Services
Elizabeth Harding advises on school placement in the United Arab Emirates. There are two levels of service.
Both begin with a conversation at no charge, of around thirty minutes, to understand what you need and whether Elizabeth is the right person to help.
01 The Consultation
For families who want to understand the landscape properly and then proceed themselves.
It runs across two conversations of about an hour each. The first is about your child and your family: who your child is beyond their school reports, what has worked and what hasn’t, anything a new school would need to understand, where you are living, and what matters most to you. Elizabeth explains how schools and admissions work in the UAE, and introduces a list of schools prepared specifically for your child, organised around the areas you are considering.
You then have a week or so to look at those schools yourselves.
The second conversation is where the advice happens. What you liked and didn’t, which schools Elizabeth would recommend and why, and a priority order of around five schools to register with — together with a plan, the order to do things in, and the deadlines that cannot move.
You are left with the list, annotated with that plan, and enough understanding to act on it independently.
02 The Full Search
Begins with The Consultation, and then continues alongside you until a place is offered.
It includes:
- Confirming with each school whether there is the possibility of a place in the right year group, before you spend time on it
- Guidance across the curricula available in the UAE, and what choosing each one commits a child to
- An honest assessment of each school beyond its published rating
- The documents you will need, in what order, and which to start first — including transfer certificates and attestation
- School visits arranged for you, with a full briefing beforehand and a conversation afterwards
- Guidance through each application, which you complete and submit yourselves
- Preparation for assessment days and parent interviews
- Comparison of offers, a clear recommendation, and help declining the others
- Elizabeth, personally, on the end of the telephone throughout
Additional children are taken on within the same engagement. Continuing support through the first term and beyond is available separately.
03 What is not included
No adviser controls admissions.
Elizabeth does not provide tuition, immigration or visa services, or property advice. She does not attend school tours in a family’s place, and applications are completed and submitted by families rather than on their behalf. Both are deliberate, and both are explained when you speak.
Places at the most selective schools in the UAE are decided by availability and by each school’s own assessment of the child, and no place at any school is guaranteed. What Elizabeth provides is accurate targeting, thorough preparation, and guidance through a process more demanding than most families expect.
04 How Elizabeth works
Independent, personal, and discreet.
And by no one else. No commission, referral fee or introduction fee from any school.
A small number of families each term, so that each receives the attention this deserves.
Nothing about a family, a child or an outcome is shared with anyone, and no family is ever named.
Begin with a conversation.
Around thirty minutes, at no charge, to understand what you need and whether Elizabeth is the right person to help.
Enquire