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Kings’ Education to Open New Windsor School Primary in Satwa Dubai in September 2021

Windsor School Dubai, a primary school opening in Satwa in September 2021

by Jon WestleyJune 7, 2021

Background and location – Windsor School

Kings’ Education is to launch a new, co-educational, British Primary School in Satwa, Dubai. The new school, which will be known as Windsor School, has taken over the buildings and grounds of the former 1200 capacity GEMS Wellington Primary School on the Sheikh Zayed Road. Windsor School will open, “subject to the readiness of the building and agreement of the KHDA”, as a stand-alone primary school in September 2021, offering an FS1 to Year 6 education for younger children from the age of 3 to 11 years. The school will open admissions to Year 6 immediately on launch.

Windsor school is located adjacent to DIFC and in close proximity to Satwa Medical Centre.

The new primary school is the fourth school to be opened by Kings’ Education, and its third specialist primary school. It follows:

Kings’ School Dubai, like Windsor School a Primary-only school. Opened in 2004, and based in Um Suqeim, Kings’ Dubai was the first of the Kings Education group of schools to open in the UAE. It is the only school in Dubai to have achieved an Outstanding ranking from the KHDA for eleven years in a row since Dubai’s regulator began inspections. Kings’s Dubai offers a British curriculum education to around 940 children between the ages of 3 and 11 years and from FS1 to Year 6. The school is consistently over-subscribed. The school role includes some sixty nationalities. Click here to read our review of Kings’ School Dubai.
Kings’ Al Barsha. Opened in 2014, Kings’ Al Barsha is a KHDA rated Outstanding British curriculum all-through, educating around 2,200 students between the ages of of 3 and 18 years and FS1 and from Year 13 to GCSE, A Level and BTEC. The school role includes some 70 nationalities. Click here to read our review of Kings’ School Al Barsha.
Kings’ Nad Al Sheba. Also opened in 2014, Kings’ Nad Al Sheba is a KHDA rated Very Good School with Outstanding features British curriculum primary+ school educating around 450 younger children between the ages of 2 and 13 years and from FS1 to Year 8. Click here to read our review of Kings’ School Nad Al Sheba.

Windsor School aims to establish itself as the school of choice for parents in the adjacent areas of DIFC, Business Bay, Deira, Karama, Jumeirah as well as those drawn from its home in the heart of Satwa.

The Official Introduction by Lisa Passante, Principal of Windsor School Dubai.

“Everyone will have the opportunity to make a difference…”

https://youtu.be/V4SU-lddyNM

Miss Passante’s teaching career spans two decades with experience drawn from the UK, Shanghai and Beijing.

Facilities

Facilities will include:

Multipurpose hall
Two swimming pools
Multipurpose 4G field
Dance Studio
Basketball Courts
Library
STEM Labs
Science Labs
ICT Suites
Music Rooms
Art Room
Parent Café

Catering is being provided by Mastercook Catering Services.

School Fees

Fees are premium plus.

A “Founders Fee structure” is, however, being made available to “all families who enrol for the 2021-22 academic year” with the promise that “this fee structure will apply for the duration of the children’s educational journey with us.”

The differential on published fees is, however, significantly less generous that that traditionally offered by schools opening in Dubai. This is arguably reflective of a view that the school will swiftly fill its available places:

Year Group	Founders Fees	Published Fees
	AY 21-22	AY 21-22
FS1	43,388	43,388
FS2	52,500	54,691
Year 1	52,500	54,691
Year 2	52,500	54,691
Year 3	52,500	54,691
Year 4	52,500	54,691
Year 5	52,500	54,691
Year 6	52,500	54,691

Secondary provsion

Currently, Kings’ Education is looking to develop a separate Windsor-branded secondary school for children at the new Primary to graduate to, this required because the Al Barsha school is to all intents and purposes full. Parents should note, however, that the confirmation of a slipstream school is a planning ambition and not yet confirmed:

“Although the initial development will be for primary-aged children, we are advancing plans for secondary school options (subject to KHDA approval) within the Windsor School brand.

This is a clear sign to our families that ‘Windsor School’ is a significant and long-term commitment, and an exciting new development within the Kings’ Education group.”

Akshay Khanna, Director of Corporate Services

Bottom line? The SchoolsCompared.com Verdict on Windsor School.

As always with new schools in launch phases, It is far too early for a considered view, or recommendation, of the Windsor School.

The school launches into a primary school sector that is hugely contested, with a large number of outstanding schools in Dubai from which parents can choose. As a whole, this is arguably the strongest-performing schools sector in Dubai and one in which parents, positively, have a huge breadth of outstanding schools from which to choose.

Perhaps most interesting, and perhaps telling, at this early stage, is the choice of Kings’ Education to market the school under a completely new “Windsor” brand, with its implicit links to the British royal family, rather than the Kings’ brand used elsewhere by the group. Is it a coincidence that this year has seen the launch of The Royal Grammar School Guildford in Dubai – arguably a school that competes directly with Kings’ in the Tier 1 Premium elite school space? Make of these questions what you will. Kings’ Education told us:

[“T}he new ‘Windsor School’ brand, will be the first of many new schools that look to extend the reach of the long-established Kings’ Education ethos and philosophy.”

This said, Kings’ Education has proven expertise in Primary schools and, with one outstanding primary school under its belt, Windsor School is likely to be required shortlisting for at least some parents.

For parents concerned about the lack of a clearly defined Secondary slipstream, or the novelty of a newly created, unproven brand, we believe some confidence can be taken from KIngs’ Education’s proven historic investment in schools.

The group will certainly not wish to leave families with no option but to leave the umbrella of Kings’ Education when their children reach Year 6. Nor will it want an all-new brand to be anything less than a success. This said, available land in the vicinity of the school for a Secondary school is, at least currently, in short supply and it is not implausible to suggest that parents may well have to travel further afield, beyond Satwa, from Year 7 when, and if, a new Windsor branded Secondary school comes on stream.

We wish the school well.

Notes for parents

(1) Parents should note that the new Satwa-based school is not related to the ADEK Outstanding Windsor Early Years Nursery in Abu Dhabi (click for more information on the Windsor Early Years Nursery here.)

(2) More information on the new Windsor Primary School can be found here.

(3) Parents interested in the school for entry in the 2021-2022 academic year, or the 2022-2023 academic year, may contact: