Amity International School, Abu Dhabi

Admission Process

Thank you for choosing Amity International school. Choosing the right school for your child is one of the most important decisions any parent will ever make.

The admissions team will guide you, as our future parents, through a smooth student onboarding process.

How to Apply

• Step 1: Complete the online Application Form
• Step 2: You will be contacted to schedule a playdate, assessment or to request a clarification if required.
• Step 3: The Admissions Department will write to you with the outcome of your application (usually within 48 hours)

Policy Statement

Admission covers the requirements of and procedures for admitting students to Amity. Registration is the process whereby Amity offers students a place and then enter them on the School admissions roll. Placement of students refers to the normal expectation that students be placed with their peer group in terms of age, whose birthdays fall within the defined dates of the school year.

Amity is a British International school based in Abu Dhabi apart of a large Global education system. We have a wide range of different nationalities and we are proud of our diverse culture within the school and welcome boys and girls of all nationalities, religions and cultures.

Aims

The aims and purpose of this policy is to:

• To select and admit pupils who will benefit from an academic education and who will contribute to and benefit from the ethos and activities of our school community.
• To provide assurance that Amity operates fairly and appropriately in our decision about admission, registration and placement of students.
• To ensure a smooth but required transition from existing Year level anomalies to an overarching same structure across all Amity schools.
• This policy is in line with the overall commitment of the UAE Federal Government to ensure the best education provision for all our students.

Fair, Non-Discriminatory and Transparent Approach

We welcome pupils from all ethnic groups, backgrounds and creeds. Human rights and freedoms are respected, but must be balanced with the lawful needs and rules of our School community and the rights and freedoms of others. All candidates for admission will be treated equally, irrespective of their or their

parents’ race, colour, language, religion, political, or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, orientation, property, birth or other status

Disability and Extra Learning Provision

The school needs to be aware of any known disability or special educational need which may affect a pupil's ability to take full advantage of the education provided at Amity. Applicants should disclose any disability or learning need at the time of making an application and provide any medical or educational reports for prior consideration. These will be immediately passed to the Head of Inclusion for review before inviting the parents of applicants for a consultation to discuss how the pupil’s individual needs can be best met. When a particular learning need becomes apparent after registration, Amity will consult parents about reasonable adjustments that may enable the pupil to successfully continue their education. We may not always be able to meet the needs if we do not have the right level of provision in place.

Practice and Procedure

Entry and Assessments

Amity International School enrols students regardless of gender, nationality or race. Admission is granted based on the availability of places and assessment of student achievement and academic needs. A student applying for admission within the UAE will be placed in a year depending on their age, school sequence and that they shall be included in the school registration records. The school shall adopt an approach admitting students from customs and races to achieve equality and transparency based upon a review of an applicant’s prior academic and behavioural records in conjunction with direct observations by appropriate staff if deemed necessary.

Nursery and Reception

Amity International School will invite students in Nursery, which is pre-compulsory school stage, for a playdate. Students will be admitted in accordance with their age (verified in the form of an EID, birth certificate or passport). All children must be potty trained. In some cases, if the student does not have an academic report nor can they they come into school for a meeting they will be asked to send a short video of the student. This will provide the academic team some information on the student and can check their speech and language. It will also help with class placements.

Year 1 and Year 2

A handwritten style assessment including Maths & English needs to be completed by the child. New students in Year 1 will be admitted in accordance with their age (verified in the form of an EID, birth certificate or passport). They will be interviewed by the Register or and a designated member of the school staff, for example: the, school counsellor, Head of Section, or Head of Primary. The interview and tests will inform the school of the ability of the child so that the appropriate support is in place for when the student starts.

Year 3

Students will be asked to sit a GL Cat 4 assessment. This will check the student’s academic level. The assessment takes approximately 90 minutes and can be completed on school site or virtually.

The Registrar will admit students based on prior records and recommendations and in accordance with ADEK policies and guidelines.

If the school has a query regarding the placement of a student due to records not being available or if parents question the suitability of the recommendation, then the Registrar will determine the student’s placement according to their birthdate in the form of an EID, birth certificate or passport.

Applications for admission should be accompanied by all required documentation. Where this is unavailable, parents must sign an undertaking that is time specific to provide all required documents. This is in line with local regulatory requirements. Amity will work in close partnership with ADEK to ensure compliance and approvals.

Where further information is required about a student a one-to-one interview with the Head of Primary or Registrar will be conducted.

In Year 3 to 11, the GL Cat 4 assessment needs to be answered by the Child without any support. For Students that are new to English, they may require translation.

Overseas candidates

For Nursery & Reception pupils, admission is based on the pupil’s language, personal, social and emotional development which is determined from current nursery reports and photographs. For Year 1 pupils and Year 2 pupils, confidential reports, photographs and current samples of work form the basis of the assessment process. Admission into Year 3 and above requires the sitting and invigilating of an online assessment in an educational establishment in the country of residence. This usually takes place at the pupil’s current school or can be done virtually.

SEN

Amity will accept students with educational disabilities (simple and medium cases) and provide appropriate additional support when necessary or when needed. The school will not refuse or refrain from accepting students with chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, congenital heart diseases, epilepsy and obesity, and will provide appropriate support according to students’ needs. Amity School adheres to the inclusion guidance from ADEK and will place students with mild to moderate additional needs according to the availability of places and the severity of need.

On occasion, the school may not have the appropriate staff with necessary professional training required to manage the severe needs of some students as per the definitions of the ADEK Private Schools Policy and Guidance Manual Policy 48: Students with Special Educational Needs. In such cases, ADEK advice and approval will be sought.

Amity will obtain the approval of ADEK for the tuition fees, payment schedules and the procedures of their payment before issuing them to parents and before commencing their collection. Amity can support the employment of a responsible qualified SEN coordinator for the program of students with special needs.

The school will ensure that the candidate has the appropriate skills and training and meets the Child Protection Policy of the School and ADEK.

EAL

Children may be required to carry out a supplementary assessment in listening, speaking, reading & writing skills. Pupils with additional learning needs may be required to have an individual assessment specific to your child with a member of the EAL team.

Re-assessments

Pupils may be asked to return for a re-assessment in the following circumstances:

• If they are upset or nervous in the initial assessment if they are sick at the initial assessment
• If there is an unexplained mismatch in the pupil’s school reports and assessment results.

Placement by age and relevant documentation

Year group placements are made according to the age limit set by ADEK. Details of the documentation required is mentioned on the school website.

Pupils Entrance Age

Please refer to the entrance age cut off below:

Time frame for admissions decisions

Prospective parents can expect to receive a final decision by the Admissions Office in writing within two working days of the final assessment / confidential report / samples of work. Where an application falls outside of this time frame, the Registrar will notify you. Where a decision is likely to be delayed due to staff holiday / sickness, prospective parents will be immediately notified. In all cases, copy correspondence will be retained on the file.

Accepting an offer

Parent to pay registration fee to secure place within 14 days of receiving the offer letter. This registration fee will be to a maximum of 5% of the total tuition fee and is deductible from the tuition fees (the school shall collect the registration fee upon enrolling the student in the school and not when applying for admission). The school shall be entitled to retain the registration fees if the student doesn’t enrol without informing the school in writing at least one month before the start of the school term. This amount is also non-refundable (as per ADEK Private Schools Policy and Guidelines Manual, Article 39) if the child does not attend the school.

• The school has the right to register overseas students at any time of the year if there are places available and they pass the relevant tests. The school has the right to register local school transfers within the ADEK
• Students can transfer to Amity from other Emirates and will take into consideration the equivalence of Grade and years.

Documents

Accuracy of information provided

All information provided to Amity International School Abu Dhabi must be true, complete and not misleading in any way. The parent / guardians of the student (Parents) must update the school promptly should any of the submitted details change.

Supporting documents

All supporting documents during the admission process must be provided to the school within 28 days prior to the student start date. The school reserves the right to withdraw any application if all supporting documents are not in place at the given timescale.

Support & Needs

If it becomes apparent that your son/daughter has learning or behavioral difficulties and individual support is required, Amity may request that a Learning Support Assistant (LSA) is needed to support your child’s development. In this event, the parent is fully responsible for the recruitment, employment and payment of a Learning Support Assistant.

Documentation

All of the below documents are required for every new student. Should these documents not be in place, your child will not be able to start School until these documents are complete:

1. A copy of the mother, father and child’s passport and the valid residence visa page
2. A copy of the mother, father and child’s Emirates ID card (front and back)
3. One copy of your child’s birth certificate
4. A recent passport photographs of your child , mother and father
5. One copy of an Electricity and Water bill showing your property number
6. Copy of Health report/Vaccination/Immunization record
7. Copy of Academic progress report from the last school where applicable
8. Transfer Certificate: For students in Year 3 – Year 9 (ONLY), a Transfer Certificate from the last school with the required attestation for students from other Emirates and outside the
9. Attestation must be complete (If applicable)
10. Court Decision (If applicable)
11. Medical form
12. Photo consent form
13. Home school agreement form
14. Entry stamp (If applicable)

Safe guarding

For a new student that is admitted, the admissions team will contact the previous nursery / school (if applicable) to check if there has ever been a safe guarding incidents. The admissions team will not ask for details however will directly pass this information to the head of safeguarding.

Admission Priorities

Priority placements will be given to students:

1. Who attended the previous academic year at Amity
2. Who have siblings attending Amity International School
3. Children of school staff
4. Etihad employees
5. UAE Nationals
6. British Nationals

Record Keeping

All Assessment dates and times are updated in Engage by the Admissions Team each time the file is actioned. The Offer and Decline Letters are prepared through a template and copies are kept in the student file. Parents who accept the offer of a place at the school for their child respond with an Acceptance Form.

Staffing and Resources

The Admissions Team consists of a Registrar, Admissions Office and Document Controller. The Registrar liaises with the Senior Leadership Team or Heads of School. Resources include GL Cat 4 Assessment tools, IT access, Creative Writing tasks, Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking skill assessments, Junior School Early Years Programme creative play equipment, pencil, pens, paper. These are all provided. Students will need to have their own device if they are completing the GL Cat 4 assessment off school site.

Associated Documents

• Policy 44 of the Policy and Guidance Manual for Private Schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi: Student Admission, Registration and Distribution
• Policy 45 of the Policy and Guidance Manual for Private Schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi: Distributing Students in Classes
• Policy 48 of the Policy and Guidance Manual for Private Schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi: Students with Special Educational Needs

Monitoring and Review

This policy is to be reviewed and checked annually by the Registrar and Principal.