Dubai Arabian American Private School

Weak Muhaisnah, Dubai · American

KHDA rating: Weak
Below the minimum standard KHDA expects of every school. Read the full report before enrolling. From KHDA’s published 2023-24 ratings table. Rated Weak in KHDA’s published 2023-24 ratings table. Not shown in KHDA’s online directory as of 14 September 2026; the school has published 2026-27 fees. Confirm directly with the school before applying.
Dubai focus areas: Wellbeing: Weak · Inclusion: Acceptable
KHDA’s separate judgements for student wellbeing and for inclusion, from the same inspection.
Annual fees: AED 15,134 to 35,411 a year
Varies by year group. 2026-27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
Curriculum: American
School transport: Bus service available
Location: Muhaisnah, Dubai
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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.

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District-level pin for Muhaisnah - we have not recorded exact gate coordinates, so use the Google Maps link above for the entrance.

We do not publish schools' own contact details.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.

Find this school on the KHDA directory

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How far is this from another school? What the bus costs

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In context

Its mid-range fee is about 26 per cent below the median for American schools in this guide (AED 33,996). It is one of 1 schools in this guide currently rated Weak.

Worth comparing: Philadelphia Private School (AED 18,514 to 31,704 a year) - a lower-fee option in the same area.

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 we could verify (2023-24 cycle) and its published record - read the complete report on the official KHDA directory. These findings are from the 2023-24 cycle and are now more than two years old. Leadership, staffing and provision can change substantially in that time - see the note below on why every rating in Dubai is older than it looks.

Strengths the inspectors named:

Inspectors and parents both credit a safe, well-maintained building, a nurturing Kindergarten section, improved attainment in Arabic, and a strong grounding in Emirati values and culture - the school teaches a US curriculum built on California standards and NGSS alongside Ministry of Education Arabic and Islamic Studies.
Affordable for a full KG1 to Grade 12 American pathway at roughly AED 15,100 to 35,400, with a sibling and staff discount programme.
Parents describe a friendly environment and a genuine community feel, and the school has served this part of Muhaisnah since 2006.

What they asked the school to improve:

Rated Weak in February 2024, down from Acceptable - one of only two schools in Dubai to hold that rating, and the most serious judgement in this register. KHDA’s published table records the two Dubai focus areas as Acceptable and Weak.
Inspectors identified problems with curriculum implementation, teaching quality in English, mathematics and science, leadership stability, and limited resources for literacy, and asked the school to ensure the curriculum fully meets the needs of all students with sufficient extracurricular provision for a wider range of abilities and interests.
This matters urgently for Emirati families. UAE national students are not permitted to enrol in schools rated Weak or below - and at the last inspection more than 395 of roughly 600 students here were Emirati. Any Emirati family considering or currently at this school should speak to KHDA directly about what the rating means for enrolment.
Enrolment has collapsed: over 1,100 students in 2018-19, close to 650 in 2022-23, and under 600 by February 2024. A falling roll puts pressure on staffing, subject choice and extracurricular breadth, and is a fair thing to raise with leaders.
Girls and boys are taught separately from Grade 4 - a defining feature to weigh rather than a fault.

Inclusion (students of determination): Acceptable - taken directly from KHDA’s official Inclusion Rating Table, and above this school’s Weak overall judgement. We previously published that no separate inclusion figure could be found; that was wrong, and the correction is in our change log. The distinction matters: a school can be failing on core provision while still handling inclusion at the least KHDA accepts, and for a family whose child needs support that is a materially different picture from the headline rating. Given the overall judgement, a family whose child needs structured support should treat the questions on our key findings page as the starting point: which of the four statutory inclusion roles are filled and by whom, is the child’s name on the SEND register rather than merely known to a teacher, and what is charged for beyond the standard tuition. 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.

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?

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:

the age range it takes
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
an admissions email or direct line

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 Dubai Arabian American 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 Muhaisnah

Greenwood International School - Good, To be updated
Oxford School Dubai - Good, AED 12,695 to 20,128 a year
Philadelphia Private School - Good, AED 18,514 to 31,704 a year
Russian International School - Good, AED 15,722 to 25,180 a year

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.

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