GEMS Winchester School Abu Dhabi

The Gems Winchester School, Abu Dhabi (WSA) as the name suggests is part of the Gems Education Group and has been operational since 2013. The school was designed along the same lines as the highly successful GEMS Winchester School, Dubai. It follows the National Curriculum of England from FS 2 to Year 9. Ideally located in Al Danah, the school’s location is a huge convenience for the vast majority living in the city’s centre.

The school has over 1,513 students and in terms of the teaching and non-teaching staff, there are 74 teachers and 23 teaching assistants. The teacher-to-student ratio is 1:30 and in the foundation stage, it is 1: 20.

The school provides a safe, caring and personalised learning environment and is open to regular constructive communication with parents to ensure the child can be the best they can. The school places importance on developing a deep understanding of the skills necessary for the 21st century.

This guide by Bayut helps you discover more about the education and facilities of GEMS Winchester School, Abu Dhabi.

• Location: Al Danah
• School fees: AED 18,510 - AED 25,320
• Curriculum: The National Curriculum for England
• Co-ed or segregate: Co-education
• ADEK rating: Very Good
• Years offered: FS - Year 9

The school is in the centre of Abu Dhabi City and is easily accessible from the following areas:

• Defense Road
• Madina Zayed
• Al Falah street
• Najda Street
• Electra road

Parents can consider these apartments for rent if they are looking to move closer to WSA:

• Apartments for rent near GEMS Winchester School Abu Dhabi
• Villas for rent near GEMS Winchester School Abu Dhabi

The school campus is based on two adjacent buildings, one for primary and one for secondary students.

All classrooms are equipped with overhead projectors. Some have Promethean interactive whiteboards whilst others have pull-down screens. Internet connection is available in all the classrooms.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a key component in lesson delivery. Other facilities include a fully air-conditioned multi-purpose sports hall, a spacious auditorium, a small sports field, a large shaded quad area, Music and Art & Craft Rooms, well-equipped Science Laboratories and Computer Laboratories with an internet connection and multimedia facilities. In addition to the lab, there are many shared laptops and iPads available for students.

There are two shaded outdoor play areas specially designed for foundation stage students providing a safe environment to exercise throughout the year.

The school has a spacious students learning lounge designed to promote students to learn in different ways. This lounge is furnished in a unique manner so that students can make use of skills such as collaboration and critical thinking. The lounge area has a variety of technology including laptops, iPads and a fully interactive 72 inch LCD screen.

The WSA Library is well stocked, with a recent increase in the number of titles from 4,000 to 10,000 and 2,000 new Arabic titles. The school promotes initiatives such as the Summer Reading Challenge where students have to read 50 books during the summer vacation and produce a portfolio with book summaries. Other initiatives include celebrating famous authors such as ‘Roald Dahl’, and the DEAR Time: Drop Everything And Read where students are encouraged to read during their free time and are requested to bring an appropriate reading book to school every day.

GEMS Winchester School is in Al Danah, Abu Dhabi along 9th St. / Al Falah St. and Sultan Bin Zayed the First St.

The GEMS Winchester school is a relatively new school in Abu Dhabi and has been running successfully over the past six years. The location of the school, its curriculum, friendly approachable staff and management are the key highlights of the school.

The school, being a part of GEMS Education, enjoys the multiple benefits that they offer including the GEMS rewards program and the GEMS ambassador programs for parents. Students can apply for GEMS scholarships. Apart from these benefits, all teachers at GEMS schools are provided with periodic training and professional development for their teachers.

Each year the GEMS Winchester Abu Dhabi school makes a lot of changes owing to the strong parent partnership approach. Special care and attention is given to bring new ways to engage parents and children.

Students can use available resources to be innovative, develop leadership skills and to take responsibility for learning. The Students Involvement Program (SIP) promotes leadership opportunities where students lead morning assemblies, and older students support younger children. Students use ‘success criteria’ to support self- and peer-evaluation and engage more frequently in discussions, dialogue and reflection of their learning.

As the school follows a British curriculum supported by a clear rationale, the teachers are able to ensure students learning requirements are met for all key subjects. The access to a wide range of options provides older students with opportunities to develop their interests and talents.

GEMS Winchester School provides education from Foundation Stage 2 to Year 9. The educational system is composed of the following sections:

• The first phase of education at this school is the foundation stage. It consists of Foundation Stage 2 (FS2) for children aged 4 to 5 years old.
• The next phase of education is the primary section that consists of Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2).
• The secondary section consists of Key Stage 3 (KS3) classes.

Foundation Stage

The foundation stage is the most crucial stage of education for every child. At this stage, the basic concepts are established to help young learners understand the world and develop requisite skills for future education. To ensure the best possible start, the school adopts the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.

EYFS is a reputable early years’ education programme practised all over the world. It focuses on seven key areas of learning for the first two years of school. The areas of learning in the EYFS framework are:

The school covers all seven areas of learning in its syllabus by adopting a play and learn strategy. They follow a well-structured set of activities designed to cultivate the skills mentioned above.

Primary Stage

In the primary stage, the school follows the National Curriculum of the UK.

For KS1, students are gradually introduced to formal learning methods. Cross-curricular links and practical examples help students with their understanding of concepts. The subjects taught at KS1 are:

Please note that Social Studies is introduced from Year 2 onwards. Islamic Education is mandatory for Muslims whereas non-Muslims study Moral Education.

In KS2, the concepts introduced in Year 1 and Year 2 are further strengthened by introducing new depths to the curriculum. Subjects in KS2 are:

Geography, music, history, arts and physical education are taught thematically. By the end of the KS2, students have exceptional self-confidence and critical thinking skills. These skills allow them to adjust easily to the secondary phase.

In terms of language requirements, English is mandatory and modern European languages are also taught in the school. Learning Arabic is also compulsory. Native Arabic speakers are taught the Arabic A curriculum of the Ministry of Education, while non-native speakers learn the more basic Arabic B syllabus.

Secondary Years

In the secondary phase, students go through Key Stage 3 (KS3) and Key Stage 4 (KS4). These stages are also based on the British Curriculum.

It allows the learners to build the necessary skills to successfully complete external examinations. The subjects involved in this stage are:

ADEK carries out periodic evaluations of all schools and are based on six basic criteria as listed below:

• Quality of students’ work
• Quality of personal and social development as well as innovation skills of the students
• Quality of teaching and assessment
• Quality of curriculum
• Quality of student safety and wellbeing, as well as the guidance and support provided to them
• Quality of school leadership and management

ADEK inspected GEMS Winchester School, Abu Dhabi from 6th June to 9th June 2022 and rated it “Very Good.”

The report suggests that students’ attainment and progress in English, Mathematics and Science are very good. The teaching and assessment methods at the school are also very good throughout all phases. GEMS Winchester School, Abu Dhabi has very good health and safety procedures, governance, management and partnerships with parents.

The academic year at GEMS Winchester starts in August and ends in June.

• The first-term starts in the last week of August and ends in the second week of December. Students get a mid-term break in the last week of October.
• After a 3-week winter holiday, second term commences in the first week of January and ends in the last week of March. Students go on a mid-term break.
• After a 2-week spring break, students return to school for the third term in the second week of April. The term concludes in the last week of June.

Parents interested in GEMS Winchester School admissions can submit an online enquiry on the school’s website. After completing the online application process, parents receive an enquiry number that they should keep safe throughout the admission process for tracking purposes.

The school sends an email regarding further steps that must be followed. Parents must submit supporting documents with the application form to avoid delays. After the completion of the admission process, the school registrar contacts parents and sets up a meeting between the school’s education team member and the applicant. Students may need to sit for an entrance assessment to help the admission team determine the right class (grade).

• Applicants for Year 1 to Year 9 appear for a placement test
• Foundation Stage candidates must meet the school’s education team members.

After carefully examining the assessment results, the admission team makes the final decision. The school can:

• Offer a place to the student
• Place applicants on the waiting list
• Deny admission as the school holds the right to do so

These documents are required at the time of admission:

• Copies of student’s and parents’ passports with a valid residence visa.
• Two recent passport size photographs of student
• One photocopy of the original mark sheet of the last examination passed.
• Copy of student’s immunisation card
• Copy of birth certificate (attested by the consulates and embassies if the child is born outside the UAE.
• Original transfer certificate if the student is local or other Emirate’s transfer. (Duly attested by the educational authority concerned in the case of transfer from another Emirates.

If the student is an overseas transfer, the transfer certificate has to be duly attested by:

• The UAE Embassy in the country of origin
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the country of origin
• The District Education Officer of the concerned district
• The Consulate of the Concerned country in Abu Dhabi

To meet the age requirement, the child must be of mentioned age by 31st August of the academic year.

The GEMS Winchester School Abu Dhabi fees are as follows:

Please note that the 5% of annual tuition fee is due when the applicant receives an offer letter. This fee is non-refundable and non-transferable but adjustable against the first term tuition fee.

Fee can be paid using the following bank details:

• Account name : GEMS WINCHESTER SCHOOL ABU DHABI
• Account number: 019000004294
• Bank name: Mashreq Bank
• Branch: Al-Raqqa Branch
• IBAN: AE090330000019000004294
• IBAN Number:   AE090330000019000004294
• Swift Code:  BOMLAEAD

As part of the GEMS Education system, students can apply for a GEMS scholarship. GEMS Education offers merit-based scholarships for students excelling in Academics, Creative and Performing Arts, Sports, Innovation and Digital Technology or Arabic Studies.

The school canteen is clean and special care is taken to provide healthy snacks and drinks during break time. WSA has teamed with Slices – an external company based in the UAE. They provide healthy and balanced food options. Parents can sign up for a Slices card through the GEMS Connect app and students can use this card to pay for the food instead of carrying money. This card also allows parents to track what their children have eaten and set up limits on how much they can buy in a day.

School transport is managed by Bright Bus Transport, one of the leading providers of student transport services in the UAE. Students who use the transport service have to scan their ID cards which also lets the parents know when they have got on the bus and leave the bus through the Gems Connect app.

Term 1 Fee in AED	1,980
Term 2 Fee in AED	1,485
Term 3 Fee in AED	1,485
Annual Fee in AED	4,950

Parents can contact bus transport department directly on +971-2-552-7235.

A limited range of sports facilities ae available in GEM Winchester School Abu Dhabi. These facilities cover some of the sports-related needs of students. The campus has a multi-purpose hall used for physical education and indoor sports. There is also a small grass-covered football field.

WSA runs support classes after school with ADEK approval. These classes incur additional charges. WSA has collaborated with East Sports Management (ESM) – an international Sports Management Company governing all sports provision in school and ensuring delivery of programs are at a level of quality.

ESM provides sports activities at WSA from the following reputed organisations over the past few years.

• Clark Francis for Tennis
• Eurosport for Karate
• Evolve Football Academy for Football

The school organises a number of educational and social trips. Some of the past field trips include visits to places like Emirates Park and Zoo, Warner Brothers and Ferrari World.

The school does not provide any after school care. However, there are several after school activities available for children to enrol in.

This includes sports activities, music, drama, dance and more. Students usually stay back for an hour after regular classes end for after school activities. Those in squads also have to stay back for such after school practise sessions.

The school has a small clinic that serves as the facility to treat sick children and provide immunisation. A qualified nurse is manages the clinic and medicines are available for students. The school also maintains the immunisation and medical forms that parents have to submit at the time of enrolment.

The school maintains good communication channels with parents. Parents are updated weekly through newsletters sent to their email. The official website is also a primary communicator. The GEMS Parent Portal is available where parents can check on their child’s personal information.

Apart from these, the school also holds a parent and teacher meeting where parents can sit down with the teachers and discuss their child’s progress. Parents can also request and book to see the teacher in order to discuss any concern. Additionally, there is a year specific WhatsApp group that parents use to communicate with one another and the teacher.

• Telephone: +971-2-403-5499
• Email: registrar_wsa@gemsedu.com
• GEMS Winchester School Abu Dhabi Website
• GEMS Winchester School Abu Dhabi Facebook

Note that the cover image belongs to GEMS Winchester School Abu Dhabi.

What are the timings of the school?

The school is operational from 8 am to 3:30 pm.

How many years are there in the school?

GEMS Winchester offers classes from FS to Year 9.

Does the school follow a co-education model?

Yes, GEMS Winchester School, Abu Dhabi has a co-education model.

Please describe the academic calendar of the school.

The school year starts in August and ends in June.

Please mention the range of the tuition fee charged by the school.

AED 18,510 to AED 25,320

Does the school offer scholarship programmes to needy and deserving students?

Yes, the school has GEMS scholarship programme that offers merit-based scholarships.

How does the school communicate with parents?

GEMS Winchester strives to constantly communicate with parents and keep them informed through newsletters and emails. Parents can also access the parents portal or meet teachers in the parents-teacher meeting.

How many students are currently studying in the school?

GEMS Winchester School has 1,535 students.

Does the school have any special education programmes or learning plans for students of determination?

 Yes, the school accommodates students of determination and meets the needs of all students.

Does the school have a cafeteria or a canteen on campus?

Yes, GEMS Winchester School, Abu Dhabi has a canteen that has healthy food options.

Does the school arrange field trips?

Yes, the school takes students on field trips every year.

How many teachers are currently teaching in the school?

There are 74 teachers and 23 teaching assistants in the school.