PACE British Creative School Ajman is the fourth affordable British curriculum school to be opened by the PACE group in the UAE.

The story so far...

Days before the start of the 2022-23 academic year, PACE Group announced the opening of its fourth English National Curriculum school in the UAE in Al Tallah adjacent to its Delhi Private School in Ajman.  The new school is named PACE Creative British School (PCBS) drawing on the names of existing schools within the group.

Other members include Creative British School, Abu Dhabi, PACE British School, Sharjah, and PACE Modern British School, Dubai.  These schools are in addition to their established Indian curriculum schools, Gulf Asian English School, Sharjah , India International School, Sharjah, and PACE International School, Sharjah.  

In total, PACE says that it has experience in educating in excess of 25,000 students from FS through to PhD, employing 2,500 teaching and non-teaching staff for students of 55 different nationalities via its now 19 institutions. The most recent addition to the PACE group opens for students in FS2 to Year 6 initially.  The state of the art campus can accommodate nearly 3,000 students. 

The new Ajman school is set to offer “affordable high quality education without compromise”.   

The teachers at PCBS are said to be "internationally qualified and experienced in their respective specialisms, with extensive knowledge of delivering the UK curriculum. They will offer a diverse set of skills with a common aim of providing the very best educational experiences befitting the whole community".  It is, however, clear from the school’s fee structure that they will not be from the UK or indeed most other countries where English is the native language.

No specific information about teacher nationalities is provided and even less is known about the Principal who will lead the school - he has been named only as Lawrence in the press release issued by the company five days before the start of the academic year and did not attend the Press Conference to announce the launch.

The school says that it will seek membership of organisations that enable it to develop and grow its excellence and demonstrate its credentials and quality in terms of what it offers. These include: British Schools Overseas certification, COBIS (Council of British International Schools) membership and membership of and BSME (British Schools in the Middle East).

School hours will be from 7:25am to 11:50am for FS2 and 7:25am to 2:15pm for Year 1 students upwards. 

What about the curriculum?

PCBS will follow the British Curriculum through EYFS, Primary and Secondary, culminating in I/GCSEs, BTECs and A Levels. Arabic, Islamic Studies, Social Studies and Moral Education for both Arabs and Non-Arabs will be delivered in accordance with federal laws. The school says it will embrace the use of technology in the classroom through more specialised focus areas such as Robotics and STEM based education. To this end, PCBS has entered into a Technology Partnership with Hewlett Packard (HP).

In addition to the academic, the school will offer a range of extra-curricular and sports activities - the latter will include swimming, football, volleyball, badminton and basketball along with indoor games. The sports curriculum aims to foster excellence and develop key life skills such as team work, communication and leadership.

The extra-curricular activities programme will be expanded over the first term to include other aspects of interest and learning including drama and arts.

The school says it is committed to an inclusive learning culture and will provide strong pastoral care and support, ensuring “not only a rigorous and balanced curriculum for our learners but also to ensure that pastorally, pupils are fully and appropriately supported. This way, our aim is to ensure positive personal growth in tandem with academic success that are clear and achievable.”

What about the facilities?

Little information about the facilities are provided.  However, we understand that facilities at the school include Robotics and STEM labs, innovative learning centres and Creative Activity rooms. There are also versatile indoor and outdoor sport facilities including sports grounds and swimming pools.

The Buzz

With such a late launch, we will be interested to see how successful PACE Creative British School is in getting off the ground.  And whilst the Creative British School is Abu Dhabi and the PACE British School in Sharjah are established schools, the Dubai branch is relatively new.  In addition, with  no school inspections published in the Sharjah or the Northern Emirates, there are no independent reports by which to judge the schools. 

The exception to this is for Creative British School Abu Dhabi which was acquired by the PACE group several years ago.  At the time of its last ADEK inspection in November 2019 (shortly before the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic), the school was awarded a Good rating.

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What about the fees?

Fees at PACE Creative British School start at AED 8,900 for students in FS2 and Year 1, rising to AED 10,900 for Years 2 to 4 inclusive and to AED 12,900 for Years 5 and 6,  There are additional fees including annual payments for Resources & Subscriptions of AED 650 for FS2 and Year 1, AED 900 for Years 2 to 4 and AED 1,000 for Years 5 and 6.  Uniform fees range from AED 400 to AED 500.

There is a registration fee of AED 500 per child.  No details of sibling discounts are provided.

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