Swiss School Launches Boarding School Options

The Swiss International Scientific School Dubai (SISSD) has announced details of its boarding options for the new academic year. 

The school will initially open 50 en-suite rooms which can be configured for either double or single occupancy and can accommodate a total of 75 children in Grades 6 through to 10.

The school said they planned to begin by enrolling 30 boys for the 2017/18 academic year. Girls will be accommodated in the facility the following academic year.

Boarding recruitment executive Nav Rai told UAE newspaper, The National that Swiss boarding schools are a popular option for many parents.

He went on to say, “now the idea is that you can get that traditional Swiss-style boarding, but closer to home and nowhere near as expensive as they can be over there.”

SISD will offer parents three boarding options: full, weekly and 'flexi' and each options includes a slew of extra-curricular evening and weekend activities. 

It is believed the school will employ four dedicated staff members to take care of the boarders, with regular teachers staying over on occasions to help students with their work.

Full boarding fees start at AED 180,000 for Grades 6 to 8 and rise to AED 192,000 for Grades 9 and 10.

For those wishing to board weekly, fees start at AED 150,400 and rise to AED 162,400.

The fees include; airport transfers, accommodation, all meals, activities, trips, uniforms, tuition and even English as an additional language tuition.

Although SISSD will be the first IB curriculum school to offer boarding in both Dubai and the UAE, Repton School does in fact already offer the service. It offers an all through UK curriculum of GCSE and A Levels.

Repton offers boarding from AED 136,000 to AED 169,000 per year.

In the same report Repton headmaster, Jonathan Hughes-D’Aeth, told the National, that while the uptake for full boarding had been 'static' recently, the school had seen a rise in students looking to board weekly.