Abu Dhabi, UAE · est. 2014 · PrivateCranleigh Abu Dhabi opened on Saadiyat Island in 2014 and runs from FS1 to Year 13 on the British curriculum. It draws on the heritage of Cranleigh in England, more than 160 years old, and keeps a motto of its own, Ex Cultu Robur - from culture comes strength. It sums up its philosophy in three words: Thinking, Being, Giving; attainment is only one measure of success here, and beside it stand sport, music, drama, the arts, leadership and service. Arabic, Emirati culture and national identity are not an add-on but part of the experience, and the school says so plainly. The campus is a strong one: science laboratories, a gymnasium and an indoor sports hall, outdoor fields, netball courts, a dance studio, a black box, a design and technology workshop, a library, an auditorium and a recital hall, a recording studio, music rooms, a counselling centre, dedicated rooms for Arabic with Islamic studies and for French, a board games room and playgrounds. What a parent needs to know: this is one of the most expensive schools in Abu Dhabi - 71,500 to 105,980 dirhams a year - and the senior stages, Prep and Senior, are preparing to move to a new campus being built for them on Saadiyat Island.
Key facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeBSO · accreditationBSME · part of the associationWhat stands behind each entry
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →A scheme of the UK Department for Education: a school abroad is inspected against the standards for independent schools in England, including safeguarding and the standards for boarding. The inspections are done by independent inspectorates approved by the department, and the inspectorates themselves are monitored annually by Ofsted. The reports are published in full on the government website.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →One hundred and eighty schools in ten countries - Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE; more than half of the membership is in the UAE. It runs no inspections of its own at all. Instead it requires somebody else's accreditation, and the requirement is strict: a school not already accredited on joining must gain accreditation within two years and then maintain it. The inspectorates are EDT or ISI, which means the accreditation in question is the British government's BSO scheme. The organisation has withdrawn its former lighter routes in - one route remains.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to the association, and the association requires its members to hold a real accreditation: for Gulf schools that is almost always BSO. What to look at is that accreditation rather than this badge. Nor is the badge empty - there is no inspection of its own behind it, but a school is not admitted to the association without somebody else's accreditation. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
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