Admissions open for new British preparatory school; school timings to be in line with UK standards
Dubai, UAE, XX March 2013: A new Dubai school based on one of the most respected preparatory junior education platforms in the UK has received an overwhelmingly positive response from prospective parents as admissions begin.
Foremarke School Dubai in Al Barsha South is set to open in September 2013, providing unrivalled standards of excellence in British teaching for children aged three to 11 and will accommodate 1,280 children at full capacity.
Parents expressing interest in the school for their children have been heartened by the news that the timings will fall in line with traditional standards in the UK. The school will open throughout the working week at 8:45am, with Early Years pupils in class until 1:00pm, Years 1 and 2 until 2:30pm and Years 3 to 6 until 3:30pm, putting an end to drastically early starts for families in Dubai.
Pupils in Years 3 to 6 will also have the opportunity to engage in extracurricular activities, typically lasting for 90 minutes after the end of the regular school day, making the school run easier for working parents.
With admissions now open following approval from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the first overseas venture for a UK junior school is the result of a partnership between Foremarke Hall (Repton Preparatory School) and Evolvence Knowledge Investments Limited (EKI), the wholly-owned education subsidiary of Evolvence Capital Limited, one of the leading alternative investment firms in the GCC.
Led by Headmaster Julian Pederick, the school’s teaching staff are all currently being recruited from the UK, while the senior management team has been appointed to include Sara Lowndes, Head of Early Years and Matthew Smith, Head of Lower School (Key Stage 1).
Located within the DuBiotech Science Park development in Dubai and covering a 25,978 square metre site (279,629 square feet), construction of the new school is continuing apace by international construction firm, Brookfield Multiplex.
“This is an exciting step in the creation of a new concept to Dubai’s education landscape,” said Julian Pederick. “Preparatory junior education is a model which we have seen work very successfully for hundreds of years in Britain, and it has been great to sit down with prospective parents and listen to what they want to find here in Dubai for their children.
“It seems like a simple idea, but the decision to open the school later in the morning really has been incredibly well received. Many children struggle to wake up and eat breakfast before they arrive at school so we hope our timings will be better suited to a more productive school day.”
The co-educational junior school will follow the Early Years Foundation Stage and National Curriculum for England and Wales which will be adapted for Dubai as necessary. Initial intake of pupils will be for Early Years and Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and 2), while Years 3 to 5 will be accepted from September 2014. Year 6 will follow in 2015.
Mr Pederick added, “We have received hundreds of ‘expressions of interest’ from parents and our job now is to transfer those into definite places for our inaugural intake of pupils. We are in the midst of working our way through a large number of staff applications which puts us in the enviable position that we can choose the very best calibre of teaching staff.
“Foremarke is a ‘get stuck in’ type of school where children are encouraged to take risks and embrace challenges both in and out of the classroom. Only in doing so can we and they identify and nurture their unique talents. Above all else, we want Foremarke pupils in Dubai to look back at their junior school years with the pride of knowing that they gave their best and had great fun in doing so.”
In keeping with the ethos of its UK partner school Foremarke Hall (Repton Preparatory School) the Dubai campus will lay a strong foundation for the successful transition to one of a wide network of quality senior schools both locally and overseas.