Located in Al Garhoud, Dubai International School is a private school providing education for boys and girls from Kindergarten to Grade 12, aged three to 18 years. It is the sister school of Dubai International School, Nad Al Sheba.

Dubai International School has been rated Acceptable for the eleventh year in a row (since inspections began) in the 2018-19 KHDA inspection process. An abbreviated inspection report can be found under the Inspection report tab. An update to this review will be completed once the full report has been published.

The story so far...

Dubai International School has a substantial student body with 2,502 students on roll (a decrease of 200 students), and is very popular among Emirati families. Approximately one in two of the school body comes from the local population. Its sister Al Quoz school has a 69% Emirati population. In total thirty different nationalities make up the rest of the student population, but the majority come from Arab families and English is predominantly a second language.

There are 143 full and part-time teachers, including the Principal and the senior leadership team at the time of the last KHDA report. Despite the US based curriculum, no teacher is recruited from the US, and "few" are said to have the appropriate teaching qualifications. Around 10% of teaching staff are new this year.

Dubai International School, Garhoud school follows the US Common Core standards in English and mathematics and the “Next Generation” science curriculum. All Grade 11 and 12 students sit SATs.

The school has recorded an 'Acceptable' rating for education over the last eight years by the KHDA. (Its Nad Al Sheba sister is consistently rated as Good).

Strengths of Dubai International School, Garhoud include a good quality of leadership, teaching, learning and assessment in KG with good attainment and progress in all KG subjects; Good progress in English across the school; the Good attitudes, behaviour and strong relationships across the school, especially in KG; a Good understanding of Islamic values and cultural and global awareness; and the Good quality provision for health and safety across the school.

Teaching and assessment is an area that the school can improve in. The 2015/16 report notes that "The attainment and progress of students in the elementary, middle and high phases [is] variable across subjects. This was because the quality of teaching [is] inconsistent."

To raise itself into a Good rating, the school needs to raise the level of teaching across the school, improve SEN delivery in classrooms with more targeted support,  and to improve development planning.

Specifically in terms of academic attainment and progress, both the KG and High School phases are rated good across the core subjects of English, maths and science. Letting Dubai International down are the provision of maths and science at Elementary and Middle School level where both are currently rated Acceptable.

School tuition fees for Dubai International School, Garhoud are relatively very affordable, currently range from 13,313 AED for KG1 to 20,901 AED for Grade 12.

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