Have you moved to Abu Dhabi and you are looking for a good school for your little ones but you have no idea which school is good and which one’s bad? That is understandable since there are hundreds of different schools working on different curriculums in Abu Dhabi. Many great schools follow the CBSE curriculum. The Indian School Wathba is also one of them.
Today, we will be doing an in-depth review of the Abu Dhabi Indian School Al Wathba to see if it is a good match for your kid or not:
Abu Dhabi Indian School Al Wathba (Branch 1) Review 2021
We have broken our review down into different sections to make it easier for you to get a better understanding of how the school works and what the inspection reporters think of it:
An Introduction to the Indian School Al Wathba
The
Abu Dhabi Indian School Al Wathba is a sister school of the Abu Dhabi Indian School present on Abu Dhabi Island. The former was founded in 1975 while the latter opened in 2014. Working on the CBSE curriculum, the school offers a wide range of subjects like French, Creative Arts, Hindi, Physical Education, and ICT from Grade 8.
Student Body
The school has seen substantial growth ever since 2017 and it keeps getting more students every year. Most of the students (500) are grouped in Kindergarten (KG), there are 1400 students in the Primary grades, 640 students in the Secondary School, and a solid 120 students in High School. 2014 and 2016 were the years of particular growth as the school saw a 50% increase in both the numbers of teachers and students which it managed exceptionally well for a newly-opened school.
Teaching Staff
Indian School Al Wathba’s High School and Secondary School have separate classes for Girls and Boys. They are governed by a Secondary Head of School. There are more than 109 teachers to support the students who are further accompanied by over 21 teaching assistants. The classes are sized around 25 students in Kindergarten and 20 students in the rest of the school. Another amazing thing we found was the remarkably low staff turnover. The staff turnover is only 1%, showing that the teachers at the Abu Dhabi Indian School Al Wathba are very satisfied with the school and its working environment.
Infrastructure
As the school is relatively newly built, its premises exude high quality. The school is spacious and boasts an array of specialist facilities that support the curriculum well according to ADEK’s inspectors. The classrooms are adorned with colorful displays to support students’ learning. You can find the full list of facilities available to students through the school’s official website, however, there are no supporting images. Some of the notable facilities include a Swimming Pool, Yoga Room, Computer Science, Library, Dance, Arts and Crafts, and Music.
Use of Supporting Resources
The school utilizes its resources well to improve the learning experience for its students, especially in Science and
Mathematics. Teachers make sure that they use an interesting range of resources such as different learning technologies to keep the students engaged. These resources are also supported by other resources that are gathered or made by students and teachers.
Moreover, teachers also create homemade resources to support and complement the
CBSE curriculum. This impressive use of resources by teachers demonstrates significant dedication on the part of the teaching body, who might otherwise expect these kinds of resources to be supplied by the school.
The Indian School Wathba effectively promotes the importance of having a healthy lifestyle and eating healthy foods. Their PE (Physical Education) program promotes healthy lifestyles and also monitors the food choices that students make during breaks and at lunch. The school’s healthy eating campaigns offer support to help obese kids with their health, and the parents are also actively involved in such campaigns. Besides, students also get to enjoy a diverse array of after-school activities, most of which include inter-house activities.
What Do the Parents Think?
Parents are extremely appreciative of the level of communication that the school offers. They can freely get in touch with the school staff and can ask for information about their children’s personal development and academic progress. In addition, the school has also established partnerships with several external organisations, and these partnerships improve the learning opportunities for students. For instance, as a part of their engagement in local community service via the charity organized by the Red Crescent, students get to interact with a special needs school, and experience several curriculum-related visits.
What Does the Inspection Say About the School?
- The school was given the rating of Acceptable by the ADEK in its 2nd inspection in February 2017. This rating applied to the majority of aspects except for students’ social and personal growth, and their care, protection, innovation skills, support, and guidance, were given the rating of Very Good.
- Students’ confident spoken English, close attention to listening, positive learning attitudes, enjoyment, harmonious relationships, security, self-discipline, care, guidance, and welfare were appreciated by the inspectors.
- The inspection reports described the management and organisation of the school as highly efficient under the principal’s support and guidance complemented by teamwork and distributive leadership at all levels. Even though the school has a Board of Governors, it doesn’t have any parent representation, so the inspectors have suggested a change.
- The inspection also talked about the need to work on the students’ achievement in all core subjects and the quality of teaching, progress, and student attainment in Arabic. This can have hurt the school’s overall rating. Plus, most of the students start their schooling with limited language skills, and on top of that their attainment is weak throughout their schooling. The progress in Arabic, however, is acceptable in Primary Grades but weak in grades 6 to 10.
- Consistency in teaching also needs development. Teachers also need to focus on consistency in using formative comments during marking to inform students about the improvements they can make in their work.
- Identification, planning, and support by teachers also need development to better support children with SEN requirements. Plus, there’s a lack of resources to implement the curriculum properly to offer support, challenge, and choice to KG students.
Abu Dhabi Indian School Al Wathba vs Other Schools in Abu Dhabi
We compared Abu Dhabi Indian School Al Wathba to other schools in Abu Dhabi to get a better understanding of Abu Dhabi and Dubai school ratings. So, here is a comparison of Abu Dhabi Indian School Wathba, Al Muna Academy, and SKBZ Bangladesh:
Parameters
| Abu Dhabi Indian School – Al Wathba
| Al Muna Academy
| SKBZ Bangladesh Islamia School
|
Year of Origin
| 2014
| 2009
| 1980
|
Grade Range
| KG 1 – GRADE 12
| FS 1 – YEAR 6
| KG 1 – GRADE 12
|
Annual Fee Range
| AED 9,103 – AED 14,815
| AED 43,500 – AED 45,260
| AED 3,700 – AED 5,100
|
Curriculum
| CBSE
| British
| Bangladesh
|
Teacher – Student Ratio
| 1:16
| 1:14
| 1:20
|
Level
| All Levels
| Primary
| All Levels
|
Total Students
| 3117
| 591
| 772
|
Students
| Co-Educational
| Co-Educational
| Co-Educational
|
SEN
| Yes
| Yes
| No
|
Sibling Discount
| No
| No
| No
|
Principal
| Ms. Shibanti Bhowmik
| Ms. Sarah Griffiths
| Mr. Mir Anisul Hasan
|
Inspection Rating
| Good (ADEK)
| Outstanding (ADEK)
| Acceptable (ADEK)
|
Conclusion
Abu Dhabi Indian School Al Wathba is a Good school. However, many areas need improvement. If you want to know more about other schools in the UAE and Dubai school ratings keep an eye out for our reviews.
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