Cedar School, located in Al Warqaa 1, is an English National Curriculum school that opened in September 2021.

The story so far...

Cedar School, a new English National Curriculum all-through school, opened for Primary only classes in September 2021 (postponed from its original 2020 date) adding additional year groups over a phased period.

The Mission and Vision of Cedar School states:

By setting goals and instilling the ambition to reach those goals, our students will be confident, happy individuals through the acquisition of knowledge, attitude and skills.

Our children will grow to be well-rounded, self-assured individuals; capable of navigating complex social and cultural environments in a confident manner.

Leadership of the school was taken over by Mr. Jeff Evans, an experienced Principal who joined Cedar School in August 2023. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Evans had led the Global English School in Al Ain for two years, before which he had been involved in a number of consultancy roles, and spent five years as a Program Manager - School Development for the Abu Dhabi schools' regulator, ADEK.

The school aims to ensure that children are empowered to demonstrate:

• leadership – leading by example and leading others
• problem solving – analytical and critical thinking
• creativity – the ability to develop original ideas that have value
• resilience –the disposition to persevere through challenges
• decision making skills – making appropriate choices in a range of situations
• responsibility for themselves and others – seeing themselves as part of a community
• a commitment to hard work and continuous self-improvement- seeing effort as the path to improvement.

In its first year, Cedar school opened from Foundation Stage 1 to Year 6. On opening in September 2021, there were three each of FS1 and FS2 classes. For Years 1 and 2, there were two classes for each year group whilst Years 3 to 6 had one class each.  The school currently open to for the 2023-24 and will open Year 9 in 2024-25 (subject to KHDA approval).  The first KHDA inspection will take place in 2024-25.

The total capacity of the school is 800 students, making it large enough to accommodate students from FS1 to Year 13 eventually, and enabling further classes to be added as student numbers increase during its opening years. 

The overall size of the school means that it will very much be able to maintain a community feel.

Class sizes are average, though better than many other affordable schools, at  20 per class each in the Foundation Stage, and 24-25 students per class in Years 1 to 13.  In support of teachers in the FS and Primary school sections, a Teaching Assistant will be assigned to each class from FS1 to Year 2.

What about the curriculum?                 

The curriculum at Cedar School will be based on the English National Curriculum (NCfE) with enhancements that reflect UAE and Dubai regulatory requirements and best practice for quality international education with a particular focus on digital technology.

In the Foundation Stage, all children will be provided with experiences and teaching that address the key features of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum including Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Communication (including language and literacy); Problem solving, Reasoning and Numeracy; Knowledge and Understanding of the World; Physical Development; and Creative Development.

Students in each age cohort will study the same subjects regardless of their background, nationality or level of academic attainment up to the end of Key Stage 3 (Year 9).  The curriculum is intended to broad including the full range of  English, Maths, Sciences, Arts, Technology and Sports including Coding from Year 1. Music is a particular passion of the Principal and will be planned into the curriculum across all school years to the end of Key Stage 3.  

Guidance will be available to students in Year 9 that will gradually increase throughout the year in order to help students arrive at the right and best choices of subjects that will offer both focus and breadth in Key Stage 4. In Years 10 and 11, students will be provided with a range of GCSE and IGCSE subject choices that meet their interests and capabilities. 

These are expected to include English Literature and Language, Mathematics and Further Mathematics, Science and separate Sciences, History, Geography, Design and Technology, Art, Music, Computing/ICT and PE.  All students will study Arabic and French.

The school intends to offer A Levels for Years 12 and 13 and will also consider other curricula such as BTEC.

What about academic achievement?

Students at Cedar School will participate in the UAE's Vision 2020 targeted bench-marking tests including PIRLS, TIMSS and PISA assessments.

What about inclusion for students with SEN and Gifts and Talents?

Cedar School LLC will be an inclusive school. It will accomplish this goal by adopting non-discriminatory procedures in admissions and by assessing and meeting individual student needs. All students will be assessed at entry to help the school personalise its approach to each student.

Teachers will be expected to differentiate the classroom instruction to support any special needs and/or gifted students to ensure that the full ability range is addressed.

Students with English as an Additional Language (EAL) requirements will be identified on admission and a teaching programme, that is agreed with the parents, will be put in place. This programme will have the target of bringing the student to proficiency for their age group within the first term and will be achieved through support in the classroom, the deployment of additional teaching assistants (including from volunteer parents), extra English classes and home extension activities. Each case will be decided on its own merits and, as far as possible, in-class and curriculum modifications will be made to ensure students with weak English skills are fully included in learning activities.

In addition to students of Determination with SEN requirements and EAL students, it is expected that a number of students will be ‘gifted and talented’. The focus of all classroom practice will be to extend the students in their learning, stretching all to achieve their best. Following this ethos, it will be expected that all teaching provides opportunities for differentiation to cater for those at the lower and upper ends of the ability range. 

What about the Facilities?

The school's construction has been completed and is made up of a Ground + 3 floor building. The school's facilities include 32 standard classrooms (six Foundation Stage rooms, 10 Primary rooms (Years 1-6) and 6 Secondary classrooms (Years 7-11) with large classroom spaces (minimum 56 sqm) that provide a good environment for learning with good lighting and ventilation. 

All Foundation Stage spaces are entirely separated from the rest of the school, with their own entrance and exit, and drop off arrangements, and no access for the rest of the school unless invited. All FS classrooms and learning/play spaces are on the ground floor and include Activity Rooms for play and exercise. Grade 1 and 2 classrooms are also located on the ground floor and all Grade 3 and 4 classrooms will be no higher than the first floor.

The school also includes a dedicated parents’ welcome area in reception with convenient drop-off areas and separate entrances for Foundation Stage (FS) children away from junior and secondary school students – to improve safety and to ease traffic flow for parents and buses.

There are also specialist science and technology facilities (with practical labs exceeding 84 sqm), and IT and computing facilities, including Internet and modern displays in every classroom as well as subject resources available online at home.

Additional features include identifiable subject ‘areas’ – each established around a subject department and providing space for teachers to work one-to-one and in groups with students in order to promote the subject as well as a love of learning, a library, with research and computing capabilities and a canteen.

The school features a large multi-purpose hall in which the school can meet together for assemblies and for formal occasions to build identity and a sense of community

Sports facilities include the multi-purpose hall, two swimming pools, one of which is dedicated to foundation stage learners, basketball, netball and additional sports facilities.

What about the fees?

KHDA approved fees had been discounted for the first 100 Founding students who will receive a deduction of 15% in 2021-22. Fees start at AED 21,457 in FS1 and increase to AED 29,778 for Year 6.  Full details of the discounted fees can be found here. 

Fees in the second year of operation are due to be discounted by 10% for Founding students in their second year at the school, and by 5% on the KHDA approved fees in its third year of operation.

KHDA approved fees are AED 25,244 for FS1 rising to AED 35,033 for Year 6, rising to AED 47,900 for Year 13 when it opens.

For families who pay the full fees once, for a second child there is a discount is 10% and for a third child,  there is a discount of 5%.  

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