New Academy School

Established in September 1990, New Academy School (NAS) is a primary and secondary American school to educate students from different nationalities. Atticus Education L.L.C manages the school.

This multicultural educational institute educates children aged 4 to 18 years. Currently, the school consists of around 1,300 students belonging to 46 different nationalities. To meet their academic and non-academic needs, the school offers a nicely built campus with outstanding indoor and outdoor facilities. The teaching staff at the school has over 97 full-time teachers and 26 teaching assistants. Most teachers at New Academy School are Egyptian passport holders; however, teachers from 20 other nationalities also represent the school. The teacher to student ratio at the campus is 1:13, ensuring considerable individual attention and care.

The educational syllabus followed at this school is an amalgamation of US-based programmes with Arabic and Islamic values. A wide range of school facilities offers an enjoyable educational and learning experience. The New Academy School KHDA rating is acceptable.

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the syllabus, facilities and other vital information about New Academy School.

New Academy School is in the Al Raffa community of Bur Dubai. Due to its outstanding location, it is close to vital residential communities in Dubai. Some nearby neighbourhoods are:

• Al Hudaiba
• Al Karama
• Al Badaa

Al Hudaiba is the nearest residential community to New Academy School Dubai. It mainly encompasses apartment buildings, a few villas and various commercial opportunities.

• Apartments for rent near New Academy School
• Apartments for sale near New Academy School
• Villas for rent near New Academy School
• Villas for sale near New Academy School
• Townhouses for sale near New Academy School

Despite being developed in 1990, the school has offered relatively modern facilities to its students. The school renovated most of the indoor facilities within the building. The campus sprawls around 110,000 sq. ft., with most of its area dedicated to outdoor playgrounds, sports and parking facilities. Some notable facilities at the campus are as follows:

Science Labs

The school has separate science labs for students in the elementary, middle and senior stages. The elementary science lab is meticulously designed and equipped with resources to ignite innovation and critical thinking skills. Safety is given paramount importance, and all the procedures are carried out under the supervision of an experienced lab assistant. The middle and secondary stage science labs support collaborative and individual experiments. There also exists a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lab for middle and high school students.

Library

New Academy School encourages children to develop good reading habits. For this purpose, the campus has two spacious and well-stocked libraries. The elementary library has all the reading resources suitable for Grade 1 to Grade 5.

Technology is an integral part of the school libraries. Students can use their own devices or computers available in the library. NAS also has a separate library for middle and high school students with resources, including subject books, reference materials, fiction and non-fiction books and databases. This library is also equipped with technological resources to help students learn.

Music Room

New World Academy supports students learning in music by its well-developed music room. It has numerous musical instruments, such as piano, violins, drums, guitars, etc.

Art Room

There also exists an art room where students can develop their interest in painting and drawing. All the creative art resources are available to aid students in their projects.

NAS Auditorium

The school has a spacious auditorium called NAS Auditorium that is equipped with modern and high-end sound and lighting equipment. Here, New Academy School conducts school events, music performances and dramas.

Other Facilities

Other noteworthy facilities at the campus include:

• Canteen
• Sports area
• clinic

These areas are described in detail in the latter part of this guide.

New Academy School (NAS) is on 14C Street in Al Raffa, Bur Dubai. The school is ideally situated near the New Gold Souq building and is easily accessible in most Dubai areas. Those looking to visit the school can access it through Al Mina Road and Kuwait Street.

Despite following the American curriculum, the school offers a bilingual environment to its children. Since most students are from a non-English background and very few speak English at the time of admission, the school implemented a bilingual education programme to offer the best educational experience. The bilingual environment has made it a popular choice among parents afraid of admitting their children to purely English medium schools.

Diversity is another attractive feature of this educational institute. The school welcomes students from different ethnic backgrounds and fosters a culture suitable for all. The numbers also suggest the successful implementation of highly inclusive policies, as students from over 46 nationalities co-exist. It is one of the main core values of the school, ensuring a quality education for all students.

The syllabus is an amalgamation of different core standards followed in the US. More importantly, the school also fuses its programme with the UAE National Curriculum for some subjects. The fusion helps the school to implement the best syllabus for each subject. New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and other American boards have accredited New Academy School.

Another feature of New Academy School, Dubai, is its value-based fees structure. It is an affordable option for many parents compared to other American schools.

The New Academy School offers education from kindergarten to Grade 12. The school has a structured academic programme:

The educational programme offered at New Academy School revolves around the American curriculum. For subjects such as Mathematics and English, the school follows the US Common Core State Standard (CCSS). The school follows the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) and California State Standard for science and other relevant subjects. Based on the requirements laid by the Ministry of Education (MOE), the school offers Arabic and Islamic education to children based on UAE National Curriculum.

Kindergarten School

A characteristic feature of this school is that it adopts a formal education programme from the kindergarten stage. Here, the school offers practical and valuable experiences to help young students learn new things. The programme also establishes a close relationship with home and parents, leading them to adjust quickly in the elementary stage. The school follows California Common Core State Standards for English, Arts and Mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards for Science in the KG stage. Also, the MOE curriculum is used for Arabic and Islamic Education.

The school considers growth characteristics and development needs for students aged 4 to 5 years and make teaching plans accordingly. It offers outdoor activities where students learn the art of teamwork and develop physically. On the other hand, indoor activities focus on developing fine motor skills.

Elementary School

In the elementary stage, the educational programme focuses more on students’ holistic learning and social development. Teachers with expertise in the English language teach English, Mathematics and Science. At the same time, Arabic-speaking teachers teach Islamic Studies and Arabic. They also use cross-curricular integration to strengthen the lectures.

The pastoral care team at New Academy School also guides and supports students and their parents for better education.

The subjects involved in the elementary stage are:

Middle School

In middle school, it follows the departmentalised structure of education. The curriculum for the middle school uses the skills learned in the previous stage and enhances the concepts through specialised subjects. Students are exposed to extra-curricular activities and rigorous homework that supports students’ needs in middle school. The subjects taught in middle school are:

High School

In high school, the school follows a rigorous curriculum incorporating CCSS, NGSS, MOE standards, American Psychological Association (APA) and the International Society for Technology and Educational (ISTE). They meticulously designed the curriculum to enhance students’ readiness for college education. The subjects for each grade in high school are:

Grade 9

Grade 10

Grade 11

Grade 12

To oversee the quality of education in Dubai, the government of the UAE established the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). KHDA aims to improve the quality of education offered by the educational institutes in Dubai and ensure the continuous development of the education sector. Therefore, KHDA inspects and rates schools annually based on a six-point scale: outstanding, very good, good, acceptable, weak and very weak.

In its latest inspection for the year 2019-20, it maintained an acceptable rating for the sixth consecutive year. Before that, KHDA rated them as a weak school. The 10-year history of the KHDA ratings for New Academy School is as follows:

The positives highlighted in the latest inspection by KHDA are:

• The school has placed a very strong system to ensure the health and safety of students.
• Rapid improvement in most aspects of school’s performance because of strong leadership, effective governance and supportive parents.
• The quality of education in high school is of good standards
• The education standards in KG standards are improving
• The personal and social development and learning skills of students are also improving.

Nevertheless, specific weaknesses require immediate attention. KHDA recommended the following:

• Promote consistent teaching and elevate students’ attainment in internal and external examinations, especially in the elementary and middle school phases. For this, share the best teaching practices, improve teachers’ effectiveness in using assessment data, improve teachers’ class management skills and develop high order thinking skills among students.
• Improve self-evaluation accuracy by aligning judgements with the framework’s descriptors.

NAS has an academic year of ten months spanning August to June. The school splits the educational activities into three terms, which are as follows:

• The first term starts in the last week of August and ends in the second week of December.
• After a three-week winter break, students return for the second semester in the first week of January. The term concludes in the fourth week of March.
• Students go on a two-week spring break and return for the final semester in the second week of April. The term concludes in the first week of July.

The application process at New Academy School starts by contacting the school’s administration through telephone or email. They will arrange a meeting with the school’s registrar to assist parents in the school tour. At this stage, parents need to fill out the form available at the school’s admission office for the child’s registration.

After submitting the registration form, the school will contact the parents for a placement test. Once the placement test is cleared, parents need to submit a registration fee of AED 4,000. Please note that the registration fee is non-refundable and non-deductible from the tuition fees.

The documents required to complete the admission process are:

• A copy of child’s birth certificate
• A copy of passport on which child’s name exists
• UAE Emirates ID card of parents and the child
• A copy of vaccination card of the candidate
• Five recent (6 x 4) passport size photographs (for admission in kindergarten)
• Three recent (6 x 4) passport size photographs (for admission in Grade 1 and above)
• Transfer certificate
• Report card

Please note that the transfer certificate must have the year of group placement, date of enrolment, the date the child left the school, along with school stamps and signatures.

The age-grade guideline is as follow:

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

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

In case of not meeting the school’s criteria, the school might offer conditional offers to parents. These offers require the parents to submit further educational documents or let their child take crash courses before reappearing for the entrance test.

For further information, read the detailed admission process at New Academy School.

The New Academy School fees are:

• Admission Fee: AED 1,000
• Assessment Fee: AED 300
• Seat Reservation: AED 1,000

The tuition fee charged by the school are:

For further information, view the fees structure of New Academy School.

The school does not offer any scholarship options.

The school has a well-furnished canteen that provides a range of snacks, sandwiches and juices for students who wish to buy their lunch. Students often bring their packed lunch from home.

New Academy School understands the need for transportation services for its students. Unlike most of the schools in Dubai, New Academy School manages its transport operations. The fleet includes highly maintained buses that comply with the strict rules and regulations by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

The school does not offer any boarding facility to its students.

To help students learn new skills, the school arranges a summer camp known as NAS Summer camp. The camp involves a wide range of activities including art, music, dance, painting, swimming, sports and visits.

A limited range of sports facilities are available for students at New Academy School, which are:

• Soccer field with artificial fields
• Basketball courts
• Swimming pool

Besides sports facilities, the school also has play zones for kindergarten students.

The school believes that extra-curricular activities are essential for the progress and development of children. They offer several extra-curricular activities that keep students entertained. One of the popular extra-curricular activities at this school is the environmental awareness programme. This programme includes Water Alliance UAE and school assemblies to keep students aware of different concepts. The school also arranges field trips for learning and recreation, book fairs and health and fitness awareness programmes such as participation in Dubai Fitness Challenge.

The school attempts to expand the learning of the students beyond the boundaries of their classrooms. They arrange several field trips throughout the year to ensure that students learn and have fun together. Recent field trips arranged by the school include visits to Splash ‘n’ Party, LEGOLAND Dubai, Burjuman Mall and Al Raffa Police Station.

Currently, the only after-school care is in the form of extra-curricular activities. The main after-school activities are related to art and crafts.

The school has a well-equipped clinic managed by a full-time nurse. A part-time doctor is available to provide medical check-ups for students.

A cornerstone of a school’s success is its open communication with parents. It also considers strong communication as imperative for its success. It communicates with parents through several modes of communication.

The most prominent mode of communication at New Academy School is the parent portal. This parents’ portal provides all the critical information, such as students’ progress, feedback from teachers, notifications for upcoming events, attendance records and examination schedules.

They have made it easier for the parents to access the necessary information by developing a mobile app. The MograSIS-Parent App is available on both Android and iOS devices.

Parents and teachers can contact each other on school designated WhatsApp groups for urgent updates and queries.

Address

• New Academy School Location: New Academy School, P.O. Box: 11439, Street 14 C, Al Raffa Area, Bur Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

For general enquiry

• Telephone number: +971 (4) 398-8873
• Email address: info@newacademyschool.com

Website and Social Media

• New Academy School Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Note that the cover image belongs to New Academy School