If Dubai was mature enough to have an Ivy League school, Dubai College, established in 1978, would be first on its list.

That is not necessarily to say it has the best facilities, nor offers the “best education” (you would have to define what you meant by that), but it has been a top ranking school for so long that it is pretty much on every parents list when choosing a school. Which is often too bad – the waiting list to get in is very long indeed. According to details published in the past, the College receives between 3 and 4 applications for every place offered. While an abundance in new schools will have lessened the demand for places for schools in general, we would not be surprised if applications to DC have continued to grow. The school has a reputation for excellence, and pretty much delivers on that year in, year out.

The school’s achievements are recognized by its parents who would overwhelmingly recommend it. In both 2013 and in 2015 it came in the Top 20 most recommended schools in the UAE, its recommendation rating rising from 83% to 86% over the 24 months.

School leadership has recently seen Michael Lambert take the helms as principal. Mr Lambert is clearly keen on making sure the school is well known for more than academic success, and unlike his predecessor, the venerable Peter Hill, Lambert clearly wants to embrace old or new media to promote the school in a wider context, using both to communicate his vision for education at the college and the UAE. He makes very good reading.

In total 870 students enrolled for 2015-16, slightly up on the previous year, aged from 11 to 18 years with just under half from the United Kingdom. There are 90 full-time teachers, including the Headmaster and a senior management team.

The school says it has 34 students with special educational needs – less than 5% of the student population. Improving provisions for SEN is one of the few areas recommended for improvement made by the KHDA (2014/15). There are also only 10 Emirati students in the school’s population, again a very low figure.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the limited space given over by the KHDA to required improvements in its 2015/16 report emphasise greater inclusion, or more accurately to “define more clearly the inclusive nature of the school’s admissions policy to the wider community…”

In addition the school is asked to “build upon the effective foundations set for the development of Islamic education and Arabic as a first language to improve students’ progress.”