New Cedar School to Open In September

The new Al Warqa’a 1 based Cedar School says it will be a high achieving, yet affordable school, that will be very much at the heart of its community.  Opening in September 2020, the school will initially welcome students from FS1 to Year 6, growing to become an all-through school in the coming years.

The school will encourage parental engagement and position itself as a ‘family focused’ school with a local, village school ethos in the city of Dubai.

Cedar School aims to compliment its UK-based curriculum with a strong digital philosophy, which the school says will be ingrained across activities, and the phases of the school.

Staff will be recruited, predominantly, from the United Kingdom, and led by Janet Williams-Ipek who takes on the role as Founding Principal.

Originally from Wales, Ms Williams-Ipek has over 20 years experience in education in both the Middle East and the United Kingdom. According to a release sent to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com, Cedar's founding head sees involvement of the community as one of the main contributors to a school's success. Ms Williams-Ipek is also said to be an expert on individualised approaches to education.

Commenting on the opening of the new school, Ms. Williams-Ipek said:

"I’m thrilled to get started and welcome our founding parents to our fantastic new campus. We have an excellent team behind us and are busy prepping and planning the curriculum so we can deliver an exciting and thorough experience for all our young learners!"

The school's purpose-built campus will included, according to the media release, "dedicated science laboratories, an FS learning pool and multi-lane swimming pool, sports facilities, as well as, multiple outdoor learning spaces and collaborative indoor learning spaces, allowing children, parents and staff to engage comfortably at any given time".

Fees range from AED 21,457  in FS1 to AED 29,778  in Year 6. These are the discounted rates for founding parents in the first year.  Discounts of 10% and 5% respectively on the KHDA approved fees in the second and third year of operation for parents whose children join the school in 2020.

Full details of the new school can be found in our review here.