For the parent already inside a school
If something goes wrong at your child’s school
Everything else here helps you choose a school. This page is for the harder moment, when your child is already in one and something is wrong. You have more standing than you probably think, and there is an order to doing this that works better than the one most people reach for.
Two things to know before anything else.
Schools are not permitted to suspend or expel a student without authorisation from KHDA, and KHDA does not support action that would disrupt a child’s learning during the school year. If your child has been suspended or excluded, ask the school in writing whether KHDA authorisation was obtained, and on what date. That question alone changes many conversations.
Safeguarding is not a complaint. If your concern is about your child’s safety or wellbeing, it does not belong in the complaints process and most schools’ complaints policies say so explicitly — allegations of abuse are excluded from them by design. Ask for the Designated Safeguarding Lead by name and go straight to them. If a child is in immediate danger, call the police on 999, not the school.
The order that works
- Start informally, but in writing. Email the class teacher or the relevant member of staff. Most concerns are genuinely resolved here, and an email costs you nothing while creating the record you may need later. Say what happened, what you would like to happen, and by when.
- If that does not resolve it, put it formally in writing to the Principal. Schools log formal complaints. Ask for it to be logged, and ask for the reference.
- Ask for the complaints panel. Most Dubai schools convene a panel that must include at least one member independent of the school’s management. You may bring one person with you in a supporting capacity — take them. Written outcomes are commonly issued within about ten working days.
- Escalate to KHDA. If it remains unresolved after the school’s internal stages, the matter can be referred to KHDA’s Compliance and Resolution Commission. Schools themselves may refer an unresolved complaint to KHDA for a final ruling, and are expected to submit the documentation.
Skipping straight to step four is the common instinct and it usually slows things down, because the first question you will be asked is what the school said. Work the steps, keep every reply, and move up when a stage ends rather than when patience does.
What KHDA actually hears about
If you are wondering whether your concern is a real one, it almost certainly is. Complaints logged with KHDA have covered violence between students, negligence of student safety, expulsions, high fees, refusal to return registration fees, problems transferring between schools, and missing bus routes. In one month alone the authority recorded 74 complaints across ten different curricula.
You are not being difficult. You are using a mechanism that exists because these things happen.
Where the complaints process does not apply
School complaints policies commonly exclude certain matters, and knowing this saves you weeks in the wrong queue:
- Allegations of abuse — child protection route, via the Designated Safeguarding Lead. Where a staff member is found unsuitable, the school must inform KHDA.
- Criminal matters — the police.
- Special educational needs assessments and provision — there is a separate route, and it comes with rights. See our inclusion rights page, which sets out what a school must do and what a refusal obliges it to file.
- Fees and refunds — governed by KHDA’s Registration and Refund Policy. See fees, refunds and your rights.
Bullying
Schools are expected to treat a change in a child’s behaviour as a safeguarding signal rather than a discipline matter, to engage families promptly, and under KHDA requirements to keep parents updated at every stage. That last point is the one to hold them to: if you are not being updated, that is itself a failure to raise.
Ask three things: what has been recorded, what will change tomorrow, and when you will next be told something. A school that cannot answer the third has not started.
Practical notes that matter more than they should
- Put everything in writing, even the phone calls. A short email afterwards — “thank you for the call, my understanding is…” — turns a conversation into a record.
- Keep it about the child, not the staff member. Complaints that describe an outcome for a child move faster than complaints that describe a person.
- Ask for timelines and hold them. “When will I hear back, and from whom?” is the single most useful sentence in this whole process.
- Do not withdraw your child in anger mid-year without reading the rules first. Fees continue while a child is on the registrar, and the transfer certificate you will need is issued by the school you are leaving. Our fees and refunds page explains what that costs.
Scope, honestly. Procedures vary between schools and KHDA revises its guidance. This page reflects published school complaints and safeguarding policies and KHDA’s stated role as we read them — your school’s own policy is the document that governs your case, so ask for it, and confirm anything here with the school and with KHDA. This is not legal advice. If something on this page is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it publicly: hello@dubaischoolguide.com
The whole journey, in order
Most guides start at FS1 and stop at Year 13. A family with more than one child is never at only one stage, so every stage links to every other.
- If your child needs support