GEMS Wellington Primary School

Please note that the GEMS Wellington Primary School is closing its operations at the end of the academic year 2021-2022. Students will be transferred to the GEMS Wellington Academy Al Khail.

GEMS Education Group established GEMS Wellington Primary School (GEMS WPS) as a not-for-profit school in 2008. GEMS WPS commits to inspire ethical and intellectual excellence among students. It is one of the popular GEMS British Curriculum schools in Dubai that educates from Foundation Stage to Year 6. Its well-balanced educational programme fully supports the all-round development of students. The KHDA rating for this school is very good.

Currently, a teaching staff of 84 teachers and 49 teaching assistants supports the learning of over 1100 students. GEMS Wellington Primary School teachers are experienced and qualified. GEMS WPS is truly inclusive, as students belonging to more than 70 different nationalities co-exist. Besides ethnicity, the school also has 10% of students requiring special education needs. Located parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road, the emphasis of GEMS WPS is to provide quality education by utilising the state-of-the-art facilities available within its campus.

GEMS Wellington Primary school Sheikh Zayed Road prepares its students to contribute to society with honesty and integrity. It provides a caring environment where students feel valued and understood. As a result, students reach their maximum potential in an inclusive and secure environment.

This Bayut’s guide on GEMS Wellington Primary School reviews the facilities and education provided at the school.

The residential communities located near GEMS Wellington School include:

• Al Wasl
• Jumeirah
• Downtown Dubai
• DIFC
• Bur Dubai

The nearest community is Al Wasl, which is a quiet and family-friendly residential area. It is considered to be an ideal community as it offers a perfect environment for children to grow. Parents of children studying in GEMS Wellington School, looking to shift near the school, will find spacious apartments to luxurious villas in Al Wasl.

• Apartments for rent near GEMS Wellington Primary School
• Villas for rent near GEMS Wellington Primary School

The school’s campus is a purpose-built campus with ultra-modern facilities to support the needs of primary students. The available facilities are as follows:

Classrooms

Classrooms at GEMS WPS are spacious and bright. They are equipped with modern learning resources, including ICT support, to aid in students’ learning.

The Library

The school library gives students access to a broad range of materials, resources, and books. The library includes study areas, reading corners, spaces for student groups and PC workstations that are available for children accessing information through the internet, CDs and DVDs.

The Music Department

There are four music rooms in GEMS WPS. They have an impressive collection of different instruments from all over the world that includes keyboards, percussion and orchestral instruments to name a few. Having all these resources at hand allow students to expand their understanding and appreciation for music and hone their musical skills.

Art Room

GEMS WPS has two art rooms with world-class facilities. The largest art room of the campus is the main art room where students work with thermocol, clay and other arts-related material. The art rooms are also used to display the creative artefacts made by the children.

Meeting rooms and parent areas

GEMS WPS also has several administrative areas where parents of the students are entertained. These areas are equipped with comfortable seating arrangements for parent-teacher discussions. It also has a waiting area where parents wait for their children to return from their classes.

Other facilities

The school also has several other facilities including separate science labs from Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2) as well as a discovery room for KS1. 2 ICT suites are also available with workstations for students, smart boards, multimedia projectors, iPads and MacBooks. The school also has outdoor facilities for sports.

The location of GEMS WPS is behind Shangri La Hotel in Al Satwa. When approaching the 1st Interchange (Defence R/A), individuals coming to the school are advised to take the exit that leads towards Al Wasl / Jumeirah.

The school is located right next to the Al Badaa Health centre at 308th road, Dubai. GEMS WPS is also close to Al Salaam Hotel suites and Number one tower suites Dubai. Due to its proximity to the Sheikh Zayed Road and Downtown Dubai, the visitors might face traffic issues in the morning.

The management of GEMS WPS believes that the education of students should be fun and practical, allowing them to learn. By keeping this in mind, GEMS WPS provides a curriculum that is stimulating and ensures that children have access to a significant amount of practical experiences. They can enjoy an extensive range of opportunities including regular field trips and guest lectures. All this give them the required exposure to encounter real-life scenarios.

Another feature that attracts the parents to enrol children in GEMS WPS is the balance between academic and extracurricular activities. The school’s facilities not only support the best educational services but also supports students’ personal and social skills through extra-curricular activities.

As a part of the GEMS Education group, it offers a global classroom experience, sharing the best teaching techniques and strategies adopted in schools operating around the world. Potential students at GEMS become an integral part of the worldwide network of GEMS schools that include more than 250,000 students from nearly 150 countries.

Another strength of GEMS WPS school is its diversity. The school has over 1100 students from 70 nationalities. This helps in the formation of an inclusive environment where students embrace people from different cultures. Moreover, the teaching staff at school is predominantly Britishers. The student to teacher ratio at the school is 1:13, ensuring plenty of individual attention and care. Students completing their primary education from GEMS WPS are given preference in other British schools by GEMs Education.

The government of Dubai has issued protocols to assist schools in the safe reopening of schools. All the GEMS Schools, including the GEMS Wellington Primary School, adopt the following protocols:

• GEMS WPS sterilises the campus with hospital-grade anti-viral disinfectants that were proven effective SARS and MERS. Additionally, the school cleans AC vents, toilets and other frequently visited places. Hand sanitisers are also installed throughout the campus.
• Students above six years old and staff members need to wear a mask at all times. The cleaning staff is also instructed to use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while performing their duties.
• The school checks the temperature of students and staff at the entry points. Those exceeding temperatures above 38-degree centigrade are isolated and returned to the home.
• Teachers are responsible to ensure students practice social distancing. Students’ seats are separated by 1.5 metres.
• GEMS WPS has hired trained professionals and set up a dedicated team to manage operations during COVID-19 pandemic.

Other initiatives include limiting school activities, reducing school bus capacity, installing signage and posters on COVID-19 awareness throughout the campus. For more information, check out the health and safety policy and measures of GEMS WPS.

The school offers Primary education for children from Foundation Stage (FS) to Year 6.

The curriculum at GEMS WPS complies with the National Curriculum of England. The curriculum is highly flexible as it allows schools to maximise their effectiveness by making amendments to meet individuals’ needs.

The school underpins its educational programme by the core values of GEMS Education. This ensures that students of GEMS WPS have universal values and leadership qualities, understand world citizenship and are forward-thinking individuals. This not only allows students to be well prepared for the attainment of academic success but it also equips them for being responsible learners for life. Thus, it helps in developing proactive members that have all the necessary skills to tackle modern-day challenges.

GEMS focuses on preparing the students for a bright future in a world where technology and globalisation are the key drivers of change. There is a focus on using ICT for an enhanced learning experience that draws heavily on the use of global resources.

Foundation Stage

For FS1 and FS2, GEMS WPS adopts the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. They use a combination of indoor and outdoor activities to develop learning and critical thinking skills. The play opportunities for FS1 and FS2 students include construction, role-play, investigative play and use of sand, water and other materials.

GEMS WPS aims to use first-hand learning experience to develop early communication skills. The foundation stage students also participate in weekly Arabic, Music and Physical Education (PE) classes. They also take part in school’s events such as Book Week, STEAM Week, the International Fair and other extracurricular activities.

Key Stage 1

For Key stage 1 (KS1), the school follows the National Curriculum of England. However, GEMS WPS attempts to make the transition from foundation stage to KS1 as smooth as possible. They adopt strategies that stimulate curiosity and interest in learning. Besides, teachers use assessment tools to evaluate student’s performance and take actions to support their learning.

The subjects taught to students in KS1 are:

• Science
• English
• Mathematics
• History
• Art and Design
• Geography
• Computing
• Moral Education
• Physical Education
• Arabic
• Social Studies
• Islamic Studies (for Muslims only)

Apart from academic activities, students are also encouraged to take part in extracurricular activities including field trips.

Key Stage 2

The School’s curriculum for KS2 is engaging and innovative. It is specifically designed to meet the requirements of students from Year 3 to Year 6. The teaching plans are skillfully designed to ensure a cross-curricular link between core subjects. The core subjects for Key Stage 2:

• Mathematics
• English
• Science

Besides these subjects, Moral Education and Social Studies are integrated throughout different areas of the curriculum.

The school has an active distance-learning programme for students to continue their education at home.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is a government organization responsible for the growth and quality of private education in the UAE. They inspect private schools in Dubai with judgments made on a six-point scale of outstanding, very good, good, acceptable, Weak and Very Weak.

The KHDA rating of GWPS is very good. Here’s the history of the KHDA’s rating for GEMS Wellington Primary School so far:

The following are the main strengths highlighted by KHDA in its latest inspection report:

• The students of Foundation Stage in GEMS Primary Wellington School in Dubai have shown outstanding development.        
• Their continuously evolving curriculum and an extensive array of extra-curricular activities offer a wide variety of learning experiences.·        
• High-quality care and individual support to the children due to its highly inclusive environment.·        
• The exemplary overall behaviour of students and relationship with each other.·        
• Use of parent-school partnerships, vibrant educational environment and exceptional facilities to support students’ learning.

However, KHDA believes that GEMS WPS can achieve better ratings by working on the following recommendations:

• The school can work on the attainment in Arabic as the first language by elevating teachers’ expectations, aligning internal assessments with the adopted curriculum and using the students’ progress information to bridge learning gaps.
• To build on the impressive teaching skills and expertise demonstrated in most of the subjects. Leaders need to monitor the impact of teaching on learning for different areas and teachers to consistently use assessments to challenge students.

• GEMS WPS’s academic year starts with the autumn term in the first week of September. 
• The autumn term concludes in the second week of December which is followed by a winter break of 3 weeks. 
• Spring term starts in the first week of January and ends in by the fourth week of March, followed by a 2-week break. 
• The final summer term starts around the second week of April and concludes by the first week of July.

For more information, view the GEMS Wellington Primary School calendar.

Please note that the school will be closed after the end of the academic year 2020-2021.

The admissions policy of GEMS WPS is highly inclusive. The school accepts the admission application irrespective of gender, ethnicity or religion. After applying, each student has to undergo a placement test or an interview. Interviews are usually for admissions in the foundation stage. Whereas, formal entrance tests are taken for admissions in Year 1 and above.

Since it is difficult for schools to arrange face-to-face school tours, GEMS Wellington Primary School offers virtual tours to parents. In fact, the school now has a virtual admission centre to assist parents throughout the admission process.

The decision to offer admission depends on the outcome of the assessment test, previous academic record and other relevant documents provided by parents. GEMS WPS makes sure that parents are informed of their decision within two working days after the placement test. To apply for GEMS WPS, fill the online admission application form.

The age-grade guideline followed by GEMS WPS are:

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

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

Required Documents

For registration, the following documents are required:

• A copy of the passport of the child plus entry stamp of UAE and residency page
• Two recent passport size photographs (white background)
• A copy of the passport or legal guardians/parents with an entry stamp of UAE or residency page
• A copy of Emirates ID of parents/guardians and child
• Copies of the last two school reports of the child for children that are entering Year 1 and above
• Transfer certificate 
• Previous academic record as it is important in decision making
• 2 copies of the birth certificate of the applicant (attested if the Country of Origin is other than the UAE)
• Full details of immunity and vaccinations of the child
• A non-refundable registration fee of AED 525 inclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT)

Transfer certificate

As per the new regulations set by KHDA, transfer certificate are mandatory for admission in schools. GEMS Wellington Primary School will not proceed with any admission application without a transfer certificate.

For students outside the UAE, it is essential to communicate with the registrar and admission office to understand the requirements of an accepted transfer certificate. The main requirements for a transfer certificate are:

• Child’s full name
• Enrolment date in the previous school
• Child’s date of birth
• Date of child’s leaving the school
• Last studied Grade/Year
• Studied curriculum
• Original school stamp and signature of the headmaster/headmistress

Please note that children coming from schools other than Australia, Europe, New Zealand, USA and Canada need to get their transfer certificate attested by the following authorities:

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Dubai)
• UAE Embassy (Country of the previous school)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Country of the previous school)
• Ministry of Education (Country of the previous school)

For new students, a registration fee of AED 500 is non-refundable if the applicant refuses to accept the admission offer. However, it will be refunded if the school fails to offer admission. Furthermore, the school also charges a re-enrolment fee of 10% of the annual tuition fee. The re-enrolment fee is non-refundable but adjustable in the tuition fee for the first term. For existing students, the re-registration fee is 5% of the total tuition fee. The GEMS Wellington Primary School fees are as follows:

Sibling Discount

A sibling discount of 15% and 25% is available for the third and fourth child, respectively. Fees can be paid in cash, cheque, debentures or by bank transfer.

For more information, view the fee structure of GEMS Wellington Primary School Dubai.

GEMS have introduced one of the largest opportunities for scholarship within the UAE. It is a merit-based scholarship programme that rewards students excelling in Sports, Creative and Performing Arts, Arabic Studies, Academics and Innovation and Digital Technology. The candidates can benefit from a concession that ranges from 25% to 100% off the yearly school fees.

The school encourages students to bring home-packed lunch, as GEMS WPS does not have a cafeteria or canteen. It strongly emphasises on healthy eating habits among children by incorporating them into their curriculum. To create awareness among children, teachers and parents, the school arranges workshops and parent support programmes. Besides, the school gathers the data on lunch boxes to improve health education for children.

GEMS Wellington Primary School provides school transportation service to its students. For this purpose, it collaborated with the School Transport Services LLC (STS). It is a highly renowned transport service provider for its quality, security and safety. They operate a large fleet of school buses with state-of-the-art security and safety systems. It ensures a safe and reliable commute as per the regulations and specifications laid by the Road Transport Authority (RTA) Dubai.

STS works in close collaboration with the school administration to ensure students and parents receive the best possible service. STS bus service is available for students from Foundation Stage 2 to Year 6. Following are the areas covered and fees charged by STS:

• Satwa, Al Bada, World Trade Centre, Business Bay, Downtown Dubai – AED 7,450 per annum
• Bur Dubai, Al Barsha 1, Al Barsha 2, Al Barsha 3, Al Karama, Oud Metha, Umm Suqeim 1, Umm Suqeim 2, Umm Suqeim 3, Al Quoz, Al Safa, Jumeirah 1, Jumeirah 2, Jumeirah 3 – AED 8,500 per annum
• Springs, Meadows, Deira, Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Lake Towers, The Gardens, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Park, Tecom, Discovery Gardens, Jumeirah Beach Residence, The Green – AED 9,550 per annum

Please note that STS only provides drop off facilities to students living in JVC and Arabian Ranches. The transportation fee for these areas is AED 6,950 per annum.

The school has reduced the school bus capacity to ensure a safe travelling environment for students. To gain further information, contact the school transportation representative on amrutha@stss.ae.

Currently, the school does not offer any boarding facility to its students.

For GEMS WPS, ESM multi-activity camps are one of the leading providers of holiday camps for children aged 4-14 in the UAE. ESM has successfully created a strong reputation for itself by consistently emphasizing on what children and parents want through creating a camp environment that allows children to learn and develop in a fun-filled environment.

The collaboration of ESM and GEMS WPS ensures that students have access to the best possible learning resources in a safe and secure environment.

Furthermore, it has attained this important objective as it is committed to providing stimulating and engaging activities in a positive and secure environment.

ESM provides an optimum balance of arts and crafts and sports activities. It also ensures each session is perfectly suited to the ability and age of the camper. Also, ESM academy offers discounts on early bookings.

The school has suspended holiday camps for now due to COVID-19 protocols. GEMS WPS will let you know regarding the status of these camps before the start of holiday camps.

Swimming Pool

At GEMS WPS, the 20-metre swimming pool with 4-lane is available for secondary students. It is a temperature-controlled swimming pool that allows students to swim in winters. Separate showers and changing rooms are also available at the poolside for students. There also exists a small swimming pool with shallow depth for foundation stage and primary students.

The swimming pool is currently closed to ensure the health and safety of students amid COVID-19.

Multipurpose hall

It has a multipurpose hall that provides an indoor space for various sports including basketball, football, tennis, badminton and table-tennis.

Outdoor courts

The school also has 2 outdoor courts for basketball.

Multipurpose 4G field

GEMS WPS also has a multipurpose 4G field dedicated to invasive games, fielding and striking activities.

An integral component of the GEMS WPS is their extra-curricular activities. They have developed a separate programme named Extra-Curricular Activity (ECA) programme to meet the non-academic needs of children.

The school provides an extensive variety of activities for children, especially conducted after the completion of the academic programme. Staff members also encourage students to join clubs that develop, extend and enrich their learning experiences.

Students from Year 1 – 6 (6 – 10 years old) have an opportunity for taking part in two ECA per week and various other externally provided activities of their choice. ECA activities are available for Children in FS2 from the second term.

The activities available to students include:

Research has also illustrated the significance of parental engagement in the growth and prosperity of a child’s education.

KS1 basic activities

For KS1, some basic activities include dodgeball, a puzzling world, Disney club & art attack.

KS2 basic activities

For KS2, some basic activities include origami, advanced chess, choir, terrific textiles, dance fever, and school orchestra. For further information, contact s.selorio_wps@gemsedu.com.

GEMS WPS has suspended some of its extra-curricular activities to comply with COVID-19 regulations. The school will keep parents updated regarding the status of these activities on official platforms.

GEMS WPS also offers field trips to its students. Through field trips, the school attempts to expand students’ horizons by exposing them to practical outdoor situations. In addition to co-curricular field trips, the school also takes them to fun activities like Snorkeling, abseiling and animal encounters. One of the most popular field trips at GEMS WPS is the trip to Switzerland. Students of Years 4, 5 and 6 were taken on a trip to the famous mountains in Switzerland where they skied and enjoyed their time.

Field trips are postponed for an indefinite period because of COVID-19 virus.

Currently, the only after-school care taken at GEMS Wellington Primary School is in the form of extracurricular activities. These activities start at 2:30 PM from Sundays to Wednesdays and 1:30 PM on Thursdays. Parents of the participating children can wait for their children in the waiting areas.

Currently, after-school care is unavailable because of COVID-19 pandemic.

GEMS WPS has a fully-equipped medical centre that takes care of students and staff with minor to moderate illnesses and injuries.

Close communication with parents lies at the core of the GEMS partnership approach. Keeping parents and guardians in the loop with regards to child progress is an important component of GEMS educational policy.

Research illustrates just how important engagement of parents is for the achievement of students. Therefore the school ensures various options for parents and teachers to communicate with each other. From written reports and consultation evenings to having an open-door policy, the management makes sure parents communicate with the school at every stage.

Another popular mode of communication at GEMS WPS is the parent portal. Parents can access vital information such as academic progress, feedback, attendance record, notifications and much more.

3-a-day, the mobile application used by all the schools belonging to GEMS Education Group, is an easy to use tool that provides daily ideas to allow parents to get involved in their children’s education.

• Address: 308th Road, Al Satwa, Dubai, UAE.
• Telephone number: +971 4 343 3266
• Email: registrar_wps@gemsedu.com
• Website
• Facebook Page
• Twitter page
• Instagram

Note that the cover image belongs to GEMS Wellington Primary School