FAQs

The School campus is in Al Barsha 2 South on Umm Suqeim St. Our GPS co-ordinates are 25'04’46.0”N 55'14’04.0”E.

Brighton College Dubai will open classes for FS1 through to (and including) Year 9 in September 2018.  The College will organically grow each year to reach Year 13.

Families joining Brighton College Dubai (BCD) for the Academic Year 2018-19 will benefit from the our Founder’s Fees. The Founder’s Fees will apply for the duration of the child’s academic career at Brighton College Dubai.

Brighton College Dubai is located on an impressive 40,000 square-metre campus. This world class campus, designed by Brighton College and their local partners, Bloom Education, will offer state-of-the-art facilities, including: large, airy classrooms, incorporating the latest educational technology; an spectacular auditorium; a black box performance space; stunning music and art facilities; a range of outstanding sporting facilities, including a 25m swimming pool, IAAF-standard running track, football pitches, tennis and basketball courts; and modern and attractive learning spaces designed to enhance pupil well-being, together with a Creative Learning Centre to enable teachers to deliver inspirational lessons using the latest educational technology.

The School is led by the Head Master, Marco Longmore, and his Senior Leadership Team, who manage heads of departments, housemasters/ housemistresses and Year leaders, alongside an enthusiastic and talented team of teachers.

Mr Marco Longmore is the Founding Head Master of Brighton College Dubai. Marco is 48 years old and for nine years until 2017 was Rector of The Edinburgh Academy, one of Scotland’s leading HMC schools. He is married to Karen and they have two children. A Scot, Marco read History at Edinburgh before beginning his teaching career in 1991 at George Heriot’s School, becoming Head of History at George Watson’s College in 1998. 

His next move was south, as Senior Deputy Head at Alleyn’s School in London, before returning to the Scottish capital in 2008 to lead The Edinburgh Academy. During the period of his headship, the Academy grew to become one of Scotland’s most successful co-educational schools. 

The Times has consistently ranked Brighton College as one of the top three co-educational schools in England. In 2017, Brighton College was considered "The most forward-thinking school" by The Week, it has had recognition for the Best Leadership Team in Education and CNN called it "a model for the 21st century".

Brighton College considers education within and outside of the normal educational silos, encouraging cross-curricular study. 

Brighton runs a number of programmes such as those considering the current world (fusing geography, politics and economics); the mutual interdependence of sports activity, physics, chemistry and biology; looking at the chronological development of human achievement; and with specific focuses at certain times on entrepreneurship and real life skills.

All members of the Brighton College family of schools collaborate, sharing best practice and taking advantage of innovation – whether generated in the UK, the UAE or elsewhere. Therefore, the education delivered is fresh, exciting, engaging and equips pupils for tomorrow's world.

Recent studies also show that the quality of education delivered to children aged five, directly impacts their IGCSE performance. The high quality of Brighton College's education starts as soon as a child enters the school.

In addition to pupils' academic development, the College invests time in identifying and seeking to develop the individual passions of each child – whether music, drama, dance, sport, academic, green issues, community engagement, etc.

There are no stereotypes in Brighton College. Every child is valued as a unique individual. They are cared for, encouraged and developed so that they can maximise their true potential in a range of fields. This helps them identify what they would like to focus on when they come to the end of their schooling, and ultimately identify careers in due course.

Brighton College Abu Dhabi is one of the most academically successful British schools in the Middle East. Its pupils recorded the best A-level results in the Emirate in 2017, whilst Brighton College Al Ain was ranked “Outstanding” in its 2016 ADEC inspection; it shares the highest ranking of any school in the UAE with a select number of schools. 

Almost all of Brighton’s pupils continue on to higher education, either immediately after the Upper Sixth or following a Gap Year. In the last five years, the most popular universities at Brighton College UK have been Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Leeds and Exeter respectively, but our advice is not solely focused on these more academic institutions. We have successfully supported pupils moving on to art foundation courses, music conservatoire degrees and undergraduate courses as varied as fashion design, nursing and marketing. 

We had 31 Oxbridge offers in 2017 and 36 in 2016 – which is four times the average for a private school in the UK.  Currently, 53 former Brighton pupils attend Oxford and 64 are at Cambridge. 

Last year, pupils at Brighton College Abu Dhabi gained places to read Medicine at Harvard and Mathematics at Oxford – thanks to the school achieving the top A-level results among all of Abu Dhabi’s schools.

In line with Brighton Colleges globally, pupils have the opportunity to learn Arabic from Foundation Stage 1, French from Year 1 and an introduction to Mandarin from Year 4. From Year 7 (age 11), pupils initially also have the opportunity to study Spanish or German.

We will also discuss with our pupils and parents what they would like to see offered and work to ensure our provision meets their needs. We naturally deliver Arabic for both native speakers and those learning Arabic as an additional language, in line with the Ministry of Education’s guidelines.

We offer a wide range of sports – within lessons as well as during co-curricular times. We have facilities for football, rugby, athletics, squash, basketball, netball, badminton and swimming.

To ensure that teaching is vibrant, inspiring and engaging, and that pupils have the knowledge, skills and understanding they need in order to be successful in the 21^st century, at Brighton College Dubai ensures that:

1. The use of ICT supports excellent teaching in all areas of the curriculum and beyond.
2. Children’s love of learning is enhanced through ICT.
3. Pupils develop levels of computer literacy needed to fully prepare them for their future.
4. The College has an integrated ICT system that is used effectively by all.
5. We make use of ICT throughout the College to complement and enrich, not replace, many traditional teaching methods and supports pupil learning.

Admissions are open, to find out more please contact Dawn Rennie, the Admissions Manager, on +971 54 792 9253 or at admissionsdubai@brightoncollegedubai.ae to arrange a visit. We look forward to welcoming you!

Please fill in our Enquiry Form or Application Form.

There is an entry and assessment process for all pupils entering the College. The assessment procedure is comprised of a combination of entry tests, interviews, previous school reports, character references, confidential reports, samples of work and, where applicable, consultations with specialist staff (EAL/ SEN). Specific details on requirements are available here.

Parents can apply through our website. Our Admissions Manager will follow up all queries and provide each family with a full and comprehensive outline of next steps.  Please feel free to contact Dawn Rennie, on +971 54 792 9253 or at admissionsdubai@brightoncollegedubai.ae. 

In Foundation Stage 1 and 2, classes have 20 pupils. In Years 1-11, classes have 24 pupils and in Years 12 & 13, A-level classes will be small.  All classes have an appropriate adult/pupil balance and are supported by a team of learning assistants and specialist teachers.

The College aims to offer up to 21 subjects in Years 12 and 13 by the time the campus is fully developed. There will be an initial subject offer, and this will widen as the cohort grows and curriculum reviews reflect what pupils are keen to study, alongside what they require for further learning.

We have outstanding and inspirational teachers who can deliver a Brighton College education. Information on our teachers can be found on our website.

We are pleased to share the structure of the school week as per below. The school day starts from 07:30 for all staff. The first lesson, which is House Registration, starts at 08:10 for all pupils each day. Prior to this, co-curricular activities will be offered from 6:55 for one hour. Pupils not attending a morning CCA may come onsite from 07:30 with staff supervision. On Thursday the school finishes slightly earlier at 14:40 for Prep and Senior pupils. For Early Years pupils their day finishes at 14:30 throughout the week with a sibling club offered for those that will be picked up at the later time of 15:40. The school timings are structured around 20-minute time slots as per the diagram. The length of lessons varies depending on the subject taught however, the majority of lessons are 40 minutes in duration.