One of the questions we are asked most often by prospective parents is: do children really have PE every day?
The answer is yes.
Every student from Grade 1 to Grade 8 at Ambassador International Academy Mankhool participates in four 50-minute physical education lessons each week. On Fridays, students take part in house competitions, tournaments, sporting festivals, and whole-school events.
For some families, this comes as a surprise. In many Dubai international schools, physical education is one of the first subjects to lose curriculum time as academic demands increase. At AIA Mankhool, we have taken a different approach, because we believe physical wellbeing is fundamental to academic success, not separate from it.
Why We Designed Our Curriculum Around Movement
As a brand-new school opening in Central Dubai in August 2026, we had a unique opportunity. Rather than inheriting an existing timetable, we designed our curriculum from the ground up. Before deciding how many periods each subject should receive, we started with a simpler question: what knowledge, skills, and habits do we want our students to leave school with?
The answers extended well beyond examination results.
We want every child to achieve outstanding academic outcomes. But we also want them to leave with healthy habits, confidence, resilience, and the ability to make informed decisions about their physical and mental wellbeing. These are qualities that will serve them throughout adulthood, long after their final examinations.
Why Daily PE Matters for Children in Dubai
Today's children are growing up in a world that looks very different from the one many adults experienced. Children increasingly spend their leisure time indoors, travel by car rather than on foot, and interact with technology more than ever before.
Living in Dubai brings incredible opportunities, but it can also make regular outdoor activity more challenging, particularly during the warmer months. As educators, we believe schools have an important role to play in ensuring that movement remains a natural and enjoyable part of every child's daily routine.
That belief sits at the heart of our curriculum at AIA Mankhool.
What Our PE Programme Looks Like
Our daily PE programme is not designed to produce elite athletes, although we are always delighted when students develop a passion for competitive sport. It is designed to help every child discover the enjoyment and lifelong value of being active.
Throughout the year, students participate in a wide variety of activities including swimming, athletics, dance, fitness, gymnastics, racket sports, and team games, developing confidence across a broad range of physical skills.
Our facilities support this year-round. Students have access to a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, two multi-sport halls, a full-sized football pitch, athletics facilities, tennis courts, and outdoor courts — outstanding sporting facilities regardless of the season.
The Link Between Daily PE and Academic Performance
The world we live in is ever-changing, adapting, developing. The roles our children will play in it may not yet exist.
Through inquiry-based learning, students are developing essential skills. Through application of knowledge and their developed skills, they are becoming lifelong learners. Lifelong learners in the sense that they will possess the ability to complete the process independently. This ability is what will set them up for success no matter their path.
Throughout their educational journey, they will also have developed and perfected their ability to communicate effectively, collaborate with others, research when necessary, and most of all, think critically. All of which will serve them at various stages of both their formative years, as well as when they enter their adult lives.
Beyond Sport: Food Design and Balanced Technology
Our commitment to lifelong health extends beyond physical activity. Through our Curriculum for Innovation, students also participate in our Food Design programme, where they develop practical cooking skills while learning about nutrition, healthy eating, food science, meal planning, and how to interpret food labels.
We also believe children benefit from balance when it comes to technology. We delay one-to-one devices until later in primary school and carefully limit screen use during the school day, so students spend more time reading, collaborating, creating, solving problems, and being physically active.
An Education Designed for Life, Not Just Examinations
Daily physical education, innovation, reading, balanced technology use, and strong academic foundations are not competing priorities at AIA Mankhool. They complement one another to create an educational experience that prepares children not only for examinations, but for life beyond school.
Our ambition is to develop young people who are academically ambitious, physically healthy, emotionally resilient, and genuinely excited about learning. By making movement a natural part of every school day, we are helping our students build a healthier, happier, and more balanced future.
If you would like to see our curriculum in action, we would be delighted to welcome you for a personalised campus tour. It is often only when you experience our learning environment first-hand that you see how every element has been thoughtfully designed to help every child thrive.