Legal

Privacy policy

The short version: we collect almost nothing, we never sell anything, and the parts of this site that feel personal - your shortlist, your notes, your tracker - never leave your device.

Last updated 31 August 2026.

What stays on your device and never reaches us

Your shortlist, your visit notes and your admissions tracker are stored in your own browser using local storage. They are not transmitted to us, not backed up by us, and not visible to us. Clear your browser data and they are gone - which is why both pages offer an export.

What you actively send us

We only receive personal data when you choose to type it into a form. There are five:

• Ask for a school's admissions details - your email address, and optionally your child's year of entry.
• Send a correction - what you say is wrong, and optionally your email and your connection to the school.
• Share your experience - your account of a school, your email, and your relationship to it.
• Register for updates - your email address.
• Abu Dhabi interest - your email address.

We use these only to do the thing you asked for: answer you, verify a correction, moderate a submission, or send the updates you requested. We do not sell or rent your details, and we do not share them with schools, agents or anyone else - with one exception that is yours to make: if you ask us to introduce you to a school, we pass on only what you tell us to. When we ask a school a question on your behalf, we ask it as ourselves, without naming you. Submissions reach us through Netlify, who host this site and process form data on our behalf.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages help. Nothing is sent until you press Allow on the banner - decline and no analytics cookie is set and no data is collected. You can change your mind by clearing this site's data in your browser.

We use it to understand which guides parents actually read. We do not use it for advertising, we do not build profiles, and we have not enabled ad personalisation.

Maps

Where a page shows a map, it comes from Google, and it does not load until you press "Show the map". Until you do, nothing is requested from Google and your IP address is not shared with them. If you load it, Google receives your IP address under their own privacy policy.

What we never do

• We do not sell or rent personal data. Ever.
• We do not pass your details to schools unless you have explicitly asked us to contact one for you.
• We do not run advertising trackers, retargeting pixels or data brokers.
• We do not require an account, and we do not ask for your name.
• We do not take payments, so we never see card details.

Why we are allowed to hold it

Under the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021) we must tell you the basis on which we process your data. It is one of two:

• Your consent - for analytics and for register updates. You gave it, and you can take it back at any time without giving a reason.
• Doing what you asked - when you send an enquiry, a correction or an account of your experience, we process it to answer or act on it. That is the whole purpose.

Where your data goes

Some of it leaves the UAE, and you should know that plainly:

• Netlify hosts this site and receives form submissions, on servers outside the UAE including in the European Union and the United States.
• Google Analytics processes visit data in the United States - but only if you pressed Allow.
• AEserver, in the UAE, hosts our email, so anything you send us by email stays here.

We use these providers under their own data protection terms. Your data goes nowhere else, and it is never sold or shared with any other party.

How long we keep things

We keep as little as we can, for as short a time as we can:

• Corrections - until checked and published, then up to 12 months, so we hold a record of why a record changed.
• Enquiries - until answered, then up to 12 months.
• Parent experiences - a moderated excerpt may stay published; your email and any identifying detail are deleted within 6 months of moderation.
• Update subscriptions - until you unsubscribe.
• Analytics - retained by Google for 14 months, then deleted.

Ask us to delete yours sooner and we will, without asking why.

Your rights

The UAE Personal Data Protection Law gives you the rights below, and we will honour every one. Email hello@dubaischoolguide.com - no form, no charge, and we aim to reply within 30 days.

• See it - ask what we hold about you and why.
• Correct it - have anything inaccurate put right.
• Delete it - have it erased.
• Take it with you - receive it in a structured, machine-readable file.
• Restrict it - tell us to stop processing while a dispute is resolved.
• Object - tell us to stop a particular use.
• Withdraw consent - for analytics or updates, at any time. Withdrawing does not undo anything done before you withdrew.

If you are unhappy with how we handle a request, you may complain to the UAE Data Office, the federal regulator for data protection.

If something goes wrong

If personal data we hold is exposed in a way likely to harm you, we will notify the UAE Data Office and tell you directly - what happened, and what to do about it. We will not wait to be asked.

Children

This site is written for parents, not children. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18, and we never ask for a child's name or date of birth. Where a form asks about a year of entry, that is a year group, not an identifiable detail about your child.

Security

The site is served only over HTTPS with a strict content security policy. Because we hold so little, there is very little to lose - the design is deliberate rather than incidental.

Changes

If this policy changes materially we will say so here and in the register log, with the date.