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Top Schools For Art, Music and the Performing Arts in the UAE. Part 1. The SchoolsCompared.com Guide for Parents..
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Best School for the Performing Arts and Broader Arts Programmes Nomination 2021:

Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi

Photograph of the Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi Campus at dawn showcasing the school's innovative architecture and ist setting within verdant green sporting fields and palm trees

Web site: here.

Our review: here.

Contact information: here

Email: [email protected] | Lyndsey Fooks – Registrar

Phone: +971 2 497 0000

GEMS_INARTICLE  

Our rating: Five stars rating

 

Background

Student engaged in Fine Arts at the richly resourced Arts Faculty within Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi

Cranleigh Abu Dhabi is located on Saadiyat Island and was founded a decade ago on the educational principles of the 150-year-old school Cranleigh UK.

Cranleigh has an ethos of learning through discovery, instilling crucial life skills that mean more than passing exams with high grades.  The school looks to providing a sustainable education, focusing on transferable skills such as flexibility, resilience, leadership, problem solving and tolerance offering lifelong application. The school looks to cultivate global awareness with a broad curriculum both inside and out of the classroom where each individual can grow and flourish.

 

“Art at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi nurtures and develops a balance of practical skills with sound intellectual enquiry. Through this engagement we ensure our young artists from all levels grow in confidence in their practical work and in their critical analysis. Our close proximity to The Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Manarat Al Saadiyat has enabled a pathway to successful collaborations this year such as Museum Voices and Young Guides. Next year we continue to develop our curriculum by adding two new endorsements – iGCSE Art and Design and A-Level Photography to ensure we meet the needs of our 20/21 cohort. Our Performing Arts and Music provision continues to gain momentum focusing on the development of a wide variety of skills for life. Building confidence and critically thinking prepare the modern generation of Cranleighans for life beyond our school walls. We look forward to developing our Drama schemes of work to incorporate new cross-curricular topics. We are honoured to have been asked to be the lead for BSME’s Dance Network and hope to host the BSME Dance Festival in June 2021. Our music offering has extended further this year with a new Director of Music and an incoming Director of Music Performance for September 2020.”

Michael Wilson – Principal

 

“At Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, we are incredibly proud to have creativity, imagination and confidence as key skills to be celebrated and nurtured. Music, Drama, Dance and Visual Arts are a catalyst for emotional exploration, an opportunity to discover who we are and how we move in the world we encounter. The variety of opportunities, both within and beyond the classroom is fundamental to the educational experience and wellbeing of our Cranleigh pupils, whose passion and dedication motivate our community.”

Jo Lee Director of Performing Arts

 

Fee range

Visit https://www.cranleigh.ae/admissions/school-fees

 

Prospectus

Students engaging in dance as part of a landmark theatre production at Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi

Note: Music and the Performing Arts are combined as one subject at Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi.

Performing Arts: here.

Musical, plays and dance: here

Music: here

 

Key Features

Lights! Camera! Action! Flutae and clarinet soloists at Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi

Performing Arts and Music Art
Specialisms Drama, Music & Dance

 

Oil Painting,

Dry point etching

Ceramics

Photography

Drawing

Mixed Media

 

Recent Achievement Introduction of A-Level Drama

Introduction of iGCSE Music, Drama and Dance,

Hosting the ISTA ‘Building Skylines’ Festival,

Hosting BSME Dance Festivals,

Hosting the Wind Band Celebration.

Cranleigh Abu Dhabi has become synonymous with high standards and creative collaboration

 

Introduction of A-Level, introduction of new inducements – iGCSE, Photography A-level, BSME Art award, involved with the Louvre teachers committee, founding member of the ‘New Beginnings’ exhibition (Abu Dhabi Art Departments Annual Exhibition)

 

Stand out Features The joy of Cranleigh Abu Dhabi’s Performing Arts department is how Dance, Music and Drama work together to support each other.

Drama, Music and Dance offered by specialist teachers from Year 3 and above (in Pre-Prep for Music), our cross curricular links between other curriculum subjects e.g. Drama in Year 3 links with the Roman project explored in Humanities, our workshops (specialist practitioners and companies work with our pupils), our creative risks – we performed the first entirely Arabic spoken production in November 2019 using Drama, Music and Dance to ensure that the audience could understand the plot line, our scholarships – we offer a large number of Performing Arts scholarships as well as specific dance, music and drama scholarships – our scholars set the highest standards within the school and are role models to other pupils.

 

Learning Blogs for Year 11, 12 and 13, Bespoke classroom environments for both Junior and Senior School, enhanced online presence, artist in residence and an extensive range of visual disciplines on offer.

 

Facilities/

Infrastructure

450 seat auditorium, 100 seat recital hall, Black Box Drama Studio, Dance Studio, bespoke music rooms, specialist classrooms

 

A kiln, photographic lighting units, IT facilities and flatbed printing presses

 

Scholarship Performing Arts, Drama, Music and Dance scholarships are offered to Y6 to Y13 students

 

Fine Art scholarships are offered to Y6 to Y13 students

 

Capital Investment N/A as the school is newly built with outstanding facilities

 

15 square metre bespoke art studio. Future: art department accommodation to house Year 4 through to Year 13

 

 

External Examination Partners:

Edexcel GCSE & iGCSE, BSME, Edexcel A-Level Fine Art and Photography

Cambridge IGCSE Drama, AQA IGCSE Dance, ISTA (International Schools Theatre Association), Pretzel Theatre, WAAE (World Alliance for Arts Education), BSME

BSME Music, Young Musician of the Gulf

 

What the Students say about Performing Arts And Music

Full dress rehearsal at Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi showcasing a scene of twenty students working together to bring the stage to life

“Drama has been so much fun and I have enjoyed it because the teachers are always encouraging and kind and throughout the year I have learned so much about body language, performance poetry, facial expressions and much more thanks to their fun way of teaching that is so memorable.”

Lydia Turner – Student

 

“Drama A-Level has helped me significantly in understanding the field of filmmaking. Learning the ways of acting have made a big impact on the way I direct, being able to better understand actors. Developing as an actor, I have learnt many ways to interact and strike emotion in the audience which is extremely useful for the filmmaking career I wish to pursue.”

Caden Ahmed – A-level Drama student

 

“I’ve been a part of with Cranleigh’s Performing Arts program since 2014 and to see the progress it’s made from our first musical ‘The Wiz’ to our latest musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ is incredible. To have our own theatre in which we can perform has allowed for magical experiences. All the talent at Cranleigh is able to be honed by workshops from professional actors, directors and musicians the highlights of which include working with the Royal Opera House’s Youth Opera Company to create two operas from scratch and the Get Physical workshop with Lawrence Carmichael.”

Hugo John – Year 11, IGCSE Drama & Music student

 

What the parents say about Performing Arts And Music

Photograpg of the wind section of Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi's orchestra showcasing the outstanding breadth of instruments taught at the school

“As well as world-class facilities, I believe the core strength of Cranleigh Abu Dhabi performing arts programme lies in its team/teachers: knowledgeable, talented and professional, they have provided for and enriched my daughter in ways that I had never expected. They have believed in her, challenged her, and have given her a chance to shine in everything she does – her level of confidence is amazing”.

Alaa Faddah – Parent

 

“Music and arts have the ability to make the students dance, sing, imagine and perform without limits. Music and arts have the magic to make the students encounter themselves with their inner harmony and make them feel happy. Nothing can stop the beat of a heart when artists and musicians at Cranleigh perform”.

Angela Fandino – Parent

 

“My daughter joined Cranleigh last year and what we loved about Cranleigh is that they immediately noticed her gift in singing and her love for acting. So they encouraged her by asking her to perform and through their dedicated approach, I felt she was getting the attention that would make her thrive not only in performing arts but also in her other subjects. In addition to the guidance she was getting and the opportunities to perform, I cannot emphasize enough the quality and the diversity of these performances, from an opera, to a Broadway musical, to an Arabic musical, and all other in house events. This shows the tremendous effort put by the team locally and the international teams who flew specifically to share their expertise. International standards and diversity she got as well. Thank you performing Arts and Music teams at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi!”

Abir Beydoun – Parent

 

What the Students say about Art

“The enthusiasm and support I received from my teachers helped me grow to love and pursue art as a career. They have provided me with the tools and guidance to strive for growth and originality.”

Ali Al Hosani – Student

“Cranleigh provided the right environment for me to excel in my creativity and gave me lots of opportunities to pursue my interest in art. This fully prepared me for the knowledge, techniques and thinking expected from me at university. I’m currently studying Product design and multi media at the Dubai institute of design and Innovation.”

Shamma Al Shamsi

 

What the Parents say about Art

“Cranleigh is a school where Academics and Art come together. As Academics are highly valued so are the Arts. Children have a chance and are challenged to develop themselves on a creative and high artist level. What we really love and why we chose Cranleigh initially for our three daughters is that Cranleigh values and celebrates the Arts as a huge factor in the development to become a healthy, well rounded, creative and emphatic human being and after 3 years we are still so happy we did. It’s it is the head-heart-hands principle which we love from the Waldorf Education System that has been implemented in this STEM school. “

Anne Karien van Alphen de Veer – Parent

 

“I have two daughters who graduated from Cranleigh Abu Dhabi. They were both deeply involved with the art department. Whether it was through studying IGCSE and A level art or participating in school art related activities. Cranleigh provides the right environment for them to excel in art and prepare them for the design university they desire, Shamma and Meera are planning to be designers and Cranleigh Abu Dhabi will always be a part of their success.”

Mrs. Muhra Al Muhairi

 

“Cranleigh’s art department is a place our children not only enjoy during lessons but are also encouraged to use outside their set time- tables. The teachers are inspiring, positive, engaged and enthusiastic. They always go that extra mile to help them develop creatively. Students are encouraged to critically reflect upon their work and receive meaningful feedback to work to their full potential. They guide the students with enough room to develop their own creativity. Curiosity and risk taking is embraced and praised. There are several opportunities to experience art outside of school through competitions and museum visits. Our three children have created pieces in different mediums they never thought they would be able to. It’s inspiring to follow their creative journey from the side line and see them grow into independent, unique, interesting young adults.”

Patty van Hellenberg Hubar – Parent

 

Student Slipstream Graduating Institutions

Younger students at Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi engaging with a love of Music through Choir

DIDI (Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation)

Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

Parsons School of Design

The New School New York

Our first A-level student, Caden Ahmed has completed his Drama A-Level and is heading to Emerson College, USA to study film.

 

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About The Author
Jane Talbot
Special Projects Reporter on SchoolsCompared.com, Jane Talbot is a renowned features journalist and researcher recognised for her in-depth and inciteful documentation of key issues facing parents in education worldwide. She brings to SchoolsCompared.com more than two decade’s experience in journalism and an authentic, deeply compassionate commitment to writing that places the welfare of children and families centre stage. “I write to support families facing the hardest decisions in education – whether that is the first day at school or navigating challenges like dyslexia. I see journalism as a vocation that promises, little by little, to change the world for the better. SchoolsCompared gives me the chance to play my part, for parents and children, in that bigger picture.”

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