Pearl British Academy, Aldar Academies

Founded in 2007, Pearl British Academy is proud to be the first of the Aldar Academies schools. At Pearl British Academy, we deliver the Aldar purpose of ‘empowering the next generation to shape our future’ through our promise of ‘delivering the highest standards of education and inspiring a love of learning’. Everything we do is guided by our school values: Excellence, Creativity, Passion, Respect and Collaboration.

We continually strive to encourage the spark that lights up the eyes of children. We are dedicated to promoting a love of learning and creativity in our children. We have worked hard to develop an innovative, thematic curriculum that we are passionate about and which our children can thrive upon. We teach an enquiry-based curriculum that combines the English National Curriculum and the Ministry of Education curriculum for Arabic, Islamic Education and Social Studies. We persevere to make our children real learners, who develop a thirst for learning. Our inspirational, engaging curriculum addresses the needs of the 21st-century learner. By recognising that the world is rapidly changing, we ensure our children are equipped with skills for life and recognise the importance of purposeful integration of digital technology.

Our Physical Education team is a dedicated and hard-working team, which strives to offer the best possible varied curriculum. We have an extensive range of facilities, which include an outdoor 25 metre swimming pool, an outside court in which we offer various sports, a full-size indoor sports hall, which includes a full size basketball court, as well as a large outdoor Astroturf.  We compete in the ADISSA sport leagues and we have over 12 teams that compete through numerous different sports competitively and over 16 teams that compete in friendly competitions. Over the last few years, we have worked hard to become the most successful, sporting, stand-alone primary school in Abu Dhabi and we have certainly achieved that. Our competitive teams are some of the strongest in the emirate.

We offer a broad range of extra-curricular activities before and after the school day, led by our teachers or professional experts. Activities range from horse riding, sailing, drone club, the school band, the school choir, dance, ballet, hip hop and drama to name a few.

We have a team of specialist music teachers, dedicated to specialist music teaching in a fully equipped music room. Children learn a range of instruments as part of their music programme, which include keyboards, recorders and ukuleles. Our school offers both a band and a choir, who perform locally and across the Emirate, and who have enjoyed great success in national competitions.

Being an Aldar Academies school ensures our staff and children have the unique benefit of shared best practice across six Band A schools in Abu Dhabi. Staff have the ability to complete high quality, weekly professional development and children take part in many additional inter school events. Our children have a guaranteed place at one of the five Aldar Academies secondary schools: Al Bateen, Al Mamoura, West Yas, Al Yasmina or Al Ain International School. This unique partnership between the schools enables a smooth transition for our children into Year 7 and supports parents by offering a wide choice of educational provision.

Summary of the ADEK Inspection November 2019

The school was opened in 2007 and is part of the Aldar group of schools. The school has a settled leadership team with the principal in post for five years and a low teacher turnover. The overall performance of the school is outstanding and has improved since the last inspection. This is due to consistently outstanding teaching across the school, the very clear direction from the leadership team and the highly effective monitoring of teaching and learning and their impact on students ‘achievement.

The School’s Strengths – as determined by the ADEK inspection 2019

• Students’ overall achievement in most subjects.
• The highly positive relationships across the school resulting in exemplary behaviour and happy students.
• Innovative teaching strategies which meet the needs of individuals and groups.
• An expansive curriculum which caters for the interests and needs of almost all students and which promotes their innovative and creative skills.
• The exemplary care and support for all students including those with special educational needs (SEN).
• The inspirational principal who has developed a culture of continuous improvement.