Cranleigh School to host festive Open Day

Abu Dhabi - Some 30 music students and teachers from the 150 years old Cranleigh private school in the UK will travel to Abu Dhabi for the festival, which will take place from April 13-19.

Cranleigh school's Open Day will turn into a full festival this week with three musical performances and workshops taking place at the Abu Dhabi school.
Some 30 music students and teachers from the 150 years old Cranleigh private school in the UK will travel to Abu Dhabi for the festival, which will take place from April 13-19.
The festival is the first formal UK-UAE cultural exchange between the two schools and also includes the inaugural Open Day on April 18, when prospective parents will be given the opportunity to tour the school's facilities and learn about its educational ethos.
"We've seen a huge demand for places since we opened two years ago, even from Dubai, and I believe this is due to our unique approach to education, which goes far beyond just ticking the box on exam results," said Brendan Law, the headmaster of Cranleigh Abu Dhabi.
The biggest school in the capital in terms of square metres, Cranleigh Abu Dhabi will spread across seven hectares on Saadiyat island, when fully completed by 2020. Its pre-preparatory (kindergarten) and prep (junior) schools opened in 2014 and one year later the first senior students joined Cranleigh.
"Now we have a capacity of nearly 1,000 pupils, but it is growing, and ultimately we will reach 1550 capacity, when fully opened," Law told Khaleej Times.
The school, which offers British curriculum, is very popular with parents of different nationalities, despite having some of the highest fees in the country - starting from Dh65,000 per year for the pre-preparatory school to Dh96,333 for year 11.
During the Open Day on April 18, parents may only register children from Years 5-11, as the pre-preparatory classes have been over-subscribed since opening.
"One difficulty we faced was a new rule introduced by the Abu Dhabi Education Council earlier this year, which does not allow transfers of students between schools after October 8. When families move back to their home countries and we have new places vacant, we want to offer them to children who already have siblings with us, so we have to hold on to these places and wait until the next academic year," pointed out Law.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com