Durham School Dubai: Official Opening

Durham School Dubai officially marked its opening this morning, with guest of honour, Dr Abdullah Al Karam, Director General of the KHDA, cutting the ceremonial ribbon. 

The Dubai school, situated in Dubai Investment Park, has opened from FS1 to Year 8 initially, expanding annually until it reaches Year 13.  

Delivering a speech to attendees, Dr Al Karam drew attention to Durham School’s 606-year history. In his speech he noted “the Dubai school sector is very young by comparison”, but still offers "every kind of school and curriculum.

"Whatever their choices, their children will have access to world class education.”

Durham in the UK is based in the historic northern English city of Durham, and was founded in 1414 and then re-founded in 1541 by King Henry VIII.

Founding Principal, Mr Mark Atkins, was clearly delighted at the school’s opening:

"606 years after the founding of Durham School in the UK, we are proud to officially launch Durham School Dubai this week.

We were honoured that Dr Abdulla Al Karam was able to attend to perform a ribbon cutting ceremony. The event was a fitting climax to an exciting first week at our new school. So much hard work has been out in by so many people to bring the school to Dubai and it is wonderful to see the ‘Durham dream’ become a reality."

Among the attendees were Kevin Hannah, Director of Durham International Schools, and Nick Millen OBE, Executive Chairman of the school’s governing board. Both highlighted the strong links between Durham School UK and the new Dubai branch to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com. Mr Millen explained that while Durham School Dubai is 'its own school', it holds the great benefit of "drawing on the established experience of its mother school."

In fact Durham School Dubai joins a growing family of schools to draw experience and know-how from, becoming the third international branch of the UK school, following launches in Qatar and Kenya.