KHDA rates The English College as ‘Very Good’

DUBAI: The English College, a world-class British curriculum school in Dubai, is celebrating its new inspection report from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).

The KHDA is the government body charged with rating the city’s private schools and other educational establishments, with five levels of rating from weak to outstanding.

Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) is the inspection arm of KHDA.

DSIB assessed The English College as outstanding in 24 areas. 80 percent of the assessed areas were given a rating of outstanding or very good, leading to an overall rating of ‘Very Good’.

The school has previously been rated ‘Good’ by DSIB, since it began school inspections in 2007.

School inspection reports deliver a comprehensive review of the performance and standards of private schools in Dubai. The reports include a new ‘Parent Report’ section which gives parents detailed information about the quality of education provided by their child’s school, helping them to make better informed decisions on where to send their children to school.

Principal Mark Ford said: “Our new rating is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, our incredible students and our wonderful parents. It is good that the high quality education provided by The English College has been validated by the DSIB report and we were pleased that the DSIB team identified so many areas of outstanding and very good practice.”

The principal added that the ‘Very Good’ rating will not cause the school to rest on its laurels, with the senior leadership team constantly striving to maintain and improve the high standards pupils and parents have come to expect from the school — which first opened its doors in 1992.

While 20 percent of pupils hail from the UK, the school celebrates the diversity of many other cultures, with more than 79 different nationalities represented by more than 1,000 students.

Since 2019 schools have not been inspected due to the pandemic, but now the Umm Suqeim school has received two new excellent inspection reports.

The higher KHDA rating comes just after a British Schools Overseas (BSO) outstanding rating, delivered in late 2022 after an inspection by Penta International, a company approved by the British government to inspect schools overseas.

This means The English College is now one of fewer than 200 elite British curriculum schools around the world to be recognised by the BSO.