AAESS at a Glance
Al Ain English Speaking School is a privately owned school. It was set up by the Balfour Group in 1978.
Al Ain English Speaking School is one of the oldest private schools in Al Ain, and was originally known as ‘The Balfour School’. It was started in 1976 in a local villa owned by Mr. Hamad Al Hourani and assisted by the ALGECO Construction Company. The Head Teacher was the sole teacher, Mrs. Gill Didcott.
Set up by Balfour Consulting Engineers for the children of their work force, Middle East Partners, Colin Jones became the first Governor of the school, choosing the British system of education with children from Early Years (3 Years old), to 6th Form (18 Years old), where the secondary students study for their GCSEs and A Level examinations.
In 1977, Mr. Jones’ partner Anthony Deane, became Governor and oversaw the start of the building of AAESS by ALGECO, on this very site after the land was kindly gifted by His Highness Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Mohammed Al Nahyan.
Mr Jones returned in 1978 for 2 years and even helped with the last stages of the building of the school on the weekends.
In 1984, partner Colin Craib took the Governorship, and the school continued to grow from the sand into what it has become today, with Head teacher, Mr James Crawford taking the helm from 1983 to 2005. Mr Crawfrord was awarded an OBE for services to British education overseas.
The school remained in the same ownership until 2014, when Mr Mohammed Al Ghussein took the chairmanship. Andrew Thomas was appointed the Executive Principal with 1100 students in 2015.
Working as a team, the Chairman and Principal refurbished the school, building a new administration building, state of the art auditorium, and a new upper primary school, with bespoke ICT and Science laboratories for the younger students. An astro turf pitch was also laid.
In that year of 2015, the school saw its first ‘Highest in the World’ award, with Roy Hyatt achieving this in GCSE French for the Pearson exams. This year also saw student Amir Saddiqui be chosen to play violin at the Andrea Bocelli concert in Abu Dhabi, and our new buildings opened by the then new head of ADEK, H.E. Sara Musallam.
2017 saw the school thanked by the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, for demonstrating consistent best and good practice with the Morality programme, following regular inspections from his team. Thomas was invited to the Al Bastan Palace for Iftar with the Sheikh. This year also saw the school celebrate its first Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award through Molly Sommerville, after her final expedition with the school to South Africa.
At the end of 2019. The school celebrated another Highest in the World award, with Gyiath Aldirbashi achieving this in A/S Maths with the Cambridge exams board.
This year also saw the inaugural ADEK Teacher of the Year Awards which was won by Mr Zaheer Abass (Head of Secondary), and the school also gained the ‘Good’ rating by Irtiqa’a.
Covid then hit us all in 2000, but after being inspected for our online learning provision, AAESS was given the highest rating of ‘Developed’ and was one of the first schools to be awarded this. As a result, AAESS was asked to support many schools across Al Ain.
In 2021, the school was thanked and celebrated by ADEK as one of the top 31 schools in the UAE for our PISA scores. On the same day as this celebration at ADEK HQ, the school had its next Irtiqa’a inspection where it was rated ‘Very Good’.
Forward wind from the Covid era, and 2022 saw the development of the STEM building. Having already introduced chicken and duck farms, AAESS saw the development and need for sustainability programmes as well as life skills. AAESS is the only school to have a professional media suite with 60 Apple Macs, a Home Economic suite, Design Technology Suite, an Automobile Garage and a Radio station. It is believed that AAESS is the only school in the UAE to have a radio license! This year also saw AAESS become the first school in Al Ain to gain the British Schools Overseas award (BSO).
2023 saw our latest Highest in the World award, where Alaa Sharif gained this in A/S Psychology with the Pearson exams board. By this year, Alaa had joined a long list of students who had also gained the Highest in the UAE and the Middle East awards. AAESS also became the first school in Al Ain to gain the Carnegie Bronze Award for School Mental Health.
Joining his sister, Elliot Sommerville gained his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, following his successful expedition with the school to Nepal.
The school now educates 2018 children from over 60 countries and is now a firm favourite amongst the ex-pat community.
