DESSC has received Initial Approval from the KHDA to build a new primary school on land opposite DESC in Academic City.

The school will be built in collaboration with partners, The Knowledge Fund Establishment, which supported the project by allocating the suitable land for the construction of the new school. This aligns with Dubai's governmental vision to enhance collaboration between sectors to support investment in education in the emirate.

As is the case with all new schools, final KHDA approval is always required.

When commenting on the launch, Abdulla Al Alwar, CEO of The Knowledge Fund Dubai, stated, 'We are pleased with the expansion of the Dubai English Speaking School and College (DESSC), especially at this time as they celebrate 60 years since their establishment, and we are confident the new school will provide access to quality education to a growing number of students in Dubai. In line with our strategy, we work closely with the educational institutions by providing them with suitable asset allocation solutions, and we look forward with enthusiasm to witnessing the project's developments in its upcoming stages. This project is certain to serve a large segment of the emirate's community, and we wish DESS management success in their expansion project.”

DESSC Principal and CEO Andrew Gibbs said:

“We are heavily oversubscribed. Demand for Primary cannot currently be met by our existing site. Going forward, having two Primary schools - both with a rite of passage to DESC at the end of Year 6 - will ensure a strong, ‘homegrown’ flow of DESS students for the College.

“We are very much looking forward to enabling more children to access the kind of rich, high quality learning experiences, both within and beyond the classroom, that our current primary school has long been renowned for - as reflected in the inspection judgements secured year-on-year from the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau and the British Schools Overseas inspectorate.

“We know that our existing and prospective parents will have a lot of questions and we’ll share more information on matters such as fees and facilities for the new primary school in the coming weeks.

To mark what constitutes a landmark development for DESS we are hosting an event that will feature alumni from our inaugural year of 1963, including four ladies who have the distinction of being the daughters of Eric Tulloch, Bill Duff and George Chapman; they being the three gentlemen who founded DESS. The first Headteacher, Harry Atkinson, will also be joining us for what should be very much a legacy-affirming event.”

President of the Board of Trustees Vince Cook added:

“Recent masterplan developments have featured a huge investment in the road network around Academic City / Silicon Oasis and show that this part of Dubai will support our future growth. Having a primary and secondary footprint in such a prime spot will give us the space we will need for additional growth and expansion, if required in the future. Our Oud Metha site cannot offer this flexibility – and, in celebrating sixty years of DESS (the last 55 of which have been spent at our current site) we owe it to generations of stakeholders past, present and future to make sure the next sixty years are as successful as the previous sixty.”