Dar Al Marefa Private School
Good Al Khawaneej, Dubai · IB
- KHDA rating
- Good
Good standards in most areas. The most common rating among Dubai schools. From KHDA’s 2023-24 inspection - now more than two years old. Checked against KHDA’s directory on 14 September 2026.
- Dubai focus areas
- Wellbeing: Good · Inclusion: Good
KHDA’s separate judgements for student wellbeing and for inclusion, from the same inspection.
- Year groups
- Pre-primary to Grade 12
As registered with KHDA. Typical ages about 3 to 18.
- Annual fees
- AED 39,900 to 81,900 a year
Varies by year group. 2026-27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- IB
KHDA lists: International Baccalaureate.
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Al Khawaneej, Dubai
Open in Google Maps. KHDA records the community as Al Khwaneej First.
- Contacting the school
- Ask us and we will ask them
We hold this school's details and put questions to it for parents - fees for a year group, whether there is a place, what happens next. KHDA's own page for the school, linked below, carries its published contact details if you would rather go direct.
Map not loaded. It comes from Google, so nothing is requested from them until you ask for it.
Pin from KHDA’s directory entry for this school. Check the entrance with the Google Maps link above before your first drop-off.
We do not publish schools' own contact details. Ask us a question below and we put it to the school; KHDA's page for this school carries its published details.
KHDA’s page for this school - every inspection report
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.
How far is this from another school? What the bus costs
If your children may end up at different schools, the distance that decides your mornings is the one between them, not from home to each.
In context
Its mid-range fee is about 10 per cent below the median for IB schools in this guide (AED 67,582). It is one of 85 schools in this guide currently rated Good.
These comparisons are computed from the verified data in this register, not editorial opinion.
What the inspectors said
Strengths the inspectors named:
- Good for an eighth consecutive inspection in 2023-24, held consistently since 2013-14 - reliability rather than volatility.
- Inspectors name the Islamic values at the heart of the school’s culture, improved provision and outcomes in the Diploma Programme, and students’ strong personal development.
- Health and safety Very Good across all four phases, and quality of support Very Good across all four phases - among the most consistent high scores anywhere in the report.
- Genuinely singular: Dubai’s only bilingual Arabic-English IB school, with a student body around 85% Emirati, a full IB continuum from Pre-KG to Grade 12, and Diploma students taking leadership roles seriously enough to raise funds for global causes.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Eight cycles at Good is a settled ceiling - the school has stated ambitions to break into Very Good but has not yet done so.
- The report shows predominantly Good ratings across student achievement - the strengths sit in culture, support and the Diploma rather than in across-the-board attainment.
- A new principal took over for 2024-25, arriving from a school he had lifted to Very Good - so ask what is changing, and on what timetable.
- Fees run from roughly AED 39,900 to AED 81,900 - premium-band pricing against a Good rating, which deserves a direct conversation.
Inclusion (students of determination): Good - students of determination receive good support, and SEND students are described as fully supported in an inclusive setting, with special education services designed around the demands of a bilingual IB curriculum. Two structural notes a family should weigh. This is the only school in Dubai offering the IB in a bilingual Arabic-English format, including the reduced IB Courses Programme, which is itself an alternative route for students who would struggle with the full Diploma. But inspectors also flagged the absence of alternative curriculum pathways alongside teaching inconsistencies in KG, PYP and MYP - so ask specifically what exists between the full Diploma and the Courses option. Leadership changed in July 2024, with a principal who previously raised Raffles International School to Very Good. 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 - 221 of 230 so far, dated per cycle, never invented. A school without a summary yet is unread, not unjudged.
Paraphrased from KHDA’s published inspection record for 2023-24. Read the dated report on KHDA’s page for this school.
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?
Saved only on this device - never uploaded, never shared.
Special educational needs? Read the inclusion guide before you visit.
What we don't know about this school
Every other page on this site tells you what we have verified. This one tells you what we have not, because a register you cannot calibrate is worth less than one you can. We do not currently hold:
- whether it is co-educational, boys or girls
- how many children are on roll
- its facilities - sports, arts, science, library
- published exam results or university destinations
- what registration, transport, uniform and meals add to the fee
- the year it opened - the figure we held was wrong on every school we checked
None of it is guessed or filled in from a similar school. Ask for any of it using the form below and it moves up the queue - requests are how we decide what to collect next.
Ask this school a question - we'll do the asking
Tell us the year group, and we will ask Dar Al Marefa Private School what it costs, whether there is a place, and what the next step is. Then we send you what they say. Every answer we get is also checked into this school's record, so the next parent finds it already here.
Your details stay with us. We contact the school ourselves, and we do not pass your name or address to them, or to any agent, unless you ask us to. No school pays to appear in this guide, and none can pay to change what it says.
Other schools in Al Khawaneej
- Al Basateen Private Nursery - Good, To be updated
- Dubai Schools Al Khawaneej - Acceptable, AED 30,600 to 45,900 a year
- Emirates National Schools Dubai - Acceptable, To be updated
Work at this school? Correct or update this record - checked against the source and answered within five working days. If you disagree with something we are not going to change, reply on the record and we publish your statement on this page.