Age Placement Guide
GEMS World Academy - Dubai places students in age-appropriate grade levels in accordance with the Ministry of Education/KHDA regulations. The IB programmes allow for a great degree of academic differentiation and therefore we rarely accelerate children into higher grades, nor retain children in a lower year group.
Families are encouraged to use the country comparison chart below to ensure that they are applying to the correct grade level, taking into account the differences that exist in the naming of “grades” around the world. (As an example, Year 2 in England is equivalent to Grade 1 at GEMS World Academy - Dubai although both programmes are for a 6-year old that turn 7 during the Academy year).
If there are questions about the correct grade-level placement, please contact the Registration Team.
| Age as of August 31 of each Academy year* | GEMS World Academy - Dubai | North America | England | Australia/ NZ | South Africa |
| "Grade" | "Grade" | "Year" | "Year" | "Year" | |
| 2 years old | Nursery | Nursery | Nursery | -- | -- |
| 3 years old (toilet trained) | Pre-K | PreK or Nursery | FS1 (Nursery) | -- | -- |
| 4 years old (toilet trained) | Kg1 | PreK | FS2 (Reception) | Kg | -- |
| 5 years old | Kg2 | Kg | 1 | Prep | Reception |
| 6 years old | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 years old | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 years old | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 years old | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 10 years old | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| 11 years old | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| 12 years old | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| 13 years old | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| 14 years old | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
| 15 years old | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 |
| 16 years old | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 |
| 17 years old | 12 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 12 |
*Applicable for all new Nursery/FS1/Pre-KG – Year 2/Grade 1 students enrolling from September 2022; further information can be found here.
*Year 3/Grade 2 students – Year 13/ Grade 12, Transfer Certificate will be followed.
More To Explore
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Admissions Guidelines and Overview
Important information every parent should know before proceeding to the Application Process.
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Placement Assessment
Designed to determine a student’s readiness for the GEMS World Academy – Dubai programme including any language and/or special needs support.
