The Winchester School, Jebel Ali

My children are with The Winchester school Jebel ali for a couple of years now. Here are my detailed observations so far.

1. The school is great for academics, mainly coz there are no extra curricular activities for children except for PE which happens twice every week. 1 music class which is close to useless as they learn one song for the whole year and that too purely for name sake. If the child is good in sports the school organize for an inter school competition once in a year, but will the school do something to train the child with potentiality to further grow in sports? NO coz they don’t have the time and staff to do so.
2. About the infrastructure, it’s quite an old school. And we all agree over the years it’s very common to have a wear and tear to the facilities. But in-spite of complaining several times, the school takes no action. They just argue with the parents that they constantly do the inspection and make sure the toilets are clean. But my children and even their peers (almost 80% of them) hold their pees until they reach home coz they just don’t want to use the washroom by the way it’s managed by the Nannies.
3. There is no proper parents committee. Each year group has parent representatives and they are all just dummies. They are mainly selected to show the khda about the parent engagement. There were times where we have asked the parent representatives to talk on our behalf, but they come back without any results.
4. I feel pity for the school teachers. They are being worked extra hours due to which teachers has no interest in being a compassionate teacher. They have more work than teaching in school like filling up the logs, numerous trackers, stay backs, meetings and what not. Which results in unhappy teachers, resulting in unhappy children. Children starts to rebel. Management should understand that there are kids from different nationalities and different behavior. The moment these teachers are unable to handle the pressure they inconsiderately just walkout without even thinking about the children.
5. The school takes its own sweet time to identify the special needs children who can’t be managed or taken care of by the form tutors. Most of the times they are scared to talk to the parents so they just shift the whole burden on the teachers asking them to manage the 30 odd kids along with the special needs children. Teachers end up screaming at the remaining 30 of children coz she is unable to manage the 2/3 hyperactive or special children. Children starts to have zero compassion towards teachers.
6. They randomly select the most inexperienced teachers who can’t clear even an IELTS with basic scores. The English language of most of the teachers can make you wonder how can a school with a VERY GOOD khda rating go so low in hiring teachers with poor communication skills. And unfortunately we have to trust our children in the hands of these teachers for their English lessons as well.
7. Long waiting list. Why ? This is the only affordable school in Dubai in the so called very good category and in this fee range. And no one will actually know the depth of the pit unless you actually fall into it. So everyone thinks, well the waiting list seems huge. This is definitely the best school in dubai for such an affordable fee, so let me have my child study here. But then in just one month when they know the actual situation complaining starts.

THIS SCHOOL IS EXCELLENT FOR THIER A LEVEL COACHING AND RESULTS - so the 1 star is for that.

Now after all this you might ask me why are you still with this school ? My simple answer is, I can’t afford any other schools. I have 3 children and British schools in Dubai is totally unaffordable as you all might know by now. So I wish my kids and am just waiting for a Miracle to happen so that I can afford a good school for my children.

Good luck.

Be aware, there is bullying even in school bus. Two older students (one in primary but older and one secondary student as per the school staff) has bullied my son who's in year 3. Very bad experience considering this is our first year in this school. School is saying they will address the issue but they will not even allow us to meet the parents of the bullies to discuss the issue! I regret moving my son in this school!

I recently applied for my son's enrollment at The Winchester School for the upcoming academic year. During the application process, I was required to pay a 525 AED upfront. This practice struck me as unusual, as registration and testing fees are typically paid closer to the test date at the school itself Nevertheless, I complied with the payment to proceed with the application.
Subsequently, I received a confirmation of the test date and was instructed to communicate with a representative from the school's team for transportation. Despite my attempts to contact the designated person, I received minimal response. To my surprise, I was informed that the transportation fee for my child amounted to approximately 6800 AED. This information was not mentioned anywhere on the school's website.
Prior to the scheduled test date, I expressed my desire to cancel the application and requested a refund of the 525 dirhams I had paid. However, the school refused my request, citing regulations and insisting that I pay for a service that had not yet been provided.
When I mentioned my intention to file a complaint, they showed little interest, firmly believing that they were in the right.

Given the uncooperative attitude of The Winchester School and their refusal to refund my payment, I kindly request your intervention and support in resolving this matter. I believe that as a consumer, I have the right to fair treatment and a satisfactory resolution to this issue.

Do not Send your Child to this school, if your Child in this school move them immediately.
My Child was A student coming from non GEMS school, because this school doing their job correctly become B and C.
My Child always complaining about teachers not able to control class room, not able to hear and focus cause kids talk all time.
The whole management team just a failure, they will always blame parents or child for their educational failures.
The school full of bullying kids My child learned very bad words never we hear it before.
If you care about your child / Kids go to Non GEMS school.
The name worth Zero out of 5, due to low quality of management and some of teschers in this school particularly.

Even one star considered as too much for this school.
The worst school and staff, I have ever incountered, Very low quality of educations, 33 to 35 Kids stacked in very small class rooms.
Education quality level from follow up to content very low.
Extremely rude, unprofessional managing team.
School atmosphere toxic, with a lot bullying and kids learn bad words either from each others or from teachers.
Management team extremely failing in running school successfully, they will always identify the cause of any student low academic scores or failure to be parents, they never take responsibility at all.
If you want to lose your child ethics and morality with low quality of education send your child to this school.

The school washrooms of primary (year 3) toilets are unhygienic due to poor maintenance. I understood several parents have complained but no action has been taken. Very concerning about children health and safety.
Please add more nannies or maintenance staff for regular cleaning.

For me this is 2nd consecutive year you have not granted admission to my son in your school

He was your old student and some preference to be given for him

Really unprofessional school admission process

terrible school for you children's mental health especially in secondary, I've been in this school for about 7 or 8 years and younger grades are fine but learning french has always been terrible, french teachers show favoritism to the students who are good at french, Miss Engy, who is a secondary french teacher, swears at kids in Arabic very regularly since she is Egyptian and makes fun of students who aren't good at the language.