Al Basma British School, Abu Dhabi

Al Basma British School was originally launched as Giggles English School in 1980. It was later renamed and relaunched in September 2014. As the name indicates, the school offers the British curriculum throughout all grades. Al Basma School offers classes from Early Years to Grade 12 in a co-educational setup.

Giggles English School operated in six villas in the centre of Abu Dhabi and offered classes from KG to Grade 6. The school had to move after ADEK ruled that villa schools have to relocate to purpose-built school buildings to ensure modern and student-focused features.

The school has 1,450 students, which is the maximum capacity. 49% of the school population is Emirati. 79% of students are Arabs, but the total population comprises 50 nationalities who speak 27 languages. 5% of students are identified with SEND requirements.

The school has 108 teachers, mostly from the UK. 24 teaching assistants support them. The teacher to student ratio in Al Basma School Abu Dhabi is 1:14.

The school is based on the Abu Dhabi outskirts but is close to many residential communities. Some of them are:

• Al Raha Beach
• Al Reef
• Al Rahbah
• Al Falah City
• Al Bandar

Al Raha Beach is one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods on the Abu Dhabi outskirts. The area is a mixed-use district and has a 5.2 million sq.m. natural beach shoreline offering a luxurious waterfront lifestyle. Al Raha Beach was among the top areas for buying apartments in 2019.

Al Reef is an ideal residential area that ranked among the most popular ones for buying villas in Abu Dhabi in 2019. It is divided into sub-communities. Al Rahba is a family-friendly community ideal for small families and offers many amenities.

Those interested in living closer to the school campus can consider:

• Apartments for rent near Al Basma British School
• Villas for rent near Al Basma British School

Al Basma School has premium facilities including a fine art studio, media studio, digital room, creative and performing arts room, library and specialist science laboratories. All learning rooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards and technology-enabled learning resources. Al Basma School has children-friendly and child-appropriate play areas.

Sports facilities include outdoor sports grounds, a 25-m swimming pool and a huge multi-purpose sports hall.
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An extension is planned for the school with one more pool, a sports hall, a dining room, **AI Lab, STEM Lab, art studio, a performance arts room and inclusion suites. The new facility will also have 33 more classrooms.

Al Basma British School is based in Al Bahia on Al Bahyah Street. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Road is a short drive away that connects it with other parts of Abu Dhabi.

Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Road, E11, is connected to Al Bahia through 4th Street, Al Shahama, providing access to nearby areas including Al Reef and Airport Road.

Al Basma British School has shared its set of IGCSE results to keep up with its transparent approach. Publishing IGCSE results also makes celebrating the school’s and students’ achievements possible. The school’s highest achiever got 7 A and A* grades. Al Basma School students were among the highest performers in the GCSE in the UK.

Al Basma School has a robust, vibrant and educationally challenging atmosphere, making school life enjoyable for students. The school ensures a healthy and safe environment for students and encourages them to participate in healthy activities. Graduating students are motivated and go on to achieve economic well-being. The school’s success is measured against students’ outcomes.

With students belonging to different nationalities, Al Basma School teaches students to value and respect diversity. The school has the vision to play its part in the global community and provide future creators, innovators and leaders.

The goals of Al Basma British School are:

• To give equal learning opportunities to all students
• To ensure academic success
• To foster well-rounded and bilingual students
• To keep strong links with parents and promoting home learning
• To effectively use innovative technology
• To value and respect UAE identity and values
• To offer a world-class and affordable British education to nationals and expats in Abu Dhabi

Basma British School Abu Dhabi offers classes from KG1 to Grade 12. All classes are divided into three sections including:

• Early Years: KG-1
• Primary: KG-2 to Grade 5
• Secondary: Grade 6 to Grade 12

The school follows the National Curriculum in England leading to IGCSEs and A-Levels. Requirements set by the Ministry of Education is followed particularly for Arabic and UAE Social Studies. Islamic Studies is compulsory for Muslim students.

EYFS Curriculum is followed in Early Years especially in KG-1. Students get an engaging and enjoyable learning environment in this section. The learning atmosphere in Early Years classes ensures maximum learning for students. Al Basma School Abu Dhabi uses play-based and structured activities with a fine balance between both teacher-led and student-initiated play.

Prime areas of the curriculum at this stage are:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Creating relationships
• Making students self-confident and self-aware
• Managing students’ feelings and their behaviours

Physical Development

• Handling and moving
• Students’ health and self-care

Literacy

• Reading and Writing

Mathematics

• Numbers
• Shape, Space and Measures

Understanding The World

• People and communities
• The world
• Technology

Expressive Arts and Design

• Exploring and using media and materials
• Being imaginative

Progress of students is monitored through close observation, their work samples, e-portfolios and meeting with parents.

The primary curriculum is split into two stages:

• Key Stage 1 includes KG-2 to Grade 1
• Key Stage 2 includes Grade 2 to Grade 5

In Primary Years, children study a more structured curriculum and teaching methods are developed to ensure students receive personalised learning. Ability based and mixed-ability classes are offered at the school.

Secondary classes come under Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.

• Key Stage 3 includes Grade 6 to Grade 8
• Key Stage 4 includes Grade 9 and Grade 10

Key Stage 3 follows the National Curriculum of England. Both academic and personal success in these phases is achieved through a dynamic and challenging curriculum. It emphasises solving problems through practical tasks. The National Curriculum of England does not encourage the use of textbooks; instead, teachers use other resources.

In Key Stage 4, students begin their IGCSE journey. These are external exams taken when Grade 10 ends. The exam papers are marked and set by independent and internationally recognised bodies.

Key Stage 5 includes Grade 11 and Grade 12. This stage is the final part where students attempt their AS and A level examinations. Both are the national academic qualification of England and well-recognised worldwide.
Students are taught religious education in all key stages.

ADEK inspected Basma British School from 13th January to 16th January 2019 and rated Very Good. In the previous inspection, the school got a Good rating. It improved and worked on recommendations made by ADEK during the previous inspection to get the Very Good rating.

Students’ achievements, as well as their personal, social and innovation skills, are very good. According to the Al Basma British School ADEK Rating and report, teaching and assessment are very good and its curriculum is also very good. Students get outstanding care, guidance, protection and support from the school. The school leadership and management is very good.

The strengths of Al Basma British School Abu Dhabi are:

• Overall achievement, particularly of KG students in Mathematics and English
• Students’ behaviour and their relationship and attitudes towards learning
• The way students respect the UAE heritage and culture
• Curriculum and the way it supports the needs of all students, especially encouraging English-speaking skills
• Safety arrangement, care and health support towards students
• Leadership that is led by the principal in partnership with parents
• The way leadership provides an inclusive learning community.

The school needs to make the following improvements.
Further raise students’ attainment particularly in Arabic by:

• Ensuring modelling and use of accurate and precise standardised lessons in Arabic and Arabic conversation in Arabic medium subjects
• Developing students’ skills of research, enterprise and innovation
• Including the use of technology in learning

Al Basma British School should continue strengthening the middle leadership teams’ effectiveness by:

• Further supporting the planning between Arabic and English medium middle leaders and teachers
• Sharing the best practices for planning, assessment, the teaching of language skills across all subjects of the curriculum

The school has to work on developing the use of external benchmarking for proper assessment by:

• Comparing international standards with internal assessments to further support individual target setting and personalised learning goals

Al Basma British School admissions use an open approach of accepting students from different races and ethnicities to achieve fairness, equality and transparency in the school. Interested parents can visit the school website and fill the registration form. To complete the admission process, the form has to be submitted with some documents.

For admission, the age criteria set by ADEK has to be followed.

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

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

Once the form is successfully submitted, the application and other details are then reviewed by the admission department. If the details match the school’s criteria, the school contacts parents and invite the child to appear for an interview.

All communication is through email. Parents should make sure they provide the correct information at the time of admission. If any detail is wrong, the admission can be cancelled.

The school provides an application number. This application number is important for future correspondence. The completed application form should be printed.

Applicants for Kindergarten stage are not required to take an entrance exam or interview. Applicants for Grade 1 and onwards are required to take placement tests to ensure their performance level. The school also interviews students with mild to moderate special needs, so it can provide proper learning and psychological support to such students.
The school offers priority if there are more admission requests than available seats. Priority is given to:

• Students who have attended the school in the previous year or period
• Children of the school staff
• Students who live near the school
• Students with siblings already enrolled in the school.

Below is the list of documents compulsory to be submitted with the application form:

• Completed admission form
• Student’s Emirates ID card (front and back) or student’s passport page (if Emirates ID is under process)
• Most recent report card from the current school
• One coloured copy of the valid passport of the student
• One coloured copy of valid residence visa page
• Two coloured copies of attested birth certificate
• Six recent passport size photographs
• Original UAE ID
• Two coloured copies of student health insurance card
• Two coloured copies of vaccination card
• Latest copies of water and electricity bill
• Final mark list/latest mark list available at the time of application
• One coloured copy of valid residence visa page for parents
• One coloured copy of the Emirates ID card of parents
• One copy of the family book for UAE nationals
• Vaccination card

All the above documents should be scanned in a CD/USB flash drive. All documents must be in English and Arabic. Documents in any other language must be translated and attested.

Al Basma British School fee structure per annum is as follows:

The school encourages students to eat healthy and small snacks for THE morning break and a substantial, healthy meal during lunchtime. The school canteen offers food and drinks. Cold snacks are sold during break and hot and cold meals are available for lunch.

Students who bring home-packed lunches should have their name and class mentioned on the lunch box. KG-1, KG-2 and Grade 1 students can take their lunch in their classrooms. The canteen staff go to the classrooms with trolleys of hot and cold food for those who want to buy canteen food.
Al Basma British School has a nut-free food policy, as children tend to have nut allergies. The school discourages the use of any kind of nut in home-packed lunches or snacks. The school canteen is not operational before, during or after school hours. It is only open during lunch and break times.

The school menu includes snacks, sandwiches, salads and hot food. Snacks cost between AED 5 to AED 6.50. Sandwiches and salads cost AED 10. Hot food includes chicken pasta, biryani, noodles and white rice with butter chicken and costs between AED 10 to AED 15.75.

The school offers a transportation service for students. Students who commute via school bus have to wear an RFID badge with a chip to enable parents to track their child’s location during the ride. Parents receive text messages when the child enters and leaves the bus. Parents have to make sure their child wears the badge each day, to ensure the child has boarded the right bus.

At the bus stop, the child is handed over to a parent or responsible adult. Each school bus has a nanny to look after the child during the journey.
All school buses comply with ADEK school transport regulations. Each bus has seat belts, GPS and cameras to further ensure the child’s safety.

Basma British School has several sports facilities. Some of them are:

• Badminton
• Football
• Dodgeball
• Bench ball
• Swimming

Sports Club and Sports Variety Club are two of the school’s premium clubs. Students are encouraged to participate in physical education.

Extracurricular activities are offered to all students. Clubs are also offered in Phase 2. Some of the clubs and activities include:

• Book Club
• Crochet and Embroidery
• Chess
• English Catchup
• The Ted Talk Club
• Art Club
• Horrible Histories
• Craft Club
• Quiz Club
• Board Games
• Fun Club
• Hand Writing Club
• My Identity
• Bug Club
• Arabic
• Zumba
• Go Noodle Club
• Cooking Club
• Mindful Colouring
• Sign Language
• Computing Club

All students are taken on planned field trips. Secondary level students have been taken to Saadiyat Beach, Escape Rooms and Ski Dubai. Grade 7 girls and boys were taken to Warner Bros and Legoland in Dubai. Younger students from Grade 1 to Grade 3 visited Khalifa Park Library and Museum and Heritage Village. Kindergarten students enjoyed their visit to Falcon Hospital.

A wide range of after-school activities is offered on Wednesday from 3 PM to 4 PM. Parents can get details about clubs by signing up on the school portal. All seats are available on a first-come-first-served basis. School transportation services are not offered after school dismissal, so students participating in after-school activities must be collected by their parents. Students should be picked up before 4:15 PM. Three late pickups may result in withdrawal of after-school activities.

If any student needs any medication during school hours, the school nurse is responsible for administering the medication. To administer the medicine, the nurse should have signed permission from the parents with clear dosage instructions. Unstable children are sent back home if they refuse to get any assistance from the school nurse.

Children who experience anaphylactic allergic reactions are administered EpiPen in the school clinic that should be clearly labelled with the student’s name and class in a clear plastic box. Students who have asthma should have an inhaler clearly labelled with their name in the clinic.

Basma British School organises Meet the Teacher events in September, where parents are invited to communicate with teachers. Termly parents evenings are also part of the parent engagement programme. In the meetings held at the end of the academic year, parents can review their child’s progress set against the targets. Parents whose children are new joiners can set their child’s target in the meeting.

For students of Nursery and Kindergarten, a student diary is used as the mode of communication between parents and teachers. From KG-2 and onwards, email is the preferred method of communication. Regular reminders are also sent via text messages. The central point of contact is the homeroom teachers. Teachers’ email addresses, published in the first newsletter of the year, are also available at the school reception. The next person to get in touch with is the Grade or subject leader, senior teachers, AVPs and VPs and then the school principal. For meeting the principal, an appointment can be booked.

Al Basma Parent Teacher Team is a supportive and less regulated body that meets when required for organising school calendar events. The parents’ team also hosts coffee mornings once a month.

The school parents’ team have also set up a WhatsApp group and a Facebook page to keep parents well informed. Further details regarding the group and page can be obtained by emailing at tamanna.a@albasmaschool.ae. Parents are welcome to participate in parent-led events throughout the year.

• Telephone: +971-5-562-3454
• Email: info@albasmaschool.ae
• Al Basma British School Website
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Note that the cover image belongs to Al Basma British School