The ENS campus in Mohammed Bin Zayed City (ENS MBZ) was established in 2002 and is the oldest branch of the Emirates National Schools which are also located on Abu Dhabi Island, Al Ain, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah. In September 2021, ENS will open a branch of the school in Dubai.

The story so far...

The first of a group of six schools, Emirates National Schools MBZ was established, opening in Abu Dhabi in 2002.  The remaining schools are located in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi Island (Primary and Middle and Senior campuses), Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.

The Vision of the ENS group of schools is defined as: "Preparing future leaders through innovation in education and treasuring of cultural heritage" whilst their Mission statement proclaims that "Emirates National Schools aims to provide students with educational programmes that develop character, use technology to improve learning, and prepare students to be leaders and community members".

The ENS group's Chairman of the Board of Directors is His Excellency Ahmed Muhammad Al Humairi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs. The Group was established by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

The School's aim is ‘To inspire students to take a leading, creative and caring role in an internationally-minded learning community that empowers them to be independent thinkers, open minded and global contributors, so that they actively achieve their full potential in a changing world, while preserving their national identity.’

ENS MBZ is located on a large campus split across five buildings to accommodate the Primary School (whose separate building opened in 2015), and the Girls and Boys separated Middle and High Schools. The school has been extremely successful at attracting local families with a current number of students of over 4,000.  

Although set up essentially with the aim of educating Emirati students, who make up over 90% of students at the Abu Dhabi campuses, the schools are also open to, and attract, students of other nationalities. As would be expected in this location, the largest nationality group (94%) is Emirati, with Omani, Jordanian and Western students making up the remainder. Students are taught by a team of 260 teachers (predominantly from Ireland) and a further 9 teaching assistants, with a staff:student ratio of 1:16 across each phase of the school.  This would indicate class sizes of around 30 students, although choices of subject options in senior grades would reduce this figure.

What about the curriculum?

The main curriculum at ENS MBZ is the US Common Core (American) curriculum, but the school is also authorised and has implemented the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes across all sections of the school.  This impacts the way in which subjects are taught as a result of the IB's integrated and enquiry approach, but will cover the content as the US curriculum. 

The ENS MBZ City Campus is the largest school in the world holding the International Baccalaureate Organization’s Primary Years Programme (PYP) Authorization. Students in grades 6 to 8 follow the IB Middle Years Programme whilst those in grades 9 to 12 have the option of studying for an American High School Diploma or the IB Diploma programme.  Senior High school students following the High School Diploma programme may also study Advance Placement courses, which are college entry qualifications for the US.

The school carries out a range of standardised tests including SAT, MAP, EMSA, IELTS, and PSAT. It is accredited by Cognia, the International Baccalaureate Organisation and the US College Board. Teaching Staff are all certified, experienced, and capable of teaching the American Common Core curriculum, and use the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) program to assess student progress in learning in the areas of Language, Arts and Mathematics.

What about the facilities?

Facilities at the large campus are specific to each section but include an indoor swimming pool, outside sports areas, large classrooms fitted with interactive white boards, computer and science laboratories and specialist classrooms/facilities for Art, Music and PE.

What the inspectors say:

Having achieved a Good rating in 2015-16 - the minimum rating which the regulators across the UAE expect schools to aspire to - ENS MBZ went one better in the 2017-18 inspection round, achieving the Very Good rating that the Board of the group has targeted for all branches.

Commenting on progress made since the previous inspection, the inspectors noted that "School leaders and staff have successfully improved students’ attainment in all subjects. Attainment for mathematics, science and English has improved overall and now is very good. Attainment for Islamic education, Arabic, social studies and other subjects, has improved in all phases and now is good. It is very good in KG for Arabic. Students in year 12 in 2017 obtained high grades in the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBDP), the International English Language tests(IELTS) and gained university placements".

The school's subsequent scheduled inspection in 2019-20 was postponed as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic.  On the first post-pandemic inspection in November 2021,  the school was again rated Very Good.

For reasons that have not been explained (we assume to enable inspections to take place at all schools that had not been inspected in 2019 and 2020), the inspection team reviewed only four of the six key performance standards and issued abbreviated reports without commentary.

And in August 2023, ADEK announced that ENS MBZ was one of only eight schools (from a total of 87) that was awarded an Outstanding rating in a new inspection process - The National Identity Mark - which is specifically focused on the quality of national identity programmes in the emirate's private schools.

Details can be found here.

If you would like to read the full Irtiqa'a inspection report - and we strongly advise you to do so in order to understand the strengths of the school and those areas that require further improvement - you will find it here.

The Buzz

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com has not received any responses to our School Survey.  If you are a parent, teacher or student at ENS Mohammed bin Zayed City, please share your experience with other potential members of your community by completing our Survey here.

The 2017-18 inspection report notes that partnerships and communications with parents and the community were Very Good. Parents are well informed about their children’s learning and development. The ‘Parents’ Advisory Committee’ are highly involved and supportive of the school.  The 2021-22 report confirmed the partnership with parents to be Very Good.

Our View

It seems that ENS MBZ is making consistently very good progress across all key areas of the school. The latest inspection report - which offers no commentary or recommendations - shows that the school is Very Good across almost all parameters for Student Achievement, Teaching and Assessment, and Leadership and Management.  For Health and Safety, Governance and Management, it was rated Outstanding.  The challenge for the school will be to raise the triumvirate of inspection standards that are directly responsible for student success - that of Student Achievement, Teaching and Assessment, and the Curriculum - to the Outstanding level.

It has been interesting to note that the inspectors in 2017-18 were so positive in relation to the implementation of the IB programmes, which have not been widely offered (or in fact recognised by the regulator until 2022) in Abu Dhabi, and which are very well regarded, particularly for university entry, in many parts of the world.

What about the fees?

Fees are at the high end with KG at AED 22,190 to AED 53,750 for Grade 12.  These fees do not include Educational Resources fees which range from AED 1,140 in KG to AED 2,350 in Grade 12.  There is also a registration fee of AED 1,000 for new students (offset against the first term's fees) and an AED 500 re-registration fee annually to secure a place for the following academic year.

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