An all through school GEMS Modern Academy, previously, Dubai Modern High School, looks after children from four to 18 years of age. The school is only one of two Indian schools to be ranked Outstanding by the KHDA (the other being The Indian High School) . Dubai Modern High School is a GEMS Education school.

The school was originally located in the Karama area of Dubai. It opened with 200 students in 1986 but grew rapidly firstly after its move to a campus located near the Mazaya Centre just off Sheikh Zayed Road, and most recently to Nad Al Sheba where it now based. It is currently home to over 3741 students (up 1000 in two years, and almost 1,500 in three years) with 228 teachers and 68 support teachers. Teacher turnover is 11%, low for the UAE, but more in line with Indian schools that suffer less from teacher attrition.

The teacher to student ratio is a 1:17 – mid to low for an Indian curriculum school.

The school follows the Indian ICSE curriculum with the IB Diploma offered for the post 16 phase. GEMS Modern has offered the IB DP since 2014, and the curricula makes some sense with the ICSE, certainly more so than with the CBSE which is less broad based.

According to the Dubai regulator, Dubai Modern High School provides an Outstanding quality of education, with attainment and progress across age groups (Primary, Middle and Secondary) ranked Outstanding for English, Maths and Science. Islamic Education and Arabic as a second language fall a little behind standard set elsewhere. Islamic education is rated Good, while Arabic is Good in Primary and Middle school, and Acceptable at Secondary level.

Outstanding leadership is noted by the KHDA.

As with other GEMS Education schools, Dubai Modern also aims to develop the person as well as the student, acknowledged by the KHDA which notes the school produces well rounded and confident individuals, as well as fostering talent at the school. In their most recent report (2016) inspectors note “very high levels of attention were given to each student in both the personal and academic fields.

This is important. Previous feedback from parents to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com had suggested too strong a focus on the academic over the ‘human’. GEMS Modern seems to have taken this on board and acted upon it.

While GEMS Education does not allow its schools to publish how well it does (or does not) do in external examinations, some clue that GEMS Modern does well is given by the note by the KHDA that “performance on external examinations and outstanding academic achievement allowed students to pursue their personal aspirations and career goals…”

The last exam results we have seen however were from the 2012- 2013 academic year, when 41 percent of GEMS Modern Academy students received an aggregate of 90 percent or above in the ISC ( Grade 12 ) Examinations and students achieved a 100 percent pass rate. Eleven of its students scored 100 percent in Mathematics. The school’s 10th Grade students obtained a 100 percent pass rate in the ICSE (Grade10) examinations with 45 percent receiving an aggregate of 90 percent or more in the examination…

It would be interesting to see how well the school has fared at the IB, where a more international benchmark can be applied.

If hard work is any indicator our guess is well: “The commitment of students and their dedication and devotion to the school made significant contributions to the dynamic learning environment.

Dubai Modern does publish university destinations. By far the biggest destination is the United States, which receives more students from the school even than India. Destinations include Columbia, Northeastern, University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech, Wharton and Yale. The school also sends a significant number of good Redbrick universities in the UK. The US bent for school leavers supports as commonsense the switch away from to ISC to the IB DP as an examination that carries international weight.

GEMS Modern Academy’s strong points clearly considerably outweigh the areas it needs to focus on. Students make outstanding progress in most key subjects, and the school serves as an example of parents as partners in their children’s learning. Students’ display excellent behaviour, “confidence, personal and social development and work ethic,” and there is a high quality of teaching across almost all the school, and outstanding support for students with special educational needs (1 in 10 students has been identified as having some form of SEN requirement).