The new school will feature a library and a 25-metre, six-lane swimming pool. Photo: Gems World Academy
The new school will feature a library and a 25-metre, six-lane swimming pool. Photo: Gems World Academy
The new school will feature a library and a 25-metre, six-lane swimming pool. Photo: Gems World Academy
The new school will feature a library and a 25-metre, six-lane swimming pool. Photo: Gems World Academy

Gems World Academy in Abu Dhabi to relocate in 2022


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Gems World Academy in Abu Dhabi will relocate to Reem Island in 2022.

The primary school will move to a site five kilometres from its current location in time for the start of the 2022-2023 school year.

The new school will feature activity rooms, science rooms, digital learning studios, music rooms and practice studios, a library and an indoor play area.

It will also offer pupils a rooftop play area, a canteen and dining area, a book and uniform shop, and prayer rooms, while there will also be a parent cafe and lounge on site.

Pupils will have access to a six-court multipurpose hall with audiovisual equipment and a stage. The school will also have a football pitch, a 25-metre, six-lane swimming pool and a learner pool.

"At Gems, we are continuously looking to further enhance the education and grow the opportunities available to our students, and this new campus will enable just that," said Dino Varkey, group chief executive of Gems Education.

The first phase of the new development will increase the school's capacity to 1,128 pupils. Once the project is complete it will be able to accommodate 1,866 pupils.

Gems World Academy, which offers an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, opened in 2011.

From September next year, the school will offer Grade 6, and further grades will be added each year up to Grade 12.

As the school expands it will introduce the Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme, eventually becoming a full IB school.

Pupils inoculated against Covid-19 before new school year - in pictures

Haemoglobin disorders explained

Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.

Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.

The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.

The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.

A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.

Where can I submit a sample?

Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.

Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:

  • Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
  • Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
  • Al Towayya in Al Ain
  • NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
  • Bareen International Hospital
  • NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
  • NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
  • NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
Updated: September 06, 2021, 3:41 PM