VHPS Plans Separate Early Years School

Victory Heights Primary School (VHPS), one of the most popular primary schools in Dubai, has announced that a new Early Years school will open in time for the start of the new 2021-22 academic year. 

Rated Very Good with Outstanding features by Dubai's school regulator, the KHDA, VHPS has been in constant demand from parents, and the new Victory Heights Foundation Stage (VHFS) will also allow the original school to expand its offering for students from Years 1 to 6. Children attending the Foundation Stage will have guaranteed access to the main school.

Leadership of the Foundation Stage will remain within the hands of Sacha Crabb, Principal of VHPS, and Ben Rothwell, Deputy Principal.  A dedicated Head teacher has also been appointed.

Hannah Hepworth has been at Victory Heights for four years, managing Early Years and the crucial transition between FS2 and Key Stage 1. Prior to moving to Brighton College Abu Dhabi where she was Head of Year for FS2, Ms. Hepworth taught in two schools in the UK for 9 years, focused on the Early Years. She graduated from Leicester's De Montfort University with a B.Ed. in Primary Education

Commenting on the decision to open VHFS, Sasha Crabb, said:

“Due to the phenomenal growth and success of Victory Heights Primary School, we continue to experience a huge admissions demand from parents within the large communities that the school serves. 

To support our long term vision, and to provide the best possible learning environment for all of our pupils, we have now invested in an absolutely state-of-the art facility focused exclusively on the very youngest children in our Victory Heights family of outstanding schools.”

In addition to the role of Ms. Hepworth, a dedicated Deputy Head of Foundation Stage will be appointed, responsible for leading curriculum development, together with new Year Leaders and class teachers who will be supported by current faculty brought across to the new Foundation Stage from Victory Heights Primary school.

VHFS will be able to accommodate 275 FS1 and FS2 students split across eleven classes, which will each have access to outdoor discovery and learning spaces. The building will be a modern, single storey architectural design, "developed around a design brief to inspire child happiness, academic attainment and community cohesion".

Facilities will include outdoor play, learning, performance and discovery spaces, a dedicated foundation stage multi-purpose hall, Experiential learning ‘pods’, and a fully-staffed school clinic. Students will share the swimming facilities based at Victory Heights Primary School.

VHPS is the second Dubai school to go down the route of establishing a separate Foundation Stage section, independent of the main school and thus creating a specific and dedicated school geared entirely towards Foundation Stage students and their needs, without exposure to older children who can be an intimidating presence at this early age.  Dubai British School Jumeirah Park and its associated Dubai British Foundation opened in 2014. 

The Victory Heights Foundation Stage school location on Al Fay Road will provide ease of access from both its founding Victory Heights Primary School and families based across Sports City, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Victory Heights, IMPZ, Jumeirah Village Triangle, Jumeirah Village Circle with ease of access from Hessa Street.