Some of us have been waiting more than five years to have a school in the neighborhood and now we have two! It’s so unfortunate that it is too late for my girls who have now completed primary, but I’m sure that many residents are eager for their youngsters to set off to school on foot.

Ready to make its mark in the UAE education sector, The Arcadia Preparatory School in JVT will open the gates for its first intake of pupils on 28^th August this year.

I’ve previoulsy written about The Arcadia Preparatory School but I’m delighted to give you an update on what they have in store. One of the unique aspects about the school’s learning experience is that all students in Years 1 to 6 will take part in what they term the Enrichment Learning Programme (ELP). The ELP is an all-inclusive, in-school programme, designed to enhance and extend the school’s core curriculum by providing students with the opportunities to further enrich their learning through activities such as coding and robotics, animation, music and photography. The school has also signed up with UK-based ideas portal 7 Billion Ideas, to introduce the first ever entrepreneur-in-residence programme at a Dubai school.

The school is also deploying groundbreaking technology as part of its curriculum as well as its facilities. The school will be targeting to be an Apple Distinguished School for its one-to-one Apple programme as well as deploying a wide array of Google software to optimise learning at what is targeted to be the city’s first school building that will carry a US Green Building Council environment certification, more popularly abbreviated as LEED.

“All our meticulous preparations have come to fruition: we have one of Dubai’s best-equipped, purpose-built school buildings, an exceptionally talented team of teaching staff supported by a visionary senior leadership team, and an innovative programme of learning delivered alongside a stimulating selection of curriculum enrichment opportunities. The stage is set for achieving excellence,” notes Navin Valrani, the school’s CEO.

Finally, as I previously reported, the school has set up a fund for all students entering in the 2016-17 academic year. The pupils are automatically eligible for the schools scholarship and will be refunded 30% of their tuition fees for every year they are enrolled at The Arcadia Preparatory School. This can amount to a saving of over AED160,000 for students who enroll in FS1 and continue through to year six. Clearly, if you are looking for a top-notch British curriculum school, Arcadia fits the bill in more ways than one.

I will try to get an inside peak of the school on opening day to share with you all. Stay tuned!