Hard Hat Tour: Arcadia's Secondary Campus

Once a primary (or in its own terms a “preparatory”) only, Arcadia School in Jumeirah Village Triangle has expanded into a secondary campus with a new phase of construction, due for completion by January 2020.

The Arcadia School, Secondary Campus is scheduled to open for the existing Year 7 students in February 2020, with subsequent year groups opening year on year until the ‘through school’ is open in 2023. Our team visited the site as the project enters the final phase of building works in order to bring to our readers a sense of what lies ahead for students and families in this striking new facility.

The new building will eventually comprise an ‘L’ shaped campus with a built up area of 264,000 sq ft. Described by the school as “ultra-modern”, and keeping the same architectural style, bright appearance and colourways as the current school, the secondary school should have a fresh, open and light appearance. Outside a large football pitch and swimming pool with complement the primary school’s existing sporting facilities.

Classrooms will be spacious and incorporate “modular and flexible” furniture at variable heights to accommodate a range of learning styles. In a move that should allay concerns for many Dubai parents, the facilities will include carefully monitored air quality control. The entire building has been designed “for ease of use of portable technology” and classrooms will incorporate interactive projection, directly onto the classroom walls.

These impressive facilities are there. of course, to facilitate learning wherever possible. The school will continue to offer the British Curriculum, with GCSEs and A Levels, plus vocational options (we presume BTEC, although this has not been explicitly stated as yet).

Speaking to representatives from the school, the WhichSchoolAdvisor.com were told that the secondary school will be ‘fully inclusive’, as is the case for the current primary school.

The new ‘all through’ school will continue to be led by Mr Graham Beale, the school's Executive Principal.

Arcadia plans to offer a number of complementary activities to the core curriculum, including “entrepreneurial leadership” for Years 7-11.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme will commence in September 2021.