Frequently Asked Questions

As one of Dubai’s longest-established British schools, we keep class sizes intentional to support strong learning and relationships. FS1 has up to 20 students, while FS2 to Year 13 usually has no more than 24. In Secondary, classes may vary by subject, with a maximum of 25 students.

The English College Dubai is a multicultural international school that offers global awareness and inclusivity by having students representing more than 84 nationalities.
The diversity provides a quality learning atmosphere in which students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are assisted to excel both academically, socially and emotionally.

Teaching staff at The English College Dubai are mostly British-trained, with additional teachers from international backgrounds including Europe, South Africa and the GCC. This mix supports strong academic standards and cultural understanding. Parents can view the staff team page to learn about each teacher’s experience, which many families find helpful and reassuring.

The English College Dubai uses a strict and professional staff recruitment process in order to promote high standards of teaching, the safety of the staff, and the wellbeing of the students.

• Advertisements for teaching vacancies are posted on TES and on the ISP Portal. Visit our careers page.
• The shortlisting of applicants is determined by the school's values and the child-centred ethos.
• Any leaders who are engaged in hiring are taught about safer recruitment and safeguarding.

Shortlisted candidates are subjected to 10 years of rigorous background checks, such as police clearance and reference checks. This guarantees a well-trained workforce that takes the needs of students, their health, and future achievements seriously.

The English College Dubai has an average staff retention rate of around 80%, providing stability for students while welcoming new expertise. This balance supports strong relationships, consistent teaching and a trusted environment, while new staff bring fresh ideas, innovation and updated professional experience to the school community.

Admissions at The English College Dubai are selective but inclusive, with around 50% of applicants offered places in 2023–24. This ensures balanced classes, strong support for students and a diverse community. The approach helps maintain high academic standards, especially in Secondary and Sixth Form, where students progress successfully through GCSEs, A Levels and beyond.

The English College Parent Council (ECPC) supports communication and partnership between the school and families. Parents from different year groups take part in areas such as events, charity, sustainability and communication, along with a buddy system for new families. This strong collaboration helps parents feel informed, welcomed and actively involved in school life. Meet our team.

Homework at The English College Dubai is age-related, meaningful, and balanced and assists in learning without unjustified pressure.

Primary School:

• There is minimal formal homework, which is not introduced till Year 6.
• All primary students are supposed to read daily.
• They can study alone by using applications such as Mathletics.
• The use of play-based learning and ECAs is highly encouraged. 

Secondary School:

• Homework expectations in Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 grow steadily.
• Activities are concerned with refining knowledge and not mere accomplishment. 

Approximate workload:

• KS3: Approximately 7 tasks per week (30–60 minutes).
• KS4 (GCSE): Approximately 1 hour a week in each subject.
• KS5 (Sixth Form): Self study approximately 1 hour during a lesson.

We would expect this to meet the same standards of class work, with students demonstrating aspiration and effort. Effort is the most important as the level of quality will obviously vary depending on the academic ability of the child.

In the primary school we have a positive approach to behaviour management, using restorative practice. This is structured within our Positive Behaviour Policy, where we look to highlight and reward as much positive behaviour as possible. We also use Class Dojo to award points for following school rules and relentless routines. Our three school rules are - be ready, be safe, be respectful.

In our secondary school, we have a Positive Behaviour policy which tries to educate students as to what behaviour is acceptable at EC, inline with our core values, especially Integrity and Respect. We use ClassCharts to award positive behaviour points to students across the school to reward those students who make the right choices, day in and day out. When a student behaves below our high expectations, we look to educate and use restorative action to move forward in as many cases as possible. Safety is the key focus in everything we do and therefore it is never compromised. This includes physical safety with regard to health and safety, as well as child protection. It’s worth noting that we have a zero tolerance approach to bullying or discrimination of any kind.

The English College Dubai incorporates both formative and summative assessment in monitoring the student progress and the general development.

Primary school:
In the Primary school, there are also 'mini assessments ' each half term in the core subjects. These assessments and the ongoing formative data, culminate in an end of term report for each child. Immediately following the reports we have parent teacher meetings to both recognise success and set targets to accelerate progress. We also use external tests such as CAT4 and Progress Tests to complement a data picture of progress for each student and help further support a personalised learning pathway for each student.

Secondary School:
In the Secondary school, students are summatively assessed in each subject, each half term in English Maths and Science and termly in all other subjects. These assessments, alongside holistic teacher judgements based on daily formative assessment, drive grades that are reported home to parents termly. Report grades are monitored by teachers and leaders with appropriate in year interventions put in place to ensure that no one falls through the net.

The English College Dubai has embraced the effective use of technology in teaching and learning to facilitate collaboration, self-directed learning, and digital literacy.

From year 4 and throughout the Secondary school, all students are expected to have their own device that is used to enhance learning. The Google suite is used across the school, centred around the Google Classroom application so that all lesson materials are stored in one place for each class. Students collaborate with each other and with their teacher using the Google applications to deepen and enhance learning.

There are also several online quizzing platforms that are used daily by teachers to assess students’ knowledge and intervene where necessary. There are also other platforms that are used by specific faculties, such as Sparx maths which is used to set and monitor independent learning in maths and Kamkalima which is used to stretch and extend native Arabic learners. Specialist computer lessons in primary and secondary support the development of IT skills for all students. In FS and Key Stage 1, students have access to iPads and interactive whiteboards and a designated STEAM area is utilised for the use of robots and drones.

The arts form an important part of the curriculum at The English College Dubai, supporting creativity, self-expression and student confidence.

The advantages of primary students include:

•  Regular Art lessons
• Opportunities in music, drama and performance.
• Creative ECAs 

The extraneous details regarding choir, productions, and ensembles are available on the school website and in the prospectus.

The English College Dubai has a wide extracurricular activities programme which helps in giving momentum to physical growth, creativity and individual interest.

• Sports: football, rugby, netball, athletics and so forth.
• Arts and drama
• Music and performance
• Coding and technology clubs

DASSA, BSAK, BSME and Rugby 7s, among other regional events, are held with intention of increasing national and international involvement.

The English College Dubai teaches Arabic and Islamic Studies according to the requirements of the UAE and KHDA and the programmes are aligned to the background of students.

Students study either Arabic A or B, depending on the passport that they hold.

• Arabic A up to Year 13
• Arabic B is taught up to Year 10 

Arabic lessons follow the same principles of effective teaching and learning as all other subjects with all lessons focusing on the 4 key language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). The faculty use several online platforms to support and extend learning beyond the classroom. These include Kamkalimam, Language nut, I read Arabic and I start Arabic and have been specifically selected to improve the learning experience of both Arabic A and B learners and learners of all ages.

It’s worth noting that Arabic has been graded as Good for progress in both the primary and secondary schools for Arabic A and B in our recent DSIB report.

Students are taught either Islamic A or B, Islamic A is taught in Arabic, while Islamic B is taught in English.

Yes, this is outsourced to Busco. Bus routes cover most of the popular residential areas but we would strongly urge parents to contact them directly to check the  likelihood of a service covering your area next year.

Dubai. Not one concentration of students in an area, but areas include: Al Safa, Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Al Barsha, Arabian Ranches, Dubai Hills, Emirates Hills, Meydan, Al Qudra, Motor City, The Palm, Marina, Jumeirah Park, etc.

All students have a class teacher (Primary) or form tutor (Secondary) who they see for a significant amount of time each day. It is their role to notice changes in students and make sure that they feel safe and supported each day and have someone to go to if they have concerns.

All staff receive ongoing training in safeguarding, which covers all aspects of safeguarding children in education and is face to face. In addition, all teachers undertake 5 online training modules each year on a 4 year cycle (so 20 modules over the four years). There is a safeguarding team who meet fortnightly and have the overall responsibility of ensuring that all students are safe, happy and well.

Furthermore, there is a full time school counsellor onsite who not only gives one on one support, but also plans and delivers a student wellbeing curriculum for sixth form students and leads Safehouse, the student-led listening service. The counsellor also works closely with external professionals to ensure holistic support for our students. Finally, she also leads the staff wellbeing group.

There is a specialist inclusion team that spans both primary and secondary with our Head of Inclusion and several learning support assistants for both secondary and Primary. The inclusion team have a wide remit - from leading staff training, replanning and delivering curricula to nurture groups of students, 1:1 support and in class support.  We also have an Inclusion Support Team consisting of external experts and our own staff, this team helps evaluate our provision and suggests areas where we can enhance our provision.

The school has a regular and formal communication schedule with the parents to provide transparency, involvement and constant support.

• In-service Newsletters by Primary and Secondary Heads every week.
• Curriculum objectives Half-termly.
• Five major parent engagement events per year.
• Evenings and information sessions with secondary parents.

The other support entails:

• Curriculum overviews
• Weekly Parent Workshops
• Active participation by ECPC.
• Family Friday's 

Professional development is central to teaching at The English College Dubai. Each year, teachers follow structured CPD with clear goals linked to school priorities and personal growth. Training includes workshops, collaboration, coaching and external courses such as NPQs. As part of ISP, staff also access global training and shared best practice to keep teaching current and effective.

The English College!

In secondary we have 3 separate phases - KS3, KS4 and KS5

KS3 we follow a curriculum that is based on the National Curriculum but built backwards to ensure we prepare our students for the next phase. Departments base their grades on a flight path to the end of the next Key Stage which is their GCSE examinations. The top grade that a student can achieve is a grade 9 which is the equivalent of an A**. We would expect each student to make one grade of progress each year so the equivalent of a grade 9 at the end of year 11 would be a grade 5 at the end of year 7. The grades are based on attainment.

We also look at each student's cognitive ability using a CAT4 standardised test. We will have a projected grade that each student should be achieving. When we report home, we will report whether the student is meeting the curriculum expectations and also whether the student is meeting their academic potential.

Each subject will report on their own subject. Grades will be shared with parents at the end of each term.

Students are taught 13 subjects in Year 7  (14 if they are Muslim as they have additional Islamic study lessons English, maths, science, French and Spanish (they experience both in y7 and choose which to study in y8), geography, history, computing, PE, art, music, drama, Arabic (A or B) and Islamic (if they are a Muslim)

The transition is easier, the earlier it starts. The IB curriculum is very broad in nature, just like the British curriculum KS3. The British curriculum KS4 narrows a little and the KS5 curriculum narrows significantly. The IB remains broad throughout. Therefore, students moving from a very broad IB curriculum in KS3 to a British curriculum in KS4 won’t notice a difference. However, a broad IB curriculum in year 11 or even 12 is noticeably broader than studying 3 A levels. However, a broad GCSE curriculum is also much broader than studying 3 A levels. Therefore, students only really notice a difference between KS4 and 5, where there would be a difference anyway even within the British curriculum. All students joining a KS5 A level programme, whether that is from IB or GCSE, need to learn to master fewer subjects in a lot more depth rather than multiple subjects in less depth.

Students join EC from all different curricula from all over the world - it’s our job to ensure that all of our students flourish and are given the right support that they need to excel in our school. We identify areas for development and respond to their needs sensitively and swiftly.

Within our EYFS the features that are most impressive relate to the independence and progress made by children.

We have an extraordinarily high level of attainment by the end of EYFS which exceeds the UK's standards significantly.

The environment plays a part in this - our FS is only small and has great play areas and superb resources. The teachers are all UK trained and highly skilled, which makes the greatest difference for us. Most impressive are the language skills of the pupils. There is a strong focus on talk (if the children can't say it, they won't be able to write it) and then the phonics programme is highly successful. Ours is Read, Write, Inc. By the end of FS2, the children can read and write with confidence, giving them a headstart in Year 1.

For GCSE, core subjects have a total of 4 hours per week and each optional subject has a total of 3 hours per week. For A Level each subject option has 5 dedicated contact hours.

KS4 and KS5 are 2 year courses - GCSE and A Level examinations will be at the end of the two year course for each subject. These examinations and dates are set by the awarding examination boards.

In addition to these there will be ongoing internal assessments throughout the two year course to check and monitor attainment and progress, these approximate dates will be shared in advance.

Families need to submit:

• Completed medical forms
• Copies of parents/guardians’ passports
• Copies of parents/guardians’ Emirates ID
• Copy of applicant’s passport
• Copy of applicant’s Emirates ID
• Copy of applicant’s birth certificate (English or Arabic)
• Copy of vaccination records
• Copy of medical report (if the applicant has extra learning needs)
• 1 passport size photograph of the applicant
• Copy of the most recent school report
• Copy of examination results (if applicable)
• Original transfer certificate from the previous school

In addition to the documents listed above, applicants transferring from international schools must submit:

From Year 3 onwards, the original and a copy of the transfer certificate from the previous school, including:

• Full name and details of the previous school
• Curriculum of the previous school
• Full name of the applicant
• Date of birth of the applicant
• Date of enrolment at the previous school
• Leaving Year Group / Grade in the previous school

Families have an opportunity to start the admissions process in an easy and friendly manner. There are two main options:

• Send an online request form through the school website or

Direct calls and email to the Admissions Team.

After an inquiry has been received, the Admissions Team will:
1. Describe step by step the process of admissions.
2. Inform you about availability, assessments and schedule.
3. Schedule a visit to the school.

We want the families to feel at ease and well informed at every contact with us. We’re here to answer your questions, guide you through the process and help you take the first step toward joining our vibrant school community.

Yes, the families are very welcome to visit the school. Tours may be organised with a member of the school management, and the tours are worth the experience of how the school is like.

When conducting a school tour, the families will:

• Pay a visit to classrooms and learning rooms.
• Discover the main facilities of the campus.
• See what it is like living in school.
• Questions to be asked related to curriculum, pastoral care and student support.

Admissions include an assessment, although The English College Dubai is non-selective and welcomes students of different abilities. From Year 3, applicants take the CAT4 cognitive test, and some year groups may have a short interview. Assessments help us understand each child’s strengths and support needs so we can plan the right learning pathway.

Yes. You need to submit a deposit of 10 percent of the annual tuition fee in order to confirm and secure a place for your child.
After full enrolment, this deposit is:

• Subtracted to the aggregate school fees, and
• Directed to the initial instalment of the fee.

The deposit ensures the commitment of the family as well as the school and will help us to plan efficiently the staffing and the organisation of the classes.

Yes. English College Dubai has mid-year admissions that are open to availability of places within the corresponding year group.

Mid-year entry proves to be of great use especially when:

• Families that are moving to Dubai.
• Students in foreign schools change schools.
• Families were faced with an alteration of circumstances that had not been foreseen.

The Academic and the Admissions team collaborate with each other to make sure that the transition is comfortable, well facilitated and least intrusive to both students and parents.

In order to satisfy the regulations that are set by KHDA and the UAE, families will have to provide the following documents in the admissions process:

• Completed medical forms
• Duplicates of parents' or guardians' passports.
• Parents/guardians' copies of Emirates IDs.
• Duplicate of the passport of the applicant.
• A copy of the employee ID of the applicant in the Emirates.
• Duplicate of the birth certificate of the applicant (English or Arabic)
• Copy of vaccination records
• Duplicates of any medical or learning support reports (where available)
• A single passport-size photo of the applicant.
• Parents have a copy of the latest school report.
• Duplicates of examination reports (where necessary)
• Original Transfer Certificate of the old school.

The Admissions Team guides the entire process and assists the families in making sure that all the documentation is filled out and in accordance.

The documents required for the international transfer are:

• Completed medical forms
• Copies of parents/guardians’ passport
• Copies of parents/ guardians’ EID
• Copy of applicant’s passport
• Copy of applicant’s EID
• Copy of applicant’s birth certificate (Eng. or Ar.)
• Copy of vaccination records
• Copy of medical report for extra learning needs
• 1 passport size photograph
• Copy of the most recent school report
• Copy of examination results (if applicable)

Also, please note that from Year 3 onwards, original and copy of the transfer certificate from the previous school, including:

• Full name and details of the previous school
• Curriculum of the previous school
• Full name of the applicant
• Date of birth of the applicant
• Date of enrolment at the previous school
• Leaving Year Group / Grade in the previous school

Yes. The English College Dubai provides sibling preference to families that have children enrolled in the college. 

Sibling applications receive preference as long as:

• The requirements of entry are fulfilled and
• There is a position in the requested year group.
• This will encourage the continuity of families while maintaining balanced classes.

Yes. The English College Dubai offers a limited number of merit-based scholarships as part of the International Schools Partnership. Scholarships may be awarded for excellence in academics, sport or the arts. Awards are competitive, reviewed annually and offered at the school’s discretion. Families should contact the Admissions Team for current criteria and application deadlines.

According to the KHDA regulations, every student entering the school since Year 2 must have a Transfer Certificate (TC).

• In case of transfers inside Dubai, the TC should be issued by the school of the previous school.
• In case of foreign transfer: The TC should be on the school's official letterhead to be signed and stamped, and attested by:

1. Ministry of Education (or another) of the home country
2. UAE Embassy in that country
3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UAE.

This makes the early education of the child in the UAE officially recognised

Yes. The English College Dubai welcomes students from a wide range of curricula, including IB, American, Indian, French and others. School reports and admission assessments help place students in the correct year group, choose suitable subjects within the British curriculum and provide support where needed, ensuring a smooth and comfortable transition.

Yes. To complete enrolment, families must:

• Finish the HDA registration procedure.
• Sign the Parent-School Contract, which is mandatory.

These measures will provide transparency, clarity of communication and full adherence to the education laws of Dubai, which will facilitate a good relationship between parents and the school.