Newlands School is a new British Curriculum school which opened in Al Warqa in Autumn 2017.

Newlands School was one of two schools, scheduled to receive their first KHDA inspection in the 2019-20 academic year, whose inspection took place. Newlands achieved an Acceptable rating, the minimum expected by the KHDA.  The report can be found under the inspection tab above this review.  An update to the review will take place in due course.

The Story so Far

Newlands School, a school whose mission is to 'provide quality education of an international standard," has opened initially FS 1 through Year 6 with a Secondary school that will expand, making this a future all-through school. 

Newlands is located in the heart of Al Warqaa 1 neighbourhood. The school is however sandwiched between Rajnagiri/Primus Indian School (1500) and Sharjah American International School (1600 students), which means management at Newlands will need to work on imaginative logistics to achieve a seamless drop-off and pick-up schedule.

The school will offer Foundation through to post-16 when complete, however, initially it has launched with Foundation to Year 6. Capacity when complete will be 1,200 students. Newlands was originally constructed as an‘Arabic style,’ school and therefore was designed for boys and girls to be segregated so this has meant the building required some interior modifications, all of which will be finished by August 2017. 

Smaller Class Sizes, Best Practice 

The offer of Newlands School is a "high quality British education" with class sizes that are smaller than competitors coupled with fees that are price pointed in a way to "make it possible to study the full English curriculum without facing the burden of those high charges at Dubai’s most expensive schools," as the school's website explains. 

Class sizes will be capped at 25 students  in the FS and 26 students in the Primary Stage. 

The ethos of the school is based on "best practice" which is the educational term for pedagogy and methods that are tested through research and proven with data. As the school notes, "Evidence has shown that students learn best when they have home, peer, teacher and school support that is focused, accountable, sustained in quality, supported by data and aligned with the student’s ambition to achieve." 

Accreditation

The school is currently pursing a British Schools Overseas Accreditation (BSO) in conjunction with a KHDA inspection visit in order to be accredited as quickly as possible. 

Innovation

Newlands School will have a focus on innovation that will be built into the curriculum as well as offered through cross-curricular opportunities. The focus on innovation and creating an innovation mindset is one that the KHDA has been steadily focusing on so the implementation of this ethos at the founding of the school indicates that it will become an inherent part of the school culture. 

Facilities

Facilities at this new campus will include: 

• 42 standard classrooms
• Activity Rooms
• An FS layout featuring linked classrooms with corridors where supervised activities can ‘spill over’
• specialist art, media and music rooms
• 4 science labs with 3 of them as specialist labs (for secondary physics, chemistry and biology) and 1 general lab for primary
• 1 specialist room for computing, coding and ICT
• a Special Needs base and resource centre
• a 10×20 metre swimming pool with changing facilities
• outdoor football pitch and cricket net
• premises designed to aid the mobility of students with physical disabilities

Fees

Fees at Newlands School start at AED 17,280 for FS1 and rise to AED 23,760 for Year Six. These fees are inclusive of a 10 percent  "Founding Parents Discount" and can be paid in three installments at the beginning of each term. 

The school charges an additional fee for textbooks which is 1,200 AED per student in FS 1 and 2, and 1,750 AED per student in Years 1 to 6. Currently there is no sibling discount. 

This school is in a Best School by parents ranking

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

• #147 in Best Schools in the UAE
• #56 in Best British Schools in Dubai
• #94 in Best Schools in Dubai

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