Arcadia British School
Very Good Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai · British (NCfE)
- KHDA rating
- Very Good
High quality across the board with minor areas to improve — often better value than Outstanding. Ratings are from the last full inspection cycle (2023–24).
- Annual fees
- AED 38,000 to 68,000 a year
Varies by year group; confirm current fees with the school. 2026–27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- British (NCfE)
- Established
- Founded 2021
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai
District-level pin for Dubai Hills Estate — use the Google Maps link for the exact gate.
Link verified against a live domain, July 2026.
Check travel time from your location
Opens live directions in Google Maps — real traffic from your own address beats any published estimate. School-run traffic peaks roughly 7–8am; test your route at drop-off time.
In context
Its mid-range fee is in line with the median for British (NCfE) schools in this guide (AED 54,632). It is one of 46 schools in this guide currently rated Very Good.
Worth comparing: GEMS Royal Dubai School (AED 40,252 to 61,410 a year) — a lower-fee school with the same Very Good rating and curriculum.
These comparisons are computed from the verified data in this register, not editorial opinion.
What the inspectors said
Paraphrased from the last full DSIB inspection (2023–24 cycle) and its published record — read the complete report on the official KHDA directory.
Strengths the inspectors named:
- Very Good again in 2023–24, having reached that level on only its second full inspection in 2022–23 — an unusually fast climb from the Good awarded at its 2019 debut.
- Inclusion rated Outstanding — the top judgement, and the strongest single feature of the report.
- Independently rated Outstanding by British Schools Overseas in October 2024, across all eight key performance areas, a verdict that runs for three years.
- An all-through British school built in stages since 2016, with A Levels and BTEC added as the Sixth Form opened in 2024–25.
What they asked the school to improve:
- The Sixth Form is new — first cohorts are still working through, so there is no A Level track record to examine yet.
- Two cycles at Very Good with Outstanding inclusion already banked: ask leaders which academic measures have to move for the school to reach Outstanding overall.
Inclusion (students of determination): Outstanding — the top inclusion judgement and the strongest single feature of this school’s report, delivered through the Creative Avenues Programme, which builds a personalised curriculum for students with SEN requirements and for exceptional learners in academia, the arts, music, social enterprise, business and sport. The named team: one inclusion champion, three inclusion teachers, two counsellors and ten learning support assistants. The fee position is stated plainly by the school and belongs in your budget: intermittent support is provided free of charge, but where a child needs a full-time learning support assistant the school helps parents find one and the full cost is borne by the parent. See the special educational needs guide for the questions to ask on a visit.
Inspector summaries are being added school by school as each report is read — 169 of 169 so far, dated per cycle, never invented. A school without a summary yet is unread, not unjudged.
Visit kit
Questions worth asking on a tour — tuned to this school’s rating and curriculum:
- Who leads inclusion here — and may we meet them before enrolling?
- How much staff turnover did you have last year, and why?
- What are actual class sizes this term — not the maximum?
- How and how often will I hear about my child’s progress?
- How long is the real waiting list for my child’s year group, and how does sibling priority work?
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Special educational needs? Read the inclusion guide before you visit.
Other schools in Dubai Hills Estate
- Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai — Very Good, AED 78,758 to 119,713 a year
Work at this school? Correct or update this record — verified corrections are made promptly and logged publicly.