Updated 19 March 2023

Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi, 2023

Which schools top the list of the Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi?

The Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi ranks all schools in our database that meet these criteria:

Location: Abu Dhabi
Price point: All
Phase: All
Curricula Group: IB

The ranking lists schools in order of their Parent Score, that is how well the score meets the expectations of this key stakeholder group represented numerically. We discuss why below. Schools not on this list, that you think should be and are missing, are likely to be as yet unrated. To be rated, a school simply needs a sufficient number of parent surveys to be undertaken. If you are a parent at one of these schools, please take the survey!

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com currently has 651 schools in its database. These are all independent, private, international schools offering a total of 54 curricula. All schools, we believe, aspire to offer the highest levels of care and performance for their students. Not all, however, are equally successful at doing so.

In this ranking, the Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi, we, currently, have 10 schools competing for top spot. The total number of possible schools that could be on this list if all schools had a sufficient number of parent surveys, and all these schools had a rating of above 3.0, is 18.

Again, if your child currently attends a school in UAE, then please do review it, by taking the survey here. Your input will help 1000s of parents that follow you!

How we compile this list

When a parent completes a survey, his or her feedback is incorporated into the database and the ranking updated each Sunday. Tune in on Sunday 26th of March just after midnight to see the changes to the Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi next week!

The WSA Parent Rating is based on the following questions in the survey:

  • Would you recommend your school to another parent?
  • How much of a sense of belonging does your child feel at his or her school?
  • To what extent do you think that children enjoy going to your child’s school?
  • How much do you agree to the statement: I think the fees I pay represent good value for money given the quality of the school offering.
  • Have you thought about moving your child from his current school?
  • Rate your satisfaction with the level of academic performance at your child’s school
  • How confident are you in your ability to make sure your child’s school meets your child’s learning needs?
  • Rate your satisfaction with the level of feedback you receive from your child’s school
  • How concerned are you about bullying at this school?
  • How much has this school improved your child’s confidence?

The WSA algorithm

We do not disclose the weighting we use, but in order to give schools, and parents, the power to impact their score, we skew results to those most recently received. A school looking to turnaround a score can therefore make improvements, and then ask its parents to retake the survey.

If parents appreciate the changes made, it will make a difference to a school’s position on the Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi list quite quickly.

Moreover, if a school has yet to send out a survey to its parents, then we would urge it to do so as soon as possible. The probability is it will make a significant difference to its score. Schools that asks their parents to take the survey, do better. Parents that are motivated to take a survey independently are often driven by high passions, which may not always be positive!

Why we do a Best School rating?

In choosing schools, parents have always used word of mouth, and the Parent survey captures this quantitatively.

Looking at the ‘Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi’ should only be one way you short list schools, however. It is a fun and informative way to order schools, and by being based on Parent Rating, is a way to get a good overview quickly.

Why use the Parent Rating for Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi?

In addition to capturing word of mouth recommendations numerically, we use the Parent Rating for the Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi, because unlike other measures it is not country, or even area specific as government regulations can be. The parent rating cuts across both curricula, and territory, to be a measure that we can apply equally anywhere and everywhere. Parents all want the best for their child, and will be equally critical, in whatever state they are in, for whatever curricula school their child attends.

Using a rank in this way also means that each school is measured quite independently through the lens of its own parent body. In order to do well, a school ‘simply’ has to understand and then meet the expectations of its parents.

Issues with ranking this way

This way of ranking is both a weakness and a strength. It is a strength because not only can it be universally applied, but it is a true way to measure a school based on the stakeholders that matter the most, its parents.

It is a weakness in the sense that the top school on the list, will not necessarily be the best school for you and your child. It is also NOT a comment on specifics: price point, curricula, location, but an holistic view of schools that fall within a set of criteria.

Expectations will also clearly be different between the parents of different schools. For example, a parent paying premium fees would have very different expectations when it comes to the scope of facilities offered than a parent paying fees associated with the value segment. A high score for a school is not about meeting a universal set of criteria, but about it delivering on its unique promise to its unique parent body.

One size in this context does not fit all and for this reason amongst others WhichSchoolAdvisor.com always encourages parents to look beyond simple rankings and ratings, and determine the best school for your child.

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com has undertaken multiple Best ofs, allowing us to be quite specific and therefore do some of the homework for you in your shortlisting. We do have Best ofs for curricula and for some price points for example.

To go further in your analysis of the Best School for you, then you need to look at additional resources.

In the UAE, some (but not all) parents are blessed with additional resources they can use when evaluating schools. Dubai parents have access to KHDA reports, Abu Dhabi parents have access to ADEK reports, while Sharjah parents will, eventually, have access to SPEA reports. That still leaves three other emirates without government ratings. What’s more, these reports have their own criteria and their own rating grades and scales, and are not compatible enough to compare across the country in the Best of Rankings we use here. We should also note, that all government ratings, are used to drive an agenda and the UAE is no different in this regard. We note the weighting for Arabic and Islamic and Social studies in this regard, which may be of interest to some parents, but will not be to all.

Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi

RANK
SCHOOL
PARENT
RATING
RATING
RISE/FALL
1
Al Bateen Academy
4.1
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Located in Al Manaseer, Al Bateen Academy offers a British and International Baccalaureate based curriculum. The school currently has just over 800 students, girls and boys, from Year 7 to 13, and in September 2019, re-opened its Primary section from FS2 to Year 1 initially and how now, as of 2021, opened through to Year 6.
Address: PO Box 129071, Abu Dhabi UAE
Curricula: IB DP, UK National Curriculum, IGCSE, IB PYP, GCSE, IB, IB CP
Founded: 2011
Principal: Mr Neal Dilk
Average fees: AED 60,500
Request info Read review
2
British International School Abu Dhabi
3.9
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The British International School Abu Dhabi (BIS AD) is a rapidly growing FS- Year 13 (K-12) private school for students between the ages of 3 to 18 years. The school, located between Khalifa City B and Madinat bin Zayed City behind Abu Dhabi University, was established in September 2009, and is run by Nord Anglia Education as part of its group of international schools.
Address: Behind Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi
Curricula: GCSE, IB, IB DP, UK National Curriculum, EYFS, IGCSE, Sports
Founded: 2009
Principal: Mr Liam Cullinam
Average fees: AED 61,500
Request info Read review
3
American International School Abu Dhabi
3.7
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The American International School in Abu Dhabi (AISA) is one of a small group of schools owned or managed by ESOL, a family-run business based in Cairo, with branches in Nicosia, Cyprus, the Lebanon and the UAE. AISA, although a US curriculum school, was also among the first to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme (IBDP) in Abu Dhabi, subsequently adding the Primary Years programme (PYP). AISA is a truly international school with students of 60 different nationalities.
Curricula: IB, IB DP, IB PYP, US HS Diploma, Common Core
Founded: 1995
Principal: Patrick Rich
Average fees: AED 48,000
Request info Read review
4
Raha International School, Gardens, Abu Dhabi
3.7
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A popular and successful school, Raha, was again rated Outstanding in its latest ADEK report. Its ambitious Principal has what he terms ‘a rather long to-do’ list’. With its broad mix of nationalities across pupils and staff, Raha has a ‘new world’ feel in an environment designed with a semblance to a traditional Arabic village. A second branch campus was launched in September 2020 and offers enhanced sports facilities that will be used by both schools.
Address: PO Box 34150, Abu Dhabi UAE
Curricula: IB, IB DP, IB MYP, IB PYP
Founded: 2006
Principal: Ms Nicola Neethling
Average fees: AED 55,500
Request info Read review
5
GEMS American Academy
3.5
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GEMS American Academy Abu Dhabi is a highly rated (Very Good) US/IB curriculum school located on the outskirts of the city near the airport catering to 2,000 students from a wide range of nationalities.
Address: PO Box 110273, Abu Dhabi UAE
Curricula: US HS Diploma, IB DP, IB PYP, IB, IB MYP, Common Core
Founded: 2007
Principal: Robert Rinaldo
Average fees: AED 70,500
Request info Read review
6
Repton (Fry Campus), Junior & Senior School, Abu Dhabi
3.4
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The older sibling (in terms of provision, not age), Repton School Abu Dhabi's Fry campus caters to children from Years 2 to 4 (Prep School), through Junior (Years 5-6) and Senior Schools on a purpose-built site at the heart of Reem Island. The original Foundation School, which opened in 2013 remains open, and is located close to the new school which opened in September 2018.
Address: P.O. Box: 45016 Abu Dhabi
Curricula: UK National Curriculum, IB DP, IGCSE
Founded: 2017
Principal: Gillian Hammond
Average fees: AED 67,500
Request info Read review
7
GEMS World Academy Abu Dhabi
3.3
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Very Good rated GEMS World Academy Abu Dhabi carries the name of its sister school in Dubai, but that – at least externally – is where the similarities end.
Address: Namjat
Curricula: IB, IB PYP, IB DP, IB MYP, UK National Curriculum, EYFS, IGCSE, A Level, BTEC, IB CP
Founded: 2011
Principal: Kelvin Hornsby
Average fees: AED 62,000
Request info Read review
8
International Community School Mushrif
3.1
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The original International Community School is a private K-12 school located in Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi. The school was first established in 1990 and caters to approximately 1,600 students, almost exclusively of Arab origin, with UAE Nationals the largest single grouping, followed by Jordanians, Egyptians and Syrians.
Address: P.O Box: 55022, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Curricula: US HS Diploma, Common Core, AP, IB DP, NGSS
Founded: 1990
Principal: Ziad Aoudi
Average fees: AED 32,500
Request info Read review
9
American Community School Abu Dhabi
3.1
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American Community School Abu Dhabi is one of the older international schools in Abu Dhabi and was established in 1972 on land donated by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The school was founded with the aim of serving the American community, as well as students of other nationalities, within Abu Dhabi.
Address: PO Box 42114, Abu Dhabi UAE
Curricula: IB, US HS Diploma, IB DP, Common Core
Founded: 1972
Principal: Monique Flickinger
Average fees: AED 67,000
Request info Read review
10
Al Najah Private School
3.1
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Al Najah Private School is a private K-12 co-educational school licensed by the Ministry of Education. It was originally founded on Abu Dhabi Island in 1987, prior to relocating to the Mussafah/Mohammed bin Zayed City area in 1995. It offers predominantly the UK curriculum, but has recently added the IB Diploma programme.
Address: PO Box 284, Abu Dhabi UAE
Curricula: UK National Curriculum, GCSE, A Level, AS Level, IB DP, EYFS
Founded: 1987
Principal: Ms Cherie Litwiller
Average fees: AED 20,000
Request info Read review
CUT
2.9
CUT
2.9
Methodology: How we choose the Best IB Schools in Abu Dhabi

Why this cut off point?

To make it onto the Parent Recommended Best Schools List, a school needs to score 3.0 or above on the WhichSchoolAdvisor.com Parent Rating.

The WSA Parent Rating score is drawn from multiple questions from our parent survey. More details can be found if you click Read More in the Best Schools explainer at the top of the page.

A score below 3.0 means a school could be admired for facets of its delivery, but there will be areas with question marks. A score above 3.0 means that its parents rate a school highly across the board. Any score above 3.5 is the sign of a school truly loved and admired by its parents, who have clearly bought into its vision and leadership.

A school can move up (and onto the list if it is not here), or down (and off the list) as more feedback comes in. The algorithm is weighted to more recent responses to allow schools to make improvements and for that to reflect in the rating. It also means that if a school takes unpopular decisions, or lowers the quality of its offering, it can move off the list altogether.

Note: If the school you are interested in is not here, it is either because its score is below 3.0, or has yet to receive sufficient surveys. We have a school reviews directory that lists all UAE schools.

Note, it is possible to score 5 if a school has perfect scores from its most recent respondents. It is difficult if not impossible to please all people, all of the time however… Parents doing their due diligence when choosing a school should pay attention also to the number of parent reviews a school has received. The more it has, the less likely the score will be to change as new reviews come in.

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