Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS), one of the leading not-for-profit schools in Dubai has informed its parents that fees will be increased by 5% for the upcoming academic year but only for their two primary schools. Secondary and sixth form fees will remain unchanged.
Following the recent announcements by Dubai College and DESS/DESC of fee increases, the fact that secondary fees will remain unchanged will likely come as a welcome surprise for JESS parents.
Explaining the reasoning for the limited increase Shane O’Brien, Director of JESS said:
“We are in good shape and student numbers are strong (all waiting lists are closed at this point in time). The rationale behind this fee increase is to ensure a financial model that enables JESS to keep developing and improving to deliver the standard of education expected from a leading Not For Profit school.
“Part of the aim is to also address the disparity between primary and secondary fees. When benchmarking across other schools in Dubai you will find that our primary fees provide incredibly good value. With this increase, we take a step towards the sustainable financial model required to achieve our development goals whilst showing due consideration to JESS families with children in secondary.”
Mr O’Brien also pointed to increased investment in staffing in key areas throughout the school. He said:
“You will notice that the emphasis of our planning is based on appointing high-quality staff in identified areas for our school development, in particular Learning Support, Counselling and the Performing Arts. All research says that the most significant influence on a child’s educational progress is the quality of the teacher. Accordingly, we continue to invest in quality staff.”
In the note to parents Mr O’Brien announced that JESS has ‘an exciting and comprehensive building and refurbishment plan’’ spread across the three schools over the next ten years which starts this summer with a major landscaping/playground project at JESS Jumeirah.
