One-to-one online maths classes for families across the UAE — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the northern emirates — taught to the English National Curriculum through primary and key stage 3, then to whichever qualification your school actually entered your child for. Same teacher every week, scheduled around your emirate's week rather than a generic one.
What is ClassArc?
ClassArc is live one-to-one online maths tutoring for school-age children. One teacher and one child, for 55 minutes. The same teacher every week. Classes run inside our own classroom software, not a video call: a shared worksheet you both write on, a shared whiteboard, and answers that sync live.
The short answer
The UK curriculum is the largest single curriculum in Dubai's private schools. On KHDA's most recent published figures it accounts for around 37% of private-school students, ahead of Indian at 26%, American at 14% and the IB at 7%.
Through primary and key stage 3, a British school here follows the English National Curriculum — the same programmes of study and the same year groups our UK guides are written from. From Year 10 the picture stops being simple.
The assumption that British schools abroad all sit International GCSE is wrong for the UAE. Schools here mix domestic GCSE and International GCSE subject by subject, inside the same school. GEMS Jumeirah College sets this out in its own candidate handbook: most subjects entered as GCSE, a handful as IGCSE, and the observation that the vast majority of UK-curriculum schools offer a mixed package. Its maths is listed as Edexcel 1MA1 — the UK domestic specification. Brighton College Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, says its curriculum leads to International GCSE, and Cranleigh Abu Dhabi that most of its subjects follow IGCSE specifications.
So the only sensible thing to do is ask. A student revising with the wrong specification's past papers is doing the wrong exam, and in the UAE you cannot infer which one from the country, the school, or even the rest of the timetable.
One more UAE-specific detail with real consequences: for the June series, Pearson requires centres here to sit alternative regional "R" papers in most International GCSE subjects, maths among them. Same specification, different paper. The November series does not use them and a few subjects have no R variant — but downloading the standard June paper without checking is an easy way to revise the wrong thing.
Sources: KHDA's 2024–25 private school figures, British Council UAE, and the schools' own published handbooks.
The week
This is the thing most often got wrong about the UAE, including by people who live here. There is no single national school week, and there has not been since 2022.
| Dubai | Abu Dhabi | Sharjah | |
|---|---|---|---|
| School days | Monday to Friday | Monday to Friday | Monday to Thursday |
| Weekend | Saturday and Sunday | Saturday and Sunday | Friday, Saturday and Sunday |
| Friday | Short day, finishing by 11:30 | Short day — schools set their own finish | Not a school day |
| Regulator | KHDA | ADEK | SPEA |
| We teach | Sunday to Thursday evenings | Sunday to Thursday evenings | Sunday to Wednesday evenings |
Sharjah has run a four-day school week for all private schools since January 2022, and publishes its own academic calendar. Dubai private schools must finish by 11:30 on Fridays, in line with the 12:45 Friday prayer. ADEK has not published a single emirate-wide Friday finish for Abu Dhabi, so schools there vary. Elsewhere in the Emirates the Ministry of Education regulates private schools directly. Check your own school's published timings rather than assuming.
The path
The first nine years match England closely. After that, the honest answer is that it depends on the school and often on the subject.
| Stage | What the school follows | Where we start |
|---|---|---|
| Primary, ages 5–11 | English National Curriculum, Years 1 to 6 | Our year-by-year guides, unchanged |
| Lower secondary, ages 11–14 | English National Curriculum, key stage 3 | Our Years 7 to 9 guides, unchanged |
| Ages 14–16 | GCSE or International GCSE — frequently a mix within one school | The exact specification your school entered them for |
| Sixth form, ages 16–18 | A Level or International A Level, sometimes alongside BTEC or the IB | Your board's papers, mark schemes and paper variant |
British Council UAE, which runs school exams for its attached centres, works with Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel and OxfordAQA. But most British schools here register as their own exam centres — GEMS Jumeirah College lists Pearson, AQA, Cambridge and CCEA on its own registration — so treat that as the common set rather than the complete one. Pearson Edexcel International and Pearson Edexcel UK are different systems, as are OxfordAQA and AQA. Two children in the same class can be on different ones.
Why families here choose us
Some of it is about maths. A good deal of it is about knowing which UAE you are actually in.
The UAE is UTC+4, our teachers are in India at UTC+5:30, and neither country uses daylight saving. A 5pm lesson in Dubai is 6:30pm for the teacher — a normal evening, every week of the year.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi finish on Friday; Sharjah does not open on it. We schedule from your school's actual week rather than assuming the Emirates all match.
GCSE or IGCSE, domestic or international, and which board. In the UAE you cannot guess this from the school name, and getting it wrong wastes a term of revision.
For the June series, UAE centres sit Pearson's regional papers in most International GCSE subjects. We work from the variant your child will actually see, not whichever ranks first on Google.
British-curriculum schools here teach in English. The vocabulary in our class is the vocabulary the teacher used that morning.
One person who remembers what your child could do last term — which matters in a country where families and schools change more often than the curriculum does.
Practical
The scheduling questions we get asked most, answered before you have to ask them.
By stage
The primary and key stage 3 guides are the English National Curriculum, which is what a British school in the UAE teaches. From Year 10, bring us the specification code.
Years 1 to 6: place value, times tables, fractions and the written methods everything later leans on.
PrimaryYears 7 to 9: algebra, ratio and the geometry that both GCSE and IGCSE assume is already secure.
Ages 11–14Cambridge IGCSE and Pearson Edexcel International GCSE — core and extended, foundation and higher.
International routeThe UK domestic route, which plenty of UAE schools use for maths. Foundation and higher, all three boards.
Domestic routeGetting started
One free class, no card, and a straight answer at the end of it.
In the UAE, "which exam?" is a real question with a real answer, and it is not the same one for every child in the class.
Why we ask before we teachYear group, emirate, school, and the qualification if you know it. The emirate matters because it decides which evenings we can offer.
If you are not sure whether it is GCSE or IGCSE, the exam board's code is on a past paper or the school's options booklet. We will help you find it.
Fifty-five minutes of teaching at a time that suits your emirate. No card needed to book it.
The same teacher, the same slot each week, fixed to local time.
Prices in UAE dirhams. Every class is 55 minutes, one-to-one, with the same teacher. First class free, no card required.
Questions from the UAE
First class
55 minutes. The real classroom. No card. We confirm details on email and WhatsApp within a day.
Last updated · May 2026
When you book a demo or sign up for classes, we collect your name, your child's name, email, WhatsApp number, time zone, and the grade you're inquiring about. That's it. We don't ask for or store any payment details on this website. We don't use trackers, cookies for advertising, or third-party analytics that profile you.
Only to schedule and run your classes, send you class reminders, share homework and progress, and answer your questions. We'll reach out by email or WhatsApp, depending on what you tell us works better for you.
Your teacher, and the small team supporting them at ClassArc. We never sell, rent, or share your information with anyone outside ClassArc. We use Formspree to receive form submissions, and standard email and WhatsApp for messaging, nothing else.
We treat any information about your child with extra care. We only collect what we need to teach them well, such as their grade and what they're working on. We never use a child's photo, name, or work in any marketing without the parent's explicit written permission.
You can ask us to show you what we have on file, correct anything inaccurate, or delete your data entirely, at any time. Just email hello@theclassarc.com and we'll handle it within a few days.
Email hello@theclassarc.com. A real person will reply.
Last updated · May 2026
ClassArc is a one-on-one online tutoring service. We provide live, scheduled classes between a teacher and a student, along with homework, feedback, and study support.
Each class is 55 minutes. You can reschedule or cancel a class up to 5 minutes before it starts. If you miss a class without notice, we usually credit it back to your balance and reschedule based on what works for the teacher and student.
The first demo class is free, no card required. After that, plans are billed in advance for the number of classes you choose (8, 24, or ~48). We'll send you a payment link directly once you've picked a plan.
If you want to stop classes at any point, we refund whatever class balance is left on your plan. No questions asked, no friction. Refunds are processed within 7 business days.
We expect students and parents to treat teachers with respect, and teachers to do the same. We reserve the right to end the relationship if classes become unsafe, abusive, or disruptive, with a full refund of any unused balance.
If we update these terms, we'll email you before the changes take effect, so you have time to review them.
For anything, email hello@theclassarc.com.