Al Ain Academy Review
Al Ain Academy was awarded a Very Good rating during the ADEK inspections of 2021-22. It retains this rating for 2022-23.
The story so far...
Al Ain Academy - originally known as Al Ain International School - is part of the Aldar Academies group, one of the UAE’s largest providers of private education in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
The school describes itself as "a welcoming, vibrant learning community. A forward-thinking school which aims to not only help students grow academically, but also prepare them to be active, confident and caring members of society". The school prides itself in nurturing a truly international community, "where students can excel academically and succeed in all areas of school life whilst maintaining principles and values, such as mutual respect and responsibility".
Al Ain Academy officially opened in September 2011 in a former government school building. This attests to the strong relationship between Aldar Academies and ADEK, the Abu Dhabi Education and Knowledge Department. The school offers a high quality education from FS1 to Year 13 (the first cohort of Year 13 students was added in 2018-19) following the English National Curriculum. The school has adapted the curriculum "with an international flavour", including Arabic, Islamic Studies, and Civics as required by the Ministry of Education. Students are said to make "sustained and rapid progress".
Following Principal Chris Nourse, who is the longest-serving Aldar Academies leader, having joined the organisation in 2009 as the founding Principal of Al Muna Academy in Abu Dhabi before joining Al Ain Academy in 2014, Mr. Ian Pugh took over the Principal role in 2022. He had joined the Academy in 2019 following leadership positions in the UK. Mr. Pugh is a trained British Schools Overseas inspector and is currently completing his National Professional Qualification for Headship.
Students are said, in general, to come from "advantaged backgrounds". The majority of current students (905 in 2021) are either Emirati (60%), UK (9%), American (6%) and Canadian (2%) citizens, although 65 nationalities are represented in total.
In total, 15% of students have been identified as having some form of special educational needs (SEN) – all mild in nature. The school does not admit or have the resources for children with complex SEN support.
Read our most recent Experience visit here!
The school employs some 70 plus teachers, together with approximately 50 teaching assistants - an extremely high number providing 60% of total staffing - and enabling the school to offer very low teacher:student ratios of 1:10 in FS and 1:15 through the remainder of the school. Teachers are recruited based on their “experience in the delivery of the English National Curriculum and the Foundation Stage Curriculum”.
What about the curriculum?
The school follows the English National Curriculum, but modified for the UAE. There is an Arabic curriculum in place from Foundation Stage.
According to the school’s Website, “the Al Ain Academy welcomes families of all nationalities and offers the best of both worlds – an exceptional combination of the best of British-style education delivered within a truly international community, enriched by the UAE culture to meet the needs of the 21st century in our increasingly global world”.
The overall quality of students’ achievement was found to be very good by the ADEK inspection team. Most children join the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) with little or no English and the significant growth of the school has historically involved new students with low starting points joining across year groups. This, together with the high percentage of students whose first language is not English, has had a significant impact upon attainment levels. Strong teaching and intervention has meant that students overall make very good progress, supported by very good learning skills.
In common with all Aldar Academies, FS1 and FS2 children learn Arabic either as native or non-native speakers. Specialised, qualified early years practitioners who are native speakers of Arabic work with the children to develop the children’s speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in Arabic. The curriculum content has been developed by the specialist Arabic team working across the Aldar academies and the focus of lessons is upon assisting the children to develop the core skills required in preparation for the Ministry of Education Arabic curriculum commencing in Year 2.
Primary students focus on lessons in English, Mathematics and Science with additional Foundation subjects of Design and Technology, Information and Communication Technology, History, Geography, Modern Foreign Languages (Year 4 upwards), Music, Art and Design, Physical Education and Personal, Health and Social Development. Arabic and Islamic and Social Studies are added to the curriculum in line with Ministry of Education requirements.
Students in Years 7 to 9 continue with a broad range of subjects before being assessed in Year 9 for possible IGCSE options. Options include Art, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Science, Design Technology Graphics, Design Technology Resistant Technology, Design Technology Textiles, Drama, English, English Literature, French, Geography, History, Maths, Music, Physical Education Core, Physical Education Exam, Physics and Psychology and Economics.
A Level options cover a similar range to the IGCSE programme.
Al Ain Academy also offers a wide range of Extra-curricular activities. These take place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. These are generally open to pupils from Year 2. More academic clubs include Science Club, Homework Club, Arabic and Quran, whilst those with a more creative interests can join, Junior Choir, Music Production, Arts & Crafts, Lego, Tech Club, and Set design.
A wide range of sports clubs operate throughout the year including Swim Squad, Development Swim Squad, Girls Football, Boys Football, Boys Athletics, Playground Games, Girls Netball, Touch Rugby, Table Tennis, Recreational Football, and Dodgeball.
Finally, in addition to regular Music lessons as part of the curriculum, Al Ain Academy works with IMS to offer Musical instrument lessons. Lessons include Vocal, Guitar (Acoustic, Classical, Electric, Bass), Piano, Strings (Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass), Woodwind (Recorder, Piccolo, Flute), Brass and Percussion (Drum kit, Orchestral; Percussion; Glockenspiel, Timpani, Xylophone, Marimba). Music Theory lessons and instruction towards the completion of the ABRSM and Trinity College London Rock School examinations are also offered.
What about Academic Achievement?
Aldar Academies has a somewhat inconsistent approach to the publication of examination results - something that we at WhichSchoolAdvisor.com have championed for a number of years. Whilst we fully recognise that exam results are not and should not be the be-all and end-all of education, they are still an important factor in school choice.
In August 2021, Aldar Education did publish both A Level and IGCSE results for all its UK curriculum schools and some data for Al Ain Academy was included.
The school advised us that a small cohort of students (we believe less than 10) were entered for a total of 27 A Level examinations. Of these entries, 19% were awarded the top A* grade, whilst 59% of entries achieved A*-A, 96% achieved A*-C and 100% of entries achieved A*-E grades.
The I/GCSE results were lacking details in terms of students and exam entries, but the school advised that 40.4% of all entries were awarded Grade 9, whilst 55.8% of entries were awarded A* (Grades 9-8), 70.2% of entries achieved A*-A (Grades 9-7), 77.9% were awarded A*-B (Grades 9-6) and 98.1% of entries received A*-C (Grades 9-4).
In common with all UK curriculum schools, examinations were cancelled as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic and results were awarded on a Centre-Assessed basis (effectively by the students' teachers). The same applied for 2020. A Level results for the first cohort of Year 13 students who were due to sit the exams in June 2020 have not, to our knowledge, been published.
In 2019, only a broad statement of IGCSE results was published, indicating significantly improved results compared wiith 2018. 84% of students achieved 5 subjects at grade 9-4 (UK benchmark for 2019 was 64%). The results for 2018 were not published to the best of our knowledge.
The first cohort of IGCSE students sat their exams in June 2017, and, according to ADEK's inspectors, "The school achieved high standards in its first set of International General Certificate of Education (IGCSE) examinations taken in 2017". The report notes that the performance of the few students in Year 11 was outstanding in Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Food technology, PE, French and Statistics. Standards were very good in Mathematics, Good in History and Information and Communication technology (ICT), and acceptable in English Literature. However, results were described as weak in Art, Arabic, English language, Business studies, and Physics.
We at WhichSchoolAdvisor.com would like to see a much more detailed breakdown of results including student numbers, exam entries, and exam results broken down by the UK recommendation of percentages of grades at A Level (A - E) and at I/GCSE A*/9, A*/9-8, A*-A /9-7, A*-B/9-6, A*-C/9-4 and the number of students achieving five subjects at grades A*-C/9-4 including English and Maths.
What about facilities?
The school is in a well renovated government building, able to currently accommodate around 1,000 students with over 40 classrooms.
See the facilities and read our most recent Experience visit here!
The school has a number of new ‘state-of-the-art’ facilities, with PE resources described as outstanding. These include two swimming pools, a sports hall, and a full sized football pitch. Classrooms are well equipped and generously sized. The schools has a library and a number of computer suites. However, the 2017-18 ADEK report does note that the school has not yet implemented expansion plans to improve premises and resources to the highest quality.
What the inspectors say
Al Ain Academy's Very Good rating in 2017-18, is the equivalent of the A2 rating of 2015/16. Abu Dhabi Emirate presently has very few Outstanding rated schools, so the retention of this Very Good rating should not be under-estimated.
In the most recent ADEK report, Al Ain Academy was rated Very Good across four of the six key indicators and Outstanding in the remaining two. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, no inspection was undertaken in 2019-20, when the next visit from the ADEK inspection team was due to take place - something of a real pity in our view, since we had hoped to see further improvements and a possible overall Outstanding rating for the Academy.
The overall quality of students’ achievement was found to be very good by the ADEK inspection team. Most children join Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) with little or no English and the significant growth of the school involved new students with low starting points joining across year groups.
This, together with the high percentage of students whose first language is not English, has had a significant impact upon attainment levels with achievement in Arabic as a first and second language found to be acceptable. Given the school's location in Al Ain, with a strong Emirati contingent (over 50% of students), this will inevitably be an area of focus of the inspection teams and one that Al Ain Academy will need to address if the school can hope to achieve the highest Outstanding rating. However, strong teaching and intervention has meant that students overall make very good progress, supported by very good learning skills.
Learning skills are very good overall, and students’ English language skills continue to develop well, especially in speaking.
Students’ personal development is outstanding. Their relationships and attitudes to learning are exemplary. Respect for the heritage and culture of the UAE and Islamic values contributes to students’ outstanding behaviour. Attendance and punctuality are very good.
Teaching and assessment are very good overall. Teachers deliver engaging lessons which stimulate thoughtful enquiry and discussion. They provide their students with well-judged personalised challenge and support.
School assessment systems are generally strong and the curriculum very good. It is planned very well and reviewed regularly and systematically. It provides a wide range of choices in extracurricular activities and options for older students. Students are very well prepared for the next phase of their education.
The quality of protection, care, guidance and support is outstanding overall. The school’s work to ensure an excellent level of care and welfare underpins its calm and nurturing environment. Care and support for Special Educational Needs (SEN) students is highly effective.
Leadership and governance were also deemed to be Very Good.
Areas identified in further need of improvement related to the need to raise standards in reading and writing in Arabic, to share outstanding teaching practice further across the school and to develop the use of assessment information in order to more effectively plan for individual student progress - again another key area of focus in the inspection focus. With the next ADEK inspection postponed in 2019-20, Al Ain Academy has had at least two further years to raise standards in those areas identified. If it can do so, it would be only the second school in Al Ain to achieve the Outstanding rating.
If you would like to read the full ADEK inspection report for Al Ain Academy - and we strongly recommend that you do so in order to understand the reasons behind the ratings - you may find it here.
The Buzz
Unlike the KHDA in Dubai, which asks parents and senior students at schools in advance of their inspection to participate in a pre-inspection survey, ADEK parent surveys are not routinely published on the TAMM website.
Our WhichSchoolAdvisor.com survey has received a very limited number of responses from parents at Al Ain Academy. If you are a parent, teacher or student at the school, please do share your experience with other potential members of your community by completing our survey here.
Those parents who responded to our survey were split in terms of their thoughts on the school, giving the school an overall rating of 3.2/5 or a postivity rating of 64%. Whilst 75% of respondents would recommend Al Ain Academy to others, whilst the remaining 25% would not. The number of respondents is too low to be meaningful as a reflection of the opinion of the wider parent community.
Our View
There is no doubt that in common with all Aldar Academies' schools, Al Ain Academy delivers a very good quality of education. However, the Al Ain school shares a very similar physical structure and layout to the older Abu Dhabi Island Al Muna and Pearl Academies - both Primary only schools. Whilst much has been done to improve the appearance and facilities of the Al Ain school, which includes excellent outdoor spaces, to match the Abu Dhabi based all-through schools of Aldar Academies, Al Ain Academy would benefit from a significant facilities upgrade, though would potentilly risk losing some of its charm in the process.
What about the fees?
Fees at Al Ain Academy range from AED 39,600 for FS1 and AED 40,970 from FS2 to Year 6, fees for Years 7 and 8 are AED 50,190, Year 9 is AED 53,780 and fees are AED 59,320 for years 10 to 13. These are on the lower side of Aldar Academies' general fee structure, no doubt reflecting the difference is standard of the facilities.
It should be noted that, in general, fees in Abu Dhabi Emirate are significantly lower than for equivalent and similarly rated schools in Dubai.
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