Jumeirah College, Dubai is a private co-educational secondary school for students between grades 7 to 13 (ages 11 to 18). It is very much home in Jumeirah, Dubai where it has put down strong roots within the community. The school had been due to move to a huge new purpose-built campus in Barsha at the beginning of the 2013/14 academic year but GEMS Education rethought that decision “due to the overwhelmingly negative feedback they received from parents regarding the move”. GEMs does listen…

The school was first established in September 1999. Jumeriah College provides a UK based (English National Curriculum) curriculum to 1108 secondary stage students from 56 nationalities (with the biggest demographic being British). Supporting the students are 89 teaching staff including the Principal and senior leaders, and 11 additional teachers or teaching assistants. This ratio and numbers has remained remarkably consistent for well over 5 years, however teaching staff themselves have changed significantly in this time. Between the last academic year and 2015/2016, teacher turnover was 30%and between 2013/14 and 2014/15 is was 24% – combined this is top end for Dubai. A strong principal, Simon O’Connor has provided consistency during this period, but to lose on-third of teaching staff cannot but impact a school, its processes and its performance.

Not significantly enough to get in the way of its rating however. As of 2015-2016 the school received the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) inspection rating of Outstanding – a rating it has held for seven of the last eight years with one Good rating in between.

The school prepares students for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams at the end of grade 10. Students are then further prepared to sit the key stage SAT examination as well as AS and A2 levels in order to help them enter both local and international universities. The school has so far bucked the trend of introducing IB into its curricula offering.

According to its KHDA report Jumeirah College provides an Outstanding quality of education for its students – something it has achieved consistently since inspections began.  The school places a strong emphasis on academic and personal development – acknowledged by parents in school feedback. This is something to take note of if your child is not so academically focused.

Academically this is a school that delivers. GEMS Education has stopped publishing the performance in external examinations – but for some reason those for JC are still available. The school does very, very well.