Dubai Heights Academy
Very Good Al Barsha, Dubai · IB
- KHDA rating
- Very Good
High quality across the board, with minor areas to improve. 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: Outstanding · Inclusion: Very good
KHDA’s separate judgements for student wellbeing and for inclusion, from the same inspection.
- Year groups
- FS1 to Year 12; FS1 to Year 4
As registered with KHDA. Typical ages about 3 to 17.
- Annual fees
- AED 48,688 to 96,880 a year
Varies by year group. 2026-27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- IB
KHDA lists: IB (13 Y),UK (13 Y),UK/IB (13 Y).
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Al Barsha, Dubai
Open in Google Maps. KHDA records the community as Al Barsha Second.
- 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We do not publish schools' own contact details.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 8 per cent above the median for IB schools in this guide (AED 67,582). It is one of 48 schools in this guide currently rated Very Good.
Worth comparing: Dubai International Academy Al Barsha (AED 47,807 to 84,928 a year) - a lower-fee option in the same area; Hartland International School (AED 48,781 to 92,803 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
Strengths the inspectors named:
- A watershed 2023-24: Very Good with outstanding features on its third inspection, with 47 performance measures improved - 23 of 33 achievement indicators among them.
- Wellbeing judged Outstanding - ‘the school’s outstanding vision for wellbeing has become a cornerstone of its culture’, with care and support Outstanding across all three phases.
- Students’ personal development Outstanding, and thorough, highly accurate self-evaluation by capable leaders with excellent governance.
- An inclusive reputation spanning the full ability spectrum, and science now Very Good across the school.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Teaching sits at Very Good in FS and Primary but Good in the newer Secondary - the developing edge as the phase grows into its new building.
- English and mathematics attainment remain Good in places against the Very Good profile.
Inclusion (students of determination): A school launched as part of Dubai’s ‘My Community… A City for Everyone’ initiative and built from opening in 2017 to be a model for inclusion, with a reputation that has drawn students across the full ability range. The inclusion team - Head of Inclusion, Pastoral and Wellbeing, a Deputy Head of Inclusion, two inclusion teachers and the school counsellor - supports students inside and outside class and trains classroom assistants to deliver interventions in the room. Provision is unusually physical: an Enrichment Zone with a Wonder World Snoezelen room using fibre-optic light therapy, a Fun Junction sensory room with a magnetic climbing wall, a sensory sound garden and therapy support classrooms, with a speech and language therapist and an occupational therapist on site twice weekly for group therapy in classrooms, and physiotherapy available. Additional curriculum pathways include BTEC Level 1 and ASDAN. Wellbeing and personal development are both Outstanding across all phases. Two costs to settle in writing: where a child needs a one-to-one learning support assistant the school helps parents interview and hire a suitable candidate but the parent pays, and the gap between discounted and KHDA-approved fees is worth raising with admissions before signing. 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?
- How long is the real waiting list for my child’s year group, and how does sibling priority work?
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 Heights Academy 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 Barsha
- Kings School Al Barsha - Outstanding, To be updated
- Nord Anglia International School Dubai - Outstanding, AED 69,625 to 105,288 a year
- Brighton College Dubai - Very Good, AED 50,830 to 80,780 a year
- Dubai International Academy Al Barsha - Very Good, AED 47,807 to 84,928 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.