Elite English School is a private K-12 school located in Deira, Dubai teaching the CBSE curriculum.

Elite English School has been rated Acceptable for the tenth time in the KHDA's 2022-23 inspection round. The report can be found under the 'Inspection' tab. The review will be updated in due course.

The story so far...

Elite English School (EES) was established in 1992 moving to its present location in 2005 offering education from Kindergarten to grade 10, and expanding to Grade 12 in 2010.

In their introduction to the school, its leadership comments specifically on its insistence "on consistency in academic performance".  Arguably, EES has achieved this goal, given that with the exception of 2010-11 when it was rated Good in its first inspection, it has consistently been rated Acceptable by the KHDA.  This is the minimum standard expected by the regulator which is pressing all schools to achieve a Good rating. 

The school educated 1,856 students at the time of the last KHDA inspection in October 2019, with 71 full-time teachers, and 11 teaching assistants. This results in a teacher:student ratio of 1:26 - on the high side even for a lower fee Indian school.

The inspection report notes that "a large minority of teachers of whom do not have a recognised teaching qualification. The lead organiser for health and safety is a teacher with considerable additional duties". 

Teacher turnover, at 11% at the time of the last inspection, is relatively low in comparison with international schools in the UAE, and around average of an Indian curriculum school. In fact the school is very proud of the fact that its founding Principal, and now CEO, known only as Mrs. Mathew, has been responsible for the school since its opening.  The now Principal, Ms. Kiran Mathai, joined the school in April 2012 as Vice Principal. 

In her introduction to EES, Mrs. Mathew informs parents that the school's Vision is "to provide an environment that encompasses over all development and progress in all our students. We ensure to ground our teaching techniques and values to all our varied learners. Our mission [is] to produce Global citizens, embedded with skills that help them stand out in a crowd. I believe that charity, sensitivity, understanding, leadership and intellect needs to be the focal points of development in an individual and ensure these overall skill developments are reflected in to all our students".

What about the curriculum?

Elite English School teaches a CBSE English speaking curriculum with compulsory Ministry of Education subjects being taught in Arabic. The curriculum of the pre-primary (KG)

focuses on developing skills in the areas of Motor Control, English language and Communication, Social and Emotional Development. Core subjects include English, Mathematics and General Knowledge. They are supported by regular activities in the workshop, art and craft, sports and music.

At the primary level, the curriculum is designed to strengthen developmental skills, supported by three languages of study, English, Hindi and Arabic. Additional subjects include General Science, Social Studies and Mathematics, Moral Education and Islamic Studies. The overall development, interests and talents are fostered through an inter-disciplinary approach and activities of Art Education, Work Experience, Physical and Health Education and a Reading Program.

For unexplained reasons, EES does not use the traditional sectional names for Secondary and Senior Secondary, instead referring to the Formative Years for Grades 5 to 10 and .

Students in Grades 5 to 10 are expected to develop their critical thinking skills enabling them to grasp the more difficult aspects of classroom teaching "by helping them to think laterally".  Additional subjects include History/Civics, Geography and Biology, Chemistry and Physics as well as UAE Social Studies. The curriculum and teaching also aims to prepare the students to "deal with a more international level of education helping them to adapt to foreign universities and the competitive level of excellence".  At Grade 10, students conclude their studies with entry to the All Indian Secondary School Examinations. 

Finally in the so-called Decisive Years of Grades 11 and 12, students are provided with a very narrow range of subject options split very clearly into Science and Commerce streams.

The school provides no information about co-curricular or extra-curricular activities.

What about support for students of Determination and those with Gifts and Talents?

ESS does not address the question of support for students with additional learning needs publicly.  The school does mention that in 2010 it introduced the 'resource sector' in the school "which in a way pioneered the inclusive education in Dubai". 

There is no doubting the school's commitment to supporting students with SEN and Gifts and Talents, and the inspection team noted: "The school has made a priority of improved identification of students of determination . However, this remains developmental. Students with particular gifts and talents are often not identified. The support provided for all students is inconsistent across phases and subjects".  There is clearly still much to be done.

According to the 2019-20 inspection report, "leaders at all levels are committed to inclusion and work effectively to produce information about students’ needs and improvement planning. The inclusion governor and champion contribute to planning, but are sometimes overambitious in the outcomes which they hope to achieve in the classroom. Most students have their needs identified correctly. The school now informally diagnoses specific difficulties, such as dyslexia. Skilled intervention for students who have dyslexia and complex needs is underdeveloped. Class teachers and learning assistants are largely inexperienced in reducing these barriers to learning."

The provision and outcomes for students of Determination was rated Acceptable.

What about academic achievement?

Although EES provides a list of Toppers on its website, there is no information about the individual achievements of these students and no details of the overall results for the school.

What about the facilities?

According to the school, well designed class rooms are capable of incorporating technology through the Wi-Fi enabled campus.  Specialist Science, Computer and Maths labs are designed and furnished with optimum learning experience in mind. The school has two libraries and external play/sports areas.

However, these comments appear to be contradicted to some degree by the DSIB inspection team's view that "Rooms are small and some classes [sizes] are large. There are sufficient specialist facilities and resources, with the exception of those for technology, wi-fi infrastructure and mobile devices".

What the inspectors say

After nine ratings of Acceptable, sine 2010-11, WhichSchoolAdvisor.com's team had hoped to see some real evidence of improvement and the possibility that EES might be on the way to the Good rating which is the one that the KHDA expects all schools to achieve.  Sadly, there is little to suggest that such a step up is likely to happen in the immediate future.

The report notes that "The school has brought about improvement in various areas, most notably in students’ personal development, but also in attainment in UAE social studies across the phases, progress in English in Kindergarten (KG) and in Islamic education in the primary phase". 

However, in terms of six key performance standards against which performance is measured, there has been little obvious progress.  To be fair, we should mention that with the ever-increasing demands of the DSIB inspection teams, any school that has been able to retain its rating for such a long period has not stood still, since improvement is a constant requirement in order to achieve the rating status quo.  However, there is no doubt that process has been a slow one at EES.

The inspection team notes that "The principal (in reference to Mrs. Mathew), who has given many years of service to the school, promotes a commitment to inclusion. Relationships and communication are professional, although some staff members are not sufficiently effective in their roles. Leaders are aware that the school could improve more rapidly. Since the last inspection, leaders have improved some aspects of the school and have maintained an acceptable school performance".

The vast majority of ratings for Student Achievement remained Acceptable with two improvements to Good, but one down grade to Weak (for Science progress in the Primary section). Teaching and Assessment, and the Curriculum, the two other key performance standards that have the most direct impact on Student Achievement largely retained the Acceptable ratings from previous inspection outcomes. 

The two areas of school performance that appear to be most effective are the Personal and Social Development, and Innovation skills of students (the first rated Very Good and the remainder Good across the school). The protection, care, guidance and support of students was also rated Good across the school.

Finally, leadership and management retained its Acceptable rating for four of the five key measures, whilst the fifth - Parents and the Community - retained its Good rating.

In terms of the strengths of the school, the DSIB inspection team determined these to be:

• The very good personal and social development of students
• Good attainment in UAE social studies and in English at KG and the secondary phase
• Good progress in English and mathematics in KG, in Islamic education in the primary phase, and in English in KG and the secondary phase
• The improved learning experiences being provided by the successful implementation of a modified curriculum in KG.

In terms of those areas that require improvement, EES must:

• Improve governance through improved monitoring of the school’s performance.
• Improve leadership by ensuring that all leaders:
  - accurately evaluate the quality of teaching and students’ progress
  - robustly address teaching that is not good enough.
• Improve teaching by:
  - increasing teachers’ awareness of the available assessment information and its use
  - matching learning and teaching more accurately to the needs and abilities of specific individuals and groups.
• Through more effective recruitment and retention of good teachers, ensure a sufficiency of high-quality staff for all areas of learning and development.
• Improve students’ learning skills by developing their ability to be effective partners in their education by having a shared understanding of their performance and how to improve it.
  
  

If you would like to read the inspection report in full - and we strongly recommend that you do so in order to understand the reasons behind the ratings - you will find it here.

In common with all UAE private and public schools, EES was subject to a Distance Learning Evaluation following the implementation of online learning in UAE schools as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic.  Of the three possible ratings, EES was awarded the second rating of Partially Developed. Of the thirteen standards which were measured, EES achieved Developed for 7 measures and Partially Developed for the remaining six. You can read the full report here.

The Buzz

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com has received a very limited number of responses to our Parent Survey but those parents who completed it have rated the school 2.1/5 - or a positivity rating of 42%.  Views were decidedly mixed with approximately one-third of respondents satisfied with the performance of the school, whilst the remaining two thirds were evenly split between parents who partially satisfied and those who were dissatisfied. Communication, disciplinary policy and fees were all bones of contention, and resulting in an equal split of those who would recommend the school, those who were not sure and those who would not.

If you are a parent, teacher or student at Elite English School, please share your opinions and experience with other potential members of your community and complete our survey here.

There is no question that EES makes a significant effort to involve parents in the life of the school, and the leadership was awarded a Good rating for their relationships with parents and the community.

The Inspection report noted that "Parents have regular opportunities to be involved in the life and work of the school. They are empowered as partners in their children's education. They contribute to school improvement planning through surveys. They report that the school takes seriously and acts upon any concerns that they raise. They make a positive contribution to raising standards. The school gives regular and detailed reports to parents on their children’s progress".

Some 285 parents responded to the KHDA's pre-inspection survey, and 88% of the respondents declared themselves satisfied with the quality of education provided by EES. However, the report noted that just over one-fifth of the parents responded to the survey and a number of the responses expressed concern about the frequency of changes of class teachers.

A few parents expressed concerns about bullying in the school. The inspection team appears to have investigated this issue further stating that the groups of students interviewed were emphatic that bullying was not an issue in the school at the time of the inspection. However, feedback from the WhichSchoolAdvisor.com survey suggests that this may more of a problem than the inspectors determined.

585 students responded to the KHDA's Well-being Survey and responses indicated a high level of happiness among students. Inspectors observed this during the inspection. The strong sense of belonging to the school, reflected in the survey responses, was also in evidence during the inspection in interviews with groups of students.

Our View

The Elite English School is a traditional, long established school which seems to be trying its best to catch up with the changes and demands made nowadays of all schools in terms of their provision to students, particularly in regard to the standards of teaching and assessment and curriculum delivery.  Reading between the lines, it seems that the main area of challenge for the school is in relation to the investment in high quality teachers and their retention, and in the training and development of existing teachers.

Whilst retaining staff is generally a good situation for any school, since there are not the issues of bringing in and on-boarding new staff which is also a significant drain on resources, sometimes a major change is needed in order for more recent experience and new ideas to make a positive impact.

There are also challenges related to the infrastructure and resources of the school beyond its staffing. However,  a school with fee levels of those at EES is going to find it difficult to be able to make the financial investment that these improvements require.  Until, however, something significant changes, it is hard to see how Elite English School is going to achieve the improvement in standards that is evidently required.

What about the fees?

As of 2022, tuition fees are very much at the low end of the spectrum, ranging from AED 4,480  to AED 9,889 per year depending upon grade. However, EES also charges additional mandatory Laboratory, Library, Equipment and Computer fees that range from AED 800 in KG to AED 1,150 in Grades 11 and 12.

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