King’s-Edgehill, Canada’s first independent school which is celebrating its 227th anniversary this year, is set to start work on its new school building in Abu Dhabi, UAE, this year, said a report.

The King’s-Edgehill School - Abu Dhabi will have room for 2,000 students in grades Primary to 12 and is slated to open in September 2017, reported the Chronicle Herald.

The Canadian group - based in Winsor, Nova Scotia - has partnered with Abu Dhabi-based Mindlink Investments to set up the $30-million school, it said. 

Halifax consulting firm Blacksheep Projects, a specialist in global projects, is helping the Windsor school with its foray into the Middle East market, the report added.

King’s-Edgehill headmaster Joe Seagram said the Abu Dhabi project builds on the school’s tradition of international involvement, including development projects and exchange programmes for students and faculty.

“Our hope is to have exchanges between the two - that students will go back and forth, that the subjects will be interchangeable,” he said in an interview. “That will be enriching for both our campus in Abu Dhabi and our campus here (Winsor),” he added.

Mindlink chairman Raed Al Yousef said the group looked to Nova Scotia because of the province’s reputation for offering high-quality education.

“The process has been so rewarding that we look forward to welcoming more education partners from Nova Scotia to Abu Dhabi,” he added.

King’s-Edgehill’s Windsor campus has about 325 students, 40 per cent of whom are international ones, the report added.