A Vision Realised

Uppingham Cairo is Open

It was a beautiful morning in New Giza on 8th September 2024, crystal clear skies, a warm 27 degrees, and the views across the land to the great pyramids of Giza were breathtaking. Against this historic backdrop, a hundred or so young children, aged four to 14, were making history of their own as they entered the doors of Uppingham Cairo for the first time.

Dick Howeson’s (Hf 64) company uTalk has offered its language learning app free to staff at Uppingham Cairo, as well as to visitors from the UK. The Egyptian Arabic app is perfect for beginners to help improve their vocabulary with everyday words and phrases. For more information on uTalk visit utalk.com.

By Patrick Mulvihill International Development Director

Two years after meeting our partners at New Era Education, led by the tireless and outstanding chairman Dr Tamer Tammam, Uppingham’s first international campus is open. And what a school it is. Set on an 11-acre site, 40 minutes from downtown Cairo, the school has been designed with exquisite detail. The facilities are comparable to any other international school in the world and, with a talented workforce of teachers, led by experienced headmistress Emma Webb, the education on offer is outstanding.

Uppingham Cairo is not a boarding school, though that may change in future years, but it does offer an innovative and unique after-school programme, working with global sporting brands such as Chelsea FC, the Rafa Nadal Tennis School, the NBA and more, to ensure that pupils can learn from the best and develop their skills and competitive instincts to the maximum. The ethos of the school is very much based on that which Revd Edward Thring laid down in the Victorian era, a genuine all-round education which encourages and enables every pupil to find and nurture their unique talents.

The Uppingham UK connection to Uppingham Cairo is strong and will remain so. Across the campus the buildings have a familiar ring – The Donald Campbell Sports Centre, the Barbara Matthews Theatre, the Thring Building, to name but a few, with others named after Sir Patrick Abercrombie (Hf 1893) and Archdeacon Robert Johnson, as well as 1584 and Rutland. There are four Houses for pupils, Brooklands, Farleigh, Fairfield and Johnson’s, and uniform and sports kit are inspired by the British school. In its first year there are OU Graduate and Gap-Year assistants working there who play a valuable role as ambassadors for an Uppingham education. The Director of Admissions is Nick De Wet, former housemaster of Brooklands in the UK who now does an amazing job of enlightening prospective parents on the benefits for pupils attending Uppingham Cairo. The connection between the two schools is real and will grow, with an Uppingham choir heading to Egypt soon and more departments planning to visit in the future.

Uppingham Cairo is a school of which Uppingham UK is very proud, and which OUs should take pride in, too. For more information do follow Uppingham Cairo on social media, or if you happen to be in Egypt, you will be assured of a warm welcome should you decide to visit. Now that Uppingham has opened its first international school, more will undoubtedly follow, the benefits of which will be felt by children around the world as well as by pupils at Uppingham UK. More details and plans will be featured here in future editions of the OU magazine.