American or British Schools? | ExpatWoman.com
 

American or British Schools?

6
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 16 November 2017 - 19:37

Moving from Canada and looking for a primary school for my almost 4 year old (for Sept 2018). Wondering what your take is on American vs. British schools?

We have an offer from Dubai American Academy and need to let them know within the week but we're not sure now - especially since we havent visited any of the schools!

How is the campus? What is the teacher to child ratio? Is it multicultural? How are the extra-curriculars? Any other insights would be much appreciated.

177
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 18 November 2017 - 18:09
We are also Canadians with 2 daughters who have been at DAA for 7 years. My oldest has graduated from DAA in 2016, and the education she got at DAA was great - she actually found her first year of University to be even easier than High School was, and easier for her than most of her university friends. The school just moved to a new state of the art campus this year. They are integrating a great STEM program in partnership with Carnegie Melon's CREATE Lab from the early years. The science, art, music, technology and athletics resources are very strong now. The communication with families is very good, we've been overall pretty happy with the school. There are lots of After School programs offered - both on campus and off. It's not perfect, but overall it is a strong performing and friendly school. They take their motto of "culture of kindness" very seriously. Any issues we've ever had have been dealt with professionally in our experience. Our girls were/are very happy there. It is very multicultural - over 100 different nationalities. If your intention is to return to North America at some point during their education, I would stick with the American curriculum vs the British. It can get tricky switching between American and British curriculums, resulting in gaps in education. Another good American curriculum school is the American School of Dubai. I would say some things are operated better at ASD as they are a "not for profit" school and DAA is part of the Gems School network (for profit). I have friends with children at ASD as well who are very happy. You would be fine at either campus (and they happen to be right next to each other). I would personally stick with the American curriculum, unless you are fairly certain you will end up living in the UK at some point. Good luck with the move!
 
 

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