Culture & Education | Tuesday 3 March, 2015 3:49 pm |

Since opening admissions in early February 2015, The Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai (SISD) – Dubai’s first ever private school to offer multilingual education in French, German, English and Arabic – has reported strong admissions for new students for the approaching 2015-2016 academic year, receiving over 100 applications in just four weeks, which is 30% of their target number. Upon opening in August, SISD will be diversifying the education landscape, contributing to Dubai as an education hub, and reducing the significant demand-supply gap.

Staff recruitment has been remarkably successful, with over 100 high quality applications being received per role, so the school has a diverse and international talent pipeline, enabling them to pick the highest quality teachers. SISD is also proud to officially announce Abdul Hamied Siddiqi as Chairman and Co-Founder of the school. Siddiqi Investments, which boasts a diversified portfolio of interests, recognises the impeccable quality and innovation of Swiss products, and therefore identified SISD as a valuable proposition for the group. The family owned and managed company now counts as one of the school’s valued investors.

The 67,845 sqm campus will be based on sustainability standards as per the Swiss Minergie label, which is awarded low-energy consumption buildings. SISD will be the Middle East’s first low-energy building in the education space, consuming one third of the energy of standard buildings. The cost reduction will be translated into savings that will fund academic scholarships on offer to students in Semester two of the first year of operation. For SISD, sustainability is not just about minimising the environmental footprint, but about fostering a healthy, comfortable learning environment for the children; it’s not just a label, it is embedded in the walls of the school.

The Dhs 530 million state-of-the-art campus adjacent to Dubai Creek with capacity for 2,442 students, will boast 90-100 sqm (970-1080 sq ft) classrooms, which is 30% larger than a standard size. The bilingual teaching streams will also demand a high teacher to student ratio, with one teacher supplied for every seven students, and strict maximum class size of 22 students.

SISD will be home to a range of top class facilities including premium boarding house for 350 students, library and an auditorium for an audience of 650. The on-campus sporting opportunities will be amongst the best in the country, including a Olympic sized 50 m swimming pool, basketball and tennis tennis courts, football and rugby pitch, an indoor and outdoor running track, a climbing wall, a gymnasium and a multipurpose sports hall and a range of water sports, such as sailing, rowing and paddling to take full advantage of the unique access to Dubai Creek.

Head of School, Beat Sommer commented that the school had been overwhelmed by the number of enrolments to date: “We are simply delighted by the overwhelming level of interest in multilingual tuition. It’s clear to us that an increasing number of parents in the UAE see the true benefit in multilingual education. The SISD IB programme will mirror Switzerland’s highly sophisticated and inclusive education system. From Grade one onwards, students in the bilingual sets will be immersed in a progressive environment where they will eventually study 50 percent of their time in English and 50 percent of their time in either French or German, with Arabic tuition too. Our goal is to foster a flourishing community of global citizens that are inquisitive, active and compassionate life-long learners, and who contribute to a more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.”