Dubai - DIFC, housing, schools?
Discussion
Chaps, I might be working in Dubai soon.
I need to find some good schools, which will presumably determine where I will be searching for accommodation. Kids are 11, 9, 4 & 2. Would be grateful if someone could recommend a few schools or how best to find them and also advise on which areas (accommodation wise) are best avoided.
E.g. I heard Mirdif is reasonably priced but looking on the map appears to be at the end of a runway?
I think I should look for a villa, assuming they have a garden the kids could tear up. Do apartments have common grounds/communal gardens out there?
Many Thanks
H
I need to find some good schools, which will presumably determine where I will be searching for accommodation. Kids are 11, 9, 4 & 2. Would be grateful if someone could recommend a few schools or how best to find them and also advise on which areas (accommodation wise) are best avoided.
E.g. I heard Mirdif is reasonably priced but looking on the map appears to be at the end of a runway?
I think I should look for a villa, assuming they have a garden the kids could tear up. Do apartments have common grounds/communal gardens out there?
Many Thanks
H
i think your first questions should be to your employer. do they pay school fees and is it capped at all? schooling here is $$$$$.
most apartment blocks have pools. some have gyms. one i used to live in had a cinema and squash courts you could book FOC for private use.
a villa would be a better bet. most villa estates are family oriented - plenty of pool, play areas, tennis courts and speedbumps every 5yards!
most apartment blocks have pools. some have gyms. one i used to live in had a cinema and squash courts you could book FOC for private use.
a villa would be a better bet. most villa estates are family oriented - plenty of pool, play areas, tennis courts and speedbumps every 5yards!
I'll second Phil's comment about school fees, Katie's are 66,000 aed per year for a middle of the road UK syllabus school, plus trips, transport, exam fees and anything else they feel like sticking you with.
Don't think the nurserry for your 2 year old will be any cheaper, Bridgett works in a lower end nursery here and their fees are 62,000 a year full time.
Most companies that I've heard of cap schooling allowance at 2 children, so be very careful before committing.
Housing wise, I'd say a villa would be a much better bet, remember though that the cheaper end of the ranches and all of the springs don't have any genuine 4 bedroom houses, those that say 4 will have had the downstairs study converted.
Best of luck
Don't think the nurserry for your 2 year old will be any cheaper, Bridgett works in a lower end nursery here and their fees are 62,000 a year full time.
Most companies that I've heard of cap schooling allowance at 2 children, so be very careful before committing.
Housing wise, I'd say a villa would be a much better bet, remember though that the cheaper end of the ranches and all of the springs don't have any genuine 4 bedroom houses, those that say 4 will have had the downstairs study converted.
Best of luck
My son has gone to JESS since year 5 (he is currently in year 13, his last year at school) and overall we are happy with the school. We pay ~AED72,000 per year just as fees (exam costs are extra). The main other British schools are:
1) English College (slightly cheaper than JESS, but slightly lower standard)
2) Dubai College
3) Jumeirah College
4) Wellington School
5) Repton
I refused to send my son a GEMS school as they are not non-profit making schools and are always the 1st to try and raise the school fees. This is my personal opinion.
A more detail list is here:
http://www.dubai-online.com/education/
If you plan to put your child on a school bus remember that if your child is the 1st to be picked up they could be on a bus for over 1 hour each way. We confirmed our sons school and then found somewhere close by to live.
Basically, make your short list of schools, apply and then see who offers a place (trying to get all 3 into 1 school might be tricky) then decide where to live.
1) English College (slightly cheaper than JESS, but slightly lower standard)
2) Dubai College
3) Jumeirah College
4) Wellington School
5) Repton
I refused to send my son a GEMS school as they are not non-profit making schools and are always the 1st to try and raise the school fees. This is my personal opinion.
A more detail list is here:
http://www.dubai-online.com/education/
If you plan to put your child on a school bus remember that if your child is the 1st to be picked up they could be on a bus for over 1 hour each way. We confirmed our sons school and then found somewhere close by to live.
Basically, make your short list of schools, apply and then see who offers a place (trying to get all 3 into 1 school might be tricky) then decide where to live.
Hey mate,
Our sons are 3 and 1 and we have checked out the following ones, which are very well rated:
- Horizon School (near Safar Park - got Outstanding on KHDA rating and good for sports etc)
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Down by Wafi - well established and regarded)
- Victory Heights (near Arabian Ranches, checked this one out although it is new, it is near to us in Arabian Ranches)
- Kings School
These are also all in what I would call the "Reasonable Range" - 30,000 to 60,000 a year for fees and also many of these get "Outstanding" on the Government inspections. Plus, loads of expat families know these well. You will pay 100 GBP to "Register" at schools, then have to go for an induction to see if you get a place.
Of course, JESS is nice...but then again unless you work for Emirates Airlines forget about that till 2018!! Thats how long the list is. As some of the chaps say, check with your firm and see what debentures they get a schools.
The above 3 are the ones which we selected but I suppose you have to choose for yourself.
Some more expensive ones which are more like 80,000-90,000 a year are:
- Repton (Near Arabian Ranches - quite well known, looks like hogwarts! and is commonly named so)
- Wellington School
- Foremarke School (Owned by same who own Repton - however very new)
Al the GEMS Schools dont get good reputation as the owners are "For Profit". Still, you have to make your own call there. Just been some bad comments by parents. Tell your wife to check out expatwoman.com, am sure there are a number of discussions on there.
Check out:
http://www.khda.gov.ae/En/DSIB/Reports.aspx
Have a look at the Outstanding ones I would say. Coupled with comments from other parents. Our son just got into Horizon School, which was my personal favorite, but then again, everyone is different hey.
Our sons are 3 and 1 and we have checked out the following ones, which are very well rated:
- Horizon School (near Safar Park - got Outstanding on KHDA rating and good for sports etc)
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Down by Wafi - well established and regarded)
- Victory Heights (near Arabian Ranches, checked this one out although it is new, it is near to us in Arabian Ranches)
- Kings School
These are also all in what I would call the "Reasonable Range" - 30,000 to 60,000 a year for fees and also many of these get "Outstanding" on the Government inspections. Plus, loads of expat families know these well. You will pay 100 GBP to "Register" at schools, then have to go for an induction to see if you get a place.
Of course, JESS is nice...but then again unless you work for Emirates Airlines forget about that till 2018!! Thats how long the list is. As some of the chaps say, check with your firm and see what debentures they get a schools.
The above 3 are the ones which we selected but I suppose you have to choose for yourself.
Some more expensive ones which are more like 80,000-90,000 a year are:
- Repton (Near Arabian Ranches - quite well known, looks like hogwarts! and is commonly named so)
- Wellington School
- Foremarke School (Owned by same who own Repton - however very new)
Al the GEMS Schools dont get good reputation as the owners are "For Profit". Still, you have to make your own call there. Just been some bad comments by parents. Tell your wife to check out expatwoman.com, am sure there are a number of discussions on there.
Check out:
http://www.khda.gov.ae/En/DSIB/Reports.aspx
Have a look at the Outstanding ones I would say. Coupled with comments from other parents. Our son just got into Horizon School, which was my personal favorite, but then again, everyone is different hey.
My wife used to teach at King's and my 3 kids went there. She also taught at a few others prior to that incl JPS which is a GEMS school. Avoid GEMS at all costs. The owner is a man of zero principles - he treats his teachers as expendable commodities and the parents as useful idiots to make himself rich.
Check out the parents before you commit as they make or break a school. The expensive GEMS schools seemed to have more than their fair share of newly minted Brits who thought that darling Johnny or Jane should suddenly be attaining a double first at Cambridge in natural sciences. One of the parents in my wife's class at JPS once asked her to sit her precious daughter away from the Indian kid as the mum didn't want her daughter's English to suffer. (Not surprisingly, the Indian kid was one of the best at English).
Check out the parents before you commit as they make or break a school. The expensive GEMS schools seemed to have more than their fair share of newly minted Brits who thought that darling Johnny or Jane should suddenly be attaining a double first at Cambridge in natural sciences. One of the parents in my wife's class at JPS once asked her to sit her precious daughter away from the Indian kid as the mum didn't want her daughter's English to suffer. (Not surprisingly, the Indian kid was one of the best at English).
I had terrible trouble getting my son into a school here (he's 13) as most were already full, or at least telling me they were.
In the end I had no choice but to send him to a Gems school. I don't necessarily disagree with any of the comments here regarding Gems but so far he seems to be enjoying it. Cost though is 80,000 AED per year excluding bus fares (another 8,000 AED) and trips.
I can't imagine having to send 4 children to private school here. There comes a point where even the tax free status doesn't make it worthwhile.
In the end I had no choice but to send him to a Gems school. I don't necessarily disagree with any of the comments here regarding Gems but so far he seems to be enjoying it. Cost though is 80,000 AED per year excluding bus fares (another 8,000 AED) and trips.
I can't imagine having to send 4 children to private school here. There comes a point where even the tax free status doesn't make it worthwhile.
half-9 said:
Kids are 11, 9, 4 & 2.
Might I also suggest you get cable TV. 
And a housemaid 
My 2 go to Jebel Ali Primary School, one of the original British Schools in DXB. Love the place; really happy kids. They are also non-profit and I pay AED66k per year.
I took my eldest, while a 4 month-old babe-in-arms to JESS Ranches to register her. 4 years down the line we were sent the letter saying we did no have a place. Siblings take preference, then debentures (company had one of these) then everyone else. I believe that Emirates holds most of the places at JESS.
It actually turned out better for us, we prefer JAPS as a school (wife works with hundreds of schools around DXB).
If you are working at DIFC, best bet is living in Jumeriah, followed bu Umm Suqeim (both mostly non-compound villas), maybe then Al Barsha and further out are the cut-and-paste communes of the Springs, Meadows and Arabian Ranches. You are correct to notice that the threshold of DXB International airpot is also referred to as 'Mirdif'.
Edit to add:
KHDA? Pah. Will mark a school down from outstanding to exceptional if their Islamic studies are not up to scratch. I would prefer my kids did not have any 'compulsory' Religious education. Imaginary sky faries indeed.
Edited by oilydan on Wednesday 5th February 04:19
oilydan said:
Edit to add:
KHDA? Pah. Will mark a school down from outstanding to exceptional if their Islamic studies are not up to scratch. I would prefer my kids did not have any 'compulsory' Religious education. Imaginary sky faries indeed.
Come on Dan, give it a rest. That's the sort of comment that stopped me posting on P&P several years ago. I've always found it amusing and frustrating at the same time how those with religious convictions are automatically assumed to be of subnormal intelligence.KHDA? Pah. Will mark a school down from outstanding to exceptional if their Islamic studies are not up to scratch. I would prefer my kids did not have any 'compulsory' Religious education. Imaginary sky faries indeed.
As for 'compulsory' RE, it's only compulsory for the kids who have been registered as Muslim. Which is fair enough, wouldn't you say?
By penalising schools for lack of Islamic studies programs they are pretty-much forcing the schools that want to be top of the pile to include it in the curriculum. Compulsory without being compulsory.
I'm sorry if my comment came accross as an insult to the intelligence of the religious; I only meant to point out that my belief is that the thing (whatever it is) that those kneel or bow before, that one cannot see, or hear, or touch, that controls everything, made everything and is everything, might not actually be there in the first place.
Anyway, schools. They're great here, if a little expensive. Parking outside them is always amusing, trafic jams at school-run time are comical.
I'm sorry if my comment came accross as an insult to the intelligence of the religious; I only meant to point out that my belief is that the thing (whatever it is) that those kneel or bow before, that one cannot see, or hear, or touch, that controls everything, made everything and is everything, might not actually be there in the first place.
Anyway, schools. They're great here, if a little expensive. Parking outside them is always amusing, trafic jams at school-run time are comical.
oilydan said:
By penalising schools for lack of Islamic studies programs they are pretty-much forcing the schools that want to be top of the pile to include it in the curriculum. Compulsory without being compulsory.
I'm sorry if my comment came accross as an insult to the intelligence of the religious; I only meant to point out that my belief is that the thing (whatever it is) that those kneel or bow before, that one cannot see, or hear, or touch, that controls everything, made everything and is everything, might not actually be there in the first place.
Anyway, schools. They're great here, if a little expensive. Parking outside them is always amusing, trafic jams at school-run time are comical.
No worries Dan. My apologies for being oversensitive. I had at that moment clicked on the exceptionally crass thread 'God works in mysterious ways' in P&P hence the somewhat kneejerk response. I don't know why I do it - I know I should completely avoid that forum but for some perverse reason can't help myself peeking from time to time. I like being on PH. I enjoy the friendly discourse both on this forum and the Porsche forum but the moment religion comes up I wonder whether there is anywhere on PH to hide from the shouty men in underpants (not you! I'm sorry if my comment came accross as an insult to the intelligence of the religious; I only meant to point out that my belief is that the thing (whatever it is) that those kneel or bow before, that one cannot see, or hear, or touch, that controls everything, made everything and is everything, might not actually be there in the first place.
Anyway, schools. They're great here, if a little expensive. Parking outside them is always amusing, trafic jams at school-run time are comical.
).I understand your belief and it is perfectly rational. I don't subscribe to it for my own reasons. As it happens I have a degree in physics so I don't consider myself scientifically illiterate. On the contrary, I think my training gives me some small insight into why belief in a creator might not be so irrational.
Now look what you made me do to this thread!
On the specific subject of KHDA ratings being dependent on Islamic Studies, there may be some merit in this, even for non-Muslim parents. If a subject that has traditionally been badly taught in the UAE is forced to up its standards (the same applies to Arabic language, BTW), then the school is forced to apply equal standards across all of its subjects. Recruiting one or two members of staff who don't quite meet the grade no longer becomes an option for any minority subject, and those one or two staff members become a conspicuous drag. King's was the first to apply a holistic approach to the KHDA ratings four years ago, and hence managed to attain an Outstanding rating for all four of those years. No other school has achieved that. (That said, I'm not a huge fan of King's since the change in management and the addition of a new secondary school).
Thanks for all this useful information! I am reading through & checking the links.
Looks like i'll be paying at least 4 x 60k AED = 240k AED p.a. in schooling - yikes!! That's the same as a base Porsche Cayman every year!
Plus searching through Dubizzle - a 4 bed villa seems to start from 135k AED p.a. in Mirdif
That's quite a lot of dosh all-in.
Thanks!
Looks like i'll be paying at least 4 x 60k AED = 240k AED p.a. in schooling - yikes!! That's the same as a base Porsche Cayman every year!
Plus searching through Dubizzle - a 4 bed villa seems to start from 135k AED p.a. in Mirdif
That's quite a lot of dosh all-in.
Thanks!
dxbtiger said:
That's (relatively) cheap as well.
Do a search for Meadows, Ranches or Palm if you want to really s
t your pants.
I am currently looking at Jumeirah and Umm Sequim.Do a search for Meadows, Ranches or Palm if you want to really s
t your pants.I had to go into my bosses office for a little cry...
Although I am slightly in love with the apartments in Jumeirah Heights.
Claire
Gaffer said:
Although I am slightly in love with the apartments in Jumeirah Heights.
Claire
The duplex ones? Claire
They came up in a search when we left the Greens, I decided against going to see them as I knew if I took her along then we would have to get one and they were near enough the same price as the place we were leaving.
dxbtiger said:
The duplex ones?
They came up in a search when we left the Greens, I decided against going to see them as I knew if I took her along then we would have to get one and they were near enough the same price as the place we were leaving.
Yep. L won't take me either as he knows that I would want one, we are looking at a villa for the same sort of cash.They came up in a search when we left the Greens, I decided against going to see them as I knew if I took her along then we would have to get one and they were near enough the same price as the place we were leaving.
Where did you move to in the end?
Yea you can see the rents rising on a daily basis.
We are checking out 3 / 4 bed villas in Jumeriah and the prices are wildly varied to say the least.
There is a villa behind my current place that has been empty for ages - it's up at 350,000 when all the others are about 100K less. Will they lower the price - will they hell...
Doesn't make any sense to me. I would rather have someone in paying a lower fee than having it stood empty on the off chance that someone will pay full whack.
We are checking out 3 / 4 bed villas in Jumeriah and the prices are wildly varied to say the least.
There is a villa behind my current place that has been empty for ages - it's up at 350,000 when all the others are about 100K less. Will they lower the price - will they hell...
Doesn't make any sense to me. I would rather have someone in paying a lower fee than having it stood empty on the off chance that someone will pay full whack.
Employer says NO. COUGH.
There's a base salary and an all encompassing allowance, no school allowance - & no idea yet on the two aforementioned components of the package.
I can see my hopes of a commissioning & importing to Dubai a LHD TVR Cerbera with twin turbo LS engine, loosely modelled on the Cerbie Speed 12, rapidly disappearing out of sight and into the dusty glow of a yellow/gold horizon.
Sniff.(would have been tuned to 1bhp/kg btw, sniff)
There's a base salary and an all encompassing allowance, no school allowance - & no idea yet on the two aforementioned components of the package.
I can see my hopes of a commissioning & importing to Dubai a LHD TVR Cerbera with twin turbo LS engine, loosely modelled on the Cerbie Speed 12, rapidly disappearing out of sight and into the dusty glow of a yellow/gold horizon.
Sniff.(would have been tuned to 1bhp/kg btw, sniff)
Gassing Station | Middle East | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff