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Awards Countdown Day Seven! The SchoolsCompared.com Best British School in the UAE 2021. Official Entry Form now LIVE.
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Awards Countdown Day Seven! The SchoolsCompared.com Best British School in the UAE 2021. Official Entry Form now LIVE.

by Jon WestleyApril 20, 2021

The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Awards, the UAE’s definitive School Awards, recognising the region’s most outstanding schools, teachers and educationalists, today publishes full information for entering the seventh of this year’s Awards: The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best British (Curriculum) School in the UAE 2021.

Entry for each individual Award is being published daily between now and the 8th May 2021.

This Award is for solus British curriculum all-through schools that provide GCSE, A Level (and optionally technical stream BTEC/other) options for students. It is not open to schools that provide multiple curricular options, for example IB and A Level, GCSE and IB…, – these schools should enter for the alternative Best Blended IB Curriculum School 2021 Award published on 25th April 2021.

This award is open to schools on the broad spectrum of academically inclusive and selective educational approaches to their intake policy, structure, ethics and focus of education. 

 

First Steps

Please complete this application form to enter your school for The SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Award for Best British (Curriculum) School in the UAE 2021. A PDF of the form can be downloaded at the end of this article.

Please only enter for those Awards in which you believe you have a very powerful case to be considered by judges. It is far better to enter for a single Award – and complete the application for this with passion and depth of insight, than apply for multiple awards, and stretch your ability to make your case too thin.

Not entering for an Award, does not preclude any school from being considered. All schools in the UAE are considered within the judging process, drawing on expertise and data across Which Media. Entering for an Award, however, does ensure that we have access to accurate, up-to-date information on your school – and information strengthened by your decisions on how to answer the following questions.

Please use the questions as a guide; you may wish to draw out other strengths to support your case.

Formal entry for this award must be submitted with the agreement of the Headteacher of the school.

 

BREADTH OF COURSE PROVISION AND MEETING THE NEEDS OF ALL CHILDREN

Aim for 1000 – 2000 Words

Support the case that your school provides the outstanding breadth of (where each is relevant) academic, technical and ECA options for students to ensure that every child at your school can meet his or her individual ambitions, potential, and ability. Provide paragraphs answering the following: (1) How our facilities develop an outstanding education, academic and/or technical and whole child, for students at our school; (2) Our outstanding teachers; (3) Breadth of subject choice and how it specifically meets the needs of our intake policy; (4) What makes us different and where we excel; (5) Our slipstream graduation universities/colleges/industries; (6) Our financial investment in our teachers and students; (7) Our ethics; (9) Our approach to parents (10) Our alumni.

 

ENSURING THAT NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND

Aim for 200 – 500 Words plus relevant statistical tables

Support the case that your school provides value added achievement to ensure that every child leaves your school meeting or exceeding their baseline (1) academic and (2) whole child expectations on joining your school.

 

INVESTING IN CHILDREN

Aim for 250 – 500 words.

Support the case that your school ploughs back a percentage of investment into facilities and/or teacher salaries and/or resources and/or school improvements and/or specific initiatives to financially support parents/families, year-on-year, to improve and/or sustain education for children. Please detail your approach and investments.

 

BRITISH CURRICULUM EDUCATION

Aim for 500 words to 2000 words.

Describe how and why a British Curriculum Education sets the global benchmark for an outstanding education for students. What are the stand-out features of an archetypal British education – and how does your school meet and improve on these. It is not imperative that to enter for these Awards you provide technical stream options for students, but please explain why you do not if this is the case based on your entrance policy.  Explain how you believe and hope British education will evolve over the next 10 years, and how your school is preparing for the opportunities ahead. Finally, consider the view that “The best British education for students will always be an international one, and, in this regard, students in the UAE have a major advantage over their UK based peers.”

 

STRENGTHENING YOUR CASE

Aim for 500 Words

Focused on achievements this year and in the last full pre-Covid year, provide information that is not included above that supports your application to be considered the benchmark British (Curriculum) School in the UAE “against the odds.” Discuss how Covid 19 has impacted on the academic and whole child life of your school and how your school has responded.

 

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Aim for 1000 – 2000 words.

Collate a document with evidence supporting the above, together with all areas of provision, investment, innovation and achievement that supports your school being considered the benchmark school for a British Curriculum Education in the UAE. This should include at least 2 quotations each from current students and parents at your school.  A quotation should be included from each Heed of Department at your school outlining their ambitions for students and what makes their Departments stand-out. Finally, a contextualising quote should be included from the School Principal highlighting the ethics, history, achievements of the school and its contribution to education, historic, current and planned, in the UAE. We are looking for passion, inspiration, meaningfulness and clear investment in the school’s sense of purpose, values and deep-seated commitment to a British curriculum education for students in the evidence provided in this section.

MAKING AN IMPACT IN YOUR APPLICATION

As part of the following application, you will strengthen your case considerably by sending the following survey links to your students, teachers and parents, asking them to independently provide feedback on your school as part of your entry to the Top School Awards 2021.

 

Teachers should complete the survey here:

https://whichschooladvisor.com/uae/surveys/the-teacher-survey

 

Parents should complete the survey here:

https://whichschooladvisor.com/uae/surveys/school-survey

 

Older students (Grade 10-12/Year 11-13) should complete the survey here:

https://whichschooladvisor.com/uae/surveys/the-student-survey 

 

The statistical results of these surveys are valued, shared with judges and used in our decision making.

In addition we use data provided to us under your school profile on the Which Media database. This can be accessed through our sister site WhichSchoolAdvisor.com.

In particular please complete the following sections from the Admin:

 

  • Facilities
  • Sports offering
  • Scholarships and Bursaries
  • Details
  • Demographics
  • Memberships and accreditations
  • General info
  • Fees

 

It is critical that the data relied on by judges is accurate and up-to-date. If you do not have a school account on our sister site, WhichSchoolAdvisor.com, please request one so you can update your review and admissions data here:

https://whichschooladvisor.com/uae/school-signup

 

In the year the UAE Space Mission orbits Mars, the Top Schools Awards 2021 launches to celebrate schools and innovation in the UAE

 

COMPLETE ENTRY

Please collate the above information in a Word document. High resolution (inspirational) photography, relevant film, PDF(s), together with any audio files, should be submitted separately with the Word file. Please also include a School Prospectus if that has been produced. 

When your application is completed, these should be sent, in a single email, titled SCTSA21 BRITISH with your School Name, to:

[email protected]

Please note: unless you specifically identify information that is confidential and sensitive and not for publication, any information sent to us may be published and become a statement of public record. It is vital therefor that information provided is accurate.

 

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT 

To download the complete official entry form for the SchoolsCompared.com Top Schools Awards 2021 – Best British (Curriculum) School in the UAE, click here.

 

Completed entries must be received no later than 7th July 2021.

#sctsa21 © SchoolsCompared.com. 2021. All rights reserved.

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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