Nord Anglia International School Dubai

The short version

The short version

Nord Anglia International School Dubai (NAS Dubai) opened in September 2014 in Al Barsha South 3 and has grown into one of the emirate’s largest premium schools — 2,440 students on the KHDA’s 2023-24 register, with more recent reporting near 2,900.

It teaches an internationally enhanced English National Curriculum to IGCSE, then offers a choice of IB Diploma, A-levels or BTEC in the sixth form, and has been rated Outstanding by the KHDA twice consecutively (2022-23 and 2023-24).↗↗↗

For an expat family, the practical summary is this: NAS Dubai is a high-energy, high-expectation school with the resources of a global group behind it — MIT for STEAM, Juilliard for performing arts, UNICEF for service — and an inspection record that is currently among the strongest in the city.

The honest trade-offs are scale (the founding promise was personalisation; the roll is heading for 3,000), premium fees with no published scholarships, and Arabic outcomes that lag the rest of the report card.

What the school is

A global group’s Dubai flagship

Nord Anglia Education operates more than 90 premium schools worldwide; in Dubai it also owns the Swiss International Scientific School. NAS Dubai was the group’s purpose-built UAE flagship, opened with 1,380 pupils by 2017 and expanded year on year since.

The group’s signature is its institutional collaborations — MIT (STEAM), The Juilliard School (performing arts, in the curriculum from age three) and UNICEF (social purpose) — which flow into every Nord Anglia school, this one included.↗↗

The school’s identity was shaped by principal Matthew Farthing (2016 to 2025, previously founding headmaster of Harrow International School Beijing), who led it from start-up to Outstanding. For 2025-26 the principalship passed to Kenny Duncan, moving across from Nord Anglia’s Hong Kong school — an internal group succession rather than an outside hire.↗↗

Teachers are mostly British, all degree- and PGCE-qualified as a minimum; more than 130 are IB-trained. Reported teacher turnover runs around 12% — low for Dubai — and the ratio is about 1:11 with classes around 22.

Early Years classrooms staff one teacher plus two assistants per twenty children.↗↗

Academics in practice

IGCSE early, three exits at sixteen

The IGCSE programme begins in Year 9 — earlier than many British schools — with public examinations at the end of Year 11.

At sixteen, students choose between the IB Diploma, A-levels and BTEC, with the school expanding Level 2 and 3 BTEC provision from 2025-26 in response to an inspection recommendation to broaden alternative pathways.

Every student from Nursery to Year 13 also takes a world language (French, German, Mandarin or Spanish), with Arabic compulsory to Year 10.↗↗

Headline results: the 2025 IB Diploma average was 36 points with a top score of 44 — joint fifth among Dubai IB schools in WhichSchoolAdvisor’s table, well above the global average of about 30.6.

The 2023-24 KHDA inspection rated English, maths and science Outstanding for attainment and progress across every phase, and judged wellbeing and all six leadership indicators Outstanding too.↗↗

The rating journey matters for context: Good in 2016-17, Very Good for three cycles, then Outstanding in 2022-23 and retained in 2023-24 — the last full inspection before the KHDA’s two-year pause. The one consistent relative weakness across inspection evidence is Arabic, rated Acceptable for first-language attainment across phases.↗↗

Admissions and cost

Assessed entry, firm cut-offs, and the 2026-27 fee sheet

The official 2026-27 KHDA-approved schedule: FS1–FS2 AED 69,625; Years 1–2 AED 81,228; Years 3–6 AED 87,030; Years 7–9 AED 92,832; Years 10–11 AED 99,794; Years 12–13 AED 105,288, billed roughly 40%/30%/30% across three terms. The schedule is unchanged from 2025-26 under Dubai’s tuition freeze — which covers tuition only, not transport, uniform or exam fees.↗↗

Entry costs are simple but worth noting: an application fee of AED 525 per child covering the entrance assessment, and a one-off enrolment fee of AED 5,000 payable on accepting an offer — a different model from the 10%-of-tuition deposits common elsewhere in the city.

No published scholarship or bursary programme exists, which stands out at this price point.↗↗

All applicants sit assessments — an online assessment for older students, video evidence for the youngest — with outcomes promised within about a week, and a good level of English is a minimum requirement.

Two structural cut-offs matter for relocating families: the school does not normally admit into Years 11 or 13, and Year 10 entry closes at the October half-term because the IGCSE course starts in Year 9. Otherwise admissions run year-round where places exist.↗

The family experience

High-commitment culture at serious scale

The Hessa Street campus sits in Al Barsha South 3, convenient to Al Barsha, the Greens, JVC, Arabian Ranches and Motor City — though reviewers note drop-off congestion and the absence of a formal car park.

School days are long by Dubai standards and the programme is demanding: structured homework from Year 6, 100-plus enrichment activities, DASSA league sport with 500-plus fixtures a year, and expeditions from the Nord Anglia centre in Tanzania to Oman, Nepal and Thailand.↗↗

Parent sentiment is the honest caveat. WhichSchoolAdvisor’s survey shows 2.5 out of 5 across 212 responses — middling for an Outstanding-rated school — and secondary reporting links the grumbling to growth: personalisation is harder to feel at nearly 3,000 students than it was at 1,400.

The performing-arts and music offer (Juilliard collaboration, a dedicated Music Academy) and the inclusive provision for some 320 Students of Determination are the counterweights families praise.↗↗

Take these to the school

Questions that move beyond the tour script