killing.
What are the best areas to live ? My son is a single child and really want him to make some meaning friends. Probably apartment / community living will support this idea!

Which kings school you say ? I think there are three in the city !

@listsandbudgets hey thank you so so much. I will surely see this link. 👍🏻👍🏻

Yes! There are three! My DDs are at Kings School Dubai, the other two are Al Barsha and Nad El Sheba.
The KS Dubai location is right by the Madinat Hotel complex, the Wild Wadi Waterpark and the Burj Al Arab, Al Barsha is right by Dubai Hills which is a popular place to live, and Nad El Sheba is further away nearer the Creek.

The traffic can be a killer! Some schools do offer buses dependent on location too.

We live in Emirates Hills, so on a good day can get to KC in 15-20 minutes but other days it can take double.
There are lots of great places that might suit you, we originally lived in an apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence, which I hugely recommend. We and DDs made loads of friends there, depending on price range I would look at JBR, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Jumeirah Islands, Downtown Dubai or the Marina and Jumeirah Heights, Damac Properties is good and well known, often have a lot available too.

I don’t recommend living on the Palm as traffic is bad getting off and can be more isolating, further for schools etc.
Sheikh Zayed Road is the main busiest road so often gets backed up during rush hours, but it does get you to lots of places so can be hard to avoid!
I would try to avoid the traffic getting on and off the palm for school drop off.

Honestly there are so many great places to live and we’ve never been without friends or play dates for the girls!

@yelloworchids thanks a ton. I am keeping all the info in my head from your post. Visiting Dubai next month . Wish me luck .

Best of luck!!
It’s a wonderful place to live and raise children, we’ve always been so happy here!