Over half of respondents would consider sending their children to boarding school to learn key skills such as future career development

Dubai, UAE – 8 May 2017

Market research firm, YouGov today revealed that 52% of respondents, comprising of both students and parents, would consider enrolling into a boarding school in Dubai.[1] The results show that the Emirate is well placed to offer boarding facilities to families (79%) both living in the UAE and from abroad based on the education quality, climate and extra-curricular opportunities for additional personal development.

The survey showed that the concept of boarding encourages students to build confidence, leadership skills and independence (51% of respondents) and offers additional ways to develop a long-term, tightly-knit network globally that will help build future career development (55%).

Boarding at school is a familiar concept in Europe that is widely accepted around the world with families sending their children away to top boarding schools to gain a good education as well as experiencing the associated benefits of being away from home including organisation, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, empathy and responsibility.

Dubai has the convenience of being geographically very accessible, providing parents with the option of allowing children to experience world-class boarding without sending them to the more conventional boarding destinations. Dubai also has great weather, great outdoor activities for children and is considered a safe city, especially for young people, which plays a massive part in parents’ decision making.

SISD’s Head of School and Swiss national, Beat Sommer, explained, “At SISD, we have evaluated carefully the needs of our parents and students. The YouGov survey has confirmed that Dubai is viewed as an ideal location for many living in Saudi Arabia,

Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan and even here in the UAE with 79% acknowledging Dubai as a good place to send children to boarding school.”

“We offer academic excellence through the International Baccalaureate set in context of a multi-lingual environment that develops skills of empathy, self-sufficiency and responsibility to develop confident, enthusiastic future generations. Our aim is to inspire and develop life-long leaders, and at the same time support the UAE leadership goal to build a knowledge-based community.”

In line with the Ministry of Education’s Strategy 2020, to develop a globally competitive education system, the survey only reinforces this commitment to providing students with a spectrum of opportunities to nurture tomorrow’s future leaders.

SISD is opening its boarding facility from September 2017 with state of the art facilities to enable children from the UAE and abroad to experience outstanding, multi-lingual education – academic excellence and personal growth – regardless of location. There is now an option for high quality, Swiss boarding for parents within a few hours flight.

The boarding school fees for grades 6-8 and 9-10 will be 180,000 AED and 192,000 AED respectively for the first full year. This is all-inclusive of the following: accommodation, school fees, visa, all meals and snacks, medical insurance, after-school activities, uniform, airport transfer and evening tuition. Weekly boarding fees for grades 6-8 and 9-10 will be 150,400 AED and 162,400 AED respectively.

-Ends-

Beat Sommer is available for interview about this and a diverse range of educational topics from behavioural matters to university admissions.

The research was conducted by YouGov in March 2017.

The full campus including the Boarding Houses, Auditorium and Secondary School will be ready for September 2017. For more information on the Swiss International Scientific School Dubai, visit www.sisd.ae

For media enquiries:
Mohaned Mahgoub / Suzanne Bader
TOH Public Relations | 04 382 8900 | firstname@tohpr.com | www.tohpr.com

To contact SISD:
School Address
Dubai Healthcare City, Phase 2, Al Jaddaf

Admissions Centre
Dubai Healthcare City, Phase 2, Al Jaddaf
+ 971 (0)4 375 0600
admissions@sisd.ae

info@sisd.ae
www.sisd.ae

About SISD
The Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai is an international day and boarding school where future generations are inspired to become confident and enthusiastic life-long learners, ready to embrace the opportunities and challenges in a global world.

Our school offers the full continuum International Baccalaureate (IB) programme from Pre-KG to Grade 9 (Grade 10 opening in 2017*) in English or in two bilingual English-French and English-German sections. We believe in having high standards; encouraging our students to stretch themselves to achieve success, unlocking talents and discovering new strengths.

In June 2016, we received the Happy Healthy School award by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) for our school-wide initiatives aimed at improving healthy eating, active living and a positive environment. Our large eco-friendly campus ensures that we can offer a wide range of sporting facilities, including water sports that make the most of our location adjacent to Dubai Creek. From September 2017 onwards, SISD will offer students full and weekly boarding in state-of-the-art facilities.

*Grade 10 opening subject to KHDA approval

© Press Release 2017