Let’s face it, choosing a school for your child can be difficult. Especially since there are many choices available for parents to choose from, especially regarding curriculum, facilities, extracurricular activities and so on. Nonetheless, there are a few things to keep in mind before selecting a school. Check out the things to bear in mind before you sign the admission forms:

Ranking and Accreditations:

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) handles the accreditation and ranking of schools in Dubai, both private and public. Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB), is the branch of KHDA that yearly conducts inspections of the schools and compiles a year-end report regarding the status of the schools. Based on the reviews, the schools can fall into one of the following categories: Outstanding (highest rank), Good, Acceptable and Unsatisfactory. The schools are judged based on criteria that range from teaching to extra-curricular activities, facilities and more. Check the details of the KHDA Report 2017.

Curriculum:

UAE offers a variety of curriculum to meet the needs of its local and expat community. The most prominent among them are; Ministry of Education (MOE-UAE based curriculum), British curriculum, US curriculum and Indian curriculum (CBSE). However, many schools do offer French, Pakistan, Iranian curriculums as well. While choosing a school, it is important to understand the teaching methods and assessments of the school for the chosen curriculum. More than often parents figure out later that their child does not adjust well with a particular curriculum. Therefore, keep an eye out for what type of teaching method/assessment best works for your child and what are the subjects you want him/her to focus on before choosing the curriculum. Think in terms of the class work provided, amount of homework the curriculum demands, how much of technology is used in relaying information to students, how is the year structured; concerning semester or terms, etc. UAE Ministry of Education has made certain mandatory subjects like Islamic Studies (for Muslim students), Arabic, English and UAE Social Studies. Therefore, check out the teaching and quality of education provided for these subjects. A hint to parents who are trying to decide on the curriculum, make sure you think about the higher study prospects of the curriculum’s and their validity in your hometown/ prospective region for higher education.

Timing and Application deadlines:

School schedules are important especially when both parents are working. Consider checking out options for additional activities, child care services provided by the school and after class courses to help your child with getting the best out of the school. Get searching on Application early on to ensure admission in the school selected. Almost all schools begin their academic year in April (MOE based curriculum might have a slight difference). Therefore, admission processes can start from December -January. Get online and search on the school website to know about the admission deadlines and timeline of the application process.

Fees:

School fees can range anywhere from AED 5,000 per year to AED 120,000 per year depending on the class, age and facilities provided by the school. However, the hike in fee does not ensure quality education. Some of the schools in the UAE are economical and offer much better education as compared to the expensive schools. In fact, a few of the top schools rated by KHDA are economical and provides adequate extra-curricular activities as well. Most of the time the fee does not include additional costs such as admission fee, transfer fee, text and note books, school supplies, uniform, transportation and more. In some cases, the activities fee is not included in the overall fee structure and have to be paid separately as per the activities are chosen by the student. Check with the school administration regarding the extra fee/payments to be made and ask for break down of the overall amount to better understand the finances related to your child’s education. Also ask them for a fee payment structure that details the amounts, due dates and type of installments to be made. Plan an educational budget for your child keeping in mind the payment due date and amount to help with a smoother school year. Ask the school if they have any policy regarding fee increase, amount to be increased and the period of increase. As per KHDA (for schools in Dubai), each school is allowed a fee increase as based on their reports. However, increasing the school fee beyond the prescribed amount/percentage is not allowed.

Facilities and Campus:

Go online to the school’s website and check out the facilities and services provided by them. The facilities include classroom, gymnasium, playgrounds, labs and other utilities. Call the school in advance and make an appointment to visit as certain schools do not entertain casual visitors. Check out the facilities and see if they correspond to what was said on the website. It is not uncommon for schools to hype a little about their premises, as long as they don’t deviate very much from what has been said. Make sure to keep an eye out for safety procedures and help in these facilities. Talk to the in charge of each, to get a better idea of how the school’s student to teacher ratio is and how many hours are spent in these facilities.

Extra-Curricular, Co-curricular activities:

As mentioned before, activities outside of the classroom are essential for the child’s overall development and education. They could be either co-curricular or extra-curricular activity. Co-curricular activities complement the educational curriculum followed by the school and serve as an extension of the academic program while extra-curricular activities are completely outside of the curriculum. Some schools grade the performance of students in these activities as part of graduation process. While other schools, segment these activities under recreational. Schools might offer choices when it comes to these activities, or the activities might be fixed and compulsory for the student to complete the year. Inquire about the activities and the time allotted for these as well, when looking for a school.

Student’s Personal needs and Health care:

Every school should have dedicated facilities for health and well-being of their students. The school should have necessary counselors and health officials for helping the students with any issues they might have. Career and talent counselors should be qualified to assist the student at every step of their education. They should be successful at identifying the student’s weaknesses and strengths and work with them accordingly. The school should have a functioning health office/nurse room with a qualified health professional for treatment of any sudden accidents.

School Management and Qualifications:

The Management should be responsive to the queries of the parents and be transparent in their communication with the parents. The school management plays an integral role in determining the relationship between the parents the school. They should be readily available to answer queries, qualified and more over equipped to make policy changes that best help the faculty and students. The teaching and non-teaching staff should be qualified to sufficiently impart necessary knowledge to the students and be able to handle situations between students as well. Make sure to ask the school about how often they would update on your child’s progress. Whether it would be monthly, weekly or quarterly and what would be the mode of communication for the same. The school shouldn’t be sending random documents titled-reports without any further clarification on the same. Nor should they bombard the parents with frequent calls to the school. Check as to the flexibility of the school in terms of meeting up with the parents as well. Do they have a fixed meeting date for all or do they cater to parent’s schedules as well?

Admission Requirements:

Certain schools require the child to write entrance exams to get admission into their school. Other schools look into the grades and performance of the student from their previous school and take a decision on the same. Although grades are important, do not stress your child for the entrance exams. Instead, find out what are the study materials required for the same and prepare him/her in the best way possible. An ideal school should not just look at the grades but also look into the student’s extra-curricular performances to get a holistic idea. While changing curriculums, students might be asked to take exams such as TOEFL or IELTS to meet the English requirements of the school.

School Background:

When did the school open and with how many students? What is the pattern of admissions over the years, increasing or decreasing? Is the school big on discipline and if yes how to they handle rule breakers? What is the student makeup of the classes? Are they mostly from a particular country/region or have a healthy mixture of all groups? Is the school gender segregated? Or co-educational? Parents might not find all the relevant details about the school in the brochure. Therefore asking questions is very important when looking at potential schools.  The best thing would be to meet up some of the parents of the students at the particular school and ask their opinion on the questions mentioned above.

Location and Transportation:

Is the school close by or does your child have to travel more than an hour to reach there? The commute is an important criterion when it comes to choosing schools. Students should not be spending more than 50 mins in commute. Longer commutes make the student’s day spent in lethargy and would not be an active participant in any other events. Transportation to the said location is also something that the parent should look into. Does the school provide necessary and safe transportation to and back from school? Is the transportation handled by a separate entity or under the school management? What are the safety measure and procedures that the school follows when it comes to transportation of your ward? Make sure to jot down all these questions before hand and ask them when meeting with the school officials. Get an official contact email of the teachers/in charge to ask any other follow up questions later. Search from our designated school database here Now that you have basically ticked all the necessary things to check for, sign the cheque and let your child have the best time of his/her life!