Welcome from the CEO
Hello and welcome.
You’re facing one of life’s high-stakes decisions.
One that must consider curriculum, ratings, convenience, culture, reputation, and facilities - and then dig even deeper until instinct says you’re there.
At DESS Primary Oud Metha and DESS College, we are a vibrant, successful, inclusive community of students, teachers, parents, and alumni who tackle today’s most pressing challenges with courage and creativity.
Like you, we understand that the greatest gift we can give our children is the joy of learning in an environment where they are known, heard, safe and appropriately challenged, and where their little quirks make them special.
For more than 60 years, our hubs of learning and growth have been transforming lives with a powerful combination of British education and the not-for-profit status freedom to invest every surplus dirham straight back into enhancing our school and college.
To help us prepare for the next 60 years and beyond, in September 2025 we will welcome students, parents and staff to DESS Primary Academic City. When it opens, the new-build school will be a third Dubai English Speaking Schools campus – and another that comprises so much more than just buildings. It will be a third incubator for ability and ambition, where endeavour and discipline sit alongside decency, respect, kindness, and empathy. Working closely with me on this remarkable new primary school are our two Principals, Chris Vizzard and Catherine Dando alongside our Trustees and partners.
It’s such a privilege to be able to watch tomorrow’s creators, thinkers, and pioneers as they work out how they want to make their mark on the world.
How fortunate we are to have so much history and so many eager and talented youngsters to continue writing it for us.
So come and visit us. Take a tour and talk to our students, teachers, and families. See for yourself why our schools and college are places where futures are shaped.
We can't wait to welcome you to our community.
Warmest regards
Andrew Gibbs
Chris Vizzard
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Catherine Dando
After earning a First-Class Honours degree in Education from Brighton University, Catherine (Katie) dedicated nearly three decades to primary education in the UK, taking on roles from class teacher to Literacy Leader, and Deputy Headteacher to Headteacher. Her passion for early literacy also led her to share her expertise as a lecturer at Brighton University.
Her leadership skills were recognised with her completion of the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) in 2010, followed by a successful period as a Primary Headteacher in Worthing, UK. Katie’s collaborative approach to education included serving on the Heads Executive, contributing to discussions and initiatives aimed at enhancing school performance.
In 2014, she became the Headteacher of DESS Primary Oud Metha. Her focus has been on creating engaging learning environments that encourage DESS Primary students to pursue lifelong learning. As a mother of three, she brings a personal touch to her role, eagerly welcoming new students, and their families to DESS, and a journey of learning, growth, and discovery.
Our Journey
DESS Primary Oud Metha celebrated its 60th birthday in 2023 and is the oldest British school in Dubai. DESS College opened in 2005 and provides Secondary and Sixth Form education from ages 11-18.
When it opens in September 2025, the new-build DESS Primary Academic City will sit alongside our existing DESS Primary Oud Metha and DESS College.
All our schools provide opportunities for students to flourish in a DESS environment built on kindness, gratitude, and humanity, that ensures they are not only aspirational but also nurtured in their creative, social, and emotional capacities.
Together, DESS Primary Oud Metha and DESS College educate 2,800 students according to the English National Curriculum, and we’re proud and delighted that they are consistently rated as Outstanding by the Dubai schools’ regulator, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and the British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspectorate.
Having not-for-profit status means that DESS Primary Oud Metha and DESS College are not required to deliver profits to owners, shareholders, or investors. Like other not-for-profit entities, once our running costs have been met, every surplus dirham can be invested directly into our schools.
And this isn’t new. In fact, it’s been the case ever since DESS’s first 10 students arrived at a small block of flats in 1963 to be taught by a British airman on loan from Sharjah RAF base.
Those humble beginnings quickly paved the way for the appointment of our first Headteacher Harry Atkinson the following year, the move to our cherished Oud Metha site in 1967, and the formation of our Board of Trustees in 1969.
Countless other defining moments of growth and achievement followed as we marched through the decades to 2003 and our bold decision to build DESS College so that our Year 6 children had a guaranteed secondary school destination at a time when there were so few options.
Then came the addition of our Sixth Form campus in 2017, along with the acquisition of the grounds and facilities that went with it.
And here we are again. On the brink of another new adventure with our new primary school in Academic City opening in September 2025. Relevant, radiant, and raring to make more important decisions to make sure we protect and preserve our school and college for the next 60 years.
Why Choose
Dubai English Speaking Schools?
You made a list and you’re gradually reducing it to a handful of schools that seem to fit the child you have today and the bright, ambitious young adult you dream of having tomorrow.
But the future isn’t just what we dream about. It’s what we create together.
Being told that we are ‘Outstanding’ each year isn’t just an excuse to print another corridor poster.
It means the world to us and gives us the impetus to continue striving for excellence inside and outside our classrooms.
For our students, it means learning and growing in a community that offers a warm embrace, true belonging, encouragement to take risks, and a chance to get something from each day rather than just get through each day.
For our parents, it means collaboration and contribution.
And our staff? Well, they’re the dream makers. The master builders who work with British curriculum blueprints and believe the best outcome for your child is to leave a DESS Primary or DESS College having achieved his, her or their full potential.
Our culture values hard work, and free and honest expression and discovery. Our community loves Dubai, serves Dubai, and learns from Dubai.
We welcome students, staff and parents with different backgrounds, diverse perspectives, assorted abilities, and wide-ranging experiences to come and learn, innovate, and feel empowered to flourish in a safe environment built on respect, kindness, and inclusiveness.
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