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Kent College Dubai, Meydan City, Nad Al Sheba – THE REVIEW
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Background – UK roots in values and a culture of kindness

 

Opened in 2016, Kent College Dubai is the second campus of Kent College, Canterbury, United Kingdom. The school is insistent that it is neither a franchise, nor a school run simply under a brand – Kent College is the “real deal”. The school is managed in partnership with the UK as a second campus and the aim is that, to all intents and purposes, children attending the Dubai campus should experience the Canterbury experience – and changing between schools, when and if required, should be relatively seamless.

Kent College in Dubai shares very close links with its Dubai campus - with a particularly strong focus on values and whole child development

Culturally the UK context provides for a caring Christian family community based on a Methodist school foundation “with religious education a strong feature of the curriculum, whilst welcoming members of other faiths, and none, in a spirit of openness and tolerance.”  The school’s motto is “Lux tua via mea”: which means “Your light is my way” and the school has 13 sister schools all connected by their Methodist foundations.

Image showing the sister and founding school of Kent College Dubai

The school is known colloquially as “KC” and notable alumni of the UK school include the Conservative MP John Redwood; The (Labour) Deputy Speaker, Natascha Engel; composer, Raymond Yiu; Anthony Scrivener QC; Simon Dingemans, CFO at GlaxoSmithKline [GSK]; and, in a UAE twist, Tim Clark, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Airlines whose view of his experience at the school can be found in the video above.

In the UK, the Junior School, whilst providing for a natural slipstream to the larger Senior School, is geographically separate and sited some one mile away. The Junior school was founded much later, in 1946; Kent College itself, as a Senior School, has a history stretching back to 1885. All parts of the school will be within striking distance on the Dubai campus – an advantage over its UK sibling.

Kent College, both within its Junior and Senior Schools, achieves an ISI “Outstanding” rating in every category of inspection. This is the second highest award given by the ISI after the extremely rarely awarded “Exceptional” and inspection areas include governance, leadership, academic achievements, extra-curricular provision, pastoral care, teaching, learning and personal development and facility provision. Make no mistake, Kent College is an exceptional school by any standards.

Kings_Interhigh_InArticle

There are structural differences, however.

First, in scale. The Dubai campus will educate over three times the number of children at capacity. In the UK, the whole school, Junior and Senior combined, educates just 700 children. In Dubai the eventual capacity is 2120.

The contrast becomes even more stark at Foundation Stage/Junior levels where in the UK the school educates only 170 children – in Dubai it will be more than six times larger with up to 1100 pupils.

Whether these dynamics will allow Kent to port its character easily is not by any means a certainty, notwithstanding a commitment to limit class sizes to 20 pupils.

Second, in Dubai, the relatively modest 13-acre (53,000 square metre) site contrasts with its UK sister’s 80 acres for the Senior School including the Moat Estate farm to which the children have access. In Dubai, however, a strong emphasis will be placed on the outstanding equestrian infrastructure afforded within Meydan City which provides some balance. Different also does not inevitably mean worse, and Meydan, in particular, offers in its Equestrian links a real positive over the UK school. The school’s owners, Meydan MHK Education LLC FZ, describe it as central to the larger US$ 70-80 million initiative to build “Nurseries & Kindergartens, a Primary and Secondary British School (K-12), a British Boarding School, and a Finishing School for Girls” within the broader framework of the Meydan City project.

Interestingly the UK school site brands the Dubai campus with almost equal weight to its home grown school on its front page and there is a real sense that the bridge between both schools could be greater than many of the school’s UK-UAE peers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

 

Facilities

Image showing teacher exploring the values at the heart of school life in Kent College Dubai

Facilities at Kent College Dubai pretty much deliver on the original promise to be top tier to match the ultra-premium fee structure. They needed to be as Kent has launched into one of the most competitive premium school environments anywhere in the world, notwithstanding the shortage of places. Thus far facilities include dedicated EYFS provision promising “calm, beauty and inspiration”; separate dedicated Junior (aged 5 – 7 years, spread over two floors) and Senior Schools (aged 8-18) mirroring the UK structure; cricket and hockey pitches; a swimming pool; athletics track; netball and basketball courts; “beautiful” KS1 play areas; dance studios; large, comfortable and fabulously equipped 458-seat theatre/auditorium (on our visit Broadway musicals including Mama Mia were being rehearsed); food and nutrition labs; arts studio, music rooms; drama studios; Science Laboratories (Chemistry, Physics, General Science); Music Technology Labs; Design Technology workshops; Food Technology Labs; Health Suite; Fitness Rooms; and separate junior and senior libraries. The Dining Rooms have yet to be commissioned (PH7 will provide the catering in both the ground floor and 1st floor dining spaces when they come on stream).

The Sports Hall is large and contains bleacher seating as well as a dividing curtain.  In total the area is marked out for 8 badminton courts, 3 Basketball courts and an additional court to accommodate Hockey, Handball or Football.  Swimming is to be provided by M&S Sports, who will offer Football too.  The Pool is 25M.  Kent has already enjoyed some success in inter-school leagues and competitions. External fields cover a large area of the campus, and include a 2G Astroturf Hockey Court, a 4G Astroturf Rugby Pitch and Football pitch.  The school is keen to develop Hockey (which is often not continued at Secondary, arguably because DASSA (the sport’s regulatory body in UAE) have hitherto focused on Primary school Leagues ( JESS, Kings, Kent).  Kent are keen to develop Hockey at a more senior level if they can and have attracted Youth and Adult Hockey Academies with the indoor and outdoor hockey facilities they offer.  Similarly they are keen to develop Basketball and may well be the only School in Dubai able to offer facilities for a Basketball Tournament rather than the existing League game options.

In March 2017, the new Secondary School building opened and in 2020 the school completed its opening to offer full all-through provision to British Sixth Form.

KENT COLLEGE Dubai-Prospectus_Print-2017 compressed

 

Curriculum

Curriculum focus on Science within the Kent College Dubai curriculum

A stand-out feature of the school stems from its being structured to offer fully dual-stream International Baccalaureate/A’ Level post-16 provision. We have strongly argued that schools exclusively offering the IB Diploma can place too significant academic demands on children and the initial launch of the school to provide A Levels was a good one. The IB Diploma compliments this provision for the very brightest, polymath, linguistically talented children. Today its breadth of qualification pathways we rate exceptional, with outstanding breadth of subject options offered across both its technical stream and academic stream qualification pathways. The new British T Level would be an interesting addition to the Kent curriculum when it becomes more established.

Current qualification pathways (2022) include:

  • A Levels (Academic pathways – 18 subject options)
  • International Baccalaureate Diploma (Academic pathway – 14 subject options plus the IB Core)
  • BTEC (Technical pathway – 3 subject options: Performing Arts, Business or Sport)
  • International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme (Technical pathway – 14 subject options hubbed in BTEC (above))

More information on the breadth of GCSE and A’ Level provision can be found below.

GCSE Kent College Dubai Kent College Sixth Form

 

School Leadership

The school’s Founding Principal, Patrick Lee-Browne, was recruited from Rydal Penrhos – one of Wales top independents and a sister Methodist school with Kent. Instrumental in early-stage planning of the new Kent Dubai campus, he was an obvious fit and brings with him a reputation for getting things done. Mr Lee-Browne led the school after the Rydal and Penhros school’s merger, no small feat; is wedded to the cultural Methodist whole-child culture underpinning Kent; and his training as a solicitor gave him an eye for detail seen as critical in the launch and development of the new school.

In August 2018 Anthony Cashin, joined the school. Mr Cashin brought with him more than 30 years experience drawn from across schools in Australia, Japan, Denmark, Thailand, Oman, Ajman and, latterly, as Principal and CEO of GEMS Metropole in Motor City. Mr Cashin held particularly expertise in establishing both the English National Curriculum and the International Baccalaureate in new schools and in ensuring that Arabic subjects were delivered with passion and impact rather than being just paid lip service.

In 2022, Jared Nolan was announced as the new Headmaster of Kent College Dubai, but was in post for just 10 months as the school transitioned and embedded its new ownership by Aldar Education. Today, Kent College is run by Mr. Timothy Hollis, formerly Headmaster of the Senior School, who was appointed to the post of Acting Principal in April 2023. Ex Repton, we have known Mr Hollis for many years, and feedback to us has been overwhelmingly positive.

Kent College Dubai Scholarships and Bursaries

Impressively, Kent College, like its UK founding school, is deeply committed to its scholarship provision at Sixth Form. The Kent College Scholarship Programme offers a 50% reduction in 4 areas:

  • Academic Achievement. For Kent College Academic Scholars there is also provided a 1:1 tutorship with a member of the Senior Leadership Team throughout the lifetime of the Scholars education;
  • Music and Performing Arts. For Kent College Music and Performing Arts Scholars there is also provided 1:1 mentorship and guidance with the most appropriate member of the Performing Arts Team that best fits the Scholar’s abilities, masterclasses and summer schools – as well as the chance of a scholarship with Urdang International – a top international Performing Arts conservatoire based in the UK;
  • Sporting and Athletics Excellence. For Kent College Sporting and Athletics Scholars there is also provided a guarantee of elite sports development and sports leadership responsibilities. Scholars join the Excellence Pathway where individual and team based skill mastery sessions are combined with sports nutrition, psychological preparation and strength and conditioning.  The most appropriate sports specialist will be chosen according to the child’s talents to guide and mentor the sportsman or women to reach their full potential;
  • Arabic Studies (native and non-native). For Kent College Scholars in Arabic Studies there is also provided a guarantee of developing the language by having 1:1 mentorship with one of the Arabic Language Team, and school and Scholar led opportunities to further improve language communication level though sourcing specialist Language Summer Schools either in appropriate schools or universities.

The scholarship application form can be found below:

Kent College Scholarship Application

 

Bottom line? The SchoolsCompared.com Verdict

Image showing Sixth Form students at Kent College Dubai

We think that Kent College Dubai is an exceptional school.

Do not expect a replica of its UK home school – that is not the point. Kent College Dubai has its own culture and unique “way” and does not simply replicate a mythical slice of “little England.” Neither the school, or parents, have ever wanted that. Rather it is a structurally very different school, in a very different part of the world, – but one that celebrates the values and integrity of its UK home campus.

The very close relationship between campuses in Canterbury and Meydan, which is a transparently genuine one and heavily built into the DNA of the school’s founding, affords students a tremendous opportunity to be educated under the Kent umbrella and join a body of very impressive alumni that traverse every corner of the world.

This is a school that has evolved slowly and carefully into its buildings. It retains an extraordinary intimacy and inspiring happy school dynamics. Inclusion is genuine – and evidenced by its extraordinary commitment to subject breadth and qualification pathways – some of the best of any school in the UAE. There is a real, palpable sense that children and faculty work together to evolve the school – and students resolutely come first.

This is a school with a definite “wow!” factor – not simply because of the facilities, as exciting as they are, but, much more importantly, because of the dynamic and inspirational working together of the school, its faculty and the children they serve.

We particularly praise the school for its dual stream A Level, BTEC and International Baccalaureate Diploma/Career-related programme Sixth Form. This is an outstanding offer for young men and women. We rate the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme very highly, as on par with the International Baccalaureate Diploma – and a fabulous alternative to A Levels for students with a mix of academic and technical interests, ability, potential and career aspirations.

The IB CP programme, like A levels, opens doors to all the Tier 1 universities worldwide and is arguably the most accomplished of all the technical university pre-qualifiers worldwide. One key test for us of a school’s genuine breadth of subject offer, and this commitment to inclusion and meeting the needs of all children, is the provision of both technical and academic streams for children.

The commitment to scholarships provision is another stand-out feature of the school – and probably the most thoughtful of any Scholarship Programme in the UAE. The fee remission element is generous – but it is the parallel, highly personalised programmes of enhanced mentoring that come with scholarships that makes these so attractive and impressive.

The launch of BTEC is also hugely creditable.

Very highly recommended.

© SchoolsCompared.com. A WhichMedia Group publication. 2023 – 2024. All rights reserved.

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Details to consider
2018/19 Overall ADEK / KHDA Rating

Good with Very Good features (First inspection)

2017/18 Overall ADEC / KHDA Rating

NA - new school

2016/17 Overall ADEC / KHDA Rating

NA - new school

2015/16 Overall KHDA / ADEC Rating

NA - new school

Rating FS

Good

Rating Primary / Elementary

Good

Rating Secondary / Middle

Good

Rating Post 16 / High

Good

Type of school

Private, for-profit

Full WSA Review
Average Cost Per Year

FS1: 54,000
FS2: 54,000
YEAR 1: 58,000
YEAR 2: 69,000
YEAR 3: 69,000
YEAR 4: 74,000
YEAR 5: 74,000
YEAR 6: 80,000
YEAR 7: 80,000
YEAR 8: 86,000
YEAR 9: 86,000
YEAR 10: 92,000
YEAR 11: 92,000
YEAR 12: 98,000
YEAR 13: 98,000

Curriculum

National Curriculum of England
Notes:
(1) EYFS
(2) GCSE
(3) A Level
(4) Aims to to introduce the International Baccalaureate in the Sixth form as and when pupil numbers allow.

External Exam Boards

Pearson (Edexcel)
AQA

Number of A Levels offered

20+

A Levels offered

Arabic
Art
Biology
Business Studies
Chemistry
Design & Technology: Product Design
Drama
Economics
English Literature
French
Geography
History
Islamic Studies
Mathematics
Music
PE
Physics
Spanish
Critical Thinking
Extended Project Qualification (EPQ)
PHSE (non-examined)
BTEC Level 3 Business

A Level A* to A

A* - B: 71%
Notes:
(1) 100% pass rate

IGCSE A* to C

A*C (4 - 9): 95.9*
Notes
(1) Pass (1 - 9): 100%

IGCSE A* to A

A* (8-9): 24.8%
A*A (7-9): 47.9%
Notes:
Highest grades achieved by an individual student: 2 9s, 5 8s and 1 7

Number of I/GCSEs Offered

23

I/GCSEs offered

English (Language and Literature) (Core)
Mathematics (Core)
Biology (Core)
Chemistry(Core)
Physics (Core)
Islamic Studies (non-examined)
Arabic
Art
Business Studies
Design & Technology
Drama
French
Geography
History
Music
Physical Education
Spanish

Selective

No

Waiting list

No

Value Added

Not published

Number of Students

2200 capacity
Current role: 809 (September 2018)
Notes:
(1) EYFS = 130
(2) Junior School = 420
(3) Senior School = 259

Teacher to Student Ratio

Average: 1:11
Notes
(1) Senior School - 1:8
(2) Junior School - 1:13

Largest nationality teachers

British

Teacher turnover

16%

Year opened

2016-17

Location

Meydan City, Nad Al Sheba 3, Dubai

Student composition

International, representation from 69 countries

Gender

Mixed co-educational

School canteen

Yes

Owner

Meydan MHK Education LLC FZ / Mir Hashem Khoory (MHK) Group
(Independently managed by Kent College, UK (non-franchise)

Admissions Telephone

+971 (4) 318 0700

Web Address
Attainment Nur SEM

40%

Attainment Pri SEM

53.3%

Attainment Sec SEM

53.3%

Attainment Post-16 SEM

60%

Progress Nur SEM

60%

Progress Pri SEM

60%

Progress Sec SEM

60%

Progress Post-16 SEM

60%

Arabic Native Primary Results (Native)

40%

Arabic Secondary Results (Native)

30%

Arabic Post-16 Results (Native)

40%

Arabic Primary Results (Add.)

40%

Arabic Secondary Results (Add.)

40%

Arabic Post-16 Results (Add.)

N/A

Islamic St. Primary Results

40%

Islamic St. Secondary Results

40%

Islamic St. Post-16 Results

40%

Leadership

60%

Community

60%

Facilities

80%

Quality of teaching

60%

Student personal responsibility

70%

Quality of curriculum

60%

School Governance

60%

SEN Provision

60%

Strengths

• High cache brand
• Genuine UK independent port to Dubai – "not a franchise"
• Stellar backing of Meydan and Mir Hashem Khoory LLC (MHK)
• Potential for seamless transition between UK and Dubai campuses
• ISI "Excellent" school foundations across the board
• Strong leadership grounded in the Methodist tradition underpinning Kent culture
• Tier 1 facilities
• Outstanding scholarship programme
• Class leading qualification pathways at British Sixth Form
• Outstanding plus subject breadth to ensure that Kent College can meet the needs, ambitions, interests and potential of the broadest range of children.
• Student-centric culture and happy school dynamics
• Stable and accomplished leadership under Tim Hollis
• New Aldar Education backed ownership and gobernance

Weaknesses

• Premium plus fees – hugely competitive market in which schools need to be more than exceptional
• Fees significantly increase in later years

Rating
Our Rating
User Rating
Rate Here
Academic
A
A-
Value
A-
A-
ExtraCurricula
A
B+
Languages
B+
A-
Sports
A
A-
Arts & Drama
A
A-
Teaching
A
A-
Communications
A
B+
Warmth
A+
A-
Differentiation
A-
A-
SEND Provision
B+
A
Scl Community
A
A-
Scl Facilities
A
A-
Opportunities

• An important school for the Emirate with a very distinct cultural offering strengthened by impressive, ground-up, dual stream IB Diploma and A Level Post 16 provision backed by technical stream pathways in the IBCP and BTEC. Outstanding and very highly recommended.

A
Our Rating
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About The Author
Jon Westley
Jon Westley is the Editor of SchoolsCompared.com and WhichSchoolAdvisor.com UK. You can email him at jonathanwestley [at] schoolscompared.com

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Academic
Value
ExtraCurricula
Languages
Sports
Arts & Drama
Teaching
Communications
Warmth
Differentiation
SEND Provision
Scl Community
Scl Facilities