Culture & Education | Tuesday 9 August, 2016 8:13 am |

The Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai (SISD) – Dubai’s first ever school to offer bilingual education in French, German, English and Arabic – is experiencing a surge in admissions of students for the coming academic year.  Their facilities are going from strength to strength and this September will be celebrated with the opening of state-of-the-art sports facilities. The full campus will be ready in 2017, offering fully equipped boarding houses and dedicated Middle and High School buildings.

 

For sports enthusiasts, SISD will boast an Olympic sized pool, a 400 m outdoor running track with an indoor track and two sports halls as alternatives for the hot months, a full-sized football and rugby pitch, and two outdoor floodlit tennis courts, along with two lit paddle tennis courts. There will also be a climbing wall, dance studios and a weights and cardiovascular gym.  The school will also offer beach tennis and volleyball courts to make the most of the local climate.

 

SISD, which opened only a year ago, offers multi-lingual education as a candidate school for all three of the academic International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes. Parents in the UAE are increasingly attracted to international schools due to the ‘international education passport’ that externally validated examinations bring.  SISD aims to run the IB programme from Pre-Kindergarten through to Grade 12 (with grades 10 – 12 gradually opening in the years to come, subject to Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) approval). Students can chose from three different streams: bilingual English-French, English-German and English with an additional language -German, French or Italian depending on the grade. Arabic lessons are mandatory across all sections. 

 

SISD, Head of School and Swiss national, Beat Sommer, said: “SISD advocates a balance of work and recreation to give pupils the best chances of success.  We’re proud of our cutting edge sporting, recreational, and academic facilities because these are features that set us apart from many other schools in Dubai. At SISD we’re of the firm belief that it’s important to allow children to try many different activities - sporting, creative, scientific and cultural - in order to gain varied skills. It also helps with the development of their personality and self-confidence.”

 

The school will continuously evolve and expand its offering over the coming years. Premium boarding houses for 300 students, along with an auditorium, library, state of the art science labs for physics, chemistry, and biology will complement the existing Primary facilities in September 2017; creative amenities including a fabric and textiles workshop, and fully equipped photo and TV studio will also feature in support of a particularly convincing learning environment.

 

With so many options on offer, SISD students will truly benefit from a springboard to higher education and fulfilling careers.  Sommer added: “Multilingualism and bi-literacy are core tenets of the SISD education, fostering global citizens who are inquisitive, active and compassionate learners, and who contribute to a more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. SISD is a place to build connections for life and celebrate achievements“.

Once the school is at full capacity, the 67’845sqm campus located adjacent to Dubai Creek in Dubai Healthcare City’s new Phase 2, will cater to students from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 and will boast 2,442 pupils. The campus is based on sustainability standards as per the Swiss Minergie label, awarded to buildings constructed in line with energy-saving and ecological approaches, and will also include unique water access to Dubai creek.