Abdulla bin Zubair (ABZ) Private School, Abu Dhabi

Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School, also known as ABZ School, is a primary and lower-secondary school in Al Ain. This co-curricular school was founded in 2012 in the Al Maqam – a popular district in Al Ain. ABZ School offers quality education to students following the National Curriculum of the UK for all its stages. The curriculum is enriched with extra-curricular activities and after-school clubs resulting in all-round skills.

ABZ Private School is a small yet inclusive school that has students from different parts of the world. Over 280 students are part of this school, including Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian citizens. However, the largest nationality group in this school is the local Emiratis. The teaching staff of 27 full-time teachers and 7 teaching assistants teaches them. The student to teacher ratio at this school is 1:10 that allows plentiful attention and care. ADEK rated the performance of the school as acceptable in its latest inspection report.

Read this guide by Bayut to learn more about Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School.

Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School is located in Al Maqam, Al Ain. Al Maqam is a quiet suburb with outstanding amenities. Residents can find educational institutions, hospitals, restaurants and supermarkets at short driving distances.  The communities surrounding the school are:

• Asharej
• Al Khabisi
• Al Yahar

Asharej is the nearest residential community from ABZ School Al Ain. Asharej is known for its spacious villas and proximity to the United Arab Emirates University. It is a gated community where residents can enjoy the luxury of modern villas and easy access to shopping malls, restaurants, and hospitals. Al Khabisi and Al Yahar are also viable residential communities where residents can rent both apartments and villas.

The campus of Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School has incredible facilities. Outside the school building lies a huge parking area secured with CCTV cameras. Classrooms at this school are of international standards. They are equipped with modern teaching resources, including reading corners and interactive screens, used for formal and informal learning. Spacious corridors within the school building are also monitored via CCTV cameras.

ABZ School also has an ICT lab where students receive computers and IT-based knowledge. There also exists a well-stocked library to encourage reading habits among students.

The school also has a range of sports and outdoor facilities including football and volleyball courts, shaded playground, swimming pool and a multipurpose play area. These facilities are extensively used for extra-curricular activities.

The school is located on 39th Street in Al Maqam district of Al Ain. Those interested in visiting the campus can access it via Shakbout Bin Sultan Street and Khalifa Bin Zayed Street, connecting the school with the nearby communities.

Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School is a quality educational institute following the British National Curriculum. It is a popular educational programme known for its sound academic foundations and non-curricular opportunities. The school follows Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2) in the primary stage and Key Stage 3 (KS3) in the lower secondary stage. Students completing their education from schools following the National Curriculum of the UK get admission in top colleges and universities across the world.

ABZ School has modern facilities throughout the campus. Students have access to a small library, ICT lab and modern classrooms with learning zones. The school also has a wide range of sports facilities to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Students can find football courts, volleyball courts, a swimming pool and shaded playgrounds.

Besides education, the school also focuses on developing lifelong skills. For this purpose, the school has a comprehensive extra-curricular programme that results in well-rounded skills. ABZ School has over 40 after-school activities that are split into creative, physical, musical and academic categories.

Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School has the following stages of education:

Abdulla bin Zubair Private School follows the National Curriculum of the UK for kindergarten, primary and middle school programmes. Key Stage 1 (KS1) covers the educational needs of students in KG1 to Grade 1. Whereas, Key Stage 2 (KS2) prepares students in Grade 2 to Grade 5. The school’s education is in line with the international standards and the school is in process of applying for the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) accreditation.

Early Years’ Education and Key Stage 1 (KS1) Curriculum

In the early years of education, ABZ School focuses on developing students skills based on the following six areas of learning:

• Creative development
• Personal, emotional and social development
• Knowledge and understanding of the world
• language, communication and literacy
• Reasoning, problem solving and numeracy
• Physical development

Students are exposed to many indoor and outdoor opportunities where they are given opportunities to explore the world around them. Teachers use play-based interactive sessions to develop fundamental concepts in literacy and numeracy. The school assists students in fine-tuning students’ motor skills.

In KS1, the school focuses more on independent learning. Students are encouraged to use their inquisitive nature to learn.

Key Stage 2 (KS2) Curriculum

In KS2, the school introduces students to formal learning based on the National Curriculum of England. Students in Grade 2 and Grade 3 use the skills they learnt in the previous stages via questioning, enquiry and answering. In Grade 4 and Grade 5, students are exposed to more challenging opportunities by broadening the learning areas. The learning areas are supported by independent and collaborative projects and practical activities. Students after completing Grade 5 are ready to enter the next educational endeavour – the middle school phase.

Middle School Curriculum

In the middle school stage, students are prepared for external examinations. The core subjects taught to students are:

• English
• Mathematics
• Science
• Art
• Geography
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
• UAE Social Studies
• Islamic Studies
• Arabic

Learning at Home

The school supports the teaching lessons delivered in the classroom with their ‘learning at home’ initiative. The school believes that students can continue to learn outside the school hours. ABZ school assists families in supporting the students’ learning at home in a variety of ways. Open morning, family workshops, housework are the primary sources of students’ learning at home. This also engages parents in the students’ learning.

Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) is a governmental body that regulates the education sector of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra. It was established in 2005 by Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Through its Irtiqaa programme, ADEK inspects the performance of schools every 18 to 24 months and issues a detailed report with the performance rating. It uses the following six performance standards to gauge the school’s performance:

• Students’ achievement
• Students’ personal and social development and their innovative skills
• Teaching and Assessment
• Curriculum
• The protection, care, guidance and support to students
• Leadership and Management

The six-point rating scale used by ADEK ranges from outstanding (best) rating to very weak (worst) rating.

ADEK last inspected the performance of ABZ School for the academic year 2019-2020. In the latest report, ADEK rated the performance of the school as acceptable. Ratings for each of the performance standards are as follows:

• Students’ achievement – Acceptable
• Students’ personal and social development and their innovative skills – Good
• Teaching and assessment – Acceptable
• Curriculum – Acceptable
• The protection, care, guidance and support of students – Good
• Leadership and management – Good

The strengths of the school observed by ADEK are:

• Most teachers at this school effective plans the learning to ensure students make at least expected progress in most subjects
• Students’ attendance
• Leaders engaging parents in school life

ADEK also shared a set of recommendations to assist Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School to attain better ratings in the future. The recommendations are:

• The school needs to focus on students’ achievement in all subjects. For this, the school needs to improve students’ speaking and writing skills. It also needs to enhance students’ vocabulary in English and Arabic. Teachers can also work on the mental mathematics and independent learning skills of students.
• ABZ School Al Ain also needs to improve the effectiveness of teaching. The school can achieve it by improving teachers’ use of questioning, identifying and sharing best practices and implementing strategies to develop students’ creativity, problem-solving, innovation and critical thinking skills. It can also work on improving the use of assessment data by teachers for planning.
• The school must also work on the impact of leadership and management by comparing students’ achievements with benchmarks and develop evaluation skills of teachers in the middle school. Students’ achievement in mathematics, science and social studies has improved

The academic activities at Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School start in August and end in July. The year is split into three terms. The first term starts in the last week of August and ends in the second week of December. The second term starts in the first week of January and ends in the fourth week of March. The last term starts in the second week of April and ends in the first week of  July.

Students expect a three-week winter break in December and a two-week spring break in March and April.

The admission process at Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School is straightforward. Parents interested in enrolling their kids in this school either need to submit the online application or fill in the application available at the admission office.

Before applying, the school encourages parents to visit the school to familiarise themselves with the location, facilities and educational provisions. Book a tour by contacting the school’s admission department.

The following documents are required with the completed admission request form:

• Two copies of student’s and parents’ passports with valid UAE residence visa
• Two copies of family books (for UAE nationals only)
• Eight recent passport-size photographs of students
• Two copies of the attested birth certificate
• Two copies of legally translated birth certificate (in English or Arabic)
• Previous school reports
• Two copies of vaccination record and health insurance ID
• Two copies of Emirates ID of students (also bring the original card for scanning)
• Transfer certificate (those applying in Grade 1 and above)
• A copy of utility bill (preferably electricity bill or rental contract)

For those applying from schools outside the UAE, the transfer certificate must be in Arabic or English and must be attested by the previous Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UAE Embassy in the previous country.

Once submitted, the school will inform you about the date of the interview or entrance test. The school carries out an interview session for admission requests in kindergarten and an entrance test for admission in Grade 1 and above. Entrance test gauges students’ skills in English, Arabic, mathematics and science.

The school will inform the outcome of the interview/entrance test in a few working days. If successful, fill out the registration form available at the admission office along with the registration fees.

This is based on the age of the students on 31st December (for schools beginning in September). Source: ADEK

* This is to cater to students transferring from systems that admit students of a younger age)

For more information, read the admission process of ABZ School Al Ain.

The fee structure of Abdulla bin Zubair Private School is as follows:

Currently, the school does not have any scholarship programmes for its students.

The school has a transportation service offering a safe and reliable transport service. The school has a fleet of well-maintained buses with modern safety facilities.

For more information, contact the school’s administration.

Abdulla Bin Zubair School is a day-only school that does not offer any boarding or hosteling facilities to students. Students participating in after-school programmes can stay longer than regular school hours. If students cannot reach school on time or live far from the school, they can opt for the school transport service. Parents can also move to nearby areas for convenience. If interested, check out the residential communities near Abdulla Bin Zubair (ABZ) Private School section at the beginning of the guide.

The school does not offer any holiday camp for students. Parents can enrol their children in holiday camps provided by external holiday camp providers.

In the modern-day world, sport is a crucial part of the non-curricular programme in schools, colleges and universities. The comprehensive sports programme allows the school to focus on the physical development of students. It also strikes a balance between the academic and non-academic activities to facilitate well-rounded abilities among students. ABZ school has a range of sports facilities at the campus, including:

ABZ School Al Ain understands the importance of a well-developed extra-curricular programme in the holistic development of students. The ECA programme at the school includes over 40 activities ranging from academics to sports. The school tweaked its approach to non-curricular activities by adopting the approach of the International Baccalaureate programme. The extra-curricular activities offered at this educational institute are aligned to the areas of Creativity, Action and Service (CAS). Students are encouraged to take part in multiple activities of their choice. The expected outcomes of the ECA programme at Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School are:

• Undertaking new challenges
• Developing new skills
• Increasing awareness of strengths and areas for growth
• Planning, initiating and leading activities
• Demonstrating perseverance and commitment to activities
• Working with others
• Considering the ethical implications of actions
• Engage with global issues

Some noteworthy extra-curricular activities for different age groups are:

The school arranges several field trips throughout the academic year to engage students with the outdoor environment. This serves as an opportunity for students to learn about the surrounding environment. The most popular field trip arranged by the school was the visit to the planetarium show. On that trip, students learned about the outer space and planets within our solar system. Other popular field trips were visits to

• Mubazzarah Park
• Al-Ain Mall

The school has an after-school programme with school clubs that support the extra-curricular programme of ABZ Private School.

Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School Al Ain considers communication crucial to its success. Effective communication between the school and parents allows teachers to cater to the educational needs of students. To facilitate communication, the school has several modes of communications:

The school arranges family workshops, parent-teacher conferences and open mornings to establish a positive relationship between teachers and parents. Parent-teacher conferences allow teachers and parents to discuss the progress made by students. In family workshops, the school shares expert opinions on how to elevate students’ learning skills.

The school has an official website and social media presence where they share the latest developments with parents and the wider community. ABZ School also has WhatsApp groups for urgent enquiries.

• Address: ABZ School, Behind Al Maqam Health Centre Al Ain, UAE
• Telephone Numbers: + 971 03 7680551 and + 971 03 768053
• Email Address: HR@abzschool.com
• Official Website
• Facebook

Note that the cover image belongs to Abdulla bin Zubair (ABZ) Private School