Following our last visit to Cranleigh, our team described the school by saying that “Arguably this is the most successful school at achieving the feel of a British public school of any in the UAE, in the best sense of the word”. Since this visit, more well-known UK public schools have opened branches in the UAE (albeit most in Dubai) and it was time to revisit Cranleigh to see if this significant accolade still holds.

A new inspection report for Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi has  been issued by ADEK since 2017-18. It retains its Outstanding rating for 2022-23.

The Story so Far...

Cranleigh Abu Dhabi is located on Saadiyat Island, the new cultural home of the capital (the school can count the Louvre, and the Guggenheim as neighbours), and therefore almost an ideal location for a school – particularly one with an arts focus. The school makes an impressive first impression, with an architectural style which we would loosely summarise as glass, angles, columns and modern blocks, that would equally fit one of the emirate’s high end hotels or art galleries.

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com has received relatively limited feedback from parents of students at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, but what has been received is overwhelmingly positive.
Recent comments from parents - reflecting their views of both positives and negatives include:
"- welcoming - good level of communication - discipline - good teachers; Weaknesses: higher standards needed to compete with UK [public] schools".
"Strengths: teacher / student ratio, teaching and learning, school community and environment, extra-curricula activities, academics, teacher/ student relationships. Weaknesses: very long school day".

Find out more about parents' views by reading the Buzz.

Founded in 2014, there are currently around 1,200 students at Cranleigh, but the spread out feel of the campus and spacious buildings do not suggest large student numbers.  Class sizes are small, with a maximum of 18 per class (throughout all phases of the school) according to information provided to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com. The single largest demographic within Cranleigh Abu Dhabi's student body is British (27%), followed by Emiratis (18%) and then Americans (13%).

Students are supported by some 134 teachers and a further 41 teaching assistants.  The teacher:student ratio of 1:9 is very much on the low side and ensures that students receive individual focus and adapted teaching as required. The majority of staff at Cranleigh have extensive independent school experience, whether they have come from public schools in the UK or British International schools elsewhere. They appear to be satisfied with their employment - a staff turnover of 10% is well below the UAE average which is more than double.

In January 2023, it was announced that current Principal, Michael Wilson, who joined Cranleigh in 2018, would be leaving the school at the end of the academic year. His replacement is Tracy Crowder-Cloe, who joins from Repton School Dubai, where she is Vice Principal Whole School and Head of Senior School.  Ms. Crowder-Chloe joined Repton in 2019.  

Mr. Wilson had assumed the role from highly regarded Brendan Law, who was responsible for the establishment of the school.  As such, Cranleigh has no doubt benefited from the relatively stable leadership that it has enjoyed since its foundation.

What about the curriculum?

The school follows an England and Wales based curriculum initially, with EYFS and in Key Stage 4 (years 10-11) with IGCSEs. Note, Cranleigh Abu Dhabi offers IGCSE not GCSEs with the exceptions of Arabic Second Language, Fine Art and Dance due to the unavailability of suitable IGCSE courses. The difference between the international and UK based qualification has widened with recent reforms. Visit our curriculum page here for more information.

The school then moves on to A Levels, hosted in a relatively new Sixth Form Centre (opened in 2016). The school had considered the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme whilst it "watched closely the current overhaul of the UK's post-16 education landscape". However, the school has eventually settled upon a ‘hybrid’ A Level route, complementing the more traditional study mode of A Levels with an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). The EPQ is similar in concept to the IB Extended Essay, but more in-depth in delivery. It is completed over the two years of Sixth Form.

During our visit, we spoke to Elizabeth Kelleher, Head of Business, Economics and Careers at Cranleigh, asking her what sets Cranleigh Sixth Form aside from other peer schools. We found the Sixth Form as ambitious as the rest of the school, with Elizabeth describing how the team focus “…not only on content knowledge, but on core and life skills”. These "core and life skills" are honed via weekly careers sessions and an extended, non-traditional work placement (which runs from October to March, and sees students working with companies such as SAAB and PWC three hours per week for 20 weeks).

Cranleigh Sixth Form has adopted the "Harkness style teaching" for its sixth form, which is a dialogue-based approach that allows students to further develop their independent thinking through tutorial style lessons around an oval table.

What about academic achievement?

In 2018, Cranleigh Abu Dhabi had a cohort of 31 students take IGCSE exams out of which 25% received A*. 51% A* - A and 92% A* - C. 

In 2019, some 75 students (so well over double the 2018 cohort) sat 341 examinations.  The results speak for themselves, with 55% exam entries graded A*, 73% graded A*-A, 98% graded A*-C, and with 97% of students achieving a minimum of 5 passes at A*-C including Maths and English.  The highest achievement by an individual student was 10 passes at A*.

Also in 2019, Cranleigh had its first cohort of A Level students. A small group of 15 students sat a total of 37 examinations. 29% of results were graded A*-A, 63% A*-B, 82% A*-C and there was a 100% pass rate at A*-E.

Whilst it is early days, the IGCSE results from Cranleigh appear to among the best in the city.  2020 should have offered a larger cohort of students at A Level and it would certainly have been interesting to see how their results compared against those other more established schools such as Brighton College and the British School of Al Khubeirat. 

With the cancellation of I/GCSE and A Level examinations in Summer 2020 as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, and the recognised grade inflation that took place as a result of School Assessed Grades being used as the basis for the award of results, it is more difficult to draw conclusions.

In August 2020, Cranleigh revealed the following results:

At A Level, 26 students (double the number of last year) were entered for the examinations, with 23% of exam entries receiving the top A* grade, 49% receiving an A* or A and 73% graded A*- B. Over a quarter of students achieved 100% A and A*. The 2020 A Level cohort was Cranleigh’s second group of A Level students and exceeded last year’s grades with gains of up to 17% seen between the 2019 and 2020 results.
The school also celebrated its GCSE success with 34% of results obtained at grade 9, 57% of grades receiving a grade 9-8 (A*) 79% receiving a grade 7 or above and 99% of results being at grade 4 or above in a cohort of 64.

In early 2021, Cranleigh released the results of its students' Extended Project Qualification results. Intended to reflect the high regard to the IB Diploma's Extended Essay, the EPQ is increasingly sought after by UK universities in particular.

The EPQ is an independent research project that challenges students to extend their abilities beyond the A Level syllabus. It is equivalent to half an A Level and is highly regarded by many universities as it helps develop critical thinking skills, and thus supports applications. Over 60% of Cranleigh students took the EPQ in addition to three or four A Levels. Additionally, the remaining 40% of the Year group completed the Cranleigh Capstone project which is a mandatory research programme similar in nature to the EPQ.

For 2021, students were again unable to take the A Level and IGCSE examinations, these instead being awarded on the basis of internal assessment and predicted grades determined by teachers and leadership of the school.

The school announced that at A Level, a cohort of 35 students had studied for the examinations.  The total number of exam entries was not provided (but on average, we would have expected this to have been three, with the most talented students taking four).  Of the exams awarded, 49% achieved an A* grade (double the percentage of 2020), whilst 70% achieved A*-A (compared with 49% in 2020), 73% A*-B, 94% A*-C and 100% A*-E. The highest achieving student achieved 4 awards at A*.

Much has been made of the inflation in grades that has taken place during the pandemic years across all curricula, with schools and their staff inevitably having been considered to have erred towards a best-case scenario.  The UK Department of Education has already started discussions about how the Exam Boards will be expected to return to a grading outcome that "deflates" the awards back to pre-pandemic levels.  It will be interesting to see how results compare over the next two to three years.

I/GCSE results for 2021 for the cohort of 105 students, included 37% of entries graded 9, 59% of entries graded 9-8 (A*), 75% graded 9-7 (A*-A) and 99% of all entries being awarded A*-C with this the overall pass rate.  There was less evidence of grade inflation with the I/GCSE results compared with 2020.

Details of the number of exam entries were not provided.

How does Cranleigh Abu Dhabi feel?

Our day at Cranleigh leaves us with the very distinct impression that here, every detail is considered vital. As Principal, Michael Wilson (who joined the school in 2018) points out, the translation and re-imagining of the UK school began not only with the location (as a former Headmaster of Cranleigh UK, Mr Wilson has been involved with the school since inception and describes "standing here and literally choosing the site" on Saadiyat) but with the site plan, which is centred around the large (real grass) sports field.

See for yourself how the school looks and feels - Experience it here.

Pointing to the large oil painting of the Cranleigh UK which dominates his office, Mr Wilson explains;

“In the UK school, that grassed area out front is the social hub of the school. It’s really vitally important. You’ll see the children congregate and mingle there. They gravitate to the grass in every moment of free time and just ‘plop’ themselves down… It’s where friendships form and issues are ironed out. We wanted to recreate that feeling of an open, social and recreation space being central to the school, which is why our green space is right at the heart of the site plan”.
Read our interview with Cranleigh's Principal, Mr Wilson HERE

We enter via the main reception area, a quite spectacular entrance, but before doing so we pause to look at the surrounding area, full of attractive apartment buildings. We later discover that these apartments are the teacher’s accommodation, which were purpose built in tandem with the school. This commitment clearly pays dividends across the board, but perhaps most importantly to students looking for long term relationships with their teachers. Turnover in staff currently sits at around 10%, exceptionally low by UAE standards.

What about the Facilities?

The entrance opens onto a large foyer which is light and airy. Offices are to the rear of the foyer and great care has been taken to ensure that each has windows at both ends, so that the light streams through to the Reception area. Several impressive student art works are on display.

There is a very comfortable seating area with large sofas for visitors. This side of the building looks out over the quadrangle with staff accommodation on one side, the main auditorium and sports facilities and a further teaching block (for the Senior school) surrounding the sports fields in the centre.

The classrooms for the Early Years and Junior School are located on the ground floor, leading off onto corridors to the left of the main lobby area. Each corridor has classrooms on both sides and a central area for play and group activity. Between the corridors are outside shaded areas which are used for PE for the youngest children currently.

Classrooms are spacious, light, bright and airy and pieces of students’ work adorned on the walls add to the busy atmosphere.

Great care has been taken to ensure that even the youngest children can see outside (low-level windows) and that equipment is totally appropriate to their needs – much has been produced locally to the school’s specifications.

The spacious school canteen is also located on the ground floor.  Food is prepared on site and we had good feedback from parents and students alike.

Older students are accommodated on the Second floor, where there are also specialist Science labs (we were particularly impressed by the labs offering both ‘lecture hall’ style seating and practical work spaces) and the Library.

The School Day

Cranleigh Abu Dhabi operates an extended day with students at school from 7.30am (for 30 minutes tutor time) to 3.30pm and later, as Prep time and Sports activities are built into the schedule (the Foundation Stage children attend until either 12.30pm or 2.30pm (depending on the needs of the child and family). Some children will take more than one Cross Curricular Activity (CCA), resulting in a school day that finishes around 6pm. This is an important point of note for prospective parents – the format of a Cranleigh school day has taken inspiration from the UK boarding school, where children’s home/school balance is an entirely different matter.

How does the school feel? Experience it.

Relationships between children and their Tutors (for those unfamiliar with this very British term, Tutors are perhaps best equated as ‘homeroom’ teachers) is a particular concern for Mr Wilson. Children are taught by specialist subject teachers from Year 5 and up, making tutor time an essential element of monitoring happiness and wellbeing.

Parents may find it useful to understand more of the typically British public school terms in use at Cranleigh. The Junior School is made up of Pre-Prep students from FS1 to Year 2, and Prep from Year 3 to Year 8. Senior School students are from Year 9 upwards. The division in this way is based on the traditional UK expectation that students at the top of the Junior School will sit the Common Entrance exam for UK public/boarding schools (this is offered at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi also). Students that remain in Abu Dhabi then join the Senior School in anticipation of sitting the UK public exams (IGCSE and A Level).

The ranges of CCA activities at Cranleigh is incredibly impressive with very varied options for children of all ages. We liked the sound of ‘Cranleigh Cartoonist’, Parkour and ‘Engineers to Be’ for Year 2 and with its proximity to the water, older students are able to take part in a range of water-based activities, as well as the more traditional sports and after-school clubs.

What the Inspectors say

The 2018-19 ADEK report ranks the overall performance of the school as Outstanding for the first time [note, Abu Dhabi schools are inspected once every two years], a rating that many observers felt the school was due previously. This means it is one of only seven private schools across Abu Dhabi Emirate to achieve the highest inspection rating.

As the report notes,

"The overall performance of Cranleigh Abu Dhabi School is outstanding. Students’ achievement is outstanding in nearly all subjects and phases. Teachers are highly adept at delivering lessons which promote students’ academic knowledge and skills. The curriculum is extensively adapted to support students’ wider interests and aspirations. School leaders ensure that students receive very high-quality care and guidance, and this supports students’ personal development very well. School leaders’ self-evaluation is comprehensive, and they have quickly established a highly effective and fully inclusive school". 

Key Strengths of the school include:

• Students’ exceptionally high attainment in national and international examinations;
• Foundation Stage children’s and students’ positive behaviour, attitudes towards learning, and relationships with others;
• Teachers’ subject knowledge, their understanding of the curriculum, and their skills in promoting students’ academic and personal development;
• The extensive extracurricular provision and the effective implementation of the taught curriculum;
• Successful safeguarding arrangements, the high levels of care provided to students and the quality of the premises;
• Leaders’ establishment of a fully inclusive school that supports and promotes UAE and Emirate priorities. 

Children’s attainment in the foundation stage (FS) is well above expectations for their age and students’ attainment is exceptionally high in national and international examinations. All groups of students make rapid progress in lessons towards lesson objectives, and most exceed these. Students’ highly developed learning skills support their very high achievement levels". 

In common with many international schools in the UAE, where there is a challenge in terms of Student Achievement is across the core Arabic subjects of Arabic language, Social Studies and Islamic education. In comparison with almost all schools of which we have knowledge, however, Cranleigh's achievement in the core Arabic subjects is remarkable.

Islamic Education and Social Studies are rated Outstanding across the school; attainment in Arabic as a second language is rated Very Good in the Primary section and Good in the Secondary and Sixth Form, whilst progress is Outstanding in Primary, and Very Good in the rest of the school.  In Arabic as a first language, standards are not quite as high, with attainment Good in Primary and Secondary, but Acceptable in Sixth Form. Progress is Very Good in Primary and Secondary, and Good in Sixth Form. Of course, the inspection team want to see the same standards for the Arabic core subjects, as they do for the English-based ones. 

That maybe something of an ask - English, Mathematics and Science across the school are rated Outstanding, as are students' learning skills!

And so it goes on. Impressively, students’ personal and social development, and their innovation skills are ranked as Outstanding across the school. "Students’ attitudes towards learning and their relationships with others ensure learning proceeds quickly and without interruption. Students have a deep understanding and appreciation of Islam, UAE society and Emirati heritage and culture". 

Teaching and Assessment, and the Curriculum, which go hand in hand with Student Achievement, are also rated Outstanding across the school. 

Similarly, the protection, care, guidance and support of students is also ranked Outstanding by ADEK. As the report notes, "Safeguarding, care and health and safety arrangements are thorough and comprehensive. The premises provide an outstanding environment in which to learn. Students with special educational needs (SEN) and those who are gifted and talented (G&T) receive highly-successful support". 

And, of course, the Leadership and Management of Cranleigh were also found to be Outstanding. Inspectors commented that "The overall quality of leadership and management is outstanding. Leaders have established a highly effective and fully inclusive school which supports Emirate and UAE priorities. Leaders, including the principal, promote an ambitious vision. They have raised the quality of provision to the highest levels through their consistent communication of best practices in teaching and learning." 

This is praise indeed.  Partnerships with parents and the community, and the Governance of the school, which includes a wide range of stakeholders, including parents, were also found to be Outstanding.

On the face of it, it seems difficult to determine what more Cranleigh needs to do to maintain the impressively high standards that are already clearly in operation.  But, of course, there is an ethos of continuous improvement across the school.

ADEK's inspection team has identified a range of areas for development, and two key areas for improvement are expected of the school.  Cranleigh should: 

• Raise students’ achievement in Arabic language, so that it matches the outstanding achievement found in other subjects by developing Arabic first language (AFL) students’ speaking skills using standard Arabic; supporting Arabic second language (ASL) students’ skills to write extensively; [and] improving the quality of teaching so that it matches the consistently outstanding standards found in other subjects.
• Promote students’ skills to be fully independent and self-reliant learners by: improving students’ skills to reflect on their own learning, set themselves challenging targets for improvement and initiate innovative and enterprising ways to achieve goals; [and] adapting lessons and the taught curriculum to provide students with more opportunities to independently self-review and plan their own learning.
  
  

If you would like to read the full ADEK inspection report - and we highly recommend that you do - you will find it here.

The Buzz

Unfortunately, ADEK does not include any direct feedback from parents in their report.

The WhichSchoolAdvisor.com Parent Survey has received a limited number of responses from Cranleigh parents, but those who have commented (a total of 15) have been pretty positive - giving the school an overall score of 4.2/5 - a positivity rating of 84%.

Probably the most telling response is that 92% of parents would recommend the school to others!  The balance were not entirely sure. Parents are overwhelmingly satisfied with communication and feedback from the school, the disciplinary policy and the academic performance (all with complete satisfaction ratings of 80%).  If there is a niggle, it relates - perhaps unsurprisingly - to the fees, which 34% feel offer value for money, and a further 53% believe that they do at least partially, but 13% disagree.  Despite these misgivings, only 13% (presumably the same parents who disagree about the value for money of the fees) have considered moving their child(ren) to another school - half the average figure for the UAE. 

If you are a parent, teacher or student at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi and would like to share your experience with other potential members of your community, please complete our Survey. Your views matter!

Our View

The school’s high fees have undoubtedly put pressure on Cranleigh to deliver quickly. Whilst some schools might have been rocked by the departure of the Founding Principal (in March 2018, the hugely influential Brendan Law left Cranleigh for a role with GEMS Education) the Abu Dhabi school appears to have not only sustained momentum, but been reinvigorated by the arrival of Mr Wilson. Mr Wilson has a long-term association with the Cranleigh brand, and was formerly Headmaster of the Cranleigh Prep School in the UK.

It should be said that Cranleigh Abu Dhabi has now passed the ‘new school’ phase.  As Principal, Michael Wilson, describes;

“Schools are in a constant cycle of ‘do, review, renew’. Well now we’ve had the do and then the review, it’s time to renew and keep a constant focus on raising standards”.

Cranleigh leaves a hugely positive impression in terms of its scale, appearance and its highly organised, busy, bright and cheerful atmosphere. It has quite a reputation to live up to, but following our second visit to the school, WhichSchoolAdvisor.com team was left feeling the school is delivering on all its early promise.

What about Fees?

Fees are at the very top end for Abu Dhabi, where schools tend to have lower fees than in neighbouring Dubai. They range from AED 65,000 in FS1 to AED 96,333 in Year 12. This is at the very top of the range in fees (and would be even for Dubai). However, Cranleigh Abu Dhabi is positioning itself as one of, if not the, premium option in the capital, operating in a very exclusive location, with the experienced staff you would expect from a similar school in the UK.

Cranleigh Abu Dhabi has a scholarship programme, which is "designed to broaden access to its holistic and enriching educational model, as well as to attract and support talented students who show passion for and potential in their chosen field." There are scholarships available in Sports, Visual Arts and Performing Arts. Applicants from across Abu Dhabi are invited to apply as long as they are entering Year 7 and above.

This school is in a Best School by parents ranking

Cranleigh Abu Dhabi is a Best of school, a ranking determined by parent surveys on the site. It can be found in the following Best of rankings:

• #52 in Best Schools in the UAE
• #8 in Best Schools in Abu Dhabi
• #2 in Best A Level Schools in Abu Dhabi
• #2 in Best Ultra-premium Schools in the UAE
• #1 in Best Ultra-premium Schools in Abu Dhabi

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