GEMS Wellington Primary School, Satwa – THE REVIEW 2021

Note for parents: this school has now closed. 

For historic information only: GEMS Wellington Primary School – SchoolsCompared.com exclusive school visits, KHDA 2020, BSO Outstanding school status, Outstanding new school leadership

Background

Located behind the Shangri-la Hotel on the edges of Jumeirah, GEMS Wellington Primary School celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2017, following its founding in 2007. Its location is at the heart of a thriving community brought to life by the spectacular vistas the school enjoys facing the Sheikh Zayed Road. 

GEMS Wellington Primary School is ranked “Very Good with Outstanding Features” by the Dubai Inspectorate of schools, an award it has held for the last three years.

GEMS Wellington Primary School has also achieved the highest rating awarded by British Schools Overseas (November 2016 Inspection), securing Grade 1 Outstanding recognition for the quality of its (innovative) curriculum; the strength of teaching and assessment; depth of whole child development; the formidable way it meets the needs of its highly inclusive intake; the academic progress of children from defined starting points on entering the school; and, determined, charismatic school leadership with high integrity and vision. More on this below.

 

By way of introduction, and choosing one of the many stand-out of the features of GEMS Wellington Primary School to highlight, we would draw parents attention to the very inclusive, welcoming philosophy of the school.

Whilst the school has not currently made available added value data to us (we will update our review should this data may be available), parents are advised to look at the creditable differential highlighted by the KHDA between student attainment and the (“Very Good”) level of progress achieved by its children. GEMS Wellington Parimary School delivers beyond expectation for the vast majority of its children, with highly differentiated learning to meet the needs of individual children across the spectrum of abilities (including Gifted and Talented). The (sensitively adapted) curriculum that underpins this differentiation is, as above, innovative, and outstanding. Parents considering the school should note that communication with parents is another strength of the school and added value information is widely shared internally.

Parents should note that, in our view, GEMS Wellington Primary School shines in its genuinely inclusive welcome and, unlike other schools, the way it refuses to “stack the decks” by welcoming only the most academically gifted children. There is a balance to be drawn between creating a happy, creative, whole child focused school and one driven to deliver academic attainment at whatever the cost for just some children. It is at least arguable that GEMS Wellington Primary has struck a perfect balance here, a view supported by the exceptional relationships the school enjoys with parents and our finding a school both alive to learning and one very evidently “buzzing” with very happy, and stimulated children. GEMS Wellington Primary delivers an outstanding education for every child.

KHDA Findings and Strengths in Digital Learning

Beyond celebrating inclusion, as above, the other core areas highlighted by the Dubai Inspectorate include:

• The school’s outstanding, “vibrant, supportive and creative” learning environment across all phases with stand-out care for children
• Outstanding ECA and enrichment provision
• Outstanding facility provision

This is supported by the views of BSO inspectors recorded in their particularly complimentary inspection.

One of the key ways we judge English National Curriculum primary schools is in the ways they balance delivering a British education and the values and culture that go with this, whilst also inspiring an understanding and appreciation for the broader international context of education.

At SchoolsCompared.com, we feel that this is exceptionally important. Building, at such an early age, an appreciation of international context and, ideally broader language skills, gives expat children educated in the UAE a big advantage over children educated in, for example, the UK.

Surprisingly, there are still British (and its even more true of many US schools) that operate in a vacuum, taking away some of the real advantages that flow from being educated abroad. Equally, as here, this relationship must be two-way, with international children also securing the benefits of understanding and being inspired by the British context of their education. GEMS Wellington Primary is a good model in this respect, although, as with all British curriculum schools, Arabic language learning is challenging difficult for the majority of children. 

A good example of innovation is evident in the on-line learning resource delivered, in most part, by the children themselves. On-line teaching here is first class – and the skills of the school in this area have proved invaluable during the Coronavirus Covid 19 necessitated move to Distance Learning.

It’s worth noting the feedback from our last independent visit to the school:

“I left with the strong impression of a happy, family orientated, community school with excellent facilities and absolutely outstanding leadership.”

BSO Rating – Outstanding

GEMS Wellington Primay School is rated by the BSO as Outstanding – it’s highest award. The full report follows:

Fees

Facilities and SchoolsCompared Visits, September 2017, June 2018, 2019, 2020-21

Facilities are Premium, Tier 1 including an outdoor AstroTurf football area, as well as shaded basketball hard courts and 2 pools. We rate overall facility and Sports provision at GEMS Wellington Primary School Outstanding. For this phase of education, sporting facilities are some of the best available in the UAE. 

There is a large Auditorium which doubles for Sport; (fabulous) 3 Music Rooms; 4 ICT suites; Music Performance rooms and Art Rooms – as well as a (genuinely) well-stocked library.

It’s not though a “bells and whistles” school sparkling with modern chrome and artifice – expect a lived in, hugely warm typically British home grown Primary feel. There’s a mix of old and new buildings, evidencing GEMS ongoing investment in the school. Rooms are light and airy. There’s a particularly fabulous and large breakout space in FS1 with stepped padded seating areas for informal learning.  The whole school is deceptively large, but the school fills its spaces with activities and life so that, if anything, there is a sense of compression and intimacy. Discovery lies around every corner. Bottom line: children want for nothing.

ECA provision and enrichment is as good as it gets; there are simply too many options to list here in full. Orchestra, Super Scientist, Dance Fever …. these are the tip of an iceberg that well captures the ambition. Many schools talk the talk about delivering to each individual’s child’s ambitions, needs and gifts – and in many cases a look at the breadth and depth of ECA provision quickly tells you a very different story. At GEMS Wellington Primary School the investment in each child’s development outside academics is more than evident – and a clear pillar of the school’s strategy to build community and the self confidence of children so integral to their academic development. It’s a virtuous circle clearly recognised by the school that links each child to their peers, family, broader community and teachers in a journey of discovery that is clearly, and impressively, working.

GEMS Wellington Primary School Leadership

Bottom Line? The SchoolsCompared.com Verdict 2021

GEMS Wellington Primary School missed out on consideration for our Best Primary School in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this year in 2019-20, but this values-rich, nurturing inclusive school, led by a very strong Principal, certainly deserves its place in the top tier of British primaries in Dubai.

In a recent internal poll of parent, students and staff across all GEMS schools, GEMS Wellington Primary School was placed first in terms of satisfaction from both Parents and Students. Little wonder we found, on our many visits, a school that that lights up the spark of imagination, self belief and ambition in its children.

Under the surface too, the richness and sophistication of investment in English and Mathematics for children, through some of the most structured programmes of development we have seen in any Primary in the UAE, shines a light on why an outstanding Primary school education is so profoundly important for child development. Not all EYFS British primary schools are the same…

Summary? This is a school, in our view, that unequivocally deserves a place on any parent’s shortlist of potential primary schools for their children.

Very highly recommended.