Best Schools in Dubai, and Why?

Originally published in 2020, this guide has been updated every year with the latest inspection results including those for the new schools, whose inspections were postponed as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic.  The best schools in Dubai? Good news, the list is growing - albeit more modestly than in previous years. In the latest list from Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) the number of ‘Outstanding’ schools in Dubai hit an all time high of 20, with 39 schools rated Very Good, increasing by 8 compared with 2018-19. This means that three-quarters of students now study in schools that are deemed Good or better - by the regulator.

Note: Click here for the parent view on the Best Schools in Dubai...

As of 2022-2023 there were 326,001 students studying in private schools in Dubai. Students are divided between 164,546 boys and 154,591 boys, including 32,327 Emiratis (the only figure to fall on previous years). Enrolment at the start of the 2022-2023 year was up 4.1% on June 2022.

According to the last time the demographics were published (2021-2022), in keeping with the UAE's extraordinarily broad range of residents' nationalities, students come from some 173 different nationalities, with the largest nationality groups being 98,527 Indian, followed by 34,452 UAE nationals, 22,668 Pakistanis, 17,238 Egyptians, and 13,594 students from the UK. The school with the widest range of nationalities in the city was GEMS Wellington Academy DSO with students from 103 countries. 

There were a total of 215 schools in 2022-2023 (up four schools from 2021-2022, and up seven since the 2019-20 academic year - the year preceding Covid). The utilisation of available capacity – that is the take up of places within the schools - was not published in 2022-2023, but was 81% in 2021-2022. It is expected to be in the high 80% this academic year (2023-2024) with considerable population growth in the emirate.

26% of students study in Indian curriculum schools (where there has been flat growth over the past 5 years) and 15% students study in US curriculum schools (also flat over the last 6 years). Just under 23,000 students attend IB curriculum schools – a curriculum that has grown quickly from 2015-16, by 6% over the past 6 years.

However, it is still the UK curriculum that continues to grow most quickly (an increase in student numbers from approx. 80,000 in 2015-16 to over 117,000 in 2022-23, representing total growth of just under 7% over the past 6 years).

Interestingly, there has also been strong growth in French curriculum schools, with an increase in almost 5% of students over the past 6 years, though absolute numbers (approx. 6,500) remain low.

According to the emirate's education regulator in 2022-2023, 11% of Dubai's 326,000 students attend Outstanding schools, 26% attend Very Good schools, while 40% attend schools deemed to be Good. That means over three-quarters of students (77%) study in schools rated Good or better. This is an all time high.

The volume of good schools in the emirate should be of great comfort to existing residents, as well as those moving in. There is choice with an increasingly wide range of fee options across all curricula. The only issue is whether the supply of new schools can keep up with fast demand.

Read:  Good Affordable British Schools in Dubai

But what do these rating mean in terms of the Regulator’s expectations?

In this article we have leaned heavily on the KHDA's Dubai School Inspection Bureau reports, so it is important to understand how they are prepared.

Internationally qualified school inspectors pay on site visits (annually in most cases) to every private school in Dubai (after a settling in period for new schools) to rate it on key questions such as:

• How good are the students’ attainment and progress in key subjects? (Key subjects focus on Maths, Science, Arabic, Islamic Studies and English)
• How good is the students’ personal and social development?
• How good is the teaching, learning and assessment methods?
• How well does the curriculum meet the educational needs of all students?
• How well does the school protect and support its students?
• How good are the leadership and management of the school?
• How well does the school perform overall?

Following each inspection, the school gets a full written report with details of the school’s performance and shortfalls. Parents considering specific schools can access the latest school inspection report under the Inspection Report tab above the review on WhichSchoolAdvisor.com.

The school is expected to prepare an action plan addressing any recommendations for further development, which is then used as a benchmark for the next year’s inspections.

Performance levels for Dubai schools are rated as follows:

• Outstanding schools - Quality of performance substantially exceeds the expectation of the UAE;
• Very Good schools - Quality of performance exceeds the expectation of the UAE
• Good schools - Quality of performance meets the expectation of the UAE (This is the expected level for every school in the UAE)
• Acceptable schools - Quality of performance meets the minimum level of quality required in the UAE (This is the minimum level for every school in the UAE)
• Weak schools - Quality of performance is below the expectation of the UAE
• Very Weak schools - Quality of performance is significantly below the expectation of the UAE

Why you should filter reports

The KHDA rates schools based on its own weighting system. In the 2014/15 Guide to schools, for example, it noted its next round of reports would focus on Special Educational Needs provision, and the core subjects of Maths and English.

With tough PISA and TIMMS targets, the KHDA's reports in 2016/17 placed more emphasis than ever before on academic results in external examinations. For subsequent reports, accurate assessment of students and Value Added benchmark testing has come to the fore. 

In 2022-2023, at least partly as a result of Covid, the KHDA became very focused on wellbeing.

The inspection team will of course continue to look at Ministry of Education requirements for Islamic and social studies, Arabic as a first and second language and Moral Education.

As a parent it may be that not everything the KHDA uses in its overall rating, you will consider important - for non-Muslims the weighting given to Islamic Studies, for example, may not be considered so vital. Nor may you be so concerned about Arabic as a second language (which is mandatory), although this is without doubt becoming increasingly more important to the regulators.

If you do only look at the top line rating, you could be excluding schools delivering outstanding education in those areas you consider important...

Further reading: www.khda.gov.ae/en

You will notice some gaps in the following table. Please note the KHDA announced in September 2019 that schools that had been rated Outstanding and Very Good would not receive the full inspection in 2019-20 and would retain their rating, based on a one-day slimmed down version of the inspection. As a result, a total of 17 schools retained their Outstanding rating.

Schools that score an overall Outstanding rating are undoubtedly some of the most sought-after school places in Dubai.

The table

Note, Very Good schools all show strong inclination to reach an Outstanding rating. More importantly, they may already be an outstanding school for your child.

All will have many outstanding features, and will have fallen short of Outstanding status because of one one or two key criteria. This could be Arabic/Social Studies, SEN support, Value Added Performance testing and so on. Your choice of school will be significantly enhanced should you understand these criteria and be able to weigh them in importance to the needs of your child.

Despite assurances from the KHDA that schools can achieve a rating of Very Good or even Outstanding, none has ever achieved this on first inspection. 

Schools rated Good by the KHDA

If you are currently researching a school for your child, note that Dubai's Outstanding and Very Good schools have traditionally been run at or near capacity.

Very Good and Good Dubai schools will also be targeted by parents and you should broaden your search to schools on this list. This is NOT about second or third best. Again, quite often the KHDA will mark down schools for criteria that may not be relevant to you. It is important to read beyond the overall KHDA ranking.

Some schools have been rated Good for years, and a lower fee structure can impede the improvement of their facilities or campus. However, if you're looking for a school strong academically but without the sparkling facilities, these schools can often be a good option. (See here for more information.)

It is Not All About The KHDA: Other Inspections and Affiliations

Although the KHDA inspection process is mandatory for private schools in Dubai, schools can also choose 'voluntary' accreditation and inspections linked to their curricula home country. These inspections often emphasise different indicators and analyse different aspects of the school, including cultural orientation, which parents can use in addition to the KHDA inspection reports.

British schools can choose accreditation and inspection from the British Schools Overseas, which sends OFSTED trained inspectors from the UK to check the school every five years. To find out more about the BSO process see here and for UAE schools most recent BSO inspection summaries see here.

All French schools must apply to become affiliated with the French Ministry of Education. The process involves a thorough audit on application, and once licensed they are inspected annually by the French government. This process is NOT optional, however given all the French schools' KHDA ratings (mainly Outstanding to Very Good), this would certainly appear to be no bad thing.

In recent years, US curriculum schools were requested by the KHDA to be affiliated with an approved US accreditation body. The preferred choice is the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, (NEASC), however some schools already have long standing accreditation with other bodies (notably the Middle States Association).

Comparing Dubai schools internationally

The best Dubai schools are very good, with the likes of Dubai College, Dubai English Speaking College, Jumeirah College, JESS Arabian Ranches, Kings School Dubai and Al Barsha and so on comparing favourably with some of the best private schools in the UK - at least in terms of academic results.

As a whole however, the UAE has some way to go on international benchmarks like the PISA test. This is changing however with particularly Dubai schools beginning to make some serious head way.

The KHDA publishes PISA results which show steady improvement over the past 10 years.

There is, however, a gulf between the best performing and worst performing schools, and this level of detail - i.e. which are the schools delivering - is not released to the public.  We do know however that IB and UK curriculum schools scoring significantly higher than their peers and are already closing in on the benchmarks set in the UAE for 2021.

Higher performance in these tests is reflected in the ratings of schools in the UAE by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau. Two thirds of Outstanding schools in the emirate are either UK or IB schools.

Note, however, that this is not necessarily to do with the curriculum. UK and IB schools tend to be the most expensive, charge the highest fees, and therefore are the most well- funded schools in Dubai.

Exam Results

The other way to benchmark the UAE's schools - domestically and internationally - is of course to look at results in external examinations. This works well for UK and the International Baccalaureate curriculum schools - although the IB organisation frowns on using the Diploma for international comparison.

For Indian schools, CBSE and CISCE results have never reached the level of importance that peer qualifications elsewhere have. This we believe is because Indian universities do not use the CBSE and CISCE to assess the competence of a student for entrance. The same applies for US universities which offer places before exams are taken.

For GCSE, A Level and IB, parents also need to draw a distinction between selective and inclusive schools. In Dubai, Dubai College is the only true selective school academically, and its results reflect this. If you recruit academically oriented students, you will get strong academic results.

Many inclusive schools say that Value added is the most important metric. This is the difference between the projected score of a student upon entrance, and what he or she gets because (at least partially) of the work put in by the school. Unfortunately, this kind of data is complex and difficult to compare across schools.

That leaves exam results as, arguably, the worst way to compare schools, except for all the others...but failing the ability to compare by other means, and on the basis that schools that publish their results are showing a degree of transparency that we would like to see from all schools, please see the links below.

Jump here for the 2023 UAE's A' Level results
Jump here for the 2023 UAE's GCSE results
Jump here for the 2023 UAE's IB Diploma results

Parent Opinion

What do parents of children actually going to schools in Dubai think..? We have the answer for that too. 

If you click on any school review you will find a tab for Parent Opinion. Click on it to see how a school does for a range of metrics - discipline, academics, how much children look forward to going to school, the quality of feedback - and so on.

To give context, each metric is compared against a UAE average....

And there is more...

We have compiled a proper ranking of the scores for you, so you can see easily how Dubai parents rate their own schools. Some of the rankings are:

• The Best Schools in Dubai
• The Best Primary Schools in Dubai
• The Best Indian Schools in Dubai
• The Best British Schools in Dubai
• The Best American Schools in Dubai
• The Best IB Schools in Dubai
• The Best A Level Schools in Dubai
• The Best BTEC Schools in Dubai

Getting into one of the best schools in Dubai

If you are currently researching schools, you want to read our guide to getting into a good school in the UAE.

In conclusion, the standard of schools in Dubai is increasing every year.  A rigorous approach to schools' operations, accreditation and inspection has ensured that standards are improving.  Even if a school maintains the same KHDA rating for many years, this does not mean that improvements have not occurred - quite the reverse in fact, since the demands of the regulator have also grown and continue to do so. 

In addition to reading the reviews on WhichSchoolAdvisor.com, we always strongly advise parents to go into the detail of the inspection reports - which can be found under the Inspection report tab above each review - to check out the WSA Experience, which is our own personal inspection process that we undertake by our OFSTED trained team, and to check out the Parent Feedback from our surveys which can also be found on the review pages. 

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com was set up and is operated by parents for parents; we hope you feel that you can rely on us.