schools | Al Ain Enthusiast

Brighton College opens in Al Ain in September 2013

Brighton College Al Ain

Brighton College Al Ain will open in September 2013 in the Zakher district.

The co-educational Junior School will open for pupils in FS1 up to Year 4, together with the Boys’ School and the Girls’ School for boys and girls from Years 5 to 9. Years 10 to 13 will open from 2014 and by 2017 the College will educate 1,200 pupils across the full 3-18 age range, offering a British-style curriculum leading to GCSE and the IB Diploma.

Alun Yorath

The founding headmaster will be Alun Yorath who has just finished working as the Head of the Senior School at Brighton College Abu Dhabi – so he has experience of expat life and of settling into a new country. (Alun’s pictured on the right with his wife Natasha, and his daughter.)

In August 2013 approximately 60 new staff will arrive to begin a new life in Al Ain and work for the school.

The vast majority will be new to the UAE.

Visit the Brighton College website for more information and up-to-date photos of the building in progress.

The Choueifat School in Al Ain

Our first choice for schooling was the Al Ain English Speaking School, but by the time we booked in the summer of 2009 there were no places for our boys, so we signed them up at our second choice, the Choueifat School in Al Ain. They had a great year there. Half way through his first year at Choueifat, Toby told me that he felt he had learned twice as much in the last few months there than he had done the previous year at the private school he attended in the UK. So he felt he was getting a good education.

Choueifat School

Choueifat classroom

The headmaster there is Mr Ramzi Eid. During the following year, our 7-year-old, Felix, complained to my wife and I that he was being bullied. I went to see Mr Eid, and this matter was quickly resolved.

This is a photo of the 2 of us in the main lobby of the school…

Mr Ramzi Eid

… and a close-up.

Mr Ramzi Eid 2

His wife, Mrs Indira Eid, is the exam officer at the school, and she was the one who showed us round the school when we first arrived in Al Ain.

During the year I would drop the boys off at 7.20am for a 7.45am start, then pick them up at 4pm. (The 7-year-old finished at 3.15pm, but happily went into the late room til 4pm.)

The Al Ain English Speaking School starts at 7.45am and finishes at 2.30 in the primary school and 2.50 in secondary.