The Philippine School

The Philippine School (TPS) was inaugurated in February 2008. The school was based in the community of Al Twar and later relocated to Al Rashidiya in 2010. TPS finally settled in Muhaisnah, a residential district located in the northeastern region of Dubai, in 2017.

TPS Dubai follows the Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum or the Philippine curriculum from kindergarten until Grade 12. The primary language of instruction is Filipino while students learn English as an additional language. Choosing Filipino as the official language is a step to make the transition into the education system back in the Philippines easier in case students move back home.

In addition to this, The Philippine School of Dubai offers Arabic Studies, Islamic Education, Moral Education and Social Studies to comply with the requirements of the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Currently, more than 2,300 students including 29 children with SEND requirements receive education from The Philippine School in Dubai. As expected, most students are Filipino. The current student body is served by 122 teachers and 15 teaching assistants making the teacher to student ratio 1:19 – a sign that TPS can improve the amount of individual attention and adaptation of the curriculum.

The Philippines School was given a ‘Acceptable’ rating for the academic year 2019 – 2020. Nonetheless, The Philippine School Dubai is amongst the few Filipino schools in Dubai that are serving the Filipino community in the emirate.

Situated in the busiest part of Muhaisnah, the school is easily reachable from several family-friendly neighbourhoods such as:

• Al Twar
• Al Mizhar
• Oud Al Muteena
• Al Rashidiya
• Mirdif

The nearest residential neighbourhood is Al Twar. It is an affluent residential area dominated with villas. Some major landmarks in the community include Al Wafa Hypermarket and Dubai Police Headquarters.

Those who prefer to live near the school can check out:

• Apartments for rent near The Philippine School
• Villas for rent near The Philippine School

The Philippine School campus is large and has all the necessary amenities. Spacious classrooms with adequate seating arrangement are accessible through airy and bright hallways and lobby. To support academic lessons, there is a Science laboratory, an ICT lab, a SEN resource room and a music room. One can also find a clinic and canteen at TPS.

On the other hand, students of all ages can make the most of an outdoor coerced court to engage in various sporting activities such as basketball, volleyball and football.

The Philippine School’s location falls in Muhaisnah 2, a sub-community of Muhaisnah. Since the school is situated near Tunis Street in a busy locality, you will find local restaurants, grocery stores and a mosque in the surroundings.

Even though the performance of The Philippine School Dubai in previous years leaves a lot to be desired, the new principal has clear goals to turnaround the situation. Similarly, the newly established governing council is striving to inculcate their experience, skills and knowledge in the classroom learning through new strategies.

The Philippine School is fulfilling the need for an all-through Filipino education facility. It offers classes from kindergarten until Grade 12.

The Philippine School Muhaisnah Dubai has age placement guidelines for students. Below is a breakdown of the grades and the relevant age bracket for each phase.

Phase 1 / Kindergarten

Kindergarteners are introduced to formal education through enquiry-based learning processes. The little ones are encouraged to comprehend and learn basic skills such as numeracy and literacy with little interference from classroom teachers.

The key areas of learning at this stage include:

• Socio-Emotional Development
• Values Development
• Physical Health and Motor Development
• Aesthetic Development
• Mathematics
• Physical and Natural Environment
• Language, Literacy, and Communication

Phase 2 and 3

The Philippine School curriculum for Phase 2 and 3 is a bit more challenging than the previous stages. The school holds frequent assessments and activities to make lessons more challenging and encourage students to perform better. Children are encouraged to participate in extra and co-curricular activities at this level.

Subjects offered from Grade 1 to Grade 10 include:

Phase 4

Phase 4 is the most important phase as students will undertake final examinations to earn a high school diploma. Here, TPS School Dubai offers fifteen (15) core and sixteen (16) non-core subjects. Out of these sixteen non-core courses, seven are applied subjects and nine are specialised subjects.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) inspects the private schools in Dubai and ensures these schools are contributing positively to the Emirate’s education sector.

The KHDA oversees the quality of education, curriculum, students’ performance and campus provision provided by the private schools. Also, fee structures are finalised after the approval from the authority.

Finally, the schools are rated annually on a six-point scale ranging from ‘Outstanding’ to ‘Very Weak.’ The ratings are published in the report produced by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB), an entity of the KHDA.

Presently, The Philippines School KHDA rating **is ‘Acceptable.**’ However, the principal of the sister campus in Abu Dhabi has taken over The Philippine School Dubai and is expected to initiate the much-needed change in the school provision.

According to the DSIB report, students’ attainment, senior leadership and self-evaluation programmes need major improvement.

Student’s progress and attainment are quite low in Islamic Education and Arabic Studies. The report suggests that teachers must have higher expectations from the students and challenge their abilities frequently. Similarly, the quality of teaching needs to be improved especially where students of determination are concerned.

Further, the report recommends TPS Muhaisnah to improve the effectiveness of the overall leadership by clearly defining and stating the roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of all the staff members including Heads of Departments, teacher and teaching assistants.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of redeeming qualities of the school such as student’s better social and personal development and their remarkable attainment in Filipino. Also, The Philippine School Muhaisnah has maintained a good relationship with parents.

The Philippine School’s academic calendar runs from August to July with three breaks.

• The first term starts in the last week of August and ends in the second week of December, followed by a 3-week winter vacation.
• The second term starts in the first week of January and ends in the last week of March, followed by a 2-week spring break.
• The third term starts in the second week of April and ends in the last week of June, followed by a 2-month summer holiday.

The school remains open Sunday through Thursday. The Philippine School timings are from 08:00 am to 02:50 pm. The school office is open on Saturdays as well from 08:00 am to 12:00 pm.

The school entertains students on a first-come-first-serve basis. The Philippine School Dubai admission process for the next academic year starts from December of the same year. The registration dates are always announced on the school website and social media accounts.

To initiate the registration process, you need to visit the registrar at the school to collect the application form. Please note that you have to fill the form at the school and submit the following mandatory documents.

• Three recent photos of the child
• A copy of the birth certificate of the child
• Last school report of the child
• Immunisation Card (Baby Book)
• A copy of passport with a valid UAE residence visa (Child and parents)
• A filled-in enrolment form, health form, student’s information sheet and bus form
• A recommendation form
• Transcript of records
• Transfer Certificate

Once the documents and relevance forms have been collected by The Philippine School Dubai, Muhaisnah, your child will be called for an assessment and interview. Upon successfully clearing the entrance exam, an offer will be placed indicating acceptance of the admission request.

Before seeking admission, you must ensure that your child follows the age placement criteria, as shown below.

This is based on the age of the students on 31st March (for schools beginning in April) and 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)

Following is The Philippine School Dubai tuition fee that is approved by the KHDA.

You can pay The Philippine School fees via cash, cheque or bank transfer.

There is a canteen available at The Philippine School Muhaisnah 2. Students are offered freshly cooked, healthy meals with drinks. Students who choose to bring their lunch from school must ensure that they are following the school’s guidelines regarding healthy food choices.

The school offers a transport service for its students. For further details, you can visit the campus and meet the relevant authority.

There is an outdoor, covered basketball court where children can take part in various sports.

To pursue their passion and interest in academic and non-academic fields, students can participate in an array of clubs and activities offered by the school such as Cooking, Music, Arts and Sports.

After-hours care, extra-curricular activities, performances, assemblies and other events at school or external venues are allowed.

The Philippine School students often go on school trips across Dubai. Visits to culturally rich sites or entertainment spots are arranged as a part of extra or co-curricular activities.

The Philippine School Dubai offers medical care to its students and staff as required by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Managed by an experienced physician, the clinic is well-equipped to provide first-aid care and treat minor injuries.

Your child’s medical records are maintained in the school clinic, including any vaccination details for future references.

Partnership with parents is one of the aspects of the school that the KHDA has rated ‘Good.’ The reason behind this rating is the proactive communication style that the school has adopted.

The parent-teacher association at TPS School updates parents regarding the school events. Similarly, parents are invited to school events and sometimes they are encouraged to participate as well.

Parent-teacher meetings are also held at least once every term to discuss the progress made by children. Both strong and weak areas of the child are discussed to come up with the performance improvement plan.

The school website encourages parents to contact them via email or call to discuss any query that they might have. You can find The Philippine School contact details and link to social media websites below.

• Telephone Number: +971-4-284-4465
• Emails
  • General Enquiries: info@tpsdxb.com
  • Admission Enquiries: registrar@tpsdxb.com
• TPS Website
• TPS Facebook
• TPS YouTube

Note that the cover image belongs to The Philippine School Dubai.