Best Schools for Performing Arts, Abu Dhabi, Dubai

Dubai College

People often only know Dubai College for its selective and academic focus, underlined by the success of top-performing students’ onward university destinations to Oxbridge, the Ivy League and the Russell Group. But the school also has a steady stream of students accessing the top performing arts school in the UK and the US including places at Arts Educational – one of the top musical theatre schools in London – Guildhall and the Royal College of Music in the current academic year.

The creative arts is one of the four pillars of Dubai College – academic, creative, sporting and philanthropic. As a consequence it forms part of the whole school strategic development plan and outcomes in this area are monitored closely by the board of governors as well as the senior leadership team.

All students participate in all creative arts until the end of KS3 (year 9). At this stage they opt for one of the creative arts until the end of GCSE. At A Level there is at least one set of Music and Drama on an annual basis. At KS3 the students take part in a carousel which means that they have 12 week cycles of each of the creative arts, in addition to year round PE and Games.

Students who opt to take GCSE Drama follow the AQA syllabus. Candidates following this course study Drama and Theatre from exploration through to full-scale performance. The focus is on depth and quality of reflection, analysis and interpretation, with students developing confidence and creativity through becoming active participants and informed audience members. Component 1 (Understanding Drama) is a written examination, accounting for 40% of the GCSE, Component 2 (Devising Drama) is a practical unit where students experience the process of creating and performing their own piece of theatre. This unit is worth 40% of the Drama GCSE. Component 3 (Texts in Practice) is a performance based unit that is externally assessed and worth 20% of the GCSE.

GCE A Level students also follow the AQA Theatre and Drama Studies course. The course is 40% written and 60% performance with both internal and external assessment.  As would be expected, facilities are excellent with a 900 seat Auditorium and 3 Drama and Dance studios providing the infrastructure for Drama students.

Dubai College has a twenty year old exchange programme with Bedales School in the UK, one of the top creative arts schools in the country. On an annual basis a team of students from each school alternates a visit to the other country as a shared creative experience. The school’s part-time Drama teacher is also a dance specialist, who is developing the aesthetics programme alongside the PE department.  Currently Dance is not part of the core curriculum but is included within the PE curriculum.

In the Music Department, a Director of Music is in charge of all of the performances which take place annually in addition to a Head of Academic Music, who is in charge of KS3 Music as well as GCSE and A Level Music. There is also another full time music teacher as well as a full time accompanist who is the longest serving member of the school, with 35 years’ service. Fourteen peripatetic staff provide private music lessons to students.

 

One of the most popular elements of the music programme is the beginner band and around half of the year takes up a musical instrument on arrival at Dubai College, adding to the number of students who already play an instrument. A teacher is provided for any musical instruments which students wish to learn. The school has a broad range of ensembles including a full orchestra, a jazz band, a saxophone quartet, the intermediate band, several choirs including the Man Choir, Nothing But Treble and the Senior Choir.

As would be expected, the College offers a modern purpose-built facility, featuring a recital area, fully-equipped recording studio, sound-proofed instrumental teaching rooms, practice rooms and classrooms. The facilities are furnished with over 80 orchestral instruments, semi-professional concert percussion, 16 pianos and 24 state-of-the-art Apple Mac computers with music editing capabilities.

Dubai College is the registered ABRSM centre for the emirate and as such all students opt for ABRSM – on average 160 students sit ABRSM exams on an annual basis. The College is currently exploring the opportunity to offer LAMDA in school for Drama students.

The College participates annually in the BSME Young Musicians of the Gulf where they are regularly among the winners. It also hosts the Arabian Youth Orchestra annually during the Spring break and host strings, woodwind and choir workshops for students run by professional musicians. Most recently the school hosted the Chinese Philharmonic Orchestra String Quartet for a private recital for musicians and parents.

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