One of the oldest formal primary schools in Dubai has been named the best school in the UAE.
Dubai English Speaking School, founded in the upstairs room of a villa in 1963, won the ultimate accolade of the Top Schools Awards 2019 at a ceremony in Bollywood Parks on Thursday night.
Organised by education ranking website SchoolsCompared.com, a total of 21 awards were up for grabs at the Rajmahal Theatre.
Dubai English Speaking School, and the primary school's collegiate counterpart, Dubai English Speaking College, shared the top prize.
"What a brilliant year we are having. So proud of our amazing school community," a statement on the school's Twitter account read.
"We did it! Dubai English Speaking School and College is the Best School in the UAE."
Schools across the Emirates jumped to the top of the class in a range of categories, from nursery and primary school of the year to schools which lead the way in music, theatre, art and technology.
More than 850 teaching staff from in excess of 100 schools were in attendance as the cream of the education crop in the UAE were revealed.
Other winners included Gems Modern Academy in Dubai, which was crowned Indian School of the Year.
Brendan Law, vice president of education at Gems, said he was proud of the school's achievement and said it home to a thriving community of pupils and teachers.
British School Al Khubairat, based in Abu Dhabi, was named British School of the Year.
Elaine Rawlings, primary school head at BSAK, was delighted with the award win.
"I am absolutely stunned. We are very very privileged to get the award. We try to do the best for our school," Ms Rawlings said.
Raha International School secured the International Baccalaureate school of the year title and the American school of the Year award went to American School of Dubai.
Jumeirah English Speaking School won the award for the best blended international baccalaureate curriculum school of the year.
Safa Community School won the award for best new school while Sasha Crabb of Victory Heights won for best principal of the year.
Schools were also awarded for their work in developing art and music. Nord Anglia International School Dubai was recognised for its efforts in music.
Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi's work in theatre and the performing arts was recognised with a prize while Brighton College Abu Dhabi won for art.
Dubai English Speaking College took home a second prize, for the best school for sport, and Riverston School Dubai won for best international initiative.
Abdulla Al Karam, director general of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai's private education regulator, received the Outstanding Contribution to Education award.
He thanked teachers for their sterling contribution to the education sector in the UAE.
It is the second time the schools comparison site has given out the awards in the UAE — but the first to have a ceremony.
The Awards recognise schools that have had the biggest impact on parents and pupils’ lives.
The nominations first opened to all schools, parents, and editors of the website. SchoolsCompared.com then made a shortlist and then respected educationalists in UAE chose the winners.
Schools were selected on the basis of their ability to bring to life pupils’ imagination and offer something unique to children.
The awards move the focus away from exam results and put on emphasis on places of learning that are fostering all the abilities and potential of children.
"We had more than 170 nominations, but actually it was the quality, not the number of submissions that was truly surprising," said Jonathan Westley, editor of SchoolsCompared.com.
"We had stressed to [schools] not to apply for everything but to focus and spend the time compiling data for where they felt their strengths lay. What we had, as a result, was an unparalleled amount of data for both our editors to use to shortlist, and then for the judges to make the final decisions.
“Just to appreciate the scale of work that went into this, the final document sent to judges, with arguments and analysis for each of the finalists, came to 91,220 words. Add all of the tables, data, and graphs and we basically gave them a book to internalise and consider, in order to make truly informed decisions.”
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
Fighting with My Family
Director: Stephen Merchant
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Florence Pugh, Thomas Whilley, Tori Ellen Ross, Jack Lowden, Olivia Bernstone, Elroy Powell
Four stars
Results:
5pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic (PA) Prestige Dh 110,000 1.400m | Winner: AF Mouthirah, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic (PA) Prestige Dh 110,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Saab, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 1,600m | Winner: Majd Al Gharbia, Saif Al Balushi, Ridha ben Attia
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship (PA) Listed Dh 180,000 1,600m | Winner: RB Money To Burn, Pat Cosgrave, Eric Lemartinel
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap Dh 70,000 2,200m | Winner: AF Kafu, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 2,400m | Winner: Brass Ring, Fabrice Veron, Ismail Mohammed
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Meydan card
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (PA) Group 1 US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm: Conditions (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,400m
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) $100,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,200m
8.50pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (TB) Group 2 $350,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,600m
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
Captain Marvel
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn
4/5 stars
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
THE BIO: Mohammed Ashiq Ali
Proudest achievement: “I came to a new country and started this shop”
Favourite TV programme: the news
Favourite place in Dubai: Al Fahidi. “They started the metro in 2009 and I didn’t take it yet.”
Family: six sons in Dubai and a daughter in Faisalabad
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
