The thought of moving to a new country, finding  a home, scrambling for school places and making friends can be very daunting for even the most seasoned expat.  If you are moving to Dubai with children Expat Echo Dubai has always recommended you secure school places for your children before handing over a hefty deposit on a home but sometimes this just isn’t possible so the question many families have is where is a good place to live that has a good choice of schools in the area?

In the past few years (and months) billboards have been appearing in many areas of Dubai advertising new schools which are opening up.  This summer will see  new schools in areas such as Motor City, The Villa, Al Barsha, Al Quoz and Nad al Sheba.  This will mean that anyone opting to live in areas such as “New Dubai”  will have a good choice of schools to choose from as long your child is between 3 and 12 years of age.  For older children the choice is still limited.  Even though  many of these new schools are advertising schooling up to Year 13 many will initially be opening up only their primary sections and they will grow the schools year by year as the children move through the years.

Depending on budget the areas that will have the largest options of schools nearby will include areas such as Jumeirah Village Triangle & Circle, Arabian Ranches, Victory Heights, Motorcity, Sports City, Al Barsha, The Villa and Silicon Oasis.  The school options will not necessarily be in walking distance but will be a short car or bus journey away from your home.  Older areas such as Jumeirah and Umm Sequim are still great areas to live in however, it is in these areas that many of the older and more established schools are located and these schools can sometimes have long wait-lists.

For a comprehensive list of schools in Dubai and map to show their locations please click here