School Counsellor

The Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai opened its brand-new campus in September 2021 as a co-educational school, offering a British curriculum. At full capacity, the School will ultimately accommodate about 2,100 students from age 3 to 18.

Our parent school, RGS Guildford UK was established in 1509 and has a long and esteemed reputation for excellence. We are proud of our pupils’ outstanding academic results alongside their development, as well-rounded and confident, caring young people. Pupils routinely secure places on the most competitive courses at leading world universities, with 325 graduates over the last 10 years attending Oxford or Cambridge. Our pupils have gone on to have incredibly successful careers in all areas from business to sports, the creative arts and politics.

Location & Buildings

The buildings, equipment and facilities are of an exceedingly high standard. Indeed, the sheer quality of the School is one of its distinctive features. A detail which candidates will appreciate if they have opened a school before, is that the entire construction work has been completed in one initial building programme, not in phases, thus reducing the disruption to the School's community.

The School has been built on a new development, Tilal Al Ghaf, located near the Dubai Studio City and Jumeirah Golf Estates. It is part of a major new development by the Majid Al Futtaim group, one of the leading businesses in the UAE.

Our large, inspirational, dynamic and eco-friendly campus will provide exciting and vibrant learning spaces and ensures that we can offer a wide range of sporting facilities that make the most of our location in Dubai Sports City.

Educational Provision

The School offers a British curriculum throughout. For the very youngest, the curriculum is based on the UK's Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old. 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 assessed for GCSEs and then, in their final year of school, against a broad range of A Level courses and the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).

While it is expected that the student body will be predominantly British, a core part of the School's Academic offering will be Arabic Studies and Islamic Education, underpinned by a strong focus on UAE Social Studies and Moral Education. This is to ensure that all students have a strong connection with the culture and heritage of the UAE. In addition, the international outlook of RGS in the UK and their membership of the Cognita global schools family will help to ensure that children educated at RGS Guildford Dubai will become internationally minded, global citizens.

Governance

Governance of the School will be given the highest priority. All four functions as outlined in the "Gift of Good Governance" (KHDA) will be part of the core business of the Governing Body:

-Setting strategic direction within the context of clearly stated vision and ethos

- Holding the senior leadership team accountable for the achievement, strategy and running of the School

- Overseeing the overall educational performance of the School and suggesting ways for improvement

- Overseeing the financial performance of the School - this includes setting fees, budget oversight and achieving financial target

In Closing

There is a great deal of excitement about RGS Guildford Dubai and what can be achieved. The partnership between the RGS and Cognita in creating this new school in Dubai is truly ground breaking, bringing together two of the world's leading educational organisations.