Emirates International School - Jumeirah
Dubai, UAE · est. 1991 · PrivateEmirates International School - Jumeirah has been running since 1991 and belongs to the Al Habtoor Group as one of its community services. It is one of the oldest IB schools in the country: it gained IB World School authorisation in 1992 and was the first school in Dubai and in the UAE to offer the IB Diploma. It now belongs to the small group of schools authorised for all four IB programmes - the PYP, the MYP, the Diploma and the Career-related Programme - and its high school pupils may also take a Pearson BTEC vocational diploma. It holds more than two thousand pupils from over a hundred countries, and the KHDA rates it "Very Good". The 13-acre campus sits in a residential area: more than 85 classrooms, 11 science laboratories and a robotics lab, 4 art rooms, 3 drama rooms including a studio, 4 music rooms, three libraries - one of them for Diploma pupils only - a 568-seat theatre, a food science laboratory, a 25-metre swimming pool, three PE halls, a fitness suite, two grass pitches and six outdoor basketball areas. Care for the child rests on extensive pastoral teams including school counsellors, and the school publishes policies on wellbeing, behaviour, anti-bullying, equality and diversity, literacy and parental engagement. The school does not publish its fees on the site - for the fee schedule it points to the application section.
Key facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP, DP, CP · authorised programmeCIS · accreditationPearson · authorised programmeAl Habtoor Group · school is part of the networkWhat stands behind each entry
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19), CP (ages 16-19, with a vocational slant). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate. CP is the final stage with a vocational slant, ages 16 to 19: some of the DP subjects plus an applied qualification. It is meant for those heading into a trade or an applied degree rather than an academic one.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
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 →It gives a school approved centre status: that means Pearson exams can be sat in the school itself. What is checked is the premises, the equipment, the secure storage of papers and the presence of trained invigilators.
What the badge means for this school. The school can run Pearson exams on its own premises. The status says nothing about teaching, about results or about the school itself: any school able to run an exam securely holds it. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Which Pearson qualifications this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →A British vocational qualification from Pearson: not an academic course with an exam at the end, but a programme of practical assignments in a particular trade, from engineering and business to art and sport.
What this means for this school. Teaching and assessment work differently from A-level: instead of written exams there is a run of practical assignments marked by the school, while Pearson checks the school itself and samples the work. British universities do accept BTEC, but not all of them and not for every course: level 3 carries the same UCAS points as A-level, and that is what a family aiming at a particular university should look at. For a child who needs the classic academic route, BTEC is not a replacement for A-level but a different path.
Al Habtoor Group is a UAE conglomerate in which schools are one of six divisions, alongside hospitality, automotive, vehicle leasing, real estate and publishing. The site habtoor.com dates the group to 1970: «What started out as a small engineering firm in 1970, is today one of the region's largest and most respected conglomerates». On schools it is brief and speaks of operation: «The Al Habtoor Group operates two of Dubai's leading IB curriculum schools», and names both - «Emirates International Schools (EIS) has two schools - the first, Jumeirah, opened in 1991 and the second, Meadows, in 2005». The division page repeats the dates: «Emirates International School - Jumeirah was established in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates in 1991», «EIS - Meadows officially opened its doors on 10th September 2005»; student numbers are given for the second school only - «more than 1500 students from KG 1 to Grade 13». Ownership is not separated from operation, and nothing on the site describes the schools as the group's community service.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.