DESS ACADEMIC CITY SPORT
A WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SPORT
It all begins with a straightforward belief: that if sport matters to a child, it matters to us.
Not to the children we think of as sporty. Not to the ones already showing promise. But to every child who walks through our doors with any level of interest, curiosity or enthusiasm for being active.
We also know that not every child arrives feeling that way, and that is equally fine. Physical Education at DESS Academic City is designed to be something every child enjoys, whatever their relationship with sport. Some will discover a passion they never knew they had. Others will simply grow to love the feeling of movement, of teamwork, of being outside and alive in their bodies. Both of those outcomes matter to us deeply.
What we are really trying to develop here are not great sporting children. We are trying to develop great people who happen to love sport. The distinction sounds subtle, but it shapes everything, from the way we coach to the way we communicate, and from the teams we field to the conversations we have with parents.
DESS Academic City is a new campus with a proud sense of where it belongs. We are part of a DESS family that includes an outstanding primary school and one of the finest secondary schools in the UAE. That means the values, the standards and the love of sport that children develop here travel with them, carried forward into an environment that already knows and shares them.
Mark Webster Director of Sport
SPORT FOR EVERY CHILD. SPACE FOR EVERY INTEREST
Children arrive at DESS Academic City from different backgrounds, with different relationships to sport and different ideas about what they enjoy. The programme here is built to meet
From Foundation Stage through to Year 6, every child has access to a broad, carefully structured PE curriculum rooted in the British National Curriculum and delivered by specialist staff who teach across all year groups, bringing consistency, energy and genuine expertise to every session. The curriculum has something for everyone. For children who arrive less confident, there are opportunities to build skills, grow in self-belief and discover enjoyment in physical activity.
The sporting ECA programme is shaped by children’s interests and what they genuinely enjoy, ensuring it feels engaging, relevant and inclusive for
In our first year we listened carefully, communicated closely with parents and did our best to accommodate specific interests and requests. For children who have a particular interest in sports that are less commonly offered in school settings, such as golf, we welcome those conversations as part of broadening opportunity and experience. Sport at DESS Academic City grows with its community, and that community includes families as full partners in the process.
The campus facilities provide an exceptional foundation for everything we offer. Purpose-built indoor and outdoor sporting spaces give children access to high-quality environments throughout the school week, ensuring that PE lessons, ECA sessions and competitive fixtures all take place in surroundings that reflect the passion, purpose and importance we place on sport and physical development.
of children in Years
of children in Years 1–2 participated in at least one sports
THE JOURNEY THROUGH PRIMARY SPORT
Sport at primary level is most powerful when it builds progressively, when each year adds something to what came before and prepares a child for what comes next. At DESS Academic City, that progression is thoughtfully planned from the very beginning.
In Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, the emphasis is on exploration, play and the pleasure of movement. Children discover what their bodies can do, develop the coordination and confidence that underpin all future physical activity, and begin to experience the emotional landscape of games: the satisfaction of effort, the excitement of a challenge and the early understanding that winning and losing are both part of something worth doing. Development Squads in Years 1 and 2 introduce children to structured activity across a range of sports, laying foundations that will serve them throughout their primary years and
By Year 3, competitive sport enters the picture. Children begin taking part in DASSA leagues for the first time, a significant moment that brings travel, preparation, team responsibility, and the experience of representing something beyond themselves. DASSA is a huge influence on the sporting lives of Dubai’s primary children, encouraging a unified approach to competition that is as much about development as it is about results. Football and netball lead the way initially, with children learning formation, rules, tactics, and the habits of good sporting behaviour. ECAs broaden the offer further, and parents are kept closely informed at every step.
Years 3 and 4 are where foundations become habits. Technique develops, team understanding deepens, and children begin to identify the sports they genuinely love. The DASSA programme widens to include sports such as tag rugby and swimming, where our world-class facilities make a particular difference. Year-round access to the pool means children can develop in the water and build skills and confidence naturally and progressively, not through pressure but through opportunity.
By Years 5 and 6, the ambitions of the programme grow considerably. Larger tournaments, stronger opposition and higher-stakes competition ask more of children, and those children tend to rise to meet the challenge. The BSME competition, which we are due to host in the next academic year, provides a valuable regional context, and for our most committed young athletes, international sporting trips offer experiences that stay with a child long after the final whistle. Children who want to win are coached and developed to pursue that goal. Children who simply want to participate and improve are given every bit as much care and attention. Neither group is considered more important than the other.
Year 6 marks the beginning of the next chapter. Children preparing to move to DESS College do so with familiarity, confidence and a sense of sporting continuity. The ethos they have grown up with, and the ability they have developed, travels with them into an environment that already shares their values and is ready to build on everything that has come before.
GROWING GOOD PEOPLE THROUGH SPORT
No child at DESS Academic City should ever feel second best because they are not the most naturally gifted athlete in their year group. The child who loves PE but prefers individual activity to team competition belongs here just as much as the one who lives for match day. The child who needs a little extra support to develop their physical confidence will find it, through programmes designed specifically to ensure that every child has a positive and meaningful experience of physical activity throughout their primary years.
Talent, where it exists, is recognised early and given genuine support. Pathways are in place to ensure that children who show particular promise are challenged, coached and connected to the wider DESS sporting ecosystem, including the exceptional programme at DESS College, where the journey they begin here continues
SUCCESSES TO DATE
EVENTS & TOURS
We have participated in a number of regional and international events, including:
• U11 BSME Netball Tournament in Bahrain
• U11 BSME Games in Dubai
SPORT THAT STAYS WITH YOU
There is a question we ask ourselves when thinking about what primary sport is really for. Not what a child wins, or which team they make, but what they actually carry with them when they leave.
The answer, almost always, is the feeling. The feeling of running out onto a pitch as part of a team. Of working at something until it clicks. Of a teacher who pushed them, believed in them and celebrated their progress with genuine warmth. Of belonging, in the fullest sense, to something larger than themselves.
At DESS Academic City, that feeling is what we are building, one session, one match, one conversation at a time. The sport is the vehicle. The destination is a child who steps into secondary school confident, curious and genuinely in
them the values, the habits and the quiet self-belief that sport, done well, has a unique ability to build.
We are part of a DESS family. That family has a shared vision: Creating Great People for Life. Sport, at its best, is one of the most powerful ways we know how.
Three words capture it better than any programme description could: Legacy, Family and Belief.
Legacy reminds us of the standards set by those who came before. Family keeps us rooted in care and connection. Belief moves us forward, inspiring us to challenge assumptions and trust one another to make things better. These anchors are lived daily throughout all aspects of school life, not only in milestones but in small,
