Dear Fadyone,

The detail that is required for us to assist you is such that we would only be able to do so through our Consultancy services.  You can find the link to this on the Whichschooladvisor Home page.

Dear Eduschool,

Since you feel that the IB curriculum is best suited to your child, it probably makes sense to aim for that curriculum from the outset.  The IB curriculum is becoming increasingly popular globally and is very transferable.  However, if you are not able to find a place in an IB school next year, the UK curriculum offers a very start and it would be relatively simple to transfer to an IB curriculum school at a later point.  I would not leave this until your child reaches the IB Diploma level to switch curriculum.  The structure of teaching in the IB programmes is different to the UK curriculum, and earlier exposure to the difference in methodology would probably make sense.  Generally, though, if you are in a position to keep your options open, I would be more concerned about deciding which curriculum to stick with once your child is moving to secondary/middle school – this is when the decision for the longer term probably needs to be made.

HI Meems,

I am not aware of this school.  Can you tell me the exact location – I often visit the area, so will go and look at the information provided.

Dear Sulafa,

With the addition of a number of UK curriculum schools last academic year, finding school places is not as difficult now as it has been in the past.  Finding places in FS1 and FS2 is still more difficult than for the other year groups.  I presume that your youngest child is less than 4 years of age.  I would say that you will probably find places in years 2 and 4, but please do not delay in applying.  Many families are still relocating to Dubai currently and places are being taken quickly.  There is no reason why you cannot apply now, even if the children will not join the school until October.   Almost all schools expect applications to be made on-line via their website or email and well in advance of your arrival here.

The other issue you will find is that the schools with availability will be the newer schools – those opened in the last year or the current one.  Fees at these schools are significantly higher than those of the more established schools whose fees have been capped in the past.  If this is a concern for you, I would advise you to approach the schools that are most appropriate first via email.  It may well be that you would need to wait until 2016-17 to obtain places in one of these more popular and less costly schools.

Dear Aslam,

You can find out full details of Abu Dhabi schools by searching the “schools” information on the Home page of www.whichschooladvisor.com.

You can also check on the Abu Dhabi Education Council website – https://www.adec.ac.ae/en/pages/schoolscontacts.aspx.  Unfortunately, school places in Abu Dhabi are in short supply and I would advise you to contact schools following the curriculum you are seeking as soon as possible (bearing in mind that many are on summer holiday and will not return until the end of August).

Good Luck with your search.

Dear Seena,

I am sorry that you were not able to obtain admission for KG1.  You would need to confirm with the individual schools as to whether they will accept direct entry to KG2; generally I would expect the answer to be no, as KG1 is regarded as the foundation year for education in the Indian curriculum.

Generally speaking, schools do not issue a transfer certificate for FS or KG1 as it is not a legal requirement for children to attend school in the UAE until the year in which they turn 6 (so KG2/year 1).  If you son were to attend FS2 – bearing in mind that the school year starts 6 months later – and you then wished to transfer him, he would only be able to enter KG1 and you would need to arrange for this to take place at the start of the academic year (April).  He would not be promoted to KG 2 since he would not have completed the full academic year in the UK curriculum.

I would advise you to check with the Indian schools where you are seeking admission to obtain their recommendation on the best action to take.

Dear BK,

Unfortunately, I cannot advise you on specific schools which have availability as most schools are still closed for the summer vacation. I would suggest that you check the latest guide to availability on www.whichschooladvisor.com and contact schools that had indicated they are still accepting applications.  There are also a few new schools due to open in September following the British curriculum, including Amity International School.

Good Luck!

Dear Gurmeet,

Generally schools will not admit to Grade 12 unless they can be sure that the same curriculum is being followed.  Given that you would be moving your son from a Canadian curriculum to a US curriculum, this is unlikely.  Although it would be worth checking with the schools individually, I would expect that he will need to repeat grade 11.

Dear Roohullah,

Unfortunately, we do not have details of availability for October – you would need to contact the Indian curriculum schools individually to find out whether they have children leaving which would make a place available.  If you download and check the following contact list from the KHDA website, this should help you – http://www.khda.gov.ae/en/schoolsen.

You will need to choose between the CBSE curriculum and ICSE curriculum.  The majority of schools follow the CBSE curriculum.  It might be worth checking with your daughter’s current school as to which they would recommend.

Good Luck in your search which you should commence as soon as possible as I believe it may well be quite tough to find a place part way through the school year.  It might be worthwhile checking the GEMS New Millennium School in Dubai – www.gemsnewmillenniumschool-alkhail.com – this is still relatively new and may be able to help, or Delhi Private Academy –  www.dpsacademy.ae – in Academic City which is also is more likely to have places.

Dear Megha,

The Indian curriculum schools all have their own application dates and deadlines, but this is usually in the winter term prior to the new academic year which starts in April.  Therefore, you should start to check the websites of the schools from end of September 2015.  I can’t suggest specific schools for you, I’m afraid.  However for Dubai, you can check the KHDA website http://www.khda.gov.ae/en/schoolsen and download the contact list.  This contains details of all schools and their fees.