Ufaa School One thousand six hundred and forty children, two sessions, sixty eight teachers
Grades one to ten, two sessions

A big school, run to the minute, and honest about why

One thousand six hundred and forty children in one building on two sessions. Every arrangement here is the same for every family, because at this size an exception for one is a queue for four hundred. Appointments, not queues. Reports, not rumour. Everything published in advance.

Book a parent appointment Grades and subjects
Four things to know first

How this school deals with sixteen hundred families

Appointments, never a queue

Ninety slots a week with form teachers and heads of grade, booked on this site. Nobody waits at the gate and nobody is turned away.

An absence call before nine

Every unexplained absence in either session is telephoned home within the first hour. Four staff, every morning, without exception.

The bell is not flexible

The afternoon session needs the rooms at ten to one. A morning class that runs over takes the first lesson from a nine year old.

Six houses, not fourteen hundred faces

Every child belongs to a house of about two hundred and seventy with its own head, and that is how a child this size of school is actually known.

The school

Eight parts, and what each one is responsible for

The two sessions, the grade groups, the houses, student support, admissions, reporting, and the shop and canteen.

Grades one to five: the afternoon session

Twenty eight classes, ten to one until twenty past five, and a morning club programme because the afternoon has no room for one.

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Grades six to eight: the morning session

Twenty one classes, ten to seven until twenty past twelve, subject teachers from grade six, and the grades where a child is easiest to lose.

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Grades nine and ten: three streams and the examination year

Science, commerce or general, chosen at the end of grade eight, with four practice examinations in grade ten.

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The six houses

About two hundred and seventy children each, one head of house from grade one to grade ten, and the sport and service programme.

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The student support team

Three counsellors and two support teachers. How a child is referred, what is confidential and what is not.

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Admission, the catchment rule and the waiting list

Two hundred and forty grade one places, three hundred and ninety one applications last year, and a published order of priority.

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See all of them

Why two sessions, and what we do about the cost of them

This building has forty two teaching rooms and sixty two classes. That arithmetic is the whole reason for two sessions and no amount of timetabling makes it go away.

Grades six to ten are taught in the morning, from ten to seven until twenty past twelve. Grades one to five are taught in the afternoon, from ten to one until twenty past five. Sixty eight teachers, and a third of them teach in both sessions.

What it costs a family: a young child's day ends after five, which in the wet season means going home in the dark. What it costs the school: no afternoon programme worth the name for the younger grades, and a hall that is never free.

What we do about it. Clubs for the lower grades run in the morning before their session rather than after it, and are supervised from eleven. Three hundred and ten children use that. Walking groups are organised by street for the older primary grades at home time and are staffed by teachers for the first fortnight of each term. And admission into grade one gives a place in the morning session to any family where a younger and an older child both attend, so that one household is not making two journeys at opposite ends of the day.

The school this year

1,640
Children, grades one to ten
62
Classes in forty two rooms
68
Teachers
90
Parent appointment slots a week
What the school has changed

Three things that made a school this size work better

The absence call before nine, appointments instead of the gate queue, and the covered courtyard.

The absence call before nine
Ufaa School 2023

The absence call before nine

Four staff, one hour, every morning. The simplest thing this school does and the one that has changed the most.
Appointments instead of the queue at the gate
Ufaa School 2024

Appointments instead of the queue at the gate

Ninety slots a week replaced a crowd of parents at the gate every morning, most of whom were sent away.
The covered courtyard
Ufaa School 2025

The covered courtyard

A roof over the central yard, which gave two sessions a place to hand over and gave four hundred children somewhere to be in the rain.
Read about them
From parents

What families tell us

I used to stand at that gate and be sent away. Now I book a slot on the site and the teacher has my son's file open when I sit down. It took four days, not four attempts.

I Ibrahim Waheed Parent, grades three and nine, Rasvehi City

They telephoned me at half past eight to say my daughter was not in school. She had left the house. I would not have known until the evening and I do not like to think about that day.

A Aishath Rafeega Parent, grade six, Rasvehi City

The afternoon session finishing after five is hard with young children and the school does not pretend otherwise. The morning clubs and the walking group are what make it workable for us.

M Mohamed Azmeen Parent, grades one and four, Rasvehi City
Admissions

The catchment rule, the months, and the waiting list

When do grade one applications open, and how many places are there?

The first of October to the twentieth. Two hundred and forty places, and last year three hundred and ninety one applications.

Bring the birth record, the immunisation card and proof of the address, which must be a tenancy paper or a utility bill. Every application gets an acknowledgement with the receipt time printed on it, because time of receipt decides the fourth priority.

What is the order of priority?

Published in full before applications open, because refusing a hundred and fifty one families fairly is only possible if the rule was known in advance.

First, children living in the catchment streets, which are listed at the office and on this site. Second, children with a brother or sister already here. Third, children of staff. Fourth, everybody else in order of receipt. The catchment beats the sibling rule, deliberately, because a school that filled on siblings would shut out every family moving into these streets.

Can a child join in the middle of the year, or in a higher grade?

Where there is a place in a class of fewer than thirty two, yes. The office will tell you exactly which grades are full rather than taking an application it cannot use.

A child arriving from another school is assessed in reading and mathematics in the first fortnight, so that the support team can help with any gap between two syllabuses. That is not a test of entry.

Is the address really checked?

Yes, and about six a year are found to be wrong. A place obtained on a wrong address is withdrawn, which has happened.

A letter from a relative is not proof of an address. A tenancy paper or a utility bill is. We are strict about this because every place taken on a false address is a place taken from a family who does live in the catchment.

Grade one applications open on the first of October and close on the twentieth

Two hundred and forty places. Last year there were three hundred and ninety one applications, so read the catchment rule before you apply rather than afterwards.

Read the admission rules Ring the office
Get in touch

Write to the office

Give the child's grade and class in every message. Anything for a form teacher is passed the same day. Anything urgent about a child in school should be a telephone call.

We reply to every message. Leave a phone number if you would rather we called.

  • Where we are Ufaa School
    Dhaharaa Magu
    Rasvehi City
    Maldives
  • Call us +960 334 7700
  • WhatsApp 9607347700
  • Email us office@ufaaschool.edu.mv
  • Opening hours Morning session, grades six to ten: 6.50am to 12.20pm Afternoon session, grades one to five: 12.50pm to 5.20pm Office: Sunday to Thursday, 6.30am to 5.30pm Parent appointments: Sunday to Thursday, booked slots only