Dubai Carmel School
Acceptable Al Qusais, Dubai · British (NCfE)
- KHDA rating
- Acceptable
Meets minimum standards; may be on an improvement plan. Read the full report before enrolling. 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: Acceptable · Inclusion: Acceptable
KHDA’s separate judgements for student wellbeing and for inclusion, from the same inspection.
- Year groups
- FS1 to Year 13
As registered with KHDA. Typical ages about 3 to 18.
- Annual fees
- AED 8,912 to 15,124 a year
Varies by year group. 2026-27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- British (NCfE)
KHDA lists: UK (13 Y).
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Al Qusais, Dubai
Open in Google Maps. KHDA records the community as Al Qusais 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We do not publish schools' own contact details.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 77 per cent below the median for British (NCfE) schools in this guide (AED 52,500). It is one of 52 schools in this guide currently rated Acceptable.
Worth comparing: Crescent English School (AED 3,628 to 10,775 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 credit students’ very good understanding of Islamic values and Emirati culture, and remarkable social, environmental and enterprise skills.
- Children get a good start in the Foundation Stage, and the curriculum has been updated.
- Genuinely affordable for a full British pathway - roughly AED 8,900 to 15,100 from FS2 through to Year 13, with IGCSE and A Level, in Al Qusais.
- Over 900 students with 76 teachers and 33 teaching assistants on a 1:9 ratio, and a family feel that parents consistently describe.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Acceptable, and held at Acceptable across more than a decade of inspections - which is both a sign of stability and an honest signal of the school’s ceiling.
- The central inspector ask is unchanged: improve students’ progress and attainment in key subjects.
- Parents themselves say the trade-off is academic challenge. Affordability here comes with limits in facilities, teaching consistency and academic ambition, and a family should weigh those deliberately rather than discover them later.
- Post-16 entry is conditional - progression to Year 12 requires at least a grade C in the relevant IGCSE subjects, so the A Level route is not automatic.
Inclusion (students of determination): Acceptable for inclusive education in KHDA’s directory and its published 2023-24 ratings table, matching the school’s overall judgement - the floor the regulator accepts rather than a standard to rely on. 76 students of determination on roll. Inspectors record that identification criteria are effective and parents are involved - the front end of the system works - but that not all staff provide effective support in lessons, that modifications are not always aligned to developmental stages, and that specialist pathways are limited. Leadership is credited with a strong commitment to inclusion and wellbeing. Those three limits are exactly what a family whose child needs consistent in-class support should test directly, with examples, before committing. The school does publish Cambridge-endorsed resources customised for students of determination across Years 1 to 8. 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:
- What did the last KHDA report ask you to improve, and what has changed since?
- 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 Dubai Carmel 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 Qusais
- The Millennium School - Very Good, AED 18,278 to 26,876 a year
- American International School Dubai - Good, To be updated
- Amity School Dubai - Good, To be updated
- Apple International School - Good, AED 9,647 to 22,398 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.