Uptown School, owned and managed by Taaleem, is an IB based, Mirdiff located school that currently takes children aged from 3 years of age to 15 (Foundation to Year 10). Grades 11 and 12 will be added in 2015/16.

Uptown School, a member of the Taaleem family of schools offers exclusively the International Baccalaureate curriculum to students from 3 to 15 years of age.  The maximum number of students per class is 25 with most Secondary classes averaging around 18 per class. The school has held IB World School status since 2009.

The school has had its first KHDA rating since its move to its new location. Its Primary School had been rated consistently Good by the education regulator – and the “new school” has picked up from where the Primary left off. It too has been rated Good by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB).

Total enrollment for 2014/15 is 1250 students (up from 1052 in the previous academic year). An impressively diverse 81 nationalities are represented in the student body, but the single largest grouping of students at the school is Emirati who, in the school’s last KHDA report, accounted for one fifth of students.

Faculty and staff number 176 (up from 120 in 2013/14) with 109 (up from 89). The school also requires all teachers who do not hold education degrees to have university level teaching certifications in addition to their university degrees.

The primary section follows the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP). The secondary section follows the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP). The school is now a candidate school for the International Diploma Programme (IB DP) with first delivery to commence in 2015 academic year at Grade 11.

According to the school’s latest DSIB evaluation, the school has continued its good progress and attainment across core subjects at Primary and KG (which has adopted the UK’s EYFS framework) levels, but attainment is rated Unsatisfactory for Maths and only Acceptable for English for the school’s Mid Year Programme. A recommendation is to accelerate the progress students make at this level. Given this is the first year of the IB MYP at Uptown, the current rating is understandable – although the school will not want to take this rating into a second year.

The report noted that the progress of primary students in Arabic has accelerated due to skilled teaching.  The Curriculum quality and design was rated outstanding in all areas (KG, primary and middle years)

The school’s new location offers considerably more space for students with the facilities separated into buildings for KG, Primary and Secondary on one campus. The school says it is now able to offer a more diverse range of performing arts, athletics, extra-curricular and academic opportunity to enrich the development of each student. Its arts program includes a violin ensemble, junior and senior choirs, percussion band and MYP rock band ensemble. Students also parrticipate in the World Scholars competition and Model UN academic teams. The move to the new campus has allowed for formation of a competitive dance team and expansion of sports teams with junior and senior swim squads, football teams and girls netball teams which compete in the Dubai Athletic Schools Sports Association (DASSA).

Key strengths of Uptown include the highly positive attitudes and good behaviour of its students, which contributes significantly to “the harmonious climate within the school’s multicultural community”, an outstanding curriculum with engaged and motivated students, modified imaginatively to meet the needs of different groups; a safe and supportive environment for all students, including those with special educational needs, and an “outstanding, principled and insightful leadership”.

Note, a fairly significant one-fifth of students have been identified as having Special Educational Needs (SEN). As with (almost) all schools in the emirates, SEN provision comes at an extra cost to parents. According to the school, there are a “limited number of seats for Special Education Needs (SEN)” and “support is offered to students who may require it to access the stringent curriculum”.

Feedback to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com on the primary school is notable for the use of the word “happy”. The school does seem to have created an inclusive environment that appeals to parents, teachers and most importantly to its pupils, who for the most part, look forward to going to school.