Royal Grammar School Guildford in Dubai Review
Nearby nurseries
The story so far..
Established in 1509 and one of the most academically successful all-boys schools, RGS Guildford (RGS) is consistently ranked as one of the top schools in the UK at both A Level and GCSE, achieved by 'combining a foundation of heritage with a forward-thinking approach to teaching and learning'.
According RGS, 'this spirit of innovation has kept the school at the forefront of education'and will ensure that the Dubai branch will be a Beacon of Excellence for British Education and one of the finest international schools in the world.'
The Dubai branch was officially opened in the city as a co-educational school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 years on September 1st 2021. The school opened its Prep School section (from FS to Year 6) in 2021 and opened its Senior School for students in Year 7 in August 2022.
The school, known as Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai (RGSGD), has been brought to the UAE via a partnership between Royal Grammar School Guildford and one of the world's largest school groups, Cognita.
RGS Guildford Dubai has been built on a new development, Tilal Al Ghaf, located between Dubai Sports City and Dubai Motor City. It will be part of a major new development by the Majid Al Futtaim group, owner of Mall of the Emirates, Vox Cinemas, Little Explorers and Magic Planet.
Feedback from parents to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com has been fulsome in its praise of the school during its first year, focused mainly on the "leadership, exceptional teachers, small class sizes, and great facilities."
Comments from two specific parents that impressed us particularly are the following:
"Amazing bespoke plans for each of my twins. Wonderful leadership who put an outstanding team of talented teachers in every year. A reward system on top of a well-tried curriculum directly lifted from the parent UK school."
"The school has exceptional leadership with Clare Turnbull and the experience that she brings to the school directly from RGS. The years of experience in running schools that RGS and Cognita have combined has led to the school feeling like it has been running for years from day 1 and they have invested properly in the school.
Despite being a brand new school it has had a tremendous impact on my three children in a very short period of time. Their whole attitude to learning has been transformed and they are so excited to go to school and do well. The school is pushing them to achieve the maximum they can in way that is inspiring yet challenging and their teachers are supportive yet pushy and not letting them relax and take the easy route out. Their academic achievement has sky rocketed!"
RGS Guildford in the UK is a truly 'independent school', bought by the parents and staff of the school in the 1970s. The new Dubai school is the second Royal Grammar School Guildford in the region. The Royal Grammar School Guildford in Qatar was established in 2016.
The Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai shares the same ethos and academic rigour of its parent school in the UK and its expansion to the UAE marks a key milestone in the school’s 500-year history.
In January 2022, following the departure of the Founding Principal, Mrs . Clare Turnbull, was announced at the Principal for the whole school. She was originally recruited from the Royal Grammar School Guildford home campus in the UK, where she had served as Head of Prep for 13 years, initially to lead the Prep School on the Dubai campus.
The school opened with 250 students and by the end of term 2 had already increased this number to 350 at the end of the first year. With the opening of the Senior School in September 2022 and the ongoing demand for places in the Prep School, student numbers were anticipated to grow to between 600 and 700 in the 2022-23 academic year. By mid-2023, student numbers had grown to just over 800, with expectations, as the school continues to expand its year groups (to Year 8 in August 2023) of between 1,100 and 1,200 students by the next (2023-24) academic year.
Students come from 54 different nationalities, with the largest nationality group from the UK at just over 50%. The second largest nationality group, at 3%, is Russian students.
With demand for places so high, the school is now operating seven classes per year group in the lower grades and will not go beyond this figure as the school grows to full capacity. Maximum class sizes "remain at 20 students".
With the opening of the Senior School in August 2022, nine new teachers were recruited as form and specialist teachers. For 2023-24, as the school continues its growth, a further 40 teachers have been appointed - with applications received from over 3,000 applicants. The minimum experience of teachers appointed to RGSGD is 5 years, with some staff having over 30 years teaching behind them.
In July 2022, RGSGD announced the expansion of its leadership team as a result of the opening of the school's Senior section.
Deputy Head of Senior, Nicholas Radbourne, joined the school in August 2022. With more than 30 years of experience in educational leadership in a range of schools in the UK and Middle East, Mr. Radbourne is typical of the experienced teachers that the school is employing. His experience has given him an excellent understanding of what is needed when developing outstanding teaching and learning in schools, and how to create an innovative and challenging environment for students. Mr. Radbourne moved to the Middle East in 2018, and his role at RGSGD will be his second leadership position in an international school in the region.
Also joining the school’s Senior Leadership team in August 2022 was Charlotte Grieves who took on the role of Deputy Head of Prep. Having taught at three Outstanding rated schools across the United Arab Emirates that include GEMS Education's Jumeirah Primary School, Wellington International School and Royal Dubai School (where she was latterly Interim Principal), Ms. Grieves has been committed to delivering high-performance teaching in the Emirates for more than 15 years.
What about the curriculum?
Like RGS Guildford in the United Kingdom, the Dubai school follows the British curriculum from three years to 18 years of age.
For primary years, which was the focus of the school on launch, the curriculum is based on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Throughout the school, standardised assessments from GL will be used, in line with the UAE National Agenda. In Year 11 (aged 16) students will be examined at GCSE and then, in their final two years of school, against a broad range of A Level courses and the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).
Although a focus of the school will inevitably be on academic achievement, RGS Dubai will mirror the original school which is 'forward-looking with a big heart of which academia is just one part of a richer experience. A particular strength of the school is its mentoring programme, whereby older students are responsible for supporting younger students in the school.
In August 2021, just prior to the opening of the school, RGS Dubai announced its first CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) partnership with Team Angel Wolf. A non-profit foundation that has been created to encourage the inclusion of People of Determination and to embrace healthy living through Inclusive Impactivity, Team Angel Wolf works with families and individuals of all ages.
Created to support the school’s passion to encourage its young people to think big, develop an understanding of the significant challenges in the world, and to use their education to support positive change, the partnership will see RGSGD work alongside Team Angel Wolf to develop opportunities for its students and the wider UAE community. The partnership will also feed into the school’s specialist leadership programme, Riyada, that has been created to focus on character development, leadership, and teaching young people the skills they need to thrive in an ever-changing world.
Inevitably, in common with almost all UK private schools, sport will also be a major focus of the Dubai campus, although there is no getting away from the fact its very constrained campus and limited space for sport on real fields of its own will inhibit its place as a top tier school for sport in the emirate.
In October 2022, RGSGD partners, Cognita, announced the launch of the Cognita ENRICH ME programme in the United Arab Emirates.
Designed to empower students enrolled at the Cognita family of schools in the Middle East, that include the Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai, Ranches Primary School, Horizon English School and Horizon International School, the Cognita ENRICH ME programme is said to combine everything that enriches students’ lives from sport to music and the arts, with expert coaching provision to provide unparalleled opportunities in football, swimming and academic excellence.
The inclusive programme will allow the four schools to expand their curriculum and provide an even higher quality learning experience to the 4,000 students they have enrolled, as well as developing high-performing students to achieve professional results.
What about academic achievement?
As one of the most academically successful schools in the UK, expectations of RGS Guildford in Dubai will inevitably be high. The UK school certainly has every right to be proud of its reputation.
The Dubai school will have much to do if it is to emulate the academic successes and positioning of the UK school. In 2019 at GCSE, 50% of all student grades were grade 9 and 75% of grades were grade 9 – 8 (the equivalent of the old A* grade) - which would put it in the top 3 schools in the emirates. At A' Level, 35% of all the results were at A*, significantly ahead of any school in the country. In the UK itself, RGS Guildford came 41st.
RGS Guildford is also said to be extremely proud of its record of getting students into top universities. In the last ten years 325 offers have been achieved at either Oxford or Cambridge. RGS Guildford’s alumni have gone on to successful careers in all areas from business to sports, the creative arts and politics.
However, RGS is not the first UK independent school to arrive in the UAE with a strong academic record in the home country. Schools such as Brighton College and Cranleigh (with established branches in Abu Dhabi), and Kent College, North London Collegiate School and Repton in Dubai were also established in coordination with their highly rated Alma Maters in the UK, but are probably not yet in a position to boast similar results, in part because of their young age.
What about the facilities?
The new school is located within Majid Al Futtaim’s flagship Dubai community, Tilal Al Ghaf, adjacent to Hessa Street, between Dubai Motor City and Sports City.
On completion, the school will sit on an impressive 40,000 square metres, and will be able to accommodate 2,100 pupils. The light and dynamic building includes a 25-metre competition standard swimming pool and state-of-the-art classrooms and labs that will support science, art, languages, music and more.
The school has solar paneled parking to meet much of its energy needs
Whilst the school will offer some sports facilities on-site, much of the outdoor sports activities will take place at ISD Dubai Sports City. RGSGD pupils will experience some of the region’s best facilities, featuring both indoor and outdoor sporting grounds, brand new tennis courts, a nine-lane athletics track and five full-size FIFA approved football pitches. As a Platinum Partner of ISD Dubai Sports City, RGSGD will have access to the facilities from 9am to 4pm on school days, giving pupils the opportunity to play sport all year round.
The Buzz
At the end of Royal Grammar School Guildford in Dubai's first year, WhichSchoolAdvisor.com has received a limited number of responses to our Parent Survey, but the majority of parents who have provided their feedback are clearly impressed! Parents have rated the school 4.1/5 - a positivity rating of 82%. Highlights include that 78% of children have a 'tremendous' sense of belonging and enjoyment of their school; 50% of children attending RGSGD had moved from other Dubai schools, so parents have a point of comparison.
94% of the respondents to our survey had not considered moving their child from RGSGD to another school, 83% of parents were completely satisfied with the academic performance of the school, and similar responses applied to feedback from the school. 88% of respondents would recommend RGSGD to other parents. If there is a niggle, it is, as usual, that of fees. But even in this context, feedback was positive, with 72% of parents agreeing that they receive value for money, and the majority of the remainder partially agreeing, although 6% disagreed.
If you are a parent or teacher at Royal Grammar School Guildford in Dubai, please share your opinions and experience with other potential members of your community and complete our Survey.
Our View
Royal Grammar School Dubai feels like an established school in the UAE, which is a feat few new schools manage to pull off so quickly. It has achieved this by being clear about what it is, what it stands for, and what it will deliver, and then being seen to live up to the promises, repeatedly.
The danger for any school in its early years, especially one that has started so well, is simply complacency. We have no reason to believe the excellent leadership within the school itself will fall into this trap, but the school is part of the wider Cognita group of schools, which is spreading itself very thin in the region with a series of school acquisitions. It would be a shame if the focus that has done this school so well up to this point, was lost.
What about the fees?
Fees are Premium Plus. KHDA approved fees start at AED 75,000 for FS1 rising to AED 97,000 for Year 6. Fees for subsequent year groups, which will open year on year, are from AED 97,000 to AED 114,000 for years 10-13.
However, the school has already announced a 10% discount on the approved fees for 2022-23, making FS1 fees AED 63,750, FS2 AED 68,000, Years 1 to 4 AED 77,350 and Years 5, 6 and 7 fees, AED 82,450.
In addition, the fee concession is guaranteed for two years and a personal IT device included for two years, a first year uniform package, two school-led extracurricular activities subject to availability, and an Extended School Day: Early Bird Club & After-school care included (7.00am drop off – 4.30pm pick-up) subject to availability.
This school is in a Best School by parents ranking
Royal Grammar School Guildford in Dubai is a Best of school, a ranking determined by parent surveys on the site. It can be found in the following Best of rankings:
- #39 in Best Schools in the UAE
- #13 in Best A Level Schools in Dubai
- #21 in Best British Schools in Dubai
- #30 in Best Schools in Dubai
- #2 in Best Ultra-premium Schools in the UAE
- #2 in Best Ultra-premium Schools in Dubai
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