Relocating to Dubai - most academic primary schools

[Londonmamma22]

Hello,
we are considering relocating to Dubai. Two DDs are currently in a selective academic primary school in London (Reception and Year 2) - the sort of school that feeds to SPSG and Godolphin.
My understanding is that Dubai primaries are less academic and generally “behind” London top schools but which would be the ones that are most academic - eg the feeders to Dubai College..?
Huge thanks!

Interesting. We did a tour there and to be honest the school looked quite sterile and I didn't really like it optically. But for some reason it seems to have this reputation of being really academic, which is confusing me. They do formal entrance tests, which both of my kids passed, but I know kids who didn't pass and they seemed pretty adamant on not letting them in. Spoke to some parents there and feedback is mixed about a variety of topics, but they all seem to say 'it's really academic', so I'm struggling to get a clear picture.

In the current climate you should be able to get the top top schools so I would suggest looking at Dess, Jess, Kings Dubai, Repton and RGS depending where you want to live.

Thank you very much for you response. We really loved RGS during our tour, but have no sense of their academic provision. Would you know how they are doing in that respect? The school looks fantastic, but I'm weary of judging a book by its cover...

Def better academic results than NLCS. If you like it and your aim is DC than it’s as good choice as any. You will still have to tutor last year but that goes for all schools.

Thank you so much! Out of curiosity, which school did you end up choosing?

We got accepted into Kings Dubai and love it. However we have deferred by a year and staying in London for now to see how political situation develops.

Jeannine Manuel Dubai

im confused, did you move there or not, as you said you love it?

4 years ago we were in the position of moving from London and choosing between NLCS and KSD. We chose KSD for similar reasons, nlcs seemed sterile/big and at the time a bit disorganised too. KSD in comparison seemed warm and cozy specially for younger ones. We have since moved our kids from KSD to NLCS.
NLCS is more academic. It has a smaller class size. Has an extensive ECA provision. No ipads. Staff/teachers much more involved and in touch with parents. Havent yet heard of any bullying stories at NLCS yet which has been refreshing.

For secondary, Dubai College, is in a league of its own.

Thank you very much for your response. What do you think about NLCS’s curriculum? I did IB myself so I know that the success of an IB approach lies with the teachers - with a good teacher PYP/MYP/IBDP can be fantastic, but with a bad teacher it can be worse than the British system which at least ensures that basic content is taught. Do your kids cover the necessary content in their subjects? Do they get homework? I heard a lot of schools in Dubai don’t really give homework until middle school.

I think it very much depends on where you are coming from educationally. Every school has great facilities and sell a great picture. The reality is very different. We went thinking our kids would do more swimming that was not the case. Our child hugely regressed in year 1 and was far far behind his friends back in the UK. The class sizes aren’t smaller than those in the UK. The staff generally speaking at not experienced and therefore lack the ability to teach classes with such variations in abilities. Quite a few parents moved their kids out of Kings as they felt they were not getting value.
There are limited provisions for children who require additional needs and usually paid for separately by the parents.
Kids getting into top schools upon returning to the UK most likely have tutoring - in fact most kids have tutoring as the education isn’t that great.
If your kids are in private school in London that’s definitely not what you will be getting. The schools are state schools which you’re paying for directly rather than through the taxation method.
Nonetheless hope it’s the right decision for you and your children.

@Faxton my boys are in younger years grade 2 and below, they are still being taught the core subjects of english and maths separate from their Ib unit of inquiry. The boys get weekly homework, nothing too intense, its definitely not what kids get back in London. They do however provide extra work for kids who need more help.
when we toured the senior school i loved the energy, all the kids were very busy collaborating across classes and year groups. Can’t honestly comment on senior school teacher quality. We have been very lucky thus far, both the teachers we had in primary were great.