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GEMS Wellington Primary School - reviews

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 19 July 2012 - 09:44

Hello all,

My daughter has just got an offer from GEMs Wellington Primary School (the one behind Shangri-la hotel). She will be ging to FS1 in Sept 2012. They first told me that I had until a certain day to accept the offer, which I did. Subsequently, they have emailed me three times to ask (after the date the offer expired) if I was still interested in putting my daughter there. It is has given me a bad impression of the school's management. My daughter currently goes to JINS nursery - which I am very happy with and would have prefered her to be at the nursery one more year. But given the horror stories about FS2 being full and its not possible to get a place in a good school in F2, I considered putting her at GEMs now. I would appreciate any comments/experience you can share with me of GWP.

Thanks all in advance - and stay cool in this very hot summer!!

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163

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 07 June 2016 - 12:40

Bringing up an older post as I am interested to know any more recent feedback you can give on GEMS Wellington Primary (behind Shangri La Hotel SZR)? Any feedback on FS2 in particular? Also, what time does the school end for FS2, and for older children? Does the day include sport or extra curricular activities? Thanks for your feedback!

943

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 18 March 2015 - 06:13

A friend of mine got a seat for her daughter in FS2 and when she went to confirm/accept the offer , she was told by the class teacher that the children will be put in different sections according to their nationalities !! she immediately decided against admitting her daughter there and luckily got through Dubai British School and is very happy there. Anyone else noticed this nationality divide in GWPS ?? I'm not sure that is true. It certainly wasn't true when my eldest daughter was in FS2 and isn't true for years 1-6. I would be shocked if this was true in FS as the school has a huge mix of nationalities which they pride themselves on. I know many people who have children in FS2 and my youngest will be joining FS2 in September and I have not heard this.

1029

Posts

EW OLDHAND

Latest post on 17 March 2015 - 19:58

True that it is not as popular and that it doesn't have an outstanding rating as other schools but I don't see this as a negative thing. I should have added below that the current Principal used to be the Principal at JPS and the school moved from a good to outstanding rating under his leadership. I wouldn't pay any attention to the ratings. Just saying...

37

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 March 2015 - 17:06

A friend of mine got a seat for her daughter in FS2 and when she went to confirm/accept the offer , she was told by the class teacher that the children will be put in different sections according to their nationalities !! she immediately decided against admitting her daughter there and luckily got through Dubai British School and is very happy there. Anyone else noticed this nationality divide in GWPS ??

sourskittleashnut

984

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 March 2015 - 16:56

ooooo thats very useful info, thanks SEY83!

943

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 March 2015 - 14:22

True that it is not as popular and that it doesn't have an outstanding rating as other schools but I don't see this as a negative thing. I should have added below that the current Principal used to be the Principal at JPS and the school moved from a good to outstanding rating under his leadership.

sourskittleashnut

984

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 March 2015 - 14:15

Thanks so much for your reply SEY83, I get a really good vibe from the school but I was unsure since it's not as popular as other primary schools like JPS and DESS. I'm glad to hear it's a good school, thanks again :)

943

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 March 2015 - 13:13

My eldest daughter goes to GWPS and my little one will be starting FS2 in September. I couldn't be happier with the school, there is a really good community feel and in our experience the staff members and management are great. There was a new Principal brought in September 2014 and since he has started there have been some great changes, I'm not saying that the previous Principal was not good, but I think the school is now moving to a higher level. The Principal and Vice Principals are very approachable and stand outside of the school greeting the parents every morning. My biggest concern in the school is Arabic and Islamic for native speakers (if this applies to you), there has been some disconnect with this part of the curriculum and the rest of the school. However, since the new Principal and Vice-Principal have been brought in there have been a lot of effort made to focus on these two departments, and to improve the caliber of teaching and teaching methods. This will be a journey for the school and it will be work in progress for a while until they reach the required standard. However, one could argue that this is a common issue in many of the schools in Dubai. Overall, very little in terms of negative comments in our experience, obviously everybody has their own opinion! ETA The fees are higher because the class sizes are smaller than most other schools, and they do not have more than 18 in a class. <em>edited by SEY83 on 17/03/2015</em>

sourskittleashnut

984

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 March 2015 - 12:26

Hello! Are there any recent reviews on GEMS Wellington Primary School? To be clear, this is the Wellington behind Shangri-La near Sheikh Zayed Road 1st interchange (Al Badaa area). The fees are more than Wellington International fees so I'm wondering if it's worth it?

62

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 24 November 2012 - 23:50

In my opinion the non for profit schools Jess and Dess (desc and dc for older ones) are the best but not always easy to get places. Also depends on the what curriculum you want, the fore mentioned are British. Good Luck, remember most important thing is that they are happy at school, that's when they'll achieve regardless of school :)

204

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 November 2012 - 14:43

RDW I would start by looking at schools that are within easy reach of where you live and see what you think of them first. This thread is about Gems Wellington on sheikh zayed road behind the shangri-la hotel so maybe very far from you and not necessarily better than a school much nearer.

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 November 2012 - 11:00

What i hear is that all GEMS have different rating so it is always a challenge to know. My little girl is 18 months old and I am really confused of where to start ! any advice would help !

10

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 November 2012 - 20:01

Hi cupcake girl, has your daughter started at GEMS? Am guessing this thread is about GEMS Wellington Silicon Oasis?? We are due to move out at christmas and our son is due to start there in FS1 in January. Would love to know what you think of the school so far? AMKCBrandon - what year is your little one in at GEMS? You happy with it? Really hope we've made a good choice of school!

542

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 20 July 2012 - 13:22

Hello all, My daughter has just got an offer from GEMs Wellington Primary School (the one behind Shangri-la hotel). She will be ging to FS1 in Sept 2012. They first told me that I had until a certain day to accept the offer, which I did. Subsequently, they have emailed me three times to ask (after the date the offer expired) if I was still interested in putting my daughter there. It is has given me a bad impression of the school's management. My daughter currently goes to JINS nursery - which I am very happy with and would have prefered her to be at the nursery one more year. But given the horror stories about FS2 being full and its not possible to get a place in a good school in F2, I considered putting her at GEMs now. I would appreciate any comments/experience you can share with me of GWP. Thanks all in advance - and stay cool in this very hot summer!! Schools do have sometimes very long waiting lists especially in the younger years so they need to know if you will be taking the place. If you are not they can offer it to the next one on the list. I think it is good that the school is trying to contact you to give you a chance to reply.

35

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 July 2012 - 10:03

Our son started there in FS2 last year and had such a wonderful teacher. He has grown in so many ways over the last year and I'm sure this is to a large degree to her good teaching. They were not afraid to point out that he needed speech therapy and accommodated the lessons (paid extra for these with their recommended therapist) during school hours. I know other schools might have just left him to struggle on. We're very happy with GEMS Wellington and hope you are too.

224

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 19 July 2012 - 13:10

My daughter will be attending GEMS in the fall. We all went for a visit on the last day of school (husband, daughter, myself). My husband has done a lot of school visits over the past year and this is the one we decided to go with. Obviously, I can't say for sure because we haven't had any experience from attending during the regular semester, but I will say that I was very pleased with what I saw, and we're very much looking forward to the beginning of the school year! (I just love seeing kids in uniforms and ties -- could they BE any cuter????)

295

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 19 July 2012 - 11:45

I haven't heard anything and I was also asking around as I fancy it for next year (2013) for my DS. I do know a lovely person that will be starting work there in September and if the rest of the staff are of a similar calibre it can't be half bad :)

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