Back to School

Cover of Back to School, Moment Report No. 07

Moment Report No. 07 · 16 pages · 15 sources

What does the research say about back to school?

The start of a school year works as a fresh start and a broken routine at once, which makes it one of the easiest moments to build new family habits. Sleep may matter most: when Seattle moved secondary school start times later, students slept a median of 34 minutes more and grades rose 4.5 per cent. The summer slide is less certain than often claimed.

What the report found

  1. The UAE resets on one day. In 2025 all public and private schools on the September calendar opened on 25 August. Dubai International expected more than 3.6 million passengers in the 13 days around the return.
  2. The private school system keeps growing. Dubai's private schools had 406,563 pupils at the start of the 2026 to 2027 year, up 4.6 per cent, and 26 new institutions opened.
  3. Across the Gulf, the return is vast. More than 6 million pupils returned to school in Saudi Arabia in August 2025, 2.84 million of them in Riyadh.
  4. A new year is a fresh start. Temporal landmarks such as the start of a term raise people's willingness to pursue goals, and moments when routines are disrupted are when habits are easiest to change.
  5. Sleep may matter more than supplies. When Seattle moved secondary school start times later, students slept a median of 34 minutes more and their grades rose 4.5 per cent.

What is inside

  1. The return
  2. Before: preparing for the reset
  3. During: the first weeks
  4. After the summer: what was lost?
  5. What lasts

Plus the UAE's 2025 to 2026 school calendar, Dubai and Saudi pupil numbers and a graded list of claims.

Who it is for

For schools, retailers, airlines and brands that serve families in the UAE and the Gulf, and for parents planning the next return.

How we work

Moment Reports look at how people think and decide at particular points in the year, starting with the UAE and then the wider Gulf. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested. Where researchers disagree, as they do on summer learning loss, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Back to School: The family reset. Moment Report No. 07. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com