Dubai Modern Education School (DMES) is a private K-12 school located in Al Mizhar near Mirdiff, Dubai. The school was first established in 1996 with just over 70 students, a number that has since has grown to approximately 2500, over two thirds of which come from local, Emirati families. Thirty nationalities are represented as a whole.
DMES as of 2014-2015 received the KHDA inspection grade of Acceptable. It is the sixth year in a row it has been ranked at that level – since inspections began.
The school employs 240 full and part time teachers – over thirty of whom have been employed in the last academic year. That gives Dubai Modern Education School a teacher to student ratio of just over 1 to 11 – well resourced. Teachers are said to have relevant qualifications.
The principal, Hind Mohammed Lootah has recently taken over from Dr. Farouq Ghanem, who had been in the position for over 15 years. That is some serious shoes to fill, although clearly, having held an Acceptable rating only for a prolonged period, Ms Lootah can stamp her mark on the school. This may already be happening – the KHDA notes in its report “a newly developing culture for change… already influencing school improvement.”
Fairly unusually (although the school is not alone in this), Dubai Modern Education has two sections: one follows the Ministry of Education curriculum and the other follows a US curriculum. There are different fees for each.
According to the KHDA the school has a “few strengths”: Students’ understanding of Islamic values and their cultural awareness is strong and teacher-student relationships are generally positive and caring.
Elsewhere however, it’s work in progress. Key areas of focus are Dubai Modern Education School’s leadership structure, Improving the quality of teaching; Reducing unnecessary teacher control in lessons; Providing more opportunities for critical thinking; Using assessment information more effectively to match work to students’ needs; and to use externally validated assessments to moderate the school’s own assessments and to give staff, the students and their parents, a realistic view of students’ attainment in an international context.
Dubai Modern Education School currently rates as unsatisfactory for assessment, and for matching the curriculum to individual student needs.
Parents are broadly positive about the school, and largely believe children make good progress. Students themselves are also largely positive, but wish for more extra curricula activities. Students seem very loyal to the school.
Fees, as notes, vary depending upon the curriculum. Full details may be found below.
