Arcadia Starts Build on Secondary 'Academy'
Arcadia Preparatory School will offer secondary provision, starting with Year 7, in September 2019. It will do so in a brand new, purpose built secondary from December 2019...
The secondary school will be called Arcadia Academy, and will be located just across the road from the primary school.
The construction on the site has already started at its Jumeirah Village Triangle location, however some of the plans are subject to the Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s (KHDA) approval.
For the first two terms of the 2019 academic year, Year 7 students will be on the top floor of a separated section of the current Arcadia Prep building. From the third term, in April 2020, they will move to the new, dedicated secondary. The secondary school aims to be ready by December 2019.
Mr. Mohan Valrani, Founder and Chairman of the school, as well as co-founder and Senior vice-chairman of the Al Shirawi Group, told WhichSchoolAdvisor.com.
“Secondary school prepares students for university, which in turn prepares them for jobs. Our focus for our secondary school is to offer best counsellors from Europe and the US to our pupils, so our students make the right university choices.”
Arcadia Prep already has something of a focus in terms of preparing students for the future world of work, with a Junior MBA and Entrepreneurs in Residence programmes. The Academy will take this a step further, Mr. Navin Valrani, CEO of Arcadia School, told us.
“For our secondary students, we aim to provide internships starting from Year 7, so they have real world, on the job experience married to their academic work.”
Students will have opportunities to do one-week work placements in one of the Al Shirawi Group's 40 companies. The school is also considering the addition of 'innovative' lesson options to the curriculum like Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.
The secondary school is being built on 140,000 square feet plot with a built up area of 264,000 square feet. Facilities include a 3500 square foot swimming pool, and 58,879 square feet set aside for football.
Subject to KHDA approval, by September 2020, the new building will be housing Years 7 and 8.
Acadia Academy will follow the English National Curriculum with GCSE in years 10 and 11 and A levels for years 12 and 13.
