Are you new to Abu Dhabi or Dubai?
Are you worried about your children’s school admission in DUBAI and Abu Dhabi?
Are you confused about the entrance test and syllabus of the Indian schools in the Gulf?
Or are you preparing your kid for the entrance test for his school admission?
If you, as parents, have all these questions, you have come to the right place. In this article, I will answer all these questions and share my experience of enrolling my 5-year-old in KG2 at an Indian School in Abu Dhabi. When I was in India my kid was studying KG1 in Hyderabad. In March, he finished his exams and got holidays. His next academic year which is KG2 was about to start in April. My husband got a job offer from Dubai at the end of March. The salary package was good so we decided to shift to Dubai. My husband went to Dubai in April and called us on a family visa in August. Till that time we didn’t send our kid to school as we were planning to join him in kg2 class in Dubai. So he stayed at home and practiced alphabet and numbers with me. I used to teach him one hour daily as an everyday routine.
When we came to Dubai in August, we learned that the admission process here is very different from that in India. There are strict rules regarding the age at which a child should be admitted to KG1, KG2, and Nursery. Since we wanted to enroll our son in the KG2 class, the age must be 6 years old. At that time, my son was just 5.5 years old, so he was not eligible for admission to KG2. So we decided to make him study at home for the whole year. Next year he can join in KG2 class. And since the academic year starts in April, online admissions start from October to December. If you don’t fill out these online registration forms you will not get admission in any school.
To Know more about how to fill out these online school applications you can visit my article on the Admission process in Abu Dhabi schools t know every detail.
Since admissions here start in October and end in January, I applied to all the Indian schools in Dubai from October 25th to November 5th. After a few days, my husband got a job offer from Abu Dhabi, so we planned to move there after one month. I applied to 15 Indian schools in Abu Dhabi within four days. Their online registration is very easy. Anyone can apply online.
After applying to all these schools, I didn’t get any call or reply from any school. I waited for 2 weeks and after that, I started calling and emailing every school to know my son’s admission status. Some of them didn’t lift the calls, and some replied that our son’s registration is on the waiting list and that if there are any vacancies in the school then my son can get admission, some told me registrations would start in January, and some told since my son is taking kg2 admission, he will get admission only if any kg1 student who is already in the school drops out of the school. Getting admission in KG 1 is very easy in schools as it is the first class and there are all new admissions. All the KG 1 students will be promoted to the KG2 section. That is why getting admission to KG2 is difficult.
After one month I got a call from an Indian school. At that time I was sleeping and didn’t lift the call. So they sent an email to me telling me that they were trying to reach us and we didn’t respond. Soon after 5 minutes I woke up and called them back. They didn’t lift. I called several times, but there was no response. The next day also I tried but they didn’t pick up so I sent an email to them. After a few days, I again sent them an email asking about my kid’s admission status. There was no response. Since the academic year starts in April, we have so much time left for admission. So I took it lightly. After a few days in December, I got a call from the same school that called me before. They told me that my son’s admission application form for the kg2 class has been shortlisted for a face-to-face entrance exam in the school on December 5th at 10 am. They told me to come to school only with my kid’s Emirates ID. And in the entrance test, they said they would ask only vowels, three-letter words (CVC words), colors, numbers up to 50, and shapes. We should also pay a 500 dirham registration fee which is refunded after we get admission to the school. So I started preparing my kid for all these. He was also very excited to go to the new school. I showed him the school on the school website and some of its YouTube videos. He liked the school as it was very big and neat.
Assessment tests of every school are different. But many concepts are common. Like the kid should know all the alphabets from Aa to Zz, numbers from 0 to 50, CVC words, names of plants and animals, different shapes, and colors, and they should be able to write and draw all these. Some schools tell in their entrance test material that is present on their school websites that the kid should know numbers from 0 to 100, missing numbers, phonic sounds, all types of shapes, parts of the body, telling about me, and many more. You can visit the school website to know what they ask in their entrance test. Many schools have this entrance test material on their websites and some don’t. Some schools call and tell you what they ask so you can prepare your child accordingly. I did a lot of research on these entrance exams of KG1 and KG2 classes on Google and YouTube. But didn’t find anything useful. Thaswy I am sharing my experience with you so that you can get an idea of the entrance test material.
We were in Dubai then, but due to a job change, we were planning to shift to Abu Dhabi on December 1st. Since the entrance test was also on December 5th in Abu Dhabi, it was easy for us to go to school. My brother-in-law’s family lives in Abu Dhabi, so we visited their house first. We stayed there as my brother-in-law’s family was in India for vacation. During that time, we also had the entrance exam. So, on December 5th, we went to school at 9.45 am since the entrance test was at 10 am. The school was very big with a big entrance door in front. As soon as my son saw it he felt happy. Seeing him happy we felt happy too. There was a reception right after the entrance. The receptionist gave me a file to write my name, my son’s name, date, signature, and the time we came for the assessment test. After writing all this she took my son’s Emirates ID and told me to wait. We waited there for 10 minutes in the waiting hall right in front of the reception. There were so many trophies and awards in that hall. I started showing all those to my son for timepass. There were other parents too waiting in the hall for assessment tests.
After 10 minutes of waiting, another staff member of the school came and took all the parents and kids to a classroom. When we all went there and sat on the benches they gave us another form to fill. That form contained normal basic details like the kid’s name, parent’s name, which class we were selecting, home address, phone numbers, email IDs, and transport facility. After this, they sent all the kids to another room for the assessment test. This room was just on the opposite side of the classroom and it had a big glass window. So we were able to see our kids in the room and they were also able to see us. All parents had to wait in the classroom only. We were not allowed in that entrance test room. But still, I felt happy because I was able to see my child and he also felt a little bit confident and strong after seeing us from the room. There were only 6 to 7 kids for the entrance exam on that day. So they made 2 rounds. They took the entrance test of 3 children together. And next the other three children together.
After some time the main class teacher who was supposed to take the assessment test came inside the exam room. My son was sitting at the table along with one boy and one girl. The teacher asked their names one by one. After seeing the teacher, my son got a little scared. His face suddenly changed expressions from excitement to fear. After asking their names the teacher told my son to sit beside her. She told another girl too to sit on her right side. And the boy was sitting right in front of her. She started asking about alphabet to all three kids one by one. We were not able to hear any sound from that room. We were just able to see them. I saw how my son was answering all the questions with fear. This went on for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the other 2 children who went inside with my son came out. My son didn’t come out and he was sitting beside the teacher. The teacher called us inside to talk to us about our son.
When I went inside, I was a bit scared. I thought she would complain about my son, saying that he didn’t say anything properly. The other two kids came out happily, running towards their parents, while my son was sitting quietly inside the room beside the teacher. After we came inside, she told us that he had told everything correctly, but he was not able to tell or write three-letter words. Then, I saw a piece of paper in front of my kid on the table in which the three-letter word ‘cap’ was written which he was not able to tell. Then she said that since he studied LKG in India, their schools don’t teach three-letter words in LKG. So she told us to make him practice 2 letter words first, phonics, and then 3 letter words till April. After this, she told me that she would give admission to our son but we must make him practice phonics and 3 letter words till April because in UKG or KG 2 class, there will be full sentences to write and for this, the kid should know all the words. At this point, I felt a little relieved. I said thank you to the teacher and went out of the room.
I still doubted if this admission was confirmed or not so I went to the staff member and asked her again about the admission status. She told me that since the assessment test is done, my son’s application form will be on the waiting list, and we have to pay 500 dirhams for the application form. This fee will be refunded if we get admission in the school. If we cancel the admission on our own, we will not get back the 500 dirhams. If any one student from kg1 drops out of the school, my son will get admission to the kg2 class. If not, he will not get any seat and we will get back the refund of 500 dirhams we gave for the application form. After all this, I was confident that my son would surely be admitted to this school as the teacher showed confidence in my son’s assessment test result. After leaving the room we went to the reception to pay 500 dirhams. After coming out of school, I asked my son about his experience. How was the teacher, what did she ask, and what did he answer?
He looked very happy and told me the teacher told him ‘Good Job‘ after he told all the ABCs and numbers. He said she also asked about colors, shapes, and three-letter words. He told me that she is a good teacher and he likes her a lot. He also said that he likes the school as it is much bigger than his previous Indian school and very clean. However, we all felt relieved as the main assessment test was over and now he will get admission directly. However, since the academic year starts in April, there are 3 more months left. In these months, I thought of teaching him phonic sounds and three-letter words. The next day we got a call from the school that we could now access the parent portal on the school website. This made me think that we will surely get admission in kg2 in January as the teacher was satisfied with my son’s performance, we already paid the 500 registration fee, and now we the access to the parents portal of the school website too. But still, we were waiting for a response from other schools too as this school was a little bit costly than the other Indian schools. But from other parent’s reviews, we were told that this school has the best education and discipline. And this matters a lot to every parent.
After a few days, we got emails from other 4 Indian schools that there were no seats available for the kg2 class and their seats were already full. At the end of January, we got a call from the same Indian school in which we gave the assessment test. This call made me very happy. I thought we finally got the admission confirmation now. I lifted the call within seconds and said ‘Thank you for calling mam’ to the staff member. She told me that my son’s admission status is still on the waiting list and there is one vacancy in the kg1 class now in January. She asked me whether my son is going to any other school now or if is he in India. I told her that we were in Abu Dhabi and waiting for my son’s admission to the kg2 class. She told me that we can now join our kid in the kg1 class from January to March and pay the third term fee which is from January to March. She told me that since my son is at home, he can come to school for 2 months and after kg1 he will be directly promoted to kg2 without any waiting list. We have to pay the third term fee, book fee, uniform fee, and transport fee if we opt for the school bus. This made me a little bit anxious and stressed. She told me to decide in one hour after discussing it with my husband. I was confused a lot. I thought if there was a vacancy in the kg1 class, she could give that seat to my son for kg2. Instead, she wanted me to join my kid in kg1 first, pay the third term fee, kg1 books fee, and then after 2 months, again pay for kg2 admission fee. This was going out of our financial budget as we were looking for a house for rent at that time. You need to give at least 3 months’ advance rent to the owner of the house before moving to the new house in Abu Dhabi. And we all know how costly the rent is in Gulf countries.
I discussed this with my husband and he was ready to take admission to the kg1 class because he said we didn’t have any other option as we didn’t get any response from other schools. We also thought our son would go to school and learn many things for these 2 months instead of staying at home. My son also wanted to go to school now as he was also bored staying at home for more than 11 months. So we decided to pay the third term fee and we can rent a house after one month. I called the school and confirmed my son’s admission to the kg1 class. The next minute they sent me an admission form and told me to fill it out and send it back as softcopy in WhatsApp or email. I filled out the admission form, and transportation form, and sent all the original documents of my son’s Emirates ID, passport copy, vaccination card, Birth certificate, Passport size photo, parent’s Emirates ID, and my son’s health insurance card to their mail ID and on their WhatsApp number. After sending all this she told me to wait for 3 days as they have sent the admission form to the ADEK for approval and they will need some time to update the admission status of my son from kg2 to kg1. After approval and update, they will send us the invoice for fee payment. Once we pay the fee, we can send our son to school the next day.
After 5 days, we got the invoice. We paid the third term fee, books fee, uniform fee, and the transport fees online. We opted for a school bus because the school was far away from my brother-in-law’s home. We also went shopping to buy a new school bag, water bottle, lunch box, a stationery set, black shoes, and socks for my son. The next day we went to drop our kid to school. His school timings were from 8 am to 12 pm. He was very excited and a little bit nervous too as it’s been 11 months since he went to school. He studied kg1 or LKG in India. After his exams in March, my husband got a job offer in Dubai and we shifted to Dubai in August. At that time the school admissions were already over so we were not able to join our son in school in Dubai. After staying there in Dubai for 4 months, my husband again got a job offer in Abu Dhabi and hence we shifted here. Like this, we were busy shifting and traveling from one place to another. Getting a school admission here in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is very difficult. You cannot just go to school and take admission like we do in India. We have to fill out the online registration form first, and if there are any vacancies then only they will call you for the assessment test. They also follow the rule ‘First come First served’. Whoever fills the form first, will get the first opportunity for the entrance test. Since I filled out the form in the last week of October, I got a call from the school in December.
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